Blaze Your Own Trail - S2: Episode 3: From Flunking College To Jersey Champs With Sean Kelly

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

Sean Kelly is an entrepreneur who founded Jersey Champs which makes custom jerseys based on trends and hip-hop culture as well as original designs. Since launching Jersey Champs, Sean has become a multi-millionaire and has been featured in ESPN, Billboard (magazine), Entrepreneur , Inc. Magazine , The Huffington Post , Forbes, Yahoo!, ABC News, Fox News Channel, MSN, Business Insider, Dailymail, Complex, XXL (magazine), USA Today, New York Times, BuzzFeed and a number of blogs and podcasts. In this episode we discuss: Sean’s upbringing in New Jersey How he was a teenager Where he went to College How he started Jersey Champs Which Rap artist he worked with first What he's up to next. Connect with Sean: Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JerseyChamps/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-kelly-a4374b91/ Follow our instagram for behind the scenes content & more: https://www.instagram.com/jordanjmendoza/ Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest with me tonight. His name is Sean Kelly. And I'm going to give him a couple minutes just to give a quick intro about who he is and what he does. Yeah, thank you for having me today, Jordan. I'm 23 years old. I live in New Jersey. I went to Rutgers State University and pretty much realized college wasn't from me. I was flunking out. decided to go to the entrepreneurship route from overloading on Gary Vee videos basically. And then a company called Jersey Chams. And we basically made custom jerseys, sports jerseys. And we were able to somehow just make jerseys for rappers and celebrities slowly but surely. We're going to weigh up.

And now we've even made jerseys for the president and for really big people. So it's been amazing to just grow. And I'm really excited to be on here tonight. Awesome, man. Well, I appreciate that intro. So let's rewind a little bit. So did you grow up in New Jersey? Is that where you were born and raised?

Yeah, born and raised and then central New Jersey. Okay. Very good. So what kind of kid were you? Were you the type of kid that was, you know, super curious all the time? Were you more into sports? Were you into games? Like what type of childhood did you have?

So, yeah, I went through a ton of phases. As a kid, I was like elementary school. I was outdoor a lot, really energetic. Then I went through like a sort of a nerdy phase where I was a computer gamer. And that's where I started getting into selling too, because I was like a merchant on the games I played. And I used to use sites like swag bucks and all those weird sites. And then in high school, kind of evolved from that into like an introvert,

pretty heavily introverted. And yeah, just was a cross-country track runner. and then didn't really get into any major business until a freshman year of college, which is when I started Jersey Champs. Okay. All right. So you make it through high school. You're a freshman in college.

And so where did this? And this would be a really good context for the audience because, you know, for the folks that listen to the episode and they check out, you know, the platforms that you're on, they're going to see, you know, how large you've been able to grow this brand. So when did this all come to fruition? Were you kind of just sitting in your dorm? Were you sitting in your apartment? and one day you're like, you know what, I want to make an impact on the Jersey market.

I'm very curious to see, you know, where Jersey champ was officially born. Yeah, so I think I loved sports my whole life, so I definitely wore jerseys my whole life. I was always really skinny, though, so I didn't really wear the basketball ones that much. But, you know, the soccer and the baseball ones, I definitely wore in football. But it really came to me near the end of freshman year. I did, you know, my fair share of going out and tailgating and stuff. And I realized, like, a lot of people wore jerseys at these events, at these parties, huge demographic in the young sports fan base of Jersey lovers. So I was near, I think, the second to last month of college when I had the first idea for a jersey.

And it just came to me literally lying down in my bed. Okay. That's awesome, man. And so what was that first iteration like? Was it a specific team? Was it a specific show or series of kind of this first ideation of it? Like what happened when you decided, you know what? I see there's a market for this,

and I see there's also a market that really hasn't been touched. Yeah, so the first one we ever did was it was for a rapper called Drake. So we did a Toronto basketball jersey. I think Toronto was on the front for the letters. And then we had the name was views because it was all of them at the time. views from the six and the number was six on the back and that was our first one ever and I was super broke so the only way I could market it was social media so I posted it on Instagram paid like a couple hip-hop fan pages and Drake fan pages to post it and that's literally how I got my first few customers

that's awesome man so you created this jersey you get creative by you know getting it out on on social media so did this video did this jersey actually viral? Is that how it got into Drake's hand or did you send him one? Like, I'm very curious to see how that whole process started after you started posting about it, of course. Yes. So that one never got in Drake's hands. We weren't big enough at the time, but it went like semi-viral, I guess, you could say. Like, we sold 100 units in the first couple weeks, which for like a brand new company, that's quite hard to do, I think, especially in the clothing industry. A lot of people try to like do shirts and stuff. And it's really hard.

