John Shahidi - President of Full Send speaks on building Happy Dad, having Elon Musk on the podcast, and the future of the creator economy

Welcome back to the Casey Adams Show. Today I am joined by the one and only John Shahidi from Full Send, Happy Dad, Nelk boys, and many, many more. John, how you doing today, brother?

Good, good. Thanks for coming here.

Of course. Thanks so much for having us here. You know, I walked into the office and it's so cool to see, you know, everyone sees you guys on, on YouTube on the cameras, but to really see the HQ and everyone doing their thing, it's super cool. So how happy to be here, I guess, to jump into it, man, like full send Happy dad. You guys have built and you've built incredible brands over the years. You know, where, where do you spend your time day to day? Now I know you guys are, you know, scaling Happy dad like crazy. I see it everywhere, so congrats on that. But where do you spend your time and what do you. What does your day typically look like?

It really? I mean, Happy dad takes a lot of time right now because it's such a growing, growing business and we're hiring so many people in the 16 states that we're in. So we're actually bringing in a staff into each, building a team in specific every market. And, you know, earlier this year the focus was actually bringing them into states, but now we've broken up the states based off markets and we're creating different, like we're hiring from regional managers to area sales managers. We have a great distributor in every single state. So we've been lucky there. And, you know, now it's like local marketing teams. So Happy Dad's been taking up a lot of time. You know, obviously full send and everything that comes with full send takes a lot of time from the production, which we've got. I want to say the probably the best team I've ever worked with in the 11 or so years I've been doing YouTube. So the production runs itself from Nelk Channel, Saleem's channel, the Full Send podcast. Steve will do its channel, which obviously got, you know, many know. Yeah, yeah, I got taken down by Mewtwo, but, you know, he's still creating content. He's gonna be on rumble.com pretty soon here, so he's doing that as well.

Yep, I saw that.

Yeah.

Crazy.

So, you know, so then you have the team, but the team, you know, we've got a, like I said, a state of the art team when it comes to production there. So. So was Full syncomes merch. What? Folsom comes NFT with full Sencom supplements now.

Yeah, you guys have it all. And you know, it didn't start there. I'd love to kind of take it back. You know, the origin story. I remember listening on the Money Bias Happiness podcast, just hearing how you and Kyle met and how organic it was like when you guys met and now seeing where you are today was the vision to go build all these different sub brands within it. And I know Happy dad was like the initial combo based on what you said in the podcast, but I'd love to talk about your relationship with Kyle and how you guys have grown over the years and really the, the mentality it's taken to reach this point, because you guys aren't just a typical brand. You guys have impacted culture, in my opinion, in such a unique way that is very, very rare. And I think that helping people understand that is just. There's so much gold in that. So when you guys met, you know, what were some of those early conversations that you guys were having when you were first getting involved with the brand, the boys and, you know, the whole Nelk boys team?

When we first met, we talked about exactly what we're doing right now. You know, the. His vision was always, you know, build brands, build products. Which is even before I joined Full Send Nelk a little over two years ago now. It's always. I always believe in that too. I forgot what podcast it was, but I know I said it on Impulsive, but even before that I said something where, you know, creators are the future of consumer goods products and a creator shouldn't, you know, I mean, obviously you've got to do these brand deals to pay the bills and monetize the different platforms you're on, but, you know, that's all short term money. The long term money builds and, you know, it comes in building this.

Yep.

And in our earlier conversations, and Kyle saw that from day one, like, he's very like anti brands and. And it's not because he hates brands and, you know, you know, he's not, you know, this company. Fuck that you curse on here.

Yeah, for sure.

But, you know, it's more like he just knows what he's building and what he's built over the last 10 years is very long term. And he knows it's taking him a little over 10 now, I think, you know, Nelk is about 11 years old now and he knows he's gonna be here for another 10 years, so he's not like really chasing that short term check, which is something that I've always preached that creators should not be doing. Traders. Every creator is their own platform. You Know, a Instagrammer with 5 million followers or 500, 000 followers, or a YouTuber with a million subs or a hundred thousand subs, it's their. Their own platform and they've got a platform and they could create. They just have to figure out what it is exactly for the audience.

Yep. Yeah, I think you guys have done that not only super well, but perfectly in a sense where, you know, prior to launching the alcohol copy dad, it just, it fits the brand of what they were doing. It made so much sense. So I'm sure that speaks to the success of it. But what's your feedback when you're talking to creators? Maybe you don't work with them directly, but finding that right product, because there's so many paths you could go down in terms of finding that direct to consumer product. And you guys, again, made so much sense. But how do you. What's your advice and feedback to creators that don't know maybe where to go and they're relying on that, you know, quick money, brand deal, type of lifestyle.

Well, if they don't know the answer, then. Then they don't really know their audience. You know, Kyle has talked about a lot of different businesses he's wanted to.

