Right About Now with Ryan Alford - How Authenticity Built a Global Brand | Sean Whalen x Ryan Alford Podcast

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Right About Now with Ryan Alford Join media personality and marketing expert Ryan Alford as he dives into dynamic conversations with top entrepreneurs, marketers, and influencers. "Right About Now" brings you actionable insights on business, marketing, and personal branding, helping you stay ahead in today's fast-paced digital world. Whether it's exploring how character and charisma can make millions or unveiling the strategies behind viral success, Ryan delivers a fresh perspective with every episode. Perfect for anyone looking to elevate their business game and unlock their full potential.   Resources: Right About Now Newsletter | Free Podcast Monetization Course | Join The Network |Follow Us On Instagram | Subscribe To Our Youtube Channel | Vibe Science Media   SUMMARY In this episode of "Right About Now," host Ryan Alford interviews Sean Whalen, founder of Lions Not Sheep. Sean shares his journey from early business success and personal struggles with depression to finding purpose through vulnerability and authenticity. He discusses building his empowering brand, the challenges of rapid growth, and the importance of honest storytelling. Sean emphasizes helping men live courageously and authentically, reflecting on legacy, family, and living without regrets. The episode highlights how embracing one’s truth can lead to both personal fulfillment and business success. TAKEAWAYS Personal and professional journey of Sean Whalen, including early success and struggles with depression. The concept of vulnerability and authenticity in social media and business. The origins and growth of the Lions Not Sheep brand. The impact of societal conditioning on men's mental health and expression of feelings. The importance of storytelling and purpose in building a brand. Rapid growth challenges in scaling an apparel business. The significance of sharing personal truths for mental well-being. The role of genuine communication in connecting with audiences. Sean's mission to empower men to live authentically and courageously. Reflections on legacy, family, and prioritizing meaningful life experiences over material success.  

Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that. And for like most people, when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people? Better. AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that, from crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think, to analysis. that digs deep, finds patterns, and surfaces trends quickly. SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business.

Try it today at surveymonkey.com slash Ryan. What does true success really look like, and are you brave enough to pursue it? Put on your big boy pants and get after it. In this episode, we sat down with Sean Whalen, founder of Lions Not Sheep. Listen in as he shares his raw, unfiltered journey into building a multi-million dollar brand by speaking his truth and encouraging others to do the same. A lot of great insights from this conversation that starts Right About Now. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads and month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cash in checks? Well, it starts right about now. I know we could go a lot of rabbit trails, a lot of things. I don't want to cap us too much, but as we build towards where you've taken Lions, not Sheep and all the e-commerce growth there, maybe let's just back up. Let's give our audience, you know, the recap of Sean. I'll keep it super simple. I mean, I, I, I, I was really successful at a young age. I grew up in a single parent home,

built a couple of companies and made a lot of money in my 20s. And I talk about in my book how I felt like I was juggling bowling balls. I essentially quit juggling all the bowling balls. And I don't know what a midlife crisis is, but I left my marriage. I left my business. I stuck my head up my ass for over a year, trying to figure out not how to make money,

how to build business, but like, why was I even here? Like, what's the purpose of all this? I went on an interesting journey. I got really depressed, suicidal, and found myself in a really, really, really dark place. Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that.

And for like most people, when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people? Better. AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that. from crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think, to analysis that digs deep, finds patterns, and surfaces trends quickly. SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business.

Try it today at surveymonkey.com slash Ryan. I love giving gifts, but you know what I don't love? shopping. It seems impossible to find unique gifts these days. I got four boys that seem to have it all and a wife that I want to make happy. That's why I love uncommon goods. They have products that are unique from some small vendors, handmade, handcrafted, made it in the USA. I love these guys. Uncommon goods makes holiday shopping stress-free and joyful. With thousands of one-of-a-kind gifts, You can't find anywhere else. Trust me, I know, because I couldn't find anything, and uncommon goods comes to the rescue every time.

