# 180. You're Not Ready for the Next Phase of Personal Branding ft. Dan Churchill

An episode of [THE 505 PODCAST](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1591279585), 6 Nov 2025, 2 h 11 min.

Audio: https://podcasts.beehiiv.com/3f71d8b4-2a8c-40eb-8500-c62b76bd9acc/019d43e4-0103-7741-b37f-b81b41dca056/019d43e4-636a-7ee3-b22a-056a4a7cef65/019d43e4-63ff-7b93-96f8-dd8020daa336.mp3

The 10 Minute Personal Brand Kickstart (FREE): https://the505podcast.courses/personalbrandkickstart What’s up Rock Nation! Today we’re joined by Dan Churchill - professional chef, author, and entrepreneur whose mission is to change the world through food. He’s built a brand that goes far beyond social media by combining storytelling, discipline, and business acumen. In this episode, Dan breaks down how to turn a viral moment into a long-term brand that actually lasts. We talk about finding your North Star, building momentum, and why creators need to start thinking like business owners, not influencers. Dan also shares how he’s leveraged partnerships with brands like Apple and BPN, the mindset behind turning one-off deals into long-term relationships, and how he uses content as a vehicle for his purpose, not the product itself. If you want to learn how to build a brand that stands the test of time, make smarter business moves, and create content that connects deeper than just 60 seconds on TikTok, this episode is for you. Check out Dan here: https://www.youtube.com/ @danchurchillcooks https://www.instagram.com/dan_churchill/ SUSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: https://the505podcast.ac-page.com/rock-report Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/xgEAzkqAvs Kostas' Lightroom Presets https://www.kostasgarcia.com/store-1/p/kglightroompresetsgreece COP THE BFIGGY "ESSENTIALS" SFX PACK HERE: https://courses.the505podcast.com/BFIGGYSFXPACK Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro 1:12 – Falling in Love with Consistency over Virality 3:24 – Defining Discipline as a Creator 5:49 – Finding Your North Star and Staying Consistent 9:04 – How Dan Defines His North Star in Content 11:47 – Personal Brand Kickstart 12:11 – Building Momentum After a Win 16:59 – The Power of Alma and Momentum on TikTok 23:13 – Biggest Mistakes Creators Make with Brand Deals 27:26 – Tall Poppy Syndrome & Moving to America 31:41 – Balancing Self-Promotion & Authenticity 33:09 – Being Aspirational vs Relatable 36:00 – Dan’s Daily Nutrition & Training Routine 38:15 – High Rocks Training & Full-Day of Eating 40:15 – Cooking vs Eating Out & Staying Disciplined 42:41 – Marathon Stories & Gut Health Fails 45:22 – Meal Prep Sunday & The Power of Preparation 47:26 – Investing Back Into Your Content Production 50:14 – Building Trust & Community Through YouTube 53:27 – Lessons from Executive Tables & Advisory Roles 55:47 – Turning One-Off Deals into Long-Term Partnerships 59:32 – Biggest Mistakes in Early Brand Partnerships 1:00:09 – When to Say No to a Brand Deal 1:05:21 – Equity Deals and Choosing the Right Brands 1:09:45 – Redefining Success on Social Media 1:13:12 – Leveraging MasterChef without Being Defined by It 1:15:52 – Behind the Scenes of Reality TV & Contracts 1:16:57 – Navigating Post-Show Opportunities 1:20:21 – Lessons from Nick Bare & BPN Athletics 1:22:17 – How Dan Approaches Partnerships with Friends 1:25:44 – Building Businesses with Friends the Right Way 1:27:17 – Final Advice for Creators Building a Brand 1:29:03 – Post Pod Debrief If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/ TikTok: Bfiggy: https://www.tiktok.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.tiktok.com/kostasgarcia/

## Transcript

[0:00] I went from 5,000 followers to, like, 1.2 million in the case of three and a half months. That's Dan Churchill, professional chef, author, and entrepreneur whose mission is to change the world through food.
[0:10] He spent over a decade turning his mission into reality by building a personal brand and business that lives far beyond social media. You've got to build a sustainable business and brand. I'm not an influencer.
[0:23] I'm actually not even a creator. My business is I'm a chef. I just happen to create content as a side from my business.
[0:29] Dan's constantly reinvesting back into his brand and has doubled down on YouTube, a move he believes is essential for building a genuine community and leading a movement.
[0:37] For us to last in the space, build a community, build, like, a genuine value is to stop trying to get people's attention for only 60 seconds.
[0:45] He's taken full control of his business and believes ownership is the ultimate advantage for longevity.
[0:50] If you are someone who's only known for your TikTok or your Instagram, you need to find something else that you own, because reality is if TikTok were to change, everything is off the table.
[1:01] You have to be able to control your business.
[1:02] In this episode, we break down how Dan turned a viral moment into a lasting brand, why creators need to think like business owners, and what the next step of personal branding really looks like. Let's get into it.
[1:13] All right, Dan, you've said consistency in a space draws attention.
[1:16] Now, in a world obsessed with viral moments, is the name of the game to just continue to do something over and over again and fall in love with those little micro wins? Yeah, dude.
[1:27] Um, so I mean, if you look at it, virality can also score wins from being consistent, right? You could do a viral post and then look at the way it worked and do it again and get another viral post.
[1:43] That's exactly what happened to me in a part of my life. And, you know, it drew a lot of awareness towards me.
[1:51] But I also look at, I look at, like, consistency in the s- in the, in the length of your lifetime or your brand or your company's lifetime.
[2:01] And the problem with this day and age is most people think about it from a six-week cereal box kind of, you know, uh, manifestation, when reality is, like, why... If you've got...
[2:10] Especially in the world of personal branding, you should be thinking about the rest of your life.
[2:14] And so everything that I've done and that's garnered success, and I see the people's success around me, not just myself, it's built through doing things consistently, whether it be the habits they make or going deep in a particular area that no others would.
[2:30] Like, there's times where people see success, and this happens actually most times, people see success and like, well, that just came out of nowhere.
[2:38] Reality was you only see what happened as a result of the success of consistency.
[2:42] Like, Steve Jobs actually did a lot of shit to get to where he was, doing things the same way before it actually was, like, he's Steve Jobs and Apple. You know what I mean? And that's even before he built the...
[2:54] Like, he was just dedicated to crafting what he loved, uh, into a business. And so you can see that from even, you know, some of the, the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. And, and then you take it back to the Stoics.
[3:07] Like, it's just consistency in anything, not just in business, is often what I deem is someone who has the bandwidth and the... Like, the, the...
[3:18] Honestly, the, the discipline to truly believe and go long for what they want to succeed in. What does discipline mean to you right now?
[3:27] As you look at your personal brand, what does that mean for the things that you're creating on a weekly basis and a daily basis? Yeah, I think, like, y- you can look at discipline in a couple of ways.
[3:36] I look at it in the sense that, you know, um, I, I don't want to say what... I don't want to define something by what it's not. I will say that distractions or being able to
[3:46] prevent from, you know, ent- being enticed by said distractions and...
[3:51] I, I think, you know, like, as you build your brand, you'll find yourself being brought into new opportunities, which as an example with me, like, I'm a chef, but also in the health and wellness space, so my, my opportunities are actually quite broad.
[4:06] But if I go too far wide, my audience starts to think not about my mission, but what I'm doing, and the whole point is to bring it back to that mission.
[4:15] So the discipline for me to stay to my north star is what I think is so important to people.
[4:19] So, you know, I've always said that I'm very fortunate to know what my north star is at an early age, but, um, still waking up every day
[4:28] adhering to the actions that help me get to that north star is, is discipline, despite, like, the changes.
[4:34] And to be honest, like, the north star, whilst it's always going to be there, the, and over time things change, social media changes, you know, innovation changes, technology changes, it's having the discipline to still find out the right way to get to that north star without going outside your core values, but also adapting to the current climate, and I think that's important, too.
[4:54] I think discipline to change is actually as important. Because a lot of people get stuck in, like, the idea of, like, be disciplined to stay the course.
[5:02] I'm like, yeah, but the course can just be something you have to adapt to, and I think we've seen that in social media. Like, I've been in social media for,
[5:11] like, since a lot of people have not even thought of who will listen to this podcast. Like \[laughs\] I've been since 2012, and, like, that's 13 years ago. You know what I mean? So like, wow. I...
[5:21] When, when Instagram was just one image and filters- Yeah... that's when I was in it.
[5:26] And so over time, I had to learn to continuously adapt and understand that getting to X amount of followers wasn't gonna be a quick hit thing.
[5:33] And if it did come quickly, to enjoy it, but then also to, to understand that there's gonna be a time where it, it does plateau for a little bit, and just stay the course, be disciplined enough to, like, know your north star, adapt to those changes, and, and, and keep it going.
[5:50] Do you think having a north star is necessary to have consistency over the long term? Like, I feel like if you don't have that clarity of what your north star is, it can be easier to fall off and have less discipline.
[6:01] I feel like for you, knowing and having so much clarity around your north star is-When things get tough and things might not be going as easy as you'd like them to be going,
[6:11] you have that north star of like, "Nah, this is my purpose. This is what I'm going towards," and it allows you to stay more consistent.
[6:18] And then in turn also, like, if someone doesn't have that north star, do you have any advice for how to gain clarity on that bigger picture, that north star? Yeah, I, I think, like if anything, having a direction is,
[6:32] is helpful and, and direction on anything, you know, it's like if, if you, if you go out and drive your car and you're just gonna go for a cruise but don't know where you're going, it's fun for a little bit, but then you're kinda like, "I don't know what I'm doing."
[6:43] Like, and like- Mm-hmm... maybe go to a bar, and like, "Cool, that was fun." So like, there's part, parts of it on like the short term are really fun 'cause you're like, it's like it's good to have no plans.
[6:52] I love having no plans on the weekend. But if I do that every single week, it's getting to the point where it's like, "Okay, well, what am I doing?" And everyone asks themselves that question. So
[7:03] you know, I think having a north star doesn't have to be defined by, "I want to be able to vis- envision what I'm going towards." It can be simply what, you know, makes you genuinely lit, like it makes you so happy.
[7:17] Um, so like your north star could be, you know, I wanna, like, I wanna have kids. I wanna, uh, yeah, I, I, I wanna build a business. I wanna, um, I wanna be able to run a, a marathon in under four hours.
[7:30] Whatever it may be. I, I don't think people feel that the north star has to be so defined. One day it will click, and that's important, and you may go through three different north stars. I may say that.
[7:42] Like, there's people who have three different businesses in their lifetime. It's very common. People talk about that.
[7:46] Maybe there's like, maybe not a north star, there's a star they're going towards that eventually gets them to the north star three lifetimes down the line, and that's fine.
[7:55] I, I think people just have to put l- l- I guess the emphasis on the first part of the question is I don't wanna put too much pressure on you having to find your north star, 'cause then you then try to push for it as opposed for it to be authentic towards you.
[8:07] And then answering your second question, I don't believe... Like, I think it's, it helped me tremendously know my north star by the age of 21, right?
[8:19] Like, I've just always then as a result looked towards that when I was, whenever I make actions, make decisions, say no to things, say yes to things, right?
[8:29] And, and it, it's become very important because I've turned down very big opportunities financially, but didn't work towards the brand or would've affected my brand down the line.
[8:40] And truth be told, we know that for a fact. So I definitely think it does help having the north star, but I don't wanna put pressure on people forcing themselves to get it, uh, because if...
[8:53] I've seen it happen, people like, you know, it's like asking kids what they wanna do when they're 17 years old, and their parents are like, "Oh, I want them to do this."
[9:00] Like, then they're pressured to know what that is, and if they don't know, it's not genuine, you know what I mean? How do you define your north star? Mm.
[9:06] And how do you bring that into your content on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis over the long term to build a personal brand that you have today?
[9:15] Yeah, so my north star is effectively to be able to get to a point in my life where I can, through resources and everything that I'm doing and, and the, and the profile I'm building, build kitchens in third world countries, right?
[9:28] The reason I wanna be doing that is 'cause I believe that in terms of just providing food, we're providing skills and direction and opportunity.
[9:40] Now, for me to get to that point, I need to be in a position where my, my family's being taken care of, I have the time, and I can allocate some of my own resources, and then also partner with brands and companies to be able to do that.
[9:52] So therefore I look at everything I'm doing, I'm like, "Cool." So I need to be financially free. I need to build, like, again, get to the point where I've exited or done enough to build time.
[10:04] And maybe, like, my media landscape, whether it be YouTube or mainstream, allows me to go and do these things and provide scope on what we can be doing as a, as a, a, you know, I guess a, a, a climate. And so
[10:19] what that helps me do now is, like, every decision that I now make, whether it be like, health is huge to me and a big part of that, right?
[10:26] So then I go, "All right, well, I can't take on any companies that are high in sugar \[laughs\]
[10:32] or do not in their brand support these endeavors or, um, have said before how they feel about X, Y, and Z that I do not agree with." Great. So right now I'm building my financial freedom.
[10:46] I'm building my personal brand in the health and wellness space, and obviously as a chef. And so all those things line up, allow me to do that.
[10:54] Now, if I've got an opportunity to go do some sick event that's, like, great for the clout, but realistically doesn't add any value to that and it takes away my time, I'm probably not gonna do it, because it's just, that doesn't have any...
[11:07] That benefits me. It doesn't benefit the long run of my north star.
[11:11] And I think that's where I've got to position my life where particularly in the world of New York City where you get asked to do some sick things, really cool events, you know, be with these people and, uh, reality is, like I, I, I get more out of going for a run with my mates on, in the morning and, and seeing, you know, people cook and, and do those things than anything, and that makes me really happy, and I know that's why it's my north star, because I get the most absolute satisfaction over the thought of food being created to create, like-You know, interaction and, and health and wellness, but also knowing that it's like, fuck, one day I'm gonna do this and it's gonna be awesome.
[11:48] Hope you're enjoying this episode. Real quick, wanna let you know about an awesome free product that we got linked in the description. It's our personal brand kickstart. What's in it? Okay, we got five prompts for you.
[11:56] It's gonna help you define your personal brand, get clarity, and start posting content that really resonates with your audience.
[12:02] It'll literally take you less than 10 minutes, and it's been super apparent with all the guests that we've had on our show, they have really strong personal brands, and it's allowed them to scale their businesses.
[12:10] So go check it out, top link, and let's keep it rolling.
[12:12] It's amazing to just keep that at the back of your mind and know what you're saying yes to and what you're saying no to is aligning, you know, with this bigger mission that you're trying to accomplish. That's amazing.
[12:21] I can't wait to see when you do that. And when you have all these kitchens in other countries, it's gonna be incredible. With...
[12:27] On the topic of building momentum, 'cause I- it's something that you've said before in other podcasts that you've done, how does someone go about harnessing, like, these wins and creating that momentum for themselves?
[12:37] Like, what does that momentum look like for you? Like, if you'd had, had a win, you're like, "Okay, that is definitely going on the right path. I need to try to replicate this.
[12:45] I need to try to get this going to keep this snowball rolling down the mountain." Yeah, I mean, this day and age, you've got pretty simple and quick pieces of feedback than to know your new momentum.
[12:56] Like, social media is, is like that, right? But it's also relative. So I put this in the most simple terms, right? Someone who's typ- typically getting 1,000 views on a TikTok video consistently,
[13:10] for them to get a tou- 10,000 view video and a 10,000 video, I mean, that's relatively great momentum, right? Because for them, they're 10X-ing their videos with whatever new strategy they are doing.
[13:22] And so, you know, be that in the TikTok world, it's like you need to take advantage of that moment, whether it be the adjustment you made or maybe the new hook you made or the subject matter or the people you have invo- involved or the style that you shot, like, you need to continue to take advantage of that because the feedback quantifiably you're getting is showcasing that whatever you did, you're building momentum.
[13:45] The same can be said, like, you know, a great example for me personally right now is
[13:50] I launched with these guys this company called Alma, and, like, we just did this thing where it's a, it's a personalized nutrition app, right?
[13:57] So the idea behind it is you can tell people what you are eating and it will tell you based on what you're eating pertaining to your goals how well that is supporting your endeavors, right?
[14:08] So if I look at that and go where we started to where we are now, again, we need to make sure that we are timing our marketing push relative to the, the, the tentpole events that are gonna get the most active users and support behind what we're trying to achieve, in turn value our customers.
[14:27] So when I look at momentum on that side, it's like, okay, well, I'm looking at daily active users and I'm thinking, okay, if these are the type of daily active users, and we can see the data, that I initially thought weren't gonna be im- like, you know, value...
[14:43] or not value, but, like, weren't gonna be the ones initially taking control of our product, we need to double down on this 'cause they're the ones actually using it.
[14:50] So that's where, like, momentum on a company-wide, uh, decision-making standpoint has to take place. You make... Sometimes you have to pivot because you see the momentum taking place. On a personal brand side,
[15:03] I felt pretty quickly when you get the rapport and the feeling of inbound interest on certain things or, uh, feedback on a newsletter post or, you know, even just more comments on things that could be really, really meaningful, and this comes from simply adding value.
[15:22] Instead of you posting a TikTok that's like, you know, about, uh,
[15:28] something that you did that was cool, provide a piece of feedback on maybe whatever company or category you're part of, like how people can do something, and see the comments that take place.
