“I Lost $700,000” – Why Mike Majlak Is Single, Won’t Buy Real Estate, & Can’t Leave California

Summary

Detailed Summary of "I Lost $700,000" – Why Mike Majlak Is Single, Won’t Buy Real Estate, & Can’t Leave California

Episode Release Date: June 22, 2025
Podcast: The Iced Coffee Hour
Hosts: Graham Stephan & Jack Selby
Guest: Mike Malak

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1. Mike Malak’s Journey to Success and the Power of Networking

Timestamp: [00:55] – [01:34]

Graham Stephan opens the discussion by acknowledging Mike Malak's success and inquiring whether Mike would have achieved it regardless of circumstances. Mike confidently asserts, “A thousand percent” and attributes his success to his finesse and exceptional networking abilities. He emphasizes that his true wealth lies in his extensive network and access, highlighting the complementary roles between himself and his business partner, Logan Paul. Mike describes himself as the "handshaker," focusing on building and maintaining relationships, while Logan serves as the strategic mind.

Notable Quote:
"My true wealth is in network and access." – Mike Malak [00:59]

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2. The $700,000 Real Estate Loss in Los Angeles

Timestamp: [01:44] – [16:29]

Mike shares a candid recount of his ill-fated real estate investment in Los Angeles. Initially aiming for a $2 million property, he became embroiled in a bidding war that escalated the purchase price to approximately $4.125 million. Recognizing the overvaluation early on, Mike felt compelled to proceed but soon realized the detrimental impact of buying at the peak market price. Shortly after the purchase, the real estate market began to correct, and unforeseen personal circumstances forced him to sell the property at a significant loss of over $700,000.

Mike reflects on the emotional and financial toll of the experience:
"I realized pretty immediately like I was going to get rinsed on this." [02:43]

He underscores the importance of due diligence and caution in high-stakes markets, noting how quickly market conditions can shift and adversely affect investments.

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3. Navigating Security Issues in Los Angeles

Timestamp: [04:24] – [08:57]

Living in Los Angeles presents unique security challenges, especially for public figures and creators like Mike. He discusses the slow police response times and the necessity for heightened personal security measures. Mike elaborates on California’s self-defense laws, explaining the legal complexities involved in defending one’s home:
"If someone uses significant force to enter your home, I believe you have the justified capability to use force on them at that time." [07:07]

However, he warns of the potential legal repercussions if the assailant decides to flee or if their intentions remain unclear, placing homeowners in precarious situations where split-second decisions carry heavy consequences.

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4. Shifting Focus from Real Estate to Brand Revenue

Timestamp: [16:35] – [18:57]

Acknowledging his substantial loss in real estate, Mike admits that his strength does not lie in traditional investments. Instead, he highlights his proficiency in generating income through brand deals, sponsorships, and his personal brand ventures.
"I've done a terrible job on passive and strategic investments; my success comes from brand revenue." – Mike Malak [18:57]

Mike contrasts this with his limited experience in real estate, emphasizing that his true financial success is derived from leveraging his network and maintaining strong relationships within the creator economy.

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5. Mental Health, Confidence, and Coping Mechanisms

Timestamp: [24:00] – [37:55]

Mike delves into his personal struggles with mental health, including anxiety and panic attacks, which he contends are distinct from his financial status. He outlines his daily routine aimed at maintaining mental well-being:
"It's my first job... getting up, rearranging my narrative. That's my first job before any business discussions." [24:00]

Mike discusses how his confidence stems from accumulating credible actions and successes rather than monetary wealth. He emphasizes the importance of "faking it till you make it" to build genuine confidence through perseverance and experience.

Notable Quote:
"Make a conscious decision to go swim in the water and go towards the resistance." – Mike Malak [42:52]

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6. Building and Leveraging a Robust Network

Timestamp: [37:58] – [44:00]

Mike offers actionable advice on networking, particularly for individuals with limited initial connections. He advocates for proactive engagement, stepping outside comfort zones, and nurturing genuine relationships. Mike shares anecdotes of impromptu meetings that have significantly advanced his career, demonstrating the tangible benefits of a strong network.

He emphasizes the importance of consistent effort and presence in influential circles to cultivate meaningful connections that can open doors to new opportunities.

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7. Financial Structure and Sponsorship Revenue Streams

Timestamp: [62:12] – [64:39]

Explaining the financial underpinnings of his ventures, Mike details how the majority of his income stems from sponsorships on his YouTube channel and other brand partnerships.
"Up until this year, the majority of it has been sponsorships on my YouTube channel." – Mike Malak [62:12]

He discusses the diversification of revenue streams, including ad revenue, cross-sponsorships, and merchandising, while also noting the challenges posed by fluctuating brand market conditions.

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8. Commitment to California Despite Financial Drawbacks

Timestamp: [66:16] – [72:03]

Despite the high tax rates and regulatory challenges, Mike chooses to remain in California due to his love for the state and the invaluable network he has established there.
"There's nothing more important to your happiness than being happy where you are." – Mike Malak [66:25]

He highlights the strategic advantages of staying in a hub like Los Angeles, where he can maintain and expand his network, crucial for his business endeavors.

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9. The Role of Membership Clubs in Elite Networking

Timestamp: [70:06] – [72:39]

Mike discusses the significance of exclusive membership clubs in fostering high-level networking opportunities. He describes how clubs like Bird Streets and Zero Bond serve as meeting grounds for influencers, entrepreneurs, and celebrities. These establishments require annual dues and selective admissions, offering an environment conducive to forming powerful connections.

Notable Quote:
"Living Room is extremely, extremely selective. You have to do interviews and have a committee vote you in." – Mike Malak [72:03]

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10. Partnership with Logan Paul and Business Dynamics

Timestamp: [73:44] – [87:43]

Mike elaborates on his long-standing partnership with Logan Paul, portraying a balanced and mutually supportive relationship. He describes Logan as the strategic leader while he handles networking and relationship-building. Despite facing public misconceptions and past conflicts, Mike emphasizes their harmonious collaboration and shared vision for their ventures.

Notable Quote:
"He has wanted me to succeed in my own lane more than anybody in the world." – Mike Malak [87:43]

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11. Personal Relationships and Dating Insights

Timestamp: [87:48] – [116:01]

In a more personal segment, Mike shares his approach to relationships and dating. He emphasizes authenticity and meaningful connections over superficial interactions. Mike discusses the challenges of maintaining personal relationships amidst a high-profile lifestyle and the importance of emotional closeness and trust.

He also touches on the misconceptions surrounding his dating life, asserting that his genuine nature ensures deep and lasting connections rather than transient encounters.

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12. Final Thoughts and Rapid Fire Questions

Timestamp: [116:01] – [139:13]

The episode concludes with rapid-fire questions where Mike candidly addresses topics ranging from his biggest insecurities to his spending habits. He reflects on his personal growth, the importance of empathy, and the value he places on honest and respectful interactions.

Notable Quote:
"The greatest skill you can ever have in life is being aware of your shortcomings." – Mike Malak [137:01]

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Conclusion

In this episode of "The Iced Coffee Hour," Mike Malak provides a multifaceted exploration of his financial setbacks, particularly his substantial loss in the Los Angeles real estate market, and how it has influenced his personal and professional choices. He underscores the paramount importance of networking, mental health, and authentic relationships in building and sustaining success. Mike’s transparency about his struggles and strategies offers valuable insights for creators and entrepreneurs navigating similar challenges.

Highlighted Quotes:

• "I was forced out because of the conditions of the city and just the, the culture out here..." – Mike Malak [04:24]

• "Making more money does not help with mental health." – Mike Malak [26:17]

• "Go into the resistance and go towards it." – Mike Malak [42:52]

• "There's nothing more important to your happiness than being happy where you are." – Mike Malak [66:25]

• "He has wanted me to succeed in my own lane more than anybody in the world." – Mike Malak [87:43]

• "The greatest skill you can ever have in life is being aware of your shortcomings." – Mike Malak [137:01]

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and personal reflections shared by Mike Malak during the episode, providing listeners with a thorough understanding of the themes explored without needing to tune in.

Transcript

[Mike Malak]

Fourth of July savings are here at the Home Depot, so it's time to get your grilling on. Pick up the traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet Grill and Smoker now on special buy for $389. Was $549. Smoke a rack of ribs or bake an apple pie. This grill is versatile enough to do it all this summer. No matter how you like your steaks, your barbecues are guaranteed to be well done. Celebrate 4th of July with fast free delivery on select grills right now at the Home Depot, subject to availability. I remember having to like put two bucks in gas into my gas tank. And so I see money as security. I know that I have gas for the next 20 years. I never thought I was gonna have anything. Bro, take your keys. Mom, you have a brand new car. I think people really expect stuff to just happen and they don't see the work it takes to get there.

[Graham Stephan]

Well, obviously you're very successful. Would you have become successful regardless?

[Mike Malak]

A thousand percent that I do in life to an extent is finesse based. That has always been my forte. So as far as like the combo of me and Logan is concerned, he's always been the strategic mind, he's always been the pull, and I'm the handshaker. My true wealth is in network and access.

[Graham Stephan]

How does someone get started networking like that? Assuming they have no connections, no podcast, they just want to meet great people who are levels above them.

[Mike Malak]

I think there's two things you have to do. I think one is you have to understand.

[Graham Stephan]

Welcome to the podcast. Really appreciate it. We had a bit of a back and forth online. I saw you lost $700,000 on a house. I reacted to it. Yeah. Then you reacted to my reaction.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

What happened with the house?

[Mike Malak]

It was a dream purchase of mine and I, I saw all the videos, obviously, and I'm trying to remember, like what things you were right about and what things you were just like making assumption on because you're usually pretty spot on.

[Graham Stephan]

I think I broke down. I think I broke down your income. I tried to. Based on what your monthly mortgage payment would be, assuming you like a 25% DTI. I worked backwards to try to figure out what you're.

[Mike Malak]

What was the number that you came up with?

[Graham Stephan]

I think it was like 2 million a year, give or take.

[Jack]

No, it was, it was 3 million.

[Graham Stephan]

Is 3 million you came to because taxes.

[Jack]

That's assuming that you maxed out the house purchase based off of your income. You also could have bought something, you know, lower.

[Mike Malak]

I Could, Yeah, that's, that assumption is probably at the time was probably pretty accurate. Yeah, I, listen, I went into a, a peaked out LA market. I wanted to make a purchase, I had the means to make a purchase. I, I, you, you guys have never seen me buy a Lamborghini. Although you do like the car that's outside. We can talk about it after.

[Jack]

But what do you, what do you drive?

[Mike Malak]

I got an RSQ8 and I did a, a build out with Opt Performance from Germany. So it's an RSQ R. It's like a one of 100. I love it.

[Graham Stephan]

It's gorgeous. I could hear it pull in.

[Mike Malak]

It's really, it's great. But still, I mean I, I just haven't made a lot of those big purchases and I, I, you know, at my age I try to be a little bit more safe with, with the stupid that I buy. So, so when I went into the market in 2021, 2022 to try to buy a house, I kind of came out looking for like a $2 million house. And if you're watching this right now from like a non LA market, you would think like wow, that would get you like a pretty nice like home that doesn't get you in the door anywhere in la. Like it will put you into something that you I just didn't really want to be in. So the, the budget just KE and I found that house and I ended up getting into like a bidding war with like I know Stasi was like bidding on it and like a bunch of other like creators. It was just this really beautiful like canyons view. And I mean dude, that's a 3.5, $3.6 million house. And by the time my realtors were like, you got to come in with a strong offer, like we want to go in at 4.125. And I was like dude, whatever man. Like let's do it. And so I get it. And it was, I, I realized pretty immediately like I was like dude, I'm, I'm going to get rinsed on this. Dude. I just bought at the of the market. Things started to correct at right after I bought it and some things happened that forced me out of the house in a time that you know, I would have liked to have continued holding it and letting equity grow in it. And I was, I was kind of forced to get out of the house quickly and I got just rinsed on, you know, on the sales, the agent.

[Jack]

Fees basically and also clarifies that you should clarify. Yeah, you didn't he's a ex real estate agent. But you, you didn't clarify that this is not anything that you did that then got you kicked out.

[Mike Malak]

Correct.

[Jack]

People are going to assume that like something went wrong with a neighborly dispute.

[Mike Malak]

Or no financial thing. I mean I, I, I'll put it like this, it's, at some point I'll get a little bit more granular on it. But it became a little bit of like a security risk. If you don't know about what goes on in la. Like if you're going to be a creator or a celebrity or an athlete that lives in like a non gated neighborhood, you probably need like some pretty heavy security at the house. And even though I'm somebody who has nothing to ste, I don't, you know, this is my watch, you know what I'm saying? Like, do you want my rubber band? Like it's, you just, you need to be cautious. And I wasn't as cautious as I could have been about how the home was purchased and how I shot around it and stuff like that. And it became a bit of an issue and at some point maybe I'll be able to tell those stories a little bit more clearly. But I was basically forced out because of the conditions of the city and just the, the culture out here and how things happen.

[Graham Stephan]

And so yeah, for security. Is there anything you would have done differently in the future?

[Mike Malak]

You know, there's like a whole like play out of, of how you, you're supposed to like defend a home and like there's like deterrence, there's you know, monitoring, there's you know, acute safety measures and a lot of those I, I did to the best of my ability. But I just, I just, there's just only so much you can do, you know what I'm saying? And it's like, it's like you in, in, in other states, you know, there's, there's a little bit more response and a little bit more penalty and, and LA is just really the wild west. I don't know how much time you guys spend here, but you guys see what's going time and it's our, we've got a, we've got an extremely weak government and an extremely weak police force as a result of that government. You know, they're kind of handcuffed and it actually sucks to watch it. I'm talking about here in California. Not as a whole, it actually sucks to see it because a lot of the cops can't really even do their job. They're, they're handcuffed I mean we've had, we've had a number of, over the years security issues. Whether be me, Logan, you know, even when I was dating Lana, like there was just always like problems here and the reaction time is just, is just insanely slow. I mean you might have someone in your house with a. And you might wait like 30, 40 minutes for a cop to get there. It's pretty.

[Graham Stephan]

That's one of the things about California is that you can't use force on someone who breaks into your house unless your life is in immediate danger. And sometimes you don't know if someone breaks through your front door and they're not armed. How do you know that? If it's at 3 o' clock in the morning and they seem deranged, how do you make those decisions of whether or not you defend yourself? And if you do, then there's so many risks that come with that as well.

[Mike Malak]

So like as someone who, who obviously has had to like study that playbook like in and out and was very, very fluent in it in my last living arrangement, if, if someone uses some level of significant force to enter your home in the middle of the night, I think even in California that they have, that they have produced enough for an assumption of bodily harm. So if, if someone, I don't know, smashes through your back door and has a mask on and you don't know what's in their hand, I believe, and, and some legal person will check this out for me, that you have justified capability to use force on them at that time, whether or not they have a weapon because they've, they've used force entry to get in your home, you have reasonable assumption of risk. Now the difference in California is man, if that dude does a quick turn and you get him in the back, it's, it's, you're in a major, you have a major problem. And so that's a, that's really where the issue in non standard ground states, right, Is like, dude, if you, if somebody can even make a attempt at saying that they were trying to flee or retreat is the legal term, you're, you're in trouble, you know. So.

[Jack]

Yeah, and then the problem is a lot of, I mean virtually everybody doesn't know that small nuance when they have their home broken into and they're being flooded with those emotions, they can't make that call in that second like, oh, they're turning around, you know, or this or that. It's just like this person's in my house, you know, and they just Stopped. Stomped on my cat like, yeah, do something.

[Mike Malak]

Exactly. And so for me now, man, I'm a, you know, upstairs, multiple layers of like key fob, security protocol type of guy. I just don't, I just don't want to. I, there's beautiful apartments all over the country.

