298. Kyle Cooke: Loverboy, SBA Debt & Fighting to Save a Multimillion-Dollar Brand

Summary

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Trading Secrets Ep. 298: Kyle Cooke — Loverboy, SBA Debt & Fighting to Save a Multimillion-Dollar Brand

Date: May 11, 2026
Host: Jason Tartick
Guest: Kyle Cooke (Entrepreneur, Reality TV Personality, Founder of Loverboy)

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Episode Overview

In this raw and revealing episode, Jason Tartick is joined by Kyle Cooke, founder and CEO of Loverboy and star of Bravo’s Summer House. The discussion dives deep into the realities of building and sustaining a consumer brand, and the intense personal, financial, and operational pressures that come with scaling a multimillion-dollar business in the beverage industry.

Kyle openly discusses the roller coaster journey of Loverboy, including the massive challenges of alcohol distribution, managing SBA debt, weathering public scrutiny, and a dramatic downsizing from 30 employees to just three. The conversation also touches on how supporters rallied to save the brand and how Kyle is navigating both the pressures of entrepreneurship and his own personal life upheavals.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Relatability of Summer House

• Relatable Content Drives Success: Kyle credits the ongoing success of the show to its relatability and how it reflects the hustle culture of New York—“Work hard, play hard”—and to casting people with real, lived experience.
  • “Most people can relate to the grind. Most people can relate to the hustle…if done correctly, everybody on the show has some way to resonate with the audience.” (Kyle Cooke, 04:33)
• Organic, Less-Produced Reality: The filming style of Summer House captures real interactions through constant surveillance, making it “real reality,” less polished or staged than other reality shows.
  • "It's so much less produced than you'd ever expect…life isn't scene-based." (Kyle Cooke, 09:06)

2. Scaling and the Challenges of Alcohol Distribution

• Rapid Expansion & Missed Steps: Loverboy expanded quickly—into 41 states, over 200 distributor deals, 30 employees at its peak—but quickly became stretched too thin without the resources to support it.
  • “We actually overexpanded based on the resources we had. And that’s mostly money and team.” (Kyle Cooke, 10:40)
• The Nightmares of Alcohol Distribution: US law requires all alcohol retailers to use wholesalers, deeply cutting into margins and making it difficult for consumers to access products unless a local distributor is set up.
  • “If I don’t have a distributor in that zip code, I can’t help you.” (Kyle Cooke, 17:31)
  • Timestamps:
    • Distribution explained: 15:18
    • Margin breakdown (“I’ll sell that to a distributor for, let’s call it $25…”): 18:08
• SBA Loan Realities: Loverboy took out a $4.2M SBA loan in 2021, which Kyle personally guaranteed. Managing both operational debt and personal financial exposure has become a constant, intense stress.
  • “It’s kind of like everyone is familiar with student loans…you will always be personally guaranteeing this debt, even if the business goes belly up.” (Kyle Cooke, 27:01)
  • Kyle’s SBA payment is $55,000/month at 10% interest; only $1.3M of principal paid down after 5 years.
  • Timestamps:
    • SBA loan breakdown and stress: 26:39 – 29:36

3. Facing Financial Hardship and the Reality of Entrepreneurship

• From 30 to 3 Employees: Downsizing, layoffs, and the loss of key personnel (COO) forced Kyle to become even more hands-on and make tough choices just to keep the company afloat.
  • “I’m an outlier in celebrity brands… No, I am running it. I am CEO.” (Kyle Cooke, 19:11)
• Personal Financial Risk: Kyle put $500K of his own money in as part of a $2.2M bridge round just to make payroll; faced with possibly needing to do the same again.
  • “I was literally in between a rock and a hard place… My reality a month and a half ago was, do I go bankrupt or write another $500,000 check?” (Kyle Cooke, 22:29)
• Vendor and Supply Chain Strains: Outstanding payables blocked production of popular products, even when customer demand was strong.

4. The Lifeline of Community and Adaptation

• Fans Saved the Brand: After a show episode highlighted the financial crisis, a wave of pre-sales from fans (especially for merchandise and select drink presales) provided enough cash flow to avoid bankruptcy, at least temporarily.
  • “The support from our fan base saved Loverboy…everybody that went on loverboy.com and bought something helped cash flow the business.” (Kyle Cooke, 30:11)
  • Timestamp: 30:10
• Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Workarounds & Merch: Higher margins but legal restrictions limit which alcohol products can be sold online; merch proved vital for quick, direct revenue.
  • “Our margin is much higher on merch…we didn’t have to clear all that account payables.” (Kyle Cooke, 32:17)

5. Coping with Public Scrutiny & Personal Life Upheaval

• High-Profile Private Struggles: The overlap of a public breakup, business crisis, and ongoing TV exposure created unique pressures.
  • “There are four things going into 2026 that would break a majority of CEOs…” (Jason Tartick’s summary, 26:39)
• Intentionally Classy Brand Moves: Kyle chose not to capitalize on personal drama or trending public rifts, even when urged by fans, in order to maintain dignity and avoid exploiting others.
  • “I want to handle this in the classiest way possible…Let’s just try to have an amicable split.” (Kyle Cooke, 41:21)

6. Findings & Trading Secrets

• Entrepreneurial Takeaway: Diversify your revenue streams, even when all in on a business. Multiple income sources are essential for survival, especially when your main venture hits turbulence.
  • “The only reason I’m still here…the only reason Loverboy is still here is because I de-risked my entrepreneurial risk by ensuring I have multiple revenue streams.” (Kyle Cooke, 56:29)
• Being a Relatable Brand Wins: Openness, transparency, and vulnerability directly helped sales as fans responded to Kyle’s honesty about challenges.
  • “I do want people to understand the ins and outs…95% of beverage startups fail and alcohol is even more challenging.” (Kyle Cooke, 53:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Distribution Frustrations:
  • “In alcohol…you are legally required to use a wholesaler…It is the only category in consumer that you are legally required to go through wholesale.” (Kyle Cooke, 15:39)
• On Managing Debt and Survival:
  • “I literally need to make a hundred plus thousand dollars a month just to break even on paying this SBA loan payment.” (Kyle Cooke, 28:02)
• On the Impact of Fan Support:
  • “The support from our fan base saved Loverboy…I could put more money in, but that doesn’t go to paying down the loan. Or I could basically start the bankruptcy process.” (Kyle Cooke, 30:11)
• On Vulnerability and Brand Loyalty:
  • “I feel a little lighter with some of that exposed and out there…doing things like this helps.” (Kyle Cooke, 53:18)
• On Business Resilience:
  • “There are so many things out of your control and they're going to keep knocking you down and you just got to keep getting up.” (Host, 55:49)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|-------------| | Summer House relatability & casting | 03:59-07:04 | | Alcohol distribution explained & margins | 15:18-18:42 | | The SBA loan & personal guarantee stress | 26:39-29:36 | | Fan support & pre-sale lifeline | 30:10-32:05 | | DTC legal quirks, merch vs. alcohol | 32:33-33:39 | | Entrepreneurial trading secret | 56:29 |

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Actionable Advice & Takeaways

• Support Small Businesses: Buying direct, especially merch or DTC-eligible products, can be a lifeline for brands facing thin retail margins and cash flow crunches.
• Ask Retailers for Your Favorites: Consumer demand at store level can spur new orders, even when distribution is rocky.
• The Power of Community: Loyal fans can tip the scales and literally save a business in crisis—never underestimate the value of transparency and authenticity.

