Episode 045: Fam Mirza - How He Changed 1 Million Lives By 26

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This is the Rise of.

The Young podcast, bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

What's good, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast today. We have Fam Mirza with us today and he's gonna be talking about his journey as a young entrepreneur and he's literally been changing the world. So I appreciate you coming on, man.

Hey man, appreciate you having me. Thank you. Kind words, dude.

For sure, man. I mean, so first off, man, I know I've been following you for a while and I know some, a little bit about your story. But for everyone listening, man, what's like the brief bio about who you are, just so people can kind of know who they're listening to before we get into it.

Brief bio, eh? Brief bio. I'm in serial entrepreneur. I've been doing this since I was 15. One of my first products was in the Super Bowl. We've created over seven brands now. A few of them had had over 10 million in revenue. Sold a few of them and yeah man, the grind is real and it's always going for sure.

Hey, that's what's up.

But it's out la. It's raining today. It's crazy.

That's odd, bro. For show. But yeah, man, so obviously you're killing it. I know I've been doing a lot of research on you. So you created a brand, One face. But before we get into like the entrepreneurship journey, just like where are you from? How did you kind of get started as an entrepreneur?

Oh man. So where I'm from, I was born in Qatar. Qatar, moved around and then my parents decided to drop me off in like the slums of, like, India, we're mixed. We're mixed with like, Turkish, Iranian and Indian. So my parents dropped me off and yeah, my aunt raised me out there and I was living out there until I was about 8 and then we moved around and we lived in London, lived in every Cali, Tennessee, Florida, Chicago, as far as the US is concerned with a lot of places overseas. London, Saudi, Doha, India, so on and so forth.

Hey, you're all over the place.

All over, brother. I think, like, you know, to be honest, like traveling, especially at such a young age, I think that gave me a little bit of. A little bit of an outside perspective on a lot of things. And it really does become helpful when you're talking about, you know, creating different brands, because at the end of the day, when you're creating a brand, it's about you connecting the dots for the consumer. It's about you being relatable to the consumer, whatever their journey is. So coming from all these different places, you know, I guess it puts me in a better situation to do that.

That's what's up, man. So, like, I know you're in LA now, so like, what. When did you kind of get situated and like settled into a place or were you always all over the place and currently are.

Situated in a place? I mean, I have my main places. Like I have a penthouse in Miami, in la. But man, as an entrepreneur, like, you never stop traveling, you never stop exploring, man. Like, exploration is like the key to growth and anything that you do, I mean, think about how many different people you meet in a day, right? Like, I come to la, I meet all these new people. I was just at Ty's house the other day and he has like a gazillion people over there and it's these ideas, like, we'll sit at the table and just these ideas that these young kids have or like anybody has really might spark another idea on to you.

Definitely, man, for sure. Well, dude, that's. That's what's up, man. All over the place. That's definitely because I went to China back in like a year and a half ago. Beijing, Shanghai. That was like the first time I traveled. So I totally feel like the gainer perspective on that, man. But yeah, so I would say when it comes to the actual companies that you've built, I know that I looked it up. The watch company that you literally changed millions of live lists, I love to kind of see, like, kind of explain to the audience what that was. I know that you've started a While back. But what is One Face and how did you kind of start that?

So, I mean, One Face. One Face was a. Was a watch brand. And what we did was we took a lot of different watches and paired them with different charities. I mean, this is when, like, Toms and, you know, the philanthropic model was really heavy to the consumer. So when we did that, we took a. Designed these watches. So every time you took a look at these watches, you saw your face. So there was something behind that. I've always wanted to have a charity brand, and it so happened to be that. Changing the world one face at a time. Why? Because you see your face and the watch changing the world one face at a time. Time relates back to the watch. It's about connecting those dots. We take each and every color and we, you know, link them with a certain charity and a certain cause.

That's what's up, man. Yeah, because I literally. I've been doing a lot of research on that. Like, that's just the idea itself is super dope. So when it comes to, like, the branding of it, obviously having a successful company is, no joke, not easy. So, like, what was the journey from starting that? Like, did you have a team? And, like, what was the process before it kind of caught on?

