Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Big Money Energy, where
Speaker 1: we talked to super successful and self made people to
Speaker 1: find out exactly how they did it, how they went
Speaker 1: from nothing to something. I'm Ryan, sirhand, and today I'm
Speaker 1: joined by the one and only Fat Jewish also known
Speaker 1: as Josh. True story, I haven't been able to read
Speaker 1: his name off a piece of paper without laughing. This guy.
Speaker 1: We talked about what it was like to be the
Speaker 1: world's first influencer crowdsourcing his baby's name, how he manages
Speaker 1: to have a private life despite being a walking media brand,
Speaker 1: and how he went from posting memes on Instagram to
Speaker 1: revolutionizing the liquor industry and changing it forever. Let's get
Speaker 1: into this. You're gonna like it. Welcome to another episode.
Speaker 1: Today is super special because I'm sitting down with one
Speaker 1: of my most favorite, favorite favorite people. He is an
Speaker 1: absolute legend and is an amazing entrepreneur as well, And
Speaker 1: I know he probably doesn't want to talk about it
Speaker 1: that way, but but I definitely want to get into
Speaker 1: the details of how good of a business person he
Speaker 1: is and how he's not just a guy who's a
Speaker 1: social media personality who's built an entire kind of empire
Speaker 1: based on humor and making people laugh. I don't really
Speaker 1: know how to describe him, so I'm just gonna say, welcome,
Speaker 1: Joseph Strowski a k a. The Fat Jewish. Just close
Speaker 1: your eyes and like what comes to your mind? Your body? Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you most of the time. And then Amelia is like,
Speaker 1: why are you making that face? I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if kick gets guy all the time. Appreciate that
Speaker 1: a few details because they're important for for this business podcast. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you don't know, Josh is in every sense of
Speaker 1: the word, a master entrepreneur. He's a social media mogul, actor, influencer, investor,
Speaker 1: plus size model. Are you are you about to have
Speaker 1: a baby? Yeah? Is that real? That's okay, we'll get
Speaker 1: to that. Uh. If you know him from his Instagram account,
Speaker 1: The Fat Jewish before, like everyone had an Instagram account, right,
Speaker 1: it was like boom, like you I think you invented it?
Speaker 1: Do you invent Instagram? I think I was the first influencer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, which like sorry, but also not not sorry,
Speaker 1: Like what have I done? Yeah? Like this thing has
Speaker 1: gotten really out of control. Yeah, you're such a dick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's also the co founder of Swiss beverages that you'll
Speaker 1: know from Babe and White Girl Rose, which was then
Speaker 1: acquired by Anheuser Busch in BEV in two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: which I definitely want to talk about. You're super funny,
Speaker 1: You're super influential everyone. I feel like people have now
Speaker 1: at this point. Is it weird to know that people
Speaker 1: have grown up with you? Yeah? Oh definitely. You know,
Speaker 1: do people come up to you and they're like, oh, dude,
Speaker 1: I was following you when I was seven. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: like a lot of them have like children now, and
Speaker 1: they're like, can you hold this baby? Let's take a
Speaker 1: photo with you know, it's not just like the girls
Speaker 1: and the dudes in college anymore. They have jobs. No,
Speaker 1: It's like a couple in Brooklyn will be like, we
Speaker 1: take a you know, we please take a photo of
Speaker 1: my son at Kiss and my other son adicis Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they both the children have beards somehow. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: likely to super expensive. They look they all of like
Speaker 1: they're all of Mumford's sons. Yeah, and they're just like
Speaker 1: they can take a picture, and I'm like, wow, this
Speaker 1: is these people are really growing up. This is this
Speaker 1: is scary. Yeah, you're You're not fat anymore. I'm still big.
Speaker 1: I'm still big. I'm still like like bone because that's
Speaker 1: your like just your body type. Yeah, that's true. I'm
Speaker 1: like a thick Rushian. But when we first met, there
Speaker 1: was more of you. I was like, oh, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was the less Now I'm like clinically obese. I think
Speaker 1: at the time I met you, I was I was
Speaker 1: actually obese. Yeah, so I was a lot more Shrek then. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was more Shrek, which was kind of working for me.
Speaker 1: But then I would like, you know, get winded getting
Speaker 1: out of a car, and you know, I was just like,
Speaker 1: is this too much? Has like cancel culture come after
Speaker 1: you at all? I mean because you a lot of
Speaker 1: your following is you know, part of like the meme culture,
Speaker 1: but like you personally, have you gotten any pushback because
Speaker 1: things have been so real and so serious, Like why
Speaker 1: would you be funny at a time like this? Right?
Speaker 1: I actually was worried about that people are gonna be like,
Speaker 1: how could you be such a big fucking stupid, funny
Speaker 1: idiot while there's real like use your platform, But like
Speaker 1: my thing is like if you want real ship from
Speaker 1: like you people and like heart, Like there's so many
Speaker 1: outlets for that. I'm gonna give you some dumb ship
Speaker 1: to like take you out of it for a second
Speaker 1: and like make you forget about it. So I think
Speaker 1: mostly like I tried to do as much as I could,
Speaker 1: Like when the fucking when it first hit, we gave
Speaker 1: like I gave away like a million dollars worth of
Speaker 1: babe worth of wine to like fucking I was giving
Speaker 1: out who because like everybody deserved to get fucked up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Your nail salon truck was
Speaker 1: the greatest thing socially, distance manicure truck, glory holes for
Speaker 1: your hands, if you will, totally you can get a
Speaker 1: social and it was all free. We sent that thing
Speaker 1: like around the fucking country. You know, the meme of
Speaker 1: like the large naked black dude with his dick hanging.
