Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: That's why.
All right, welcome back to the 1% man podcast. We've been gone for some time, but got my good friend here, Damon Dixon, with me. Damon Dixon here with me.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: No, I'm joking.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: His name is Damon Dixon. And welcome to the show, Damon.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Hey, man, I appreciate you having me. Come on.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So as you can see on the video, I'm going to pull or Drake. I'm going to have my phone in front of me because I have some questions I'm going to ask Damon. And, Damon, do you mind if I ask you three questions so the audience and myself can get to know you better?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Let's go.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: All right. This is not scripted at all. I promise you this. Okay.
All right. First question is, if you could speak to your 18 year old self, what advice would you give and why?
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Take yourself seriously and just go.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: I realized, especially when I was 18, I was in this weird zone where I love my family, but I had to go to college. I had no other option. They said, you have to go. If I had a choice, I would have taken a little bit of a break off because I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: All right?
[00:01:09] Speaker B: So in that situation, even though I still went to school in my free time, I wish I didn't party as much, like, on the weekends. But in my junior and senior years, I took myself seriously, and that's when I made the most progress. And I'm wondering, why did it take so long to do this? Because I didn't take myself seriously. I felt like I was wasting my energy. So that's why I would tell my younger self is like, just take yourself seriously and do what you actually want to do because you'll get to where you want to get to a lot faster. Yeah.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: You know, it's funny because most people say, don't take yourself seriously. You know what I mean? Don't take life seriously. You know what I mean? It's all going to come to you. But I like the fact that you're saying, take yourself seriously because you're going to get to where you want faster.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: That's the thing I started realizing is I don't like saying this, but yeah, most people right?
[00:01:55] Speaker A: No, say it's.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Okay. The reality is, I had to look at who are my mentors.
In this case, it was just like, who are the guys online that were already crushing it? What were they doing? How are they living? What are their skill sets? What are they learning?
[00:02:09] Speaker A: What are they doing exactly?
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Well, they were not going out Friday through Sunday.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Party, drinking.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: All drinking, smoking. They weren't doing that. They were on their grind for a prolonged period of time till they built up their skill set. And they got to a point where, okay, now if they want to go do something on the weekend, every other weekend, or whatever they have, because they've got leverage now. So, yeah, it's like you can listen to people, it's fine, but listen to the people that you would like to emulate to some capacity. And then once you get to that point, then you got your life. You can make your own decisions because you now see how your decisions affect your outcomes.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: I agree with you 100%, because I think financially, when you're in a position where you have the money, it's different when you go out, because now you can truly enjoy you don't have to penny pinch. You have to think like, oh, well, I went crazy. I can't check my account the next day. You know what I mean? I just popped a whole bunch of bottles. But, yeah, I totally agree with you. So we'll move along. So, next question.
If you could be an expert in another field besides digital marketing and ecommerce, because, let you know, Damon has racked $4 million in revenue. Probably eclipse that now, but what would it be and why? Just so they know that this is why you're an expert in ecommerce.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah, the only other thing that would make sense. Well, I say it makes sense. It would probably would have been software development if I had to do anything. I did do some computer science classes when I was in college.
The reason I didn't continue with that, because I felt like it's a little bit too much nuts and bolts for me. I saw the utility in creating software, but I realized, like sales and marketing, you have way more power if you know how to sell a product, you're good. You're good. So that's why I was like, I can build a physical product. That's fine. Then how do I learn to sell that? And honestly, I think that was a better move for me. So I'm not going to say would I go back? I was a musician at one point, too. I used to sell beats on the Internet. That's how I got into e commerce in general.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: What?
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Nobody said that online.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I was doing my research, too.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: I was digging.
I didn't find that.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: If you type in, like, Damon Dixon music yeah, I used to make beats. I used to sing.
That's why in high school, I used to sing.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Sing?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I was like John Legend.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: What? Sing right now?
[00:04:30] Speaker B: It's been a minute.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: I got to warm my vocals.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: I would say yes. It probably would have been software development if I really want to go down it, and it just would have led me to, again, building product to some capacity. Selling that, I think.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: I mean, software is a product, you know what I mean, after that. But instead of it being physical, you're shipping it, and you have inventory.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: You got developers.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah. You know what I mean? There's a lot more project management because I'm in the software space for my nine to five. So got you like enterprise, having the government as a client or even having private companies, even though you don't have any inventory, but you need a lot more technical chops. So as you say, like the nuts and bolts. You got to know how your product operates inside and out.
When someone asks you, hey, can your product do this? You can't look at them and be like, oh, I don't know. You got to be like, yeah, that's a great question. I'm going to get the people, the right people involved, you know what I mean? Especially because it's your product, you should know it as well. So yeah, I totally agree with you. I like that too. And actually we actually are working on a software, but I can't release that yet. Can't release that yet, you know what I mean? No, it's going to be a financial tool. So for men, especially like budgeting, you know what I mean? Because most budgeting software is horrendous fucking dude.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: I still use a Google spreadsheet, man.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: I don't even like me too, you know what I mean? That's how I itemize everything. But I was like, one thing I don't like is that some of my bills aren't every month. Sometimes they're three weeks or maybe that might be every six weeks, something like that. I was just like, can we just have something a little more intuitive where you can six weeks or maybe daily or whatever that is?