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I ended up hiring a coach. trying to figure out how do I get out of this mindset? How do I shift things around? And one of the things that he had challenged me to do was to start sharing my thoughts and what was going on on social media. To make a really long story short,

I ended up sharing one night some real dark shit and really just told the truth. For a lack of better words, I just fucking told the truth for once. And that post ended up going viral. Millions and millions and millions of people thought I went from having like 200 friends on Facebook

book to almost 40,000 followers in a matter of 10 days. And in that process, you know, I, I left the company. I left everything. And I, one day, the phrase, lines not sheet came into my mind. I was looking at this catalog. And there was another company, it was something kind of similar. And it just popped into my head. And it just resonated. And it just, it wouldn't go away. And I kept thinking to myself, like, looking at everything in life, like, like, I have a choice, right? To follow and to do what everybody else is doing and to buy this because he bought this or build this, or this is what this needs to be and it was like no dude fuck that like what do i want to do like who do i want to be like what life do i want to build and when uh lines not sheep came to me i uh

called my buddy who owned a clothing company one day and i said hey man can you can you make me a t-shirt he said sure and um i was wearing it one day and i had a picture and i posted on facebook and all these comments started coming and dude where that's badass where'd you get that can i get that shirt and i called my buddy i was like i don't know how to sell t-shirts like how he's like I'll set you up Shopify store and whatever and so that kind of started the whole for me it was just my mantra it just became my way of thinking my way of being it was very personal to me and I saw a lot of people gravitate towards it a lot of people connect with it and uh it it became and what is now a huge movement where you know millions of people engaged with the content and know

about it and just recently we've had some people that have um vending me and smith who's in New Jersey who the governor was trying to shut his gym down when I woke up one morning this was probably a month ago a month and a half ago and I had been tagged like over a hundred times in this post I'm like what the fuck and I you know I opened up Instagram and there's this guy who's like super defiant like screw the governor whatever whatever and he's got a nice house she had on he ended up just seeing one of our ads and bought the hat and his post went viral and it was really interesting over the course of the next couple of days he was on CNN Fox Tucker, Carl, Sibund, all these big, big shows that he was wearing the lines not sheet gear

and our free man t-shirt. And it was just really cool to see that he hadn't, he wasn't really, he didn't know me per se, but he vibed with the brand. He recognized it, resonated with it, and decided to buy a shirt and a hat. And it just kind of brought me full circle. Like, it's pretty freaking amazing. How enlightening was it? I can only imagine, like, like you said, you felt like you lived not necessarily.

tell you a lie, but you never felt comfortable being transparent and being maybe vulnerable, if that's, if I can use that word. Sure. How enlightening was that moment when, holy shit, I'm being myself and I'm garnering the attention, not that maybe you were seeking before when you were copying everyone else, but just the irony in that had to be just fucking amazing. It was. And what's interesting is we're all programmed to lie.

I don't care who's watching this, black, white, gay, street. rich, poor. All of us were programmed the exact same way. And when you really stop and think about it, like we've been indoctrinated since we were children to do as we're told, to speak words that will be pleasing to everyone, don't wrestle anybody's feathers. And that's literally what we do. We're told, tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth. But the ramifications for telling the truth are dark. They're bad. So we just lie. And as you get older, you become man, it's like, we don't talk about emotions. We don't talk about where we're really at. You just man the fuck up, you know, put on your big boy pants and get after it.

And the truth of the matter is that, you know, more men killed themselves in 2018 than during the Great Depression. Why? It's not because there's a lack of money or a lack of opportunity or lack of chicks or, you know, ass running around. It's because dudes are like trapped in this box like I was 10 years ago. I'm like, dude, I'm not happy with where I'm at, but I don't know how to talk about it. And my boys are like, hey man, how you doing? I'm like, I'm good. Well, then I'll say, oh, shit, Bob killed himself. We didn't even. You know, Bob was sad. Bob looks like he's got the ideal life.

Well, no one thinks that they're lying. The reality is if you're not speaking the truth, then what is it? And if you're not sharing what's really inside of you, how you really feel, what's really going on. It's not an issue of political correctness or I don't want to piss anybody off. It's like, what are you doing? Are you speaking your truth? Yes or no. I noticed two things that happened.

Number one, people resonated with my message. Millions of people resonated with it. And the second thing that I saw after I shared this was that I felt better. It was almost like, okay, I got that out. You know what I mean? And so when I talked to entrepreneurs, a business owner, and people, I'm like, dude, you're a better father when you feel better. You're a better mother when you feel better.

You're a better everything when you feel better. Lying doesn't feel good. Lying is scary. It's do they know, do they know, do they know? Where you just fucking tell the truth and you got nothing to worry about. Something has shaped Sean Whalen at some point in life. Well before you got lost or you got found or anything like that, I feel like there has to be these opinions and these beliefs that kind of formed all of this.

Something shaped that. I was actually a really quiet kid. I was really reserved. I was a chubby little kid. And I think for me, when looking back at it, when I went on a Mormon mission, I went on a two-year Mormon mission, that was where I really started to kind of find my voice. I mean, you're out basically selling God when you're going door to door pitching God to people. And it was something I was really passionate about.