So I do these interviews, man. I don't even like to talk about, like, that particular project or this particular project or this particular project that I'm in right now. Like, I think it's more of about any brand, right? You take any. Let's just go branding one on one, right? You take any brand, say, let's do this, we'll make it even easier. We'll go to AliExpress and we'll do, like, white label products. Okay? White label products. You have a certain type of, like, salt and pepper shaker, okay? There has to be something proprietary about that. And then you brand that or you brand this salt and pepper shaker in some way, shape or form. You put up landing pages. You have certain funnels that connect to those landing pages that then connect to your Facebook ads or your Instagram ads. And it's about your creative being amazing. Especially when we're dealing in. When we're dealing with branding, it's always. Almost always about the creative. So it goes creative and it kind of works backwards. Where people think it works one way, but it works the other way where it goes. The harder your creative hits, the easier that funnel will be to get through, right? So the harder your creative hits, the lower your CPA as far as your ad, as Far as. And the easier that funnel it is to get through, because no matter what, the people are gonna get through it because they're so obsessed with your creative. When I say creative, I mean, like, video assets, photo assets, anything of that nature.

For sure, man. Yeah, that's definitely what's up. So I know with branding, when it comes to, like, I know obviously the product itself, but even just starting different products, what's like, three things that you kind of want someone to know regarding just, like, practical stuff that, you know is super, super valuable.

Look, this girl said, love you, Casey.

What's going on? Debbie? I think that's my aunt sets us up. She's in here. So branding, I know, like, your story in general, moving around. Obviously, branding is something that is a trait that you learn and develop with. But, like, for you, man, what are those kind of tips that you'd recommend just starting from the ground up?

I mean, man, branding is pretty much branding is connecting the dots for your consumer, right? It's about telling a story, and it's about connecting all those dots so your consumer sees that light at the end of the tunnel. You have to go through that tunnel, and the more clearer it is and however you choose to tell that. Like, for example, with Nike, Nike's always telling stories. Inspirational. One of my boys, Charlie, he actually made a video.

I made that video viral on my Facebook page. Got a million views in five days.

Oh, no way. Okay. Yeah, Charlie, from the CEO, his story is insane. Yeah, man. So it's like that, like, Charlie, Charlie makes this video. You put the video out, it goes viral, one thing leads to another. Nike contacts them, and now they're doing a whole campaign together, dude.

Yeah, for sure. It's funny at the Charlie story because they literally. He followed me, like, I'd say, two weeks back, and, like, he commented my picture. I checked out his page, and, like, I saw the video. I was like, bro, because my. My company does a lot of viral videos on Facebook. He hit me up. We just posted it, done different ad. Ad sets, edited the video a bit, and then, like, we blew it up, hit a million views, and he was just, like, leveraging it. And again, contact with Nike. But, yeah, that. That whole process was super dope, bro.

Yeah, man. But I mean, that's what branding is all about. When they hear stories like that, you know, like, Nike, a new Nike, was gonna pick that up at some point.

In time for sure, man. Definitely. So with you, I mean, obviously, when it comes to starting a company, I know some people don't like Talking about failures. But, like, did you have any, like, really hard stepping stones that you had to get through that? Like, as an entrepreneur, you really like to share or what?

Man, look, I love talking about failures. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, we're all failures. At least the best of us are. The only people who can say that they're not failures are the ones that have never tried. So those. Those people don't even count. Those don't count. Yeah. So, yeah, man. Like, failures. Yeah, we've had so many failures. I mean, we've had a website back in the day, it was called, like, Custom Made Gear, where we provided a lot of all the clothing for like, music videos and whatnot to artists. And then we would, like, market that online and people would, like, shop online and try to buy that clothing. What we didn't know is that everybody in the world thought that they were an artist. So they would hit us up and be like, oh, well, I don't want Drake's face on there. I want my face. So it was like. And that taught me something. I was like, I will never be in the custom anything. Like, there's no point, right? When it comes to, like, if you want to make money online and you want to make money any type of way, it's about moving mass products. Mass products. 1000-002000-00300,000, a million. When you can go platinum on a product, who, Buddy, that's it. You're. You're the king of the game.

