On the other hand, the other choice is for people who are willing to take chances and risks. These people are not afraid to be uncomfortable and break the rules. At the end of that road are your wildest dreams and the best man you can be. Which road are you willing to take?

Nothing great in life is guaranteed. You have to be willing to fail, and you need to be willing to take chances. You don’t want to look back at your life and think about everything you didn’t go after. To me, that’s tragic, and that is the life I choose not to live. I will fail and mess things up, but I won’t live a life of regret. The journey is long and arduous, but in the end, it’s fantastic.

Rules to live an exceptional life

1. Transparency. Be as transparent as possible with your intentions and emotions. We can act and resonate with people we feel are vulnerable and honest because we can sniff out sh!t. Unfortunately, 99% of people put up a wall and act like something better than they are.
2. Dare to be different. Super ultra-successful people are different because they’ve taken chances and risks and are quirky. Challenge the status quo and not be afraid to be yourself. Be willing to be different.
3. Be willing to fail. Do not think of a failure as a negative. If you ever expect to reach that ultimate dream, you must be willing to fail because it’s part of the process. Many people fear trying because they fear failure.
4. Don’t wait for perfect timing. Perfect timing doesn’t exist. It’s all about risk-taking and taking calculated risks. The truth is nothing ever great was accomplished because it was easy. You need to push down fear and be willing to push down that voice in your head telling me you can’t. You can live a life different than small-minded people, but you have surrounded yourself with. This is your journey and purpose. Decide your path, which will define your success.
5. Work for yourself. Successful people either have a great side hustle or they work for themselves. Side hustles typically start as a side project, but you can grow them into a full-time gig. Skillshare has some badass resources to help you with your side hustle. Their courses, classes, and tutorials detail every aspect of side hustle businesses. Click to receive a one-month free trial of Skillshare.
6. Good things do not come to those who wait. If you think you will sit on your hands and wait for a handout for something extraordinary, you will wait your entire life. If you want something, you need to speak up, take it, and not allow life to hand you sloppy seconds.
7. Don’t be a good little sheep. Society wants you to sit down and shut up. It’s time for you to get up and speak up. Tell the world what you want and what you need. Success favors The bold and people who are willing to take chances. Society doesn’t want that because they want you to be dependent and stuck.
8. Challenge the status quo. The world is full of sheep, but it needs more leaders. The world needs more independent thinkers and those willing to take risks because success favors the bold. Be willing to go out for what you want and not worry about other people’s thoughts. You only have one shot in this life and must decide how to live it. Do not allow somebody else’s preconceived notions or inability to think outside the box to dictate where you go in life. This includes your parents and loved ones. This is not their life, it’s yours. You have a 100% control over it.

The start of alpha m.

Something unique happened; I found my voice. I also found a community of people who loved and appreciated me. I was hooked. From that point, my vision of success changed. It used to be a chain of fitness centers, but now it’s what makes me feel complete, valued, and worthy.

I felt insignificant and less than others for most of my life because I grew up without. I didn’t have much money, but YouTube allowed me to find my voice and community and feel better about myself. That’s what I wanted for you as well — to feel better about yourself and your confidence. My goal was simple. It was to help viewers feel confident through personal presentation, fitness, and grooming through this YouTube resource.

The alpha m. YouTube channel was built for the younger me. I had struggled my entire life with confidence, and if I could help one person feel better about themselves, that was my goal. I kept posting, and over the years, I kept posting. Whenever I meet up with one of you in person, it is amazing and inspiring. In fact, I just met two people at the gym yesterday who told me how I help them through difficult times. These interactions resonate with me.

Where do I fit?

The other day, I realized my role and purpose for you guys had changed. Some who used to watch me don’t watch me anymore because they’ve moved on to their next life phase. I’m trying to find out where I fit on the internet and in the world of YouTube because I’m not ultra-controversial, I have a positive message, and I’m never going to be Jose or Alex.

What hit me is that I know how to make money, and that’s the missing piece. You will only truly feel fantastic about yourself once you figure out how to be financially free. No matter how many videos I do about looking good, grooming, and dressing well, you need to be financially free to be confident.

Alpha Mpire

This is why I started Alpha Mpire YouTube channel. I want to help you with the next phase of life to become financially successful. My financial journey will differ from yours, but I’ve learned a lot after opening 20-plus businesses over the years. I found one model that’s easy to start because it doesn’t require a lot of capital and is easy with marketing and advertising. It’s low-risk, and it’s called white labeling.

I have started several businesses with white labeling, and the business model is the same. I’m giving it away for free. My goal is to help you get rich by helping you build a white label business from ideation to store set-up to marketing to selling products. I have your blueprint if you click here. Also, join the Mpire Community, a course that covers granular step-by-step topics. All the guesswork is taken out with incorporating, Shopify & paid marketing tutorials, influencer tips, and more.

Additionally, I also created a community, and that’s where the magic happens. Everybody who joins Mpire can come together to talk, share, and help each other. I’m in there every day to chat, and I am also doing live training weekly for 2 hours. I’m walking through the curriculum and answering business questions. I’ll help each and every one of you build your own private white label empire. This is the greatest thing I’ve ever done and will be my legacy.

