Aaron Marino, Alpha M & Serial Entrepreneur | How to Launch Multiple Businesses Off a Personal Brand

Welcome to success story, the most useful podcasts in the world. I'm your host Scott DeClaire. The success story podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network. The HubSpot podcast network has incredible podcasts like the Martek podcast hosted by Benjamin Shapiro. Each week, the Martek podcast tells stories of world-class marketers who use technology to create lasting success with their business and their careers. If you like any of these topics, you're going to like the Martek podcast. How science is changing advertising, how to set up a CRM, so you actually use it. Private equities take on digital transformation. My big social is focused on newsletters. If these are topics that resonate with you, go check out the Martek podcast wherever you get your podcast or you can also go listen at HubSpot.com slash podcast network. My guest today is Aaron Marino. You may know him as Alpha M. He has a YouTube channel with six million subs, billions of views. For almost 15 years, Aaron Marino, he's worked with thousands of men from around the world helping them with personal style, grooming, fashion, image, wardrobe, dating, personal responsibility. He has not only expanded his reach through these viral videos and his incredible YouTube channel, but also with a wide variety of products, including the now retired style system that was featured on ABC Shark Tank. He also had a second appearance on Shark Tank with his men's grooming company, Pete and Pedro. He also has built other businesses and companies, including TH Hanley, men, financial media and enemy. He's also an author of the best selling ebook, the male style guide and the confidence course and the virtual consultant training foundation program. He has built an empire based on helping men be better. He came on the success story podcast. This is what we spoke about. Pete and Pedro had to go from small to big, lessons learned, Shark Tank experience and what he took from it. We spoke about failure, bankruptcy, the major success. We walked through his story and things that he's learned in his life, how he's grown, how he's lived life to the fullest and how he went from a very dark spot to where he is right now. We spoke about some social media, some of the ways that he's grown his YouTube channel. We've also spoken about some just key life business lessons, entrepreneurship lessons that are just incredible for anybody. You could be starting any type of business. You could be just wanting to build a brand on social media. He's done it all. So let's jump right into it. This is Aaron Marino, otherwise known as Alpha M. All right. So I guess when I think about sort of where my journey started in terms of my my life, it really had to have started at the gym when I was 12 years old. Growing up, my mother had a few different marriages. I bounced from school to school, not to go into the details, but one of the byproducts of having a stepfather that wasn't exactly amazing in terms of he was a bit mentally and emotionally abusive is that I lost my ability to really kind of like stand up for myself and feel good about myself. But when I was like 12 years old, I watched the movie like Rocky for, right? And I saw like Rocky fighting the Russian. I was like, my god, look at those bodies, right? And I'm like, yeah, if if a body can look like that, that's what I want, right? And so my mom's like, what do you want for Christmas? I'm like a gym membership and, you know, and I was 12 years old. And so yeah. And so she got me a fitness membership. So she would drive me like, you know, after school and drop me off for like literally like a few hours. And immediately when I went in there and I saw all these dudes and I was like the young kid because, you know, at that age, like 12 year olds aren't working out. This is back, you know, long, long time ago. And so it's like I found my home. It was the most amazing experience. I loved what was happening with my body, lifting weights. It truly was a game and a life changer for me. And what happened was pretty fascinating. Not only did my body start to look a little bit better, what it did for my, my, my confidence and my mind and just feeling great about myself sort of that was something that that I wasn't really I guess expecting, but it was an amazing byproduct of just going to the gym. And I realized, okay, my home life might be kind of crappy. But when I went to the gym, I felt like like a king. I felt amazing. And I realized from the age of 12 years old, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And so from the age of 12, I was one of those weird kids that knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. I wanted to own a fitness center. That was going to be like it for me. And so for the next, you know, eight years, nine years, 10 years, I mean, throughout high school, then I went to college, went to West Virginia University, got a, a, I'm, I'm minored or I majored in and marketing. Oh no, I'm sorry, business, I'm saying now I'm all screwing up. I got a, I majored in business management with a minor in marketing and community health promotion. And so, you know, fast forward 2000 was it now? It was damn 98. Dude, I can never, I can, and when everybody asked me when I graduated university, how many years ago, I always get screwed up because it feels like it was yesterday. And it was like a long time ago. Mine doesn't feel like it was yesterday, but oh no, okay, okay. Now it was 98, 1998. I graduated with it with the degree. And I'm like, all right, see, once again, I was just focused on I want to own a fitness center. And so I decided to move to Atlanta. My best friend, Terry, his father was dating a woman in Atlanta. He's like, what do you do in after college? I'm like, I want to open a fitness center. And he's like, well, where are you going to do it? I'm like, I don't know. And this, he said, well, go to Atlanta. It was right after the Olympics. Olympics were like 96. And he said, if you can't make a business work in Atlanta, you can't make it work anywhere. It was booming here. And apparently, I couldn't make that business work anyway. Anyway, because that didn't end up working out. So anyway, I moved to Atlanta, and I got a job at a health club as a personal trainer. And I'm like, all right, it's, you know, it's not, you know, a gym at ownership, but at least I was in this space that I wanted to be. I met a guy. He said, hey, he was the manager at the club. He goes, I want to open a nutrition store. Would you like to do it with me or help me? I said, sure, you know, it wasn't a gym. But once again, it was a business. And so I was excited to try to just go into business and start a business with them. And so we ended up opening a nutrition store and, you know, did that. We expanded the like three locations over the course of like two or three years. And then I realized I needed to get out of there because this was back when there was this weird thing called, I'm going to go into the weeds here for a second. Do you mind? Do it. Go for a man. Oh, I'm all about this stuff too. This is like, I was super into working out and fitness. And like, I think this is like a lot of like guys dreams that were into athletics. How do you make a