# 195. How to Build a Brand So Magnetic It Sells Itself ft. Alex Costa

An episode of [THE 505 PODCAST](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1591279585), 19 Feb 2026, 1 h 47 min.

Audio: https://podcasts.beehiiv.com/3f71d8b4-2a8c-40eb-8500-c62b76bd9acc/019d43e4-0103-7741-b37f-b81b41dca056/019d451d-9cb4-72cb-a584-e15675216a55/019d451d-9d95-7b70-a980-39a7cb4cb9ba.mp3

Meet Your All·in·One Creator Store (Stan) https://join.stan.store/the505podcast Meet Your All·in·One Creator Store (Stan) https://join.stan.store/the505podcast What’s up Rock Nation. Today we’re joined by Alex Costa, one of the biggest men’s lifestyle creators in the world and the founder of Forte Series, now in over 800 Target stores. Before the millions of followers and the retail deals, Alex was filming videos in his bedroom while working at Google. Then he bet on himself. In this episode, we break down why he quit a stable job, how he built real confidence through reps, why most creators quit too early, and what it actually takes to turn a personal brand into a real company. Check out Alex here: https://www.youtube.com/ @alexcosta https://www.instagram.com/alexcosta/ Timestamps 0:00 – Intro 1:03 – Paid To Be You waitlist 1:18 – Alex’s rise + why hair care first 2:01 – Finding his niche in men’s hair 3:37 – Launching Forte before it was perfect 4:38 – Selling 10,000 units in six weeks 5:24 – Speed vs perfection in business 8:27 – Working at YouTube & learning from creators 11:15 - Stan Store 12:07 - What brands get wrong 15:31 – The year everything changed (2017 momentum) 16:26 – The $100K cushion rule before quitting Google 17:47 – The emotional night he quit 19:51 – Advice for going full-time as a creator 22:34 – Early Instagram strategy (self-timer to hiring a photographer) 24:20 – “It’s okay to be cringe” moment 27:18 – His mission: being a big brother to his audience 29:14 – The loneliness problem men are facing 30:05 – Military school failure → discipline → resilience 33:08 – Confidence = stacking skills, not hype 36:22 – First money lessons & avoiding lifestyle creep 39:02 – Target launch announcement 41:32 – How the Target opportunity started 44:04 – Practicing the Target pitch for weeks 45:11 – What retailers actually care about (reach + new customers) 46:36 – The reality of getting into Target (cash flow + inventory risk) 47:16 – Taking a personal loan to fund the first purchase order 47:55 – Unit per store per week & retail pressure 48:31 – Retail data tracking & store-by-store performance 50:12 – Managing retail expectations vs DTC freedom 52:08 – Balancing brand identity with mass retail 54:33 – Scaling operations without breaking culture 57:10 – Pressure of representing your name on shelves 59:42 – Inventory risk & sleepless founder nights 1:02:18 – Leading a team while still being the face 1:04:47 – Creator leverage vs traditional brands 1:07:26 – When growth starts feeling heavy 1:09:58 – Identity shift: creator → operator 1:12:14 – Burnout signals & mental resets 1:14:52 – Why most founders underestimate stress 1:17:31 – Playing the long game in business 1:19:48 – Momentum comes from consistency, not hype 1:22:05 – Scaling without losing creative instinct 1:24:36 – Separating ego from business decisions 1:27:18 – What success actually feels like 1:30:02 – Money, meaning, and responsibility 1:32:41 – Legacy vs lifestyle 1:35:20 – Building something that outlives you 1:37:58 – Advice to creators building physical products 1:40:14 – Confidence through reps, not validation 1:42:27 – Final thoughts on risk and embarrassment 1:44:10 – If he could go back and tell himself one thing 1:45:32 – Closing reflections 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/

## Transcript

[0:00] It's okay to be cringe. People who are embarrassed right now will get paid later.
[0:04] That's Alex Costa, one of the biggest men's lifestyle creators in the world, but long before millions of followers and a brand in 800-plus Target stores, he was just a guy filming gaming videos in his bedroom, and then he made the decision that changed everything.
[0:18] Tear rolled down my face, and I'm like, "All right, let's get to it." I just quit a job at Google, like, I can't go back to, like, the workforce after this.
[0:25] In 2018, quitting Google to become a YouTuber wasn't entrepreneurial. It sounded insane. My mom's like, "Why would you quit your job at Google? What are you... To, to make videos from your bedroom? Are you crazy?"
[0:34] But Alex saw something that no one else did, that men cared about the details and how they presented themselves, even if they were afraid to admit it. And eventually, that turned into an even bigger realization.
[0:43] Why am I promoting these products that I don't even really like that much? How can I create something that guys like me, who care about details, aesthetics, will resonate with? And that's how Forte came about.
[0:53] In this episode, Alex breaks down how he went from quitting Google to building a personal brand that turned into a real company. And the mindset, sacrifice, and reps it took to get there. Let's get into it.
[1:03] Real quick, before we get into this episode, wanna let you know that our Paid to Be You waitlist is now open. What are we doing? All right.
[1:08] So Paid to Be You is a six-week live cohort where me and Brayden teach you how to build and monetize a personal brand through a digital offer.
[1:14] So if that's something that you're interested in, hit the link to learn more and sign up for the waitlist. Let's go.
[1:19] All right, Alex, you have become one of the biggest men's lifestyle creators in, in, in the world, honestly.
[1:25] We've, we went and checked out your socials, I mean, your Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, all have crossed over a million followers, but you were early on the wave of creating a creator-led business.
[1:35] We went and looked back, and, you know, you started your company in 2019.
[1:38] Talk to us about why that decision to go in on haircare to start and not something more traditional like a lot of these other folks that were getting into creator-led businesses.
[1:48] For me, when I started posting videos on YouTube, um, first of all, I don't know if you guys know, but I started posting gaming videos on YouTube way back in the day. We took a look back- \[laughs\]...
[1:56] and they weren't even in English. Yeah, exactly. \[laughs\] But you al- you had some... You kinda had some fans in the gaming industry. Yeah, for sure. \[laughs\] It was, it was crazy.
[2:03] So I- we can talk about that later, but to answer your question, when I started posting, like, fashion videos and lifestyle videos, I started dabbling into talking about my hair. No one was doing it.
[2:13] There were no guys doing it, and for some reason, those are the videos that just popped off. I think it was because no one was doing it. And I'm like, "Okay, let's, let's do some hair tutorials.
[2:22] Let's show guys how to do their hair." I got so many hate comments, like, "Guys shouldn't care about the way they look. Guys shouldn't care about their hair." This was, like, you know, eight years ago, right? And for me,
[2:34] I started using these products, like Moroccan Oil, Old Spice, products that I didn't really resonate with, women's products, products that didn't have great ba- branding.
[2:44] So I was like, "Why am I promoting these products that I don't even really like that much? How can I create something that guys will, like me, who care about details, aesthetics, will resonate with?"
[2:55] And that's how Forte came about, the story of Forte. Um, I was actually approached by someone who had done a hair product before at a YouTube conference, and he's like, "Hey, I've, I've done something like this before.
[3:05] I heard you're interested. Should we try to, you know, push this along?" And we did, and then we launched Forte in 2019 after about a year and a half of trying to figure out, figure out what it was gonna look like.
[3:16] What was that initial response from your audience when you came out with a product of your own? I was extremely scared. My, my audience was extremely hyped. Like, they were stoked, right?
[3:26] And this was at a time where influencers didn't have businesses yet, like you said. So it was in very early on, so I was really scared. I'm like, "If I'm gonna put my name on something, it needs to be really good."
[3:36] It just wasn't that great. Mm. Like, our first product, the packaging wasn't exactly what we wanted. The scent wasn't what we wanted. Um, just the look and feel of the product, I was like, "You know what?
[3:46] Let's launch it. Let's see how it goes, and then we can take the earnings from this first launch and launch something that I'm actually excited about."
[3:53] What about that first product or the first SKU did you not, like, absolutely love? Um, I, I hated the packaging. We had, like, yellow on it. It was just... It wasn't very me.
[4:04] But my business partner, who is still my business partner to this day, he's very much, like, unit cost. \[laughs\] You know, like, every time I'm like, "Oh, let's do this," he's like, "Unit cost."
[4:12] \[laughs\] I'm like, "Ah, okay, okay." \[laughs\] So I'm the ideas guy.
[4:15] I, you know, I'm the, I'm the visionary, but he's always just, like, very robotic in his approach, which is good, so we have a yin-yang relationship, which is great. But yeah, I didn't like the... There was no scent.
[4:25] I really wanted to have a great scent, and because I couldn't decide on a scent that everyone would like, we're like, "All right, let's not do any scents."
[4:32] Packaging wasn't great, and in general, just the website didn't look good. So for me, it wasn't representative of what I wanted, but we sold out of that product within six weeks.
[4:40] We sold 10,000 units, which was great for us at the time, and we used that revenue to then go ahead and, and launch the new jars that you see today. So how does it work when you place this initial order?
[4:52] How long between you actually get to run it back with the second investment? 'Cause then we gotta wait for the product to come in. You gotta come up with your marketing strategy, and that whole, whole nine yards.
[5:00] When does that- And you also have to dial in the new formula, right? Yeah. If you're- Yeah... continuing to make it better. And we actually launched with a, a couple of different products. So we launched with...
[5:08] Well, we launched with one clay, and then we expanded into four products the next year. So while we launched the first clay, we were working on the formulation of the next products.
[5:17] And once we got the 10, 10,000 sales, it took us about four months to relaunch the new products. Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't quick. I wish it was quicker.
[5:28] I think my biggest regret looking back now at how we launched Forte was how long everything took. Mm. I... We had an... \[laughs\] The name that we came up with at first was absolute garbage.
[5:38] It was, like, a gaming-related thing. \[laughs\] Uh, do you guys know Nadeshot? Yeah. \[laughs\] Yeah, we've actually had him on the pod. Yeah.
[5:44] Yeah, so I was talking to, to, to Matt, and I was like, "This is the name, you know, this is what I'm thinking." And he's like, "Why would you go back to, like, gaming stuff?"
[5:51] \[laughs\] "You're not, you're not, you're not even in that world anymore." \[laughs\] And I was, like, shook to my core. Mm-hmm. I was like, "Damn, I got a logo. I got e- you know, the domain. I have everything." Mm-hmm.
[5:59] "What am I gonna do?" So it just took so long for me to get to a point where Forte was finally launched.
[6:06] We started talking about it in the beginning of, of 2018.Didn't launch it until, until the end of 2019, and I still wasn't happy with it Mm.
[6:14] So, you know, one of the big takeaways for people here that are starting your own brands, like, don't, don't wait too long.
[6:19] You gotta test things out, put it out there, see what the feedback is and then you make new iterations of that product. That was my next question is do you just recommend starting messy?
[6:30] Like, getting something out into market and then iterating slash you still want it to be, like, quality. You don't want it to be something that, you know, is, is terrible, right? And so- You, you gotta find that balance.
[6:42] Okay. Right? And I'm, I'm a perfectionist at heart. Like, for me, I like things to be very perfect and, uh, look a specific way, but I had to learn to let that go for so I c- so we could get speed. Mm-hmm.
[6:55] Speed is really important, and it's something that I wasn't... I, I just didn't know how that worked. Um, you know, this is my first real, like, business, like- Yeah... um, E-com business or physical brand. So
[7:06] I had to learn as I went, right? And, uh, my business partner was like, "Let's launch this thing," and I'm like, "Well, but my name's on it. Like, it can't be shitty." So we found a, a nice balance.
[7:15] I wish we launched it probably six months earlier. Interesting. Yeah.
[7:18] You know, you told us that you listened to the Ross McKay episode, and that's a big thing that he told us is how important speed is when you're a founder.
[7:25] If you're going up against these Goliaths of these brands, it takes them quite a while to, like, go to market with, you know, new products or launch, and speed is so important as a founder.
[7:34] It's one of the biggest advantages you have as a, as a small brand, right? You can be nimble, especially a small brand operating on social media like we are because we can, uh, uh... Let's try TikTok Shop.
[7:44] If it doesn't work, all right, whatever. We tried it. We didn't lose that much. Let's try something different, um, new ads or let's try to get into a, a retailer, something that
[7:55] American Crew probably isn't gonna do for a while. Yeah. Right? Oh, let's hire UGC creators to do TikTok Shop. That's gonna take them a while to get there. So yeah, speed when you're a small business is huge.
[8:05] Yeah, they have a whole legal department that's gotta \[laughs\] see every single video. Yeah. They gotta go through so many hoops, and I know that because I worked at, I worked at Google. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[8:11] And I ch- at one time, I, I worked at YouTube specifically. I w- I would open my...
[8:17] And at the time, I had a channel, had about 100,000 subscribers, and that's one of the reasons why they hired me, so they could also get feedback from somebody who uses it daily, um, which was great. So then I'm like...
[8:28] I open my Studio app and I'm like, "It doesn't even show you how many subscribers you have on your Studio app. Like, come on, guys, we gotta..."
[8:34] And I'm talking to the engineers, and it took probably eight months for them to show the subscriber count on Studio, and that's not how a small business operates, right?
[8:44] You, you can't take that long to implement new changes. Yeah. And that's, that's where you win. What are, what have been the things that you've learned from growing across three different platforms?
[8:53] 'Cause when we're looking at all of your channels, they all feel a little bit different. They all kind of go together, but there's like...
[9:00] I feel like your Instagram content's a little different than maybe your YouTube content, and your TikTok content is similar to Instagram.
[9:05] So I'm kinda curious, like, what is the strategy there behind growing all three of those? 'Cause they've all grown to a crazy subscriber count, uh, all three of them, which is amazing. I started on YouTube, right?
[9:16] So that's always been my baby, like, my favorite platform. I, I love YouTube, and, um, it's gotten harder and harder, a- as you guys have probably felt.
[9:26] Um, you know, when I started doing f- lifestyle and fashion content, I was posting four to five videos a week. Wow. And they weren't, like, crazy high produced, but at the time, they, they looked pretty good.
[9:36] It was just like, how many can I spit out and get ma- make them better in the next time? You know, and that's, that's fine. I would do the thumbnails myself, you know, a little Photoshop. They looked absolutely horrible.
[9:46] \[laughs\] Uh, whatever. It's fine. We got the videos out. Back in the day, you're like, "Oh, man, I'm... It's, uh-" I'm chefing with this. I'm chefing in the lab right now, dude. \[laughs\] I'm cooking.
[9:53] I look back, I'm like, oh, we gotta change some of these old thumbnails. Yeah, yeah. They're just embarrassing.
[9:57] So, you know, started with YouTube, and back then it was like, be loud and deliver videos and a lot of information and education. I've always tackled my content from an educational standpoint.
[10:09] For me, it's like, how can I help the guy who's coming out of college, maybe has a little bit of disposable income, wants to find his first girlfriend or his first job and wants to look good? How do I do my hair?
[10:21] How do I, you know, dress for an interview? And then they find my videos. So that was my YouTube channel. On Instagram, I found that people just wanted to see pretty things, like aesthetically pleasing things.