first. And then we just utilize the profits we made off that for the next design. And luckily, the next design did well because the business could have ended right there if the next design flopped. So I think there's sort of a lot of factor in business and timing and everything just happened to fall in place at that time in my life where the first few designs gave me enough money to keep going. Okay. And so what was design number two? I'm sure the audience is curious now. You made the one for Drake. So what was the second one? I'm not sure if you guys would remember this,

but there was a guerrilla called Harambe back in 2016. So this was four years ago now. Basically, it was a gorilla that was at the zoo, and I think a police officer shot it and it died. But for some reason, it made national headlines, and there was a whole meme about it from millennials. That was all over Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and everything. And we just did a rest and peace, Harambe jersey. And it went viral because

a bars to a sports post today and a few other binnings. And that gave us the break to like, we got a lot of capital from that jersey and then kept using it to the business. Okay. That's awesome. And so let's talk a little bit about the business side of this, right? Because in order to get jerseys that are in the likeness of brands and of athletes and of movies and things like that, is that something that you and your team, or maybe even you yourself, had to kind of hit the pavement to do these negotiations, or how does that whole process work with jerseys like the ones that you guys make? Yeah, so with the artists, it was very hard to get that first one. The first one, me, partnership was with Logic.

And we did a Logic jersey for him. And then once we got him, we got lucky because he was performing at Rutgers. So we were able to hand them on there and then connect further. But once you get that one wrapper, you can leverage that to get the rest. And that's pretty much what we did. And in the rap space where they're all interconnected and they know each other, if they see you do a deal with someone, they're probably going to be interested in it. So getting that first one's the hardest step.

But once you that, just leverage that and get the rest. Okay. And so for for jerseys, right? So I saw you guys had like a couple of Fresh Prince Bel Air jerseys, right? and then I've seen one for like Teen Wolf and stuff like that. Did you have to like communicate with those brands and get permission to create these jerseys in the styling that they used in the movie or the show? Yeah, so for the movie licensing, they're all done through like two companies and you just have to pay for us in a monthly fee. But we got to that point like a year into the company, I think.

So they've been good evergreen products because they will continue to sell. But we make a majority of our cash from the collaboration we do with celebrities. Okay. That's awesome, man. And so how many jerseys did you all created to this point? So, honestly, probably thousands, but not all of them will make it on the website. if we post signs that get good spending Facebook ads or paid ads to every single design and figure out which one sell because a lot of money product testing.

So we can product test for free because we have that large following on Instagram. That I need to be a very good asset. Hey, sorry, sorry, I lost you there. Do you say that one more time? Hey, are you there? Yeah, yeah. I can hear you now. I just said it went kind of robot.

I lost you there. Where did it cut off? I heard you had said about you have about a thousand designs, but some of them may not make it to the site, but your Instagram following has allowed you to, you know, building that base up has allowed you some leverage to be testing. Yeah, so I believe that one of your most powerful assets brands is your social media following

because you can test products without spending money. And a lot of people waste money on testing products. So building your Instagram, I think, super important. And I was going to say something else. Oh, so then you guys are probably wondering, you know, how can you afford all those designs? And we found all our designers on Instagram, actually, and Craigs was at the time when it was free.

So we pay about five to up to $300 per design if it's a really good one, but normally we'll pay between five and 20 bucks for the design, so it's not too expensive. Okay, that's good. Yeah, so it's, you know, it's being smart and leveraging people's design skills. So I think that's definitely a good lesson and message for people. So obviously, everybody starts with zero followers, right? It doesn't matter what social platform you're on, whether you're on, you know, LinkedIn,

you're on Instagram, you're on Facebook. everybody starts from the ground up. So what would you say for the audience that's listening that, you know, has aspirations to grow, right? Because you said that you can leverage that network for testing. So what would you say are some things that were foundational in getting your, your, your following up and your brand recognition out there? Yeah.

So I really started taking the personal brand serious about, I think two years into the company when I read crushing it by Gary Vaynerchuk. really shifted my mindset. And man, that's really been paying off lately. Like the personal brand, honestly, it took like two years of hard work before it started paying off. But lately, I've been really having some good connections. And I was talking you earlier before the call.

