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#52: He Built a 22M Media Empire by Interviewing Tom Cruise, Shaq, Brady & 52 Billionaires — Transcript

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0:00I'm a firm believer that the world is
0:02overly cruel to shy men and it rewards
0:04the courageous. So, believe like whether
0:07you want to believe it or not, at the
0:09end of the day a closed mouth does not
0:10get fed. So, you just have to understand
0:12that if you talk to any of the most
0:14successful people like rejection is
0:15inevitable. Like even to this day I
0:17still have people that reject me and
0:19whatnot, [music] but I still use it as
0:20fuel. I still use it as motivation.
0:26>> [music]
0:30>> Give it.
0:32>> This episode [music] is brought to you
0:33by Google for Startups.
0:36>> This week's episode is from a recent
0:37[music] interview at the Startup Grind
0:39conference with James Du Moulin,
0:41co-founder of School of Hard Knocks, one
0:43of the fastest growing business [music]
0:44media brands in the world focused on
0:47entrepreneurship, financial education,
0:49and the next generation of ambitious
0:50builders. At just 23 [music] years old,
0:53James and his co-founders turned cold
0:54approaches in downtown Austin into an
0:56[music] eight-figure media business with
0:58more than 20 million followers and
1:00billions of views across social media.
1:03What started [music] with getting
1:04rejected over and over again while
1:06approaching entrepreneurs on the street
1:08has evolved into a global platform
1:09featuring [music] interviews from some
1:11of the world's most influential people
1:13like Shaquille O'Neal, Tom Cruise, Mark
1:16Cuban, and Will Smith. [music] Hope you
1:18enjoy the conversation.
1:20>> I see a lot of phones up taking pictures
1:22and we've had some really
1:25well-known, uh, incredible builders and
1:28investors, and just, uh, people that
1:31have changed the world and I have to say
1:34I am as excited to speak with you as I
1:37have been to speak with anybody over the
1:39years. Uh, just first, for I feel like
1:42everyone knows what you do and what
1:45you've created, but for the few people
1:49that don't, tell us, you know,
1:51how did you start the School of Hard
1:53Knocks? What is it and and sort of what
1:55problem does it solve?
1:56>> When I was 19 years old, I was going to
1:58the University of Texas at Austin and,
2:01you know, I, like a lot of people, had a
2:03passion for business. Collectively with
2:04my brother and a childhood friend, we
2:06always kind of had that entrepreneurial
2:08feeling in us and we knew that we wanted
2:09to do something together, which is rare
2:11because I grew up in the Washington D.C.
2:13Northern Virginia area. When you think
2:14about that area, you think of a lot of
2:16government jobs, contracting, defense,
2:18politics, but we always kind of felt
2:19like we were meant for a little bit more
2:20than that. And so, after some time going
2:22back and forth, we tried to think about,
2:24man, what are some industries right now
2:25that are really on the come up and we
2:27identified the creator economy. At the
2:29time, it was a $250 billion industry.
2:31We're like, man, let's just start making
2:32business content and just see where it
2:34goes. Prior to starting the School of
2:36Hard Knocks, I grew my personal brand
2:37from zero to 800,000 followers in about
2:3910 months on TikTok. So, I developed I
2:41developed the skill of understanding the
2:43algorithm, how to go viral, and
2:44mastering organic content creation. And
2:47eventually with the School of Hard
2:48Knocks, you know, it started with me, my
2:49brother, and childhood friend just
2:50giving business advice. Quickly realized
2:52that nobody wants to get business advice
2:54from a couple young 20-year-old kids.
2:56So, we mastered the power of pivoting
2:58and eventually we decided to go up and
3:00interview people. And what that did was
3:02is, number one, it helped democratize
3:04financial education. You know, we were
3:05very disgruntled about the way that a
3:07lot of financial literacy and business
3:08lessons were taught in school. You know,
3:10you're learning from people that
3:11actually never ran businesses. And
3:12that's not to discredit, right? There's
3:13obviously great universities out there.