business out of working out nutrition fitness? But not many people live the dream. Not many people live the dream, man. So I, so, so, okay. So there was this stuff back in the day. So if you're like old school bodybuilder or workout enthusiast, you might remember, it was something called like blue nitro. There were these like these like it was it was like a liquid that people would actually like drink. And it was sort of like it was a drug, honestly. And like there's all sorts of like, you know, oh, no, it's good for, you know, serotonin release. And oh, no, it's perfect for helping your, you know, release growth hormone when you, when you sleep. It's all bullshit. It was all just to get like messed up and, and, and, and anyway. So, so it was something called fear known dihydro was, it was the, the chemical compound. And so they were selling it. Then it became illegal. And he's like, wait a second, you can make this stuff. It's, it's essentially boat paint stripper is what the like the, yeah, exactly. So, so you see where this is going. It's going nowhere good. And so, I'm not the sharpest hole in the shed, but I knew that this was not something I probably needed to be around for the long term. And so anyway, found out that you can make this stuff, but getting 31 ounces of like cool aid, adding one ounce of this like paint, this, uh, this boat paint stripper. And, and you could, you know, and, and people were buying it. Well, it became illegal. And he's like, yo, I can still make a lot of money doing this. Let's keep selling it. I'm like, yo, I don't know. As you can with many illegal things. Exactly. I said, it sells itself. And so, uh, so I'm like, you know, I think this probably isn't the best place for me. You know, prison is somewhere where I would be popular, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't thrive. So anyway, so I decided to leave there. Um, it was, it was hard though, because, you know, helped, you know, expand into three locations. We were doing really well. And, um, you know, I, I'm like, I just can't be here because, you know, it was just not the right, right place for me. And so I ended up leaving. But while I was at the nutrition store, something cool happened. I met a woman and helped her lose a hundred pounds. And so, um, you know, her name was Linda. And so I, I left the, the nutrition store and she said, hey, would you be interested in opening up a personal training studio? I want to help other people do what you did for me. And I'm like, yes, let's do it a hundred percent. So just the fast forward about a year, um, we signed the lease for our facility on September 11th. As in these September 11th, that the planes were crashing into the world trade. So it should have been an omen as to how that business was going to unfold. And, um, you know, we, we did that. We, uh, we tried to expand. We ended up having to get investors and there was a lot of fighting and legal battles and we ended up having to shut down. And at that point, I was about half a million dollars in debt. I was driving a beer cart on a cut out of country club on the weekends just to put gas in my car and to give my, my then girlfriend my now wife a few bucks towards groceries and rent. And so this was the lowest point in my life. Um, you know, I had the opportunity. I had a little fitness center. We were trying to expand. It didn't work out. And the worst part, I remember it like it was yesterday. I was getting ready to file bankruptcy and I had all this debt. And, um, I'm at the golf course and it was like December and it was freezing here relative, you know, freezing for Atlanta. It was like, you know, 30 degrees. And, um, and I, and I was just like, what do I do? And the worst part and the reason why that was such a hard time for me, it wasn't that I was broke. Like, I'd been broke my whole life, you know, grew up on welfare and food stamps and all that, you know, being broke is not a big deal for me. But what was was the lack of a direction or a dream, you know, for my whole life from the age of 12 years old, the only thing I wanted to do was own a fitness center. And then when that dream like exploded, it's like, well, fuck. Like, what do I do now? I have no idea because the type of guy I am like, I am super like tunnel vision. I do not do well like looking at other opportunities and, oh, well, if this doesn't work out, I can do that. It's not like that for me. It's like, I'm here. I'm going to energize and focus everything that I have on this. And then when it went away, it was like, well, what do I do now? So anyway, fast forward, what do I do? I decided, you know what? Maybe I can try this like style consulting because while I had my fitness center, I met a guy. So it's sort of interesting. Well, I was at the nutrition store. I met a girl, Linda. We opened the gym. And then when I had the gym, I met a guy Steve. He was a client. He's like, hey, I don't know what to wear for a date. I said, well, why don't I take you shopping? Why don't I come over and see what you have? And and by the way, your nose hairs are crazy. Let's, let's, you know, go to my stylist and, and, and do do this. And so I didn't know what I was doing, but it was a lot of fun. And I really, but you see opportunity, like you run after opportunity, man. Like that's two times, right? Like that's like networking opportunity. Go after it. Yeah. Well, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm not that smart. See, I'm a, I'm a, I'm an opportunist, but, or an opportunist, like, like just mentioned. But anyway, so we go back to work after we do this little makeover. And his co-worker, he worked at the weather channel, said, hey, you look great. What, what did you do? He goes, well, there's this guy. He took me shopping into this. She goes, well, will he take me shopping? Or, or not me, my, my husband. And I'm like, and he's like, yeah, probably. And she said, well, how much does he charge? And that was kind of like a light bulb moment where it's like, well, maybe there's a business in this. And so best forward, you know, I start this image consulting business. I was still moonlighting as a personal trainer in people's homes, just to try and make ends meet. My fitness center was done. I started a company Alpha M image consulting.com. And, because I thought you needed to have your URL say exactly what you did. And so it was like, you know, 70 letters long and totally like, wait, too hard to remember. Yeah, it was horrible. And so, and then 2008, well, I guess it was 2007. My wife gave me a video camera. And for Christmas, I thought she wanted to get freaky and film ourselves, you know, doing, doing, uh, doing funky things. It was not the case. She just didn't know what else to get me. And says, as a present. And so, uh, you know, I was like, well, let me, let me see about this video camera thing. And, and so I'm like, let me see if I can figure this out. I'm super untax savvy. I, uh, I started filming of the first video. I was like, okay, I got all dressed up in my JC pennies like the sport code and a big tie with a huge knot because that's what I thought back then you needed to wear in order to be like stylish was a suit and a big huge monster wins or not. And so I filmed my first video. Put it out on YouTube had no idea. Prior to that, I, I had been on YouTube probably three times. And, uh, no idea. This was before YouTube was really a thing. It was in 2008. And, um, and the next thing you know, I got asked a question by somebody that was watching a video. And that's all it took. I was, oh, I'm like, all right. Apparently, the thing that I'd been searching for my whole life in terms of, of feeling successful was just validation and like I was, I was valuable. And so that was kind of the, uh, the start of an addiction of, of putting out content and getting, you know, feedback and then that led to this and that, this led to that and started a few businesses and, and the rest is kind of history. 