Speaker 1: I did a deep dive on him, and actually I
Speaker 1: ended up getting in touch with his brother, and now
Speaker 1: I've been speaking to like his whole family and we're
Speaker 1: trying to figure out like how to kind of like
Speaker 1: monetize like all this success with him. So these are
Speaker 1: the ways in which I get, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: which is like dig really deep on Wordy's You Bear
Speaker 1: the Third which is that guy's name. But no, like
Speaker 1: no cancel culture within that. I mean I got I
Speaker 1: had canceled ship before, which was like you know about
Speaker 1: like memes and stealing memes and all the ship. But
Speaker 1: like interesting enough when like cancel culture actually came up
Speaker 1: about like sexually harassing people. Like the one thing is
Speaker 1: like I'm an India on the internet, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm like a nice Jewish guy, so like I haven't
Speaker 1: nothing like that has happened to me. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: got canceled. I was getting canceled before, people like it
Speaker 1: was hot to get canceled. Are you married now or
Speaker 1: are you with somebody? Yeah? I have a I gotta
Speaker 1: I have like a woman, like someone. I asked me
Speaker 1: if someone's cap if anyone's capable of loving me? You
Speaker 1: did get married to a woman and you get divorced
Speaker 1: like the next day, and I remember that. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: was like a corn fed midwesterner, Yeah, with like real
Speaker 1: big shoulders. Yeah that was like for the look. Um No,
Speaker 1: but now I have a real relationship with a human. Um,
Speaker 1: and I am actually having a kid. And obviously I've
Speaker 1: been like trying to turn the whole thing into performance art.
Speaker 1: And she's like, please don't do this, but I am
Speaker 1: taking baby name suggestions. I'm saying I'm down, Like my
Speaker 1: kid doesn't have to be named like Blender, Like it
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be nuts, like the kids name could
Speaker 1: be Bruce. I'm just looking for some fire. Met this woman.
Speaker 1: I met her on the internet. What do you mean,
Speaker 1: how do people have sex with each other? Are you
Speaker 1: ready to be a dad? Yeah? Like whatever, right, it's good, right,
Speaker 1: good for content? I mean, did you not have a
Speaker 1: kid for content? Yeah? I mean like it was it
Speaker 1: went through my mind. I No, I definitely did not
Speaker 1: have a kid for content? But did A kids show
Speaker 1: is up? And you're like, you're gonna help totally. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm already working on, you know, getting a big piece
Speaker 1: of bread. Put the kid on with lettuce to me
Speaker 1: to over pretend it's like in a fucking sandwich, Like
Speaker 1: I already got all kinds of ship. And she's not
Speaker 1: really complaining because like she knows what she signed up for.
Speaker 1: She's with me willingly, so she knew obviously that we're
Speaker 1: going to turn this into something completely dumb. But I
Speaker 1: think I'm ready because I'm like kind of old. I'm
Speaker 1: thirty eight, so I'm like done a long time since
Speaker 1: you got expelled from all those schools. Yeah, and I'm
Speaker 1: dusty as hell, like I'm an excellennial for sure. Like
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm for sure an excellennial. So I think
Speaker 1: I'm like pretty much ready because also, like what else
Speaker 1: is there to do? You know, let's have let's have
Speaker 1: a kid talk to me about why did you get
Speaker 1: expelled from college? Sawesome ship classics? You know, like Van Wilder,
Speaker 1: you know the movie you've seen that. Yeah, I kicked
Speaker 1: at high school. I kicked that in of college, just
Speaker 1: you know, having a good time. I'm just a good
Speaker 1: I'm just a fun guy. I'm just a good guy.
Speaker 1: And uh, I like having a good time. And it's
Speaker 1: really easy to get thrown out of a liberal art school.
Speaker 1: I got thrown a skin more but skin Moore is
Speaker 1: not fun. They don't do six shift over there. So
Speaker 1: you were doing six ship and they were like, you
Speaker 1: can't do that here anymore, and so you yeah. And
Speaker 1: then I went to Sunni Albany and like with a
Speaker 1: bunch of like Stan Island guys, and that's when things
Speaker 1: got fall like a bunch of guys who were like
Speaker 1: going to be firefighters with like Foreskin Yeah, great, good times.
Speaker 1: It was just like skin Moore was just more like
Speaker 1: Upper West Side, like Priva Sla. It was more of
Speaker 1: those it was who had been hanging out with. You know,
Speaker 1: we're like shooting the baked potatoes out of a tennis
Speaker 1: ball machine and like, you know, talking to you is
Speaker 1: such a workout, um, because I'm trying to listen and
Speaker 1: like trying to understand like what's real, what's not real,
Speaker 1: what's happening? But I guess it's just all part of
Speaker 1: part of who you are. How do you how do
Speaker 1: you separate though? And maybe you don't kind of Josh
Speaker 1: from the fat Jewish or is there no separation because
Speaker 1: I know you came up with that name initially when
Speaker 1: you were part of a rap trio. Yeah we've ever
Speaker 1: seen our stuff? Yeah yeah, you showed me. Actually no,
Speaker 1: I mean you know it's again. I think that like
Speaker 1: the Kid is a perfect example, which is just drawing
Speaker 1: lines of just like you know, not everything can be
Speaker 1: like totally ridiculous and performative, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like the Kid's gonna be real. Yeah, right, Like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna fund the kid up for sure, and
Speaker 1: like land the kid in like six therapy for sure.
