Rob Gough - The Owner of @DOPE & Becoming A Serial Entrepreneur

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What is going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today's episode, we have Rob Go. Rob Go is a serial entrepreneur who has built and sold multiple technology companies and is now the sole owner of Dope, a premium streetwear brand that he acquired in 2017. During his freshman year of college, Rob was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and was given a 30% chance of living. Since then, he's launched and exited multiple startups, helped grow Finish Line's online business massively, and built incredible relationships throughout the process. On this episode, we dive into not only his story, but go over the hardships that he faced as an entrepreneur. So that being said, make sure you take a moment to screenshot this episode, post it on your Instagram story, tag Rob, tag myself, so that we can share it as well. And that being said, enjoy the episode.

Alright, what's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. I'm super excited about today's episode. We have someone that doesn't tend to do that many podcasts and that person is the man himself, Rob G. Nice.

To meet you guys.

How you doing, my man? Thanks so much for coming on.

Of course. Yeah, pleasure to be here.

Beautiful house, by the way. But real quick, man, I know, like I said, I've been following you on social media for quite some time now. I love everything that you've done in terms of the brands and the companies you've built and sold, but really just to kick it off, I know you're from Indiana, correct? Where did you start your entrepreneur journey, man?

I mean, I've been doing it my entire life. I mean, as a kid, my mom always tells a story about I'd walk down the street and grab Rocks in the neighbor's driveway and then sell it to the people at their door. And I was like at 6 years old or something, you know, of course you had like a lemonade stand. And then I'd go to Florida for a vacation and grab like sand dollars and shark's teeth and sell it. But I sold airheads on the school bus and got busted. I had a gr. I used to cut grass. So really, I think all my life. And then when I went to college, I started doing flipping OEM software products. So back then you would buy these Microsoft Word Excel programs and it would be expensive, but you could get the OEM discs. Long story short, I'd flip it on ebay. So I've just been doing it for a very long time.

And I know you're a part of a lot of different things right now. Right. I know the brand Dopin, which I love, where he's rocking this shirt right now. You do a lot in the CDD world as well as I know you've built and sold multiple companies. But for the people that may not know on some of the projects that you're working on right now, I'd love for you to give a quick rundown of what you're currently working on, where you spend your time.

So CBDFX is one, and that is the top three CBD company in the world. It's sold everywhere from, you know, Bed bath beyond to CVS to Dollar General 7 11. Sold everywhere. A bunch of different, you know, tons of independent smoke shops. So that's cbdfx. Incredible company. And then we have Dove, which is streetwear brand, but goes a lot further and it will continue to grow. That's dope.com and that's a clothing business. But that will launch CBD in January of this year. So now at the end of this month. And then cannabis this year also.

How long have you been involved in the CBD space?

About five years. So a lot longer than most people.

Yeah.

And then I also do a production company.

Very cool. So I'm curious, just coming from. You're born in South Carolina, correct?

Yeah.

Coming from whether that's a small town or whatever that may be selling lemonade. When was your first nosedive in the business world when it comes down to having a success? Right. What was the pivoting point where you really wanted to go all in on something that you either had an idea about or something that was just on your mind all the time? Where did it start in terms of just pursuing the entrepreneur journey?

So I went Freshman year, college, and then second year of college, I took a year off for cancer chemotherapy. And during that process, I had a lot of time. So I invented this online auction platform, and I went all in. And I went all in for, like, four years trying to get people to give me money. From an investment standpoint, being a young entrepreneur that had these massive dreams and this new idea, it was a lot more difficult than I ever imagined. And no one would give me money. So I bootstrapped it, hustled and just. Just got crazy and just, you know, did anything possible to make this thing work. And I think that was the first one. So I was probably 19.

Okay. And you went to college, correct?

Yeah.

Where'd you go to college?

First? Ball State University and then Indiana University. Okay.

Growing up, is that something? Because nowadays, right. I'm 19, didn't go to college. And I know everyone has their different viewpoint on it. How do you look at college in terms of. If you're speaking to someone that's young, that maybe is pursuing their entrepreneurial career? What advice do you give to someone about college? What's your thoughts on that?

I mean, it's definitely a hot topic on social media. You know, you have all these guys saying, don't go to college, or people say, do. So I think college is important for lots of reasons. I think it shows that you can start something and you can complete something. Because I think the biggest thing right now with the youth is they'll start it, things get tougher, and they'll just pivot. Same with relationships. Hey, there's so many opportunities. Hey, you're great, but I'm gonna switch over here. And so the college is something that you start, and then it's gonna be a bitch, and it's gonna be tough, and you're gonna do a lot of, like, classes and luxuries that you don't like. And then you're just like, fuck it.

I'm out.

I'm gonna go do the entrepreneur side. But the thing is that people don't realize entrepreneurship is incredible. But, like, the odds of you making it is very rare. So you have all these kids that are. That are saying, don't go to college. Let's go be an entrepreneur. But, I mean, like, what's the odds of their success? It's very small. So I think. I mean, my part, I'm, like, very conservative coming from. I mean, you wouldn't think it from what I've done, but I think college is important because. Because it's a backup. Right. And there's that argument that you can always go back to school and all these good things. But I just think that college is a perfect opportunity to be doing in parallel. You could be starting your own business, and then you have also a large demographic of people that could buy your service or your product. I mean, can you do it without. Of course. Does my college degree do anything to do with what I'm doing for a living? Not at all. And while I was in school, I had an IndyCar Mini 500, and I asked my professor for advice, and she said, rob, you know more about this than I do. I'm a marketing professor in the Kelly School of Business, and she gave me a B in the class. Kelly School. I mean, it's just like, so do I think college is bullshit? I do, but I think there is a lot of useful things that come about it.