13. When, when I start that 2008, so yeah, about 13 years ago, wow, amazing. I am old. You are old. That's my story. That's an awesome story, man. That's, that's great. I love that. Long-winded, but yeah, that's how we got to where we are. I love it. And you know what I love about that? Like, now when people hit you too, it's so like, it's so like, oh, I got to have the perfect strategy or the first, or the first video has to be perfect, which totally kills any creativity, any sort of, like, I know, the word is thrown around a lot like authenticity, but it does kill it when you want to target and what puts up out there. And then I think it's like paralysis by analysis. And then just people don't just want to take a second and think the sponsor of today's episode BetterHelp. If you want to take advantage of a special promo, BetterHelp is offering all success story podcasts listeners. Go to BetterHelp.com slash Scott Clary, BetterHelp.com slash SCOTT CLARY. So what is BetterHelp? BetterHelp is therapy for lack of a better term. It's the best way to give yourself routine maintenance for your mental and emotional well-being. And the best way to think about therapy is usually through analogies. We always get our cars tuned to prevent bigger issues down the road. We get annual checkups and we go to the gym to maintain physical health so that we don't get out of shape. We want to prevent injury. We want to prevent disease. We do chores regularly so they don't all pile up and have a huge giant mess in your house by the end of the week. Going to therapy is like all of the above. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It just means that you're investing in yourself and keeping your mind healthy. BetterHelp is customized online therapy from the comfort of your home. It offers video phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist. So you don't even have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. You communicate the way you feel comfortable. It is so much more affordable than in person therapy and you can start speaking to somebody in under 48 hours. Take care of your mind before any more bad stuff happens. Success stories sponsored by BetterHelp. You get 10% off if you use this specific URL to sign up for your first session. So go to betterhelp.com slash scott clary betterhelp.com slash scott clary and you will get 10% off better help. I just want to take a second to thank the sponsor of today's episode neutral full. Now I tried neutral full because I have some hair now but I know that in my family eventually I'll start to lose some hair. 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I didn't know that's how you started your your YouTube channel. And I think it'd probably be funny to go maybe it wouldn't be funny for you to go back to the you know, it's funny. Well, what's funny is that I removed a lot of the earlier videos and it's not that I was embarrassed of the oh, actually I was embarrassed because when I first started YouTube I was looking around and looking at like who was successful and usually it was a lot of like crude humor and saying things that were a bit outlandish. And so I thought that's what I needed to do in terms of you know, getting popular and to attract an audience. So I said some really offensive shit. And and so looking back I was just I was you know, I'm actually wasn't you man. Yeah, it was exactly and that was the thing and that's sort of for those of you listening. The thing that really kind of like not not catapulted me because I'm like the overnight success that took 13 years right. But what really happened was when I kind of drop the act and just was vulnerable and let people see who I was and just was authentic as they say that's when everything kind of changed. I got sort of into the sweet spot where I felt good about what I was doing. And when you do that and you don't have like this weird agenda, you know, it's it's pretty amazing what can potentially happen. And so just be yourself because there's only one you everybody else been has been done before as they said or as they say. And so yeah, it was really cool. So walk walk me through even just like building out your your own quote unquote personal brand. So the brand is is a culmination of of things that are I don't even know how to best describe it like things that a man would want to figure out or learn about or like how did you come to what Alpha M is today? What was the what was the concept? Yeah, so Alpha M when it first started was just style. I was just talking about like how to dress because at the time back in 2008, the only resource for for guys was really like GQ and Esquire. And you know, it wasn't my reality and wasn't the reality of of my friends and family and people that I knew. And so I was like, maybe there's just a space for a regular guy to talk about style in a more regular way. And then from there, it kind of went into grooming. And because I've always been interested in grooming, I cut my own hair, you know, and so it was these little things that that I started, you know, talking about like butt hair, like, you know, I was the first person talking about like man-scaping online really. And it was just because I was I was comfortable talking about it. And and it's something that I had questions about. And so I was like, maybe there are other people that are interested in this kind of stuff. And and maybe I can just be that resource. And then it transitioned into, you know, pretty much anything that a guy might be interested in and relationships and dating and and, you know, pretty much just lifestyle stuff. And then I I am fortunate enough to be able to give because I am a bit older than a lot of my audience, give some just just real world lifestyle or life advice on on things that I've struggled with in my past or things that I've dealt with it. I feel I can just share a perspective. And so I think you do something really really well. And and I've watched, you know, watched a couple of your videos obviously. And one thing that how you teach is like you just mentioned, you're just telling stories. You're telling stories about stuff that you've gone through. You talk about X's. You talk about your personal choices for style, for hair, for grooming, all that stuff. Did it take a certain, was that something that you were comfortable with putting yourself out there authentic? Was that something that you had to struggle with for a while? Or was that like you mentioned the first few videos. They weren't authentic. What were they if they weren't authentic? It was me trying to put be something that I wasn't in trying to, you know, I was trying to be something that I