Speaker 1: But like it's just not everything can be for the internet, right,
Speaker 1: you can't do it all for the Graham. Like some
Speaker 1: people just get like too open. You gotta keep some
Speaker 1: ship off the Internet because for you, is it going
Speaker 1: to be personal family stuff? Yeah, I mean, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have a kid if I couldn't get content
Speaker 1: out of it, because that would be ridiculous. But you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta like draw the line, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to fund the kid up, but not too bad,
Speaker 1: you know, so like I try to keep my partner
Speaker 1: like super private. Um, some people are just like it's
Speaker 1: so open, you know what I mean. Like some was
Speaker 1: like influencers who are just like they're just like I
Speaker 1: just hey you guys, Like I just need to talk
Speaker 1: to you, like I just like I have ibs, and
Speaker 1: like things just get too intimate and real, and like
Speaker 1: you gotta keep some ship like in the some ship's
Speaker 1: gotta be like kept in the dark, Like we don't
Speaker 1: all need to know everything. I don't consider myself an
Speaker 1: influence at this point. Also, I'm like getting too old
Speaker 1: for this ship. In the words of Danny Glover ten
Speaker 1: years ago, I was, you know, on a slipping slide
Speaker 1: covered in Marinara, but like that's just not a good
Speaker 1: look for like a thirty eight year old. Like I'm
Speaker 1: friends with some like older guys who are still just
Speaker 1: like they need constant content, like constant YouTube ship. It's
Speaker 1: just gets crazy. So I've really transitioned into like kind
Speaker 1: of mentoring the next generation of complete and utter morons
Speaker 1: and not doing it myself because eventually you're just like
Speaker 1: the old dude of the party and it's pretty witch.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that we get to it.
Speaker 1: I'm interested also in the business side of what you do.
Speaker 1: Can you can you walk me through that both, like
Speaker 1: the Fat Jewish as a business, what that looks like,
Speaker 1: how many people work for you? Like how do you
Speaker 1: make money? And then when Swish came about and that process. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I was basically the first influencer, so brands
Speaker 1: were coming to me and being like, can we pay you?
Speaker 1: They didn't fucking know anything. I would just like make
Speaker 1: up acronyms. I'd be like, I can get you guys
Speaker 1: four hundred million kpm bcs and they were like hell yeah,
Speaker 1: pay them, let's go to lunch. Because like guys didn't
Speaker 1: know what was going on. But you know, as the
Speaker 1: influencer bubble grew and like it, I just basically was
Speaker 1: like I don't want to do this. This is weird.
Speaker 1: I'm not an influencer. Like I didn't want to be
Speaker 1: part of that. I think that's how I get label old,
Speaker 1: but that's not it's not who I am, and I
Speaker 1: think I pretty quickly was like you know what, like
Speaker 1: if I'm like the thing that's different differenally me and
Speaker 1: like other people like that, like being like accounts like
Speaker 1: mine is that I don't like you go up and
Speaker 1: like I'm not gonna name any names, but some of
Speaker 1: these big accounts, they're like in like so like sun Splash,
Speaker 1: Soho Lofts and it's just like people like looking for
Speaker 1: content on computers. It's like the sounds of keys clicking
Speaker 1: and they're like it's like funded by vcs and like
Speaker 1: it's all fucking it's very like corporate and they're like,
Speaker 1: let's find a video. Like you know, it turned out
Speaker 1: like the Kwan was like some like Middle Eastern dude
Speaker 1: who was like working in a content farm but I
Speaker 1: was never like that, Like I was just posting photos
Speaker 1: like while drunk and like in a bed. Like it
Speaker 1: was never like that. So I was like, I was
Speaker 1: just like I don't want to do this. But the
Speaker 1: one and the other thing is different is is that
Speaker 1: like those types of accounts, they don't talk to the
Speaker 1: people like I talk to everyone who dms me. I
Speaker 1: answer every d M, you know, not if they're like
Speaker 1: if it's like some weird spam, but anyone who comes
Speaker 1: into me. I'm constantly like talking, which is funny for
Speaker 1: people because people will get like really drunk and talk
Speaker 1: ship to me, you know, and they're they're like, fact
Speaker 1: you act and then I'm like, oh hey, then I'll
Speaker 1: be like, what's up, man, didn't think i'd see this, huh.
Speaker 1: And then they're like, oh my god, I love you.
Speaker 1: We should hang out. I'm coming to New York, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's kind of a weird way to start it,
Speaker 1: Like you just really told me you fucking hate me.
Speaker 1: I mean now I don't really have the time as much,
Speaker 1: but people invited me places like I've officiated like Levin weddings,
Speaker 1: going to like Kinsinera's like if you invited me to
Speaker 1: some ship, like some some like finance bros invited me
Speaker 1: to like fly on a private jet while they like
Speaker 1: did coke and just hang out with them. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I would never be trapped in this like
Speaker 1: sky prison with a bunch of like coked up finance bros.
Speaker 1: I turned that down, But in general, it wasn't about
Speaker 1: the money. Nobody paid me. It's just like if you
Speaker 1: invited me, I was down to chill because like I'm
Speaker 1: a real fucking person and I'm trying to make real
Speaker 1: memories and I definitely put myself in like dangerous situations
Speaker 1: where like murder was highly possible, Like just like when
Speaker 1: I went to the South of France and like hung
Speaker 1: out with some weird Saudi guys like on a boat,
Speaker 1: like just they just paid for a plane take and
Speaker 1: I was like fuck it, let's go. And so I'm
Speaker 1: all up in the d m s. And I just
Speaker 1: like when you create an audience, like when you create
Speaker 1: like a group of people, that's like kind of like
Speaker 1: you're a real person, it's tight like that. I was like,
Speaker 1: I feel like I should do something better than just
Speaker 1: like taking a check and being like you guys, I
Speaker 1: love this thing, and so we basically just like I
Speaker 1: talked to my audience and just like fucking we just
Speaker 1: like we're just friends. Like it's like one giant sleepover,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like a big sleepover and we're all
Speaker 1: on molly um and some of them hate me, but
Speaker 1: like they're there anyway. And then just kind of like
Speaker 1: through that, I was just like, what the fun do
Speaker 1: you guys want? What should we do? Like I want
Speaker 1: to make a thing. I want to make something like
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to just like you know, do these
Speaker 1: weird branded things. And so everyone was sucking drinking rose right,
Speaker 1: Rose is sucking slutty. We always call it like the
Speaker 1: slutty cousin of wine. You drink it cold, you just
Speaker 1: like it doesn't matter. And at that time, like it
Speaker 1: was weird. Like once I started like looking into it,
Speaker 1: I was just like, you know what, everyone's drinking rose? Right?
