# What It Actually Takes To Build A Billion Dollar Brand | George Heaton

Channel: Hudson Leogrande
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWyDdjr3bA
Duration: 1 hr 12 min
Language: English
Words: 15969
Transcript page: https://viewrankai.com/tools/youtube-transcript/vZWyDdjr3bA

---

[0:00] This is going to be the Paradigm podcast, which is something that I wanted to do where a lot of the time [music] the host the person that is asking all the questions, they're not in the industry. They're asking questions that are prompted that they think would be a good idea to ask the founder who's in e-commerce, right? So, I'm bringing everybody in to talk about mindset and business and all the things that they've done in e-com and how they've got into where they are and I know firsthand how difficult it is to get to a level of success that like where we are right now is there's a journey and I think

[0:30] breaking down that journey, reading through the fine print of like what actually does it take and what do you have to do for your paradigm and shift your paradigm to get there? That's what I want to go into. I'm with George Heaton who is the founder of Represent. Very, very good friend of mine and today we're just going to just going to jam

[0:46] out. Yeah, that was a good layup. We're just going to jam out. Yeah. And have a good time. Yeah, we're going to talk. We're going to talk [ __ ] I guess we can start by just saying like I mean, dude, you've built an unbelievable brand that I've known about for a really long time and I mean I I got a lot of inspiration actually from from comfort by watching what you guys were building at Represent. And I think just going back just early days and and just kind of chatting through like what

[1:14] how did that start? Yeah. What was the like what was the first thing that you're like did this is what we're doing? Even the name, like how did that start? Well, I was in I was in school college doing Dude, all I could do was draw. Couldn't read, couldn't write, nothing. I just love to draw. Everywhere I went, I was drawing on walls, paper, floor, whatever I could get my hands on. Pencil came everywhere with me. So, I always had this thing for art. Now, my my mom and dad, my dad was he would he sold mini buses. So, like converted mini buses into like disabled mini buses with ramps

[1:46] on the back. I would go there on the weekends and I would like clean for him and polish cars and do all that kind of [ __ ] and I hated it. So, I had this like little bit of have on my fault shoulder that I wanted to do this thing that I loved, which was just drawing. All I could do was draw. So, it got to like 16 years old, 17 years old. I was into like rock music, like heavy metal bands, and I started noticing they were making

[2:09] merch. And I was like, every single one of these t-shirts that I bought from a gig had a Gildan label in it. And I was like, what the [ __ ] Gildan? So, I'm on the internet. You know, back then you've got the dial-up on and like not even Instagram. I'm on Facebook and I'm trying to figure out what the what you guys are printing on. I find find this

[2:25] supplier in Wales in the UK. And he said his minimum order was 15 t-shirts on this Gildan t-shirt that I found. I was like, all right, I'll order that. I'll do a one-color screen print, and I'll just print a word on it. And then I went into my office, well, my dad's office, and started writing down a

[2:42] load of names. Took it into college, and then my friend put his hands on my shoulder and was like, what the [ __ ] are you writing? And I was like, names for a brand. And he he looked at it and I had representing, and he was like, just take the ink off that

[2:54] and go with that one. So, that was it. Scratch the ink off, and off we went. Dude, that's so like it's that quick. Literally that quick. People think that it's like this Takes you years, right? But you just find it, and then you just go with it. It's like the procrastination. Dude, how I got Comfort was I was sitting on godaddy.com, and I was just typing in names that I thought were like comfortable names, right? So, I was looking at like cloud this, this, that. And then all of a sudden a name prompts on the domain list, and it says comfort.com

[3:28] No way. for like $5,000. And I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do yet with this, but this is this is the name. What year was this? This was 20 What I I Comfort's 4 years old, so this is 20 end of 2022, August 2022. what Right, what prompted that? What

[3:44] were you doing before that? Purely White when I was 19, um and and uh And how old are you now? I I turned 30. So, I started in my mom's basement 19. Um I was buying charcoal powder, like food grade charcoal powder from America. I was buying labels from Venezuela, and I was buying um like the jars and the packaging for the charcoal powder to brush your teeth

[4:05] with in China. Wow, how did you do that though? I didn't know what white labeling was. I didn't know that I could buy everything in one place. I actually thought that I had to buy like I was going on Google and I was typing in like labels for this and then it would be like pop up and then whatever was like one of the first ones, I just like ordered it. So, then I

[4:22] was making it all in my mom's basement. Yeah. Yeah. Alibaba is where I found the manufacturer. Dude, I found Comforts manufacturer on Alibaba and we still work with them. Like we they're still one of our vendors. So, we and and you know, I yeah, for the people watching, everyone's like, "Well, I don't have the manufacturer. I don't have the" and then I hear your story of like whales and then you hear my story of like, "I'm on Alibaba just like sending them hoodies and I'm like build me a hyper hoodie." But, that's how we started the brand and then back to

[4:49] purely white. I'm in my mom's basement. We have we bought shrink wrap. I would get a blow dryer, like a and I and I would blow dry the shrink wrap on so it would look like, you know, it was like a secure package and then we would ship it from USPS down the block from my mom's house. I mean, dude, I probably broke so many laws just trying to like like you can't make a freaking food grade product in your mom's basement. [clears throat] So, like that's what we were doing and she hated it cuz there was charcoal over all over the house. You know, she was so

[5:13] supportive actually, but like was also like, "What What are you" you know? Um so, that's They have that, don't they? My parents had that. But, what what prompted you to go off teeth whitening? Were you obsessed with your teeth or No, so I met a way back in the day um I did like some uh some some

[5:31] modeling. This guy messaged me I'm still friends with today. I was talking today. He's a dentist. He's a famous dentist from Venezuela and he texts me and was like, "Hey, like if you're doing modeling, like you should come do it down here." I'm like, "Dude, to be honest with you, I I'm not a model. I don't want to

[5:46] model. Like I want to build a business. He's like, "Well, if you're doing that, you should go into teeth whitening. Everybody wants to look better." He's like, "And what's the alternative to having, you know, white teeth? It's yellow teeth." He's like, "People like This is when the Kardashians like were like this is a you know, this is peak when, you know, all this beauty stuff was coming out and and she was launching skin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's launching skin and all these companies and they're like He's like, "You should just get into that space." So, that's what I did, but I had no business being in

[6:15] Yeah. um in oral care. And I also had no business being in apparel. Like, none of it. And I think that's another thing. Like, passion can be different based off of, you know, your perception on what you get excited about. I was so excited about somebody wearing a product that I made that like really came from a place of, "Well, we want to be bigger than just, you know, you're just wearing a product, but you're you're wearing something that has value and meaning behind it." And that was in in Comfort when we bought the domain, I didn't know what it was yet. You know, I just knew

[6:46] that I wanted to build something around mental health and and I thought like, "Well, being comfortable is like directly correlated to like being mentally comfortable, right?" And So, if I if I go back there, the teeth whitening, what what was the passion there? And like, I'm guessing the money you made from it was giving you the drive to do it, but you actually wanted to see people wearing your [ __ ] which is why you then moved on to a different product. Is that

[7:11] right? correct. Like, we had we had a uh hundreds of thousands of customers and no one was posting about it. Yeah, you don't know that. And I I was like, "No one's posting being in their bathroom talking about, you know, this is what I used to whiten my teeth." And this is peak days of like HiSmile, Snow, all these companies that had that at a point they were just skyrocketing because they were creating a lot of net new product that oral care had never seen. It was trending. It was a trend at a point to whiten your teeth, and that was right around the time that

[7:40] I started Purely White. Right. Um so, that was also part of it, too, right? Like I I I think I was seeing where the puck was going and I was like, well, if there's at least a few more years of this and I'm getting into that space, there was even older companies like Carbon Coco that, you know, no one knows, but like that company was skyrocketing with sales for their

[8:00] charcoal powder. Yeah. I mean, and this was like that just that time and and and that was also something that like prompted me to get into that space, too, right? He said it and then I looked into it. I saw that it was going somewhere. I was like, well, I mean, brushing your teeth and like that's not going anywhere, you know? If you can innovate in that and that Purely White still around today and it's going to

[8:19] have its best year ever this year. That's why I'm asking you that. That's why I was just asking you [laughter] that. I was like, is it still around? What's the SKU count and then how do you grow it? Purely White's going to probably do like almost 50 million this year. I'm leaving. [laughter] Dude, it's so stupid when I say it. Like