thought I needed to be in order to get people to like me, honestly. And it never works. No, it never works. And so it's very, very easy to see through that. And so yeah, I mean, that was just something it wasn't hard. I mean, that's the thing like the hard thing was was trying to be something and put up up the sod. And so, you know, the easy thing is just to kind of let your true self shine through and just do you and and be authentically, you know, open to you. Authentically you? Yeah. Yeah. Be authentically you. Exactly. Lots of cliches in this. So many clear vans. I'm also there for reason. I love it. Okay. Let's, okay, what's the, what's the shartank play? What's the shartank experience? If you were two acts on shartank, right? You were there twice. I was once. So what happened there? Try to get on a third time. They wouldn't take me back. They're like Aaron. What's the story now? Like shit. Um, yeah. So say shart tags like my favorite show and for any entrepreneur, if you're thinking about, you know, or interested in business, watch shartank, you know, the cool thing is that you can go, you know, they're, they're syndicated now on on, you know, television. So every night of the week, you can go and watch like episode after episode after episode. And so I came up with this e product. It was my first stab at like an info product. I should say not an e product because it was actually physically DVDs that I was trying to sell. Um, it was an info product. I thought that, you know, a lot of the people that I am, I'm friends with in the space of internet, you know, business and sales. A lot of guys are like, oh, the e product, the product. And so I came up with this style system. And so my dad was like, well, how are we going to try and sell it? I'm like, I don't know. He goes, you should try and go on shartank. I'm like, yeah, sure. And so literally, I remember it was a Friday night. I went home. I went to ABC's website and I applied. And on Monday, I got a call. And, and they're asked for information. And it was three months later. I was pitching in front of the sharks in terms of, of the Alpha M style system. They hated the idea. And, and I was like, oh, no big deal. You know, that's okay. I'm on TV. So it's going to be great. I'm going to sell, you know, thousands of these things are going to be rich. Well, the night shark tag aired. I had like this big party. Everybody was around. And I was sitting there with like my, my computer. And I was like, ready for the sales to come rolling in. I literally, right? Nine million people watching the show. I sold one style system. Get out. Yeah, you sold one. I know people that are on shartank. And they get like thousands of sales. Yeah, it depends on what it is. Uh, apparently, apparently, I, that was a real wake up call. Like, hey, stupid. This is not, this is not right. And, um, and so yeah, it was, it was a bummer. So I was bummed out for a little bit. But then, you know, kind of got over it. And, and I am, I just realized that I'm not really an e-product kind of guy. And, um, at least not like physical DVDs. Like I said, I'm a dinosaur. Yeah, like, you can't even play a DVD on your computer anymore. Like it doesn't even have that ability. And so if it was an app, or if it was like a web-based like program that was less expensive, I think it would have been successful. And I still think it's a good idea. It's just, it wasn't the right application. And I wasn't the right guy to do it. Um, and then I, I started a hair product company, Pete and Pedro back in 2012, 2013, somewhere in 2013, I believe. Um, I started Pete and Pedro, which was a hair product company. And, um, I went to my stylist that I was friends with Steven. I said, Hey, do you have any connections at any of these like labs that make hair product? I think I want to come out with a hair product line. And he's like, yeah. And so he, he gave me a number. I called him up. They sent me samples. I called a few other labs. I got samples. I, I chose my products. I, I started Pete and Pedro white labeling products. And, um, my opening order, I believe it was, I started Pete and Pedro for three thousand dollars. And so, no, well, that includes everything. That includes my website. That includes my, my little stamps.com, like printing station boxes, inventory. I had five products, five hair products that I was selling. And I got 96 units of each. And, um, and it took me like five months to sell through that inventory. And, um, yeah, that was, uh, that was an amazing business. My first kind of business selling physical products other than I, I played around, I had a website also that I tried doing for a while, a membership website where I was selling like hand-strung, like, beaded bracelets. The problem was that I was sitting there at night, hand-stringing these bracelets. And so not, not a scale of a month. Not fun. No. And so I've tried a ton of shit, man. I have tried a lot of things and, you know, a lot of things, some things have worked, most things haven't, you know, and, and you just keep, you know, trying and throwing stuff against the wall and just scratching the, the curious itch. And that's kind of the takeaway. You know, I'm not scared to fail. Once you fail as big as I failed in terms of the fitness center and bankruptcy and all that, you know, failure, it's not as scary. And once you kind of get it out of the way and you realize it, okay, well, that sucks. It's things. And, and, and a lot of it, not only, one of the worst parts about when you, when you, when you fail in business, it's not necessarily the burden that it places on you. It's the embarrassment of having to acknowledge that something that you tried didn't work to other people. And so when you get over, at least it was for me, you know, I can only speak for myself. But once you kind of get over that the ego of, yep, you know, what, I tried it at least. And, and you realize that most people aren't even willing to do that, you know. And, and it's funny because the most people that are the most critical or the naysayers or the people that'll, you know, say, oh, you shouldn't do that or you're wrong. They've never done shit. And they never will. They're just going to basically, they're more comfortable staying comfortable and would rather, you know, sit on the sidelines and point figures and, and say how you, you didn't do something right or you should have done this way. It's like, you know what? You know, F you, you know, I'm, I'm out here trying. I'm going to, I'm going to try. I may not, I may not be successful, but at least I, I don't have regret and I'm not doing something I don't want to do. That's a damn good attitude to have. Just, just jump into stuff in life. And I think that that's what you have to, it's super, but you know what you got to do. You got to find, you got to find your tribe that just supports. And, and then, and then you double down on that tribe and you force yourself to be accountable by telling them what you are doing. So you're, so you know that if you fail, they're there to support you because you don't want, you know, and that's a tough thing because like sometimes it's family, sometimes it's friends you've had for a long time that are just really shitty towards what you're trying to do. And that's a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow. But