[15:38] If you start to see really meaningful comments, we saw this on YouTube actually take place, and that resulted, like, in that...
[15:44] the comments that were being asked allowed us to create other pieces of content based on what that person was having. So then we did that piece of content and we got more video comments and feedbacks.
[15:53] And so, like, that, that in itself is momentum 'cause you are taking into account the cohort who are watching your video.
[15:59] You're taking into account, you're seeing the comments and interactions, and then you're doubling down on that to see...
[16:04] and then that builds even more momentum and shows you as, like, a pretty valuable asset to the community because you listen, learn, and add value again, rinse and repeat over and over again. Um,
[16:17] yeah, like, I guess momentum is something that can also come and go, and you've gotta be okay with when it doesn't, doesn't come, you know, and then when it goes away. Like, you have moments where you're...
[16:29] you have a lot of inbound interest from brands and companies or opportunities come your way and you have lulls, and you just gotta be okay with those times, but when it does come again, you gotta take advantage of it and then, like, double down, work twice as hard.
[16:42] You know, I think, I think people sometimes when these opportunities come, they feel like they can be a little bit, you know, conservative and safe and it's like, nah, you gotta...
[16:52] this is where you gotta really double down and prove you're above... like, go above and beyond, whether it be to your community, your cohort, your business interests, whatever it may be. Yeah, 100%.
[17:01] Um, you brought up Alma, and as I was watching some of your YouTube videos in preparation for this, seeing you use the app in real time as you're cooking, I was like, "I've never seen anything like that, and that's fucking awesome- Thanks, dude...
[17:15] and I'm definitely gonna be downloading it and using it because me and Fig over here are on our health and wellness journey, you know? And so- Let's go, boys.
[17:23] You know, might train for some shit and gotta get the nutrition right. \[laughs\] But anyways, um, you also told us something interesting. You had momentum on TikTok at a certain point- Mm-hmm...
[17:35] but it wasn't the right momentum that you were looking for.
[17:39] Can you tell us that story of the series that you were doing on TikTok, the momentum that you gained, and then-And, and then eventually ending up not actually continuing with it because it wasn't the right traction that you were looking for Oh, yeah, man.
[17:52] So, like we did this kitchen series... By the way, I, I want, I want weekly updates on your nutrition scores, boys. Yeah. I wanna see, I, like, I wanna see the cooks out in the kitchen, I wanna see all of it.
[18:03] Um, but yeah, man, like I, I did this series and it was fantastic. We built out a whole system. Like, we... I, like, I have my own, my production team, and we built out a really good system.
[18:14] Essentially, perfect example happened. I was getting at one point like 5,000 views on videos on TikTok, and we started to do this kitchen series where I'd go in and ask
[18:23] random people on the street in New York City how much they spend a month on food. And from that, I would cook with whatever they have in their kitchen. Immediate hook, New York City vibe, it blew up, right?
[18:35] Like, I was getting millions and millions and millions and millions of views every single video. Legitimately, I'd go from like...
[18:41] I went to, went from 5,000 followers to like 1.2 million followers in the case of, you know, three and a half months. Wow. Wow. And we were pumping videos. The problem that took place, two things.
[18:55] We were chasing, we were chasing the train of like the serotonin effect of, oh, like the, the, the dopamine of seeing the numbers just continue to rise.
[19:06] The reality was I thought at the time it was great towards my North Star, because I'm showing people what is possible su- through certain finances, and the North Star of getting people to cook more was being justified through that because reality is I was showing what was reality.
[19:26] But as is with short-form content, and in this world, people were just interested in the entertainment or seeing the girls' apartments that I was going into, or seeing the guys' apartments I was interested...
[19:37] And so, like, if I look back on it, I'm like, "How many people actually bought my cookbook from that series?" Despite having, you know, close to hundreds of millions of views on my videos, not many comparable to that.
[19:53] Like, still a decent amount, but like when you think about it, not that many comparable, right? And so I had to think about this, right?
[20:00] Am I, am I gonna be the guy that's only known as the kitchen series guys on the TikTok world, and then it's gonna...
[20:05] Like, I have to either commit to that and like, okay, well, that's great for entertainment value, and yeah, like the money thrown your way to do these brand deals is stupid, but it's not... How long is this gonna last?
[20:19] 'Cause one, is it my North Star? And if it is, how long will it last if it is a good avenue to do so?
[20:27] So there's one moment I stepped back and it was like I, I realized I was simpl- I was getting like these really cool people to do these c- collaborations with.
[20:36] I'm like, these people don't really care about me, they just wanna get the views. And I really like... I, I get like maybe 15 minutes of their time, and then it looks like I'm hanging out with these people.
[20:49] And like reality is, it's, it's, it's pretty transactional, right? And I don't get anything out of that. I don't get... Like, not that I wanna hang out with that person who, 'cause their name.
[20:58] Like, anybody, could be someone on the street, like I like to get to know people and help them cook. So I made a big call to stop doing the series. And sure enough, I, I stopped growing on TikTok.
[21:12] But it's fine because I put all that time and energy into YouTube and long-form content. I said, "You know what? We're obsessed with TikTok. We're obsessed with short-form game.
[21:24] The reality is, for us to last in this space, build a community, build like a genuine value, is to stop trying to get people's attention for only 60 seconds. It is to try and build what is the hardest platform to build."
[21:39] And sure enough, we grew, you know, and just dedicated, obsessed over learning the game of YouTube and, um, it's been unbelievably successful.
[21:51] To the point now that like a lot of these brands that I said no to are now coming back, wanting to be part of YouTube. I still have to say no 'cause they're not the right brands.
[21:59] But of my companies that I'm like an advisor in or whatever, I'm a part of, they love it 'cause there's a massive value add. And to be honest, I bring out Alma,
[22:09] and I'm talking to people a- able to explain the features of Alma because the cohort, the audience, the epic community that are following me are listening to every word around food and nutrition because we put the work in to bring value to them.
[22:25] And then this is the, this is the funniest thing, it's like perfect example. Alma came about because of me putting out my personal brand to the world and the activities that I'm doing.
[22:34] The company, the two founders like to, like I was building something similar, like let's join forces, and that's what's happened.
[22:41] And that's only because I said no to so many things, and yes to the right ones, that I can now go on YouTube and be like, "I'm not telling you this to download my app. I'm telling you this because it's value for you.
[22:55] It just so happens to be my app 'cause I love using it and helping you guys."
[22:59] And that's a really fucking awesome position to be in, to build something that you are the only person that you tr- believe should be representing this app, but adds value to people regardless of if it's your app or not, or your business or not.
[23:15] What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes creators make when they're trying to transact with brands?
[23:20] I know you probably in the days when these TikToks were getting millions of views, you're getting so many inbound opportunities, it sounds like, you know, you have a stake in this app, you have stake in other things that you're doing, you have an advisory situation with other multiple, with different brands.
[23:33] What does it look like for you right now for like the Dan Churchill creative business, uh, y- you know, all of that stuff? Yeah.
[23:40] I think, well, first off, the biggest mistake, and it's funny, again, like I, I'm blessed being in New York City. A lot of my friends know-I'm like, I've built...
[23:48] I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm a chef first and an athlete, like, second, but I also just, I'm a businessman, so like I'm someone who's gone through all the, the life cycle \[laughs\] of poor businesses.
[24:02] I've got long-form content, and so like I can speak to these young creators in a way that's like, "I know where you're at. Let me hear where you're at. I have...
[24:09] There's no judgment here, 'cause you're getting a lot of attention. I don't want anything from you." There's, there's a couple of guys right now who've done, like in the last
[24:18] four months alone, they've from, they're from like 300 followers to like 450,000 followers on TikTok, uh, on, on Instagram, and they don't know how to handle it, and that's u- understandable. Like, imagine, imagine...
[24:32] And, and, and then as you guys know, to go from such a small number to such a large number means that you would have had to have so many views on...
[24:45] A- and consistency, 'cause you see people like one video can blow up and get like 10 million views, but the person can still be on like 500 followers, 'cause like it's just a weird video.
[24:54] So I think the first thing I do, I speak to these people, and it's like, "How is your health?" It's the first thing I ask them, because it's the first thing to go.
[25:03] You know, they start to neglect themselves, start to put themselves second. So that's the first thing I say, b- big mistake is people forget to look after themselves, and that sounds like an obvious thing, but it's true.
[25:15] It's the same thing with w- work in general. Like, if someone has a business, someone brings out a gym, someone opens a gym, it's the worst health decision of their life.
[25:23] It's a funny joke, because reality is you open a gym, you don't, you don't go to the gym other than to work, or you've got so much stresses going on.
[25:30] The second thing is they, they say yes to everything, 'cause they think it's gonna go away, and they wanna take advantage of it, and I, I get that. I've been there.
[25:38] But you've gotta build a sustainable business and brand. Like, I'm not an influencer. I say this very carefully. I'm actually not even a creator. I just happen to create content as a side from my business.
[25:53] My business is I'm a chef and, and that is on- and then someone in the space who is the, the thought, thought leader in nutrition and, and performance-based eating.
[26:03] I just happen to have a media presence, and that's what I'm very clear on.
[26:07] Because if you bucket me as an influencer, it means brands are gonna post- k- approach me and say, "Hey Dan, we want X amount of posts on a video, blah, blah, blah. This is the cash price right here."
[26:18] So like I think these creators have to...
[26:20] So I know these creators have to build a brand outside of their social media presence, and my, my, my third thing I say to them is, alongside that is, if you are someone who's only known for your TikTok or your Instagram or even your YouTube, you need to find something else that they can in- uh, that you own, whether it be a newsletter or a podcast or something like that, because reality is if TikTok...
[26:47] We saw it early. If TikTok were to change, Instagram were to change, you have no dependency. Everything, everything is like off the table.
[26:55] You have to be able to control your business, whether it be bring out a product or just continually add value. There's guys on TikTok who are like dad experts. They teach you things. It's really great.
[27:05] They build a whole business around, you know, maybe your dad doesn't have time to teach you how to do a tie, and it's great. It's frickin', frigging brilliant.
[27:12] So like that's the kind of shit I'm talking about, not just being like, "Oh, this is my day in the life in New York and I'm getting ready to go to this event."
[27:18] Like, maybe that's one video you get to do based on like everything else you've done, but add value to the community. Don't just entertain, 'cause eventually that goes, and that's what sucks.
[27:28] It's all really great, and I love that you're asking, like, "How's your health?" first and foremost.
[27:34] I wanna ask you though, and I forget the actual phrase, but it's something poppy in Australia, like- Tall poppy syndrome. Yes. Tall poppy syndrome. Mm.
[27:44] So you say you're a businessman, and you come to America, and you're pursuing this career, you're building this personal brand, you're on MasterChef, doing all these amazing things.
[27:54] How do you balance that with growing up in Australia and maybe dealing with your friends or family or people who you know, and they're looking at you being like, "Why is this guy pursuing this shit?"
[28:09] If they have that mindset, is that something you at all dealt with? And I'm curious about your experience with that. Dude, even now, like the way- Mm-hmm...
[28:17] I'm talking to you guys now is not how I speak to my mates, like my Australian friends. Like, you're asking me questions, I'm direct. Very chef-like, right? I don't have time to BS- Yes, chef... on the line. So like I...
[28:29] It's like, "Yes, chef," all right? \[laughs\] So like that's America, okay? And you asked me like a thing around, oh, so how... So you know, you asked me on my business structure.
[28:41] My business structure is I've got my executive arrangements, which is at the top of the pyramid, my middle section is my strategic partnerships, and my third one is just simply partnerships, right? Each of them have...
[28:51] The top one have the most involved for me in my w- my daily basis. The lower ones less so, but still in some sort of great relationship.
[28:58] If I explained anything remotely like that to my Australian friends with tall poppy syndrome, they're like, "All right, big shot. All right, big dog." And that's just me answering the question to what you asked, right?
[29:10] For you guys, that's like, "Well, he's just answering the question. That's what I asked him earlier." To my mates in Australia, they don't want you to think big of yourself.
[29:17] The idea behind tall poppy syndrome is these poppy flowers would stick up every now and then, and they'd get cut by like, you know, a, a, a blade that would essentially keep them all level in the gr- in the, in the fields, and that's the idea behind it.
[29:31] So the moment you think big of yourself, you get cut back down to size. Um, thankfully I have my two brothers to keep me grounded, but they're also
[29:39] super supportive, as my parents are, of just everything that I'm doing, and I've realized that I, I love... I, you know, I, I love the humbleness of Aussies, you know, we are.
[29:51] It makes us feel really relatable, but also it, it sh- it, it keeps you remembering-... who you are and not where you came from, but like the way we are brought up and the way we should be thinking about life.
[30:03] I get out of bed, and every single day I'm grateful to walk. So when I'm able to run a marathon, I'm ecstatic, right?
[30:11] In America, like, I do my morning shows, I do my TV segments, I do whatever, and I speak very much like confidently about what I do. In Australia, I have to like kind of chill down a bit. Two examples right here. One is,
[30:25] "Dan, you're a great chef. You're launching your book today. How's it look?" "Yeah, done a really good job building this brand, really excited about working with these X, Y, & Y people.
[30:32] I've been able to put together the most formulative and backed opportunity for people to create, recreate recipes at home in minutes that will change their lives." America. Australia,
[30:44] um, "Yeah, it's a great book, like it's, it's kind... Like if you are a mom and you wanna get your son involved, it's cool. Like, go get it, it's great.
[30:50] You know, but other than that, like, you know, everyone should just learn to cook. It's fun." You, you know what I mean? It's like you have to almost like not sell in Australia. Mm.
[30:57] Um, so there's two different personas, but yeah, it's, it's, it's a learning thing, and it's something I'm proud of being an Aussie to be able to like r- talk about my country, and people talk about it as a negative as, as, as we are like, I don't, I...
[31:10] Like talk about me syndrome is just part of the Australian culture, and I love it.
[31:14] I also love, I learnt the hard way coming here, 'cause one day on Good Morning America, some- I think one of the hosts asked me, you know, what I thought, and I did the Aussie thing, and they're like, "You don't think much of yourself, do you?"
[31:24] And I'm like, "Oh, fuck, like I actually have to tell it how it is here."
[31:26] That's why you see NFL players get a sack, and it's just like, it's as if they just won the lottery \[laughs\] and, you know, it's just like, 'cause they actually probably did, to be honest, 'cause they... I don't know.
[31:35] Part of their contract or whatever. But you see my point. \[laughs\] You just... In, in America, tell it how it is. In Australia, dumb it down a little bit. Yeah.
[31:43] I just didn't know if you had stru- Like, I didn't know if you, when you came to America, if you struggled at all with like- Oh... of, of like, "I gotta promote myself, but it's-" Yes...
[31:52] "like against kind of how I was raised and how I was brought up." Yeah. No, mate, first week I got here, I had a morning show segment, and I talked like I was in Australia, man. Yeah.
[32:03] And I guarant- it was the worst thing I did. I almost didn't get invited back on the show. Like, it was that bad, and I was just like, "But this is what I do", and it, that was a light-up moment for me.
[32:13] It's like, well, this is why when everyone thinks Australians and Americans like are so alike, we're not. We're culturally so different, man. We're so different.
[32:22] And I, I say this with, with respect to everybody in the sense that you can get an opportunity based on your looks, based on how you talk, based on maybe a, a, a friend has a shoe in the door to something, but unless you relate and have substance, it's not gonna matter.
[32:39] So I had to learn pretty quickly, like, you know, when I, when I give talks in the south, I talk about football, right? Yeah.
[32:47] And I can talk about football, but if I didn't know how important it is to relate, I would've come there with like my Aussieness, and they'd be like, "Who's this guy?" It's the same for like anything on Food Network.
[32:57] Middle America is Food Network to an extent, like LA, but you know what I mean? Like, I have to relate to that audience. And it's the same thing when you're working in business or building a brand.
[33:06] Know who you're speaking to and how to speak to that audience. So important. Mm. Mm. On the topic of relatability- Mm... when it comes to building a personal brand, how do you...
[33:17] 'Cause you're someone who you're living a lifestyle of like health and wellness, and it's almost aspirational, right? You're like, "This is what you can have, that I feel amazing, I look amazing, I have all this energy."
[33:32] So how do you teeter the line of aspirational but also still being relatable? Dude, that's a, I love that fucking question, bro.
[33:41] You know, um, 'cause I also, it's affirma- the way you asked it is affirming to me that my brand is exactly where I want it to be. Mm. I know that what I have access to is on the extreme end.
[33:57] I am almost, I'm like, I need to make sure that people can see what is possible, and so some of the things that I do, like, you know, for example, I have a cold plunge in a New York City apartment. \[laughs\] Yeah. Right?
[34:13] Like, not many people can, can have that, right? And, and so, but there's a lot of people who can have them in general. Or just me having that show me dedicating my life to what I really want.
[34:25] Like, I'm building this apartment to be... I'm, I'm making the decision to put down my money, to put a cold plunge and a sauna in my apartment. Why? That is so important to my health, right?
[34:36] So it's the intention behind me making those conscious decisions that I'm making that inspire people to go, "You know what?
[34:43] I may not be able to do a cold plunge or sauna every day, but I can sure as hell at least make one meal a week for myself." You know? It's the idea of like \[clears throat\] I'm not asking people to follow my lead.
