The Iced Coffee Hour - “Dont Buy Bitcoin!” Why ‘The Rich’ Are Buying Gold, Diamonds, and Jewelry | TraxNYC

Starting point is 00:00:00 Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IG Private Wealth.com.

Starting point is 00:00:30 You have to be competitive and vicious. I'm going to lose my fucking mind, so please be careful, bro. You give away a lot of gold on your channel. Yeah, I gave away. I'm going to give away more. Each one of these ounces is two grand. Let's see if somebody wants it for free. Free sample of tracks back?

Starting point is 00:00:43 Anybody, please. Why do you think that people on the street are so clueless about the price of gold? People should be like angels, but forget about what they should be doing. Money is a game and everybody's responsible for playing it smart. I want to go. Now, when you were doing your business, how did you end up in debt? Credit card fraud and theft. How much debt did you get in?

Starting point is 00:01:02 A couple of million. I was a young kid. They took advantage. I didn't know that people could be evil. You look a little skeptical. I mean, you don't believe my story? I believe your story. It's just surprising.

Starting point is 00:01:13 Get the fuck out of here. Gold is about trust. Can you trust the federal government? If you watch the gold price, it's always about what's actually happening. That's when it comes into play, because then you're going to need a currency system that's backed by something and measured by something.

Starting point is 00:01:27 And the question then becomes, how many dollars you have is how many grams you have. Well, I'm curious, what is the craziest thing that you've made out of gold? Well, I make a lot of crazy figurines, right? You know, like I made the baseball and a bunch of other figures. But right now I'm trying to make the Indiana Jones, you know, when he's switching that bag of dirt for that big gold head. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:01:55 That is going to be, though, about 10 kilograms of gold. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit in making crazy things out of gold. Can you curse on this podcast? Yeah, sure. Crazy out of gold. You know what I'm saying? Oh, and also a reminder, if you want to see this episode and future episodes early, completely uncensored, you can join the membership as well.

Starting point is 00:02:15 You'll get early access to everything, bonus episodes, and no ads, no sponsorships. But anyway, yeah, check it out. So I'm working with one of my friends, Buyon Trading LLC, and I'm going to be taking his gold because he trusts me and melting it into crazy things. And the stuff I did is minor. I used my own gold, which is like a quarter of a million. million dollars for the baseball or, you know, 300 grand that made the subway card or whatever. I'm just getting started.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Coming up with a couple of ideas to market my jewelry business, that's it, man, you know. Trying to get to your level, bro. You could just keep remelting the same thing over and over to different things. There is a little bit of a loss where, you know, where the gold goes and how. And if you ever in New York, I'll show you the smelting process. Because I know you'd love that. You know what I'm saying? Try to pick up some dust particles on the ground.

Starting point is 00:03:02 Yeah, there's so. I'll be sweeping around there. There's some gold loss, you know, which is very frustrating and annoying, especially when you cast it and then you polish it. That's really, you know, you're losing, if it's a big object, 20 grams, 30 grams, you know, that's an ounce. That's like $3,500. Do you always have gold on you?

Starting point is 00:03:25 Usually, yeah. I mean, I wear a little bit of gold here and there, nothing crazy. You know what I'm saying? I got my little eagle. I got my 24-carred pendant right here. Oh, my star David. course and this is my 24k that from another thing this just a regular little pieces to just how much are this worth at today's price altogether like 15 to 20 000 i think altogether i mean this piece

Starting point is 00:03:48 right here is 3 000 the chain is you know two grand all right this one is also around three to four and another chain two three grand you know gold price is high and then the star of david or whatever. So what attracted you to the jewelry business? Um, well, you know, I was actually like a tech guy. Then I was installing a video game on my friend's computer, CounterStrike. I'm sure you played that. Yeah. I was installing CounterStrike. He got a ton of viruses, you know, a whole family used this computer. So many viruses, they clicked on every pop up. Probably line wire. Yeah, back in 2000 and, you know, uh, three or 2004, the family clicked on everything, you know, you're getting it. So the, the, and he was desperate for Counterstrike.

Starting point is 00:04:34 Right? The guy was having some issues. He wanted to just stay home and play CounterStrike, you know, serious issues. All right. So I'm there helping him out. I'm installing Counterstrike, uninstalling these viruses. And his cousin is, uh, sees me. And he's like, you know, he sees I'm a computer dude. And these guys are in the hood. This is not whatever. Okay. This is the hood at that time. And they see me solving these problems. They're like, oh, this guy's a computer dude right here. What a da da da da. So. He takes me in and this dude and he, you know, he's hustling. He's driving at that point of time he was buying fake clothing from brands, you know, like fake branded clothing from Canal Street, just a Chinatown, driving it out of state, selling it like it's real. It was just a hustler. And he was also working with some jewelry stores over there, just networking, trying to find how to, whatever.

Starting point is 00:05:27 And he put me on and he got me in and I became kind of like an intern for him. And at some point of time, he had me sell, you know, a shirt on eBay. Ivisu, you ever heard that brand? No. It's like a Japanese brand that used, you know, did denim and it was very big, like handmade denim, whatever. I sell it for 120 bucks. And the customer gets it and returns it. It's like, I don't want this fake crap.

Starting point is 00:05:56 So I'm like, I give back the money. I'm like, yeah, man, my bad, bro. This customer returned it. Doesn't pick up my call. Debted me for $120. I'm like, all right, you want to do it? did me for $120 bucks.

Starting point is 00:06:05 I'm going to go back to that store that I saw and photograph the jewelry put it up on eBay, sell it, buy it, learn it,

Starting point is 00:06:13 ship it, get to the manufacturer, start my business. It's funny, we have a very similar story. So how I got started was taking pictures

Starting point is 00:06:21 of fish and coral. Right. For a wholesaler, they'd put it online, sell it. Those skills led me to doing lease listings on Craigslist.

Starting point is 00:06:29 I'd take pictures of other agents listings in my office. Right. Because I'd just started. I was 18 years old. And I take the photos for free. I offered them the photos, but I said, well, if I lease it from Craigslist, I get the commission for the tenant and you lease it.

Starting point is 00:06:43 And you get a tenant for your client. And that's how I got started. Exactly. It was just taking free pictures and arbitrage. You saw an advantage. It was the dawn of the internet, so to speak, right? You saw an advantage and or you saw an opportunity where other people were blind. And for a very, I mean, if I had any actual, you know, I was born in a communist country, business was not a.

Starting point is 00:07:04 the mentality. So that really helped me back. You know, I didn't even know I could start a business. I didn't really believe in my idea because it was just so foreign, you know, and maybe a lower self-esteem or whatever. So that held me back, you know, with one foot in, one foot out. But I had to learn the industry for a very long time and I got it through the door. Yeah. You know, at that time, there was low-hanging fruit that people grabbed, you know. Some people did a better job. Some people were in their prime for that. to Jeff Bezos. He wasn't 18.

Starting point is 00:07:36 During that time, he was 30-something. And he realized what the opportunity was with the internet, and he grabbed it. So there a specific moment that it kind of clicked? And then you realized, okay, I can turn this into a real fully fledged business that makes really good money. Well, I started making money. I was in the top 1% of the eBay people, but I was like 19. And they flew me down to D.C. to lobby in Congress, you know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 00:08:00 Because they had a lobby. You look a little skeptical of me. You don't believe my story. I believe your story. It's just surprising. So you were 19 and you went to go lobby Congress? Yes. So basically they invited their top 1% sellers to D.C.

Starting point is 00:08:12 And then at that time, you know, they were going to try to impose sales tax on eBay or whatever the hell they were going to do. And they wanted, they opened up a D.C. office. And they wanted their top sellers to lobby, you know, in Congress to tell them this is going to hurt whatever. All right. So they'd have us go with the assistant of Chuck Schumer and the assistant of whoever. And it was cool. I got to go to the capital building. I got to go to this and that.

Starting point is 00:08:38 And that was a great experience. But I was to answer the original question. I was in the top 1% making money. I should have raised my prices. But again, I kept my prices too low because I'm like, how can people afford jewelry? It just didn't have the mentality. You know what I came to America in 1993, you know?

Starting point is 00:08:55 And I opened up the business in 2004. Okay. So I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, you know, it was a Soviet. at that time. People weren't thinking about business. People weren't thinking about nothing. But I knew it could happen here and I was making money and then I made a couple of mistakes, you know, lost the control of my business and I had to backtrack for a long time. How do you lose control? I was building a business around my friends. That was an employer.

Starting point is 00:09:25 I just hired my friends and then that ruined their relationship and then they got replaced. And then the people that I had to replace them with began to steal. And it was credit card fraud and I lost money. And then in order to fight that off, I had to do a bunch of other nonsense. And I had another friend from Florida come up and, uh, help me out. But by the time we structured the business, I was in debt. So then I had to do this and I had to do that and I had to do this and I had to do that. And people were stealing is really what it was.

Starting point is 00:09:52 You know what I'm saying? And I was too naive. How do they steal from you? Too stupid. How do they steal? You know what I'm saying? You picked up this ring for, right, um, right? Right.

Starting point is 00:10:01 Or I picked up this ring from you. You're the wholesaling. on me. I picked up this ring and I picked up that ring and that ring. And then you bill me for an extra ring and I didn't check the bill. And then I ship it and then the return came and my staff took the item and just pocketed it. You know what I'm saying? It didn't give me to the return. It's just they were and I had no awareness that somebody would steal. I didn't know that people could be evil and, you know, that they wouldn't even forget about fearing God. They were like, yo, this. I'll get the money.

Starting point is 00:10:35 I'll f*** this guy over. Who cares? I didn't think like that. You know what I'm saying? I thought in a different capacity. Are there any red flags if someone's going to steal from you that you look for that you see now? Now, yeah. Now 100%. I mean, it's not even about the red flags that you see.

Starting point is 00:10:49 It's guilty before proven innocent. If an honest person, you see that there's an honest person there. You know what I'm saying? Like you see something. And it's hard to describe, you know, a fake human being. that's overly nice. Like, oh, yeah, I'm saying like, you start looking at this guy's really, really trying to be nice

Starting point is 00:11:09 or trying to be like he's a good person. Might be hiding something, you know? Might be this. So a person is guilty until they prove themselves. Innocent, okay? Not like in the court of law where they're innocent until they're proven guilty. In real life, a person is, I don't trust you,

Starting point is 00:11:25 I don't know you, until you prove yourself to be whatever. But it's in what they say. You know, a person communicates with you, and if something just rubs you the wrong way, you know, it's in your ears. Like, if you're eating a meal and there's a funny taste, stop eating it, something is wrong. Either it's on the floor or something fell in or some dish soap or something. That funny taste is not because it's just it's funny. You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 00:11:57 It's funny taste. It's something happened that you didn't see. And same thing with a person. And you have to have that sense like, what is this person saying? And why is he acting like he's really for it? And, you know, why did they disappear? Like I had this nasty person that I had employed. Here's an example.

Starting point is 00:12:14 I'm walking up the stairs. I see him walking out of the, you know, in the building in the Diamond District and everyone's got gem shops, this one, diamonds here, there. I see him walking out of a hallway that I've never seen him before, that I've never even been in. So I'm looking and I ask, you know, what was going on in there? And they give you an answer.

Starting point is 00:12:35 Oh, just picking up something and I'm just doing this and I'm just doing that. And I'm like, you know what I'm saying? That doesn't make sense, right? That doesn't add up. If you're in some place working for my company that I've never been in, you'd say, hey, this is a great place to pick up gems and pick up this. It turns out this individual piece of shit was scheming and using my company to pick up manufacturers and keeping them in their back pocket thinking that they're going to build out

Starting point is 00:13:00 some amazing dream of theirs. It is what it is. You see it, don't ignore it. You know, somebody's like, uh, this, that, they're, watch their eyes. Watch what they're doing. Watch what they're saying. Add it up. If you yourself are honest, you'll see that something is out of line and it's if it's it you know if something is out of line then something is hidden keep your distance and be aware can that throughout tests like test your employees test the people that are close to you like yes how do you can you reveal how you do that or maybe a test you've done in the back yeah um uh well you know i'm thinking about the individual individuals that are there and um the different the behaviors and activities that I've seen.

Starting point is 00:13:51 Obviously, the easiest thing is to leave something around and see if it disappears. That's the easiest test. That's entrapment, so to speak. You know, some people, but, you know, there's some people that will come up to you and say, hey, this was over here. And there's some people that will, oh, they didn't notice that this is gone. And they make that betrayal. But the easiest way is just to leave shit around and look stupid and let people believe

Starting point is 00:14:13 that you have a blind spot, that they can exploit. And then eventually, you know, it's a dirty game. It's a primitive game for primitive people, man. Now, when you were doing your business, how did you end up in debt? Credit card fraud and theft. How much debt did you get in? A couple of million. How old were you?

Starting point is 00:14:32 This is in my 20s, late 20s by that time. I was losing money consecutively for 10 years. How did you not detect that you? How were you operating a business that was losing money for 10 years? I was growing it. So I had a bigger sales volume. I was always able to cover something with something. All right.

Starting point is 00:14:50 So, you know, I grew my sales volume to a million dollars a month. So that gave me a floating capital. But, you know, I lost some of that capital. So it covered it. So I'm thinking, all right, well, I'll sell more and I'll make it back. But then I'll sell more and then it's not there. You know what I'm saying? So it was just a lot in the fair.

Starting point is 00:15:09 I was a young dude. I was a kid. And I have to admit here on the Graham and Jack iced coffee hour that I was a little retarded. You know what I'm saying? It's a shame, but it's reality. And so it was literally just people saying, oh, yeah, I bought seven rings. When in actuality they bought six and they were just upcharging you, your employees.

Starting point is 00:15:29 Employees and vendors, nasty, dirty little crooks that would just, you know, play with the bill. And, you know, it's a complicated bill. I'm selling a lot of shit. I'm running around. I'm like, all right, man, I know this guy's not going to me. I'll trust it and I'll just take care of it and I'll pay it. That was just stupid, bro. What happened to those people?

Starting point is 00:15:45 Are they still in business? Some of them are. Some of them know what the fuck is the deal with me and they don't play with me. You know what I'm saying? And they're around, man. And they are what they are. What can I say about that, man? Although really quick, something that comes up often on the podcast is diversification. And more people are beginning to look into gold and silver. With everything going on in the economy, it makes sense. Like the dollar is already down 9% this year. Well, gold is up 25%. That's a major shift in purchasing power. You might not feel it immediately, but over time it adds up.

Starting point is 00:16:18 Plus, with potential rate cuts on the horizon, hard assets like gold and silver have historically done really well in that environment, and if you're holding on to too much cash, you could be missing on the upside. Today's sponsor, Noble Gold Investments, helps people explore those options. You could roll over part of your IRA or 401k into physical gold or silver or make a direct purchase. Either way, it's a strategic method to hedge outside of the stock market. Their process is focused on education, not pressure. you get a dedicated specialist upfront pricing and clear answers to your questions from a U.S.-based

Starting point is 00:16:48 team. And there's a guaranteed buyback program, so there's flexibility if you ever decide to sell down the line. So if you've been thinking about protecting your wealth with some real assets, now could be a great time to learn more before any potential rate changes hit. Head to Noblegoldinvestments.com slash iced to get started or to schedule a free consultation. Again, that is noblegoldinvestments.com slash iced, or the link is also down below in the description. Thank you so much for sponsoring this episode and now let's get back to the podcast.

Starting point is 00:17:16 During this period of time where you were in debt but still making good money trying to push that debt over, were you living a luxurious lifestyle when you were making all this money in your 20s were you spending on nice cars, nice dinners, fancy dates? In the first one, first I bought a nice car and I had something going for me in the beginning when I started making money.

Starting point is 00:17:34 It wasn't the craziest car, but back then for, you know, it was it? It was an Audi S5 but the V8. how much were you making at the time? I don't know. You know, I was just a kid who just photographed some jewelry. You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 00:17:47 I didn't know how to write a check. You had no idea, though? You wouldn't be... I estimated that I was making 10 grand a month to 20 grand a month, but I didn't have an expense report. I didn't have quick books.

Starting point is 00:17:58 I didn't have nothing. I had an eBay store, photographs of jewelry, sold the jewelry, pick it up from these vendors. Now, I could have... I was one of the first jewelers on there. That's why I had all that traction.

Starting point is 00:18:08 You know what I'm saying? I could have made millions at that time. All I needed to do is manufacture. But instead I'm photographing from these pieces of worthless, man. And they're telling me, you know, and they're not like, you know, straight answers, you know what I'm saying? You don't understand the type of people that you're dealing with. They just tell you yes to anything. And then they say they, I never said that. You know, straight to your face. Like beyond your wildest comprehension. All right. So you're going, you know, this ring can't be sized. So I come up to you. You're the vendor.

Starting point is 00:18:41 and I say, listen, I need this ring for my client in a size nine. And, you know, can you order it for me? He's like, yeah, it'll take me one week. No problem. All right, one week later, you come to him. I'm like, listen, the customer's been waiting. I gave you the money. Where's the ring?

Starting point is 00:18:57 He's like, what? Four weeks to order this. Oh, I'm like, you told me one week. No. And I'm like, you're a piece of shit. So I'm like, now I have to struggle with the client telling some shit. Come back four. weeks later you didn't I didn't even order it you didn't even pay me then another four weeks

Starting point is 00:19:16 go by if it comes in it's not even the right size I told you size eight what huh no shame no nothing do they put anything in writing I should have slapped them across his face that that very moment bro then I know what I'm writing bro this is a you know just just like a like I was a A young kid. I was a young kid. It was all they took advantage. I was a young kid who thought the world worked in a different way. You understand?

Starting point is 00:19:46 That's really what it was. This, that, these people, I'm not going to say derogatory. You know what I'm saying? But you're dealing with people that are just the biggest pieces of shrew. And it was my fault. You know what I'm saying? I should have saw it. I should have walked out the door and whatever.

Starting point is 00:19:59 But I thought, I was just insane. What motivated you to make as much money as possible? I mean, you know, you want to be a successful person, you want to eat, you want to be able to take care of your family, you want to have a beautiful girl, you want to have one or two of them. You want to buy an apartment. You want to have an art collection like Graham, man. What do you mean? What motivates you for the money? But some people don't actualize that.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Like they say they want the money and they feel like they want the money, but they don't. They're never going to act on it. Saying and actually wanting are two different things. So what made you act on it? Want is a word. You're not comfortable in where you are, so you have to go. but if you're comfortable where yeah you want this but you really want to roll a blunt is what you really want

Starting point is 00:20:40 because that's what you're doing. How can you be doing something? Oh baby, I want to love you and want to be with you but you're out with another chick. You know what I'm saying? So you want the other chick. You don't want to love or you don't want to do this. You're doing what you want.

Starting point is 00:20:54 You know what I'm saying? What you're saying you want money, but what you really want is to kick back, be lazy, blow smoke up your own. Because that's what you're doing. So how the hell do you want it? So what set you apart from all the people who say they want it? They never take action.

Starting point is 00:21:08 I needed it. I didn't want it. I needed it. There's no point of me living and this and that. I want to be able to order this bottle of wine. I want to be able to impress this chick over here. I want to be able to pull up in this car. I need it.

Starting point is 00:21:23 I don't want it. I want to be able to have a good time and really feel and experience life for its utmost. And, you know, I had the necessary. IQ points to be able to structure, you know, whatever's in the environment, eBay picture, this and that, to claw it. That's it. Do you think you have more street smarts than the average person? At this point, I have, yeah, for sure. You know what I'm saying? Whatever that even means, street smarts or whatever it might be. Sure. Do you think the jewelry industry attracts just greedy people? Does it attract just greedy people? Not necessarily.

Starting point is 00:22:03 It attracts all sorts of people. And there's great people doing business over there. Some of them are more disgusting than others. But there's great people doing business there. But yeah, by nature, you have to be competitive and vicious. The product is in the hand. It's a different environment. There's no scannable barcode.

Starting point is 00:22:25 There's no warehouse. You're not selling paper towels. Some people can make things disappear. It costs you money. They could take your client. They could cut your throat. They could do a bunch of stuff. So it's a very competitive, vicious business.

Starting point is 00:22:36 But the people that are in it, been in it for generations. They know the rules. And that's that. The person that's coming in there and thinking that they're going to make something happen is a different type of moron. And there's a lot of those. But yeah, you know, a sales guy. You know what I'm saying? Somebody in sales and they see the money.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And nobody's out there. No matter, the more you pay them, the more they think they're going to be richer on their own. So if you pay them nothing. You know, they're going to be sitting there scheming. And if you pay them a lot, they're going to be scheming even more, man. It's not comfortable. You have to judge character. Character.

Starting point is 00:23:12 You have to judge character and build a relationship with someone that's fair. How often do people fake wealth? All the time. What do you mean? Like, what are the ways that you can spot real versus fake wealth? Can you immediately tell if someone's actually what? Absolutely. But are there tales when someone walks in talks to you that you could tell this guy's foolish?

Starting point is 00:23:31 Yeah. And what are those tells? I don't even listen to the words, man. I listen to the energy. As soon as I hear speech that's like, you know what I'm saying? Somebody come in, oh, yeah, man.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Oh, I like this and this is, and I'm just like, just shut the fuck up, bro, get the fuck out of here. You know what I'm saying? I walked into your home, man. Comment your art. Wait till you see the hallway.

Starting point is 00:23:53 It's an informational exchange. You know what I'm saying? The information resonates. All right? It resonates. The vibrations go into the eardrum and into the brain and it's like, oh, okay, this makes sense. You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 00:24:08 And, oh, this is what you're doing. This is the book I read. This is the book, you know, your goosebumps collection or whatever. This is your favorite. There's a back and forth exchange that's building a relationship that's building positivity. If I came in there and I said, yeah, I have a better one. What would you think, bro?

Starting point is 00:24:27 I'd want to see a photo of it. Yeah, or you'd want to see a photo one or you're this and that. But still, even if I did it, have a better one. Why wouldn't I say something positive? You know what I'm saying? Why play some stupid game? You know? So this is kind of my

Starting point is 00:24:43 experience of it. People come up to me all the time. I got a jewelry store. You know what I'm saying? There's no gate to get through. They walk inside and they say, I have this, and I might be wrong. I might be judging people incorrectly. But they might say, I have this

Starting point is 00:24:59 idea or this or I want that or I want this. And I'm just listening to him like, yeah, go speak to over there. But if it resonates and someone is saying something that inside my mind isn't annoying me, then I'm starting paying attention and, you know, some people lift you up and inspire you and some people put you down and I'm sensitive to the feeling. I'm not even focusing on the words. I'm sensitive to the feeling. That's what it is to me. What about clothing and flexing and watches and stuff like that? Can you, because I've heard that if you eclipse like a real crazy level of wealth, you start wearing

Starting point is 00:25:32 like kind of dragged old clothing, like, like Adam Sandler and a lot of like shy love... You stop having to prove anything. Well, you don't have to prove anything when you've been in a million movies. Okay, sure. What about other people? Do you notice like a correlation at all with like the actual physical

Starting point is 00:25:48 appearance of like very wealthy people versus not? Not often. This one guy that I know, he's got a collection of Ferraris and, um, but he likes to dress with the nice shit and he's wearing Richard Meals and he's doing his thing. you know what I'm saying and he um uh was the CEO of a sharpie you know the marker or brought that to market you know made serious money you're talking about half a billion dollars altogether or something like that

Starting point is 00:26:12 the guy shows money but he wants to be fit wants to look good take a look at jeff bezos he was doing amazon you know he's got that picture of him in his purple eggplant Halloween costume but as soon as he made that money he said what the fuck am i going to do at amazon all day long and you know tinkering with this shopping cart button got himself a yacht got jacked got himself a side chick and uh whatever what about Elon though because he still has the tiny home he doesn't have any fancy cars he like what do you think about the difference of someone maybe like yeah sure i mean a star is a star the man is a you know the man is a star so it doesn't really matter if the women looked at him like he was a loser he would put something on bro but the

Starting point is 00:26:59 knows he's got all the money in the world and she's googly-eyed smiling okay that's how women are all right so that is the name of the game and if you get the impression of cross it's way more helpful sure you could be humble

Starting point is 00:27:15 like John the Baptist you know eating locust and dry honey you know and in the desert but um uh that's a different dimension so it's interesting when I was working in his As a real estate agent, I'd host open houses every single Sunday, Beverly Hills. And I can't tell you the amount of fake people who came in every single Sunday.

Starting point is 00:27:36 And you could point them out because they ended up getting really dressed up to go and see an open house. And they always had a story. Like you mentioned, they would always start talking about themselves. Oh, I sold this business. And now I'm looking for this. My price range is $7 million. But they start going, explaining too much. And the real people walked in, I noticed, really understated.

Starting point is 00:28:00 Yeah. Would never want to talk to you. Right. When you ask their information, they'd say, oh, you know, I'll sign it. Yeah. And that's it. They really just didn't want to be bob. Correct.

Starting point is 00:28:08 But they'd more walk in and out with a bit of confidence to him. And I also noticed that sometimes the poorest dressed people were the richest. Right. The dude is walking in with flip-lops, kind of a dirty white t-shirt and sweatpants. He's the one with like $200 million. Correct. In some cases, but, you know, he's flashing. money in other places. You know, he's going over there. Everybody got a plan. That person that was

Starting point is 00:28:31 muttering nonsense when they walked through the, they thought they're going to wake up and they're going to come up and they're going to tell a story about how they're this and how they're that. And you see that, you know, and it doesn't resonate. You're open house. You get to the point. It is what it is. You don't know me. I don't know you. I might have a million dollars or trillion dollars or what have you. I don't know. But this is the house. You're buying it or you're not. It makes sense. You shit that makes sense. Makes sense. That doesn't. Doesn't. And, And people with, but, you know, professional scam artists after they, some people like, oh, I'm embarrassed. I got caught being a fraud and they leave.

Starting point is 00:29:05 And some people like, oh, I know why I got caught. Let me adjust my strategy. I'm going to come in there on some shit. I know that he's thinking that in his head. Now I'll come in there with the flip flops and the shit. And I'll even have my friend come up to you and say you drop this and it's some expensive, whatever. A scam. They'll fool you.

Starting point is 00:29:23 There's lots of crazy scams out there, man. And there's lots of people that if they invest their energy into fraud, they will go past these filters that you're noting. Yeah. It's interesting, too. People would even tie up properties in escrow, I've noticed. They would claim they sent a wire transfer. But then one of the digits was like mixed by mistake. And it's like, oh, well, I sent this deposit for the down payment on the house.

Starting point is 00:29:48 We already have a signed deal. No, I got to wait to get that back. And then a week goes by. I'm still waiting to get it back. they send it again, something went wrong. What's the advantage of doing all this bullshit? I've never figured it out. Right.

Starting point is 00:30:01 I think it's the feeling of importance. Or they think maybe I'm going to hustle this deal over here and get the money for it or maybe I can have a friend coming. I don't know. But it's happened multiple times. There's a reason for it. And I don't know. Different people, there's never been a scam.

Starting point is 00:30:17 It's mostly the people, I think, wanting attention. Right. They want attention. Yeah. I mean, in Beverly Hills and L.A., they want to be a part of that. life and a part of that top but they're not. What about different levels of wealth and how they purchase

Starting point is 00:30:30 items from you? For example, if you have someone maybe worth like 200 million, are they buying crazy iced out watches versus someone that's maybe worth like 5 million? Are they buying different sorts of jewelry? Yeah. Is there like a difference in terms of jewelry preferences that you notice? Yeah, I mean, listen, of course

Starting point is 00:30:46 there's a difference in preferences, but you know, you're distinctly asking a person with a couple a million what their taste is versus the person with vast amounts of money. Yeah, like for example, vast amounts of money, maybe they're doing something because they're actually passionate, rather like getting a crazy iced out. Yeah, there's not much of a passion. You know what I'm saying? You got more money. You're going to show it off. You want to, you know, you want to be at the casino and you want to do this and you want to that. It's mostly for women, okay, and signaling wealth or

Starting point is 00:31:14 whatever. And it's also for a good look or whatever it might be. But, you know, that depends on on the individual, but they're looking for the status. So whether they have them one million to two, if it's their first wash, they might get an iced out this or a big bezel that.

Starting point is 00:31:30 But if it's there, if they've been buying for a long time, they're going to get that rare piece that says, I know what the I'm doing, the protect Philippe, whatever, with the moon phase. How often do people come to you

Starting point is 00:31:42 and not able to afford the jewelry or they're on a payment plan and they just charge you to a credit card and you know they can't afford this thing? Yeah, the average, The average person, it happens enough. It's not that they can't afford it. You know, they're buying something for $1,500 or $2,500.

Starting point is 00:31:58 So how can they not afford it? They have a steady job and can make a payment relatively they can afford it. And what they're buying, they're buying. If they're buying the right piece of jewelry, they're doing the right thing. You know, if you bought a piece of jewelry that was heavy in gold in the year 2004 when I started, even if you paid over price, you know, the gold price was $350 an ounce, and now it's 3,500 more or less. So you 10xed your money.

Starting point is 00:32:23 And if you overpay double, you're 5x it or whatever. So you can't lose on that. So some people are buying, getting played, man. And some people are not. Some people are over, you know, the question and the nature of the question.

Starting point is 00:32:36 Of course, some people are overcommitting themselves on what they can't do. Some people are on drugs. They can't quit. You know, some people are buying to look like this. Some people are buying to look like that. And there is some millionaires that, I'm a scrounge every dollar or millionaires or whatever and look like bums, but I never really

Starting point is 00:32:54 noticed them. And those are people with psychotic issues, really. But still, they spend their money somewhere. I saw this one video a long time ago of Michael Jackson walking through an antique shop, I think it was. And he's like, and I'll take this. And then yes, I'll yell, but I just remember watching this video and he just seemed to not care whatsoever about the price. Do you have buyers like that? What is your favorite type of buyer? Oh, that's the favorite type of buyer right there. And people do that. They walk into the show. And they're just like, oh, yeah, 10 grand, whatever. I had a guy that came in.

Starting point is 00:33:22 Speaking of that, you might be wondering, what does the future hold for business? Because if you ask nine different experts, you're going to get 10 different answers from a bull market, a bear market, or in a bubble, we're not in a bubble. Be very helpful to have a crystal ball at this point. But until that happens, over 42,000 businesses have already future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one fluid platform. You see, with just one unified business management suite, you have just one source of truth,

Starting point is 00:33:50 giving you all of the visibility and control you need to make quick decisions. Plus, with real-time insights and forecasting, you're peering into the future with actionable data. When you're closing the books in days, not weeks, you're spending way less time looking backwards and a whole lot more time on what's important, which is what's next. So whether your company is running millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and seize your biggest opportunities. And speaking of opportunity, right now you can download the CFO's Guide to AI and machine learning for free at netsuite.com slash iced.

Starting point is 00:34:20 Again, that guide is free for you at net suite.com slash iced. Again, net suite.com slash iced with the link down below in the description. Thank you so much NetSuite for sponsoring this episode. And now let's get back to the podcast. People do that. They walk into the shop and they're just like, oh yeah, 10 grand, whatever. I had a guy that came in, okay? This guy, his father was selling military equipment to Iraq.

Starting point is 00:34:46 with government contracts from the U.S. So he was manufacturing in Ukraine before long, long ago. And that's his father. And he was shipping it over there and just milking money, whatever. And his father put him on a big allowance, okay? Because something in the family, not going to get into it. Put him on a big allowance. Guy came in, bought three Rolexes for me, gifted me one,

Starting point is 00:35:13 and the other one to one another member of my staff, other member of my staff. And then he started giving out gold bars to the other members of my staff. So this is a customer that came in, bought three watches from me, and gifted them to me. Okay, that's my favorite customer, bro. Where is he now? He's chilling. He's chilling somewhere. He hit me up the other day. I mean, his allowance went down or whatever, you know what I'm saying? He's more normal, more focused. But he was burning through, he was burning through a quarter of a million, half a million a month just having a good time.

Starting point is 00:35:47 Shorties in every state or in every city, you know, buying jewelry for them, going over there seeing them and just burning through money and just going full tilt. Do you think it was happier back then or happier now? I don't know. I mean, he was, it wasn't particularly happiness. It was just, you know, like the emperor Nero

Starting point is 00:36:07 would be doing or something like that. He was just pushing it to the limit. How often do people... I don't know how happy that makes you, man. walk into the shop and not even ask the price of things. And they're just like, yeah, that, I like that a lot. I'll buy that. Sometimes, sometimes, you know, but I didn't, I didn't build my business.

Starting point is 00:36:22 I didn't build my business around luxury clients. I always, you know, again, and I'm immigrants from Azerbaijan, you know, I didn't have go around money. I didn't even know people had money. So I had a mentality of value. I had a mentality of, you know, I want to sell this. And that was not good to build a jewelry business around. Now I'm going to build a mentality, a jewelry brand around other things.

Starting point is 00:36:43 and then I'm going to be able to charge and push and attract the type of client. In order to do that, I need inventory. I need to be able to capitalize, right? And I've got like $7 million, $8 million worth of inventory. I need to get to $20 million, $25 million, deploy that properly. And then I'll have the inventory to attract the clients that's going to just buy, buy, buy, buy.

Starting point is 00:37:04 It doesn't happen all the time. I have normal clients that buy great jewelry that has a good value with a fair markup. because that's what I adjusted my business to. The sucking for money is not my style. I'm not going to be, he's got the money, he's got the watch, he's got this, he's got that built a jewelry business and you know what it is out there. The more I act the way I'm acting now, the better that business goes.

Starting point is 00:37:30 That's why it encourages this type of behavior. But I don't like to worship money, man. I don't like it. And even though I chose this business as a young person, the snobs, that come in there or the snobbery, like I never attract that type of customer that they want to be like, I got this, or, you know, the guy that Chrome Hearts, he's got,

Starting point is 00:37:51 yeah, sure, there's some kid comes in that's spending his parents' money from Beijing, you know what I'm saying, and he's wearing the latest Chrome Hearts shirt, and the latest Chrome Hearts this, and he wants to get the thing to this and that. He's just trying to look for some status, and he's playing that game.

Starting point is 00:38:09 The game of I'm rich, and I'm, uh, get the f*** out of here is my take. Go deal with my sales guy and let him blow smoke up your f***. That's the answer. Is there anyone you won't sell to? Um, no, I'll sell to anybody who's, you know, um, respectful and who is thoughtful. Have you noticed any difference in cultures that some negotiate harder than others or some are better negotiators than others?

Starting point is 00:38:35 Some people who never negotiated anything. Listen, I'm half Jewish. If I was full Jewish, I would have been way richer. You know what I'm saying? I'll tell you. that much, bro. I got a just enough half to get me, you know, to where I need to be. And if I had a little bit more, I would have had a different character, sure, but I had more money. How do you notice the variance of negotiation strategies amongst different cultures? Yeah. Well, listen,

Starting point is 00:39:01 the negotiation strategies are going back to ancient Babylon. All right? You go to the Diamond District and you're going over there. It's the same lines they used from long, long ago. You know, it's the same game over and over. But, you know, negotiation and strategies is based upon options, right? And some negotiator might be able to talk somebody in and get a better deal, but, you know, for me,

Starting point is 00:39:29 I'll get an offer over here, get an offer over there, and an offer over there. And then you're shopping around. Now, there's some people that are strategic, and they could squeeze you without getting that offer. And they have that skill. That's not my particular skill. You know, I want to do business simply and plainly in long term.

Starting point is 00:39:48 I don't want to sit here and bargain with you back and forth. I really don't. I feel like a waste of my time. So what are the best ways to negotiate a good deal? What's the best way to negotiate a good deal is say this is all I have. That's what I do. And saying somebody like I was buying a gem at the gem show. You know, it's an emerald.

Starting point is 00:40:08 The emeralds guy says 9,000. I look at my pocket I said, I got 6,500 You want it? He's like, No, it's too low I'm like,

Starting point is 00:40:20 my bad, my bad, I walk around, I go to the next guy, I look at the Emerald over there, I go to the next, I walk around,

Starting point is 00:40:26 I was like, come, come, let's start something. You know, Emerald costs $6,000. He don't want to make just $500. That's not worth it.

Starting point is 00:40:35 So he's like on some no-no, but then he's like, I'll take the $500 and I'll get to know this business and I'll start something. So to walk away or to say this is all I have, if you come in there, like, you got all the money and you got this, then people are going to go whatever. But that works in that particular instant for me. You know, it's like a little mind game. Well,

Starting point is 00:40:54 listen, man, I got $6,500 for you. Ah, man, my bad, bro. You know? And then you walk and you shop and you do and you do this and you that. They'll take it. They'll take it and they'll make a little admit off of you if they like you. Okay? Because then they'll like, I'll give this guy. You can't run a business with a with a 10% markup. You know what I'm saying? Your job is to get 100% markup. The other guy's job is to get a 10% markup. You meet each other 50, 50, whatever. But they'll take the 10% because 10% is better than nothing, but you have to prove it in their mind that that 10% is better than nothing and they don't feel like they're giving you something that you got away with some

Starting point is 00:41:34 What are some of the biggest negotiating mistakes that people make? What would be? Well, the biggest mistake I would make is I don't have the knowledge of the price. If you don't have a framework of the price, then you're just spewing numbers out back and forth. You know what I'm saying? But if you know the price and you know, what is the negotiation, man? This ring, I'm selling for $6,500. It costs me $4,000 to make.

Starting point is 00:41:59 Will I take $6,000? Sure. You know what I'm saying? Well, I'll take $5,000? You know, if my cost is $4,000, why not? A thousand bucks in my pocket. But can I run a business by doing that? Not really.

Starting point is 00:42:11 So, you know, now you have to buy this ring. What are you going to tell me? What are you going to do? How come the price of jewelry is so up in the air between pieces? Like, that could be six. Another piece could be eight. Visually, they look pretty similar. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:42:28 Same with gold chains or pendants. I feel like I see prices range. The price depends. depends upon materials, gold, diamonds, and then labor. Okay, so it's labor, materials, and that's pretty much it. You know, the design work, the 3D modeling is as well.

Starting point is 00:42:47 Now, this ring might be prettier than the other ring, so you could get that one for the same materials, but it'll just be... And this one is this, but it's the romance of the business, you know what I'm saying? Nobody needs any jewelry. You know, you get it, because you want to adorn your body

Starting point is 00:43:03 before it turns to dust. So you, and that's a game you want to play. You know what I'm saying? What do you think of gold as an investment? I think it's a good store of value. It's never really an investment, but it is an investment when they're printing as much money as they are.

Starting point is 00:43:16 You know what I'm saying? Because you have to account, you know, it's denominated in dollars, and dollars are being printed on a scale of a trillion extra per year or whatever, right? Interest is a trillion or what have you. So then it becomes an investment to some degree,

Starting point is 00:43:32 especially when you have these nefarious activities going on between China and this. Now, Trump's got the balls to be able to, you know, steady the ship, so to speak, which I'm very impressed through the tariffs, through everything else. When you get a idiot like Joe Biden or whoever, Akazio Cortez in there, you can't give head to lower the deficit. You know what I'm saying? You're going to have to do a serious shit. And they don't even have the comprehension to find out what's going on.

Starting point is 00:43:59 And that will mean that the gold price will go up. And then gold will be an investment. It'll be the only way you could get some penicillin. If the whole collapses and you have to rummage through the wreckage, you never know what can happen. Or you could just be better off buying the S&P 500. But the good thing about gold is you get to hold it in your hand. Yes, sir.

Starting point is 00:44:20 Have you made a lot of money from appreciation of your inventory? Yes. It saved the day. What do you mean it's saved the day? I mean, I've had pieces that I've made that cost. You know, I manufactured $300,000 worth a shit. And to scrap it, certainly after you manufacture, it would be $250. But the gold price went up from $2,000 to $3,500, so now I could scrap it for $300,000 plus $1,000.

Starting point is 00:44:48 So the shit that didn't sell, I scrap and melt and get my money back, which is amazing. You know, man, the people, gold did 10x in the last 20 years. Okay? So if you're running a jewelry store with gold chains, it was the most profitable business you could have had. Because your inventory, you bought $1 million worth of gold chains. If you didn't sell a single gold chain in your store, you had $10 million worth of gold chains.

Starting point is 00:45:16 If you did sell them, you took the profit and reinvested it, you had more. Not a lot of businesses where you open up a business filled with inventory, and you didn't sell a single piece and 20 years later, you're up 10x. You know, so that is, but it's not a business people think about because they're not expecting, you know, people to rob trillions of dollars on Afghanistan war or whatever. They're not in the stand. They don't comprehend how these evil forces that are really actually there, the stealing of it and whatever else, is actually out there. Why do you think that people on the street are so clueless about the price of gold? This are my favorite videos when you go up on the street and you ask people how much something is worth.

Starting point is 00:46:00 Yeah. And people are clueless. You have no idea what the value of gold is. That's not their everyday lives, man. But should people know at least what the price of gold is per ounce? A rough estimate because it's money. People should be like angels, but forget about what they should be doing. It's, you know, what they're knowing.

Starting point is 00:46:18 And, you know, money is a game and everybody's responsible for playing it smart. You know what you're doing with money. Everything you're doing is thought out and thoughtful. and I watch your videos and you know about this, about that. And I love it. And you play the money game and you give out the advice to the money game as well. And if you listen to yourself, well, why don't they watch the ice coffee hour? Why do they listen to Graham?

Starting point is 00:46:43 Why not? Why are they sitting there watching to a Cardi B Shaker? Why are you sitting here and, you know, going to the strip club and twirling on a pole? Why aren't you studying? I mean, I'll tell you why, because something's wrong. That's why. I feel like it should be taught in schools. Listen, man, a lot of things should be done, man.

Starting point is 00:47:04 It should be definitely taught in schools, and we should track down the trillions of dollars that was stolen, and we should do this, and we should do that, but we're not in the world of what should be. You know, we're responsible for our own lives and the lives of our family and the lives of our loved ones. The people, and that's that. You know, we don't really quite have a real society.

Starting point is 00:47:23 This is not 1954. You know what I'm saying? This is a society where more or less every man for themselves. The government barely functions to me. And the less of it, the better. And, you know, in some community, you know, Elon Musk has a school for his kids and, you know, his neighbor's kids. That's probably exactly what you imagine it to be. Why are we using chalkboards? Why can't there be just a touchscreen where the teacher has, you know, lesson plans that are already the best of the best?

Starting point is 00:47:51 So engage the children. Why are they sitting at desks that their same ones? ones that were, you know, from 1933. Why aren't their desks have a little basic touch screens where they could just write notes and they could register their, you know, why not? Because the people that are running the Board of Education are, um, uh, that's why.

Starting point is 00:48:11 If they weren't, they wouldn't be there. There should be classes about how to use chat, GPT, classes on how to negotiate, and you had the students negotiate against each other. Here's what should be. Graham should go, run for office, and implement what he's thinking. Is that what's going to happen?

Starting point is 00:48:26 No, no, because I just tell people to watch it on YouTube. Exactly. You realistically, YouTube is better. Yeah, that's right. The better resource. You may as well learn on your own. And the real secret is that you're responsible for your own. And it's an arcane system.

Starting point is 00:48:40 Everything you're talking about is just an arcane system. And anybody who believes that they're going to go to school and go to college and that might work for them. I don't really know. But whether you're going to school or not, if you're not being responsible and learning, on your own, you are playing yourself. You know what I'm saying? And you're giving your advantage away. And that's that.

Starting point is 00:49:04 And, you know, like, if I had the tools, YouTube was barely out when I was a kid. I was just the internet. And I did what I could with it. I started a business. But if I had the chat GPT and I had that and I had the energy I had back then, I would have really loved it

Starting point is 00:49:17 because it was really the source of information. Like, this chat GPT is, it's got millions of dollars in value for anybody for any given moment for any given person i'm extracting that money right now i had a thing where i was uh using uh i put grok on one phone chat gpt on the other and i made grok have chad gptt generate image after image after image i put them in a shoebox together and i come back i'm about to drop that video when i edit it it's just been lazy and i come back and it'll have 30 new pieces of jewelry for me or what have you you know what i'm saying and there's two a i i talking to each other, forcing one the one, the other AI to generate images.

Starting point is 00:49:59 So there's value there. And, you know, and listen, we're all talking about the education systems. It's because people are retarded, Graham. And that's going to change in five years, in six years, you know? And as all these AI guys say, just anybody watching this, if they want to better their lives, which is the only thing that we could offer you is three people sitting here. they would have to get an advantage on AI for the future because shit's going to change, right?

Starting point is 00:50:32 Any advice? For me, in the jewelry business, you're a smart guy. Let's see how good you are at giving advice on your own iced coffee hour. I would say for the jewelry business, your social media is fantastic. Right. I'd say that you could probably teach other people

Starting point is 00:50:48 how to do that. I think you could expand your own business quite a bit because of that. I don't know if you want to get in the retail. business to me that doesn't sound as exciting of dealing with so many employees and people. I like the customization aspect of it because you could charge a premium, but I also acknowledge that you don't want to spend your time designing one thing for one person. I would almost argue, man, that there's a benefit to like, I'm seeing less people my own age

Starting point is 00:51:17 and younger get into jewelry and watch is to some degree, yes. and they're more into like digital assets like Bitcoin and crypto. Interesting. So I would argue that maybe Bitcoin over the next 20 to 30 years is going to take some market share away from the people who buy gold

Starting point is 00:51:36 as a store of value. Sure. There's always going to be some of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I would almost argue like, hey, maybe take like 10% of your business and just Bitcoin it. Right.

Starting point is 00:51:46 You love that Bitcoin, huh? I do. But you know what? If it goes to zero, 10% of your business, it's like someone's stealing from it. Yeah, fine. But, like, if it hits, I think there's such a, well, listen, what do you mean? It's a lopsided opportunity.

Starting point is 00:51:59 It's like, it's $100,000. Yeah. Okay, it's a trillion dollar market capitalization. How much more can it hit? You're going to put in another? Yeah, but gold's 20 trillion. Yeah. You don't think it can hit.

Starting point is 00:52:09 I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, it's not there to hit. It's not there to hit. It's, it's, if everything collapses or there's serious problems with the dollar, it's there for that to spring you to the next move. Is there to keep? you safe. That's it. It's not there to hit. It's just there that, you know what I'm saying? You had your money. You saved it. And now, you know, 10 years have passed by and you could buy something. You know, you didn't depreciate your capital. And that's that. It's a go between, between moves.

Starting point is 00:52:39 It's perfect for me because I could stock gold chains if I don't sell them, I win. But for you to have a kilo in the safe sitting there doing nothing is not the best thing in the world. you're much better off buying Taiwan semiconductor over the course to the next 10 years or something like that. Something that manufactured something. But as far as Bitcoin is concerned, you know, it's not like we're arguing

Starting point is 00:53:00 I'm saying gold is better. I couldn't give a fuck less about gold or any of the shit. You know? For me, it's just a game to get where I want, you know? What do we want? What you're doing?

Starting point is 00:53:10 A beautiful home, a beautiful life, and stability. That's all you really should be shooting for. And you could do that a thousand different ways. Now, granted, it's much better to win, but Bitcoin's got a trillion-dollar market capitalization $100,000. That means you need a whole other trillion dollars to make it $150, right? Not necessarily.

Starting point is 00:53:30 It's whatever the tradable value is right now. So it could be a, like, you could inject $100 million in a Bitcoin and have that spike the price if people are not selling. Right. And fewer people are selling. So you don't need actually a trillion dollars to go into big. If you had another trillion invested in Bitcoin that they could shoot up the price 10x. Right.

Starting point is 00:53:47 So my thought is that there's an asymmetric reward with Bitcoin that, let's say you buy it 100,000. It could go to zero. There's a chance it goes to nothing. Right. And you lose $100,000. I'd say there's a higher chance or even an equal chance, let's just say, of going to a million. Why? So you have a 50-50.

Starting point is 00:54:05 Let's just a hypothetical. You have a 50-50 going to zero as you do a million dollars. Yeah. So to me, I'd take that bet. With a small amount that I'm prepared to lose. Because if it's a 50-50, I'm cool losing. Right. But yeah, well, listen, the way you explain it, sure, you can do that.

Starting point is 00:54:21 I'm not into losing personally. I don't want to even take a small bet, you know, on that end. I don't want to take a 10% or 5% chance on any of that. I prefer to buy something like a Warren Buffett style where it's actually producing something that's in demand and a profitable business. You know, if I'm going to buy a vending machine for $1,000, and people, you know, buy a hundred bucks worth of soda per day. And to restock it costs this much and the soda cost that much and you're making $25 a day,

Starting point is 00:54:57 you know, then I know that that vending machine is going to make me back the money and be profitable after I pay off to $1,000 at the $25 profit per day after X amount of days or whatever. That's how I look at it. You know, I'm looking at it if I want to make money right now and I want to, I want to be good I want a 10x. I'm looking at the next Nvidia semiconductor. It could be AMD.

Starting point is 00:55:19 They're doing something. You could ask your Chad GPT and your research. Taiwan semiconductor. They're going over here. Trade war's cooling off. China's backing away in a little bit. That means that, you know, they're not going to do all that Taiwan shit and this and that.

Starting point is 00:55:31 Now you could 10X your money nice and safe there, and that's the way I would go about it if I didn't have a jewelry business to buy a bunch of gold chains with. And the way I explain to people is, you know, buy your Bitcoin. And then when you're done in cyberspace, you know, rubbing pixie dust, you know what I'm saying? And you want to actually own something. Then you buy yourself a watch with your Bitcoin and you buy yourself a gold chain around your neck.

Starting point is 00:55:52 Because your neck is real and the chain is real. The Bitcoin is just, you know, out there. It gets you the dollars. You get the Bitcoin to get the dollars so you could buy the shit or you could spend the Bitcoin on it, whatever. You want the actual shit that exists. You don't want a computer chugging away somewhere, processing. But what I do like it, it's a global store of value. It is.

Starting point is 00:56:17 Where around the world, people attribute $100,000 to this Bitcoin. Yes. And so you could take it with you anywhere. You could transfer it anywhere. And the more people buy into it. Obviously, the higher the price is going. You could say that with gold, too. You could say that with stocks.

Starting point is 00:56:30 Yeah. But I could just see a scenario where Bitcoin captures 25% of the gold market. Yeah. Or companies take 10% of their extra cash and just buy Bitcoin with it. Right. Instead of holding it in dollars. Yeah. And I think that's enough to boost the price.

Starting point is 00:56:45 Right. But it could also go to zero. 100%. That could happen. I don't think so. But that could happen. Listen, if gold goes to zero, I'll buy all of it, bro. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:56:54 You know what I'm saying? It's not even a problem. You know, I'll have a gold castle and you can visit it and you pay a ticket in Bitcoin to come see it. You lose 20 grand every time you polish it. We don't know what's going to happen with this Bitcoin and AI. And that's that. You're a proponent of it. You love it.

Starting point is 00:57:12 Why is Bitcoin any? better than all the other. Why is Bitcoin any better than Hock to a coin? Will we see, listen, the real question is, will we ever see a day when everyone's rushing for them? Local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void. And it gets harder to separate truth from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada, reporting on the ground from where you live, telling the stories that. matter to all of us because local news is big news choose news not noise cbc news the door

Starting point is 00:57:52 might not we might because when people are rushing for the door let's say people are dumping amazon if amazon is a trillion dollar market cap you dump amazon i'll jump in there i'll I'll sell my whole business and buy Amazon because I know Amazon is Amazon. But if people start rushing for the door at Bitcoin, it might also have that effect. It might be somebody says, I'll buy all of it. And it seems like that because I could have never expected it could be solid at 100K, solid at 100K. So God bless all those people and whatever they're doing and how they're doing it.

Starting point is 00:58:31 Now, my estimate is that a new technology is going to come around. This is not 2011. new technology is going to come around and really give Bitcoin a run for its money. And then people might lose out. And if it's me and you and it's 10% of some shit and we don't get the next Lambo or whatever, it's not a big deal. But if it's somebody with their life's earnings, they're going to be devastated. So you have to play it way smarter.

Starting point is 00:58:59 I would suggest a semiconductor stock or even the Tesla's whoever's making robots, whoever's making semiconductors, that's the one's going to 10x or 50x over the next 10, 15 years. That's my idea. Oh. Where do you get your gold from? I get my gold from the casting company when I cast it. I just pay the bill, so they make me the casting. Or I get it from Buyant Trading LLC.com as a friend of mine.

Starting point is 00:59:26 It's a kahan or Isaac is his name. Isaac Kahan or I don't know what his last, I think his last name is Kahan. His Pops was in the business for a long. long time. He's down in the basement and he's down at the basement. You know why? Because can't keep all that metal upstairs. Go right through the floor. Oh, no way. Is that heavy? Yeah. Matt's silver, mad gold and a safe go down there and he knows what it is. You know what I'm saying again, he knows who's playing around who's not. You know, I pick up my kilos and I cast them and I do my thing. What's the cheapest way to buy gold? Like, is it people that bring it into your shop and then

Starting point is 01:00:04 you're able to melt it down and you're able to buy it like even under market price for gold because you isolate the actual gold from like a 14 karat composite. Absolutely. You buy 10% under. What does commercials that you see like we buy gold? That was a great business. Those people are on an island right now. So I've wanted to buy like a gold chain for a long time, not like anything fancy, but just something like a gold chain.

Starting point is 01:00:26 I think I'm more of a gold guy than a silver guy and I think it would be fun. The problem is I'll go to a jewelry store and I was just in Japan. And I was looking at gold necklaces in Japan. And I can't really tell the difference between, you know, a necklace here and a necklace there. Right. And I don't know, like, how much of a premium I should be paying. Like, what would be the best way to just buy, like, a cheap, standard gold necklace? Let's break down the secret for the educated crowd watching this.

Starting point is 01:00:51 Okay. Gold is how much per ounce? 35. Or how much is, how many grams in an ounce? Is it 30 something? 31. Yeah. Okay.

Starting point is 01:01:01 So let's divide. So let's make it easy. Let's pretend gold is 3,100, and the gold, and the 31 grams per in and else. It's $100 per gram. Now, 14-carried gold is diluted to what? 60. 58%. So what's 58 out of 100?

Starting point is 01:01:19 It's $58. So that's the cost of the metal. $58 per gram. Okay? So if someone, you put it on a scale and if they're charging you 75, you say, kind of get, there's labor. The guy's got to make money. okay so if it you know if it weighs a certain amount

Starting point is 01:01:37 and he's charging you 75 per gram you say listen I want to pay 73 I want to pay 70 he would say you know I'll go what's the you know 50 I'll give you $68 a gram and this and that or you guys might say I don't sell per gram you you know but you'll know the value of it because per ounce per gram then dilute it to the carrot which is 14K was most likely

Starting point is 01:02:05 be the case that will leave you to a certain grand price and then there's the factory that made it has to charge a labor to the guy who who did the vendor

Starting point is 01:02:14 and the vendor has to make a markup pay the rent pay the employees and you know buy wife fee and whatever a gift that she might want

Starting point is 01:02:22 so he needs money and he's going to if it's a light chain it might be $150 a gram if it's a heavy chain it might be $59 a gram. And that's it.

Starting point is 01:02:35 You put it on a scale and you do the math. How do you tell if it's real? Like, let's just say it's tungsten that's coated in gold. Right. Like, how often does that come around? Not often, man.

Starting point is 01:02:47 I mean, that's some bum shit. You know what I'm saying? If someone plays with you on that, it's jewelry business reputation. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's why I do all the shit that I do. I have to raise these kids that are watching my videos

Starting point is 01:03:00 I was on a reputation that when they think, you know, right, when you think electronic toy, you might think Mark Rober or something like that or you think chocolate. Who do you think of? Beast. You got to think gold. Got to come up.

Starting point is 01:03:14 That's my job. I got to raise these kids to reputation so they don't have to worry about tungsten when they come into my shop. Because why go to a shop over there but you're going to have to worry about tungsten over here? You give away a lot of gold on your channel. Yeah, I gave away.

Starting point is 01:03:27 I'm going to give away more. How do the taxes work with something like that? that. Don't ask me. You don't hand out 1099s afterwards. No, I don't. Like, give him the gold man. I mean, listen, you want to arrest me in Guantanamo, baby?

Starting point is 01:03:42 Because I gave somebody a gold bar. Go ahead at this point. You don't think the IRS is going to see write-offs, though, and it's going to say, okay, who received this? Right. And you say, well, I don't have this. I don't even, you know, maybe I write it all for it's a, it's a marketing expense or something like that, you know what I'm saying.

Starting point is 01:03:58 Isn't it is what it is, man. Yo, this country's got trillions of dollars leaking out of its... Let me... Once you handle that, come after me in the gold bar I gave on 42nd Street. What's the most expensive thing you're going away? Finding the right person to hire can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. You will scroll through endless resumes and still always come up short on the right fit. But that is not with our sponsor ZipRecruiter.

Starting point is 01:04:20 ZipRecruiter actually finds the right candidates for you and fast. As soon as you post your job, their powerful, smart matching technology starts working behind the scenes. zeroing in on the best qualified people to fit your role. You could even use their invite-to-apply feature to directly reach out to top candidates and encourage them to apply sooner. It just takes a lot of the guesswork and waiting out of the process. And here's the crazy part. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate in the first day. So ditch the old way of hiring and let ZipRecruiter find the needle in the haystack. Try it for free today at our exclusive link. That would be ZipRecruiter.com slash ICH.

Starting point is 01:04:57 Once again, that is ziprecruiter.com slash ICH. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Remember that doctor's appointment you were supposed to make a while ago? The one that's been sitting on your to-do list for weeks, maybe months. Maybe it was that overdue annual checkup. The weird rash you keep Googling, Graham. Or your dentist reminding you that it's been two years since your last cleaning. Trust me, we've all been there.

Starting point is 01:05:17 I mean, not me with the rash, of course, but in general, just booking a doctor's appointment can feel like a massive hassle until now. That's where our sponsor, Zoc Doc comes in. For those unaware, Zocococ is a free app, website that allows you to search and compare high quality in-network doctors and then click to book a visit on the spot. You could filter by insurance, location, medical specialty, and you could even read verified patient reviews so you know exactly what you're walking into. And then once you find the right doctor, you could see their real-time availability and

Starting point is 01:05:46 instantly book an appointment for the time slot that works best with you. And appointments made through Zoc Doc happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking and you can even score same-day appointments. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com slash ice to find an instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That is Zocd-O-C.com slash iced. We also have a link down below in the description. You just click it there. Thank you so much to Zocdoc for sponsoring this episode. The most expensive thing I've given away, it's just the individual ounces would probably be the most ones that I remember or like a gold chain I might have gave away. I still got to do a Rolex

Starting point is 01:06:25 giveaway. The thing is, that's a game. And I want to make my business about something and do the give back and be a human being, you know, going back to the original point, money, money, money, I've got more, I've got more, I've got more. That's not why we're here on planet Earth. That's not what we're living our lives. That's how we're being tested for who we really are, you know? Is it, you were going to take those 30 pieces of silver and say, you know, and betray somebody with a kiss or not? You know what I'm saying? Does the strong gold market help your business, like to hire the prices?