when you find your tribe, people that support you that are also trying shit and entrepreneurial, not even entrepreneurial, just like super ambitious. If you put it out into the world like for this podcast, for example, like I purposefully tell every single person I meet now and now my identity has become more of the podcast. When it was first starting, it was the other stuff I was doing. Well, I work at this job and I have a podcast on the side versus I lead with the podcast because that's holding me accountable, man. Like they're going to look me up and they're going to see it. And like I don't want, I don't want to fail. So I don't, you know, I'm just like making myself do it all the time. But I think that's the tribe you have to build. People that are cool with that. And that was, yeah. And that was, you know, there was a gentleman that I met that was on YouTube, Antonio Centeno. He is a YouTube channel real men, real style. He reached out to me. And I knew about him just because I saw it was, it was me. I started the YouTube thing first talking about style. And then he came in a few years later. And I hated him. I'm like, this son of a bitch is doing trying to steal my something, whatever. And so he actually reached out to me and he said, Hey, let's get together and and meet up. And why don't we have kind of like a get together or meet up for some of these other people that kind of are in our space. And I was very resistant to doing it. But it was one of the best decisions I ever made was kind of stepping out of my comfort zone because I did not understand the importance of surrounding yourself with people that are sort of moving in the same direction. And, you know, and that was one of the, like I said, the things that changed my life, all the sudden I was around people that I had needed to be around that were all like, you know, inspiring like people that were trying that were just going after their dreams and doing something different, you know. And that was, it was amazing because once you do get around those people that are that are trying, that are striving, that are just doing things outside of the box. It is amazing how it inspires you, number one, but it also will give you ideas. And then if you ever need help, you know, they're always, you know, just a phone call or text away. And my friend, Jordan Harbinger, likes to say you, your network is your your network or your network is your network. I'm sure he stole that from somebody else. Anyway, but it's a damn good quote. I know Jordan. Yes, the Jordan, he has a great podcast. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to go. Yeah, he has a good ass podcast. He's he's a rock star, right? And so yeah, Jordan, you know, he says, and and Jordan had kind of like a tumult from I can't even say that word tumultuous sort of relationship break up with his former business partner. And, you know, and it was hard. I mean, Jordan literally almost started like from ground zero. He had his podcast, but, you know, they had a very big, you know, and successful coaching business. And, and, you know, and and Jordan, he was like, you know, what? I'm just going to reach out to these people that I know that are friends and and he does. He every day, like, sits down and sends text messages to people just to say, hey, and just to keep that connection going. And, you know, I think that's something so incredibly, you know, powerful because we get so caught up in our own lives and our own shit a lot of times that, you know, just take in a few seconds out of the day just to connect with people. 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That is absolutely a a critical thing that I think every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur should should really consider and think about. I think that's a really smart idea and I and I like that point you brought up about constantly reaching out because the one thing that isn't building a network is just reaching out to somebody when you already need them, right? You got to build that foundation way ahead way ahead before you even know what you're going to need help with. And then when when you need that help, you can you can reach out to these people because you haven't just shut them out of your life for the past. And I have to work on it too, man. It's hard to keep up these relationships, but that's very important. Now, okay, so I want to I want to unpack. Okay, so we're still going down this. So you finish up with the second shark tank. And I want to understand all the goals. I don't even get to the second shark tank yet. Hold on. Here we go. So I, I got it. Okay. Yeah. So I want to figure out this because that's a good story too. So I so I so I so I so I got kicked out or I they didn't take a deal in shark tank. I didn't sell any any style systems. It was a disaster. And so I ended up starting a grooming product, Peyton Pedro. And and so I, you know, right away I shot him an email. Hey, I got a new business. It was because a shark tank. I realized, you know, and I made the sales bitch like, hey, it's because I got rejected. And they're like, oh, that's kind of a good storyline. And so, you know, I lied about my sales a little bit. And the audition told them they were bigger than they were. And, um, you know, I think I didn't like I won't call it a lie. It was a little bit it was it was generous in terms of my sales. And so anyway, so they're like, hey, let's, you know, that they it was for like maybe I forget what season maybe season five I tried to get on. And they said no. And then I came back. And I got to hear, man, I got to hear it was it was season seven episode 29. Yeah, that was that, well, that was it. They I think I tried like after I got kicked out of the first time I thought I was on like season three or four. I tried the very next season. They said, no, I tried again. And they said, no, I believe. And then they reached back out to me, um, on for season seven. And so, so yeah, so I go out there and I was just super confident went out there. And, um, and I crushed it. I did a great job pitching. I was confident. And that was kind of one of the things. We were like, oh, were you nervous? Hell, yeah, I was nervous. It was horrible. But it was just, you know, you just got to stand up for yourself. And so, um, knowing that when you do something like a shark tank, it's all about the television audience. It's not they don't care about your business in terms of the producers. They just care that you're a good episode. And so, um, I knew what I needed to do in order to, you know, get on get on the air because the thing that you don't realize, like for a season of shark tank, they're four entrepreneurs every episode. And I think there's like 25, 27 episodes per season. Well, that's, you know, over a little bit over a hundred of entrepreneurs. Well, they audition 150. So there's literally like 150 that come out and do the pitch that film to do everything. But they did like 50 people, you know, or entrepreneurs don't ever make it to air. And so I'm like, yo, if I'm going out there, I am getting on air. There's no doubt about that. And so got to deal with Barbara. She didn't want to invest in Pete and Pedro. And that was, that was kind of the thing that I was so shocked at. I thought I'm like, you know what, Pete