[8:34] it's It It has no employees. Yeah. We We But again, it's been around 11 years. The SKU count's probably I think sub 20 SKUs. Um, we have a a a a whitening powder that we got involved with and and it has nano hydroxyapatite, which is really good for your teeth. Remineralizes your teeth. Um, and it's a fluoride-free. So it's like you put any toothpaste in it. You brush your teeth and people love it and it's cheap and it turns like a blue color. It's like this viral product and people really enjoy it and we work with like this affiliate company called Giddy Up. Giddy Up has

[9:07] affiliates that pretty much what you do here is you pay them. Um, you set a CPA target and what they'll do is they'll go find you and acquire customers at that uh at that CPA and if they could do that, they can scale it. So they'll build their own like websites around Purely White. They'll sell Purely White on their website. It goes and connects

[9:25] to my 3PL. My 3PL ships it. So that com that just Giddy Up does like a few hundred thousand a day in in sales and then that overflows to Amazon and overflows to TikTok Shop. So those are like the three channels that Purely White scales on, but it's so opposite. It's Yeah, it's so opposite to Comfort. Right. So, that like a Farfetch. It's like a just a a portal. They're a

[9:46] portal, basically. Yes. So interesting. So, it's Yeah, but it's But again, there is no culture. Right. There's no community like what we've built at Comfort. So, that's what you were looking for, right? I needed that. And and I think you don't have like Purely White is not a billion-dollar idea or billion-dollar brand. It won't be. Um and it and it also it doesn't have the It doesn't have the bones like It doesn't have the building blocks of like really good structure to get us there. Um but like what Represent is doing, what Comfort is doing, it it has that. And I think when people think about brand now, and this

[10:22] is You're the perfect person to ask this question to is like when you think about brand, right? Cuz Represent it's so much more than a brand, but what you put into it is so like it's so meticulous. Like How do you think about that? And how's that changed from when you started? It's not actually changed a lot. You know, the the name of the studio is Aura House. For me, like brand is aura. And

[10:46] you create an aura, right? And all all I ever think about is even if it feels like it's not working is you're depositing brand every single day with everything you do. The way you show up, the way your store smells, the way your staff speak to customers, the way the product fits, the way the product's delivered. All them little things are all deposits into brand, right? And and that thing builds and builds and builds over time. And that's where the value is in my brand, right? It's not about me putting on a sale and [ __ ] doing [ __ ] loads of revenue and then taking it off

[11:19] the next day and then coasting. It's about like building this this deposit bank of what I think is is cool, I guess. That's all it is to me. Yeah. Yeah. And it's all you. It is and it isn't. Like it needs to be way bigger than us, you know? Like, we started it, we live it. your vi- Yeah, it's your vision. And but, how much of the customers like, their feedback, how much of that goes back into Represent? Like, is it

[11:42] Directly, all of it. That's how it is Yeah, that's That's all I do All I do I I've said this on all the podcasts I've been on. I wake up every morning, I read my DMs. I understand what my customer wants, what they like, what they don't like, and I feed back to the team every single

[11:53] morning. Yeah. And that's what drives the business, because that's that's first-hand feedback. You going around all the [ __ ] that is usually stuck there from the top guy to the customer. I just speak to the customer and get the [ __ ] done. Yeah. And then you guys innovate through that, and then you go and launch

[12:09] product. Yeah. That's the number one thing that worked for Comfort was getting customer and creator feedback. So, before we launch a product, we will go to our creator community with samples. They will be a part of the sampling process. They will tell us how it fits, how it feels, the fabric, everything that goes into the product. And then, before we launch it, they're saying, "This is good." or "This is bad." That has been a game-changer, because they are our customer. And like, I'm not First of all, you're way more in

[12:41] it in in that regard than I have been. Like, I've always related the marketing and the product very closely. Like, we have to make sure that the product is aesthetically appealing and has virality behind it, so that I can go and use the TikTok Shop engine to like blow it up, right? So, the Inflate Hoodie we launched, it has a built-in neck pillow, built-in back lumbar support. It has 80

[13:04] different pockets. It has an eye mask. So, like, we are thinking around how are our creators going to make content around it. But, before we go and say, "This is the product." they go and say, "Oh my god, we have 70 different ideas around how we're going to promote this product." And then, we dedicate that to like the the launch. So, I think it's them and then And customer being like,

[13:26] so ingrained in that. Yeah. That's the only way. I mean, for you that's [ __ ] insane because you you lose the bias of what you want. You don't have that. Yeah. You can literally speak to all these people and get feedback instantly before you launch. So, you know it's going to be Yeah.

[13:42] successful or not. Well, mitigates risk. Whereas with with me, it's like kind of on me. Like if I think it's cool and I launch it and no one likes it, that's my that's my [ __ ] bad doing, you know. But that's what makes you so special as a founder. It's you. Like you actually create this [ __ ] And it's like from

[14:01] nothing to something. I and and whole like just speaking freely like dude, I'm taking inspo from brands like yours and Abercrombies and these companies and those companies and then I'm taking the the basis of what it is and then I'm bringing my idea of like how do I gain an edge and then how do I build IP in in that product? Like

[14:22] That's where the innovation is, though. Yeah, it is. But but but like we're completely different mindsets on like I'm a marketer and and you're a cre- you're a creator. Like you've created this. So, that's why like when I look at and I try to always whenever we chat like I try to look at those things that you've implemented into your business cuz we see you with the photo shoots. We see you like cutting and sewing the product and like how that is and being in the fact that I'm like [ __ ] like you know, it's it's just such a it's and that's why people love you, too. So, I I think

[14:52] and you know, just kind of um I want to know a little bit about the success like when you started to see real growth at Represent. Like when did the company When was the company founded and then how long did it take until you guys started to see the growth and what was that pivotal moment that that really

[15:10] got that success for you guys? Yeah. I think I can pin it down to a couple of things. So, we started in 2011. So, I'm we're six nearly 16 years old, bro. So, it took me and and that's a long time to hold on a business. Yeah. And you know, we're not we're not [ __ ] massive. We still got so many

[15:28] years to go at this. Yeah. But, it took me like 9 years to actually grow. So, we started we did zero, we did 300 grand, we did a million, we topped out at 6 million for like 4 years. And I used to think this is the this is the ceiling. Yeah. And then in 2018 2019 I started like [ __ ] listening to people like you, reading books, listening to podcasts, listening to all the guys that are actually scaling bigger businesses that weren't in this small like streetwear bubble that I saw myself. Then Virgil came along with Off-White and it went something like 1 3 9 100 million and I

[16:04] was like, all right, you can [ __ ] do this in this industry. So, what the [ __ ] are we doing? So, I sat everyone down and I was like, all right, this is where we are, this is where we need to get to. The only way we can do that is by stopping being who we are then and changing to something else. So, we moved our manufacturing I was trying to make everything in England, trying to be this like British-made brand and everything was like carefully done in the UK. We moved to Portugal, we started doing graphic t-shirts and I actually started putting the word Represent back on stuff

[16:30] cuz I hadn't done it for years. Cuz I fell out of love with the name. I was like, people don't want to wear the word Represent. And that was just a bad a bad thought in my mind that that I had. So, I started putting it on graphics, doing these t-shirt drops and it just started going up and up and up and I went from like 6 million to pretty much

[16:49] 100 million in 4 years doing that. 6 to 100 in 4 years. All profitable. Dude, that's so crazy. Like, cuz you're now the mindset back then and and correct me if I'm wrong like self-doubt does creep in. Doubt every day, but still. The one thing that I've really tried to work on with with myself is um I heard a quote of every time something bad happens, pop a champagne bottle because it means that

[17:15] like something great is about to happen. And uh eliminating self-doubt and I mean you have these two things, right? And and every founder and entrepreneur is going to go through this where you know that it's you at the end of the day. You there's no one that is looking over your shoulder that's going to help you if you make a mistake. It's on you. Then you have the the the question of am I doing the right thing? Is this where my life should really be going? Did I make a mistake? And then you have to have that [ __ ] inner grit where you're like, "No, this is it." And I'm willing to I'm

[17:49] going to die on this hill. I think that there is what separates most people from like the best people. 100%. bit bit you just mentioned then about after the doubt then you have the the grit and the determination. That there is what separates the good and the great, I think. I heard something the other day from someone and it was something that you felt, I felt, and and every founder has has felt this emotion of being an entrepreneur is

[18:18] I'm willing to suffer more than you. Yeah. And I'm willing to almost become desensitized to the emotional roller coaster of something bad happens in the business. Back in the day, you and I would freak out. Yeah. We would think it's catastrophic. The business is over as we know it and you would think like this is it.

