Latest / In Search Of Excellence / The Shoe Surgeon: $4M Sneakers, Legal Battles, & Creativity Hacks | E121

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The Shoe Surgeon: $4M Sneakers, Legal Battles, & Creativity Hacks | E121 · In Search Of Excellence

• 0:00
  Randall Kaplan: back then. I mean, you could get away with copying the Nike logo today, you get sued and it shut you down very, very quickly. It's
• 0:08
  Dominic Cambrione: wearable art.
• 0:08
  Dominic Cambrione: It's like collecting art, right?
• 0:10
  Dominic Cambrione: Like, you know, did the quarter million dollar shoe and now we're working on the $4 million shooting and
• 0:15
  Randall Kaplan: talking about that shoe or was four or
• 0:18
  Dominic Cambrione: I'm gonna build it and it's gonna stop for
• 0:20
  Randall Kaplan: anyone what goes into a $4 million shoe I mean, there'll
• 0:23
  Dominic Cambrione: be some some American alligator and diamond
• 0:31
  Randall Kaplan: Welcome to In Search of Excellence where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes, motivational speakers and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I'm a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and the host of In Search of Excellence, which I started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. I guess today is Dominic Cimbrone.
• 0:54
  Randall Kaplan: Dominic is an artist designer, culture creator and entrepreneur. He is the world's leading creative custom shoe maker and is known throughout the world. As the surgeon, Dominic has built an incredible business by making handcrafted one of a kind sneakers for 1000s of people including celebrities like Justin Bieber, Drake and LeBron James professional sports teams, including the Golden State Warriors in Miami Heat, and some of the most iconic brands in the world, including Gucci, Bentley, Heineken, Pizza Hut, and many others. How many thanks for being here while back forth.
• 1:27
  Dominic Cambrione: Thanks for having me.
• 1:28
  Randall Kaplan: So let's talk about the size of the shoe market itself. Before we get into exactly what you do. So the athletic shoe market is $170 billion a year. If you look at it, Nike sells $47 billion of shoes a year, a custom shoe market is $738 million a year.
• 1:42
  Randall Kaplan: And it's going to if you believe that predictions of $11 billion by 2030. Can you tell everybody exactly what it is and what you do?
• 1:58
  Dominic Cambrione: There's just an opportunity and you see it in all brands that people want something one on one, right?
• 2:02
  Dominic Cambrione: Whether it's a custom Rolex or a custom. Bentley, like everyone wants something that's a unique to them, and why have something that many people have. And that's how I got into it. All my friends had the same shoes as me in high school, I might have got them early and had them before them, but at the same time, they were all the same. So it's like how do I make something for myself? So I can, you know, begin feel unique. I think
• 2:31
  Randall Kaplan: my son started getting me into the sneaker thing. He was 14 years old. And we walked into a store and said, Dad, I need a pair of shoes. And I thought all right, oh, you have 150 bucks to buy a pair of shoes. And he loved them. He said that, you know you can't buy shoes for 150 bucks. I said why not? I walked out of there with Air Jordan all blue, they were 170 bucks. And I went up to$300. And he explained to me how the whole thing works. So explain how Nike, for example, produces a quantity and if you know the quantity, how people collect them and want them and how the minute they go on sale.
• 3:07
  Randall Kaplan: If they're lucky enough to get one and you don't have a bot and you go through the app, how much those shoes can be worth and why.
• 3:15
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, the resale market is insane. And that's really what catapults Nike. I mean, Nike, I can't not all have the numbers of what Nike produces, but they produce 1000s and 1000s of different pairs and at a price point, you know, you know, between 180 to$200 for a pair. So you know, and then once they're all you know, buttoned up and then that's where they go in the secondary market where you can buy, you know, shoes from anywhere from 500 to a few$1,000 for Travis Scott's
• 3:49
  Randall Kaplan: alright, I love Travis Scott's got seven or eight pair now and just off the golf shoes, by the way, okay.