and Pedro is a great business. It was doing good numbers. And I thought to myself, if any other entrepreneur would go on with the products and the, and the, and the, and the company, and the, and the revenues that Pete and Pedro is generated, they would jump at the opportunity to partner because the margins were great. The truth was incredible. But they realized that with, I didn't understand then what I do now is that, you know, well, yeah, but why are you selling it? You know, it wasn't that it's just getting a lot of traffic because it's a great product. This because I was pitching it and I was the one that was driving product sales and traffic. And so they ended up giving me a deal for, or wanting a deal for the Alpha M business. I took the deal on the show. And as soon as I got home, I called Barbara or I didn't call. I sent an email. I don't ever number it. And I was like, Hey, thanks. You know, but I think I'm going to go on this alone. I really did need help with Pete and Pedro. Like just really explain what was the, what was the game plan for them taking over Alpha M? Because it's you. It's a brand. So yeah, they want to manage. Yeah. No, like I do a lot of promotions and, and, uh, sale. So they wanted, basically she wanted a piece of the, the brand Alpha M. And then whatever that looked like, whatever we did, whether or not it was promotions, whether or not it was endorsement deals, like whatever it was, she would then get a piece of that. And so I'm like, I don't need an investment or somebody, you know, I think she offered me like it was like $100,000 for like 10% of Alpha M. I'm like, what's she going to do? I don't, I don't need that help. I need help with Pete and Pedro. And, um, and so it was, uh, it was great though. It was, it was an amazing experience and, and it was awesome. But yeah, I turn that down. Well, good for it. But like, Pete and Pedro are still alive and kicking. So yeah, you figured out, you figured out something that you figured out. Great. Pete and Pedro is my, well, the little stepchild that I didn't pay that much attention to is all of a sudden, like, over the course of the past few years, really, like, like, taking off and, and is doing really, really well. So, and profitable. And so that's, that's something. And that's another thing I just want to touch on real quick. Is that, you know, in, in, in online entrepreneurship, you see a lot of these companies and, and brands that are, that are very growth-minded and they're not like lifestyle businesses. You're not bootstrapping it. You know, it's real sexy to, you know, think, oh, I'm going to get a huge exit. I'm going to, you know, raise a bunch of money. I'm going to do this. But you're wasting a ton of money. There's nothing wrong with slow, steady growth and making sure that you're profitable along the way. You know, that's one of the, I think, the challenges that an entrepreneur faces is that, you know, you think, oh, you need something, you need, you know, to, to have an exit of, of $200 million or whatever. And so you, you run a business very differently with a growth mindset versus a, a, you know, a lifestyle brand or business that you're bootstrapping. Sustainable. Yeah, exactly. And Pete and Pedro, you know, has always been sort of like, I've never thought, oh, someday I'm going to sell this for $100 million. It's always been, you know, let me just try to do better each and every year. I want to grow and, and maintain a profit margin that I actually make money. Like, why am I doing this business? Why am I risking, you know, or, or using my, as much time as it takes, you know, why am I doing that if I'm not making money? Like, it just doesn't make sense to me. I want to make money. And so I do. Yeah, that's smart. That's okay. So I want to, I want to even understand, how you made Pete and Pedro successful. So you walked away from the second chart. Is there, is there more? Is there more to the, is there more to the story? Are we almost, we're almost present day now? I realized the other, my wife the other night, I was sure there was a rerun of me on Shark Tank on Sunday. And she's like, how long ago is that? I'm like, shit, I guess it was like five years. I'm like, why? She goes, you look so young. I'm like, I'm so young. It's a little shame, but okay. And so, yeah, so, so that catches us up, you know, pretty much. After Pete and Pedro, that was, I guess, about five years ago, I was on Shark Tank. I started a skincare company called Teesh Handley with two gentlemen, based out of Chicago. I also started an advertising agency with my best friend from high school called men, influential media. And that was started. Everything I do is kind of just by accident. You know, I, I needed help at that point selling my advertising for my YouTube channel. I was tired of just sending, you know, my media kid and, and never following up. And so I said to my best friend, Terry from high school, who was a really, really great car salesman. He was in management in the car industry. You know, he was the first person I knew at 18 that kind of left high school and went and got a job selling cars. And he was the first person I knew, like, making $100,000 a year. But then, you know, fast forward, like 20 years, he's still, he's now making like 120,000. And he's worth, you know, crazy hours. Car sales is a hard game, right? You can do well, but it's, it's a grind. And so I said, no, I said, you know, you're in between jobs. What do you think? Do you think you could possibly sell advertising for me? He's like, well, let's give it a shot. I said, okay. So I said, you know, how much money do you need to like make ends meet? He's like 5,000 a month. I'm like, all right. And like, this is the most I've ever paid like an employee. And I said, all right, let's try it for three months. And if it doesn't work in three months, then let's just, you know, agree that we tried and this wasn't, wasn't working. And we just, you know, have to maintain a friendship. And so right away, it was crazy successful. And he did a much better job. I was making more money. He crushed it. And, and so we ended up forming an agency. I had my, my friend, Antonio, once again, I said, hey, you know, this guy Terry is selling all this advertising for me. He's like, well, will he sell it for me? I'm like, yeah, probably. And so we ended up coming together and forming an agency. And then with our relationship and with all these other guys in our space, it ended up, you know, we started an agency and now we represent and sell advertising for about 40 guys. That's not bad. That's not bad. So you just jump, see, again, just jumping into stuff. Just jumping out of, out of the out of the skincare, Peyton Pedro and advertising is Peyton Pedro number one. That's the one that's with one. And so, and then I also started a hair salon last year. No, so, so the way that my, my, so, so Tee Shanley, the skincare company is my biggest grossing business. And then second, we'll be Peyton Pedro. And then close to that is, is the mental and social media agency. And then my YouTube channel, my YouTube channel advertising is the most profitable just because there's really not much expense except, you know, my time and, and you can make good money doing it. And so, and then I also have a sunglasses company, enemy. Yeah, my