[10:34] So my Instagram, I don't talk as much on my Instagram. I tend to just show more aesthetically pleasing shots, obviously a lot faster videos than YouTube. And on YouTube, I can go in depth into a specific topic.
[10:45] Um, on TikTok, I'm lazy and I just copy everything I do on Instagram.
[10:49] \[laughs\] As someone who's done, I, I don't even know how many brand deals you've done, countless, going into creating Forte, is there something that you wanted to do differently, um, from a branding perspective, um, and marketing perspective that maybe you th- like, when brands come to you and they're, you're doing a brand deal with them, you feel like maybe they're missing the mark when it comes to branding or marketing?
[11:16] Do you know 96% of creators aren't making a full-time living? Okay, that's way too high. We need that to come down. And I think we have a big resource- I think so too... for the rocks.
[11:26] Okay, Stan is the sponsor of today's episode. What you can do with Stan is you can actually sell your digital products online. Makes it super easy. It's a one-click checkout.
[11:35] You can literally get your store up and running in, like, 15 minutes, which is insane. It's pretty impressive.
[11:39] I would argue that most people listening to our show are looking to build and monetize their personal brand, and having a Stan store makes that so easy to do.
[11:48] We're trying to help you guys out, and it's down in the description. It's the top link. They've also made creators over $500 million.
[11:55] Which is crazy because when we did our first kickoff video, it was 400 million, and creators are just printing money with Stan store. They're just literally lighting it up. So you gotta go check it out.
[12:04] It's the top link down in the description. Go check out Stan. Let them know we sent you. Let's keep it rolling.
[12:08] They make it too branded sometimes, and it, it just becomes a, a full-on ad, and I think now more and more people can realize that and, and see it, and they have this bullshit detector. Real quick, you just swipe, right?
[12:20] SoEven some of the brand deals that I post nowadays, if they give me too many guardrails, um, you have to show the, the brand within the first two seconds.
[12:28] You have to say the name of the brand four times during the 16-second video. And I'm like, damn, that's like I'm just saying the name of the brand for the whole video. Yeah. And people just swipe away.
[12:38] And when I look at the data, you look at average view duration, you know, you look at, um, skip rate, it's so much higher on anything that's branded.
[12:46] So anytime I talk to my social media person at Forte, I'm like, "Just let them, let them cook." You know? Like, we're choosing these guys for a reason. Let's give them some direction. Like, this is what we found works.
[12:58] This is the messaging that resonates with the specific guy that we're trying to reach. And, you know, just make sure that your camera isn't blurry and that you're showing the brand, and that's really it.
[13:07] I try to keep it simple and give them creative freedom. Yeah, I think that's the benefit of, like, you being a creator yourself and then having a business. You're like, I understand it from both sides.
[13:16] You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I understand it from the influencer side, and also you're trying to build a business.
[13:19] No, it's great because I'll get a lot of, like, PDFs from brands or PR, you know, boxes from brands and I'm like, "Take a photo. I'll post it, but let me save this for maybe I want to do something similar for Forte."
[13:29] \[laughs\] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? So I have a lot of that in the bank that we can apply. Um, so yeah, we, we, we have that benefit of having my expertise coming from doing so many brand deals.
[13:40] Uh, my agent calls me the- a brand deal machine. So it's, uh- \[laughs\] I've, I've been around. I've done a lot of them.
[13:47] \[laughs\] What have been your biggest learnings from back when you were at Google that you applied to YouTube?
[13:53] 'Cause I'm sure being on the inside, there might've been a few things that maybe you picked up that you could share with our listeners. Yeah. I think the biggest one for me, when I got the job at Google, I was...
[14:05] Uh, we were launching a separate app for YouTube called YouTube Gaming, right? So that's... I was in the gaming world. I knew all the gamers.
[14:12] So my job was to manage the relationship between the top North American gamers and YouTube.
[14:18] So I would manage their channels, give them feedback on analytics, uh, set them up for success in any way possible, schedule them for Q and As and brand deals and brand press trips.
[14:29] So I started becoming really good friends with these guys, and I learned so much from them, more than I learned from actually working at YouTube.
[14:38] And I- it just unlocked something in me, seeing the behind-the-scenes of how they were living their lives, how much they were making, the opportunities they were getting. I didn't really know that was possible.
[14:50] So that, unlocking that, those possibilities in my, in my mind was way better than anything else. It's not like I learned, hey, this is the magic sauce. Mm. 'Cause truthfully, it changes all the time.
[15:02] And even within YouTube, anytime we ask, "So, you know, what's the algorithm like?" They're like, "It's whatever the viewer wants.
[15:09] It's whatever the viewer wants, we should be able to deliver it to them," and that's the algorithm. Hmm. Right? So there's really... I didn't know. There was no, like, magic button, magic sauce that I learned.
[15:18] It was just unlocking my mindset. Mm-hmm. Okay, so take me back to you quit Google 2018, correct? Yeah. To go full time.
[15:27] What needed to happen during your time at Google for you to be comfortable enough to make that leap full time? Yeah.
[15:33] 2017 was a big year for me, um, because I finally started really locking in my YouTube content, and I got to, I think, maybe, like, 500,000 subscribers, which at the time was like, all right, this is, this is legit.
[15:46] This is, this is now a business. And I figured out what type of content worked and what type of content didn't work. So for me, it was hair, fashion.
[15:55] I was looking at the, the girls who were doing, like, the beauty gurus who were doing makeup and fashion, and I was just trying to replicate it.
[16:02] They had these huge teams, huge brand deals with Clinique and whoever, and I'm like, "There's no male version of that. How do we, how do we get there," right? And look, I don't think it's ever gonna be the same.
[16:13] \[laughs\] Yeah. Women, they just, like, there's a lot bigger market for that, but I was trying my best to, to kind of replicate that.
[16:21] So I started getting brand deals in 2017, and I started a new bank account, and I said, "This bank account is only for brand deal revenue. Anything that comes in is going to this bank account. I'm not touching it."
[16:33] So my Google salary, I would spend and do whatever, and I'd still save some. But that separate bank account, I said, "As soon as I get to $100,000, that means that I can quit my job.
[16:44] I have enough of a cushion to quit my job." And in 20- end of 2017, that's when that happened. Wow. And, um, in 2018, I also got, like, a big bonus from Google, and I was like, "All right. This is, this is it." You know?
[16:57] And I remember to this day very, very well going into my director's office. His name is Ryan Wyatt. Shout out, Fwiz. I don't know if you... And, and he's a, he used to be a gamer as well. Okay. It's, like, crazy.
[17:10] Um, and just saying, "Dude, I, I think I'm gonna have to leave and do this YouTube thing on my own." And he looked at me and he said, "I always knew you were gonna leave, but I didn't know it was gonna be this soon.
[17:21] Congratulations." That's awesome. And I was like, oh, I felt so... 'Cause I was so nervous, you know? Yeah.
[17:25] And I felt so good after that, and, um, I remember after my two weeks expired, I went home and I made myself a drink, which I, I nev- I don't even drink at home. \[laughs\] I don't usually do that.
[17:38] And I was like, "I just feel like I need a drink or something." Mm-hmm. What was the drink? It was a Corona. \[laughs\] Yeah. I didn't, I didn't even make it. \[laughs\] That's hilarious. An old fashioned? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[17:49] \[laughs\] Yeah. I, I, I, I'm horrible at making cocktails, so I open a Corona. I don't even drink beer. Like- Uh-huh... it's great. Yeah. But I just felt like I needed something, and I, I cried. Wow.
[17:58] I was just like, "Damn, like, I can't believe I did that." Just, like, all that, that emotion, you know, and a tear rolled down my face and I'm like, "All right. Let's get to it." Yeah. You know?
[18:09] "Let's, let's do this thing." And I had this chip on my shoulder at the time that I had to prove it to myself that this, this had to work. I just quit a job at Google. Like- Mm-hmm...
[18:18] I can't go back to, like, the workforce after this, you know? I... My mom's like, "Why would you quit your job at Google? What are you, what are you... To, to make videos from your bedroom?" Yeah. "Are you crazy?"
[18:28] And you guys gotta remember, this is 2018.Yeah... influencer wasn't even a word. Mm. You know? So it was, it was a big risk but it paid off tremendously.
[18:38] What did other people think then when you chatted with them about leaving your job? Were they on board with it? Did they think it was crazy?
[18:44] Were you friends with any other creators at the time that were like, "Oh, this is 100% the way that the world is going. You need to do it"?
[18:50] I tried to keep it under wraps for the longest time, just especially with creators, just because I, I worked with a lot of them. Mm. So I didn't tell them until the very end.
[18:59] Um, but my family and friends, I told them, and they were truly excited for me. Mm. But there was always that little bit of hesitation, like, "You can make money from that? What do you, what do you mean?
[19:08] Like, how do you get paid?" It wasn't as open as it is today, right? So people were just more curious.
[19:15] And I remember after I quit too, and, 'cause I would always say like, "I work at Google," and people are like, "Oh, that's so cool." And you know, in, in LA people wanna network with you at that moment, right?
[19:24] After I quit, I'm like, "I- I'm, I'm a YouTuber," and they're like, "What is that? What do... How do you make money?" \[laughs\] Right?
[19:30] So there was always a little bit of that hesitation and that doubt that nowadays doesn't exist. Nowadays it's the most desirable job in the world, I would say. Yeah.
[19:38] For someone at a full-time job wanting to pursue the job of being a full-time creator, besides maybe having a cushion, um, to lean on before they quit, do you have any other pieces of advice for someone wanting to make the leap to a full-time creator?
[19:53] You gotta put out a lot of reps, man.
[19:54] Like, you gotta put out reps for many reasons, to understand where you're going with your content, understand what your niche is first and foremost, and there's so much more information nowadays than I had when I quit 'cause it was such a big risk back then.
[20:08] I feel like nowadays you can actually go and see people like myself and so many other people who have done it and try to replicate that. And when I did it, it just felt so foreign to me.
[20:19] I didn't have anyone that I looked up to that did it. So build those reps. See if you like it. Like- Mm... do you even like posting content? Are you... Do you like talking in front of a camera?
[20:30] Do you have something to say? You know, a lot of people are like, "Well, I posted five videos and I, it, they didn't do well and then I just stopped," right?
[20:38] I think most creators, they don't really fail, they just quit too early, too soon, or they never start because they're too scared of starting. They feel like it needs to be perfect.
[20:48] You just have to start, keep going, keep your s- keep your, your main job, treat this as a side job, and at some point that's gonna change.
[20:56] At some point, you know, when I made 100 grand from brand deals, I'm like, "Whoa, that's kind of like almost what I make at Google. I could probably quit now," right? And if I put all of my effort...
[21:06] Google was a difficult job. It was an amazing job, but I was talking to very smart people all day and I'm like, "I don't even know if I belong in this room right now," right?
[21:14] So it was a demanding job even though it was really fun and I got to learn a lot.
[21:18] But you, you have to be able to, to take that time now from Google and apply it into your job, in- into your career as a creator, and now all of a sudden that was like lighting the fire, right?
[21:29] It just like really grew so much faster that way. Um, but yeah, just go sim- simultaneously at the same time, and then, um, at some point you're gonna be like, "Okay, I'm, I'm ready."
[21:41] You gotta burn, gotta burn those boats eventually. \[laughs\] Yeah, dude. You gotta- I think- And I just wanna say one thing. Like, you gotta make a lot of sacrifices. Mm-hmm. That's the truth.
[21:49] Like, for me, if you have a nine-to-five and you wanna be a creator, you're gonna s- I, I wasn't going out on the weekends.
[21:55] I would shoot all of my Instagram content on the weekends 'cause I was working nine to five, and then at 5:00 PM in the winter it's dark. So I'm like, "How am I gonna shoot any content?"
[22:04] So I would shoot like four to six photos on the weekends and plan them out for the week. I would shoot all my YouTube videos as soon as I got home from work when I was already dressed and edit at night.
[22:15] Like, I wouldn't get a lot of sleep. I wasn't really being social. I sacrificed a lot, you know? And it's so funny thinking about Instagram specifically back in that day. It was like, "I need one photo- Yeah... to post."
[22:26] It wasn't a carousel. There were no reels, no stories. Like, the content strategy back then was, was different. Like, how did you...
[22:34] Did you even have a content strategy back then besides I need to go out and throw on a sick fit and- \[laughs\]... post a pic? Yeah. Was it just tripod? Like, or would you find someone to come help you?
[22:42] At first I did it myself and then I was like- Self-timer? Yeah, self-timer. \[laughs\] I bought a little like Bluetooth remote thing, you know? Yeah. Uh-huh. And then I, I would ask like my girlfriend- Mm...
[22:52] to help me, and then my obviously ex at, at the time to help me. And then I remember the first time I hired a photographer. \[laughs\] This was 2016. I actually just posted about it on the 2016 trend. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[23:02] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And paid him a little... It was like a few hundred bucks, and I was like, "Damn, that's so, that's so expensive- \[laughs\]... you know, for photos." But it was a, it was a JCPenney brand deal.
[23:12] It was one of my very first brand deals. So I was like, "Okay, they're paying me like 800. I'll pay him a few hundred.
[23:17] I still have a little bit of money left, but the pictures are gonna be good, and then maybe I'll get more brand deals."
[23:22] And yeah, I mean, we went and I remember doing that first photo shoot and I was like, "Damn, this is so much better." Mm. "This just looks so much better.
[23:29] How can I work hard enough to get to a point where I can afford a photographer to come in once a week for us to shoot a ton of photos, and then I can just drip them slowly into Instagram?" Yeah.
[23:38] And so would you bring a ton of different outfits to- Oh, yeah... would you bring like 10 different- I would bring it-... outfits or something? Two big bags of outfits. Okay. And I would just shoot everything in one day.
[23:48] Go to different locations. We would drive to one spot, different spot, and just shoot everything. Wow. And I just remember being so embarrassed. Yeah.
[23:55] You know, because this was at a time, I mean, think about 2016, like- Yeah. Yeah. People didn't see this a lot, right?
[24:01] And, um, I- for me, I had to really explore that emotion of being embarrassed and being okay with it, 'cause I'd be shooting something.
[24:10] At the time I was also like trying to vlog for my YouTube channel, like Casey Neistat, like a big setup. Yeah. You know, the Joby GorillaPod. And people would be like, "Go, Honey," or whatever from the car.
[24:20] "Get it, girl," or whatever. \[laughs\] And I'm like, "Oh man, this is so embarrassing. Like, what am I doing?" And
[24:27] one time when I got this JCPenney brand deal somebody yelled something out and I was like, "I'm getting paid, man." Yeah. And that was the moment that I was like, "You know what?"It's okay to be cringe.
[24:38] Like, people who are embarrassed right now will get paid later Mm. Okay? I love that. I love that. I wanna stay on this for a sec for two reasons.
[24:48] One, the 2016 trend is going on right now I went back through my old hard drives, and I was studying abroad in 2016, and I was vlogging. \[laughs\] Fucking embarrassing, dude.
[24:58] \[laughs\] I'm like, dude, no wonder I wasn't gaining any subscribers- \[laughs\]... and I should've been bullied more. What the fuck?
[25:04] \[laughs\] But second, I saw, um, Austin Butler on Subway Takes, and he said that people need- Mm...