3:15I know Stanford and I went to the
3:17University of Texas. There's some good
3:18professors, but for the most part,
3:19you're learning marketing from somebody
3:21that never built a marketing company or
3:23never actually leveraged that to help
3:24grow a business, which is a problem in
3:26our opinion. So, you know, we wanted to
3:28kind of be the ones to extract the
3:30advice, the lessons from the most
3:31successful people, bring it down to our
3:33generation. And so, when we pivoted to
3:35interviews, I mean, it quickly, you
3:36know, grew like rapid-fire and we just
3:38didn't stop. And, you know, I'd like to
3:40say still to this day, even with 22
3:42million followers, I still feel like I
3:43have zero followers. I still feel like,
3:46you know, I'm more motivated now to
3:47create content than I ever have been
3:48before. Um and so, yeah, we're just
3:50we're super excited and blessed.
3:52>> How long did it take for you to actually
3:53start
3:54>> Mhm.
3:55>> breaking through?
3:55>> This is a good one right here. I like to
3:57tell people this all the time. I posted
3:58400 times on Instagram and I had 50
4:01followers. How many people do you know
4:03would post 400 times with 50 followers
4:05and keep on posting? I don't know many.
4:07And so, I think that's one of the things
4:08that really separated ourselves and
4:09honestly anybody in business is just
4:11that willingness to to not take no for
4:13an answer, to understand that if you
4:15can't pivot, right? And that's just what
4:16it took. When we made those little
4:18pivots, when we adjusted to start doing
4:19the interviews and we noticed that that
4:20was a repeatable, engaging format of
4:23content, that's where we doubled down,
4:24we tripled down, we 10x. And so, you
4:27know, like Albert Einstein says, the
4:28definition of insanity is doing the same
4:29thing over and over and over again and
4:31expecting a different result. And like
4:32you just can't do that, especially in
4:34content. So, with those pivots that we
4:35made, it was, you know, really impactful
4:37for us. But, yeah, it was it was it was
4:39a long game. Media is a long game. You
4:41know, you don't get rich overnight in
4:42media. Like we didn't make money for our
4:44first 3 years. But, like we were talking
4:45backstage, we had our first $100,000
4:48month as a company in October 2024.
4:51Uh
4:52yes, 2024. And then last October 2025,
4:55we had our first million-dollar month.
4:56So, we went from a 100k month to a
4:57million-dollar month. Now we're doing,
4:59you know, between 1.5 and one and 2
5:01million a month now as a company. And
5:03so, I think that that was really just,
5:05you know, again, learning learning the
5:07game.
5:07>> Were you as you posted those 400 videos,
5:10were you getting
5:11some validation that this was good or
5:13this wasn't good or was it just sort of
5:15posting into the void and and no one was
5:17responding? I mean, or or did it and
5:19then did it feel like
5:20that iteration like slowly you started
5:22getting more and more or was it like it
5:24took 400 you kind of went from zero to
5:26100 very fast?
5:27>> Yeah, so I mean,
5:29with that, you know, I'm a big advocate
5:30of content diversification. Meaning, we
5:32were post posting on all platforms,
5:34Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube,
5:36you know, every platform. And I think we
5:38had a little bit of success on TikTok.
5:39The one I'm more so talking about is
5:41Instagram. And so, that was the one
5:42where we had posted 400 times with 50
5:44followers. So, we were like having some
5:46content that would resonate a little
5:48bit, that would do decent viewership
5:49wise. You know, I like to say early on
5:51when you're creating content, quantity
5:53breeds quality. The more you post, the
5:55more data that you get, the more it's
5:56going to tell you, "Hey, this type of
5:57content works, this doesn't." Oh, you've
5:59tried this video 50 times and you're
6:01still not getting 1,000 views? Take that
6:03video idea behind the barn and shoot it.
6:05Okay? And so, that's exactly like what
6:07we had to do with some of the content
6:09and and more so when we found that the
6:10winning format was the interview
6:12content, we just we never looked back.
6:14>> So,
6:15what if I have a small What if I have a
6:16small team? I have a small company. I'm
6:18in a startup or, you know, it's just me
6:19and a couple of my friends like you.
6:21Like, how do I do that? Like, how do I
6:23produce
6:24this insane level of volume of content
6:26and post it everywhere? Like, how do how
6:29do you What do you recommend to teach
6:30people to manage that?