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: So that's what we're working on. But that's like not a long term project, but like probably a year out from launching our minimal Via product. Got you, but it's not about me. But back to you. Last question. What is one value you believe you could teach all men to make the world a better place for everyone.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Make a world a better place. That's a deep one, bro.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: Yeah, go on.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Yeah, honestly I would say is confidence. Like having confidence. Again, this kind of goes along with taking yourself seriously. Because the thing is you have confidence in something and you have purpose in something. You can navigate the world with clarity. And when you can navigate the world with clarity, one, you respect yourself. And because you're respecting yourself, other people start to respect you as well. So you can start to like, yeah, the world starts to happen with you as opposed to against you because you have forward movement. It's like when the freeway is open, you're just like, go, that actually reminds.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Me of my favorite book, the Alchemist.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: It's like the world is not happening at you, it's happening for you. Everything is happening is for your good.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: I always say there's a blessing and blessings in the skies, bro.
Something good is happening or maybe something unfavorable happened, but you're going to learn from it so you can keep going forward.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Oh, we're going to chop that up.
We're going to chop that up and put it up. I like that. That's nice. Okay.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Sweet.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Sweet.
Everybody gets to know a little bit about you as well, and I appreciate you answering those questions. So let's get right into it.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Right?
[00:07:46] Speaker A: So we're entering the men's skincare industry.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: All right, so talk to me. Let's start. How did you land in the men's skincare industry? How did you get your footing in there?
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so, I mean, I don't have perfect skin right now, but at one point in time, I really had terrible acne. Face was entirely covered in bumps, tons and tons of dark marks. I have a beard now, but I used to shave my face underneath my neck. I'd be getting bumps and stuff like that. I could never use the five blade razors. I immediately had to go use a trimmer.
Okay. I always just had skin issues, and then I noticed a lot of the products I was using were not helping at all. And I tried the products like Proactive, like, stuff I would see on TV, proactive. There's like mirad. I tried something called lumen. So there's a bunch of different brands I was messing with. I would go to Ulta. I was trying everything at that point. But, yeah, I mean, the products just were not working for me. And I even tried using prescriptions as well because my dad was a pharmacist. So he was telling me, you know, use this pill. There's, like, creams and things like that. Those things would really dry out my skin. I found out that those actually, like, the pimple pills, like, some people call them. I think the technical term is tretininonin or something like that, but it literally poisons your oil gland so it can't produce oils, which then stops the bumps from forming in your face.
But a side effect of that is you have incredibly dry skin. So my skin literally started to peel off my face.
Honestly, I had to figure out a solution, though, because I'm like, I didn't like seeing what I was seeing in the mirror. Right.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: I had to figure out a way and after trying all that chemical based stuff and what I was seeing at the store, I literally found, like, I think yeah, it was factory up in Oregon. They specialize in natural skincare products, and I'm like, let me just go give this a run. There's nothing to worry about. These are good, clean ingredients. True. Yeah. So I started using that. My skin was not overly reactive. And long story short, after a while, my skin started to heal up pretty well.
Yeah, that was the start of it. And then from there, I was like, okay, well, I know if this stuff works.
How about other guys? That because I had the entrepreneurial hat on still. True. Yeah.
So, yeah, I just went from there, and that was pretty much it.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Now take a step back there, because that's a huge jump to go from. Like, I tried all these things, and this wasn't working. But no.
Real quick, take me to the footing. So what kind of gave you the click? That okay. Was there a story? Did you meet somebody? And you were just like, let me make this for men, too?
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. So the actual device itself, when I was in my last year of college, I started up a women's skincare brand, and it was with that similar device, but it was a pink version. It was a lot shoddier, so it was, like, cheaper, and it was also smaller.
But I started using actual skincare device with these face washes that I was using. So that's when I had the idea about, okay, use a device alongside the face wash and the moisturizer and all that. So that's where I initially got that idea. But I remember when I was running that brand, cognitively, it made sense. I'll run a women's skincare brand. Like, women are buying.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: That makes perfect sense.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: I was getting sales. Okay, it makes sense. But I was also looking at my data. A small percentage of men were also buying the product, but they would buy the green version of it, and then the moms that were buying it would also buy it for their teenage sons and the green version. So I'm like, all right, well, there's something here, right? Like, guys are buying it, and the moms are buying it for their sons. So I just made a black version, like, made it more masculine, and I literally went in the bathroom. I got five samples from Factory, went in the bathroom, filmed the ads, put them up on Facebook, launch, got sales, right? So I'm just like, okay, it validated. Right. Within the first weekend, I got, like, five or ten sales, I think, and then from there yeah, just kept buy more samples of inventory and then kept going compounding.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: Yeah, because I really want to go down the rabbit hole of when did you say, you know what? I want to make this into an actual brand and then have the name, the logo, the boxes, because I imagine the device flex. You didn't just find it automatically or how did that.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: 2000 and 22,021 was a very interesting time. So, yeah, I found a private label version of it. For anybody who does start businesses, I always recommend you just find a product that does exist just because you don't have to buy product molds, which can cost multiple five figures, especially if it's a technical product. You got to really invest in the thing.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: I mean, talk for yourself, you sunk. I think it was 30,000.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah, the mold was $30,000.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: That's not including talking to patent attorneys and then the actual inventory order.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: So if you give you a rough estimate of what it took to start your company yeah, I think it was.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: 80 grand to really build this version of dudes, but before that, I ran a private label version of it because I didn't have to front up inventory cost. It was already made. They just printed my logo on it, stuff like that. But I made a decent bit of change, so I was able to take the profit from that. And then in 2021, I rebuilt everything from the ground up and Raid, like, proprietary product.