• 3:56
  Randall Kaplan: I'm a horrible golfer. No, you know what, they're so nice. I'm afraid to wear I'm on the golf course. But I think I think they're meant to be worn. Let's talk about collabs because again, I think there's a lot of people listening to the show, who don't know what a collab is, and don't get, for example, why Nike would make a collab with a Travis Scott or some other brand. Yeah, I
• 4:22
  Dominic Cambrione: mean, Kanye West, really kick started all of the, you know, they Kanye had a collaboration with Nike and Nike want to give them give him what he wanted and make his own soul and it's originally they told Kanye he wasn't an athlete.
• 4:43
  Dominic Cambrione: Right. And Kanye would argue that because he is an athlete, the way he the way he performs and, you know, the way he's on stage and how he actually has more, he can sell more than an athlete right. So you know after that You're not you see the world we're in, like, you know, we're we people are so driven by celebrities, and they're so driven by a person that all of these brands need a person behind it to help sell the product.
• 5:16
  Randall Kaplan: So one of the things, when first of all been a huge fan of yours, I've been following you and all your shoes are super cool. And for all the viewers out there who are into shoes, you gotta go check out his issues, they're absolutely incredible. One of the things that I did in terms of the research when I saw you making custom chooses, I'll just actually make them, right. And if you would explain, for example, how you take a pair of shoes, you pull it apart, and then you reconstruct it in a different material. So tell us how it works. And then how do you know it's not going to fall apart? You know, Justin Bieber is running around the stage like a crazy person or, you know, LeBrons running down the court.
• 5:58
  Randall Kaplan: How do you test the shoe?
• 6:02
  Dominic Cambrione: Well, I mean, I've been making shoes since I was 15. Starting from paint test to pick then finding different paint and then learning how to sew on top and then the pair I've learned shoot pair and, and then I learned traditional shoemaking. And I've just been doing it for so long. And I've studied on my own, how to make shoes. And you know, we test some stuff, but at the end of the day, this is wearable art and we want it to be worn, and most people don't even wear their shoes. In athletic setting. I mean, yes, I made shoes for PJ Tucker to play in.
• 6:36
  Dominic Cambrione: I made shoes for Kyle Koosman to play in. Football players scored touchdowns. So every year now back then was a Yeah, yeah. Oh, you know Odell Beckham scored Cooper cup scored in the pyramid cleats. Jalen Ramsey, you know, got some blocks. And it's just, um, everything's different, right. So when I do a cleat, it's different than a fully reconstructed sneaker. And so if I were to take that shoe, I would completely take the upper often and only use the soul.
• 7:08
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about your family. You're born in Orange County moved to Santa Rosa, your dad Lu owns a restaurant. And your mom was a chef of a restaurant, tell us about the influence your parents have on you and your dad's work ethic and how what you saw influenced you as a kid and then now is a very successful business person. Yeah,
• 7:27
  Dominic Cambrione: I think just growing up in the kitchen. At first, when I was young, I didn't think of anything of it other than I was ungrateful. And then to see them just open up a dream and open up a restaurant and how normal it was to see as a kid, you know, helped me realize that I could do anything. And to see the creativity from the dishes and the recipes to the front of house to how the place the restaurant actually looked. So you know, to see the work ethic that my dad had and still has, you know, helped teach me to just work hard and and just go after my dreams.
• 8:04
  Randall Kaplan: I think a lot of us have jobs that we don't really like I mean, you were a dishwasher at one point in the restaurant I worked construction I actually dug ditches for the weightwatchers world headquarter building in Michigan as a young kid now span I thought that was so cool I my shirt off on the street, you know getting dirty I cold called on the phone book people in Detroit, all ladies basically asked if they want a new siding or needed a sidewalk replace, but how important is it still to do this, these kind of shitty jobs when you're younger and to go through it to figure out what you want to do and say, This is not something I want to do.
• 8:42
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I don't, times are changing so much. And the younger generation now is so much different. And with all of the resources that you have out there. I don't know if you have to work as hard. I believe you should always work hard, but you can also it's about working hard and smart.