6:31>> 100%. I mean, obviously there's a lot
6:33of, you know, great tools out there. I
6:36am just a massive advocate of content
6:38creation because when you look at a
6:39platform like TikTok, right? You could
6:41have 50 followers, in our case like we
6:42did. You could put out one piece of
6:44content that gets 5 million views and
6:47you don't have to pay a dollar for that
6:49exposure. Like, that didn't exist up
6:51until like 2019. And we've seen some of
6:53the most successful companies in today's
6:56world. I think about Poppy, Allison and
6:58Stephen Ellsworth, you know, they went
7:00from zero to 500 million uh in sales. Uh
7:03they were the fastest growing beverage
7:05company in history. They just They just
7:06sold to Pepsi for $2 billion and she
7:08attributed, when I interviewed her,
7:09success to getting 3 billion organic
7:11views on TikTok. Or I think about, you
7:13know, First Form who does almost a
7:15billion dollars in sales, it's a
7:16supplement company. They were one of the
7:17first to take to social media content
7:19creation. I mean, there's countless
7:21examples of it. But, I mean, I think
7:23that it's really just designating
7:25somebody on your team where that's their
7:26sole responsibility. Um if if you are
7:28obviously the founder of that brand,
7:30it's going to be hard to be creating
7:32content while also running the business.
7:34You know, we were talking about it
7:35backstage, but great businessmen, I like
7:37to say, are terrible content creators.
7:39Great content creators are terrible
7:40businessmen, but it's very important to
7:42have somebody that's on your team that
7:43where that's their sole responsibility.
7:45And in the case where you do want to
7:46have founder-led content, which I think
7:48is important because you hear all the
7:49time that people buy from people that
7:50they know, like, and trust. Um I would
7:53say that ensuring that maybe even if
7:54it's just 1 day a week where you're
7:56shooting all of your content for either
7:58an entire month or for an entire week.
8:00Like you just designate an hour or two a
8:02week to shooting as much content as
8:04possible. And I'm aware like they're not
8:05all businesses necessarily function off
8:08of, you know, content creation. Maybe
8:09not every avatar for your company may be
8:12out there on on TikTok, but there's a
8:14lot of other platforms and I fully see
8:16it continuing to go more and more in
8:17that direction.
8:20>> This show is brought to you by Google
8:22for Startups. If your startup is looking
8:24to integrate AI-generated images, video,
8:26or audio into your product, you need to
8:29read Google's new Future of AI report.
8:31It's a no-nonsense look at generative
8:33media designed specifically to help
8:35founders and builders deploy real apps
8:37in production. Grab your free copy at
8:40g.co/futureofgenmedia.
8:45>> A lot of
8:47builders, we think, "Oh, here's this
8:49product. Here's this customer I want to
8:50reach. You know, here's what I want to
8:52charge for it." You kind of hyper-focus
8:54on that. And you totally forget the
8:57distribution side of things. And it
8:58seems like you have hyper-focused on the
9:01distribution side of things and really
9:02mastered it. Don't want you to give away
9:04your your secret to the algorithm, but
9:07how did you learn
9:09what happens in the algorithm? How did
9:11How did you better? Like, are there
9:12things you're reading? Are there people
9:14that you follow that you recommend? Like
9:15Like
9:16what can I do as somebody that's just
9:18starting out with not a lot of resources
9:20to like start to really understand the
9:22ins and outs of how to make my stuff go
9:23viral?
9:24>> I'll give away the secrets. Like I don't
9:26even care. Um I like to give I like to
9:28give free game whenever I can. I mean,
9:29I've had dinner with the the head of
9:30Facebook. I've met a lot of the people
9:32that kind of work very, you know, high
9:34up with engineering, you know, the
9:35different social media platforms. The
9:37only one metric that matters on social
9:39media, it's not likes, it's not
9:41comments, it's not shares, it's not
9:43saves, it's watch time. That is the only
9:46metric that matters on social media.