[00:13:07] Speaker A: Got you.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: So that's how that all worked.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Okay. We say decent people change. I like to use numbers here, so talk to me. Talk to me here. Give it to them so they understand.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, hey, I'll put it this way. I learned a lot.
So my first brand, the women's skincare brand, I took that to 1.15 mil, and that was over 18 months end of my senior year, all the way through until, like, I think it was Q four, 2020 is when I stopped.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: How many employees did you have with that, too?
[00:13:36] Speaker B: That was just me, and then that.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Was just you myself.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Then I just had a customer service.
Okay.
Yeah, that's why I did that. But then again, I saw in the data, like, men were buying products. So in that same period of time, I'm like, let me go start up this men's brand and see if that works. I think I started that June 2020.
I got sales right away, and I think I made one change to the price. I went from 79 99 to 69 99. My conversion rate doubled overnight. So then we started printing, like, 30% net margin.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: You went down in price?
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: You went down from, like, 799 to 699.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Yeah, 79 99 to 69 99. And my conversion rate doubled.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Doubled. Oh, wow.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: So my customer acquisition costs dropped by, like, $25, I think, which was insane because then that just opened up a ton of more margin for me to scale into. But, yeah, we were doing, like, 30% net margin, and this is during COVID so everybody's home, everybody got stimulus checks, so I was able to write it. So, long story short yeah, I think ended up doing, like, 960K in revenue within that first spurt, and then bottom line, profit was like, 275 after everything.
So, yeah, I mean, I took 80 grand from that and then rebuilt from the ground up.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Wow.
Amazing. Congrats. You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm proud of you for that. That's what's up, dude. Yeah, can we this is not one of the questions I even sent you, but I want to know what about family and support? What did your family what did your parents think about it? You know what I mean? Do you have brothers and sisters? Is that what they think?
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I have two younger brothers. I'm the oldest.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: Yeah, actually, it's funny.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: I got a video on Instagram I have to show you later on but it's this dude, this little kid talking and he's like, I may be broke, but my brother's not.
I'm going to send it to you. My sister sent it to me. I'm sending it to you. So that's so funny. Excuse me, but keep please.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's funny. So my two younger brothers, I mean, I try to get them to work for me way back, way back. So I'm like, hey, guys. Hey, I'm making some money. Let's maybe make a family business. But then I realized, all right, not everybody cares about it like that. They don't want to do what you want to do.
I support them in their own past and what they want to do. Right. Yeah.
My family, yes, it was interesting.
My parents always knew I was doing something different, more or less. I remember I started my first job right after school. I had the women's skincare brand, but I also took a full time job just because I wasn't making a bunch of cash from it. And again, I wasn't certain in what I was trying to do. Looking back, I would have just kept going because I think the month before I started the job, I made like, three K net profit, which is not a lot, but it was better than zero than the month before.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah, agreed.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Keeping going at it would have been beneficial, for sure.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: But also, three K in our area where we live, it's not crazy. Right? But if you work three K in the Midwest yeah. Oh, my God, you know what I mean? You're damn near like a millionaire, you know what I'm saying?
Just so you guys know, we are in Northern Virginia, so average one bedroom is like 2500, you know what I mean?
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I think back then it was like 18, it was about right? Yeah. Still like 17 to 1800.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Okay, 1800 cool. But that's like one month of living expenses. It's not like he can go home and be like, everyone, quit your job. I got it. It's all on me. But at the same time.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: But it was like three K, so I took a job, and then after tax there, I think dude, I still think I was making, like I think it was fifty two K on the year. So it was entry level market. Like digital marketing specialist. Right.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: I'm sorry. The reason why I'm laughing is because the entry level position, but you have your own organization that you're running, and you built it up.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: The way they view is still, like, at that point, I'm a 21 year old guy just saying, hey, I can run your digital marketing.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Okay, so the firm that you're working for, is this like an established firm and everything like that?
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they did real estate, actually, I guess I could say it's Penfitted Realty. So it was Penfitt Credit Union? Basically. And then they had, like a real estate arm on it.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Okay.
Real estate division. And you worked digital marketing over there?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so I was, like, generating leads for the Realtors, so just getting new Realtors into their ecosystem, and then also doing some B to C lead gen for home sales. But again, it was very much like day job. And then basically what I was doing, I was working before I went to work. So I wake up at, like, 05:00 and then actually go commute. It's like an hour and 30 minutes after Alexandria because I couldn't afford to get my own apartment. Oh, I could, but I would have spent everything and have no savings to actually invest back into my stuff. So I had to make that decision. Eventually, I started just going into work late. I asked my boss, like, yeah, can I come in like, ten? So I'd go in at ten. So I'd work in the morning on my own stuff and then work during the day, and then I would stay later in the evening and work on myself again. So that's how I was able to get it done and then eventually move off. But I remember I was telling my mom, yeah, I'm about to quit. It's just a matter of time. And she thought I was crazy. She's like, you got to keep the job. But here's the wildest part. The pandemic, right?