Speaker 1: No one's like smelling it and being like, oh the
Speaker 1: nutty notes of like just drink it, like you just
Speaker 1: make it cold, drink it and then like text your
Speaker 1: X three times and I was just like, why don't
Speaker 1: we No one knows the name of a brand of
Speaker 1: rosett that's what really got me, Like you're just like
Speaker 1: walking to a store and you were just like, give
Speaker 1: me some fucking rosette, you know, make it, make it cute.
Speaker 1: I don't give a ship Like I'm going to a
Speaker 1: pool party and I'm gonna make terrible decisions with my
Speaker 1: body and my you know, and my self respect. So
Speaker 1: I was like, wait a minute, Like why can't we
Speaker 1: like make wine like more fucking popping, because like wine
Speaker 1: is sick, right, It's like the oldest fucking drink, Like
Speaker 1: people are getting sucked up on it for a hundred
Speaker 1: thousands of years, but it's got this like dusty you know,
Speaker 1: it's all dusty. It's like guys in little glasses being
Speaker 1: like like my turtleneck, you know which. By the way,
Speaker 1: I'm down. I love charcouterie. I love I'm down with wine. Ship.
Speaker 1: But like there's a low brow wine scene. There's a
Speaker 1: real Housewives fucking ice in your shardon a, you know,
Speaker 1: fucking pouring rose and your eyeball scene that no one
Speaker 1: was really capitalizing on. So I was like, why don't
Speaker 1: we do it. Let's put it in a fucking can,
Speaker 1: make it fucking slutty, and we'll just do it. Because
Speaker 1: like why couldn't we I was a huge fan of
Speaker 1: and we ended up doing a deal with with annezer Bush.
Speaker 1: But I was a huge fan of like Bud White,
Speaker 1: Like I'm a fucking shitty beer guy. I love like
Speaker 1: a foamy, garbage bump piss domestic, And I was like,
Speaker 1: why don't we bring wine to that level? You know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Because people are doing it, but there's
Speaker 1: no brand for it. Obviously it was boxed wine and
Speaker 1: like slap the bag and that was White Girl Rose. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we put in a bottle. We didn't know how to
Speaker 1: do a can. No one had put sparkling wine in
Speaker 1: a can. So we were just like, let's put in
Speaker 1: a bottle. We'll get a pop and see if people
Speaker 1: want this. And it's just with your internal team that
Speaker 1: was helping you just kind of run your We like
Speaker 1: call the guy that like someone knew that had some wine.
Speaker 1: It was so I was at that time I was
Speaker 1: writing TV shows and they would like go to a
Speaker 1: pilot and then or not and then like I'd sell
Speaker 1: it and then we move on to the next one
Speaker 1: because none of them were that good. Um, but it
Speaker 1: was fun. You could keep getting checks off that and
Speaker 1: I was like getting paid by Craftsman Tools to like
Speaker 1: sit in a giant you know. Craftsman Tools was like,
Speaker 1: we want you to do a Super Bowl commercials, just
Speaker 1: like in early fifteen, and I was like, I want
Speaker 1: you to because at that time, I was just like funking.
Speaker 1: I don't care if I get the brand deals or not,
Speaker 1: so I'll just troll them and see how much they'll
Speaker 1: let me get away with. And I was like, build
Speaker 1: me like a huge bowl and fill it with chili,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna sit in it. You can google it,
Speaker 1: it's like. And I was just like if they they're
Speaker 1: gonna say no, and I'll be like fuck it. But
Speaker 1: they were like great sounds like sounds disruptive and experiential
Speaker 1: and like hyperlocal sticky, you know, like a million of
Speaker 1: guys where it's like nobody so super out that time.
Speaker 1: They were like this is a hyper multi vertical like
Speaker 1: cloud iterated, end to end, disrupted, experiential, like multi screen vertical.
Speaker 1: Whatever these people say. And so I'm in a giant
Speaker 1: thing at chili. So I was getting checks from that,
Speaker 1: and I was trying to get I was trying to
Speaker 1: wean off of that teat I was with the guys
Speaker 1: that I was writing TV shows with and the guys
Speaker 1: I was doing stuff like that with, and my partners
Speaker 1: with the guys who wrote um they wrote a book
Speaker 1: called White Girl Problems, which is like about like a
Speaker 1: fictional socialite, but it's just like two good looking, fuckable
Speaker 1: Jewish brothers who write that. And so we were like,
Speaker 1: let's put it in. Let's you know, let's we just
Speaker 1: like found a guy that had wine. We put in
Speaker 1: a bottle, and we just like bought some of our
Speaker 1: own money, just put our own fucking money up, bought enough,
Speaker 1: and then just like everything went crazy. Fresh Direct called
Speaker 1: and bought it all like in a day, and then
Speaker 1: we like we didn't know any of the rules. Like
Speaker 1: I tried to sell it out of the trunk of
Speaker 1: my mom's car with ice in the trunk, and then
Speaker 1: they like tried to suspend it. Like we almost got
Speaker 1: our license taken away like in the first week, because
Speaker 1: like you can't do that much chill ship with booze.
Speaker 1: All the ship that I was doing that was completely
Speaker 1: out of bounds and ridiculous and like borderline somewhat palatably
Speaker 1: offensive liquor. People are like like the nerves you know
Speaker 1: they're not they're not down. So then we from there,
Speaker 1: we put it in a can and it just kind
Speaker 1: of went and that was Babe. That's babe. What was
Speaker 1: the time difference between White Girl Rose and Babe one year?
Speaker 1: What really did you find somebody like another distributor who
Speaker 1: could actually create the same kind of partect wine and
Speaker 1: put it into it? Well, that's the nice thing about Rose, right,
Speaker 1: is like no one gives a ship, like you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like no one knows. So like I
Speaker 1: think we just we found like a different wine because
Speaker 1: like no one really knows. And for us, like the
Speaker 1: thing our Rose is it needs to be good. It
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be that good. Ours is about fucking
Speaker 1: brand and it's about having fun. It's about you know,
Speaker 1: it's about making bad decisions. It's about being part of it.
Speaker 1: So I think we switched batches. As long as it's
Speaker 1: close enough, it's close enough and the wine was good.
Speaker 1: We wanted to make sure the wine was good because
Speaker 1: I think the bar was really low. Right, people were
Speaker 1: like fat Jewish put out a wine right, like it's
Speaker 1: gonna be cool. I'll buy it one time. Seems interesting,
Speaker 1: but like it's direct to consumer, so people are just
Speaker 1: doing no no. This was like in Storres, this was Instorece.
Speaker 1: There was cutting all those deals where the stores just
Speaker 1: coming to you. Stories were coming us Fresh Direct call
Speaker 1: me the first day and was like, we'll buy it all.
Speaker 1: The first day we sold white Girl Rose on the internet.
Speaker 1: There was no White gro Rose didn't even exist. We
Speaker 1: photoshopped the label, put it on and they already bought
Speaker 1: it and we were like, oh fuck, we should probably
Speaker 1: get some wine. Because our whole thing was like if
Speaker 1: we put this up and we do this a lot,
Speaker 1: like I do this a lot, Like I'll put up
Speaker 1: something that's photoshopped and be like, do you guys like this?
Speaker 1: And if everyone's like this is dogshit, I'm like, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I would never do this. But then if they're like
Speaker 1: we love it, I'm like, good thing because it's coming
Speaker 1: out in two weeks. Like totally just like focus group
Speaker 1: ship and like I just feel like the people who
Speaker 1: follow me think, like feel like I'm not just like
Speaker 1: shilling to them constantly because I'm not. Like Instagram has
Speaker 1: become there's just a lot of shill that was not
Speaker 1: my angle, Like I'm a complete chip bag but not
Speaker 1: like that. I just didn't want you to feel like
Speaker 1: this was a platform. I was just trying to make something,
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, do you guys think this
Speaker 1: is cool? Do you want this whatever? I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: it cheap. Um, I'm gonna make it cheap and it's
Speaker 1: gonna get you absolutely torched. How many people work for
Speaker 1: you at that time, there were like four of us.
Speaker 1: So my office space situations, I always take offices that
Speaker 1: are like I always wanted to be like as like
Speaker 1: conversation where as possible. So before the Wine my office
Speaker 1: was in a nail salon and Queen's so I was
Speaker 1: like in the bed, like I rented out like a
Speaker 1: waxing room, which was sick and then which I love
Speaker 1: those ladies, like shout out to the hole, to the
Speaker 1: whole squad. And then after that, our first wine office
Speaker 1: was we took the office directly upstairs from one Oak,
Speaker 1: the nightclub on seventeen. I remember that, and so like
Speaker 1: the sound check would like shake the floor and like
Speaker 1: bottle girls would be like smoking Newport lights and like
Speaker 1: it was awesome, like because we were right our offices
Speaker 1: right across from there, like changing room like green, like lounge.
Speaker 1: It was really really sick, like there were fist fights
Speaker 1: between like bottle girls. Like I absolutely loved it because
Speaker 1: I want to, you know, let's make it fun. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna like take some office and be like this
Speaker 1: is our office. We're not doing that. So we did that.
Speaker 1: There were like four of us now, so then there
Speaker 1: are four of you managing your business on social all
Speaker 1: the brand deals, you where your calendar, where we're going,
Speaker 1: and also building out a liquor business. Yes, and I
Speaker 1: think that like to be like serious for a second,
Speaker 1: like that that I think is one of the main
Speaker 1: things I'm kind of transitioning into is that like like
Speaker 1: people on the internet now, like people have amazing ideas, right,
Speaker 1: but no one actually knows how to execute. And I
Speaker 1: think people look at me a little bit inspirationally there,
Speaker 1: just like this this moron did it. I could do it,
Speaker 1: and I want to inspire them like that, but no
Speaker 1: one actually knows how to build things. Because what happens
Speaker 1: is is what the internet, you end up seeing it
Speaker 1: distilled down into like the final image. So like what
Speaker 1: you're gonna see is you would end up seeing me
Speaker 1: like pouring rosette myself in a Kiddi pool or whatever
Speaker 1: completely dumb, disposable content we were doing, but like it
Speaker 1: was horrible. The Internet is an amazing amplification tool. It's
Speaker 1: amazing for fucking you know, for getting the word out there,
Speaker 1: for like getting customer awareness, but like you still got
Speaker 1: to do all the horrible ship. And I think we
Speaker 1: kept it purposely so that people were like, is he
Speaker 1: is he like a brand ambassador? But like we did
Speaker 1: all the ship. Like I was at a fucking meeting
Speaker 1: with like distributors and like Phoenix with like some guys
Speaker 1: and like short ties being like you could the Internet
Speaker 1: with wine, and I'm like, oh my god, you know, look,
Speaker 1: we wanted to get into wine also because the bar
Speaker 1: was very low. There were no cool brands, there was
Speaker 1: no cool ship, and like everything in my life, I've
Speaker 1: always tried to set the bar low and step right
Speaker 1: over it. So now we're like the bad Boys of wine.
Speaker 1: But that required us to do a ton of legwork
Speaker 1: to like get the industry to understand what it was
Speaker 1: we were doing, because nobody had done it like that,
Speaker 1: and also no one had really sort of no one
Speaker 1: had really sort of reverse engineered the proposition, which was
Speaker 1: like create the create like the audience first, then put
Speaker 1: out the products. I think the way that people normally great,
Speaker 1: the way people normally do it is is like you know,
Speaker 1: they create a product and people come yeah, they're like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: you love this. But I was just like, what's up,
Speaker 1: you fucking maniacs? Like what do you guys want? They
Speaker 1: were all like, Rose, we have a drinking problem. Here
Speaker 1: eight million people at that time. We're like, we all
Speaker 1: have a drinking problem. And I was like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you. Like, we also wanted to like reinvent
Speaker 1: wine events, so we like, you know, we have crazy
Speaker 1: We had crazy wine parties, you know, like all kinds
Speaker 1: of ridiculous because wine parties now are you know, traditionally
Speaker 1: are charcuterie, which again I love, but like not that lead.
Speaker 1: We had to learn how to do absolutely fucking everything
Speaker 1: and do you get down and there do you do
Speaker 1: the work to all of it? That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I'm getting at, which is that
Speaker 1: like I think a lot of the like I think
Speaker 1: people don't know that, and a lot of kids come
Speaker 1: to me and are like some of them have really
Speaker 1: really great ideas. I mean, some of them are horrible,
Speaker 1: but like, also follow your stupid dreams always. But like
Speaker 1: people people DM me and are like, what are your Like,
Speaker 1: here's an idea that I have, and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: all right, well how are you? And again I'm responding
Speaker 1: to the d M, so I'm just like, you know how,
Speaker 1: I'm like, how are you gonna? No one actually knows
Speaker 1: how to do anything right, because I think at this point,
Speaker 1: like you know, the the older generations like had no
Speaker 1: good ideas. I mean, I guess except for like you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Jobs, but whatever. Boomers are man stupid kids have
Speaker 1: unfucking believable idea But building things is really hard. You
Speaker 1: can't just slap it on the internet and just be
Speaker 1: like boom, I've got a CBD sock company, Like let
Speaker 1: the fucking millions roll. You gotta do so much fucking
Speaker 1: horrible ship. So we built it brick by brick, like
Speaker 1: I was the stuff that I've had. The stuff I
Speaker 1: had to do to get that wine off the ground
Speaker 1: was truly truly horrible. Like I didn't like blow anybody,
Speaker 1: but like I honestly I might as well have. I
Speaker 1: would have rather actually not thinking back on the things
Speaker 1: I had to do, like going to a meeting with
Speaker 1: like some grocery store and like Ohio and just like
Speaker 1: dancing for them and just being like and then being
Speaker 1: like it's a guy with a head dildo with a wine, Like,
Speaker 1: what do we know about this? We're fucking you know.
Speaker 1: I don't want to name. I could probably get in
Speaker 1: so much trouble. I have like eight because now we're
Speaker 1: owned by Anaezer Bush, so they have a media team
Speaker 1: that listens to everything I do. They're like, I take
Speaker 1: a ship and they're like, what's up with that? Tuck?
Speaker 1: Like a lawyer is calling me, being like, what's up
Speaker 1: with Like to be clear that so, I mean, so
Speaker 1: it happens when you sell out. But we built it
Speaker 1: brick by fucking brick. We did all the work ourselves.
Speaker 1: It's there were no like adults in the room. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like, oh, we like handed it off to the
Speaker 1: grown ups and then we made whacky internet content. We
Speaker 1: did the whole fucking Thingers, did you did you build
Speaker 1: it to sell it? No? I don't think so. And
Speaker 1: in fact, we had gotten other offers from like kind
Speaker 1: of like wine companies, and they were going to know
Speaker 1: what to do with the reason we went with Annheuser
Speaker 1: Bush and either Bush approach us in ten So we
Speaker 1: had been doing Babe for like two years and then
Speaker 1: as Bush like they do cool shit, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: they fucking you know, they have fucking you know Natty
Speaker 1: and like all these you know they have Bush, they
Speaker 1: do cool stuff. So we were like, we want to
Speaker 1: be the beer of wine. We really do, like we
Speaker 1: want that kind of vibe. Um, we want like I
Speaker 1: want some guy in fucking rural Virginia, like some fucking
Speaker 1: toothless party animal drinking fucking pino grig show. That's never
Speaker 1: happened before. So why don't we do that? Why don't
Speaker 1: we bring wine to everybody? We really have been able
Speaker 1: to do that where the official one of the NFL now,
Speaker 1: which is like what an Anheuzer Bushes did that. Um,
Speaker 1: that's like been the power of like them being I
Speaker 1: mean you know them being in the room and like
Speaker 1: the people now that are drinking this ship is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It's like it's I mean, we always had like older
Speaker 1: we always had like like we always had like a
Speaker 1: wide range of democrat They were always older white women
Speaker 1: like drinking our ship being I gotta live your amis
Speaker 1: you know, like don't know what a meme is called.
Speaker 1: But um, now it's just like middle aged men named
Speaker 1: like Rick who were like fuck yeah, like this fucking
Speaker 1: yeah man, what is it? Yeah, we didn't build it
Speaker 1: to sell it. But when ab came along, we were
Speaker 1: like this is fucking perfect because the wine companies weren't
Speaker 1: gonna able to get us into the NFL. And like
Speaker 1: we just became the official sponsor of like Monster Truck Rally.
Speaker 1: So like it's just like you know, for me, you're
Speaker 1: still involved. I'm still involved. That was the deal. The deal. Yes,
Speaker 1: they kept me on and I've been it's been like
Speaker 1: a year and a half now, and like now they
Speaker 1: let me do like my thing, like I now I
Speaker 1: don't have to go to the meetings, like they don't.
Speaker 1: They desperitely do not want me go in the meetings anymore.
Speaker 1: And like Phoenix with like distributors, they have like tons
Speaker 1: of like really smart people who do ship like that
Speaker 1: that like aren't me we got it done. Um, but
Speaker 1: now they let me build like you know, Glory Hollmanicure
Speaker 1: Trucks and like sponsor fucking you know Monster truck Rally.
Speaker 1: We have a babe monster truck with a woman like
Speaker 1: she's in a full baby uniform and she just like
Speaker 1: straight crush. It's amazing. It's so fucking sick and like
Speaker 1: you know, guys in all real tree or like crushing
Speaker 1: rose and it's really it's very funny. Um, And I
Speaker 1: get I get something out of that. But you know,
Speaker 1: the point is, like I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: probably think that I was just there to like kind
Speaker 1: of just be like in the banana suit, just being
Speaker 1: like drinking ah while like someone builds it, but we
Speaker 1: really built it. And now I'm trying to pass that
Speaker 1: on because I just like the kids. Really, I get
Speaker 1: bombarded with d ms of just such good ideas. I
Speaker 1: put it out there a lot. I'll be like, who's
Speaker 1: got an idea? Like Shark tank night, you know, like
Speaker 1: I'm I want to I'm either gonna help you or
Speaker 1: give you money, tell me your idea. But what's become
Speaker 1: very clear is that like no one actually they're just
Speaker 1: like here's my fucking idea, And I'm like that's fire.
Speaker 1: But then what what next? Like how do you actually
Speaker 1: get started? Like what do you do? You know? Um?
Speaker 1: And I think I guess now I'm sort of the
Speaker 1: adult in the room and that's really fucking scary, and
Speaker 1: you're about to have a baby. Yeah, so now it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't have an official next thing that
Speaker 1: I'm doing, but I'm like, really, I've really started moving
Speaker 1: to the space of like helping the kid, even like
Speaker 1: the influencers, like no one knows how to do deals,
Speaker 1: no one knows how to do anything, like we're old enough.
Speaker 1: But like, well, if you thought about starting an agency,
Speaker 1: you know, like I think at one point I thought
Speaker 1: about starting like a VC. But at the moment, my
Speaker 1: kind of obsession is just like giving tools to like
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and ship honestly like dead ass, which I know
Speaker 1: sounds like super but like the people who do that stuff,
Speaker 1: and again I don't want to name I've gotten it's
Speaker 1: just so much hot water for just constantly calling people
Speaker 1: out and I don't want to call people out, like
Speaker 1: I don't want to name names, but like Gary V,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying people who do this entrepreneurial kind of
Speaker 1: ship like they're just like none of it's done right.
Speaker 1: They're just like get out there and like find a
Speaker 1: baseball card in the gutter and sell it, like get
Speaker 1: off your ass, and like it's also weird and like
Speaker 1: none of it really reson it's and like so and
Speaker 1: I just think everyone fucking wants to do killer Ship
Speaker 1: and like nobody wants to work at a normal job anymore.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's fine if in fact you're
Speaker 1: actually gonna be down to do the hard work. So
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like sort of right now just like
Speaker 1: kind of like working in that space and like trying
Speaker 1: to help in anyoney, can these kids don't pay me?
Speaker 1: I'm just like, fuck it, I've given I've already given
Speaker 1: away a bunch of money to kids who just had
Speaker 1: fire ideas. I was like just keeping in the loop.
Speaker 1: I'll v see it. I'm not even taking a cut.
Speaker 1: I don't care. I just got lost in your teeth
Speaker 1: for a second. Great Jesus, how much funny did you
Speaker 1: spend uh setting up the wine business? Do you remember
Speaker 1: you're spending all did you say you're spending all your
Speaker 1: own money? Like? What was your initial investment? We bought
Speaker 1: seven so we bought literally like we bought seventy five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars worth of rose from like some guy that's
Speaker 1: some other guy knew in like Central California, like in
Speaker 1: like Meth Country, which I guess also has vineyards, And
Speaker 1: we bought seventy five thousand dollars worth of rose and
Speaker 1: then we flipped it for a hundred and fifty and
Speaker 1: then we like we created a hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars worth of more rose and just kept on flipping.
Speaker 1: That was it. It was. It was seventy five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars like five dollars of the actual alcohol. What about
Speaker 1: what about the bottling and all that? Where that that
Speaker 1: was a total cost. That was a total cost to
Speaker 1: like buy the juice, put it in the bottle and
Speaker 1: just be like who wants it? And get a separate
Speaker 1: company that would bottle it and spots it. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had we found like some little Italian man and like
Speaker 1: um again in like Meth Country, you know, somewhere really
Speaker 1: cute just outside Fresno. You know, it's beautiful up there.
Speaker 1: It's really beautiful. It was funny when we went to
Speaker 1: our winery the first time, like I'm used to like
Speaker 1: a Hampton's winery, you know, where you're like you're a
Speaker 1: like Channing daughters, and people are like riding tandem bicycles
Speaker 1: and like eating like you know, people eating avocado toast.
Speaker 1: But we went it looked like a you know Ukrainian
Speaker 1: factory where people work until they die. Yeah, it was horrible.
Speaker 1: That's where our wine game from. So we just like
Speaker 1: found a guy. We just made it work because like
Speaker 1: no one has the answers, That's what I'm saying. Like
Speaker 1: we could have just like turned the keys over to
Speaker 1: some like you know, wine guys, but like they don't
Speaker 1: know what the funk they're doing. Nobody knows what they're doing.
Speaker 1: That's what I've learned. Seriously, there are no fucking rules,
Speaker 1: and like I know that's easier said than done. And
Speaker 1: I'm like not telling you to quit your job, and
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you to like don't start your like
Speaker 1: CBD Monaco company tomorrow because that maybe a really bad deal.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what Cebe Monocle is, but like
Speaker 1: you gotta like think this through. But like really, no
Speaker 1: one has all the answers. You can bait, Like if
Speaker 1: I can start a fucking wine company, like you can
Speaker 1: do whatever, right, sure, I mean think about that, I
Speaker 1: started a wine company company, Like anyone can do anything.
Speaker 1: At this point? Is the deal about public? Like how
Speaker 1: much you guys sold for That's the one thing that
Speaker 1: had to be quiet. Yeah, they've let me do a lot,
Speaker 1: a brush lets me do a lot. But you bought
Speaker 1: a cool place in Miami. Yeah, so there's that about
Speaker 1: a sexy about a sexy place in Miami. Yeah. Or
Speaker 1: I can need fucking you know Philadelphia Roles sexy sushi. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, No, it was good. It was good, and
Speaker 1: I think for us it was also more about creative
Speaker 1: control because I didn't want to like just sell it off,
Speaker 1: and like I wasn't trying to like just break out
Speaker 1: and just be like alright, guys, like here you go.