[25:11] to explore the emotion of being cringe more because if you can get over that fear and explore being cringe and being uncomfortable, success is on the other side of that, and that reminded me of that. It's so true.
[25:23] You know, for me, I was so embarrassed until that moment I was getting paid, and I'm like, "Why am I embar-... This is like a j- a job for me now. I'm... It's... This is okay."
[25:31] But at first, I felt like I was doing something wrong, like I sh- I didn't belong. I was trying too hard. But look at TikTok, right? When people started dancing on TikTok, and you're like, "Ew, that's-" Yeah...
[25:43] a little cringey. Look at the D'Amelios. Yeah. Yeah. Crushing it. And then even let's take away dancing from TikTok. Even posting as a millennial on TikTok, I was like, "Oh, am I gonna post?"
[25:51] We were hiding on our phone, man. Yeah, you know? \[laughs\] It's embarrassing.
[25:55] \[laughs\] But I'm so glad that I started posting early-ish, I wish I started even earlier, but early-ish on TikTok because I built the majority of my following back then 'cause it was just, like, it was so much faster.
[26:07] Yeah. It was way less saturated. Mm. Right? So you gotta, you gotta embarrass yourself once in a while. TikTok was so fun when you would know if you had a rocket ship. Oh, dude.
[26:15] Within that first hour, you would be sitting there, like, "Oh, this thing \[laughs\] is going." Remember that? Yeah, you're just like, oh- Oh... dude, plus 99? Yeah, plus 99. On the, on the notifications.
[26:23] Oh, it's going crazy. My bad. \[laughs\] Yeah, it's going crazy. And then when you would refresh it, it would just be an extra thousand, extra thousand every single time you would go. Oh, my God.
[26:29] And they would carry over to Instagram as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They really would, yeah, bec- because people would f- would follow you on TikTok, but they... It was mostly just for you, right?
[26:37] And then they would, "Oh, let me check this guy out on Instagram." Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. "He's got some cool fits. Let me check him out." Mm-hmm.
[26:42] And I w- I was getting a lot of followers on Instagram from TikTok, and then I was siphoning a lot of the f- YouTube content and followers into Instagram and TikTok into Instagram because that's, for me, where the brand deals were, were coming from.
[26:55] Mm. Okay, I think this will be an interesting exercise because when we help people build out their personal brands, we help them figure out what their, like, niche is or what their content is about.
[27:05] So I wanna ask you a few questions and have you answer them as far as, like, your personal brand yourself. So what do you feel like is your mission that you hope to spread through your content?
[27:18] Or, like, what is your goal with your content? I'm a big brother. I have two younger brothers, so I've always treated my content like I'm talking to my younger brothers.
[27:27] So anytime I s- I shoot a video, I try to keep it at a language that's easier to understand and to just digest.
[27:35] I want guys to build that confidence through self-image first, just to get that initial, like, "Okay, I can, I can do this." Self-image is self-respect, you know? It's not, it's not vanity.
[27:47] It's not like, "Oh, I wanna look good so I can flex on people," or whatever. No, it's like I just... You just wanna look good so you can leave your place feeling really good. And then you...
[27:56] That builds momentum, and then you can take that anywhere else you want, and that's when, like...
[28:01] That's why I started the Behind the Business channel, to kind of, like, keep that momentum going because I feel like, "Cool, I've already taught everything about self-image."
[28:07] Like, there's, there's no grooming hacks I have left for you guys. Yeah. \[laughs\] Like, let's bring this into the business side of things, which I'm still a student in this, in this side of things.
[28:17] So that's what I want guys to know. Build your self-image, turn that confidence into momentum, and then you can take it anywhere with you. Okay, I love that.
[28:24] Next question is, what are the biggest psychological struggles you find most of your followers are going through? That's a good one. That's a good question.
[28:34] And I, yeah, I, I think this will be a really good exercise to, like, hear you go through it, and then if someone's struggling to kinda figure out, you know, their content or their strategy or their niche, like, asking themselves these types of questions kinda helps them unlock or think about it differently.
[28:48] Yeah. Um, there's a lot of lonely guys out there, man, um, and I, I, I feel that with, with my content in, in the comments or the DMs that I get, and it's like, how do I make friends? How do I approach this girl?
[29:02] And a, a lot of it's...
[29:03] comes back to, to confidence, but it also just comes back to just this world that we live in nowadays with social media being so accessible to everyone, and you feel like you're connecting with people, but you're really not, right?
[29:16] Um, I mean, I meet so many people out in the streets, and they come up to me and they say, "Hi, I remember you did this, and, you know, you broke your ankle that one time and then did," and I'm like, "Holy shit, you know everything about me, and I know nothing about you."
[29:28] Like, I wish there was a better way, and that's why I think, like, school communities are doing so well right now. The community aspect of things- Yeah... is super important.
[29:37] So yeah, I think psychologically, a lot of the, especially men, are just feeling very lonely right now, and, um,
[29:45] I really wanna build a community that will help these guys get out there more, feel more confident in their skin, make more friends, and take on more opportunities. That's amazing.
[29:54] Okay, and then my last question is, is there something you went through growing up, some pain or a struggle, that made you feel super passionate about helping other men? There was something I went through
[30:10] when I was 11 that maybe wasn't like, "Oh, now I'm gonna help men and, uh, become a YouTuber one day," \[laughs\] or whatever, but it was more like, "I really don't want to be an average person." Mm.
[30:21] Um, which then turned into, like, if I can build myself, I can help others, right? Um, at age 11, my mom wanted me to go l- go to a military school, which it, it's a good thing. It's not like, "You've been bad.
[30:34] You go to military school." So in Brazil, public schools are actually not that greatUm, in the US they're, they're actually really good. So most people go to private school. Very expensive.
[30:43] I have two brothers, so there's three of us. It's like, it's pretty expensive. And if you go to military school, it's a, it's a lot cheaper. It's like a public school, but you have to pass a test to get in.
[30:54] 2,000 kids taking a test, only 60 places. Wow. This was to get into fifth grade. I was in fourth grade. So my mom started paying for tutoring lessons for me.
[31:04] Um, school in Brazil is from noon to 5:00, so I would go to tutoring before school and then go to school, get home, and do homework just to pass this test at 11 years old, right? I take the test.
[31:17] I remember I was, like, rushing. I didn't feel very good about it, and I got the results a week later. I was number, like, 85, so I, I didn't pass.
[31:26] And I remember my mom and I just looking at the computer and, like, she just starts crying and I was like, "Fuck, I disappointed my mom, dude." Like, to a level that I had never done before. You know? Like, I've done
[31:37] bad things as a child or whatever, as a kid, but, like, this was like, damn, she put all her money, she drove me to school. Fuck. Like, I really disappointed her. Mm.
[31:45] And this military school, you could try again the second year, but you'd have to go back to fifth grade, so you repeat a year. So I went to public school for the, for my fifth grade.
[31:55] I did tutoring again, and I'm like, "I am passing this thing. It's happening." So I got 14th place. I tried again, got 14th place, got in, and I went to military school. And that, that, like,
[32:05] that whole process of failure, success, getting in, and being like, "You know what? I'm gonna eat this and just repeat fifth grade. It doesn't matter."
[32:14] And then also the military school itself, like, that experience, shining my shoes, marching, shooting rifles, like, getting yelled at, it built so much thick skin and discipline that I take with me to this day, of course.
[32:29] Was the confidence built into you, you feel like, at that age as well, or were there other things that, like, kinda trickled in? Like, what, what do you feel like has built your confidence up over time?
[32:38] 'Cause like, I, I know you mentioned this earlier, like, you know, looking good, feeling good, that's like a sign of self-respect. That builds confidence.
[32:43] Like, when we all look our best, you feel confident, but what are those other things that someone could implement into their life to give them a little bit of confidence if they're lacking that? It's...
[32:51] To me, it's all compounding small wins, right? Like, you, you, you wanna make sure that you're getting those small wins and get out of social media for a bit and just work on yourself, learn new skills. For example,
[33:04] I love, uh, the All-In podcast. Uh, I don't know if you guys watch that. It's, like, you know, these millionaire billionaire guys talking about politics, AI tech. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I love it. Yes.
[33:12] I watch it and I'm like, "This is amazing. I'm getting such good perspective from this. I can't really use this stuff, though." Like, it's not really something that I can go home and, and use it.
[33:21] Like, I, I'm not a billionaire. I'm... We're not at the same level. Not yet. \[laughs\] I like that. Not yet. And so I'm like, all right, cool. This is entertaining.
[33:30] Sometimes it might come up in a social aspect, like in a dinner. I'll be like, "Oh, did you know that Nvidia..." You know, whatever. \[laughs\] Cool.
[33:37] But I'm like, all right, I gotta stop watching this right now and just focus because we have a big moment with Forza right now. Just focus on that. So when I'm at the gym, I'm not listening to music.
[33:46] I'm literally listening to audiobooks that I can apply or listening to a podcast like the 505 podcast- Let's go... that I can immediately apply. And, and to me, that's what confidence is. It's like building those skills.
[33:57] Going back to my gaming days, it's like you gotta level up, you know? So I'll listen to a hour-and-a-half-long video at the gym about how to create the best TikTok shop system for your brand, and it's boring as hell.
[34:11] You know what I mean? Like, I'd rather be listening to some really good EDM to, like, pump up my workouts. \[laughs\] But I'm in grind mode and I'm just like, all right, let me listen to this.
[34:19] I get home and I apply it immediately, and to me, there's a lot of, like, woo-woo stuff with confidence. I'm more like, how can I become the guy that knows all of these things, has all these skills?
[34:31] Because if I do, then I'm confident. Mm. That, that's what confidence is, right? It's just, it's like, know your shit, right? So just learn. Just be, be a student at all times.
[34:41] And I also feel like keeping promises to yourself. Yeah.
[34:44] It's like if you can create proof within yourself that you are who you say you are because you show up for yourself, if you say you're gonna go to the gym, you actually go to the gym, or if you say you're gonna eat healthy and you wanna get a six-pack, you're gonna actually put in the work to get there.
[34:57] And I think that, um, a lot of people lean on external things for confidence. Like, "If I make a certain amount of money, or if I buy this thing, I'll be confident then." Um, but I... Yeah, I think, like, you're right.
[35:09] It's like you gotta show up for yourself. It's just not gonna happen.
[35:12] Yeah, it's not gonna happen, and I've, I've been there myself where I'm like, "All right, if I make, if I make, you know, a quarter million dollars a year, like, yeah- Mm-hmm... that's it. My life is good. I'm done.
[35:20] Like, I'm the man," you know? And it's like you get there, and you don't even celebrate making that. You know, you're like, "What's next?" You're already thinking about what's next, um, and, and that's just the truth.
[35:31] Money, of course, makes things easier and, um, solves a lot of problems, um, but it also brings a lot of new problems. You know, I am, um...
[35:40] You know, my, my mom and my dad moved to the US when we were very young, well, I was very young, and my brothers. And my mom worked at the school cafeteria, and my dad was a dishwasher.
[35:50] So when I started making money, I'm like, "What do I do with it?" Like, "How, how do I manage this?" You know? It wasn't even like, "This is great." It was more like, "Shit, I don't even know how to manage this money.
[36:00] Okay, well, Rich Dad Poor Dad, let me, let me read this thing," you know? And then, "Let me read this 80/20 book," and like, okay, Atomic Habits, and, "Let me f- figure this out.
[36:09] How can I become this guy now that I am making this, this sort of money?" Um, I was the first in the family, and I had to, I had to just figure it out. What...
[36:18] Yeah, what, what were some of those lessons, like, coming, being the first one in your family to come into some money and work really hard for that?
[36:25] You know, what did you learn from books, and what did you learn from other places that people can apply that maybe if they don't come from money and they're starting to make really good money with what they're doing?
[36:34] First and foremost, you can't just let your lifestyle creep up too fast. I mean-I have a, I struggle with that a little bit \[laughs\] Same. As I'm assuming most people do.
[36:45] \[laughs\] I just tell myself, I'm like, "Well, it's gonna be, like, in my social media and stuff." \[laughs\] It's a- Write-off... it's a write-off. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good write-off. You know? It's a good write-off.
[36:52] It's part of my brand. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And, and to a degree, that's for sure, right? But then it gets to a point where you, you can just, you can just cap yourself and that's, that's too much, right?
[37:03] So you have to be careful. Living in New York, that's hard, bro. Like, rent is insane in New York City if you're trying to get a nice place.
[37:11] You know, like, if you're trying to Uber everywhere, whatever, like, you're gonna spend a lot of money.
[37:15] But I tr- I tried to be smart from the very beginning in terms of putting money away, investing into the market, hiring s- a, a team that would help me that still works with me to this day.
[37:26] Now I have a, a family office that's like, "All right. You should put this mo- this percentage away. You should put this percentage into, uh, startup investments, this percentage into real estate syndications," whatever.
[37:36] So I have a, a very diverse portfolio. But at first, I was like, "Okay, let me just put it into a high-yield savings account, and then I'll figure out what to do with it."
[37:45] I would say if you're start, if you're starting to make money as a creator, definitely put that money away into other things, like, like the stock market for sure because a lot of people just tend to, to keep it in your s- checking account or savings account.
[37:59] That's, dude, you're losing money. Yeah. Right? And then also take that money and invest it into your team, invest it into your business because the leverage that you build as a creator is you have this massive...
[38:10] or let's say an, an audience. Doesn't even have to be huge. Use that audience to build a business on top of that, right? I've always been... The way that I started YouTube
[38:20] was because I had a business that I wanted to push people into. So it wasn't like, "I wanna be famous" or whatever. Mm. I've, I've always looked at it as a business. Mm.
[38:28] So when you start to make money into your, put, bring money into your business, how do you expand that and scale, right? So yeah, just be careful with your spending.
[38:36] Invest it into your team and your business, and make sure that you're diversifying. I love it. Okay. You recent- you brought up that you have a big thing coming up, and I believe we're a month away- We are...
[38:48] from, from the launch day- Yeah, I have that. Oh... deadass today, from launching in Target. There's some good shit for you guys. Oh, here we go. Oh, here we go. Here we go. \[laughs\] Let's go, dude. Oh, wow. There we go.
[38:57] Okay. Some goodies. We're opening live. I couldn't show up empty-handed, you know? Oh, here we go. Dude, I didn't know it was December 25th. I didn't know it was \[laughs\] Let's go.
[39:03] I didn't know it was unboxing day, dude. Oh, we got everything. Oh, yeah. You got fragrances. Oh. Hair products. Oh. I know, I know Costas the buzz looks- \[laughs\]... looks really good. Thanks, guys.
[39:11] Last time I saw you, you had, like, this amazing hair flow. It has, it has- You had Daniel Alfonso... yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah. Ooh, I like that. Let's do a little, a little live, uh- All right, yeah...
[39:22] scent, scent test. So I just, I just unboxed the Antagonist fragrance. This is great. Mm. Here we go. Here we go. Very nice packaging. Dude, I can tell you put a lot of hard work into this packaging. Yeah, I, I...