So you said Indy 500, right?

Yeah.

What was involved with that? That was very. In terms of you're in College, Indy 500. What was that? What was happening in there in terms of what you were working on?

Dude, I mean, the same thing. I hustled.

So were you racing or what was it? No, I was.

I mean, I think my philosophy in life has been different. So if everybody's going through one door, the odds that everybody's gonna make it through that one door is very rare. So for me, I would be just like everybody else. So if I saw you going through this door, I'll figure out a way around it. And again, the back door. I feel like you kind of the same way, because you kept messaging me. And where most people would have given up, you didn't give up. And that's why you're so successful at such a young age. So for IndyCar Indianapolis, not much going on there. IndyCar is big. I didn't know much about business, but I'm like, this is a big audience. So first year, I met this great guy by the name of Kent, and I said, hey, I'm gonna. Can I be on your car? He had an IndyCar. So I basically worked my ass off for this guy and did anything he needed, mostly like pr and I would go and hustle and get people to get press on his car. And then he said, whatever space, I don't sell on the car, I'll give it to you for the Indy 500 for working for me.

Very cool.

Like a trade. So if my ass off the car didn't make the race, so it's pointless. I got nothing. So the next year, I made sure the car because basically half the month is qualifying and the next half is preparing for the race. So the next year, I made sure that the cars made the race. Then I walked around the garage, found three guys, didn't have sponsors, main sponsors, and one worked out a deal to where my company was the main sponsor of his car.

Now, that being said, that's why you're in college.

I was in college, yeah. So I was the main sponsor. That being said, it's like it's a billboard, essentially. How many times you drive down a billboard and see it and then go to a website? Same with an IndyCar. First of all, you're not seeing the car going around a circle and then going to the site. It's just. It's. I think it's a bad way to drive traffic. Yeah, it's a great branding move if you've got a lot of other activations going on. But it. So it didn't, like, it didn't crush it at all. But it was a learning experience. I mean, I made it happen.

Yeah. And I'm curious. So speaking of dope, when you decided to acquire dope, what was your motivation to get into streetwear?

To be perfectly honest, I like the treatment portfolio. So I own the word dope for about every category, so that's, I think, a powerful thing. And prior to buying it, you know, I did research and 70% of people chose the word dope when buying cannabis. So as the market becomes more legal from a federal level or just from where I accepted, I felt like there was a massive opportunity.

Okay, so when you. Because you guys obviously crushing it on social media, when it comes to. When you acquired it, what was the goal? Moving forward into building it more than what it was then.

I mean, you know, new categories. So that would be women's or CBD or, you know, other products and just, you know, continue to grow the clothing. Clothing, as I'm sure you've heard before, is a pain in the ass. Instead of, let's say, Coca Cola, where you're just making the same thing over and over. You know, you're reinventing yourself ten times a year trying to figure out, you know, we're designed a year in advance. So I'm predicting what's going to be hot next fall versus just focused on right now. Yeah, but so really to grow the distribution, to grow the categories, and then to launch the big boys with big valuations, which would be the CBD and cannabis. And luckily, because I'm the largest owner of cbfx, I have that backbone of we know what we're doing in cbd, and that's such an incredible company making such incredible products. That obviously was the main reason why.

Very cool. I know you said something earlier about cancer, and I believe when I read something, it said you have 30% chance to live. Is that correct?

Yeah.

When were you diagnosed with cancer? And I'm sure that was a pinnacle moment in your life that is obviously geared to so many different things, different thoughts. You know, having cancer, young age. What year did that happen? And what was going through your head when you found out?

So I just finished my freshman year in college. I was misdiagnosed for a year. So I was about 18 years old. I started college at 17. And the thing is, for me, I never once thought I was going to die. I've always just believed wholeheartedly. Maybe naive or what, but I've always believed that anything that I want, I can have and I can make happen. And. And there's never a question. I guess it's a bizarre thing. But I've always. Just anything I want or anything I believe in, I just know I can have it and I'll make it happen. So when I had cancer, I never.

What kind of cancer was it?

Ewing sarcoma. So it's a rare bone cancer. But you do also realize that you're not invincible and that things can be thrown at you and you have to figure out how to get through it. Totally.

18, I'm just thinking. Cause how old are you? 19.

Yeah.

So if I was diagnosed last year, I'm sure that was when you found out. Was it something that affected you mentally or was it something that you more so just you knew you were gonna beat it. Because, I mean, not many people get diagnosed with cancer at 18. And I'm sure that was a huge, obviously, moment in your life that you always remember.

