Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Dark Web Criminal Targeted Celebrities | What Really Happened

Starting point is 00:00:00 Uh, where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Any day now? Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at voila.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Many promotions are available both in-store and online, though some may vary. An unregulated world of loopholes on the internet. I've sold a lot of questionable products. It was a seven-day trial, and then you got billed $60 a month forever. You can never cancel. Celebrities tend to drive revenue. I made a lot of money off of Chris Evans, Tony Hawk, Van Margera. I got a close to 500 sites, and I got an offer to sell the network.

Starting point is 00:00:48 I've been on the internet now, making money some way, shape, or form for 12 years. This is when, like, internet was starting to, like, be cool. YouTube was starting to become a thing. You know, there was, like, you know, Twitter was, like, brand new back then. There was a lot of these opportunities. And then I started finding like these little loopholes. Are you familiar with domaining? Like where you buy domains and sell them? Well, I thought it would be a good idea to find people that I assume were unintelligent and register their Twitter handles and then sell them back to them. Well, I was like, okay, well,

Starting point is 00:01:18 who's cash rich and my lack of some intelligence? Brasers.com. So I went to a list on the site. They listed all the stars on the site. And I just registered all their Twitter handle. So I went, okay, you know, Jenny X. And I was like, okay, so I went to Twitter and I registered that name. And I wrote one line that said, if you're interested in purchasing this name, email me here. And I set up a fake Gmail account. Like, I was like, I forget what I called it.

Starting point is 00:01:46 And that was all I said. And I did this for every star on the site. I also did it to some of my favorite athletes, too. Right. And I'm like, more so because I was like, yeah, they'll just hit me up. And I'll give them their name. Three bucks to register? No, it was free.

Starting point is 00:01:58 It's free to register name? A Twitter name was free. Twitter. Oh, Twitter. I thought these were domain. Formally known as X formerly known as Twitter. So this is like Twitter is brand new. And like I just, I tagged my name.

Starting point is 00:02:08 I didn't hide. I just tagged my name and I said if you're interested in this, email this and I'll, you know, we can talk. And sure enough, start an emailing me. Hey, I'd like to get my name and I say, cool, 500 bucks. Right. And like one out of five would send it. Right. The other five, I just know.

Starting point is 00:02:25 The other four I never hear from. again. And there was like a hundred or so on the site. So it was able to make like, I don't even know, probably like seven to 10 grand ish over the course of like six, eight months, just selling stars their Twitter handles back. And I was like, wow, this is interesting. What other loopholes are there that I can exploit? Because like, I'm saving them the time of finding it. And it wasn't really. Yeah, you're doing them a service. Yeah, it was doing them a fear. One of the ones that I did register was, you know how the right fragrance can completely change your mood and even the way you feel about yourself. If you've ever wished you could find the perfect scent,

Starting point is 00:03:00 but you didn't want to commit to a huge bottle, you're going to love this. This is Centbird. It's a monthly scent subscription. Every month, you'll receive a different scent. It comes with the actual cartridge with the scent in it. It comes with a card that tells you about the scent. Each scent comes in this nifty little containers. You click the container and you're good for the next month. Sent bird lets me choose new scents every month without committing to a full bottle. It's affordable, starting at just $8 for your first month, then only $1695 after that. Plus, with over 700 fragrances from brands like Prada, Versace, and niche favorites like Parfam de Marley, the options are endless. Each fragrance comes with a 30-day supply in this super convenient, travel-friendly case.

Starting point is 00:03:46 You can literally carry it with you wherever you go. And the best part is, I can try new fragrances without the risk of buying a big bottle that might just sit on my shell. So if you're looking to find your signature scent, head over to CentBird right now. Use my promo code, Matthew Cox, to get your first month for just $8. That's Matthew Cox to get 55% off your first month at Centbird. I was a big fan of Jason Ellis. He is a serious XM show, still podcast this day. He was like the hero when I was like growing up.

Starting point is 00:04:18 He was signed like XM Radio and like, and his handle was at Ellis Made. And I was like, so I registered that Twitter handle. And apparently, and I listened to the show. For months, they were talking shit about the idiot that registered the Twitter handle, that they couldn't figure out who it was. And I'm like, the information is right. It's me. I even, like, emailed the show.

Starting point is 00:04:35 Like, it's me. Right. Like, do you want the handle? Like, I wasn't even trying to exploit him at this point. Yeah. Finally, like, a producer, I was on the show. They hired, like, a new producer. Like, has anybody emailed the email?

Starting point is 00:04:46 Yeah. And they're like, no. So they email me and they're like, what do you want? And I was like, what I mean? You're going to ask me that. you could, well, what are you willing to give? And they're like, oh, we want to give you, like, full, full expenses paid trip to Ellis Mania, which is like he put on a show in Vegas,

Starting point is 00:05:03 which had all the biggest extreme sport athletes there. And it was like a wrestling match and, like, a big party and, like, a boxing thing. I was like, yo, this is awesome. I see, yeah, can I get these for me and my friend? And they're like, absolutely. And then turns out, like, they bought me a flight. They bought my friend to flight. They flew me to stay at the Hard Rock for, like, four days in Vegas.

Starting point is 00:05:24 And all I had to do was hand over the stupid password to them. And I said, just so you're just so we're clear, I was going to give this to you. But I really appreciate the trip. Thank you. But it was so much fun because, like, because they saw me with them, everybody just thought I was, like, famous. And, like, everybody there would want to hang out. We ended up going to, like, the strip club and all these crazy shit. Like, with, like, a bunch of, I met Tony Hawk, like, backstage because they had VIP.

Starting point is 00:05:47 I met, like, Ban Margera and all these huge extreme sport athletes. I was, like, like, Christmas for me as, like, an extreme sport athlete. And all was because I exploited people's Twitter handles. When that happened, I was like, yo, there's like, this is kind of like an unregulated world of like loopholes on the internet. What I learned from exploiting people on Twitter is that, well, trending people and celebrities tend to drive some revenue. And I had kind of developed a knack for seeing stuff that wasn't popular now,

Starting point is 00:06:15 but might be popular in the future. And I was sitting at, I was watching Iron Man, a big fan of Iron Man. Like I was sitting in the theater to watch Iron Man one. Like it was like two of my friends like we're eating popcorn. And then the like it was like an epiphany. Jersey Shore came on. Like MTV's Jersey Shore advertisement came on. And they were like hyping up the show to launch in like four or five months.

Starting point is 00:06:39 You know, and I was like, wow, this shit's playing in front of Iron Man. It's like one of the biggest movies, you know, Marvel release is the original Iron Man. I was like, so this is going to be a big fucking show. And I'm looking at all the characters. I'm like, these guys are fucking tools. Right. I said, but they're all jacked and shredded. And I was like, hmm.

Starting point is 00:06:56 I was like, I bet they're all going to create workout TVTs when they get famous. So I immediately from the movie theater, opened my phone, I went to Domains and Seconds.com, which is still a site this day where you buy domain names. And I bought Jersey Shoreabs.com, Jersey Shoreabs.net, Jersey Shoreabs.com. And then the main character was called Mike the Situation Sorrentino. So I bought The SituationWorkout.com, The Situation Workout.com. The Situation Workout. dot net the situation worker i spent like four hundred dollars in domains sitting in the movie theater just buying all these and then this time was going to be different i wasn't just going to sell them

Starting point is 00:07:27 the domains back so i learned how to make wordpress sites which were very like push button sites and then they would rank in the search engines and i was like okay well nobody knows who these people are yet because that's the first advertisement we've ever seen right so if long as i get these sites up pretty quickly then i'm going to rank in google page one for all of these terms and if one of them just gets jacked and shredded, I'm going to make a lot of money because I'm going to sell people a bunch of affiliate offers. Because that was like the world that I was kind of falling into, which is like the underground world of affiliate marketing. And I've sold a lot of questionable products. I'm like, you know, I've sold Viagra. I've sold testosterone boosters. I've sold some

Starting point is 00:08:04 legit, you know, digital products. But when I saw this, I was like, okay, so I went home and I built out all these sites. And I kind of forgot about them. And then all of a sudden I started seeing the advertising ramp up for Jersey Shore. And I'm like, oh, shit. it launches this Thursday. Cool. So me being like at this point, like I was kind of really deep into the world of internet marketing. I was studying like copywriting. I was studying how to, you know, persuasively write. I was, you know, watching a bunch of training courses. I was like very good student of direct response marketing. I read a lot of Dan Kennedy, Robert Sealdini. So a lot of like influence and persuasion. So I wrote like one post that was hypothetically a workout that these guys

Starting point is 00:08:45 may or may not have ever done. And I just hyperlinked all of the points where it made sense to a workout program. Well, the workout program just happened to be this one called visual impact muscle, which was we ended up becoming friends. His name was Rusty Moore. It was a $47 product digitally, and it was a $31 commission. I was like, this is awesome. It's a great commission.

Starting point is 00:09:10 It's great commission. So I linked it. And I even went so far as, because he had a video on his page. I even, you know, went to art school, taught myself some Photoshop. I created, this is when you could, I created a fake YouTube screenshot with a play button and a picture of like, you know, the situation behind it that was kind of blurred out. It was like unexposed workout secrets. And all of these links were my affiliate link.

Starting point is 00:09:34 So, and then I put that post on every one of the sites that I had. So it was across like probably, you know, 30 different pages on my sites and it ranked for all different types of terms. And then I just sat back and Thursday night happened and 8 o'clock Thursday night. I was like, okay, if it's going to work, it's going to work. Let's see. Let's see if people think this guy's jacked. I watched the whole Jersey Shore.

Starting point is 00:09:56 I actually became a fan. That was a great show. Watch it for all the seasons. It was horrible. I was like, but it was an extra special because from 9 p.m. until about midnight, every Thursday night. I'd make a few thousand dollars. Okay, nice. Because everybody would watch the show.

Starting point is 00:10:13 go to Google, Mike the situation workout. Boom, find my site. Buy the guy's product. Boom, find a site. Buy every single Jersey short term for about three years. Maybe two years. Did they ever contact you to say, hey, man, I want to buy my website. Like, what are you doing?

Starting point is 00:10:30 Yes. So MTV sent a bunch of angry emails to me. Cease and desist. Cease and assists. I think I got them in the mail, but this is a long time ago. So I'm like, I don't remember I actually got a physically email, but I got a lot of angry emails. Because I was like, I even put that I registered. the site. I put me as the author on the page. I wasn't trying to hide. I had a bio,

Starting point is 00:10:47 only because those made the sites a little more trustworthy. If there was a bio, the person, reviewing the workouts. You know, so, and it was just printing commissions for me. And I swapped out products here and there, like, but the visual impact worked really well. So the point where I was selling, the guy ended up contacting me, the owner of the product. He's like, dude, you're selling like, 250, 300 copies a month. He's like, you're like one of my best affiliates. And he ended up sending me a bunch of like, you know, he ended up buying trips for me. He ended up like really treating well because that's kind of how the affiliate game works if you got somebody is making a lot of money you take care of them i was like this is pretty cool but i saw this as like

Starting point is 00:11:22 an opportunity because like well mtv did get pretty pissed at me and then they were just like you know we need to take the site down and i actually went to an attorney and i said do they have any grounds because i never really had i never had mtv i just had jersey shore workout and because jersey shore is like a place like i was like you don't know all the rights to jersey shore yeah but the one they really wanted it was the situation workout.com. They wanted all of them. Are you willing to sell it? I mean, I'm willing to sell it.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Well, they tried to strong arm me and to give me to them with cease and assist. I kept saying no. I went to an attorney and I was like, will I get in trouble if I keep doing this? And he's like, no, they have no grounds because it's a phrase. It's like the situation. Yeah. It's like saying fast food. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:01 It's like, you're not saying McDonald's. Yep. It's like, you're fine. And I was like, okay. So I just kept saying no. I just kept replying. Nope, nope, nope. I'm like waiting for them to offer me some money for these sites.

Starting point is 00:12:11 Eventually, they came back. because the situation did create a workout DVD. And they offered me some low ball number. And I'm like, well, sell that. Yeah. I think it was like, I think the offer was like five grand. And I was like, I said, bro, this makes like, and even during the non-popularity times of the show, it was doing like $1,000 a week.

Starting point is 00:12:29 It's hugely, if I was going to say, it's hugely popular. You're trying to give me a, yeah, I'm making. It was, it was a slap in the face. I was like, you know what? Fuck you. Like, I'm not doing it. Ended up, the show lost popularity. The site had eventually died.

Starting point is 00:12:41 How dare they try. strong arm you when you're strong arming them. That's not how this works. You don't fuck me over. I fuck you over. That's how this works. I looked at it like I did. That's the email you should have said.

Starting point is 00:12:54 I did all the hard work and ranked it in the search engines. You don't have to do that shit now. So, but I took that as, that was like case study. One, I was like, wow, that worked. So then I used, you know, online jobs. pH and I proceeded to go on a tirade and I made 500 more sites. Not Jersey Shore related, but I did it for ever. every single, any term I could think of.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Like I had biggerarms.org, increased testosterone naturally.org. And I would just do the same thing, rinse and repeat. And my envision was I'm going to make this network of sites average $1,000 a day. And then I read that if you can sustain $1,000 a day, you can prove, then you can sell the whole network for like one or two years worth of income or something. It was like the whole network would suffer. I was like, okay. So I was just working.

Starting point is 00:13:39 Like, I had an apartment at the time. I had like a whiteboard on the wall. I was like sites working on site. And that was all I did for like six months, eight months after the Jersey Shore thing. And I had some banger sites. I made a lot of money off of Chris Evans workout. He was Captain America. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:55 And IMDB literally told you what movies were coming out, like up to like a year in advance. So I just went to IMDB and I was like, okay, all right, Chris Hemsworth work or Chris, Chris Evans. Oh, Captain Mayor. Yeah, he's probably going to gain muscle for that. So buy Chris Evansworkout.com.net.org. I'd buy them all set up a side. I was like, oh, you know, Scarlett Johanson, she's probably going to get lean in tone for that.

Starting point is 00:14:17 Let's make her a site. And I did that for every single site on INDB.com for the next year. And it was like clockwork. It was like every time a movie released, a few thousand dollar commission would roll in. I kept selling the same products. And then I started getting into, and then I had this exit pop plug in,

Starting point is 00:14:33 which, have you heard of cookie stuffing? Exit plug? Yeah, it's like an exit pop plugin. Meaning like when you go to leave a, the site, the site changes. Have you ever been on a site that did that? It's kind of illegal now. I don't think they allow you to do it.

Starting point is 00:14:45 It's very frowned upon. Okay. So this site, and I feel it with like cookies, like cookies on the internet. That's the thing you always say. No cookies. Yeah. Well, most people don't say that. What does it do?

Starting point is 00:14:56 It tracks like what you've been. Yeah. And like kind of what maybe. So different. So like Amazon, I think has like a 24 hour cookie. So like if you say, hey, Ryan, you should get this computer and you send me a link through your affiliate link. And I buy it within 24 hours.

Starting point is 00:15:09 you get the commission. Okay. But if anybody else clicks on it, like you still get the commission for 24 hours. Well, click bank, which is the service that I used for, you know, the sell the visual impact muscle, it was a 60-day cookie. So like any click on the internet was basically mine if they ever came back to buying that said product. This episode is brought to you by Tell Us Online Security. Oh, tag season is the worst. You mean hack season?

Starting point is 00:15:37 Sorry, what? cybercriminals love tax forms, but I've got Telus online security. It helps protect against identity theft and financial fraud, so I can stress less during tax season or any season. Plans start at just $12 a month. Learn more at Telus.com slash online security. No one can prevent all cybercrime or identity theft. Conditions apply.

Starting point is 00:16:00 This episode is brought to you by FedEx. These days, the power move isn't having a big metallic credit card to drop on the check at a corporate lunch. The real power move is leveling up your business with FedEx intelligence and accessing one of the biggest data networks powered by one of the biggest delivery networks. Level up your business with FedEx, the new power move. So what I would do is I would, you know, every time I'd have all these sites out there, there was this plug-in for WordPress, which was like it's like they just, you just,

Starting point is 00:16:38 a few clicks and it was on the site. And when you went to leave, it completely changed the site. Now, I just made it change the site to whatever product I was selling because it also cookie them. So I would get credit. So even if you went to one of my sites and eventually came back, now the guy was running a lot of advertising for his product too. So he was paying for a lot of money for VisualO by muscle.

Starting point is 00:17:00 He was paying for ads. He had a lot of other affiliates promoting it. It was actually a really, really good product. I do stand by that product. I think it helped a lot of people, you know, to get that lean Hollywood physique. So the, you know, for like 60 days, like I was getting commissions from everywhere. Like, because they, I was, like, I was basically cookie stuffing is what it was called. But because it was a plug-in, it was considered an exit pop, but it wasn't.

Starting point is 00:17:25 And I only know this because ClickBank, who was actually the people that were paying me, they actually shut, shut my sites down. They said, you couldn't take any more payments. And I was like, whoa, because we were talking like, I mean, it was starting to like, I mean, I'm trying to sell the whole network here. And I think it was at about five, six hundred bucks a day when like they shut me down. And I was like, why are you shutting me down? And they're like, well, you're using this.

