Trading Secrets - Michael Allio is changing lives. Bachelor Nation fan favorite reveals BTS to his impactful entrepreneurial and nonprofit work, his time in the franchise, and $$$ behind it!

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

This week, Jason is joined by entrepreneur, father, and Bachelor Nation fan favorite, Michael Allio! Most know Michael from Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette and eventually his time spent on Bachelor in Paradise, where he quickly became one of the most popular and well liked contestants on the show. Michael has been open and vulnerable about sharing a personal loss he experienced in 2019 before going on the show after losing his wife, Laura, to cancer. Over the past few years, he has honored her memory by founding a nonprofit organization dedicated to families battling cancer and most recently getting involved with a cancer treatment project.  Michael gives insight to working for a distribution company he started with his parents supplying safety clothing, what his life was like after his wife Laura was diagnosed with cancer, what he would tell his younger self, how he didn’t want to show to change how he viewed the world, breaking down how his company began distributing PPE during COVID and debunking an inaccurate article. Michael also reveals why paradise was more appealing than the Bachelor, negotiating his contract, the importance of getting life insurance, his best advice for saving, navigating personal and professional resets, and the topical project he is dedicating his life to in order to provide relief for pain related to chemo treatment that he started with Laura. How did his nonprofit The L4 Project lead to him being casted for The Bachelorette? Why did he decline becoming the Bachelor after Katie’s season? Michael reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!  Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: Declan O’Connell Guests: Michael Allio  Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial 

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tardick, and welcome to the pre-market trading segment, where we talk a little bit about what you can expect from today's episode, one or two things you might want to know going into next week and just a little update from my personal life. Now, this is a longer episode, so I'm going to keep this. intro a little bit shorter. You'll also notice we don't have a recap in this episode. The Curious Canadian, as you guys all know, traveling with his hockey team, they lost his bag. So today is Sunday, we were going to record, and he can't find his bag anywhere and has no equipment to record.

But the episode is that jam-packed. I don't think you even need a recap. Now, we have Michael A on. Michael A is from the Bachelor franchise. He was first seen on ABC cameras with Katie Thurston's season. We learned all about the fact that he's a single father and lost his wife Laura to a really tough battle to cancer. Now, there's a lot of hype and hope that Michael A might be the next bachelor. He talks a little bit about that whole process and what happened. But we did get to see him on the beaches of paradise. He talks all about his work and career life before the show, during the show, in between going on Paradise, why he ultimately went on Paradise, and where he is today with his current relationship. Now, you're going to hear all things from three dimensions of Michael.

You hear about the finance. He talks numbers. You hear about the personal side and you hear a lot about his professional side. Michael has been America's sweetheart, right? He is so loved, but he has had some setbacks. He has had some criticism and some articles even written about one of his businesses. And on an episode like this, I, of course, have to put him in the hot seat and ask them about some of these tough articles that were written about him and his businesses. But it's a deep episode. I will tell you, there are some quotes that Michael A. says in this episode that as I was editing, I wrote down in my notepad to not forget because they are that critical. Everything from like trust issues and relationships to how he approaches business and work life balance as a

single father. So this is like trading secrets life with Michael A. Not only business, not only dollars, not only career, but just life. And if you don't know Michael A from the Bachelor franchise, you don't need to because you're going to hear literally his whole story chronologically from before, during, and after. And there are some gems in there. Now, one thing I need you to know going into the market is next week the Fed is meeting. So the Federal Open Market Committee will have a meeting September 19th and 20th next week. They will be talking more about the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, and they hold eight regularly scheduled meetings during the year. This is a big one for us to just understand the direction they're going to go, when, why,

and how. They raised interest rates, as you know, to 5.25% to 5.5% in July of 2033, marking 11, 11 straight rate hikes this cycle aimed for the whole. whole process of reducing inflation. The analysts are saying that the Fed may put in one more 25 basis point rate height this year. So we'll see if it's this week, but more to come. And a little bit in my life, I have finally moved into my new place. I will be living here for six months. A wise man told me when you're in a state of disarray or mayhem, a decision today will still be a good decision six months from now. So I have gotten a house where the dogs can live, where I feel comfortable, and I'll be renting here for six months.

I'm big on numbers. That's what we do on Trading Secrets. The rent here is $3,600. The square footage is around 2,100 square feet. So I'll do more of a breakdown of how I decided to rent. I'll talk a little bit more about the rent-to-own ratio, which is putting me in the position to rent for six months because the rent-to-own ratio is very high here in Nashville,

which means if you're thinking about renting or buying, it gives you an indicator of what you should do if you're between the two. More to come there. It's going to be good to be in Nashville. I have Pinot and Ramen right to my left as I'm recording. There's a whole lot going on and I will share more of that here shortly. Maybe in my next recap with David, one thing he's pushing me hard for is to add a second episode, like really hard. We keep talking about it, but now that I'm settled in, the time might come. One more episode a week, maybe more tailored around trading secrets life and giving you the ins and outs of everything. happening in my personal life. Because we have learned on this podcast that professional life and financial life, while important, are still tied to the foundation of your personal life. But enough of me. Let's ring in the bell with the one and only Michael A. Get a notepad. Get a pen and paper. Get ready to go. Because this is a really, really deep conversation between what I would say, two humans that respect one another, but also have the ability to challenge.

each other. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets today. I am joined by entrepreneur, father, and Bachelor Nation fan favorite Michael A, the one and only. I can't believe I still call you Michael A. Jason, drop the A. Let's just call him Michael. Most Michael from Katie Thurston's season of The Bachelorette and eventually his time spent on Bachelor in Paradise, where he quickly became one of the most popular and well-like contestants on the show. Michael has been open and vulnerable about sharing a personal loss he experienced in 2019 before going on the show after losing his wife Laura to cancer. Over the past few years, he has honored her memory by founding a non-for-profit organization

dedicated to helping families battling cancer and most recently getting involved with a cancer treatment project of which we will discuss today. We are going to hear about Michael's experience with Bachelor Nation, what it's been like, the highs and lows, how he's been able to leverage his platform in doing right for others. if reality TV is in his future, how he turned down the opportunity to be The Bachelor and all the money and moving components in between Michael A.k.a. Michael, thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. Jason, how has it taken us this long to actually have done this podcast? If you think about it, it's pretty crazy. You got off the show and we started talking like right away.

Yeah. And that was years ago. Years ago. I mean, it feels 10 years ago and it was probably only two. but I've wanted to come on this podcast for so long. I don't know if people know that you are an entrepreneur, you are a businessman, that is who you are. Everyone knows your love story and what's happened in your personal life, but that's a whole side of you people don't really know. Yeah, I love creating. And typically when I see things or come across things in my normal life,

I'd like to see if I can make a difference, create something to help it. Yeah, I remember Caitlin was hosting Katie Thurson's season. And I always joke around, who would I want to have a beer with? And your name came up. So I was like, I got to connect with him. And it's been a wild ride since then. Let's go back to right before you go on the Bachelorette. For people that don't know, work-wise, at this point, what are all the things you have your hands in? So it's 2021. A pandemic is hitting. I'm currently working at a distribution company that my parents and I started in 2014. we supply safety clothing and create online e-commerce stores for B2B. Okay, you said you and your parents started out. How do you even get into that? How does that start?