Starting point is 01:07:05 I think it might change the business and it might help the business. Well, it proves me right. I have said all this shit about gold because I wanted people to buy in, buy in, by in, now I'm going to tell them, well, listen, you know, you could have bought Bitcoin and a cent. You could have bought this. But just buying a gold chain and wearing it and increasing your money is an amazing thing. You bought it.

Starting point is 01:07:24 And now you melt it and you get your money back. So I did that to establish myself. as a person who told you the future in the past. And that's that. Now that the gold price is what it is, and if it goes any higher, then gold is going to be an extremely luxury product. It used to be $14 a gram.

Starting point is 01:07:44 Now it's 140. That's two different numbers, my friend. You know what I'm saying? It's like a Ferrari is $150,000. Now it's $1.5 million. You bought a Ferrari in 2004. And now that same Ferrari is, you know, know, 1.4 million rather than 140,000.

Starting point is 01:08:01 It's two different price ranges. It went from supercar to hypercar. And that's what gold is doing. And then it could be a, you know, like I tell people and I tell a lot of people that, how was gold working in back in the day? You remember Cortez, you know, he came over across one of the first few people to come over from Spain, across the Atlantic lands, a whole new civilized. is there. Different people, whole alien language, alien people, never heard from, never seen,

Starting point is 01:08:35 the most exotic you ever seen. And what, what do you say? He gets Montezuma and he's like, fill the room with gold and I'll let you go. You don't give a shit about the civilization. Imagine you go to an alien planet right now that you've never seen. It's the equivalent, a whole new civilization and you're coming over there and you're asking, where's the gold? It's kind of crazy. But he didn't give a shit about the alien civilization and their culture and their technology and nothing. He just want to go back to France, get the gold for the people that finance the ship, buy his villa and sit back and relax. And that's how gold used to be. It used to be everything, but it's not anymore. And will it be again is the only question that we have to

Starting point is 01:09:18 answer in our lives, you know what I'm saying? As far as gold is concerned. It's going to be a decoration and it's going to go up in price and I'll sell you some more of it. That's great. It's a beautiful yellow shiny metal Fantastic You know what I'm saying You can hold it in your hands And you could scrap it and you could do this That's all great

Starting point is 01:09:32 But will it be the Accounting system for the world Of who has and who does not have Is a very interesting question Because this gold is about trust Okay Can you trust the federal government? Can't

Starting point is 01:09:49 Now they're in charge of the money And this is the story of our lives But the story of our of the late the gold reserve went off gold back dollar went away 1971 1971

Starting point is 01:10:02 yeah whatever 1971 1970s the story of the late 20th century and the early 21st century is can you trust them not to print

Starting point is 01:10:16 and steal so what do you think this is going to be doing to the price of gold over the next five to ten years you see gold eventually hitting five thousand And I was 10,000. Eventually, yeah.

Starting point is 01:10:26 You know what I'm saying? I hope not, man. I mean, probably it's going to sit. It might dip back down a 2,800 now the war is over. Yeah. You know? But it's probably going to sit in that range for another 5, 10 years maybe. That all depends, man. If they drop the bomb tomorrow, bro, it's going to be 5,000 tomorrow. If you watch the gold price, it's always about what's actually happening.

Starting point is 01:10:49 Because you don't want no gold in the safe that you got to travel and you want to wire some money. But when the system is in jeopardy, and it might be, that's when you need the gold. You know what I'm saying? I'm not telling you to get gold. It's like some gold jerk. Ah, get gold. I'm the gold guy. He's the Bitcoin guy. He's the real estate guy. We got to buy what I say. Get the fuck out of here, man. You buy yourself a gold chain is going to pay for itself in time. That's cool. So that's all gold is doing for you. And that's great. However, if the wars break out and they steal too greedily and the comes down, that's when it comes into play

Starting point is 01:11:27 because then you're going to need a currency system that's backed by something and measured by something. And the question then becomes is not how many dollars you have, is how many grams you have? How much gold should the average person get? How much gold should the average person get? I mean, at least an ounce.

Starting point is 01:11:44 You could afford an ounce, but buying it now at 3,000 is not really going to do much for you. You know what I'm saying? I was saying this for a long, long time, because I knew it was going to come to this. And why didn't more people listen to you? Because I say it in a way that, you know,

Starting point is 01:12:01 it's not a popular thing, you know, and I say it in a way that I'm not asking you to go buy gold and get it. I'm telling you that when it goes up, you realize what I was saying was right. That's why I'm doing it. I'm not giving people gold in the street because, you know, I'm saying I'm like, you don't know how to value what the in front of you.

Starting point is 01:12:19 That's the video I'm making. Here, take this gold ounce. Nah, I'd rather go work for like a slave somewhere. I'm like, all right. It shows, it's so awake people up. What does that teach you about people? When you see them walk away like that, you're giving them an ounce of gold. I don't blame them, but it's hard for them to think that a person will be walking to them and giving them something for nothing.

Starting point is 01:12:42 Do they think it's a scam? Yes. They think it's a scam and they think I'm going to give it to them and ask for something or play with them or this or that. And I understand that. but you're judging incorrectly in that circumstance. So that's kind of a psychological game I like to play with people. Oh, you didn't buy a gold chain that paid for itself? Well, too late.

Starting point is 01:13:05 Now you can wait another 10, 20 years. Sorry, I don't give a f***. You know what I'm saying? Jewelry, luxury company is not supposed to be built around value. A luxury company is not supposed to be built around anything, but you can't have it. So I'm switching my shit from I told you to get it to take care of you because I did have a heart. and I did care about the people and I did want you to do well

Starting point is 01:13:24 but you didn't listen now you can't have it sorry I gave you love you threw it away now this is what you got and now it's a luxury company real deal

Starting point is 01:13:36 but I'm gonna make manufacture jewelry engagement rings and so on so forth make my money and do what I gotta do and I gotta switch my style up on that end and I gotta you know flow through it

Starting point is 01:13:46 as people get to know me because my thing is I don't want to hurt you I want to wake your mind up. That's it. You know, everybody could be aware and awake. I don't know how it happened for you, or your parents raised you a certain way, or you, uh, something.

Starting point is 01:14:02 You know what I'm making moves. I'm making moves, you know, whatever. Speaking of scams, what is your worst story with fake jewelry? I don't really even have that many stories with fake jewelry again. You know what I'm saying? I don't really, I've ever been involved in it. No one's ever given it to me. I've never given it to anybody.

Starting point is 01:14:20 I've had bank fraud and crazy shit go down. You know, somebody took their church's bank account and wired me money. I sent in jewelry. Then they froze my shit. And they did this and they did that. And I've been through that. And I must have lost a half a million to a million in fraud. Probably a million or more, actually, now that I think about it, you know.

Starting point is 01:14:38 I've been in business for 21 years, my friend. And my annual sales are $40 million plus. You're talking about, you know, 20 times 40 is 800. And, you know, in the earlier years it was less, so you average it out three to 400 million in sales. So I should have had a profit of a gross profit of, you know, 50 million, 60 million. And I only got a seven.

Starting point is 01:15:02 You know, so where'd the rest of it go, bro? Now, switching from that, why have watches gained a lot of popularity over the last few years? And what do you think the best watch is for someone to buy? There's looking at them. That's why, you know what I'm saying? Women are looking at the watch and they're judging you for it. They're glancing at it 100%.

Starting point is 01:15:19 I've asked them. they say it. So it's a status symbol. And women are attracted to wealth. And they're attracted to status. It's just the way they are. And for a man, this is the whole, this is nature's little game.

Starting point is 01:15:33 You know, nature gets you to, you know, you play Super Mario and what's at the end at the dungeon after you beat the Bowser? It's the princess. You know what I'm saying? If it was another Nintendo game, you probably would. It was a Pokemon card, you know what I'm saying? You wouldn't be jumping throw.

Starting point is 01:15:49 all those platforms dodging the fireballs, bro. You're doing it for a reason. For that peach. You know what I'm saying? So this is the game and it is a status symbol that men can use. And now with social media, it's really amplified because you had a protectfully before. And some bimbo ain't going to know that to protect.

Starting point is 01:16:16 She don't know. So she don't look at it. She needs to see an eye style watch for, for, for sure, before she's sitting there thinking, now you, you're the man. But, um, now, they know which watch is which and what's worth money and this and that. And it turned into a way sexier thing to have. So what's the best watch for someone to buy, Patek, Philippe? A Patech is an amazing state.

Starting point is 01:16:41 It's Automar, Patech. Rolex is new money as you first got money and you're buying yourself a roll. But Otomar and Patech. is the one that they're going to know. What if you're on a budget? Let's go with different tiers. Yes. If you have 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000.

Starting point is 01:16:57 Yeah. Each price point is your number one watch. Five thousand, five thousand. Five thousand, five thousand. I'm, uh, that's a tough one, man, because there's not a lot of $5,000 watch is basically you say, and all I got is $5,000. I'd say a two-tone date just.

Starting point is 01:17:13 Yeah, a used one. Yes. An old one. Yeah, I'm talking just, that's your budget. You could buy anything you want. Yeah. That would be good. A two-tone day-just, a used two-tone date just,

Starting point is 01:17:22 but you're talking about something from the 90s. Yes. And that's a decent watch. There's better watches. This is a question for Roman Sharf. You know who Roman Sharf is a luxury watchman. He knows watches like crazy. And he knows how to get something dope.

Starting point is 01:17:38 But if you're getting the status, you're going to have to get a Rolex for the 5 and a Rolex for the 10. What Rolex do you buy for 10? It's a newer day just. Or, you know, like if you want, once you get out of the tens and you tend to the 15 and stuff like that, you're going to get the Hulk, right? You know, the exclusive

Starting point is 01:17:55 one. That's when you're actually a watch connoisseur. Because when you're watching a Hulk, when you're wearing a Hulk or a Pepsi or a Batman, you don't know if that's your Sunday watch or your only watch. You know what I'm saying? So now you're sitting there because those are

Starting point is 01:18:10 like, you know, I'm wearing my Hulk today and my yacht master when I go out and when I'm wearing a suit, I'm wearing my steal, protect, whatever, $59,000, whatever it might be. So that's the way that kind of game works. So those are the watches that are the best status symbols that are really classy. And what about $25,000 now?

Starting point is 01:18:32 $25,000 now. Let's think about that. $25,000, that would probably be, you know, something along the lines of a yacht master, two-tone. That's a big boy watch. Okay, you're dropping 25,000. That means your car is at least 100,000 and your crib is whatever. You know what I'm saying? That's a big boy watch.

Starting point is 01:18:56 Yeah. 50,000. You're an automar, a steel automar blue face type deal or, you know, a gold one, two tones deal. Those are, yeah, you're a bigger boy. 100%. That's what it says. Yeah. Even me, a customer walks through the door and they got the right watch out.

Starting point is 01:19:11 I'm like, yes, sir. How could I help you? And what about $100,000? That would be a gold automore or gold protect, you know, saying the best of business. best, the sickest watch, and another one of my boys, a shout-it, he's a YouTuber. Rissa and Kwan, a Kwan, you know what I'm saying? He knows how to, this is, they're a couple, they're YouTube in them, they got a couple of millions of subs and they have kids. And they're, you know, a couple of YouTube and whatever, you know, they go to the best

Starting point is 01:19:37 hotel, they do this and they stay there and they make a video about that. And he likes the best, so he'll get the two-tone Mayback. His crib will be something really status-like. It's done correct. It's done, it's there. You could see the mind that he put into it, you know. And that's what you want for a watch. When you walk around, when you walk through the door and you met me, I'm like, oh, there's Graham. And you walk it to his crib and they're like, oh, there's Graham. You know, and that's the experience that you want to communicate.