[18:40] Dude. Now every [ __ ] day we deal with it and it's you maintain this amount of composure. Yeah. You you're not emotionally touch attached to the problems that are going on because there's been so many of them. But that's every other business. You know, that was on David Sammel's podcast with Peter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know Peter.

[19:01] He he literally said them exact words. It was crazy. I didn't hear from Peter. I heard it from someone else and I'm like, I'm able to just suffer more than the next person. When you build a [ __ ] solid team, they won't show you the things that they're suffering with either. Yeah. All the little ones that had Dude, when I first started for the first 10 years, I would be pissed off if someone

[19:19] was ill. If someone was sick, having a sick day. Yeah. I'd be like, what the [ __ ] Are they actually sick? I'd be so angry about [laughter] it. But I would think of like when I'm in school and I would just fake sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would think that I would think my the team were [laughter] doing that sometimes. I would be I would be pissed off and like, you know, we'd have bad we'd have terrible days where like things were delayed and all that

[19:39] kind of [ __ ] And I would get so angry. But I think you've got to go through that to actually realize that you don't need to emotionally attach yourself to the bad things that are going on because of the the bigger picture, right? And and and Comfort is all remote. So what what what happened And and what happened with us was like in the beginning, I know the feeling of that because I was saying the same thing to myself where I was like, well, I only have 15 people at my company. So if one person's out, like that's a that person is owning so much in my business that I

[20:09] I literally don't know what I'm going to do. And I think that like we hired 100 people in the last 12 months. And we're all remote and obviously we're in Los Angeles right now. Most of my team is out here. We get a lot of face time with each other when I'm here and it's amazing. Like it's so good to be with them in person, but you know, you do have those questions of like, could we

[20:27] get more done if we were in person? Would there be more like more collaboration? And you know, then people say to me like, oh, I'm I'm like so like jealous that you and your team are remote, but I will tell you one thing that has worked for us. Everybody that works at Comfort has ownership mentality. And I've had I don't even call them employees. Like my team has said to me, I've had women at the company that and we're like 75% women at Comfort that are like, Hudson, I will never work for anyone else. Like like I'm with you and that culture is the only reason why we're around

[21:02] today because we can rely on our team. And that's the thing. If you run your business like a dictator and you're like, "Well, I'm the I'm the boss." Well, dude, you're going to have no company. work. Doesn't work. And And the people that do it, it's it's this insecure, I made it mindset and it's like, "No, dude. You made it for a split second and your company's going down. You're You're

[21:22] never going to last." I I I see this stuff in other businesses all the time. I see it when when I take someone from another business, the the things they tell me and God forbid, I hope they don't [ __ ] say it about mine, but the things they tell me compared to what they're in now when they come into my business is like night and day. And I hired a CEO, I think you

[21:40] met him once. He all he gives a [ __ ] about his people. Yep. He brings people in and he is like a father to that person regardless of their age, sex, whatever. Like he he gives them absolutely [ __ ] everything they need to become the best person they can. And the people just stay, bro. Like I we don't get people

[21:59] leaving. Yeah. This stuff is crazy, isn't it? Yeah. We've never had anyone get poached. We've never had anybody quit. Like we've And and we've And you know the growth of of Comfort Inn I I'm not ever from next year, there will be no disclosing on our numbers. I've stopped. I get sued every time I say it.

[22:15] This guy. [laughter] But we go We We when we went from one like from 16 to 170, um the business was was real, right? Like that was from year true year one to year two. Um and then um and then from 170 to 670 was uh the most stressful time of I think everybody at

[22:37] the company cuz they all stayed. to 6 170 to 670. Dude, you know, I I I've been doing this 16 years. I've still not done that yet. The And until crazy thinking you're only 4 years old. Until you do and then you and then But dude, you're around 16 years. Like you know how [ __ ] hard that is? Your business is older than my first

[22:58] business. And my first business is not even like You know, like we're we're just we're throwing up affiliate links and we're like hoping that it works. Like it's so different and Yeah, it's different. And also the way you build brand, if you wanted to do a certain other model, you could scale rev, but you're going to dilute the brand image. And and and what you built with your brand image is very different than how we built Comfort. And and and it's also important to remember that. Like Comfort is

[23:24] we we run comp value. It's a different brand. Yeah, we run comp value. We look at other pricing of higher price items that are the same quality. We showcase that we're a more affordable brand. We're building a very unique model of how we scale the business. And I think back to the team, like the team, if they would have quit on me going into year three when we had that inflection point,

[23:45] I would Comfort would not be here. Because if they cuz they were working weekends. I mean, I remember nobody ever said they were taking a weekend. Every single person at the company worked every single weekend because in the company then? 35. It's nothing. 35 people. And then we I think we ended it I think we ended that year at 70. Now we have around 170, so we hired another

[24:08] 100 people. How how does it feel? I want to go back to the You're talking about the team, but how does it feel when So, you come here to LA, you do all this big stuff with the team, you get really hyper about it, it's [ __ ] great. Everyone tells you all this stuff, and then you leave. So, them few weeks where you're apart from the team, cuz I have this whilst I'm here, cuz I've got my team in the

[24:27] UK. Yeah. I have to go back every month cuz I just feel like I don't know what's going on. Yeah. How do you feel with that? I I'm I miss Well, first of all, I miss them, and I miss the energy, and I miss being around people that understand me. The The more we get absorbed into this

[24:44] game, the less people can relate to us. And me just like getting a hug from my chief of revenue and growth when she sees me and she's like, "Hudson, we're doing this. We're doing that. This is working." I'm like, I'm like recharged, dude. And then I'm back home. Yeah, and then I'm back home and I'm like, I'm on Zoom calls, but it's not the same. But, you know what though? Like, I'll tell you one thing and and like all like a lot of the team members are moms at Comfort and their kids will run into the office when they're on a Zoom call and they'll be like talking to them and you

[25:19] can just see them smiling and one of the things that they mentioned was like, "My old company used to get upset if my son would go into my office when we were on a call and they would like pull me aside and say, we need you to stay focused." And she's like, "You've like like stopped the call to say hello to my son and like to talk to him and like see how his day's going." And I'm like, the fact that people are so like their emotional like just their emotional lack of of just like no all is like we're we're going to be upset that like her son is

[25:50] walking in the room say hello to his mother. Like, I can't understand how people and that's why you and I will thrive in this space because these old dinosaur companies that are so corporate and they don't have culture like they die at a point. We watch so many brands die, man. And that's why like as we continue to scale the business and I'm like the same size as this company or that company and then I look at their org chart and then I look at how they build their brand and how they think about brands. It's like we're so polar opposite that like I'm

[26:19] just going to I'm going to leapfrog you. Yeah, it's a new it's a new age, bro. It's a new a new way of thinking. It's a new way of living. And I want to say like for the people watching this, you know, because the the people that are going to watch this podcast are are going to love everything we're talking about, but I want you to know that it's possible. I had no business being in this. And like I you know, I've known I've looked up to George for a long time and I've seen him on social way before I knew who he was and at a point it's like a figure and

[26:47] like you're looking and you're kind of like, "Wow, like maybe one day I'll get to meet this person." If you believe in yourself and you never give up and you never quit, it's impossible to lose. It just is. And it doesn't matter if it takes 6 years and then you like get and then you figure something out or it takes, you know, it took me it took me 5 years just for purely white to like have a a decent working website. I mean, it just no one sees like no one sees what's going on behind closed doors and then you see the the finished product and

[27:19] you're like, "Oh my god, this is like look at this brand." Or like did they get lucky? Or oh, did they just get like this like social pop that like one celebrity wore it? Like it does not work that way. And the brands that you do see that do have that like, "Oh my god, so-and-so wore the product." That

[27:37] they're here today, gone tomorrow. To build something that lasts forever, you need to build community, culture, and you need to have a real vision and a real mission. And if it's going to take you 10 years to go get there, cool. It takes you till you're 40, cool. 50, cool. 60, cool. I say this all the time when people

[27:52] [ __ ] they're all in a rush, right? Cuz they open their Instagram feed and the next person's got a Ferrari. Duh, life is long, right? If we're going to live till past 100, we have got 10 decades. And if it takes you one or two decades or three decades to build a business, that's still only 10, 20, 30% of your life. Think about

[28:11] that. It's not actually a lot of time. Yeah. Anyone can do that. Anyone can dedicate a decade of their life to something. You just until it [ __ ] works. It's a self-doubt thing. But the only way it's not going to work is if you don't learn from what you are doing. If you start with one t-shirt, right?