Starting point is 00:17:46 And they like had a whole case. Like, you're cookie stuffing. And I was like, I did know what cookie stuffing was. But I'm like, I'm not cookie stuffing. Like, I'm just using a WordPress plugin. The plugin's called WP lap dance. Right. They're like, don't you think that's a little weird that's called WP lap dance?

Starting point is 00:17:59 I said, I'm not the one that created the plugin. So I actually reached out and found the guy that created the plugin. And I had him call on my behalf to ClickBank because he was so sure. shocked that I was selling so many, like I was getting so much commissions from using his product that he wanted to use me as a case study. I was like, well, dude, if you can get my account turn back on, I'll do whatever you want. Like, I'll just, you know, I need my account turn back on because they're saying I'm cookie stuffing. Is this cookie stuffing? He's like, no, it's an exit pop. It's a gray area. Yeah. Like, so they end up turning my account back on. I know, I'm still friends with that guy to this day.

Starting point is 00:18:31 He still sells a lot of stuff online. Like, that was just one of many plugins he created. But it was like, you know, I got up to like, I think it was like close to 500 sites. and I got an offer to sell the network. And I was... What was the offer? It was like a fuck you. It was a $250,000 offer. And I was...

Starting point is 00:18:50 I thought... I feel like that's not a fuck you, but for a guy who's living in his mom's... who rides... who live in his mom's spare room who rides a bike on the weekends. Like, I feel like that's a pretty good deal. In hindsight, it was an amazing deal.

Starting point is 00:19:07 I was not in my mom's. I bought a nice apartment now, so I was, I thought you were going to tell me that it. Thank God I didn't take it. It ended up being $2.5 million. It's like, what? Nope, nope. Shortly after I told that person to fuck off, Google changed the algorithm. All those bastards.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Damn them. And all those sites basically disappeared. And I lost all the money. And in hindsight, I should have taken that offer. But based on business sense, like if it would have continued and Google didn't change that, like it would have been able to sell for that. out of valuation. It was just like, you know, but it wasn't technically, I had so many sites.

Starting point is 00:19:44 I did make good money. A lot of people ended up because when the sites died, I was able to like make some money because while I was also exit popping and cookie stuffing to the degree, I was also building an email list. So I was getting people's email. So now I was basically when all the sites disappeared, I started sending spam emails every day. I was just emailing you four or five times a day to buy the next current product.

Starting point is 00:20:06 And that worked. It was able to, you know, move me along. for about a year because at this time I had met my now current my now current wife like we were we were dating she met me during the time of that you know I thought I was invincible yeah I'm gonna say you must seem like a rainmaker oh yeah I you know I had discovered buying bottle service at clubs and there was one specific club in downtown St. Beersburg called vintage ultra lounge I would just blow my money there every Thursday Friday and Saturday and I would be like yo tomorrow it's just like a fucking ATM it's it replenishes itself what's the most amazing

Starting point is 00:20:39 thing. If I spend a grant tonight, there'll be another grand in there tomorrow. It's like it'll never happen. Codky. 100%. So cocky. And then I was like, but the one thing I did, I didn't buy a car. I bought a scooter. I kept my expenses pretty low. Yeah. So, you know, and I somehow convinced my now current wife to love me during that whole thing. And then everything came crashing down. And, you know, she's like, what do you do for my now? I was like, well, I'm just going to spam email people. I was like, because they signed up for my list. So it's not deadly spam me until they leave. And I did. And I was nowhere near as lucrative as the SEO, but it turned into, I was able to, like, build this, you know, empire of, like, I end up growing the email list. I was buying email list. I was sending email so other people's lists. And then they would opt into my list. And then I would, like, email them. Yeah, but how does that make you money?

Starting point is 00:21:27 So it was same affiliate offers. I was selling everything from, I mean, the darker stuff was like the Viagra that you couldn't cancel. Right. Like, and I didn't understand, again, blind ignorance, how like a company could pay. So if you just sent an email to my product and, you know, you enter your email and name an email into my product, I gave you 30 bucks. That was like one of the offers that I had.

Starting point is 00:21:53 I was like, wait, they were paying $30 an email leave. Well, turns out it was one of those, that company ended up getting sued because you couldn't, you can never cancel. It was like a free trial, a seven-day trial, and then you got billed $60 a month forever. And they weren't letting people cancel, you know. But, you know, I was just sending email traffic, letting people do what they decided to do. I didn't really think too much of that. It was like, hey, you know, if you're going to do your credit card and buy some dick pills, that's not, that's on you. That's not on me, you know.

Starting point is 00:22:22 Right. But in hindsight, I sent a lot of traffic to that. You know, but it made a lot of money. You know, not a lot of money. I mean, at this point, I was just kind of like surviving. I think probably the most I was making doing the email stuff was a four to $6,000 a month. I don't have to pay my bills and not have to get a job. Right.

Starting point is 00:22:39 And then I actually decided, I was like, okay, I need to be a little more legit, you know, and I wanted to create a business. And by this time, I had also kind of discovered doing recreational drugs, occasionally on the weekends, you know, the white stuff, the powder. So I was partying and doing this while also trying to be an actual person. So I created this company, you know, because my now current wife actually broke up with me during that time. That happens. Yeah. You know, she did a good. She definitely should have dumped me.

Starting point is 00:23:11 I was an asshole. And I started going out and I was like, man, like, I don't know why I got dumped. I thought for sure she just wanted to dump me for some guy that wears a suit. I was like, I was convinced that just because I was like this extreme sport guy who figured out this internet money. that she thought I was, you know, that that's why she dumped me. And turns out it was a, you know, she had some things to deal with, but also I was kind of a piece of shit back then. Right.

Starting point is 00:23:33 You know, so I, we go our separate ways, and I discover men's style and fashion on the internet. I was like, this is like a rabbit hole you can go down. Like, you can wear different stuff and women like you, and then you don't have to talk to them and they approach you and then you can go home with different women. I was like, this is great. So, but none of the people on the internet were talking about, like,

Starting point is 00:23:53 wear this get laid or women like this, they find this attractive. So I then just kind of jumped full head first into the men's pickup and dating industry, which was like lucrative industry for most people. I've watched those videos. When I was in the halfway house, I needed to reaclimate myself to dating. I watched a few of those videos. Who does you watch? Some guys just, you know, he's walking around and just walking up the women and just talking to him.

Starting point is 00:24:19 And he had just a few different approaches. I wish I could remember exactly, but that was basically it. He had these, you know, honestly, he was just, the fact that I didn't realize the fact that just, well, I mean, I did realize that a big part of was just walking up and introduced. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:34 Yeah, that to them, the girl immediately thinks, holy shit, like this guy's super confident. He just walked up and he said, excuse me, hey, can you, I'm just wondering that, my name's so-and-so, shake their hand, and they're just like taking them back. And the next thing you know, they're like, this guy is confident, he's interesting, he's, you got it.

Starting point is 00:24:50 you got a big part of that that that whole battle beat just by doing that yeah that wasn't the people that i was selling to no no no the people that i was selling to you were usually very introverted shy and they expected the women to come up to them and this was this was the guy selling a program yeah teach you how to walk up teach you to how to walk up because the guys are shy and they don't want to be able to walk up and they aren't yeah yeah that was like there was that was like that was like one side of the pickup and the other one was like the ones that like like me who was like i'll tell you exactly what's aware so you never have to talk to women and they just come up to you and basically get naked in front of you.

Starting point is 00:25:25 Yeah. I don't know about that. Yeah. Well, that never really worked. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't, I'm not sure what's, you know, I was able to give a lot of guys. It's a money suit. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:34 It's a suit made a $100 bills. But like, you're absolutely correct. Like, if you just, like, 90%, that's what I tell people now. Like, I feel like dating apps have just fucked up men because I'm like, all you got to do is go say hi. Like, they don't expect some clever fucking thing. Just go say hi to a woman. And you're going to stand out from the 900 swipe lefts that she's seeing.

Starting point is 00:25:53 But this is like, you know, online dating wasn't a thing back then. So there's like a bunch of introverted guys who couldn't get laid. And they were going to the internet to watch a bunch of dudes who thought they had it figured out. And then I was somehow in that world now. And it was a, I created a product called 51 Handsome Guy Secrets. Did really well. Did about six figures the first year. Ooh, she.

Starting point is 00:26:15 Backed on a YouTube channel where I made YouTube videos just telling guys exactly what where to get late. And at the time... And this is you making those videos? This is me, my face, just like we're talking now with a cell phone, like, on like YouTube was just, it was really starting to like, people were already starting to be YouTube famous. Vloggers were popular now.

Starting point is 00:26:34 Did you write a book or a course? It was all digital. I found, yeah, a book would have been more legit. Yeah. A little bit more work. Yeah, a little bit more work and maybe less lucrative. Well, you could do all of it. You could do that like, hey, and I'll send you the book.

Starting point is 00:26:49 or hey, you can download the book. I did make my own version of, Luis, what was it, the Robert, the, the, I made 27 new laws of style. I copied the Robert Green book. Is it Robert Green Laws of Power? Yeah, I copied the 40 Laws of Power cover, and I made the 27 new laws of style. Jesus. I mean, no shame at all.

Starting point is 00:27:12 Hey, I, you know, it was branding, you know, it's like, I didn't steal it. I just, you know, repackaged it, you know. Yeah, he doesn't own a red V. Yeah. So I created a bunch of just digital products, but the most successful product that I had during that whole time was I found out that the guys just wanted me to tell them exactly what to wear. And to be fair, I had some good outfits. At this point, I was like, you know, I had reinvented myself and I was definitely on the right path as far as not looking like a criminal who could rob you. Because that's the look I had as an extreme sport athlete who was kind of angry at the world, who turned down a $250,000 offer to buy all his websites and said, And then Google took all the money away. So that person was like very angry and pissed off. And then the new person was like really kind of, you know, I was starting to wear tailored suits. I was starting to wear like leather jackets and nice shoes.

Starting point is 00:28:01 And like I learned how to like dress like an adult. And I was going out and I'm like, wow, women really do respond positively if you don't look like a slob. And, you know, I think that a lot of extreme sports athletes kind of have that. Because when you're an athlete, you kind of have that aura about being a lot of. a professional athlete, especially if you're in that world, like when you're partying with a bunch of athletes, like everybody thinks you're cool. You're like, oh, he's a professional. But when you get to the real world, you realize that you just look like a criminal. You don't look, you know, you're tattooed in most cases. You're wearing bag of your clothes at the time. Like, you just don't

Starting point is 00:28:37 look like you fit in normal society. And this is like something that was like very hard for me to kind of adjust to. And I did, basically, I found other people's YouTube videos and was able to reinvent myself but then I started getting all my friends were like yo can you help me dress can you do this and I said yeah let's go to the mall and then like they're like sending me their friends I remember I had a friend his name was Dave he's like a finance guy and like he just looked like a typical finance guy's like I need a little more edge like kind of look so square like can you help me I took him to the mall was international mall picked out a bunch of shit and then he's like dude I got laid this is awesome he's like I told my friends about you like and now I'm like well

Starting point is 00:29:12 fuck am I like hitch like what is this like how does this even work like right you know I I mean, I was always naturally good at talking to females. I never really struggled with that. But the style just made it very easy for me to approach women and women to approach me. And, you know, so that was where the whole, I just started making videos every day. Like, and all the titles were the most obnoxious shit, like wear this shirt, get laid. And then even the 51 handsome guy secrets, like the whole pickup and dating industry decided that, because I had the only style product.

Starting point is 00:29:40 So they started selling my style product as an affiliate and I was giving them $31 commission because I was like, well, here's how you motivate somebody to sell your shit. You give them a bunch of commission. So I was starting to do that. And then I had a, you know, I had a continuity on the end of it that was like $60 a month, which I did cancel people. I didn't like steal their credit cards and shit. It was very easy to cancel. But like, and I was able to build that up to where it was like a residual six figures of like people.

Starting point is 00:30:06 And every month I would just send them outfits. I would go to, I would Photoshop together like what looked like outfits. And then I took like seven of the best ones that people liked from like my. members area and I created a book called seven seven outfits to make her want to fuck you right and it was seven bucks I sold like five or six thousand copies of that for seven dollars right and it was it was the best selling product I've ever had and I had an order bump be familiar with an order bump so like an order bump is like on the page so this is all the different ways that internet sites make more money up sale yeah well it's only an upsell after the first purchase this is before the purchase

Starting point is 00:30:42 so like you're on the checkout page and you're entering your information and you're buying a book called seven outfits to make you want to fuck you and it's like hey wait before you hit before you hit go do you want seven more outfits to make her want to fuck you right click this box click the check box boom now i just got 14 dollars instead of seven then the upsell flow starts and the upsell flow on this one was a work of art the first product was if you don't say so if i don't say so myself the first upsell was i'm like okay so they just bought seven outfits or essentially 14 outfits to make her want to fuck you like okay well let's give them more outfits so then it was like you know I think it was like 99 outfits that make her come

Starting point is 00:31:23 to you and it was like just a bunch of photoshop outfits and like why you should wear them right and then so I think it was like clothes that make her come to you oh my god and then that had like an 80 percent take rate. So like 80 out of 100 people said yes to that offer. And it was $29. And then I'm like, okay. So sad. Does anybody else feel bad? That's how Louise came into my life. Oh my God, Louise. He bought it. But. Oh my gosh. So then it was like, so that was the first, that was the first upside one was close maker come to you. And I was like, okay, well, what's the next one? I said, well, I knew based on data and talking to people that everybody struggled, you know, women love, the bad boy. I mean, you're familiar with that. People love the bad boy. So I was like, well,

Starting point is 00:32:14 everybody's a bad boy. We just got to unleash it. So I made it from the bad boy. So I made bad boy unleashed. And it was a $99, 12 week masterclass on how to unleash your inner bad boy. And that one crushed too. And that funnel, I mean, if I did not take it down, it would still be selling to this day. Because it was being residual YouTube traffic, obviously you're familiar with YouTube. like people would watch my videos and then click the link and they would just pay for it. I did eventually end up stopping selling. I stopped selling all the dating stuff more so because I had since got back together with my, with my then girlfriend, who's now my, you know, my wife.

Starting point is 00:32:52 And I was also, well, we were also pregnant and I was having a daughter. And I was like, I can't do this anymore. I literally, I was like that moment of like, I'm a piece of shit. I can't keep telling guys how to get laid. I'm just not going out anymore. and I don't really care. Like, I still dress well. I can still give you some advice there.

Starting point is 00:33:09 But I knew based on culture and the internet, nobody was going to click on that shit unless I put some fucking obnoxious title on it. Right. As, like, that's culture. So I was like, I have to keep talking about this. And I was just like, I cannot do this. And so I quit.

Starting point is 00:33:23 And then that was like, that brings, that brought me to, you know, a year or so where I was kind of confused. Now I'm like, I got a daughter. I got, like, I had some money saved up because I didn't blow all the money this time. Right. I didn't have a lot saved up, but I had enough to where, like, I could kind of fuck around for a year and figure myself out, you know, but I found myself towards the end of that kind of, you know, dissipating. You say your savings going away. So I didn't really know what to do. Instagram's becoming popular. So I start making some little videos here on Instagram. And I start kind of growing in Instagram because I was really late to it. Because I was focused on YouTube for so long. I was late to Instagram. And then I started, you know, I was introduced to like, you know, Every once in a while I like to do some drugs on the weekends.

Starting point is 00:34:09 And I was like, I went out. And I was like, me and my one friend were celebrating our first Father's Day. And, you know, for whatever reason, our girlfriends at the time and fiancets let us out. And we go out. And I'm like, fuck. I'm like, I'm having fun. We're doing good. My own friend's like, oh, here's some cocaine.

Starting point is 00:34:27 Hands me a little bag. I was like, oh, cool. Put it in my pocket. I was like, didn't even do it at that moment. I did some previous in the night from somebody else. Right. But then we're like out downtown St. Pete at the bars. And now mind you, at this point I think I look like a very respectable person.

Starting point is 00:34:41 I'm like dressed up. Like it's a Saturday night. We're having fun. Like I'm a dad now. You know, I'm back with my girl. Like we're, you know, I don't know if we were engaged yet, but it was around that time, you know, where we got engaged. But I was like, yeah, things are good. Doing a little, you know, powder like here and there.

Starting point is 00:35:00 And then I go and there's a bar called McDiddens. And I walk in. And I'm like, my one friend who ironically gave me the powder, like to hold, I had it in my back pocket. So I'm walking out to my day. He's like, yo, let's go see so-and-so. He's our friend. You know, like, we haven't seen him in a while. We haven't gone out because, you know, we're like dads now. We're like not going out. And I walk in. I like the bar, the, the, the bouncer standing right there. He's like, like, I'm like, cool. Go like this. Pull out my ID and what is stuck to the bottom of my wallet.

Starting point is 00:35:29 Powder. Like he just falls out right on the ground. And I look at the ground. And I look at him. and I look at my friend who's like already gotten in and I said I like panicked I was like oh shit what do I was like I should run well he's a bouncer I don't know oh maybe because I was on powder and I was making bad decisions so I grabbed it from the ground like I picked it up real quick and I just took off and next thing I know I hear like the bouncer because middittans in st. Pete for whatever reason when it was there like all the cops congregated in front of fucking McDittins. Right. And it's like, they all had nothing to do. They're all just sitting there. Well, the poucher's like, who's got drugs? And I'm like, you motherfucker.