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: So if pandemic drops, I'm just in the middle of like, I am going to quit. I just came off Q four. So in that period of time, I made, like, I think it was like, 40K, like, net profit from my business, which is still more than what I would made at my job in, like, nine months or whatever, right? I'm just like, all right, I got.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: To go, dude, at this forty K net profit, you're still like, I got to go, but my mom is telling me to stay.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: My grandpa was saying that, like, hey, Damon, I don't know if this looks good right now, because everybody was scared during the pandemic. True, they didn't know, but I still took that leap, man. It was like April eigth. I remember one month into this lockdown thing, not even one month, and I'm just like, Yo, I just got to go. So I quit and then just went all in. So I initially did not have the best support in that way, but I think it was just like a fear factor, more or less.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Agreed. Yeah.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: But they knew that I was always destined to do something bigger than just what I was working on at that point in time. Because even when I was younger, I used to sell, like, duct tape, wallets. I guess I used to sell Beats, like mowed lawns, stuff like that. So I always knew being an entrepreneur was, like, what I wanted to do. I think they saw that.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: So now with your success, are they more supportive and feel like if you're going to do something? Are they like, okay, cool. Yeah.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Now they believe it because they see the results. I still don't talk about numbers like that in general, but they know I can afford to live. I'm chilling. You know what I mean?
I'm cool, yeah.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: Okay. Got you. You don't talk numbers just because personally, you just don't want to talk numbers or just because it's not a thing for you.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, for me, I realized, really, numbers are just a function of how long you've been doing something, like the compound effect of what you've been doing.
So numbers can be very subjective.
I was in New York two weeks ago. I was at a meta conference. I met some young guys. They're 26, 27. They did $50 million last year. Right? But this man did not just straight up say, yeah, we did 50 million. I recognized his business already. Like, I knew the brand, and then I saw how many customers they had. I did the math. I'm like, yes, you're eight figure business. Then he told me, yeah, we did that. But he was telling me it's more or less a function of, like, what product are you selling in the market, and how good are you at marketing? Right? So how good is the product, and how good are you at marketing that will determine your output? So basically, it's just like, numbers are just like how good you are at efficiency overall. So over time, I know I will.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Get larger and larger numbers because you're optimizing. You're going to get better, you're going to look at the data. I mean, you do great with customer feedback and data already looking at the products, and I mean, that's how you got into dudes.
Yes, 100%. Agreed.
One of the things I like to do is share numbers is because I really want to disband the myth of money, finances.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I got you.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
Excuse me if I'm pushing a little too hard. You're good. I like to because I think so many times, especially a lot of people that want to be business owners, everybody's like, get seven figures. Seven figures. And I'm like, actually think about this for a minute. Maybe you don't need seven figures. Maybe if you make forty K net.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Profit in a month, you're good, you.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Know what I mean? Or maybe you make ten, twenty K and you can pay for a nice place, and you don't have to go build a whole team, you know what I'm saying? But I think so many times, everyone wants to push for seven figures, but they don't need to be at that level if they know their numbers, you know what I mean? I'm not saying you're not open about it, but I'm saying if we share that more of, like, these are numbers I'm hitting, this is what I'm doing.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: I got you.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: It's more a function of just like, you said, people are like, oh, six figures, six figures.
Especially when you start off, you just get caught up in that. And then your ego gets hit because you realize, oh shit, this is not going to hit right away. This is harder than I thought.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: So that's why I always try to tell people, like, do the reps, do the thing that matters. And then you'll just see the numbers start to pop off.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: We had a great conversation before. We were talking like, hey, media buying isn't as hard as people think it is. Like targeting and all that, however. But writing ads and understanding your customer, their problem, their pain points, and then value stacking, if you understand that and then you couple it with the media buying, you can go sell any product.
That's the thing.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: That's why I'm just like, even right now, I tell people, you don't need much money to get started. All you need to do is go talk to who you think you want to sell to. I always recommend sell something that you're already comfortable with or like, you know about. You're selling like, self improvement content because you probably went down that journey at some point in time.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: I'm selling men's skincare products because I went down that journey at one point in time. So it's like, okay, if I know the product I want to sell, then I need to go speak to the market so I can speak to them in the way that they want to be talked to. Right.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Like, look at market.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Sophistication market awareness. Then you create the content that just revolves that reflects that.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Then you just put in the ads. Then your return on ad spend is going to be greater than if you just slapped product on white background as an ad and sent it to a random shopify store. So, yeah, I believe, as I say, putting in the reps, focusing on it's almost like intangible stuff.
That's what makes it tangible. You can grow true.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: I like that. But something that we're talking about is talking about the issues for men. Right?
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Something that I find that a lot of men is that even me too, is that I never took skincare seriously when I was younger because I was like, man, I'm going to throw some water on my face. You know what I mean?