Build.

Underneath the full sin happy dad Nelka empire. But, you know, never has he once said, like, let's do a fragrance for women. You know, even though that's like a trendy thing right now, fragrance and makeup and beauty and all that stuff, it's like, you know, and you see YouTubers, but it's like he doesn't follow the trend. You know, that's. That. That would never work here.

Yeah.

With this audience, you know, and one could argue, well, you know, a lot of me, a lot, you know, one. One could try to argue with him. It's like, hey, you know, a lot of male followers, they all, you know, have girlfriends, wives, sisters, moms, but still it's like, like, no, you're not going to get the biggest bang for the buck. So I think you just, you know, to create a product. You know, Mr. Beast is a good example, you know, really creating products that cater towards his audience, which is, you know, obviously under 18 years old, you know. You know, when, when I think of myself at the age of being a Mr. Beast fan, like, I probably would have been like 9, 10, 11 years old. You know, McDonald's was my favorite place. That's all I ever wanted was to go to McDonald's. That's what I was rewarded. If I was good, I got to go to McDonald's now, you know, a 10, 11, 12 year old is probably being rewarded and you get to go to Mr. Beast Burgers now. So, you know, and then you end up growing up with that brand and you know, you know, and there's that nostalgia feeling you get as an adult that, you know, you'll always. I'll always love McDonald's. Not because the food is great, but it's because. Just reminds me of my childhood. Yeah. The brand loyalty is there and it just kind of like triggers happy feelings inside me. Coca Cola is the same thing. Disney's the same thing, you know, and you know, but Mr. Beast understands his audience. He didn't go making alcohol, he didn't go make a, you know, something that would cater towards a 25 or 30 year old.

Yep.

You know, and that's it. Yeah. And that's why he's crushing it with, you know, totally. With Mr. Beast burgers. With his chocolate.

Yep. No, I think I saw a podcast he was recently on as well, just talking about like the empire he's built.

It's.

It's so cool to see. Speaking about knowing your audience, I know you guys, you launched the full send podcast, what, just over a year ago.

Yeah. Yeah.

Crack one of these open.

Yeah.

Cheers, brother.

Cheers. Yeah, I think it was first week of August of 2021.

Wow. So just over a year ago.

Yeah. Actually the Elon episode that just aired this August was released on the one year anniversary. Yeah. I don't know why we didn't make a bigger deal of it, but if people go back, it was actually like on the one year anniversary. It was kind of my gift to the team.

So I mean, quite the gift. Well, cheers to that man. I mean, having Elon on the show, I think just the way you guys had him on the show as well. And just to take a step back, I've had my show for five years. I've actually had Elon's mom, May Musk and his sister Tosca on the show. Super cool. And just hearing him sit there with you guys for multiple hours on end talking about SpaceX and all the different companies in between, and also just having a man to man combo, it was so cool to see that rather than just it being a one on one, but in a group setting. And I remember you talking about how you had to get him on the show, but I wanted to ask you, like coming out of that podcast knowing not only the significance of what he's done and the impact it will have on the community and when people see it, like, what was the after effect of that? Right. Like, he's tweeting about it. Like, what is. How does the team feel? How do you react to that? And how do you think about moments in which you're having someone like Elon on the show from a business standpoint, from a marketing standpoint, and just for the podcast in general.

Well, it's been two. A little over two months now since the episode went live, and there's not a day that's not. It's not talked about here, like, one way or another. The Elon episode, granted, I. I mean, I stay in touch with Elon. I talked to Elon.

Yeah, I saw what. You guys are on Twitter. Saw that.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're doing a few. A lot of different things. Yes. I could talk about it here, but I guess a Fortune article came out listing people he's been in touch with on the Twitter thing. And my name is Honor. But, you know, we could talk about that. Honestly, I don't care. We could talk about it, but. But we. We talk about a lot of different things. But. But the Elon podcast episode, there's has not been a single day since went live where it's not brought up in this office somehow, some way. It was just such a magical episode. Yeah, it was three hours with him. And, you know, I'd love for you.

To talk because I know I heard it on a podcast where you spoke about it, but people that may not know, like, how that happened. Right. Like, I remember him saying, like, he texted you, you guys were back and forth, and then he was in, you know, the town. Where were you guys? You're on. He was in Austin. And like, talk to me about that moment where, you know, he was coming in. How was the team reacting? Was everyone prepared? Like, what's the excitement like internally? Because everyone sees Dion the camera maybe before, but being not only the president of the company, but just understanding how big of a moment this is for the team, also the audience. It must have been such a surreal moment.