The industry as a whole, it's pretty antiquated. The way that a lot of companies order clothing or logoed apparel for their employees or for sales, Chachkes, whatever they're doing, it's a lot of paper pushing. And so what we did was create an online platform where, it made ordering and managing these kind of programs very easy. We ensure that everybody who is working on, say, a safety line for a utility, that when they go online to purchase, they're buying safety products that keep them in OSHA standards. Okay, get so people out there, they're like, oh, safety utility guy, what are you talking about? Give me some examples of like

safety utility products. Yeah, if you look at somebody, for example, who works on the phone lines. Okay. You've got salespeople in there. You've got leadership. you also have people who are working on the roads, either installing the lines or if a storm comes, it breaks down, and they have to fix it. So that's three different types of employees. All of them have different standards for what they can wear on the job. Interesting. Okay. So a sales guy, probably polo with the company logo on it.

Yeah, very easy. But somebody who's working on the line, they may need arc flash clothing because of electrical shock, high visibility if they're on the highway, all different types of classes. So what we do is put those quality control metrics and measures in place. So that, one, it's easy for companies to get their clothing and actually purchase it, but also that they stay within the safety guidelines. Gotcha. So you're doing all the work on the back end to say, our product meets the guidelines. You'll be in compliance. Take this part out of your business and just order what you need for your people through us and you're going to be yeah it's it's really simple to to use and it's crazy how many companies

are doing it the old way which is tons of liability increased costs people are getting their products way later there how do you handle returns we actually have three warehouses so we're a turnkey solution okay we give companies the online platform so that they can shop and manage their program but we also warehouse products we also help them with sourcing and procurement logoing all of the different things. And so you're doing this full time and then the bachelorette comes knocking on your this point. Give me an idea of like how the business is doing. You guys do it millions of dollars or you just breaking even. Like what's the business scenario look like for you guys? Five, six years later. Yeah. We started in 2014 and like all small businesses, like you try to find

your way. Of course. It's difficult. And this is what I have found. Nothing is easy. What starts as like a concept. It takes a while to develop. And for the first couple years, we were losing money, a struggling small business. And then once COVID hit too, it became even more difficult. People weren't going to work anymore. There's a lot of remote people. They don't need uniforms. They don't need all of these things, except for frontline workers and essential people. But the company is profitable. We turn a few million dollars a year now. But we went through some dog days trying to figure out where we fit in. Okay. We're going to get into Batcher for all my Batcher fans out there, Bachelorette. But give me an idea of the landscape. Like, how many employees do you guys have as far as like distribution warehouses and stuff? Give me the profile of what the company looks like today.

We're still a very small business. Our business has really run on efficiency. Okay. And I like keeping that lien. And I hire the right people that run their job. and their department, like, they own it. Yeah. We've got seven people that are working for us right now,

and we've got three distribution centers that we ship out of, all in Akron, Ohio. And so we manage a bunch of different types of programs. And it's great. And so that's why one of the things that I was like, oh, Michael A might move, but obviously you have James, your son, but that's why you're like, you got to be in Akron, right? Because your distribution centers are there.

Yeah, I guess that my job could take me any, anywhere because I could manage it anywhere. However, I mainly stay in Akron because that's where family's at. After Laura passed away, and actually, while she was going through cancer treatment and everything, you need a army behind you. She was diagnosed when James was seven months old. Gosh. I'm telling you, I'll never forget the call.

I was at work. She called me and she said, come pick me up. I'm jumping my car. And I drive over to her work and she's sitting on the steps. And I look over to her and I'm crying. I'm like, what are we going to do? And she just walks over to me and she's like, it's going to be all right. We're going to totally beat this.

And as a caregiver, you are in this position where you have to make sure that even when the roof is on fire, that you're staying cool, calm, and collected. When everything inside is falling apart, you have to take care of all your responsibilities. I had to be a support system for Laura. I had to be there for James, middle of the night, crying, changing, all of that. Because once she had chemotherapy, she got a lot weaker and everything like that. And looking back on those days, honestly, I really have no idea how I did it. But I am proud. One of the hardest things, too, is helping other people grieve.

When you get a cancer diagnosis, people come in and they say, oh my gosh i can't imagine and you're like now i have to try to make you feel good yeah when i inside just dying and you have to tell them it's going to be okay all of that but you don't know yeah yeah oh my gosh so at this point you have a seven-month-year-old how long have you guys been married for we got married in 2012 we were married five years but we were together 10 years prior We dated for 10 years, then got married. And that's how life works, man. Yeah.

We all have this linear path, right, where you get good grades, you get into the school you want, you get the job you want. You look down the road and you try to say, if I do X, Y, Z, I will receive this in return. Life doesn't care. It doesn't care about your timelines. Or your checklist. It doesn't. It doesn't. And so you have to just be able to be like nimble.

and be able to react and respond as these things come your way. All right. I think perspective is so important, too, because there's so many people listening to this podcast right now that feel stuck in their life or their career. Maybe they're in a money pinch. They hear a story like this. They hear about Laura getting cancer, sitting on the steps.

You're crying. You have a seven-month-year-old. She's going through chemotherapy. You're trying to dig deep in all areas. And then Laura passes. And they're just like, at least I, hear this. I'm like, the shit I complain about is just so stupid. It's so minor compared to something like this. I think about it. Going through the severity of what you went through and seeing all the

angles of it with James and her family and your family and you and her, what is your biggest life lesson through such a hard experience that so few people have to go through that type of drama. It's first important to not discount if you're going through something. Even though it's minor, it may feel major. Like my emotion that I experience of sadness or loneliness is still sadness or loneliness. Correct. It may not be to your point the level in which you experience that emotion. Yeah. But yeah, it's still, that emotion exists. And I like what you're saying, don't discount what people are going through because it might even feel more at times. I've actually taken on this new approach where every difficult thing that happens in my life,

I look at it as though it's training me for something down the road. So instead of saying, oh, I've got this problem. Oh, my God. I'm like, ooh, this is difficult. But it's going to teach me something. Yeah. Cheers to you and pushing through and getting where you are today because that is a major setback. And I'm sure the perspective you have going through that to where you are today is just unbelievable.

You got your health, bad everything, right? Yeah, that's right. And like you said, life doesn't care. Just from a perspective point of view, it's, if I were to be able to talk to my younger self, I think I would just tell them that everything eventually goes away. So the good times go away, but also the bad times. Be easy on yourself.