9:48Why? Because Instagram, TikTok,
9:50Facebook, and YouTube have one thing in
9:51common. They're all competing against
9:53each other. Therefore, they're going to
9:54reward the people that can keep people
9:57on their platform. So, the longer the
10:00watch time that you have in terms of
10:02people watching from start to finish,
10:04the better that is, the more that
10:06they're going to reward you and they're
10:07going to push your videos out to new
10:09audiences, and that's where virality
10:11comes from. And so, I think with that is
10:13it comes down to there's a formula. The
10:15most important part of any video that
10:17you post on social media, any platform,
10:19TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, is
10:21the first 3 seconds. Everybody's
10:23attention span is gradually just going
10:25like this. So, therefore, with
10:27thousands, millions of pieces of content
10:29at people's disposal on a daily basis,
10:32you have to say something very engaging,
10:34maybe even a little polarizing,
10:36something bold, some form of a pattern
10:38interrupt in the first 3 to 5 seconds in
10:39your content to stop the scroll, to get
10:42people to stop and actually watch your
10:44content. The first 3 seconds is the most
10:47important part of any video. I've been
10:49fortunate to grow a business where we
10:51create content for some of the biggest
10:53entrepreneurs in the world. We've got a
10:54content agency.
10:56And the number one thing that I've
10:57trained my team to hone down on when
10:59we're creating content strategy is the
11:01first 3 seconds. That's literally it.
11:03Obviously, you got to have some
11:04substance and there's more to that,
11:05right? But, it's it's if you can nail
11:07the hook, the first 3 to 5 seconds of
11:09the video, that gets people in the door.
11:11If you don't have If you have low views,
11:12I'm telling you it's cuz you have a bad
11:13hook. And then after that, it becomes
11:15about retention. So, maybe saying
11:17something after the hook to to get
11:19people to actually want to watch until
11:20the end of a video. So, an example of
11:22that could be is let's say This is just
11:24came to the top of my mind, I'll let it
11:26flow. But, let's say I was creating
11:27content for I was a um a cancer doctor,
11:31right? I was an oncologist, right? Maybe
11:33my hook is something like this, and I'm
11:35going to break it down.
11:36>> [snorts]
11:38>> Here are three signs that you were going
11:40to get cancer before the age of 40, and
11:42the third one you're doing on a daily
11:44basis. What did I just do right there?
11:46Number one, the delivery is impeccable.
11:47So, you have to have strong delivery.
11:49>> You got to have It really was
11:51impeccable.
11:51>> You got to have good delivery, right?
11:52And and that was dark. I didn't mean to
11:54even go there. But anyways, so but what
11:56I did there is like again, I had a bold
11:59hook. Here are three things that are
12:01going to cause you to have cancer by the
12:02time you're 40, but then what I ended it
12:04with by saying and and the third thing
12:05you're doing on a daily basis. Now, why
12:07did I say that? Cuz it creates
12:08retention. People want to stay in here.
12:10What is that third thing that they're
12:11doing on a regular basis? So, that's a
12:12little bit about like how I engineer it.
12:14I focus on watch time. You The way that
12:15you have that is by having a strong hook
12:17and retention.
12:17>> Does that work for you you your videos
12:19are really short, and they're also, you
12:22know, really long, 20-30 minutes in some
12:23cases. Does it Does it matter the watch
12:26the length of those videos, or is it
12:27just like you got to get that hook, and
12:29that can work for a long video or short
12:30video?
12:31>> Yeah. I mean, I would say that's
12:32definitely catered a bit more towards
12:33short-form content, but the same thing
12:35applies for long-form, right? Like you
12:37notice the most successful podcasters,
12:39like we'll talk about Diary of a CEO who
12:40has hour-long podcast, he's got that
12:43first minute, it's a preview of some of
12:44the best parts that people are going to
12:46look forward to. So, there's the hook of
12:47his video right there. And then beyond
12:49that, it's like yes, making sure that
12:50there's stuff all throughout for like
12:51retention. So, I think that that formula
12:53is, you know, adamant for both short-
12:55and long-form content.
12:56>> You moved a lot growing up. You lived
12:58overseas, lived across the country.
13:01Uh
13:02What What did that teach you about
13:04becoming the person you are today?