I mean, this particular cancer at the time was about 150 cases a year. Now there's about 200 cases. It is more adolescent, like very young cancer. So for me to get it at that age, I was a little old. But I mean, you just get through it and think about it right now. Your world will be changed. You can't get to go to chemotherapy for a week every two weeks. You know, so it's. You couldn't do this. I mean, you couldn't be around people because you don't have an immune system. You just realize that. I mean, think about it. Everybody that dies today, car wreck, whatever, however they died, they didn't wake up thinking today's My day, they woke up thinking, tomorrow I gotta do this and next week I'm gonna do this. And I got this interview with this person and then boom, it's over. That's why you have to live every day like it's your last.

Yeah. How do you, when it comes to your mentality on just living day to day, are you someone that thinks obviously far in advance, but how do you go about your day to day when it comes to habits, when it comes to rituals and more. So being present, being like you just said.

So. I mean I'm a very strategic person. I mean chess was my game growing up. So I'm always like calculating out moves in advance. So longevity wise is definitely, especially with business, you have to like, you know, I'm making decisions now for four years down the road on a daily basis. I'm definitely very long term thinker. But you know, you, you also have to understand that this, I just live, I also live every day like it is my last. So I mean I won't do. I hang out with people that I want to hang out with. I won't do interviews. That's why I like, that's why I don't do a lot of things because I'm very strategic with my time and I think that's very valuable to me for sure.

So I'm curious, this is something that, speaking of Instagram, when I hit you up, it was like two weeks ago, I saw a picture of you and Elon Musk and then I saw obviously a bunch of people commenting. I wanted you to give me some insight. What was the picture and the story behind you and Elon Musk on Instagram?

Just at my house, my birthday. It was just. Yeah.

How is he as a person? I'm super curious and I'm sure the people watching are as well. Just in person, obviously. He's massively successful, changing the world. How is he in person?

Yeah, good guy. I mean, but that's the thing. It's the people that I have been around, my life. I don't post a lot of pictures, who I'm around or know what I do or who. I mean it's even my Instagram, my stories. I don't really post who I'm with a lot. Like, yeah, you know, last night there, everybody in the room was somebody massive. I didn't post anybody besides the persons who posted it. But you know, the thing is it's not like when you like him, for instance, it's not like we were talking about solving the world's Problems. You know, it's. Everybody is somebody normal. I mean, everybody puts their pants on the same and has the same situations and the same worries, and people, I think, sometimes forget that for sure. I think during that picture, we were talking about something normal.

Some memes or something.

Yeah, people are normal.

Yeah.

Very cool. So just when it comes to everything you're spending your time on today, whether that's dope, whether that's measured capital, how did you pivot from selling your first company into the things you do today, whether that's dope, like, how are you continuously evolving from a business perspective when it comes to investing in different companies, buying different brands? How do you look at business?

To be honest with you, at this point, I've made enough money that I'm good. So I do it as. Like, it's on my game. You know, I think that, like, I feel like life is a game for me. And so when I die, I want to say that I checked off every thing that you could do in it. You know, like, it's kind of beating different levels. Yeah. So, you know, I thought tech. I thought I conquered it. Like, I had a great exit with a great company in tech. I did the same thing in recycling. And so then clothing was another, like, oh, fuck, I don't know anything about clothing. Let's try it. Yeah, what an idiot. I mean, it's such a pain in the ass, but. And then cbd, I feel like we've gone from, you know, several million dollars a year to being a massive business with over 100 employees. So I feel like we've conquered that. So for me, it's more about the personal challenge of saying, throw an industry at me, and I think I can beat it.

Okay.

Which is kind of weird because most people stick to one niche because it is a template. Once you do it once, it's a template, you just basically bring the same team, do it again. Bring the same team, do it again. Possibly later. If I get bored, I'll do that, but that's too easy for me.

So when someone's starting a new brand, whether that's there, they've had exits, or someone's just getting started, what would you say to someone that's young, whether they're 19, 25, or 30, starting their first company? Speaking on that template, what is that template that you use, whether that's starting a new company or after you acquire a company? What's the template?

What's the template to success?

Well, more so a template to starting a new brand, new company, because you Said if you do it once, you can do that again. What template do you use on just a very brief level?

I mean, I'm old school, so I say work for somebody for two years. So figure out what industry you want to go to. Figure out who you look up to, whatever. Work for them for two years and then gain the knowledge, the experience, the, you know, all the things that they, that they do wrong or do right. And then do a business, maybe the same industry, but fix the problem that you've realized over two years. Yeah, because then you're already in it on someone else's dime. You're learning while you're getting paid, saving money and you're also learning from, you know, your skipping a lot of pitfalls that you have to figure out on your own.

Yeah, I know there's mentors going up in business.

I mean, I would say like my family, my grandfather, my mom, I come from a very middle class family. You know, it's like Indiana things. Middle class there is very poor here. Yeah. But you know, I always, I think that was like, I never really, I wasn't the guy that looked up to anybody. My mom as a young person asked me, who do you look up to? And she was like Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen.

Yes.

I'm like Michael Jordan. And she said, well, who does he look up to? I'm like, I have no clue. Scottie Pippen. And she's like, no, he looks up to the owner of the team. That's who you want to be, is the owner.

Your mom said that to you earlier?

Yeah.

Really?

Well, very cool. Yeah. So that's, I think stuck with me so hard and so that's why I always just like, like I've never looked up to these jabronis that do this or do that. I don't want them to look up to me. And it's happened, you know, I mean it's, that's just.