It was. I mean, it was. We got into Austin. It was kind of this little bit of a mind too, because when we landed in Austin to go meet up with Elon, we didn't have WI Fi on the plane. And when we landed, it was like a three hour flight or so. And I had two texts, one from Elon confirming and giving me an address of where he wanted to do it. And then I had another email from. Or another text from YouTube telling me Steve's channel was permanently deleted. So I'M landing. I'm like, two extremes, and Kyle's looking at me. We were on the flight together. He's like, you good? Like, what happened? I was like, well, Elon's good, but Steve's channel's gone. What do you mean? Like, we couldn't even, like. Yeah, it was too extreme. So, you know, it was just this, you know. And then Steve had landed in. I forgot where he was somewhere in South America, and he had landed to do the Elon. We were gonna have Steve on the episode with us because he loves Elon Musk. And, you know, he was just so bummed. He was like, I can't. Like, I don't want to ruin the episode. Like, you know, he didn't want to come in on it. Like, you were just so devastated by YouTube. I mean, all those years of work and just.

So what was the core reason why his account got taken down? And do you think he could have been prevented?

The core reason we were. We actually weren't really given a real reason. I had to, like, dig into it more. And, you know, there was some gambling. Gambling site that. That he's partners with that was that he was promoting on there. But even though he was legally promoting it, because he'd never. It's an offshore. Like one of those offshore gambling sites. But he was. He's never been on that site in the US he always traveled. That's why he was in South America. Excuse me. So that was the reason they gave us. I don't know if that was necessarily the core. I don't know what it was. It could be anything, obviously, like.

Yeah, it's, you know, devastating. It's like, come on.

Yeah, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, someone could. You just don't, you know, you don't know. Like, that's the problem. You don't know, like, what the real, real reason is. I mean, it could have been someone there just maybe didn't like his humor, you know, I don't know. Steve is very, very out there, but there's people out there that are a lot, you know, a lot crazier than Steve. You know, like, when it comes to, like, the content. Well, dark humor. I mean, at the end day, it's dark humor. Steve means well. Steve is the. One of the nicest, kindest people. Like, he. The guy will never hurt anything or anyone's feelings. Like, we'll never do anything malicious or bad to anybody. He's just, you know, he's got that. I mean, he's he's got that comedy inside him. And you know, and sometimes, you know, I mean, Dave Chappelle says some dark stuff. Tim Dillon, this says some dark stuff. You know, Andrew Schultz says some dark stuff. You know, like when I'm talking about comedy, it's like sometimes they say those shocking things that you're like, what the, did you really just say that? And that's what Steve does too. Yeah, he just, he just delivers comedy in differently than a stand up comedian. But he's got that same like gene as them.

Yeah. Well, to kind of pivot the conversation about full send and the company right now, there's a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to the show, watch this show. When you think about building team culture, hiring, you guys have such a, you walk in here, it feels like there's a family here. It feels very, a sense of togetherness. How have you gone about building culture within full send, attracting the right talent and just, you know, building with the family that you do have. Because not only is it efficient, but it's, it seems to be working, right?

Yeah, we have a, we have like this kind of, this unwritten rule here and it's a rule that I've, I've always kind of tried to live my life by and my brother Sam as well, and Kyle as well, and Steve as well is, I think, you know, in the last year only, you know, maybe less than five people have been let go of any of our companies. Folsom now, Happy dad, or even Shot Studios. And it's really been no reason other than attitude. You know, we have like this, no negativity at, no negativity attitude here. And I think that's the only thing that will get you there, you know. You know, if you're not performing well, we'll sit down with you and we'll sit down with you 20 or 30 times until you do well, you know, if you know, or we'll move your position into something that you do fit better. But if you come in here and start, you know, being negative for whatever reason, you know, and people have their bad days, but if that attitude doesn't change over a few months, yep, you're gone. And I think that's where, why you feel the energy that you feel here. And it's that family energy. It's like everyone's happy. Everyone, you know, it's got a smile on their face. Everyone just loves working here because we have that kind of, that no negativity attitude here.

Yeah, no, I feel it right when you walk in and Just how you guys move. And you know, how at least from a social perspective as well, it's same thing. But when you think about the future of Full Send Happy dad, where does this go, right in 10 years, where do you want Full Send to be? Happy dad. Nelk boys. How did the brand. How do you see. How do you see them evolving? And just what's your mindset or what would you like to share with the audience in terms of the future of the entire empire that you guys have built? Because it's not slowing down.