goodness. Yeah, too much. And that one's the hard one that I'm still trying to figure out. So how do you? Okay, so let's, let's talk like I was going to pick one of them and say, like, you know, how do you take this product to market in every single thing you do? It's not an easy market to break into. Like everything's hard. Like everything is hard. Everything is hard. And you know, yes, I have, you know, I have built a huge audience, right? Which is great. And that is a great place to test things. But it still doesn't make it easy. You know, regardless of of the of the audience you have, it's all about figuring out that marketing mechanism and channel. That is the number one most important thing that you as a business owner or entrepreneur need to figure out. It's not about having a great product. Yeah, your product should be good. But it doesn't matter if you're like, if you don't know or have the outlet or opportunity to sell it or people aren't seeing it, you know, it's going to die. And you're never going to ultimately end up realizing your potential. And so you've got to really think through and figure out the advertising angle. And it's not good enough to be like, Oh, well, I'm just going to use influencers or I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that. Fuck that. That like the the the influencer world can help, but it's not the answer. Just like, you know, if you have all your advertising and marketing eggs in one basket like Facebook, like like we'll use Facebook as a perfect example. You know, a few months ago, you know, Apple basically changed or was it Apple? Yeah, Apple changed the way that they, you know, the iOS update, you know, changed the way that you like the data is is relayed. And so overnight, literally, it went from, you know, everybody's like killing it and getting like pretty good data from, you know, what they're, you know, spending on on marketing on Facebook. So like, oh my god, like, what is happening? Like it became like super challenging and it's still challenging. Now now Google marketplace is actually a better ROI in terms of, you know, ad spend than then Facebook. You know, but things are constantly changing. You've just got to be nimble enough as an entrepreneur to sort of look for opportunities and and test, you know, affordably before you really go big and all in, you know, thinking that a big influencer is going to do something amazing for your brand. Yeah, it's going to be okay. It might get you some sales, but what is going to continue to drive sales and advertising in marketing? You really got to figure out that marketing end of it. It is more important than anything when it comes to sell and shit. Did you want to curse on this podcast? You can curse. Yeah, you can curse as much as you want, man. Be my guest. You're good to go. You're good to go. Yeah, yeah. For 40 minutes in, you ask, but no, can I curse? No, you're good, man. You're good. You're good. Um, okay. So when you, so when you take a product to market, also this, this would be important for an entrepreneur. Do you figure out stuff yourself or do you hire people to figure it out for you? What's that? It depends on what it is. You know, it's a pet like it really depends on on what it is. Usually I'm the one figuring out, but I have no skills when it comes to marketing in terms of like paid traffic and things of that. Yeah, yeah. And so I will, I will hire people. I've made mistakes in the past where I've given equity away because I was new and I didn't have much money. I thought, oh, well, maybe I'll just give this person a percentage of my business. And then that'll be great. And, you know, because I want to have to pay it. Well, you know, that a lot of times doesn't end up working out. If you can pay somebody for a skill like web development or marketing, you know, what chances are you're going to be better off in the long run if you end up paying for certain skills that you're not good at. Also, let people do what they do. But you've just got to make sure that, you know, marketing can also be a huge black hole. You know, you can spend a ton of money and really, you know, depending on who is spending the money, they can craft the message and a story as to make themselves look like they're working and being more successful than they may actually be. And so you just really got to, you know, just pay attention and do your due diligence when it comes to looking at the numbers, looking at the ROI. Does it make sense what they're saying? But yeah, I'm a firm believer that after years and years and years of trying to micromanage everything that everything gets better when you get out of your own way. Smart. What was out of, I don't know, how many, how many products I'm trying to count like five, six, seven, whatever the hell you're doing, the scope of products that, you know, Aaron has, like, what is the biggest entrepreneurial lesson that you've learned growing this brand? That opportunity does, and success doesn't always look like what you expect or hope it will. And that was something that, and that's just going back over my illustrious entrepreneurial career, you know, you know, 12-year-old, 20-year-old, 25-year-old me would have punched in the face if you would have said, hey, in another five years, you're not going to be having anything to do with the fitness industry. You're going to be talking to a camera in a hot studio, jumping around and looking like an idiot. I would have punched in the face because there was no way that's what success was going to look like. But when I was forced to take a look and try something else, that's, you know, it's amazing what can happen. And so I think that's the biggest lesson. You know, a lot of times I think we get so focused on the one thing that we think is going to mean or matter the most that you lose sight of, you know, maybe you need to just keep your eyes open because it may not be where you need to end up. And so for me, it was always a function of, of, you know, just, just pay attention because, you know, just because you want something, even if you want it really bad, doesn't mean that it's, it's in the cards. And you've just got to be open to, you know, knowing, okay, this isn't working. I am going to go down this road because because the truth is I would have sold kidneys. If I would have thought that if I sold my kidney, I could have kept my fitness center going, I'd be, you'd be talking to a dude with one kidney because that's like I would have done anything at that point to keep that dream alive. But, you know, there, you can only do what you can do. And, and it was the best thing that ever happened. And, and that's just something to, to just be aware that like, you know, and I was, I was shit, I was, you know, I was in my 30s driving a beer cart, you know, how to business. It was hard. That's tough. That's tough. And so it's okay. Everything, you know, just, just keep going, guys. Everything happens for a reason. Exactly. Just keep moving forward. You know what I was going to say though, but like, out of all the entrepreneurs that I know that have achieved, like, you know, quote unquote, what some level of success, they're, they're today version of themselves is nothing like what they imagined. Even if it's the same business, the same business is so different from