Starting point is 01:20:03 And the skeleton face AP rose gold is what Kwan bought. There's 150. Okay. But that skeleton face is an exclusive, discontinued, limited, did his research type shit. Yeah. What do you think is the worst watch for someone to buy? You know, that's a great question. Because, you know, I'd say kind of like that two-tone old Rolex is,

Starting point is 01:20:29 unless you're in a strip club, you know, in Connecticut, net watch ain't going to impress nobody, man. So you might as well get yourself some Gucci shit and put some diamonds in it or, you know, Apple Watch or some shit. Or you could customize some other shit. I really wouldn't want to buy that. How often do you see people flexing with fake watches? Not that often,

Starting point is 01:20:47 but not that few times either. You know what I'm saying? People who have status, they might be, I'm not going to name their names, but they have a high status, but they can't get the high status watch. So they might wear a fake one.

Starting point is 01:21:02 You know what I'm saying? How would you tell? Because some of the fakes I've seen are so accurate. They're so good. And I love watching those YouTube videos where they break down the real versus fakes. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:21:11 Well, that's how you do it. They're almost indistinguishable, though. They have to get behind it with like a... Yes. Yeah. That happens, right? That happens. And how do I tell?

Starting point is 01:21:21 I don't, but my friend knows because they know what the fakes are doing, because they know the fake market. You know, they know that the dial color is off. It's really the colors, you know what I'm saying? Like, the color is not really there or something is not really there. But how do you know you have experience with it every single day? What do you think are some of those overpriced luxury brands, stuff that people continue to buy, but you don't think it's worth that at all? I mean, all of them are overpriced per se, but that's the whole point of the brand. is that it's overpriced.

Starting point is 01:21:49 You know, I could tell you Chrome Hearts, you know, you bought a hoodie for $1,000, but that's what you bought, you shopped there for. You're saying that if you're wearing a Chrome Hearts hoodie, you're saying to the chick, I could take you on vacation. We could go, get on a plane,

Starting point is 01:22:03 and I'll take it to Mekanos or whatever. That's what you're saying. So it's overpriced. The whole point is it's overpriced. You know what I'm saying? That's the whole point is to say, I have money to burn. So the more overpriced it is,

Starting point is 01:22:17 but it's the game. You don't want to be overpriced. But again, thinking from a value perspective on luxury is a mistake. It really is. And what about Labgrown versus Real Diamonds? Yeah. How do you even tell the difference? For most people, is it never just worth it to get real diamonds?

Starting point is 01:22:35 Just go Labgrown? No, I mean, Labgrown, again, is going to be, listen, these are all Lab. But in Natural, this ring would be about 25,000 in Labgeron. in lab it's about six okay because i don't want to sit here and buy asher cuts and i set them upside down for this ring you know what i'm saying i really don't i'll just buy it in lab and it'll really do the business and it's uh and it's really really nice and then i'll move on to the next ring because in natural do you really want to buy this exact ring for 20 25 000 not really six thousand dollars seven thousand dollars it's a pretty beautiful piece of jewelry okay if you have

Starting point is 01:23:13 you know you're not going to walk out of here and then another guy is got this ring on. Not going to happen. Okay? It's just nobody makes it. Nobody sets stones like this upside down. It's a unique item. And if you want that uniqueness,

Starting point is 01:23:25 you've had it all, you get it. But if you want a natural, sure, I'll make it for you a natural. What's the advantage to going with a natural diamond? I mean, the advantage is that it's still a rare gem. They're both diamonds,

Starting point is 01:23:40 but one is a gem, one is not. One is made in a lab and could be an infinite quantity. and the other is made in the ground, right? Let's say the year is 2045. And 3D printers have gotten so advanced that you could get yourself a classic Ferrari, you know, like the old ones.

Starting point is 01:23:58 Amazing. There's the one that's in Jay Leno's garage. He doesn't have Ferraris, but whatever, you get the idea. There's the one that's in Jay Leno's garage that was manufactured in 1972. And there's the one that's 3D printed yesterday. They're both exactly the same on a molecular level. Great news.

Starting point is 01:24:20 The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027 Volt and 2026 Equinox EV models. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer today for more details. But the one that was built by Ferrari in 1972 has something more than the 3D printed one. Yeah, but let's say you don't have any of like the document. to go along with it. How do you tell if you have two diamonds

Starting point is 01:24:47 side by side? One's real. One's lap grow. It's becoming harder to tell, but natural diamonds have a little nitrogen inside of them and other elements

Starting point is 01:24:58 that are not present in the lab diamonds. So there's gases like trapped in the natural process versus, so there will be always a difference between what the hell is happening in the earth's mantle

Starting point is 01:25:10 to what the hell is happening in a lab. But the future diamonds will always end up being industrial, you know? If you had a diamond engine, you can run it to 10 million miles. Yeah. Because the frictionless, it doesn't corrode. So if someone's getting engaged, do you recommend? I recommend a gemstone.

Starting point is 01:25:30 That's if you have money. If you have a good girl and she wants to have a big rock and look good, you get yourself a lab ring and you do it like I did it with this ring. You make something beautiful and unique that you can't make any which way. And she'll blow everybody away with that. or you could go get her if you have the budget, you get her a natural gemstone

Starting point is 01:25:47 and natural diamond as GIA certified or what have you. But if you spend $35,000 on a ring and then her girl walks in with the $3,500 ring that looks even bigger and better,

Starting point is 01:25:59 it's going to have a problem on the market and the experience. So the society is figuring that out right now. Speaking of women, yes. What have you noticed to be the most effective ways

Starting point is 01:26:13 of like getting her attention, like the right kinds of women. Do you think, like you were saying earlier, how you first kind of courted that one girl, she went into the store, and you were treating her as though she was like a normal person rather than through like this lens of her being a beautiful girl where everyone white glove services her.

Starting point is 01:26:31 What are the actual best ways that you can try to get that attention? Well, it came to that girl, she's been everywhere and done everything, so she's not impressed by money at all, you know, so she was... Did you know that going into it? Was it strategy? No, I didn't know. I didn't have no strategy. I just, she started talking and I just, you know, I was like, I'm not letting you sit here. And is a woman might try to dominate a man in the initial conversation. You're like, hold this for me. Get the fuck out of here. You can't, you know, she's trying to see if you're submissive or dominant. So as soon as she even tests you, you got to be like, you know, she's waiting for you to go like this. So that was, that worked in that particular instance. And that will always be the case for me. I don't let any woman dominate me because they try. You know, They want to see.

Starting point is 01:27:13 What are other ways they test that? Like, hold this for me. If a woman asked me, hey, hold my purse. I'd be like, yeah, sure. Yeah. Well, listen, you could do that. And she might be a good girl,

Starting point is 01:27:20 and she might not be trying to dominate nothing. But she usually, I mean, like, you know, she's doing it for a reason, you know, ignoring her or whatever might be a big deal. Then I had a chick the other day. She's like, we took a picture together. Then she's like swiping through my phone and she sees me. You know, it just met her.

Starting point is 01:27:37 I took her out of date. She's swiping through my phone while I'm driving and she sees me with another girl. And, that turns her on. It makes her want to compete because there's a paradox. A woman is testing you for your manhood. Okay? That's what she is.

Starting point is 01:27:55 That's what the whole point of a woman is. It's like, you're coming too close, I'm going to stay, you know, or you're standing too far. I'm going to do this. She's testing you for balance. And that's how their sensory apparatus kind of works. And from my experience. So when it comes to,

Starting point is 01:28:12 it's a game. You know what I'm saying? Like you do this too much. She's going to be like, oh, this guy is doing that. You do that too little. All this guy's doing this. You have to find the balance of being, not holding her,

Starting point is 01:28:26 but then opening up the door for her. But then doing this, but not doing that. But then that, not doing this. And eventually she gets swooned and with enough time. And then she's like, you know, that's the courting, you know, process. Sounds like a lot of work.

Starting point is 01:28:41 Like a lot of thoughts. You can't just... Because a woman doesn't gonna want to go, oh yeah, you got this? Well, here you go. You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 01:28:48 She don't want to do that. Then you... Uh, uh, you know, and then you're, the baby comes out and there's a problem

Starting point is 01:28:56 and you're like, oh, I don't know what to do. You know what I'm saying? It's genetic. The ones that, if you're the women that chose the wrong guy,

Starting point is 01:29:01 their line was done. They want the guy that's not too aggressive, but not to this, not do that, but not do this. And you have to, as a young man,

Starting point is 01:29:10 I didn't know this. You know, If you're a practical thinker, you're going to have a problem because it's not a practical thing. It's a completely different style of thinking. Take a look at Jeff Bezos. You know what I'm going to say? This guy's got the richest in the world. And he's got this chick there that's for faces like this.

Starting point is 01:29:27 You know what I'm saying? And you could do better than that, Jeff. But you're a logical thinker. That's the problem. You know what I'm saying? You're thinking logically and you're dealing with a woman who's playing a different game. So you're saying if he did not think logically, he would get some. someone who's more attractive.

Starting point is 01:29:42 If you turn, you have to turn your brain off and you have to go into a different dimension to use a woman because, you know, to be able to get there, right? Because it's a different type of courtship. Yeah, you know that, you know, Jeff Bezos was like, well, what's the way, the best way to start in their company? Well, I'll start with books because their titles are easy to search. You can buy them for cheap. They're easy to store. They're stolen less frequently.

Starting point is 01:30:07 And you could ship them easy. So that's a great way to start a business. Well, one's not thinking like that. You know, woman's thinking a more emotional sense or a more of this and more that. So he's super active in a one sense and deficient in another. That's why he's got this chick. You know what I'm saying? He can have a way better bitch, you know, or 10 of them, a hundred of them.

Starting point is 01:30:27 But if you're going to bring them on a yacht and you're going to talk to them directly and look them in their eyes and answer their questions, they're going to think you're a soccer. You have to make them compete. give this one a little bit of tension and then as soon as you gets comfortable give that one a little bit of tension and then so you're a smarter girl than that oh yeah and that's what drives them crazy

Starting point is 01:30:48 because it's a different dynamic and if you study it from a logical perspective you will be able to have the same advantage as you would in Amazon but if you study it if I like you and I'd like you to be my girlfriend forget it you're I think that's a way to court a girl that's not looking for a life partner

Starting point is 01:31:05 correct I think if it's a girl that is like she's long term oriented and she's logic-brained and she's like, I need to find someone right now and I want to settle down with them. That's a wonderful girl you're describing. Okay, so you're saying, but like maybe the more Miami type,

Starting point is 01:31:17 maybe some New York type, maybe some California, like L.A. type. That's kind of, you need to be a little more strategic. Play the culture of like the, you know, of the dating market in that area. If you want a bad and you want to sit here and live the Mac life where you grab her and you have money and you take her on a trip

Starting point is 01:31:34 and you're having your sex, let's call it what it is, sexual fantasies that you've been. dreaming of you're going to have to play a different game if you want a life partner then um uh you know that's a whole different game and it should be straightforward but even that girl if you say the wrong things to her she's going to get turned off or whatever there is a woman is a measurement of manhood right a woman doesn't want to be a man's mommy okay man is looking for mom and um a woman is looking for dad. She wants somebody who's going to control her, tell her what to do, and she's confident in that

Starting point is 01:32:12 and protect her and give her that, and she's measuring you for it. And if you're going to come out her as a young man, and you're going to be looking for your emotional support that makes you feel good, that, you know, if you hit your head and you're going to hear a girl and you feel better, she don't want to provide that. She don't want to be a provider of that. She would love to play that role, but she don't want to provide that, man. She doesn't want to be some shoulder for you to cry on because the world is hard, bro. She wants to be like, oh, this guy handled the world, and now, you know, I'm safe. But you have what you want.

Starting point is 01:32:44 She has what, you know, she wants her. And you got to find a compromise on a happy medium. But on the emotional sense, you have to know how to be able to project what she wants to get her, do you even get the chance to get her to know who you are. As an immigrant, how do you feel when people say that it's hard in America? It is hard in America in a sense because, It's not hard anywhere and it's not easy anywhere because it's all relative to what you experience in the world you know. But it's obviously not particularly hard in America.