Join me and take control of your financial future

If you’re serious about taking control of your financial future and destiny, hit the link below and watch the video. It will walk you through and explain everything. I’ll also give you a free step-by-step blueprint for building a white label company from scratch. If you want more information or to join the community, hit the link and join. I’m incredibly excited and passionate. I want to thank you for hanging out with me for so long.

I know I’m not that smart and grew up without a financial role model; I’ve achieved everything on my terms. I went out and grabbed it because I was tired of being broke and stressed out. I was tired of thinking about money. When you live in a perpetual state of poor, unthinkable things can happen to your self-esteem. Plus, joy and fun are taken out of life as well.

But the good news is that if you do what I did, you can be much more successful than even me. You need to do these three things to unlock your financial freedom. Also, understand that nothing I am going to tell you is easy. Everything will require work. The more money you want to make, the more work it requires.

What does wealth mean to you?

What wealth means to me might be different than it means to you. Being rich means not worrying about money or thinking about how I will pay my bills. Having money means I have enough for things I like to do and pay cash for — I am living below my means. Being rich doesn’t mean driving a Ferrari. It means having peace of mind and living life on my own terms. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have to work my ass off. You’re going to have to be willing to work your ass off to make money, but it’s worth it.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it allows you to solve problems more easily and help others. This aspect is very valuable to me as I want to help other people like your family when they need it. But the first person you need to help is yourself. Fortunately, it’s simple because it boils down to three things.

Steps to becoming wealthy

1. Be willing to fail. I’m here to tell you that I have failed more than succeeded. Some of the failures have been brutal, whether financially or emotionally. But to ever achieve anything extraordinary and develop FU money, you must be willing to take risks. Fear of failure holds back 99% of people. They know what they want to do & achieve and desire a lot of money, but they’re too scared to go after it because of the fear of failure. However, failure gets a bad rap. Failure builds mental toughness, stability, strength, and resilience. You have to be willing to fail to be successful. You need to be willing to risk something without knowing the outcome.
2. Throw a bunch of crap against the wall and see what sticks. This needs to be your new mantra. Start a side hustle and a business. If you ever expect to have FU money, you need to be in control of your own destiny. Every single successful person had to push down their failure of failure and try a bunch of ventures. Successful people didn’t hit it out of the ballpark on the first or even second try. They had to try a bunch of different things to see what sticks. Nowadays, trying a bunch of stuff has never been easier or more affordable. Check out Skillshare to learn how to create multiple income streams and side hustles. Pete & Pedro took me $3,000 and a little research, to which it’s grown to over $9 million with 30% profit. Find something you’re interested in, and somebody out there will sell you a high-quality product you can put your name on. Follow a plan to build and launch your business. If you would like a blueprint on how to do this, sign up here.
3. Invest. If you can invest in your business, do that first. Then, invest the extra cash and deploy it, whether it’s into the market, real estate, or otherwise. I’m a silent partner in one of my businesses where I get a distribution. Another pays me rent monthly. I also have another that’s an appreciation of an asset. In the old days, you could borrow money to make a deposit down payment to buy an asset like an apartment building, a single-family, or a duplex. But money is so expensive, so it’s challenging to do that, and the numbers don’t work. What works is cash, which you can get crazy deals.

Bonus Tip

Live below your means. The lower you can live below your means, the better off you will be. This equates to more money you will have at the end of the month to deploy, invest, and grow your wealth.

If you’re tired of being broke, you’ll love this video because I will give you the secrets to follow. The inspiration for today’s video is the Alpha Mpire channel, where I’m building a community. Over the past few months, I have been building a community for entrepreneurs. The premise of the Alpha Mpire Community is to help men like yourself build a side hustle to generate a minimum of $10,000 a month. I have had 19 different businesses over the years, and I’ve learned a lot through those. I’ve created blueprints and step-by-step guides to get you where you need to be.

The other promise behind this community is that men will have a place to go for weekly calls and coaching with Q&A sessions. The community will be a network to help each other. Sign up here if you want my mentorship to get out of debt and build a business. We will be capped because I want to make the community manageable and actually deliver on the promises.

Here’s how not to be a broke ass.

Punch your ego in the face. Until you’re willing to do whatever you need to do to not be broke, you will always be the person asking for handouts. You will be waiting for something to happen. Be willing to do anything if you’re serious about not being broke and doing something amazing. You cannot think that a job is beneath you or not up to your standards. I was literally willing to do anything other than ask my wife for money or ask my mom for help. I did not want to feel like a loser when I was broke.

Get your spending under control. Until you understand that you don’t need to buy all the stuff you’re buying, that you don’t need to go out to eat, that you don’t need to be living in the place that you’re living, that you don’t need to be driving the car that you’re driving, you will continue to be broke. You need to have extra money, so you need to lower your bills and expenses and stop buying stupid shit.

Reduce your expenses. Get your living expenses down as low as possible, which means possibly moving back in with your parents. I know that would suck, but you might have to do that to right your ship. You may need extra roommates to share expenses; you may have to go from a two-bedroom to a one-bedroom apartment; you may need to lower your car payment; you may need to get rid of that high-interest rate. Understand what your budget is and live below your means. You will only be financially free once you do.

Know what’s coming in and out. Write down your budget. If you have a lot of high-interest credit cards, stop using them. Stop buying things on credit altogether. The sooner you can get out of debt, the sooner you’ll be on your way to having FU money. Debt is the devil. So, if you need to get a second job or even a third or fourth job or if you need to work weekends, do what you need to do, and don’t be afraid of working your ass off. Many people think they need ‘me time’ and free time when what they need to do is not be broke. Work overtime or figure out a side hustle.

Have multiple streams of income. The more income streams you have, the better off you will be because when one goes down or something happens, you have others. You will not be in a position of weakness like someone putting all their eggs in one basket.

Take action. If you’re serious about not being broke, it’s time to take action. Think about where you would be today if you started your side hustle, business, or investment when you first thought about it. How long ago was that? 6 months ago? 6 years ago? Think about where you would be today. It is time to stop making excuses and get your head out of your ass. Take action. Have a plan, execute it, and stay focused. Pay your bills on time while building your credit. Do what you must to get out of debt and get better credit. Use your extra cash and invest.

Make money while you’re sleeping. Until you figure out a way do this, you will work until the day you die. Have your money working for you while you’re sleeping. Invest whether in the stock market, 401-K, yourself, or a business.

Kevin has some serious questions for me, and I have some important questions for him. He also discusses what happened post-pandemic about the old ‘at any cost’ growth metric as well as profitability, cash flow positive, customer acquisition cost, attrition, return on advertising spend, and rate hikes.

Later, Kevin discusses how venture capital and private equity purchases are down. He lays it on the line about how Pete & Pedro should grow, its focus on profitability, and how the company can become a legacy business. The bottom line is that Pete & Pedro needs to hold the line regarding profitability and tweak advertising constantly. The current model has the lowest acquisition cost and the highest return on advertising spend. It’s not about growth at any expense; it’s about profitability.

Until you take an active role and understand and figure out how the system works, you will never be financially free and will always be trading your time for money. That being said, I will review some money-making lessons that I wish I had learned sooner.

Start applying these financial principles now!

1. Invest. Either invest or work until you die. There is zero chance that you will ever develop FU money until you understand that you have to be investing. You need to deploy extra cash and let that money work for you. That is what the secret is.
2. No financial bailouts. Understand that nobody will bail you out financially, and it’s nobody’s responsibility other than you to figure out your finances.
3. Debt enslaves. The higher and larger your debt, the more of a slave you are. That is the devil. I don’t sleep well if I have a lot of debt. I’ve been broke, and I have been not broke. I can tell you from experience that nothing robs you of joy like having a bunch of credit card debt. You feel like you have a thousand-pound gorilla that you’re always carrying around with you. Live debt-free by making smart financial decisions.
4. Side hustles. Every single person needs multiple streams of income. If one goes down, you will always have one to fall back on and one to grow. It’s never been easier to make money in the universe’s history and right now because of the internet. Making money online is literally like taking a test with the book open. Find somebody doing it, copy what they’re doing, and do it yourself. I don’t know where to start, Skillshare is a good place. The platform features tons of entrepreneurship courses for you at any stage of the business. Even if you want to start a side hustle, they have classes that walk you through step by step how to start.
5. Unequal skills. High-value skills are more valuable, which people with money will pay more for. These skills will need to be developed. One skill that I think you need to develop is sales, learning to sell something. If you can sell anything, being a good salesperson is invaluable. Every company needs it. Often, sales positions are commission-based, so you can have a salary and commission, which means you’re basically uncapped in terms of your potential.
6. MLM scams. I learned the hard way that multi-level marketing (MLM) is a scam. If it’s structured like a pyramid, meaning you need to get people underneath you to make money, it’s truly a scam. Now, you can technically make money at it. Sure, if you’re the first five people or so. But the majority of us that hear about it are too late. And ultimately, everybody hates you and avoids you because you will try to sell it to all your friends and family.
7. Hype and frenzy. Don’t get caught up in the hype and frenzy. Be smart and logical. The foundation and fundamental principles of investing and making money still work, but unfortunately, there’s a lot of hype surrounding certain things like crypto. I’m not talking about it negatively, but look what happened. Everybody started to get super hyped up and buying. It got pumped up and inflated, and then people lost a ton of money by not being educated or understanding cryptocurrency. To be a better investor, you must separate your emotions from investing. You can’t get upset when something doesn’t go as planned and have a knee-jerk reaction of taking your money out. When everybody’s freaking-out and selling is the time that smart people invest financially. Whether this is real estate or the market, they see opportunity and other people’s fear. They know that when things are bad, they’ll get a better deal. Skillshare also has classes about real estate and investing, along with how to flip and how to find sectors & markets.
8. Money vs Happiness. Making money will only make you happy if it comes with struggle. If you’re given something, you don’t respect or appreciate it as much as what you had to work your ass for. You need to be willing to live below your means and take your extra cash and invest it. Start a side hustle. But you have to start.

Stephen wrote that, posted two days before he recently passed away. He lost his battle with cancer after 13 years. He was a warrior with an incessant positive attitude. He touched and affected so many people and leaves a powerful legacy that is impactful and inspiring.