[34:53] I'm asking the people to make the conscious decisions to put themselves first with their health. That's what my, my thing is.
[34:59] So when we are making content, and this is always the same, you see it in YouTube, it's like I don't make it about trying to achieve a sub-three-hour marathon for everybody.
[35:09] I relate the concept of each threshold pace to themselves, whether or whatever it is, and that's really, really important. I don't speak to people as if they have to be the top level, top high earner, whatever it is.
[35:21] I speak to everybody every day, and you see that with like my short form content as well. It's like, "Here's a three... This, for less than three bucks, this is how you can get $29 of protein in 12 minutes."
[35:32] Like, that's pretty fucking relatable, right? I think everyone can afford to, to get that meal in, and the speed. Super relatable.
[35:39] Then I do these one-off things every now and then, and it's like, you know, having access to certain things of research that understand what's really good for sunlight or not.
[35:48] So it's like people may not activate those things, but it's still providing the value to go, "Oh, cool. It's good."
[35:53] Like, I'm gonna come back to Dan, 'cause it seems like he applies himself to what he talks about-And then actually does it, and then also provides us with everyday things that we can also use On the topic of everyday things that you're using, what does like a traditional day look like for meals?
[36:08] Like, what are you waking up, what are you eating, what are you drinking, like on a heavy training day for, for, for the both of us? \[laughs\] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So for me or for you guys? For you. For you. For you.
[36:20] Okay. So right now, um, Alma has me eating about, like on a, on a standard training day, which is, I'd call a double day, around 5,100 calories. A dou- So- So you're, you're doing- Holy shit...
[36:33] a lift and a run pretty much every day? Yeah. Not every day. Like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sat- um, Saturday sometimes, depends on the day.
[36:46] So mostly- Even, even with training for the marathon, you're still- \[clears throat\]... training pretty hybrid. Yeah, so like my marathon though, the New York Marathon isn't my marathon, right?
[36:55] I'm doing the marathon because I get to do... Like I, I... It's my favorite day of the year, and like- Wow... I get to do it, right? So like that... This is, this is, again, it's relative, right?
[37:06] Me running a marathon now, I've done so many of them, me running a marathon is like not... It, it's a massive deal for me to run it, but in terms of training for it, is it hard?
[37:17] Because I've run ultras and all that kind of stuff, right? That's relative.
[37:20] So, and that's why I'm always like, look, like someone put in so much time right now to do this, but I maintain a pretty certain level, level of fitness. I'm also gonna not, I'm not gonna go out hard on Sunday.
[37:30] My big thing right now is Dallas Hyrox where my- Mm... I'm actually doing doubles, and we're trying to qualify for worlds.
[37:38] So that's my main focus, so therefore I'm doing Sunday actually for my friends and for me, but then during the week my, my goal is to get my ass fucking ready for Dallas Hyrox, which means double sessions. Wow. Damn.
[37:53] Who's your partner for Dallas Hyrox? This guy called Eric Human. Okay. It's sick. He's like 45 years old, and he's like fitter than me, which is stupid 'cause I'm pretty fit.
[38:02] Uh, but because he's 45 and I'm 36, we've got... we're 40 to 45 bracket, and he's fucking ridiculous. Like he looks like he's 35, and he's... Yeah. Shout out to my dad, effectively. Um, \[laughs\]
[38:14] so- That's how I'm trying to be... yeah, dude. Um, but yeah, like I, I- What does the nutrition look like? What, what are you eating for the whole day? Give me a whole day breakthrough. Okay, so I get up, black coffee.
[38:25] I have a long black. That's pretty... Like my morning routine and my coffee and my, like my, my barista machine is just, like it is therapeutic. Um, uh, so I have that.
[38:35] I then go for my run, but before my run I have two scoops of G1M Sport, which is from BPN, a complex of carbohydrates and electrolytes.
[38:44] Depending on the day, I may have a Go bar as well, but I come back from that, smash a smoothie, which has got banana, quarter cup of frozen blueberries, five grams of creatine, AG1, two scoops of vegan vanilla protein.
[38:59] Uh, yep, that's... Oh, and some vitamin D3. Um, and then after that, about 45 minutes after that I'll have my power bowl, which is like one quarter cup of oats, frozen raspberries, peanut butter.
[39:12] Fuck, that thing's so good. Uh, Greek yogurt, hemp seeds, chia seeds, honey. Mm.
[39:18] Then I will have lunch, which is like, you know, pretty much protein, like a sick salad that I've made or sandwich, rice, um, or some sort of carb. I made the most unbelievable roasted potatoes last night.
[39:32] They are definitely getting re-roasted today. You know, roasting potatoes that are already crispy the second time around is tres bien. Uh, so that's happening today, and in the afternoon I'll do second shake.
[39:44] Oh, I've already had... So I have three coffees a day. I have two by around 10, and then my third espr- I have my espresso after lunch. So after lunch, espresso.
[39:53] Um, I then do Greek yog- oh, sorry, then my second smoothie, pretty similar except I swap the vegan for whey protein. Um, second session, G1M, uh, dinner.
[40:04] Dinner will be like, like tonight I'm doing a carne asada, uh, with- Mm... ham, potato hash. Sick. And then Greek yogurt, peanut butter, honey for dessert. That's... Okay. I have so many que-
[40:20] I kinda wanna talk health and wellness a little bit. Um- Do, do you think \[clears throat\] How often are you eating out versus cooking? Are you like- I do-... pretty dialed on fucking cooking versus eating out?
[40:30] And when you do eat out, like how disciplined are you on those decisions that you're making when you're eating out? First off, I just wanna...
[40:38] Those who aren't watching this, Kos is like face then where he's like trying to think of the que- he had three or four questions in his mind. Yeah, yeah. I got a million, dude. Yeah. Uh, cool.
[40:47] So I l- I'm a chef who actually likes to cook when they're not cheffing on the line. Like- Is that, is that rare? When I come... Yes. Okay. Yeah. I'd, I'd come home from service and fucking love to rip off a T-bone.
[41:00] Like I love the idea of it. And I used to do this at like 2:00 AM in the morning, and thankfully I was living alone 'cause that would've sucked at- Yeah... the time to where it was. But dude, I, I love cooking.
[41:11] I love the feeling of sizzling, like the Maillard, everything. So I'm gonna cook as much as I can. Reality is that's not always the case. Like Sweetgreen's just down the road. Carver's just down the road.
[41:22] Dig Inn, you know, is just here. I've got everything I need here. I would say I, I eat out maybe...
[41:29] I, I go to a nice dinner with my partner, Melina, once, when we're in the city, like once a week maybe, but I, I'd cook most of my meals and probably my lunchtime. I cook most of my dinners,
[41:41] and maybe on Saturdays and Fridays maybe if the, if the boys are going out, definitely would like go hang out with them, get a dinner. But I'd say, I'd say like 90% of my meals I'm in control. In saying that,
[41:54] I'm not anal. I don't cook at home because of macronutrients. I cook at home because I love to cook. Mm. So if someone doesn't like to cook-You know, understandably, there's time there, um, which I'm very respectful of.
[42:08] And so when it comes to that, like I, when I'm, when I'm going with my mates, like going to dinner, like, "Fuck yeah, let's go have dinner." We go anywhere.
[42:14] I don't, I don't think of it as like, oh, I have to be conscious. Why? I train twice a week, or twice a day, like sometimes.
[42:20] I'm very fortunate that on that side of the scale I don't have to, unless it's a Friday night before a long run, I don't wanna do Indian, right? Because obvious reasons. \[laughs\] Of course. Don't have to- Yeah, yeah...
[42:32] don't have to double-click on that one. But, you know- Yeah, I've had some bru- I, when I was training for the marathon, man, let's just say I had some, some stuff happen on those few- Yeah... long runs. I bet. I bet.
[42:41] Was it Indian? No, it was just brutal, man. You just keep- Hotel gyms, bro. Hotels and gyms, that's where you wanna end yourself. Brutal. Um, but yeah, so like I... But this is like the lesson everybody else.
[42:51] Again, this is where I'm not normal. I, I do love cooking every meal. Yeah. Okay?
[42:56] So bringing it back to the individual, it's like, look, I think the more that you can control what you're putting your body through, what you eat, the better. Now, does that mean you have to cook every meal?
[43:06] I'm like, no, it's unrealistic. Okay? That's very unrealistic.
[43:10] My suggestion is commit to X amount of meals a week that you are cooking, and then when you are not cooking, get to know what it is that you're putting inside your body a little relatively.
[43:20] And that's like, this is not me just plugging the app, it's like, that's why talking to Alma and saying like, finding out what you're missing, it can be like, look, you just need, you just need that protein which is that, and then this salad, and this vegetable.
[43:33] You're actually deficient in this one, so get this.
[43:35] Like, I guess the, the, the resulting answer I'm stating this is if you're someone who's looking at your health and you're looking to make some changes, one, commit to Tuesday night cooking, it's the night that everyone actually cooks, and do the same meal for the next three weeks in a row.
[43:50] Why? Because one, you didn't ch- you didn't learn in... I don't know about you guys, but I wasn't fucking Kobe Bryant with shoelaces. Like, I didn't just crush shoelaces from the get-go.
[43:59] I had to work my ass off to learn how to actually tie a shoelace. Same thing with cooking. I wasn't the best chef, uh, at like, you know, this meal until I did it like 100 times.
[44:10] So do the same thing three weeks in a row on a Tuesday. That's number one. You'll, by the third time you do it, you'll be quicker, you'll use one pan, and it'll be much cheaper, right? And you'll love it.
[44:20] So that's the one thing. So cook at least the same meal every Tuesday night for the next three weeks in a row. I'd also say, like, be okay and controlling understanding where your next meal's coming from.
[44:31] When I write my plan on a Sunday night, I go, "Okay, I got my workouts. I need to make sure I've got my f- my f- food intake." So if the average person's like, "Okay, I may go to the gym three times a week.
[44:43] I have these meetings here," and they forget to pop in when their lunches are. And then all of a sudden they don't, and then a lunch meeting pops up and they're like, "Well, fuck." Like,
[44:50] if I knew a lunch meeting, if I have a lunch, like, planned for myself, I know I'm gonna have a lunch meeting, at least I know, well, if it's 9:00 to 12:00 where I have meetings, I need to make sure I bring lunch before 9:00 to eat by 12:00, or pre-order something so I can go pick it up at 12:00 in the quick little break that I have.
[45:09] 'Cause people don't think about that like that. Yeah. It is better to eat than not eat, right? That's the, that's the most important thing I'll leave you.
[45:14] So I think number one, cook the same meal every t- every, uh, Tuesday night next three weeks. Number two is plan your week and then understand how you can eat better throughout that week.
[45:25] So you're going on Sunday night and you're planning out, this is gonna be all the food for the next seven days. \[paper rustling\] This is gonna be... Oh, we got the notebook here. \[laughs\] Show me what we got. Bang.
[45:33] Fuck yeah. Bang. Old school, you're writing it down too. Okay, I love that. No Google. Dude. I love that. AM, PM. Like, I have everything f- like my focus, my meals, my calories. Wow. And so what that does is- Wow...
[45:43] that's like, that's fucking high-end shit, right? Mm-hmm. What you can just simply do is like, I'm gonna make chicken piccata, I'm gonna make venison meatballs, I'm gonna do my... I'm gonna be in Colorado.
[45:53] This is what, this is what happened. Again, this is the perfect example. So this is like three weeks ago. Just flip back a page. So AM was an easy run, PM was bike tempo.
[46:02] My focus for the day was understanding my heart rate zones. My meal was venison meatballs. All right? I do that every single day for the week. What does that do?
[46:10] It tells me first off, like, okay, at least I know I'm cooking dinner Monday, Tuesday, I'm away Wednesday, Thursday, 'cause I'm gonna be in with Apple in Colorado. All right? So, like, I don't have to worry about that.
[46:21] But at least the first two nights I can control. This also means when I go to the grocery store, I can already have all the ingredients rested.
[46:28] You know, in fact, if I'm with Whole- if I, if I shop at Whole Foods, I can pre-freaking order, so let's go get, pick up my baggie of all my good shit, so I'm not walking around the store spending aimless amount of time.
[46:38] Mm-hmm. Literally go in, pick it up, and go. And I can do that on a Sunday watching football. So, like, uh, in the ads, uh, I'm gonna quickly click this. So these are all little simple shortcuts, take out the time,
[46:49] b- by knowing what you're actually doing. It's like, dude, when you go to the gym, if you don't have a plan going to the gym, you just kinda walk around. You're like, "I might do some bench, might do some pushups."
[46:58] Like, you finish, you don't really feel fulfilled, right? But if you go, "I'm gonna fucking do four exercises, I'm gonna crush them, and I know exactly what I'm going into.
[47:07] I come out, I'm gonna hit the shower, and then I'm gonna go to work, I've crushed my morning." If you do it like that, or, or if you have a gym that someone tells you what to do, great.
[47:15] In this situation, you know you're gonna have meatballs, great. You kn- what ingredients do you need? You're gonna have chicken piccata, you know what ingredients you need. Done. Sick. See you later.
[47:24] I'm ea- like, planning, dude, \[claps\] fucking changed my life. God. Every single day. Pre- preparation changes the expectation. Man, I need to do this with the food, because I feel like I got this down with the gym.
[47:34] I'm a pretty strong guy. You know, would you say I was w- I've been- You know what I mean? But, like, I go to- Could be stronger. I see Br- I see what Brayden- \[laughs\]... puts in his mouth, and it's- This is bullshit...
[47:42] questionable. I, I go to the, I go to Whole Foods, and sometimes I'll come back, and this is, like, a problem with ADHD, guys. I just have like four of the same cheeses in the fucking f- in the fridge.
[47:51] I'm like, I buy, I keep buying the same thing, man. Or you- You know what I mean? Or you- I like look at it- Yeah... I'm like, I just, I got the same cheese. The two are still moldy in the back from three weeks prior.
[47:59] I, like, keep- \[laughs\]... going and buying the same shit- \[laughs\]... when I don't need to do that. Yeah. So I, I really do need to take your advice and just-Get it on Sunday and go to Whole Foods and just pick it up.
[48:08] Or when you, like, go grocery shopping, you're like, "I'm gonna treat myself to a dinner." Like, I'm gonna go as a reward, you know? Yeah, yeah. Like, stock the fridge. Okay, let's go out to dinner. Yeah.
[48:16] \[laughs\] Got it. Exactly. You've said this before on other shows, but you went and invested a lot of the money that you were making into creating, like, a production team to help you with the content.
[48:26] Would you advise that other people think about investing into all of the co-...
[48:31] Like, all that money that they're making maybe from brand deals or they're starting to get some money from maybe a business venture, a PDF guide or something, do you advise they go spend that into upping their production quality?
[48:41] Like, was that a payoff for you, do you think? Um, well let me answer the question by asking a question. Mm. What do you think about my brand? Like genuine, just the first couple things that you think of. Why we have...
[48:54] Like, why, why was it attractive to have me on this show? I think it's high quality, I think it's very helpful content, and I think that you live a lifestyle that is aspirational.
[49:05] So you're very fit, you show off the food that you're eating. It's like you, you don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk. So you're not just being like, "Oh yeah, you should work out."
[49:14] You're like, "I'm gonna go train at 5:00 AM and we're gonna go do this thing."
[49:18] Um, and I, I think that our, our good buddy Jay Hawk spoke very highly of you, so I was like, "Is this someone that we should have on the show?" And he's like, "This guy is the fucking man. You guys need to talk to him."
[49:27] I'm like, "All right. I'll shoot him a message, if you say so." And I think, uh, we trust our friends a lot.
[49:32] And, like, to, to your point what you were saying earlier, I was able to watch your YouTube and get way better of an idea of who you are- Mm... and your brand, something you can't really do on short form.
[49:45] You can, you can really dial in short form, and you can build a great personal brand on short form, but there's a different connection with the audience when it comes to YouTube.
[49:53] And in the comments, I think that you're getting on long form kind of just a test to the brand that you're building. Yeah. It's not just, like, oh yeah, you got a couple people that are watching these.
[50:02] It's like people are really using into practice what you're telling them from a fitness standpoint and from a nutrition standpoint. Well, you're not just getting, "Sick vid." Yeah, exactly. \[laughs\] Yeah.
[50:12] \[laughs\] Nice vid, man. \[laughs\] Um, I appreciate it, guys. So y- you know, you, you, you kind of... You both touched on two things there.
[50:20] Like, I believe not just investing in content, people need to invest in themselves, and I think that's what this situation we're talking about with these young creators coming through, learning to build their brand.
[50:35] They haven't really understood to take the money that they have and they're receiving and reinvest it back into themselves. And so that can be anything from learning courses, it can be building a team around you,
[50:51] building, like, infrastructure to your brand. You know? It could be honestly investing in something that you learn from, whether it be...
[51:00] Like, one of the early things I did was, as I started to build a bit of free cash flow, was I started to invest in brands.
[51:06] I got to actually sit at the table figuratively, like, like, a Zoom table, with some of these high, like, smart executives. Every meeting was a... I was just listening in. I was listening to smart people.
[51:20] And so I was reinvesting by investing. You know, it's a pretty cool feeling. Just like you guys, every time you have a podcast, you get an MBA in something that the person's speaking about.