[Jack]

You know what's funny is I always thought when I, so I live in a house right now with four other guys and I always think if an intruder were to come in, would I be the first room that they entered? And in the house that I grew up in, I was in the bedroom that was closest to the front door. And it always freaked me out that like, if there was something like going on, they'd probably go to the first line of defense. Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

I will say, generally speaking, the front door is not the most utilized option for break ins.

[Jack]

Okay, cool.

[Mike Malak]

It's, it's, that's not usually they're, they're more glass guys out there. But, but you know, just from my past in general, you know, whether you want to think it was this past house or from my days as a, you know, dealer and over the, the history of my life, there's really no adrenaline dump like having that wake up call. I mean it is, it is. I, I would encourage every person that's watching this to have, whether you are a firearm owner or not, to have a real drill and a real protocol for those type of events. Because if you think you're going to be relying on your ability to make decisions and come and strategize at 2:30 in the morning with, you know, 30 milliseconds of time to come up with something, you're wrong. You should, you should have a full on fail proof drill that you've run through a million times. That includes, you know, safe harboring for family members. That includes, you know, your own firearms handling and what that looks like and whether you live in the safest state in the world or not, you know, I mean if you live in Dubai and you're watching this, like just having good safety protocol for all these types of scenarios I think is important. Whether it's nuclear attack, zombies or, or break ins. Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

So what's your advice for homeowners who have a place that they don't want broken into, how would you prevent that from happening?

[Mike Malak]

It just once again, I think it just depends on where you are and, and to an extent, the, the likeliness of that type of thing happening. I mean you and, and everybody has their own, you know, comfort levels and has their own idea of how, how how likely it is to happen. But I mean all the way up to like they make great shields for glass that you can put down at night. They make. This guy is going to drive me crazy right now. They make armor tape. So like dude, like I've been through all of this like district. I went all the way up to like 24 hour armed security at 50 an hour. Like just imagine the cost of that type of activity. Run that through your, your annual income, calculate your alcohol. I am, yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. But you know, they make armor tape. I think, I think first and foremost how are you keeping people out of your yard? Next is how are you keeping people out of your actual quarters? And then after that it turns into like, hey, be ready to go. You know, and, and dude, that those moments are, you'll remember them for the rest of your life. You'll remember, you know, being at 90 on the trigger and just waiting for a target. It's, it's, there's, you know, for anybody who's ever done a tour or anything like that, it's Washington. There's no adrenaline dump like that. I mean it's, it's, it's, it's a mind blowing, mind blowing thing to, to deal with. And certainly for anybody watching that's been through it, it's, it's a trauma inducing event.

[Graham Stephan]

How long does it take you to go back to sleep after an event like that? Like just, just spend another night in your house?

[Mike Malak]

Never. I mean, I would assume never. You know, I mean, I just don't think you ever really do. You know, it's just, it's just, it's. I mean I've been through so much of it in my life. I've been, you know, of those adrenaline moments of like car accidents, police chases, stabbings, you know, ICUs, organ removals, felony arrests, you know like organ removed. Yeah, I got my Spleen removed in 299 and, and it's just for me like it's all just too common. I mean there's a reason why, you know, I have a best selling book. It's one of the best reads you'll, you'll ever read. If you're into really graphic recounts. And we. It just got optioned out for a movie actually for a full mot picture which is insane because if I can be the first creator with a full motion picture with a, you know, 15, 20 million million dollar budget, that's pretty awesome. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you. We'll see what happens. If it gets developed. But it's, I mean dude, those, those type of moments in life are, are, they're harrowing. You know, they change your, they change your perception.

[Jack]

And how do those moments in life compare to losing 700 grand on a house? Would you say that that was just as harrowing or do you think that that was like, you know, it's not that big a of.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

How do you stomach that? That's a pretty big amount.

[Mike Malak]

It's, it's horrible. I mean it's horrible. But you want to know really the sense I made of it. I, I think that like having as, as a, you know, mid level or macro with, with, with who gets to a point where they're blessed enough to say I've been doing this for five to 10 years. Everybody has their own lost story. Yeah. You know, Logan and Jake and, and Aiden and, and Banks and all these people that I'm with all the time, like they've got multiple. Right. I mean Jake probably has more than anyone I would assume. And so for me I had almost felt like it comes with the territory of like it's a very unfortunate situation. Shout out to the accountants. You know, I'm sure there's going to be some creativity as it, as it pertains to how that plays out but you know, like was that the biggest.

[Jack]

Loss you've ever had?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, for sure. Because keep in mind, because keep in mind, I, I, it was, it was a, it was a 700k loss on the sale. So I bought 4.125. I'll get completely transparent with. You bought 4.125. The 1.125 of that, you could check your math now was the down payment. So it was a, I think it ended 20 something. Yes. It went for, for a jumbo. Non interest, non interest or sorry interest only loan. Right. Point like three point like 4%.

[Graham Stephan]

For how long?

[Mike Malak]

10 years.

[Graham Stephan]

10 years.

[Mike Malak]

I was, I got a really good loan. I was the last Tron before the rate hike.

[Jack]

Right.

[Mike Malak]

So, so when I got the check back for the house sale, I think I got back like 3.47 or 3 like somewhere in the 3.4s and so the rest of it was completely washed out. So it was like 700 plus thousand. And then on top of that the mo. As you were talking about the video, the monthly float plus tax on that house was about 20k if not more a month. 20 to 25k a month. So it was like times 36 months. It's like another. So to be in that House for three years. Almost exactly three years. Cost me like a million and a half.

[Graham Stephan]

I mean, you listen. Very fortunate to be able to say that you were able to lose that.

[Mike Malak]

Amount and still be smiling.

[Graham Stephan]

Smiling and laughing about for sure.

[Mike Malak]

Extremely fortunate, extremely grateful for. For. For it. But just see, now I'm curious.

[Jack]

Keep in mind, I don't think you're great for that.

[Mike Malak]

No, no, not for that, but just to be here. But like, keep in mind, too.

[Graham Stephan]

My.

[Mike Malak]

The worst part of the story always is when you really keep in mind what you had to make in Los Angeles to lose 1.4. Because I'm taxed at 53%, the highest tax rate in the country. Right. So it. Think about that, like, I had to make over three mil. I had to lose. I lost basically $3 million worth of work money.

[Graham Stephan]

No, there's no way that you could write that off or find some.

[Mike Malak]

There's. There's creative means, for sure. There's creative means, for sure. It was. It had become an investment property. It was rented out. So it. There's a whole bunch of creativity that can go into it, for sure.

[Jack]

Have you made money on real estate previously?

[Mike Malak]

Absolutely not. I've never made money on anything except for work and, and like, like, really, like, brand revenue. Like, that is my. An ad revenue. That's my.

[Jack]

You're infuriating Graham with that. And we're going to get on to that. Yeah, yeah, that's. Because that is.

[Mike Malak]

I'm sure it's. It's. Here's the thing, man. I like to say that. And I'm probably wrong about this, but I like to say that I've probably done more brand deals than anyone in the space. Like, really, I've. I'm. I'm 500 episodes of impulsive deep, and I'm, you know, seven years of weekly Night Shift episodes. And I have had a sponsor in. In every single one of those, you know, episodes with. With the exception of a few. So if there's. I'm sure there's another creator out there who has done 700 plus brand deals, but, like, dude, I put Bluetooth on the map. You know what I'm saying? Like, I was the first one of the first creators. I was one of the first creators to work with prize picks. I'm gonna. You probably gonna have to bleep some of these for your sake. But, you know, I've worked with every single brand that runs the circuit Manscapes and. And all these brands. I was with them at Inception.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

For a lot of these creator programs because I understand creator programs because that's where I come from and that is where my money comes from. My money comes from sponsorships, my money comes from clothing, my, my money comes from book sales. But as far as passive and, and, and strategic investments are concerned, I've, I've done a terrible job.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah, well, obviously you're very successful. Would you have become successful regardless of like, like, no matter what life throws your way, do you think you would have found a way to make things work now really quick? You might have noticed that short form content has become one of the biggest drivers of growth for the Iced Coffee Hour. After every episode like this one with Mike Malak, we turn the best moments into short form clips that we could then post throughout TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and more. But let's be honest, it takes a lot of time to do it correctly. That's why tools like our sponsor, Opus Clip are a game changer.

[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

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[Jack]

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[Mike Malak]

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[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

No matter what life throws your way, do you think you would have found a way to make things work a thousand percent?

[Mike Malak]

Because I mean, I mean first and foremost, like before I, before the term influencer existed, I was running social media strategy at Lovesack for a furniture company. You know, I joined them when they were doing, I don't know, 50 million annual. I. Everything that I do in life to an extent is finesse based. I mean, I'm an east coast guy. I've got the gift of gab. I've got great energy. I can walk into a room and make people laugh and make people happy and excited. And my friend Andrew Flanagan's father told me when I was or told him when I was a kid, he's like that Mayleck, he's gonna ass over feet into money for the rest of his life and you're gonna have to work your ass off. But he's not. And like I try to remain extremely positive always and bring a really positive vibe to every scenario. And in a world where we're extremely anemic on positivity, it's refreshing. And so I had this job at Love Sack. I had a 401k, I had stock ownership and this is coming with no credible background in marketing. Completely fake it till you make it. Like busted my way through the door by way of Sean Nelson, the CEO. And I was good there, you know what I'm saying? I mean I was just about to creep over six figure income there. I had stock ownership, 401k retirement, you know, and that's how, and that's when I was introduced to Logan. We started back and forth. I joined him on the business side first and then we started the podcast together in 2018.

[Jack]

So you still have your 401k now?

[Mike Malak]

No, I rolled it over. I do have inv. I do have money managers. Like I, I'm not like completely like an idiot. Like I've got teams that manage my cash. But as far as like, you know, like, oh, you know, I bought this in Houston. This, you know, two family in Houston in 99 and you know, tripled my money. Never. Never, dude, it's, it's more like, oh, I lost 20k in Vegas this weekend.

[Graham Stephan]

Where do you get this level of confidence from? Like, you're obviously very, very, very good with people and with words.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, I, you know, it's, it's, it's something I've kind of always had. I've always had it. It's, it's, it's, it's to an extent like sometimes kind of non credible and, and, and just created. But I think as you start to make credible, take credible actions in life and create an inventory of work, that's when your confidence really goes crazy. Like if I'd come and sat down here with you guys like five years ago. Like, you know, my vibe might be a little bit different, but you know, you, you start to put together a catalog of work and successes and best selling books and podcasts with presidents and you know, numerous things and all of a sudden you, that will boost your confidence. And that's why it's important that people that don't have confidence do fake it, right? And, and find a way to immerse themselves in activities that scare them. Because that wading into the resistance is what will create confidence for you if you don't already have it. I tell people all the time the res. Distance is where you want to be. You know, as, as yesterday would say seek discomfort, right? Like that is where you want to live. Whatever is saying, like you're not ready for this. Whatever is saying like you, you, you can't do this or might not be able to do this and it scares you and you feel your nerves and you sit down and you turn a camera on, you start sweating and stumbling over words you normally wouldn't. That's exact. You're doing exactly what you need to be doing to, to create confidence.

[Jack]

But how do you rationalize that confidence? When in the beginning of the podcast, or even maybe it was before we, we started filming, you were like, yeah, I have like horrible anxiety and like I snap this, you know, bracelet been.

[Mike Malak]

A, a tremendous undertaking. I mean my, my mental health is, is, it's, it's probably, that's probably the reason why it took as long as it took for us to get the show done. I mean I, as much as I show up for my audience, I'll go non external shows for months at a time. If I'm going through a really rough time, you know, I, I struggle a lot with my mind. I always have. It's, that's part of the reason why I went to substances in the first place and spent, you know, almost 10 years as a. And all the things that I used to do because I have to take steps every single day to cope with those situations. And so I guess that's kind of the answer to the question is like, that's my first job. Every day I clock into that job before you get a text back, before I do any of my brand discussions, before I talk about 1010 Burger, before I talk about any of the new companies we're launching or set up. You know, new guests are impulsive. It's, it's my first job, which is get up, rearrange my, my narrative. That's in my mind that might not be one that is Beneficial. It's go to the gym for an hour and sweat. Sweat and continue to work on my body and drink water and do all these things that, you know, you kind. At least I, and people like me have to do just to show up to job number two, which is this, you know, and so I write a lot about this, I talk a lot about this. I just, it's just something I've always dealt with, you know, and, and you can see it in some of the first shows. You know, I walked off set multiple times having panic attacks and having. Haven't had panic attacks as much anymore, but, but even a few months ago, you know, if I, any. Anytime I go through a major life trauma, which I've has never ended, I've been through so many, and they just kind of continue. I will. I'll be more prone to have those type of panic attacks and, and mental health emergencies or crisis.

[Graham Stephan]

Has making more money helped boost your confidence?

[Mike Malak]

It's funny because, like, the, the confidence and the mental health, ironically, like, as much together as you would think. Like, I don't know how to describe it. It's more of like, just like. Because like I said, like, I've always been super confident. Like, I, I will look back at, you know, the girls that I was dating when I was 15 years old or when I was 100 pounds overweight after I got, like, I always had a hot girlfriend. I always had a bunch of great friends. I always was doing something that people were like, how is he doing this? You know what I'm saying? Like, why is, why is, you know, he doing a show with this person? Or how did he get connected to the president? Or why, like, that kind of stuff is always just. I've always been able to make that stuff happen. So from a confidence standpoint, yeah, money surely helps fuel that, but it doesn't help with mental health. It, I mean, it just, it's that whole, like, money is gonna fix everything. It's like, dude, there's a reason why the, the, the problem doesn't go away for Anthony Bourdain or for Robin Williams or for, you know, other people who have endless amounts of money who, by the way, are also some of the most beloved loved. They're not. These are, These are people are like, not even really criticized. They're like people that are just universally adored and loved people because it's, it's. If it's just something that unfortunately is. Is you got to work on it all the time, you know, and it unfortunately continues to become more and More prevalent because of the phones and social media and, and everything that we have nowadays.

[Jack]

So at what point in your life though, would you say that you got rich and what in your life did improve then, if not for more mental health and like, you know, clarity and stuff?

[Mike Malak]

Like thing like that really improves the most about your mental health is like when you get to a point where I remember having to like put two bucks in gas into my gas tank, you know what I'm saying, to go to the methadone clinic. Like, I remember it, and I had a. Afford this like little Ford SUV that the catalytic converter was like broken on and it would smoke on the highway. And like, I would have to, like, I remember those days. And so when you, when, when I see money, me, I look at like, I see money as security. I don't look at it as like, oh, I could get a bigger house or I could get this. Like, I look at it as like, I can't. I know that I have gas for the next 20 years, you know what I'm saying? And like, I think, I think like that is the biggest blessing you could ever have. Like, yo, if I don't really this up in a meaningful way, like, there's a chance that I might not have to worry about that, you know what I'm saying? And like, that's what so many people out there, there, you know, have to think about when they wake up in the morning is like, how am I going to eat today? How am I gonna, how am I gonna pay my rent? And being able to kind of like put that away and, and to not have to think about that the second you wake up every day is, is, is the gratitude that does keep you sane when you don't always feel sane because you just can't help but feel so thankful for that ability in life to not have to, to worry about how you're going to eat that day and how you're gonna put gas in your car, you know what I'm saying? And so many people have to worry about that. And so that's definitely one of the biggest, one of the biggest changes. And then after that it just, it opens you up to, to explore and to try new things and to create new mediums and to evolve where if you're a nine to fiver, you really have to like hustle. And I did that. Like, I remember when I, when I first went over to work with Logan at Maverick after Tokyo, I, I talk a lot about risk in the book and about calculated risk, not gambling and so when I, when I was going to go over to Maverick and start working with, with Logan on the business side, I, I made sure that I took lovesac with me. So I consulted to Lovezack for a monthly raise as a consultant because I, because I wanted to make sure that like, hey, like, you know, you just did Tokyo and then you tase that rat and like, what are you gonna do next? Like, what if Maverick, even though it's doing $50 million a year in revenue right now in 2018, by the way, what's gonna happen? Or sorry, 2017, major difference between 2017, 2018 for that organization. What it, what happens if something worse happens, right? So for me, I'm a shraddle. I'm a big believer in diversified income, diversified revenue streams. And everybody needs to get into that habit. Like, you need multiple verticals of revenue to, to really feel that security because things happen.