Like, I literally found the buyer for those masks from posting an Instagram story. And that was a nine figure order. That's a lot of money. And that's all from building the personal brand. And some ways to grow that. is just be consistent, upload content. The easiest platform right now, in my opinion, is definitely TikTok. I post three to five times a day on there,

and one of the videos will always get over 100,000 views. And I don't even have 100,000 followers. I only have, I think, 30,000 followers on there. So it's just really easy to go viral on TikTok. So I would take that super serious now. It's a lot harder to grow on Instagram than it was when I started. So I would double down on TikTok for anyone listening right now. Yeah, and it's always interesting.

to see these cycles, right, to see, you know, how the organic reach is, right? And so right now for TikTok, for the audience, the organic reach is super high, right? Because, you know, there's, there's not as many people posting content. There's a lot of people consuming the content. So I think you're definitely on to something there. And, you know, a platform that I've actually been able to grow on is actually LinkedIn, right? I started, I think, last April with 7,000 followers and I'm up to 37,000 in about 10 months. And again, it's like, it's all the same things that you're saying. It's about, for one, being consistent, right?

If you're creating one piece of content, you're doing yourself no good. You've got to create several pieces a day. And when you have platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok, it's very hard to saturate them, right? Because there's not enough content creators. So I definitely applaud you for taking advantage of it. I've been starting to create content on TikTok. I haven't had anything go viral yet, but it's all about testing, right? It's still really early.

in that app. And so what would you say to the audience about, you know, testing to see what's working when it comes to social? Yeah. So I'm pretty new to do it still. So I don't want to like act like an expert. But I post three to five times a day. And it's basically viral videos that I find,

either on TikTok or Instagram, I'll save them and then repurpose them. And I haven't done any yet of like me talking in them. Those are probably harder, which is what you're trying to do. Yep. But I've talked to like a few. The cool thing about TikTok is the people that are blowing up on there are all all really be accessible to chat with because it's like their first time a lot of them having having cloud.

So I'll just message them on Instagram and just ask for advice. A lot of them say hashtags don't even matter on that platform, which is interesting. So their algorithm is just really smart and it's showing people content that is just viral without any hashtag capability. That is interesting. because, you know, the one thing that I've noticed about TikTok is there's some hashtags that have billions of followers, right? And like, you know, you've seen the big one like 4U page, FYP. A lot of people use those. And I thought because they used them, they were furthering their reads.

But what you're saying is super interesting that you can post content without it and you can still have your content found pretty easily. Yeah, I'm not sure how exactly their algorithm works, but feels with zero. gosh, I have done well. So it might help some videos might help not, but who knows. Yeah, yeah, I definitely think it's good to test. And you're, you know, really try to figure things out. You know, I think it's at the end of the day, if something doesn't go well, there's always an option to delete, right?

Like, if you pose something in absolutely bombs, that. That's why, you know, I always try to encourage people with social. It's like, listen, number one, be yourself, right? Be your authentic self because there's only one you. There's nobody else that's like you. So if you can be yourself, you know, people do business to people that they like, they know and they trust, right? And so that's really a big part of personal branding is creating content.

And like you're as far as Instagram's concerned, you post a lot of content on Instagram and people can kind of relate to you and your story and your vision and your mission and all the things that you're trying to do. Yeah, yeah. that's amazing Instagram is, I believe it's one of the most powerful outreaching tools for me, for people, especially like DMs. That's where I've gotten like 80% of our influencers just over an Instagram DM. Like the power to do that is crazy.

That wasn't possible like 10 years ago. So I'm really taking, can you hear me. Yeah, I can hear you now. I lost you there. Sorry, freaking out on my end. I don't know if it's doing that to you or two. Yeah, it is kind of, you know, we'll, we'll check it out when we're, when we're done. if I've got to cut some stuff or we need to, you know, record something else.

If you've got the time, we'll figure, we'll figure that part out. All right. So cool. So what are some things that are that are in store for you, right? You've, you've built a brand, you know, you're 23. The world, the world's ahead of you, right? And you really are doing some really big things. So what are some ways that are ideas that you're working on to keep scaling your business?

Yeah. So I'm still in Jersey. So one of the biggest moves for me this year. to get my first property. I want to move out to the West Coast, ideally LA. I think a lot of business is there for me. So that's a big move for me.