Respect them and appreciate them, absorb them for what they offer you in the moment. Yeah. Because we're all just trying to. write the story of our own life, right? And it's, give me everything. Give me the joy, give me the pain. Because all of that is better than that feeling of, say, being numb. When you're walking around like a zombie, and you're like, I feel nothing. I'd rather be an excruciating pain than just be numb. You're so right. It's a weird predicament. I've even told you, I've told friends and stuff, in this breakup, which is the baby little drop in the ocean

compared to what you've gone through. But I've cried more in the last month or two than I have my life together. But there is something true to, like, feeling that emotion makes you feel connected. It makes you feel alive. It makes you feel like, okay, I know where I'm at. I'm feeling myself. I'm connected to myself. I'm moving on. I've been in those situations when you're in those numb states. And those numb states, it's like there's nothing worse than just not knowing, not understanding yourself and knowing yourself. So you don't understand yourself. And the confusion that comes from that is so material. And then it makes moving on and putting your next chapters, whether it's personal, professional, financial, whatever it is, really hard chapters to put together.

And I think during those down times when you are sad, when you are depressed, for some reason, I can't explain it, but that's when creativity really sparks. It always happens to me when I'm down and out, where I'm like, oh, that could be a good idea. Or, wow, I'm seeing things differently. And when I'm overly happy, I don't know, maybe I'm in like a state of euphoria where I think everything is just perfect. And I'm not looking. Interesting. All right. You think about where your professional life was.

Think about where your personal life was. Professional life, things are going great. It sounds like personal life looks like almost everything to the core gets dismantled. Then all of a sudden, the wildest curveball comes. And ABC The Bachelorette comes knocking on your door. Tell me about the decision, both professionally and personally, about deciding to go on that show. Was it a struggle? what may you end up doing it?

Yeah. Why'd you do it? Oh man, everything about it was a struggle. First, this isn't what I plan my life to be. I never was really thinking about being on reality TV. But again, I look for signs. Laura specifically loved this show. Okay. She loved The Bachelor.

And she used to joke and say, you should go on and get a fake divorce, go on. You would do so well. And I'm like, get out of here. She was nuts like that. But when they reached out, I said no to it. I was speaking with Lindsay. So did they reach out to you? They reached out to me.

They slid into my DMs. And it's crazy how this stuff works. So after Laura passed away, I started a nonprofit called the L4 project. We raised money for supportive cancer care, free services. We donate to other 501c3s that help cancer patients. And one of the casting directors, her husband created an app for nonprofits. So I came up as someone he should know. He was like, Linz, this guy could be great for your show.

Then Linz reached out to me and was like, do you want to be on a show? Wow. I'm like, oh my God, this is crazy. And I don't know how you felt when you got asked or like when they brought you in, but you can only see the things that can go wrong. Yeah, of course. Because you don't know the experience. Yeah, of course.

Yeah. And I think that's pretty true in all change. Yeah. In everything, it's like you only see the negative. But then there was a part of me. I remember saying no a couple times to Lindsay, and then at night I was thinking about it. Why did you say no? I didn't want to be away from James.

Laura had passed two years prior, and it was like, I don't know, is this a good move for me? Am I being a good dad? But this is what all like working parents, single working parents deal with too, is trying to manage their identity, their work, their kids, all of this. at the same time and something has to give. So I eventually said, yeah, let's do this. And I'm glad I did. I was frightened like the whole time. Who ran the business when you were gone? My buddy Eric, chief operating officer, yeah. Okay. So business is going as per you. And who's taking care of James when you were gone? Just between my mom and Laura's mom. They went on tons of vacations. I missed him while we were filming because I didn't get to talk to him as often as I wanted to.

but yeah he was in a good space okay you go on the show get off the show massive momentum behind you yeah that had to be one of the wildest 180s of your life going from just completely down and out single father to now you have america storming you by the minute yeah as america's sweetheart what was that transition like for you i remember the first time i was i think on social media and i'm scrolling through and I see an article with my face on it. You remember that? The first time you're in a news article or a tabloid, you're like, oh my God, I'm actually a topic of conversation. Yeah. I was just an average joke before. And now people are forming very strong opinions about you. There's no way to prepare for that. No. You just have to, it's trial by fire. And it was really

difficult. It was also, and this is going to sound like I'm complaining about it. And I'm, and I I'm not because, believe me, some people get it, like, very, their edits on the show get very bad. Yeah. So it's not that. But I always have a problem being put in a box or a label slapped on you. I think I played a pretty big role in Katie's season. Yeah. But I looked at the air time, and it was like 40 minutes.

Yeah. 40 minutes of edited stuff. That's who you are. Like, that's what we've made. And it's, we're so much more than that. I understand that perspective. We're going to talk about some of the challenges, especially with outside noise. But at this point, it's 99.9% Michael A is literally the man.

Talk to me about this, though. You go back to work, you're doing your thing, you get approached to be The Bachelor, is what I understand. And correct me if I'm wrong. The rumors out there are that you declined being the Bachelor after Katie Thurston season. Can you talk about that? And if you can talk about that, is it true? did you decline it? Why did you decline it? Clear the air, if you can. Yeah, I did decline it. And I remember being approached. And when they first approached me, I remember feeling like frightened,

scared of the weight of everything. And I remember thinking, like, who's the last bachelor that has been able to finish their season on Skate. Yeah. And I think it was like going back to Ben Higgins. Ben or sure. No, Ben didn't even finish it. No, he didn't finish it on Skate. Yeah.

We just had Ben on. He said, I love you to both girls. And it had an impact on his current relationship he was in. They broke up. So, yeah, no. Yeah. And so I was like, you know, should I get out while the Gittin's good? Or do I go in here and try again?

And I was like, why do these bachelors always? end up leaving the show with just their identity and their reputation destroyed. And I think I figured it out. Okay. I think it's funny too. So the show is all about one guy that dates multiple women. Okay. Watched by a lot of women who hate guys that date multiple women. And so it's difficult to get through that alive. And I was trying to think, if I took that role, would I even be able to get engaged? I knew I wouldn't get engaged. I knew I wouldn't get Did you went down like the list in your head and you're like, Nick, it didn't work out for, Colton, it didn't work out for. You're thinking Ben Higgins had his type of trouble.

So you're going, Blonde Pablo got crushed. That was a good season, though. I will also say, Sean Lowe, definitely if you say who's a guy where professionally and personally it worked out in all directions, that's one of them. But what you were thinking was, I don't know if I could deal with the burden of what's to come, given what's happened to other bachelors. Yeah, that was part of it. It was also, would I make a good one? ABC thought I would. Yeah.

But I don't know if I would have. I think for me, I was trying to imagine what it would be like to physically and mentally and emotionally be there for all of these people. Yeah. When the truth is, I would know who I was really interested in early on. And it was like, can I fake this? I don't know if I can fake this. Okay. So that's some of the personal.

dilemmas. Now, on this podcast, we talk about a lot of career dilemmas. Yeah. The prior bachelors were Colton, Pilot Pete, Nick, Ari, Ben, all professionally, while Skath personally, had done really well. You're a businessman. You could see the foresight. What was your take on it? Only from the professional career move perspective. It's one of those things where I kept saying, yeah, this could be great. It could elevate me. I was like, I don't want to deal with these what ifs. But my dad has always said this. Not everything that glimmers is gold. And that always sticks with me.