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Final Thoughts

Kyle Cooke’s journey with Loverboy is a testament to the harsh realities—and occasional miracles—of entrepreneurship. Facing massive debt, industry barriers, and personal trials, Kyle’s honesty, adaptability, and fan support may just keep the lights on. His biggest trading secret? Go all-in, but hedge your bets with multiple income streams—and never underestimate the power of vulnerability and community in business.

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Transcript

[Kyle Cook]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

Visit Safeway or Albertsons.com for more deals

[Podcast Host]

and ways to save. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by entrepreneur, reality TV personality and the founder behind one of the most talked talked about beverage brands in the country, Kyle Cook. Kyle first rose to prominence on Bravo Summer House, but behind the scenes he was building Lover Boy, a better for you alcohol brand that quickly scaled into a multi million dollar business with national distribution and a very, very loyal customer base which we'll talk about. But what we'll get into today is building a consumer brand. It's not always what it looks like from the outside. There's so much that happens behind the scenes. H firing outside noise that impacts sales, from rapid growth to real financial pressure, tough investor conversations and navigating public attention while trying to save and rebuild the business. With so many ebbs and flows, this is a raw look at entrepreneurship in real time with the one, the only Kyle. Kyle. Well, training.

[Kyle Cook]

Quite the intro.

[Podcast Host]

Let's go. Do you think it was a pretty good depiction of what's going on called

[Kyle Cook]

the roller coaster that has been my life. So I think it's pretty spot on.

[Podcast Host]

We're talking a lot of business today. We're talking a lot of lover boy today. Before I get get right into the financials and business, how how's life? How you doing? Was 2026 what you expected it to be?

[Kyle Cook]

Not so much. It's been a roller coaster. You know, I think when you put yourself out there sometimes you just don't know what to expect. And yeah, I mean April has been one of those months where you're probably

[Podcast Host]

ready to turn this page.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. Ready to turn this page. But, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I appreciate you asking. I mean, people have been checking in and it's been a roller coaster. I mean, you were here in Miami in January with Amanda.

[Podcast Host]

Yes, yes, I know.

[Kyle Cook]

Days after we announced our split. Yep. Yeah. So I, I, I don't think if you're to ask me if I, I saw any of this coming. Absolutely not. Such is life. You know, you just kind of got to learn from everything and move on.

[Podcast Host]

Life and business. Let's go into business and let's first talk Summer House. Like one of the biggest things I'll tell you. I was just with about 20 or so reality stars, if you will, from all different backgrounds. Right. And in the different niches. They all know their, and they all know their shows well. But like, I'd say I'm from the Bachelor, like, oh, I might know one person or something.

[Kyle Cook]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Unanimously. Every single one of these people. When Summerhouse came up, everyone knew Summer House. Everyone knew you, everyone knows what's going on. It feels like Summerhouse has become one of the most relevant, biggest, most talked about reality shows on any network in America. Give me the why? What has happened behind the scenes with the business and the strategy of Summer House that has put it in the position where it's the biggest talked about show in the country?

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. You know, look, I think Lindsay was just on watch what happens with Annie Cohen. And I think we were, she was, you know, asked a similar question. I think I always thought of Summer House as like the little engine that could. And, you know, it's kind of grown at a, at a steady clip year over year. Just in terms of our audience, ratings, et cetera. I think what makes our show just so unique is the relatability. I'm not saying, like, everybody can relate to renting a multimillion dollar house in the Hamptons, but the very premise for the show was a bunch of young professionals. And when I say young, yes, I'm including myself.

[Podcast Host]

43, Benjamin Butzo.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, I mean, we originally were trying to target 30 plus when we were, you know, casting. And I helped cast the entire first season. And the reason we wanted 30+ is we wanted people with actual experience, both life personally, professionally, and it's, you know, New York is known as the city that never sleeps. Work hard, play hard. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And I think that kind of ethos and kind of DNA translates to the show And I think the reason our show has been able to kind of hang on and continue to put better numbers up year over year is if done correctly, everybody on the show has some way to resonate with the audience. You're not gonna resonate with the whole cast, but you're gonna resonate with some of the cast, and it's that relatability factor. We all still hustle, and most people can relate to the grind. Most people can relate to the hustle and not to knock on, like, other shows, I mean. Well, let's talk about Vanderpump for a second. Yeah. Some of my best. My best friends in the Bravo kind of universe are from Vanderpump. Yeah. That show, like, the best years of that show was when they were actually working at the restaurant. Like, they all were there to be actors and actresses and models and musicians, and they did what a lot of people in Hollywood do. Yeah. That's a great dream. Maybe you'll make it, but you got to pay the bills. So you go work at a restaurant or a bar.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Kyle Cook]

Who can't relate to that?

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Kyle Cook]

So that show, like, the best seasons were when they were actually physically working at SIR Yeah. And the second they bought multimillion dollar homes in the Valley, it was like, well, wait a minute. All right. I mean, like, at a certain point, the audience is kind of in on it. Like, all right. They don't really need to work this shift.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

And so the. The concept of the show changes. So then it's like, well, what is it? And what role does SIR play with our show? It's like, this is our summer. I mean, some people forget that. It is, like, why we work so hard. Like, in New York, you know, you kind of work five, six, seven days a week to enjoy the fruits of your labor. And if you live in New York City. Yeah. The idea is to get the heck out and get to the Hamptons or Nantucket or Mykonos or, you know, wherever. Yeah. And a lot of people forget, like, I'm not partying like, this year round.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Kyle Cook]

These are my summer weekends as a New Yorker. But I think that mindset, even. Even if it's aspirational, you can. You can relate to it or look up to it. And I think that that's like, that. That hasn't changed on our show. We all still grind, we all still hustle. It looks a little different than season one, but the premise and concept of the show has not changed.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting. So it's that the show has stayed consistent, but I think in today's world of social media, relatability has become one of the most important things. So it's like the show's. It's just the relatability factor is now stronger. It's magnetized to people in different ways. I think about when Alex and John Buffard we came to your filming. That was back in 2024. I remember ripping Lover Boys. The one thing that blew me away by the show is the lack of, and this is a testament, this isn't a shot, but the lack of production in the fact that they just let you be there. They just let you talk, they just let you be real. They let you talk about your business, they let you talk about other businesses to help support the businesses. And it feels like with what's important to people on social media and viewers of reality tv, that's the relatability that's big. Do you feel. Because I want to connect this question back to Lover Boy too.