Just waiting on my girlfriend to graduate college out here and then we're pretty much out. Hopefully she could find a job out there. And I have these free monthly networking events. I'm really trying to build that into a massive asset. I think Dan Fleischman does a wonderful job of that.

If you know him, he gets like 300 to 500 people at his events and he makes really good connection. And the people that I've spoken at my events, I'm doing like really big business with now. So like I think it's an amazing asset to build that out. I really like what Tony Robbins does and Grand Cardone. And then always scaling jersey champs for sure. And then yeah, this week has just been focused on the mask though because everyone's really needing those, especially hospitals.

So I'll probably be doing that the next two weeks. Yeah. So it's definitely, you know, seeing some of your comments. content, it looks like, you know, the philanthropy part of, of you and what you do, you know, being able to help people is, is a big part of you. So where did that stem from? Is that just kind of been something that's foundational with your family or just, you know, have you always had that heart of service? Yeah, I don't know where it comes to. Because my, my parents don't really donate like that. I just feel really good about it. And like, if I have the power to do

that, like, might as well do it. We donate one percent of all our sales. to charity, the Jersey champs. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up. So, yeah, it's just a good thing to do, I think. And I barely spend money on myself, so might as well donate it and just not let it sit around. Absolutely. No, I mean, I think that's definitely a nice way to look at it, right? Because the more people, especially you said something that's really important for the audience,

and it makes you feel good, right? It makes you feel good knowing that you can impact other people. And, you know, that's not a gift that everybody has, right? So the fact that you have it and that you can help people really at scale, to me, there's nothing wrong with that at all because, believe me, there's plenty of people that are in your situation that aren't doing that, you know. And you really, you know, you're setting an example for a lot of other 23-year-olds that are listening to this and are saying, you know what, like for one,

maybe they're at a place where they want to be an entrepreneur, right? So you've given some good nuggets and tips and advice for that. But also, like, when you get there, what type of human do you want to be to other people? Right? Because I think that's really what it's all about. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Because you see, like, that documentary, you saw that documentary about Steve Jobs.

Yeah. Yeah. He was so successful financially, but mentally he was a mess and didn't have any friends. I don't want that, you know. No. No, no. And, you know, a lot of guys like, you know, I had a, I had Dave Meltzer on the show and, you know, that guy does such an amazing thing with the community. And his goal is to be of service to a billion people. You know, I mean, what a, what an awesome mission to try to achieve. But, you know, when, when you really think about it and you have those values to want to help others grow, I'm a big believer in reciprocity. You know, these things come full circle. If you're good to other people, good things will keep happening. Yep, yeah, definitely believe in karma 100%.

And so you read Gary V's book. He's a guy that, I mean, I definitely look up to him. You know, I use a lot of his info to start creating content on LinkedIn at scale. And, you know, you've been doing the same thing on Instagram. So what are some of the biggest takeaways from him over the past couple years that have really been influential in your business? I think his content strategy that he published is just gold, just repurposing the same content on all platforms. That's something I still need to do, but I think that's genius.

Obviously the work ethic. And man, he's just so motivational. It's like he doesn't teach you like tactical things that you can like implement like with with Facebook guys or anything. But he just teaches you like mindset and like habits and stuff. Sorry. But yeah. Just like little stuff here and there. And then the people that work for him, I'm all, like, working with now.

And those guys are just amazing, like, D-Rock and Tyler and all them and stuff. Yeah, yeah, he's definitely, you know, the one thing I respect a lot about him is, you know, and like the weekly V that he's rolling out now, you know, kind of getting to see the behind the scenes. And, you know, hear from his team about his character. Like, that stuff to me is where is everything, right? because, you know, you can be a big entrepreneur and make a lot of money, but if you're not treating your people right, like people aren't going to stick around. You know, so I think it's super important.

He talks a lot about EQ and how important it is, you know, to be self-aware of how you're feeling and managing your emotions. Like all of those things are super huge. And it's so cool to see these intimate conversations he has with his team. And you can tell that he is a thousand percent dialed into each person that's in front of him. Yeah, yeah, he gives everyone his full attention. And so how large is your team? You know, are you still doing a lot of stuff on your own?

Or do you have you, you know, started to grow a larger team at this point? Yeah, so honestly, super slim, just one full-timer and then a bunch of freelancers. I'm not at that level yet where I'm just managing tons of people. I think I'll get there one day. but step by step for me, I'm pretty particular with who I bring on. Okay. No, that definitely makes sense. And, you know, having it smaller, it definitely enables you to have your eyeballs on everything, right?