Speaker 1: I'm still like super involved. I mean the company has
Speaker 1: like a hundred employees. That's wild. That's wild. And I
Speaker 1: have to like speak at things like I speak at
Speaker 1: the Anti Oh yeah yeah, not really like I come
Speaker 1: in and I'm just like yeah, like they don't like
Speaker 1: actually listen to me, but they just like it's a
Speaker 1: good time. I planned like the Christmas party, you know,
Speaker 1: like I do certain things that keep it you know, um.
Speaker 1: But I speak at like the Anheuser Bush National Conventions,
Speaker 1: so like, you know, I try to keep it fun.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm coming out and sucking asseless pink chaps
Speaker 1: and you know, like here's the guy we gave all
Speaker 1: this money to totally. And then I speak to like,
Speaker 1: you know, four thousand like distributors from like North Carolina
Speaker 1: who are just like fuck yeah fat you Like they're
Speaker 1: just like, oh ship, they probably hate Jewish people, but
Speaker 1: they love me um. And so you know, they sort
Speaker 1: of they trapped me out as needed, but it's been
Speaker 1: like really good. They let me do wild Ship, They're
Speaker 1: letting me do you know, They're let me do manicure
Speaker 1: trucks and whatever I want. Um, So that's fucking cool.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like we really I think we purposely kept
Speaker 1: it under wraps that I was like very much involved
Speaker 1: with like the brick brick and like the real like
Speaker 1: brick on brick like that. That's not a saying, um
Speaker 1: of like building it brick by brick, but um, because
Speaker 1: I didn't want it to. I wasn't gonna be on
Speaker 1: Instagram being like yo like rise and grind baby, like
Speaker 1: another day on the grind, like we're at the office.
Speaker 1: I was just like, I want to be fun. But
Speaker 1: then now that we've like sort of like I've kind
Speaker 1: of gotten some distance from it. I've I've been sort
Speaker 1: of kind of talking about how I actually did the
Speaker 1: work and I'm not as stupid as you thought. Um uh.
Speaker 1: The last thing before you go, uh, when when I
Speaker 1: asked you to do this podcast, You're like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: that realistic guy, right, And I said it was. It
Speaker 1: was called Big Money Energy. What did you think? Did
Speaker 1: you think about the title at all? Or you just
Speaker 1: show up and go where your counter it tells you
Speaker 1: to get No, I thought it was sick. I think
Speaker 1: you do awesome ship. I do. I think almost everyone
Speaker 1: does terrible ship, but you do really really good stuff. Um,
Speaker 1: which is why? And you know we again, we can
Speaker 1: don't have to say that no, I would open the show.
Speaker 1: We should actually go look for a place. Can you
Speaker 1: get me on the show? Yeah? Of course that's the
Speaker 1: only I know. That's the only way you'd ever actually
Speaker 1: buy something if there's content attached to it. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're a good price in the market is totally terrible.
Speaker 1: It has to be right. Yeah, it's a pandemic because
Speaker 1: people were like we're going to m against it and
Speaker 1: like we're gonna pod with into Miami with you. Yes,
Speaker 1: but like then people like, don't want to be because again,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about before read or maybe we
Speaker 1: were filming the city is I love this. I think
Speaker 1: this is really good for New York. I think it's
Speaker 1: a cultural reset. Don't agree with me, you know what
Speaker 1: it is? No, I tell everybody like, this is the
Speaker 1: worst thing ever. I'm like, the board has just been
Speaker 1: wiped clean totally. It was going to be slow and
Speaker 1: painful for the next five years or boom, because I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, man, like I grew up here, and like,
Speaker 1: you just don't see the stuff you like when I
Speaker 1: you just didn't. You don't see the stuff that I
Speaker 1: saw growing up anymore. And some of that stuff is
Speaker 1: really enriching, you know. You don't see If I saw
Speaker 1: a homeless man on Prince and Bowery, he shipped into
Speaker 1: a suitcase and then he zipped it up and he
Speaker 1: just matter of factly rolled it away, and I was like.
Speaker 1: And it was two o'clock in the afternoon on a Thursday,
Speaker 1: and I was like, and it was in front of
Speaker 1: like some like you know, over priced like brunch spot
Speaker 1: that has now closed, and it's like covered in graffiti.
Speaker 1: And I was like, this is good. This is what
Speaker 1: we need. This is what New York needs because the
Speaker 1: thing was just getting weird. There you go. It's a
Speaker 1: great way that we should end this. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on, man, you were the best. And
Speaker 1: then and also like, I'm gonna should I read this book?
Speaker 1: I haven't read a book in like eleven years? Should I?
Speaker 1: Should this be the first book? I mean like eleven years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll send it to you. Yeah, listen, if anyone who's
Speaker 1: listening watching has a really really terrible, crappy, shitty idea,
Speaker 1: the fat you has just made a lot of money
Speaker 1: by selling beer wine, and so he'll give you his money.
Speaker 1: I'm an idea, santom. Thank you so much for coming,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. If you're ready to take
Speaker 1: action today based on the Fat Jewish is entire blueprint
Speaker 1: for how he got to where he is. Go to
Speaker 1: Big Money Energy dot com slash podcast to download an
Speaker 1: action plan and I put together for you as well
Speaker 1: as the show notes. That's Big Money Energy dot com
Speaker 1: slash podcast. Find more podcasts like Big Money Energy on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Big Money Energy is hosted by me Ryan Sirhant. It's
Speaker 1: produced by Mike Coscarelli and Joe Loresca and executive produced
Speaker 1: by Lindsay Hoffman.