• 9:01
  Dominic Cambrione: And yeah, I mean, there was jobs that I did that I didn't love but I did my best at them and always got raises and always grew within the business or the company. And you know, I think it's important because even once you if you have your own business, there's jobs that you don't want to do. And you know some people say if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life and that's bullshit. You work harder than you would for someone else. And yeah, it's just think doing learning to do I mean that's what school was for me right you do you go to school and I didn't like it but I you know, I did enough just to get by and and then the jobs that I did do, I did my best. And it taught me even to this day, it's like you can you can have do everything how you want but there's going to be some things that you may or may not like, you know, whether it's you know, letting people go or, you know, creating SOPs or whatever It's like it's there's more to having your own business and working. For one, you know, when person, you said
• 10:07
  Randall Kaplan: something that I think a lot of people don't really get, you know, we have different people, different groups watching my show, you have kind of the 18 to 24 college kids, recent graduates, and we have people younger in their career, maybe one to 10 years out of school, and then you've got kind of a 40. Plus, that's really 2525 25. I think a common misperception is when you have a business, and I can't wait to give all my years of torque, this is the sickness place I've ever seen in my life, that people really don't want to do the shit work. And I tell my interns, I do a lot of coaching.
• 10:47
  Randall Kaplan: I've 34 interns this summer. And I said 90% of my job is really doing the shit work. So what's your advice to everybody out there? Who think this is so glamorous? You're the CEO, he built this business with 10s of millions of dollars in revenue.
• 11:03
  Randall Kaplan: And it's all glamour. Yeah, I
• 11:06
  Dominic Cambrione: mean, I've had to, I've had to do shit work for a long time. And there's still things that you have to do. And I think that's what makes it special is like I can you can come in and do to any part of it. But like, I mean, I brought on a business partner, six years ago, and you know, first thing he did, even before it was my partner, he was sweeping the floors and making sure that it was clean. And it's like, I still would have to pick up trash, I still, you know, clean the toilet. Like, if it's dirty, you know, and it's like, you can't teach someone how to do that. You just have it, you just do it. Like, you know, I would do that anywhere. And it's just, I don't know, it's just instilled in me, I think
• 12:46
  Randall Kaplan: a lot of us, when we grow up, we don't really know what we want to do. We don't have special talents or skills, going on building things you like you're structuring things, you had a next door neighbor, which I'd love you to talk about. But what about all the people out there who don't have a passion that young age or don't want to follow? Or they should they be worried about kind of finding their calling, if they don't really know what they want to do? And they're 12 years old? or eight years old?
• 13:10
  Randall Kaplan: Like you did?
• 13:12
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, I might have been creative and building it, like tapped into something that many people don't, but at the same time, it took me 20 plus years to, to keep doing it to really know that I wanted to do it. So even while I was exploring that it was very insecure of thinking that that was it yet. Even when I was making shoes for Justin Bieber, you know, 15 years ago, I still was just like unsure, right? Because some, some months I'd make money and some I want it. And it's like, that's not consistent or healthy. So I had to figure out how to turn it into a consistent business. But what I tell everyone, and that's why I teach classes, and I teach workshops, it's about like, try as much stuff as possible. And that's what I do with my children. I have young kids, and I'm let them try as much as possible, and then see what sticks for them. So you don't know what you don't know. You don't know what you don't know.
• 14:10
  Randall Kaplan: And you're not gonna know unless you try.
• 14:11
  Randall Kaplan: Right. And failing is good. Yep.
• 14:11
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. You got to fail to succeed. Yeah.
• 14:17
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I believe failure is just a part of it. And if you really want to take out that, look at the word failure, it's it's quitting it's failure is giving up or failure just means Yeah, giving up but for me, in the sense that I've messed up so many pairs of shoes, I've, you know, lost clients. I've, there's a lot of things that went wrong before I went right. You know,
• 14:43
  Randall Kaplan: do you think the fear of failure is necessary to be successful?