It was something that, like, I didn't grow up in the Mormon church. I grew up Catholic. And so it was kind of a recent convert to the church. And I just started realizing that people love to connect. People love to talk. And I was really good at it. I was good at just talking to people. And I know that sounds really weird, but like there really is an art form of communication.

There's an art form of being able to not just talk. So, hey, how's your water? Like, why do you like that water? okay great you know whatever like really fucking listening to people and hearing them and knowing what's driving them and and something that i've always been fascinated about and with is is what's behind it everybody knows they're being sold something so we've already got that out of the way but what are you trying to tell me what are you trying to communicate with me if the answer is a simple no then just fucking say no right but i love being able to look at complex things and i break it down in my brain

to just like coloring book kind of conversations like yeah this is what this really is and it's just more to me it's more fun that way you know we're an at digital agency here and we work a lot of brands and you know they come to us and they have great products but they have no story right and yeah i will take a company that has a purpose in a story all day because that's it's organic you know again it just becomes about blocking and tackling it's real hard to figure out the hell merry you know the message what have been some of those mechanics of of, you know, because I've heard you talk about it. You know, you started the company, you were selling T-shirts, you had a message, you had

a plan, but something poured gas on the fire for the tactics and the, in the, and some of the ways with which you've seen growth. You talk about some of that? I found for me that I embodied Lions, not Sheep. It literally was for me. You know what I mean? Like when I wrote my book, which is sold over half a million copies completely organically, I mean, I wrote a book that I wanted to read.

And so for me, lion's not sheep. Everybody's been telling me, dude, you're in the perfect storm now with the whole political climate and Trump because it's like we're all, you're one or the other, right? You're picking up either the lion or you're the sheep, which is great, you know, but everybody now wants to jump on that, right? And they want to plug into that emotion. They want to plug into the political climate and whatever, whatever. And you really don't have a track record. You don't have a tribe. You don't have any of that.

I didn't set out to do that. And I think that's what really makes Lions Not Sheep unique. And I think a lot of people need to wrap their head around this. And it's really difficult to do is having the consistency of delivering content and messaging. Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that. And for like most people, when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few, uh, concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people?

better. AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that, from crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think, to analysis that digs deep, finds patterns, and surfaces trends quickly. SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before

to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business. Try it today at surveymonkey.com slash Ryan. I love giving gifts, but you know what? I don't love shopping. It seems impossible to find unique gifts these days. I've got four boys that seem to have it all, and a wife that I want to make happy. That's why I love Uncommon Goods. They have products that are unique from some small vendors, handmade, handcrafted, made it in the USA. I love these guys. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping shopping. stress-free and joyful, with thousands of one-of-a-kind gifts you can't find anywhere else.

Trust me, I know, because I couldn't find anything, and uncommon goods comes to the rescue every time. Games, toys, clothes, one-of-a-kind, unique things that you can't find anywhere else. I love these guys. Let me tell you, you want to go there, you want to shop USA-based, and, I love these guys. Uncommon Goods has me and you covered. So, shop early, have fun, and cross some names off your list today. To get 15% off your next gift, go to Uncommonogoods.com slash Ryan. That's Uncommonogoods.com slash Ryan for 15% off.

Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods, we're all out of the ordinary. for the long game because now we're in the perfect fucking storm now we're crushing because so much content has been put out there over the last couple of years and it wasn't with the objective of selling t-shirts or selling hats or selling any of that shit i believe that the very best salespeople on planet earth are never selling anything like you go to my you go to my instagram or my facebook you will never see me selling anything yet i'm literally able to make millions of dollars through coaching and consulting and and other companies that I have.

Where are we going? You know, I know you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, deep in a lot of things. I know this is open doors and yeah, that, you know, your coaching, how to make shit happen is the book, everyone listening, go check it out on Amazon. Is it Amazon or just your personal site? Yeah. Amazon. Um, but what's, where we headed? Where are you going? Well, well, right now we're trying to put the wheels back on the, on the bus. We, uh, we got our asses kicked, um, in production. Um, And we grew so fast, I turned everything on back in March. And what I mean by that is I hired a team to come in and we started running ads.

I'd never run an ad before. I'd never put ads out there. And we went from that to, you know, we were doing two to $3,000 a month of just apparel sales. And we did $463,000 last month of apparel sales in basically 90 days. A lot of them, they shirts. And it fucked some things up. And I learned some very valuable, expensive lessons on production and being able to keep up. I really do, I'm passionate about this man.