Yeah, well, I think it's an ecosystem that we're building. So right now we're really focused on the existing pieces through that ecosystem. Um, down the road, maybe there'll be new things that are added to empower the ecosystem. But right now we're very focused on what's there to build that ecosystem. And, you know, at, you know, the podcast to the website, to the social channels, to the products, they all, you know, they all kind of feed the core of the company. So, you know, everything's so new. And, you know, 2022 was like the first real year post Covet. So, you know, because all this is new. Like, all this really developed during COVID So even though, like, the. My life before this and Kyle's life before this was always YouTube. So, like, you know, these two worlds of YouTube collided during COVID But, you know, all. Everything that we're building around this has been, you know, post Covid. So I think this is like a first real year without it. And so we've been really busy building what's currently on our plate. But, you know, there's always ideas, you know, that we kind of just say, okay, yeah, we'll do that, but let's visit that. I mean, there's been stuff that we've said, yeah, that's a great idea, let's do that in 2024. Um, you know, we're thinking that way and we just kind of plant the seeds. Just like the seeds of the alcohol business was planted many years ago, but both by. By my brother before we met Kyle, and Kyle himself. So we had planted this seed before. And, you know, my seed was built when I was building the whole YouTube network. Everything I was doing with YouTube and Kyle's. Same thing with building YouTube and then, you know, and I had maybe 15 years ago, so I had an alcohol brand that was an eight plus product. It's just, you know, it was pre social media and everything. So I didn't have kind of the, you know, the. The weapons that I have now to grow a, you know, a product.

I'd love to dive into that. Like working with your brother shots, like getting into this whole world of entrepreneurship and business, you know, where did that journey start? Because I know you've worked with over the years, you know, Justin Bieber, Floyd Mayweather, and you've done a lot of that early development with them in terms of the YouTube stuff. And really more so like a pioneer of the whole space in general, you know. Where did, where does your entrepreneurial roots come from with your brother? I'd love to hear about working alongside him and just how you got into this whole world of business and why, most importantly.

Yeah, well, my brother and I, we, you know, we work really well because, you know, I'm, I'm a very, you know, I'm a thinker. Like I'm always thinking of what, what's the next chess move? And he loves to physically do things. So he'll go and physically move that chess piece, you know, and that's kind of how we work, you know, and while he's moving that chess piece, I'm thinking what the next chess move is. So we're very, very great at that. Sometimes when you're playing chess, you probably need some assistance and someone to whisper in your ear. And he's very good at that as well because he's moved so many chess pieces for me. So my brother and I, we work really great when it comes in that aspect. We see eye to eye all the time on what we're doing. Long term, right. Short term stuff, you know, like I said, we're brothers, so we bicker a lot. But sure, long term, we think, think very, very eye to eye. It's almost like if he's got a really big idea or if I've got a really big idea, like it really takes like two seconds of him explaining the idea where I get it right away and vice versa. So.

Yep. No, that's really cool. Speaking of tech, I know you had a background in tech. You had, you've had some apps. I'd love to hear your current thoughts on that because for context, you know, I have a tech company called Media Kits. I just sold it to a company in Toronto called Viral Nation. Big talent, talent agency, just big influence marketing company. So, you know, we're going through this phase of integrating the product and really getting, you know, the tech integrated with our ecosystem. I'd love to hear your thoughts on, you know, the same way you think about influencers launching direct to consumer brands like physical products Is there opportunities for creators to launch tech platforms? You've seen it done over and over again. I'd love to hear about your guys thoughts on that. Right. Like Kyle and Full Send, there's such a big audience, like would you guys ever launch your own social platform or something in the realm of a tech play? Because everything you guys touch is there's so much opportunity in many verticals. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on that and just where you see that going with creators overall.

We think about it a lot. It's something that's brought up all the time just because we've got such a powerful audience. And then I've got the experience of building a tech platform before that I did in 2013 with Justin Bieber. You know, it's, it's very, it's not as easy as people think. You know, people will think, well, you've got this huge audience of 10 million people, you know, get them over and you know, even if you got 20% of them, that's 2 million. And they go tell, you know, you know, one or two people each, now you're talking 6 million. It's not that easy because one is, no one wants to sign up, no one wants another app. You know, like they just, people just don't want more apps on their phones. And then like, then they gotta think, you know, like the iPhone's been around for over a decade, so you know, there's a lot of behavior that's already been established and people have got to think of going to you now. So why are they going to you? Why, you know, what's the community, what's so special about the community that you've built that's not available on Twitter or Instagram or YouTube or TikTok or Snapchat? So what's up? What, what makes that so special? And I don't know if we've got that answer quite yet. Yeah, you know, so that's one. You see a lot of these new platforms coming out right now, including Rumble.

And, and Steve's working with, right?

Yeah, you know, Rumble's a little bit different because they are, they're publicly traded, so they've got a lot of money to go and acquire content as well. And they're the only solution for now to YouTube. So you know, for those who are fed up or have been blocked from YouTube, they have nowhere else to go but Rumble. But in addition to that, they do have a lot of money to go and acquire content. And their CEO, he's, he knows good content. When he sees it as well. He was talking to us about Rumble way before Steve.

That's awesome.