Starting point is 00:36:13 I was like, piece of, why are you going to call me out? So I'm like running and I like tossed the powder like this. And it happened to land in the trash can. I was like, fuck yeah. And I kept running, kept running. And I, in my mind, I got far enough away to where nobody would know. And then I get tackled by a cop. and it's like a whole thing.

Starting point is 00:36:34 And now, like, I'm not resisting arrest, but now I know I'm like, okay, I'm, you know. And now they're like digging through the trash can because they're like, he threw it. The bouncer was like, I was like, why does this bouncer not like me? And I'm like, what the fuck did I do to this guy? I was like, just a little bit of powder stuck to my shit.

Starting point is 00:36:50 Like, it's all over St. Pete. That's one thing I learned about that. Like, when it's everywhere. Like, it's like, it's very hard to not see it or know somebody who has it. When, if you've been introduced to that world, it's everywhere. And so I'm like, what the fuck? So next thing you know, like I'm on, you know, handcuffed on the front of the car. My friends are like, what the fuck just happened?

Starting point is 00:37:09 They don't know. They kind of have an idea. And like I ended up throwing like my stuff, you know, my phone and stuff. I said, you know, please bail me. Like, you know, I'm obviously getting arrested. And the cops are like, then they, it's like, I found it. And I'm like, what did they just pull? They pulled it out of the trash.

Starting point is 00:37:25 Like, and then like, they put it down on the hood of the car and they're like, is not yours? I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. is that? I've never seen, I don't even know what that is. And they're like, yeah, right. Like, the cop, they were like jerks to me, you know, rightly so. I ran. I probably deserved it.

Starting point is 00:37:42 Like, I ran away, okay? They had to chase me. I don't think the guy was, like, ready for that run. Like, I think I was pretty fast, you know. So I end up getting arrested. I end up going, like, wherever you go, you know, like, I don't know, it was actually, like, I was end up being there for, like, 10 hours, maybe, maybe 12, like, I don't know, you know, whatever. And I'm, like, had the call, like, you know, my fiance, hey, I'm in, and she's like, what the fuck did you have the powder on you and this? And I'm like, I don't know when all of a sudden I became like an expert criminal at this point. I was like, I was like, babe, I think we should talk about this when I get out. I'm going to assume this is a recorded line. Thankfully it was, right, a recorded line. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:38:21 I end up getting out. Then I tried to bail myself out because I was making, I was back making some money. Like, I had a little bit of money. And I was like, can I just bail myself out? And like, it was like, they looked at me like I was like weird. Like, they're like, well, people don't normally do that, I guess. And I ended up having, like, my friend actually who gave me the powder, bailed me out. And then I get out the next morning and yeah, sure enough, that was Father's Day. My first Father's Day, I was like, oh, great, cool. Had to catch an Uber back to the house, a nice long, sobering Uber. And then I come in and, you know, I was like, yeah, that's a, that happened. Basically, the fiance was like, what the fuck? Like, you're an idiot. Like, I said, yeah, yeah,

Starting point is 00:38:58 I got no excuses there. Like, definitely stupid. And that was, you know, and then, that started the whole like where I was always fascinated with like the halo effect and like all those attorney shows like bull like there was a show bull on MTV and how like when I when I taught the style and stuff there was always a you know there was always a bias to how you dress versus how people treated you so I was like okay so I had to go to court all right so I hired an attorney right at the time was I had I want to say I had like $10,000 in savings right and the attorney just because a criminal charge wiped out like eight of it, I think. It was like a loss. Like, fuck. I was like, this is the stupidest thing. Like, I can't believe I did this. Like, I'm like, you know, this is dumb, but

Starting point is 00:39:43 hey, I don't want this on my record. I want to like, and at the time I was starting to, I was traveling a lot. I was because of the, still doing the fashion stuff. I was still speaking and stuff. I was getting paid to, like, talk to groups of people. Now, when I got out of, it took me a while to get out of the dating industry because it was like, I just stopped publicly making videos. But, I was still doing stuff like going to, I was in part of a masterminds and coaching groups. And like I was being paid like $3,000 a month to train with a guy's coaching group about how I was making videos and like style and overall just like life coaching per se. The irony of that. And I ended up, you know, I paid for the attorney and I show up at court.

Starting point is 00:40:21 And, you know, I walk in and I got like a navy blue suit on fully tailored. I'm like, I'm like, I'm ready. Like I'm like, I'm not going to get in trouble. Like, you know, I paid for this attorney. She's like, we have a strong case. Like, there's no, you know, you didn't have the drugs on you. They're saying that and they said I had way more on me than was in the bag and all of a sudden the bag was gone. Like, so it was like this whole like hearsay thing and or like, I mean, it was like me versus the cops.

Starting point is 00:40:47 And like, so she's like, you know, just show up. And I said, oh, cool. She's like dressed well. Like don't look like a slob. You know, I was like, okay, cool. So I show up and I'm in like, in my opinion, like walking out of a GQ magazine. And she walks up, but I'll never forget this. And she was like, what the fuck are you doing?

Starting point is 00:41:03 I was like, I'm wearing a suit, respect to the judge, right? She's like, you look like a privileged white kid. She's like, and you're arrested for powder. Like, I said, what do I do? She's like, you need to go change. She's like, you look to put together. Like, and I was like, okay. So she's like, do you have anything you change?

Starting point is 00:41:22 I was like, well, no. She's like, well, take off the jacket, maybe take my tie up and just like kind of untucked my shirt to look a little dishevelled. She proceeded to walk me in, spoke everything. I ended up getting, I ended up paying fines, but I got completely, I had to plead guilty to a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge. And I basically walked away for, I think it was about $1,000 in fines. Okay. And I was like, but that moment I was like, and I said, why did you make me change?

Starting point is 00:41:46 She said, because I didn't want the judge to, you were already there for what they were saying was a decent size amount of powder. And they don't have. Yeah, that they didn't have, but they had, like, but they said, but you looked like a privileged white kid. And I was like, okay. That was like my introduction of like that was like the halo effect. I was like wow, this shit's real. Like it really does work. And you know, I ended up, I've shared that story a few times.

Starting point is 00:42:10 Like I got millions of views on the internet for sharing that story. But like it just got a further ingrained like how you present yourself really matters. Even in those situations, I was like, you know, I'm sure like I don't know how real this is from what you're experienced. But they say, isn't it like a negotiation factor of like when you have to see a judge to let you wear the jumpsuit or put you in your own clothes? I mean, if you've been arrested, like, and you're in jail, you can, your lawyer should be allowed to bring you a change of clothes so you don't have to go in front of open court in an orange jumper. Because when you're wearing an orange jumper, you look more guilty.

Starting point is 00:42:45 And especially if you're going to trial, if you're going to trial, that your lawyer will be like, look, you need to wear. They'll try and insist. Some guys are like, I don't give a fuck. I'll wear the orange jumps. Like, they don't care. Yeah. But they typically always want to dress you out nicer so that there's not a bias from the jury as to you look like a criminal.

Starting point is 00:43:07 You're an orange jumpsuit. You look like, you know, they want you clean, shaving, and a pair of khakis and a nice long cleave shirt and try and cover up the tattoos. And that's a better look. It at least makes them think it's possible. This guy looks like a normal citizen. He doesn't look like a gangster. Yeah, that was like, I mean, are there any hacks like this? that that you've learned that you learned in jail like what other things that they do you have

Starting point is 00:43:31 anything else like that i mean i mean i mean no i mean that's just that you know but i mean everybody gets in front of the judge and they all try and downplay what they did and you know they're sorry and they're this and they're that and i think uh you know most of i think the judge has heard it he they're so you know they're so callous and and they've heard it all they're they've they've been jaded they've seen these guys come and cry their eyes out and apologize and beg for forgiveness and you'll never see me again and then six months later they go to jail for two years they get out and six months later they're back again so they they get like you know I've heard this so many times yeah I mean I just found that fascinating like because it was like kind

Starting point is 00:44:12 of like oh I said shit like that prior to like I'm like oh yeah people judge you on how you dress and everything everything matters I was trying to obviously sell products yeah taught that and then I was like when I did that I overdid it and she was like no no no opposite. Yeah, she's like that that could be like that could harm you in this situation. And I mean, she didn't make me look like a slob or anything. But it was just, I was just like, oh, I was just like, oh, shit, I would have totally just walked in there. And she's like, yeah, you kind of look like an arrogant prick. I was like, if I, if I was a judge and you walked in, you had a, like a three-piece suit on and just, you know, you look, you had suspender or

Starting point is 00:44:47 something, he'd be like, oh, this guy's a doucheback. Like, yeah, but if you have slacks and a long sleeve shirt and I mean, it was a full suit. I had like a tie bar, knit tie. Like, I went overboard. Yeah, it did look like I was like GQ magazine. Yeah, I was like Who dresses like this? Yeah, who dressed like this for their For their court day? Right. Yeah. What's the weirdest thing you saw in prison? The weirdest thing? Yeah, like where you're like looking back, like what the fuck? There's a lot of weird stuff.

Starting point is 00:45:14 Baby, please. Yeah, I was going to say that's the most like the worst thing you ever saw It's not like walking out and something two guys having sex or anything like that like that happened every once while you'd walk or you'd Is that in the bathroom or like? in a shower stall and you're like, oh, man. But yeah, I would say that the, that was pretty, yeah, you know what that is weird. Yeah, that is probably pretty weirdest thing. Just seeing two guys. No, no, no.

Starting point is 00:45:41 It was, I was in the library in the medium and there was probably 20 or 30 guys in there. And it probably held 60 or something. It was never full. Like you went to the low, filled all the time. But the medium it wasn't. So I'm in there writing like some guy's story and working on some stuff. What's the medium? The medium security prison.

Starting point is 00:45:59 Oh, okay. So I'm sitting in a library writing and there was a gay guy. They called a punk, right? I guess a transgender now, right? Because it was a dude that looked like a woman, whatever, believe. I don't know what the political thing is, if you say. Anyway, in prison, he was a punk. And listen, he looked like a woman.

Starting point is 00:46:20 I mean, he would. He'd trick you. You could be a bad night. But, I mean, little thin braids, super thin, dainty, not dainty, probably, probably 58, 5, 9, but I mean, super skinny, right? And was looking at a Vogue magazine. And I mean, it's just like a whole act, right? Yeah. And, you know, but whatever, they're there.

Starting point is 00:46:46 You know, listen, you're going to meet them. You got, you got these guys walk around like, they've got boob jobs. They've got, oh, yeah, it's insane. So, anyway. I'm going to go, she was sitting there doing her thing and I'm writing. And this guy came walking into the library who'd never been in the library before in his life. He was six foot plus jacked up. I mean, looked like he was on steroids.

Starting point is 00:47:15 He was massive. And he walks into the life. As soon as he walked in, everybody was like, everybody looked up. Like, holy shit. he walks right up to the punk and he goes baby can I talk to you outside and she just

Starting point is 00:47:32 keeps turning the page baby baby please and then he kind of looks up to look around who's and everybody looking everybody's looking like this we all look down we're terrified you know a bunch of soft

Starting point is 00:47:45 soft guys in the library and this guy's a massive and then he says baby baby can i please talk to you outside baby please baby and i mean it was humiliating and then he goes baby please and put his hand on on her shoulder and she was like don't touch me no no no and you know they said first he said as he's flipping the guy he looks up and he goes i like the way you talk to me in front of your friends and he was baby please baby please can i talk to outside baby please and and and he goes goes to put his hand on and and and she like goes like that and don't touch me and he's like

Starting point is 00:48:22 I was all right, baby, please. Baby, please, can I talk to outside? Baby, please. And, I mean, it was the most fucking humiliating thing I've ever said. I've never been so overwhelmingly humiliated for another person in my life. Finally, the punk gets up. They walk outside. Then the punk comes, you know, sashaying back in five minutes later, sits down.

Starting point is 00:48:42 The guy comes back in head, you know, baby, please, can I talk to you, baby, please, let me do it. It was a fucking horrible, bro. It was, I was. Just a lover's quarrel? It was a lover's quarrel. and and and and it was so bad that like when the guy left and when I saw the other guys in the room we didn't even laugh about it like it's not like bro that was crazy right it was just like I just felt like wow like that was I felt bad for that I was horrible humiliating but yeah so it was it's it's an it's an odd place odd things happen what was your favorite meal in prison uh oh um I mean they have what they call holiday meals and they would they would feed you like a And they have hamburger day, which is like Wednesdays is hamburger day. They used to give you hamburgers and french fries.

Starting point is 00:49:30 I don't know if they still do. But not great hamburgers. But it's still a hamburger. And it's still French rice. And then they have holiday meals and you would get like, you know, oh, no, they'd get fried chicken every once in a while. Probably once a month you got fried chicken. It could be really good.

Starting point is 00:49:45 And then on holiday meals, you would get like a real, like, a real, like meal. like a meal like like you know and it's so funny dude because these guys would bitch and moan man that chicken or that little they give it like a little cornish hen man that cornish hen ain't got no meat on it that guy it's like what did you fucking think when you were robin banks did you think they were going to feed you all yeah but i'm robin banks but when they catch me they're going to feed me lobster in prison so it'll be okay like what did you think you i thought i It's slop. Every meal.

Starting point is 00:50:15 The fact that they're giving you a holiday meal is a special meal that you don't deserve, bro. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're selling crack. You know, in a park across the street from an elementary school. Like, what if? You're upset because they don't have a cornish inn. Is it thick enough? But, oh, listen, you know, another thing they would do?

Starting point is 00:50:37 This is funny. And this is actually right around, I don't know, it'd be Christmas time. So more Christmas time. They give you, well, one they give you, they, a couple days beforehand, before Christmas, they line everybody, everybody goes back to the units, and then they line you up unit by unit, and that's like 12 units, they would let you out.

Starting point is 00:50:59 And so you come out like 180 guys, and they walk all the way to the chow hall, you go in the chow hall, you get Christmas cookies and chocolate milk. And let me tell you something. And you walk all the way, and then the warden, the assistant warden and warden everybody will be there and they'll be like merry christian or you know happy

Starting point is 00:51:16 holidays they don't say christmas god forbid um that that's a line that you can't cross in prison right um and then they would the guys would the guys would they would be holidays happy holidays guys like and what's so funny is before before you go and they you give it you get a ticket right you hand them a ticket and you get your stuff uh before you go guys would be walking around the unit like man make us line up and go into the chow hall like we a bunch of kids man that's some bullshit me like you're not going to go can i get your ticket fuck you cox you know i'm gonna go what you're what you're gonna go you know it's is it embarrassing is it humiliation absolutely well that's prison yeah that's what happened that's what you signed up and you don't have to go get your

Starting point is 00:52:01 Christmas cookies so shut up like don't come stop it you need to buy them yeah yeah they're free they're free in prison that's made you more money today I would say humility. Yeah, just appreciation and humility. And, you know, because I work a lot harder and I appreciate everything a thousand percent more. So, you know, and I don't think, I don't think anything was going to teach me that other than a decade in prison because I was just that much of a prick. How can you tell if someone's a criminal? How can you know what's so funny about this is, well, first of all, I think,

Starting point is 00:52:40 I've said this before. I don't know if I've ever said it here, but I mean, I everybody's a criminal. You'll, you'll commit a crime, you know. I have, technically. Oh, absolutely. We just talked about it. But I'm saying you could be the, you know, so I actually was in, I actually was in a program called Ardap. It was a drug and alcohol, it was drug and alcohol kind of a recovery program in prison.

Starting point is 00:53:06 In a, yeah. So, yeah, it was like in a prison, in a prison. And the psychologist that ran the thing was going around talking to everybody and talking about getting out of prison, that sort of thing. And they were talking about, like, and I, when I had talked about my getting out program, like, well, what I was planning on, I said, I'm going to do this for about a year, this for about a year, I'll give it about a year. And they were like, well, what happens after a year? And she goes, and I said, if like in a year, I'm living in the spare room and I'm riding a bus and I can't pay my bills? And she goes, yeah, what happens then? I go, I'm going to commit a massive, massive fraud.

Starting point is 00:53:38 and I'm going to leave the United States because that's where I fucked up last time. And she went, well, committing a crime should never be, that should never be an option. I go, well, anybody will commit a crime under the right circumstances. And she goes, that's not, she says, oh, that's not true. I said, really, really? I said, let me give you a scenario, Doc.

Starting point is 00:53:57 You got two kids, and I know she had two kids. I said, you got two kids. Let's say you're married, you're a psychologist, you work for the government, and suddenly there's a recession. and they cut back on programs like ARDAP and you lose your job and you find out that your husband is having an affair and he leaves you and he leaves and stops paying child support and you lose your house. By the way, most of that I know, I knew through the back door.

Starting point is 00:54:25 Some of that was true. I said, and she, he leaves you and I said, you're struggling and you no longer have a job and people don't have disposable income to worry about their feelings. I said, and your kids, you lose. your house and you're living in your car with your two kids and you're sleeping in a in a grocery store parking lot and they happen to put the bread four feet inside of the door and you know if I walk by there I snagged a piece a loaf of bread my kids live for another week I said anybody

Starting point is 00:55:00 under the right circumstance will commit a crime the difference is your threshold and mine is just my thresholds just a little bit lower than yours. That's all. Anybody would do it. So, you know. How'd get that, Brett? Absolutely. Fuck that.

