Rogue Sofa Q&A and General Chat from a Barcelona Apartment - Doc the Journey Ep 70

Yeah. So context. Been in Barcelona for eight days, leaving tomorrow morning. Living in like this kind of haunted looking, very long, flat and bright in the center of the city. Don't think I've slept this bad since I was like 15. Maybe partly nicotine gum, too many Coke Zeros before bed. Don't know, maybe just out of routine. But nicotine gum and Coke's definitely not helping. And we've been scaling like it's a classic like Chad scale cupboard almost in here. Like the state of it, but it's.

Also no natural light.

Yeah, that's probably a big one to wake you up. In fact that's definitely, that's definitely why.

Then there's like a dude showering in your shower. Yeah. Doesn't help, does it?

Yeah.

So you just tweeted about like you're scared of getting older.

Fucking. Oh, you've prepared a lot in the past two minutes.

Why are you scared of getting older?

I just actually think about it so much. I think it's so deep. It's like, yeah, just I don't want to be old. I think it'd be shit. I already feel like I'm getting older, like with my knees and shit. Like genuinely, obviously it's all relative, but. And then I suppose I also don't feel like I've achieved what I thought I'd have achieved by, by this point in my life. Even though a lot of people would say that's ridiculous. But it's probably that, that element of it as well. Like not wanting to be like a certain point in my life and think I'm still not there yet. I'd rather just get there even though they will probably never arrive. So that's kind of deep. And then also just like seeing your parents getting old and shit. I always like see my parents and then leave. Only seem like one to a few months. Every time I leave I always feel like, sad.

Yeah.

Because I'm like, ah, like yeah, she looks old now.

So then if you look at me, it's like a happy go. Lucky 21 year old. What should I look out for as an old experienced man?

You're probably wiser than me already. What did I say earlier? Don't sign long term contracts. Don't chase girls, Let them do that. I would say don't waste money on stupid shit, but I also feel like you should and kind of have to to learn. Don't invest in meme coins. That probably is stupid.

Where are you going?

I think another general rule of thumb which I didn't adhere to is when you make more money, it doesn't mean you should spend more money. That's like a general rule like within reason. It's not saying like live in your parents basement until you're 50 because you want to invest in the s and P500. But yeah, I think a lot of people do that on like Twitter.

A lot of people do a lot.

On Twitter just like flex too much.

But don't do a lot as well.

Yeah, I went through that that phase and kind of out of it now. So you end up looking like you're fucking like homeless because you're not flexing with some financed car. But actually could be a lot more successful than you were.

So this week you were talking to the team on a call about new week how you think maybe the chews are a waste of time.

There's also just side note, the richest man under under 25 in Europe who sat behind the camera. The richest self made man in E commerce who will remain anonymous.

Tell us about your Moon shoes. Is that going to make you the next richest man or is it a waste of time?

Well, it's not necessarily a waste of time. I think there's most things I think in entrepreneurship don't work. That's just a fact. They haven't not worked. So we just never run ads to them. We've sold like a few thousand units and people seem to like them. But I don't really think it fits the narrative. I think it's better to. I mean I'm acting like I know I'm talking about. It's just my opinion that I've developed with the intro with the input of more, more experienced people. I think it's better to own one thing or a very small select thing set of things that relate to each other then kind of do a few things. Like I see a lot of brands and this is the sort of shit I shouldn't be sharing on the YouTube because my competitors listen to it. But I see a lot of brands jumping on like mushrooms. Like what the fuck does mushrooms mean? It's like so broad. So now for me I think we're like a morning drink brand, functional morning beverage. So yeah like and then if we're that then why are we doing a gummy Basically so it comes down to focus and then it dilutes like the brand messaging. I've even had customers message be like oh, you're doing the gummy now. I thought you were a coffee alternative brand.

Is that is a big difference from Bali when you were kind of Stressed out. Everything was going to shit. Remember you were like, oh, I want to. Like, it's going hard.

Yeah.

You change up the messaging.

The messaging focused a lot of shit, launched a new flavor and now we're scaling pretty hard.

Yeah. Because you're with us on a skill cover.

Yeah. Part of that.

That's a solution to life.

Yeah. I think the biggest thing is just focus and it's like so obvious but you do so many retarded things in hindsight and then. Yeah. You don't realize until you've done it.