Yeah. Speaking on sports, do you see yourself ever owning a sports team?

Probably not. I mean, okay. No, probably not. I mean, I don't know why everybody wants to own a sports team. I mean it's. Yeah, probably not. I mean it's just not my thing.

I got you.

I'm not a massive sports fan. I have a lot of great friends that are athletes and that are in that, but it's just not my, I'm not like a diehard. I love them and I love to support them, but I'm not like a massive. Yeah, yeah.

So speaking on, I was just love. My dad was Born in Indiana, by the way, but just coming from a middle class family, Indiana, with the amount of success you've had, how has it changed your family environment for you and your whole family?

I mean, I'm still, I mean it's still the same person. I mean everything is the same. What do you mean that family in.

Terms of just like what does your family think about all the success that you've accomplished throughout your journey?

I mean, hope they're proud, you know, everybody, same thing. It's like just because you have a little more money, you're still the same person. I'm still young and still getting going, so I mean, very cool.

So how long have you been in la?

About five years.

Five years.

I moved here because of a tech business that I started. Was it was basically a roll up strategist. Roll up from another business that was based in Marina del Rey. So I moved here for that, sold that to a public company. Three years later. I thought I'd move back. But you know, once you live in California for a few years, you're pretty sold.

Yeah.

So that being said, you know, maybe time to move. I think I'm gonna move to Puerto Rico.

Okay, very cool. Hey, I caught you while you're here.

Yeah.

So I want to put some Finish Line. You helped them early on, is that correct?

Yeah.

What was that that you helped them with when it comes to that company?

Online sales. So you know, started there doing affiliate marketing, which I knew nothing about prior to it. Affiliate marketing is essentially driving sales for a brand like Finish Line and getting paid a commission for it. So no, let's say on a website there were, there'd be ads. You'd pay either, you know, 10 grand an ad for a month. Well, there's no guarantee of performance, there's no roi. Whereas affiliate said, don't pay me anything for the ad, just give me a commission for driving sales.

Okay.

So that's essentially what it was.

How do you get involved with Finish Line?

Early on, you know, I had this tech business and that I was starting and you know, then I had a lot of time on my hands because I exited out of that and didn't really know what I was doing and I was just kind of bored. And luckily Finish line was kind enough to take me on and had a great run there and got to know a lot of great people and yeah, that's very cool.

Speaking of just 2020, right. New Year, new decade. A lot of people say different things. What do you think the opportunity is to capitalize on moving into the 20s, the next 10 years. Where is your mind focusing on when it comes to industries or things that people should pay attention to? Because obviously you've seen things and you've figured out how to get around the door instead of going right through it. Right, but what's your thoughts on emerging industries or things to look out for?

Everybody always sees an industry that they're making money, they want to go to it. So, I mean, let's use cannabis, for example. Then everybody wants a cannabis company. You know, looking back at, like, the gold mines, people that make money in gold mines, they made money selling the shovels to the miners. Right. So I think that's a good opportunity to sell the products around the industries. But for the next decade, I mean, AI obviously, is going to be an incredible thing for the future. I personally think that whoever can put a robot in someone's house, like, let's say Bill Gates or whatever, put a computer in everybody's house, whoever can put a robot to do things for you will be the next Bill Gates. Jobs.

You say robot meaning like a physical, because obviously there's Alexa, there's the home pod, all that sort of stuff. But when you say robot, you mean like doing household tasks around the house? Exactly.

The next 10 years, come on, there'll be AI robots that will do everything for you. I mean, they're. I mean, do I think we'll get taken over by robots eventually? I think so. You think about it. They learn at such a rapid pace. They're already worried about it, about them overstepping us. They're developing their own language to communicate with them, to each other that we can't understand. So, yeah, I think that we'll have robots in our houses that do everything for us. We kind of are a robot now, or like, because we have the phone at our disposal that, like, hey, what's the. What's this information? We can look it up. A robot will already have that. They can just Google it and know everything already.

So, speaking of that, because I know we mentioned Elon earlier. He says AI is, like, destructive to humanity. Do you agree on that in terms of, like, the pitfalls of what it could be?

Well, I mean, we're not. So I haven't listened to that, but so my thoughts are we're not a per. We're not perfect. And that's what makes us human. That's what's so beautiful about people. Right. Whereas an AI robot or whatever, they are perfect. And so then let's say as they evolve, they're gonna I can see that they'll want like, hey, you're not like for instance, I don't think we'll be able to drive in the future because we can make human mistakes. We can get in a wreck. Whereas if it's all controlled by a computer, then there's no, there's no way to get in a wreck. So they want to eliminate the odds of, you know, a mistake. So could robots come after us and kill us because we can make mistakes and we are just the straight and narrow? I see that as a possibility. I mean, it's interesting, it's scary. Think about it. That's what's so beautiful about humans. We are not perfect, whereas a robot would be perfect.

Speaking of just humans and abundance of amazing people and networking, what do you believe makes people great.