[28:29] Print one t-shirt and try to sell it. You're going to learn from that sale whether you made it or not on what to do with your next t-shirt. And then you just repeat and repeat and repeat. Like listening to you talk about it brings me back to when I started it and I just keep thinking about it. Like it

[28:44] it it's scary. Yeah. So scary when you start and you're just like you just keep asking yourself all these questions cuz you're it's just the unknown. You have to I think the only way to make it is you set a goal, right? Not a time frame of when you achieve the goal. You just set the goal, whatever it is, and you just work every day learning from your mistakes cuz at at first it's going to feel like you're making no progress, but

[29:09] you are. But you are. don't realize it. You deposit it into a bank and you don't see the bank. Uh-huh. And then all of a sudden 3 years later you look back and you're like, "How did we get here?" But it was all those little steps that you made that didn't feel like you were making any

[29:21] movement. Right. But it's the vision. You know what also, when I was speaking to Greg the other day, and you know, when he started Bloom, he started making greens. Now, it's the [ __ ] energy drink that does 90% of his business or whatever. You know, you don't even need to start with the product that you think

[29:37] is going to work. No, you pivot. Look at the blankets for you. Home is the our number one pro- our blanket is the number one product. Home is number one for us. People see me for graphic tees and hoodies, right? My first 5 years, only denim worked, and people thought I was a denim brand. That was the only thing that sold, and I would sell hundreds of pairs of this black skinny jean every day, and that's

[29:59] all people knew me for. And now look at 24/7. Now look at Now I do activewear, bro. I sell running shoes. I want to Can you just give us a little bit about that whole part of the business? What inspired that? When did it start? Because that's a huge I mean, I can't go to the gym

[30:15] without seeing it. Well, when I when that that period of time I told you about, which the point when I went from like six to 100, I started learning, listening, reading, doing everything. I started working out. I started working out, and I was like, "Hold on a minute. I design clothes, but I'm in the gym wearing Nike tees." And I was buying Tiger Woods Nike golf tees cuz they looked like they fit bigger and better than the rest of the tees on the site. And then I was like, "Hold on a minute here. No one's doing

[30:42] my kind of streetwear style in fitness. Why don't I try it? So, I made this pant, made this [ __ ] cargo pant, which was four-way stretch nylon, first product ever made in the Far East. Um looked like a cargo you could wear all day, all night, go to the gym, go to the office, go to a night out, whatever, go on a date in it. I did a little video about me wearing it as a day, and it [ __ ] blew up, and my and it just went boom boom boom, and we sold dozens of this pant, 140

[31:11] 180-dollar retail price point. Great margins on it, and it just started going, and I called it the 24/7 pant cuz it was for all day all night, it's 24/7. And then I it was we're in the middle of COVID, 2021, 22, and I was like I've got to build this thing into its own thing, or else it's going to be a pant that just dies, and then I just let it go. Because all all product has a

[31:32] timeline. Most products are hot for 3 years. Maximum 7 years for a product, right? Yep. So, I thought, if this pant's gone in 3 years, what am I going to do to replace it? Or how am I going to carry on building that business? And I've learned from 10 years of [ __ ] doing that. So,

[31:49] I knew that that that needed to happen. So, I start I thought, I'll make a new Instagram called 24/7, and I'll make more product that looks like that or does that kind of stuff, and then it just took off. And now that exploded, it's still exploding. And it's still in its infancy, bro. It's only like 4 years in. And if I can if I turn the tap on with that [ __ ] it's

[32:05] going to go crazy. I mean, it's the culture behind it is insane, too. I mean, you look at some of the other companies that have been in the space that have tried to accomplish what you guys are doing, and they and and they they did not last. And like we can just know exactly what brands I'm talking about. Like that's that's where you but you're thriving in

[32:23] that. Yeah. But that's because I've built the [ __ ] bank account depositing for 10 years. I've given people the best [ __ ] product that I can, the best content, the best delivery, the best everything. So, then when I go and start an activewear brand, and I say, "All All boys, let's do a run." A thousand people show up. Cuz they [ __ ] love the brand and they live the brand. So, it's like that's going to happen. It's not like people are going to go, "What the [ __ ] are these guys doing? I'm not going

[32:45] there." They love it and they live it. But, I have some questions. I have some funny ones as well. Ask me whatever. We can just kick it. Number one, I want to take you into my store and like style you up. I want to get you like denim wrap. Yeah. Cuz like you always show up in the same

[32:58] like outfit, but different colors. The ankles are always out. I'm like I'm a no ankle guy. Like the sleeves are always short and tight and my, I have like a styling playlist that I'll put on Twitter and and everything that people love. I'm like I want to put you in that. Oh, dude, I'll do it. That's one thing. The next thing is How does a guy even write even me who's got my business that's [ __ ] successful, whatever. We employ 150

[33:21] people. It's beautiful. I love my life. But, I look at you and I go, [ __ ] What am I doing wrong? Imagine being the kid that's got a $1 million business or a $5 million business that looks at you. How did they get from where they are to somewhere on the path of where you are? Cuz a lot of these guys that I speak to that come to our runs and they want to figure out about brands and they want to know what's what's the the secret. They're stuck They're stuck in that five mil or stuck at that one mil. A lot of streetwear brands, they all bottom out

[33:52] at 30 mil. How the [ __ ] do they And and look, I'm not saying they've all got the same brand as you. They've not got the same brand as you, but as a general rule, how do you get unstuck? I was willing to part ways with everything in my life to get here. Like

[34:08] I sacrificed everything. Right. There was nothing that you could have told me that would have made me stop. Do you have friends? Yeah. Close friends? Yeah. That are not part of the business? Yeah. Really? Yeah. See, I don't. I do, but I met them through the only thing that that that could take me away from the the business, which was video

[34:31] games. Okay. So, I met a lot of my friends playing Fortnite. Okay, I thought you were going to say World of Warcraft. No, dude, and that. I mean, World of Warcraft is like forever ago, but I I I will tell you like I'll go back. Like, I had I had friends. I had relationships that I was trying to build. Um I've had people like sit at dinner with me when I was approving 70 Snapchat videos for Purely White when we first started taking off. Like, I'd be on a date and the person would be like, "You haven't looked at me once." And I'm like, "My business matters more." Like, I I I I

[35:03] didn't I'm And you know, it was a mistake. Like, I thought the content was going to be approved 3 hours before. They sent it to me late. I'm approving it during dinner, but nothing in the world mattered more than me building my business. But, you have to remember we have to go back. Like, at a point I was on my own. I dropped out of school. I

[35:19] was going through all these emotions. Like, I signed a contract when I was 16 that no matter what happened I was going to make it. And that that started then. You signed that with yourself? With myself. It was no matter what, we're not going to quit. And I built this incredible life in my mind. And I I want like the people that are watching this have to understand this, and you understand this. We visualize everything

[35:44] that we want before it happens. Everything is created twice, once in your mind and once in the real world. If you can see it, like if you can see it, then it's there. then it's there. It can happen. And And I started that Yeah, dude, I started it when it was intangible. Like, I didn't have a product. I didn't have a business. I had none of it. I had ideas. And I could have probably tell you I probably had 5,000 ideas and I never did. And that I just thought about. I would be in the shower thinking about 50,000 things. I couldn't turn my brain off. And it's a

[36:15] blessing and a curse. And that's why video games helped me because or even playing tennis with my friends now helped me because I'll be off my phone for a few hours. I focus on this one thing, and I can like take that part of my brain that is always working and I can kind of shut it off and and and activate another part and for the person that's at 5 million, 10 million, 15 million, you know, you you know this and I can say this like Comfort's going to clear north of it. We're going to walk through a billion this year and we're doing it profitably and we're doing it