And as a business owner as an entrepreneur, it's important that you know what's going on. And to only have one full-time person, I think that that definitely gives you a lot of leverage. Yeah. And so what kind of, uh, what kind of partner? have you been thinking about lately? Is there any particular, like, brands or maybe nostalgic TV shows or movies that you're thinking, you know what, this might be a good seller. Like this brand or this show might be, you know, might be a jersey that does well.

Yeah, we're trying to do one for the coronavirus, something funny, like a meme. We're trying to maybe like coronavirus and chill or something. Something silly like that, just a lighten the mood. But we're always on top of a trend. friends. The next election coming up, we're definitely going to do jerseys for both parties. We did that in 2016 and then the Trump one ended up, you know, taken off the Hillary and Sanders ones we had to cut because they weren't really selling it off. So we're always playing both sides. We're just capitalizing off what we can. And we got a lot of heat for that. But we literally

sold both parties. So yeah, it didn't look good, you know. Well, I think any, anytime you do something around politics, you're going to get some type of heat, right? Because, you know, not everyone's going to be, but you did it the right way, I think. You did one for each party. So, but still, you know, politics is always a, a touchy topic for a lot of people. Oh, yeah. I was getting like F bombs in my, in my DMs like every day at one point. So yeah, it's, it's been crazy. That's, that's definitely something that, uh, I'm sure isn't it isn't fun dealing with. Right, getting, having your inbox just kind of put up and put it up and filter. Yeah, we had a video of Trump holding it up and stuff.

I ended up just taking that off my feet because it was causing too much stuff. And so what do you do with things like that? I think this would be a good lesson to kind of hear, you know, how you deal with this at scale, right? Because for someone that's built up the type of brand that you have, not just for your personal brand, but for the actual company's brand on Instagram, I'm sure you guys are getting a ton of DMs, right? So what is your strategy on filtering through

and really kind of making the decisions on who you're going to communicate with, you know, versus like all the Bitcoin salesmen that I think everybody gets? You know, so what is your strategy to deal with those messages? Yeah, so I mean, customer service is really important. You know, you see how serious Amazon takes it. So for that, I have an agency that does the Jersey Champs ones. And then for my personal DM, I still answer everything myself. It only recently got to the point where it's been hard, like, probably about a month ago,

it's started when now I'm dedicating a few hours a day. So maybe I have to outsource it. But I really like the personal touch. And there's a lot of business in the DMs, man. Like, it's crazy how undervalued it is. Like, I was saying earlier. Like, it's unreal, like, who you could get in touch with if you do it, right? So I sort of just filter it out.

You can pretty, your Instagram has your resume these days. So I'll pretty much check out their profile, see what mutuals we have. And from there, I'll already know it's like worth pursuing. Because if I have some mutuals with them, I know they're like serious. Yeah, yeah. So, so your networking event was interesting because you actually sent me a DM and it said, hey, we've got this networking event popping down in Orlando and eight in early April. Now I'm assuming that event is probably since been canceled with COVID-19.

Is that correct? So that one is not happening, right? And so you sent me that. And I was like, at first I was like, who is Sean Kelly? Who's this sending me this message? And of course, I look and I'm like, holy cow, like, where'd this guy find me? You know? And so I was really, I was really curious about, you know, how you decided to reach out to the people that you reached out to. Yeah, people don't believe it's me, but it's actually me. I'm manually doing that. I'm usually using hashtags. So you must have had, you either had a hashtag or you went to an event, a networking event, or you follow a page that I was targeting.

So I don't know which of the three it was exactly. Okay. But we fell into one of those and my message do. And I do that every day. I try to message 10 to 30 people from my events. And, you know, I usually close five of them. And I mean, for people throwing events, that's pretty good. You get five people a day from DMs.

I mean, that's all free. You don't have to spend money on it. So yeah, just grind and that's one of the assets you have when you're broke is the DMs. Yeah, no. And for me, I love it because I'm one of those types of people that I'm not afraid to ask, right? Like you DM me and I was like, hey, you would love to have you on the podcast. And you were like, absolutely, let's do it, right? But, you know, and so I'm usually on the other end of that.