Starting point is 00:55:13 Fuck Publis. They got enough money. Right. But I think anybody would commit a crime, but I also think when I was out there committing crimes, it was very easy for me to convince people to help me, either by manipulating them or simply by you see someone that's maybe struggling and they see that you have stuff and you're endearing to them and you're extremely manipulative. The idea of paying someone for their service several times so you have three different interactions with them knowing I'm a decent guy

Starting point is 00:55:46 and I will build a relationship in those three interactions and we'll be friends and I'll get his advice for free from now on. That's amazing. That's a great situation, right? The guy that paid the one time for the hour or however long that period of time, he's not going to be able to do that. You knew break it up. I'll be endearing. He's got him to make him one. laugh. It's going to be great. I'll be my best for 15 minutes. So I think that I was always very good at figuring out who was susceptible. And I think that's just intuition and a huge believer in intuition. How do you how do you know somebody's how do you know if somebody can be easily manipulated? I don't know. A lot of people don't have they don't have super people want to be

Starting point is 00:56:30 liked and they don't have super solid foundations and I think that you find somebody that wants to be liked and they're they're easily manipulated right like they want to be like they're not they don't have that you could it could be anything it could be you know those people that won't draw that line in the sand and you know like I tend to fake that you know like I'll fake like oh yeah no I get it hey I I understand like I I get you wanting to you know, whatever, you know, you're a Democrat and, you know, you're liberal and I'm conservative. And but I get you, I understand like, hey, I want free health care. I understand that. And I, you know, so you do that whole thing, you know, but the truth is, you know, I have

Starting point is 00:57:12 horrifically harsh lines. But I'll allow myself to appear to be manipulated because I need you to feel like I'm on your side because I then will later extract something from you. It's a horrible personality trait that I'm struggling with. That you're really good at me. So, what's the most common crime people commit? Gosh,

Starting point is 00:57:35 I don't know. That's the most common crime people commit. In federal prison. In federal prison? Sure. I mean, if you think that you have a better insight on it? I mean, honestly,

Starting point is 00:57:45 it's probably selling drugs, right? Like, is that still a crime? Unfortunately. Why is that still a fucking crime? Yeah. Well, I mean, unfortunately,

Starting point is 00:57:52 it's probably, it's, yeah, it's, you know, it's so funny, too, because people, a lot of people will sell

Starting point is 00:57:59 drugs they don't even think it's a crime like you know what I'm saying like the kid that's bringing some marijuana to his buddy in high school and he's selling it yeah and even he'll break even he didn't even make any profit on you just gave it to his friend selling but I'm just getting my money back you just sold you know yeah I don't know I don't know I'd have to say drugs is the most common one because anybody can do it you know what uh what did you spend most of your time doing while in jail uh I mean what I spent most of my time doing was waiting a line but other than that I would say it was writing. You know, I wrote pretty much all the time.

Starting point is 00:58:33 Just that's what I, like, that's what got me through jail. Were you writing before? I had written before I went to prison. I'd never published anything. I never really anything really completed anything that was like a solid manuscript that was edited and ready to go. But I'd worked on stuff before. Like I'm creative, right? But it wasn't until prison.

Starting point is 00:58:56 I think I really kind of like got. good at writing and took it seriously in prison. You had a lot of time. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, exactly. You have, you have, it's funny how many guys go to prison and they, um, and they focus on playing handball and, you know, basically doing a bunch of shit that's like, okay, none of that's going to help you on the outside. And I, and I kept thinking, what can I do to try and do something else when I get out here?

Starting point is 00:59:24 because the judge was very, very, he was very, very stern when he said I couldn't commit fraud anymore. I mean, he was really adamant about it. And I really felt like, if I can't feel like I can't be in front of this guy again. He's really adamant about it. I need to do something else. What's the worst thing you can do if you get arrested? I think mouth off to the cops, you know? I did that.

Starting point is 00:59:50 Yeah. Yeah. It never ends up well. Like, it's like, this isn't going to. It's already going bad for you. This is the only going to go worse. Yeah, I think, yeah. Oh, I also think it depends on, yeah, if you're guilty of something, too.

Starting point is 01:00:03 You know, sometimes the cops will arrest people that aren't, they haven't really done anything. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah. So, but just melt, I think mouthing off just makes it worse and worse and worse. And then. But I also think that if you're convicted, if they're, if they've arrested you for a serious crime, then I think talking to them's a mistake. Then I think you have to get to that point. Yeah, I really feel like I need my lawyer.

Starting point is 01:00:24 I you know that you should probably have done fairly quickly you still be very polite like hey I get it I understand you have a job I just feel like what you're saying I need to talk to a lawyer And what is the what's the best thing you do if you get arrested? You think get a lawyer yeah and not talk and not talk yeah people tend to bury themselves I think they're gonna talk them they're they're gonna talk their way out of it and then almost Just never happens right like I mean I've done it a few times but but you know Yeah, definitely. And then last one, a little bit different.

Starting point is 01:00:58 So do you ever feel guilty now because you talk about your past and you monetize it now through the podcast? No. No? I wouldn't either, but I was just figured it was a good question. So I'm on the sociopathic scale for sure, right? Like all criminals. Like if one percent of society is sociopathic and 99% of guys that are locked up in prison are sociopaths, you know, So I have very little empathy, but I'm not a complete 100%.

Starting point is 01:01:29 I don't have anybody in the basement. You know, like I'm not driving around with a dead body in the trunk of my car or anything. But I have very little empathy. So I don't feel bad. I feel like this is what I'm doing. I'm entertaining. I'm not harming anybody, I think. And what's even more amazing about it is that, and this is completely not as a result of me making an attempt at all.

Starting point is 01:01:53 which makes it even more bizarre, is that there are people out there that are, like, inspired by me just making a normal living. And they send me letters and emails. Like, you're an inspiration, you're this. And I'm like, I'm just trying to make a living. And they're inspired, like, you've turned your life around,

Starting point is 01:02:11 like, by trying to do something legally. Like, everybody that works at Walmart is doing that right now. They're just doing, they're legally making a living. And yet people, it just happens to be that people, are inspired by it and they like it and they and if people like you they want to see you succeed and that that's as fucked up as society is that's a great thing about society that they want to see that Americans love a comeback story oh they do they love it.

Starting point is 01:02:38 God. The worst it is it seems the more glorified it is these days it's even better I mean so what's your opinion on Jordan Belfort oh I mean I love Jordan but listen there's a guy um oh come on what's You know, I think he's a snitch? Jordan Belfort? Oh, I thought you meant Jordan, uh, Jordan, Peterson. Peterson, I'm sorry.

Starting point is 01:02:59 Um, yeah, of course he cooperated. No, I said, do you, do, I mean, what's your opinion of him? Do you think that was good or bad? I think he snitched on everybody. He had, he had, you got to look for, you got to look out for yourself, bro. I'm, yeah, I'm the only one looking out. This is the one thing I know for sure. This is the one thing is that there is no street code.

Starting point is 01:03:20 And the only person looking at, you know, you know, you know, out for you is you. And if you're thinking yourself, I would love the guys that do the, what do they do? They do the, you know, oh, well, you know, it's against my principles. Principles, bro, if you had principles, you wouldn't be ripping people off for a living. You wouldn't be selling crack. You wouldn't be, you know, you wouldn't be robbing banks. You wouldn't be, you know, committing fraud. Like, if you had principles, a guy with principles, you know what he does? He cooperates with the police. And when he needs money you know what he does he works two jobs that's what he does he doesn't run a pump and dump scheme that makes everybody millions and millions of dollars and then suddenly have principles and go

Starting point is 01:04:01 to prison for fucking 15 years no what he does is exactly what a scumbag does he rats out everybody he fucking knows to get the best deal he can that's what you do because you don't have principles if you had principles you wouldn't have been this position to begin with so absolutely no problem with belford is there any uh is there any uh Criminals you should study. Yeah. Is there- Criminals you should study?

Starting point is 01:04:25 For what reason? Yeah. Just from like, they're smart. Like they're resourceful, they're smart, they're like. Like a type of criminal or a specific person? Persons. Yeah, I mean, I think Belford's a good example, right? Like he got out and he kind of changed.

Starting point is 01:04:39 He's successful. He's successful. He changed his life. It's so amazing to me that people, that there's a whole segment of society that wants prisoners or people to get in trouble. go to prison, get out, and continue to fail. Like, well, this doesn't make sense. Like, you sent them to prison to be supposedly, not that this is what's happening,

Starting point is 01:05:02 but to rehabilitate themselves. But you still don't want them to do better than you. Even legally, I don't want him to do better because he's a bad person, I'm a good person. Like, I think that says more about those people than it does someone like Belfort. Not hurting anybody. Do you think the government makes it hard

Starting point is 01:05:18 for reformed criminals to succeed? Absolutely. The government society in general create more problems and create more crimes for guys getting out of prison. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get out of prison and start over again? Nobody wants to rent to you. Nobody wants to hire you. Nobody. I had all kinds of restrictions. My judge, for some reason, I don't think he did this on purpose. I don't think he was told this by the U.S. attorney that that, that, that, you know, that. I was because I had one of the things I was doing was I had a development company. I was building new houses. So somehow or another part of my judgment commitment when I got out of prison, it's the, that's the document that binds you while on probation. Part of the judgment commitment said, hey, Mr. Cox cannot work in in real estate. Okay, fair enough. In finance, in any capacity, in real estate finance, development or construction. The problem. So when I, got out of prison, I actually had somebody was going to hire me for like 16, 17 bucks an hour

Starting point is 01:06:26 to drive for a friend of a friend of a friend. I know this is your friend. I'm going to help him out. I'm going to let him, because we have a bunch of laborers and stuff. We need to pick up stuff. We need to drop them off at sites. And we need somebody that can go to Home Depot, pick up things and drop them off. So we really just need somebody who's responsible that has a license that can drive. I go to my probation officer. Boom. Got a job. 40 hours a week. Got to pick up guys, drop them off. It's great. I just got to sit in the truck. And she was like, look, you'll be sitting in the truck for hours at a time waiting for people. No problem. I can write. I can do all kinds of stuff while that's downtime. I can work on social media. Like, this is perfect for me. And she said, yeah, you can't work

Starting point is 01:07:05 for a construction company. And I went, no, no, I'm not, no, I'm not, yeah, but your judgment commitment says you can't work for a construction company. I went, no, no, but that's because I was building stuff. Like, they think in like a capacity as fraud or something. She was, Matt, let me explain something. You can't, I go, I'll be driving a truck. She goes, you can't dig a ditch as a, if it's for a construction company. And I was like, so what do you want me to do? Like, she's like, well, I don't know, but you've got to figure it out.

Starting point is 01:07:35 Like, they don't give a fuck about you. Yeah, because you got to get a job. Then you violate it. Yeah, just as happy to violate you and send you back to prison as it is to do one thing to help you at all. They make it very, and that's, I had, that was actually, I had it very easily. right. I'm a cling cut white guy. I'm well spoken. I'm educated. Not that hard for me to make money.

Starting point is 01:07:56 I'm going to be able to make some money. So I'm going to figure it out. But I know guys who they... Zach, funny, smart, personal, working at Wawa. The only place he can work is Wawa.

Starting point is 01:08:12 He couldn't work at the Dollar General Store. They didn't want to let him work at the Dollar General Store. I don't I don't get it like I mean doesn't make sense they want you to be better but then but then they do but they do but they really want you to fail they don't want you to do better than them they want you to fail they want you to go back to prison so they can feel good about themselves they don't want to help you they don't want to give you student loans they don't want to give you let you go back to school and re-educate yourself or anything like that not in the federal system there's probably some states that probably do that there's some liberal states out there that are probably doing wonderful wonderful things for people and I'm sure those inmates are ruining those programs grams right now at this point right now they're taking advantage of them the one thing is is inmates in general anything you give them and this is horrible they ruin it so it's like one minute you I feel like I want to advocate to help these guys but in another minute you have to boy they'll try and ruin it the moment you give it to them makes sense every time in prison they tried to come up with a different program for us or help us in any way these guys fucked out of every single

Starting point is 01:09:17 time. Hey, let's give them new guitars. These guys are snapping out the guitar strings and making tattoo needles for them. It's like, what are you doing? You know, they're DVDs. Well, let's have a DVD room where they can watch movies. Wouldn't that be nice for them? And, you know, that'll help them. They like to watch the movies and it entertains them. And, you know, these guys have nothing to do. And the next thing you know, they're sneaking in porno DVDs through the guard and they're in there, you know, rubbing one out. And you're looking. What are you doing? What are you guys doing? I'm trying to watch Planet of the Apes here. And you're rubbing one out.

Starting point is 01:09:50 Yeah, Kiki's next to me, rubbing one out. What are some ways that the guards help the prisoners? Help? Or, well, they, I mean. We went to two different places. No, no. Well, yeah, what are things that guards do the prisoners to, like, do they all sneak stuff in for them? Or how do you, like, how does that work?

Starting point is 01:10:11 Yeah, I'm not sure that's helping. Yeah. But it's not helping. But, yeah, no, the guards. Like the guards will, here's a problem. One of the problems is COVID really for the federal system. A ton of, there was so, COVID was so rampant in the system, guards that had, were able to retire, started retiring. They're like, I'm going to die. Like, guards are dying. You got guards who are like, you know, overweight, who have medical problems who are, who are so-and-so died, so-and-so died, so-and-so died. Fuck it. I'm at retirement. I was going to work a few more years to get that up a little bit. I'm done.

Starting point is 01:10:43 So all the guys with seniority quit and they hired all. new guys. So the guys making $80,000 a year that knew how the prisoners were. Those guys got fired, or I'm sorry, those guys quit and they hired a bunch of guys for $35,000 who can barely, what are you going to do for $35,000? How are you going to live on $35,000? You got a wife and maybe two kids and you're trying to live, and you just got out of the military and you're trying to work on $35,000. But guess what? The guy, you know, Matt Cox, his Matt Cox's brother and Cox I know Cox Cox

Starting point is 01:11:17 Cox is in B4 his brother goes up to me in the parking lot says yo bro hey my brother's in B4 I'll give you a fucking grand right now if you'll give him this cell phone Of course they're going to take it They're going to be like A fucking grand For a cell phone I walk in every day

Starting point is 01:11:35 Nobody searches me I put it into my sandwich I'll walk right in Nobody even looks in my little lunchbox. I'll walk right in and Cox is walking by one day. I go, Cox, hey, what's up? Here's some mail for you. He'll hand me some mail.

Starting point is 01:11:50 And in the mail, I'll be like, damn, that mail's heavy. I'll walk back to my cell and open it up and boom, there's a cell phone there, a little flat cell phone. Cox, the guy might talk to you later, like, bro, you better make sure you hide that shit. Because if I find it, I'm going to fucking take it from you. Because guess what? If they take the cell phone that they bring in, they get a bonus. So they'll get like 200 bucks a bonus. So then they'll, these guys will bring in cell phones and then find them on you two weeks later.

Starting point is 01:12:14 Anyway, I'm saying it's, you know, it's a business. But it's not a great business model, but it's profitable. But the cops will do that and they'll bring in, they'll bring in drugs and they'll bring in. And next thing you know, they're making an extra $30,000 on top of the 35. And now the job is okay. And that's what's happening in most of the federal prisons now where when I was there, there was maybe three cell phones on the whole compound. Now every time they do a sweep, they find 100 of them, 150.

Starting point is 01:12:43 They're making alcohol where they, before the guards were too smart, they've been around too long. They knew how to find these types of things. They knew where they hid them. They knew how it worked. The new guards are clueless, so they're able to run game on them. A friend of mine said that there was Jordan's in prison. Is that true?

Starting point is 01:13:01 I think probably some, you can buy sneakers in prison. You can special order sneakers. Yeah, if you have money, you can get almost anything And you used to be able to really get stuff in But yeah, I'm pretty sure you could probably buy Jordans I know that Yeah, you can special order stuff Like they'll only let you spend so much

Starting point is 01:13:24 They don't want you to walk around with a thousand dollar pair of Jordans But I'm sure there are guys that are walking around I'm not a sneakers guy like I think one pair of sneakers I know my cousin bought me a pair of sneakers Pete bought me a pair of sneakers I was walking around with sneakers that had like a hole in them In the bottom I just kept putting paper in it Right? I don't want to spend money on Pete

Starting point is 01:13:43 I'm not here to impress you And so Pete one time's like I'm buying you some fucking sneakers This is ridiculous and he got me some sneakers And they were like 30 bucks you know I think I bought one pair of sneakers the whole time I was there Typically when some guy was leaving They just give it a guy You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 01:14:00 A short guy that I'm like What size of sneakers are you? And the guy would be like Eight I'd be like eight I know you're not leaving these for anybody here. You're not going to walk out what those are. You're going to, I'll give them to you, Cox. Okay, thank you. So I'm wearing other people's sneakers the whole time I was there.