[51:30] So one of the smartest decisions I did was that, 'cause this day and age, like, if I told you guys how much money I spend a month on my, my production team, you'd be like, "What the fuck?"
[51:40] But reality is my content drives so much awareness, and it's got a massive point of difference. Why?
[51:48] Because I spend money on a team that's able to build high quality content, what you said, and learn how to be relatable and give value, as opposed to just me doing it on my own and not really having the time to be analytical, and smart, and learn, and outreach, and do all these things.
[52:04] 'Cause I'm not a YouTube... Like, I do YouTube, but my brand is like I'm above... not I'm above, but, like, my brand has to stand b- before the distribution. Why? 'Cause, like, my mission has to be first.
[52:16] If YouTube is my mission, that means all I care about is getting views. But I care about more than that, right? These are just amazing, controllable platforms that I can help share the message.
[52:27] So one of the biggest decisions I made was early on, I needed to be on camera, I need to create a...
[52:32] I need to get a cameraman to follow me around and do stuff, I need to make enough money to do that, so that's when I started building a production company using the deals that...
[52:39] You know, pretty early on, no one was doing long-term deals like I was fortunate to think of.
[52:43] It's like do deals where you had cashflow for a foreseeable future, bring in more of them, and over time you have these contracts that are rolling. And so you provide value to businesses that needed more content.
[52:56] You'll be able to control it. Through that, you learn how productions ran.
[52:59] You'll be able to then learn about the different levels of content, whether it be long-form, short-form, hooks, relatability, retention strategies, media campaigns, so that now, now I have all these people who want to learn about my YouTube team, but also I'm now advising businesses in how to build out content because I've done it for so long, and now I'm making decisions as an executive.
[53:21] So, like, me investing and me spending so much money brings in all these opportunities that aren't just content, me posting related, which is unbelievable.
[53:30] What were a few of the things that you learned from sitting at the table with some of these executive people? Like, give me the top two or three learnings that you can bestow to our listeners today. Um,
[53:43] I think it was pretty... Like, okay, so in different, different categories of these businesses, but what was really interesting is learning how, um, how ad spend went, how UGC strategies work, how to...
[53:56] what certain numbers people were looking for when it comes to conversions, uh, how you went about using original content and when the right time to click through to paid on that was.
[54:07] That was pretty, that was pretty cool. Um-I also learned that, to be honest, like, the other side of it is a lot of these brands don't know influencer strategy, right?
[54:18] They build their businesses off, you know, affiliate marketing, not influencer marketing, and that's great because, like, I'm not an influencer per se, but I know the world, and I know how to build out a team and do that, so I can add tremendous value to that.
[54:32] But then also they taught me how to activate at community levels, like speaking with community teams and learning the best way to build out, um, event spaces, and activate, and what you should look for for impressions, not for like transactional, but for actual meaningful.
[54:48] Best way to do newsletter marketing, and how to co- like actually how to coordinate a campaign across multiple channels at once. All this stuff was so exceptional to me. Like, I was just listening and learning.
[55:00] To this day, I still do. Like, I try and, you know...
[55:05] Uh, the way that things are is, like, you know the people at the table who really are the smartest 'cause they're the ones, they're the ones listening, and I wasn't necessarily the smartest, but, like, I watched the older legends who've been doing this for years and they're still just listening and you're like, "Fuck me, there's a reason why she is unbelievable.
[55:21] She just step back, listens, and she might say a few things, but all the questions you a- all, all the things she asks are questions."
[55:28] So, you know, I, I, I think from that I learned that you're always learning and, and we hear that all the time, but never stop learning.
[55:34] Um, a- and find, find ways to put yourselves in positions to learn, and if that means investing money into something, then sweet.
[55:40] Like, honestly, the, the money I spent was better than money I would've spent doing an MBA anyway because I'm like, I'm in the business and I'm an investor, so like, it's great.
[55:49] Like, it's, it's a, a better way of looking at it. Was there ever a time where you got an inbound email about a brand partnership, maybe on the side of, like, they come to you as a quote unquote "influencer", right?
[56:01] Mm-hmm. And they're like, "We wanna do this one-off partnership." You took a look at the brand, you're like, "Oh, I actually really fuck with this brand.
[56:08] Let me try to talk to the brand and turn this not into a transactional one-time brand deal, but an actual long-term partnership," and then you bring in your production company and you say, "Hey, you're doing these high-level commercials or these media campaigns.
[56:25] I can do it for a fraction of the price. Let's create a partnership over, you know, six months to a year."
[56:30] Have you had any experience with that, or were all the long-term partnerships that came your way, did they propose it as a long-term partnership from the get? Bro, that's how all my partnerships started out. Mm.
[56:42] 'Cause no one was doing what I was doing. Everyone came to you, like... What happened was a person would come to you, a person on a team would come to you, "Hey, I'm reaching out to you, da da da da da."
[56:52] I'm like, "Cool, I don't do that. What I do do is this. What are you actually looking for?" Right? So, like, no one asked them the question what they actually need. Why are you doing this campaign?
[57:03] And if you find out it's like, "Hey, we're s- we're launching a new product, we wanna sell." "Cool.
[57:08] I won't be that person, but I can help support building content strategy for you to reach out to people to do that, or I can also be part of that, but I'm not here to just sell." Right?
[57:20] And they're like, you know, sometimes like, "No, look, you know what? Like, what does this mean?"
[57:24] Then you jump on a call, and you're like, "Look, the biggest challenge we see in this day and age is, one, content costs a lot of money. Two, you don't have your own in-house content team.
[57:33] And three, you spend all this time reaching out to people to get this stuff done. I'm in the network. So here's what I suggest.
[57:39] I would propose we do a 12-month partnership where you get guaranteed X amount of pieces of content, both campaign level, brand vision, also short form content that you can use across all your channels and for paid media.
[57:51] I'm also gonna support by providing you with, um, seedings to individuals I think would be fantastic for the same campaign." Right?
[57:59] And so, like, that's how it all started, and 'cause, because what actually, the very first thing that clicked for me was I was on a campaign, three videos, it was like half a million dollars to this production company.
[58:12] I got paid 12 grand, and I'm like, "Where did the rest of this money go?" Like, they got th- this, this brand got three videos and they spent half a million dollars? Okay.
[58:22] So I went back to that brand and said, "Hey, guys, just FYI, if you want 20 videos, I can do it for 25% of the cost." They're like, "You can give us six times the value for less than 25% of what we just paid?"
[58:36] I'm like, "Yeah." They're like, "Fucking done." Like, I'm like, you've gotta add value. You've gotta ask them what they are after.
[58:45] Now, initially, that took me, like, three to four years to continually flip that expectation around. What then started to happen was, "Oh, Dan, I heard that your team worked on this with my friend.
[58:57] I was just out at the w- the expo summit. They talked to me about how awesome it is to work with you. Do you mind if I chat to you about what we've got coming up?" Why? Consistency.
[59:07] Do a good job, pr- underpromise, overdeliver, and that consistency starts to build, you know, thing around it. Did I do a good job every time? Like, I did the best that I could.
[59:17] There was things that I learned, and I fucked up, straight up.
[59:20] You, you're gonna, you're gonna make mistakes, but I guarantee, like, that is, that is the difference between someone who is, is thinking long term versus short term.
[59:30] I took the money that I got from that first deal, put it into a team, and then made three to four more deals from it.
[59:36] What were a few of those mistakes, don't have to obviously name the brand, that you feel comfortable saving someone some of the headache on early on in their career?
[59:44] Um, oh, like, there's things like not setting up expectations for the brand on edits. You know, like streamlining, streamlining that, how many times things go back and forward.
[59:57] Um, direction on what you think is good versus what the brand wants, you know, like who has final say on those kind of things. Um,
[1:00:06] you know, 'cause ultimately these things were going on my ch- on my, on my platforms, right? I'm like, "I don't like that video," but they wanted it, and like, guys- So, that's so true.
[1:00:14] I got a partnership the other day from a very large brand that we all know and love, and I'm like, "This is just an ab- like, this is a horrible idea that you guys have." Mm.
[1:00:22] Like, the idea was terrible and I'm like, I-I just don't feel comfortable, like, posting this, you know? And they're like, "Well, this is the campaign." I'm like, "No, I get, I get that this is the campaign.
[1:00:31] I just think that, like, you guys think that this is what people are gonna wanna watch, and you should just let, let the people that you're coming to probably come up with the idea, 'cause it's gonna live on their feed and then you're gonna boost it.
[1:00:41] It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, you know?" What'd you do about it? I didn't take the partnership. Cool. And it was good money. It was good money, and it, it just like, I was like, it's just not...
[1:00:51] I, I don't think it's gonna do well. I'm not hyped about it, and it's unfortunate. \[laughs\] Yeah. Dude, dude, like that's perfect examples.
[1:00:58] Like, don't do it or explain, "Hey, like, for what it's worth, this is what I suggest," 'cause if your goal... Like, this is the thing, if you ask them, if you ask them what they want- Mm...
[1:01:08] the intention of it, our intention is to build impressions or get conversions, whatever it is. Cool. You get the video and you're like, "Guys, that's actually not gonna work." Yeah. They're like, "What do you mean?"
[1:01:18] Like, "Well, your goal is to do this. You told me in our very first meeting this is what you wanted. I'm here to tell you that's not the way to do it." Right? The problem is brands don't know short-form, long-form media.
[1:01:34] They still don't. They're well behind, right? Like, the idea behind building in a, a, an analytical team behind growth marketing, but not having a team behind YouTube strategy or short-form strategy still bewilders me.
[1:01:50] But I, I really say, like, it's an unbelievable, um, skill set to learn, and also have, have the confidence to, one, walk away, but, and, and one, walk away, but still give feedback, you know? It's pretty...
[1:02:02] Just 'cause you never know, like, 'cause in the future, like, you know, like, yeah, like, whilst we didn't work it out now, like, actually you left some really good points on the table for us to think about for the next time.
[1:02:12] Like, hey, I, I know last time this wasn't right for you. We actually wanna engage you with a campaign, but actually get your thoughts on it before we even go down to shoot that one. Like, great. Do you know what?
[1:02:22] I, so for, for, for, for now, guys, I don't do any deals that, one, I typically am not speaking directly with an executive, right? Why? 'Cause I'm a decision... I wanna help with the decisions.
[1:02:32] If I'm asked to shoot a campaign, and like unless it's a really big brand that's, like, global, and of course, like, I'll, I'll... And it's gonna build my brand in a really cool way, then my North Star. Sweet.
[1:02:42] But, like, I like helping the businesses. I don't just like being the messenger, and that's just what I love, right?
[1:02:49] So you look at, like, AG1, Home Health, you know, when I was working with the Wine Hotel, my new, my, like, Alma, like, all these brands, like, I'm helping the founder or the executive team in making decisions, right?
[1:03:01] I just love doing that.
[1:03:02] You also get to a point, this is really, really cool, is like, when you have these meetings with people, you now know, like, based on the size of the company and their infrastructure, if they are a right fit for you.
[1:03:15] Yeah. But that only takes being consistent.
[1:03:16] For example, I now know if there are a certain number of, if there are a certain number of, you know, uh, uh, full-time staff that have a certain run rate, I know they're like, that's a s- there's a sweet spot for me to work with the company.
[1:03:30] Why?
[1:03:31] 'Cause they're early enough that they haven't been, they've, uh, we- they're early enough that I can really help shape out a strategy for them, but they're not too early they don't have the resources to help support the strategy.
[1:03:43] Um, and that's a really cool, I think that's a really cool thing for those listening in.
[1:03:46] It's like sometimes as a busine- like in business, you join companies, like, in whatever level, C-suite, director role, and you join them at a stage that you think you wanna add value, which is really, really cool.
[1:03:59] Some people have been in business for so long, they're like, "I've been with this company for 10 years. They're so big.
[1:04:04] I don't know if it's worth me being part of this company more, 'cause, like, whilst I'm getting a paycheck, I don't get any value out of it."
[1:04:09] So, like, I, I, I say this in general, is people generally know when they go into a company they're excitedly a part, like, I'm gonna really put my, put my stamp on it, like, put my name to this and, like, really leave a legacy.
[1:04:21] That's how I feel with what, what I do with my team and what we do with our brands.
[1:04:25] It's like I've gotten to a point now where I know, like, if it's a small company, it's gonna really lean on me, which means it's not good.
[1:04:33] So, \[laughs\] like, not that, not that I won't, it's just like, if you give me all your resources, it's not smart. But if you give me part of your resources and you need my help, that's good.
[1:04:41] And is that how you approached the Apple partnership? You're like, \[clicks mouse\] "I need to talk to Tim Cook." Called Tim. "I need, I need to talk to the executive team." Yeah, yeah. Get Tim on the line.
[1:04:49] "We're, I got some ideas for the new iPhone. We're just gonna have Alma as the- See, this is, this \[laughs\]... as the homepage app \[laughs\].
[1:04:59] Guys, I mean, I'm not saying anything you guys don't know, but, you know, like- Yeah... why do you think I flew to Colorado- Yeah... for that week- I mean-... for two days? Yeah, it all, it all, it all tracks. Why?
[1:05:09] It wasn't to hang out with Jay Hawk. But- No, Jay Hawk was not at... He just happened to be there. \[laughs\] Yeah. We get it. Yes. We see the play. Yeah. You're thinking 10 steps ahead.
[1:05:17] Okay, wait, I, I want- It's, it's so nice of you to help a, um, you know, up-and-coming brand. A really small brand. I know, I know.
[1:05:24] On the, on the topic of equity- \[laughs\] On the, on the topic of equity with the brand partner, I was listening to a Tim Ferriss episode really long time ago, he's the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and he was explaining how sometimes equity can be, can be, like, not the best thing- Mm-hmm...
[1:05:38] because some of these smaller brands, he's like, "You're gonna end up doing so much work for them," he's like, "mil- like, a million dollars in you working for them, and maybe potentially not see a payoff for a decade," right?
[1:05:50] How do you go about thinking about which brands to partner with on equity to, like, actually get a stake in- Mm... and see kind of, like, that long-term vision?
[1:05:57] 'Cause I'm sure a lot of creators are listening to this, or people that are building a brand, and they're like, "Okay, you know, I, I do want equity in the brand," right? "I wanna...
[1:06:04] This is something that I wanna do, but I'm not sure which is the brand to actually take up on this offer." How do you go about thinking about that? Oh, man, all influencers, creators, please listen to this. Please.
[1:06:19] Equity is a cool thing to throw around your friends and say, "Oh, I've got equity in this company." It doesn't mean shit until it pays off, right?
[1:06:29] It makes it sound as if you're making heaps of cash and you invest in the brand. Now-Maybe you actually did.
[1:06:35] Maybe you're someone who actually invested in the business, and then you got, you know, a discount for doing so, which is great. But if you didn't,
[1:06:43] most of the time you've got class shares that are not good, which means everyone else gets paid out first anyway. So don't get equity in a company just because you wanna say you have equity in a company.
[1:06:57] That's step number one. Number two, you're absolutely right, and so is... so, I mean, Jim's, Jim's like a OG, like a fucking legend. Like, the idea behind equity is that over time everybody wins.
[1:07:12] The problem is when you're starting out a brand, there is a lot of expectation on give- like, giving away equity is a big deal.
[1:07:22] As a founder, when I give someone equity, it means you are gonna fucking ride or die with this shit, right? So that's where, like,
[1:07:34] on the creator side, I get a little bit, you know, frustrated when someone goes, "Oh, they only gave me X amount of points," or whatever. I'm like, "Do you know what that means?
[1:07:44] Like, do you know what that actually means? They just gave you X amount of points of the business, and you're complaining about it."
[1:07:50] Like, be grateful that someone else trusts you enough to actually want to give you points. Cool?
[1:07:58] The second thing is, of course, you're gonna have to do so much work to make that work, 'cause, like, realis- realistically, unless it's a unicorn, you're not gonna see returns in, like, five years, if that, right?
[1:08:12] As an example, I've got... I've only ever seen one return right now, but I've got things that are doing well, but I've been doing this for a long...
[1:08:20] like, a pure example, like, this is, this is, like, where I'm at, and I've been doing this \[laughs\] for a long time considering \[laughs\] I'm 35, whatever I am.
[1:08:30] But my other lesson to this is, like, how do you as a creator negotiate this kind of thing? Like, look, I think at this stage of the, the game when you're young, cash is king.
[1:08:41] If they don't have cash, just set your boundaries and expectations clearly, right?
[1:08:48] So, like, if they come to you one day and you said what you're gonna do and they ask for more, and you're like, "Guys, I told you I'm not gonna do that." "Well, the business is..."
[1:08:56] Like, then they're gonna be like, "Well, the business is struggling." I'm like, "Cool." Then you go, you know, like, you can make the decision then, right? You can... But the reality is, like,
[1:09:05] you will learn through b- business cycles. I've learnt, I've had, you know, multiple businesses. Some have done really well, some have, some have done poorly, um, extremely poorly, like failed.
[1:09:16] A lot have failed actually. But the reality is, like, e- equity means something to the founder. You need to treat it as respectfully as that founder does.
[1:09:24] But then the second side is you should be looking for cash, 'cause equity is gonna be tough. If you can get, can get a comp structure where it's both, fantastic. That's, that's amazing.