You chase an object and you try to rush to get something. And you end up once you catch it, you realize it's not always worth it. I didn't want to be away from the business. I was needed at home. I also knew that they were going to want James involved. And that felt irresponsible for me as a person. parent. This is something I signed up for, but this is his life. And as a parent, you're just always protective of your kid. And I also, not that they would have done this, but I didn't want to

put it at risk. I didn't want them to exploit the tragedy. Because it was actually really difficult for my in-laws to watch even on Katie's season. Even though I spoke so highly of Laura and everything and my in-laws would go online and maybe he'd read comments he won't stop talking about his dead wife and i'd have to come home to that and listen to them get mad at me because it's a topic of conversation yeah and i think a lot of people they don't have malice about it they just don't recognize that their words do carry some weight yeah and they were really hurt by that So I wanted to protect them too. Professionally, you think it would have probably makes sense.

Personally, it doesn't make sense. And the personal weight and value totally, without a discussion, obviously supersedes that, which makes perfect sense. Looking back on it now, knowing what you know now, do you have a different take on your thinking then from a personal or professional standpoint? I think I made the right decision for me. Filming for being the lead is three times as long than everything else. It's not necessarily a career path.

I saw myself going down, so it didn't feel like I was missing anything, an opportunity per se. But it was a difficult one. And honestly, I talked to you about this during that whole thing. It felt like a prison for me. Like it felt more like a burden of something that was like. I want to go on with my life. I want to get back to normal, whatever that looks like now. And I don't want this process to change the way I view relationships, how I view the world.

I'm scared of what this could end up making me become, if that makes sense. Because I liked who I was. And it was like, I was just telling you this before we started. I don't want to develop like trust issues in relationships. I want to believe that people have good intentions. I truthfully do. And it's like when you're in the limelight, you welcome criticism and you welcome people that have ill will.

And I don't want that to harden me. Totally understand. So you make that decision. I think all that thought process makes perfect sense behind it. Talk to me about work-wise. once you make that decision, what does life look like? You have an influence now. You have a following. You have your business. You have a couple other things that you're working out. What is the work life look like? What does the financial income look like? Talk to me about that. So the work stuff, I went back to work immediately. Right after. I got back to work. I loved getting back into the routine. We grow in the company doing all these things, still managing through COVID. Still difficult. But we're finding. way. As far as numbers are concerned, most of, for the first, I would say, first five years of our company, I was putting my own money back into it. Okay. Yeah, I was, the owner always gets

paid last. Always. People are always like, I wish I had the crown. It's heavy as the head that wears the crown. There's, when you're, especially when you're building something, it takes time. So I wasn't making a lot of money. But the thing is, I've always been, just growing up in Akron, like very blue collar. You're from Buffalo. I've always been good with money. My parents didn't come from much. They taught me the value of a dollar. You're good with your money. You're saving your money. You start your business. 2014, you're still running it today. You invest a ton of money back into it. Then you start making a few bucks off. And now you're doing well with it. You get approached to be the bachelor. Say no. We go fast forward into 2020. One thing I have to

bring up here is that you had a distribution company. And there's an article out there about the fact that you worked with your distribution to then get into the PPE space. Oh, yeah. There's a writer who is criticizing you. Oh, it's crazy. Big time of taking advantage or price gouging during this time where people needed these supplies. Trading secrets, we talk about money. We talk about how businesses work and operate and all of the logistics behind it. I feel like it's a good time to at least address that. What's your take on that? Is that article misleading?

Why? Yeah, I remember the site created this article. They went on my distribution company's website. Okay. And they compared the PPE that we were selling. The prices during the height of the pandemic to pre-pandemic pricing. Okay. As we all know, supply and demand.

We didn't even want to get into the PPE business. We were approached by high. local hospitals and first responders and frontline people because their tier one suppliers were not able to distribute to them. So we were placing large bulk POs, drop shipping them directly to them. So we weren't even hoarding supplies whatsoever. And what was really frustrating about that article was if that person had just reached out to me before publishing it, I would have given them everything. And I actually, in August of last year, I reached back out to them. And I said, let me know. And I'll send you some

stuff. Yeah. Clear the air. Never got back to me. So they go on your website, though. They see that you're selling these products. How would they use the word hoarding? How would they know what your supply was? If you were to look at the article, they don't have enough information to even make this kind of claim. And one, that is like something that goes against everybody. I would never do something like that. You can't accuse somebody of price gouging if you don't know what they're buying it for.

We weren't selling sanitizer and face masks before. So we never pretended to be the lowest cost provider. And also, there were tons of other places in the marketplace where you could go purchase this. We weren't hoarding.

We weren't 3M. The hospitals had their primary suppliers. Yeah. So they're reaching out to you. Hospitals have buying teams that are pretty aggressive. Yeah. And so they have to like shop around, price out. They have to manage all

the supply and demand. I know this because I invest in companies like HCA and have these buying teams. So if hospitals are reaching out to you, they're initiating this, aren't they going through a process to make sure your price point is comparative to market? How does that work? You're

100% right. Every institution has procurement. And if your prices are not palatable. They go somewhere else. So we wouldn't have sold anything if our prices were above market. But at the same time, we also weren't like stocking all of this stuff. We didn't want to keep it from the people that actually needed it. So we were just drop shipping it too. So we couldn't even control our price based on a large inventory. Okay. So for people that don't know drop shipping, what you're doing is the hospital says, Michael, primary people aren't doing this.

You're in district, I'm breaking this down, like, layman. Just show like 101, we can't get it from our primary source. We know you do distribution. Go get it for us. The definition of drop shipping, please correct me if I'm wrong, is you're finding the manufacturer, you're charging the hospital of price, and then the manufacturer just sends it directly, so you're not even keeping in your warehouse. Correct.

You said it perfectly. One thing I could say about dropshitting, because I don't know anything about PPE, but I do know what drop shipping, and something as basic as like podcast, Birch. If I go drop ship versus going manufacturer direct, I'm going to pay a lot more for drop ship because of the whole process. I don't have to control inventory. So if Money Mafia, you guys want to buy shirts, I don't have to go buy a million shirts and be stuck with inventory trying to sell trade secret search.

I can just go to the people that have it. And then when you buy it, you just go to them. I just make less. Yeah, absolutely. And on top of that, what was really difficult at that time in anybody in this space could understand this was shipping rates international shipping rates so we were having these things drop shipped from some Asian manufacturing places we were trying to make sure that they weren't counterfeit and that they were true certified up to medical grade masks and things like that

yeah because there were a lot of things out there that was like that but the freight rates were fluctuating at this pace that we've never seen before it was almost impossible to estimate how much people were going to have to pay on shipping, because it would change every second. Okay. So we also incorporated shipping into our pricing, too. Okay. And also tariffs and duties and all of that stuff to bring in.