Drive, never giving up. I think that's one, I think that the mistake that people make specifically in this town, this environment of fast paced, doing whatever is they do business for the short term. And I think that's a massive mistake. I like to do business for the long term. Like I'm gonna treat you fair and could I negotiate harder and make a little more money? I could, but then I'm screwing you and maybe you'll get a bad taste in your mouth and we'll never do a deal together. Hopefully that everybody you do a deal with, they keep rising, keep doing better and better and then over time then they're like, wow, this guy treated me right, did me right. And then we could do another deal together later. So I think especially like let's say in Hollywood with like films and things, these guys will go raise money for one film knowing that they're screwing the investor, but knowing instead of saying, hey, this is a risky deal, let's. And keeping that potential person for the long haul.

Yeah.

And that's why I think good businesses like you need to do things right and fairly and honestly, but also don't give up. I mean you see it all the time that people just, everybody wants a good life, but they don't want to work for it. They want to play the video games or you know, go out party every night. I mean you can do that, but I mean have fun like working forever and living a shitty life. Not shitty, but a normal life, you know, so yeah, that makes sense.

So speaking on just time and you have over 100 employees when it comes to living this life, Right? You said you have enough money that you can kind of pick and choose what you work on, Right? What are some of the, what do you do in your free time. When it comes to just daily tasks, things you want to accomplish outside of.

Business, I mean, I think health as well. So definitely work out and same thing, I think where I work out is a place called Umbrella. It's a great community there. So I think that's. That's very important. And then I work a lot, man. Outside of that, I travel a lot. I like to travel and, you know, I like to stay, you know, have friends over and we'll play a game of. Play board game and whatever.

Board game. What kind of board games you got?

It's called Catan. Yeah, I don't want to promote it because they wouldn't sell it to me. But I've got a lot of great people playing this damn game. It's like a risk Monopoly combined.

Okay, very cool. Yeah, check it out.

So you have a lot of that game I love because it's random, because there is a dice roll. But it is, you know, you negotiate and it's just a good. It's a good game. But I reached out to try to buy the damn thing, okay. They're not having it.

So. Speaking on luck and just gambling, when it comes to success, you always hear these two different sides of the table. What does luck play a part in?

Success.

Do you create your own luck? Is it just. Some people think differently or. What's your thoughts on that?

Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. I think you have to have luck. I think it's the harder. There's an old saying, the harder I work, the luckier I get you. So I definitely think you can't just have a business and get fucking lucky. You can. It happens. But I do think that if you work your ass off, the statistics of getting lucky are a lot better. So yes, I think luck is a big part of it. Who knows? When you sell, you can be. You can try to time it perfectly, but you still gotta get lucky to sell the top. That's why I don't try to get lucky, sell the top. I like to sell it like second base hit. Could you go a lot higher? Of course. But could you go a lot lower? Of course. Same thing with this. If you roll a dice a lot, statistically 8 and 6 is going to roll about the same time. Right? But I mean, if you roll and roll and roll, eights are probably going to roll out more. But why? Statistically it's the same, but you just. It's just. Or let's say a four or a two. Statistically you're not going to roll a lot of twos and. But it could happen. So you could get lucky. Anyways, I think that visit. Yes. Do I know a lot of business owners have just got damn lucky? I do. But I like to make the odds of success more in my favor. And so therefore I work hard, I look for the longevity plays, I look for, you know, like statistics and then you have luck, just will help out.

Okay, when it comes to like running your businesses, are you the more in the trenches like nitty gritty guy or are you more so long term vision or do you kind of do it all, man? Okay, what makes a great entrepreneur in your opinion?

I think a great entrepreneur is somebody that, I mean, you gotta outwork everybody. I mean if you want to work 8 to 5 and work like 99% of the world, you're gonna be successful 99% of the world. If you want to live that better life and live in the hills and drive whatever and be able to do whatever you want, you got to work better than more than anybody else, you know, and not only more, but smarter. So I think the big like if I'm gonna invest in somebody with the CBD company, I invest in these two guys because I thought they were willing to work when others would go home, you know, no matter what happens, I thought that they would work long hours and you know, fly here and fly here and do that. So I think that's a part of the entrepreneurial spirit that, you know, normal people, they just want to, hey, it's five o', clock, I gotta go home or hey, we're closing at 5. So at 4:45 they've already checked out. Come on guys, get the hell out of here. Those people, you know, great. We need those kind of people. They need all kinds of everybody kind of personalities, but they're gonna be living that same life as everybody else when.

It comes to just thinking in terms of someone that's just getting started along their journey. I want you to speak to your 19 year old self like throughout your successful career. What would you tell your 19 year old self today?

What would I tell my 19 year old self today? So I mean I would just say, well, first of all, if you're 19, you have a lot of time to take risks. You probably have no kids, you probably don't have like a mortgage. So if you're gonna take a risk, it's now again though, I'm conservative, so I would say no, don't just go all in where you'll end up homeless. So that's where I do think it's important to get a job, make your money so you're not, like, living off your parents or so you're on your own. And then in parallel in the evenings, instead of playing video games and chasing girls or whatever, you work your ass off and you still have time to do everything. So I would just say you have nothing. So take the risks, just like I did before, and then don't give up, because you will have several setbacks and you won't make it your first, the odds are. But if you keep doing it, you'll probably make it eventually. I mean, I didn't win on my first venture, but every time you get smarter and smarter, and every time you get smarter and you meet new people and, you know, you start to build that Rolodex that maybe can help you or you can do business together and you help each other.