You still feel like you're as sharp now as back in the day. Because we were talking today about how you would be more risk taking back when you were 23, 24. Now you're a bit more slow.

Yeah. I think I tweeted about this as well. I was very high risk when I was younger. Probably good and bad reasons. Definitely more measured now which is probably like net beneficial. But maybe there are some drawbacks. Like think about shit a bit more, try and get a second opinion. Would like be less risky with like money and it's probably on balance a good thing. Also this thing, your brain like doesn't fully form till you're like 25. That's like a fact. I definitely felt like more severely autistic when I was sub 25. Now I just feel partially like me now. Yeah. And I'm taking like a supplement stack to try and cure.

Cure that as well, which has been helping a lot.

I feel like it has. I don't know if that's a placebo, but it's definitely doing something.

Then we like or not we. I should say you weigh it out negatively with nicotine gum or Coke Zeros. Yeah.

I shouldn't be having this 20 minutes before bed when I'm struggling to sleep.

That's got caffeine in it.

I actually feel more awake now.

So we were actually talking about this tweet. I think you can skill pretty hard by not having a lot of calls. Do you think you can scale pretty hard by your team being offline by 5:30 and it more being asynchronous or are you gonna go ahead and have a different culture in your team where everyone has to always reply well, so.

The question is calls versus no calls.

Exactly.

No.

I think there's two questions. I'm actually also curious what are your thoughts on the thing? Because I know you mentioned it before of people not being available at 9pm medium if they're like, you know, higher paid.

Like, I think it's possible scale with.

9 to 5 team that are just strictly only online as I wonder if.

They'Ll heard that question.

So do you think it's only possible?

Yeah, basically like this whole area is probably one of the things I'm like debating the most and I think high level it comes down to like what sort of business you're trying to build basically. And I've put myself in a position where the sort of business I'm trying to build and kind of have to build is one that can exit for a large amount of money because I've got investors basically that's just a fact. So may the pros and cons to that and people have different opinions of that but that's the way I'm structured right now. Yeah. So that by default lends itself to having more of a formal team structure because that's what makes it investable. Whether that's right or wrong. But that's just a fact. Which should in theory make it a better business. But that's just one thing to consider on the point with like 5pm yeah. I'm probably maturing realizing that that's just the reality. If it's not their business, people are going to work 9 till 6 or 9 till 5. Just make sure you get enough out of them in that time.

Yeah. Because they should be able to feel.

Like is a challenge sometimes when you're a remote business. But I wouldn't want to not be remote because so many drawbacks.

Yeah. You had a little office phase. Yeah.

Talk about this is what I mean by me. I feel like I'm the only one that does this and then people watch me and learn from it for free like I do. Retarded shit. Document it. People go oh wow, he did it. I'll save the 20 grand on that three month lease or whatever it was and I won't do it. I can't be the only one that does this retarded shit. It feels like I am genuinely. And then on calls versus text. Yeah. I think a lot of calls is a waste of time. I've seen like Danny Buck tweet about this as well. Quite a lot. He's quite unconventional and successful. But at the same time and it may be relevant to the team point if you are trying to build like a proper team where it doesn't rely entirely on you. The quickest way you can communicate with like a important or senior hire or even just a hire like 15 minute conversation. You can get more covered than you do in slack messages in certain things. If it's like literal. Do this, do that, whatever. Oh, yes. No, maybe then maybe text. But if you're trying to have like a human conversation or like talk about something more nuanced, then a call is way easier in it. Yeah.

So how are you enjoying the journey right now? Because we were with one of your friends out to eat that knows you from. From the rowing days in uni. He said you went through many different phases but that you looked really happy tonight, like calm. How are you enjoying the journey?

Probably happiest when I'm in. In the back in the scale cupboard. Living how I used to live. Yeah. I feel like a weird phase in my life because I don't really know where the I want to live. I'm like not a child, obviously, but I also don't feel like an adult. Like I don't want to settle down and live this like conventional Western lifestyle, which I've kind of ironically been doing unbeknownst to my conscious mind for like the past few. I've largely done that in a way the past few years when I didn't have to. Yeah. Basically just want to scale up. I also don't want to hate my life to scale, which is something I realized because I was guilty of thinking, oh, if I'm like doing anything else but working.