Okay. So with this entire market then, when it comes down to the ins and outs in the back to forth, this article, I'm going to play devil's advocate. Yeah. Michael, you made money off people that were struggling. a time where we need a mask to survive. You're selling masks and a profit. What's the response? Did we really? So that my response would be like, all right, you did it. What was your profit then? Yeah. I mean, if we look, I mean, if I ran the PNL for it and we sold PPE for 15 months,

we made less than $14,000. And that doesn't even include the labor of being on the phones and sourcing these things and managing accounts. I bet we lost money on it. If you put in all the labor hours from salaried employees trying to find products and locking in POs, and we weren't even actively looking for customers. People were coming to us. We couldn't do it. We actually told people where they could get it because we were linked into the industry. Last comment, because it's interesting to just learn more about this space. I'll ask you this then, devil's advocate business guy. You're barely profitable. Why did you end up staying in it? We were getting calls from like Akron General Hospital, Children's Hospital. Because we had a distribution company

that did primarily clothing, we had those kind of connections with overseas warehouses. A lot of warehouses overseas during the pandemic, they revamp their lines. They stopped making clothes. And they started all doing masks and things like that. And some of our best contacts over there started doing it too. So for me, it felt like an opportunity to, I don't know, help out. Yeah. It felt like we could actually do something. It was a line extension. It wasn't our business. It was just, if we can do it, then we should. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. And that was really it. And honestly, it was like, if we can cover our costs, make some bucks off it, cool. But we weren't even able. We weren't even able to do that. Okay. COVID 2.0. There's a lot of

talk about it coming back around, knowing what you know now, would you probably see your clear right? Oh, I wouldn't touch it. Wouldn't touch it. I wouldn't touch it. And I'm, and I think people learned a lot during COVID, just on the importance of supply chain. Okay. And having a diverse network of supplier A, supplier B, you got to have fallbacks. Crazy stuff. Yeah. The whole pandemic was nuts. The one thing when people talk about just like any type of gouging or advantage taking. I still 2023, the thing I hear the most that just makes me sick is the amount of money that some business owners got for the PPP that weren't qualified. Correct. Yeah. I know so many restaurant owners. I know some business owners. I know a bunch of people that took the money and

shut their place down. Crazy man. That's fucking bullshit. That's bullshit. That kills me because that is taxpayer money that could have been used to really make an impact. And those are some of the areas that need to be looked into more. And I'm glad we at least talk through this because it's so interesting to actually hear the numbers and the thought process behind one article that could ruin your reputation. Oh, yeah. It was crazy. And also, it's highly criminal. Like price gouging. Oh, highly criminal. And it's one of those weird things. And this happens all the time. When a lie comes out about you, do you address it? Or is that fueling it? And you have to figure out that balance in between.

The same article said that our distribution company wasn't a woman-owned business. But my mom is 51% owner. We have the certificate. It was certified by the W. There's a process for that. What am I supposed to do? And we actually, we took a PPP loan because all of our clients weren't going to work. That's a whole different.

Yeah. And they didn't want us to. If your clients are going to work, if you can't pay your employees. Sales plummet. You have distribution centers. of massive overhead. That's a whole different ball game, in my opinion. There was a great purpose for the PPP loan. And it served that purpose. But the people, I think that took advantage of that and it didn't serve the purpose. That's where I'm like, where are the articles on those?

Yeah. Oh, I feel you. I feel you. I'm actually happy you brought that up. It's a topic that's sensitive to me just because I hate the idea that someone would think that about me when I've worked pretty hard my whole life to do things the right way and I think I mean anybody that knows me knows I like that's so outside of my scope as like a culture it feels like we're running at a deficit where

we're not curious anymore we're not seeking to understand we're seeking to rush to judgment interesting and I think that's incredibly dangerous and short-sighted this is a different topic and I think people back home might be able to relate to this as they think about being in the office or their employer

or maybe making sure they're speaking up for themselves for the next promotion or something, I really struggle with, do you address that elephant in the room or do you not? Do you bring attention to it or do you not? And the amount of times in the last several years I've just bit my tongue and just shut up, and I still don't know. It's hard taking those punches. If that's the right thing to do, I don't know. And I'm still struggling with it.

I don't know either. I think, you know, I was always raised to take that high road. silence and apathy towards people that are attacking you is the greatest like revenge. Yeah. But we get fatigued, man. You can't fight every online war. You've got a life to live. And you can't get into those weeds.

But every now and again, there comes an opportunity when you have to stand up and fight for yourself. Exactly. I think when you're backed against the wall, especially when those things are brought to your attention. Thank you for answering that. It's good to get more scope and understanding of that. Now, this brings us to, we're in 2021, we're clearly going through a chronological event here of Michael A's life. Oh, geez. You pass on The Bachelor, but nine months later, you get offered the opportunity to go on Paradise.

Tell me about the thought process there, both. Give me the T-chart professionally and personally. Yeah. Okay. So the idea of going on Paradise was, again, something I had never really thought about. But there is something weird about missing it, missing being back on the show, missing like the camaraderie. Like, you never went on a second time. But did you ever wonder about that? Well, here's the thing. So I got offered to go on Paradise.

I said no. And then they went with Colton for the next lead. And then I was with Caitlin by the time after that. And I never thought twice about the decision not to go on Paradise. And I actually feel like at that time, given where I was at. especially with work and stuff, they were like, you on Paradise, you're out. I think it was the right decision then. But I also got my tank full of being back in it because Caitlin's so involved with the show.

Right, right, right. So we got to do cameos on Listen to Your Heart. We got to cover Katie season. So you get to see the producers and stuff. You get to be in it. And it is such a, I will say, transparently, not even professionally, but a personal high when you're back in there. There is something about it. I don't know if it's the cameras.

I don't know if it's the energy, the producers. the fact that's ABC. It's so exciting. It's exhilarated. Yeah, like a night one, like walking out, being on a set, you're like, this is a whole other world. You talk about, I live for stimulation. Yeah, me too. I live for like great conversation. I want to watch things. I like see and there. I like a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. Yeah. Love skiing. Love doing this stuff. So there is to me when you're in that world and maybe that's what I find so stimulating. Yeah. There's nothing more stimulating than that whole process. Your sensory. overload is so intense.

It is. So it's almost like a little bit of a drug where like when you're in it, it's so cool. You're seeing all this stuff and how it's moving in the producer. Yeah. And it's like when I got off Katie season, I went back to work. Like I went back to being bad and it felt like this fever dream for a little bit that. What was that? What was that?

Was that even real? And then time went on and I was like, you know what? I miss this. Paradise looked appealing to me because two and a half weeks of filming. I didn't have to be away from James that long. A big thing was, like, I wasn't going to be, like, asked to be engaged, like, and get engaged. Okay. If you were the lead, you have to take that on.