[39:33] This is all, by the way, like, I have a, a graphic designer, um, on, in our team, but, like, this is really my vision. Mm. And now I'm at a point where like, "Okay, I need, I... How do I make it even better?"
[39:44] This- So we're actually hiring an agency to, to come in and- Oh, really?... do a, do a rebrand. Yeah. Oh, no way. Oh, interesting. That's so great. That's so exciting. Yeah, it won't be, like, crazy.
[39:52] You know, it, it, it's pretty, it's close to where I want it to be, but- So I use a clay for my hair, so I'm excited to- Okay, awesome... to have this. So we are launching at, uh, Target, um, February 22nd.
[40:03] Oh, this is nice. And we're launching- Nice... with six cues. We're not gonna have the fragrances, but I figured you guys would like the fragrances. Yeah, let's go. So we have- Beautiful man... Protagonist- Okay...
[40:12] and Antagonist. They're two different fragrances. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. You gave me the better one. That's so nice of you, dude. \[laughs\] This one is the strongest fragrance- Yeah, it smells strong...
[40:18] you will ever try in your life. Mm, I love it. It, like, really, it's powerful. Okay, sweet. Oh, and we have sh- God, we have shampoo, dude. Now we're good. Shampoo and conditioner. We're setting our hotel.
[40:28] \[laughs\] Come on. Dude, Brandon told me he hasn't washed his hair in a couple weeks- \[laughs\]... so that's good. It's just been under the hat for... \[laughs\] Yeah. I was like- Let's see...
[40:35] "What does, what does this hair even look like?" I wasn't sure what to bring you, so- Let's go. Yeah, so- Dude, I have, I had a hair transplant. I just wear a hat, like, all the fucking time.
[40:43] I literally wear it all the time. I, I ha- I wanted flow back, got flow back, but I still be rocking the hat. Yeah, dude, you can- You had a transplant and you wear a hat? I know. I wear, I rock the hat all the time.
[40:51] It's just- And the flow looks good, dude. I know. It's just so, it's so easy for me, and I, I feel like I have a really large staple of hats now from when I was in this phase of, like, wanting to get a transplant. Yeah.
[41:01] And then I got... Now I wear a fucking hat all the time. \[laughs\] But I, I need to, I need to- Oh, you know what? Good on you for getting a transplant though. I think- For our event though-... that's dope...
[41:07] for our Artlist event on Thursday, I'ma be, I'ma be rocking the flow, so I'ma use this on- Okay... on Thursday, so I can text you and tell you how it is. And I'll be smelling nice. And we're gonna be smelling good.
[41:15] \[laughs\] There, people are gonna be like, "What are you guys wearing?" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, it's, it's, it's... I can't disclose. Yeah, I can't disclose.
[41:20] It'll be out in Target though in a few- I'm wearing Forte, baby. Yeah. So tell us about the process of going into Target and...
[41:27] 'Cause I think that's every person's dream that is a, you know, that is a retailer, that has a product. You wanna get into the Targets of the world.
[41:34] What was that process like and when you finally got the email that you're gonna be in over 800 stores? Yeah, it was, it was wild. I didn't know what to do with myself, to be honest.
[41:43] I was just sitting there reading the email over and over again. I'm like, "Are, are we in? Is this good?" Um, but, you know, before that, there was so much work that had to be done. It was, uh, probably, like,
[41:55] eight mo- eight to nine months of work, um, of talking to Target, pitching them, you know, making sure that we're good. Mm. So it started by, um, we were talking to a broker. Mm.
[42:05] And I was like, "Hey, I really wanna get into retailers. I think we're at the right time now with Forte."
[42:11] And I gave him a list of the, the retailers that we would want to get into versus wouldn't want to get into right now. And for p- for people who don't know, a broker helps companies like you go from D2C to D2B? Correct.
[42:25] So a broker essentially has buyers under their Rolodex that they know. So they're like, "Okay, this person from Target is the, the personal care and beauty buyer. Let me cold email- I see...
[42:39] this person and see if they're int- interested in this brand." And we were able to get some initial replies from-A lot of different retailers. Um, some of them though
[42:50] I won't name names, but like some of them just weren't really on brand for us, and I was like, "Well, you know what? Let's not continue this. It's all good.
[42:55] Let's start with the ones that I'm actually really passionate about." Um, for example, and Sephora wasn't one of them, but Sephora, I would be scared to launch Forte at Sephora. Mm. I don't know how to market to women.
[43:06] My audience is 94% male. I, I just don't know how to talk to women in, in that way of like, "Go buy a product for your partner." Yeah. We don't have that skill yet. I'll tell you what, I get dragged in there a lot.
[43:17] \[laughs\] Oh, same. You might, you might be- Same... you, you might be doing something by having the one guy brand in there. I've, I've, I've been in Sephora so many times.
[43:23] Sephora is, Sephora- It's a shit show in there, dude. There's so much shit everywhere. You walk in, I'm like... \[laughs\] It's, it's overstimulating. Yeah, and then they want- It's bad...
[43:29] you're like, "Would you like a bag?" I'm like- Yeah... I don't even know where I'm at, man. \[laughs\] I'm getting hit f- I'm getting hit with 17 million different fragrances. \[laughs\] Yeah, you're just like, "What?"
[43:36] You walk out 400 hours later. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They also... They need a section to sit for the guys. I agree completely. I agree completely. Yeah. Yeah.
[43:43] There's a lot of us in there and following around like little puppy dogs. We're just like all walking around- Yeah, yeah, yeah... then we look up. I'm like, "Oh, yo, it's good. We're in the same- Yeah...
[43:49] we're in the same boat." \[laughs\] I was like, I could do fragrances at Sephora 'cause they have men's fragrances. Right, right, right. But like the rest, I would be more skeptical of just- Mm...
[43:57] as our first endeavor into retailers. Mm. But when the Target opportunity came along, and she was like, "Okay, I like the brand. Let's, uh, let's book a pitch,"
[44:06] um, the broker, uh, you know, got back to us like, "Hey, Target wants to talk to you. They, they like the brand." I was like, "Oh my God, okay. Now I gotta like really step it up."
[44:14] Because look, my team is, is great, right? And they got us to that point with the packaging and the scent and the operations and everything else, the marketing.
[44:22] When it comes to doing a pitch to Target, that's like, that was all me, man. Mm. Like it's me pitching this brand that I've built from the ground up to this retailer, and I was like, "I can't, I can't fail.
[44:33] You know, I gotta, I gotta really deliver." So I practiced literally, like we built a deck, and then I practiced in front of a mirror for three weeks or so- Wow... delivering this pitch.
[44:44] 'Cause it was my first, and I was like, "I, I don't know how to do this." How many slides around did that end up being, do you remember? I had 17 minutes to present. Wow, that's not a lot of time.
[44:52] And then you're left with- So speci- Yeah... so specific. Yeah, and then you're left with eight minutes for questions. Wow, okay. For whatever reason. So you had 20, 25 minutes. And I- And do they... Are they asking...
[45:00] Is it mainly, you know, a lot about the sales and how it's doing online? What do they wanna see? Like what does a big retailer wanna see from a brand? From us, obviously reach. Mm. Social media reach, right?
[45:12] Because, um, a, a, a Target like, a, a retailer like Target, what they want is new guests, they call them guests, customers- Mm... coming in.
[45:20] So it's not like, "Okay, how are you gonna sell to our existing customers who are already walk- walking Target?" That's cool, but what they want is new people walking in. They want newness.
[45:30] So when we show them that we had a large reach, that's what caught their attention, and then I was able to bring in the other points, like of course the packaging and the scent and how we develop our products and the ingredients, and it's Target clean and a- all that.
[45:43] But first you... I had to hook them in with like, "All right, this video here got 90 million views. We're getting a quarter billion views on this. This f- uh, face filter we did on TikTok got a billion views."
[45:54] And she was like, "Oh, okay, like, you're not just like, you know, just starting now," right? So that's how we, we wowed Target to just get in the door. Mm. Yeah. And, and you'll go into over 800 stores.
[46:05] I remember we had Max Chewning on our pod maybe like a few months ago, and we were talking to him about how difficult it was once he got into the Targets of the world, how they were like, "Oh, you're gonna place this minimum order for all these stores," and he had no idea about the cash flow issues that would ensue from that.
[46:21] Is there any advice that you would give to other founders who are thinking about trying to get their product into a store like Target? Like what do they need to have in place before that happens? Yeah.
[46:31] You, you started the question by saying something like, you know, getting into Target is a dream. Mm. You know, and, and I'm like, yes, but goddamn, it's so hard after- \[laughs\]... you get in. It's like- Yeah...
[46:41] you get in and it's like cool, now I gotta work, man. Yeah. Like it's just the beginning, right?
[46:45] Um, the analogy is like you just got into the big leagues, and now you just actually have to go and play against like much bigger, stronger, skillful people than you are, right?
[46:55] So I'm like, all right, we got into Target. How d- what do we do? I actually talked to Max. I was like, "Max has done this." No way. "Let me call him up." Wow.
[47:03] And he gave me some great tips, but essentially is like before you get into a retailer, you wanna make sure that you're, you're saving cash or that you have funds to pull from. I
[47:13] actually personally drew, um, a loan- Mm... out of my personal bank. \[laughs\] Wow. Yeah, to fund the first, this initial purchase order. To me,
[47:24] like I said, you know, I do, I have my investments, I have my portfolio, but investing it back into my business is, is up there as well.
[47:32] So we took a loan under my name, um, millions of dollars of inventory to be able to purchase this, and you have to have your operations in order. Target doesn't like...
[47:41] Going out of stock online, it's sometimes it's cool. It's like, oh, there's a hype. It's cool. It's out of stock. Target doesn't want that. They want products on shelf to sell at all times, right?
[47:51] So you have to be able to deliver. Um, and then a, a measure they look at is unit per store per week. So how many units are you selling per store per week, right? We have six SKUs.
[48:02] Not all of them are gonna sell the same, so we had to kind of figure out which ones are gonna sell more, less, and now we have to throw that into our tr- uh, projections for our inventory planning,
[48:12] and we've never been into a retailer before, so we're like, how do we even know? Wow. Yeah. Right? So it's a lot...
[48:18] To be truthful, it's like there's a lot of guessing games, but you also have to be sure that you're not selling out for months at a time because that would be really bad for Target.
[48:26] And, and is it a daily report or a weekly report that you guys will get back and you'll know like, okay, in Columbus, Ohio, we are crushing it.
[48:33] \[laughs\] But, but at over in this town, we gotta figure something out to get more people to go buy our product. I guess we'll find out. Oh, we don't- I don't know... we don't know. I have no idea. Wow. Yeah.
[48:41] This might be a ChatGPT question. \[laughs\] Yeah. They haven't told us. Wow. You know, um- That's so interestingYeah. I mean, look- I'd assume it'd be like every week or two. I think it'll be every week- Yeah...
[48:51] I would assume. Yeah. Right? I, I- we want it every day if possible. Yeah. Totally. Like, why not? The more data, the better. Hmm. Yeah. And do they, do they give you a premier spot for new brands to start? Hmm.
[49:00] Like, do you... Is that, is that a standard? Because I remember Max was telling us that, like, they had this, this row, and now I feel so conscious when I go into Target. I'm like, "Chloe, those are new brands."
[49:09] \[laughs\] That, or this is- End cap... they got an end cap, dude. They got this- Yeah... the, there's three of them battling for this end spot. So, you know, it, it's obviously really competitive to get into Target.
[49:16] Um, we got in, and at, they were like, "Maybe we'll do an end cap," whatever. A lot of times you have to pay for the end cap- Yeah. Yeah... and it's very expensive. Yeah, it's very expensive.
[49:24] So what they gave us was they only put us into stores that sell premium men's products. Mm. So,
[49:31] which is great because, you know, for me, like, we're gonna be the most expensive hair product, men's hair product at Target. What does it retail for? It's gonna be $24.99, um, for, like, a, a styling product.
[49:42] The sea salt spray will be, like, $18.99. So American Crew, for example, it's like 15 bucks, right? Mm. Old Spice, it's like 10 bucks.
[49:51] So we're gonna be more expensive, but we definitely are more premium, look more premium, and we're talking to a different guy, a different customer- Sure...
[49:59] who cares about those things, who cares about the specific scent, a specific look, a specific feel for the brand, and who wants to associate themselves with Forte, not Old Spice. Yeah. Right?
[50:10] Definitely, it definitely has a different feel than Old Spice, I'll tell you that \[laughs\]. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
[50:14] So to, to answer that question, we're gonna be in the premium aisles, but we're not gonna get an end cap. Mm. Which it would've been nice, but we just weren't offered that right now.
[50:23] We do have the offer to buy those end caps at, at some point, and I think we'll, we'll probably take that on as soon as we understand a little bit more about just how it works. What's moving and all that stuff. Exactly.
[50:33] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So in your pitch, Target wants to hear that you have reach and that you're getting all these views. Does the content strategy shift to be able to push your audience to go buy shit at Target?
[50:50] Is it like, "Yo, guys, you've been following me for years, please support me. Go into, go into Target and buy," or do you have...
[50:57] Like, have you given that a lot of thought of, like, having a full-on content strategy to push people specifically to go to Target? It'll be a mix.
[51:05] So it'll be exactly what we're doing now, let's say a hairstyle tutorial, and then at the end it says, "Now available at Target," right? So we're gonna have that.
[51:13] We're gonna take all the marketing strategies that we've already used, the content that we know performs, and just with a different CTA, run them as ads, white lists, et cetera, et cetera.
[51:23] The whole, all, all of our marketing strategy. And then there's the in-person content that I couldn't really do before that now we can do, right? So we're talking to a lot of UGC creators- Mm...
[51:35] who will go into Target, pick it up, and do, "Come pick up a, you know, a product with me, a hair product with me at, at Target." Uh, I'm doing a meet and greet to meet people at Target and get some content.
[51:44] Again, community building I think is, is gonna be so much easier now because we have our products. They can go and look at it and feel it before they buy it. We're not gonna have the boxes.
[51:53] The products will be outside of the box. Mm. So they'll really be able to just feel the product, smell it before they even buy it.
[51:59] Um, so the strategy really is creating a ton of UGC content going into Target, doing a haircut outside of Target, anything that shows the, the logo and just trying to remind people that it's now available for you to go and just try it.
[52:13] Mm. You know, just take a look. And the meet and greet and my content is just something extra, something nice- Yeah... for, as a reminder. Mm. But the first month of our...
[52:23] We're gonna announce it on the 12th, 10 days before, and then we're gonna re- remind people the day before and then on the actual launch date. From that day on, my feed is gonna be like Target.
[52:34] \[laughs\] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It'll be, like, very much so, like, go into Target and pick it up, and, uh, that is because I want it to be successful from the very beginning. Uh-huh.
[52:43] You know, I don't, I don't want any doubts, not just for Target, but also for myself. I'm like, if this is, if this doesn't work for some reason...
[52:52] Because by the way, there's a clause that I have to buy back the stock if it doesn't sell, right? Oh. Oh, Max. That's a Max of clause too, dude. My God. Like, it's...
[52:59] They're, they're great and they're, I, I love working with Target, but, like, they're the big boys. Yeah. Like, they can, they can decide, you know, who they want and who they don't, and that's completely fine.