Taking off YouTube. Like he just knew now because it was probably Maybe over early 2021 is when I started talking to Chris. And you know, they just, they have a CEO that just has the eye for proper content and talent. So. So Rumble's a little bit different, but some of these other ones, you know, it's kind of gets hard because, you know, I've said this before too, is I feel like, you know, when you have some, you know, when you have a platform that's so one sided, I think people get bored. I think people want to argue online. You know, I think the left wants to argue with the right. Like, I think they like that. I think, you know, people just want to go after, you know, they don't want a place where everyone agrees with you. Yeah, I think that's sad to say, but I think that gets boring for people. So I think that's where also gets a little bit difficult too is like if you make a platform where everyone's got the same thing in common, everyone's aligned. Yeah, I think no controversy. Yeah, I think people will get a little bored and they're like, all right, let me go see where all the real noises.

Totally. The controversy is currency. Right. That attention is one thing I'd love to hear shots Studios. I know you guys have a podcast network. How do you think about the podcasting space? I know you have the pivot and a handful of shows and that's a separate vertical that you guys are just absolutely dominating. How do you think about podcasting? How's it changed over years and where do you see it going as a content form and where's the opportunity there right now?

I think podcasts are going to be like consumer good products. I think every creator is going to have one. I think they're going to, everyone's going to have one. I think it's, it's its own platform. Podcasting is, I think, you know, and when I say platform, it's, you know, it doesn't matter where it goes. If you want to focus on Spotify, focus on Spotify, focus on YouTube, focus on YouTube. But I do think everyone is going to have their own eventually. Some people are going to be late to the game. Like people were, you know, a lot of these movie actor actors and actresses were to social media. A lot of athletes were. But, but, you know, but I think everyone's going to have one and then eventually everyone's going to have Their own podcast network. I think at least the big ones will have their own network.

You're saying different creators will have their own network with. What does that look like with people in their life, with people that they associate with, and they can kind of build a network around certain topics or. Yeah, I mean, how would I. Let's say for me, because I've thought about this many times, like, I want to go start a podcast network. What does that look like? Where do I focus but love to hear that from you.

Well, there's probably a lot of young people who look up to you. Right. And they don't know where to go. And you could guide them and you might be even interested in helping them because they remind you of you. And you could bring them underneath your network. You could have them on your show, have them talk about what their new podcast is. You could go on their show. People look up Casey Adams all the time. So, you know, they could go and start searching and they discover you. And that's why I love YouTube because so easy to find to. To discover people. And so people, you know, I think, you know, then you go on their show, vice versa. And then now you've helped grow this one that had zero idea reach out to you and didn't know what they were doing, needed your help. You seeing that right now with. I mean, obviously you see that with us shot students and Folson, you'll see that LeBron James is doing that with things called uninterrupted. Kevin Durant's got his own network as well.

Yep.

I think you're going to see a lot more people building that and building podcast networks, because at the end of the day, it's a media company.

Yeah. Production company, media company, all the above. Where's an industry that you haven't necessarily launched something in that you're interested about? Right. Is there. Is there a space that you have always been itching to step into and why you haven't maybe.

That I haven't stepped into. I would say current one currently that I am into right now is that people don't see it, but it's something I'm very passionate about and I'd like to do more is just health and wellness in general, you know, from physical health to mental health. You know, we try our best to make sure our. Our content is, you know, as positive as possible.

Totally.

You know, that's why we don't really bash if you watch our podcast, you know, although, like people, when they think of milk, they associate nelk with controversy. But if you notice, like, we don't bash people. We don't, you know, we don't go after people. People go after us all the time, left and right, you know, no matter, you know, all directions. People want to come after us, but we don't really necessarily attack back. So I think, you know, that's one. I think also, you know, with our products, we try to be as health conscious as possible. You know, we could have had a super sugary alcohol if we wanted to, but, you know, we kept happy dad simple. Can't say for regulatory reasons that it's healthy. I'm not saying. I'm not saying it's healthy whatsoever. It's still alcohol. You got to drink responsibly, but. And you have to be over 21. But, you know, you. You know, it's. You know, it could have gone after a really sugary drink or something with super high alcohol. That got you up right away. But, you know, and then our supplement lines, you know, I think one day when we talk about this all the time, we'll probably build gyms as a full send gym, branded gyms.

Very cool.

So I think, I think health and wellness, I think people need it. I think that's one thing post Covid we've learned is to get healthy. You know, I think that was the ultimate cure. And, you know, and on top of that, I think people want it to, you know, people want to, like, look good on social media. And there's. I think there was only two ways to look good on social media is either get healthy, get in shape, or add 15 filters to your picture. You know, like, that's the only two ways you're gonna look at it.

Yeah, that's an interesting concept. So full send gyms. I know you guys, Bradley Martin's on the pod now. He's incredible in this fitness space. Would you guys work together with him on that?