[Kyle Cook]

Sure.

[Podcast Host]

Do you feel like the audience as far as like Gen Z or Gen Alpha, the age gap, are you guys starting to attract like younger people to the show? Have you noticed that in the fan base?

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. I mean even casting. Right. We no longer have that 30 plus requirement. Yeah. Particularly when everybody wants to be an influencer and enjoying the creator economy, I think it naturally kind of translates to a younger audience than it originally did. But to kind of build on what you're saying, I mean, the fluidity of how we film, it's so much less produced than you'd ever expect. And that's one kind of unexpected byproduct of how we film. The show films straight through the weekend, Friday through Sunday. Most shows are scene based. So you go to this restaurant, you go to this park, you shoot for a couple hours, cameras go up, cameras go down.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Kyle Cook]

On our show, yes. We have the big cameras, they go up and they go down because, you know, crew can only be on the clock for so long, but then they capture everything else on the surveillance. If I have something to say on a scene based show, I literally have to wait for cameras. On Summer House, I might just say it right in the moment because I know there's surveillance.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

So it just lends itself to a more organic. It's like real reality. Right. I'm not trying to say that other shows aren't real, but they just lend themselves to feel a little more produced because, well, yeah, life isn't scene based.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Kyle Cook]

Our weekends though, I mean, we shoot straight through and it's. That's the kind of beauty of the footage that we get.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's amazing. It's really cool to see the way it's taken off. To talk about the business behind that is fascinating too. Let's get into your business. So it was about three years ago or so that you were on Trading Secrets talking about Lover boy for the first time and some of the things that you threw out there was business was growing at immense pace. You were in 35 states at that time. You had 20 employees and then 200 plus beverage distribution agreements in place at that time. We talked about your SBA loan and how the SBA loan was approved at 5 million. I remember in the recap I was like, I used to underwrite SBA loans. To get approved at 5 million is very impressive because it's very hard to get that money.

[Kyle Cook]

Well, to be clear, we are at 4.2. The max is 5. The max is quite max now. But we came damn close.

[Podcast Host]

Damn close. But you were approved for five, correct?

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. I think we could have pushed it if we wanted to.

[Podcast Host]

Could have pushed it. Okay, but that's just a quick summation of what it looked like three years ago. Right. I asked the question about the viewing audience because we know just the alcohol industry has changed a lot. So talk to me about like where is the business today? We've heard you on the show talk about some of the financial constraints of operating an alcohol business. Give us the full summation of Lover Boy today, what it looks like.

[Kyle Cook]

So I'll try to give you like the high level of where we're at. And then I think the follow up questions are kind of like how we got here. Yeah. Because we peaked in 2022 from a distribution standpoint. And with alcohol, that is the crux. Like distribution is everything. And we'll talk about why. But just in terms of where we're at, I now have three full time employees. Wow. I went from at our peak 30 down to 3. Wow. Most of those people were in sales. Unfortunately. We were always playing catch up. So when we first recorded the podcast, we had rapidly expanded. I look back and we actually over expanded based on the resources we had. And that's mostly money and team. So even though 20 to 30 employees sounds like a lot, what a lot of people don't understand is most alcohol suppliers, I'm technically a supplier, they have to build up their own sales force that works alongside the distributors. Salesforce. It sounds completely counterintuitive, but we'll talk about why. And we were always playing catch up. And so in some states, I Literally would have to have over a dozen distributors to cover the full state. And you'd think all those distributors would work together to share product when I ship a truck. Turns out none of them work together even when they're in the same network. And so we were just massively under resourced and understaffed to support the distribution that we had built. And so the cracks almost immediately formed from a logistics standpoint, from a sales standpoint, and from a support standpoint. And again, I didn't truly appreciate this because when we built the brand, our brand was just getting undivided attention in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. So a lot of the the tactics that I'd say big alcohol uses to gain distribution was not really doable during the pandemic. That's like incentivizing the distributor sales team with these lucrative golf trips. It's going into stores, doing sampling, it's putting out super extravagant displays. There was none of that. And we were just dropping pallets at stores. But our brand had so much awareness that it pulled organically. So like, you know, if all the marketing techniques that are used to put some of the products that you don't normally want, but you're basically tripping over in the store and you're like, oh, well, this is on sale. None of those were in play. And so the brands that had real organic demand were what the distributors focus on. And that was lover boy. We were crushing one of the fastest growing brands in alcohol.

[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

And distributor is synonymous with wholesale, correct? Right. So wholesale, wholesaler, distributor, synonymous. And in alcohol you are legally, legally required to use a wholesaler. Now, technically, alcohol is part of consumer packaged goods, cpg. It is the only category in consumer that you are legally required to go through wholesale.

[Podcast Host]

Wild. Let me ask one follow up. We talk money on this podcast. I got an eight pack here. If you were able to just sell direct to the stores, how much money could you make on an eight pack versus having to go through this distribution channel?

[Kyle Cook]

Right? So a wholesaler ends up making about a 25 to 30% margin. Wow. So there's a markup to retail. And if you think about it, we basically have three customers, wholesale, retail and consumer. That's the other really challenging part of running an alcohol brand. You got to cater to three different audiences, right? And they're all taking a cut right up until the consumer, right? So you get your wholesaler taking a cut, you have the retailer taking a cut. Now if I'm a small startup, to your point, if I'm manufacturing OURA rings or let's just choose something in cpg, if I've got like the latest, better for you snack brand, a Walmart actually wants you to go direct, they'll capture a little more margin and they'll better understand supply and demand because they're the experts, not the startup. They know how to forecast, they know how to do all that. So what a Walmart will actually prefer you to do as a small CPG company is to sell Them your product direct and then they hub and spoke it. What does that mean? They have distribution centers. So Walmart owns their own distribution centers? Warehouses. Yep. They kind of strategically take your product from you, strategically put it in their, you know, their, their warehouses, and then manage what goes to the individual stores. Now, if I want to do that, if I want to sell in Walmart, I can't do that. I have to go through hundreds of unique individual distributors that all require their own distribution agreements, which is what I had, 200 plus. And they all require their own relationship management, they all require their own inventory management. It is a nightmare. So when everyone's like, Kyle, like, I don't understand, why doesn't my local Whole Foods or my local Walmart or my local mom and pop, like, independent store, if they want to buy it, why can't they just go out and get it? Well, if I don't have a distributor in that zip code, I can't help you.