[53:07] It's just business. And so if you don't sell, we have to buy back the stock, and that would be a bitch, man. \[laughs\] That would tank us. Uh-huh. You know?
[53:15] Um, I don't know if we would go bankrupt, but, like, it would- Yeah. Mm-hmm... it wouldn't be good. Mm-hmm. So I want it to do well for that reason, but also because
[53:24] if it doesn't do well and I didn't use every single- Yeah...
[53:28] thing that I had, every single strategy I had, every single moment that I had, you know, all of my hard work, if I didn't put all of it into launching this thing, I would feel like I, I failed, and I'd be like, "Damn," like, "I should have put more time into this."
[53:41] Sure. "I should have woken up earlier. I should have..." And that, I don't want that feeling. So will you ramp up videos?
[53:46] Like, what is, what does the strategy look like for YouTube versus Instagram versus TikTok for this next month of content? Yeah. So I post one YouTube video on my main channel a week. Mm-hmm.
[53:55] On the Behind the Business, we do every two weeks, and on Instagram I do four to five pieces of content a week. Same on TikTok, right?
[54:03] And I will post for the next three videos after it launches at Target, the next three YouTube videos will be a hairstyle related video where I will then... I'm not, I don't like pitching too hard. Yeah.
[54:15] But I will say, "Hey, it's available at Target." Super exciting. I do think my audience is also excited because I'm bringing them along on, on the Behind the B- the Business channel. And they've followed you for so long.
[54:25] And they've followed me for so long. Yeah. Like, they've, they... I've built my credibility for, for 10 years. It's like, "Guys," like, "come on, man, help me out." Like- Help a brother out... you know? Yeah.
[54:33] Like, "This is important to me. This is something I've been working on for so long," like, "help me out." Um, Instagram, I'm gonna do some collab posts with Forte.
[54:41] Um, in the beginning, the announcement photo, we're actually gonna go take the photo right after this. Nice. Yes. Um, it'll be a carousel, and then we have a bunch of reels. We can be in it if you \[laughs\] want. Yeah.
[54:49] If you, if you want \[laughs\]. I'm gonna be at the Art List event, dude. \[laughs\] I'll just be like- Please, yeah... "Check this out," or- Just bring products to every event you go to. Yeah.
[54:56] Also- Give me a hoodie, dude... keep them here for the next podcast episodes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we'll just leave these with you guys.That's hilarious. Dude, I really wish I had some hair right now.
[55:04] \[laughs\] Your flow's gonna come back. It'll grow back. It'll come back. Yeah, at some point. It'll come back. So you started with one SKU. You started with the clay. Yeah. Correct? You clearly have a whole array of SKUs.
[55:14] What was that process to launch new SKUs, and do you have any recommendations or advice for founders who have a product that maybe they start with one, but they have, they have, uh, dreams of having multiple SKUs?
[55:29] Like, how has that strategy been for you to start with one and now get to where we're at with multiple?
[55:35] I think a lot of, uh, founders tend to have this, like, shiny object syndrome, and they're like, "Oh, I gotta build the next product," when there's a lot of brands out there right now, AG1, for example, that they're just built on one SKU, and they're massive.
[55:49] Um, I know they've expanded now, but they started with one big SKU.
[55:53] So I would say really focus on making that hero product stand out and do well first, and of course, you're going to want to expand, but, um, you should know exactly which product you're going with next.
[56:08] We've launched some products that we put a lot of effort into, for example, beard care, like shaving cream and beard oil. Great products, and I would say even, like, our best-looking products.
[56:18] Like, the packaging smells amazing. They just didn't move. Mm. They just didn't really sell. Um, my guys, I guess, don't really care about a beard oil or shaving cream. They... for whatever reason.
[56:30] So I'm like, "I wish I put a little bit more effort into doing the research- Mm... to know exactly what they were looking for." And I, I have that, right?
[56:38] That is, like, one of my superpowers as a founder is I have access to all of these guys. I can just ask, "Would you buy this? Is this too expensive? Do you like the packaging?" And get that instant feedback.
[56:49] Um, another way to do this if you're not a social media person and if you don't have a big following is to... and my business partner does this once in a while, is to run ads to a fake product, right?
[56:59] We'll run ads to a mock-up and say whatever. "This is, this is the price. Get it now," and then we look at conversion.
[57:05] We look at, you know, w- if it, whether or not it's doing well and what the appetite is for that product.
[57:11] So what I don't want you to do, you founders, is to go and be like, "I have this vision for this product," and you go and spend all this time and money creating it, and then it tanks- Mm...
[57:20] because you didn't do your research. You gotta know who you're selling to and whether or not they want that product. Mm. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a key.
[57:26] What have been some of the other biggest learnings from things that you've launched before Forte? Like, other things, because you went... You told us that you went into clothing in the early days.
[57:35] You had even brought out... It was skincare, right? Skincare, yeah. Originally. It was actually after Forte. Oh, it was after.
[57:41] Um, so I launched a clothing brand in 2021 and a skincare brand in 2022 with the same Forte team, same structure, same designers, same marketing people, same business partner, and it was doing well, um, especially the skincare brand because it was just a subscription pro- um, uh, product, and it was just like people were just paying for it, and it was a great product.
[58:03] But it took our sh- our focus away. It shifted our focus away from Forte, which was the clear golden winner, you know, out of the three,
[58:12] and I think if we didn't launch those products, again, shiny objects, uh, if we didn't launch those brands, Forte would be probably two to three times bigger today. Wow. Yeah. It completely...
[58:24] Like, we were doing s- I mean, especially for clothing, you have to be on top of trends. You have to do a lot of shoots, and we were traveling to Miami to get summer clothes, um, shot.
[58:33] We were traveling to all these different places to get the, the look books. You're doing different sizes, different s- different, um, items, and different colorways.
[58:43] Took way too much time, weight, and we were pulling cash from Forte also to invest into these new brands. I wish I just took that cash and reinvested into Forte. Mm.
[58:53] If you, if you have a winning brand, just invest into that and don't, don't try to do too much. I think as a creator you're like, "Man, I can do anything." Mm. "You know, I have this big audience.
[59:03] As long as it's something that I truly stand by-" Yeah "... and that my guys will like, I can build any ty- type of brand I want." And just build, just do one thing at a time. Mm. Yeah.
[59:13] How have you made sure to have Forte be bigger than just you? Because I think a lot of ti- it's hard to make a brand stand alone. Obviously, you're gonna get initial sales because of your following. What is...
[59:26] What have you had to have in place for it to... Obviously, you rep it, and you're on, on the website, but now it's a brand that is in Target, or it's gonna be in Target, and, you know, it stands alone. It's not...
[59:41] People aren't buying it just because you have your name on it. Yeah. When I first, um, started the brand, I was like, "Should I call it something, you know, with my name on it or by Alex Costa or something like that?"
[59:52] And, um, we were against that because we wanted it to, to be a- an acquisition at some point. Mm. And we also thought, you know, we want it to be a standalone product that is bigger than, than my brand.
[1:00:04] At some point, that would be the dream, that people buy Forte, and they don't even know who I am, and we, we finally got there I'd probably say maybe, like,
[1:00:13] one or two years ago, so not that long ago, where people will say, "Hey, I'm wearing this, this hair product." I'm like, "That's, that's my brand." You know?
[1:00:20] Or, like, "My barber uses this product, Forte," and I'm like, "That's my brand."
[1:00:24] Wow, so you've had people come up to you that, like, don't really know you and don't know that this is your product, and they're just trying to tell you about this product that they use? Exactly. That's awesome.
[1:00:32] Wow, that's crazy. Exactly. And that... I mean, that was, like, way more satisfying than someone recognizing me on the street. \[laughs\] It was so cool, man. That's sick.
[1:00:40] Did, did, did you strategically send this out to barber shops to- Yeah... get... Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. So we work with barber shops.
[1:00:47] We, we used to have this TikTok program where we would post a ton of barbers on our, our TikTok, and they were, they were crushing- Mm... like, haircut transformations. But they would- they didn't sell products at all.
[1:00:58] Oh, interesting. Um, but it was...
[1:01:00] It got more barbers involved with Forte, but I f- we realized afterLiterally billions of views that it doesn't sell because people are there for the haircut transformation, not the hairstyling transformation. Mm.
[1:01:12] So the product is just like a little something nice to have but the cut is what's doing the transformation. And so they would get so many views, no sales, so then we pulled back a little bit.
[1:01:23] It also kinda looked like Forte was a, a barber shop right- Mm... on social media. So we, we really pulled back, but we still work with a ton of barbers. At the end of the day, they are the hair influencers, right?
[1:01:33] They cut hair every day. I go to my barber once a month or whatever, and I'm always like, "So who did you use Forte on? Like, what are the pe- what are people saying? What are your favorite products?"
[1:01:42] I bring him samples from products that aren't out yet, and he tests them on people. Like- \[laughs\]... I, I, I love it. I think it's so cool to be able to, to work with barbers that closely.
[1:01:50] Man, so you're only getting a cut once a month these days, huh? 'Cause my hair's a little longer. Yeah. So I can d- I can do, like, three to four weeks. Mm. Yeah. Man.
[1:01:58] But, and to go back to your, to your question, you know, I, I, I have m- very minimal Alex Costa branding- Yeah... on the packaging. Mm. This is my signature, um, if I, if you guys ever wanna plagiarize something.
[1:02:09] \[laughs\] Um, and then you're right, I'm on the website here and there, but there's a, a word from the founder there if you wanna read it, but it's, like, it's minimal. It's like- Mm...
[1:02:18] if you really look closer, then you will see that this guy owns this brand, right? But at the end of the day, as a creator, the biggest leverage you have is your audience. Yeah.
[1:02:29] So I, I try to pull that as, as much as possible. What is your content strategy in day to day look like, or week to week? Because you are able to crank out so much content, and it's, it's a machine at this point.
[1:02:42] There's no accident. Like, you can't just crank out consistent content like you do without having a full-on strategy and a team helping you out.
[1:02:51] So I'm curious, how do you go about creating so much content, and what does the strategy behind the scenes look like?
[1:02:57] Forte is a, is a big focus of mine, obviously, and becoming bigger and bigger, but the content creation aspect of things, this is what keeps the machine running. Yeah. Right?
[1:03:08] It keeps people coming into my page, which then they go over to Forte, and my social media is so much bigger than Forte's for now. I hope that Forte's is bigger one day. So on Mondays, I take all of my calls.
[1:03:20] Um, every single call I take on Monday. If it spills over, I'll do, like, one or two calls beginning of the day or end of the day, so it doesn't interrupt any of my shooting or creative work.
[1:03:29] And then the other days I try to plan out shoots, um, whether it's like Jed and I, we'll, we'll shoot TikToks all day, or we'll shoot YouTube videos.
[1:03:40] Um, a lot of times we'll, we'll just, like, shoot the B-roll for the YouTube video, and then he leaves at 5:00, and then I'll shoot, like, the talking part. Mm.
[1:03:47] And then we send it to the editor, and they can, you know, overlay that, that B-roll. Um, you know, it's, it's hard to take so much, um, focus away from content creation to build Forte, even though I really...
[1:04:00] Sometimes I'm like, "I just wanna put everything into it." Yeah. You know, I've closed brand deals for a quarter million dollars. Like, that's, that ki- that kind of money, it, it's really hard to stop that machine,
[1:04:13] right? So for me, when you're, when you're talking to brands about these big budgets, not only am I continuing to build this audience to f- funnel into Forte, but I... This is also my bread and butter, right?
[1:04:24] I'm at a point now where I've built this huge following. Let's, let's use it, right? This is, this is where I get my revenue from. Um, this is what the YouTube team looks like. We have about seven people.
[1:04:36] We have, uh, two overseas editors. We have, um, a community manager who manages everybody on the YouTube team, plus, like, reads all the comments, makes sure everything i- is good, gives me feedback every week.
[1:04:47] Um, I have a consultant who does all of the packaging, ideation, pre-production for us, a videographer who's full time.
[1:04:55] Um, I have a scriptwriter who I tap into once in a while, so, uh, to, just to help out with some, like, if I need some really deep research. For example, I just posted a video on the history of hairstyles over the- Mm...
[1:05:06] last hundred years. There was a lot of research needed for that, so I tapped into him for, for this. Um, and then I have a, an EA. So that's all just for YouTube.
[1:05:17] The EA obviously does other things as well, but that's j- all just for YouTube. For Instagram, I have a full-time editor, and I have a videographer, and that's the same for TikTok.
[1:05:27] And you have a s- so you have a separate videographer for YouTube and Instagram? I did up until recently, um, but now I just have one videographer for both. Gotcha, okay. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah.
[1:05:37] It's amazing to just see, like, all parts of what makes this media machine roll.
[1:05:43] You know, it sounds complicated, and I don't know if it's just because we g- I've been doing it for so long, um, but it's like time block, dude. Mm. Yeah. Just wake up early. I'm a 5:30 AM guy. Wow.
[1:05:55] Go to the gym, and then I time block the shit out of my calendar. \[laughs\] Yeah. And it doesn't mean that I stick to it every single minute.
[1:06:02] Like, obviously you're just not gonna stick to it at all times, but I have a very good idea of what I wanna accomplish that day.
[1:06:09] And I sto- even, like, kind of stopped writing to-do lists and just putting it on my calendar. Like, if I have something to do, um, why am I gonna write it down? Just plug it into my calendar.
[1:06:17] It's, then it's there, and I know exactly when I'm gonna do it- Yeah... how long it takes. Uh, so that's... I've been very, very, like, specific with my calendar management.
[1:06:26] Is that a newer thing, or is that something you developed, like, earlier on in your career? Actually, that's something that I developed at, at Google. Okay. Yeah, Google Calendar. \[laughs\] Yeah, G Cal, dude. Yeah.
[1:06:35] We're G- we're Google Cal guys. Yeah. We love G Cal. Calendar will change your life, dude. Yeah, calendar is- Right... good stuff. It's just, like, so easy.
[1:06:40] Anyone that comes to work for me, I'm like, "Google Calendar, bro." Yeah. "You gotta look at it." Like, you can't just, like, wing your life. Mm-hmm. You know? And it is just so helpful.
[1:06:47] Even if you do, like, all right, f- a four-hour block for creative thinking or research- Mm... that's okay. Like, at least know what you're doing, and you, you, you end at s- at a specific time.
[1:06:58] I even have a calendar block for researching content ideas, so, like- Mm... scrolling. Yeah. Mm. Right? I have a, a fake Instagram account and TikTok account for, for men's hair. Oh, interesting.
[1:07:08] So I just look at men's hair content for, for 25 minutes, 30 minutes, get ideas, plug them into ClickUp, which is the platform that we use for project management, and then my team can go and take a look and see if we can replicate that with UGC creators, or if I can replicate that at home.Um, what I try to do though is any, uh, great idea that I see-- I think for starting creators, like you can just copy straight up.
[1:07:30] It do- I don't, I'm, I'm never offended when people copy my videos. Mm. But I always try to like add my, add my sauce. Mm. You know, sprinkle in something- Yeah...a little bit different.