[Jack]

And at what point would you say you became rich?

[Mike Malak]

Honestly, like, a lot of, a lot of my, A lot of my like, realizations about money have come from losses. Which is funny because I remember those days more. I, I'll, I'll always remember like, you know, my, When I first started getting like six, six figure wires. Like, I'll remember that and like, okay, like, wow, I just gotta, you know, check for $260,000. Like that's insane. You know what I'm saying? Like, it just, and it just hits your account, you wake up and you're eventually gets to a moment where you're just like, it just goes in with the rest of the money and maybe it doesn't even hit you the same. But I, the days I remember the most are. It may be like my, the first year I had to pay seven figure taxes was probably like, I, I remember the day like it was yesterday in. My accountant called and shout out Alex and he was like, hey, we just, you know, revised all your numbers and we have your final figure. And I, I think in my mind I was like, you know, 560, 720, like, where's it gonna, where's it gonna land? This is when I really first started making money. And he was like, like, he was like, by next Monday you got to wire out like 1.23 million to the. And I was like, I was like, what? And I rem. And I, And I remember my bank, my bank of America. I looked at my account and the number for the wire had to go down to another line. So like, so like, you know how it's all lines of your spends and And. And debits and credits in your account, it had to go down to the next. It was like 1 comma, 230, like, and then 0, 0. You know what I'm saying? Like, it went down to another line. And I was like, bro, this is. This is horrible. And. And now I look back and I'm like, obviously it was a blessing to have made that much money and, and, and to. To. To, I guess, be able to contribute, to fix that many potholes, but, like, just when you start sending those. And. And I remember there was the Drake lyric before I ever even made that much money. And he was like, now nowadays it's six figures. And I would always hear him say that before I even started making money. And then when, by the time it came to me, it was seven figures, and I was like, oh, my God. And now I've done that multiple times, obviously. And it's just been, you know, when you start. When you start moving in. In those levels, it's, you know, that's kind of when you start having the realizations, like, okay, like, I've. I've made some money here, but for me, but for me, the difference, for me, dude, and the difference with me and every other creator and I really, like, maybe with the exception of, like, maybe banks to an extent, is like, my true, like, wealth is in network and access. Like, I just have finessed and like, created a network that is, like, I'm just.

[Graham Stephan]

I'm so curious. Who is the most famous person in your phone, bro, we gotta even believe it.

[Mike Malak]

You could. I mean, we can pro. I mean, whoever you want. Want in. Whoever you want. We can get on FaceTime with Dave Chappelle right now. I mean, we can. I spend nights out in Dave Chappelle with Dave Chappelle in Australia and Brisbane. I. I remember I was in. I was in Gold coast on this trip and we had done shows with UFC with Perth, but I split off after, and I went to Gold coast and I was at the Langham, and I was getting into the elevator and I see somebody walk by me with security. I was like, I wonder who that was. And. And he turns around, I turn around, he goes. He goes. Goes, mike. And I was like, dave, what the hell? He goes, what you doing here, man? Like, I. I usually could do a better accent, but he's like, I got this show tonight in Brisbane. He's like, and I was with these two Australian girls. He was like, bring them up. Bring them up to my show, you know, in Brisbane tonight. And so I Go up there and he does this like sold out arena show and his manager texts me, he's like Dave, want you to come back to, to the, to his red room. Cuz his, he has no green room. Is a red room. I go back there, he's got a, his, a giant speaker. He's just sitting back there with like tequila and joints and, and it's just me, him, these two Aussie like you know, Instagram models or whatever. And he's talking to me all night about like what you guys are doing in the podcast and what those brothers are doing for the sport of boxing is you gotta let me tell that story. And, and you know, and I, I'm like dude, do you eat by any chance? I was like, do you want to like should we go get dinner? Should we go out to dinner? And he's, he's wheeling this, this portable speaker with him and he keeps playing the same radio head song over. He's just as eclectic as you. He's playing unreleased podcast. Him, Talib Kweli, Bill Murray, Kanye, like podcast. I don't think I've ever even heard, seen the light of day potentially. But we go out, we go to dinner. This restaurant, Brisbane hooks us up. Bris Vegas as they call it in Australia, all this Australian wagu. We go to this, to this club after. And I remember I had a, I had a. One of the most embarrassing moments for me of all of this, like fame and, and, and is I was in this club in Australia and it's me and Dave spelt literally just standing by ourselves, two of us, his buddy's DJing and this Aussie like 17 year old Aussie kid or maybe a little bit older, comes up to me in front of Dave and goes, hey, can I get a picture with you? Because he's a you because he's a new age YouTube. And I, I just, I wanted to say dude, do you know who you. You're in front of right now? This is the greatest comic of all time potentially. Like are you. And I, I think I did, I think I pulled him around and said that to him. But dude, it's, it's, that has always been my forte. So, so as, as far as like the, the combo of me and Logan is concerned, he's always been the business side, he's always been the strategic mind, he's always been the pull and I'm the handshaker. And, and truthfully like there's, there's a bunch of, bunch of, there's a bunch of comparatives and complimentaries like, you know, you've got fanatics with Michael Rubin. He's got a right hand named Will Macris, who is incredible at, at handshakes and war and room work. That is my bread and butter. That is what I do. If I told you how many of the guests that were on Impulsive, that were relationships of mine that were brought on because I had spent, you know, three days with them in Vegas and out every night at Xs and you know, or, or, or you know, they were going to fly into Saudi Arabia and I said, okay, I have the plug in Riyadh or in Jeddah and I connect them with, you know, Faisal. Shout out Faisal. And you know, I, I've worked every country on this planet, have the plug everywhere. Like when I go to Copenhagen in two weeks and I want to go to a beach town in Sweden, you know, in a car, like, it'll, the car will be ready. You know, like, it's, that's what I do. For me, I'm just like a big relationships guy and, and I truly care about people and, and that goes from all the way from, from, you know, Chappelle and, and, and those type of people all the way down to my audience. You know, not down to, but like across to my audience. Like, even I said it's not what I've need.

[Graham Stephan]

Do you have to like networking to be good at it?

[Mike Malak]

100, dude. Because, because also, like, like, you can't fake this.

[Graham Stephan]

I'm just saying, like it's for the audience. Let's just say there's someone out there who doesn't know anybody, but they want.

[Jack]

Graham doesn't like networking.

[Graham Stephan]

I hate network.

[Mike Malak]

Logan, you, you couldn't drag him to anything. He just doesn't do it. And, and so what, so what does it take? I mean, and how do you do it? Once again, it's, it's, it's definitely making conscious decision to, to go swim in the water and to go towards the resistance. The idea. Like, dude, I, I can't tell you how many times I've gone out in. I was at the Box in London with Alex from the Chain Smokers. These are all just random nights that just pop in my mind and like a couple business gu. Months ago and they'll hang out there, but at some point in the night, you know, it was like 4 in the morning. I make a decision where I'm just like, I think there's more to see tonight and I'll just go explore. Like, I'll just go out and depending on Where I am, maybe security, maybe not, Whatever. And I'll go. And I met. I ran into a group of young Macedonian dudes, and they were like, let's go to the casino. And I'm like, let's go. And I. All of a sudden, those are my. That's my new crew for the night. Like, it's not just Chet. It's like, dude, I will hang out, out with anyone. To your point. Love meeting people. And I don't care what you do. I. I'll sit and talk at the bus stop and talk to the. To a person at the bus stop for 20 minutes.

[Graham Stephan]

How do you keep in touch with everybody, though? Because I could only handle maybe 10 people.

[Mike Malak]

If you even saw Dude.

[Graham Stephan]

But really quick, here's a fun fact for you. If you're looking for an easy way to cut back in your expenses without really changing your lifestyle, then your phone bill is one of the best places to start. Most people are still paying 60, 80, or even more than $100 a month on something they barely even think about. That's why we're really excited to be partnering with today's sponsor, Helium Mobile, because they're doing phone service completely different.

[Jack]

I know this might sound crazy, but Helium has a plan that is literally $0 per month. They give you 3 gigabytes of data, 100 minutes of calls, and 300 texts with no contract, no credit card. And yes, it actually works. It's absolutely perfect if you're just a light user or you want a cheap second phone line.

[Graham Stephan]

They also just launched the Sprout plan, made specifically for kids. For $5 a month. Your kid gets their own line and you to set limits, approve usage, and even manage how they spend rewards from inside of the app.

[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

Link in the description to try Helium Mobile today and enter the code coffee to get $10 of cloud points, which could be redeemed towards gift cards to your favorite brands after 90 days. Again, the link is down below in the description. Thank you so much. And now let's get back to the episode.

[Mike Malak]

If you even could today might even better slowed it. Like, look at. Those are just from while we sat down. No, that's just since we sat down. Those blue dots.

[Graham Stephan]

Dude, this is every, like few minutes.

[Jack]

Not even.

[Mike Malak]

It's. It's like, oh, my gosh, every minute.

[Jack]

You'Re getting a new tax.

[Graham Stephan]

358, 3, 46, 339, 38, 36, 32, 32, 27, 18, 17, 12, 309. That's all in the last.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah. And. And I don't know. I mean, if you see any name, there's might be some names that you know in there, but it's. It's. You know, it's usually like there's business stuff, there's travel planning, there's, you know, it's like, it's. It's. It just never really ends.

[Jack]

Holy, that is hilarious.

[Mike Malak]

It's not.

[Jack]

So how often are you just leaving people on red and just the time.

[Mike Malak]

All the. I did the. The classic story that everybody always talks about is one of Jimmy's fa. Beast favorite thing to do is to call creators when he goes for walks. Everybody knows this, right? And he has brought it up, like, multiple times on shows. He's like, the only person that doesn't answer my call on it is Mike. Doesn't answer my call, doesn't respond to my. I'm like, dude, I. The greatest mind in our generation, like in our group, in our creative set. Jimmy is a genius, an actual genius. But I just. I don't. I don't always see it. Like, I see it. It'll get mixed up with, you know, the guy at the bus stop, literally, or like the bottle girls from Atlanta, like a Joe or. Or. Or whoever. Right? And it's just. I think like a. A certain level of. Of the networking thing is just. Is just priority control, which obviously, even in that, in certain cases, like, beast is a failure on my part. But like, you know, managing the alligator closest to the boat.

[Graham Stephan]

How does someone get started networking like that assuming they have no connections, no podcast. They just want to meet great people who are levels above them.

[Mike Malak]

I think every city has players. They're. They're not. Are. They're not us. Right? But like every, like in Orange, Connecticut, you know, which is like a city of probably 20,000 people. There's. There's someone there that is connected to someone above them. It's a. It's. It's to an extent, like I hate to use the term, but like they call it ladder climbing and you know what I'm saying, Like one room just is simply going to put you in the next one and the first room is not going to be attractive. It's not. It wasn't for me. My first room might have been an AA meeting. Like the first person that ever gave me a chance was this lady named Denise who was doing freelance work with aol. And she was like, I just like your energy. I think you're, I think you're a good person and I want to give you a chance taking pictures and writing about local businesses, you know what I'm saying? And, and, and now the room is mar a lago, you know what I'm saying? Or it's, or it's, you know, somewhere in Abu Dhabi. Dhabi, you know what I'm saying? Or I've got deals now in Dubai. I've done a ton of work with Saudi. I've, you know, like it's. It. It's wild how some creative application could bring you to places that you never thought it would. Especially in 2025. Especially in 2025.

[Jack]

Couple things. That's funny. You're using that chapstick. Cuz I went on Amazon and I sorted by the cheapest per chapstick because they tell you like the.

[Graham Stephan]

By unit.

[Jack]

Yeah, by unit. That's the cheapest.

[Mike Malak]

So. So this shirt was sent to me by Culture Kings. I did not pay for it. This hat was sent to me by a guy named Aug11 is his company. He sends these to me for free. These shoes, these Travis's I got as a, as a. A brand deal with a. A clothing store. I'm. I'm so cheap, dude. Like I. And it's. I really, really. I'm just such a. I like, I don't like spending money money on. I just don't. I just don't. I, I get offended by it. I've always been around like reckless spenders that like just make me like cringe a little bit. And Logan was always kind of an example of that because he has just different habits than I do. But now it's like Aiden is like watching. Aiden is just. I've never seen anything like that before.

[Jack]

I'm curious.

[Graham Stephan]

What about Aiden?

[Mike Malak]

Oh, I mean, dude, he'll. He'll just, he'll book a la. No, sorry. He'll book a Miami to Vegas to la. LA to San Diego to Vegas to LA to San Diego to Vegas to Miami, jet. Like as opposed to normal people who would book A private jet like normal people. Normal rich people who book a private jet based on their legs that they know they're doing. Then like he'll be like no, I'm not going on that anymore. And the jets like well I mean you know you paid in the cruise here and you're paying for this, right? He's, he Aiden's like paying that out.

[Graham Stephan]

Of pocket or is. Does he have like sponsors? He's paying out of pocket.

[Mike Malak]

It's out of pocket pocket but he has money.

[Jack]

So how much is something like that going to cost?

[Graham Stephan]

20, 30 grand probably.

[Mike Malak]

What for? For the one.

[Graham Stephan]

For one. For one.

[Mike Malak]

It depends on the leg. I mean he.

[Jack]

Hundreds of thousands of dollars just like that.

[Mike Malak]

I just am always shocked when he does like that because I've known Aiden now for like you know, a good several years and we lived obviously together in, in the Clyborne house with banks and he's just, he, he just. It's the one thing I will say about him is he just doesn't understand and real life because he was like what like you know, 18 or 19 when he started making absurd amounts of money. So he never had to put two bucks in his gas tank.

[Graham Stephan]

But have you ever tried to talk to him and say hey man, maybe we should dial back 20%?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, yeah. About something that I'm not even going to begin to talk about but he's got some stuff coming up that is. I, I tried just everyone know I tried. I tried my absolute best. I love, I love Aiden. He's, he's, he's incredible and TO t manages them now and, and that's my best friend and, and he Tov has done a good job of keeping him within reason but he just, I, I guess, I don't know. I guess some people I see outside of the industry all the time. I mean you get some of these people that have the just levels of money that doesn't make sense and they'll.

[Graham Stephan]

I've joked that, that if someone pays me 100 grand a year I will save them 10x that.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

As long as they just call me before and I approve or disallow spending.

[Mike Malak]

The thing is some of them don't want it dude. Like I, I remember I, I had this guy fly us from LA to Miami for F1 and this was several years ago and you know G650 and you know the whole nine and there's like seven of us on the jet and he's like hey. He's like, you know there's, there's These three girls in Vegas. I want to fly out here. I was like, okay, like, sick. What are you gonna do? You're gonna, you know, book him tickets on the flight or whatever. He sent a 550. Just grab them. Like, they tried jacks, like, taxis, and that's in a 550. Vegas to Miami is 80 grand. Yeah, something like that. Maybe because it's such a. It's such a great jet. But, like, gosh, some of these people don't want your. They don't want your advice. And by the way, they'll be mad at you. Like, I've gotten had people be like, if. If you're their guest, especially, like, if I'm in. You know, if I'm in Saudi or in one of these countries that. That their culture is to take care of you. Like, I've had times where I've just been like, dude, I don't need to. That. I don't need that. Like, I. Like, you don't need to send a. A Maybach to pick me up at the. Like. And I have so many random stories that when you ask me questions, I just think of them. Like, I remember my ex got. She got like. Remember when those floods were in Dubai?