Yeah, but you didn't seem like that sometimes in the videos you come over as pretty, like pessimistic or down. Like when you're like at home in the skill cupboard.

Oh yeah.

But you didn't come over like that.

So what I was in recently.

Yeah.

Probably cuz I'm not in and at home.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So think location and like environment affects people a lot. Definitely affects me a lot. I'm like, I'm definitely done with living in central London. I just have like negative associations with that now.

So what are the top three locations as as of now for after London?

I mean, Bali always feels high risk and I like Bali. It's just like so left field, so different to like the Western world.

So crooked.

I just feel more like excited about existing there. Yeah, a lot of people talk about Dubai. I'm not convinced. But then it's quite practical in a lot, in a lot of ways. And Spain on the whole, it's pretty cool. Like Marbella would have probably rather have gone to Marbella than Barcelona to be fair. We ended up coming to Barcelona last minute. Yeah, like the vibe's just nicer. A literal haunted cupboard. We could have been in like a villa with a pool, sunbathing but next.

Yeah, if you would have helped with finding a.

Probably those three are like the only like general areas.

Yeah.

And there's like people mentioned South Africa, so I've never been there.

So let's go.

That'd be quite cool.

What else is going on in the business? You're hiring a lot. Just posted on LinkedIn. Hiring a growth guy?

No, like an MD. Basically run the business. I basically don't like running a business, to be completely honest. I like starting businesses.

You know, this is something I noticed.

In and I finally got to the point where I'm willing to just hold my hands up and say fuck it, just get someone better than me. It's really hard to get someone better than you.

It's interesting, it's a paradox because the viewer might think you're living the best life, but then a lot of people that are the skill that you aspire to be are like not really enjoying their day to day too much. It comes at some point with love diminishing returns.

Yeah, I also think as well like given again it's all contextual to everyone's shit. Like the only good outcome for me really in this business is a big exit. Like that's quite a lot of pressure. But I'm also like well it. I'm playing that game. So build the business in that way. And like hiring people that can run it without me is a. Is a part of that. So why not start doing it sooner basically? Otherwise I'll just like it. Hire as least amount of people as possible, keep it as lean and profitable as possible. But that just isn't. That's not the reality when you take on like venture capital. Money is just different. And there's probably like a whole series of videos there because I've learned a lot about that. I didn't know when I went into it. I don't think anyone makes YouTube videos about that. Probably because they're can't contractually.

But yeah.

What would you then do? Maybe you need to repeat. I don't know how good the audio is. But what would you do if you hired like an md? What would you involve?

What would you focus on after you hire an md? That's over.

Probably just like the creative.

But what does that mean?

Like product and brand? It's pretty broad but like you could definitely spend a lot of time doing that.

Okay, but you also hired a product girl.

Yeah, well that's just more like technical product developer. Almost like a scientist.

So it's not like vision, it's more. So how do we complete it.

I think we should do a RCD and Scared of America.

Okay.

Like strategy.

High level. Conning the boat.

Yeah. And it might seem quite soon like scale wise. But it's more like chicken and egg. I think that is what would help scale to the next level quicker. Rather than trying to scale. It's like 30 million and even. Oh, I'm just having to manage people or hate my life and then trying to hire someone. It's like it. I'm gonna get to that scale anyway. It's written in the stars. So. And beyond. Some may as well as hire someone out.

Yeah.

That wants to come on the journey.

Why have you not been consistent with the journey videos?

Because I'm a inconsistent, hypocritical piece of good reason.

We'll take it.

Probably because it's just not been a priority, to be honest. But that is again, hypocrisy because I think I wrote down the start of the year. Do a video every week regardless. Like probably average one every three weeks.

Yeah. What else has been going on?

Good question. Don't know. Got a girlfriend. I mean, had her a while.

You getting married soon?

No, not getting married soon. Oh.

Is that a secret?

But she's probably got wife potential. Was considering getting rid of my dog.

Oh, yeah.

That's so deep. Because then she started sending me cute pictures and I was like, he's cute. I look back at pictures of him when he. When he was a puppy. I was like, so deep. It's actually so deep. But I just don't know if that fits my life anymore. And then it's like, is it.

That would fit the whole marrying narrative.