[1:07:37] Make-- how do I change this up and make it more viral? Um- Dude, we were, we were like \[laughs\]-- The f- the video you put, you have so many fragrances. Yeah \[laughs\]. And the video, they're so satisfying. Oh my God.
[1:07:49] And like, who's got two hundred fragrances? I bought, I bought those things too, off of your video \[laughs\]. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. The little thingies, the little thingies. \[laughs\] Gave you a couple bucks.
[1:07:57] Couple hundred- Got twenty-three cents from that. Couple bucks from Amazon. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that had to p-print, dude- Yeah...on a, an affiliate for sure \[laughs\]. That's so funny.
[1:08:05] Um, and that's a, that's a, such good proof of like whatever works, just double down on it. As long as it's, it's going viral for the right reason, right? Sure.
[1:08:13] 'Cause virality doesn't really care who it brings to your page. Mm. I'm always very careful about who it brings to my page. My audience is all guys, and then my mom, and like my aunt, and whatever.
[1:08:23] \[laughs\] Like, my fiance. \[laughs\] Literally all dudes. Yeah. Um, I remember showing my Instagram analytics to a, to a friend of mine one time who was an Instagram dude, and he's like a good-looking guy, you know. Yeah.
[1:08:33] And he's like, "Ninety-four percent guys? Mine's like ninety percent women." Uh-huh. It's rare to have an all male audience, especially back then.
[1:08:40] Now I think, especially if you're talking about business, it's probably- Yeah...higher. But for a lifestyle guy to have a high male audience, it was really rare. But I've always done that by design. Mm.
[1:08:50] But you think brands like that? Brands love that. Oh yeah, 'cause I- Yeah. Yeah. They wanna go, they're like, "I wanna talk to guys. We know you're the guy to-" Exactly. "...like you're the guy for this."
[1:08:57] Who, how do I talk to a guy who wants to do his hair or fashion? Mm. Like I, it's gotta be like Alex- Yeah...and a, a handful of guys, especially back then, right? So I never really posted thirst traps. Mm.
[1:09:06] I never really posted anything that was like me just looking like cool- Uh-huh...whatever. Mm. It was very much like, "This is how you do your beard." Yeah. You know? And it's like, no girl wants to watch that.
[1:09:14] Uh-huh \[laughs\]. That's funny. Okay, as someone who's been on YouTube for what? Over a decade now? Yeah, um- Four-fourteen hundred videos. Crazy. And I just, and I privated a lot, so. \[laughs\] Wow. Yeah.
[1:09:28] Uh, 2011 I started- Probably like eleven thousand, huh?...2011. Fifteen years. Wow, that's amazing.
[1:09:32] But you've been in the-- 'Cause you started gaming, you're more so in the lifestyle, fitness or well-wellness, um, kind of niche. But how do you keep things fresh? Because I'm sure you've probably felt at some point,
[1:09:48] "How many more hairstyling videos can I do?" Or, you know, if a format works, of course repeat it, but how have you been able to keep things fresh from a content perspective and also for enjoying your work?
[1:10:02] Because I could imagine after doing it for a very long period of time, there's parts of you where you maybe have a s- a shiny object syndrome, where you're like, "I wanna make maybe new types of content, but I know that this one's gonna crush."
[1:10:17] Um, how has that been? It's really, like it's really hard, bro. That's the, that's just the honest truth. Like, I was burnt out for probably two years straight- Mm...not that long ago. Really? Um, and you know,
[1:10:36] I was just like, "What? I can't do another grooming video or another hair video." I'm like, "Gonna jump out of this window right now if this..." So it was, it was really difficult. So you-
[1:10:47] I came up with this little system just internally where like, I will post videos for views and for, you know, whatever I know works, but then I'm gonna post some videos for myself.
[1:10:56] I'm gonna post-- 'Cause I am a creative person, and I enjoy coming up with content ideas and, um, you know, coming up with different angles and making a, a video that maybe I've already shot something similar before, but like, "Okay, how can I make it better and exciting for me that's like ex- fun for me?"
[1:11:12] And it's hard- Yeah...'cause I, I treat this like a job. Yeah.
[1:11:15] Like, and I, I do also believe that it's not always just gonna be fun and great, and people have this weird, um, outlook on social media, and they think that it's like you're just living your life and recording as you go.
[1:11:28] And it's like, I don't know about you guys, I can't, I can't do that. Like I'm, I, I plan things out. I'm a planner, um, and, and so it is really difficult.
[1:11:37] You just have to push through and create some content that is for you, that's exciting for you. What do you like? As long as it's not too out of the left field, your audience could embrace it. Yeah.
[1:11:49] Or they might not, and you have to be okay with that. What was \[laughs\]-- During that time period, what are you telling yourself when you're feeling like you're burning out? Like what is g- 'cause it, it's a job, right?
[1:12:01] You're saying that, like you have an obligation for these companies that you're doing stuff for, brand deals and whatnot. You can't just pause and like, "I'm just gonna stop."
[1:12:09] So what were you telling yourself or talking to other people through that period of time that helped you get through it? Um, well, I would take a step back, and I would look at how poor I used to be and how
[1:12:20] being poor sucks, and I, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna continue to push forward and build something that's lasting, Forte, that I can retire off of.
[1:12:29] And that was, i-it's just that strong mentality of like, "This sucks, but it could be so much worse." Yeah.
[1:12:35] And I know it sounds like, okay, yeah, whatever, but that's the absolute truth, and I've, I've been there, right? Um, now I'm even doing fun things like I'm growing my, my dog's account on Instagram.
[1:12:47] \[laughs\] Like it's, it's just fun. People love your dog. Bro- He's the cutest dog...my dog is my retirement plan. \[laughs\] If Forte doesn't work, I just open a bank account for my dog. Wow.
[1:12:57] Your dog's getting brand deals? Yes. No way. Yes. Shut up \[laughs\]. Shout out Truffle Costa \[laughs\]. No way. That's funny. It's a Bernedoodle? He's a Bernedoodle.
[1:13:06] And- Have a gold doodle too...and that to me, um, my fiance is the one who's re- Nice...she's the momager. Mm. And she's not in the social media world whatsoever.
[1:13:15] \[laughs\] She doesn't like being on camera, none of that, you know. But I'm like, well, with the dog, you can just not be on camera that much, right?And she, she grew the page to a...
[1:13:23] We have, like, 180,000 followers total now- Wow... between TikTok and Instagram. That's crazy. And he's getting brand deals, and I'm, you know, just showing her the ropes, and she's creating the content.
[1:13:32] And once in a while me, Jed, and, uh, Emily will just, like, do a video together, and it's... That's fun to me. Yeah.
[1:13:38] You know, so I try to find ways to be creative that aren't just like the usual typical cut-and-dry YouTube videos that I'm so used to doing by now. Was, was that where the business channel was born from?
[1:13:49] Like, just this passion of I wanna make this style of content, and I don't have to make specific things on this channel? 'Cause, like, they're, they're slower. It's, I- They're more like I get to hang out with you.
[1:14:01] I'm, I'm burned out from my YouTube, my main YouTube channel. Mm. You know, I've, I've been burned out from that YouTube channel for such a long time because it's really hard to come up with new ideas- Yeah...
[1:14:10] about self-image without tapping into the stuff that I don't like, which is, like, looksmaxing and whatever, you know? That's just not really what I set out to do. Yeah.
[1:14:21] It's not about, like, bone smashing and, you know, thumb pulling so you can, like, enhance your jaw, mewing, whatever. Like, those things, it's like, bro, hit the gym. \[laughs\] You know, lose body fat.
[1:14:33] \[laughs\] Uh, work on your fashion and your hair. Mm-hmm. Like, it, it's not that complicated- Mm-hmm... and nuanced, and so I didn't wanna go that route. I experimented with it, but I was like, "This is just not me."
[1:14:45] And I wanted to talk more about my... this complete other side of my life, which is business, you know, which is growing a brand, and I couldn't on the main channel. I just felt like...
[1:14:56] I was like, "See, this is how you do your hair. By the way, like, this is how I'm growing this brand and this," and, and it was just kind of off. Mm.
[1:15:02] So that's why I started the Behind the Business channel because to me that's my favorite piece of content that I'm posting right now. Like, I'm, I'm so excited to post there. Yeah.
[1:15:09] Every single time we're shooting, we're editing, coming up with ideas, I love that channel because it's just so me, and I... It's not scripted.
[1:15:18] It's easy, um, and I can talk about this thing that I've been kind of, not keeping a secret, but haven't been able to share- Yeah... on the main channel for so long.
[1:15:26] Even on Instagram, like, I'll, I'll share here and there, but at the end of the day people follow me for, like, fashion advice and hair advice, so I don't wanna go too far from that on- Sure... on the Gram. Mm.
[1:15:35] But it's, it's such a, it's such an integrated part of your life- Yeah... that I don't even think that... I don't even think your business channel could even stray too far away because it's, it's part of your lifestyle.
[1:15:50] Mm. Yeah. So we have... We, you know, we wrote down these, like, commandments for, for each vlog, right? Mm. So we're like, okay, what should be in each of the vlog, like, the main parts of the vlog?
[1:15:59] Okay, can we go through this? Because me and Brayden, we just started our vlog channel. We're two videos in, and we're vlogging this trip as well, and we're trying to strategize our idea as well for...
[1:16:08] Because we're building the podcast, and so
[1:16:11] we feel like the second channel could be, you know, behind the scenes of us building the, the podcast, but also building our personal brands as well and giving an inside look into our personal brands and our personal lives.
[1:16:22] So I'm curious to hear these 10 commandments, and if you have any advice for us, who- Mm... are two videos in. \[laughs\] Two videos in, all right. Two videos in, baby. We just passed 100 subs. Let's go.
[1:16:31] \[laughs\] You're vlogging this trip, I'm assuming. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Whole trip. Okay. Whole trip. So for us, I, I just looked at what we had on the main channel and on Instagram. Okay, what does my audience like?
[1:16:40] What do they already love? Obviously it's gonna be something self-image related, fitness related. Cool. And then what can we bring that's new that will make them be like, "Oh, I also like this other side of Alex." Mm.
[1:16:52] "Cool, let me check this out," right? So we're very mu- It's still a very much lifestyle heavy vlog where I travel.
[1:17:00] I'll do whatever, go to the gym, whatever, but then I'll hit them with, like, a two-minute segment about how we're getting into Target or wha- wha- how we're repackaging Forte.
[1:17:09] So we th- we started the commandments with obviously the right outfits, so we'll do an outfit check in every single vlog. Mm. Like, people are always like, "What are you wearing?
[1:17:19] Can you send me the links to these things?" And I'm like, "Okay, let me just do in every vlog-" \[laughs\]... it's a 15-second- Yeah... segment of outfit. Cool little montage, cool music, people love it.
[1:17:29] Fitness, huge part of my life that I barely talk about on, uh, Instagram or the main YouTube channel. How can we talk about fitness on the BTB channel? And I truly believe that fitness has taught me...
[1:17:43] Consistency in the gym has taught me so much about running a business and being consistent on social media, and, like, results compound, and it...
[1:17:51] I really think that going to gym solves so many of your problems, so I wanted to bring that over to the Behind the Business channel. I'm trying to help him with that. That's one of the big things for the trip.
[1:18:00] Yeah, I've- It's been hard. I'm just looking a little smaller, man. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we've been saying. Dude, I was, I was grinding- \[laughs\]... and then the holidays hit. See, it's just classic. Yeah.
[1:18:10] \[laughs\] I was in there Christmas Eve. I was there Christmas Day. I was there. I actually have done this on purpose. Christmas Day is crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I te- Our gym's not open on Christmas.
[1:18:18] Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. I, um, yeah, I skipped Christmas this year. Yeah, I, I went on a 12-mile run- Yeah... Christmas Day. No, I actually have a... I, I, I think this content idea might crush. Okay. Tell us.
[1:18:29] I wanna make a piece of content- Mm... about how I have way too many before photos. \[laughs\] And, and- Oh... just no afters? No afters. \[laughs\] Like, like, a, a few, like, many, yeah.
[1:18:40] Uh, like, you're, you're, you're closing in- But I will say-... on the destination... before I fell off- Mm-hmm...
[1:18:45] this last time was, like, the strongest I've got, and I'm so pi- 'cause I'm like, "Okay, this is the time." Mm. And then I fell off. You're gonna- All right. We're- You're get- Yeah... you're back on it, though. Yeah.
[1:18:55] So I'm taking him to training camp tomorrow. We're gonna go to the gym and stuff. I'm gonna show him- Okay... like, all the weights and, you know, it's scary in there. Yeah, show me.
[1:19:00] \[laughs\] Yeah, this is the bench press. Yeah. Leg press. How to do it and stuff. This is a treadmill. How to pick your- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Start here... you know, what level of weight you need. Yeah.
[1:19:07] \[laughs\] All that stuff. Yeah, it's just, like, I... You know, a lot of people would do, like, "Oh, I'll go to the gym two weeks in a row- Yeah... and then I'll stop," right?
[1:19:15] And then they go every day, and they, they burn out, and it's just kinda same with content too.
[1:19:19] You just have to, like, go at 70% speedBut always instead of like 100% and then you hit a wall, and then you crash, and you, you get sick or whatever, and then you can't go to the gym anymore. Mm-hmm.
[1:19:28] You can't post content anymore. Um, so yeah, so going back to the commandments for us was the lifestyle, uh, base was like outfits and then we have the gym, but then we had to always address the community Mm-hmm.
[1:19:42] Always talk to the community because that's, that's how you build that, that connection with the community.
[1:19:48] So just saying things like, "I appreciate you guys watching this video because it's not the, the usual type of content that I post so, you know, leave me any feedback." So addressing them directly- Mm-hmm...
[1:19:58] um, at least once in a while, so they're not just like overhearing what I'm saying, which is also cool. It's a, it's-- we, we want that. And, um, I always answer a question in every single vlog.
[1:20:09] I pick a question from the previous vlog, and I give them-- uh, whoever asked the best question, I give them a $50 gift card to Forte. I answer their questions on, on the vlog.
[1:20:18] So just some guidelines for us to understand how do we start this vlog, right? Yeah. How do we move this forward? Look, there's, there's a lot more that goes into it. I think packaging is...
[1:20:30] You guys have probably heard this a, um, a billion times, but is like one of the biggest things for us. The, the, it's what we spend the most time on out of everything else is the pre-production. It's packaging.
[1:20:40] What do we want this vlog to be about? Yeah. Because a vlog can be very rambly and like about so many different things, and then you have to choose the packaging later.
[1:20:49] I prefer to choose the packaging first, uh, for, for a vlog, which is difficult. It's easier for a sit-down YouTube video.
[1:20:56] So then I would do the packaging, which means the first two minutes of the vlog will be about the packaging to confirm that. And then it gets-- and then it goes in whatever direction we decided to go into.
[1:21:06] But the fir- the first two minutes are pretty- Yeah... well thought out.
[1:21:08] We were talking about this literally this morning, and we're like, just how the podcast, you have packaging, and you confirm the click within the first ten to fifteen, and then you can kinda go and talk about whatever.