Starting point is 01:14:17 Humility. Yeah, humility. What was the most lucrative job in prison? Unicorn. Yeah, they make a, unicorn is a, it's a factory that's connected to prison. And if you can go work there, these guys make, every unicorn makes something different. At Coleman, they made, the Coleman Lowe, they made. cubicles.

Starting point is 01:14:38 So they did the cubicles and they did the, they had the, you know, they put the fabric on them and they build them and then they sell them. And those guys would make, some of those guys had seniority and they'd been there in like a long time. And they'd make like $2 an hour,

Starting point is 01:14:52 $2.50 an hour or something like that. There were guys that would leave prison after 10 years and they'd have $15,000, $20,000 in there from saving up. Wow. I know it sounds like no money, But, you know, you don't have rent. You don't have, you're not paying electric account or anything.

Starting point is 01:15:08 You're not paying for anything in there, so you're just banking it. Right. Was that like in a bank account in prison or is that like? Yeah, you could, they would have it in their, their inmate commissary account. I'm assuming if you had that in like cash, it would probably get beat up for it. Yeah, you kid. There's no cash in prison. But cash is mackerel.

Starting point is 01:15:27 Macral and stamps. What are your knuckles say? Oh, so this one says 0127, which is my daughter's birthday. Yeah. And then this says icon. I got this because I got icon tattooed on my hand because I had an event called like icon. And it was like I charged a thousand bucks a ticket. And I was like in the VSL sales letter to like sell the product.

Starting point is 01:15:48 I said, well, I'm going to teach you guys how to not ever have to get a job ever again. So it's the best way to do it to prove that I'm not going to get a job ever again. So might as well get both my knuckles tatted because, you know, I don't think that matters too much anymore. Tattoo in the workplace. No, but it did. It did a few years ago. Yeah, 20 years ago. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:16:03 You don't go to the bank and somebody's got a neck tattoo. But now you go to the bank and they have a neck tattoo and they've got... Yeah, they got blue hair and you're like, you know, they got a thing hanging out of their nose. And you're handing them $4,000 to deposit in your account. And I feel like, I don't know, that's going to make it. Hey, it's better than tarred life. Tard life. Oh, God, that was funny, right?

Starting point is 01:16:25 Somebody had a tarred life? Tard life. I always get, I always like the, my daughter's birthday because it's like, usually only only, scares like older people in first class. Because if I fly with it, it's like, oh, what do your knuckles say? And I was like, oh, it's my daughter's birthday. You want to see a picture of her? She's so cute.

Starting point is 01:16:41 Like, I think I only, like, I think I do things to get reactions out of people. And, like, that's why, I mean, even with my videos that I make today, like, it's just like, I'm going to piss somebody off. So I might as well have fun with it. So what happened after the, after the, the, the, the, I don't think we've ever had anybody on here. I know. I'm like lame, right? Well, the telling the stories is, how.

Starting point is 01:17:03 half the battle, you know what I mean? Yeah, I remember. The entourage is killing me, man. Oh, yeah? This might be the biggest crew that's been here. This is the biggest crew. Great. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:17:12 Yeah. Yeah. We did have a couple. We did have the one guy came. One guy came with two people. I remember that. Anybody, nobody's come with three, though, have they? Well, YouTube is my focus.

Starting point is 01:17:25 So I have, like, Grant, you know. And I was like, man, I was like, I mean, you have a big podcast. I was like, I want to, like, document. Like, because I was, like, nervous. I'm like, you know, I'm like, man, like, he's got a big pocket. You got interviewed by all these cool people. I'm like, listen, you know how you said that the algorithm changed and your whole thing died? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:17:42 I'm just waiting for that. Like, I think you're good, bro. Waiting for that. I mean, you've been on like Lex Friedman. You've been on like, yeah, iced coffee hour. I mean, you've been on like the podcast that like, it's hard to come back from those. Like, as far as it's hard to fall from those. Like, I don't, that's just me looking, looking at you from an outsider.

Starting point is 01:17:59 It's funny. I think if Lex is probably would have done better if it wasn't. Six and a half hours. I know. I didn't watch the six and hours. No, he would. Like,

Starting point is 01:18:06 this is way too long. He would subject themselves that. He trimmed it down by an hour. When he was done, he said, how long you take, we've been talking? I went, like three, four hours, right?

Starting point is 01:18:18 He was like seven and a half hours. I was like, oh my God. And he had me put my phone on airplane mode. And I was like, my wife's downstairs. Like the last time I checked, she was going to get lunch. Like, she's down the sleep.

Starting point is 01:18:33 in the back of the car. If you sleep hot at night, you know how disruptive that can be. Whether you're having trouble falling asleep, you're waking up sweating in the middle of the night or all of the above. That's where Ghostbed can help. As the makers of the coolest beds in the world, Ghostbed is your go-to for cooling mattresses, cooling pillows, and cooling bedding. From their signature ghost ice fabric to patented technology that adjust to your body's

Starting point is 01:18:54 temperature, every ghost bed mattress is designed with cooling in mind. So whether you want a plusher mattress that cushions your shoulders and hips, or a firm option with exceptional support, your ghost bed will keep you cool and comfortable all night long. When you purchase a ghost bed mattress, your comfort is guaranteed. You can try out your mattress for 101 nights, risk-free, to make sure it's the right fit for you. Plus, they offer free shipping, and most items are shipped within 24 hours. If you're not sure which ghost bed is right for you, check out their mattress quiz. You'll answer a few questions and get a personalized recommendation.

Starting point is 01:19:30 Even better, our listeners can get 50% off. site wide for a limited time just visit ghostbed.com slash cox and use the code cox at checkout again that's ghostbed dot com slash cox with the code cox at the checkout to save a whopping 50% off site wide oh wait where was it where's he he's from no no yeah he's from Austin but we drove to um uh gosh south florida florida for waterdale or so yeah i don't know if i could do a seven-hour podcast. We went to the, um, uh, he was in the Ritz. Seven hours.

Starting point is 01:20:08 I mean, do you just sleep the next day? Like, I just, yeah. No, I was jacked up. I was all excited. It was like, it's a big podcast. That's a cool. That's cool, right?

Starting point is 01:20:16 Yeah, that was like, I mean, I saw that. I mean, I was like, oh man, man, this guy, he's cool. I hope I got to bring some stories, man. I'm like, I was like, I mean, this has been good so far. Yeah. Yeah, this is good. Well, I mean, now, I mean, now, I mean, that was all, like, the criminal in history. Now I was just like basically changing the way

Starting point is 01:20:33 internet works so it's like so we so yeah what did i leave off i left off at so you left off yeah so i got the misdemeanor and you know there was like six months the year after that where i kind of like fumbled around didn't really know i'm a new dad i'm trying to figure shit out trying not to be like a creep and teach guys still how to get laid so i'd try and all this video stuff and i managed to make because of you know the residuals of like i was still like putting outfits and stuff. I still like living up to like my business that was there. Eventually it was like dying at like 20% every month. So then it was like, you know, then I was, then it was right around pandemic time. You know, like, and I was like, oh, cool, this whole thing's going to suck. What I don't know.

Starting point is 01:21:16 And I had a couple friends that were starting to mess around with TikTok and, you know, like heavy. Like one of my friends names is Jason Capital. He came from the dating world. He was like teaching men's, you know, just more overall men's lifestyle advice. And he went hard on TikTok. grew to a million followers. I've always paid attention obviously Gary V. He was going hard on TikTok. And I saw like nobody else was really doing it from an educational perspective. And I was like, and at the time, I was trying to reinvent myself.

Starting point is 01:21:41 I was like, okay, I need to let all this go. Like, I'm not really the fashion guy anymore. Like, I make videos, but I wasn't really good at long form videos. Like, for whatever reason, like vertical video was natural to me. Because that's what I started doing little stories. Like, they're called like mini vlogs now. like, you know, they're 15, 30 seconds long. Like, I document my day.

Starting point is 01:22:01 Edit them with, like, you know, edit them up and put them into a song and put them in my Instagram story. And then, you know, TikTok came along and I was like, yo, there's like an opportunity here. But I was like almost dead broke. Like, I mean, like, I was like, all the money was like dried up. And I'm like, here we go again. I got to tell, I got to tell my fiance that, you know, I'm not going to be to pay rent. I'm going to need to fall back on her salary because she's like the most responsible person ever.

Starting point is 01:22:24 800 credit score, you know, a job for 15 years. years like corporate level now. I'm like yeah on paper you're awesome like I gotta stay here it's like because we just relied on my paperwork or it's a little fucked up here like you know so I'm like damn it man I'm like but I really saw an opportunity with TikTok and I was talking to that one friend Jason Capital and he's like dude he's like your videos are good like you have skills like go all in on this and like you know get 100,000 followers and I was like okay it was like it was like it was like you know that little push I needed so then it was then it was like you know I think a couple days later, Trump was like, we're banning TikTok the first time.

Starting point is 01:23:01 Like, I was like, okay. I said, well, I love you, Donald, but I'm going to go ahead and go, I'm going to go all in on TikTok. So I convinced, you know, my fiance at the time was like, you know, this app. I think it's going to work. And she's like, here we go again. And I mean, to my defense, it always kind of worked out to making some money. Right. And I was like, no, I think this is big.

Starting point is 01:23:21 I think because if I traced back to what happened, you know, I was on YouTube. I was a little too late to make it really big. Like, you know, there was that window. Like, there was a lot of bigger fashion influencers than me. Right. And if I'd have started maybe a year prior, I would have grown just like them. But now it was, like, really hard. And I was already burned out of that shit.

Starting point is 01:23:39 I'm like, I can't talk about that no more. Like, I said, but TikTok, like, you know, and then by the time I got to Instagram, I was already late. You know, there's already tons of people with 100,000 followers doing all kinds of shit. I was like, but TikTok, nobody's here yet. I was like, and everybody's talking shit about it saying it's going to be banned. And it's like, there's nothing going on.

Starting point is 01:23:56 So I went, I started going hard. I started going, I did a, like, I like forced constraints. I was like, I'm going to do a video a day for 90 days. I was like, I'm going to do it for one hour because this is during lockdown time. So there was, you know, and my daughter at the time was four, like three or four at the time. So I was like, shit, like, anybody that has kids and it was like, it's hard to, you know, when they're awake and paying attention to you, like, it's hard to get shit done. So there was like one hour where I think she watched like blueie or some shit. She watched the show.

Starting point is 01:24:21 And I was able to, I turned my bedroom into like a little set. I put like lights behind the bed frame and like I had my. lights in there and I started filming film and edit one hour post film edit one hour post I did it and it was just I started with just educational stuff like you know how to use a ring wide because I knew video production yeah like what cameras to use and like nobody was doing at the time on tictock and nobody was filming it with professional camera either so like I had you know a three or four thousand dollar camera all blurred background boca on the lens like looking all like way overproduced for ticot and all the comments like hated it I was like perfect I was like whenever someone

Starting point is 01:24:57 somebody hates something. I'm usually really early. And I was like, I was like, this is awesome. So I just kept making them, kept making them, kept making them. And sure enough, I started, you know, video one bit viral. Boom, 500,000 views. Boom, like 10,000 followers. I'm like, boom, two, three, four. And I'm like, oh, shit, all right, we're definitely. And then I was like, okay, based on what I know from the past, a lot of people are going to need this as a service. Right. I said, how do I monetize this? Yeah. Well, I wasn't even thinking about that, because, like, more or less, the people that I wanted, I said, people are going to come late and just want big followers. I was like, I need to figure out how to grow followers.

Starting point is 01:25:30 I need to figure out how to get views, and I need to do it fast. So I kept doing it for myself, and I'm growing here and there. I was like 50 or 60,000 followers. And then I hit up my couple of my friends that I had met from doing YouTube. I started running their accounts. We grew, you know, they were already cooler than me already on the internet. grew their accounts to 100,000 followers in like 30 days. Then I got a girl.

Starting point is 01:25:52 Her name was Adley. She's like a prankster on Facebook. Grew her to a million followers in like six months. So now I have like- Are you people paying for the service? So the first three were just case studies. Nobody wanted to pay for TikTok when I was trying to sell them TikTok. And you're selling this to your wife?

Starting point is 01:26:06 Yeah. Hey, honey, guess what? I get to work for three influencers. We're on our way. Yep. Thankfully she knew the influencer. So she's like, and there was a little bit of money like here. It was like I first started trying to get like a,

Starting point is 01:26:22 thousand dollars a month per client to do tic-ttoe it was just tic-tok there was no reels there was no shorts it was only tic-tok and the video was only 15 seconds so it wasn't like calling for a large production load either to where i could get a whole lot of like money for it and i ended up getting that the girl adly she was paying me 750 bucks a month and i had a few other clients that i had then got at like 750 a thousand and then i started just like kind of walking my prices up i was like okay next one's 1500 because the demand was starting to get there. Yeah. And people were really starting to see, you know, obviously they're like TikTok is relevant.

Starting point is 01:26:54 It's culture. We need this. And then also Reels like Instagram announced real. So like, oh shit, we need short form video. And then it was like I got, you know, I joined a couple. Like I had always been a great networker. And there was a few Facebook groups that were TikTok marketing. And I joined them.

Starting point is 01:27:13 And then when any, whoever ran them, I just, it was like a networking hack. I always just pay somebody for an hour of their time just to become friends with them. So, like, this one guy was like, you know, his name was Michael Sanchez. He owned TikTok Marketing Secrets. It's actually one of the biggest TikTok Facebook groups right now. And he was like, hey, I'm doing consulting. And I was like, perfect. And I had three separate accounts that I was running at the time.

Starting point is 01:27:35 And I was like, so as another hack, I was like, I want to become friends with this guy because I feel like he has a network. So I reached out to him. And instead of buying, you know, sending him $300, I went to his consulting link and I bought $100 three individual times. So he saw my name three times and I got it for three different accounts. And then so we ended up doing first call and it was for one of my, it was for Elliot Hulse, who's a friend of mine, you know, he's like, oh, I've seen Elliot's videos. He's like, giving me some advice, but more or less I'm just trying to build rapport and become friends with him.

Starting point is 01:28:03 Next one comes through and he's like, oh, yeah, I've seen these videos too. Then it was like my account. And he's like, oh, this is your videos because mine were just completely over the top. Like nobody was doing high produce when I was doing. He's like, bro, I've been showing your videos to my coaching group about how videos should be, are going to be produced on TikTok in the near future. And like, so this is just like a small world, glad we were able to connect. And then we kind of became friends.

Starting point is 01:28:25 Right. And then shortly after that, I get a text from the middle of the night and it's like, hey, you got to your room for clients. And I was like, yeah. And I was like, I always got room for clients. Who? And he's like, well, how's the Grant Cardone sound?

Starting point is 01:28:37 I was like, oh, I was like, yeah, there's room for Grant. Like, next day, Grant's team reaches out. I pitch them, boom, I raise my prices again. His team said yes, the 3,000 a month. 30 days later, we got grant 100,000 followers on TikTok. And then we started reposting the reels. And then like Grant Cardone then led to, you know, a very well-known couple of business influencers now,

Starting point is 01:29:01 which then led to working with Ryan Panetta, who's also a good friend of mine, which led to working with Jordan and Michaela Peterson, which led to work with Modern Wisdom. And it was like, boom, it was snowball effect of client after client after client after client after client. I love Joy and Peterson. And modern wisdoms, uh, the Chris Williamson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, so we, it was just one big client after another, after another.

Starting point is 01:29:21 Six months later, the company did like $600,000. Wow. Like, and I'm now hiring editors. Like, I'm like scrambling. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing because they started with just like myself. And then I convinced Luis to move from California because I was like, Luis doesn't want to live in California because it's during COVID. Nobody wants to fucking live there.

Starting point is 01:29:41 So he actually drove, you know, all of them. from California to work with me. I promised him I'd pay him $500 a month. And get him a couple free courses on how to dress. Yeah. And he did. $500 a month? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:29:54 And you believe. True believer. What the hell? He's still here for $500 a month. You believe that? No. No. No, but he was, I sold the dream.

Starting point is 01:30:04 I was like, hey, well, one, I knew he didn't want to live in California because it was on Supreme lockdown in California. It's like, hey, you want to get out of there and come to Florida? It's fucking great down here, man. we're not even shut down really like it's just fucking awesome popping off we got gyms still and so he drove down and and then it was like we just kept bringing on client after client i was like all right here like i kept like you know hey i'll give you this much money for this client this much money for this client and then then i was able to bring on like my second editor who was a friend of mine her name

Starting point is 01:30:31 savanna she'd work with me prior when i was doing the fashion stuff she helped me do edits um i had to let her go because i wasn't making much money from that plus i want to do it anymore i'll say hey you want to come back this is what we're doing now and you know she was doing, I think she was doing around three or four thousand a month at time. I said, I can give you, like, I can give you $3,500. Like, this is the workload. If you want to come back, he's like, I fucking hate the guy I'm working for now. So she came back. And then it was like snowball effect. And now we have, we have 11 in America and like 10 or so overseas VAs that help us clip. And the company today is on almost $3.5 million.

Starting point is 01:31:08 Wow. That's nice. Right. Yeah. I mean, we're solely focused on short form. Like we specifically help people go viral on the internet. It's all organic and it's been a wild ride. What's the update on TikTok? Are they shutting it down? I think now Trump loves it, man. When he hated it back then and they're not shutting it down. I think if they shut TikTok down, like the mental, I think people mentally couldn't handle it.