13:05>> I think it's a great question. Yeah, I I
13:07was talking, you know, backstage with
13:08Derek, but I was fortunate from the ages
13:10of 6 to 10 I lived in South Korea. My
13:13dad ran the largest overseas military
13:14base in the entire world, Camp Humphreys
13:16in South Korea. And before the age I was
13:1920, I had been to 20 countries. And what
13:20that did, in my opinion, is number one,
13:23it gave me a different perspective on
13:24life. I tend to view things a lot more
13:26from a global lens as opposed to a very
13:28narrow perspective. You know, I grew up
13:30in the DC area after living in northern
13:31Virginia and a lot of my peers never
13:33left their hometown. But I'm a big
13:35believer that you can only grow to what
13:36you're exposed to and being that I was
13:38able to travel so much, I realized that
13:39man, the world is so big. I don't want
13:40to just stay trapped here. And I think
13:42that was a big thing that kind of
13:43planted that entrepreneurial seed in me
13:45that it's like, I want to have my own
13:46schedule. I want to create my own time.
13:47I want freedom. I want to be able to
13:49travel if I want to travel. And so, I
13:50think that was that was big for me. And
13:52also the adaptability. I moved three
13:54different times in South Korea, back to
13:55the States. And so, even just thinking
13:57about that skill coming into like the
13:59business side of things now on continent
14:00and just like the ability to pivot and
14:02understand that hey, not everything's
14:03going to work for a while and that you
14:04have to be subject to change.
14:07>> You are fearless.
14:08The the way that you approach people
14:10>> Mhm.
14:11>> uh the
14:12And and it's not it's not some random
14:14person. These are like people getting
14:15out of Ferraris or other, you know,
14:17clearly
14:18somebody distinguished, somebody, you
14:19know, with that's had success.
14:22How do you
14:24How do you get your psyche, get your
14:26head in the right place? Because you get
14:28you get rejected a lot. Even though
14:29you've done this so many times, you
14:31still I watched a video of yours just
14:33the other day and a new video and it was
14:35like rejection after rejection after
14:37rejection.
14:38How do you overcome that? How do you
14:40think about people telling you no over
14:41and over again?
14:42>> I I'm a firm believer that the world is
14:45overly cruel to shy men and it rewards
14:47the courageous. So, believe like whether
14:49you want to believe it or not, at the
14:51end of the day, a closed mouth does not
14:53get fed. So, you just have to understand
14:55that if you talk to any of the most
14:56successful people, like rejection is
14:58inevitable. Like even to this day, I
15:00still have people that reject me and
15:02whatnot, but I still use it as fuel. I
15:03still use it as motivation. You know, I
15:05like to say, um you know, a lot of the
15:07interviews that I've been able to get in
15:09the last year, they were initially no's,
15:11honestly. Like big billionaires and some
15:14of the like a A-lister that I recently
15:16did in the last year, it was initially
15:17no as well. But that's the power of
15:20building and compounding credibility.
15:22One of my favorite sayings is that
15:23credibility kills all bad attitudes. I
15:25mean, the amount of no's that we got
15:27starting out being that we were just
15:28some young 20-year-old kids, didn't have
15:29any connections, didn't really have any
15:31credibility. Like, it came over time and
15:33we had to naturally build that. But, the
15:35whole thing about rejection, man, is
15:36it's like at the end of the day, like
15:38I'll just kind of a a quick story is,
15:40you know, I've interviewed 52
15:42billionaires at 23 years old. And the
15:44first billionaire that I ever
15:45interviewed was Mark Cuban. And it was
15:47uh 2022 South by Southwest in Austin,
15:50Texas.
15:51And he would just he had just finished
15:53speaking at at South by Southwest in my
15:56home city where I live right now, which
15:58is Austin. And I saw him kind of on the
16:00corner. He was like waiting for a Uber
16:02or a ride or something like that. And at
16:04the time, you know, before, you know, we
16:06had built like a real media company.