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

She got diverted to Abu Dhabi. She. She was flying through Qar and a Kusui on. On Qatar Airways, and she got diverted to Abu Dhabi, and she was going to have to wait, like, some, like, very manageable amount of time to, like, take, like, a hop over from Abu Dhabi to Dubai or whatever, or. Or from Qatar to Dubai, whatever. She got stuck at one of those airports, and they were just like, we'll pick her up and drive, like, across an entire country in this, like, extended range Rover autobiography. Like, they just. In certain places, it's of. The Arab culture is extremely hospitable. It's part of their culture. Like, you cannot say no to these. These people. You can't. They won't allow it. I've had them come up to me at restaurants and be like, you're not eating here tonight. You're eating at my home. And one time I said no. And they. They'll pull on your beard. It's like a. It's like a sign of, like, we don't accept your answer. And, like, I'll just. And like, I said, like, I'll do anything. So I'll just go to their house and eat with their family. Like, I. I'm. I'm a really, like, adventurous person.

[Graham Stephan]

Have you ever seen money change people for the worse?

[Mike Malak]

It's not often that you're around for or moment of inception as well as the timeline it takes to see that type of change occur. I don't know, dude. I'm around. I'm like, like truthfully, like I'm around great people. Like, I really, I really cherish. I think, I think because of how I curate my, my circle and how I, how I, how I think about my network and the people I spend time with. Like, I love all the people that I'm around and I, and, and so what that means is, is they're the ones leaving the big tips at the tables. They're the ones like always saying thank you, always saying like, you know, being appreciative of their teams, of the, of the service of the people that we work alongside. Like, you know, some of it has been learned and some of it had to be instructed or, or you know, didn't come intuitive to a 18 or 19 or 20 year old with millions of dollars. But like, I don't know, I, I've been very blessed to not really wait to witness these, these nasty people that, that you know, or, or people that are affected by money like that. You know, I see a lot of giving. I see a lot of Steve will do it. I see a lot of Aiden does. Aiden employs probably 40 people. I mean he, his friend, every one of his friends is on payroll. You know, I mean it's, it's like I see a lot of, I see a lot of good and a lot of people that get. A lot, that get bad names.

[Graham Stephan]

I'm curious what separates that from a lot of the people who feel like they're stuck in a victim mindset set.

[Mike Malak]

That is the separation. It's because they're not doing that. Right. Like may. Maybe at one point they were but it's, it's just, it's such a, it's just that strategy is just not, it's, it's just not going to bring you anywhere in life. It's just not. I mean, do, do you guys think that like, how would you describe that? You know, like, like they get into this like wo of me state of mind and they just kind of live there.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah, exactly. Like it seems like in your life you've really seen and optimized for opportunity and that you see the positive in just about anything and, and, and the sky is opened up for you in a sense because you're able to see what so many people don't. And I, I think when you're in that mindset of just like I Can't do it. Everything I do fails, but it's not.

[Jack]

Everything I do fails. It's like everything around me fails me. That's more the victim mindset is like, I tried this and then this person cheated me out of this money. Or like I was just walking and then I tripped and I fell. Or like I was, I was, it's a stupid one. Like I was like, I was driving and, you know, a brick fell out of the car in front of me and smashed my windsh. I have to put it on credit.

[Graham Stephan]

Because I don't have the cash.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Jack]

How am I supposed to start my own business when I have this right? I'm tripping and falling everywhere I go.

[Mike Malak]

Life is, life is hard, dude. And I don't, I don't even really fault those people because, and I want them to not be like that. And I, I certainly had points in my life where I was like that. But I think, I think, I think there's two things you have to do. I think one is you have to understand and, and these are so cle. Both of these things are so cliche. You have to understand the how, how long this whole thing, hopefully if you're blessed and, and, and, and things work out for you in life, how long this thing is. This life is. I think people really expect stuff to just happen, you know, and they don't. And they don't see the failures. I mean, I mean, dude, I spent a really, really good chunk of my life just fighting every single day to survive. Like, you look at me now and you know, and, and, and if you didn't know my backstory, and luckily I've been so vocal about it that like the majority of people do, but you don't know my backstory. You just see someone who got, who it. Everything kind of happened for, you know, like it kind, kind of just was in the right place at the right time. I'm sure that's how his life's always been. You know, they didn't see the state sponsored detox. They didn't see me paying for bread with an EBT card. They didn't see me trying to find a couch to sleep on. See me asking someone at the gas station for a dollar so that I can get to the clinic. They didn't see that stuff. You know what I'm saying? And, and so when you, when you, when you are constantly comparing yourself to people that are doing great in that exact moment, you're going to, you're going to get into that victim mindset. You're going to think to yourself, well, why? I'm trying my best. Why is it all work? But you, you're not seeing their, their, their zooming, doubt, life. And so I think, like, one of the most important things is just patience, is really just patient. Patience and calculated risk and, and knowing that you sometimes just have to zoom out and really just be appreciative of things that are going right in your life. Because, because if you're breathing, watching this episode right now, something's going right for you. I don't care how bad the rest of your life is, something is going right for you because you're here. You're still here. You're watching this episode. You woke up this, this morning. You have opportunity to, to put one foot in front of the other and to take one step to this room, to meet this person, to do this thing and then build off of that and build off of that. There's no. This isn't a lotto ticket. You know what I'm saying? For me, it was. It was Denise in aa, it was Patsy and trading penny stocks. It was Craigslist ads to meet Sean Nelson. It was working for him in a closet at Love Sack. Then it was a desk. Then it was a intro to Logan Paul. Then it was. Was, you know, 80,000 a year with Maverick. Then it was starting a podcast, then it was my own show. Then it was businesses. It's all stepping stones. It's not, you know, there's no, there's no today's this, tomorrow's that. So it's not how it works. That's, number one is patience and, and zooming out. And number two is, I think Gary. This is a Gary V structure, but I've always loved it so much. Is trying your best to find an intersection of what you love and what you're good at and like, really finding a sweet spot there. Because if you love painting but you are awful at it, you can keep doing it if you want, but, like, just understand and be realistic about the outcome, about the potential outcomes. You know what I'm saying? Like, really dig deep and, and think of what you're good at. Like, what are you good at? You. You are good at money management and the discussion of money and real estate. And you said all, okay, wow. There's this intersection between creator and the desire to be educated and made aware of money. And also an intrigue and a curiosity about the, the. The finances of the rich and famous. Wow, look at that beautiful intersection and that wonderful vertical that's been created Right. So you saw that. You saw that before anybody else did. You got into it and you became the guy at it. Right? So it's like, like, it's, it's. You just gotta understand your strengths. And for me, my strengths have always been what they are. Which is, which is positivity, the ability to talk, the ability to disarm people and make them feel comfortable in conversation, which is extremely important for podcasting and networking. Okay. Hey, I'm. It's me. Let crack a smile. Laugh. Let's. Let's link.

[Jack]

Right, so I'm curious. You said that Mr. Beast calls you all the time.

[Mike Malak]

Not anymore. I think this was back when I was getting more views. Okay.

[Jack]

Mr. Beast calls you and you don't answer.

[Mike Malak]

Answer.

[Jack]

You have probably very famous people reaching out to you all the time calling you, and you don't answer. Who is someone that when they call you, you always pick up?

[Mike Malak]

My mom. Number one. Number one. My mom, my family, my friends. Manager Jeff for sure. Jeff Wittick. People that I know that need me. If you're my friend, you can count on me. That's a family member. You can count on me. I'm, I. I'm back to Connecticut, which means lax to JFK and a two and a half, $300 hour, two and a half hour, 300 hour Uber ride to Connecticut once every month or two months. I am obsessed with my family. They're the reason I'm still alive. My mother's the reason why I'm still here. Like, I'm always answering the phone for my family. Like, number one. Then, like, yeah, it extends out obviously to, to a Logan who, you know, obviously gave me opportunities that, that, you know, have changed my life. And we obviously do a tremendous amount of business together. Um, but. But certainly Jeff, Jeff is like manager Jeff is like kind of my guy here in la. And me and him have, have beyond just the business side, really had created a friendship together.

[Graham Stephan]

In terms of your relationship, both business and personal, with Logan, do you ever feel like sometimes you're not able to go and branch off on your own as much? Because a lot of it might be linked to Logan and his brand, his image.

[Mike Malak]

There's so much, so much misconception and, like, misinterpretation of mine and Logan's relationship. It's, it's, it's, it's wild. Like, I can do anything I want. I can do anything. If I wanted to start a podcast tomorrow called Impulse, so Impulse, Evo and do us, he would be like, great. Anything. I'm not Doing is simply a result of my own lack of desire to evolve or insecurities or anxieties. He, he, he has wanted me to succeed in my own lane more than anybody in the world. Like literally 10 loves 10, 10 Burger loves the night shift, loves all the stuff I do on the side when I commentate for karate combat, when I any of the things that I do my book, he was the bit. He bought me a billboard. Like he is, he is. He's always been the biggest promoter of, of me as a brand and so it, you know, I don't, I don't think as far as relationships go in, in, in the space, it's like who, you know, who has a more storied relate. I mean dude, we've done so much together. We've, we've, we've built entities together and, and there's always been so much speculation about how our dynamic is, you know, on show off, show business side. And I mean people just never seem to get it right. It's always like, you know, like almost like Logan some sort of boss. And certainly there were times when he was in 2018, 2019. But I mean him and I have been, have been, you know, complimentaries to each other for a number of years now. He calls for advice, I call him for advice. We talk through strategies, strategies and, and guests and conversations and, and he's been extremely gracious in terms of like my ownership on the show. Like he didn't, I certainly don't have to have as much as I have or didn't have to. And so he's been a, you know, he's been a great, he's been an incredible partner and, and it's just so miss, it's, it's just crazy how miss the misconceptions about him as a person. And I think over the next couple years a lot of the stories that have wronged them and a lot of the big, you know, commentaries that have gone on around him, around certain topics will be right sized and, and reversed and, and you know, him and I have had to swim through that for a long time. And you know, it's funny because as, as much as I've re reaped the benefits of having him as a friend, I've also had to go through all of the landslides and, and pitfalls too. And I've lost brand deals and, and had, you know, things pulled because of the relationship as well. But you know, who do you think.

[Jack]

Are some of the most misunderstood celebrities?

[Mike Malak]

Logan and Jake, number one. I mean Logan and Jake number one. I mean it's, it's. I think, I think they. Because of their own doing, don't get me wrong. Like obviously the stuff that they did at the beginning of their career, right? And like I agree with that. But the why they did it, the age involved, the maturity levels and the shifts in who they are as people. People decided we hate these guys. We hate Logan and Jake and we will never unhate them. It does not matter what they do. And there's certainly a massive, massive community of people that just simply don't like them. And so I would say that they, they certainly, you know, you know, are probably at the top of that, at the top of that bucket. And it. I've been, I've been so blessed, me personally, because I've never really had to deal with a lot of that because I came out and just said, hey, like listen, like I used to love crack and you know, I like stars and like, you know, like I never said like, hey kids, like buy my candy, you know what I'm saying? Like, like watch my content to learn how to do building blocks. Like I'm, I was a piece of. I try every day to be less of a piece than I was the day before. And that's like, you know, so people don't expect it. No, I mean I think, I think I, I try to speak to a community of people who struggle community of people who struggle with, with substance and with, with mental health problems and relationships and, and, and, and need a voice from somebody who want, who perseveres and continues to struggle, you know, every, every day. And, and so it kind of makes your job easy when you put out a book that talks about the stuff that I talked about in the fifth Vital. It, it, you know, it's like, okay, he, he's. He. We know this guy and who he is. He's not pretending, you know, so.

[Jack]

And to round out the finance and like money business conversation, I'm just curious, where is the money coming from on you year end?

[Mike Malak]

Up until this year, the majority of it has been sponsorships on my YouTube channel. So on the night shift, like every week since, I mean I'll just throw some stuff out there because this isn't the case anymore because I've been a little bit not as consistent and brand spend is in a kind of a weird place right now to be honest with you. From about 2018 until call it like last year, right, or into last year, every video that I put out on the night shift generally had like a. Between like 30 and $70,000 sponsor in it. So like. Yeah, so. So like for a long time. And I have had great brand sponsorship connections and it's, it's been. Sponsorships have been great. My merch did well when I did it, but I stopped doing that ad revenue on you YouTube. Snapchat revenue, which you know about, right? Snapchat revenue. I was one of the first creators in the creator program as a snapstar. When the program first started, it was a dramatic amount of money. Like I mean disgusting amounts of money. Like the amount of money people. Oh my God. I mean it was like, it was like PE. I mean I was having personally like 40, $50,000 a month every month. Like it was, it was a lot of money. And I'm talking about not a ton of posts. Like I would post here and there.

[Graham Stephan]

But are we talking about the stories?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah. Where you with the last photo is.

[Graham Stephan]

Like some bikini or something like that?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, yeah. There are girls. I won't name them, but they're like, dude, like have been having 300, $400,000 months on Snapchat for ages. It's CR and people don't even know about this dude. Like, like and. And you know who the big dog is on Snapchat? Austin. Believe it or not, Austin has been like Austin McBr has been crushing on Snapchat for a long time.

[Graham Stephan]

I thought David do was but I mean he's had.

[Mike Malak]

So I. I don't know where he's at. Was doing. I thought he was doing like a mill month.

[Graham Stephan]

That's what I heard too.

[Mike Malak]

And I think that's accurate. So Snapchat, YouTube revenue, cross sponsorship and ads then Impulsive obviously is a fully separate entity. So any kind of ad revenue we do there. Any across all of the short channels as well. And then any kind of sponsorship activity that we do on Impulsive.

[Jack]

And you had a percentage of that?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Jack]

And is that a percentage of sponsorships and ad revenue and it's flat across all of those things.

[Mike Malak]

Correct? Yeah, yeah. On. On the Impulsive side. So I'm just like basically call like a co own of the show which. Which has. Logan was very generous.

[Graham Stephan]

And when Jack and I first started the aced coffee hour, it seemed like we had to figure out everything ourselves. From the best cameras to use, how to edit, how to source sponsorships. Every day had new challenges. That's why if you're starting your own business, you know exactly what I'm talking about and why today's sponsor is so relevant. Shopify.

[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

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[Jack]

Shopify also makes marketing really easy with simple email and social campaigns to reach customers wherever they're scrolling. Plus they handle everything from inventory to shipping to returns. Basically all of the complicated stuff you don't want to deal with.

[Graham Stephan]

So if you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify your big business ideas into.

[Jack]

So sign up for a $1 per month trial at shopify.comich all lowercase that is shopify.comich we also have a link down below in the description. If you guys just want to click it there, it's $1. You can change your life. Create that business you've always wanted to start. It would mean the world to me if I saw a comment a year from now saying I saw that Shopify ad read you guys did created a business. Now I'm a millionaire. Maybe it could be you. Maybe not.

[Mike Malak]

Not.

[Jack]

I don't know. Thank you so much Shopify for sponsoring this episode.

[Graham Stephan]

Why are you still in California? I feel like you would save so much money just moving to Las Vegas, moving to Puerto Rico, especially if you're.

[Jack]

Traveling as much as you are.

[Graham Stephan]

Dude, the Puerto Rico move alone, I mean that would be so easy because Logan's there.