Okay. Sort of like one of my boys, Alan, he sound like a huge fidget spinner trend. I think they sold like a couple hundred thousand of those. Them damn spit fidget spinners. Would that be like kind of like a product, branding wise, that kind of fits in that niche or what?

So that was an interesting play, right? I saw the fidget spinner things and so many of my friends, like, started these businesses and signed fidget spinners. That was literally the fastest I've ever seen the trend died my entire life.

Boom, boom.

It was just one. It was like a dump. Stock market stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

Straight pump it up. So, I mean, that was an interesting play because the item itself was not proprietary. Nobody had patented the finished fidget spinner. It had no functionality to it. Even the design wasn't patented. So it was like literally open to anybody and everybody.

Okay.

That'S. That's what was interesting about that play, man. So the branding of it. I don't even think it was the branding.

I would.

I would have said more it was about the distribution channel. That's why I said to all my friends who started those companies, I was like, look, man, as long as you have the greatest sales force, right, and you contact the most distribution channels, get distribution and fucking 7 11, that's where you're hidden. Like, my son go went into 7 11. He was like, I want these fidget spinners. And I had to buy like three fidget spinners one day. And I was like, what is going on? That was that type of play, man.

I wanted to ask you about networking because I know over the last two years, be like, networking for me has been huge. So when it comes to, like, your journey, has networking been a crucial part for you? Or how has that been, like, important to you so far?

Networking is crucial, man. Like, you are your network. I mean, what's the saying? Your network is your network.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

That's it, buddy. Like, that's everything, right? Because like I said, like, everybody, every person might spur just an idea. Just having a conversation will spur an idea. And that's really, like, what it's about. And besides that, like, network. But here's the thing that I always tell my friends. It's about networking up, not networking down. So as Bill Gates says, you know, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong fucking room.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that one.

I'm networking up and not networking down. Like, I'm always around people who I can learn something new from. Sometimes I don't, but usually I'm, you know, you learn something new from people, and that's the way the world works, dude. Knowledge breeds itself.

Definitely, man. So how do you think when it comes to social media for me, like, I've been able to connect with, like, Ty. Ty Lopez or Gary Vaynerchuk all through social media, through, like, personal branding and just from networking on social media. And like, that's been huge for me. So I know that we connected on social media. So how has, like, social media played a part in your life or where do you see it going?

Social media has changed the spectrum of the game, right? Well, back in the day, you used to, what, send letters? Call. Yeah, call Yellow pages. And now everybody's right there and everybody is in just the reach of your palm, man. Thank you. That's. That's the most interesting thing about. About where we are now as human beings. Like, psych, psychologically, right? I just had this. I just had this so interesting conversation I had in my uncle. He's like, 86. He's like the patriarch of our family. I went out with them and I was telling him, you know, he took. You know, they raised us a certain way, and, you know, being from our background, like Persian, stuff like that, you know, they raised us in the way that everybody needs to be a doctor, nurse, engineer, and that's how we were raised. Everybody had to be a doctor, pharmacist, engineer, something technical. I never did that.

Okay.

Out of college, and I started my. I started my companies. Right. And that's the difference. And he looked at me, and I was. And I told him, I said, I don't like the preconceived notions that you instilled in us. Right. Because some of my family members, like, they. Yeah. Like, one of my cousins is a pharmacist. She, like, hates her life.

Yeah.

What it is. So he looked at me and he said. He said, I have failed. He said, we have failed in our family because so many of us are unhappy with what we do in life. He's like, but you, at such a young age, have literally done things that we can only dream of.

Okay.

You know, that was like a very. I mean, he's 86. They've never said that to me in my life. So that was, like, the first time. So it was a very big deal. Oh, yeah, man. Especially with the usher. With. With the ushering of social media, ushering in, of communication, how everything has changed now. Everything is mass media, and you can do it like this, Right? So I think that's what really separates today from back in the day. Yes. Maybe back in the day, there were these notions where you had to go to college and you had to get these technical degrees in order to make a living. That is no more. Because everything is now broadcasted live. Our communications have changed everything. The Internet has literally changed everything.