• 14:47
  Dominic Cambrione: The fear of failure
• 14:51
  Randall Kaplan: as a motivator,
• 14:52
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, it's definitely motivating. You know, you don't want to fail, and you don't want to, but like, if it's crippling, that's not healthy, like it's better to fail than to never try it. All right, and anything, right, just always move forward. And you know, that fail fast? Right? The faster you fail, the faster you get through and try something else.
• 15:15
  Randall Kaplan: So let's go back to when you were 10 years old, and you actually built a two story for not 10 years all I mean, were you actually I was fun buying the word and taking the nails and actually I mean, the thing work or you could walk up and do it all down.
• 15:28
  Dominic Cambrione: Yep. No, that's funny. I was telling my my daughter the story last night about that. We found one of my soccer coaches worked at a somewhere where had that will leave a bunch of old wood and we still go we pick up different like two by fours and plywood and we grab it and then we cut it and screw it or nail it.
• 15:49
  Dominic Cambrione: together in the backyard, we'd have stairs we'd have underground. And you could sit up there too. So, I mean, we built probably three, four different types of forts. So we'd like building shit.
• 16:06
  Randall Kaplan: But who got the hammer and the nails for you? I
• 16:09
  Dominic Cambrione: mean, we had mine probably either had it in the house or my next door neighbor.
• 16:14
  Randall Kaplan: Who was a contractor. Yeah. And you went and, and watched him. So you can actually,
• 16:19
  Dominic Cambrione: I watched him, I would go and just watch him cut would watch him, you know, put siding up and like build the inside of the house.
• 16:29
  Randall Kaplan: I think people are watching you online now and saying, I want to build my custom shoe. Oh, yeah,
• 16:34
  Dominic Cambrione: I didn't do it. That's why I teach. And there's so many people that reach out to me, they're like, We just watched you and your work. And then we learned how to do it.
• 16:41
  Randall Kaplan: So I sold T shirts and college screenprinted I didn't have the printer myself, I would send them away.
• 16:49
  Randall Kaplan: And Nike had to just do a campaign and go on to the bookstore. Some of the T shirts are cool. Some are horrible. I said are I'm gonna make my own.
• 16:57
  Randall Kaplan: Basically, back then. I mean, you could get away with copying the Nike logo today, you get sued, and it shut you down.
• 17:05
  Randall Kaplan: Very, very quickly. You got into something a little similar counterfeiting business and you use your talents. Can you talk about what you did in terms of Chucky Cheese, and then the high school graduation tickets. And
• 17:21
  Dominic Cambrione: yeah, I was always trying to find a hustle.
• 17:25
  Dominic Cambrione: And so in our high school, we only were allocated so many tickets per family and all of our friends and family had a lot of fat, or they had a lot of family. So we needed more tickets. So you can only buy so many. So we were like, Why don't we just copy some so I was copying and making tickets for a few years of my high school career. So more people can come.
• 17:49
  Dominic Cambrione: And
• 17:49
  Randall Kaplan: then something happened. That had a consequence to your brother. Yeah,
• 17:55
  Dominic Cambrione: my brother ended up. That was three years after I two years after I graduated, I think he ended up getting caught and he wasn't able to walk. He graduated, but he wasn't able to walk for the ceremony.
• 18:07
  Randall Kaplan: I guess the lesson there is don't bulk up.
• 18:11
  Randall Kaplan: I'm gonna steal copyrights and IP.
• 18:14
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, the lesson is don't get caught.
• 18:16
  Dominic Cambrione: lessons don't get caught.
• 18:18
  Randall Kaplan: So let's let's talk about high school and your cousin loans. You have pair of Jordans. And they're up there.
• 18:27
  Randall Kaplan: Yep. That's the pair right here yet, right? Okay, so can I bring them down yet? Or the Jordans?
• 18:32
  Randall Kaplan: So she lends you this parachute.
• 18:36
  Randall Kaplan: By the way, this doesn't look like it fit your feet. But maybe it's smaller. I mean, there's all our feet back then. Smaller
• 18:43
  Dominic Cambrione: feet. But you know, when you're a kid he didn't didn't matter. You'd figured out how to get your foot in the shoe. You
• 18:47
  Randall Kaplan: figured out so talk about how cool it was to wear. I think these are 1985 og Jordan wants. Yep. And by the way, what would this cost now on stock X the find the men's hair?