[Mike Malak]

I don't know. I don't know man. I, I, Is it the network? Yeah, to an extent. I think, I think I'm a creature of habit to an extreme extent. I mean I, I've certainly have been my whole life. When I fall into a habit, I can stick with it for some time. And, and you know, I, we la and California is just in a, in a terribly sad state of despair outside of the taxes. Okay, like for forget cuz, cuz one I'll say this right off the bat if, if it was 53% taxes but I loved where I lived and I loved the state and the, and the state of things things. You couldn't pay me a percentage back to leave and Go somewhere I didn't like. I'm not. I will not change my location based on money. I just won't do it. If I was, if I was making less or something maybe. But like I just won't do it. I want to. There's nothing more important to your happiness than being happy where you are. And so it like truthfully like if you, if you're gonna have 10 more money but you're going to be somewhere you don't want to be. It just to me that was just never a trick attractive. It just wasn't to me. And so, and so now that gets into a weird place because California is in a bit of a state of despair. I was introduced to California in 2015. I fell in love with the state. I fell in love with the weather, the hills, how it looks. It's not the California that I fell in love with but I just, I don't know. I just haven't been able to pry myself from, from the things that I do like about it. And, and the weather being one of them. You know there are people here Tov and Kefa and, and who are my best friends. Manager Jeff is still here and you know his house luckily held up in the Palisades. And and and also keep in mind too one last note on it. There are these, there are these perceived exoduses to Vegas to the big one was Miami. Everybody's going to Miami. The whole world's going to going there. The Nelk boys, Steve will do it and a bunch of only fans girls went to Miami. Okay like, like don't overdo it. Okay like it's not and, and a bunch of tiktokers right? Like I walk down in Brickell and it's like every second is like dude, like can we do a street interview? The big dogs are still in the the two coastal cities. They just are a. Some people move to Texas. But dude, you want to, you want to talk about heavy hit fighters. They're not scared off by the extra 12% the big big dogs. Like I'm talking like I'm good friends with really good friends with Rich from Fashion Nova. He just dropped 141 million on the one like he didn't say like oh I think like I'll go to. He actually sorry he did because he just bought a 30 million dollar house in Miami as well. But he's at a level where he can, he can do that but he stays here. He can stay anywhere he wants in the world. He can go to Monaco, he can go anywhere he wants to, he lives in here. Because no matter what you say, if you're playing in that echelon, you, you own in Brentwood, you own in Palisades or Malibu because it's, you know, there's people in Miami. Don't get me wrong, Tom, we just did a show with Tom Brady. He's got a great house and, and you know, there's a number of people who have homes there. But, but the, the two coastal centers are, are still New York and la. And, and, and so as you continue to spend time with these people and network with these people and work those rooms, you're, you know, I'm, I go to membership clubs here in New York. I'm at Zero Bond in New York. I go to Living Room here and Bird Streets.

[Jack]

And why do you go to these membership clubs?

[Mike Malak]

That's where, it's where everybody's kind of hanging out now. We've, the, the, the, the nightlife has moved towards membership.

[Jack]

So what is it? What is that?

[Mike Malak]

Every city has three or four good membership clubs, clubs that you have to pay a annual dues to and you have to be accepted into the club. And certain ones are harder to get into than others. But basically there's usually a really good restaurant, there's a really good lounge, you could host meetings there. And it's where kind of like the upper echelon of people go. And so like I, I can give you every city. Like this is, this is like my world, right? So I can give you every city. It's LA has a place called Bird Streets. There's San San Vicente, there's a bunch of like older ones. But right now it's like Bird Streets and a place called Living Room. And Living Room is extremely, extremely selective. Like I have to go do interviews to try to have a committee vote me in right now. And that. So Living Room is. I don't even know if I'm supposed to talk about this. Maybe, but I don't care. But maybe don't. I'm sure they're fine with it, but it's like maybe $4,000 for the year, right? Oh, it's not bad, it's not crazy. Then you've got in Vegas they're opening Zero Bond. We'll be at the Zero Bond is a New York based membership club, but there's one opening in Vegas. Oh yeah, you should know about this. I, I'll connect you to, to the guys there.

[Graham Stephan]

How much is that?

[Mike Malak]

About the same. Maybe 3,000 or 3,500. That'll be at the WID. So members only.

[Jack]

So you just go whenever you want or is it scheduled meetings at.

[Mike Malak]

No, you can go whenever you want.

[Jack]

And what is it, just like a hangout?

[Mike Malak]

It's a hangout. It's a lounge. But like. Except like you're. You know, it's. It's. Travis Scott is at that table and then the next one over is, you know, like Michael House. Yeah. Super elevated. Not. Not so. Because it is like, so house. But it's. Whereas the pricing is about the same. They're more selective in their. In their process of accepting people. So you can. It's not just because you can write that you have to be accepted into the. Into the place.

[Graham Stephan]

Got it. Okay.

[Mike Malak]

You have to be usually nominated by or referred to by two or more guests, and then you have to be accepted by the committee at the club. Most of the time.

[Graham Stephan]

Makes me want to do it.

[Mike Malak]

No, I want to do the Vegas one. I want to do the Vegas one is where you want to be for you.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

And then in New York, you've got. You've got. Zero Bond is a great one in New York. But then Crane Club is a tower establishment, so Crane Club's been crushing it in New York. All of it is built off of a very London feel. In London is a very, very membership heavy city. And so. So if you're not at a membership club in London, you're really not doing the right thing. It's. It's not like you're going to like clubs and bars.

[Graham Stephan]

It's.

[Mike Malak]

There's. Annabelle is probably the most famous membership club in the world. I mean, you're talking about some people dropping a million to $2 million to get into a special section of Annabel which has unguarded Picassos on the wall, like it's the real deal. Then there's a place called 22 in London. There's a place called Arts Club and, you know, they serve some of the best otoro and some of, you know, great stakes and it just. Good conversation, good people, protected, secure. Where. You know, I was at Bird Streets a couple weeks ago and, you know, Taylor and Travis came in and they're just sitting there and they don't have to worry about who they're next to. You know what I'm saying? And I mean, they should. In my c. Circumstance is this idiot. But like, but it's an interesting dynamic. And I don't. I don't. I don't currently belong to any. I'm finally making a. I will get the zero ball.

[Jack]

How Are you, you in there?

[Mike Malak]

Then you can go as guests. You can go with anyone who has a membership.

[Graham Stephan]

So is that the, the shift from nightlife right now has gone from like clubs and going to like what was the one. One Oak that used to be like really big here?

[Mike Malak]

Oak closed and is now keys there. There's certainly so, so first and foremost, as far as nightlife is concerned, alcohol is in decline. Alcohol is rapid, permanent decline. They're saying yes, there's just a lot of people out there who just don't want to drink al anymore. It's very, you know, it's, it's, it's very detrimental to your health, to your decision making obviously. And so some people are going towards psychedelics, some people are just doing drugs. Like there's a lot of stuff going on out there. But alcohol has become, it's in decline. And so what you're seeing along with that is you're seeing a lot of very alcohol dependent scenarios also decline. And that means super clubs. Because there's really no way to, to want to spend that time in a club like a super club without being under the influence. It's just not a. So I think you're, I think the trend will continue to push towards lounges, places that you can have conversation, which is great. And, and, and of course like we live in a world where everybody wants to have. They want to be in an aspirational scenario. Everybody wants to be at the place that you can't get into. You know what I'm saying? It's just kind of, kind of the thing. And right now that's membership clubs. But it is also even in behind the, the, the, the, the rise of Delilah, for example. I mean Delilah in Vegas. I believe Delilah in Vegas is the number one producing restaurant on the planet. Right. I could be wrong. This could be completely off. But. And it might not be like, I think a lot of places will list Mila in Miami. I mean we're talking about hundred and like hundred million dollar annual establishments at this point.

[Graham Stephan]

Point.

[Mike Malak]

Like it's insane. And I love Mila in Miami as well. It's a great, it's a fantastic restaurant, lounge, bar, club, everything. But it certainly feels like people are moving away from the, from clubs and more tours, lounges, speakeasies and places that play.

[Graham Stephan]

You would make a fortune if you started your own.

[Mike Malak]

I would love to. I, I wouldn't, I don't, I don't think it's outside of my, my.

[Graham Stephan]

No, I think, I think it's, that's.

[Jack]

The burgers there dude.

[Graham Stephan]

With your network.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

And who. You.

[Mike Malak]

You.

[Graham Stephan]

Oh my gosh. I mean it would be crowded day one.

[Mike Malak]

I, I agree.

[Graham Stephan]

No other influences during that.

[Mike Malak]

It's, it's funny you say that cuz we, we almost just did one to, to, to house 1010. They wanted it to be a, a, a combo of like a barn and 1010. And we didn't do it simply because it was here. We didn't like the location. But, but certainly. And, and also like that's, that's like this, the, the weird situation to be in now is like the access to capital like for currency creators like at, at this level. It's just insane because I was excited to come on the show today and it's because like I do see all of the stuff, like I see all of the back end that like the world doesn't usually hear about. But like there's a lot of these companies right now that have a ton of funding to like buy perpetual ownership of creators. Like I'm sure you guys have probably either been offered or.

[Graham Stephan]

No, I've been offered but the offers are so low. When you look at like the payback period, which I understand for a creator could go to zero overnight, you have to.

[Mike Malak]

But what are you talking? Like 30, 15, 30 year. Are you talking about the length of the payback period or the length of which they own?

[Graham Stephan]

No, I'm talking about the length of the payback period. So it's like it, I would be better off just taking my ad revenue for 12 months and like take a buyout off.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, well the, the whole thing is they do it in the event that you need upfront capital Y. And the, the, the, the, the obstacle they're up against is when they're coming at people that don't, don't have needs for upfront. Cat, there's only a few people who spend all of their money on their business. And, and, and, and like truthfully, like even with Jimmy, like we'll see where it ends up, you know what I'm saying? Like we'll see what. There's all these people out there that want to count everybody's billion paper billions, you know what I'm saying? Who knows where it goes? Who really knows what happens, you know what I'm saying? Now for Jimmy, it's going to work. Oh yeah, his little experiment will work. But for other people who are just dumping 100% of their revenue into their projects, like dude, it's not always going to work, you know. And so you know, there's Just so much capital out there. Like, that's the one thing that, like, is the easiest thing to get. Like, it's the hard thing to get is operational acuity, expertise. Like. Like, dude, the reason why prime is prime is not because they had somebody that was willing to put up $20 million. It's because they got operational greatness in their partner. You know what I'm saying? In Congo. Like, it. Like, they got the best in the world. They got world class operational support, manufacturer distribution connections. But it just. It all comes down to who you're working with. And. And, like, the. And, like, how. How the passion for the project actually works. 1010 burger works. Because I. It is the. It's. I care about that burger like it's my child. Yeah, it is the best burger. It really is. I am obsessed with it, you know? And Logan is obsessed with the Prime. Obsessed with it. He wakes up, it's the only thing he thinks about and talks all day about, you know, so it's.

[Graham Stephan]

It's that it was cute, by the way. I. I had some gardeners who are redoing my front landscape, and they had their kid with them. And the kid was maybe like, five years old, six years old. And anytime I have someone at the house, I offer them. I say, hey, could I get you waters? And I just happen to. Do you want waters? I got Prime. And the kid, oh, my God, his eyes lit up. And the morning mom was like, you have Prime? And I'm like, yeah, I have Prime. And the kid was like, a big fan of Prime. Like, that was his thing. And I brought out primes. And there was a new flavor that I don't think was in stores yet. And I gave that to him. I'd never seen someone so happy. And then I said, do you like feastables? And he's like, Mr. Beast? I'm like, yeah, Mr. Beast. And I brought out candy for him. They were so excited.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

So excited.

[Jack]

It's crazy. I remember, you know, that reminds me, during Halloween this year, I have a neighborhood that gets thousands of kids. Kids. Like. Like, we probably bought 4, 000 pieces of candy, and we ran out with, like, two hours to spare. And I remember I had a bunch of prime because they keep sending it to me as well. Like, keep sending it. Thank you very much. I remember I would randomly pick, like, one out of every 20 or 25 kids. Like, all right, come on. What we're gonna do is we're gonna play a game. We're gonna throw a piece of candy off of the, the top of the staircase. And if you catch it in your basket, I'll give you a special treat. And it was a Prime. And when I gave it to the kids, they would freeze. I was like, you know, like it's a drink, which is great, but I don't know what it was. But like I don't know. And then everyone started talking about it. People would like try to sneak back in.

[Mike Malak]

Like it's, it's, it's lightning in a bottle. I mean truthfully, like what happened with prime is not to be replicated. It's, it's I, I, how it worked. And, and, and it's, it's like it's a combination of things. It's, it's, it's like I said, it's the marketing acuity, manufacturing capability and distribution connection. Connections to, to get to retail, to do all that stuff and do it right. It's the marketing, the day to day marketing, the short form marketing, the storytelling that Logan and KSI did. But then it's really more than anything else. It's like, have I, have I identified a hole in the marketplace that really is, has, has a yearning to be filled? Who knew if that was gonna, I don't think anyone on that team thought that that product was going to do more than $20 million dollars. Like, like dude, when, when, when they started talking about billions with an S in sales. Like it's mind blowing. It is mind blowing to imagine where that product has gone. And it's because all of those three things checked out. There was a, there was some sort of desire within the or, or, or, or ability this. To disrupt that. That sports drink or hydration space that, that they filled. Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

But I think, but it's such a strong brand that I think especially kids really, really, really resonate with like I remember speaking of Jack's candy, Jimmy sent us his candy. But it was wrapped in $100.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

Of cash. And he sent it if to give it out in Halloween. And so what we did for fun is I took the candy bar out. So it's just the cash, $100 money.

[Mike Malak]

To the blackjack tables.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

And I, and I tripled up.

[Mike Malak]

No, no.

[Graham Stephan]

So in the giant thing of candy, we have a wad of hundred, a wad of $1 bills for $100 and then the candy and we just let the kid pick. The kids never picked the money. They would pick the Mr. Beast bar over the hundred dollars. Now I'm talking like they're four years old, five years old, whatever. But there's a few times where the parent was like, are you sure you want that? And like, yeah, the candy. Are you sure you. They pick the candy over the hundred dollars.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Jack]

But then we had some like, older trick or treaters. They were like, you know, 14, 15 would like hold out the money. They like, take the money. But it, it upset. Some kid with a mustache came up.

[Graham Stephan]

And I'm like, okay, like, what do you. But you know what? It upset me how ungrateful they seem like they take their money and they know. Reaction.

[Jack]

I think they were in shock is that like, they're like, there's no way else is real.

[Graham Stephan]

But they would take it. Look at it, put it in the back. Thank you. And then it's like that. That wasn't just a candy. That's 100 bucks in cash.

[Mike Malak]

No, kids are losing. Look at, look. They're losing track of like, it's like. I go online nowadays and the, The. The story lines around how much everybody's making, which you see all the time, and they're so wrong. I mean, they are so wrong. I, I like, it's like DDG posted this, like, funny screenshot that was.

[Jack]

That's not real.

[Mike Malak]

Not even 1 20th. He doesn't even make like, you know what I'm saying, like $12 million a month. He's making $144 million a year in ad revenue. And every kid that read that was like, oh, wow, like, what a. That's a good month for him, bro. What. What are you talking about?

[Jack]

I. I was surprised. People believe that some pe.

[Mike Malak]

The. All the young kids, they've lost track of, like, not lost track. They never learned what money means or how much is realistic or whatever. It's like, you know, like, once again, I'm not going to pocket watch ddg. And he makes, he makes great money, but he doesn't make $12 million a month. I would, I would assume if he has a great month, he might make 400,300. $400,000 on a great month. Maybe, maybe. But you know what?

[Jack]

Kick.