[36:42] in a way that is very very very like culture-based and we're building product and IP around our business in a way that has never been done. I have no business being in apparel or home. Why am I continuing to win? Because I'm [ __ ] relentless. I will not stop. I can't go into a room and say that someone's better than me or to say that like this person is more skilled than me. I will learn it and I will beat you

[37:05] at your game. I don't care who you are. I'm going to win and that is the mindset that you have to have and it's not about you and I are [ __ ] homies. We're not in competition. I'm not you know, Greg and Don are friends. They're not in competition. They're in the same space. It's not about I'm better than you. It's

[37:21] telling yourself that like I'm the best. And you have to be able to say that you're the best and not feel that little thing in your head that says, "No, you're not. No, you're not. This guy's better than you." Dude, put me in a put me in a room with Elon and guess what? The comments will say, "But Elon's way better than you." I cool. No problem. That's not the point. The point is you need to believe you're the best far before you become the best because that's the only way to get ahead. If you are going to reason with yourself and be realistic in the

[37:51] beginning and say, "Ah, well, you know what? Like I'm all right." You're [ __ ] From the start, don't even try. So with the the million-dollar brand should be acting like he's a billion-dollar brand and the billion-dollar brand should be acting like they're a trillion-dollar brand cuz guess what? There is a trillion-dollar brand out there and maybe Comfort isn't the vehicle for me to get to a trillion, but I'll find that Comfort is from A to B and then something's B to C and then C to D and then I'm going to figure out a way to get to whatever my goal is and

[38:19] the goal might be whatever it is. Unfortunately, unfortunately guys, you're going to have a goal, you're going to hit the goal, and then the goal post is going to move a thousand [ __ ] times. So, I apologize now that when you hit your goal, you're screwed cuz you're going to have 50 more goals set. And that's just

[38:37] what it is. This is the truth. Dude, it's just like we're going to have these goals that we set, and then we're going to go look at I'm going to go look at something that represents doing and I'm going to say, "Why are we not doing that?" Or I'm going to go look at Bloom launches. I'm going to say, "Why are we not doing

[38:49] that?" Every person can have this. Yes. I think I think you have to ask yourself, "Where do I want to be when this is all over, and how bad do I want it for my family?" Now, could be someone that works a 9:00 to 5:00, very respectable, and you have a great life, and you found an amazing balance, and you may have something that

[39:12] I never have. Someone who lives that life may have something that I never have, and I have to be okay that I'm going to lose a part of myself during this journey. And I'm okay with it because my mom's good, my dad's good, my brothers are good, my family's good, my future kids are good. I could retire right now and never work again. I'm 30 years old, and guess what? That sounds great to everybody, but you know our mindset, we

[39:38] can never stop. Right. We're never going to stop. You've accepted that. I've accepted that this is who I am. people can't accept that. I don't know what else to do. Like, truly, I don't know what else to do. Like, either I say to myself, "Hey, you know, I'm a little crazy." Um but guess what? I have so many moms that text me that start with comfort that say, "Hudson, I was working three jobs. I have two children, and here? This is the thing that I think actually switches from a monetary need and want Money doesn't mean anything at this

[40:11] point. Anymore. because this is more important. And that's another I've got goosebumps again, but that's another thing. Dude, I I get to change people's lives every [ __ ] day. And they text me and they say, "Hudson, this time last year I was broke. I had no money. I made 300 grand this year. I was able to quit my job and now I'm going full in full time on this. I can spend time with my

[40:33] family. I'm the happiest I've ever been. I'm in the gym. I lost weight. My mindset's clear." Like you're changing what who is that person? Because for you that's someone who has come through your brand. Yes. Yeah. An ambassador. Yeah. Right. Uh yeah, someone who's a content creator. We we have We had 47 people quit their jobs last year.

[40:52] That's [ __ ] crazy, isn't it? And we have 500,000 people that make money every single month from Comfort, whether it's pay the groceries or pay your rent or your car payment or whatever it is. Comfort is in a way you're promoting a product that you love and you're making money doing something that you believe in. And that's what we did. We built a hyper affiliate model

[41:11] that no one else has had. And back to the million-dollar, five-million-dollar dream. Build meaning in your product. Don't just go sell what everyone else is selling. copy and paste. Do not copy and paste. Build something that has more value. Because if you don't do that, you're going to lose. It's It's that, but I mean your why your why has to be more than the money. And I'm going to say, when I was broke and

[41:34] had no money, my goal was money. Yeah. It always is. It always is. Everyone's goal to start is money and then there has to be something that makes you feel good with the money, whether it's I need to make money cuz I got to survive, but I also want to do XYZ because it makes me feel good. Then when the money starts coming in, you start to think less about money, you start to think more about feel good. You want this to be the way that it does. Like we're doing this huge thing for breast cancer awareness. That makes me feel great, right? Or us going

[42:04] and being the largest contributor to like a charity like it like the ADAA. That makes me feel good. I know like we've seen it end to end. like the children that are like like they're benefiting from the masterminds that we go do and people we're not charging any money and we're saying hey just donate to charity. We don't even capture the money. We just give them the link to the charity. That helps me feel good and I'm not a big believer and some people are I'm not a big believer in in karma because I think if karma was a thing a lot of people that run the world would not be where

[42:35] they are right now. I believe in energy though. So energy is my is I guess the equivalent to the karma is like I believe that like like attracts like and the energy that you put out into the world is what you get back. So like we did not meet by accident right? And the people that watch this are not watching it by

[42:53] accident. And it's might [ __ ] start there. [ __ ] That is the crazy part cuz it might start with you watching this video. You're a part of this energy now and then now you go build your thing and then you're sitting here or you're sitting here and you're having the conversation about how this changed the trajectory of what you were going to

[43:14] build with your brand for your life. That's how it goes. How [ __ ] crazy is that? Oh my god bro. But you know when you think about it that way it messes with you a little bit because it's so vast and you're like I can't wrap my head around it. All right, next question.

[43:27] Hit me. I've been to dinners with you around a table of guys that are all [ __ ] billionaires and I'm sat in the corner. Yeah. When you go to them and these guys are giving you advice on all these other things that they're doing, how are you able to detract attract the things that will work for you and use that in your business and not just trying to do everything all at once cuz we get stuck I get stuck in a cycle and I know a lot of other people do where you'll tell me something, Dom will tell me something, Greg will tell me something and I'm

[43:55] trying to do it all. Ah, it's so horrible. doesn't you can't do everything, right? You So there's a there's a FOMO aspect to what you said. Yeah. And I know the exact day that talking about. [clears throat] that comes with this whole what you just talked about. does. It does. It does. I'll tell you when it changed for me.

[44:14] And then I'll answer your question. I paid money for a course with these guys that were friends with the owner of Snow Teeth Whitening. And I showed them my website on a call. I paid them every month to just help me look at my brand to see if I was on the right track. And they said to my face, "Why would you

[44:33] ever go compete with Snow? They're a huge company. They're going to do 100 million this year. Your company is this. They have all of this. They have all the connections. They have Floyd this, that." And they put me down. And I had so much FOMO that my business was not going to be successful cuz all

[44:49] these other guys were already doing it. Why would I try? That one day I snapped and I said, "I'm never ever ever going to compare myself to anyone again. I don't care what revenue is." I muted everybody on Instagram. I still mute everyone on Instagram. I don't When I go on Instagram, I post a story or I a post and I get off. I don't look at any

[45:09] anything. That's crazy. Dude, I look at nothing. I don't have TikTok on my phone. I've the number one brand on TikTok Shop in the world. I don't have TikTok on my phone. I know what to use it for and what to not use it for. So, I completely said, "I don't care if this takes me my whole life. Blind is on. Nothing else." And that was the way that I did it back when I was 20 22 I started those calls. It's a couple of years of me being in the business already. Now, um when I'm sitting at a table with the people that we were at dinner with,

[45:41] I want to be a sponge. Yeah. And I want to sit and I want to listen. And because of the how impressive the successes of my brand, people want to tell me things because they feel like I can give them something else. And guess what? I will give you everything you want because odds are you're never going to replicate it. Because you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. You know how you built