[1:21:21] I was like, "Brandon, I think if we have packaging, we can talk about it in the first couple minutes, five minutes, and then we can kinda just show the lifestyle."
[1:21:28] So to hear you do that strategy as well, I, I like the, I like the question idea. Yeah, the question idea is really fun. Gets people to come back, leave you a comment. And I, I learn from it. Yeah.
[1:21:39] I'm like, "Oh, yeah, people wanna know more about this. This is great," right? And I get a lot of questions that I'm like, "I-- that's not a good question," \[laughs\] right? You have to sift through.
[1:21:47] \[laughs\] But then I get a lot of, especially now after doing this for, you know, a few months we've been doing the question, um, thing, and it's like, now I'm getting some really banger questions. Mm-hmm.
[1:21:57] Like business related questions or content related questions or something very specific to tar- target and I'm like, "I love this."
[1:22:03] It, it also builds my confidence in, in answering those questions, and now I understand my audience better. It's a, it's a win-win-win-win, right?
[1:22:11] Something I loved that you talked about in your vlog from the Maldives, which looked like a dream. Mm. My God. The Maldives looks insane. Especially now in New York. \[laughs\] 'Cause you guys came at the coldest- Local...
[1:22:23] time, man. Yeah, it's great outside. Horrible. If you guys are wondering, it's, it's amazing.
[1:22:26] \[laughs\] Um, my question though is what have you implemented into your lifestyle or mindset to make sure that 2026 is inevitable for you as opposed to forcing a breakthrough? I love that. Wow, you, you did watch.
[1:22:44] Um- Mm... so just for context, last year-- every year I, I pick a word. This is something that my fiance had me do, and I was-- at first I'm like, "Yeah, whatever. This is dumb." \[laughs\] Sorry, Emily.
[1:22:54] But then I'm like, "No, I kinda like this." Yeah. It just gives you s- slight guidance. You know, it's not like I always have to remember this, but it gives you slight guidance.
[1:23:02] And then for 2025, um, I chose the word breakthrough, and I was just really wanted something major to happen in my life, business or personal life, that would create this breakthrough, and I would become this-- I would get to the next level, whatever that looks like.
[1:23:20] And by the end of the year, I realized that I was like, damn, I was like trying really hard to become this person that I'm not, but like too hard. And so how do I come up with a word that makes more sense for 2026?
[1:23:34] And I chose the word inevitable, and that is because what I want in 2026 are systems, not necessarily just what my goals are. Cool, I'll write down the goals, but what are the systems that will get me there?
[1:23:50] Who do I need to become to get there? Because if I level up, if I learn new skills, if I develop new systems, it's inevitable. It's gonna happen, right?
[1:24:01] I will, I will get to the point, the next level of, of, of my life, whatever that may be. And so right now we're just developing systems.
[1:24:10] So as soon as the year started and I got back from an incredible trip to, to the Maldives that I miss every day, um, I-- but I hit the ground running. I was-- I felt very rested.
[1:24:21] First meeting with the team, I'm like, "Okay, what's broken? How do we fix it?" Like, "What do you hate about, you know, your job?" I was like, "What, what do we need to do to make your job easier?
[1:24:32] Like, what, what do you think is redundant that we do that we need to like close the loop a little bit more?"
[1:24:38] And everybody wrote down their, their feedback, and we're developing systems to make those things better, right?
[1:24:44] And it's like, it, it sounds so simple, but it's something that we don't do enough, just asking your team, "What sucks? What, what do you love about this, and what do you hate about this? What works?
[1:24:54] What makes your job harder?" Right? For an editor, for example, it's like, "How do you want us to, um, send you all this footage? We, we've been sending you this footage this way for a year and a half." Mm.
[1:25:04] "Is that the best way to do it for you? Is there an easier way?" Those little things can save you so much time and, and help you, um, develop or help you open up your, your calendar for more things in the future.
[1:25:15] So systems for me, that's really what I'm focused on in 2026. I'm not focused on any big breakthrough, anything that's major. I'm like, "How do I refine what I already have?"
[1:25:27] What are other systems that you've implemented that have been really big time savers? For example, um, it's, it's called the waterfallSystem Mm-hmm Or method, right?
[1:25:36] Which is like just e- essentially just as syndicating your content through different platforms. Mm-hmm.
[1:25:41] So now that I use this scriptwriter, and he's, and he's great, I'm like, "Okay, how, how can I tap into the scriptwriter to make sure that we also have a newsletter that's consistent?"
[1:25:49] Because I've tried a few times, and I've failed, and I'm like, "Okay, let's do this newsletter that's consistent."
[1:25:55] So we're implementing that, and then we're taking everything that we write on this newsletter and turning it into tweets and threads and turning it into, um, turning into posts for community posts.
[1:26:05] So, so just being more efficient with everyth- all the content that you're shooting instead of shooting one piece for TikTok, one piece for Instagram, something for YouTube. How can I turn this big piece of content...
[1:26:15] I mean, for you guys, it's so great that you have the podcast, which is such a long- Yeah... piece of content. The next best would be live streaming. Mm-hmm. Sure.
[1:26:23] You know, you look at Speed or those guys, they have so much content. Yeah. And just making sure that you're squeezing everything out of, of that piece of content. That's what we're working on right now.
[1:26:32] I, we do a good job, but I wanna get better. Yeah. Yeah. Um, do you ever film something for YouTube and then re-film it for short-form? Yeah.
[1:26:48] Like, the, the piece that you did about asking the ChatGPT the three questions- Mm...
[1:26:52] or the things that you should tell yourself every day, did you film that again specifically for Instagram, or was that something you just repurposed? That was repurposed. Okay.
[1:26:58] Yeah, so that was a, a cut-down clip of the actual vlog. Uh, so every time I post a vlog, I, I do a little snippet of it on Instagram just pushing people with ManyChat over to, uh, over to the vlog. Okay.
[1:27:10] Um- That'd be smart for us to do. Yeah, we should do that. Yeah, we should definitely do that- \[laughs\]... with ManyChat. Like, a little, little snippet. 1,000%. Okay. You guys don't? No, we don't do that.
[1:27:17] We should do that for sure. Come on, guys. We should do that for the fucking episodes too. I know. I know. That's so stupid, yeah. You have so much gold. Yeah.
[1:27:23] And 'cause a podcast is, is long, so maybe s- maybe someone doesn't watch the entire thing. Sure. No, you're so right. But if you give them those nuggets- Yeah. Yeah... man, they'll, they'll watch it.
[1:27:30] And, and there's, um- Mm... there's a little website, I forget the name, the URL exactly. But it's, like, open in-app. LinkTwin. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I al- I use open in-app, whatever. Yeah, yeah.
[1:27:38] But it's like it just brings you to the YouTube app- Yeah... as opposed to opening within- Yes... Instagram. Use that.
[1:27:42] Have you found, have you found, though, like, we were talking to someone, a big YouTuber, and they were explaining to us that they like to let the YouTube algorithm do its thing for, like, a couple days because they found that the audience on Instagram and TikTok kind of have, like, squirrel brains and that they won't watch it.
[1:27:57] They just destroy the watch time. So I wonder if you, if you've- And the click-through rate, you don't get. Yeah, if you found that. I've, I haven't... It's probably true. Mm.
[1:28:05] But I haven't seen that, mostly because the Behind the Business channel is still a smaller channel, and that's the one that I'm pushing to. Oh, I see.
[1:28:11] So for me, I just- So but you're not, you're not reposting from the main channel, like- No. Okay. Not really. No, I j- I just want- It's, it's just has done its thing, it's so big.
[1:28:18] You know, just from, just from what I understand, um, for me, how fast your video is getting those views- Yes. Yeah... in the beginning really matters for YouTube. Oh, interesting. Okay.
[1:28:26] So I really wanted to just, like, get as many views as possible in the beginning, um, so that it, YouTube pushes it to the next tier of, of viewers. Mm. That is so interesting.
[1:28:37] Okay, as someone who is in the lifestyle space, and you clearly have done very well for yourself. You're doing brand deals with some incredible brands. You have a very aspirational lifestyle.
[1:28:49] How do you still stay relatable in your content and allow yourself to maybe not lose touch with the average guy that your content is really for? Yeah, um, I had...
[1:29:02] I never really had that issue up until maybe when I moved to New York. Okay. And I got, like, a, you know, a really cool apartment- Yeah... and it looks really nice, whatever, on screen.
[1:29:11] And, um, people are like, "Oh, you're just, like, not just this rich guy now. You're not really relatable. I miss the old Alex," you know? Interesting. Oh, those comments are fun.
[1:29:20] And it's like, dude, but, like, didn't you wanna see me win? Mm. And now that I'm winning, you don't wanna see me w- I'm confused. So it, it is an internal battle. Um, at the end of the day, look, I, I like nice things.
[1:29:33] Mm. So I'll buy, like, a nice watch or whatever, and I, I wanna share that. Um, and I'll, I'll post it, and you're gonna get people who are like, "That's amazing.
[1:29:39] I c- hope I can get that watch someday," or whatever, that jacket. And then you're gonna get the people saying, "Oh, you used to be relatable. Now you're just showing off. Now you're j- that's all you do is show off."
[1:29:51] Um, I can't... It's, like, hard for me to show nice things- Yeah... without people saying that. Mm. And you, you have to create a little bit of a balance between what you show and how you present it too. Mm-hmm.
[1:30:02] For example, I posted a video on my main channel the other day, um, and it for, actually maybe one of the first videos that I enjoyed shooting for my main channel in a while, expensive items that I don't regret buying.
[1:30:13] I saw that one. Mm-hmm. And- It was a good one. Yeah, and it's just like, it was very casual. I'm just walking around my apartment going through things.
[1:30:20] Um, and then I, I showed a Rolex that I bought when I got to a million subscribers. Mm. It's a Rolex Submariner. I bought it used, 7,500 bucks, probably worth, like, twice that now. I don't even care.
[1:30:30] I'm never gonna sell it. But I explained why I bought that watch and what the feeling was and how it's a trophy for me and how I just never thought that I'd be able to afford a Rolex when I bought it.
[1:30:42] I was like, "Wow, this is..." I remember holding it just being like, "This is crazy." I, like, I put it on, I'd be so scared of, like, doing anything to it. Scratching it, yeah.
[1:30:49] And I think when you can talk to your audience in that way, they understand- Yeah... way more so than, like, "Yo, I'm a millionaire." Mm. Like, "What's up?" \[laughs\] Like, "Check out my, check out my-" Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:31:00] It's totally, it's totally different... AP and, you know, whatever. Yeah. And it's like, it can be too much. I've dabbled in, like, content that's more pushy. Uh-huh. Mm.
[1:31:08] My first vlog, um, on the BTB channel was, like, a day in the life of a millionaire in New York City. You ever, we talked about this. \[laughs\] And it got, it got really good views.
[1:31:18] \[laughs\] But it also got some bad comments, right? Mm. Mm. Being like, "Uh, why, what? Mil- real millionaires don't talk about their money-" Yeah. Yeah. "... whatever." And I, I'm like, yeah, but it got the views.
[1:31:28] Uh-huh. \[laughs\] So I've, I've dabbled in that, like, Iman Gadzhi, like, style. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know? Uh-huh. Uh, ultimately, it's just not for me. Mm. Yeah. \[laughs\] Man, so funny.
[1:31:38] Okay, we thought this would be a funA fun little, uh, segment as we- A little ender. Yeah, a little end cap A little end cap. Ender. Um, did you ever watch Rob Dyrdek growing up? Yeah, man. Okay. Okay.
[1:31:50] Do you remember the episode- \[laughs\]... when he was with his cousin Drama and it was called Project Mandime? No. You don't remember this episode? No. Where he took Drama and he was like, "We're gonna help...
[1:32:00] You're gonna get you new teeth and we're gonna get you a new haircut, new outfits." It was like- Project Mandime.
[1:32:05] He, like, made him look all good and stuff, and then they, like, did this grand reveal \[laughs\] and Drama looked kinda funny.
[1:32:09] But anyways, we were wondering for, uh, for us and for our listeners out there, what are, what are a few things that we can take back home with us to really come in, 2026, it's January, I wanna look great, I wanna feel great, I wanna be confident.
[1:32:22] What are some of these things that we can- Project Mandime... yeah, we can lock in on? Yeah. \[laughs\] Yeah. Well, you gotta go back to the gym, bro, first. Like, I know. I got my haircare re- First...
[1:32:28] I do, I got my haircare ready. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna redo my hair. Yeah. Easy, easy layups. You gotta go back to the gym. Yeah, layups. For sure. Give me the layups. Yeah. Give me the layups.
[1:32:35] I would say you need four tip, but bro, your hair actually looks fire. Thanks. Like, I actually really like the buzz cut. It, it suits you. And that means a lot coming from you. It looks good. It looks good.
[1:32:43] It's different from Alex Costa, you know? \[laughs\] The, the, the fiance's like, "Oh, I like it." Oh. You're like, "But dude, Alex Costa-" Alex Costa. You ask your dad- 'Cause he, 'cause he likes it...
[1:32:50] 'cause that's like the biggest thing, it's like- Yeah... did, did your fiance, like, tell you to do it? Or like she liked it or? She, um, she, she's, she likes it.
[1:32:59] She thought when I first got it, 'cause I went a four instead of a two, that she was like, "It kinda looks undone." She likes it now, but I think she prefers my longer hair.
[1:33:08] She's like, "As long as it's grown out before the wedding, like, I'm down." You, you have really nice hair. Thanks. \[laughs\] Yeah. I've, I, I met y- I mean, I met you at a salon. Yeah, yeah.
[1:33:16] \[laughs\] In LA like- It's okay... years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm starting to gray more than I would like to. Same. Is there, is there... Yeah. Is there anything to do to, like, slow it? Or do I just kinda gotta dye it?
[1:33:28] It... There's, like, researches coming out, like, that are... People are saying that there's gonna be a pill for it, that there will be a solution- Okay... pretty soon.
[1:33:39] I don't know if that's 5 to 10 years, but it looks like- It's gonna be too late by then. \[laughs\] Even, even for balding, like, there's- Yeah... they're coming out with some crazy shit right now. Yeah, yeah.
[1:33:47] Um, my dad just got a hair transplant, for example, and I was like, "All right, it's cool, but, like, just so you know, like, this might- Yeah... there might be this new pill thing coming out that's like- Hmm...
[1:33:54] it's gonna fix it." So I, I dye some of my grays right now. Okay. Um, because what I have is, like, a patch of grays in one place- Oh, interesting... \[laughs\] instead of, like, a lot of different places.
[1:34:04] So I just dye that one little area and, and that's it. That makes me, honestly, that makes me feel a lot better. Yeah. 'Cause I was like, "God, you got really-" I'm 37, bro...
[1:34:11] you got really good hair and you got no grays. You're 37? 37. You look great, dude. Dude, yeah, you're a young soul. \[laughs\] Young stallion. The young stall. I've been around the block, man. \[laughs\] I'm, I'm old, bro.
[1:34:22] Okay, keep up. I'm trying to keep up with you young ones. Well, he, he turn- he turning 30 this year, so he's in- Dude, I'm, I'm unc... status too now. I'm unc now. Um, okay. So, so hit the gym, obviously eat healthy.