Starting point is 01:31:32 Like I think that we would have people freaking out like mentally. They just go to reels and shorts. It's possible. People love their TikTok though. I know they do. I'd be shocked at what you can get what you can get in stomach. I was just a, what was the name? Eric, what is his last name?

Starting point is 01:31:53 I don't know. What's the name of his company? He does, I don't know. He does mail the street interview. Yeah, yeah. It's like a short form thing. Yeah, we were, as far as I know, like, we were the first, like, when my company's called viral edits, you wouldn't know, we don't have a website.

Starting point is 01:32:06 Everything's basically been run through my personal brand. It's just like, you know, somebody like, modern wisdom, obviously worked on while I was like, hey, I have a friend, you should talk to, you should talk to her. And it's like, I get on the text. It's like a blind text and it's like fucking Michaela Peterson. She's like, hey, would you mind helping me and my dad out with like viral clips? And I'm like, oh, sure. And then it was like another, it's like, it was just like text to text. And I'm like, and we always scaled so fast. And like, I'm always on now on the upper end of like, I'm on like the very high end of what you can charge for short form content. And it creates a whole different type of expectation and

Starting point is 01:32:40 problems. Like, because we charge for our main package, we charge 6K or 10K a month. You know. What fuck? Are you serious? They have viral views. That's insane. I am curious.

Starting point is 01:32:51 So, most of your clients, they're not even really, I think I know the answer to this, but they're not really concerned about ad sense. They're more concerned about attention and views. Yeah. They're trying to convert this to sale. They have business. Yeah. It's just like, I just need to be known.

Starting point is 01:33:05 Yeah. The ideal client, you know, is, you know, like a grant. Like a grant, he already has a very, very well-oiled machine as far as how he's making money from people. Like, so he's like, Ryan, we need more views. We need attention. And then same thing with like Ryan Panetta. He already had a well-ed machine. Same thing with, you know, Jordan and Michaela, they just wanted as much exposure as possible.

Starting point is 01:33:27 Same thing with modern wisdom. He's like, I want to grow the podcast. I need these clips to go viral all the time. You know, and everyone that kind of comes to me comes to me on the essence of we already have the money figured out. We just want to reach everybody. And how, like, based on what we have out there, do we need to do more, do we need to do less, what do you think we should do? And it just turns into, usually it's just volume. Most people don't put out enough stuff.

Starting point is 01:33:50 And if they are putting out a lot of stuff, usually 98% of it is shit and has no potential to go viral. And then there's that, like, 2% that will go viral. We just kind of focus on that 2% based on what we see. Because we post, so we manage, I think it's like, I was doing the math. We lost a few clients, the hurricane. It had a whole bunch of shifts because of the hurricane. So we edit about, we'll say, give or take, 35 to 40 new videos every day. Those 40 videos are then posted across five different platforms.

Starting point is 01:34:21 So we post anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 posts per month. So every month we average, you know, we have good months and bad months, but 30 to 75, one million view videos across the platforms. So each month we just kind of like, okay, these 75 videos did awesome. Okay, I'm like, hey, you know, if we were looking at your pockets, be like, hey, did, you know, run it through AI, run it through transcripts? Like, did he talk about any of these things? Like, and we are able to kind of pinpoint what videos tend to do significantly better than the rest. And we just focus on those and discard all the other shit. And it's like million view to million views, million views. Like to the tune of, you know, like, even for me, like, I consider myself a regular dude who just kind of has access to this data. You know, I've gotten over 100 million views on every platform, you know, which is like, you know, you know, unheard of for just like, I just, a regular guy makes videos. I got nothing fancy. I don't have jets.

Starting point is 01:35:14 I don't have cars. Like, I drive on old Porsche Cayenne. Like, you know, so it's like we're able to take that data and use it and help a lot of other people get a shit ton of views. So I'm good, some bad. I'm curious. And these guys just come to come. Are they on, they on, are they on? Are they been filming?

Starting point is 01:35:30 Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He's filming for YouTube. He's filming for my shorts. And I told them to, I'm like, if you want, I would have left you motherfuckers. at home. I was just going to say, like, are they on salary? Like, I mean, like, yes, they're all, okay, I'll be trying. So, so, so Luis has been with me since the beginning. Like, he's a,

Starting point is 01:35:49 he gets a net profit bonus. He's part of, like, multiple things that we've started. Like, uh, Grant does just my YouTube, pay him $6,000 a month. We're doing two videos a week. Um, that's a focus of mine for this year because YouTube was like my weak platform. And Dre, Dre, Dre does live with Luis, but I do employ Dre. They're roommates. Um, but Dre does sales for me, because I do sell, like we have a $10,000 offer. And more or less, Dre oversees a lot of viral videos. I have a few people that are in Dre's similar position.

Starting point is 01:36:18 They basically see so much data that they're kind of quality control for the company. But I don't want to leave Dre back. And we have a physical location. So I have a studio with like multiple filming sets in St. Pete. The three, me, Luis, and Dre, and then I have an assistant who's usually kind of work out of there most of the week. Right.

Starting point is 01:36:35 And then Grant was like, oh, you're going on a huge podcast. I want to vlog this for it. So that's why he's here. Dre, I had a thing where my wife and I went to Key Largo to whatever, down there in the keys to this resort where it was a group of podcasters that were getting together and having these things. And the guy that brought me there introduced me because he watches my program, right? Because nobody really knew who I was.

Starting point is 01:37:01 They all know who each other are. And every time he introduced me, he's like, listen, this is Matt Cox. I literally go to sleep to him. every single night. And by the fourth person, I was like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you to, I'm gonna ask you to change that intro. And he's like, what do you mean?

Starting point is 01:37:15 I was like, yeah, you know, I don't think you understand how this is coming off. I'm getting looks. You know what I'm saying? These got people like, oh, okay. I'm like, yeah, it's not sitting well with me. But yeah, so, yeah. I got a similar story.

Starting point is 01:37:27 My wife's telling her grandparents what I'm doing, like for work. She's like, oh, he's, he's got somebody's home studio filming. That's what she said. Home studio makes me sound like I'm filming some type of X-rated content. Yeah, we make

Starting point is 01:37:42 videos for the internet. He's at some home studio. My parents have no idea. Well, my dad knows what I do. Like, who do you think went more viral during the hurricane? You or, uh, what's his name? Well, Tampa Terrence and Lieutenant Dan. Lieutenant Dan.

Starting point is 01:37:58 We're trying, we're trying to get him on the podcast. I think he'd be great. Like, I was a little, so I was a little, I was a little upset at Lieutenant Dan because like I feel like, so we posted 102 times in 24 hours during the hurricane, during, during Hurricane Milton. And the final tally ended up being a little, I think it was like north of 30 million views in 24 hours for all my accounts. I think I could have got 100 if fucking Lieutenant Dan just wasn't there. Right. Like I think I would have gotten 100 million views in like 48 hours.

Starting point is 01:38:29 And that, I really wanted that checkmark as it started going. But, you know, in his defense, you know, I don't know what happened to him now. But, like, I was saying, I think my views led to more wholesome things. I don't know, like, I have, you know, I've gained, you know, I've gained about 15, 20,000 followers across my platforms. I think they're getting a lot better content now for me than they are Lieutenant Dan. So, yeah, I think. He's hit a ceiling, I think. Yeah, I think he is there for a week.

Starting point is 01:38:55 Yeah. I just saw it as an opportunity, you know, like the hurricane. Nobody's going to be there. And, like, I think, you know, I think everyone can agree that the news was kind of hyping that one up. quite a bit more. I mean, I've lived in Florida my whole life. I've never quite seen hype, quite like Hurricane Milton. I don't know if that had to do with some elections stuff going on, like, but it was way

Starting point is 01:39:18 hyped. And I was like, well, I want to capitalize this. Plus, my house has been flooded for the last two hurricanes. Really? Hurricane Adelaidea flooded my house. And by the time Hurricane Milton came, I was like, hurricanes have cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fuck it.

Starting point is 01:39:31 I want to go viral and at least try to make some money with this. And, you know, they really make a whole lot of money going viral. the hurricanes, but it's a great story. And I think it did solidify the fact of like, well, hey, I can get 30 million views in 24 hours if I have the right opportunity. How many views did you get on TikTok? So TikTok, actually the sleep, so TikTok was around, I think it was seven to eight million views in 24 hours.

Starting point is 01:39:56 Instagram was 12 million. And Facebook was like 20 million. Like, do you get, are you monetized on TikTok? I monetized on TikTok. I monetized on TikTok. I'm monetized on all the platforms. TikTok made the lease because most of the videos, I was trying to make them, because of, because of the logistics of doing that many videos, and I was in an active hurricane situation.

Starting point is 01:40:20 We didn't know if power was going to go out. We didn't know how long we had. So I kept it to like there was no video editing could happen really. It had to be filmed with my phone right outside. I was updating every hour on the hour. And I basically like, I walk out my patio. I'd give like a situational update on what was going on and we were you could see a lot of things where I was like located in in my current apartment And I was like okay then I came back in I wrote a title box on the video and then I uploaded it to TikTok first then Instagram

Starting point is 01:40:51 And then I would send the video the finished video to Luis I was trying to make them a minute and like five seconds because on TikTok It had to be over a minute to get monetized I didn't have a stop while like something some of them were like 58 seconds I'm like I'm like, you know, so I was just trying to stop when I thought I had enough. And, you know, so TikTok gave me about, I think it was like $6.50, 700 for that 24-hour span. Instagram was like the same, six or seven-hundred bucks, but Facebook was like $4,000. Now, yeah, we make no money. Now, we've on Instagram.

Starting point is 01:41:25 We tried Jelly Smack. Are you familiar with that? Yeah, they did that for a little bit. And then we have another company that's very similar, 50-50 split. Now, they put a bunch of ad, like, they put a bunch of paid ads behind it. And still it just doesn't much. I mean, Facebook, like, I've not, like, Facebook for me is by far, I care about at least, but it makes the most money.

Starting point is 01:41:45 And I probably should care about it more. But, like, the video that went, there was one video on Facebook got 13 million views. The video made, like, $1,400. And it was, it was like a 14-second video from, like, the hurricane. Because I posted, it was, like, 22 videos on each platform. And then we did two long-form videos on YouTube. YouTube didn't pop off at all for me during that 24-hour span, which I was kind of, I mean, I guess makes sense

Starting point is 01:42:08 because it's not as, as, like, timely. But, like, we were just, like, I mean, Luis was just posting the Facebook X and, what was the other one you were? Luis was posting to Facebook X and YouTube while I was posting to TikTok and Instagram. And I was just shot, I was like, holy shit, Facebook was like the sleeper, which made, you know, I mean, for 22 videos, I mean, we did stay up for, you know, 24 hours straight, you know, posting and talking. And then the next day I was on three radio shows and a, I was on True News Nation.

Starting point is 01:42:39 Like they cut to me after like a Biden. Right. And I was like, this is just a cool thing, you know. It was also like, from a virality standpoint, I've never gone more viral. Like, it was pretty wild on that front. But it didn't really make, I mean, other than the ad revenue was. I was going to say, I've been on like a bunch of, you know, a bunch of those types of, you know, like the war room. And what's the other one?

Starting point is 01:43:04 Walter, the guy from, is it CNN? No, no, I mean, is it Fox News? Oh, Jesse Waters. Jesse Waters? Yeah, yeah. Like, I'll go on those programs and everybody's like, bro, you must have got a bunch of people. Like, I get no. No.

Starting point is 01:43:19 You get nothing. Really, the cool thing for us is because a lot of, like, it's cool, though. Yeah, it was cool. It's cool. It's cool. You're like, oh, wow, this is cool. Yeah, this happened. And I posted my screenshots and, like, I'm like, hey, look, this is what happened when we went viral.

Starting point is 01:43:31 But what it did, like, because obviously my business is short-fum content and like we're always trying to figure out the next thing. And it kind of confirmed a bunch of beliefs that, like at least I converted a bunch of beliefs that I had prior to this was like a lot of people are trying to get a lot of views on the internet and they're doing all these different things to do it. But I'm like, as long as if it's not a good topic and it's not relevant right now, it's very hard to get a video to go viral. Well, I just, I was just in New York Times. I was just in New York Times. They had my name. They said who I was, had my name, and they had a link to the video that they were talking about. I don't think we got three fucking views.

Starting point is 01:44:09 I don't think we got it. You know what you think? Yeah, you don't know. What you think, when we figured out, which I'm sure you know, was like what you think is going to go vaught for us. But for YouTube, we'll have a video where it's some guy that was, is, it was the conversation was agony. I feel horrible for the person. I'm dying for it to just be over. and when the guy walks out the door, I'm like, nobody's watching that.

Starting point is 01:44:32 It was agony. And it gets almost a million views. You know what I'm saying? And then the other person walked out. I'm like, that was amazing. What a great story. So funny. So personal.

Starting point is 01:44:42 It was amazing. And it gets 35,000 views. And you're like, yeah. What happened? Like, similar thing with short form. Like, when we're trying to figure out short form for like, for us specifically, like, we, we pay people to do like hyper edits with B-roll and music and all that stuff. It doesn't even.

Starting point is 01:44:58 Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. He had the people jumping in and he had all the... It was crazy. And it's like really 90% of it will we figure it from the podcast it boils down to who's saying,

Starting point is 01:45:07 what they're saying and how they're saying it. So it's like, let's just not even worry about that. Let's focus on the intro and the ending and the story and just... Well, people just... They just focus on the shit that's like, you obviously have like... It's got to be a good hook,

Starting point is 01:45:23 but it can be a great hook and nobody gives a fuck about the topic and it's not going to get any views. But if it's a good hook and people care about the topic, it's going to give it. views. I'll take, I've literally, we've had the same stories in a video, and I've taken them, and I've made them into like, it's like a minute video, and it's like a mini documentary,

Starting point is 01:45:40 D-roll. Yeah. I mean, the music. It's phenomenal. The captions. It's amazing. I spend two and a half, three hours on it, and then we put it out, and Colby's got a guy that works for him, too, right? So I do it.

Starting point is 01:45:56 And I'm like, bro, post this. Like, it's amazing. It's fucking phenomenal. And he'll post it. And then his guy happens to cut up the same story and puts it out a week later. Mine got 3,500 views. His gets 2.5 million.

Starting point is 01:46:09 No music, no B-roll. Choppy. Like every other word is like, you're, you know, and I'm like, this is horrible. And it's amazing. And it gets a ton of views. And I'm like, I just don't. And this one on, we did that for like,

Starting point is 01:46:25 I went for like probably two months where every day I was hammering out videos like now we're going to figure this out we've seen like we've seen the and that was kind of like during the hurricane thing I was just like it brought it down to like simplicity it was just like I can't edit it like we don't have the capacity so let me see what you've got the topic but but but but but I in that was kind of like it was more to be like because that a lot of our clients like you know similar to like you know what we were talking about like they don't want to admit that their their money is derivative from how many views they get because they want to believe that views don't

Starting point is 01:47:01 really matter in the long run they're like because everybody's like oh you need content that converge you need this so all the clients are like oh well you know I'm like well when I have conversations with my clients it's only when their views are down and then that's my problem to fix it I have to figure it out like that's my problem and that's kind of like what we sign up for when we're charging what we're charging because it you know if they're a 10k client $120,000 a year like I don't sleep well at night unless you feel like you're getting a great service. Right.

Starting point is 01:47:27 Like, I want to provide a fucking badass service for that person. Like, and that badass service consists of you going viral a lot every month. So if that's not happening, I have a hard time justifying the charge because, you know, but it's like, there's also that, you know, where people on the internet are like, well, you know, you don't want like the wrong viewers. Or like, I'm like, dude, I'm like, geez, my life is better the more views I get. Yeah. In any situation, like the hurricane shit, I didn't make that much money from it, but it's brought me

Starting point is 01:47:54 a lot of opportunities. Yeah. Like it's brought me, it's put me on people's radars. Like, I mean, I don't know. You probably saw some of those. You're like, oh, hey, you know, hey, Ron, I want you to come talk

Starting point is 01:48:03 on Matt's podcast. Like, it's, you know, share your story. Like, I don't know where that came from. It could have been one of the hurricane videos that sparked in your algorithm to see one of my other videos. And I'm like, so it's like the more,

Starting point is 01:48:13 in just in my world, like, the more views people get, the more money they're going to make. Yeah. And I think that people have it backwards because it was like, I mean, you guys don't, you get it.

Starting point is 01:48:22 Like you're like, when you look at a podcast, it's like, okay, what clips are going to be good? Do they share the story good enough? Like, and I like, you know, because Colby told me that. I was like, all right, I got to, what stories am I going to talk on? Let me make sure I get all the details out. It's like, yeah, I was thinking about it. I was like, yeah, I hope that hits, you know? Because I also feel like I'll give you a good podcast if the story hits and you, like get a million views.