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Soap.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: And then acne was, well, it's a thing that's going to happen. It didn't happen to me. I didn't have bad acne at all. But I might have a pimple and all that and but I do get razor bumps when I used to shave. But now I have like a shaving profile being in the military. But a lot of men might even see that. I might. But they do see that as like a feminine thing where you spend all that time in the shower skincare. But why is it important for us as men. To take care of our face.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
Honestly, I think guys overcomplicate the whole thing, like, putting it in masculine and feminine, defining it that way. What I really ask people is like, all right, if you got a skin issue, bro, just take care of it. There's stuff that will help you, and that's why we created stuff that will help you.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: True.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: And if you've got clear skin, a good face wash and moisturizer will just take your skin to the next level, like, bare minimum. But it's really just a function of, like, do you brush your teeth in the morning?
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: Do you brush your hair in the morning?
[00:25:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Or you go get haircuts? Do you trim your beard? Do you take a shower? Yes. Are you scrubbing your body so it's really just like are you cleaning yourself?
[00:25:40] Speaker A: I hope so.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: You are fresh.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: When you break it down like that, then you realize, like, okay, yeah. There's nothing wrong with using a face wash and a moisturizer. I don't overcomplicate it with face mask and all this other stuff. I go into my girlfriend's cupboard. She got snail mucus, like these eye patches and stuff like that. But that's just the market.
I went to a beauty conference in Vegas.
Probably one of the only dudes up in there. Like, that must have been a good time. Yeah, it was cool. It was cool. Met a lot of people from China, and they like my hair, which was nice to hear.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: I actually do see that a lot on Instagram. But if you're black, you go to anywhere in Asian or Pacific, they're like, oh, my God.
And it's not like they're trying to be rude, but they just don't know. They just culturally would just come up to you and just touch your hair. Just touch you and be like, you're real. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Yeah. So I totally understand.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: But I just say to say the female care market, just in general, I was talking about beauty specifically, right? It's just large, and it's been around for years and hundreds and hundreds of years. Advertising of women is just, like, way ahead in terms of what that's always been. But even back thousands of years ago, guys still put cologne on. Guys still wash their face, they still shave their face. They still groomed in some sort of way.
This is just the elevation of it, right. So you can take yourself to another level. So if you got the skin issue, you can get rid of skin issue. If you already got good skin, it'll just make you look ten times better and ten times more confident. That's just all that is true.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: I actually agree. I 100% agree with you. I started using a skincare line, I don't know what it's called, but when my skin started looking better, I was like, I'm kind of glowing. Yeah, I got a haircut, and I was like, oh, damn, boy, the skin glowing. I was like, Yo, get your girl away from me.
What's your girlfriend's name?
Okay, my bad. I didn't know. I didn't even know. I won't even talk to a homie.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: No.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: But I do understand that the benefits definitely outweigh the cost 100%. But what do you want men to feel like when they buy your product and they use it? You know what I mean? What are you looking for? Or what do you hope they get?
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Yeah, the device itself. If you've never exfoliated your skin, you will just feel instantly smoother skin. It's going to look a little bit brighter. You're going to be like, can you.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Explain what that means, exfoliating your skin? Because those are, like, terms that I understand because I do that now, but I think some people listening, they don't do that. So break that down. What exfoliating means?
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Exfoliating, very simply, is just removing the outer layer of your skin so you can reveal fresh, brighter skin. So if you just got dead skin on top, if you got dry skin, best way to say is you've got, like, super chap lips or, like, dry skin, and you notice it peeling. Exfoliating will remove that peel action going on your skin.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Because I'm thinking, like, if I heard that, I'll be like, well, don't I need that for my skin to be protected if I exfoliate? You know what I mean?
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is the thing with men's skin, and this is like I did deeper research on this stuff. So guys have oilier skin. Like, our testosterone creates excessive oils in our skin. So this is why we are very much more prone to bumps on our faces. So by removing the excess oils and that dead skin that's clogged up in the pores, this is, again, if you have acne, just by removing that, you're going to reduce the chances of you getting acne and bumps on your face. So you need a level of oils, levels of oils on your skin. But if you got excessive oils and this is what these acne products do, they either dry out your skin excessively, or they poison the oil glands. So our products pretty much, like, regulate it as opposed to just completely stripping the skin.
Yeah.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Okay. And with all natural ingredients in it as well. I think that's one of the reasons why I ordered the Mute, because I was like, oh, all natural ingredients. Perfect.
I'm just a super holistic, dude. I use essential oils. I don't even use the store bought deodorant. I use black seed oil for deodorant. Okay, so I'm super big on that, but that's one of my things.
But I want to touch more on personal journey and challenges that you face, you know what I mean? Before we wrap this up. So I heard you embarked on a nomadic journey. Okay. So how was it, and where did you go?
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so basically, I think it was November 2021.
Yeah. I went to New York for the first time.
I grew up in the suburbs, so I never really went to the city like that.
Yes. My cousin, she lives up in there. She let me stay in her apartment. She was gone, so I'm just like, in the city for the first time, chilling, and it just sent a shockwave through my brain, showing me how fast other parts of the world move.
So that was the first experience. That's when I realized, yeah, things are moving a lot faster than just being outside with a dog or it's just it's just different.
And then the second time is I remember my business partner, he actually flew in.
Yeah, he flew into Arlington to come speak with me. We were talking about the product I was building, and he just gave me this piece of advice. He was like, Dude, you could spend two k a month on rent anywhere in the world. Right.