[1:34:30] Yeah. Are there any, um, like, are you fucking around with, like, peptides? Are there any- I am not yet. Okay. But I, I do wa- I do wanna learn more about it.
[1:34:39] I'm, I definitely not, I'm not the kinda guy who's just gonna jump into something- Hmm... without doing research. So next step is research, but it looks fucking sick. Yeah. Yeah, it looks like we're gonna stay young.
[1:34:47] What? I'm like- Yeah... sign me up. Yeah. You know? So I'm, I'm definitely gonna do some, a proper research into it. I'm in the middle of, like, wedding planning mode- Yeah. Mm, mm... and launching Target right now.
[1:34:55] I'm like, I just need to, like, focus a little bit, but that's next. Um, for sure gym, making sure you're eating healthy, whatever.
[1:35:03] Your hair, and I, that's not just because of 4T, but bro, men's hair is like women's makeup. Yeah. Like, it totally cha- I mean, you look so different with a buzz cut versus longer hair. Mm-hmm.
[1:35:12] It totally changes your appearance, right? So finding, instead of going to a barber, I always recommend go to a salon with a hairstylist. That's what I do. A guy who is using scissors instead of clippers. Yeah, yeah.
[1:35:23] Especially now because the trend isn't fades right now, it's longer flow, so find a guy who's cutting your hair with scissors. So that's a, let your hair grow. Th- I always say let your hair grow. Just, just try it, man.
[1:35:34] You don't know. I always thought I had shitty hair, like growing up. Hmm. Really? And then I went to military school and I had that exact haircut. Oh.
[1:35:41] 'Cause I had to do it every 14 days, and they would, sergeant would sign my book. \[laughs\] He would, he would check my hair and be like- Wow... "Okay, you got your hair cut every 14 days."
[1:35:49] And I just kept it for the longest time until I went to a, a salon for the first time. I paid $40, I think, in LA for a haircut, and they were like, "You kinda have nice hair. You should let it grow."
[1:35:59] I'm like, "Yeah, this guy's just gassing me up." You know, whatever. Yeah. He just wants me to come and spend more money. I let it grow, and I was like, "Oh, okay."
[1:36:06] And he taught me how to style it, and this is, that's how I learned that I was like, "Okay, I have decent hair. I could probably- Yeah... let it grow a little bit longer." Hmm.
[1:36:13] So put a little bit more effort into your hair, hit the gym, and then find your style. When I say that, I think people are like, "Ah, I don't wanna wear a suit. I don't wanna go too crazy with high fashion."
[1:36:24] That's not what it's about. I think it's just about finding what works for you and not looking lazy, not looking like- Yeah... you're in athleisure all the time. Hmm. That's half the work. Okay.
[1:36:35] Um, it's so funny because we were looking back at some of, like, your look book videos. Do you look back on those and be like, "What was I wearing?" Disgusting. 'Cause I look, I look back at some of- \[laughs\]...
[1:36:44] some of the things I was wearing- Yeah... and be like, "What the fuck is wrong with me?" Our... With the 2016 challenge, I went back, I was like, "Dude."
[1:36:50] And I was showing my girlfriend, and she's like, "I wouldn't have talked to you back in- Oh, yeah... this age, this age of college." I was like, "God." Yeah, for sure. Some questionable photos, man. I was so cringey.
[1:36:58] I had, like, I had highlights, man. I w- it was, like, terrible, you know? My jeans were suffocating. So tight and ripped. Yes. And then the long line Ts. Yes. \[laughs\] Looked like a Popsicle was coming out. Oh my God.
[1:37:11] But, you know, that was a trend, so you- Yeah... we can't hate too much. Uh-huh, uh-huh. But now I always try to stay away from, like, going too far into a trend. Mm-hmm.
[1:37:18] So, like, what I'm wearing now, I think I can look, besides maybe, like, a little bit of the mullet, I can look back in, like- Yes... 10 years and I wouldn't be like, "Ew, that's- Yes... that's bad." You know?
[1:37:28] So I went with, like- Classic. It's a classic... straight fit jeans, you know, like a shirt. Like, you can't go wrong with something like this. Hmm. Are there any brands,
[1:37:36] and you don't gotta tell us all, you can gate, gatekeep some of them. All right.
[1:37:38] Are there any brands that you're like-Oh, this for either like clothing for basics or, um, obviously not hair 'cause we got Forte but, um, any brands that like you discovered that you're like, "This is like really great for these things."
[1:37:52] Mm. Yeah. So I look at brands like I... When I dress up in the morning I'm like, "Who do I wanna be today?" Mm. I don't know about you guys- Hell yeah... but like it's, it's kinda fun. Yeah.
[1:38:00] It's almost like The Sims or- Uh-huh. \[laughs\]... whatever, like GTA, you know? \[laughs\] A lot of video gaming references. Um, but I'm like, "Okay, today I kinda wanna be like a little bit more Western," right?
[1:38:10] 'Cause it's like super in right now and I've never really tapped into that. So, um, I like Cherry right now for that. They have a really cool Western vibe to it.
[1:38:19] There's a new brand, um, in LA called Winslow LA, they're doing- Mm... something similar. Um, if I wanna dress a little bit more like elevated and elegant, I go with Reiss, I go with Todd Snyder. Mm.
[1:38:30] Because they have the polos that are, that fit really well. Yeah. The trousers. Right. Um, and then if I wanna go like street style, um, who do I wear that's more street style?
[1:38:40] I'd say Cherry still, like it kind of goes back and forth between those two. What about for pants? Pants, um, \[sighs\] man, d- what kind of pants do you like though?
[1:38:48] Do you like straight f- I would say straight fit is usually the way to go. Yeah. I got, I've had, I have really large legs, okay- Yeah... little, little waist.
[1:38:56] So I've had to go get a larger pair of like Carhartts and then tailor them in, you know? I like these, these Stone Island pants fit really well and I didn't have to tailor them at all. Yeah. I like those a lot.
[1:39:06] I was gonna say Represent is actually like crushing it right now and they're coming out- He's got a cool pair of pants that are Represent right now... they're coming out with like a Western, they're teasing it. Uh-huh.
[1:39:13] A Western vi- Western is like super in right now. Yeah. You know? Mm. Um, pants I would say Reiss. Reiss. But just be careful because they, they're a European brand so sometimes they can be a little bit on the slim side.
[1:39:23] So d- don't get, don't go for the slim, go for the, the w- Okay... the wider fit. Uh-huh. Todd Snyder though. Todd Snyder. Todd Snyder is fire. It's our guy here. Yeah. Oh, true. Is there, there's a store around here?
[1:39:33] Yeah. Yeah. Think I might have to- And then, um-... I might have to go check it out... I walk into Todd Snyder and it is my, that's like my aspirational brand 'cause it's quite pricey. Uh-huh.
[1:39:41] But you'll go in there and be like, "Oh, I could, I could blow some money in here." Yeah. Their shit is- Quick... so nice. Yeah. \[laughs\] They do have sales. Like I- Uh-huh...
[1:39:49] you know, like I, I do well, but I'm always like, "All right, I'm gonna-" Yeah, yeah. "... I'll wait for the sale, whatever," you know? Uh-huh. \[laughs\] Why not? Um, or like, let me DM them.
[1:39:58] Let me just- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. \[laughs\] A brand deal? You guys doing anything? Can I g- Spring summer? Can I get a PR package in? \[laughs\] I really like this suit. Right? That is so funny.
[1:40:05] \[laughs\] Um, I mean, bro, SuitSupply, I know it sounds like it's suits, but it's really not. Yeah. They've really amplified from that, and they're crushing with their casuals. Mm. Even their straight fit, uh, jeans. Mm.
[1:40:17] They're so good. Mm. So good. Like- They have like more of a, like a '90s dad fit. Mm. I got, um, I got a suit for my engagement party at, at SuitSupply, and, uh, it rips. Yeah. You, you look good. Thanks.
[1:40:28] You look good in that suit, dude. \[laughs\] Thanks, dude. Yeah. It was a good suit. Um- It was cream. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was a good looking suit. Congrats on getting engaged by the way. Yeah. Thank you, man.
[1:40:36] Um- How has that been? If there was anything that was, um, a breakthrough- Yeah... last year- Mm... that was, that was a breakthrough. Uh-huh. You know? I like, I kinda knew already. Sure.
[1:40:46] So it w- it didn't feel like- Mm... it at the time, but like, I was so nervous, bro. Oh my God. Oh, I bet. I bet. Oh my God. Like I, you know, I've, I've s- like I've been at, um, panels speaking to 500 people. Yeah.
[1:40:59] I've done so many videos, meet and greets, whatever. I've never been that nervous in my life, bro. Same, dude. I was shaking, you know? And there was so much building up to it that at the time I was like, "Oh, will you?"
[1:41:13] You know? \[laughs\] Sh- sh- shaking, shaking, you know? And, um- \[laughs\]... started to cry and I was like, "Oh, God," like, "This is terrible."
[1:41:22] But actually, like, after I, I re-watched it 'cause we recorded it, it was act- it, I was like, "Okay, no, I, it was good." That's so funny. Did your girl, um...
[1:41:30] Before you did it, was she like, "When you propose eventually, like, I want a full speech?" No.
[1:41:35] Oh, my girl was, I was like, every guy that I've talked to that does it says that they had this like whole thing that they wanna say, and they're just so fucking nervous that they can't say anything.
[1:41:44] And so I felt the same way. I go, I was like kinda like prepping things to say, and then I was like, "I don't know," like \[laughs\]... 'Cause I set up my tripod to film it, and then I had hired a photographer.
[1:41:57] But, um, I walk over to her and, and she's like, "Why are you like smiling and stuff?" And then I started, like, twirling her out of nowhere, and she's like, "What are you doing?"
[1:42:06] And I was like, "I don't know, I just love you," like- \[laughs\]... "Will you marry me?" \[laughs\] You're so pretty. Yeah. Yeah. \[laughs\] Um, I love your smile. \[laughs\] You know, that's how I felt. Oh, my God.
[1:42:14] I felt, I'm like, damn, like I'm giving these guys all so much advice on YouTube- Yeah... and I'm over here like shaking. Yeah. Yeah. How to be confident. \[laughs\] Engagemennt, bro. \[laughs\] So yeah, two funny things.
[1:42:26] It's like, well- Oh, God... I, I, \[laughs\] you know, I, I took her, it was like the 101st floor of The Edge. Mm-hmm. Which was like a really cool moment, perfect day. Could not have asked for a better day.
[1:42:36] It was amazing. I was like, I'm so lucky. This is incredible. And we go up to the viewpoint, and the photographer's hiding, and Jed is shooting as if we're about...
[1:42:44] I told her we were doing a brand deal with MasterCard, and we were, she needed to be in it. Mm-hmm. And then, so Jed is shooting, my videographer, and we walk up to the view, and I'm like, "Um, this is really nice, huh?
[1:42:56] This is beautiful." \[laughs\] "This... Like we live right here, right?" \[laughs\] And she's like, "No, we live like right, like all the way over there." I'm like, "Right."
[1:43:04] \[laughs\] Um, anyway, I didn't even know where we were. Uh-huh. I was so out of it. So random. It was so scary. It was the craziest moment of my life. Yeah. And I, fortunately, like f- words flowed at- Mm-hmm...
[1:43:18] after that. But at first I was like, oh, I'm gonna fuck this up. That's so funny. Yeah, dude. That's, that's so funny. Um- Tense...
[1:43:24] I guess my last question would be, how have you managed to balance a relationship with being a full-time content creator where you can always be working? Mm. Yeah. Compromise for sure. You know, um, when we...
[1:43:41] So Emily and I, I mean, w-My favorite part about-- one of-- maybe one of the favorite parts about my relationship with her is that before we decided to be in a relationship, we were just hanging out, and she lived in San Diego.
[1:43:54] I lived in New York. It's like, it's probably not gonna go anywhere, but I really like this girl. And she would come spend a weekend with me, and we would just talk, man. I mean, we just talked so much, and
[1:44:04] I didn't feel bad sharing, like, all of everything with her 'cause I was like, ah, it's whatever. Who cares, you know? And we talked so much about my
[1:44:14] job as a, as a creator, and I was like, "I really don't wanna be with anyone who does content creation as well." Mm. Um, there's probably a way to do it.
[1:44:22] Um, my experience is it doesn't really work because that's kind of all you end up talking about.
[1:44:27] You go on a trip, it's all you end up doing is looking for content opportunities, shooting content of each other, and it's just like, I didn't want that.
[1:44:37] So it was really important to me to find somebody who wasn't in the business, um, and she, she wasn't. She does-- she's in sales, but she works from home. So I also work from home. I don't have an office space.
[1:44:46] So for me, I was like, "Cool, like, we can actually be in the same space together, and it, it'll be okay as long as w-we, we don't get sick of each other." It's been really great.
[1:44:57] Um, and she can travel and work from anywhere with me. So it, it was actually really easy once she moved to New York. Like, it's been, it's been really good. I don't show her a lot.
[1:45:10] I was actually thinking should I-- not because I don't want to, just because she actually doesn't like being on camera. \[laughs\] Mm. She's like, "I don't wanna be on camera." She's private on Instagram.
[1:45:18] For the engagement, I was like, "I kinda wanna show you a little bit more," you know? And if she said no, I wouldn't have posted anything. Yeah. And that's, that's okay.
[1:45:27] But for me, I'm like, this is also a big moment for my guys watching this. Yeah. Mm. Like, I've t- I've taught them, taught them so much, you know, like how to talk to a girl, how to look for a date,
[1:45:39] how to get engaged, bro. Oh, man. Like, that's, that's, like, one of the biggest moments in a guy's life, and I wanted to show that.
[1:45:46] And I wasn't sure how to present that in, like, a way that wasn't cringey or, like- Three ways you should ask your- You know? So, like, it was really- Follow my script. \[laughs\] Exactly.
[1:45:56] So I, I feel like I did it in a natural way, and people responded to it really, really well. And that was, like, her first real, like, time- Yeah...
[1:46:04] being in front of a camera and us showing real emotions that who cares if there was anybody shooting- Mm... or recording. And now she's showing herself a little bit more with Truffle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:46:14] Um, but at the end of the day, like, she's like, "I, I don't wanna be an influencer. That's not what I wanna do. I wanna keep my- doing my thing," um, and I respect that so much. Yeah. You know? I, I really do. Yeah.
[1:46:24] Well, it's funny- That's amazing... because, um, when I saw the photo, I was like, "I didn't even know you had a girl." Yeah. Because you don't really post her. Yeah.
[1:46:31] Um, which is, uh-- I was like, "That's fucking awesome." On purpose, yeah. Totally. For me, I was just like, "Let's keep that separate." Yeah. I think, um, totally fine to keep that separate. Yeah.
[1:46:41] It didn't affect my content. I don't need to be showing girls or whatever. Yeah, yeah. That's not my content, you know? Um, and I think it was-- it had that- Yeah... even bigger of a wow moment- Totally...
[1:46:51] because it was like, "Wait, who is this girl?" \[laughs\] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. Alex, this has been so fun. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been episode one ninety-two with Alex Costa.
[1:47:00] 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.

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