16:08Like, I have 17 employees now across all
16:10of our businesses. But, at the time it
16:11was literally just me, my brother, and
16:13childhood friend. So, it'd be my brother
16:14and I taking turns filming one another
16:16before we really solidified like who
16:17would be doing what. And so, we had been
16:19doing interviews for a little bit. We
16:21had a little bit of success there, but
16:22we had never really gone up to somebody
16:23like a Mark Cuban, right? He is 100% was
16:26the only, I guess you could call him
16:27celebrity entrepreneur that we'd ever
16:29even had like seen in front of us at the
16:31time. And so, we saw him and my brother
16:33and I were very hesitant at first. And
16:35we were like, man, what if what if he
16:36says no? Ah, he's not going to want to
16:38talk to us. But, then there's something
16:40that I live by, which is this idea of
16:42take the risk or lose the chance. Take
16:44the the worst thing somebody can say is
16:46no. And if they say no, then you're in
16:48the exact same position that you were if
16:50you didn't even go up and try and, you
16:51know, in our case get the interview.
16:53Which is exactly what we did. We went up
16:54to him confidently, said, "Hey, Mark. My
16:56brother and I, we started this channel
16:57here at the University of Texas. We're
16:58just trying to get some advice to help
17:00the younger generation through some
17:01interviews. Would you do an interview
17:02with us?" And he happily said yes. And
17:04had we not done that, we would not have
17:05been able to bank an interview with with
17:07a billionaire, owner of the Dallas
17:09Mavericks, right? Shark Tank, you know,
17:11figure. And we've I've leveraged that
17:13still to this day when I'm getting
17:14interviews. You know, like I I still
17:16will will drop that, you know? And so, I
17:18think that there's a lot of power in
17:19just understanding that like, you know,
17:21I'm a testament of a thousand no's and
17:22and getting rejection. And even still to
17:24this day, I just I just I really don't
17:26care. I just don't even let it phase me.
17:28Cuz and that's the thing, too, is just
17:29like, you know, if I can get Tom Cruise
17:31to do an interview, if I can get Mark
17:32Cuban, if I can get Tom Brady or Shaq or
17:34any of these guys, then I'm not going to
17:35let anybody's no bother me. I'm like,
17:37I've already had them in front of me.
17:39So, it's like it's like somebody else is
17:40going to get is going to get to do it.
17:41>> Well, I I took this to heart the other
17:43day because I watch your videos. I'm so
17:45inspired by your fearlessness.
17:48And there was somebody that I deeply
17:49admired. And I
17:52tried to kind of reach him online,
17:53couldn't do it. Finally, I was like, you
17:54know what? I What would James do? And
17:56so, I uh
17:58I made a flyer, which I haven't probably
18:00done in 15 years. And I rolled up to
18:03their office. And as I'm pulling in, it
18:05was like a Friday afternoon. I was like,
18:06I'll probably just get the person at the
18:07front. I'll I'll drop this off.
18:10As I pulled in, I looked to my right and
18:12in a convertible,
18:13the guy was there, sitting in the
18:16parking lot.
18:17And I was like, this is like was this an
18:19act of God? Like what what just what is
18:21happening? And I try not to like, you
18:24know, rush him. But I roll I I walked up
18:26to him and I was like,
18:28"Hey." And I pitched him. And the most
18:30incredible thing happened.
18:31Uh he listened and I could tell you can
18:34tell when somebody's actually listening,
18:35probably like Mark Cuban did at that
18:37moment. He's actually paying attention
18:38and I could tell and
18:40I I I told him who I was and what I was
18:42doing and he said, "Just wait right
18:44here. I need to pull my car in to this
18:47place and then I'll I'll come back and
18:48meet you." And it's a Friday afternoon.
18:51He spent the next 40 minutes with me.
18:53And it was incredible. I was like,
18:56I was like, how is this happening?
18:57Honestly, it was it was it was because
18:59of you. You get all the credit cuz I
19:00wouldn't normally do something like
19:01that. And I feel like
19:03I feel like like you said, actually, the
19:06worst thing that happens is nothing
19:07happens, I think.
19:08Like somebody says no, it's It's not
19:10that bad. You know, I am reminded of
19:12some of those videos like I I've been
19:14married 20 years next month.
19:16>> You got it.