You have the ability to be anywhere and anywhere. So go ahead and expand your perspective, because that's all traveling really does, is expands your perspective of the world, and you're just painting more mental maps. So as soon as he told me that and I had that experience in New York, I realized, like, okay, that's 100% right.
I really can do that. I'm blessed to be able to do that. So, yeah, the first place I went to, well, after that, I went to Oregon.
I'm with my best friend, and we chill there for, like, six days, I think.
Then I went to La for about two weeks. I had a friend that he lived out there. I was dog watching and chilling, but out there, I also met up with, like, an old friend from high school. He's a musician, so I got to chill with him and his friends. And then just by being spontaneous, their friends, which were really cool yeah. And just started building relationships. And then you just start connecting with people in different areas or people from even back in the day, see where they're at, just connecting with that again, you start experiencing new things again, painting your internal map. You realize how big the world actually is. But when I went to Japan, that was a real eye opening moment because I'm literally on the other side of the world, seeing how other people live during the day, and I'm just like, wow, it's just a cool experience.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: What was, like, the most shocking to see in Japan? How other people lived. What did you see that was like, okay, wow, this is completely different than what I'm used to.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yeah, they don't even have trash outside. There's no trash cans. That's just a small thing. But the way they live is very efficient, and it's very introverted as well. So people usually just have their head towns. They go straight to what they got to do. They don't talk too much. Only time I was like, yeah, I went with a friend as well, I think met two people that spoke English.
Yeah, I think there's three people that entire time that spoke English and they're at the bar. It wasn't even like on a day to day outside.
It was way different. They didn't speak English out there either.
[00:33:27] Speaker A: A lot of Google Translate.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: I was trying to go without Google Translate. That's what was funny.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: So did you learn Japanese on a plane or like no. So how did you pick Japan then, out of all places? You just wanted to yeah, I mean.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: I love Asian culture. For me, it's just like, I don't like my favorite meal is fu, so like, that bowl of soup, like, I love, like, something about it.
So, yeah, I just like that culture.
But one thing about Japan I really liked is, again, the efficiency side of things. So they have this practice called kaizen, which is essentially like how businesses function. It's like every piece works together, so it's consistently moving forward. I've realized in Western cultures, sometimes it's always like, just for me or we don't work together that well.
A lot of times the egos get in the way and clash and stuff like that, but over there, everybody is just trying to keep everything moving, very friendly and things of that nature. So I try to apply a lot. Well, now I understand because I work with a lot of people in China and overseas, so now I can understand them a lot better, which helps me run a better business overall because I'm.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: More I yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. When I was deployed and I was in Djibouti, I think the way the people loved each, like, it brought a certain healing to me, you know what mean? Yeah. The way men embraced each other. And men here in America, you don't really embrace, you know what I mean? Like me and you, we shook hands, right? Yeah.
They would hug and then do like the double cheek know. But I just saw men really loving on each other and I was like, this is I had an experience because it's not uncommon for men to hold each other's hands. I'm talking, like, hold each other's hands. A man came up to me, held my hand, wanted to talk to me, and I was like in my head, I'm like, oh, damn, come on, man.
I'm not going to lie, I was like, I look gay as hell right now. Come on, man. But that was just me because I was programmed by this Western philosophy. Men like, we have to have space between each other. We can't be all that touching.
But for him to just come to me and show me that sign of respect, I had to take a breath. I was like and after that, I'm like, Yo, it's cool.
Talk to me, bro. Talk to me. What's up? Yeah, but now when we message back and forth on WhatsApp I'm like, my brother, I love you, man. Can't wait to see you again. You know what I mean?
I'm saying all these things, but that's something that I brought back here, you know what I mean? And I almost had to revert back to being American because I was too much, you know what?
Yeah. Even my dad was like, why are you kissing me?
It was a little weird for him, but I don't care at the end of the day, but I do appreciate you, Shannon, about traveling opened your perspective, because a lot of things we learned here in the west that we think is right. We're like, nah, there's actually a better way of doing things, even doing business or even doing life.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Yeah, man, it's beyond better. It's just different, man. You just get another viewpoint of how people go about their days.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Yeah, totally agree with you. So this brings me to my next question is how do you keep yourself functioning at a high level with a seven figure brand? Because there's a lot of things that can go wrong and that probably do go wrong in a day to day.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Happened like two weeks ago, man.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: But how do you keep yourself functioning at that high level? Because you have the level that everybody wants to be at, right? Like, that big stakes, like seven figures and all that. But how do you keep yourself functioning at that high level?
[00:37:12] Speaker B: Yeah, for me, honestly, it's just a muscle that gets worked on over time.
At first, $100 a day was like, the big thing. I literally remember the first time I got a sale, it was like $9 for a pair of sunglasses. And I'm like, I got it. I remember being in the basement.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Literally, I was literally yeah, I was in the basement. I was just like, the Facebook ad went live. I had a shopify notification, and I'm like, this is it, bro. Like, I'm done with school.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: This is.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: But yeah, so I say to say the high level just again, when I started doing the reps over and over again, and then the numbers get bigger, and then you just realize the numbers for me, I'm going to say it don't matter, right? But they make a difference. But I realized I realized the difference between so right now on Facebook ads, right, I'm spending like four k a day on my ads.