Anything, definitely, man. I totally agree with you, man. And I was about to ask you regarding college, because for me, I'm still in high school and, like, coming from a place about, like, college, that's the route. That's the game, supposedly. What was that kind of transformation for you about, like, dropping out of college? Was it, like a huge thing where you just had to say F it to everyone else or, like, what was that process for you?

Wasn't about. It wasn't about effort to everyone else, but it was about, you know, like. Like, it's changing now, and it's changing now. And it's changing now. And it's changing now. So you can't read books that are published three years ago, or these professors with this old psychology. I mean, the information with changes is accessible right now.

Oh yeah.

Webinars, kissmetric, webinars, Neil Patel, Tai, for example. That type of information is what's needed. Nobody in college is going to teach you about cryptocurrency. They don't know what blockchain technology is or how it works. Yeah, when I sit down with these guys, you know, I was just at Ty's house, they had a crypto mastermind from like San Fran and all these places and we're talking about blockchain and you wouldn't learn that in school. And I'm not saying like, I don't ever say like, don't ever go to school, but you know, it's one of those things where like, maybe if you really want to learn a technical craft and be the best it, then you should go to school. But if you're doing like Internet marketing, you want to start your own business and just learn branding, marketing, things like that. As far as selling products and things like that. No, obviously you shouldn't go to school.

Definitely, man. For sure. And I totally agree with you because, I mean, when I went to Ty's place back in last February and like, it's just crazy because like, even for me, coming from a place where it's like college is so mainstream, college is the only thing to do. I just think it's crazy. Like, even someone that's still in school that like, they don't teach you anything real world, that's cutting edge, sort of like what Ty, about social media. It's just like, it's crazy me being like at a young age, seeing the whole both sides of the spectrum about like learning from Ty, but then also going to math class the next day or whatever it may be, you know, so it's just, it's a crazy world nowadays, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When's the last time you ever used a Pythagorean theorem?

Dude, I dropped out on math class this year because I didn't need it to graduate. It was hilarious.

Yeah, I don't know what PI equals like 3.14. Something. Yeah.

So one more, A few more things. So regarding school itself, I just had a. I had a meeting with Gary Vaynerchuk the other day and he's just talking about school, how he was a DNF student. What was like, what was school like for you? Were you a smart kid? How did that whole school thing look like on your end?

I love Uncle Gary, I was definitely not a DNF student, though. Like, I went to school to learn. Like, I really went to school to learn. It just didn't work like that. You know what I mean? It didn't work out like that, but, yeah, I went to school to learn. Like, everybody. Whatever you do in life, man, like, whatever undertaking you take, take it. You know what I mean? People go to school to just like, party and things like that. We did party a lot, but, yeah, I was like, B's, B C's at times. That's about it.

Boom. So, yeah, I know we talked about products. I know we talked about a little bit about branding. But for you, man, when it comes to just branding overall, the word branding, what does that mean to you and what do you describe it as?

Branding. Branding is an expression, man. Branding is an expression. Right? It's pretty much like an expression. And an expression is an emotion of the soul, pretty much. So, once again, like, branding is an expression. An expression is an emotion of the soul. So when you connect to the emotion of your consumer, that's when it resonates. That's what the big boys are the best at. That's what Nike does. That's what Facebook used to do. That's what anybody, everybody. That's how Henry Ford got big.

Yeah, definitely. Like the emotional standpoint of just the. An entire. The product launcher, like the brand or anything like that. Correct.

Everything. I mean, all the stories behind it. Right? That's how you. That's how you express a brand. Yep. It's about telling stories. Like, nobody. If you come out right now and you're like, this is a very, very technical product that, like, it's going to change my life. Very technical matter. You have to tell a story behind it. These shoes make me jump higher.

Yeah.

What's the story behind that? I need to know that other people have done it, other humans have experienced the experience that I'm going to have. And that's what resonates.

I love it. I love it. So one other thing, I know that we touched on it a little bit with social media, but personal branding, I know Gary Vee talks about it all the time. How important is that to you? Or is that something you focus on or what?