[1:09:33] Like, if you can get cash and equity, awesome. If you can get cash, equity, and bonus, even better. Mm. Um, but don't treat equity lightly, 'cause you shouldn't.
[1:09:44] Like, just because someone gives you even a small fee, you should, you should still work for that. Going back to what you said a little bit earlier, because y- the top of your brand isn't
[1:09:56] being a YouTuber, it's just- Mm-hmm... part of your content strategy- Mm-hmm... it allows you to not be so caught up in how many views or in, um, how many, uh, views or- Impressions? What- Impressions.
[1:10:10] I was gonna say insights. Mm. Um, you're not so focused on, like, views and impressions.
[1:10:16] What does a successful piece of content look like for you, and how do you measure the success if you're not super caught up in, like, "I need this to get as many views as possible"?
[1:10:24] Dude, like, we, we still look at views as a measure of, of success of a video, but it doesn't define our overall brand, right? So, like, a video...
[1:10:35] This is why, to your point, like, because I don't rely solely on YouTube, you know, like, I look at YouTube as a way of expressing my message. If a video doesn't work, it's not because they don't like me.
[1:10:47] It's maybe the, the thumbnail, the title, the hook, or even the subject matter just wasn't interesting, and that's fine.
[1:10:54] Like, we had a video that did really, really well, and we then thought, "Okay, let's do something similar," and the second one was different subject, a different, different thumbnail, similar subject, but it wasn't as interesting, and that's fine, right?
[1:11:10] It's not like... People still, still watch and love what I do, 'cause they get the value.
[1:11:16] So I think that's where, like, coming to terms and, and, and being okay with the long-term goal here, because I look at ways of where measuring, measuring success to me is like we'll definitely look at hook, we'll definitely look at retention, we'll look at, um, the click-through.
[1:11:33] They're really good indicators for us, right? Like, everyone should. But for me, success of a video is not solely measured on the views, it's actually the engagement. It's the comments, the type of comments I'm getting.
[1:11:45] If people are like, "Dude..." If I get a DM from somebody from a YouTube video, that means they've taken the time
[1:11:53] to come to my Instagram after watching my YouTube where they could have just commented there, but instead they want to send me a personal note to say, "Dan," this one is like, "I just want...
[1:12:04] I've been watching your videos, and they've been a game changer for me." Like, that's a measure of success in where I'm going. That is more currency than I can get from anything.
[1:12:14] Like, if I wake up and I've got DMs from people saying, like, "I'm about to go sub-three," you know, or like, "Dan, I'm, my fam- my, I'm now cooking for my family, like, I have dinner once a week," like, that is the most amazing thing, and that's why I know that's my north star, because, like, I get more lit up, you can hear in my voice, I get more excited, more lit up from people sharing their stories as a result of the value that my team and I are putting together.
[1:12:41] It means what we're doing is working. The problem people feel in my category is it's less sexy. It is less sexy.
[1:12:49] If I had-I don't know, a very attractive woman every single video opening up my dialogue, I'm sure I'd get more views, be more entertaining. But that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to be...
[1:13:00] that'd also affect my brand, wouldn't it? 'Cause I'm like, I'm just a sellout because I'm trying to get someone to look in, and that's a YouTuber thing.
[1:13:06] Whereas, like I'm a thought leader, I have to be very conscious and, and, and intentional with how I see, how I, I make sure my brand is seen, and that's really important. I also wanna talk about, um, MasterChef because
[1:13:21] you made a very conscious decision to kind of separate yourself from that brand. Mm. You got notoriety, and you also went into the show being like, "I don't need to win this, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna leverage this."
[1:13:31] You're gonna learn. \[laughs\] And so I think there, like, there's probably somebody listening to this that has gotten some opportunity, they've gotten some notoriety, and
[1:13:44] they're trying to figure out how to navigate it, and if they continue to like maybe stay with the, with the brand that gave them notoriety, they're always gonna be slightly below.
[1:13:52] So do you have any advice, and I'd love to talk or have you explain your experience with like
[1:13:58] using MasterChef to help get you notoriety and like help build your personal brand, but then making the conscious decision of like separating yourself a little bit from it, having Dan be like, "I'm Dan.
[1:14:11] I'm not just like that guy from MasterChef."
[1:14:14] Because I'm sure that they were throwing some awesome opportunities at you with some pretty good money, and it probably was difficult, especially at the age that you were, to navigate that. Uh, yeah.
[1:14:26] So this is a constant one for everybody in general. It's like, uh, like, uh, brand identity is something that I preach a lot about, like, and this is to anybody, you know, in any industry.
[1:14:40] You don't have to have followers on Instagram to be having a brand identity, a personal brand at that. Um, and I, and I had just seen the pathway for people in shows in general who had, who had gone about not really,
[1:14:55] um, owning what their, like, again, their North Star was, and doing so in a way that was controllable to you. And so like candidly,
[1:15:04] I, I talk about if you're gonna go gamble at a casino, you need to go into that casino knowing you're gonna lose X amount of dollars. You don't go in there with the intention of going, "I'm gonna win." Right?
[1:15:14] So like if you do, it's a shit position to be in, 'cause then expectation-wise, everything else is shit. But also, it's not lowering expectation, it's a real expectation.
[1:15:24] So I'm gonna spend $500 tonight at casino is you going in going, "I don't care if I walk out of here with $500 gone." Cool. Awesome.
[1:15:31] I went into, I went into MasterChef going, "I, I actually genuinely do not care if I don't win here, but I'm gonna go in here and spend my time learning as much as I can in the s- in the time that I have there."
[1:15:45] And to be honest, you're in there for like seven or eight months, so like it is... and I, I just committed. Months? I com- yeah, dude, Australia, MasterChef Australia is like, it's full on.
[1:15:56] You live with- Why didn't I think... It's like- I thought it was like a f- like a- Few week, like Love Island kind of situation. \[laughs\] Yeah. \[laughs\] Nah, dude. No, no, no. You have like auditions.
[1:16:03] Once you're locked in, you're in a house together, you live together, like it's, it's a whole thing. Wow. Wow. It's the biggest one around the world. It's massive. Like, like that...
[1:16:11] globally, it helped me get recognized globally, right? It's, it's amazing show. So from that, it's like really important that you... I went in there going like, "I wanna learn."
[1:16:23] That was the North Star for me for that experience, learn. 'Cause afterwards it wasn't about being Master... it was like I wanna build my brand helping people learn how to cook healthy. That's honestly what it was.
[1:16:33] And I didn't want to have MasterChef as the reason as to why I could or could not do that. But thankfully it got me on the show, and then afterwards they...
[1:16:41] well, actually towards the end they make you sign a contract that essentially like they tie you to things, and I just said, "No." \[laughs\] So, um, 'cause I already had a book that I self-published going in, right?
[1:16:52] I'm like I didn't want them to have any rights to that. I didn't want to have... and I knew I was doing a book coming... I was actually writing my second book in the house whilst I was there.
[1:17:00] So I'm like- But even- I didn't want to co-... e- even, even, um, even if you didn't win, they kind of came around to all the contestants and they were like, "You need to sign this contract"? They...
[1:17:09] not need, sorry, I should be careful. They just, they would like you to sign a contract. Gotcha. Okay. Gotcha. Um, and it's like the top, the, the top, the finals week. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah.
[1:17:18] Which is very normal with every show, right? Sure. Like they wanna... 'cause it's more like prot- it's actually more protecting the, the identity of the show than it is the individual, and I get it.
[1:17:27] Like, if I'm in their position, it kind of makes sense. I just didn't wanna be tied down, and I didn't wanna have to look over my shoulder.
[1:17:33] But at the same time, that means if I didn't sign it, they weren't gonna put me up for media opportunities and brands that came their way from that. But
[1:17:41] I was like, "Okay, if I know that I'm not gonna get any help, which I should look at anyway, I'm gonna have to do everything myself," and rightfully like got out of the show, used the momentum
[1:17:52] that I had, which was a little bit of air time, and I got myse- got the book done. So when I, when I, I came out, my book was on every shelf. So I went to like every bookstore, then I got a third party.
[1:18:06] I'm like, "Hey, guys." They're like, "Oh, you're Dan from MasterChef." I'm like, "Yeah, that's me, but I'm Dan Churchill," blah, blah, blah. And so then I got my book on all the shelves.
[1:18:13] I ended up getting on TV, able to promote my cookbook, and then that just continued to build, build, build. I got opportunities from that, signed a couple of deals, did some more, I signed a TV deal.
[1:18:24] That's how it all started. And then I jumped into kitchens. Gotcha. Long story short. But essentially the... I wouldn't say the hardest decision, 'cause it wasn't hard. It's the toughest decision I've made.
[1:18:35] It was the toughest decision I've made that is unbelievably beneficial.
[1:18:39] Now, my suggestion, bring it back to value, my suggestion to people, whether you're on a reality TV show or you're in a position where a business is you- all you've known. So like say you're a part...
[1:18:51] ooh, is, I can't say the name.
[1:18:52] Say you're a part of a fitness company and-You've been tied to that fitness company for so long, they've brought you notoriety, they've brought you everything, and you sh- be seen as the person from that.
[1:19:03] You're only ever gonna be seen as the person from that if you stick towards that. The hardest thing is separating yourself and going hard at your message. You have to not double, you have to triple down on your message.
[1:19:14] You have to make sure that everyone knows they see you as not that person from this, but the person who does this. Not is, does, right? Big difference. And so that happens all the time.
[1:19:28] I see the people who sign to brands, especially these young creators who like sign to footwear deals, the footwear deal drops them and they're like, "I don't know who I am anymore."
[1:19:36] It's like, "Guys, like you, you had a brand deal. It's fine. It was a two-year brand deal. You're still you." But you have to have a point of difference.
[1:19:44] You can't be like every running influencer that goes to every single major and runs, unless, unless you're food, unless you're a physio, unless you're someone who is a singer and then actually on the side runs.
[1:19:57] Like you have to have a point of difference.
[1:19:59] And so big thing here is if you're in that position of you're tied to something that's so good, if it's part of your North Star, w- write about it, that's fine, but if you don't wanna be known as that person anymore, you have to be okay with the fact there is gonna be a loss in air time
[1:20:17] or whatever exposure you get, but you have to work so unbelievably hard to make sure that you get to where you wanna be on your own. I love that. I love that. Gotta fall in love with those inputs.
[1:20:32] Someone that, that you've spent quite a bit of time around is, is Nick Bare. You guys are good buddies and you're, you're a BPN athlete, which is very sought after in the fitness category.
[1:20:43] What are a few of the things that you've learned from hanging out around Nick, being good mates with him? Uh, you know, Nick, Nick is one of the most disciplined, uh,
[1:20:55] you know, walks the talk individuals you will see on this planet. You know, he's \[laughs\]... If, if he says he's gonna do something, he does it. Like it's, it's pretty incredible. Um,
[1:21:07] you know, I think you can learn so much from him. He is a perfect example of consistency because for so long he was an early person to YouTube. He built his... I wouldn't say built his entire...
[1:21:17] He- the early days of his business were built around YouTube, right? Like, he built a business, a re- a multimillion dollar business around creating videos consistently.
[1:21:28] He would pack boxes, he would film videos, he would go train, he would repeat and do it. He made mistakes, he's talked about that. He'd learn from them, he'd do it again. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.
[1:21:41] Even now, even now, the guy is still putting out what he does every day, and it is unbelievable. I think we can all learn from, learn from that.
[1:21:51] I'm, I'm, I'm blessed 'cause I get to meet, I get to meet Ni- Nick and Steph and his beautiful kids and like see also the BPN team in a, in a very family environment.
[1:22:00] Um, and, and, and, you know, seeing him as a family man is like one of the most inspiring things. Like, you imagine running a business, content creation, and then also having a wonderful family.
[1:22:11] And seeing, seeing the way that he's, you know, put his family, like first is so inspiring. It's really, really cool. You uh, you're friends obviously first, but you are a BPN athlete.
[1:22:28] \[laughs\] You, you kinda told him that you didn't really wanna be that from, at the beginning, right? Oh, I didn't say I didn't wanna be that.
[1:22:36] I was just like, when Nick and I started talking about the relationship, I, I, I was very open to him saying like, "Dude, like I just, I'm very conscious of the partners that I'm a part of, and I care more about certain things than others," right?
[1:22:50] Like- Yeah... yes, there's a certain notoriety of being... of- th- that rightfully so. There's a certain notoriety of like being associated with BPN, right?
[1:23:00] But Nick is, Nick and his family are more important to me than that notoriety. Mm. You know? And I think that's important.
[1:23:06] So what I didn't want to ever happen, this is for any relationship I've had before with business, it's like friends have asked me to j- become a business partner in some capacity, I'm like, "Awesome product, awesome business, I love you too much to not be involved.
[1:23:21] I'm happy to give you my take on a couple of things, but that's like where it's at." And so early on, like, you know, I was like, I, I loved the idea of it. I loved the fa- I, I was already, I was already...
[1:23:32] Like, I think the actual most interesting thing was I was already part of the team. I'd go down there and be welcomed- Mm...
[1:23:39] and do stuff, and they just lo- they were so loving and supportive and just like I bleed for the company. I love the company, I love the people behind the brand. Obviously love Nick.
[1:23:48] And so it was never like an issue not being it, but like when, when Tony, Tony hit me up, he's like, "He really wants to do this." I'm like, "Okay. If that's the case," and I was like, "Let me call Nick."
[1:24:02] And I called him and I was like, "Dude," I just said to him, like, "Bro," like I, I just said what I said. Like, it's more important, he means more to me than, like, than the business side. So as long as that was never
[1:24:14] an issue, like, and then obviously it's, like, say it came a day for my contract to be terminated one year, right? I will walk away and Nick and I... That was the only thing I wanted.
[1:24:24] Say there was an issue, as long as our friendship would remain the way it is. And he was like, "Dude, never gonna change. A- and you and I..."
[1:24:31] The thing he said that really stuck with me was like, "You and I do business enough to know how to switch that, like m- maturity on." And I was like, "Yeah, cool." Mm. "My guy." Mm. That's awesome. 'Cause I also...
[1:24:43] It's just so cool. And the other day, like... And when, when, when, when, like, they said that they really need my help on a certain area of the business, like I'm like, "Okay, I get it."
[1:24:52] Like, I get why, you know, I get why. Like, it's, it's a, it's a cool feeling. Mm. Yeah.
[1:24:58] But, but it's like, I think my, I think my le- my lesson for people this evening is like-Getting into business with your friends is a really cool, exciting thing 'cause you really care about each other, and I'd seen more about more of this happen, like
[1:25:11] actually turn out negatively, just see it from afar from friends and stuff, 'cause you just because you are great friends does not mean you have great business skill sets that comp each other.
[1:25:21] Um, to say it's not the ca- like, look at you two, you guys I'm sure are great friends and, and, and like you're doing business together. So you almost have to separate business and be really objective with it.
[1:25:32] That really, really hits home, you know? And, and in this case, you know, I, um, i- any case, it's like make sure your friends first, but you keep business business and friends separate. Yeah. You know?
[1:25:48] It's so important. I love that. It, it's funny, like with us, \[laughs\] like, like we started off as like amazing friends, and we were living together and we were like, "Let's start a podcast."
[1:25:59] And, uh, it's turned into like what it's turned into, and I think, though, what you're saying is important because me and Brayden both bring different things to the table when it comes to the podcast and doing business together.
[1:26:12] We work super well, but we definitely have clear roles in like what we each do for the business, and that's super important because I think that if you go into business and you're doing the same shit,
[1:26:25] it's kind of like, not a recipe for disaster, but- No, I agree with you. I think it is low-key... y- like you gotta, you gotta bring something different to the table than the person you're going into business with.
[1:26:35] Mm-hmm. Each person actually has to add a value as if you didn't know them- Yes... and that's what's important, right? Like, you know, yeah, and that's, that's in anything, right?
[1:26:46] You can't just, you can't just make that, "Oh, we should do it 'cause we're friends and it's cool to hang out together," like, 'cause you have to make some pretty tough decisions sometimes, and you may not agree with each other and that can be quite conflicting, you know?
[1:26:58] Um, so like you just need to, you need to be o- you need to be okay with that. Yeah. And, and, and, um, and yeah, like the, the
[1:27:10] like when, when, when you guys can come to terms with the fact that the individual skill set is business-specific important, that's great. Mm-hmm.
[1:27:22] What is something that you could leave someone with today who is looking to build a brand, use social media to create their personal brand?
[1:27:31] What is your, your last piece of advice that you would give to someone who's looking to f- maybe follow a similar path? Honestly, like I, I say this, just add value. Add value.
[1:27:42] Add value to whatever it is you want to be talking about, filming about. Um, and then second to that, be consistent.
[1:27:51] Because as I said earlier in the podcast, you have people who had 400, you know, followers, then they've got 400,000 in four months because they learned how not to do it, they learned how not to do a little bit less, they learned how not to do a little bit less, and then eventually they did one that did okay and they doubled down on it.
[1:28:12] And so the reason for that is they're consistent, but they also got the reps in. I love talking about this. It's like
[1:28:22] every time you do something, whether it be you hit the track, you go to the gym, you cook a recipe, you tie a shoelace, you're getting a rep in. Every time you post, you get a rep in. You know?