Yeah.

So when you first were starting your first businesses, when it comes to just networking, surrounding yourself with quality people, how did you do that originally? When it comes to just building this network of people and getting connected with the right people to make things happen. Right. People always talk about your network. Is your network right for you? What's your thoughts on that?

Dude, this generation of people now have it so easy. You can get to anybody. You reach out to them on Instagram, and that's how we got cancer. They think, and if they don't respond, you reach out again. If they don't respond, you reach out again. You DM or you can reach out to them on LinkedIn or you can reach out to them on Twitter. You didn't have that luxury years ago. You had Yellow Pages or whatever. So you can get to anybody nowadays. So I would say, yeah, the network is great, but you also have to provide something for somebody. Unless. That's why I think college is also a good thing. If you reach out to somebody and say, hey, I'm in college. I'm doing this report on so and so or, you know, on this industry. Can I. Can you help me with some information? They're gonna do it. They want to help people out, especially, you know, the younger generation. So I forget the question, but I.

Think that more so just circling back to you, maybe forget it too. Yeah, it's okay.

We'll move on.

But that's the thing. People are lazy. They throw one DM or one message and then they never. And they're like, oh, they didn't respond.

I'm out.

Same thing. Let's say that you're an Influencer, you've got a lot of followers and you're like, man, no one's really paying anymore, because right now, no one's really paying influencers because they don't convert. So they'll reach out to like five brands. They like no brands. They're like, nah, I'm not gonna pay you. Okay, so you didn't have success. But if you reach out to 100 brands, I guarantee you you'll at least convert 1% of those people. So then you get a brand that you win. But nobody wants to put the effort and to reach out to 100, the same thing. If you're a salesman selling CBD or dope, whatever. If you reach out to 10, you may not win, because if you win, that's a 10% conversion rate that's pretty damn high. But if you reach out to 100, you'll win. But nobody wants to do the work of reaching out to 100. They just want to stop at 10. And when the going get tough, the tough get going.

So speaking of influencers, where is influencer marketing in 2020? I know you guys at dope. If you guys have utilized influencers very well. If someone's a company is out there listening to this right now and you're utilizing Instagram and they plan to. When it comes to Instagram influencers, how are you guys capitalize on it and what advice do you give to those people?

So I don't pay influencers. I think it doesn't convert. I think years ago it did convert because you didn't. So let's use an example of Bieber's in the. He's in the media right now. So back in the day, when you saw Bieber wearing dope, you didn't see what he wore every day on Instagram and Twitter and all these different things. You're like, you saw in the newspaper, you got a paparazzi wearing dope. Holy shit. I don't buy that because I see what he wears once a month, once a week, whatever. So you buy it. Nowadays, we see what every celebrity wears on a daily basis, and not only about what he wears, but what the other thousand people that we follow wear. So you see him wearing dope, you don't go and buy it like you used to. You know, like, for instance, the Drake Future music video just dropped at the end of the music video, Director X is wearing a dope hoodie.

I saw that.

Incredible. That's amazing. But it's not like, boom, the sales go skyrocket. And that's the difference. So do I think that influencer marketing is, has changed over the years? Of course. I mean, I think it's got more saturated. Everybody's an influencer now. Come on. Everybody has followers. People's dogs have followers. People, you know, it's like everybody's got followers now. So I think, you know, the pain for these influencers will continue to go down and, you know, let's just. I think these influencers better pray to God that it sticks around, because what are they going to do? You got tattoos all over your face. And if Instagram goes away, how are you going to make money? Like, good luck.

So with branding, social media wise, how important do you think social media is for any type of business? Because you guys obviously utilize Instagram for dope and a lot of other things. But how important do you think it is moving into 2020 with different platforms like TikTok coming out and how the platforms are changing every single month? It feels like, I mean, I think.

It'S, it's a way that instead of having a billboard, it's a way that your product can be in front of somebody on a daily basis. So it's kind of like your old school billboard. Yeah, I think it's important, but it's more about, like we talked about before, the IndyCar. Does it drive sales? No, but does it keep it in the thing? And then hopefully you can convert them maybe by retargeting or maybe if they go to the mall and you see it there, you go to CVS and you see the products there. So it's a way to like, stay, keep your brand in your eyesight, in.

Culture, in a sense.

Yeah, but. And then TikTok. Yeah. Do I think that it's, it's growing like crazy? Of course. Do I think there could be like, you know, there's a lot of controversy now, you know, and I think that's a valid concern. I mean, but nowadays people don't care. They're just like, yo, I want to be cool and post. And people don't think about the longevity of what they're actually giving up. I mean, Facebook and Instagram and all these apps have given the world, the government, everything that they've always wanted to know where you're at, what you're thinking, all these different things. Now we're giving it up. Like, yeah, this is where I'm at. This is where I'm with. So if you're scared about that, then you should not be on it. But I mean, I have nothing to hide, so that's why I'm on and I'm good. But.

Yeah. How much time do you spend on social media?

Personally, I'm not a big. I mean, it's not really. I'm not huge into it. I mean, I don't really post often. I. Every year I'm like, I gotta post more, I gotta post more. And then I don't. But this year I'm gonna post more. But you know, it's. I'm also very private as far as the people that I'm with.