[46:06] Represent. I know how I built Comfort. I don't replicate I can't replicate what you built. do it. I can't. No. So, I know that maybe I'll build a version of something that maybe looks a little bit like it, but I know for a fact that I'm not going to be able You know, when you tell me something like, "Ah, but the way Hudson's doing it, like

[46:25] he's just not going to do it that way." Right. And I know that the way I market, like I'm sitting on a a call multiple times a week with all my affiliates, my creators, my team, my customers. Like, we're building something that no brand at my size is doing. So, I'm getting different results. If you do what they say and you do what they do, you're going to get what they have every single time. So, I know when Rich from Fashion Nova tells me, "Hey, Hud, look at this, this, this, and this." I'm going to go look, but he'll say to me, like, "You should really go try this. I think it's

[46:53] going to be good for your business." Yeah. Now, mind you, it might not be changing my marketing, but it might just be changing how do we run something in ops? And I'll go right to my team at the dinner. I'll text on the table. I'll say, "Guys, spoke to Rich. He said this, this, and this. This is what we got to go work on. Let's put it in the note

[47:06] list and let's talk about it next week. Let's go try it." And that's how I'll do it. I met the the founder of ZURU, which is they're going to do over 3.something billion this year. They're going to do over a billion in EBITDA. They're murdering the game. They're retail focused only. I was with him His name is Nick Mowbray. He's insane. And we were at dinner with him the other night with Rich from Fashion Nova and a couple of the guys. And I He walked me through his entire showroom with all the products that he's building. He builds his company off robotics. He has no people

[47:34] building his products. It's all robotics. One of the smartest men I've ever met in my life to the point that I was so mind-blown. This was 2 days ago. So mind-blown that I was like, "He is my opposite." Right. He built everything. He doesn't own inventory. He ships to the retail Target, Walmart. Wait, what what is the business? Sorry. He owns So, ZURU, think of it as like a Procter & Gamble. He owns

[47:56] the X-Shot, which is a Nerf competitor. Pretty much put him out of business. Like he owns Fugler, which is like the ugly like doll that is going viral and it's going to do a few hundred million a year. He owns all these insane companies under Zuru. And he's from um New Zealand and he started with like in this like garage and he's like this he's been had his business 21 years. He's a genius and I was looking at him. I

[48:24] brought a couple of my team members in. Jay Hunter was there, a couple people were there and we're looking at his company and I go he built his company the opposite the way I built mine. He went retail first, I went D2C first. Now I'm going nationwide target and he's starting to think how do I get on TikTok shop. So we started to connect and I'm looking at everything he's building and like now I know I'm going to give him

[48:43] all my info. Will he do it? Maybe not. He probably shouldn't. He's 40% EBITDA. Like but but I look at his retail play and I'm like maybe I can go launch retail first now. I don't have to go D2C. I can launch in uh comfort baby. I can launch comfort pet. I can go here. I can go there and I can launch these items that we already kind of have but

[49:03] expand, go retail first and then go D2C. So I think it's like There's so many There's infinite options. like my answer to your question is a long answer but it's like you need to put the blinders on and you will know from just the way that it's framed to you when someone says something you're like that's something I can actually

[49:21] implement in the next 3 weeks. Right. And this could change my business. In the beginning it's hard because you get FOMO and everything that everyone says sounds so great and you're like I'm going to do this or we're going to do that we're going to do this and then your team's drowning in the work and they're like what the [ __ ] is the priority? So you I've done it, you've done it, we've all done it but you got to be it's about being calm, composed and looking at what is going to cause the largest incremental growth to my business if I do XYZ thing and then you

[49:50] pick that thing first and you prioritize it. So, for kids that are that are at 5 mil or 1 mil, whatever it may be, for them that is listening to podcasts, listening to shows. You're probably not going to get in those rooms until you've got something to offer, right? Yeah, and and reach out to people. Cuz I know a lot of kids that watch this and say, "Yeah, but we're not getting invited to those dinners. I'm not going

[50:08] to be able to talk to [ __ ] Hudson." You want to hear the craziest part? I curated that dinner and like I was on Snapchat when I was 24 and I was got my first success on Snapchat and then Evan Spiegel is at our dinner sitting next to me and Rich from Fashion Nova and him and I are laughing about all the success stories and all the crazy things that happened on the platform and I was with him two nights ago. Um and he and and we were talking about it and I was like, "Man, I used to just look at you were a figure and I I

[50:41] never knew that we would have this relationship and you know, he's a regular built it into existence. He's a regular guy. Yeah, cuz everyone is. Everyone's a regular guy and and that's the thing. They think that we're like these We're not, dude. And I in a 2 years I went from no one knew who I was to everyone's asking me how we're doing it and the only thing that shifted is people just know my name. Right. But I haven't changed. So, I'm still looking at people like, "No, man, I'm the same

[51:07] guy that I was 2 years ago." How [ __ ] good is that? And it's like but but we people are like they put you on a pedestal. It's not. It's It's It We are normal [ __ ] people. Yeah. We are. How do you feel about the See, we were talking about this before off camera. There's a little bit of a mystery behind you. I think because it's been pretty fast and yeah, and then everyone all of a sudden knows your name. But also you don't really do anything on Instagram or you don't have a guy following you around. We're We're in the age of

[51:33] everyone's getting documented everything. And I think you've got that like dare I say it like that '80s, '90s like Michael Jackson thing about you where like you'll just see him appear out of the house and it's like, "Oh [ __ ] there's [ __ ] him." And you get like 5 seconds to take a picture and then he's gone. Like we Now we have social media and

[51:52] everything's live. That's gone. That That That feeling that you had of a celebrity in the '90s or two early early 2000s, like that doesn't exist anymore. And you can just speak to someone on [ __ ] DM who's who is an apparent star. But I I think I feel like you've still got a bit of that and like everywhere I go, every business meeting I'm in, every wherever I'm in the world, people ask you like what the [ __ ] is What is this

[52:16] Hudson guy? So I was like funny that you say that, dude. Well, it started with me not wanting to ever be on camera cuz I was I was nervous. Like a podcaster doing something like this, my throat would get scratchy. I would stutter. I'd have to cut it like 25 times. I couldn't do a full run-through. I had to really break down what I was

[52:34] considering. How you speak. Yeah, and it's very difficult. And people are like, "Well, you're such a great speaker." To my friends, I do a great job like or to motivating my team, but once you put a camera on me, I would I would freeze. Um and I think I like not sharing everything. Cuz I like there to be some things that are still private, right? And I think it's important to have that in your life because it gives you some peace. But at the same time, you know, when the brand, like our brands, they can do the talking, right? And people are going to speak about it because of,

[53:06] you know, and also we're in a day and age where TikTok Shop is booming and my company just has to be the happens to be the face of it. So all of a sudden TikTok Shop is this new way to make money on e-commerce and Comforts just front facing. And I'm we're like the poster child for it. And I And then they ask me, "Hey, can you come do this speaking event?" And then I'll be there and then you know, we'll do it and we'll leave, but I'll never post really about it and then they'll post it and then someone will see it. But I think it's

[53:31] I think it's it's all secondary. I think it's more fun that way. And this is almost like the first time that like I'm going to post this or you know, we'll do something and post it and people get a lot of information from it, but you know, it's good to build in silence sometimes. And people will people will start to think that like, hey, like is he really building the company? And I'll be honest, I have no time for anything right now. I am in meetings all day. You know, and it's a Sunday that we're filming this and we did it on a Sunday because there's no

[54:00] way we could do it on a Monday. And and that's the thing that people need to learn is like, you don't get to a level and stop. I'll give you some amazing advice. Uh this is for the for the audience. I was with Evan Spiegel at his at his headquarters and him and I are just

[54:14] having a conversation. And I asked him, this is like the first time we hung out just him and I. And he said to me, I go, have you ever just been able to take a break? Like step away, rely on your team, and just feel like everything is taken care of. And he goes, once you do that, don't come back. Because if you come back, you're going to be solving more problems and working harder than if you

[54:38] left than if you never left business. And when he said that to me, it was like a weight off my shoulders, but also like painful. Because I am experiencing a lot of pain right now. And a lot of the pain is coming from the business is going to double again. When we do that, I know I'm going to be experiencing things that I've never felt before. And I know he's been there, right? So I want to know like, does it