Okay. You owe that. You didn't feel like the burden of walking out from that to an half weeks engaged was nearly as high as being the best. Correct. Okay. Because you can leave dating. Okay. And I knew I wasn't going to get engaged.

Some of those personal reasons that you didn't pick to be the bachelor, didn't choose to be the bachelor, you had mentioned Laura's family, you had mentioned some other personal things. Did those dissipate? Did those change with the type of show? Like, where did those things go? Yeah, I think everybody rolled their eyes when I did it the second time, just because Paradise is, it's a little bit more campy than everything else. But I like that part of it. I think people were also relieved. I wasn't being the bachelor.

This felt a way to get in a little without going full in. Okay. And I'm glad I went. It was a blast. It is fun down there. Filming is fun. It's exhausting. Yeah.

But it's a good time. The question I got to ask, I ask everybody that went on. I can't get it through it without it. Did you negotiate your contract? Did you get paid well? No, I did it. You negotiated it? You know, I negotiated everything.

Did you negotiate a guarantee or a per diem? Oh, I did it guarantee. Guarantee. Will you tell me what the guarantee was? Yeah, it was 35. Nice. Yeah. That's pretty damn good. Yeah. So you knew day one or day two, you leave. You're still going to walk away with that. Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily about the money, but it's the, and this is what people don't consider.

Yeah. Is, sure, two and a half weeks, 35,000, awesome. Sure. That's great money. Yeah. Like, fantastic. But then with contracts and things like that, they keep you from making. any sort of influencer money until the show is finally done airing. So that takes you

typically four or five months out where you can't make anything. So that 35 is stretched out. Last year over the time. Yeah. So you're getting 6,000 a month for that when most people who come off this show can have lucrative

influencing careers. Get off the show. Where's your hat at? Was it worth it? Did it help? Did it escalate things? Yeah. Yeah. I think I think I got off Katie's season. I had roughly 250,000 followers. I think I grew about 160,000. Okay. Followers from Paradise. A lot more brand deals coming in, things that kind of align with where I'm at in life. I think I'm on track this year to be north of 200K.

An influencing deals. Yeah, and influencing deals. That's amazing. Which is fantastic. Yeah. Because here's the thing, too, I'm blessed for all of this. All of these opportunities that come, we all owe it to being on the show. Oh, a million percent. What of it happens without the show? No, we didn't create something. We didn't study anything.

Too many people failed to realize we had a horseshoe up our ass. We got ABC cameras. Yeah. And we got lucky. We got lucky. We got lucky. Yeah. And when Laura passed away, she didn't have life insurance.

she also represented 50% of our household income too here I am thinking okay I've got to be like my job used to be on the road but now I can't because I got to take care of like my son I can't do that sale stuff how am I going to replace this and still give my son the opportunity that he deserves. And some of that, yeah, buy life insurance people. No, seriously. Yeah, for real, though. I think especially, I think, like, one takeaway,

and it's fucking awful that it's got to be tragedy that teaches you a financial lesson like that. But especially when you have a kid, that's a financial rule to implement anybody's head listening. Have a kid buy life insurance. Yeah, yeah. Just because that is so much. Second, you get the...

Was there not life insurance through her employer or anything? No. No, she didn't have it. And so, like, everything. Gosh, just a lot. Yeah. And so here I am looking at this big hill and this rock I have to push up. I've got no energy. I am like depleted. I am exhausted emotionally, physically, all of that. And I'm like, but I need to find a solution. Like how am I going to create some supplemental income without being away from my son? And so going on this show, because I've gotten criticized. from people that I don't give a shit about, but they're like, oh, he's away from his son. What a shitty dad. He's going on this show again. Whatever, dude. Most, if I, most people who are in

an outside sales position are on the road, two, three weeks a month. A month. And I'm like, I didn't have to, I can't do that anymore. But yeah, these brand deals, I'm saving every penny of it. Yeah. I don't, I don't even, it's all in its own account. Okay, one quick question I got for you because it sounds like you're a good saver. People that aren't good savers back home listening this right now. What tip would you give them to save? Because you're just good at it. It sounds Oh, yeah. I would say this. It's always pay yourself first. Yeah. Understand the value of time and money. Okay. If you, for example, are, let's just say you're 30 years old, you have 100K saved. Yep. With 7% interest every 10 years, it doubles. Yep. So by the time you're 40, it's 200,000.

Yeah. 50, 400,000. 60, 800,000. And so just with that 100,000, that's the time and money value with compounding. And I think people sometimes are in a race to experience the best things in life. And they think they need it now, but I'll tell you this, don't be in a rush for that. My parents always, when we were growing up, they always told this story about how the lights would get turned off on us because they couldn't pay their bills. It's like that early couple thing and dog day deal. And those were like the really difficult times for them, but they still refer to those years as some of the best in their life because of the struggle. Yeah.

You know? And my mom tells this story where she's like, I remember the day when I no longer had to look at the price on the menus. Yeah. And that was just like my dad and my mom working and building and struggling together to get to that point. But also, money is freedom. If it can buy anything, it's freedom. You don't like your job, leave. And I think it comes down to, like you said, pay yourself first.

Pay yourself first. When you pay yourself first, you'll be in a good position. Buy things that appreciate. I'm all about that. I've got rental properties. I've got industrial areas. I got a house in Mexico. Wow.

House in Mexico? Yeah. Where's that? It's in Loretto. It's a Baja Peninsula. Do you rent it? No. Okay.

You just have it there? I just have it there. Gotcha. Yeah. All right. Max, how far is that from where Paradise filmed? Paradise is, the Baja's the heel.

Okay. Paradise, what is that? Riviera Maya? Yeah, it's right. Yeah, so that's far. Okay, that's far. All right. You go on Paradise.

You got all these things going on. You got side hustle. You got rental projects. You have your business. You now have influencing. Yeah. You now also have a significant other. Yeah.

Danny. Yeah. So you get off the show. Danny and you are together. There's been some discussions out there now. what's going on. There's some photos on Instagram that have been deleted. We don't have to talk about this. We can talk about this. It's up to you. How's everything going? Oh, man, smooth. It's still incredibly fresh. I guess I'll just come out with it. We're not together anymore.

Yeah, it's really, it's not what we planned. We both threw a lot into this relationship. And it's really awful when it doesn't work out. Again, like what we were talking about before, you make your plan. You see your future. You start working towards it. And then when things don't work out, when you realize that love is there, but you're not necessarily compatible. Sure.