Starting point is 01:33:15 But just coming out of that is much. It's just more advantageous. So immigrants come here and they're used to a certain level of stress and strain. And that same stress and strain that they're accustomed to is way more productive in this society. So that works out real well if you're immigrant coming from there. If you're amazing, you know, I'm at catching food in, you know, the Serengeti, where it's a difficult environment, then, or in you're living in that, then when you go to an easy environment, it's going to be more advantageous. But if the people that are used to it, yeah. But does it bother you?

Starting point is 01:33:53 When you see people who've grown up in America and they're just like, you know what, it's too hard out there, I can't get ahead. It doesn't bother me because I'm competing against those people and I'm just going to run ahead of them and be better off. that's on them. You know what I'm saying? And it doesn't happen, didn't happen to you, or whatever it might be. You guys are on track to some shit. So that's on them. You know, in some cases, they might be right.

Starting point is 01:34:16 It might not be worth breaking your back and sweating for all this shit. Just sit back and relax, you know, pop a pill. So I think also you were early, pop a pill. You were early when it came to eBay. Yeah. You saw the vision of that. Yeah. I would say you were early in the jewelry industry overall to go through.

Starting point is 01:34:34 through social media. Yeah. What do you think is next? AI, man, you know that is. I've already pulling $200,000 worth of value out of here. And I'll show you right now. And I'm because I know my competitors ain't going to be watching this podcast, these idiots.

Starting point is 01:34:47 Are you know what I'm saying? But I'll show you something really cool. And, uh, you see this? All right. So maybe the camera could see it a little bit. These are all AI generated pieces. Wow. I'll be sitting at home.

Starting point is 01:34:58 I'll be smoking my vape. And I will be, um, uh, sitting there. and I'll be saying make another, make another, make another, make another, make another. I'll just have hundreds of designs, see if you prompt it properly. So the amount of design work I was able to pull out of the phone was 10 years ago or five years ago to cost $2,000, $500,000. And now the AI is going to make the 3D models. So if I'm the first one to implement the AI for my business, I'm where I should be.

Starting point is 01:35:30 I could have been a $100 million man right now. if I didn't up the eBay from the beginning. I could have did that correct, but I didn't, and I had to backtrack, and then I used the social media to get me back in line, and now the AI to get me where I should have been all along. One thing I want to point out, when I was doing research for this,

Starting point is 01:35:49 you were on the people's court. Yes. How did that come to be? Well, you know, I had a graphic designer that was doing really good. He was very talented. But life was troubled. and one time, you know, I came to his house

Starting point is 01:36:08 or where he was living in Harlem or whatever. And he's renting this room. And I walk inside this place. Decrepit. It's a python shedding its skin inside a dusty, crusty aquarium type deal. The opposite of what happened when I went to Yorker was essentially.

Starting point is 01:36:26 We don't have python. Exactly. You have a fish tank. That's why it's the opposite. You know what I'm saying? But it's crusty. And he's got this one bedroom and his roommate, he tells me, is on Xanax sleepwalking into his room at night and just like bothered him.

Starting point is 01:36:43 Like, oh, this guy needs some peace and quiet. And he's got the talent. Let me see what would happen. I had an extra room, you know, I had a nice apartment or whatever. Let me see what happened if I just said this guy, you know, let's take the summer three months. Get some peace, rent free. Just do some design work. and come over and live.

Starting point is 01:37:05 And, you know, I like this character where he came, he closed the door, he smoked about a million backwards in there, you know what I'm saying, and accomplished nothing over the course of that summer. And then I'm like, man, I gotta throw this guy out of here. He's a nice guy, you know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 01:37:19 But I'm like, this is horrible. I got this guy living in my house. I give you three months until December. It's a human experiment that was running. So he's like, oh, make an app or whatever. It ended poorly. And, you know, it was like a $5,000 balance on some app or some shit.

Starting point is 01:37:33 And I'm like, you know, whatever, bro. You know, this app. You stayed in my house for free for six months, bro. I gave you 10 grand. I'm not giving you another five or I'm not giving you another whatever. I think he sued me, small claims.

Starting point is 01:37:48 And then he wanted to pick it up at people's court. You know, because it was a dispute over like, you know, like, you know, man, I did so much for you, bro. And you wasted all that time. Like, when I opened up that door after he left, it was like a layer of this thick of, dirt on the floor.

Starting point is 01:38:03 And it stunk like Fanta, or Fanta is the leaf, the tobacco cousin of the tobacco leaf. It has no nicotine. You know what it was. It was. So I went in there and I'm like, oh, man, this is disgusting.

Starting point is 01:38:16 And then we went on people's court. They're like, yo, they'll cover the cost if you lose. And he did have kind of like a little contract or whatever. And the judge, you know, they made the thing, the race game, you know, like, ah, he's going to win because he's that, da, da, da, da, da, whatever and I'm uh you know I rocked with it and that's what it was why do you even get yourself

Starting point is 01:38:36 into something like this like you're living such a good life that just like lock in and focus on what you're good at rather than being like yeah come live with me like I want the parameters I want to understand that if a human being is in trouble yeah I could take care of myself I'm going to go make money I'm going to focus on my I'll brand my business whatever but if a person is in trouble that has talent what does it take for them to have stability and be able to bring themselves to realize their own potential. I want to know. I want to know.

Starting point is 01:39:05 What kind of impact can I have in a person's life? I want to know. And if it's six months out of my life to try that out and a little people's court story, it works out perfectly well. Okay, what we're going to do

Starting point is 01:39:17 is we're going to do quick questions and answers. Whatever you want. Real or fake, most people wearing diamonds in New York City. Most people wearing diamonds in New York City are real. Real or fake, rapper chains and music videos.

Starting point is 01:39:30 Real. Who's the broke-ish-rich person you've ever met? Brokest rich person I ever met. I will not disclose the man's name. What's the worst? Well, like, how did you, you don't have to say his name, but what was the context of this? The context of this was that,

Starting point is 01:39:45 I mean, you know, he's a successful person. He has assets, but he didn't manage his money well. And, you know, he's behind that as bills. And people probably stealing from him, too. Has a celebrity ever tried to scumption? scam you. Yeah. Which influencer is definitely wearing fake jewelry? I'm not sure, man. I haven't really seen them because you get caught instantly if you're wearing that on social media today. Have you ever been robbed? Yes. How much was it? It was like 100 grand. Do you have insurance? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:40:17 Our Rolex is overrated. No. Is buying jewelry ever a smart investment? Yes. And then this is one word answers. Jewelry or watches? Jewelry for me. Cash or gold? Gold. Hustle or talent? Hustle or talent? talent what drives people more fear or greed can i don't know i'd say fear but i don't know i'm curious how much do you think your social media presence has pushed your business um 90 percent so it's just completely exploded it yeah it's it's turned me into a brand if as long as i got the right product and the right marketing and this and that i'll be able to secure a brand that'll outlive me after i'm dead and what are the main ways right now that you're trying to catapult your success, like the main levers you're trying to pull.

Starting point is 01:41:02 AI. And that would be with, like, video. I'm going to design vast amounts of jewelry that would otherwise cost me $500,000 in designing. I'm going to do it for free. I think what would be good is if you had, like, signature items that you did limited drops of. Like, we're doing, for example, my whole idea. My whole idea with the chain. I was about to say that, too.

Starting point is 01:41:25 My idea with the chain of, like, I don't know how much I'm paying. The chains are different here. The chains are different here. can't guarantee quality if I'm buying something in Japan. I just have no idea. But I want one. And it would be cool, especially as a store of value in terms of gold. If you did something like, hey, guys, these chains, I promise you, my cost is this.

Starting point is 01:41:42 I am only taking 15% profit. And I'm doing a release of 100 chains. These are signature tracks, NYC chains. You guys can buy them. And then sell those out. Those would sell out like this. And then it could be kind of like a staple. Like you have one of those signature like tracks, NYC.

Starting point is 01:42:00 some sort of label for a change. Consider it done. Consider it done. That's what I'm doing. And if you're transparent about your numbers, like that would open up doors for people that didn't even know they wanted jewelry just because the obstacle of thinking you're getting scammed

Starting point is 01:42:12 is too big to hurdle. But the flip side to that is you see some people that see the amount of money and don't quantify the overhead. So let's just say there's like 3,000 profit margin. They'll say, well, they can make it three grand. But they're not counting in, you know, the rent and this and the debt. You got to count it all in your time. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:42:29 And then they're going to be like, well, why can't you just make a thousand on this? Right. I don't know. I think there's a percentage of people out there who would love that. I love transparent pricing. The idea is limited drops. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, limited drops.

Starting point is 01:42:42 The economics of it have to be worked out. You know what I'm saying? Don't lose money on a limited drop. Just do the math. You know, this costs that. That costs this. It's not charging just for the materials. It's the whole thing.

Starting point is 01:42:52 I just think that would be good for branding. Like to be the guy that, like, is doing the high-level limited drops. it would differentiate you from other people. Yeah, I'm with it, man. I'm with it. Yeah. In a way, it's cool because it's like your merch. Like, people have hats that they wear.

Starting point is 01:43:08 Yeah. Like a shirt, but like that's your merch. Yeah. The jewelry industry has so many parameters to it, right? Once you go down this rabbit hole, it'll take your whole life. All right, because you could do this and you could save on materials or you could scrap this and you could buy scrap or you could do this. There's so many different ways.

Starting point is 01:43:26 That's what made it a very interesting game. It is, it sucks you in and you have a million ideas. Some of the businesses that were in the podcast, podcast, buy my t-shirt, buy my hat. Mark Grober does some where he's, you know, makes these little toys and that's genius, right? You know what I'm saying? The jewelry business has so many different elements of humanity in it that it makes it a very interesting game to play to win. And I'm going to win that with this idea, that idea, a poofier haircut, a double hot dog. and a little Bitcoin, and a little Bitcoin man.

Starting point is 01:44:00 Guys, I've never explained this. He keeps talking about double hot dog. It's my phone wallpaper. I've had it since I was 18. Two hot dogs and one bun. I don't know, bro. Look, all I'm saying is, what does it mean?

Starting point is 01:44:11 Do you see anything wrong with that? Um, it just brings up sexual shit. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. Do you ever see, do you ever get served a really nice dish? And you're like,

Starting point is 01:44:21 I want to take a picture of that. It's rare. But that happens. It happens. It happens. And so this hot dog, It was by accident. You would like this, Hebrew National dogs.

Starting point is 01:44:31 Hebrew National shab. And it was in a hoagy bun. Right. And so I was like, this looks really good. And I was really excited. He took it over a fire. I took a bite out of it. Right.

Starting point is 01:44:39 And I took a picture. It was that important that you want to see that every day. I've had it. I've had this picture of this cherry blossoms, bro. I got cherry blossoms over here, bro. What are you got, man? I'm just saying, I'm not talking about the cherry blossoms. Yeah, what's your phone cover, bro?

Starting point is 01:44:52 It's a jellyfish. Oh, let's see it, man. All right, that makes sense. I like the jellyfish. It's a little bland. It's branding. People talk about it. You see the double hot dog.

Starting point is 01:44:59 It was intriguing. It just scared me a bit, bro. That's all. It just took me a back. Like, you know what I'm saying? What kind of? Where am I going to? Where is?

Starting point is 01:45:07 Am I going to get double hot dog right now? And part two of the ice coffee hour, you guys know. We'll be behind the paywall. We need you for another. Yeah. So send them in. But, yeah. All right.

Starting point is 01:45:21 Oh, God. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Thank you. It was an amazing time, boys. This has been a blast. Thank you all for watching. so, so very much. We wouldn't be able to do what we do without you guys. Honest, thank you.

The Iced Coffee Hour - “Dont Buy Bitcoin!” Why ‘The Rich’ Are Buying Gold, Diamonds, and Jewelry | TraxNYC

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