Old me probably would have been like, that's so much like, what the heck are you doing? You got to be careful. I don't look at my ads. I probably look at my campaigns, like, once a week or once every other week, and it's because now, again, I've relaxed. That muscle of being scared about money honestly comes from a fear of money or, like, losing money when you rip that limiting belief out and you realize, like, no money is abundant. You're not thinking about the fearful side of it. You're just focused on, how do I create more value?
So then you constantly go exactly. So, yeah, the muscle just gets relaxed.
It's kind of like if you work out, you're just naturally just getting bigger, and before you know it, you've been doing for ten years.
That's just part of what you do.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Agreed.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: But I mean, in terms of some initial things that helped me out, yeah, meditation was big.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: I went through a Mindset program by a guy named Quasi. Joe here.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Joe here?
[00:39:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Cool. He's on YouTube. I did an interview with him, I think back in 2022 as well, but yeah, in that it was very much about limiting beliefs or these stories that we've told ourselves from a young age. So I won't go too much into details, but financial literacy was not really a thing that I grew up too much around, other than my grandpa just telling me, save my money and invest.
Right? And he would tell me about penny stocks. Right. This is back when I'm like 910 years old, so if it weren't for him, it'd probably be a little bit different. But because of that, I was able to start off internally from a slightly better place. So my fear of money was not too much, and I learned the skill of creating it.
And then from there again, I was able to keep going from that point forward.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: No, that's what's up. I like that. I really like that. Offline. I'm going to talk to you about that Mindset program. I think that's dope. I think that's really dope. So something I want to touch on too is mental health, because I think that's big, especially for men, because a lot of times we are building businesses by ourselves. We're working hard, head down, just like bulldozing. So how do you ensure your mental health as well? How do you regulate your thoughts and your emotions and your feelings? How do you do that?
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I journal every day.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:38] Speaker B: Like, what you got here, bro? I've been doing this every day since 2019.
Every single morning I always do it. And then on the weekend, every Saturday, every Saturday morning, I do like a brain dump of my week. Like, what happened? What do I need to change?
What was going on? What do I want to change moving forward?
I use Asana to organize everything. So both my business and my life is in Asana. So I have key milestones and objectives that I'm working towards. So I realized, for me, anxiety or stress really comes about when I have uncertainty about things or I'm getting distracted, honestly, especially the shiny object syndrome. It will just hit you sometimes. That's why I literally just go ghosts for months on end. I don't talk to anybody.
It's not super sustainable all the time.
That's when I realized, okay, I need to get out of the cave and come back.
[00:41:35] Speaker A: Come on, Bruce, come back to us. Come on, Bruce.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: But yeah, I just realized, yeah, for me it's just staying clear mentally is the most important thing because then I can operate and think. When I can operate and think, then I can perform a lot better meditation. Journaling reflection is like huge for me. Sleep.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Okay, that's dope. I totally agree with you. I love sleep. Sleep number one. Because at the end of the day, I found that if I don't get at least 7 hours or even anyone doesn't get at least 7 hours, you know what I mean? Some people get like less or more, but at least 7 hours, I'm dog shit, dude. If I don't get 7 hours, like the next day, I'm no good to myself, no good to anybody else, especially my team.
But yeah, journaling is huge. I've learned that when I do journal consistently, it really regulates my emotions. I'm not too high, I'm not too low. Things can hit me and I'm like, okay, cool. But when I'm not or if I'm not working out, working out for me is huge because as you can tell, I'm super energetic.
I have ADHD or whatever. But it's not that. It's just that I'm a lot of energy, you know what I mean? I go for days. But for me, it's like when I work out, it helps me to expend that energy, right? Because a lot of times for me, it's like anger too. I may be angry at something, but instead of voicing it, I'm just like, I shove it away in that closet, you know what I mean? And then I can go work out. I can get that release that way especially. And then reflection too, just spending time. So I don't know if you're familiar with Taylor Welch and Chris Evans. They have like traffic and funnels.
I went to one of their events, okay. And some that he did was like I think at the time they were like seven figures a month or whatever, but he was talking about how he would spend 3 hours just thinking about his business. Just sitting down, just thinking. Not even like just thinking, reflecting. It's just like, dude, I don't spend that much time reflecting on things. And I was like, if he's making that much money and I wasn't making that at all. Yeah, he spent some time.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to say the biggest breakthroughs, honestly, for me have been when I did nothing.
I'm just sitting and again, thinking clearly and objectively. So that's what journaling helps you do. It helps you see what you're thinking about. So it's no longer like just clogged up in your brain. You're objectively viewing what's going on. And then you can start to, I like to say, rearrange your story. So it's like, hey, this isn't going that well right now. Okay, well, what can I change so that it goes back to the storyline that I do want? That's literally how I think about life, man. It's just like, I'm writing out this long story about how I usually go in, like, five year increments. This is another reason why I don't get, like, I've been better about anxiety or stress, because usually it's like I'm not reaching my goal fast enough. It's like, okay, well, if I got a five year vision or whatever and I'm executing against that, does it really make sense for me to get worked up about something small happening? Actually, something I'll say crazy, but two weeks ago, we gave away like $45,000 worth of product because I had an error with order fulfillment. So we were double fulfilling about 30% of orders. Now, in that situation, I'm like, dang, because one, that's a decent bit of revenue, but then two, we ran out of inventory in both warehouses because we were double fulfilling. So the inventory projections went off and I'm just like, this is the wildest thing that could ever happen. But I knew right now, yeah, sure, this is not fun, but I'm like, okay, well, how can I switch the situation around so that I can use it as leverage? So I pretty much created an ad based around like, hey, I just gave away forty five K to my customers. Here's why.