Maybe.

Or how do you. How do you think about the gyms? Because I think that's such a. Interesting model for you guys to take, and it would absolutely crush it.

Like, I'd be honored to work with Brad on that because a few conversations I've had with Brad about this health and wellness and being healthy and, you know, when we launch a supplement line, you know, I get a lot of great advice from Brad. He really. He really cares about this stuff. He really understands. I mean, you look at him, like, obviously, yeah, like, he. He knows what he's doing and he's, you know, you know, Brad's kind of guy that you Know, sometimes whenever I see him, we'll be talking about random stuff. But as soon as I bring up something that has to do with health, even myself, you know, if I say something like, hey Brad, I need to lose this gut, like his ears perk up and he just immediately wants to help. It's just so natural too.

Brad, love to hear that. I think there's such an opportunity there with a gold gym, all these franchises. You guys have such an incredible audience that I think the gym model would be great. Can't wait to see that come to life one day. When it comes to life, we'll go back on this moment and like, oh, there's the first one.

Yeah, yeah.

And you guys speaking of like launching something, right, like, you know, we could say this is planting the seed of launching the full set gym one day, right? Like when you guys launched Happy dad, the whole team was pulling up every, everywhere, different spots. You guys are just so great at launching and creating that magical moment. What's your advice for someone that's launching that obviously maybe doesn't have an audience like now or full send, but launching a product, launching a service, how do you get the maximum exposure with social and what can we learn from you guys and how you do it so successfully?

Well, I think the biggest thing you've got to think about before anything else is to have a great product because your audience will show up. Now the question is, will they go back after you've left and if you've got a great product, they will. You know, I've talked about this a number of times and I'll still bring this up is like Air Jordans, you know, launched early 90s, Jordan retired what, 20 plus years ago, people are still buying it because they made a great product for people to go back to. Most, most athletes from that era, whatever they're selling, no one really cares for anymore. You know, they, you know, now that the athlete is not active, Jordans, they still go back no matter what. You know, you've got 12 year old kids who, you know, 15 year old kids who were born after Jordan retired wearing Jordans. So that's why, you know, I think before anything else make a great product. You know, I think that's, that's the biggest advice I could give anyone else. You know, all the other stuff, it's easy. It's easy. People want to get out of the house and meet you. So it's not hard to have people meet up at stores or malls or wherever your product is carried. But before you even think of that make a great product?

Yep, absolutely. I'd love to dive into this aspect of networking. For me, right? I'm 22. I got in this whole game of business entrepreneurship sort of by accident. I was almost paralyzed when I was 16 playing football, and that sort of led me down this whole path of entrepreneurship and this idea of networking. Right. So I started the podcast when I'm 17, and the podcast was like that outlet for me to go meet people, to have conversations. Over the years, like, prior to social as well, how have you built an incredible network of friends and business associates, you know, in the early days, like working with Justin Bieber and Floyd and all these guys? And how have you done that over time? Because I think there's, you know, there's an art to networking, and I'd love to hear from you about how you've gone about building relationships in your life.

It's really. It's hard to explain that. You know, it's a question I get all the time. You know, usually, like, you know, I get the question, like, once a week somewhere, whether it's on Twitter or when I'm chatting with NFT holders. You know, it's always a question. It's like, what's the secret to you? You know? And honestly, it's nothing more than just being yourself. I think I've always been just, Just, just been me, you know, Like, I don't think I've really changed. No matter who the person is. It doesn't matter if your name's Justin Bieber, Elon Musk, Kid Rock, whatever your name is. Like, you know, you're just the. The, you know, the bar back at a, you know, at a restaurant that I go to. Like, I just, you know, the valet person or whatever it is, like, everyone to me, I would. I'll treat the. Kid Rock's a good buddy of mine, but I'll treat Kid Rock the same. I'll treat the, you know, employee at the gym that I go to that I see all the time as well, you know, Know. So I think that, like, that's the only answer I have. I don't have any other answer. There's no, like, trick. There's no. Nothing else. I've just. It's just been me, you know, And I've seen. Because I've seen the opposite. I've seen people just completely, you know, people I've known, then they, you know, then I'll bring Steve or Kyle around, and they just turn into this whole other person. I'm like, dude, who are you? Like, I don't know, you know, so.

Yeah, yeah, I think it makes sense.

You know, I think it just be me because at the end of the day, Elon is human, Justin's human, Kid Rock's human, Stephen Kyler human, Dana White is human. Like everyone, you know, all Mike Tyson's human. Like they're just humans. They're just no different than me and you.

Really, I love that Solid, solid answer. If you were to go back and give your 18, 20 year old self advice, business, just life advice, what would that advice be and why?