[Mike Malak]

But it's good market and he's great. I. I was just on stream with them last. He's DDG's great and he's a great creator. But. But, dude, come on. They. They. They're just too young to understand what those numbers mean. And they're too. And they're too brainwashed by those big, deep numbers and contracts that are real. Like, when you find out, you know, you know when you find out the size of. Of. Of A Steph Curry contract. You know, now that type of stuff makes sense. You're like, whoa, wait dude, like if he. Steph Curry has a contract for you know, $150 million and certainly like you know, NE Neon is making 100 million. Like they don't understand like the, the deviations between the. How much people are making.

[Jack]

I just remember there was a period of time where it was a few months and I saw like so many Twitch streamers had their revenue leaked like 10 times.

[Mike Malak]

Because it's just all farming. Yeah, it's farming. That's all it is. That's all. It's just farming.

[Graham Stephan]

And it's. So those weren't accurate. Cuz some of those very believable.

[Jack]

Yeah, I think they were accurate. But like there was there. I think it happened like five times in one month with like the same creator. He's like, oops. And he's like screen recording. Something clicks on like a browser and then it opens and it shows like 400 grand or whatever.

[Graham Stephan]

Like that day it's like are obviously inspect element and they go and they change the number.

[Mike Malak]

Well that's, yeah. And you can, you can, you can usually see it, but they don't understand, you know, but, but yeah, the product side and the CPG side has gotten crazy and it's like, you know, it's seeing like what happened with Alani and, and, and just all of these, these creator products, it's just crazy.

[Graham Stephan]

Were you able to get any percentage ownership of Prime?

[Mike Malak]

No, I, I have a, I have a verbal guarantee that I will be made whole. And then, and then I was given equity on Lunchley, which is great because. Because Beast is involved. It's a, it's a great product. But the, the prime joke as it is seen now wasn't always. I mean it was a sore spot for me for sure. It kept me up a lot of nights and you know, it's a, it. It's a heavily protected cap table with, with less people on it than you could ever even imagine. And it just didn't work for me. It didn't work out. You know, and it wasn't even Logan that said. No, you know what I'm saying? It just, it's. It's just an unfortunate situation. And you know, what do you think.

[Jack]

Being made whole means?

[Mike Malak]

I think it means, you know, you have been a part of the journey and you post it whenever you can and you share it and you connect people and you network it for people and you support it. And most importantly, it's in front of you on every episode of a show that you, you co own, you know, and, and is responsible for probably one quarter of the impressions that have driven the brand be fired up. I, I, I believe that there will be a retribution there for it. I truly believe that.

[Graham Stephan]

How do you handle any creative differences like that between you and Logan? Jack and I have a very similar dynamic where we're partners on this.

[Jack]

I would say more of the networker. Like I'm always like hanging out, out with who, who. God knows who. And Graham kind of keeps to himself but like does a lot of the operation.

[Mike Malak]

How long have you guys been doing this?

[Jack]

Six. Six years.

[Mike Malak]

Five years.

[Graham Stephan]

Five years on the podcast. Six years working together.

[Mike Malak]

Got it. So you, so you probably also have gotten to a point where they're a lot far and fewer between I would assume those, those disagreements.

[Jack]

I honestly can't even remember the last time Graham and I had a, like we, we have some guest disagreements.

[Graham Stephan]

Really the only disagreement we have is Jack will suggest a guest that I'm just like h, I want to talk.

[Jack]

To this person I'm willing to have on anyone, you know. And, and Graham is a little bit more selective. But it's, it's a push and pull and it's, it's good that we have that discipline.

[Mike Malak]

For sure. For sure. So, so I mean, I mean dude, like Logan and I are coming up on about almost 10 years now of friendship, of business, of creative, of navigating some of the most insane PR and, and real life disasters you could ever imagine. Imagine. I mean their book, my second book will at some point come out and it's just we've been through so much. It's you know, globally and, and just online and, and a lot of those, A lot of that stuff was we, we, we had some real fights, dude, like, I mean real like fights that would potentially or disagreements that potentially can other relationships like to a point where like, dude, like we had a really, we've had times where we had didn't talk for months, you know, and, and had to like have third parties come back and like reintroduce and those they stopped happening probably maybe like 4 years ago I would say. And now we don't disagree. I mean dude, like it's, it's so rare for us to have even a slight moment of like we. It's just, we just. If I start a sentence, he finishes it. If he starts it, I finish it. It's, it's, we're just so laser in tuned in on, on the things that we do work together on. So then he's got a, a massive share of stuff that I don't even know about, never hear about. But on the stuff that him and I work on together, we are, we're locked in.

[Jack]

What do you think you. Or he had to change in order to affect the relationship like that?

[Mike Malak]

Hopefully it's interesting for the viewer, but I mean, dude, it's, I mean it's a, it's a great question because it's, because like, dude, like we, we. I think we both had to. But certainly, certainly as an older, as a person who's older and a person who has, has had a, a tremendous lesson on empathy throughout life and, and, and, and how to work with other people. I certainly came into the relationship with Logan with more experience in that space. I had a little bit of corporate background. I knew how to give, you know, the feedback sandwich of positive, negative, positive. Like I knew how to do all that stuff and I was the one that had to go and teach him how to, you know, fire someone who had done something terrible or how to give feedback to someone that he had a creative disagreement with. And so a lot of it was like learning that I had to instill in him. But that is always difficult when you're trying to instruct someone how to give feedback on something that you're involved in. So that's when we would break. I mean, I, I mean, you know, I got him out of. With other people a million times. I tell them all the time. I like to think that I had at least some impact on the smoothing over of the relationship with the UK and the sidemen because with all of the, with all of the furious, you know, and just terrible energy between him and KSI, that got to a point where it was. I mean, we had security issues. I mean, all the time. I mean we would have to travel to Manchester with heavy security. They would have security here. Like we.

[Graham Stephan]

What were they afraid of between that? Like. Well, I can't imagine none of the sidemen like pulling up on logo fans probably.

[Mike Malak]

Fans or, or, yeah, or, or, or. I mean, dude, we. I, we had, I remember we. When Logan and, and, and, and KSI, when that all that beef had first started. I mean, we, we pulled up to Yamashiro because I knew KSI was there and we, we just. Me and him pulled up and, and Logan on him and we. And they got each other's faces and it was like really like heated moments. Like, like there was a number of times where that almost happened outside of the boxing Ring. Right. And, and, and so, like, in that scenario, like, they hated each other, but I was always trying to work with, you know, Bazinga and this person and that person to try to keep the relationship alive. And I, I'd like to imagine that there was that at least represented some level of, of. Of smoothing over in the process to get those two back together. You know, maybe they would deny that, but I don't know. That's where I'm at. So it's. So it's like, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. Logan matured a lot and we started, I think, to see more eye. Eye to eye on stuff that we. We might not had. Have in the past and that. And that's. Now we just are on autopilot.

[Jack]

I've heard from people, people that were in the past, that one of the most difficult parts of recovering from or this or that is that when you take. It's like one of the most pleasurable, visceral experiences that you can have. And then after that, life that exists, you know, you don't have that level of stimulation in anything. Is this true or is that like, not really something that.

[Mike Malak]

It certainly is true for an early recovery, certainly. Because the good. The good news about it and the good news. News about life in general is that the brain has a miraculous ability to regenerate. It is. It's an incredible organ that just. That just can truly, truly regenerate. And, and so in early recovery, certainly you are. You are numb to everything, and there's really nothing that's going to, you know, feel the same way that it did. But you will start to find a lot of pleasure in the clarity that you get from being sober and your ability to say and speak into existence and, and, and do things that you just never would have had. And I mean truly true. Being truly sober and not on or not on, off of everything getting to a point where you're just literally just back in the world. Because, Because I had moments where I got down to a few milligrams of and I was on a little bit. It's not the same. It's not the same until you get fully clean. But even now, yeah, to an extent, I sometimes do feel that still I su. I do sometimes feel like, whether. Whether it's that or any of the other dopamines that I've been to in my life, that without. Without that adrenaline and without that spike of or. Or drip of dopamine that I do feel a little bit less enthused about things that other people find massive amounts of enjoyment in. And it's been, and it's been a tough path to navigate only because pushes me away from some of the simpler pleasures of life, which is, you know, which can, can, can end up being more, can create more sadness in the long run. I've had trouble in relationships. I've had trouble in finding joy in things that other people watching a sunset or, you know, any of those more, you know, thoughtful activities could usually invoke in people just because I've, I've, I've, I've become so attuned to that adrenaline and to that, that, you know, over stimulation, you know, and that's what I'm trying to fix now. And I think, I think truthfully, like a full dopamine, this is like the next layer. Like forget just the drugs, but like real true dopamine detox. Meaning like, hey, 20 minutes a day on your phone, 10. You're not responding to any of the text messages. You're, you're really just really, really living. And you're not, you're not, you know, you're not having the ice cream. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're not and you're not for me. You know, I've had my, you know, struggles with, on the sex side. Like, you're not doing that. You're not going to Vegas and hooking up with the girl, the bottle girl or this star or that person or whatever. You're just not. Because then you start to really reset that receptor and you really start to then potentially get enjoyment from going for a walk with a dog, you know, because you can really. Yeah, you can burn your, burn your glands out. You know, I mean, there's only so much, there's only so much dopamine and serotonin your brain can create before you're, before you deplete it.

[Graham Stephan]

What would you say you're to now?

[Mike Malak]

Right now?

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah. And it might not be like a substance. It could be like views. It could be.

[Mike Malak]

I'm in a could, I'm in a pretty good. The phone for sure. That, that, for sure. That is not. That might be my only right now. That one. And, and you know, and, and, and certainly I still, I'm still, I'm still working through. To be completely transparent. I'm still, I'm still working on the girl stuff a little bit. I, I, I certainly just, it's, it, it has always been kind of part of my real world brand My content brand. I love girls. I don't know how else to say that. And, and so I, I just had a relationship for a year and a half and I did great and it was wonderful. We just, we just had some compatibility issues that you know were not related to that and I, so I, I have it in me but once you then once I then get returned to the streets as they say. You know it's, it's, it's. It's not something that I, that I am incredibly, always incredibly proud of. So so. But at the phone. Phone is number one. The phone is number one. I mean I, I cannot get the thing out of my hand. It's, it's. And, and and for someone who understands and understands coping mechanisms and has learned how to work through things the idea that some 13 year old is learning about this and dealing with this is. That sucks. Yeah. Because. Because this isn't like or, or something like that. This is every single human with the exception of a few Buddhist monks and some people that maybe can't afford hoarded. I don't know like every kid out there is just walking around looking at the phone all day. 12 hours, 13 hours, 16 hours. It's, it's, it's not. We were not manufactured evolve. We did not evolve to this type of activity. When I walk out of here as you know and we could, I can give you the phone back again and you could look at the, the re up which will still be going right now. We, our brains were not trained to introduce interact in some way with a thousand people a day. Yeah, that's just not.

[Graham Stephan]

It's tough though because for you that's also your livelihood of like that's your network, that's your social media. You got to check your emails, you got to take phone calls. Same thing for me too. It's very difficult to get off of.

[Mike Malak]

It but you should but if as a, as a 40 year old I wish that I was could could say that I was a little bit more disciplined in not you know falling into the doom scroll every once in a while or you know like I do there's only so much stuff that I still like to talk about because like I've. I've tried to like really provide present a better my DMS. I always have funny DMs from girls and it's a funny thing to just look at. Like you'd never believe someone funny. They're just because of the girls that I've always hung out with and like I not as much anymore but Obviously, like I had my past with, with the adult stars and, and all that. It's like. Because there's like very forward. So just like, what's. They'll just send me like, like, hey, I just got to la. Can I like give you. Or like just.

[Jack]

Are these girls that you've ever talked to before?

[Mike Malak]

No, no, no, no. They're just like random messages and like. So it's, it's, it's like another thing that we weren't really designed as humans to.

[Jack]

And what does that make you feel when you see something nowadays?

[Mike Malak]

Nothing. Like, it's, it's, it's. I don't. Won't even respond 90% of the time. But it's just like. Yeah, well, now it's honestly not that.

[Jack]

Like if you get 10 a day, that means.

[Mike Malak]

No, it's not, it's not that many. It's not, it's not that many. But it's, it's, it's. It's like I've just. Oh. And, and that's been that way since I've gotten here. Just because I'm, I'm a fun, outgoing person and like, like Cindy Lauper said, girls just want to have fun. Like they love going out and going to the membership club or having dinner or going traveling or whatever you know we're doing. And more than anything, just want to laugh, just want to have a good time, make jokes, like, whatever. And so it's like for me that's like always something that I've had to like, deprioritize from a time standpoint. And that's why I've just been so like lately just wanting to make the relationship side work because it, it allows me to like, take that to, to really first of all build something great with someone and achieve a level of happiness and, and clo. Emotional closeness and like have a friend, you know, at that level that you can be vulnerable with and they're there for you. But it also like allows me to avoid a lot of distraction. But I just, it just hasn't worked out for me, you know, just like for a lot of other people it hasn't, you know.

[Graham Stephan]

So how are you so smooth with women? What's the secret?

[Mike Malak]

I don't take it. I don't. I just don't. I like, I just don't care per se. Like, I think, I think like, truthfully, like, the more you, the more like effort you're really. The more you show that you actually like, are like affected by any kind of outcome. Like, it's it shows so much. Like, if you. If, like, I'm not saying to play games. If you're. If you're trying to get into a serious relationship, if you're in a relationship mindset, then it makes sense to be upfront and thorough and, And. And say, like, hey, listen, I. I care about you. Like, why don't we do this? And then to fully lock in and not try to not look like you care, like, that's your partner. Be a partner. Right? And I just did that for the past two years.

[Jack]

Wait, so. So you're saying in order to get the initial interest, you have to act kind of, like, apathetic towards them? Like, you kind of, you know, it is what it is. If they do something to try to test you to see if they can get a reaction, you're like, hey, know, it's not a big deal. And is that, Is that stuff that they do that you have to be not affected by, or is it just everything in your life you have to be not affected?

[Mike Malak]

This is like, like this. I don't. I hate talking about this. I'm gonna. We're gonna talk about it, but I hate talking about this because I don't like people ever feeling like I'm. I'm like, bragging about stuff. It's like a really big insecurity. I know that. No, I appreciate that. I just. It's a huge insecurity of mine. And like I said, I hate, like, it's one of the reasons why I wear a rubber band and I don't. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't wear a watch, and I don't. I just.

[Jack]

Oh, but you. You have evidence, I mean, here, that you. You dated the, the most Googled woman on the Internet, right?

[Mike Malak]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jack]

So you. You have evidence of being decent with, with this.

[Mike Malak]

Sure. And. Yeah, definitely. And among, you know, many other great women, for sure. But, you know, of course. Yeah, yeah, Downplay, for sure. But. But so basically what I say is this. There. There's just so many, like, cushion pole mechanisms as it pertains to those, like, initial meetings with women and, And, and, and the early phases. And like, for me, it's. It's like with. With girls that I talk to. Like, I always have, like, a absolute perfect level, like, right. Where oil meets water. Like, a perfect level of mix between compliment and playful banter. And that means, like, I'm. I'm generally, like, talking a little bit, like, messing around, but in a way that's making them laugh, like, and making them Feel comfortable to do the same. Back to me. Like, if you watch any of my content with either of my last exes, like, we're usually poking fun at each other in a fun way. So I'm doing that early on. Like, I'm picking out like, little funny things. And you ought to be careful, careful with this. You know, it's never, it's. It's. You got to be, you know, like, anyways, you. But you're not, you're really not trying to appear in the beginning like you don't care. You just really need to kind of not care in the beginning. Like, like, you know, it's, it's a lot of these guys get into a lot of trouble because they, they're, they're too quick to text back because they, they just get really excited and there's nothing, they're, there's nothing wrong with it. You shouldn't feel bad about the fact that you feel strongly and you like someone and, and, and you know, you want to talk to them. That's great. But, but there's just a lot to be said about how a girl reacts to your non reaction and to your non, you know, over desire to like, over, over stimulate the conversation. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a massive, massive thing in terms of, of making a girl feel like maybe potentially they're not your only option. Maybe potentially, like maybe, maybe they, they should be interesting and interested in potentially texting you and, and, and asking what you're doing that day. You know what I'm saying? And, and, and a lot of, of course comes down to what your value is. Like what are you bringing to the table, right? And, and, and, and for a lot of people, all, all you need is, is that ability to, to make them feel comfortable and, and laugh. I mean, dude, you'll, you'll, you'll see a, A ton of, you know, people that you wouldn't expect dating way out of their league because they're, they just, they just know how to make a girl have fun, you know, and, and there's a million ways to skin it, dude. There's other guys that are really. Dude, like, the other one that's like a known person here is Banks is, you know, kind of in a similar boat. And he, he's a bit different. A big like, because I study all the g. These different people. He's more.