[Podcast Host]

You can't, because there's nothing legally you can do.

[Kyle Cook]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

And then your margins are getting eaten up, so on. Like a case of lover boy. The retailer might be selling it for a certain dollar amount, but you're only going to see a small fraction.

[Kyle Cook]

Right. So this is an apac. Okay. In alcohol, specifically beer, which I'm kind of like grouped into.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Kyle Cook]

A case consists of 24 cans, so three eight packs.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Kyle Cook]

I'll sell that to a distributor for, let's just call it 25 bucks.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Kyle Cook]

They'll turn around and sell it for 36 bucks. And then it'll sit on the shelf for anywhere from 45 to 55 divided by three. So you're, you know, you're hoping to pick up an eight pack for like 14.99 to 16.99 on the shelf. So I'm, like I said, I'm selling it for 25. It cost me 15 to make. I'm only dealing with for that 24 can case, I only have $10 of gross margin. Once I cover my cost of goods, which is, you know, the can, the ingredients, all that good stuff, and then

[Podcast Host]

you still have operating expenses, salaries, things like that. So the mark, when you talk like we see you on Summer House and you're talking about bleeding based on the cash flow, 100,000 plus a month. Yeah, there's a, there's a, there's a connection to that, of course, of distribution. What are some other factors that people that are watching the show wouldn't know about your business that could lead to 100k of potential bleeding because of the debt. Like what are some of the things happening in the business other than distribution we don't know about?

[Kyle Cook]

I mean, first and foremost, I think a lot of people think I must be in like cahoots with NBC or clearly I'm not the guy running the company. No, no, no, I am, I'm an, I'm a bit of an outlier in these, you know, celebrity brands and I hate that word, but you have celebrities, you have influencers, you have marketers, you have a lot of people that are attached to a brand somehow, some way I'm actually running it. So when I say on the show that I'm not taking a salary, some people are like, well duh. It's like, no, no guys. I film and DJ in my spare time. I run this company. I am CEO. I don't have anybody behind the curtain pulling the strings. Especially now that I have three employees. Right. My CEO left in January. So when you have a tough loss there, it's a tough loss.

[Podcast Host]

Those are things you don't see on the Internet.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, we can talk about a lot of what you don't understand. But just to give you an idea of our cost centers, I mean about one third of our costs are payroll. But then you have warehousing, you have freight, then you have various vendor relationships. We have a huge technology stack, so various things that we do on our website to make sure we're digital first. So there are a lot of costs associated with running a CPG business, particularly alcohol. Where most of my headcount was back when we had 30 employees was sales. And we can talk about like why I have to build up a sales team. Even though I'm not legally selling the retail, the wholesaler is. But what a lot of people don't appreciate is so right now there's not a lot of items for sale on our website. We were dealing with some severe cash constraints over the, the winter. So I met, I talk about on Summer House how I had to put $500,000 of cash into my own business. Well, that was January of 2025. I went on that was to help jumpstart a bridge round. So a, a bridge round in, you know, the startup world is just like a smaller round of financing to kind of COVID costs. So I raised a total of 2.2 million of which 500k was, was my investment. We burned through that in 2025. Despite all of our challenges, I still had 19 full time employees when I cut that $500,000 check. And it was to literally Pay my employees payroll, needed to raise more of that money. Unfortunately, we just burned through that. We still had a fairly large sales team, and we were just not effectively selling. Right. So by the end of last year, I was practically in the same exact position as I was when I wrote that first $500,000 check.

[Podcast Host]

Minus $500,000.

[Kyle Cook]

Right. So I had to do more layoffs. And we're just barely managing our cash with three people on payroll. And what a lot of people don't understand is when you have out of stocks, you have a bunch of vendors that you work with, packaging, cans, production. Those vendor relationships were actually pretty strained when my COO left. I don't think I realized or appreciated just how much when it came time to try to restock some of our best selling items, like our Limoncello spritz espresso martini, because we can sell those online, unlike the teas. And since we're having so many distributor challenges, I wanted to make sure our website was stocked well. It turns out all the vendors that I need to do a production run were owed money.

[Podcast Host]

And you didn't know this because your CEO did not tell you this?

[Kyle Cook]

I mean, I knew we had, you know, about 5 to $600,000 of account payables. That's basically what I owe my vendors. But what I didn't realize is I'd have to pay a lot of that down for them to schedule more production. So in other words, like Kyle, yes, you're going to incur costs to produce, lover boy. You got to spend money to make money. But what you. You don't realize, I'm not going to print more cans, print more cardboard, and run the run until you pay off what you owe me from previous runs. So I literally couldn't spend money to make money because I still had over a half million dollars of additional debt account payables on top of the SBA loan. So I was literally in between a rock and a hard place. I was like, I'm in this. I might have to clear the account payables myself, write another $500,000 check into the business just to stay in business. So when you talk about, like, what people don't understand or appreciate, talk about stress. Like, we have a brand that sells things that people want, and I can't

[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Those are things that we don't see on tv.

[Kyle Cook]

And you see me, I mean, look, the toughest, the toughest episode of all time for me is yet to come. On season 10, I basically hit my breaking point. I spiraled and I just, I felt so misunderstood because of exactly what you're saying. Like when I talk about this $500,000 investment that does nothing to pay down my SBA loan.

[Podcast Host]

Correct.

[Kyle Cook]

That went into the operations of the business to cash flow the business. So I was dealing with the. I was staring at the same exact problem for a second year in a row. I might actually have to come in and cash flow the business with my own investment of God knows how much more money. I'm still on the hook. So we. So just to back up in 2021, we took on a $4.2 million SBA loan. All right, that is a business loan, but I am personally guaranteeing it, as Jason said. So it's kind of like everyone is familiar with student loans. Doesn't matter what your personal financial situation looks like. You are always stuck with a student loan. Even if you can't pay it. What will happen is like, all right, you can't pay it. Cool. We'll just pause payments until you can. You will never escape the student loan. That is the equivalent of an SBA loan. You will always be personally guaranteeing this debt, even if the business goes belly up.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

So it will follow you to put this in perspective. My SBA payment every month because interest is 10%, $55,000. Now, I live in New York City. I do. Well, my income tax, all in federal, state, city, about 50%. I literally need to make a hundred plus thousand dollars a month just to break even on paying this SBA loan payment. And that's only the sba, just the SBA loan. So that's not cost of living, that's nothing. And so when people like, oh, I mean, he's got the show income, you know, He's. He's apparently DJing. Like, is that really true? Is he really DJing to make money or is he just doing it to get out of the house. No, guys, I'm. I'm literally looking for any and all revenue streams because I know my SBA loan is not going anywhere. And just to be clear, I've had it for five years because I took it out in 2021. Of the $4.2 million principal balance, we've only paid down 1.3. Because as most people, when you're paying interest on a loan, the early years are just mostly interest. So, yes, I'm five years into a 10 year loan. We've only paid 1.3 million down. That means my balance that I'm personally guaranteeing is $2.9 million. It was actually misquoted on the show. $2.9 million. And so, yes, the idea of putting more money into the business not to pay down the SBA loan, but just

[Podcast Host]

to keep the wheels spinning.