I would just, you know, I think the advice I would give that person is the same advice I give this person is think of your health first, you know, if you think of health first, you know, everything else will be good, you know, and when, you know, these days I'm glad that mental health is considered health, you know, so, you know, from, you know, know, not overthinking, over worrying, meditating, you know, just being able to like, mentally like just release bad thoughts, you know, which is not easy to do, you know, especially if you've been beaten in on, you know, over the head over so many times in your life. But if you could figure that part out and just kind of enjoy life, walk around with a smile on your face and then also the physical shape as well, you know, get the heart rate up, work out, you know, cut back on the bad foods, you know, I think that's the advice I would give that person, which is the same advice I give this person today, you.

Know, is that I love that I someone, I love their content. Jay Shetty, do you follow J?

Yeah.

So he's awesome. I've had him on the pod just a while ago. But like seeing his partnership with calm and like how he's really embodied that mental health aspect of his brand is.

Super cool to see. He really cares about that.

Yeah, it's so cool to see. Do you use any apps or things that, you know, like a calm or whatever, whatever else it may be for, for meditation or anything or any. Go to resources that you use.

I had calm for a little bit and then they did the celebrity meditation stuff and I was like, wait, I don't. You're actually giving me anxiety. Like so. So then I just, I switched. I just find different ones on YouTube. There's like good YouTube, you know, because I have YouTube Premium, so I don't have to worry about the ads running, so I'll just find a good one on YouTube. You know, the only bad thing is on YouTube is, you know, sometimes I'll fall asleep and then, you know, it'll recommend something completely different.

Sometimes changes the vibe.

Yeah. Because, like, that's not what I've been really watching. But, you know, YouTube's actually pretty smart too. But. But, you know, because those apps, they at least stop. They stop, you know.

Yeah.

You know, once you're done with that one, it doesn't keep going, so.

Totally.

But yeah, I just. Right now I just use YouTube. I'm looking for an app if anyone wants to suggest any, you know, in the comments or anything. This is going on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. So if you want to, you know, suggest some good ones on. I'll read the comments. And I'm looking for a good app. It's just kind of calm lost me. Maybe I'll go back to calm.

But yeah.

Yeah, but maybe.

You know what I like. So I have the Oura ring. I'm like, it's so funny. I did an interview with the Information yesterday. They DM me on Twitter. They're like, hey, we saw you tweeted about the eight Sleep mattress and we'd love to talk to you about sleep data and how you enjoy it. You know eight Sleep? No, the mattress.

I don't even know what the Oura ring is.

So. You don't know Oura ring?

No.

So this is like biometric. It tracks your heart rate, your hrv, how long you sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, all the different biometrics that are. You can track.

And.

And then the eight Sleep mattress. This is not an ad, everyone. This is completely organic, by the way. But I. I've talked to the eight Sleep CEO a lot. It's a biometric tracking bed. So it can regulate the temperature of the bed, like down to very cool temperature, make you fall asleep faster, it wakes you up, it. It vibrates. Really cool product. But like, talking about that, like, optimization, mental health aspect, I'll have to put you on. It's really cool products and you can actually integrate them to, like, optimize sleep tracking. Really cool. Um, but they have. I was saying that because they have on the apps like meditations and things to do before sleep when you wake up. And I genuinely do like them more than a lot of other apps I've used, for sure.

Yeah. So I don't. I have this weird thing. I can't. I can't have too much technology around me. I used to have. I've. I've gone through three Apple watches and just something happens. My whole body feels weird. Before the Apple watch, I had the other one. Fitbit had two Fitbits, and there's something in there that just made. Gave me a headache at all times.

Interesting.

Yeah. If Google searched it back then. I haven't Google search, so maybe there's some studies now. But my last Apple watch was, like, five years ago, and I just couldn't do it. I was. I was always getting, like, a headache, and it went back to the Fitbit that I had, like, maybe forgot when it was. It was maybe like seven or eight, nine years ago was before the Apple watch came out. Then I thought maybe getting an Apple watch, it was just a Fitbit thing, and I had the same thing, so that's why I've never even really looked at.

Wow.

I want to, because I know they're good for you. I know they're, you know, now they're. I forgot this other one. I got it as a gift, but I had to give it back. I was like, I can't wear it. It was just one of those watches.

Yep. Interesting. Wow. That's.

Yeah. Yeah.

For you to be aware of that. And I actually noticed that across many different devices. I mean, it's got to be.

I don't know what it is. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe it's even overthinking, honestly. Maybe. I don't know.

You're a thinker, right?

Yeah, it might be me overthinking, being paranoid about it, but. Yeah, for some reason. But even my phone. My phone can't be around me too much. Sometimes I have to put my phone away and be away from it for. For a little bit.

Wow. Well, a couple more questions before we wrap up here, John. Outside of work, like, where do you spend your. Where do you spend your time? I know you recently got married. Congrats on that wedding. Looked incredible. You guys did the pot on the side. It looks super fun.