[Jack]

Wait, so you're saying this is something that you like, practice and work on.

[Mike Malak]

It becomes, it becomes a practice.

[Jack]

It's not kind of natural.

[Mike Malak]

No, it is, it is, but it's, it's. You certainly just, it's just like anything else in life. You just certainly become better and better and better and better at it. You know, as you, as you, you know, as the, the, the rel. The relationships and as the girls are going after or trying to talk to go from all the way up now to most googled on the Internet now all of a sudden you're a conversation with Emrata is like everyday conversation. You know what I'm saying? Because you're just like, okay, like this is a, you know, another googled girl from the. I've done this stuff. I know it sounds crazy but, but like Banks for example is like, he's just a big, he turns into, he's like the sweetheart. Full on sweetheart. So he's like, you know, meets a girl he's already got flat. He'll like go grab flowers from the attendant and like he's just really like, he's super complimentary. Like I'm the opp. It. I'm like, I'm a little talker and I want to like banter. Yeah. And, and so that it's, there's a million different styles if that's what, Listen, don't do any of this by the way. Like my, my, my real advice is like go find a good girl that doesn't need to be, you know, charmed or, or, or, or like game played with and settle down with her and do, and if that's what you want and go do that. Like this is not, this is what I was, I'm trying to apply, avoid is just like the idea that, that, that is an outcome that you even want in life necessarily. I think, I think guys want to experience it, but it's another thing that you can certainly get to. It's another thing that I, I, I've, you know, it's like when you have. I, I say this, I wrote this in my second book that I, you know, I haven't published obviously or, or had anybody read anything of. But I said men grow up with this desire to every girl in the world and for a very, very select group of people, they, they are dealt the curse of actually having the ability to do so because it's, it's, you know, like it, it, it, it devalues and, and, and, and devolves such a beautiful thing which is a relationship between a man and a woman into something that becomes almost gamified and, and you know, it, it seems very attractive from the outside. But I can assure you it's an empty, it's a very empty thing if you're doing it for that reason. If you're, if you're doing it to try to find a, a partner, then, then certainly, but hopefully you don't need to play games to do that.

[Jack]

How much on average do you spend on a first date?

[Mike Malak]

Probably like seven or 800 bucks.

[Graham Stephan]

Oh, wow.

[Mike Malak]

I got a hotel yesterday so that she could change before. No, we didn't stay at it. I, if I'm, if I do. Yeah, but we just, she, we went there after.

[Graham Stephan]

She, she couldn't change in the restroom.

[Mike Malak]

It, I don't know why I did that. I did it because I wanted to just have a home base and I, it. Malibu's far. It's so, it's pretty insane. I'm not going to lie to you. I just, I, I, if I do dates, I rarely do dates. Most of the time it's like, yo, come meet me at Barney's or, or, or what. This Ibiza trip that we're going on, there's like 10 girls coming on it, and probably like, there's probably been like a collective, like 150,000 spent on just that group.

[Jack]

What's, what's the most you've ever spent on a first date?

[Mike Malak]

Thousands. I mean, I mean, f, first dates have sometimes been, have been like, meet me at, at, you know, the Meet me at V jet to Vegas. Three night nights went at, you know, encores Tower suites, you know, dinner at Delilah night out. Maybe I give.

[Jack]

How do you know you're.

[Mike Malak]

Because it's not a date for me. Because that's not how. I don't work like that. I, I, I'm crazy. I'm actually like, actually like, not even showing you guys, but like, I'm actually like, I will talk to a girl online or whatever, or meet a girl for five minutes in passing at Arwan or something and be like, yo, like, do you want to get, go to Vegas? Like, it, it is a first date and like, I don't know if I'm going to like them or not. And by the way, I might not like them. And what do you do? I might get halfway into the cuz I always will be cool with them.

[Jack]

Send them away or.

[Mike Malak]

No, no, no. Never, Never. No.

[Jack]

What if you find a different girl that you do?

[Mike Malak]

Like, it's happened and what happened suddenly happened. Maybe the girl that I brought to Vegas has their own hotel room and I don't know, like, it's, it's 100% happened. It actually happens a, a lot where the girl that you thought you were going to be interested in has a friend. And that always. That happens.

[Jack]

Have you ever been on a first date and the girl just like orders the nicest bottle of wine and you're like, well, hold on a second.

[Mike Malak]

Not really. It's. No, because I don't. I could spot that before I get to the table.

[Graham Stephan]

What are the red flags?

[Mike Malak]

How they act in conversation, how they. Cuz you get like how they talk, the things they talk about the subject of the conversation, how they talk about their friends, how they talk about other people, what they do for work. Like, dude, if you just got off, if you just miraculously came back from Dubai and I don't know why you were there and you didn't and you posted a new Hermes bag, I'm probably not going to go to dinner with you. You know what I'm saying? I'm probably not going to be like, hey, let's go on, let's go. Because you got to understand once again, I'm not. These are aren't dates. I'm like, I'm almost like, I am. I don't have any kind of intent. Like I don't really. If things progress and something happens and there's this or that. And that is why when I say trying is the worst part, because they know that. They know I'm just trying to curate a good time for myself, my friends and them, or even just myself and them. Like last night, like I didn't say hey, like, you know, it was really nice meeting you. And like I just was thinking like, maybe if you're not busy, like I was just like, yo, like what? She. This girl came here for three days. She's from Miami. I was like, have you been to Noble Malibu? Like, do you want to go there? We went there. Like it was cool. She left this morning on a flight back to Miami. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're not like dates, they're just.

[Graham Stephan]

Like, they're just having a great time connecting.

[Mike Malak]

Join the network. Maybe I'm gonna go to, to Bangladesh in six months and want to bring a few people to come hang out out. And they're all, they all have say to their friends, like, I love Mike. He's so much fun. He's like super just chill about everything. And he just, you know, like. And so for me it's just always like, it's never like, it doesn't feel like a date, dude. Just feels like I'm with one of the homies, you know what I'm saying? And it just happens to be a hot girl, you know, so it's like different. I don't, I don't know how to explain it to people that live lives that make sense, you know what I'm saying? And like mine doesn't and it never has and might never will.

[Jack]

What's the biggest waste of money you've ever spent?

[Mike Malak]

Girls? No, I don't know. Cars. Cars. For sure. Cars are the worst.

[Jack]

What?

[Mike Malak]

What?

[Jack]

Okay, so how did you, what was the biggest waste of money that you spent money on, on a car?

[Mike Malak]

They're just, they just deep, they're just. I don't, I don't. I mean that car that could, the rsqa. I'll be up front. I paid. I bought a brand new 2025, 2024, 2025. Whatever it was, it was a hundred and 185, 000. And then the, the build out for it was another 80.

[Graham Stephan]

That's one of a kind.

[Mike Malak]

No, not only that, but like that car weighs 6,500 pounds.

[Jack]

I appreciate it. Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

Okay, so like, so like everything I do is like slightly in the vein of like being a cheapo. It doesn't even matter like when it's an expense. Massive car. Like you ain't gonna see me in a McLaren because it doesn't hit the curb weight.

[Graham Stephan]

Do you ever get self conscious or like insecure when you're dating that girl that every other guy wants to get.

[Mike Malak]

With for, for whatever reason? I never do. I, I, it's, it's the, it's the weirdest thing, dude. I don't know. That's one thing I don't know how to explain. And it goes back to the same rationale, I guess I give. For, for people early on in the relationship, which is like in their mind they're just like, dude, if it's, if, if, like, if I do something stupid or like make a mistake of some sort, he's just going to change. And like I'm like, as much as he loves me, like it, he, I, I've always had like that type of policy. Like if you, you know, if you do something up, like I'm just going to like see you. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm not doing anything wrong. I've never cheated in my life. You can they. Every girl I've dated for the past like 10 years has my passcode. So, So I think it's, I think it's reciprocal, right? It's like it's like they, I, I, I, I operate under a oath of, of, of, of trust and of respect, right? And so like, so like, I'll give you that leash. And I've never, I've never been bitten on the hand by it. I mean, even, even with Lana, who, like, obviously there was so much like, wild conjecture on, like, how that relationship would work. And obviously she was retired, but like, dude, she was, I never had, she would, she would get messages from dms, from every football player, as you said, most Google person on the Internet, girl, every football player, every rapper, every athlete, every business person you could ever imagine. And as soon as the message she would come in, she would be like, what are we responding? What are we responding? What's our response? Like, like, I, I, like, do you want me to respond to this? Do you not want, do you want, you know what I'm saying?

[Graham Stephan]

And why would she respond to any of them?

[Mike Malak]

Well, like, or no, we, but, but, but she simply. No, no, no, not even. Simply the fact that she would just show me and be like, like, listen, just so you know, this is coming in. Like, sometimes I would know the person and be like, dude, like, what are you doing, dude? Like, this is, you know, I'm dating this girl, right?

[Graham Stephan]

Like, but there's no one that came.

[Mike Malak]

Through where you're like, oh, like, no, ne, Never. Just because I don't know why, I don't know why.

[Graham Stephan]

Let's say like Drake.

[Mike Malak]

I mean, maybe he was one of the people, you know what I'm saying? No, but certainly. Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. If I'm early stage, like, if I'm just talking to a girl that I intend on dating, and, and Drake, there's like a select group of people that certainly I would be like, dude, a hundred percent.

[Jack]

But I think what would you even entertain.

[Mike Malak]

What do you mean?

[Jack]

Like, if Drake DM'd, like, hey, what's up?

[Mike Malak]

Like, well, well, here's the thing. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. There's this like, there's this like, social media thing where like, like every, as I say, like, for Drake specifically, like, every girl's in a relationship that, that can't get DM'd and touched by a guy unless. Until Drake comes. But truthfully, dude, I'm telling you and I, I swear to you and I truly believe this, it's just, it's just not the case. Not every guy is a cheater in, not every guy in the world is a cheater and not every girl in the world is, Is going to, to, to leave you for a super celebrity. They're just not. They're. I'm telling you to just not the case. There's a. Be the, the ones that, the ones that are, to me that are at risk are girls that have never been around it. So like, if you're, if you're, if you live in Memphis and you know, your girlfriend doesn't even have Instagram and Drake somehow finds a way to see her and she's just so in. But dude, a lot of these girls, like have, Even if they haven't hooked up with a lot of the guys, they've seen just how, how gross and, and, and, and, and Demoral like the, this entire space is and they're off it now. They don't want it. They don't want to be a part of it anymore. They like. You tell them that there's a, A Drake party in the hills. They're not going to that party specifically because of that. Anyways, like, like I said, this stuff's like, it's fun to talk about, but it's just so. It's just not. It's. It's like, dude, the amount of like, moral guilt and like the moral dilemma and like, even for me, like, I'm a Christian, so like the religious dile been more pain than it's been good. Just because it's just. I don't know. It's, it's, it's. It's just hard, dude. It's hard to, it's hard to have that, to have that type of scenario where, where, you know, and it's not. And, and one last thing on it. The one last funny thing on it. Yeah. Is it's not all money either. That's. That is. That's the, that's like the biggest misconception is that like, is that like you're at risk from somebody who has more money than you. It's just not the. Dude, dude, like, I know a ton of really, really wealthy people that 1000% wished that they had the game to be able to do it and cannot do it. They cannot do it does not matter. It doesn't matter how much is in their bank account. Doesn't matter if they fly girls out. It does not matter because it's, it's. It's a comfort thing. It's a humor thing. It's a aura thing, to use a word for Gen Z that is just to, to an extent, it's just not teachable. It's not biased label. It's not.

[Graham Stephan]

So if someone does want to get better with women, how do they do that? Because if you just said it's not teachable, you can't buy it.

[Mike Malak]

Go into the resistance again. Go into the water, get out there, talk to girls at the bar, talk to girls at the grocery store. You know, like, if you have to manipulate a joke and, and, and really like practice it, then go for that. But I mean, dude, like so like when you, if you're, if you're, if you're wanting to become some sort. I'm not once again like promoting it, but if you're wanting to become some sort of like Casanova like, like high level at. It's. It's, it's so much deeper than that. It's like really being able to think on your feet, understand their, you know, by minute desire is like when you've been at a restaurant too long, it's time to move locations. Like, you know, like I was on a date last night. You know, I have funny stories. Oh my God. The, the manager, the GM at no Boom album got swapped out. That was my guy. He. I, he. I could sit on the rail at being on the rail at Nobu, Malibu. Is that is where you want to do your date?

[Jack]

What is the rail?

[Mike Malak]

It means you're on the water. You're literally sitting table rail waves crashing on the sunsetting beach at Nobu, Malibu. So you, you. I had my GM there and I would, I would text him, be like day of. And no, Malibu in itself is a tough res, but that's even a city inside. Then there's tier two, which is outside. Then there's tier three, which is like close. Then there's the rail, right? And the rails. Usually, you know, it's like there's Tiesto and there's this person. So I get there last night and I had to do it through the GM in Newport and he had to set me up. And I, and I go inside and they say, come. Oh Mike, welcome. You know, like here's your table. And it's like tier two. And so I'm like, okay, so now I'm down. Like I still, I'm still fine. Like there's no issue, we're still here. But like, like I like to, I like to show up as much as possible. So you know, it's. We order some edamame, she gets a drink, whatever. And then I say, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'm not going to the bathroom. I'm going to the hostess Stand gm. Hey, listen, man. Like, I was close with Troy. Like, I know we don't know each other on that level yet, but, like, this is the first day. Five minutes later, waitress comes and say, hey, we're just gonna move your stuff. Like, you guys can get up and go to the table on the rail. We're just gonna move your stuff. Stuff over for you. You know what I'm saying? So, like, it gets to a point where you're doing micro calculations that involve other people on dating. So, like, it, you know, like this.

[Jack]

If this girl is impressed by that, then is that a good or a bad?

[Mike Malak]

If she's impressed? I don't know. It depends on what you're after. I just got out of a relationship. I. I don't know what the hell I'm doing at this point. I'm just. I'm just, you know, like, I. I wasn't even aiming to have anything happen, like, necessarily. Like, I just was. I like going out and having company and. And eating good food and. But I like to do everything, everything by utilizing the relationships that I have the best I can and showing up in the best way I can. And so that's advice, certainly, to people who are trying to talk to, like, do. Do the best you can to set up for success. Tr. Truthfully, like, people think chivalries. I didn't. I. I made the mistake. I was paying the valet guy. I forgot to go around and open the door for her, you know, And. And. And, you know, people, like, people be like, oh, you're simp for doing that, or whatever, dude, wake up. Go around the car and open the door for the girl. You know what I'm saying? If. If that's all you got, if all you got is that move for the night because you don't have the rail connection or. You know what I'm saying? Or whatever it is. Like, go bring it. Bring the chivalry back. You know what I'm saying? Whatever you can do. Show up in the best possible way that you can. You know what I'm saying? That's. That's. I mean, that's a piece of advice. But. But certainly, like, keep it light. Don't over overdo it. Don't. And don't go to the other side of the spectrum either. I can't even tell you how many guys mess things up by renting the Lambo. Or. Or, dude, like, it's. It's. So I'm telling you, man, like, if you can just learn a little bit about humor and a little Bit about conversation. Pick a topic that you think is fun that she's going to be interested in. If you think there's a hot show that girls are watching and you want to talk about, about, you know, 90 day fiance love on the spectrum, bro, go watch a season of that. And I guarantee you that you bring that up at, at, at, you know, Toa Madera or something or wherever you guys went, and you say like, hey, I'm watching this show on Netflix. I'm sure you've never heard of it before. It's called Night of Day Fiance. Like, if that's the game you got to play, then do that. You know what I'm saying? But I mean, for me, it's, it's been, it's been like, how can I turn, turn this off? Like, that's been my desire for the past five years is like, I want to. I, I've been much more focused on trying to, I'm trying to settle down and, and remove that, that aspect from my life, you know?