You mourn the loss, not of just that person and that friend in your life, but also the future that you had envisioned. And it's to no fault of hers. She poured everything. into this and I've got I just have so much admiration I yeah and I guess that's it you know right now we're still you know working through some things in trying to stay close yeah but yeah last couple months been really yeah really tough yeah I can connect with that I understand that see you I hear you thank you man I think Danny's great I think you're great I wish both you guys

the best path forward and it's just it's wild all the curveballs in the lefts in the rights and the ups and downs that you go through in life this is obviously another one for you yeah but then you just continue to move forward starting over again yeah it is always frightening yeah it's I feel that yeah I know you do yep it's really frightening but it's a part of it I I know that time will heal because I've felt that before. Yeah. But it doesn't make it any less difficult. Exactly. If I try and even draw, and it's hard to do it, but draw parallels to when you go through those personal resets to professional resets, the big connection is uncertainty. Yeah. It's like when you leave a job or you leave a

career, you take a shot or you're in a relationship and you, all these things, career, work, life, money, all these things. You have an understanding of what the future will be based on what you've experienced yesterday. Yeah. And when that future in all different areas and a lot of things we've talked about shifts pretty quickly, it just, it rattles your cage a little bit. I do think, and you've experienced this much more than I have, it's a great time to get re-centered. To be quite frankly a little selfish, to start looking within and say, okay, I'm rattled at the core. What's keeping me on my feet? Where do I want to take this?

How do I grow from what just happened? And also, what do I want out of this short time we have here? Because it goes back to one of the first comments you had made. One of the first comments you had made, you have a plan, and then life has a plan for you. And I think in work life, in personal life, in money management, all those things connect to exactly this theme, one that we're talking about. I agree. And the uncertainty is so scary. But again, that's where the growth happens.

It's where it always happens is that uncertainty of stepping outside of your comfort zone. Yeah. So I don't have to name all the setbacks that you've gone through. You have already talked to them, everyone that's listening. So what I'll say is given all the different setbacks and now another one that you have, what is some advice you give to someone that's feeling some setback right now, work financially or personally? I would say, believe in yourself, take chances, bet on yourself. A lot of times, just through conversations I've had with people, is that they think that the cost of success is so high because of what they have to give up of themselves sacrifice in order to achieve that. Yeah. But wait till they see the bill for regret. Wow. Steep.

Yeah. It's way worse. Again, that's another theme that's applicable to relationships or work. You have to try. Identical. You have to dive in. You have to move. You may make a mistake, but it's okay.

it's okay the worst thing to do is to be so paralyzed by the fear of not being successful and not being able to achieve that you never play the game you've got nothing to win yeah you've got you prove nothing to yourself and that is very expensive that's a really good quote a really good trading secret and i think one thing michael you've done really well is your life story all connects from growth of what happened in your past yeah whether it's the career stuff or even the decision to go, I'm a bachelor's, pass on bachelor, go on paradise to where you are today. And I think one of the coolest things that you're doing right now that connects to experiences and pain you had before is this topical project that you're working on for

people that are undergoing cancer treatment, a topical ointment that that Laura could have benefited from. Where is that project today? I'm dedicating my life to this project and this company. When Laura first underwent chemotherapy, there's a bunch of, if you looked at the gold standards of chemo, adromycin, cytoxin, dachycin, Pachlitex, all Cape Cidabine, they create these side effects. You know, one in particular is called HFS, it's hand foot syndrome. Chemotherapy courses through your body. It pools at your hands and feet, leaks through your capillary beds, and just torches your hands and your feet. It happens in roughly 60 to 70% of patient populations. So if you actually do the numbers, because I know you guys like numbers here, you've got 1.06 million new cases of cancer a year.

Let's take 70% of that. You're looking at about 725,000 patients annually that are going to develop HFS. And then of that grade 2 and grade 3, which are moderate to severe, that's about 356,000 patients. So you have this patient population that's going through chemo. Their life's falling apart. Their identity is going away. And their pain is excruciating.

There's actually a study that happened last year that showed if you develop HFS, there may be a correlation between developing HFS and better outcomes with your chemotherapy. Okay. Your body's responding to your chemo better. Oh, wow. However, this is the same group of people. people that are dose reducing their chemotherapy because of them or discontinuing it because of it. And so when Laura got this really bad, I was in the pharmaceutical industry for 10 years.

I understand basic pharmacology. Again, another example of your experience is carrying forward. Yeah, always. The good in your experience is that. Exactly. Okay. I don't think it's a random walk. No, it's not.

It's not a random law. No. And she developed this really bad. And this is, again, when James is seven months old. I had to watch her. She couldn't hold her newborn. Her iPhone wouldn't even recognize her fingerprint. That's how bad it was. I was carrying her from room to room, but she was tough as fucking nails the whole entire time.

She went to work the entire time during this. And we're like, how is this not, if this is so common and painful, how is there not anything? The lab in my basement. And I got, I signed. Hang out. what do you mean you built the lab built a whole lab i had i don't see scientists i got your resume in front of me i don't see scientists i think what does it cost to build a lab in your basement i mean i had like this making bad too right over i bet my neighbors thought i was walter white

out there like going out to the mailbox and getting like pails of benton and all of these different things but it was i signed up on a uL account too so i can so there's a there's a website site. Since we were in distribution, the clothing thing, we could actually sign up as like a, we qualified being like a wholesaler. Oh, gotcha, got you. But I was just buying this. Oh, so you could buy all these beakers and stuff at a lower price point. And buy the raw materials that we need. To set up this lab, give me a dollar amount. Oh, it probably cost me around 7,000. 7,000. You set up this lab. Yeah. I'm just like, Laura and I are just scouring the internet to see if there are beneficial things out there,

where are we going to get our raw materials? So you and Laura are doing this together? We're doing it together, yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. So we created a bunch of different versions of this, and then we're like, this is lost cause. The last one we created, it took her pain away.

Wow. Like she literally went to running on treadmills. And here's the thing. This is not indicated for HFS or anything like that whatsoever. We're still doing some clinical trials of this. But I started sending this product out to other people. It was working for everybody. Then, sadly, like Laura passed away in January 2019.

I took some time off from this project. But then after I put James down to bed, it's almost like you slide down that pole into the basement, put your lab coat on, and get to work. And I started improving on the formula, sending it out to more people. It was working. It was working. then I went to a company called Gojo who they actually created Purell.

They're based out of Akron. And I went to them and I said, look, I need some help. I'm over my head on this. I've reached, my will has gotten me this far, but I'm lacking resources and expertise. So I'm like, is there anything you guys can do for me? They said, we don't make stuff for other people. Get the fuck out.