[Kyle Cook]

Keep the wheels spinning, keep the lights on, make payroll, and also clear some of my account payable debt, it is frightening, fortunately. So we were running as lean and mean as possible. As luck would have it, the episode where I talk about the financial stress of the business was the same exact day. You can't make this stuff up. That Amanda and West put out their joint statement.

[Podcast Host]

And the irony, I guess, of that is you recorded this episode like six months ago, months ago.

[Kyle Cook]

And it was from July.

[Podcast Host]

Just a fluke timing.

[Kyle Cook]

Fluke timing. It was actually my birthday. I'm in that old guy. I was wearing my prosthetics. It was August 2nd, which is two days before my actual birthday. And it just created this outpouring of support and, and literally everybody that went on loverboy, drinkloverboy.com and bought something or bought a presale item helped cash flow the business so I didn't have to put more of my money on the line. And it, I mean, I'm not joking. The support from our fan base saved Loverboy because I was like, I could put more money in, but that doesn't go to paying down the loan. Or I could basically start the bankruptcy process. I mean, that was literally my reality a month and a half ago.

[Podcast Host]

And so in the last month and a half, due to fan support in the show, they've now put you in a position where you can continue to operate in a manner that'll allow you to pay down this $2.9 million.

[Kyle Cook]

So we did a ton of pre sales for Merch because again, we had no inventory. We couldn't do.

[Podcast Host]

I think everyone saw Carls and Mass.

[Kyle Cook]

Carls and Mass.

[Podcast Host]

You had to Sell thousands of those.

[Kyle Cook]

Thousands. But you know, I asked Carl, I'm like, have you seen how viral this is going? And he's like, honestly, it's the only little bright light in all of this. Because he's like, it's making me laugh. And then I was like, to me, that sounded like the. He kind of opened the door to me doing a merch run. Like I wanted him to be okay with it. And then that was. We actually had the same exact idea at the same time to do a portion of proceeds for Release recovery, which is the mental health organization he runs for. So yeah, the fact that we were able to pre sell that merch because we did not have it ready to go, obviously. And then we also did a pre sale for limoncello and espresso martini. So people being willing to put their money down and wait for something literally saved the business.

[Podcast Host]

And when you're doing the difference in of course lover boy and merch is we know lover boy has to go through distribution. Profit margins are tighter when you're doing merch. The profitability is going to be a little bit higher. Right. There's no distribution.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, our margin is much higher on merch. And also we didn't have to clear all that account payables to run a run of T shirts and sweatshirts.

[Podcast Host]

When people buy direct through you and your website, are you able to eliminate distribution? Therefore it's better for small business.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. So direct, you know, we call it dtc Direct to consumer. The reason why we don't sell our hard teas on our website is legally you can't. The only thing you can actually buy direct as a consumer is wine or wine based products.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting.

[Kyle Cook]

So we found like a clever loophole. Obviously our spritz and our espresso martini, our Cosmo, our margaritas, they don't taste like wine. This is not the type of wine you're buying off the shelf. It looks and tastes and smells like vodka. And we buy it and it's called other than standard orange wine. It's a mouthful, but basically it is technically a wine product. But it sure as heck is a great vodka substitute. It's clean, it's odorless, it's tasteless. And that's how we make the products that we sell online. We call them RTDs. Ready to drinks. Right. So a ready to drink is everything from a hard seltzer to a hard tea. Basically anything in a can in alcohol that's not beer.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting. Okay, that makes sense.

[Kyle Cook]

Cocktails.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

So you get your, you know, your High noons and. And whatnot.

[Podcast Host]

So the best way to support this business is to go direct to the website. Obviously, Merch is very helpful. I'm curious. You talked about 2022. That's when the peak of Lover Boy was. And you've dealt with some of these hardships at what point in your head? Because I remember when you came on the show three years ago, you're like, I don't want to focus on influencing. I don't even want to do brand deals. I'm all in on Lover Boy. That's getting all my attention. You then made a very intentional shift to be like, I need to start doing outside things to pour money back into Lover Boy. When did you make the decision that you're like, I need to start doing it? And have those businesses been more successful and very material and actually provide cash injection?

[Kyle Cook]

I mean, listen, like, I was so laser focused on Lover Boy that there was also a bandwidth constraint. Like, I just did not have the time to be like, shooting content for brand partnerships. But when the show continued to grow in popularity, our followings continue to grow. I realize I'm just leaving so much money on the table. For me, it's all about doing partnerships with brands that I'm already a consumer of. I. It's very important to me that if I do like a paid post, it's got to be something that I'm actually using in my day to day life. But it kind of got to a point, like I said, where I'm just like, okay, there's clearly a lot of money to be made.

[Podcast Host]

You.

[Kyle Cook]

You run an agency, like, you know damn well, like, how much money I was leaving on the. On the table. So I was like, all right, well, in order to de risk this SBA loan situation, I need to do brand partnerships. I need the dj. I need to say yes to a second TV show. But you know what I'll say though? It's still just to kind of go back to like buying direct. Ultimately, something like 90 plus percentage of alcohol sales happens at retail, and I need retail. The only way for me to keep being relevant at wholesale and retail is for consumers to still ask for it at the store level. So when someone goes into their, whether it's a chain or an independent retail account and ask for Lover Boy, I'm looking at you guys. It helps. It absolutely helps. Like, go. You know, if we don't sell Lover Boy at your favorite store, these people like the run, the managers, the owners, they want to hear what consumers want. The challenging thing with Alcohol because of the way the distributors have so much power. The consumers don't always get what they want. Want, like, Lover Boy was on the verge of going bankrupt. That'd be unfortunate because we use better quality ingredients than 99.9 of alcohol brands out there. People, I think we don't do enough to hype up the fact that it's all natural, no artificial sweeteners, and zero sugar. Like, a lot of people don't realize, Like, I can pop up in the morning and go for a run because if I'm only drinking Lover Boy, I'm. I don't have all those additives and the sugar and the artificial sweeteners that my competitors do.