[55:04] does it get better? Yeah. And and he looked at me and he's like, no. Yeah. And smiled. And it And it [ __ ] scary. level, the bigger the devil. you a little bit. And um again, back to the sacrifice thing. You and I, who whoever's watching, be prepared. Yeah. And don't worry that you don't know the answer because guess what? You'll figure it out. And you always will. But But the other thing is Davey Fogarty back in the day,

[55:31] Comforted 16 million. I cold DM'd Davey. I looked up to him on on YouTube and I said, "Hey, I got a brand. I think we could do 50 million next year. I need advice or my company's going under. I know you're doing free calls. Can I get on one of them?" be going under? Because I had no team. I had no

[55:49] employees. Um and I didn't know who to hire. I didn't know what a COO was. I didn't know what a CFO was. I didn't know any of the roles. I actually have a question on that. Yeah. Who the [ __ ] is managing your production to be able to supply the demand at that

[56:01] level? We hired insane people in supply chain from huge companies like Steve Madden and and businesses like that and they've come in and and we have over eight, nine manufacturers now. But dude, up until manufacturers and you're doing billions. I have 60 manufacturers and I'm 10 times smaller than you. But it is different brand. It's

[56:21] completely different. it is but that's so crazy. Yeah. Yeah, I think we have 10. Um I think we're going to try to get to 20. But we're we're also a lot of it is hoodie, sweats and Yes, it's the same. Yeah. And then it's just different style. Same construction as yours. so much unique Yeah, it's so different but yeah, so the Evan piece is like it will never get

[56:42] Nah, you just commit to the life. Mhm. The and the life is way more rewarding than a normal life but it also requires way more than a normal What would I will tell you too like the dope our dopamine hits are different now. Like what gets me excited is a lot more difficult than what it used to be.

[56:58] Right. And that's like why I tell people like, "Dude, just don't even start doing drugs cuz then you're really screwed." Like like don't even start that because then you're just going to be chasing something you'll never have na- naturally. But you're also I think what's good about you and what you've realized is the tennis thing. Like I know you're saying, "Oh, it's a switch off where I can put my phone down." But actually it's giving you a hit of something that's completely different to business. And it's another way to compete I'm risking, dude, I'm you know me. I

[57:23] have no legs, man. [laughter] I'm Yeah, you know I have no legs. I'm risking whatever the [ __ ] these are called on the tennis court by playing every single day and I'm like I'm like in an ice bath. I feel like I'm like like I'm like a professional athlete. Like I get home, I put like like like you know, like eucalyptus and like bath salts in and I'm in the bath and then I got the I got the ice in it and I'm like waiting to go play with like five of my friends the next day. Like I'm I'm like hurting my body because first of all, I

[57:53] can't run on a treadmill. So I I don't break sweats when I go to the gym. I don't know cuz there's something wrong with me, dude. And you go for runs. You run to Texas and back every single day. So I don't know how you go to do that. So I'm like I can't do that. So I go to the gym and then I leave and and that's not getting a sweat in. It's not like releasing all that stuff. So tennis is that for me. But I think it's like video games, hanging out with my friends and my family, being around people that I love, you know, going and playing a sport that

[58:19] I like. That's my peace. Are you still playing video games now? Every night. Do you think I was wanting to watch this? Every night I play, no matter what. When you mentioned about doing this podcast, the first thing I thought about was the World of Warcraft. For me, World of Warcraft taught me how to build a team and how to speak to

[58:34] people. Oh yeah, dude, build a good guild, you can build anything, bro. Come on. You had to put in for the team. You had to be there on time. You had to [ __ ] do the mission. Dude, when you're going on a raid and you're late to the raid and you're the healer, you're [ __ ] cooked.

[58:46] Exactly. Yeah, bro. [laughter] That teaches you business though. That teaches you how you got to be like punctuality and everything within when you come to the Life is a video game. Right. And I'll explain this. When you grow up in a place that has really no success, there's really no big job opportunities, you look at it almost like as where you spawn, right? When you're spawning in World of Warcraft, you spawn in freaking no more region and all of a sudden you it's the highest level you're going to see is like a level five and then you got to go and travel outside of that area to go

[59:19] somewhere else to go find new levels. Same thing in life. I lived in a small town. I never traveled to to city. Why was that? It was Long Island, New York. I was about an hour and a half out of the city. Town, everybody knew everybody. You would go run to the grocery store,

[59:32] you knew everybody by their first name. There was no no nothing was mysterious about it. I can go outside with you right now, walk around, and never see these people again. In my town, you knew everybody, right? So, even in Miami, where I live, like I never run into people like that. I run into a couple people, but that's it. Maybe if I see them at the gym. But, now you go and you go to a new place. And then, you have all these new levels, where they have sometimes more knowledge, there's different professions, these people building their own businesses. So, from where I lived in Long Island to New York

[1:00:00] City, I built I learned so much moving I mean, to Miami, for me, changed my life. Really? I met four people in Miami that were making 50 to 150 million a year that I was like begging to hang out with. And I they finally hung out with me, and they gave me these little golden nuggets that were able to scale my business. But, I'm relentless. I was like, I'll I know this

[1:00:23] thing that you don't know. Yeah. Let me teach you, man. Like, you don't even know. Like, you could do this. I did it with Davey, I did it with Kevin Gould, owner of Glamnetic. I did it with so many people, man. Like, even with Richard at Fashion Nova. I was like, "Bro, I'm doing this cool thing. Like, you guys should go check it out." And even with Evan, I was like, "Man, we're doing this really cool thing. We should go like connect." And then, they know you, they meet you, they know you're a good person. We don't do bad business,

[1:00:44] we're nice, kind people. It doesn't happen by accident, does it? It does not happen by accident, and it takes you not having an ego. I don't have an ego now. I will never have an ego. Yeah. And back then, it requires you not having one, and being like, if this person says, like, "Fuck off," that

[1:01:00] you're not going to be like offended. Because, people will literally not answer you. And a lot of guys now have come out and have said, "My biggest regret is Hudson messaging me, and me not answering." And you've seen it on Twitter go viral, where people are calling it and so funny, the Hudson method. And they'll be like, "My biggest regret is Hudson tried to meet up with me, and I never met with him." There will be those people. And it's okay, and I forgive them, and it wasn't malicious, but you know what? Like at that time, they were doing something more important than having a conversation with someone

[1:01:29] that they didn't know who was going to get the clue. And you know what? It happens. I feel like you've given everyone the [ __ ] kick up the ass that they need to actually go out and [ __ ] do something about it. They've already Most of these guys have already got something. Yeah. They just don't know how to [ __ ]

[1:01:43] get it to the next thing. Even hearing business owners that say, "Hey, I watched your podcast. My business doubled this year. Like my business was going under." Or like Lucas from Haas Yeah. when I met him and he was like, "Hey, I'm doing a million a year. They're going to do 80 million this year."

[1:02:00] Crazy. Like it's And you know what it is though? Like it's a hats off to him, and it's hats off to the founders that have the integrity to go build the thing. Because Because that's where the [ __ ] work is done. You can tell them all that whatever I want. I can give them all the blueprints, and they can just say, "Ah,

[1:02:15] I tried." Yeah, but Or they could say, "I'm going to do it no matter what." Right. And for the people that have quit, it doesn't mean you're a quitter. Doesn't mean that you're a quitter. Means you could just You have to shift that thing in your mind though. There is a quote that I love, and it's "Confidence is not built by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Like making your bed in the morning, going in going to the gym, like texting your mom or your girlfriend or your friends, like consistently like bringing people in

[1:02:49] your life. Like being the person that brings people together. Like whatever the proof is that you can be this person and and shift the narrative and and and and also build great habits. That habit that you build translates directly into business. And if you can build a business that way and have all these amazing habits of building a business, you when [ __ ] gets hard, you fall back

[1:03:13] on your habits. all you've got. That's all you have. have, Cuz you could be on a high horse and be like we're everything is winning and you don't even know where you are. You're just like building and then all of a sudden you're like, well, like okay, shit's going bad. Well, good thing I have all these habits because if I