Totally.

And maybe I should be a little less private and post a little more of that. Maybe provide inspiration to people. I see the value in providing inspiration to other people and maybe showing, you know, where I've come from and now who I'm associated with. But I'm also. I like to go and just be present and to be like, you know, talking to people and like, not about showing what we're doing, but just about here and having like a real friendship. More so than just I'm friends with you because so you know who I'm with.

Totally.

But I need to be better at it.

I love that though. Where do you think the younger generation has the most problems when it comes to social media? With so many young kids are influenced by culture or social media, it's like rewiring an entire generation when it comes to just the youth coming up. What do you think is the number one problem that they're running into?

Dude, no one knows how to communicate anymore because in person you don't have to. So you can go to a party and no one's talking to each other and then they leave the party and they're like, oh, I saw your party. And so I think people are scared. And that's what I think is also good about college, is it puts you in a group setting to where you're around that scary part, going there, new environment. Then you're in a class with new people every semester. Then you're working in groups together and you're learning how to communicate with different types of people from all over the world. And this guy maybe is lazy, this guy's a hard hat or whatever. You're figuring out how to do that. Whereas nowadays with social media, you're. I feel like the problem with the people that only know that is they don't know how to communicate in person. They don't. All they know how to do is, you know, they're kind of scared. They can sit behind a wall and say what they feel, but they can't do it in person, I think that's a bad thing. It's kind of, you know, it's interesting.

If someone is, let's say, not a good communicator, what advice do you give them?

Well, I mean, you have to face your fear and you have to, you can only get better by doing it. So I think you gotta put yourself out there and put the phone down and try to communicate with real people.

More in terms of like social gathering or events or any of that sort of stuff.

Yeah, we're just, I think groups are fine, you know, so if you're passionate about whatever you're passionate about, find a group maybe and then you'll have friends that actually love what you do and you kind of have that little community as well. I mean, that's the same thing with like the gym I go to. It's a community. I don't go there because the gym is amazing or because of whatever. I go there because it's a good community. And everybody, you know, we're not trying to sell to each other. You know, it's just kind of like a good community of people that you can communicate with, people that are similar positions in their life. Now the gym's two grand a month.

Yeah.

So in order to go there, it's like you have to be doing, you have to be able to afford it. So it's kind of good. It, it kind of filter. Well, yeah, just. Yeah, filter. But a good community of people that, you know, you push each other to come and. Hey, what are you doing?

Yeah, I want to touch on just the long term thinking because I know that came up multiple times in this interview. When you're starting a company, what do you need to put in place to set up for, let's say a long term exit or just thinking long term. When you're starting a company, what mental pillars do you make sure you put in place when you're thinking long term about something like that?

Say it one more time.

Just when you're starting a company, especially if you're planning to have an exit, what pillars do you need to put in place early on to prepare for that?

Okay, so if you're starting a company long term, pillars are put in place. I mean, I think, you know, the biggest reason why companies fail is because they are underfunded. So I think you have to make sure that you thought out every expense. California is expensive. You got to get insurance, you've got to pay your city tax, your state tax, your federal tax. You've got to worry about ada Issues. So I think that people don't think about every little aspect and then they get hit and they're done. So you got to figure out, I think the problem with people is they don't look at how big the business can go. They look at the business going, oh, Joe Blow is making a little bit of money, I'm gonna go do it. But it takes the same effort and time and stress to build a million dollar business as it does a billion dollar business. So I think you've got to make sure that the business has scalability. I think that's extremely important. And then surround yourself with talent that is smarter than you and that has experience more than you. You do. And other aspects of the business. I like to recruit other companies. Like the number two guy. The number one guy is always kind of like he's already been doing it for a long time. He's not hustling anymore. The number two guy wants to be the number one guy. So I like to take the number two guy because it gives him the opportunity to prove himself and be that number one guy.

When you're building company culture within an organization, we. What would you say is the number one thing people need to focus on when doing so?

Company culture.

Yeah.

With 100 employees, how do you keep everyone aligned for the vision and keep them on pace of what you guys are working on?

I mean, normally I would say treat people well and they'll treat you well. I think the unfortunate thing is in today's society, people are greedy, right? They want more and more. Like they're never satisfied because we can keep feeding them more and more stuff. So I think that if you give, that's what makes somebody happy. They're never going to be happy because, you know, so, yeah, so I think it's about within the person. Are they more motivated by just like doing a good job and motivated by growth and those kind of people help keep a company culture good. You get a couple bad apples. It's like a virus. If you're happy in your job and then I'm telling you how shitty the job is every day, at first you're like, this guy's crazy. This is a great job. I've been a lot of other places. It's horrible. But if I keep telling you every single day how shitty the job is, after a while you're gonna start believing it. Then you're gonna tell Johnny next to you, man, this place sucks. And a month ago you loved it. So I think company culture is like, if you got that guy that's just super negative. It's gonna destroy your whole company. So you gotta kind of keep positive people that are willing to work and willing to be excited about the growth of the business.

Got it. A couple more questions, but just outside of financial success, how do you define success in your life now? Right? You have beautiful houses, beautiful friends, beautiful environments. What is success to you in 2020?