[Podcast Host]

It's huge.

[Kyle Cook]

I feel better.

[Podcast Host]

I feel like you don't even promote that.

[Kyle Cook]

Honestly, I gotta do a better job. I mean, we used to put the calories and the zero sugar right on the front.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

In the previous packaging. But anyway, just to bring it back to what you had said, like, yes. Go to our website. If you see something, please buy it.

[Podcast Host]

And ask your retailers.

[Kyle Cook]

And ask your retailers, because we still need. That's a huge part of alcohol. You got to have the wholesaler relationships. You got to have the retail relationships. And we're trying to go back to our wholesalers and say, listen, you got to give us another shot. Like, sure, maybe we had the wrong pack size when we. When we launched. Most of the markets that we were in, we were in single flavor six packs. Now we're all in on the variety pack. So a lot of the stores that once sold Lover Boy were selling more expensive single flavor six packs. And it was hard for our wholesalers and retailers to keep everything in stock.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

Because we're still a small brand. So anyway, moral of the story, ask for Lover Boy.

[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Do you also see a correlation in the Lover Boy sales or has Loverboy kind of separated it from like the season or the day you might be having on a show?

[Kyle Cook]

So we, we used to, when I had more, more cash and, and, and a bigger team, we used to put together some of our new product innovation while filming, knowing that we would then launch it when it aired. Got it. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to bring new innovation through wholesale and retail because we're just struggling to keep our bare essentials in stock and keep our distributors and retailers going. And we'll talk about the sales in a little bit. But you know, for me it used to be about trying to plan like our innovation roadmap around when the show would air. Now it's just like when I do talk about, like when I talk. Talked to Carl about why I couldn't invest in, in soft bar and talked about having put $500,000 in the line, talked about only having enough cash to keep the lights on for another couple months, we saw a spike. I mean, it's much easier to track what's going on on our website than at wholesale and retailer. We saw a spike, Huge spike.

[Podcast Host]

People just wanting to help.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And so again, like everybody that went on our website and continues to go on our website is playing an active role in like Saving this brand because, I mean, you've seen it as a banker. There's plenty of great brands that have a ton of consumer demand and loyalty that go out of business because they get out over their skis. Maybe they're in too much debt. Maybe they over expanded. I mean, maybe in my situation, my wholesalers stopped paying attention because we had such a small team. We weren't knocking on their actual physical doors.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting is one thing. I also. I might bite my tongue here, but I don't think I am. I think it's a testament. You just talked about when you opened up with vulnerable vulnerability to Carl, how it increased sales because people want to help. I also think there's a big testament to you. Obviously, things are happening in the news. Things in that. In the news are helping support your business. But you haven't capitalized on this in. In marketing ways other than loving, fun things like Carl's a mess. It feels like that's intentional. Can you speak to that? Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

I mean, look, we have ins, you know, insane amount of. Of submissions of people saying, you should do fboy. You should do lover girl. You should do Team Kyle. You should do team Sierra. Ultimately, I want to handle this in the classiest way possible. I know that sounds cheesy, but I was already in this mindset long before any of this happened with my split from Amanda, that I needed to kind of take the high road. There's a lot that goes on in a marriage, you know, in the other 10 months that we don't film. There was really no point and no gain in dragging our marriage through that to kind of expose more and tell my side. So I was already in the mindset. I just kind of think the high road. I still have so much love for Amanda. Like, let's just try to have an amicable split because we have so many friends on so many different shows, including our own, that had a pretty horrible public breakup and it took years to just be in the same room. Boom. You know what I mean? And so I was already kind of trying to train myself to take the high road. So when everything else unfolded in. In April. Yeah, if I did any of those suggestions, I feel like I'm stooping down to a lower level that I just. I don't wanna. I wanna refrain from that.

[Podcast Host]

It's a classy move. It's a classy move. I think it's the right move. And good for you for doing that.

[Kyle Cook]

But I mean, like, I mean, I actually mocked up just as a joke.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Kyle Cook]

A Sierra Mist, like A hard soda and we just like use a little AI. But I mean, it would have been so easy. Yeah. And who knows, maybe we can find a classier way to kind of execute something like that. I've always wanted to do something with Carl. Like, yes, we have our lover boy, Nan Alex. Yes, we have flower boy, our THC drink. But, you know, letting Carl truly drive the innovation process. Like, what, what do you want? Do you want more like adaptogens and

[Podcast Host]

nootropics to put in soft bar?

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You and Carl have something special. There's something. Because you guys are very different.

[Kyle Cook]

Very different.

[Podcast Host]

You look different, you are different, you talk different, you act different. But like, there's something very lovable in that, like Batman Robin type thing.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Another area I think if you've, you've kind of stayed classy, but I've seen it online, is there was some gentleman out there who literally is selling hats with what looked like to me, your logo. And then I'm like reading the comment and I thought your comment was just perfect because it wasn't like attacking, it wasn't nasty, it wasn't cutting someone at the Achilles tendon. It was just like, hey, man, I'm going through a divorce. Our show's trending. You're using the algorithm to trend to now try and like go viral and you're.

[Kyle Cook]

And we're not going to say this guy's name or his company's name. No, but here's the funny part. Part. He was running trial reels during all this craziness in April.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

Basically saying Kyle Cook hates me and hates my hats because he thinks I stole his design. Well, if you look at our best selling hat, it's called the classic. It's practically identical. And we launched it years before he did. So I'm just like, listen, man, maybe it was a fluke, but like, like, you're now trying to capitalize on what I'm going through in the public eye. Talk about cringe. He tried to claim he wasn't familiar with the show. Blah, blah, blah. I'm like, bro, you know what's cringe? Running trial reels with my name and my hashtag. That's cringe. Like, give me a break. I'm like, you're running a knockoff design charging twice the price and claiming I don't like you. I'm like, well, now I don't.

[Podcast Host]

Simply said, you talked a lot about big competitors you've had to deal with. Right. Like Anheuser Beverage and some of the biggest people that I'M not gonna say the name of the brands, but we know who they are. There are also a lot of small, smaller boutique, let's call them, like influencer, celebrity, ready to drink brands that have even come up on your show. Are they like in the industry as a whole? Are they too suffering? Is this something that's lover boy specific or boutique specific? What does it look like?