I lost my friend, business partner, and hair-styling soulmate. It’s all very raw still, and I’m struggling to deal with it.

Why I started in 2008

I planned to film some videos for my image consulting business so I could post them on YouTube. I didn’t know what the platform was about at that point, as I had only been on it a few times. I remember after I got my first comment, it was at that precise moment I found my home. I was hooked! For the first time in my life, I felt validated.

Back in 2008, nobody was making any money on YouTube. People were just posting videos about themselves and what they were interested in. Additionally, I didn’t know anything about subscribers or monetization. I just wanted to share information that I hope somebody could find valuable.

People started subscribing, and I felt incredible. And when I started getting feedback, my life improved as I felt that I truly found my success. Success for me was feeling like I mattered, not any material possessions.

YouTube got my shit together

I was filming every Friday after getting a six-pack of beer. People didn’t realize that I was drunk in the early videos. I was not in a good place emotionally, and drinking was one of my coping mechanisms.

YouTube got my shit together. I chewed two cans of tobacco daily, and alcohol was my trigger. I stopped both, and my life truly got better. My relationships improved, my body improved, and I felt better in the morning. While I still enjoy wine, I don’t get blackout drunk or drink irresponsibly.

Authenticity and vulnerability for the win

My discussions on style branched off into grooming. I realized I couldn’t be the only dude who wondered what to do with the hair on his butt cheeks. I’ve always been comfortable in my skin, so why not? What did I have to lose?

During the earlier years, I was trying to figure out what was a popular topic. After checking out popular YouTubers, the outrageous and outlandish seemed to create an audience. The more they cursed, the more popular they became. So I started posting things that were inconsistent with who I was and how I felt. I realized how insane I was acting and dropped the act. I have since deleted those videos.

Being authentic and vulnerable is when my channel started to scale. I began to make a little bit of money after applying for monetization. Then, sponsors began to pay attention. The Grooming Lounge was an early sponsor, along with Blank Label shirts.

YouTube was pure and innocent because people weren’t making millions of dollars back then. You filmed and posted videos to help people or share something. That’s why I always tell people to start a channel because you never know where it will lead. Look at me.

Just start — you never know where it will lead

• If you want to make YouTube your career, only worry about making videos about topics you’re interested in. It will find an audience of like-minded people.
• Don’t worry about money. Do not go into YouTube thinking you will someday make millions of dollars.
• Start strategizing now about video topics that people want to watch. If you do that, and you do it authentically with the purity of intention, the money will come.
• Don’t worry about perfection. Still, to this day, I hate many of the videos I put out. But you just put it out and work the muscle. It’s never going to be perfect.
• Don’t start off selling. The biggest mistake when creating content is the intention of making money or selling the audience on the first interaction. Do not ask viewers to buy anything immediately; that is a big mistake. If you want to start a website, purchase a URL and direct people to it for more tips and information.
• Have viewers sign up for a newsletter. Capture people’s email information and build a list. Then you can figure out what product you would like to sell, which could be an info product, a grooming product, apparel, or whatever interests you. You now have an audience with whom you’re connected and close to from the valuable content you’ve given them.

Slow and steady

It took me 8 to 9 years of posting videos regularly to get to a million subscribers. I also posted for five years before making a dollar from sponsorships or products. You don’t need a fancy camera; you can do it on your phone. You never know where it will lead, but the connections you make and the feelings you get are no better gift.

I didn’t want to do FBA until …

I didn’t think that the company needed to be on Amazon. But then I saw a statistic that said that some people shop strictly on Amazon, and if your product’s not there, they won’t go to your website or purchase your products. Another factor that convinced me to sell on Amazon is that when I searched Pete & Pedro on Amazon, the search field auto-filled, which meant people were searching for it.

When we first set up Pete & Pedro’s Amazon store, we fulfilled the orders and charged $5 for shipping. Nowadays, people will only purchase on Amazon with Prime. Sales grew over time to about a million dollars worth of Pete & Pedro’s business.

Around September 2022, my marketing director proposed getting us into Prime and FBA. He said that we could make up our margins based on volume. He said we won’t care that margins have shrunk because we’ll do much more business. So we tested it, and sales for our test product went from an average of 60 to 250 a month. We tried the same test for other products, and the same increase happened. This was a light bulb moment.

Costs and benefits

Now let’s talk about margins. Off the website, the margins are around 26% after discounts and everything else. Now with Amazon, they take 36 cents on every dollar. It works out for a 20% margin for Pete & Pedro on Amazon FBA.

But the marketing is super easy, effective, and targeted, and it is the best bang for your advertising buck. Also, once reviews and ratings climb, sales will climb. People are organically finding your products and store.

One thing you have to do before shipping off your products to Amazon is to bag and label each product with a sticker. You can’t just ship products that you get from your vendor or manufacturer over to Amazon. You have to do a bit of legwork.

Setting up a successful Amazon store

Setting up an Amazon store is relatively easy, but to take the store to the next level, you need A+ content. We had a store on Amazon for a long time, and it was average. But when we decided to go heavy on Amazon, we invested time and resources in building the store, which was about 400 hours worth of work and money on an agency.

Amazon is all about ratings, but reviews and stars are difficult to get. Your products won’t show in search results until you have 20 to 30 reviews, which these reviews need to be good. And with Amazon, there’s no faking the reviews or even having your friends and family submit reviews.

If Amazon gives you a badge, sales will go through the freaking roof. You can get that badge for different search terms, but the downside is you can lose it without explanation. You’re basically competing against other competition in your space.

Poor seller customer support

Another important note is that Amazon doesn’t have good customer service for its sellers. And when I say they don’t have good customer service, I mean they have no customer service. Amazon doesn’t ask questions. They will kick you off if they think they have a reason to kick you off. Then it’s your job to prove that you weren’t doing XYZ or fix whatever it was.

Amazon can flag your product as hazardous or miss a classify it. At that point, you’re off Amazon. It’s incredibly challenging to sell on Amazon. Even if you think you have everything situated and are out of the woods, you’re not. These types of issues still happen weekly to Pete & Pedro. Bottom line: Amazon is a devil that you learn to dance with.

How to get started selling on Amazon

If you want to sell on Amazon, you could go to Alibaba after finding a product you want and get the desired version. Work with the manufacturer to design your logo and label to create your product. On Amazon, many people sell the exact product, just labeled and packaged differently.

The upside is that you can start an Amazon store reasonably quickly. However, I’m not a fan of selling exclusively on Amazon. One of the downsides to Amazon is that you have no access to customer data. For instance, you cannot build an email marketing list.

I recommend having two separate businesses. One is your.com, and one is Amazon. Think of it as a wholesale account. Amazon is like my wholesale account, with the margins being lower. The good news is the scale and growth are tremendous on Amazon. And if you have your.com, you can build your lists.

If you can build a successful Amazon store, there are a lot of people out there that would love to buy it. Tons of people are interested in purchasing successful FBA businesses.

If a business isn’t successful in 3 years …

One of the problems as an entrepreneur is not knowing when to give up. You think you can keep going if you try harder, make more money, or just get something right. It can drive you crazy. It can also drive you to be broke. Time can be wasted as well. Time is your most valuable asset besides your health, and we choose how to invest time every day. 

Kevin O’Leary always says that if a business isn’t successful in 3 years, it is time to take that bleeding dog behind the barn and put it out of its misery. But it’s tough as an entrepreneur. I want to talk about one of the businesses I recently had to do that with. ENEMY was my custom sunglasses company that I recently shut down on December 31st, 2022.

What is successful versus what is failure is relative. ENEMY generated $2.2 million, but I shut it down because it wasn’t successful enough. Challenges occurred stemming from landing costs, the premium product components, the price point, margins, pricing, and competition. At the end of the day, nobody cared about ENEMY’s premium components. 

There was no money!

Math ended up not working, either. By the time the sunglasses were sold with discounts and people got paid, I was only making 10 to $12 per pair of sunglasses. Then paid advertising had to happen. There was no money! So, after the first order, I had to get the margins down. I ended up ordering larger quantities after negotiating with the vendor. The bottom line was that:

1. I built a product that was too premium for the price that I was charging.
2. I didn’t want to be Alpha M pitching sunglasses.
3. I hadn’t figured out a mechanism to sell a zillion glasses.
4. I also realized that these sunglasses only moved if I pushed them and advertised them. I didn’t want to do that. I did not want to have the responsibility.

Shift in direction

I kept hearing Kevin Leary’s three years statement in the back of my mind when ENEMY hit the two-and-a-half-year mark. I thought about what I was going to do. I changed the glasses’ components to get them down to $18 and negotiated shipping rates (using ship instead of plane). I also didn’t want to be the brand, so I developed a new website and hired models.

I relaunched the company and gave it six months. If I couldn’t figure out the advertising mechanism in that amount of time, I planned on shutting down the company. I didn’t figure it out. I also realized that the market was highly saturated and competitive. So many companies were selling very similar products in quality and price. ENEMY was nothing special. The only thing that made it special initially was that I came out with it and had a loyal following.

Upon realizing that I had never figured out the equation to convert dollars in advertising money spent on digital to sales, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to spend time, energy, bandwidth, or any more money to figure it out. I could have figured it out because I have a lot of smart people around me, but I didn’t want to. I had other businesses, entities, and priorities making more money that were worth my investment time.

Selling off all the inventory in 3 months

I had over 4,000 pairs of sunglasses in my warehouse, and I didn’t want to promote them anymore, but I didn’t want to lose all the money. For easy math, that was around $80K worth of inventory. I decided to shut down the business and get it done by the end of the year so I didn’t have to think about it in 2023 or file another year of taxes. My goal was to sell all the sunglasses in 3 months.

I did it. I publish videos on my YouTube channel saying ‘thank you,’ but I’m done. I put all the glasses at 50% off, and it exploded. The website went crazy with traffic, and sales were coming in. The only reason they were selling was that people knew that it was the last chance to get ENEMYs, and 50% discounts move the needle.

Taking the L

The loss sucks, but what sucks worse was investing even more time, energy, and money in a business I didn’t feel right about. It wasn’t working, so even though ENEMY exceeded two million dollars in 3 years, it didn’t meet my needs or interest. I didn’t want to do it anymore. 

Key takeaways

The key takeaways are that you should not overbuild a product, you need to know your price, and you need to know how you’re going to market it. You also need to know the costs of selling it if you don’t have a big following. Market before having the inventory and know your competition. Ensure you’re not distracted because, like most people, you’ll go where the money is; if the money isn’t there, you’ll lose interest and focus. Once that happens, the business is done.

Cancer Battle

But first, I want to talk about my friend and business partner’s lung cancer battle. He’s been fighting cancer for about ten years, taking a chemo pill that has kept the lung tumors at bay. But, a few months ago, he had a regular scan that showed the tumors are growing. He’s been going through radiation and extra chemo. He’s also been hospitalized two times with pneumonia. The doctors are trying to get everything under control, so he hasn’t been working. It’s been hard. Just knowing somebody you care about is going through something like this is traumatic. I know he will kick it and get better, but he’s hospitalized and not feeling good during this time. The situation definitely puts life into perspective.

Dream Home

Now let’s talk about my new dream home. When I built my present house, there was a lot next to me for sale. Three months after moving in, I wanted to do this again. I feel very close to my grandfather, who was a builder, whenever I do things like this. I enjoy the process so much that I’ve thought about going into the development of strip centers, housing, or townhouse communities.

So two years ago, I bought the lot and started building my dream home. The inspiration came from a house I saw during one of my runs in Marietta. I love the brick, windows, slate roof, and pool. I found the architect and let her know I wanted one just like it. This architect and team of designers developed a fantastic design after a year. Check out the renderings where you can see the U-shape with a courtyard, pool, basement, and huge gym.

I don’t like to travel, so this will be my oasis. I’m spending my money so I can be in my town, go on walks, and live in a house I absolutely love. Once this process is done, I am concerned about what I will do next. That’s why I need to get into development or something of that nature because I love it so much. I’m super passionate about it. More updates to come on the Alpha Mpire channel, which I will discuss next.

Alpha Mpire

I’m starting a new YouTube channel. I have a lot of things that I want to talk about, including my experiences growing up poor to now what I consider an empire. I built something spectacular, considering I started from where I started. The truth is that if I could do it, you can do it too. I want to share tips and things I think about during the day and help you build your empire. The YouTube channel is Alpha Mpire, with candid videos about business, life, and things I am considering.

Business growth and development

Salon Posta opened two years ago and was a fantastic renovation process. The building was $730,000, and I put an additional 1.3 million into it. The result is stunning. I did this project because I love real estate and wanted to help my friend Stephen realize his dream. I’m super proud of what it’s become, and it’s outdone our expectations. I won an award for preserving this building from the Marietta Historical Society, and the salon has also won many other awards since opening. I couldn’t be more pleased or proud of the staff and the business we’ve built.

Salon Posta is less profitable than Pete & Pedro. I learned over my entrepreneurial journey that online businesses are the way to go because they’re much easier to scale. Salon Posta will do around $4 million with a 15% profit margin. The salon has a lot of moving parts and operating expenses. The goal is to get it up to $6 to $8 million with a margin of around 18 to 20%.
From a small spare bedroom in my house 10 years ago, Pete & Pedro now has 5,000 ft² of warehouse space. We’re light on inventory, with two tractor-trailer loads coming on Friday. It’s hard to rap my brain around what has happened with Pete & Pedro. Check out some of our new products … and take one of our many quizzes: Take a P&P quiz

Smooth
Texture Powder
Exfoliating Back Scrubber
Exfoliating Bath & Shower Gloves
Dual-sided Textured Face & Body Washcloths

Online businesses are much easier to scale if you can figure out that mechanism. That’s what happened with Pete & Pedro. That’s also what happened with Tiege Hanley, my largest business of top-line revenue. Every business is challenging; you have to break the rocks. But if you understand it’s not glamorous, keep your head down, and do the fundamental things to build that business, you can be successful. It’s just not automatic.

So many fake gurus are out there that are lying to get people to buy their systems and courses. The truth is most of them have never done shit. That’s one of the reasons why I want to share my tips and experiences on Alpha Mpire. I’m not the smartest or most successful but I have built successful businesses and brands from zero. I’ve never had to raise any money, and I’ve just built good companies that turn a profit.

The internet has totally changed the game of entrepreneurship and has also changed the game for side hustles. In the old days, you couldn’t quickly get in front of a vast audience, and you often needed more startup money or capital to create a business. The beautiful thing is you can do it for a little bit of money while you have another job.

Now is the best time to start a side hustle. You could do it on the weekends and give it as much as you’re willing to give, which is fine because you have a job providing a stable life and living. If the side hustle picks up and you love it, maybe you can grow with it. Never burn bridges with your career, however.

Here are my choices of the best side hustles. But, you can always go to Google and search best side hustles in 2022 to start. You’ll get a list of different ideas, but regardless of the hustle you want, Skillshare has courses that can help you get started and take it to the next level. They’re constantly adding new incredible courses.

Develop financial freedom and FU money!

TikTok. TikTok is crazy popular, and many people are trying to figure out how to monetize it. In this video, my buddy Ryan walks viewers through a step-by-step approach in one minute, in which you can generate $100 a day. Take his process and apply it to anything you’re interested in. You don’t have to be an expert. You need to convince people that you know what you’re talking about. I suggest the Skillshare course, “TikTok for Everybody: Script, Shoot, and Upload Your First TikTok” by Josh Otusanya. He will take you through how to create an account and grow it.

YouTube. Don’t worry about not knowing what to talk about or thinking you won’t be good at it. You need to start the process, and you will figure it out along the way. Ali Abdul is an excellent example of an inspirational YouTube story, where he grew a niche from blogging and posting random content from his day. He was just trying things out, and his channel evolved quickly to where his side hustle outweighed what he earned as a doctor. Check out his Skillshare course, “YouTube for Beginners: How to Start and Grow Your YouTube Channel.” It’s the best course I’ve seen for a step-by-step channel setup, equipment to use, and finding your niche.

Starting an online store. Figure out what you want to sell, as there is no right or wrong answer as it’s a personal preference. White labeling is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start an online business. The minimum order quantity will be much smaller than a custom product like Pete & Pedro’s deodorant, for which I had to order 30,000 units to custom formulate it. Simply Google search ‘white label’ to discover a vast array of different manufacturers and vendors. Alibaba also has anything you can think of, which you can get samples and negotiate. Going overseas to start is nuanced, so many people will buy a product on Alibaba and then resell it on a site like Amazon. But if you want to create your own brand, I recommend setting up an e-commerce store like Shopify. Use Skillshare as your resource because there are tons of creators teaching step-by-step. If you want to set up a Shopify store, they can walk you through the process, as it’s not as complex or complicated as you think.

Reselling. This one blew my mind. Go to thrift stores and resell stuff at yard sales. I have a friend who has a yard sale every weekend after she purchases inventory from different thrift stores. She knows what will sell, and she moves a lot of items. You could post a message on Facebook, offering to buy people’s old purses and shoes. From there, set up an Etsy account. You can sell those items as-is or modify/refinish them. If you’re creative or like doing crafts, Etsy is a fantastic opportunity to create a side hustle because you can build a storefront quickly. Refinishing old furniture is another idea. Find pieces at thrift stores or yard sales, strip them, and then refinish/paint them. You can charge twice, if not three times, the amount that you bought the product for.

Selling information. Create a guide or a course and then market it yourself. You could also try an affiliate network to sell it or give other people with an audience the ability to make a commission off your course.

Take it behind the barn and shoot it

5 months ago, I published a video about ENEMY shutting down. I laid out why it hasn’t been successful. I also talked about Kevin O’Leary’s concept that if a business is not successful or profitable in 36 months, the company needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot. It’s been 31 months for ENEMY, so I have 5 months to figure it out.

I was expecting to launch the new website 4 months ago. Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. And during this time, I’ve had to support the business costs. I have basically run out of money at this point. I’m not complaining; I’m just letting you know that sometimes life and plans don’t go according to what you expect. I have used my personal accounts to loan the company money to support the business.

What screwed up

The goal was to create a brand competing with companies like Ray-Ban and Shady Rays. I knew I could build a better product, so I designed these sunglasses. I wanted a company I love because I was sick and tired of spending $300 to $500 for badass shades, and I made the best sunglasses in the market for the price point.

I nailed the product, but I did not nail the business model. With the profit margins and the way that I was trying to sell, it wasn’t working. I also hated the website. It’s been embarrassing. I just totally screwed it up when it came to marketing and margins. I did not figure out how to convert cold audiences or people who didn’t know who I was. So that was the goal of this new website and the new sunglasses styles.

One of the things that took so long with this new website was the technology. The website has a virtual mirror in which you can select your sunglasses and try them on. You can even turn your head to the sides, and you can take a picture while you’re in there.

Six month deadline

The new inventory is on this new site, and if I can’t move it, this business will not be around. I will shut down ENEMY and sell the URL because enemy.com is valuable. I’m going to take a few more months, perhaps 6 months, and try it. If I’m not seeing substantial progress in the next 6 months, my time is more valuable.

I genuinely believe in the brand ENEMY, which I recently launched two additional new styles. They are sick, insane, and fun. But, what led me down the wrong path was excess inventory and insufficient styles going deep instead of wide.

You should check out the new website and play around with it. See what you think of it. Is it a better experience? Comment here. Also, scroll down and check the reviews to see what people say about them. I’m proud of the styles, the branding, and the company. That’s why I’m not ready to move on.

No regrets

At least I have given it my best shot. I’ve tried and then tried again. The bottom line is that I just want to address that in the social media world we live in now, and how people are talking hype. But from one entrepreneur to a potential entrepreneur, the reality is that things are not always great. Even with 6 million subscribers, it’s not reality. Sometimes life throws you curveballs, and you must figure out how to hit them. I just don’t want to regret not trying.