Starting point is 01:48:42 It's like, hey, that worked, you know. Last thing I want is a flop podcast. Yeah, the biggest thing. And kind of what I was telling you earlier, the biggest thing is the topic. Like, I think the Ian Bick is the prime. example we use for every, you know, guy who we're talking to topic about, like this guy went on Ian Bix podcast told a story about selling jailbroken fire sticks. Yeah. And it was titled Amazon Firestick, selling Amazon fire sticks, something like that, tech pirate. So he came on our show and he

Starting point is 01:49:10 was arrested in Polk County by Grady Judd. I'm sure you know that Grady Judge. I know the exact same story, by the way. Exactly same story. He has a standard story he tells. Yeah. And we posted ours a couple weeks after Ian Bick got, you know, anywhere. Ian Bick's a similar channel to us, similar genre, anywhere from 20 to 40,000 views. But it was titled Tech Pirate. We did our whole thing about Grady Judd arrest Amazon scammer.

Starting point is 01:49:33 And the intro is Grady Judd saying this. And this guy saying, it wasn't me. Like that's, or not, it wasn't me. It's illegal. It's perfectly legal. And Grady Judd saying, this jail, broken. Jail. He goes to jail.

Starting point is 01:49:43 So it's like, we packaged it all around Grady Judd and did a million views. So the difference between a million views and 40 views. Same that story. 40,000. Silver audiences. It's still going. It's like 1.1 now. Yeah,

Starting point is 01:49:56 it's like your top one I was looking at it before you came on. And then for you as a business, the business is the podcast, I'm assuming the ad revenue on that is significantly

Starting point is 01:50:03 higher than all the rest. Yeah. But, you know, so it's like, views matter. Yeah, views matter. It pisses me off. I get it all the time.

Starting point is 01:50:12 I don't want the wrong views. It's like, I don't know. I'll take a million and figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. Stop talking. Yeah. You don't know what you're talking about.

Starting point is 01:50:19 I feel like, Like, there's, and stick to selling t-shirts. Because you probably talk, I mean, you talk to a lot of people. I mean, like,

Starting point is 01:50:26 I feel like business owners now are very locked into, like, how they perceive what they want to put on the internet. And, like, some of the conversations that you're obviously having would be like,

Starting point is 01:50:36 you know, most people wouldn't want to sign up to have those conversations. Like, and it'd be, I think there's like this level of, like, you know, especially for like the modern day business owner,

Starting point is 01:50:45 like, it's like, you got to share this shit. You're uncomfortable sharing. Well, I'm lucky because, you know, I'm dealing with scumbags.

Starting point is 01:50:52 And I'm just going to, like, you can't, like, it's not like somebody's going to say something. I'm going to put myself in a position where they're like, wow, bro, like you really ruined your reputation. Like, that ship is sailed. But that is what the internet is drawn to now. Yeah, I know. Listen, it's horrible, right?

Starting point is 01:51:08 Like, I was talking to a buddy the other day, and he's like, and we're having this conversation. He's like, what's wrong with people? Like, nobody questions anything. You can say anything on these platforms, and nobody questions like, where did you hear that? And how did that happen? And it is.

Starting point is 01:51:24 And it's gospel. It's like they are gossip. And it's like, it's all like a hearsay thing. And it's like, and I look at least the way that I view things and the people that work with us, I'm like, look, you can not talk about shit or you can talk about but somebody else is going to come behind you and talk about that said shit that you're afraid to talk about. And they're going to get more views.

Starting point is 01:51:43 And I'd rather you get those views than them. And somebody's probably going to connect with you no matter what you do. So there's enough, you know, Gary B. talks about this. Yeah. Where he talks about, I think Gary Vee is the first time I ever heard about the, by the way, the Smurfs analogy where it gives a great analogy about it.

Starting point is 01:51:58 Like, do you understand that you, there are YouTube channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views that do nothing but talk about Smurfs, the Smurfs, the little blue Smurfs, and talks about it, he's like, so the idea that you could say, oh, well, I'm interested in this, but nobody else is. He's, you're wrong about it. Trust me, if you're saying nobody else is interested, there's probably. a community waiting waiting to clock to you because nobody and they probably think nobody's interested either like those little niche niche communities that are out there are now making people

Starting point is 01:52:30 hundreds of thousands of dollars you know so it's yeah it's wild to me to just and also like we were talking so my algorithm I've trained my algorithm to see a lot of fun things like and there seems to be an overabundance of midgets and people with Down syndrome on the internet like and I'm I'm like, I feel like, even I wouldn't go. But I'm like, cut me out of this. But I'm like, why are these things getting, but they get millions of views? And I'm like, what about the show?

Starting point is 01:52:57 What about the show, the show on the spectrum? Or the spectrum. Yes. Dating on the spectrum. Love on the spectrum. Love on the spectrum. Like, they have to be exploiting these people. There's people behind there.

Starting point is 01:53:07 They, of course, it's horrible. Listen, my roommate and my wife love that show. I couldn't even watch. I was like, what? And they're laughing. And they're like, oh my God, it's so cute. Look, they're so. And I'm like, what's wrong with you?

Starting point is 01:53:18 What's wrong with YouTube? It's like you go like, Boziac's walking around and going, I can't look away. I can't stop watching this. I can't stop watching it. I'm like, no, no, that's, that's the part. Because I look at it from a point of like, okay, people are going to watch this stuff. Like, it's like it doesn't make, like, I may not get it. I don't get it.

Starting point is 01:53:37 Like, I think it's humorous. It's like, but I feel like it's like, why are people like, what is this? And then if you have like a business owner, I look at somebody who's like super smart. And I'm like, you can talk about business all you want. you're never going to be seen. Yeah. Like, unless you've been like,

Starting point is 01:53:50 you're fucking poor, and here's why you're fucking poor. Right. And then you can say whatever you want because now they're listening. But it's like, you have to be, it's like almost made me so jaded to society

Starting point is 01:53:58 because I'm like, I know how to make shit go viral. Like, it's not hard for me to do this anymore. It's like, and how you're saying shit 100% matters and you're saying it like a pussy. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:54:07 And it's like, but it's like it gets you so jaded. Like, because like even we were talking about like, oh, what's the title is going to be like, yeah, like I told him this.

Starting point is 01:54:15 I told him, I was like, I'm not going to use this because this obviously is not going, I'm not going to use this because this is like your current working relationship. But I was like, a good title would be Grant Cardone's partner is arrested. Yeah. Like that's like, and I'm like, you know, part of my, like, I mean, I don't know. It's going to give use. I'm willing to sacrifice. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:54:32 But I did notice that with business guys. Yeah. Like business guys, if they're not coming in, like all in, you can tell it's just, it's just not there. Well, that's, yeah. Yeah. They got that shell up. Like the best people, and that's why I think a lot of people like, love mad because he's unapologetically himself he's like you know whatever even if it's a controversial

Starting point is 01:54:50 issue he's like going to be like say how it is and like we had one guy for example he's in sales now and he was stealing money from a Christian organization or he was like kind of ripping off court but he's here before he's like oh like let's just let's just leave that part out and I'm like you need to go all in yeah yeah yeah that's the difference between maybe a million views and 50,000 that that's what I learned it's like and even working with the people that we work with I'm like I'm like look, if you're a, there is never been a situation where I'm like, if I'm about to post something, I'm like, oh, I get that nerve, nervous feeling. I'm like that, I'm like post it because that means this shit's going to do good. And like every time I've had that feeling, well, I think, I mean,

Starting point is 01:55:30 Luis, I had to, like, you know, I'm like, Louise, like, I trust you to run my account, like, make sure, you know, I have like certain things. I'm like, hey, just make sure I don't look this way or, you know, like, I don't want to be misinterpreted, you know, but like, those are the best videos and those videos it's like most like when we start working with somebody you know when we're charging because like a lot of people can pay us but I'm like okay I'm very resistant on who I work with because I'm like okay well you're like very reserved like you're not talking about the shit that's going to get you think you want and then once you do get the views you want I don't know if you can handle the hate that you're going to get that comes with it I say because I don't

Starting point is 01:56:03 live in a world with sunshine and rainbows on the internet like I make a video it does well I get a a bunch of hate comments like or I trigger somebody in some way they're pissing me like I got tons of hate. Yeah. Hey, I got tons of them. Colby likes that. Colby, if Colby can...

Starting point is 01:56:17 You love it because it's not you. Yeah, yeah. If Colby can make me look horrific in a video... Is it? Luis de Grant? I'm like... No problem. Listen, every once in a while,

Starting point is 01:56:27 Colby'll... He didn't even tell me really anymore. Sometimes I'll find out that we got a video that's got like two, two and a half, three million views. And I'll be like, oh, that's... And I'll watch it. I'll be like... That seems to sound... What are the comments on this?

Starting point is 01:56:39 And I start reading. I'm like, holy. the worst. Holy Jesus, God, all my. I mean, they are just horrific.

Starting point is 01:56:45 And I'm like, this dude, willing to sacrifice this. Matt will be telling a story from someone else like a scumbag he met in jail and how the piece of a shit he was.

Starting point is 01:56:55 But the way it cut up, it's like Matt is doing. Matt is saying he did this. And they're like, this guy. Fuck this guy. Like, yeah.

Starting point is 01:57:01 No, like that, like, I hate that like, you know, I'm not opposed to it. Like, I mean,

Starting point is 01:57:06 we do a lot of it and what we do. But it's like, it's like, it's like, makes me so jaded that that's how the internet is and that's what you have to do because it's like I look at like some of my friends I'm like I mean you're a really good business owner like you're really smart nobody's gonna fucking listen to you yeah yeah like part of me like dies inside every time I think that because I'm like I'm sorry yeah it's not my fault the internet sucks what's what's what's okay the guy the guy that sells the um the flip-flops for for oh uh toll hold the company's called toll hold yeah out of Vegas Yeah. It's MMA.

Starting point is 01:57:42 Let me look it up. Yeah. This guy, his entire Instagram, listen, he never shows any flip-flops. Oh, it's a good business strategy, yeah. It's just hot chicks and him in the office and walking around. And you're like, and we're watching, like, we looked at 30 or 40 of the reels and we're like, bro, aren't you supposed to be selling like flip-flops?

Starting point is 01:58:02 He's like, oh, yeah, I'm not worried about that, bro. Check this chick out. And it's like, that's the draw. They're like genuine leather flip-flops. But it's a girl just hitting a piece of leather with a hammer and like a bikini, just big tits. Yeah, you never really see that. And he's getting millions of use on his real. It sounds about right.

Starting point is 01:58:19 Yeah. And he's selling. It's like $2,000 pair of sandals, like genuine leather sandals. They're selling fucking sandals for thousands of dollars. I don't mean like we're not talking about like $2,000. Like he's got him sold for $7,000, $9,000 for sandals. I think his cheapest sandals is like $800 or something, $600. They're out rate.

Starting point is 01:58:38 Now, they are pretty cool sandals. You're like, well, that's a, even with our service, like, the less I talk about, like, what, like, that I help people go viral, the more people come to me, like, how do I get views like you? Or how do I do this? And I'm like, oh, well, we have a service. I can help you do that. Like, and that's what I tell, like, it's very hard for business owners, like, that they're just like,

Starting point is 01:58:59 I, like, I need to talk about my niche. I need to talk about my thing. And I was like, bro. And they want to. There's only a small amount of people that care about it. Like, for example, I was looking at, you know, podcast for Ryan today. like to listen on the way over here, but they're all about going viral.

Starting point is 01:59:14 Everybody, like, we hate it. Like, this is why, like, me, like, I've been on so many different podcasts, and I'm like, can you ask me? I mean, I'll talk about making videos a little bit, but, like, I don't really want to talk about that. Can we talk about, like, other fun stuff? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:59:28 I mean, I feel like I've got some accomplishments of things that would be a much better podcast. Like, you know, I mean, I manage a big team. Like, we do a lot of money. Like, we've made some revenue. We messed up. Yeah. So, Brian has to stick over there.

Starting point is 01:59:40 Yeah, I end up having to like take over the podcast and like that's why like that's why I was saying to you say the only time I've ever talked about like you know You know the street racing stuff. It's like why use the street race can I tell you about it? All right. It's like because I know Inherently like we know car videos crush the specific scene in the Fast and Furious where I became obsessed with street racing. It was when the two black Honda civics went underneath the semi truck Like I wanted a black Honda Civic at that moment and then I found a white on 92 Honda Civic and I became obsessed with that car to the point where I was even I would get school loans and I would go buy used books and I'd take all leftover money and I'd buy car parts. And I did this until, you know, I realized that I didn't really have enough money to buy the stuff that actually made my car fast, which was new motors and nitrous and turbos and superchargers. And all the people that had those, I didn't understand.

Starting point is 02:00:27 It was like there was this entire Asian community that had all these amazing Honda Civics and I could not understand why. I later kind of got into this Asian, like subculture, if you will, because of a neighbor of mine who also, race cars was friends with all these Asian people. And I was like, dude, how do they always have the best cars? Like, I don't know, man. They just save their money well. Like they're, and I was like, that's a lot of money. I don't get it. Like, I'm saving my money and like I can barely, a new motor's like three grand. Like, how are they doing this? They're putting new ones in like every other weekend in their driveways. Got to the point where I was like, all right, I want a new motor for my car. How do I get one? So I hit him my boy and I was like, yo, I need, I want a motor. My friend,

Starting point is 02:01:04 his name was Donnie, reached out to one of his friends who is this guy. And turns out, you know, he's like, gets me up, he's like, hey man, I got a motor for you. He's like, it's $1,500. And I was like, all right, cool. So I met him. Like, I was like, how does this work? What do I do? He's like, he's like, well, he's like, the motor's going to be at my shop. He's like, you want to come pick it up like Thursday? And I said, yeah, I'll come pick it up Thursday. And I was like, it's all there. Like the money's like, yeah, yeah, we're going to go pick it up Thursday. I was like, well, why are we meeting at like 9 p.m.? Like, can I come get it, no, no, we got to, it's going to be there Thursday at 9 p.m. I'm like, okay.

Starting point is 02:01:35 the guy still riding around with it. Yeah, I'm like, okay, so, like, I, like, do my thing. Like, I show up at, show up at the, it's like this kind of shady garage in Kansas City, Florida, which is like, the irony of Kansas City was, like, a lot of cops are known to be in Kansas City, so I didn't really understand why we would need to meet in Kansas City. And that was, like, kind of an area that's known for, like, speeding tickets and all this shit. And he's like, yeah, we'll just meet there.

Starting point is 02:01:57 I was like, all right, man, like, I'm going to bring my truck, my friend's truck. He's like, you bring anybody with you? And I'm like, no, I'm just going to borrow his truck. We can lift the motor because they're civic motors. So they're not that heavy. You can lift them on your own. And I show up and like, he's just there. And he's like, all right, man.

Starting point is 02:02:11 We're going to get the motor. I was like, we're going to go. He's like, yeah, we got to go. It's over here. I'm like, okay. So I'm like, well, he's like, can you give me a ride? I said, sure. Now mind you, like he had like, I'm like, he did not at this point.

Starting point is 02:02:25 To this point did not look like a criminal at all. I was like, I don't know what the fuck's going on. But I'm going to go get a motor and I'm happy. I'm going to have a fast car now. Well, he hops in my truck. you know, we take, we started driving. He's like, this is your truck or your French truck? He's like, oh, it's my French truck.

Starting point is 02:02:36 He's like, cool. I'm like, okay. So we're driving and we drive like through the streets and we're kind of getting, not really far away, but like we're, I mean, in retrospect to St. Petersburg, we're in like the Tyrone Mall area. People know where that is. And, you know, he pull up and he's like, all right, I need you to pull over here. He's like, I got the keys. I was like, wait, the motor's not out of the car?

Starting point is 02:02:58 He's like, no, no, I'm going to go bring the car back to the shop. And I'm like, okay. Still, now I'm like, okay. this is a little weird, but I'm in it now. Like, I'm committed. I'm like, this is my motor. I'm going to go get it. He's like, he's holding the key.

Starting point is 02:03:09 I'm like, you know, he's like, I was like, it's your friend's motor. He's selling me. He said, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we get out of the car. Like, he hops out. He's like, pull over here. He hops out. Next thing you know how he takes off running.

Starting point is 02:03:19 Next thing you know, boop, unlocks, has the whole system, gets in the car and, like, takes off. You drive it all the way back to the shop. Now I'm like, I think that car is stolen. He's got the keys, though. I'm like, so it's not making. sense to me. I was like, and it is a thing in this, like to strip cars and sell them for parts. I was like, well, maybe he's worked to deal with his friend and they're just going to, like, I just happen to be the guy that gets the motor. Or maybe it's the insurance company

Starting point is 02:03:44 that they work to deal with and they just don't know it. That could have been another, another way, another avenue of going. And I was like, sweet. So like, we go back to the thing. He's like, all right, man, here's your motor. He opens up. He's like, look, see, B-16. I was like, okay. I was like, well, I thought I was taking it tonight. He's like, yeah, he's like, well, can you, why don't you come back tomorrow? We're going to get the whole thing out. I'm like, okay so now mind you I'm naive I'm like you know I had no part of criminal activity of like a lot of red flags had just gone off for me but I was like I'd already given the money so like I wanted my motor I'm like he has my 500 bucks so like this is my motor now and he's like can you come back like he's like

Starting point is 02:04:20 I'll have it out by you know tomorrow evening I was like okay so you know 24 hours later comes back like he's I hit him up I was like yo you got the motor I said yeah man he's like come on by he's like I'll have it for you I was like okay he's like come by after you he's like come by after after 8 p.m. Like, it's night time again. Like, I think this time it was like, he's like, actually, maybe make it a little bit later, like maybe 9 or 10. I was like, all right, cool.