I usually don't get people to DM me. So I'm usually the one that's actually DMing other people and just saying, hey, I love to talk my show. If it makes sense, I'd be open to have you on as a guest. Because listen, for those, for those you're listening, what's the worst that people could say, right? Like, they either are going to say yes or they're going to say no, right? I mean, there's one or the other, right? But if you only message one person a day, guess what?

You only have one shot in that day, right? So I think it's brilliant that you've got a strategy and a system in place to make sure that you're hitting those targets that you want every day. day. Yeah, I honestly message until I'm blocked every day because if I don't do that, I don't feel like I accomplished it what I could. You know what I mean? So yeah, I've been doing that for years, like three years. And that's, I built my entire network off DMs and LinkedIn, like you said earlier, I got about 15,000 connections on there, met some amazing people on there. And my whole network basically is from social media, though, because I wasn't connected in real life business prior to any of this. That's awesome. And that really just shows the grind, right? Like if you want to build anything

meaningful, I don't care what type of business you're doing, you're going to have to put in the work. You know, if you think that just messaging one person or, you know, two people a day is going to do it. I mean, you're, you've definitely just proven to the audience that you put in three years of this, right? Like three years of cold messaging people trying to open up the conversation, right? And, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, network is is key to growth. So for what would you say to somebody that's listening to this and is like, you know what? I'm just, I'm a little nervous about this. Like what would you say would be kind of a a good opening line for somebody that's just getting started? Yeah. And I totally understand why

someone would be nervous because man, in high school, I had that mindset with everything I was doing. I was just nervous of putting my name out there and fear of being judged by others and family and stuff. But, But that's a good thing about Instagram DMs. No one's going to know you're sending these DMs. You don't have to worry about being judged. So I'll just shoot your shot. And it's going to be tough at first. Like you're only going to get one reply out of 100 if you're DMing celebrities at first.

But like I said earlier, once you get that one, it becomes easier and easier. And now, like, I probably, people probably think everyone replies to me, but that's definitely not the case. Like, probably only like five out of 10, which is definitely better than one out of 100. but you got to work your way up to the level where more people apply and you've got to do that by building personal brand. That's exactly it, my friend. So one thing I'm curious about and the audience may be curious about this. So how does the verified work on Instagram?

Is this something that you have to apply for or do you hit like a certain, you know, arbitrary number that they feel you have proven to be, to have this brand established? or do you have to, you know, so how does that whole process work for people that are curious? Because, you know, from a number standpoint, like, I've seen some people and they don't really have that big of a following, but they still get, they're verified, right? So I'm just curious on how that whole process worked and how it worked really for you, for your situation. Yeah, so there's no arbitrary number actually. Basically, you can apply on the app and or you can have.

have someone submit you through a media panel, which usually you have to be signed to like a music label or you have to be an athlete or something. Your agent can get that taken care of. But basically you just need to be mentioned in online publications, be on some podcasts and to show up on Google. And if they consider you like a public figure, I'll get it done. Okay. Awesome. So, so for you, did you fill anything out or it just happened not organically? Yeah, I just did it on the app. Okay. Apply on under settings, I believe.

Okay. So you just apply for that. And did you have to do the same thing? Is that the same thing for a business page versus a personal page? Yeah, same exact thing. But for business page, they'll require an LLC. And for me, it just was lucky because the whole Trump thing made the news everywhere. And I applied the next day and got it.

Ah, so it was top of mind, right? Top of mind. They're like, hey, man, I've seen this jersey somewhere. and oh, this is the guy. So let's go ahead and get him that. So that's definitely very cool. Appreciate you sharing that. So what is Sean like outside of business?

So what type of things are you into? Are you still into gaming a little bit? Are you playing any sports? What type of things? Well, now everybody's kind of stuck at home, right? With COVID-19. But like, if it wasn't today and this time, what kind of things do you enjoy doing?

Yeah, so I have a really addictive personality, which is super dangerous, if used in the wrong way. So with gaming, man, when I used to game, it was like 15 hours a day and I wouldn't eat. That's why I was so skinny. So I had to pretty much stop gaming because if I got back into it right now, I'd just literally play all day. But I love basketball a lot, and I'm pretty competitive. So I'll do that at the gym. But I just actually suspended my membership through the coronavirus. So I won't be doing that for the next month.

So I got to find a new hobby. But I meal prep on Sundays. I kind of like doing that. And I have a dog, which I love. Yeah, I walk them like three times a day and take it to the park. But other than that, I like movies and shows. Pretty normal. Okay.