I'm passionate about the ability of, especially with men to really fucking step into who they are and not in some hippie-dippy way, but like I'm 41 years old. And there's a lot of 41-year-olds that are like, okay, I got the house in the car and the kids and the thing. Like, why do I fucking hate my life? Am I not doing anything I want to do? I mean, my wife and I, we eat at the same place, you fucking vacation at Disneyland once a year. Like, what am I doing with my life?

And wine's not sheep and me specifically is, you know, I'm coaching a lot. I've got multiple facets to the business, but I really want to show people that it's possible. You know what I mean? Like building a really badass life is possible. It's not whimsical. It's not because I got a silver spoon. In fact, it's anything but with me, I've worked my ass off for this. And I want to be able to show people and show kids and teenagers like, we got one shot at this reality.

We have one shot at this life. Like, go build the shit you want to build. That's my end game is I want to leverage what I've got now through social media and the following and connections or whatever. But I want somebody to be able to see this hat, see this message, see this t-shirt, resonate with it and have the same feeling of empowerment and power that I do. I don't want to ask you what do you want to leave. You've said it. I've interpreted where you see your legacy. But I do want to kind of ask it because like what do you, you know, when they.

go Sean Whalen in 50 years, you know, what, what do you want people to think? My legacy is my kids. And it's not wealth. It's not assets that can be distributed. It's not, you know, 4-1Ks and IRAs, the kids are splitting, you know, my kids are splitting up. If I play this game right, I've empowered my children to become their own entrepreneurial, independent creatures. My legacy. if you will is that, is if I can help these three kids break the chains that I came from and having dysfunction and having, you know, a divorce at a young age and having a dad that was never around, you know, if I can be that man to where I'm laying on my deathbed knowing,

I don't give a fuck about the money, but my kids know that they literally live the fullest life with me. That's my game. But I want to be able to sit back and not have any fucking regrets know that I played the game. I was all in. I was all in. I was all in. every single day like with my with my lover with my kids with my business with my message like you can go back and watch thousands of videos and you know that whether you like me or not whether you agree politically with me or not you know that I'm spitting my truth and you know that's coming from my soul I feel like I'm on a pretty good track for that because that's how I feel literally sitting here I think you're living it and as someone that doesn't agree with every single

principle of yours I respect the hell out of you and wanted you on the podcast because I see that is as clear as day. Yeah, well, there's, we're smart. You know, you and I, everybody, we think, we all think we're smart, right? I mean, we should. You shouldn't think you're, you're dumb, but like, if you're smart, I love to study and I love to read. And I, and if you think about all of these great men that have come before us, the

Carnegie's, the Rockefellers, the Steve Jobs, the Steve Coveys, these literal like industry creators and they just have changed the face of the earth, they all say the same thing. at the end of their book, all of them, without questioning. They all literally say at the end of their books, their biographies, like, if I could go back and do it all over again, I would have spent more time doing the things that I wanted to do. I would have spent more time with my family. And I consider myself a pretty smart fella. So if, you know, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Steve Jobs is saying, if I could go back and trade places with Sean at 41 and I'd spend more time playing and doing the things that I want to do, then I get what Instagram is trying to tell me. I

get that I'm supposed to be bawling and lamboes and jets and the whole thing. But at the end of the day, I'm enjoying my life. I'm living the life and I'm taking the counsel from those guys. You know, and it seems to be working. It works really, really well for me. And I've literally never been this happy before, man. I've got a great business. I got a phenomenal family. Like, I literally wake up every day. I'm like, I'm fucking doing it. I love it, brother. I really appreciate your time. Sean, been really enlightening and love what you're doing. So, If you're looking, follow Sean Whalen on all the social media channels. If you just Google, Sean Whelan, W-H-A-L-E-N, you'll find him.

Sean Wayland.com, lion's not sheep.com. Go find them, man. And find it all over. Find your truth as well. Sean really appreciate it. Hey, guys, you know to find us. Ryan is right.com. You'll find highlight clips.

You'll find all of my social links at Ryan Alford. Got that blue check before you can buy it, baby. We'll see you next time. I'll write about now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a radcast network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that. And if you're like most people, when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people? Better. AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that, from crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think, to analysis that digs deep, finds patterns, and surfaces trends quickly.

SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business. Try it today at surveymonkey.com slash Ryan.