Fair to have a dog that I don't walk enough. Just chills with me all the time. It's a perfectly happy life. But I feel like he has more potential. But then would I regret getting rid of my dog? I don't know. Maybe that dog's been more loyal to me than a lot of friends and a lot of previous girls. Probably because he couldn't leave.

But you know, he had no choice.

He's pretended to be loyal. Rum ducks me every time I come through the door. Sleeps for me.

You cuddle him. I heard. Huh? You cuddle him sometimes.

Oh, yeah. I cuddle him a lot. Yeah, I spoon it.

That's kind of cute. Or a bit weird.

If no one slept in a large. If no one has stepped in a large double bed and spooned a warm sausage dog before they just done it. It's just they don't know what they're missing. That's some cozy. I'm not afraid to say it.

Working on anything else?

Yeah, I'm working on like this ice bath brand.

Oh, really?

In the background?

Yeah, yeah.

It's called Spanish baths dot com.

Is it like the warmer ones?

But they're like red and orange.

Okay.

Yeah.

Interesting.

And it does ice baths in the shape of football stadiums. Oh, that's a good idea.

It's like a Euro.

It's a campanoose. The Euro family size ice bath.

Okay. To. To. We can all come up with one brand idea that you would kind of want to do, but because we're already doing one.

Oh, that's a good idea. What? On the cuff. I hadn't prepared anything. I still think there's got to be a European take on Inkbox, which is the temporary tattoo brand that blew up in America. I mean, they're pretty sure they're global. I mean, that's not unique cuz it's kind of just saying. I think you could do that again. Maybe a more unique one. What would I do? Feel like the hydration category is pretty boring. Still. All the brands look the exact same.

Didn't George Heaton just release one?

Yeah. Again, looks the exact same.

Yeah.

I mean, it's pretty cool to be fair, but it looks less the exact same. But yeah, I was thinking that before he launched that. Feel like the protein category is another one that's just super boring. Every brand is like the exact same.

Yeah.

Like do something like left field, like controversial.

I had this idea for a supplement brand where the angle is it tastes but it's really healthy. So it should taste.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like you want to get strong. Don't get like sweetened protein shakes. Like, don't be a pussy.

You could call it like stoic protein dot com.

Something like this.

You just have to like shut your eyes and swallow.

Exactly. I had this idea to do like a subscription raw honey thing because honey is pretty shippable and I think honey could be like a very aesthetic product.

Yeah, I do feel like a really based aesthetic. Biohacking. Like raw food looks maxing.

That's like very bright. Yeah.

Like a stoic sort of aesthetic.

And then I had this other idea. I always wear these little bags. They're like a bit questionable, but they're very. They're very essential for my. I carry a lot in here.

What do you have in there?

That's top secret. Do a brand with just these, but then all kinds of different colors and you can like collect them.

That would just scale really hard, like at the start of summer every year.

Yeah.

And then it would be very seasonal.

That's my two brand IDs. What about you?

I have a lot of lists, but it's highly confidential.

They're actually good ideas. It's a problem.

Ten figures next time.

Ours are shit.

Have you seen the list?

Maybe.

Is that actually confidential?

I cannot share any confidential information.

It's just a list of a bunch of ideas.

But actually, I used to have a list. It's definitely not good ideas.

The raw food, like, biohacking thing was. Is one of that.

Oh, really? Or just like, supplements in that realm. Yeah.

It's like pure, pure food. Like. Yeah, it could be anything. Not only food, but, like, any biohacking.

Yeah.

It's like a stoic brand, basically.

What is your favorite brand right now?

Christ. I should have an example that comes to mind. I see so many brands all the time. Try not to give an easy answer. Definitely not mine, because I look at it too much.

Yeah. Like, other than our own brands.

Yeah. I'm trying to think I've actually seen anything I really like.

For me. We were looking at it, like, yesterday for me, up front.

Oh, yeah, I've got one. And everyone say it's. You got ripped into ripped to shreds on Twitter when I posted it. But I saw this prebiotic soda brand. I met the founder and it was the only brand I'd seen in the UK in ages. I thought that at least, like, visually.

Yeah.

Oh, that's like, sick.

What is it?

It's actually very different. It's like a UK take on Poppy or Ollipop.

What is it called?

It's called Living Things, but the branding was sick. It's like 1960s, like, retro vintage. Like, so well done. I always default to, like, the look of a brand, which maybe is like a. A bias because the fact I'm not naturally, like, a designer type.