[Jack]

When's the last time you got rejected?

[Mike Malak]

It's hard to say because I can't remember the last time that I was interested in someone. I cannot remember. Dude. It, it's, Bro, it's been. I'll tell you this, okay? I'll tell you this. I've had DMS go unanswered. I'm not a huge dm or I'm just not. I, I, I do respond to dms, but I'm just not a huge, like, proactive DM or I used to be more. There's been a couple girls, you know, that, that didn't respond to my dm, and I consider that a rejection to extent. To an extent. Even though they've probably got a million and maybe might not even seen it. And sometimes they'll respond a year later. You know, I've had that happen too. Or they'll be like, oh, I saw you DM me. I just came across your profile. Or whatever. But reject, rejected, I don't freaking remember, dude.

[Jack]

When's a lot. So it. When you get rejected, when you've got rejected and they, they don't respond, do you feel anything or do you just, oh, it's just like, whatever.

[Mike Malak]

No, nothing. The only thing that makes me feel anything is when I get to a point in a relationship where I have feelings. And that for me, is much later than the average person. I only date girls, date, like, truly day girls that I really, really, really like, love. Other than that, there's no in between. There's no, in between. There's. There's that and there's. That's like the homie. You know what I'm saying? Like, we, you know, maybe we mess around. We had like. But like, I'll know within a very, like, with my last girlfriend, like, I knew pretty quickly, like, like that I was going to. That I was going to date her, and then everything else shuts down, you know, so it's. It's. I don't know. And then. And then the rest of the time, it's like, it's like, yeah, certainly. It's like I just go out and have a good time and. And, you know, try to show them a good time. And like, a lot of them are also creators, and so, like, they have questions, they want to know. They. They want to pick my brain the same way you do on. On. On any given topic. You know, the, the girls with. Last night as a creator, we sat. We had dinner, you know, we. We. We hung out. And. And you know, now she knows she can hit me up if she wants to hike or she wants to. You know what I'm saying? A lot of them end up becoming friends. I end up being people that I'm friends with, you know, so. But. But I'll know within, you know, the first little while if it's going to be somebody that I'm serious about. And. And then I'll probably usually take about a good year to get out of the relationship too, and I'll be pretty sad for a while, just like anybody else, you know? So this, this. This last one was. Was rough. And even though truthfully, it was. It was my doing, I just. I just think as you, as you. When you build those relationships, you kind of. No matter whose fault it is, it's. It's painful, you know, and just. It just wasn't working out and lack the compatibility that we needed. But it will work out at some point. It will.

[Jack]

All right, well, we want to be respectful of your time and we really appreciate it.

[Mike Malak]

With you guys forever.

[Graham Stephan]

Dude, this is. This is fun. Is there anything hilarious. Is there anything you want us to talk about that we didn't ask?

[Mike Malak]

Just 10. I mean, 10.

[Graham Stephan]

10 burger.

[Mike Malak]

For sure. But I mean, just. And just. Just briefly. I mean, we're. It. It's. It's been so conceptual and it's taken so freaking long to get to a point of. Of. Of. Of actual brick and mortar locations. And like, it's like. It's like with cpg, like, you can. You can create X dollars worth of product and you can get the disc distribution. Signing leases for actual bricks is a major. And, and, and, and, and I think. I don't know if you said this or not, but you definitely know it. The, the, the, the, the service and food space is terrible. I mean it's so hard. It's like the hardest space to, to, to make money in and to do Right. But finally we've got some good partners. We'll open probably LA, Miami, Vegas. Vegas for sure.

[Graham Stephan]

Great one on the Strip.

[Mike Malak]

Yep, 100% if we find the right LOC. Nashville, Cleveland, Austin, I think are our target sites to start. And hopefully soon enough we'll have, you know, you'll be able to finally have 1010 burger. Right now it's just festivals, events, food weeks, that type of thing.

[Jack]

I really, really want to try. 1010 burger is a burger. Grim knows and all my close friends know burgers are like the food that when I was a kid, I mean even now if I go to a steakhouse, if I go to any restaurant and they have a burger, I, I don't even menu burger anywhere I go if they don't have a burger, I'm cooked. Like I don't know what I'm gonna order.

[Mike Malak]

Oh, so where do you live now?

[Jack]

I live in Vegas now. I grew up in SoCal.

[Mike Malak]

Okay. So you know, I'm like credibly able to talk about burgers everywhere. Yeah. Like I know the inventory of every city, like even on the NorCal side. But for Vegas, you guys finally got some representation there. So, so what, what do you. Where are you going right now?

[Jack]

Now, dude, I don't.

[Mike Malak]

In and out.

[Jack]

Like just because it's easy, it's.

[Mike Malak]

I'm gonna bless you right now. There's a burger in Vegas called Stay Tuned Burger.

[Graham Stephan]

I haven't had it.

[Mike Malak]

It's in a bar off the strip. It is phenomenal. It is phenot. It is such a great burger, dude. I think I gave it like a 94 or 9 3, which for me that's like, that's unheard of levels. Like my highest is like a 96 in San Antonio. There's one in Santa Barbara, that's a 95 as well. Third window brewery. Obviously LA's got a number of like 90 threes, 90 fours. But I'm telling you, Stay Tuned Burger is very good. It's in a bar, you have to go in. It's really strange setup and I. There's, you know, it's in like a bar.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

And there's just a window and it's like almost like the bar's not called Stay tuned. It's. It's a different name. And you go and you get the burger from there.

[Jack]

I'm gonna get that burger and I'll let you know how it is.

[Mike Malak]

I, I already know how you're gonna enjoy it. Like I'm. My rating system is like tried and true.

[Jack]

So and, and Smash burgers are your top.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah, but I can, but I have every, I've had every restaurant lugers and and for Charles and everything.

[Graham Stephan]

What do you think of the habit?

[Jack]

Habit is amazing.

[Mike Malak]

I think habit as far as chain is concerned it's a good burger. And I mean it was one of the first burgers I ever rated because nade shot was a fan. And so we did a, we did a rating of it at, at the 100 Thieves headquarters like seven years ago or something like that. Habits a good burger for me. I always based a lot of my stuff on as far as change is concerned on Shake Shack and obviously a smash really came up. But, but you know, listen, like right now, as far as I know we're oversaturated on Smash burgers. Everyone's tired of hearing about them. But truthfully in a lot of the secondaries they don't exist. You can't get one. One. It's Philly you could get. It's not good. You maybe can't even get one. Nashville's got a, a place. I forgot the name of it now but, but some of these cities have no Smash Bros. None. Let alone the quality of the first time you ever tried a SoCal smash burger of, of like for the win or, or, or, or, or burger she row or heavy handed quality or where you're just like my life just changed because of how the crispiness of the edges of this burger melted with the American cheese. The potato bun, this sauce. I, I don't want any other type of burger. People in Detroit haven't had that. So there's a hole in the market and, and I intend to, to, to fill it.

[Jack]

Have you had dang burger in Santa Barbara?

[Mike Malak]

No, but I feel like someone told me. I'm telling you if you ever get a chance to go to Third Window Brewery in Santa Barbara once I think it's only. I don't know if it's every day they have an American wag. You smoke Smashburger there. That's. It's absolutely insane. But my number one still remains as last place in San Antonio.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

Mark at last place burger.

[Jack]

Well, I'm excited when you open it up in Vegas. I'll, I'll try it.

[Mike Malak]

We're coming for sure.

[Jack]

They look good. They look like.

[Graham Stephan]

I was secretly hoping you would come with like three burgers and you would.

[Mike Malak]

Think to a business podcast, but I, I mean, you know, I came without burgers and not thinking we'd be talking about how to pick up chicks.

[Jack]

I also actually think that smash burgers are not as saturated as you think. Like, I think the pub burger is way too oversaturated. It's just not a great burger. It's a good one, but I think that it's overdone and they all taste kind of the same.

[Mike Malak]

There's definitely so much more room in the market. And like, you, you've, you've just got other stuff going on. Like Philip and NADC in Austin just open in New York as well. And that's not even a smash. There's people doing nonsense in my eyes. There's probably always room for more burger places. I had the same experience in life as you did as a kid I grew up in was the only thing I wanted. And it's still pretty much I just can't all the time now just because from a weight standpoint.

[Jack]

So we're gonna.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah.

[Jack]

I'm worried that, that, that my time's gonna come where I can't get a burger.

[Mike Malak]

Probably got a lot of metabolism left in that body. Thanks.

[Jack]

We're gonna do rapid fire questions just to round this out. Okay. What is your biggest insecurity?

[Mike Malak]

Probably my inability to, to, to, to. This is such a meta answer. Like, find that emotional closeness that I, that I want. I know that's cra. I know that's crazy. I just, I don't know. Or also, I don't know, maybe my knees.

[Graham Stephan]

Your knees? You got like, weird kneecaps or something.

[Mike Malak]

I just battered my body so badly that, like, my body's falling apart. Like my, my, like, true athleticism. Maybe. I don't know. I don't. I've gotten to a point. I think as you get older, you just really shed a lot of insecure. Like they still exist. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. Or like you kind of. Right. Size them with other things. I don't know. But there's, there's nothing that I tremendously, like, dislike about myself. Right. Like, I, I don't know. I, I, I, I'm actually a pretty big, big fan of who I've become.

[Jack]

What is an invalid criticism you get all the time?

[Mike Malak]

Probably that I think that people think that I like certain people will think that I think, like, extremely, like, highly of myself to a point that if you ever met me out in person that like, I wouldn't be your best friend. You know what I'm saying? And like, I really, really do. Like, and, and I hope that someone that watches this show has met me in person before and has had a 20 minute conversation where they cried on my shoulder about their family or something like that. Because I've had so many amazing interactions that like, I, I feel like sometimes my delivery is a little bit askew from who I actually am as a person, which is like someone that like, really does deeply care about other people. And, and, and I'm, I'm definitely imperfect and definitely, like, misunderstood because of the space that I'm in. But I, I think like, that would be the thing, like, if anybody ever thought that, like, I just wasn't like a kind person because, like, I, I truthfully, like, believe that that's like, my biggest quality is like, my ability to care for other people.

[Jack]

What's a valid criticism your mom would give you?

[Mike Malak]

Oh, my God. She definitely, like, doesn't like me. Like, think, like, like, she definitely thinks I spend too much time with girls and just like, wasting time on like, that's like, not super. And, and ironically, she might say that, like, she might say that and, and this could potentially even be true. Like, she might say that, I don't know. I, that I even. She might say that I care too much about myself maybe, I don't know. Maybe she would say that. I don't know. I called her today and I literally only asked about her the whole time, specifically because one thing my biggest strength, dude, truthfully, is my awareness. Like, I, I'm super aware of like, places where I'm starting to like, mess up and like, and need to do better in. And that I think is like, the great. That I think is like the greatest skill you can ever have in life is like, being aware of like, your shortcomings, you know what I'm saying? And, and being able to right size them. But she would just say, dude, you're, you are spending too much money. She's not the right girl for you. And you know, you shouldn't. You, you need to get more sleep and to eat better or like, something like that. Moms just stay moms forever. They never stop momming, you know what I'm saying? It doesn't matter what level of success you have in any department. They're gonna, Moms are gonna mom, you know?

[Jack]

Does frugality ever bother Your wealthy friends.

[Mike Malak]

No, no, no. It's their favorite joke. It's okay.

[Jack]

So what is something that you do that's cheap? Like, what are the main things that you cheap out on?

[Mike Malak]

I really don't anymore. I think it became a joke. But, like, dude, like, I'll certainly, Like, I'm definitely going to be the guy like that. If we all get lunch together, I'm probably gonna be like, all right, where are your cards at? You know what I'm saying? Like, and I mean, like, some of these lunches are expensive, dude. Like, if I'm.

[Graham Stephan]

What do you mean? Where are your cards at?

[Mike Malak]

Like, dude, like, the bill comes. The bill comes. Like, I'm generally not like, okay, like, I got this.

[Graham Stephan]

That's reasonable.

[Mike Malak]

That's what I said. That's what I said. And these people have money, too, so, like, the fact that they're. They think that I should just, like, pay for or, like, I don't know. Like, I guess I'm just like. I always feel like there should be a fair distribution, if that makes sense.

[Graham Stephan]

Better at that, too. Like, sometimes, like, one person will order a soda, and I'm like, well, they pay a few dollars extra because they got the soda for sure. You know, it makes sense to me.

[Jack]

That I. I'm actually. I'm a fan of that. I think a fair distribution is really important.

[Mike Malak]

I think so.

[Jack]

Because you're aiming towards an equitable kind of, like, arrangement. And if you're not, then what are you doing?

[Mike Malak]

Well, you know, like, it should be. It. Sometimes it has to be proportionate, like. Like. Like with Rich from Fashion Nova, for example. Like, he wants to do stuff that, like, I can't do. So, like, if you. If he really wants me to come along, like, unfortunately, dude, you have to have a disproportionate it. Like. Like, dude, like, there's no world where that yacht that you're talking about in south of France is on my. Is in my budget, just not, dude. So, like, I can give you 10,000 bucks maybe, but, like, you have to cover the other $800,000. Like, I can't do it. There's nothing wrong.

[Graham Stephan]

Is there a ratio, though? Or Then it just seems, like, petty. Like, if he's like, all right, give me the ten grand to do it.

[Mike Malak]

I told him recently to do it because he has friends that think that way, and they're like, oh, he should. He's got billions. He's worth. He's a deca billionaire.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah.

[Mike Malak]

Like, he should just pay for every. No, I don't think that's fair either. If he's. It should be proportionate at least. Right? So if he's paying, if, if he's paying X percent of his money, which, like, it doesn't matter what he does, like, you should probably at least, if that's only $12 for you, give me 12 bucks. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's how I feel. I told him that the other night at his house.

[Graham Stephan]

I said, I think it's reasonable.

[Mike Malak]

That's what.

[Graham Stephan]

I understand that.

[Mike Malak]

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. It's a weird.

[Graham Stephan]

It just becomes a point where it's like to give him $10 is not even worth his time.

[Mike Malak]

No, he'd rather just not even talk to the bill.

[Jack]

Exactly.

[Mike Malak]

Get sick.

[Jack]

All right, Mike, thank you so much for coming.

[Mike Malak]

You guys enjoyed it, watching it from. From Graham Stephan Land and, and, and, and Ice Coffee Land.

[Graham Stephan]

And also big shout out to White Glove Estates for giving us their showroom on Sunset Boulevard to Filman. We'll link to their info down below in the description. Any luxury, high end remodels, furniture, staging, you name it, they handle all of it. It's really high quality stuff. I mean, solid wood.

[Jack]

Thank you guys. Till next time, see.

[D]

If you're a podcast host. Listen up. This one's for you. My name is Ali Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had my secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle. And I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I really receive in ad sales. It's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life. And the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show. You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial.