Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties podcast featuring conversations with industry
Speaker 1: leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton, Managing
Speaker 1: editor of Television for Variety, and today my guests in
Speaker 1: New York are Michael Strahan and Constant Schwartz. The two
Speaker 1: are business partners in the production and management company Smack Entertainment.
Speaker 1: Michael is all over TV these days as the co
Speaker 1: anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, a football analyst for Fox,
Speaker 1: and the host of ABC's primetime game show One hundred
Speaker 1: thousand Dollar Pyramid. But behind the scenes, Michael and Constance
Speaker 1: are busy developing and producing a wide range of content,
Speaker 1: and Smack is the management home to talent ranging from
Speaker 1: Whiz Khalifa to Aaron Andrews to Dion Sanders. Here the
Speaker 1: two talk about the steady growth of Smack, where the
Speaker 1: company motto is, how so like you're broke. Welcome to
Speaker 1: my guest, Michael Strahan and his business partner, Constant Shorts.
Speaker 1: We're going to hear a lot about the business that
Speaker 1: they are running together, Smack Entertainment. Uh people know, of course,
Speaker 1: anybody that watches TV know that Michael Strahan is one
Speaker 1: of the hardest working TV personalities, but they probably don't
Speaker 1: know that. Behind the scenes, Smack Entertainment is producing shows
Speaker 1: like The Joker's Wild hundred thousand Dollar Pyramid, lots of
Speaker 1: documentary features for NFL Networks and other outlets, and also
Speaker 1: on in all of your spare time. There's also a
Speaker 1: management of talent management component to the business. Let's unpack
Speaker 1: Smack Entertainment. Let's start with the name. How did you
Speaker 1: guys come up with? Well? Smacks dance for sports, music
Speaker 1: and culture, and it's kind of everything that we are
Speaker 1: involved in. We're involved in the sports element with myself
Speaker 1: and some of the other clients that we manage. Um music,
Speaker 1: we were involved in that because with Khalifa, one of
Speaker 1: our clients, and con background and culture because what we
Speaker 1: do kind of speak to what the culture is is today.
Speaker 1: So kind of all encompassing and what we what we built,
Speaker 1: and what we how we operate and it's really pretty
Speaker 1: pretty simple. S m A. C. Leave the koff for savings,
Speaker 1: I guess as a Mattress commercial constance. When did you
Speaker 1: and Michael joined forces together as business partners? We joined
Speaker 1: forces to start the company about seven years ago, but
Speaker 1: We met over twenty years ago when I worked at
Speaker 1: the National Football League and he was playing, and then
Speaker 1: I started managing him right when he retired, which is
Speaker 1: about ten or eleven years now. Yeah, can you she
Speaker 1: was the baby back when I met her twenty than
Speaker 1: years ago. She was um teen. Yes, I was a job.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying. It was a progy in high school
Speaker 1: with agewise. But but no, we met. She was at
Speaker 1: the NFL over twenty years ago, five years ago, and
Speaker 1: I retired ten years ago. But in between that time
Speaker 1: of myself of con being at the NFL, her leaving
Speaker 1: the NFL to go in another direction, and my still
Speaker 1: being in the NFL, we always remained close. We were
Speaker 1: always great friends. And when I retired, it was just natural,
Speaker 1: because she was in this business for me to say, hey,
Speaker 1: would you help me out? And I gave him a
Speaker 1: lot of credit because when I left the NFL, a
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't stay in touch with me because
Speaker 1: you know, there was no benefit to them anymore, like
Speaker 1: no more Super Bowl tickets or game tickets and things
Speaker 1: like that. And that's okay. And I give Michael a
Speaker 1: lot of credit because he really went out of his
Speaker 1: way because I left New York and moved to Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and every time he came out there, we got together.
Speaker 1: We got pancakes that I hoped, and I brought my
Speaker 1: own syrup, and that was a little embarrassing that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't crawl under the table, But then again, you have
Speaker 1: very specific taste in syrup. One of our mutual best friends,
Speaker 1: Jay Glazer's family owns a farm in Vermont and they
Speaker 1: make this amazing like homemade syrup from a tree, and
Speaker 1: so it was so good that I at the time,
Speaker 1: they didn't make travel size bottles, so they sent me
Speaker 1: the big jugs and I poured it in my temp
Speaker 1: aware and off we went. But you did use my Sarah.
Speaker 1: I didn't want you to be embarrassed, Alan, so I
Speaker 1: stuffed it. And what in this transition period, what was it?
Speaker 1: What was the opportunity that you saw that could be
Speaker 1: filled with smack? I had great experiences. I worked at
Speaker 1: the National Football League for ten seasons. I worked at
Speaker 1: a record company for a year, and then I worked
Speaker 1: at a management company, which is where I became Snoop
Speaker 1: Dogg's manager and worked with many other clients and it
Speaker 1: was amazing and I love what I've done and continue
Speaker 1: to do, but the time came that I wanted to
Speaker 1: start doing it for myself. And in hindsight, I probably
Speaker 1: could have started this sooner, but I just needed that
Speaker 1: kick in the pants because I didn't have that, I
Speaker 1: think sense of self confidence. I needed to go out
Speaker 1: on my own. And so when this opportunity arose, it
Speaker 1: was really because there was no company like what we've created.
Speaker 1: It was, you know, either you're going to be a manager,
Speaker 1: you're going to produce television shows, or with my background,
Speaker 1: it was branding, marketing, and endorsements. And so that's we're
Speaker 1: really where Smack came from because they said, if we
Speaker 1: can take the last twenty years of our collective experiences
Speaker 1: and start this and build it, who knows what what
Speaker 1: could come of it? And you know, I want to
Speaker 1: say when we did started, he was still just doing
Speaker 1: not just but he was on NFL on Fox, and
Speaker 1: that was it from a television perspective, and so we, uh,
Speaker 1: we're just grinding and hustling. And one of our mantras
Speaker 1: is still to this day, hustle like you're broke. And
Speaker 1: that's not just our mentality, but our entire company and
Speaker 1: all of our clients to today, what is the size
Speaker 1: of the company in terms of employees and in terms
Speaker 1: of thirteen employees to offices l A, New York, UM
Speaker 1: trying to open one in the Caribbean. She wants to
Speaker 1: kind of one in the Caribbean. Other you know, we
Speaker 1: never get any work done if we moved. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but thirteen employees, two different offices across New York and
Speaker 1: and l A and the third team probably do the
Speaker 1: work of thirty. And we have a very dedicated team.
Speaker 1: It's more like a family. Is how we operate and
Speaker 1: how we how we go forward with our business, and
Speaker 1: we we we give everybody responsibility. We're not we're not
Speaker 1: micro managers. Everyone is trained and everyone is given a responsibility,
Speaker 1: and everyone's given the the understanding that hey, if you
Speaker 1: have an idea, you're part of this. You don't work
Speaker 1: for us, you work with us. And through that we've
Speaker 1: been able to build UM or have people when we
Speaker 1: work with who really dedicated what they do and go
Speaker 1: out of their way and they understand what we're trying
Speaker 1: to build and they are a big part of it,
Speaker 1: and and they take pride in that and really get
Speaker 1: their business. They're very empower and we don't give titles
Speaker 1: because one of the challenges I faced coming up because
Speaker 1: I started as an assistant, which people would look down
Speaker 1: upon you or not listen to what you have to
Speaker 1: say if you had a lesser title than them. So
Speaker 1: we intentionally don't let them have titles. So if we're
Speaker 1: sending someone into a room on our behalf, if we
Speaker 1: trust and respect them, then we expect the same from
Speaker 1: the other side of the room. What was the breakthrough
Speaker 1: piece of business that really made you feel like you
Speaker 1: guys were really running a company? You know, it's it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I think that's Constance said when we when we've first
Speaker 1: like really start doing this. I only had for me
Speaker 1: personally was only Fox NFL Sunday and a few little
Speaker 1: music things here and there. But it was it was
Speaker 1: a big chance and a big step to have this
Speaker 1: office space in l A. At the time, we were
Speaker 1: renting in place. Now we've moved on to buy our
Speaker 1: own building, but that's when I felt we made it.
Speaker 1: That was the break yeah, for Constence, when we bought
Speaker 1: our own office and and that was her big breakthrough.
Speaker 1: I think my big breakthrough hasn't happened yet. I mean
Speaker 1: I understood. I think my big breakthrough is when I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know when it happen from one
Speaker 1: who's sitting Yeah, where we are, I think because I
Speaker 1: know the potential of where we are, where we can go,
Speaker 1: and where we are heading. So and I'm always never
Speaker 1: somebody who looks back, because if I look back, then
Speaker 1: I think it keeps me from looking forward. I was
Speaker 1: always like that in sports and everything else. But I
Speaker 1: would say, from where we started to where we are
Speaker 1: now is night and day. Because we were trying to
Speaker 1: develop a daytime television, you know, we had uh Telepictures
Speaker 1: came and said, Michael, we'd like to we consider, you know,
Speaker 1: we like to possibly develop a daytime show around you,
Speaker 1: and put together a list. We put together as a
Speaker 1: list of all these names of TV personalities, actresses, um
Speaker 1: and and just personalities. And we reached out to so
Speaker 1: many of them and couldn't get a call back. I
Speaker 1: couldn't even get a sniff, couldn't even get a response
Speaker 1: except for a few who I always respect. I'll always
Speaker 1: go out of my way for and to now be
Speaker 1: able to pick up the phone and call that anybody
Speaker 1: will pick up, you know, And now the people think
Speaker 1: that the success that they see was easy and it
Speaker 1: wasn't like we've been grinding at this for a long time,
Speaker 1: and and and and we're still still building. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're still and we consider ourselves a start up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think we grind that if we feel that
Speaker 1: that that respect of disrespect. I guess in the sense
Speaker 1: that people didn't think that we would be successful in
Speaker 1: what we're doing, and now that we have some success
Speaker 1: with it, we're not letting it go. We're going to
Speaker 1: continue to push until we you know, eventually moved to
Speaker 1: the Caribbean WIS concept in twenty years the Jamaica office. Um,
Speaker 1: but understandably that respect factor. You know, so many people
Speaker 1: see production companies that are that are involved with talent
Speaker 1: as a vanity place that it's not, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not a serious company. You know, you guys have bought
Speaker 1: a building and have employees that that is it, That
Speaker 1: is a serious company. What would you say, was it?
Speaker 1: Was it? You know, really building a roster of productions?
Speaker 1: Was it? I know, you have you have business in
Speaker 1: the retail area, you have enough line of apparel. What
Speaker 1: was it that was that foundation that allowed you to
Speaker 1: be taken seriously as a company. I think, for in
Speaker 1: my opinion, we helped create and still continue to co
Speaker 1: executive produce the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Sports Awards, which are
Speaker 1: going to be in their fifth year. And the fact
Speaker 1: that it started out from just a general meeting with Nickelodeon,
Speaker 1: and you know, that's what came out of it, and
Speaker 1: people world gets I mean, you know it's a small town.
Speaker 1: Word gets around that we are hands on, not just me,
Speaker 1: but Michael. He's on all the calls, he's in every
Speaker 1: meeting and the same just as continued when Sony approached
Speaker 1: us about doing the hundred thousand dollar Pyramid reboot, and
Speaker 1: they'd heard great things about Michael as well, and they're
Speaker 1: the first to say they can't believe like how he
Speaker 1: self produces while he's on set like after you know,
Speaker 1: in between, he's in the control room with everybody. He's
Speaker 1: in rehearsals when he doesn't need to be. And I
Speaker 1: just think that that's what gets around town, is that
Speaker 1: people find out like how hard we work, and we
Speaker 1: don't end when production ends. That's when you know, we
Speaker 1: say the gap goes out there and makes the rounds
Speaker 1: because Michael then can go on any talk show, any
Speaker 1: interview to then promote the shows, whether he's on them
Speaker 1: or not on them. But yeah, but I also think
Speaker 1: that you know, Coln given me a little bit too
Speaker 1: much credit because it is truly a team that team
Speaker 1: effort and they point me in a direct in and
Speaker 1: I go, basically, it's what it is. But but I
Speaker 1: do believe for both of us are very important to
Speaker 1: be involved in anything because if you're gonna get credit
Speaker 1: for it, you can feel good if you're taking credit
Speaker 1: for something you really were part of. And if you're
Speaker 1: gonna get blamed for something that with the failure, at
Speaker 1: least you know you put your best in it because
Speaker 1: you really put everything into and you can accept that.
Speaker 1: I don't think we could accept failure if on something
Speaker 1: that we were attached to it that we didn't put
Speaker 1: the effort into it. And and I think between the
Speaker 1: both of us and our team, we understand that for
Speaker 1: everything we have, we put maximum effort into it. And
Speaker 1: the production side has been great. I mean we've done
Speaker 1: Tackle My Ride, a hundred thousands dollar Pyramid, the Joker's Wild,
Speaker 1: Nickelodeon Sports Awards. Um. Now we have the religion of
Speaker 1: sports with a big series with with Gotham Chopra and
Speaker 1: and Tom Brady, and it's just been a great ride
Speaker 1: and it's mostly off of reputation of people know that
Speaker 1: if your work with us, we're gonna do everything we
Speaker 1: can to make it successful and concept I make the
Speaker 1: rounds for programs from Joker's Wild with Snoop posts, but
Speaker 1: we do sit so why am I not going to
Speaker 1: support that? And plus some great friends with Sup why
Speaker 1: would I support him? So it's like a family if
Speaker 1: one and one person and our rosters doing something from
Speaker 1: Whiz to Beyond to Kurt to Aaron Andrews, anybody, we
Speaker 1: all support and we all make a big push through that.
Speaker 1: It's a It's a challenging time in television right now,
Speaker 1: particularly on the business side. There's never been more television
Speaker 1: than ever before, but it can be it can be
Speaker 1: challenging to be to have shows be profitable, Audiences are fragmented.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a challenging market. But clearly you guys
Speaker 1: have been able to build a real business with with
Speaker 1: the with on the production side, what do you think
Speaker 1: is the where do you see the most opportunity for
Speaker 1: you right now? For us right now I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if you just see what's happening with the reboots. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm excited Murphy Brown's coming back, and I've been watching Rosanne.
Speaker 1: I mean, look at what we've done with the game shows,
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollar pyramid. Sony property. They came to us,
Speaker 1: which was great, and Snoop came on as a guest
Speaker 1: in season one and when when the show wraps, he
Speaker 1: pulled to the side and said, I used to watch
Speaker 1: Jokers Wild with my grandmother. Helped me bring it back,
Speaker 1: and so we started doing some research and it turned
Speaker 1: out Sony happened to own it, and so the two
Speaker 1: of us, you know, just really like dug our heels
Speaker 1: in and went to bat for it. And you know,
Speaker 1: we just uh we premiered season two, episode one this
Speaker 1: past week. And and to echo what you're saying about
Speaker 1: how challenging it is, it's not just about the Nielsen
Speaker 1: ratings anymore. And now they're these ratings that they're seeing
Speaker 1: what's happening on social media and you know, chatter and
Speaker 1: the Internet. So it's a whole new set of challenges
Speaker 1: that that we have to look at and address. And
Speaker 1: when a studio like Sony comes to you to do
Speaker 1: something to start with, like a hundred thousand dollar pyramid,
Speaker 1: that that gives you a certain leg up in negotiating
Speaker 1: a deal with them, I would imagine in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, making sure that that that the venture from
Speaker 1: a financial standpoint is also profitable for you. Yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: a big difference with somebody wants you if you're going
Speaker 1: out there like please help us. So definitely when they
Speaker 1: came to us, it was a big surprise to us.
Speaker 1: I never hosted a game show, and for them to
Speaker 1: be able to say, you know what, we have this
Speaker 1: show if you've heard of it, and I'm going who
Speaker 1: hasn't heard of a hundred dollars back in the day
Speaker 1: and ten thousand with Dick Clark, But who hasn't heard
Speaker 1: of that? And to be able to give the opportunity,
Speaker 1: given the opportunity to host it and ep it and
Speaker 1: really be a part of it as a company and
Speaker 1: as an individual. Um was was really special and really
Speaker 1: a big chance from by Sony and through the trust
Speaker 1: of how we handled that. That's how Joker's Wild came
Speaker 1: about because they knew how we were in operating in
Speaker 1: business and we try to be great partners to our
Speaker 1: business partners, and Sony has been fantastic, fantastic with that.
Speaker 1: So you know, we've we've hopefully our reputation speaks for
Speaker 1: itself and that's why these opportunities have come and hopefully
Speaker 1: keep speaking in this way and more opportunities continue to
Speaker 1: come as well. And I know we're working on another
Speaker 1: show Money Made. So Martin reached out to us and
Speaker 1: not you know, that's another big breakthrough moment where I
Speaker 1: call him. I said, you're not going to believe this,
Speaker 1: said Wink Martin Dale Tick Tack Dog is interested in
Speaker 1: working with us and the two of us. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was just jumping up and down because that what
Speaker 1: a big honor, you know, considering that Dick Clark is
Speaker 1: no longer with us, Like to me, Wink is just
Speaker 1: the legend. And so we've got a couple of his
Speaker 1: shows that he's allowing us to take out. Are you
Speaker 1: able to in the deal structure? Are you able to
Speaker 1: retain ownership of shows? At times when if we create it,
Speaker 1: we can, But when it's an existing I P that
Speaker 1: someone else owns, you can't get ownership. But we do
Speaker 1: work hard for ancillaries, whether it's you know, slot machines
Speaker 1: or global rights, because when you have a talent like
Speaker 1: Snoop who's known internationally, then you're able to go to
Speaker 1: you know, partner together and take it out globally if
Speaker 1: it makes sense. And in some of the things like
Speaker 1: you do for NFL Network like Tackle My Ride and
Speaker 1: things like that, are those are those properties that you
Speaker 1: own outright and then can exploit in other in other windows.
Speaker 1: That one's a partnership, so we can take that one
Speaker 1: out each one. Every show is different. That's why I'm
Speaker 1: looking at him. I was like, I can't remember like
Speaker 1: some of them obviously, you know they come to us,
Speaker 1: but there's a few of them when we come up
Speaker 1: with them or we have a partner and we can
Speaker 1: and even like Nickelodeon's Kid Choice Sports, it's we have
Speaker 1: another show that we're working with them on that came
Speaker 1: off of something that we did within that show, because
Speaker 1: we realize there are certain moments within that show that
Speaker 1: are big moments that everyone sees to remember that everyone
Speaker 1: gravitates to. So we said, well, how about we take
Speaker 1: some of these big moments and make that a show itself,
Speaker 1: not in the long form content of a two or
Speaker 1: three hour show for kids, but in the short term,
Speaker 1: a short a shorter content um, a shorter span of
Speaker 1: content that be interesting for kids and their families. So
Speaker 1: we're working on something like that right now. But I
Speaker 1: think for us, it's kind of paying attention to what
Speaker 1: you're in and don't get so engulfed and just what
Speaker 1: you're doing, but always have your eyes open for different
Speaker 1: opportunit of need that come off of the opportunity that
Speaker 1: you have right now, especially because, like you mentioned it,
Speaker 1: it's a much wider net now. And so there's one
Speaker 1: project we have with Aaron Andrews that we're not even
Speaker 1: going to linear television. We're looking for some sponsors to
Speaker 1: partner with and just push it out in conjunction with
Speaker 1: the brands. That's another you know, there's so many avenues
Speaker 1: to get content on the air, So you know, having
Speaker 1: a company like that with with you know, creative minds
Speaker 1: that are coming up with things that seems like a great,
Speaker 1: you know, a great moment for that. I would say
Speaker 1: the NFL was like I couldn't have gotten a better
Speaker 1: education than starting out at the National Football League, Like
Speaker 1: I didn't get an MBA, like I got my MBA
Speaker 1: there during those ten seasons and you did the same thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's super humble, but I mean when I
Speaker 1: met him, we had him on CDs that we were
Speaker 1: putting out NFL Country and NFL Jams. I want to
Speaker 1: hear that. No, that's why we don't play them anymore.
Speaker 1: I think Mom was a hit. Then Randy Travis got
Speaker 1: on it and kind of messed it up. But he
Speaker 1: was a correspondent for a show that NFL Films produced
Speaker 1: called Under the Helmet while he was still playing. So
Speaker 1: you know, those are things that were nunheard of back then,
Speaker 1: whereas now, like you mentioned earlier that a lot of
Speaker 1: the current athletes are looking, you know, to him for
Speaker 1: the sort of the model template. And Michael is you know,
Speaker 1: top of the list of people of athletes that have
Speaker 1: really navigated that that transition. And obviously some of it
Speaker 1: is the the secret sauce that you bring to the table.
Speaker 1: But but I think for athletes, and in particular anyone
Speaker 1: in particular who's known for doing one thing and that's
Speaker 1: all you've ever done, not only does usually the public
Speaker 1: think that's all you can do, but in your own
Speaker 1: head you kind of convince yourself that's all I can
Speaker 1: do because all I've been known for, and you don't
Speaker 1: take chances on trying something else. And when you're an athlete,
Speaker 1: I played fifteen years, which is unheard of, and I
Speaker 1: was still thirty six when I retired, So it's like
Speaker 1: thirty six years old. Career is over. Life is over
Speaker 1: in a certain sense. And just didn't feel like that
Speaker 1: with the case. And thank goodness for constance in our
Speaker 1: relationship because I would go to the office before we
Speaker 1: working together, she just managing me, and I would have
Speaker 1: an opinion about stuff, and then eventually she said, well,
Speaker 1: why are you sitting here basically here every day. You're
Speaker 1: getting on our nerves. You might as well be a
Speaker 1: part of your mother being a part of what's going on.
Speaker 1: You already involved anyway, And that's really how we became
Speaker 1: partners in all of this. But I think we both
Speaker 1: have a work ethic, and we both have a respect
Speaker 1: for each other, and we both are very similar and
Speaker 1: the way we think and are and and and everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's a single child. I'm the youngest of six,
Speaker 1: so but but it's kind of like we out of that.
Speaker 1: We have the same sensibilities and and and it's just
Speaker 1: amazing to work with somebody who understands that, who works
Speaker 1: hard as you do, if not harder, and I she's
Speaker 1: a one person I can never complain to about working hard.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sometimes I do, just so you leave me alone.
Speaker 1: But but it's great. I think athletes finally now in
Speaker 1: this day and age, you're understanding that because you're you're
Speaker 1: good good at sports does not mean that when your
Speaker 1: sports career is over, your career is over. It's the
Speaker 1: start Sports gives you, gives you a leg up on
Speaker 1: so many other people to get into other businesses. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, sports is also the thing that's
Speaker 1: kept you away from business, so you have a lot
Speaker 1: of catching up to do. So your name will get
Speaker 1: you in the room, but you better figure it out
Speaker 1: and have your talent keep you in the room. But
Speaker 1: I also think a big advantage of working with retired
Speaker 1: athletes or current athletes is they come from a team,
Speaker 1: so there's a teamwork mentality going into things. They like
Speaker 1: to be coached. You know, there's there's curfews, there's meeting
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's it's just you're setting them up
Speaker 1: for success without even realizing it. And that's really when
Speaker 1: we interview people. I mean I look and see when
Speaker 1: they're done with the interview, are they throwing their garbage out?
Speaker 1: Are they looking to us to clean up after them?
Speaker 1: Because you really want to make sure people are coming
Speaker 1: in with the teamwork mentality. I was just gonna ask
Speaker 1: you what kind of things you look for in people
Speaker 1: that you think would be good prospects for management. And
Speaker 1: one of the biggest things Constant said, it's how you
Speaker 1: work with other people. Because everyone in our company, because
Speaker 1: we do so many things, from from from the production
Speaker 1: to the management to the clothing and other businesses, everyone
Speaker 1: has a role in different things. And if you're interested
Speaker 1: in something outside of what we just what's your main
Speaker 1: job is, you're able if you have the time to
Speaker 1: help out, chip in and learn about it. We don't say,
Speaker 1: well that's your job, stay away from it. That's what
Speaker 1: this person does. No, no, no no. If you think you
Speaker 1: can add value, we encourage for you. We encourage you
Speaker 1: to add value to that. And I think through that
Speaker 1: we have employees that come to work every day. They're
Speaker 1: excited because it's not every day, it's not groundhog day,
Speaker 1: and we've all had groundhog day. Job for you going
Speaker 1: you're like every day basically the same. Well, for us,
Speaker 1: we try to make it interesting to where you come
Speaker 1: to work. You're excited about work, you're excited about the
Speaker 1: possibility that that they could bring and you don't know
Speaker 1: what's coming. And I think that's uh has motivated our
Speaker 1: our crew and and and everyone that we work with
Speaker 1: to come to work with the right spirited attitude. And
Speaker 1: that is the thing. Wake up happy is is is
Speaker 1: our motto as well for our company. Wake up with
Speaker 1: the right attitude, because that's one of the few things
Speaker 1: you can control. You might not go to sleep happy,
Speaker 1: but you can wake up happy. Let's talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about the about the licensing and that you have
Speaker 1: two apparel lines if I understand right, Yes, we have
Speaker 1: Collection by Michael Strahand and we have MSX and the
Speaker 1: collection by Michael straighthand is suits, ties, belt, cuff links, um,
Speaker 1: you name it. How many categories there were in six
Speaker 1: hundred doors at j. C. Penney out of their seven
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty stores, and it has been in fantastic
Speaker 1: business we've been in for the last few years with them.
Speaker 1: And then MSX is the athletisure brand that we have
Speaker 1: with them, and it is. It has been a learning
Speaker 1: experience and it's almost as if looking at what we
Speaker 1: do is a direct lesson for everyone out there that
Speaker 1: you don't have to go to school per se for
Speaker 1: a particular business to learn about it and get into it.
Speaker 1: You just have to be brave enough to get into it.
Speaker 1: And like I said, once you're in it, you better
Speaker 1: figure it out quick. And the clothing business has been
Speaker 1: an incredible learning because experience for us. But it's been
Speaker 1: a really, really good one and business has been great,
Speaker 1: and we continue to expand. We're expanding to jeams now
Speaker 1: and you're excited about because we don't have a women's
Speaker 1: line yet, And so when the luggage came out, it
Speaker 1: was the first thing that all the women that work
Speaker 1: on the line, we're something we got to use besides
Speaker 1: wearing the extra small and small they're going into the
Speaker 1: boys Can we make boys or they go into the
Speaker 1: boys collection and where that stuff. So it has been
Speaker 1: a great business, but it's also it's been a collaborative
Speaker 1: business that we're very involved in every meeting. Every fabric
Speaker 1: there's not a fabric from a suit to a tie,
Speaker 1: to a belt to the underwear sufflink the underwear the
Speaker 1: tie bars. There's nothing that has not been seen I
Speaker 1: know personally by me that gets that doesn't get approved.
Speaker 1: And was that did that come about from an incoming
Speaker 1: call or an outgoing call? Did you did you pursue
Speaker 1: outgoing interesting to a relationship? And you know it's interesting
Speaker 1: because again, like he said, we've learned a lot from it,
Speaker 1: which helps with our other clients. Because when we had
Speaker 1: the first meeting, they said, we're not ready for you,
Speaker 1: and so we went about our business for a year
Speaker 1: and then we checked back in with them and that's
Speaker 1: when the timing was right. And and but everything that
Speaker 1: we've done and when you call the outgoing, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was outgoing. We went and set up a meeting and
Speaker 1: made this whole thing happen. But it's all organic. There's
Speaker 1: nothing that that I know personally I do we have
Speaker 1: any of our clients do that does is not organic
Speaker 1: to them. It's not something so far fetched it's unbelievable
Speaker 1: to the public. It truly is who they are and
Speaker 1: what they do and what's important to them and something
Speaker 1: that fits into their lifestyle. And for me being on TV,
Speaker 1: god knows how many days a week, I'm always gonna
Speaker 1: suit so wearing suits very important. And then when I'm
Speaker 1: not in a suit, I'm an athles your casual guy,
Speaker 1: because I'm either running to the gym, I'm running around.
Speaker 1: So everything that we've done and that business has been
Speaker 1: organic to me. And the shows have been organic, and
Speaker 1: the businesses an authentic and and and the businesses for
Speaker 1: all of our other clients have all fit their personalities
Speaker 1: and what they really like and what's really important to
Speaker 1: them is that when you talk about learning the apparel business,
Speaker 1: I would imagine that the constructive deals and the way
Speaker 1: you get paid is probably very different than making a
Speaker 1: TV show or very different. We have an amazing lawyer,
Speaker 1: thank you, Brad Rose, who literally, like you know, we
Speaker 1: go through probably quarterly meetings with him and we're the
Speaker 1: first we don't know something, we call him right away,
Speaker 1: like we don't try to figure something out that could
Speaker 1: be detrimental in the in the long run, and so
Speaker 1: it is vastly different, you know. Just also you know,
Speaker 1: holding on to your I P. You know, what do
Speaker 1: you license, what do you own? How many different companies
Speaker 1: there are, because that's how it all started nationally with
Speaker 1: that and the big biggest thing we learned it owning
Speaker 1: your brand, Yes it's yours, don't sign it over, don't
Speaker 1: give it to anyone else. And just managing your brand
Speaker 1: as well has been you know, uh, it's the big challenge,
Speaker 1: but it's a very important thing whenever you're dealing with
Speaker 1: something that's vast as the clothing and when it comes
Speaker 1: to pay, yeah, it's different because you know TV or
Speaker 1: shows you have you you negotiate and you have your
Speaker 1: your rate and everything else. But in this there's really
Speaker 1: no ceiling to it. You get if you can make
Speaker 1: the business happen and build the business, then there's no
Speaker 1: cap to say, Okay, this is what your salary is
Speaker 1: for the year. There's none of that in the clothing business.
Speaker 1: So potentially it is incredible, but you gotta set a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff to make that a reality. American needs, belts,
Speaker 1: American everything, everything go by it from me. Do you
Speaker 1: too have investors? Are you? Are you the principal owners?
Speaker 1: It's the two of you, that's us. We haven't taken
Speaker 1: no money from the outside, so it's it's us and
Speaker 1: we've put a lot of not most of the money
Speaker 1: that we've made in this business right back into it
Speaker 1: because we want to grow it, And I don't think
Speaker 1: we look at this is something that's really in and
Speaker 1: out thing. We're here for the long haul to really
Speaker 1: build a business that you know, when I'm ninety five
Speaker 1: years old and we can hand it off to our
Speaker 1: youngsters and they can run it, I won't be handing
Speaker 1: it off. I'll be a lot younger. You'll be in
Speaker 1: the Caribbean. You'll be in the Caribbean. They have they
Speaker 1: have good wife fight down there, Michael, was was a
Speaker 1: business like this? Building a business? Was that something you
Speaker 1: aspired to as a kid or do you look at
Speaker 1: this now and you're surprised that you are? I think
Speaker 1: I'm surprise thing. We're all surprised. We're surprised every day
Speaker 1: every day, and we appreciate. It's not just like shocking
Speaker 1: af It's truly like appreciate and surprise. It's truly gratitude
Speaker 1: because I understand the alternative to it. And you know,
Speaker 1: playing in the NFL to me was I thought with
Speaker 1: the ultimate end all be all, and when that career
Speaker 1: was over, I was just happy to have a job
Speaker 1: talking on TV and have something to look forward to
Speaker 1: to do. But now to have you know, the show,
Speaker 1: do have any other businesses. It's all in a lot
Speaker 1: of way to big surprise, but great surprises because I
Speaker 1: don't do anything and have the luxury. Thank goodness, I'm
Speaker 1: not doing anything I don't want to do. I love
Speaker 1: every show that I'm doing and and I think that's
Speaker 1: a gift in itself. That is it, that is that
Speaker 1: is truth, and that's an amazing attitude. Thank you both
Speaker 1: so much for coming in to talk to us about
Speaker 1: that's really interesting to hear about your business. Thank you
Speaker 1: for having us, Thanks for listening. Please join us next
Speaker 1: week for another episode of Strictly Business.