Wow. And I was like, all right, worth a shot. Then they called me back two weeks later. And they said, we don't make stuff for other people. people. It's not part of our business, but it is part of our mission. Wow. They invited me back in. That gave me a response. They gave me four of their head, the head chemist, like, FDA attorneys, project managers, all of these very specialized thing, pro bono. I worked with them for two years. That team, once it spread throughout the company, it grew to a team of eight of people working on

this because they believed in the mission. So I got all of this help out of the goodness of people's hearts because they've been touched by cancer. Or they saw something and wanted to make a difference. Sure. And during that time, I wrote a patent, got a great patent. I didn't, again. What does it cost write a patent? God. I would say between like fees and filing, it was probably around six to seven thousand. Okay, six, seven grand. And with a patent, you only get it for a certain period of time. We've got patent protection for 20 years. Oh, okay. Yeah. But the key is if anybody is filing a patent out there, your patent, once you get it approved, if you want to add to your patent, say it's like it, but it's a little bit

different. Your previous patent that you just got approved for can be used as prior art against you. Oh, wow. And not make your new invention novel. So what's important for anybody who's out there file your patent, two patents, one that you want to get approved, but at the same time, because in the U.S. it's time stamped, file a continuation. A continuation will basically set your date at the same time as your initial one. Okay. So it can't be used against you, but you'll be able to add to that. Okay. Continuation as research and development happens or you learn more. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. That's a little tip. So you file that? the patent, then what?

Waited about two and a half years. Yeah. And then got it out of, you can make 20 claims on a patent. Okay. I remember talking to my patent attorney saying, what's the success look like here? Yeah. And he's like, if you get four of them, that's solid. Yeah.

We got 14. Wow. So you got a patent, you're good to go. What's the status of it? So it's a topical ointment, right? Yeah, it's a topical mask. And you essentially put it on for about 30 minutes, allow it to harden, and then you wash it off shortly after. And we're seeing just great results. I've had it on over 50 people and

it's worked for everybody. But now it's time to test it in more of a controlled setting. We are speaking with Stanford University to do a clinical trial later this year. If we went the IND route, which is investigational new drug route, that's very expensive. It takes a lot of money in a lot of years. Okay. And INDs when you would actually be able to say this is indicated for hand foot syndrome. Okay. We may be able to file for orphan drug status given orphan drug is it was a designation that the FDA put in place for pharmaceutical companies to develop therapeutics for rare disease states instead of always going for the blockbuster.

So they can expedite it. Okay. Got it. And we may be able to qualify for that if we go that route. But the other route could be a cosmetic. And if we went the cosmetic route, it's way cheaper. We can test it equally the same. But we would make claims like cooling.

And then it could be used as you are. Correct. In a year from now, do you expect there to be an approval of any sort? Will this be on sale? How do you expect this to work? Yeah, by this time next year, we will know if this is something that's going to change everything. If we went the IND route, we've got like a three to five year time frame. if we went the cosmetic route this time next year,

we will know the outcome of what we're dealing with. And I just finished with the first round of funding. People want to be a part of this. How much should you raise? 850K. If this thing goes, you're talking about massive dollars. Yeah. I mean, if you want the numbers here,

if you took 356,000 patients annually that get grade 2, grade 3, HFS, moderate to severe, that would require treatment. That rate actually grows at 6% a year, too. Sadly, that's what cancer does, which sucks. We outsourced all of our industry data market analysis, because I don't want to be a part of that.

I don't want conflict of interest. What's the truth out there? What's this look like? So insurance companies spend $260 million a year treating HFS unsuccessfully. Those can cover things like opioids, or topical inseds or all of these different things. It's not necessarily working.

The average patient spends $1,500 during the course of 10 weeks to treat their HFS, $1,500 out of pocket. With our option as it is right now, we will cut that down. That cost by 75%. Okay. And if we were to get 2.5% of the market, you're looking at 4.4.4. million in sales. If we got to 18%, we're like at 36 million in sales. And that's us not doing our job, by the way. That's us failing. 18%. That's us totally failing because there's nothing

available. And there's this population that's desperately waiting for it. Again, pain you experience that your love of your life experience that you had to find a way to resolve. I think it's just telling to your story. Each chapter is a new one. And if feels like you somehow pull out all the good, even in times of just complete disarray to bring it to the next chapter. And that's pretty cool through this process. This one feels right. It feels like it's my calling. It feels like I'm in a good spot. Yeah, I've got a great team. We're going to do something about this. I love it. Last question before we get your trading secret, you are a single parent. We've talked about that. I'd be remiss if on a professional and personal standpoint,

you didn't give a piece of advice for anyone out there that is a single parent as they are working full time. Oh, man. I'll say this. There should be a national holiday for single parents. Oh, I like that. Where they get off work. There is like a national single parent's day, but you still got to go to work. It's not a holiday if you have to go back to work. It is the hardest thing in the world to try to be all of these places at once. I would say to parents that are working, God bless you, like you're doing a great job and don't be too hard on yourself. It's difficult to be perfect and it's unattainable. As a parent, outside of the working element, I would say the most important thing that I've learned as a parent is to, you know, when you get off of work and your kid is just ma'ammy, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am. And you're like, oh my God, I can't listen. to this anymore. Like, what are you talking about? Or they're in the backseat of your car when you're driving. And they're just constantly talking. I stop myself because if you listen to the small things when your kids are small, they'll tell you the big things when they're big. Everything is

important. What your kid is telling you is super important to them. It's like what we were saying before with perspective on our pain. Yeah. Yeah, sure, there's more pain than what we're feeling in the world. It doesn't mean we're not feeling it. If a child's sharing something with you, Listen, be safe. Have that safe place. Because what you're doing is investing in their future that they're going to tell you things that actually matter when they matter. And when you don't want to hear it, they need to be heard. They know they're going to be heard. And so when they need to be heard, they know they have someone to go to. I love it. It's already established. Yeah.

It's a great, especially for a working parent whose patience and tolerance gets tested. When the big things matter, you hear it and they're not out the door going somewhere else doing something else, street stir. I love that. All right, Michael A, we got to wrap up with your trading secret. So one trading secret that no one can get from a textbook, YouTube, a professor, a tutorial anywhere on TikTok. They can only get it from Michael A, given his experience. One trading secret.

Michael A, take your time if you need it, but what can you like? There's this quote I absolutely love. It's by Phil Ox. It says, it's wrong to expect a reward for your struggle. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. we cannot expect to defeat the absurdity in the world, we must make that attempt. I would say don't just point out the things in the world that are wrong. Your opinion doesn't matter. If you see something, make that difference. You're now responsible for it. And jump into being

uncomfortable. Welcome it into your life. That's when growth actually happens. And that's religion. that's morality, that's art, it's life. It's all of those things. Don't just point it out. Do something about it. I think that is beautifully said. Just don't point it out. Just don't make noise. And I've also noticed that the people that criticize the most typically aren't the ones creating. Creators don't really critique if you notice that because they know how difficult it is to make something. And what they really do at the end of the day is find the good in something so that they could probably apply it to however they create. Exactly.

I admire that creation. I'll create for myself as opposed to bring it down. Exactly. So keep creating. Michael A. Thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. Love you too, brother. It's been a long time coming.

It's been years in the making. It has. Before the Bachelor world to now and what's next? Who knows if we'll see you again? Oh, geez. Is there a... No. Never say never.

Thank you for being on this episode of Trane Secrets. Hey, thanks for having me, brother. Money, money, playing on me. Making that money, money, money living that dream. Making that money, money, money, rain on me. Making that money, money. Living that dream.