Yeah.

Got no tattoos. And don't wear sprayed, like, frayed trousers.

It would fit your hair.

Yeah. But that's pretty cool. I thought it was a wavy brand. That one you showed me the other day as well was cool.

Yeah. For me, it's up front.

Up front. Right.

I don't know if that's the answer, but I think that's how you, like, build a modern brand. They're very open and honest about everything and they're just doing a sick job. Killer operators.

Yeah. Yeah. Then another one I thought was sick, which definitely no one will know. A friend of a friend started, like, a Meal kit company called all week and again I thought the branding was so sick. Thought the offering was pretty decent. I reckon it's pretty scalable. They're raising money right now apparently. But yeah, that was pretty cool. I think. I do think meal. It was like prepared meals, like chef prepared meals delivered like the whole convenience plus health. Especially in the uk, like London. I think that could be massive.

You have any cameraman?

No, I was just looking at the up front. That's pretty sick. I've seen that all over Twitter actually.

I've been following it for like a year or one half. But what is your favorite brand? One off the rip or just one that you really like? What is one that you go to and see? Ah, this is cool.

Lumi Therapy.

What is that?

Yeah, that's one way to bankrupt the distance. Okay. No, I don't know actually, I happen to looked recently.

Space goods maybe.

Space goods. For me it's like secretly ripping it.

Yeah, well, it. You'll probably scale too hard. Everything, everything this man touches turns to go.

I really like this thing called like dirty, Dirty, dirty, dirty.

It's like my biggest competitor.

It's a joke. It's a joke.

Yeah. I just don't, I don't like my own brand anymore. I think it needs like, I feel like it needs a refresh. I think you do get bored of looking at the same thing every day, don't you?

Yeah.

You're the only one that does that. Like a customer.

Yeah.

Two times a year. So it's so fresh.

Yeah. I do feel like my brand's a bit tacky. Like I've been thinking for like the past year it needs like a brand refresh. It's just so expensive and time consuming and so much admin to do a proper like brand pivoting. Redo all the marketing, redo every customer touch points, make it consistent and then it might perform worse because people aren't, aren't used to it. So it's almost like if it's working, just keep doing it and gradually, gradually pivot and improve rather than like, oh, I need to do a new logo and then like the whole 80s thing. Like I loved it. I don't think most people get it. So it's kind of like, ah, we spend all this time trying to be creative and do new shit and make movies. No one gives a. It's just like a sad reality. But the thing with that is if we're going to do that, it probably needs to be more like Liquid death where it's 45 seconds. A bit more controversial, maybe a bit more, like, culturally relevant, funnier rather than just. I think it looks cool.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's a humbling lesson you.

Went to dinner for with one of the operators guys. No.

Yeah, yeah.

Did you learn anything?

I didn't. Sean was sat the other side of the room but a long table. Moyes was meant to be there. He didn't come.

Did you learn anything that night?

Probably that Americans think bigger than Europeans.

So what? His numbers or scale in his head was just.

Well, yeah, they just. There was a few Americans there. They all just. They're just more optimistic and, like, the UK attitude. I think it's so hard to actually be a founder in the uk. Yeah. I fucking lived there for like, five years. Well, London for like, five years. Like, I feel like even the founders give off, like, a depressive vibe, I. E. Me and other people, they're all just like, ah, fuck, it's hard, isn't it? Whereas the Americans are like, yeah, just like, raise a fund and start a brand and scale to a billion. Like, Aaron with breeze. Speak to him and you think, me, I'm thinking too small. Whereas I speak to, like, some UK dons. I think, jesus Christ, this is hard. So, yeah, maybe that.

Anything else interesting happened in the time you were in England while we were away from Bali? You think London has gone to shit? Controversial topic, like everyone says it has.