[1:28:32] Like, you're building reps, you're stacking plates. So the first time you do something should not be the last.
[1:28:41] Too often people see, they do it for like three or four days, they do the TikTok, "I'm gonna do TikTok," and do it for a week, and they stop 'cause it's too hard. Fuck, dude. Course it's hard.
[1:28:52] You think you're gonna get success in a week? Come on. Be consistent, go deep, learn, repeat. I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been episode 180 with Dan Churchill.
[1:29:03] If you're still here, please hit the subscribe button, drop us a comment, leave us a like and we'll see you guys all next week. Peace. My favorite part of the show? Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, oi, oi. Type shit.
[1:29:12] That's how it is, right? Yeah. Did I do that right? I think so. I'm gonna get flamed in the comments. Uh, PPD, not to be confused with PEDs, this is, uh, post-pod debrief, best part of the show.
[1:29:22] You know something about PEDs. I have n- I know nothing about it. \[laughs\] I know nothing. We got a lot to break down. We do. Dan was just spitting so much game. That was such a fun pod. One of my favorites.
[1:29:33] He is the man. If Dan's listening to this, I'd really just like us to become a little bit closer friends. I think so, too. Which I don't think about like most of the guests, like this. \[laughs\] You know what I'm saying?
[1:29:46] Like this- You feel like there was a bromance, uh- Ah, yes... like a certain bromance that was there? Yes. It's like, you know, I think we have really great rapport with a lot of the guests- Mm...
[1:29:53] but- A lot of buddies... a lot of buddies, but like I think there's- You feel like it could just be like this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like with some like \[hands slap\] like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:30:01] That was a really good one, too. Yeah. That's what you feel like we got right there? Dude, I think that next time we go out to New York we'll go sauna and cold tub in his apartment.
[1:30:11] You know who I feel like would be really good homies with Dan? He reminded me of, uh, of G. I don't know what- Short stat?... I don't, I don't know what it was. Yeah. Just good vibes. Yeah. Really good dude.
[1:30:21] They should, we should, we should connect them. We should, the four of us need a little- Yeah... a little hangout sesh next time we're in New York. 100%. Yeah.
[1:30:27] What was, uh, what was some of your favorite things that he said?
[1:30:30] I think what I found really interesting, and I think a lot of people who are starting to make money online mess this up, and he really stayed true to thinking about the long-term game. Yes.
[1:30:42] So he was like in the very beginning, which is I feel like very hard to get clarity on, his north star early on, seems like he knew this from the time he got in the kitchen and was cooking with his family, he was like, "I, I wanna change the world through food."
[1:30:54] Yeah. Like I, I know my mission, which is rare, so I, I think if you don't know that yet, totally okay, 'cause I think it's taken us quite a bit... Uh, we change it every day, dude. Yeah.
[1:31:03] Change it all the time.It's kind of fun to change it I was gonna be a bodybuilder, I thought. Uh-huh. Thought I was gonna work in racehorses. Yeah. You know, I thought, uh, I was gonna be, like, a videographer in sports.
[1:31:13] Nice. Changed that. Yeah. And I own a company. Podcasting and owning a company stayed really true. Yeah. I own a production company. The podcasts have just been, like, straight up. And it, it's still week to week.
[1:31:22] \[laughs\] It's... \[laughs\] Changes all the time. Yeah. I thought that was super interesting. I think that
[1:31:29] a big takeaway for all of you that are listening, all the rocks tuning in right now, is really get clear on the North Star. Get- Yes... what's, what's getting you out of bed? What is the purpose?
[1:31:37] And it doesn't need to be work-related. We were just literally talking about this before the pod. Yeah.
[1:31:41] Could be family-related, could be, you know, helping, uh, your daughter, your son, setting them up for success, giving a life to your family that maybe you didn't have. Mm-hmm.
[1:31:50] There's so many different ways to kinda think about your purpose, and he's found his. And I, I hope now after listening to this show, we were just chatting about what is, like, the North Star of this pod. Yeah.
[1:31:59] And we hope that people can come to this and get, like, an MBA in whatever this guest is talking about, whether it be personal brand, whether it be business, sales, marketing, content creation.
[1:32:09] Like, we want you guys to be able to come, and it's free 99, and it's just an amazing resource to help you grow your business. Yeah. I think back to what Dan was saying, not all money is good money. Mm.
[1:32:21] We've talked about this a lot. And he's someone who was on a reality show. You're getting a lot of eyeballs, and he probably was getting...
[1:32:28] I mean, he was telling us he was getting some really great money thrown his way, and we know how much some of these influencers can get paid.
[1:32:35] It's also funny because he doesn't consider himself an influencer, which I think is also, like, a really great distinction and something that's, like, super important to him. He's like, "I'm a chef first.
[1:32:46] That is my business. I'm trying to change the world through food. It just so happens that I make content, but do not consider my- I don't consider myself an influencer.
[1:32:55] Don't call me an influencer, and I'm not even a creator. It just so happens that I use content to, like, build up my brand." Dan is very business first. I think he, he saw early on the importance of social. Yeah.
[1:33:07] He's like, "If I wanna play this game and I wanna have a successful business, I wanna own a restaurant, or I wanna be the head chef at a restaurant, I need to be playing here where the eyeballs are."
[1:33:17] And it played to his advantage. I mean, he's been on Good Morning America. He's been on all these shows. He's wrote multiple books. Yeah. He's an author.
[1:33:23] You know, he has equity in very large brands, very successful brands, so... What's also interesting is he built out a production company. Yes.
[1:33:34] Like, not many people who are making content think about, "How can I work with these brands on long-term partnerships, and how can I create a working relationship to where I can create super high quality content for them at a fraction of the price?"
[1:33:50] And think about partnerships more so than just, like, "I'm an influencer. A brand wants to pay me one-off to, like, get eyeballs in front of my followers." 100%. The tall poppy syndrome, too.
[1:34:02] I, I think, though, he was like, "Oh, this is a big thing in Australia," and I totally get that. I'm not from Australia. I think that's a thing in the US in smaller towns. Mm.
[1:34:10] I think, like, a lot of the rocks will relate to this. If you're in a smaller town, just from people I've talked to, I don't, I don't live in, like, the... I didn't live in the biggest town. Mm-hmm.
[1:34:18] It's just, like, a regular suburb city of Southern California. I feel like a lot of people when they're like, "I'm gonna go move to Los Angeles or Miami, New York," whatever the heck thing may be, San Francisco.
[1:34:30] I think that they can feel very similar to how Dan was feeling. Mm. Where people are like, "You wanna get out?" Of like, "Why do you wanna leave? Like, this place is fine." And it's like, you want more for yourself.
[1:34:39] Totally. You wanna, you wanna, you know, be around people who are super motivating and doing different things. And just honestly, it's just, like, a different perspective. That's why the city is so special.
[1:34:48] People can say whatever the heck they want about LA, but there's so many ambitious people here doing cool things. They're really... They're, they're giving it a damn go. Yeah. You know?
[1:34:57] And I, I think that we get really lucky 'cause we have the show, and you guys get lucky 'cause we hang out together every week. We all get to learn from very inspirational, very passion-driven people. Yeah.
[1:35:09] And I think that that's rare, and it was something that I even noticed, like, even parts in college. Like, you talk to people- Mm... and college is very systemic, right? Where it's like, get a job, you get a...
[1:35:20] You do this, you do this. This is your, kinda your trajectory.
[1:35:23] And I think what's really cool about entrepre- entrepreneurship and being on the internet in this era selling products online, there are so many different ways that your web can look- Yeah...
[1:35:33] and the ways that you build your company can look. And, like, I... Every time we sit down with people, I'm, like, mind blown- Yeah...
[1:35:40] as to what they do and how they think about making money online or how they think about their brand, and it's like, I hope you guys feel the same way, 'cause it's like, holy shit, every time we end, we're like...
[1:35:50] And then we, do we... Maybe we'll make a new friend. \[laughs\] Yeah, right, right. Please be our friend. Uh, I just think it's so funny thinking about him going on national television and just, like, underselling himself.
[1:36:04] Oh, wait, like- Being like- Wait, wait, let's do a little- "It's cool. It's cool"... little role play. Yeah. "So Kos, tell me about your, your new book." "Ah, man, it's got some, got some recipes.
[1:36:12] If you, um, are in the mood to cook or maybe not, I don't know, check it out. Make some recipes. They're all right." "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. That's Kos Garcia." \[laughs\] Yeah. "We're back on air."
[1:36:21] Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, just that's so funny. He's like with Michael Strahan. Yeah, exactly. He's like, "Yeah, so tell me about your book, man." \[laughs\] It, it reminded me of- \[laughs\]...
[1:36:29] I'm drawing such a blank, and this is so embarrassing, but the guy who wrote Curb Your Enthusiasm. Uh, yeah, Larry David. Yes, Larry David. Uh-huh.
[1:36:36] He was on a talk show, and he's been doing Curb for, what, like 12 seasons or something. They put out the next season, and he was promoting it, and I think he was on Jimmy Kimmel.
[1:36:46] \[laughs\] And Jimmy's like, "Yeah, so tell us about the new thing." He's like, "Yeah, it's more the same. You should go check it out. It's out." \[laughs\] Like, that's, like, the same thing.
[1:36:55] But as far as, like, the tall poppy syndrome goes, I also think it's funny that you could be from Australia and you're killing it coming out to US, breaking into arguably the biggest market in the world.And then your friends back home are like, "Dude, chill the fuck out."
[1:37:10] \[laughs\] Keep you humble. Relax, Dan. Yeah. Really just bring you back- Okay, big shot... bring you back down to Earth. Yeah, dude. That's so funny. And it's interesting too just the, the differences of probably when...
[1:37:21] I saw someone actually made a podcast clip about this, and maybe it's just 'cause we're out here, we have a lot of friends that are, uh, really in love with the stuff they do.
[1:37:30] I feel like when you ask someone, "Oh, what do you do?" Uh, someone was telling me on a pod, they're like, in Europe it'd be like, "Oh, I like to snowboard, I like to skateboard." Yeah.
[1:37:37] "I like to do this, this, and this." And out here a lot of the time it is tied to, "Oh, I do X, Y, and Z." Or- For work. Yeah, I'm a podcaster or content creator, chef, whatever the heck the thing may be.
[1:37:47] So I thought that was, uh, that was interesting. 'Cause it al- it seems like in Europe and probably over there- Yeah... it's like, "Oh, dude, I, I like to fish. I love to do this, this, and this."
[1:37:57] I, I don't know if you remember this. When we had Daniel Priestley on the podcast, he's like, "I don't know what it is about people in LA, but when you- \[laughs\] Yeah...
[1:38:03] when, when, when you ask them what they do, they just tell you their travel schedule for the next 12 months." I was just in, uh, I was just in Monterey. Yeah. Greece. Got, uh, Paris. He goes...
[1:38:14] Dude, I was just asking how you've been, man, not- Yeah, yeah, yeah... I didn't need the itinerary. Yeah. Didn't need the printed itinerary.
[1:38:20] There, there is more things that I wanna touch on about this Dan episode, but speaking of travel, you just got back from a phenomenal trip. Oh, dude. It- \[laughs\] Instagram is fake is all I'll tell you guys.
[1:38:32] \[laughs\] Yeah. You did a great dump. You guys see the... Yeah, do you guys see the 'Gram? You'd be like, "What a time this kid had." Uh-huh. What did...
[1:38:37] And I was talking to a few of the Rocks, and they're like, "Dude, it looks so epic." I go, "I, I can't bullshit you guys. This was brutal." Mm-hmm.
[1:38:42] I'm telling you guys here 'cause now it's just, like, the true Rocks- Yeah, yeah, yeah... are back here at the deep end. We, um- The PPD. And the PPD, dude. They're here. Okay.
[1:38:50] Also, I think our next merch drop should say, "I only came here for the PPD." I like that. \[laughs\] It'll be- Comment if you want that merch... it'll be a really- Yeah... Michelle three. Niche. Yeah.
[1:39:03] But hey- Michelle three... but hey, if that's you, you know? Just here for the PPD. Just here for the PPD, that's what we're here for. The, um- So you went elk hunting. I went elk hunting. I don't hunt often. Uh-huh.
[1:39:14] Ever. I think I've, I've went maybe bird hunting a few times. We eat all the stuff. This isn't, like, trophy hunting. Yes. We're gonna come back, and we are gonna have...
[1:39:23] I thought, I thought I was coming home, man, for you guys. I was even gonna do- I was talking to Sharif saying, "Oh, we're about to have a sous vide elk steak dinner night- We're supposed-... with the boys."
[1:39:32] Supposed to get 300 pounds of meat. Insane. There's three people, so- Which also, where were you gonna put it? I was literally gonna give it to you guys.
[1:39:39] I was gonna get, like, 80% of it into jerky, and then give it to all our friends. Oh. And then a portion in steaks- Uh-huh... and then give it to my friends, too. So- Man... uh, freezer would've been full. Uh-huh.
[1:39:50] We don't have those outdoor freezers here- \[laughs\]... in West Hollywood, okay? It's not like that. Um- One day. No, yeah, it's not like that.
[1:39:56] So I was hoping for a lot of meat for, like, the rest of the year for my friends and for me. Also to preface. Huh. So this trip was for your dad's 70th birthday. 70th birthday.
[1:40:05] This was a very expensive trip that my mom had booked, and- And, and you had... This was, like, a year out. Yeah, this was a year out. We, and we really prepped for this thing. Yeah. And we didn't get anything, dude. Mm.
[1:40:16] Just absolutely devastating. The, uh, the quarters that we were staying in, for what we had paid, let's just say we could've hung at the Four Seasons, you and me, in Hong Kong for, like, a week. Yeah.
[1:40:25] Like, we could have posted up, and we'd still have probably money left over. Uh-huh. We would've, we would've- To shop. We could've shopped. We could've thrown some in the S&P. I mean, it's unbelievable.
[1:40:34] You could've got yourself a nice elk dinner. I could've just went and bought the meat, I would've. Yeah. Yeah. And we could've just played pretend. Uh-huh. You know?
[1:40:40] You know, like the guys, they go fishing, they don't get anything, they just go to the supermarket- Yep... take the photo. Yep. That's what we could've done. Yeah. That's what we could've done.
[1:40:46] It was funny 'cause someone commented, like, "Where's the, uh, where's the elk?" \[laughs\] And I was like- There's no animals in your photo dump \[laughs\]... there's- It's really interesting... no antlers. Yeah.
[1:40:55] No nothing. I'm like, yeah, it was, um... We just went hiking with a gun. That was it. Oh. So we were just hiking and stuff. Uh, it was a, a very cold, very- Yeah... rainy experience.
[1:41:07] Fu- I'll tell you what, though, dude. I come home, I'm, my internal clock is 6:00 AM. Yeah, you're up early. Yeah, because we were, we were waking up at, like, 5:30. Uh-huh. But after,
[1:41:18] after what I went through out there- Yeah... I'm gonna spare you guys the, like, the really long story. All you gotta know is it was brutal. Conditions were not ideal.
[1:41:26] Well, you sent me the video, and it was, it looked rough. It was s- like something I'd never seen. Yeah. You'd think for what we, what we paid, we would've had, like, queen-sized mattresses. Yeah. Fluffy pillows, man.
[1:41:37] You're waking up early, though. I, dude, I'm on it now. Walked into the gym. I see you in the cold tub already. Just sitting in the cold tu- You know what? It was 45 today. Dan would've been proud. Yeah.
[1:41:46] 45 degrees felt warm. I was in there for four... I lost track of time. Four minutes today. What's interesting, though, is- Mm... uh, y- you hit the cold tub and sauna without getting a workout in.
[1:41:57] \[laughs\] I was already in there, dude. Were you not... You didn't lift today? Listen, I- Or something happened? Let me tell you, okay? I go to hit bench... Yeah, this is how I know I'm getting older.
[1:42:05] This would never, this would've never happened 10 years ago. Uh-huh. Literally never. And I'm sure the Rocks are... You know, maybe you guys are a little over the hump, okay? You're feeling a little bit older. Uh-huh.
[1:42:14] You're not in your prime. Yeah. You're not in your low 20s anymore. Uh-huh. I don't know how these pro athletes do it that are above 30, dude. These guys are ancient. No, I'm feeling great. Let me tell you.
[1:42:22] I've been lifting heavy, bro. \[laughs\] I unlatched the bench. I got 225 on the bar, feeling real good. Uh-huh. First set, I'm like, okay, four. It's whatever. I haven't eaten anything. You know? So fasted.
[1:42:34] Then pop it up, and I just get, like, a shooting pain. I, I, I didn't, like, set up right or something. I kinda, like, slipped. I have a huge... This, I'm just making excuses now.
[1:42:42] I got a big bug bite on the back of my shoulder. Okay. It's kinda digging in, and I- Yeah... kinda moved a little bit, and it just, like- Ooh... I, I don't know what that guy did.
[1:42:50] Too much weight to be doing anything like that. And I was like, "Oh, God." I'd never, I didn't even... I just re-racked it. I'm like, "Oh," just shooting pain straight down my neck, all the way down my back.
[1:43:00] Now I can't move my neck really. Do you have, like, malaria, or...? It might be malaria. That might- Did you get something out there and- There was spiders out there. Okay. There was spiders. Man.