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, I think what happened was, I mean, we were very early and helped set some trends. I mean, we were the first zero sugar hard tea. People came in afterwards, obviously. But with artificial ingredients such as sweeteners, there's been a slew of competition. What ends up happening is the distributors have so many brands that they are now legally the stewards of that they stop selling at a local level. So like I mentioned, I had hundreds of distributors. They have their sales team. When we launched all these markets, their sales team was kind of like my local sales team. Sure, that that helped gain the original distribution. But now that there's been so much competition, those distributors are no longer prioritizing selling, which we also call it like building a brand. Some of our distributors used to pride themselves on building brands. Now they call me up and say, well, if you want new accounts, new retail accounts, selling loverboy, you have to hire your own sales rep to bring those accounts online. I'm like, cool. I don't have cash if I'm in 41 states, which was our peak. My 30 person team looks tiny. My competition has 30 sales reps in New Jersey alone. So our distributors, which I have a love hate relationship with, they stopped selling, they stopped building brands, and now they turn to me and asked me to build up an entire salesforce nationwide to do what used to be their job. Now, I'm not trying to blame it all on them, but right now we can't capitalize on the popularity of the show and the popularity of lover boy because I don't have distribution.

[Podcast Host]

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[Kyle Cook]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So what do you, what does it look like? Like from here you've had this big spark, this big spike. Merch sales, lover boy demand. You lost your coo, you're coming back, you got some excess cash, you still have your 2.9 million dollar balance of your SBA loan.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, the stress is still there.

[Podcast Host]

The stress is still real. But what is like as you try to move forward and look into the future, obviously appetite for alcohol slowly decreasing. It's still obviously there. But like what does. Kyle Cook is CEO of Loverboy. Where do you go from here? What does it look like? And also how much pressure do you feel to continue to stay on reality TV knowing that's help pushing the demand for the product? You need to turn to pay this note down.

[Kyle Cook]

Right. I mean the irony is with our new show in the city, I think the plan was like, all right, give me Amanda Lindsay, a show where we can kind of evolve on. Lindsey obviously is a mom. I mean we were going to start a family at some point. You know, the thought of like not being a part of the show I helped start was a little daunting. There was actually that was additional stress last summer. I was basically filming two shows back to back and kind of having to look at summer house in the rear view mirror, which I'm like, yo, this is my baby. Yeah, that was also a stressor. But where do we go from here? I mean, look, we have a ton of products that we've never brought through retail. We, we are all about using better quality ingredients, making better for you products. So if people are drinking less, they should be drinking better, Healthier, right.

[Podcast Host]

Cleaner.

[Kyle Cook]

And so there's still a huge opportunity in my mind for better for you cocktails. At retail, our spritzes have zero added sugar. They're 6% alcohol. So a little, little higher than like a, you know, some of my competition. A little more bang for your buck. But the taste is absolutely amazing. Like, in my opinion, our spritz is low key. Like, our best price product. Our. Our cocktails, which is our espresso martini, our Cosmo, and our three different margarita lines. It's got a fraction of the sugar of the competitors. Okay. Sugar gives you a gnarly hangover. People don't. And obviously, like, there's other byproducts of having too much sugar. You're going to gain weight. So to anybody that's trying to, like, wean back or cut back their alcohol intake, like, all right, maybe you spent a couple more dollars on a brand that is going to kind of curb some of the side effects that accompany alcohol, which is like, okay, I'm no longer drinking a ton of artificial sweeteners. I'm no longer drinking a ton of empty calories and carbs. Like, if I'm gonna have a drink, make it count. Yeah. So I'm. I'm really focused on putting those better quality, better for you products on the shelf, not just selling them online. So my distributors, if they're like, well, Kyle, now there's so many hard teaspoons, sure, they're. They're not as clean and better for you as lover boy, but guess what? They have huge resources and support. What else you got? I'm like, okay, then let's talk about our spritz. Let's talk about our cocktails, let's talk about our margaritas. That's where I'm going and just how we get there. I'm still looking for, like, an operational partner. With so much going on and me running the day to day of this business for seven, eight years, it's put just so much stress on me. So I am trying to find someone who can help with the day to day of the business. Because, yeah, with three employees, you know, we can't cut it.

[Podcast Host]

It's wild to hear the 30 to 3, but the fact that it's still moving, it's still growing, you're still finding a way to do it while you're continuing to do that. Is the DJ business. Is it like, are you. Is it going well? Like, are the rates increasing? Are the bookings increasing? That could help pay down this note.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, like, look, I fly to Chicago from here. We're in Miami.

[Podcast Host]

Miami, yeah.

[Kyle Cook]

You know, could I go home and just have a relaxing weekend? Absolutely. But I'm gonna go DJ for one of the biggest, most respected hospitality groups in the world, Tao in Tao Chicago. And that just elevates my personal brand, my DJing lover boy. Having Lover Boy on the flyer because

[Podcast Host]

you'll drink the Lover Boy while you're

[Kyle Cook]

performing and my, my fans will be able to buy it it. And guess what? Like, it takes a lot of money. That and big alcohol pays a lot of money to kind of build those relationships that otherwise it's kind of like, well, what are you going to do for us? You know, and my. By DJing, I'm like, listen, like, my fans want to have a great experience. Like, they haven't been able to buy Lover Boy in Chicago like they would like to. Let's make sure it's available at the set. So, you know, it helps. Stay top of mind with my distributor. Oh, Kyle's coming to town. We got to make sure we get product to Tao. It helps, again, elevate the Lover Boy brand, my personal brand, My DJing, to be associated with Tao. And, and he, you know, gets product in the hands of the consumer. So it, it helps on multiple fronts, including becoming a consistent revenue stream. For me, as I deal with the, you know, the daunting reality that that SBA loan is not going anywhere.

[Podcast Host]

It's not going anywhere. How are you now dealing? We've talked all about the stress factors. To me, it feels like the worst, I think, is behind you. Do you feel as though the financial stress, the personal stress, the professional stress that's been on your shoulders for years. Do you feel like rocks are coming out of that bag, or does it not feel like that yet?

[Kyle Cook]

Part of that stress was just feeling so misunderstood, just in terms of everything that's going on in my life. So I feel a little lighter with some of that kind of exposed and out there.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Kyle Cook]

Doing things like this helps. Yeah. You know, I, I do want people to understand the ins and outs of the, of running a business like this because it's insanely challenging. I mean, 95% of beverage startups fail and alcohol is even more challenging. So you can do the math. I'm not looking for sympathy, but if people are so inclined to continue to support the brand, it's. It, it helps.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I think it's education. I think people don't realize the amount that you have to carry. When you're carrying millions of dollars of debt, you're carrying 30 plus people's careers and families that they're feeding. You're carrying personal stress, you're carrying divorce, you're carrying reality TV trolls, you're carrying being mislabeled, you're carrying putting 500k of your own money into a product and then also potentially have to put in another 500,000. All the while dealing with criticism because you are doing career choices. That's helped supporting that.