No, they did the pot.

Oh, yeah.

Tell me. They didn't tell me they were doing that.

Oh, no. Yeah, they just did it.

Yeah, they just did it walking by. And Renee, my wife, goes, is there a podcast being done at our wedding? I was like, what? There's a podcast? And I'd love to. Logan. Paul was in there. I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. They didn't tell you. I was like, no. And then.

That's so funny.

And then. And then we were just one. Both went, looked. There's like a. There's like a part. I forgot what the timestamp was, but it's like she, like, comes up to the window, you could see her. And she looks at Kyle.

She's like, what the.

But we left about it. It's funny. It's funny, but at the time it was like, you know, because it's like, you know, weddings, so, so, so stressful. So, you know, but, but every advice I was given to before was like, hey, listen, this is gonna be stressful and you're gonna probably black out because of, out of like joy and happiness. So enjoy every second. That's what we just had this rule. But yeah, to answer your question, what I do is spend a lot of time with her. You know, I try to, you know, because I spend a lot of time at work. So every minute that I'm not here, I like to go, you know, home and hang out with her. We spend a lot of weekends together. If I'm not traveling, I try to travel. Maybe one weekend, maybe sometimes two weekends out of the month. But then, yeah, just love hanging out there. And we have a dog.

So. Great. Well, congrats again on that last thing. Just. Well, first off, thank you so much for coming the pod today. But when, when you think about this community and the community you're building within the entire organization, how would you sum up, you know, what full send and what happy dad means to you and just the impact and the legacy you want to live leave with this brand and, you know, the entire community that consumes your content, consumes your products and reps the brand overall. Like, what does full send mean to you and what do you really want it to mean to the, to the world?

Well, I want, you know, what, like I was talking about Jordan brand, you know, I want, and I think it's happening right now, I want other young creators to look back and say, you know, because we started a conversation with every creator should have their own product, but they don't know what, what it is. They don't understand their audience yet. They don't know how to do it. We want, and not just me, Kyle wants this, Steve wants this, Sam wants this. We want to create the blueprint for any creator to be able to do this. Build a brand, build a product. Don't, don't, you know, use your platform properly. Of course, take those short term checks to pay the bills because there are immediate bills. We do that sometimes too. But in the long term, like build something long term meaningful because you are a platform. You're not just a channel, you're not just an influencer. You, you are a platform. So. And, but you know, the question is how, where when who? You know, and we want to. We want that blueprint. Like, we love when we see other creators creating something and a new brand comes out. Like, I remember when Mr. Beastie sent his chocolates here when they first launched, and we're like, dude, go Mr. Beast. When Logan Paul does prime, we're like, go, Logan Paul. Like, when Jake Paul launches Better, his new gambling app, you know, we're like, dude, go Jake Paul. Like, you know, like, we. We love that. And, you know, and then Jake, he made this video and he's like, this is, you know, better is to me is like what Happy dad is to the Nelk Boys. You know, it's like, that's so cool. You know, like, it's perfect because we want that. Like, you know, I know brands are afraid of influencers. Brands are the least loyal people out there. They're always looking for the next hot thing. Next hot thing. And, you know, you. You know, you're always at the mercy of two brands. So, you know, and it kind of, you know, and one day brands are going to say, you know what? Fuck it, we don't like you anymore. There's a new TikToker is out, and we're shifting this year's budget towards that person and other people, like that person on TikTok, because that platform is the new thing that ABC is talking about. And, you know, and. And, you know, it's devastating. So don't be dependent on them. And we want to be that blueprint, you know, with everything, with all our brands, and it doesn't have to be just one brand. You know, Mr. Beast has had his brand, multiple brands. We've got our multiple brands. You know, even Jake Paul's got multiple brands. You know, he's got better, but then he also has his boxing league, you know, that he's an owner in.

Yep, I love that. And just to end on that, man, cheers to everything that you guys are building and what you're going to continue to build. Can't wait to see the gyms one day. And of course, thank you so much for. For coming on the show today. I know we've been chatting about making this happen for a while, so super fun to finally make it happen today. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the. The audience responds. Everyone that's listening, watching, thank you so much for tuning in to the podcast today with John. And last thing, where's the best place everyone can follow you and stay. Stay in touch with Nelk Boys? Full send. Happy dad. Everything you got going on yeah.

Well, just. Yeah. Happy dad is Happy dad on all socials, Milk boys is Milk Boys on all socials. I'm just John at. On all socials, you know? Yeah. I think those are the three. Love it. Then you guys know who my partners are and how to find them, too. They're. They're. They're more entertaining to follow than I am, personally.

Well, cool. Well, John, thank you so much for coming to the show. I appreciate it.

Of course.