Lessons I learned in my financial journey

1. Don’t let your ego guide your financial decisions — I’ve made so many stupid decisions based on my ego and feeling like I needed to prove something to everyone else. The only person you have to prove anything to is yourself. It doesn’t matter if you drive an older car or live below your means. It’s actually the opposite. It’s important that you don’t get into the trap of feeding your ego or your expenses are going to arise faster than your income. And just because you have the ability to buy that stuff doesn’t mean you should. It’s kind of like a drug. You buy something and you’re like, “Wow, this feels great!” We get a little dopamine and adrenaline going. But, then it goes away and you’re instantly in search of a little more. It’s a constant cycle of trying to chase that feeling, but it’s feudal. Instead, I started focusing on making more money, growing my business, and developing myself.
2. Success and ambition can be a curse — Most of your friends aren’t going to understand. Your family might not understand. It’s lonely because you may not have people around you that get it. It’s absolutely incredible and important to surround yourself with people that are in your tribe (people who are like you) and of the same mindset.
3. Have multiple income streams and invest — you need multiple income streams because one job or one idea is not enough, and you need to invest extra cash as early as possible. Take that extra money and invest it in a platform like Wealthfront (investing in globally diversified portfolio of low cost index funds).
4. Taxes suck but they really suck when you make a lot of money —  a lot of people get in trouble because when they make it, they think, “Wow, look at all of this money!” But 50% of it goes back to the government, so it isn’t your money.
5. People are weird about money —  when you start making it, people may try to treat you differently and take advantage of you. You may find some ‘friends’ aren’t really your friends. You’ll lose people, and it’s okay. And you will change. It’s okay to grow and outgrow people. This was something that was a little hard for me because I’m the ride or die type of dude.
6. Don’t get cocky because not everything will turn to gold — you may figure one thing out but don’t get so arrogant to think that you have it all figured out. Just when you get comfortable, that’s when life will punch you in the nuts. It could all go in a blink of an eye. Everyone is one or two bad decisions away from being broke, homeless, or in jail.
7. Surround yourself with people that don’t blow smoke up your ass — you have to have great friends that don’t just tell you what you want to hear. Surround yourself with people that will tell you the truth.
8. Money doesn’t buy happiness — I think a lot of people think that if you make a certain amount of money that everything will be super amazing and happy. What will make you happy is being able to take care of yourself and your family. Money does give you the ability to solve some problems easier, but there are a lot of problems that come with the money. You have to stay safe, protect yourself, and think about insurance.

Kevin O’Leary’s Time Equation

A few years ago, I sat down with Kevin O’Leary and did an interview about entrepreneurship. One of the big questions a lot of entrepreneurs have is: when do you know when to give up. When do you know when to accept the ‘L’ and try something different. He said something to me that resonated. He said it’s a straightforward time equation because you only have so many productive years in your life, and you have to treat that as your most valuable asset. It’s not money; it’s time.

If you’re an entrepreneur and your idea is still not profitable after three years, you have to take it behind the barn and shoot it. It’s taking too much time away from something you could be spending on something that’s going to work. That’s the biggest mistake an entrepreneur makes — they keep saying to themselves that they keep losing money year after year and finally become dried up. It’s a curse to the entrepreneur.

I Got Something Wrong

I started ENEMY in June 2019, so it’s been 31 months. Although ENEMY is profitable, it’s not what I have set out to do. It’s not what I set out to build; a company that I only sold to people who follow me and know alpha m. My goal was to create a super premium brand that was super affordable. I was building these sunglasses for me as I was tired of spending $300, $400, upwards of $500 on badass shades. So, that’s what I did. I planned on selling them at the $150 price point, which meant I could afford Zeiss lenses, Italian acetate, spring hinges, metal cases, and microfiber bags. And I nailed it. $150 is an insane price for this quality of sunglasses.

But a day after I launched, I realized the problem. I realized the price point that I thought was a great price was wrong. So, I decided to eat the margin and lower the price point to $95 and make it up in volume. That didn’t work. I never figured out how to scale it for an affordable price because of my sunk cost (how much it cost me to manufacture). Plus, shipping has become super expensive.

Also, I decided to go deep into each style rather than offering various styles and doing launches at different times of the year. Further, I tried to please everyone by offering larger sizes in a gazillion frames (which equated to literally 2 mm bigger in terms of the lens). Check out the example I display. After analyzing everything, 98 of the sunglasses I sold were standard size, which means I was investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in large sizes that nobody was buying. 80% of the sales came from 8 styles, and I had 39 different options.

Where I Am Heading with ENEMY

I plan on discontinuing 30 out of the 39 variations of the ENEMY shade styles (all large sizes) with a massive 50% off sale. I also plan to move forward with a new website that is more sunglasses-focused, cleaner, and easier to navigate. I will also be adding different styles — ENEMY 05 and ENEMY 06, which are already in production. The other reality is that the past sunglasses components have been too expensive, so I have been in touch with my manufacturer about lowering costs.

I have five months to figure this out — I don’t have unlimited time or resources. For the past 31 months, I have been going down this rabbit hole and doing something that hasn’t worked to the level I want. And I want ENEMY to be successful without me having to promote it. I believe in the brand, and I love the product, but I have to figure out the sales mechanism. I’m giving myself until the end of the year.

Takeaway

The truth is failure’s part of the journey, and it’s not something to be ashamed of as long as you learn from it and adjust. It requires you to sacrifice things, and one of those things is your pride. You’re never going to be successful if you continue to make bad decisions. If you are struggling, you’re not alone. We all go through it, but it’s part of the process.