[1:43:10] I'll tell you, I gotta tell you this one funny story, though. So I have this guide with me, right?
[1:43:15] And he tells me, "You know-First day we get there, he's like, "Yeah, we're gonna be posted up in this blind," which is basically another word for... It's like a fort, okay? Okay.
[1:43:25] \[laughs\] So that's a, it's like, that's how I would say it. Uh-huh. It's a fort. Okay. For, for those that don't know about this world, it's a fort. It's a great fort that this guy built.
[1:43:32] You would think, you would think this is Minecraft. Mm-hmm. Okay? It's real- It's got a seat on it, got all these f- driftwood, so we can't be seen by these elk, right?
[1:43:41] And the first night we get there, we see some elk out on this thing, and they're like... I'm like, "Let's go, let's go get the elk. They're right there. I can see them. They're too far away." I'm like, "Well,
[1:43:50] I got legs, dude. Let's go walk- Yeah... and get the elk." Like, the, I feel like this is our time to shine. Like, if we scare them, we might not see this herd for the rest of the time we're here.
[1:43:57] Well, we didn't see anything for the rest of the time we were there. Yeah. So I feel like we should have scared the herd. We should've ga- I sh- Dude, I would've, I would've Army crawled- Yeah...
[1:44:03] 300 yards in mud to make that work. I was like, "Give me a straw," 'cause there's a river right there. "Give me a straw." Okay, let me ask you this. \[laughs\] Give me a straw. Give me a straw. I would've like lit-
[1:44:13] walked out, my little butt out there, and I would've tried. When you saw the elk out there before you knew that they were too far, were you like, "Oh, shit, here we go"? Dude, it was crazy 'cause we had just got there.
[1:44:23] Yeah. Like, we just loaded, saw the camp conditions. I was like- Yeah... "Talk about this later. Go out there." I'm like, "This is so easy." You're like, "We might come back with two."
[1:44:31] Dude, we might \[laughs\] might get a whole fridge full for the family for the next year. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, we, we, we didn't go do anything with that. Dang. They were like, "It's too far," and I get that.
[1:44:41] I get that it was too far. I still think we should have done a little bit of- Totally... little bit of SEAL maneuvering. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something to get up over there, and didn't see the... Oh.
[1:44:48] Or just fire a shot, dude. Something, dude. Just a desk pop. Dude, you'd be... Steph Curry it. \[laughs\] Just go from long. Yeah. Like, dude, what- Full Corey heave. Yeah, something.
[1:45:00] \[laughs\] Then we, we go in this blind, and we're sitting there for, like, eight hours. You should've been like, "Sir, with all due respect, I didn't come here not to shoot this fucking elk."
[1:45:09] \[laughs\] Just, I just start walking. Like, "No, no, you can't go." I'm just, like, walking out on the water. The- \[laughs\] We sat in this, in this hole for, like, eight hours, and I'm like, "Man, this is brutal."
[1:45:18] Like, you just got a lot of time. My phone- And it's cold. Cold. You're freezing. Your ph- my phone doesn't work, so you c- Yeah... you're just sitting there. I, I counted all the trees in the area. Nice.
[1:45:26] There's a lot of trees. Nice. And I was kinda sitting down, 'cause you don't want the elk to potentially see you, right? Uh-huh. Anyway, so I'm like, "Tell the guy, I'm, I'm over this whole thing.
[1:45:34] Let's go on a hike or something." He goes, "We gotta be really quiet." I go, "Okay. Yeah, you can, we can, we can be quiet." So we cruise up on this mountain,
[1:45:43] and when you're looking at a mountain, if you guys live in Oregon, Montana, anywhere that's got a ton of just trees, like you look up and it's just trees. Uh-huh. Okay? Yeah, we were in Idaho.
[1:45:52] I'm like, oh, you think in my head being a city kid that it's just the tree and there's not a ton of stuff, 'cause I'm like, oh, light ain't really penetrating down there. Like, how much stuff could be...
[1:46:01] Oh, my God, you would be astounded at how much brush and shit is under those trees. Oh. And so many portions of it are, like, completely open. Uh-huh. Where it's like, oh, wow, this is beautiful.
[1:46:11] Thing I didn't realize, trees fall a lot. A lot of fallen trees.
[1:46:14] So many fallen trees that that is, like, one of your biggest obstacles hiking through a forest like that, 'cause you step on one of these fricking trees and the branch just krr.
[1:46:23] You're like, oh, that's great, so no elk in the next 200 yards. Mm. They're gone. They heard you. You know? So you're trying to be like ninja- Uh-huh... walking around on your tippy-toes. Yeah.
[1:46:32] The guy turns around to me, he goes, he goes, "You gotta be real quiet, okay?" This is right when we start the thing. I go, "Dude, I'm, I'm so locked in. I'm looking d- I'm not even looking up, brother.
[1:46:41] I'm trusting you to look up. I'm kinda looking at my feet to be a ninja here." Uh-huh. Really, like, really creep up. We're on the top of this hill, and it's like we've just finally made it over this terrible hill.
[1:46:51] And he's like, "Seriously, we gotta be quiet." I go, "Again, dude, I'm locked in." I heard you the first time. Heard, heard. Just kicks this rock, just shoots down 200 yard- He does? Yes.
[1:47:01] He kicks a rock, and he just shakes his head. I'm like, 'cause then your whole next- Yeah... whatever we're gonna go down, and it was super thick. I'm like, "Well, that's great." So this, there's nothing down there.
[1:47:10] Then you'd see poop, elk poop and tracks everywhere. Oh. Loved that. He'd be like, "Dude, it's poop here." I go, "Dude, if we, if I had a dollar for every poop thing we saw, I'd, I'd be, I'd be able to buy- Yeah...
[1:47:19] we could just buy an elk, call this a day." Ah. It was an experience to say the least. F- poor dad, gotta run it back with pops. Gotta run it back. Yeah. You gotta get some elk. I need to, and I'm gonna come back.
[1:47:31] One of you is gonna get some too. We're gonna get jerky for the whole team. Um, to bring it back to Dan real quick, you said that you worked out fasted. Yeah. And Dan's a BPN athlete now. Yes. He is.
[1:47:43] You gotta get your, uh, G1M Sport. Those carbs in the morning? Yeah. They help. Have you, have you tried them? It's... Yeah, it's, I have some. I can give you some. It's a- All right...
[1:47:53] it's like calories and electrolytes, 'cause I- Do you like d- I've had BCAs. Uh-huh. Which I think are... They're like amino acids. Those make you itchy, 'cause that's what- No, no.
[1:48:04] No, the, the itchy thing is beta-alanine. Oh. BCAs are just, like, uh, branched-chain amino acids. BCAs. Okay.
[1:48:12] I wonder if that's that, 'cause I remember back in the day when I was really lifting heavy, those would kinda, like, upset my stomach a little bit. Oh, no, I think it works like this. No, they were good. These were good.
[1:48:20] It's, it's like 20 carbs and, like, some electrolytes. Okay. And it just kinda holds you over. It's, um, you just put in some water and you fucking blend it up with a little- Tastes good... like, thing.
[1:48:28] Tastes pretty good. Um, it gets kinda thick, but, like, it, it's... I'm not hungry first thing in the morning, and it, like, holds you over. Okay. I'll try that out then. Which is nice. I'm gonna steal a scoop from you.
[1:48:38] Yeah, Dan just got... I hope you guys listen to this. You guys are just gonna run a marathon. He ran the New York City Marathon too, just last weekend. New York City Marathon. Listen, hate running. Would be down.
[1:48:49] I could be down. I was thinking the same thing. I could... Okay. Oh my God, idea. Okay. Do we go for that? Next year? We have, like, a year to train. While you're still young. \[laughs\] Yeah.
[1:49:05] While you can still do it without being in a wheelchair. \[laughs\] Shit, I'm kinda running out of time. You are. I feel like we got one... This is gonna- \[laughs\] Says the guy with the fucking kinked neck at fucking 28.
[1:49:15] Yeah, move it. I low-key think- Dude, are we cooked? Listen, again, don't wanna be that guy. I don't like running. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend.
[1:49:22] If f- even if you guys see me, you'll be like, "Oh, so transformative."It's bullshit. It sucks What was your marathon time? Slow. It was like 4:30? 4:29.
[1:49:32] See, if I was to do it, I would wanna do it- I, I need to train-... and try to get under 4. I had two months of training. Yeah, dude, yeah. For a guy that... Two and a... I think maybe two and a half.
[1:49:39] Guy that doesn't run. Not very... Oh, listen, I'm a, dude, I'm a sprinter. I got a sprinter body, man. It's a lot of mass to be taking for- \[laughs\] I'll tell you what you're not.
[1:49:46] \[laughs\] Like, dude, there's a lot of mass to take around 26 miles. Yeah. And then I got hurt in training, which didn't help, so I'm just making excuses. Seems to be a common- This is-... thread... this is a lot...
[1:49:56] I'm hanging on by a thread. Yeah. Dude, wrestling in high school just ruined everything. My knees are messed up- \[laughs\]... my shoulders are messed up, my neck is messed up. Dude, I called you this morning, I go,
[1:50:06] "I keep adding more weight onto the bar on all these lifts- Mm-hmm... and I'm, I'm making progress. Body's telling me, though, just doesn't feel great." \[laughs\] You know? Body's telling you you're sore. Yeah.
[1:50:17] Body telling me I'm sore, and if I keep going up, something's, something's gonna pop, something's gonna... Knocking on wood. Mm-hmm. Um- Can't have that. Dude, you have been...
[1:50:26] It's cra- so you're out of the newbie gains phase. Yeah. For those listening, I'd say that's, right off the bat, you know, you get quite a bit of m- like, gains quickly. Yes.
[1:50:35] You start going up in the lifts, and then you- Uh-huh... flatline out, and then now you've beat it though. You beat the thing. I don't think I'm fully past the newbie gains. Really? Yeah.
[1:50:44] I feel like you're hitting 185 pounds on the bench press. It's, like, pretty impressive. Dude, thank you. Come on, man. But- I'm proud of you... I feel like I still have another, like, maybe two or three months.
[1:50:55] Of, of l- and then you'll- 'Cause I'm three... I'm, I'm, like, a solid three months. This is- That's true. That's true... this is like the most cons- at least this is what the fucking people at the gym are telling me.
[1:51:02] Okay, I trust them more than me. I don't know what I'm talking about. They're like, "Yeah, newbie gains last probably, like, five months- Oh, okay... and then you really start to plateau."
[1:51:08] But yeah, I've been, um- You have, though. You've just been c- Yeah... I've been the same weight. I was thinking about that today, actually. Before I tweaked my neck- Uh-huh...
[1:51:15] not after, 'cause after I'm like, "I don't wanna work out anymore." Before I tweaked my neck, I was like, "I gotta, like, I gotta go for something." I'm going through the motions in here, and listen, look great. Yeah.
[1:51:25] You know? But I \[laughs\] I'm just kidding. \[laughs\] I'm kidding. I, I could look better, okay? But I really, I think my big thing, I was like, one time in my life, I kinda wanna hit 315 on bench.
[1:51:36] Okay, well, let me ask you this. What? When you go in to work out- Yeah... I know that you've been working out for fucking over a decade. Are you just like, "Okay, today I'm gonna hit some chest, and I know what to do"?
[1:51:47] I feel like if you were to, like, get on some sort of pro- it's the same with running. I like- Like, if you were to get on some sort of program... our buddy at the gym gave me a program, and I really liked it.
[1:51:54] Oh, Justin? Yeah, Justin gave me a, uh, Justin gave me a program. I really liked it. It was an interesting set of movements, and they weren't really long. They were hard, though. Uh-huh.
[1:52:03] It was, like, shorter workouts, like 40 minutes max. They're really hard. Uh, I somehow just keep defaulting back to this, like, bodybuilder way of lifting- Mm-hmm... and I don't think it's good for me personally.
[1:52:17] 'Cause now that I'm getting older, I think I need to be way more focused on mobility. Totally. I went to a yoga class with Chloe. I loved it. I'm like, "This is sick." Yeah.
[1:52:24] I could totally see myself maybe in six months getting a membership there- Nice... but just being a much more, like, functional- Yes... athletic body. 100%. Not this, like, macho, I lift weights. Yeah.
[1:52:34] I go in, I bench, I leave. Like, and I... This is the funny thing, though. You can totally do that. You could literally just go in and bench, and if you eat right, you will grow. Yeah. You could go in, squat.
[1:52:43] You do those big compound lifts, like, you know... I, I feel like when I do do those lifts or those movements, I'm like, "Oh, dude, I could... If I did six sets, eight sets of this, I could go home." Uh-huh.
[1:52:52] I could just totally go home. But I need to train for something. Yeah. Yes. 'Cause I'm just, I'm just going in a circle, and I'm like...
[1:52:58] I've been looking in the mirror, and because I wasn't eating a lot during that trip, I'm like, "Damn, you look, you look better than you did when you left." \[laughs\] Wasn't eating a whole lot out there.
[1:53:06] We were rationing. But, um- \[laughs\] But yeah, it's just, uh- You should train for s- You should, I think- I think a, a lift though of sort. Like, I, I really wanna bench 315. What's the heaviest you've benched?
[1:53:20] Like, 275, 285, something like that when I was with- Dude, I'll race you. We... You might beat me. \[laughs\] No, I'm just kidding. You might beat me right now with this neck like this. My, my- But something.
[1:53:29] I wanna train. Yeah. And I think, I think the New York City Marathon- Yeah... running doesn't interest me at all. I don't think- Oh, see, I, I really have been enjoying it. I, I- You have good experiences, though.
[1:53:39] That's the good... See, I wish that I had that- Oh, you have trauma. Yeah, I have a lot of trauma with it. Let's unpack it. Yeah. \[laughs\] I mean, wrestling in high school, dude.
[1:53:46] We would go into the beach at 10:00 at night- Yeah... 11:00 at night after we'd done our homework and shit, and we would run up and down Huntington Beach in, in trash bags. That was like- Yeah...
[1:53:56] that was our thing 'cause we were sweating, trying to cut weight. You were trying to cut weight. Yeah, we were trying to cut weight. We'd do it in, like, three hoodies.
[1:54:01] We looked like little marshmallows, just like little Michelin Man just jogging up and down the beach. So silly. But, um, I, uh, I don't want... Uh, so that, that was the thing, right?
[1:54:11] So, like, I hated running then, and we wouldn't even been going that far. We were going really slow for, like, four miles. Mm-hmm. Three, four miles.
[1:54:18] Then training for the marathon, it was kinda in my head of, like, it was just too quick. I ramped up- Totally... way too quick, and that's why I think I got hurt. Yeah.
[1:54:26] So I think if it was, like, I did it for a year- We, we literally, if we started now... Babe, you wanna, you wanna join us? You wanna run a marathon? You wanna, you wanna run a marathon? No, Essie says absolutely not.
[1:54:36] She, she says no. That's a stupid idea. \[laughs\] Yeah. Uh, I think, though, if we gave- I could-... ourself a year... I could be interested. Dude, a marathon always seemed like something that was, like, so...
[1:54:47] I was like, "This is for the birds." Like, fuck this. I don't wanna do it, but- Builds character... I could be down to just rip one for once. I, I- And the New York one. That's what I'm saying.
[1:54:55] That'd be the only one, though, that I'd be somewhat interested in doing because everyone in the city comes out for it. All the- Yeah, it looks electric. I, I was just getting content with it this whole week.
[1:55:03] Everyone's like- Yeah... "Oh, I love running." And I'm like, "Don't lie to them." Yeah. Shit was hard. You think, um- It is, it is euphoric, though.
[1:55:10] I think it's very, it's a very euphoric feeling when you finish 'cause I remember the whole time I was running that marathon, I'm like, "I'm gonna die. This is it." Uh-huh. 'Cause I- The whole time?
[1:55:18] After mile 15, I was like, "Yep, just get a stretcher for me." Uh-huh. \[laughs\] "Bring it out here." I was battling with this, like, 55-year-old man- Uh-huh...
[1:55:27] who was, like, 5'5", shorter dude in just a tank top.And I'm like, "How are you doing this, man?" Yeah. "You're kicking my ass." Yeah. And I'm like a l- I got, like,
[1:55:38] decent amount of height on him, and he would just, like... But it doesn't matter, dude, it's toughness. Toughness, agility, your- You think people are still listening to the podcast? \[laughs\] Yeah, I think so.
[1:55:46] I think this, this might be the most interesting part of it, honestly. \[laughs\] We're just talking about fucking working out. Um, okay, let's bring it back real quick- Okay... to Dan. Bring it back to Dan.
[1:55:55] Um, okay, we got some notes. Let's see.
[1:55:57] Uh, I really liked what he was saying about how he separated himself from MasterChef, because I think that as someone who's actually been on a fucking reality show, it's, it's, uh- I haven't been on a reality show...
[1:56:13] it's e- I know. I was talking about myself. It's easy \[laughs\] to be like, "There's clout there.
[1:56:19] I kinda wanna hang on to this for, like, as long as I can," 'cause I know it's almost, like, easy views, and people are, like, coming here for that.
[1:56:29] Am I still hoping for, like, a 10 year later where are they now celebrity \[laughs\] reunion? Like, maybe. You know. Have I bumped into Billy Parks a handful of times, dude? Gotta run the idea by him.