Very good. So who's your favorite basketball player? You love basketball. So do you have a favorite team? Do you have a favorite player? I used to like the Nets when they were in New Jersey, when they had Jason Kidd and Vince Carter in their prime. now I don't really have a team.

I just like LeBron a lot. Yeah, it's probably my favorite player right now. Okay. Awesome, man. And so what type of, what type of music are you into? Are you into all kinds of different music? I know you grew up in Jersey, so there's definitely some artists that are from that area. I don't know if you have some favorites that are local

or if you're just kind of an all-around music lover in general. Yeah, it's pretty weird. I got a wide range. I'll go from hardcore rap all the way to classical, depending on what I'm doing. Soft rock, alternative rock. My dad showed me a bunch of music from, you know, his days, and I like that stuff.

He's like 56. But yeah, I like a lot of music, especially classical when I'm working. That's awesome. And so what is, just for the audience that's listening and they want to know, you know, what it takes to to run a business. So what is a typical day in your life look like?

So it's going to change dramatically, but when you're starting to where I'm at now, because now for Jersey Champs, it's almost all automated and I'm only working five to 10 hours a week on that. But the first year, you're going to have to figure everything out because you're doing everything yourself, the customer service,

making the website and all that stuff. But now I just wake up, usually do emails, walk my dog I'll try to go to the gym and throughout the day it's just different stuff that I have to do whether it's Jersey champs

or for the events or doing something else podcast and such but every day is different that's why I really like what I do because it's not like the same thing every day, every day's a new adventure so I think that's the best part about entrepreneurship

yeah and I think what you said right in the beginning is super important for the audience to know that, you know, when you first started, it looked a lot different than where you are today, right? You had to blaze your own trail, right? The name of the show. You had to blaze that trail in order to get to doing, putting in five to 10 hours a week, right? And now you get to reap those benefits and, and, you know, do your workouts, hang out with your dog and, you know, and then things like this, right, podcasting. So I think that's a really cool to be able to go through this journey over the last handful of years to get to where you are. Yeah, your hard work will eventually pay off.

That's what I was telling myself when I was working like 15 hour days the first year straight. And it really is true because now I'm experiencing it. And all the hard work I did in the future in the past is paying off now because it's a social proof and who's wearing our jerse and stuff. Is there someone that you've been trying to, to get, you know, to wear your jerseys and you just, you haven't been able, you know, have to say their name if you don't want to for privacy sake, but is there someone that you've really been trying to get, you really want,

and you just for whatever reason haven't been able to close them? I mean, there's always someone because I want everyone in my jerseys. And almost every guy in the U.S. wears jerseys or has at one point. So I'm always, I'm always down, you know. Okay. Awesome, man. Well, hey, man, this has been really cool. getting to hear about your journey and I know there's going to be a lot of value for the audience.

So, so kind of closing out here, what would you say are, you know, top three takeaways for the audience that are just getting started? So like I would do these top three things in order to, whether it's, you know, start to build their personal brand or whether it's, you know, formulating the ideas and the concepts to start a business. What are kind of some takeaways? ways that you can give out to the audience. Yeah, so double down on TikTok would definitely be number one. Find a mentor or someone that's been there would be number two, because if I did that, I would have saved, you know, hundreds and thousands of dollars and many hours of time.

So that was one of my biggest mistakes. And then third, just focus on what you're good at because when I first started, I was doing everything. And that spread me too thin and I didn't become great at anything. was good at a few things. But I never really excelled in anything. And then once I outsource what I wasn't good at, I doubled down on the influencer marketing and growing followers.

And that's when the business started taking off. So really double down on what you're good at and try not to do every single thing. Like you don't have to be a master at Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, like Snapchat ads. I outsource all of that stuff that I'm not good at. That's awesome, man. And that's definitely a lot of value for the audience. So, hey, listen, I know you're. schedule is busy. I appreciate everything that that you're doing, especially with with the masks.

For those that don't know in the audience, you know, he has purchased a bunch of masks and is working and getting contract with local hospitals, you know, as we're dealing with the COVID-19 virus. So, you know, appreciate all your work. I really appreciate your time coming on the show with your schedule. And thanks so much for coming on, Sean. Thank you so much, Jordan. I hope you crush it with this podcast. And you'll see one day people will be DMing you asking to be on here. Hey man, I really appreciate that.