19:16>> But thank you. But I see some of these
19:18dating videos online and it's like, you
19:20know, or or these memes it's like the
19:22worst thing that she Oh, the worst They
19:23said the worst thing she could say was
19:24no and then somebody just gets
19:26destroyed. Um
19:28But that doesn't really happen in
19:29business, you know? So it's like the
19:31worst thing they say is nothing.
19:32Nothing. They don't say anything. Then
19:33you keep falling up. And then if they
19:34say no, it's like you said like that's
19:37just the beginning. And actually I
19:38invited this person to speak and they
19:40said no. And it really like He gave He
19:43gave me a cell phone number and he said,
19:45"Hey, let's [snorts] follow up." And
19:46then he said later said, "Hey, I I
19:48He said, "I love What he said was a
19:49direct quote was, "I loved your energy
19:51but I'm not going to do this."
19:52And at first I was bummed, but then I
19:55was like, "Dude, I already got him."
19:57Like he let me in and we talked for 40
19:59minutes. Like I'm going to go back down
20:01there again and we're going to talk for
20:02another 40 minutes and we're going to do
20:03this and and this and this and all these
20:04good things can happen and
20:06I just think um
20:07it takes courage. It takes courage to
20:10start a company. It takes courage to go
20:12try to sell. It takes courage to ask
20:13somebody for money to buy your product.
20:15Um
20:16but if you don't do it somebody else
20:18will.
20:18>> 100%.
20:19>> And and no one's stopping you. No one's
20:21stopping you today to go up and, you
20:22know, it's tomorrow to Well, come to the
20:25event tomorrow. But Wednesday
20:27go. Like go email the people that that
20:29you need to meet with the and be
20:31thoughtful about it and like show that
20:32you care and they'll see that energy I
20:34think.
20:34>> Yeah.
20:35Now I'm I'm I'm I'm a big believer in
20:37that. Like you said it perfectly right
20:38there. If you don't somebody else will.
20:40So you got to you got to create those
20:42opportunities for yourself.
20:43>> What's next? If we're sitting here in 5
20:45years
20:46and
20:48everything goes right
20:50where do you think you'll be? What what
20:51will you be doing? How will it be
20:52different? How will it be bigger? How
20:54how will it be How will it change?
20:55>> Yeah, so I mean I think it's it's a
20:57great question and I could go a couple
20:59different ways with it. I think for
21:00starters, you know, again, I I still I
21:03go back to what Mike Propolis says. Mike
21:06Propolis probably one of the my favorite
21:08people that I've ever met. He's the
21:09founder of Bodyarmor and Smartwater and
21:11he did a total of 12 billion in exits to
21:14Coca-Cola. And I will never forget, I
21:16think about this every day. He said that
21:17when the big guy on top gets
21:19comfortable, the starving entrepreneur
21:20is going to come up and eat their lunch.
21:22So, even though we've got 22 million
21:24followers now, I want to get to 30. I
21:26want to get to 40. I want to just keep
21:28on growing. I've got an incredible team,
21:30two awesome co-founders. We're scaling
21:32like crazy, continuing to double down on
21:34what works. Focus, focus, focus. I like
21:36to say concentration builds wealth,
21:38diversification keeps it. So, right,
21:40we've been going heavily into real
21:41estate in the last year, going to
21:42continue to build that portfolio,
21:44probably start [snorts] investing in
21:45some companies with my guy Derek over
21:46here. And then honestly, just doubling
21:48down on the media game, right? Like
21:49distribution is everything, right? Like
21:51we're showing you we launched a couple
21:53of subchannels. So, I want to just
21:55continue to keep launching different
21:56channels and building one of the biggest
21:58business media networks that ever
21:59existed in the world.
22:01>> But, you're going to do it. I don't
22:02think anybody in here
22:03seeing you, listening to you, hearing
22:05you, doesn't believe you can't do it.
22:07You're going to do it and grateful to
22:10spend a few minutes with you and hear
22:11about it.
22:12>> Thank you, my firing guy. Thank you.
22:13Appreciate you.
22:14>> Good to meet you, Derek. Thank you.
22:18>> [music]
22:24[music]
22:24>> Did it.
22:33>> [music]

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