[Kyle Cook]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

That's a lot that'll break.

[Kyle Cook]

And they're 99% of people. And not to like interrupt, but there's been points during filming where my friends are like, kyle, why don't you just walk away? This, this business is going to ruin your marriage. I'm like, okay, first of all, it's supposed to be like the financial security and freedom for my future, my family's future. When I took the SBA loan out, our business, like I said, was one of the fastest growing businesses in alcohol. A lot of things are out of my control. Most of my distributors, we didn't touch on this carry Bud Light. Bud Light basically got canceled in pop culture by half this country in 2023. So for the last three years, my distributors have seen a massive reduction in revenue. And so, you know, again, my distributors kind of went through this black swan event. Alcohol Forever was considered to be recession proof. For the first time ever, these businesses were down 10, 15, 20 plus percent. So that's one of the reasons why they stopped building brands. They're like literally holding on for dear

[Podcast Host]

life to their main source of revenue.

[Kyle Cook]

To their main source of revenue. The number one product in most of these beer wholesalers portfolio was Bud Light. There were parts of this country where Bud Light was down almost 40%. So there's just some things that are out of your goddamn control. Yeah, and I kind of forgot your question or why I interrupted, but.

[Podcast Host]

No, no, I feel like it's just, it's a good add on to what I was saying, which is there are so many things out of your control and they're going to keep knocking you down and you just got to keep getting up. You got to keep getting up. I could talk to you forever about this. It's so fascinating to learn more about lover boy. Where it's been, where it is today, where you expect it to go. But I'm looking at the time and unfortunately you and I got to go speak on a panel at Bloomberg.

[Kyle Cook]

Bloomberg.

[Podcast Host]

But I think it's a great time to get a business trading secret from you. Like as an entrepreneur, a founder, a CEO of a company that has seen every single roller coaster and now hopefully some momentum moving in your direction. What is a trading secret given where we're at right now? It's going to be May 2026 when this comes out. Talk to me about the trading secret

[Kyle Cook]

you give us at the risk of being a broken record, because I forget my previous trading secrets. Yeah, the only reason I'm still here, the only reason Lover Boy is still here, is because I de risked my entrepreneurial risk by ensuring I have multiple revenue streams on a personal level. So, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs feel like they need to be 100 to 10% in. Well, they do. And you gotta find some way somehow to squeeze a little bit more out so you can actually cover your personal carry or your burn. And what I mean by that is like, okay, every single month, month, I don't care what city you live in, you have a, a cost of living. And so if for some reason you don't raise that round of financing or for some reason your brand or your startup isn't profitable, the only way you're going to personally be able to keep going is to personally keep your lights on. So I think about a lot of people like, oh, come on, Kyle has the show. Why does he get a DJ to cover that SBA loan? Well, as I've outlined, that's a hundred thousand dollars a month, month of income that I would need just to pay the SBA loan. So I've. I'm going out of my way to work seven days a week, morning and night to make sure I have multiple revenue streams. I'm sitting here wearing bird dogs. When I first started filming Summer House, I was a founding partner of Bird Dogs. I got paid in cash and some equity to help build this brand. Yeah, I also had a consultancy. I did multiple things because guess what? When I started this show, there was no influencer marketing. There was no paid partnerships, there was no brand deals. It was 2016, right. And we had a teeny little audience. I had a teeny little following. So I had to find other ways to pay the bills. And I would just encourage anybody that has the entrepreneurial itch to a yes, be all in. So much so that you're willing to put your own money into the business. You can't look to other people to invest if you're not willing to, but also have some means. I don't care if you have to drive an Uber. Do it, do it, do it.

[Podcast Host]

I think it's a great trading secret and it's great that you also found other means that can help contribute to lover boy, like DJing at a huge venue that could carry Lover Boy. It's so smart. And I think the trading secret I've learned from you too is like, even your conversation With Carl you saw a spike in your sales and I think this conversation you're showing vulnerability about the business and you're doing it through education. And I think when like this side of Kyle that we've seen the fun party style sty we've seen the business side but seeing like the vulnerable. This is who I am. This is why I am. It's so. It's refreshing. It's educational. You're making impact. We're learning from you and just keep doing it and people want to help people that will will show the cards and talk about this stuff and it's real. It's. We're not taught it in the school system. I got an mba. We're not taught in our NBA. It's real life and you don't see it all on the screen. So Kyle keep crushing it. We're all rooting for lover boy. How can everyone here as we're wrapping this episode find you and also support.

[Kyle Cook]

Yeah, so I'm pretty easy to find.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah there's pretty much anywhere in the

[Kyle Cook]

Internet there's an E at the end to cook. But drink loverboy.com high flower boy that's hi flowerboy.com that's our THC drink. Cool. Peruse our website. The pre sales help. Yes, it takes a little time for us to get get you the product or the the merch but honestly thank you everybody for supporting us.

[Podcast Host]

I love it. There's only one last thing to do.

[Kyle Cook]

Crack.

[Podcast Host]

Take one crack.

[Kyle Cook]

ASMR baby. Here we go.

[Podcast Host]

Asmr. Had to do it sober. Now let's have a drink. Cheers man. Foreign. You know what?

[Kyle Cook]

It sucks to be bored. But when I get on my phone and play real casino games on spinquest.com the time flies by. That two hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes. Play your favorite slots, live blackjack, live craps with a live dealer. New players 30 coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play spinquest.com and you'll never be bored again.

[Podcast Host]

Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Save on family essentials at Safeway and Albertsons.

[Kyle Cook]

This week at Safeway and Albertsons fresh cut cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple or melon medley bowls. 24 ounces are $5 each and wild caught lobster tails are $4.99 each. Limit eight member price plus selected sizes

[Podcast Host]

and varieties of Doritos Lays, Cheetos, sun

[Kyle Cook]

chips and Kettle Cook cheese chips are 199 each. Limit for member price.

[Podcast Host]

Hurry in these deals won't last.

[Kyle Cook]

Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save. CFTC Regulated Spot margin trading is now live on Kraken Pro Trade, with up to 10 times leverage, long or short,

[Podcast Host]

your crypto as collateral.

[Kyle Cook]

The conviction was always there. Now the platform is too. Unleash your trading potential. Download Kraken Pro on the App Store or Google Play Play. Spot margin trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Leverage magnifies gains and losses. View Ninja Trader Disclosures for more information on brokerage services. Geographic restrictions apply. Terms apply.