And yeah, made a positive outcome. From that point forward, as I say, things happen. You're going to be mad, you're going to be stressed sometimes, but it's like you always have to look at, how can I flip this? And how can I get this out in a positive way and channel your emotions that way?
[00:45:41] Speaker A: You know what? I like that. Especially you give them away $45,000 worth of anything. You know what I mean? That's like yeah, no, that would hurt. I mean, I don't care who you are, but to flip it like that and to take it and to make an ad out of it.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:53] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? I sent you that picture. I love your ads.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Anyway.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: I do the one with the Rice Krispie. I was like, yeah, whoever thought of that? Pay them big money, because that was really good. Yeah, I really do. So how did you think of that one?
[00:46:08] Speaker B: Oh, that was me.
[00:46:09] Speaker A: That was you?
[00:46:10] Speaker B: Yeah, bro.
[00:46:11] Speaker A: Excuse me, I didn't mean to doubt you over there, bro. My bad.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: Well, honestly, I was a YouTube kid, so I always used to watch YouTubers funny videos. Like, right now I'm studying Mr. Beast just in terms of like, how does this man make videos that get hundreds of millions of views all the time? So I'm always thinking about things that will just catch people's attention, make them laugh, and then want to keep watching. And that's really, like, in terms of the content game. That's all it really is.
And then really? You're just putting, like, a business model off the back end of that. That generates cash.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: You're the only ad online that I sat down, I watched it, and I was like and I forgot that I was watching an ad.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: You know what I mean? I was like, oh, I got to buy. Now I have to go back and study your ad again. Because I was like, he got me hooked. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
I think what it is is it looks so realistic too, as well, your ad, because it's just you, you know what I mean?
I won't say, like, a dope background, but it's not, like, too much. It doesn't look staged. It just looks like you're just talking.
[00:47:15] Speaker B: I was literally in the lobby of my apartment building, and I was just straight up telling the story of what happened.
That was it.
[00:47:24] Speaker A: Yeah, because you broke down. Like, okay, hey, man, I had acne. I had all this. Then I said, I found this and you should try it too. And I was just like, that man, really? Just hit all the pain points and then just said, hey, go buy if it resonates with you. And then I was like, yeah, I'm definitely going to go by. So that's what's up. Yeah. So what's your brand actually called? Because we never actually touched on that. What's the brand actually called?
[00:47:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: Dudes, how did that come out to be?
[00:47:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I took a French class.
Dew is soft in French. And I'm just like when we put a D and an S off the end of this. So I got dudes. And then the women's skincare brand I had was Visage dude, which literally meant soft face French. So yeah, I think my budy just said, dude, just put a D and S off of that.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: Okay, got you.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: I was just like, all right, let me roll with it. And I could trademark it because regular like, dude. D-U-D-E-S was taken. So I couldn't do that.
[00:48:19] Speaker A: So you can't do that. But this one, it's not trademarked.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: It is trademarked.
[00:48:23] Speaker A: Oh, it is. Oh, dang.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: Hey, it's already trademarked.
That's what's up. So before we go, I would like for you to share maybe something you've learned or maybe something that a takeaway that you have for us, you know what I mean? And the guests listening at home on audio. But what is something that you've learned this week or maybe something that you carry with you that you would like to share with us before we leave and depart?
[00:48:49] Speaker B: Man, that is a deep one, bro.
[00:48:51] Speaker A: Hey, I'm not trying to be too deep.
[00:48:53] Speaker B: Hold up.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: It's okay. Take some time. Think about it.
Be right back with our sponsors.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Yesterday I did this. Speak. I was speaking on a panel, and people were asking questions about how do I start, how do you keep going? And things like that.
And I think the biggest thing for anybody that's just trying to change their living situation, like, for real, is you just have to go and you cannot care about what other people think of you.
I realized that's genuinely the only thing that will hold anybody back from anything, even the fact that I sat in the lobby of my apartment building and anybody could watch me going in and out, but I don't care because I have this objective that I'm trying to fulfill. You know what I mean?
Just telling people, if you have a dream, if you have a vision, close your eyes, visualize that thing and go off that vision and learn in the process of that, because if you don't, you're just going to be where you are all the time, and you might not like that. So if you want to get somewhere else, you have to do something different. And you already know usually what you actually want inside. Literally, when you close your eyes, you're not distracted by anything. This is why dreams are so powerful.
It's literally your imagination working while you're unconscious, basically. So I'm a big believer in just visualization and moving forward and going off of that when things feel uncomfortable. No, you're actually doing the right thing because you're changing who you are today to be somebody else tomorrow.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, man.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: Beautiful.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: You've heard it here first. Your legacy starts today. Go ahead. Listen to this again.
Demon Dixon, everybody.
[00:50:43] Speaker B: Demon Dixon.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: Damon Dixon. Thank you, bro. Thank you.