[1:03:28] didn't have them, we'd go under. Yeah, man. You know who's a big advocate of that? Andy Frasella. You know him? First form. Okay. He [ __ ] that's all he preaches. It's habits. legend of habits. He got me into all my habits. And it's Made me do all that [ __ ] Yeah. Going to the gym, eating healthy, not eating crappy food like even if you don't have the means like go buy just like food from the grocery store and go cook it at the house and just go eat like simple meals that are clean and easy like that people don't understand like making your bed or what you put in

[1:04:02] your body or what you watch, what you absorb, what you allow your brain to hear and into absorb and listen to affects everything about your life. Yes, everything. Doom scrolling and all that [ __ ] like you're just you know when China their TikTok is different than our TikTok? They're educating their their youth on their TikTok. On our TikTok they're like, here's how to eat a Tide Pod and go win the challenge. Like that's the difference between what they're doing in China and what we're doing here. Like you got to know, man, the

[1:04:35] things are programmed to keep you down. It all is. Yeah. Even school, even school it's programmed and it's to be an employee which again is not bad, but they don't even allow you the opportunity to go start your own thing because they don't even make that an option. That's the crazy part. They don't even say, "Hey, you might be able to go do it and if you want to and you want to go bet on

[1:04:59] yourself, go do this, this, and this." Here are the tools. This doesn't exist. Doesn't exist. not. You [ __ ] give it to them. Well, yeah, I I think my favorite is the see it to believe it. Yeah. When you said like moving to New York, then moving to Miami. For me, I came out here 10 years ago. And I [ __ ] drove around Beverly Hills and I went up Trousdale into the hillsides and just thought,

[1:05:19] [ __ ] I thought my dad had a sick house. We lived in this little town. And my dad had the coolest house in this little town. And all my friends wanted to come round at night because it's like we had a trampoline in the back garden. And I was like, this guy is [ __ ] sick. And then I came here and I was like, holy [ __ ]

[1:05:35] It wakes you up. There is You get to window shop houses. You get to go look I used to go walk in the Hamptons. Yeah. I would get in my '96 Honda Civic that would barely start. Actually stopped working at a point. Um and I go drive to the Hamptons. I'd park the car and I'd walk all the houses and I would sit People probably thought I was this crazy kid. I would sit and I would imagine what car was going in the

[1:05:59] driveway. Me walking in the house. Yeah, that's some crazy [ __ ] How did I dress? What did I sound like? How old was I when this vision that I was building happened? Bro, I used to do that to the [ __ ] T. And I and I still do it. Yeah. And I still do it. And people go, well, you could buy that. I'm like, that's not

[1:06:17] the point. Yeah. I need to see it in my mind and I need to feel it and I need to live it. I need to know how is being in this backyard with my family going to be. I have a vision right now and I'll say it. And it will happen and then we'll laugh about it. I have a vision of me being on

[1:06:34] a lake with my entire family. I'm barbecuing thank hopefully I'm good at it. I'm barbecuing hamburgers. Everybody's on a boat wakeboarding. My mom's hanging out. My whole family's with me and we get to go sit out on this deck over the lake and be able to just eat dinner together and laugh and have a great time. And it feels like it's Lake Tahoe. I don't know where it is. I haven't figured that part out yet, but I I've lived it and I can see everyone laughing and having the best time and I've had this vision again and again and again and I know cuz history repeats

[1:07:06] itself that the same thing happened in Miami. The same thing happened when I bought my house in East Hampton and I wanted to be closer to my family. All those things that I thought about so much and I felt like it was real like I could I could I could feel what that emotion feels like to be there right

[1:07:22] now. Yeah. I could put myself there right now. When it happens isn't it? It's already there. Yeah. And I don't care when because the universe is going to give it to me at the perfect time. Not when you want it, not when I want it, not when you want it, it's when it says you're prepared and you're ready

[1:07:41] for it. Yeah. That's it. And it's it's so hard to understand that it's not when you think it's the right time. It's when the universe says George, you're ready. But then how do you [ __ ] cuz you've got the relentless drive of [ __ ] knocking on everyone's door until they answer to you. But then you've got the universe telling you when you're ready to get that house. Why are you not knocking on that [ __ ] house's door now? Trying to get it when you're not

[1:08:03] ready. Because I because You can't be self from that. Because you know what? I'm looking and I haven't found it yet. All right, okay. And I don't know what And you know what happens? It will just appear to me. Someone will say, "Hey Hud, I got this house that my friend owns. He said he's going to sell it. Um you want to go take a look at it. It happens to be on Lake

[1:08:20] Tahoe. Uh I think it's a great property. He's going to put it on the market in 2 weeks. Do you want to go buy That's how that will work for you." Someone will tell you the thing that you've been thinking about and say it as if like they knew that you were thinking about it. Those are the things that

[1:08:35] game, huh? It's a video game, dude. And you know what? There's level hundreds here in LA and you get to go meet them. Every now and again you maybe you pass one in the gym. Yeah. Maybe you say hello. Maybe you say, "Hey man, I'm a I'm a huge fan of what you're building. It's so good to meet you." And then you see him 2 weeks And then maybe he says hello to you one day. Or maybe one day you have something you really want to share with him. You say, "Hey

[1:08:55] man, I know we met a couple years ago. I'm actually building this really cool thing. I would love to send you something." How many times I've done that? I would I would love to send you something. I sent something to an NBA player and now I have like the most famous guys in NBA that wear Comfort.

[1:09:07] How does that happen? Yeah, it's crazy. And they go and they buy it. Yeah. Seeding. You plant a ton of seeds. I do it with Comfort all the time. I have my product line built out till 20 almost 2028. I plant all these seeds and I just allow them to sprout and grow. And I have a team that can water them. Maybe we're the one just putting the seed in and the team is doing the watering and they're watching it and they're making sure that everything goes according to plan. Back in the day it wasn't that way. We would plant it,

[1:09:36] water it, watch it. [ __ ] wait that out. We'd watch it die. We'd watch it die. We try to revive it. We have to plant another one. So that's the game, dude. That's the game. Guys, it's the game. It's the It's It's It's just like everyone everyone thinks that like they're going to meet the one founder that gives them the one thing. It's like, nah. We're all going to say We're all going to say the same thing just in a different framework. And maybe it's the different way that we frame it that they're going to understand that, "Ah, well, now I get

[1:10:03] it." But also there's no [ __ ] one exact blueprint. No. The Comfort blueprint, if I copied that now to a T, my the brand would not be the same thing. Mhm. It might kill your brand. Exactly. So then you like the the kids watching this have to realize that. You got to [ __ ] listen and learn and take what you think will work for you and try it. You cannot just [ __ ] do the exact same thing. They're already 2 years ahead. They're already telling you

[1:10:27] what's already worked. And there's guys that will say "Represent is way cooler than Comfort." And I'll say, "You're probably right." And there's people that will say, "Comfort's way cooler than Represent. Look at this." And I'll be like, "You're probably right." It doesn't matter. It's up to you as the person that decides what you love and what you're passionate about. It's not if they like

[1:10:46] my brand or if they like your brand. It's what is relatable to them. And that's the beauty. When you're a creator and you're building your own business, guess what? You could build it however you want. And it's up to you on how you just plant the seeds and water them. And that's it. Dude, this was

[1:11:02] What a [ __ ] time. [ __ ] awesome. This was great. I I that that was a TED Talk. That was a [laughter] [ __ ] TED Talk. I loved it. Well done. Guys, like, subscribe, Exactly. Episode Yeah, this dude this is episode one. Episode one. This is it. So, I appreciate you guys. And what we would love to know is first of all, we're going to do another one of these. It's it's one of those

[1:11:24] things. Questions, comments, what you liked the most, what you what you wish we could have talked about more. Like again, how we ask our customers for feedback, like we want feedback from you guys cuz we want to know how we could be better and how we can just continue to help you guys get to the next level. So, thank you for watching. I appreciate you and

[1:11:42] my brother. Thanks, my bro. Appreciate it, bro.

---

About this transcript
Read from YouTube's own caption track and laid out by ViewRank AI (https://viewrankai.com).
ViewRank AI finds the videos already beating a creator's own average on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, transcribes them from the audio itself in more than 60 languages, and turns what worked into new ideas and scripts.
Free transcript tools, no account needed: https://viewrankai.com/tools
How to read any video this way: https://viewrankai.com/llms.txt