when they first registered the domain or, you know, made their first sale, like, shit changes. Absolutely. It changes all the time. You got to be cool. Yep. All right. Okay. I want to do some rapid fire stuff to close this out. All right. I want to get before we pivot, where should people go check out you? What's your socials? Yeah. Alpha M dot com. You can go find everything I do there. It's a new website that I recently launched and finally got the domain. And so everything is pretty much there. But yeah, Alpha M everywhere. Alpha M on YouTube Alpha M dot com. Go there. Check it out. If I am going to link all the things that you're working on in these show notes, I'm going to need some domains, because I don't think I just reach out to Mike. Just reach out to Mike. Just reach out to Mike. I need all this info. Yeah. Shit. I got like half of it here. All right. Let's good for you, man. Good. Okay. Let's see some rap fire. Okay. So biggest, biggest challenge you had in your career or in your personal life. What was something notable? Had you overcome it? You know, like I said, business failing bankruptcy, that was a super hard thing to wrap my brain around because it was the loss of a dream that I'd had since I was 12 years old. And so how I overcame it was just just deciding to put one foot in front of the other and just decide that I don't know what it looks like, but I'm going to figure it out eventually and just just keep your eyes open. Awesome. There's been many, but you have to pick one person who's been incredibly influential, had a major impact on your life. Who was it? And what did they teach you? My wrestling coach, Charlie Kramer. And then my grandfather, Frank Cassoni. So family member, my grandfather, Frank, and then, but living Charlie Kramer, he was a role model that came into my life when I needed it probably the most and taught me about discipline, taught me about work ethic, and really just just helped me, you know, and was a supportive loving person at a time I really needed it. An opinion that you have about business entrepreneurship that may not be as popular as widely known with other people? Explain that a little bit more. An unpopular opinion that you hold about business entrepreneurship? Unpopular opinion that I hold. Not everybody supposed to be an entrepreneur. You know, I think that in the hustle culture and everything you look and see online from Gary Vee to everybody, you know, I think there's a lot of a lot of people that are that are that think they want to be an entrepreneur that shouldn't be entrepreneurs quite frankly. You're not built for it. And what I mean by that is it is so hard. It is hard. It is hard. It is hard. It is hard. There is no easy way to success. It just doesn't happen. Now I'm sure maybe it does happen for some people as I'm not that guy. And so everything I have done and have continued to do is just it's hard. And it requires you to go through some really dark periods, or at least it did me. And, you know, if you're not ready for it, it can it can rob your your life of joy. But if you are on that journey and it's something that is in your soul and nothing else will satisfy you or make you happier fulfilled, then congratulations. You know, buckle up. It's a tough ride, but it is it is well worth it when you get to the other side. That's a damn good opinion. I like that. And I always think that a lot of people that just sort of fall into that hustle culture trap. There's a lot of really good jobs that can pay a lot of money. It can give you a lot better work life balance and happiness and just time. So be be purposeful if you're going to do it. Don't have 100% yeah. It is it is not for everybody. That is that is for sure. And there is nothing wrong with with with finding a job in a career that is amazing. That is benefits. It's going to afford you opportunities and upward mobility and growth and your weekends off like this. Yeah. I've never had a paid vacation. I don't even know what that is like my wife. You know, she works for you know, a company and I see what she goes through. You know, there's upsides and downsides to everything, but not everybody should be an entrepreneur. Good. A book or podcast or some resource that you'd recommend people go check out. So I am one of the I don't read books. And this is one of the things that I used to lie about because I I went to this weird Quaker school and I, you know, reading and spelling has always been like a hard thing for me. And so podcasts I love you know, there's a TED talk that I just absolutely think is amazing by Simon Sinek. You know, the start with why he is my my you know, business management, you know, man crush. I love him. I love everything he does. And so I'll listen to anything that Simon does. So look up Simon Sinek. He's got books. He's got, you know, he's got website. He's got TED talks. He's just an inspirational guy. He's just and I just I just love everything that he says. Amazing. If you could tell your 20 year old self one thing, what would it be? That it's going to suck for a little while. It's going to suck. But but you'll be all right. You just got to stay focused and and don't do anything too self destructive. And because, you know, I think that's one of the one of the traps is that, you know, we get into some weird at least I did. I got into some weird self destructive behaviors because I wasn't happy with myself. And, you know, I was drinking too much. I was, you know, sleeping with people. I shouldn't have been sleeping with. And it was simply I think I was I was self-medicating for for issues that I needed to deal with. And so, you know, definitely if if you're somebody that is having trouble putting your past behind you or it's something that that you are struggling, you know, dealing with it you owe it to yourself and your future self to figure out a way to deal with it whether or not that means you go to therapy whether or not that means you talk to somebody, you know, just just figure it out because you once you decide that you're going to be happy, then it's just the function of all right, well, what do I need to do in order to get there? But you you're worth it and you should do whatever you need to do in order to deal with the shit. I say this a lot. I say, you know, unfortunately, you know, we are a lot of times collateral damage and other people's shit, right? So it's not that, you know, the things that happened to you, they were doing them specifically to like F you up or to hurt you or to make you feel bad about yourself. It's just people dealing with themselves in their own life and sometimes we we are are are a byproduct of that. And so do what you need to do to be happy and healthy. That's smart, man. And then last question, what does success mean to you? Happy. Oh, success means means helping people and feeling like I'm making a difference. That that is what I've come to realize is is the is is success to me feeling like I matter feeling like I'm I'm making a difference in people's lives and and feeling, you know, like, I don't know, just that's it. I mean, for me, it's nothing too complex other than helping people. I just love helping people. I think it's it's there's nothing that'll make you feel better and more fulfilled for me anyway. Dude, that's it. That's all I got man. That was great.