Starting point is 02:04:41 So I show up again. Now I'm in my truck, which is, you know, I forget what, or now I had my civic. It was like the little white Honda. It was lowered. Like, not a very good tow vehicle. Right. And he's like, hey, man, like, I need your help getting rid of the shell.

Starting point is 02:04:57 I said, oh, so it was stolen. Right. And he's like, no, man, we just got to get rid of the shell. I was like, so I'm like partially, part of me is playing stupid here. But the other part of me is like, yeah, I just bought a stolen motor. Okay. I was like, I was like, I was like, so he, I was like, well, all right, I'll help you get rid of the, rid of the car. So we're in Kennedy City.

Starting point is 02:05:18 Mind you, Kennedy City. Like, it's like known for like cops everywhere. I'm like, where are we taking this? And he's like, well, can we use your car? And I was like, I said to pull it. Literally, this thing's a shell. Like there's no, it's like four wheels and nothing else. They've stripped it.

Starting point is 02:05:32 Not just the mower, but everything else. Everything is gone. It rolls barely. It has no steering wheel. It's literally vice grips, you know? Like you talk about, like, steering with vice grips. And he's like, here, we're going to take it over to that parking lot. We're just going to, you know, we're just going to leave it.

Starting point is 02:05:46 I'm like, okay. So I'm like, we are definitely dropping a stolen car now. So like, mind you, like, I was racing BMX. So I had all my stuff in my car. So I'm like, I put my helmet on. So nobody can see my face. I put my gloves on. Like, this is going to matter.

Starting point is 02:06:02 I'm like, wait, what am I touching? There's like fingerprints, right? Like, he's like, no, no, he's like, it's fine. I'm like, no, no, I'm going to put it. So, like, I don't feel like this guy's got your best interest. Nope, it was one of those moments that I was like, in hindsight, I should have left. But $50, but $500 when you're like 20 years old, 20. I want my $15 bucks back.

Starting point is 02:06:20 I was like, I want my money or the motor, you know, and, you know, fast forward. I helped the guy. We pull it behind the thing. We cut the rope on my car. I hop in. And I never saw that car again. in my life. Now I was like, yo, where's the motor? Like, I've done, helped you apparently go get this car and dispose of said car. Where's my motor? And he was like, he's like, I got it for you.

Starting point is 02:06:43 It's getting like, it's getting cleaned and like, you know, I'm still believing this fucking guy for whatever. He was a very convincing Asian guy. I would say that. It's very convincing, like, very trustworthy. Or I was just a fucking retard back then. But, you know, which is looking back in hindsight I was. So a couple days go by and he's like, I got, I got your motor. I was like, okay. He's there. I'm going to drop it off, you know, at this performance shop. And there was like multiple performance shops. And I knew I was friends with a lot of people. I was like, all right, when's it going to be there? I go there, go to the performance shop. Obviously no motor's there. And now I'm like, this motherfucker ripped me off. Like I'm not getting this motor and I'm

Starting point is 02:07:19 pissed off. So I, you know, like a typical non, you know, like violent person was just like mad. I lost $1,500 bucks. So I went and bought another motor because I took a school loan out and bought another motor that's actually legit from another performance shop. What happened to that guy? But here's where it gets... So this guy always had the coolest car. Always had the coolest car. Always had the best parts.

Starting point is 02:07:41 Never could understand why. Remember I was asking my friend, like, how did they afford all these nice things? Well, it turns out about a few days later, maybe a week, give or take. I get a knock on my door. Mind you, I live live with my parents back then, so like, I get a knock on my door and it's the cops. didn't tell my parents about it.

Starting point is 02:07:58 They knew I was buying a motor. They didn't know where. So, like, the cops come out, and I'm like, they're like, do you guys, do you know this guy's name was Glenn? Do you guys know, do you know Glenn? I said, yeah, I know Glenn. They're like, well, he has you, you know, let me get it straight. Let me put you straight.

Starting point is 02:08:11 We have on record that you bought some stolen property from Glenn, and he's about to go away for a really long time. And, you know, we're not really here to get you. Like, we don't really care. They're like, but do you have this motor in your possession right now? and it was the motor and I was like no they're like do you mind if we search your car because they knew that these motors go and the cops are smart back there and they knew the motor would be in my car and sure enough they opened it up they matched them in it was not that said motor it may have been

Starting point is 02:08:40 another stolen motor from I don't know where that guy got his that I bought it from because I already bought another one and put it in there and you know he was like they're like will you make a statement basically saying that you bought stolen property and never received it and I was like what does not like incriminate me like as by they said and better to be a witness than that Yep, that's what I was like, I was like, I don't know if there's a snitching, but fuck that guy. He didn't give me my motor. So I basically wrote this whole confession. I was like shaking the whole time.

Starting point is 02:09:03 You couldn't probably read it at all. I was so nervous because I'm like this, I'm like in college. I'm like, you know, I work at lowest unemployment. I'm buying like stolen motors and shit. And then, you know, it turns out he ended up going to prison. He did about eight years. Eight years. Yeah, for credit card fraud.

Starting point is 02:09:19 Oh, okay. Because, and remember how I couldn't figure out how everybody, all his crew had the best cars. Well, it turns out they were just stealing, you know, still people's credit cards and buying all this stuff. And that was actually legit stolen car. Apparently he had a friend that worked at Honda that got that when somebody came in to fix their car, they copied the keys. That's how he had the keys and the alarm and the whole key fob to steal the car.

Starting point is 02:09:42 Like it was all like a whole operation that I had stumbled into and basically all went down because of like that last and final car. But they never found the car. I was like, so it weren't getting rid of it. But then I started street racing heavily at that point. And I was like, you would think that I would be like, maybe this street racing thing isn't the best thing because it's not really putting me around the best people.

Starting point is 02:10:03 And I just said, fuck that. And I said, every Saturday night I would go out racing. And I had, at this point now, I had used most of my school loans to buy and upgrade that said motor. It was like a motor full nitrous. Like every Saturday I'd go fill the nitrous tanks up. It had two nitrous tanks. They were both behind the seat so I could turn them off,

Starting point is 02:10:19 which is that was illegal in itself. You couldn't have them there. I'm curious. How do you get industry racing? Is this like everybody's going to the drag strip on Saturday night? Or you are going to like a vacant road? Mind you, I found it because of the group of people that were across the street. They're like, yo, we're all members of this forum.

Starting point is 02:10:33 And this is like before the internet was just starting to kind of rise. You know, Fast and the Furious one had just come out. And everybody's like, yo, we're on a timeline. That just ruins street racing forever, which wasn't far from the truth. Like Fast and Furious did kind of fuck up street racing forever. But every Saturday night, it was just like you'd go on this forum and you created an account. And it was just like an address. And those addresses usually were like big open parking lots.

Starting point is 02:11:00 An example of this would be, you know, like a grocery store parking lot that's kind of attached to a gas station. To where a lot of cars would just park. And it was basically like these little mini car shows. And you would show up on Saturday night. And there was always out like 8 p.m. As soon as it went dark, everybody went out. And to be fair, it was a very harmless thing of everybody meeting up. But then from there, it was, okay, who's going racing?

Starting point is 02:11:21 And that was about an hour. And you could always see the people, like, there was always, like, the racers, because those cars never really looked that good. They were always ugly, beat up. But when you pop the hood, there was all the money went right there. Whereas the car show people were just, like, on all the outside. So they're really slow. So everybody just kind of hung out, and it was like, all right. And then it was like local spots that was like, all right, we're going to meet at Meridian, which was like kind of near channel side.

Starting point is 02:11:43 It's not there anymore. A lot of these spaces, like, they're more vacant two-lane roads that are like, and then there was a whole operation around. It's like, okay, we're sending somebody there now. And then that person would get there, scope the spot out, make sure there's nothing crazy going on, call back, and then everybody shows up. And you're talking, just like you see in the movies. Like, all these cars come up and they park along the street. And it's like, all right, who's racing? And you usually have a, you pick a person out.

Starting point is 02:12:05 And it's like, all right, I want to race you. Like, and then you go to the front. There's always some dude there. It was never a hot chick like in Fast and Furious. It was always some fat guy going, you know, and then you race. And then you turn around. And it would start racing just for like, you know, oh, like, who's got a better car? You're talking shit.

Starting point is 02:12:21 Then it would turn into like money involved. And I raced a few people for 500 bucks because that was like the most I had. I did win most of them. I think I remember I lost like two or three times. But and then it was like, then there was like the big dogs that race. There was the people that roll through with trailers. They backed their car off the trailer and then they line up and they, their cars aren't meant to go anywhere other than that straight line. Right.

Starting point is 02:12:41 And then those were like, you know, and then it would be like, oh shit, there's always like lookouts. Cops are coming, cops are coming. And then everybody would get in their car and just fucking take off. And it was like, as long as you weren't the last one there, you never got in trouble with the police. Right. You know, so, and then when it came to, like, the, you know, the locations, it was, like, radio, like, walkie-talkies. Most people, like, they stopped using cell phones. They had walkie-talkies at this point.

Starting point is 02:13:05 Nextel was a big thing because, like, nextel was, like, pop at the time. Yeah, I remember those phones. Yeah. It was like, you know, it was like walkie-talkie. And, you know, like, where are we going? And there was, like, multiple spots. And you would kind of do, like, a circuit throughout, like, a Saturday night. It would start at, like, 10 p.m.

Starting point is 02:13:18 it would end at like three or four a.m. And you would just go from spot to spot. But the funnest shit was like going from spot to spot because you have like hundreds of cars all trying to get to the next spot. And it was just like there was all the speeding happened. Like Howard Franklin and people would go on like 160. Like you'd have like Lamborghinis racing civics. Like you'd have like people blocking you so people could race.

Starting point is 02:13:39 You'd have cops coming up and like they couldn't get through. And as long as they didn't see the cars that were up in front like everybody just kind of got away with it. And that was like I never actually. got any speeding tickets doing that. I never got in any trouble doing that. The only thing I did get was, you know, we everybody, the cops blocked everybody in multiple times and this was like a sting. And as long as you weren't the guy racing, it was just not illegal for me sitting here and

Starting point is 02:14:03 watch. Well, you could get spectator tickets. Oh, really? Yeah, you get Spectator for racing tickets. And it was like a $99 ticket. Oh, wow. And, you know, I got a few of those in my day. But there was just like, okay, cool, spectator.

Starting point is 02:14:15 You didn't have to do anything. You just show up. We pay the ticket. And it's like, fine. But a couple times, like, we were the ones racing, and we didn't know if the cops had seen who was racing. So you had two options. Like, when a cop comes up and, like, comes on two people racing, you can't be the, you can't slow down. Like, you have to be the faster car.

Starting point is 02:14:34 Right. And usually most people bitch out. Most people will just bitch out and pull over, and then that person's fucked. I never bitched out. That's when I would just hit the fucking nitrous and psh. And as long as that person behind me didn't go with me, I was fine. And I would just take off. And I remember multiple times I would fucking take off and I would drop my car.

Starting point is 02:14:53 I left my car at multiple Walmarts. I would just drive to Walmart, park my car and leave it for a day or two. I'd come back and get it the next day. Just be like, hey, come get me. I'm at the Walmart on US 19. And just leave your car there. And then the cops would never get you. There's other situations where we would like, you know, residential areas.

Starting point is 02:15:09 Like they have everybody blocked in. Like I would just back my little civic in because it was a small car. Like, and I would keep a black tarp, like a tent, like a, like a, like a, was I think a, a tarp like a black tarp in there and I would just put the black tarp over it and I'd wrap it around so it looks like it was just a car sitting under a tarp and I would just walk away and then just go stand with my friends because if they couldn't find the car they wouldn't you know they're not searching like that like the cops there's like hundreds of cars around like it really was like the movies in that and since like it was like big crowds of people so it's like if your car's like all the way back and

Starting point is 02:15:39 most of the best spots were in like industrial complexes so they were just buried like you just backed your car next to another like a work truck and put a tarp and put a tarp over it. Nobody knew the wiser. So I did that many of times. Yeah, I was going to say I've actually been to, when I was probably 19 or 20. I've actually been to a couple of those, those races. I'm going to say Gandy or something. Gandy was a big one. Gandy got very popular, though, because it's very open. But it's a long road. And from the most part, I would say, you know, they were safe. I don't think anybody was, like, there was no, like trying to, I don't think nobody had, like, nobody was trying to, it was really just about the two people racing. And there, you know, there was

Starting point is 02:16:18 always a spotter and there was always somebody behind. So like that was always there. So I was like, you know, I just got heavily involved in that. But I never actually got any of my speeding tickets. So I ended up getting 36 points in 24 months, which is like you average about three to four points of speeding ticket in Florida. And you're only allowed to get 24. And then you get your license to spend it for a year. What did you do? Keep going to keep taking the school. Keep going to the school. Well, yeah, you get to school a couple times. But you get the school as many times as you want as long as it's court order. Yeah, as long as you go to front of the court and argue, and then the judge will say, okay, I'm going to suspend the things, but you've got to go to traffic.

Starting point is 02:16:50 Yep, so I got so many tickets. And most of them were, like, stupid, going to work late, going to lows. But my car was so loud and obnoxious. You couldn't go anywhere without it. Like, you know, there was nothing, no interior. It was just two seats, like a shifter and, like, a steering wheel with a radio. It was loud. Like, even, I had, like, the non-abnoxious exhaust, which was still loud and obnoxious.

Starting point is 02:17:14 Right. So it was like, because you put. At the time, the fast motor I had was a B20, which came out of a CRV. And it was, so it was like a 2.0 liter motor out of a CRV in my little 92 Honda Civic. And it had 150 shot of nitrous. And it was meant to go faster at top end, like, because I like to race people going from spot to spot. I kind of got out of the racing people at a stop because that was like where you could

Starting point is 02:17:37 kind of get, a lot of people got caught doing that. So I was like, nope, I'm just going to go from spot to spot. And that seemed safer to me, you know. And so I built my car to go top. speed and the most I was able to hit in my civic, while spraying nitrifts was 180 miles an hour, which is scary as fuck in like a tin can civic. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:17:54 Like, and most people are like, no, that's impossible. And I was like, I wish I had video of it. This is before Instagram, you know, because that kind of killed street racing in itself. But like this was like a little fucking, it was about this high off the ground. I couldn't really go over speed bumps. Like if I hit a speed bump wrong, it would like rip the lip off the front of the car. It was just like an ugly white, like it was faded. It had a carbon fiber hood, a carbon fiber trunk lid, had carbon fiber doors.

Starting point is 02:18:18 Like, it was meant to just be light and fast. And it was a fun time. But, like, all of my tickets, I started getting so many just going to work or like, oh, I'm on my lunch break. Like that. I ended up getting, like, an attorney who I was just like, every time I got a ticket, I just sent it to an attorney. It was Rick Silverman.

Starting point is 02:18:34 He's from Tampa. He was able to get me out of so many tickets to the point where I would just take the class. And then I got to the point where I didn't even take the class. I just had, it was like VAs were starting to get popular. So I would pay like a VA person to take the class for me online and they would pass it. And then I would just get the credit for it. You say they're all online now.

Starting point is 02:18:52 Yeah. You used to take them that you have to actually go in. Yeah. I had a mixture of those. There was like you have to go in and like, you know. I think there are any you can go into anywhere. I think it's all online. Everything's online now.

Starting point is 02:19:02 And if people are actually doing that, I mean, you can get like a $10 VA to do that for you and save your time. So you don't have to waste your time. Some guy from Fiver. Yeah. I go to Fiver or Elance. What is it? Like online jobs. Dot pH, man.

Starting point is 02:19:16 They'll do anything. You just type in driver tests. Yeah, take my driver test for me. Like, I don't know you can, I wouldn't want the paper trail of that. Like, you know, be like, hey, I need you to take a test for me. This is the test. Hey, you guys. I appreciate you watching.

Starting point is 02:19:27 Do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button. Hit the bell so get notified of videos just like this. Also, we're going to leave all of Ryan's links for all of his social media, YouTube, everything, subscribe, follow. Click on the links. Go there. Do what you're supposed to do.

Starting point is 02:19:38 I really appreciate you guys watching. Also, head over to Sent Bird. use my promo code, Matthew Cox, to get your first month for just $8. Thank you very much. Thanks for watching the video. See you. Do you love dogs? Of course you do.

Starting point is 02:19:53 So join me, Rich Napolitano, and listen to the Doggone History Podcast. When you talk to someone about their dog, you have probably seen the sparkle in their eye, heard the joy in their voice, and felt the love in their heart. People, including me, talk about their dogs like their children, because that is how we see them. They are members of our families, our households, and they give us joy that enriches our lives. We have come to know and love chihuahuas, beagles, and German shepherds, and all the dogs that have been at our side as our best friends. But they weren't always as we know them today. Dog breeds have evolved over time and taken on a vast diversity of characteristics.

Starting point is 02:20:32 Listen to Doggone History, a lighthearted history of dogs, one breed at a time. Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. and say hi to your dog for me, won't you?

Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Dark Web Criminal Targeted Celebrities | What Really Happened

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.