[1:56:39] Um, but I think it's, like, kudos to him for being like, "I can either go down this MasterChef route for
[1:56:48] as long as I can and milk everything I can out of it, or I can build an actual personal brand outside of it and be known as a chef that has a brand and is helping people and just so happened to be on MasterChef," and that's maybe how I found him as opposed to being, like, that's the guy that was on MasterChef, and that's all he's known for.
[1:57:08] No, 100%. I think he, he was conscious of that going in. He had the foresight to say, "Okay, if I go in, I don't wanna just stick in this bubble." Yes.
[1:57:18] "I wanna come out of this with a great experience, whether I win, whether I don't, whatever, and go on to this next chapter in his life." And he was writing a book that was ready to go right after. Smart, dude. Smart.
[1:57:30] This is big brain play. This is chess, not checkers. This is Dan Churchill. \[laughs\] This is Dan Churchill. \[laughs\] I, I also...
[1:57:37] I really, um, I really resonate also, and I like his approach to being, like, you need to keep people's attention for more than 60 seconds, and he's betting so hard on long form content.
[1:57:50] And I think that's what we've also done with the podcast, which is why we're so bullish on it, is because it's one thing to get somebody to keep their attention for 15 to 30 seconds, and you can, you know, body some reels or YouTube shorts or whatever.
[1:58:05] It's different to be able to keep someone's attention for a, a seven to 10 to 15 to 30-minute long YouTube video or an hour, hour and a half, two-hour long podcast.
[1:58:17] You build a different, um, relationship with your audience that way. Without a doubt. And I mean, we've talked about it a ton. People have t- came on the show and talked about it.
[1:58:26] Short form is, like, this big net, you know? It's just, like, a bunch of- Yeah... a bunch of shit. There's so many different types of things go- going on.
[1:58:33] Long form, though, is where you really do build a true connection with people. And you get to know people. You're hanging out with them for so much longer.
[1:58:40] It's all the creators that you and I have talked about this, that we love the most, are long form creators. That's just a, that's just a thing. Yeah. You know?
[1:58:47] It's like, as I think whether, you know, creator, founder, you're building a business online, here's the place to document that stuff. YouTube. In YouTube, 100%. And it's not going anywhere either. Oh, no.
[1:58:59] YouTube's the number one connected TV app. I, I think that's crazy- Yeah... 'cause people don't know that. Over Netflix. You guy- I know you guys are watching a lot of Netflix. Yeah.
[1:59:09] So many of you, which is super cool, send us the pod on the TV now. That's, that's... We see the pod more on the TV or in the car. I don't really see the pod being sent to us, uh, like, on the phone- Yeah...
[1:59:20] for the most part. I do listen to pods, though, at the gym, but it's interesting 'cause, like, you guys- Depends on what I'm doing at the gym.
[1:59:26] It's funny 'cause, uh, I don't really listen to music in headphones- Does it-... at Monarch... mm, that makes sense. But- Most n- I, I don't think anyone does. No. Music's good.
[1:59:36] But that's because it's, like, the way it's- Set up, yeah... set up. Trainer. Yeah. You're talking. It'd be kinda weird if you were to suddenly... \[laughs\] Yeah. But I, I... Dude, I tried... Oh, you wanna talk...
[1:59:46] Wait, real quick, going back to gyms. So Sara Kathryn signed up for Hi Mat. Mm. You guys, it's the fucking nicest, like, gym I've ever been to. It's five stories. They got a fucking cafe.
[2:00:03] It's like a whole WeWork situation. They got fucking work rooms. Uh, they have, uh, a pool. And, uh, she works out there first day. She's like, "Oh, just fucking just saw Denzel." The man? Yeah. Our buddy? Yeah.
[2:00:19] And, and so- She should've slipped him a card and said, "Hey- Yeah... you got any movies coming out?" We saw Leo doing movies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're doing Pod Run. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so he's gonna be a, a- A guest...
[2:00:27] we'll get him. 2026? Yeah. Uh- There's a chance. But it is, it's so fucking nice, this Hi Mat gym. Um, but I say all that to say, I went with her, uh, and I tried running on a treadmill.
[2:00:41] First of all, running on a treadmill sucks. Not the vibe. Uh- No bueno. But I listened to a podcast while I was, like, running, and I was like, if I was lifting weights and trying to go heavy, I couldn't- I agree...
[2:00:51] do a pod. It doesn't get you excited. But I could, I could, I could get into, like, listening to a pod on a run. That's super fair. Yeah. Okay. I still have those shoes. I'll try one.
[2:01:00] You know what's crazy, is I feel like, uh, feel like the first time you run, like, three miles without stopping- Oh, yeah, it was big... you don't, you don't stop, and you're like, "Oh, wow, I just finally did it."
[2:01:09] 'Cause I remember the first, \[laughs\] like, handful of runs- Yeah... I was like, I'd go, like, a mile, and then I'd stop, and I'm like, "You're pathetic." First run I did was, like,.6 miles..6 miles.
[2:01:17] Couldn't, couldn't do longer. Yeah, yeah. I was like one... I, I, I... Yeah. You feel, like, so out of breath. You're like- \[laughs\]... "How do these guys do this?"
[2:01:23] I, I, I told Sara Kathryn, I was like, "I'm going for a run." \[laughs\] Come back eight minutes later. Not even sweating. She's like, "Wha?" She's like, "Did you go? Like, did you forget something?"
[2:01:31] \[laughs\] And I was like, "No, I'm done." Like-Just, you know, went for a quick run around the block Hanging it up Yeah. Um, um, um, um, Steve- Oh, dude. We're going, we're going to Hong Kong. Yes. It...
[2:01:41] On what day is this? So we have a fella named- In a week. We have two amazing fellas- Yeah... locked and loaded. Well, three. Are you guys ready? Three, but the, I don't wanna give them the third one yet. Okay.
[2:01:53] 'Cause there's, there's a lot of- Uh-huh... logistics- Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh... in, in the, in the air. We got Ali Abdaal. Yep. Okay. Nice. Did I tell them this already? I don't think I did. I don't know.
[2:02:02] Ali Abdaal, Jeff Su. Yeah. It's gonna be great. He's awesome. He's in, like, tech and AI. Ali obviously was in productivity and has moved. Give them the third. It's up in the air. It's up in the air.
[2:02:13] Uh, let's manifest it- Yeah, yeah, yeah... here, okay? Okay. Daniel Dalan- Yeah... is the potential third guest, and I really do think- You guys need to... If you're listening, still here No, don't, don't bug him.
[2:02:23] \[laughs\] Don't bug him. He's like- You gotta go on the 505. He's like d- he's like, "Yep, you guys are bothering me." Yeah. "I don't wanna do it." Seriously, though, super excited about the two that are confirmed.
[2:02:32] I'm really hoping that we get Daniel, 'cause he seems awesome. Yeah. He's got such a great YouTube channel, such a great brand. Very excited, and I hope that happens. And we'll get to explore.
[2:02:41] And we're gonna get to explore. Normally, when we do these podcast trips, it's like a strike mission. Mm-hmm. It's like boom, boom, boom. But we're- It's like we call 'em like we got a 4:01. Yeah, yeah.
[2:02:48] We got three guests. Christian Guzman, Shoening, Buff Bunny. We're- We're out... we're in and out. Um, but we have some proper time to, like, explore. Um, so I'm excited. There's a solid hotel, dude. Yeah.
[2:03:01] \[laughs\] Solid hotel. Yeah, super solid hotel with a great gym. Great gym. Made sure to book that. We're going to be posting every day in Hong Kong. Yeah.
[2:03:08] We're gonna give you guys so many updates of the days in Hong Kong. Yeah, so Hong Kong's gonna be sick.
[2:03:12] Can't, I still can't believe we're going there, 'cause we always joke, if a place is, like, really far away, it's, like, our bet. We'll be like, "Oh, it's in Hong Kong." Yeah. And now we're going to Hong Kong.
[2:03:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is funny. Yeah. We've, like, manifested this forever. Uh, one thing that you did miss, uh, while you were away- Yeah... was the Dodgers just pulling off the most insane World Series- Yeah...
[2:03:30] of all time, and the final game was one of the craziest baseball games. The, the 18 inning game was fucking nuts, and then- That was the night before I left, and I s- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:03:42] Dude, I stayed up until... Shit, 'cause I was having to leave, I had to wake up at 4:45 to go to the airport. Uh-huh. So I stayed up till 9:00. At ti- I'm like, "Wow." And then you text me. You're like, "This is crazy."
[2:03:54] I, I know. I know, I know. It's 10:00, 11:00, Chloe's dead asleep, 12:00. I'm in, like I'm at my parents' house, like, you know, crashed there. Yeah. 13, 14, 15. \[laughs\] I'm like, "Holy shit."
[2:04:03] 16, 17, I'm like, "I actually can't stay awake anymore." I went to bed at 17:00, dude. I just couldn't do it. I was so tired. Also, like, at some point- I got four hours sleep...
[2:04:13] you're, you're just like, "Dude, this is ridiculous. Like, someone just fucking score." Bro, they gotta do what they do, I believe they did this in the regular season. They gotta stick a guy at second base.
[2:04:19] That was ridiculous. That's what they should've done. It's like- They start the inning with a guy at second? I, I'm... Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm, uh, I'm 100% positive. Oh. Let me a- I'm asking chat.
[2:04:28] What happens during- While you, while you ask- Yep, yep... um, I thought it was so funny, 'cause there's a hockey player with the last name Yamamoto.
[2:04:37] And so, like, the day after the Dodgers won the World Series, when he fucking just cheffed for the th- third time, s- he, like, scored, like, a game-winning goal or whatever. Oh, that guy? It's, like, a different guy.
[2:04:47] And the Twitter thing was like, "Dude, this guy just fucking pitched the game of his life, and he's now on the hoc- on, on the rink." And I believe, what, what- Like, he's gotta take a day off... yeah, he's gotta rest.
[2:04:55] In regular season MLB games, extra innings start with a runner automatically on second. That's what I thought. Yeah. Really? Yeah. It- When the fuck did they do that? I d- I don't know.
[2:05:03] It's a, it's a more recent thing, I believe. But in f- it's, like, similar in football, where, you know, they start on the 25 in college or something. Yeah. So it's like, boom, dude.
[2:05:11] Like, let's get this going, make this interesting. Oh. That was taking way too long.
[2:05:14] But it was, it was fun though in a way, 'cause you had to see the managers really being strategic, thinking about, okay, are we gonna... You know, we got, we gotta save- Yeah... these guys for tomorrow.
[2:05:24] But- They also, they gotta fucking change the rule that you can only intentional walk- Yeah, agreed... a player once. Agreed, 100% agreed. Twice at the most. But you know what I was thinking?
[2:05:35] Th- they're just gonna th- they'll throw the ball, like, uh, they'll throw it outside. You know what I'm saying? It, like- Interesting... like, there's no way to really do, to do that.
[2:05:46] They'll just, oh, yeah, okay, fine, I'll throw- I guess. They won't thr- it's fine. I don't need to hear the pod. Nah, dude. Wait, a little doggy come in. Come on, Rice. They, um, we'll just go a few more minutes.
[2:05:56] The- Wait, plug back in, dude. Should I plug back in? Yeah, dude. Get the whole experience. Rice, yeah, you're right. What am I doing? \[laughs\] I'm so back.
[2:06:05] What, um, the last game of the World Series, it was game seven, they finally fired up Starlink that last night. Oh. So it wasn't really working though. It was so slow, 'cause we're just so in, like- Mm...
[2:06:19] the deepest part of the wilderness, which- Were you trying to stream it, and it, like, wasn't working? Yeah, I was trying to. I was trying to stream it. Wasn't working.
[2:06:26] I'm having to, like, open the tab, like, you guys know what I'm going through. Thousand tabs, right? Uh-huh. You feel what I'm saying? Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
[2:06:31] Okay, so I'm just, like, clicking X on all these tabs trying to watch the damn game. I'm like, okay, fine. So I was watching on the thing. I see Yamamoto comes in. I'm like, whoa, crazy.
[2:06:40] Then, 'cause it's, like, just loading, like, texts, you know? So- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah... I was announcing it to my uncle, and he's like, he's like, "All right, what do we got up next?"
[2:06:47] Like, I'm like, "Okay, Ya- Yamamoto's coming." \[laughs\] I'm like, "Holy shit." And then they're like, "He hit the guy, right?" He ba- he loaded the bases. Yeah. He hit the dude, and I go, "Oh my God, he loaded the bases.
[2:06:57] He hit the guy." \[laughs\] No, no, no, no. It was, it was- Wasn't him that loaded the bases? Well, okay, no. Yes, yes. Not in the final inning, but the, um- Oh, it was the, it was the inning before...
[2:07:06] the ni- the bottom of the ninth. Yes, the bottom of the ninth. He got out of the bottom of the ninth. Yeah, because- 'Cause I went to bed, I went to bed at the ninth, like- We tied it up... it was...
[2:07:13] Yeah, yeah, yeah, with the home run. Oh my God. Tied it- I couldn't believe it. Like, I was just trying to load it- Uh... and all of a sudden I see the score on the little thing. It kept refreshing. 4-4.
[2:07:20] I go, "Oh my God." \[laughs\] "What happened?" Dude, it's just crazy, 'cause you think bottom of the ninth, tie game, bases loaded, one out. You're like, Blue Jays are gonna fucking... They gotta win this.
[2:07:32] Like, how do you get out of this? And then an insane play at the plate, and then they get out of it, which is nuts. You think he should've slid head first?You think that's gonna haunt him? Yeah. I think so.
[2:07:44] When you do, when you slide feet first, you just are stopping yourself Dude, and then, and then the fucking ball getting stuck- That was crazy... under the fence, and then they make the, um, they make the center field...
[2:07:55] They switch the center fielder, and then fucking k- he, like, runs over Kike. And K- I saw that. Paez? So many ins- Paez was the guy? I think so, yeah. So many insane plays. I, it was... I wasn't getting, like, I...
[2:08:07] obviously updates like that. Yeah. I couldn't really see what the heck was going on, but- Anyways... what a good pod. Yeah. Huh? Um- Did you guys love this or, or love it? Let us \[laughs\] know.
[2:08:17] Do you love it, or do you love it? Let us know- Uh... what you guys are thinking. Oh. Go. Oh, okay, so a few more things. One, our studio, next podcast. Yes. Like, next... Or maybe not ne- next episode? Yeah.
[2:08:30] The n- 'Cause we're doing the- No, but we already did one at it, but we're making it even nicer. Yeah, we ordered some awesome stuff on Amazon. Yeah, stuff didn't come.
[2:08:38] Then w- they were like, "Oh, we only have one of the thing." We're like... They're like, "Does that work?" And we probably said on the phone- Yeah... "Need all three" 46 times. Yeah. Like, what if we have one?
[2:08:46] Like, that's not gonna work. Yeah, and then- Susan, it's not gonna work... um, what else? Oh, we, we've been working on some awesome new products. Physical products. Awesome new products. Yeah, okay, Black Friday. Yes.
[2:08:58] We're gonna have an awesome personal brand thing. It's gonna be, like, 47 bucks, but if you're on the newsletter- Yeah... you're gonna get a discount- Yeah... for Black Friday. Uh-huh. It's gonna be awesome.
[2:09:07] You guys aren't gonna wanna miss it. There's a few things releasing. Yeah, we got- It's gonna be sick... we got a few things. Few things releasing, and there will be discounts for the newsletter group only.
[2:09:15] It will be nowhere else. Also, I'd love to hear this from you guys, 'cause now that I'm back and we're really getting back into it, I'm gonna start writing the newsletter every week again.
[2:09:26] Before, we were doing two a week, and I'm not writing just some BS.
[2:09:29] I'm giving you, like, what the episode was about, that's one, and then another one's, like, a story of either, like, what we're doing, updates, business tips, advice, or something that I'm pulling from somewhere that we see.
[2:09:39] Is two newsletters the solid cadence, a week? Is that gonna... I don't think that's gonna bug people if they're good. No, 'cause I think- No, but I, I wanna know if they want three. That's what I was wondering.
[2:09:48] Oh, like one about the episode- Do you guys want... Yeah, one about the episode and two value-providing emails? Or would you guys just like one value, one episode?
[2:09:56] You guys are the ones that are reading it, so be really helpful for me- Mm-hmm... if you just let us know. Yeah. Let us know. Otherwise, I'm gonna send seven a week. Yeah. I'm just kidding. I'm just- Type shit...
[2:10:04] I can't do that. Um- Really love you guys, though. This is great. It's- Oh, one more thing. Oh, God. Do you wanna be my best man? No way. \[laughs\] Yeah? What? \[laughs\] You down? Yeah. \[laughs\] Let's go. No way.
[2:10:18] Fuck yeah. That's how we're \[laughs\] ending the pod? And the pod's done. \[laughs\] That's a yes from Braden. Wow. Bang. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been an episode with Dan Churchill and your best man, Francis Garcia.
[2:10:28] \[laughs\] We'll see you guys all next week. Peace. Peace. Holy shit. Let's go. That... Was that planned the whole time? I was, like, gonna a- I didn't know I was gonna ask you, but- Oh, wow. That was so fun...
[2:10:41] do it on the fly. Let's go. Whoa, that's nuts

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