Yeah, I mean, it's very important, man. Especially, like I said, like, right now, in the day and age that we are, everything is about personal branding. Right? People see, like, girls see my Instagram and like, oh, my God, you have a blue check mark. Like, it's just led to. It's a Different spectrum of humanity. Now, right back in the day, it wasn't this, this, this is a different spectrum of humanity where everybody judges you by the experiences that you had, the photos that you posted, the following that you have and how influence of you are.

For sure.

That's literally what it is.

Definitely for sure. And when it comes to you, do you see that as something. Obviously there's multiple ways to look at it. Is that a good thing, a bad thing or is it just. Obviously it just cultivated to what it is. But like your mindset of social media, personal branding is like, what's your intake on it?

From a. I mean, as far as my social media, you know, I post a lot of like personal stuff on there, but also as far as, like, I love to post knowledge on there, man. That's really what it's about. It's about posting knowledge on there that other people can resonate with. And it's about the repertoire, the work that you've done. Like your briefcase. Like, why would I trust you if I can't see any of your work anywhere? And today social media is the new portfolio. You just post whatever work you've done on Instagram. Like, I have so many, so many DMs that come through in a day about companies that want like consulting, like, how do I do this, how do I do that? Like young kids like yourself, entrepreneurs, you know, that's really what I'm doing now. Obviously I have my own brands. Besides that, just like consulting these different companies, you take percentages of each company depending on if I like the team, because that's my big thing. Like if I don't, if I don't like the team and I don't like the quarterback, I'm not running with the squad. So that's what it's about. As Warren Buffett used to say, it's all about betting on the jockey. So it's about the team. Because regardless of how great your product is, without that team, they can't execute on it. So you might have the biggest players on the field, but if that guy can't throw that ball into the end zone, you just lost. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I consult these companies with more important, like when I meet with the team, that's when I know if I'm going to invest in the company, if I'm not going to invest in the company. And the idea might be good, sometimes the idea might be shitty, but the team is amazing. And now I could take that idea and I could pivot it. Yeah. And have them work on these things to see how well that does. And after that pivot, this team can still throw that ball into the end zone. We're good to go.

I love it. That was dope, bro. So last thing before we wrap it up, man. I know I'm 17, I'm a young entrepreneur. I have thousands of young entrepreneurs that listen to this. What would be if you had to start all over again? Never started a brand, never started a company, or what are some things that you want to tell yourself before starting all over?

Nothing, man. It's like learn from your mistakes and you learn from your experiences. You have to have all of them in order to be sitting in that seat today, or in order for me to be sitting in the seat here, anything of that nature. You know what I mean? So everything that you've done in your life, every moment that you've had in your life has brought you to this moment because you're living in the now. So this is the now, the only thing that I tell young entrepreneurs, and this is my main, main, main thing, right? Time. Time is the most valuable asset in life. If you allocate it properly, you will be successful. It's as easy as that, right? And when I say allocating it, your success might not be the same as somebody else's success. It might have to do with family, might have to do with money, it might have to do with travel. Whatever the case. Whatever the case it might be, these messages keep popping up on your thing. Appreciate both of you guys. Appreciate you, Brad. But, yeah, it's all about the allocation of time, man. Doing the same thing repeatedly over and over and over and over and over again. You will become the greatest at it. Floyd Mayweather never lost a fight, though. Floyd Mayweather's been boxing since he was like, 7 years old. Yeah, you know, for sure, man.

For sure, man. Well, dude, I really appreciate you coming out. I feel like for a lot of young entrepreneurs and even the people like Gary Vee, like, patience, I feel like, especially someone that's young, definitely the most valuable thing. So I'm super glad you brought that up, man, and obviously appreciate your time. I know time is super valuable to you, man. So everyone that's listening right now, where is the best place for them to connect with you?

Fammirza.com or Instagram @imfam? Just Google me, man. I'm all over the place. Any companies that want to pitch me, it's fam f A mirrors of minds Calm. Or you can go through the website famebarison.com that might take you a little longer.

And everyone listening, that will also be all of his information down in the description. So you're gonna want to make sure you check that out. So that being said, guys, if you aren't already, make sure you subscribe, make sure you drop a review on the Rise of Young podcast and let us know who you want on the show. And and that being said, fam, I really appreciate you coming on and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh my God.

Go, go, go. Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.