I'm very aggressive, so I like growth. I mean, that's the problem. It's like, I'm not the content person that's like, yo, I got everything. I'm good. Let's just relax. Unfortunately, I just like growth, growth, growth, and more, more, more. I mean, it's just. It's my game. I don't do it for anything more than just the game of doing it.

So do you think you'll ever retire or is that out of the picture?

I retired before. I retired for three years. Just traveled and, you know, after my tech business, I thought I was done, and I was just chilling and just traveled and hung out, and it was great. But again, this is my. Like, I've never done a drug. This is my drug. Like, this is what I love. So after three years, you get bored, and you want to stimulate your mind, and you want that challenge again, and you want to, like, push to check off the next box of content.

When did you know that you needed to get back in the game, per se, meaning you took three years off. You're traveling. When was that moment where you were like, okay, starting to turn it back on?

I would say halfway through. I mean, you know, even my financial people were like, hey, you're kind of making mistakes because you're. You know, I was. I was so bored that I was like, I should. I need something to focus on. So I was looking at deals a lot. I mean, I was looking at a lot of investments. And the problem with the investor, the normal investors, they'll look at one deal like their buddy brings in a car wash or whatever. The thing is, they're like, oh, that does sound great. So they put their money in. I'm like, you don't marry the first girl you meet. So I was looking at 30 deals a week. Let's say I didn't invest in any of that. And then I just kept doing that over and over and looking at tons and tons of deals, and then you find the ones. Like, I go big. I'm not the guy that, you know, you hear all these investors that, oh, I invested in this. And look, it went crazy. Okay, bro, you invested like no money in that. Like, yes, you invested early, but you invested in a hundred other things that lost. Yeah, you got one, but you know you invested 100 that you lost. Yeah, knock on wood. I've never lost. So I make sure that I'm very strategic in the moves that I make. So I guess the question was, when did I know? I don't know, I just got bored. I was ready. You can only travel so much before you need something to occupy your mind and go for something.

So if a young entrepreneur is out there looking to raise capital, someone that invests in early stage companies, what do you tell them? What do they need to prepare for before seeking capital?

It's a different game now when you got all these like online platforms you can raise. I mean getting money from a black box investment company. So basically like, yo, I got this idea, give me some money. Yeah, it's a lot more difficult than saying, hey, this is my business, I've launched it. This is the success we've had with your money. I think I could scale it. So I was. And it's so easy to launch a business nowadays. Let's say it's a clothing business, you launch Shopify. Super easy platform to do. You don't have to like have the developers to build shit anymore. So you know, you can start an Instagram, you can start a Twitter, everything's for free. So that's your promotion. So it's. I would say they should go launch it, prove the success a little bit, make it work and then go get money. And the money would be for scale.

Got it.

So that's what I would. It's a pain in the ass to raise money for sure. But if you've got some success, you.

Can show that makes sense. So last question, to really wrap it up just throughout your career and everything that you've had that success and failures, moving into not only this new world, if someone is watching this right now and maybe they've had negative beliefs and they come from a family where people, they don't want to do more, right, they're getting suppressed by the people around them. What do you tell that young person who's out there that is looking to start their journey and through everything that you learn, what advice would you give to that 18 year old kid that's starting their career nowadays?

I mean, listen, every entrepreneur, unless you're like born with a silver spoon, every entrepreneur comes from like a normal middle class family or a poor family or whatever. Like we're all the same people. Like I wasn't Born with. Yo, this is the guy. You know, I was. I was born in, like, a normal town, south side of Indianapolis. Who the hell, you know, would have thought? So if I can do it, anybody really could. And I think every entrepreneur would tell you that. I think what sets myself aside from maybe other people is, hey, I want to work harder. I'm willing to figure out ways and be kind of scrappy to do it. And I don't. I didn't just reach out once, and if I got a no, I was done. I kept reaching out. So I would say, any. Anybody can do it. It's just they don't believe it, and they don't put the effort to make it happen. But, I mean, it's not if I can do it. I promise you, you can do it, too. But it's not easy. You know, you have to decide. You want to play the video games every day. Do you want to go chase whatever the party scene or do whatever, or do you want to put your time and effort into the struggle and the like? I'm not working 8 to 5. I work a lot more than that.

Yeah.

Do you want that life? But that life provides you a lot more than a person that just, you know, doesn't have that hustle. So, long story short, you can do whatever the hell you want. You gotta believe it, and you gotta go after it, but you can definitely do it.

I love it. Well, Rob said, thank you so much.

For the show, man.

So for people that are tuning in, where's the best place to be? Can follow you, learn more about yourself or just stay in tune with what you have going on? Moving into 2020?

Yeah, I guess on Instagram. Just Rob G. Okay, easy.

Well, they see you posting a lot or what's up?

I'll post more this year.

Okay.

You heard it from him first here.

Yeah. Then cdfx.com and then dope.com are also too great.

Perfect. And I'll make sure to link everything down below so that they can check that out as well, if they haven't already. But that being said, Rob, again.

Yeah, man.

Thanks for the show, man.

Proud of you. Sure.

Thank you.

All right, guys, make sure you follow Rob. Check him out, and make sure you subscribe to the rise of the podcast. Talk to you soon.

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