Yeah. Like, the whole rhetoric. I mean, to be fair, it's not just like, money, Twitter. There is like, a general. I mean, like, the UK elections in two days and like, even, like, the average person, I think, is realizing, like, me country's gone to shit. So it's definitely true. I suppose, like, with anything that's like, every place has pros and cons. That is definitely true. Yeah. I feel like for me, I do probably want a change of scene, like where I'm based, I think, yeah, London in winter is miserable. I think especially central London. I'd rather be in, like, the countryside if I'm going to be in the rain. Not the crimes. Definitely got worse, but it's not as bad as everyone says on Twitter. Like, people that have never been there will write a thread about how every two seconds someone gets their arm chopped off in central London. It's like. It's not true, though, is it? And if that is true, you're living in the wrong place. Yeah. I mean, be careful what I say. But I do think, like, a lot of the political agenda that's been thrown on people in certain controversial areas is A bit mad these days around certain topics which is definitely very, very Western and very uk. But yeah, I'll stay silent on certain opinions on the YouTube. I do feel like the UK has lost its way a little bit. I think a lot of people are saying that doesn't really feel like a prosperous country at the minute or city in London.

I don't know. If you look at it like this.

It feels like costs a lot, doesn't really give much back in return.

Yeah, maybe it's similar to the Netherlands. I look at the Netherlands as like the perfect country. Maybe it's the same for like denmark and the UK. Like if you are like 35 and want to settle and have kids, but between like 20 and 35, there's nothing that you can get in those countries that you couldn't get better anywhere else in the world as a young person trying to make it.

Yeah, yeah, I think I probably do agree. That's a good general consensus.

Okay, maybe last one, if any more thoughts or ideas that I should implement for my brand Scaling jewelry.

You definitely know a lot more than I did at your age. You probably know more than I do now. In some ways. I just kept fucking winging it all the time. Like my brain's shrinking over time. I mean, yeah, I think like jewelry is very much like a first order profit game in it. That's, that's the difference with my business. Like we're not first order profitable, but it's heavy, heavy subscription and so it's a very different model. But you gave, I think just bundle and bump the aov. It's like I said to you before, do sterling silver like AOV's biggest challenge in in first order profit businesses. So we're more on AOB but also like actual gross margin dollars per order. That should be the main thing because something like sterling silver as a percentage is always going to be lower because it might cost you, I don't know, 30 quid to make. You can sell it 200 as opposed to 1 quid and sell it 50, but that's still 170 quid gross margin as opposed to 40 quid gross margin for example.

So you mean like product type or like offer where we like I'm testing an offer now.

Yeah, I think probably both. But then another thing I've realized is, and Sean Frank from Ridge talks about this, you think you can launch like an entirely new product for your brand and then you realize that I thought when I launched the Nighttime products, AOB was going to double. These people would bundle Then I thought I launched the gummy. A bit will go up definitely. Like 20%. Literally didn't move at all. And because like the algorithms you've built into the business, like the ads you've run for the past two years, it's all for like one other thing. So it takes fucking time to build, like to change the economics of the business. Basically. In my opinion.

They've killed it with the rings.

Yeah, they launched like rings, I think luggage.

They scale it separately from the wallet. It's like a different target.

Yeah, yeah.

That they're reaching the rings. So they like doubled the tam or I don't know if it's doubled but the TAM just got way bigger. Because they're also selling rings. Yeah, it's kind of the idea I just did.

Yeah. Like I've not really given. I talk about my secondary products like Nighttime Gummy never run out to either of them. So it's not really a fair test.

Which could maybe could unlock new.

It's more just a focus thing. But yeah, I think aov. I mean it's really just a game of spend more. Keep your cap down, increase margin so you can spend more.

Pretty simple.

It's so simple but really hard.

Exactly.

Unless you're Simon. Then it's really easy. Bleep out his name.

Yeah, we're all anonymous. Especially we. Yeah, yeah. Nice.

Hopefully that was useful. Has this been a document in the Journey? I can't call this a Q and A because people just say it's like clickbait. It's been episode 70 I think Doc the Journey. I should have done like 110 episodes by now if I've been doing it weekly. Cuz it's been over two years. May 22nd. I started this series definitely skilled best.

In terms of episodes and probably views. Views per video.

Yeah. That's a real sad sight. Is it? The student overtakes the master in all areas. Not that I was ever a master.

That means you're a good mentor.

It's like Drake and Lil Wayne.

It's a good head taken.

So on that bomb show.

Good night.

Subscribe to the semi existent pod. I'm just going to keep churning these out and one day I'll either be filthy rich or it'll be hilarious when the business fails. Hopefully it'll be the former and I'll have to make it so because I'm putting out on the Internet.

It both makes for a good story.

On that bombshell. Good night.

Sam.