• 19:02
  Dominic Cambrione: I don't even know. Like I don't I'm not even into the sneaker reselling. I just love making stuff. So I know what my shoes cost. But yeah, I don't know. Maybe five to 15,000
• 19:12
  Randall Kaplan: Oh, way more.
• 19:12
  Randall Kaplan: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think you're in the 50 plus range.
• 19:15
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, I'm
• 19:17
  Dominic Cambrione: not sure.
• 19:17
  Dominic Cambrione: Okay, so 40,000
• 19:21
  Randall Kaplan: I don't know someone look it up for me. And so please. So there are gangs in your neighborhood, basically, and you couldn't wear certain cars at school. So talk to us about borrowing the shoe. And then associates? Well, yeah,
• 19:37
  Dominic Cambrione: so in middle school, we weren't allowed to wear blue, red or yellow.
• 19:39
  Dominic Cambrione: They're all gang affiliated colors. So that's when I started wearing orange. I had to our my middle school crew was orange pride. We were orange. So I would, you know, find anything that was orange that I could wear a Sharpie. My dad is supreme is at the time orange.
• 19:59
  Dominic Cambrione: And then after Middle School in high school, I was you know, you're able to wear more, just not so. You know, in a certain way. So I could still wear colors in high school.
• 20:11
  Randall Kaplan: You start out with a Sharpie? Yeah.
• 20:13
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I started I was sharping shoes in middle school. You know, I just wanted something that was unique.
• 20:21
  Randall Kaplan: What was the feeling you had in the reception you had when you wore those shoes to school and talk about I think that's the feeling that I have when I wear videos and people stop me on the street.
• 20:29
  Randall Kaplan: Hey, man, great kick. Yeah,
• 20:32
  Dominic Cambrione: I think I mean, that's where those came from it I didn't even know how special those were my cousin and my cousin had the first release because she was older and she was a collegiate athlete. She did softball and so I was able to wear those and it was the same thing. It connected me with my friends that connected me with strangers with the older kids. And it was just cool. It felt good. So, but you can only wear it once. You can't do it again, like once you wore it and like the feeling wasn't the same unless it was in a completely different atmosphere. So that's when I started getting Jordans early. I would, I worked in the mall, and we had the hook up where we'd figure out how to get the Jordans before they were released. And I wear those shoes before they anyone had them. And it was the same kind of feeling like where'd you get those. And then all my friends had the same shoes for the most part, the cool hype ones. And we'd have to check in with each other to see what everyone was wearing that day because you didn't want to wear the same thing that your friend had.
• 21:35
  Randall Kaplan: So you change your closet around at some point you change your room around tell us about the closet that you built. And then also about your your prom talks and what I look like and why you made a camouflage. Yeah,
• 21:50
  Dominic Cambrione: so I mean, a lot of people just think that shoes, I only did shoes. And I was again, like you said, doing things at a younger age that was repainting our bedroom, moving my bedroom around making a rotating closet, and I did screen printing embroidery, I was sewing T shirts in high school. My grandmother bought me this home sewing machine that I still have when I was it's probably 2002 And I was selling T shirts and you know even my my prom tux. I made full camouflage that came from the Yeah, video with Usher and Little John.
• 22:30
  Dominic Cambrione: Camouflage.
• 22:32
  Randall Kaplan: Camouflage head, the army, the army camouflage.
• 22:35
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. So you went to a surplus store? Yeah,
• 22:38
  Dominic Cambrione: I found the fact I actually found the fabric in Berkeley. At this fabric store. I got really lucky it was a really nice fabric and we put a nice satin stripe on the side like a nice prom or like a nice tux.
• 22:52
  Randall Kaplan: So one of the things I think that's important in being successful is to just think differently, not inside the box just to think wider.
• 22:57
  Randall Kaplan: Also about the table, you and your dad or your dad built on your grandma's old dolls. And kind of what went into that did you just kind of walk in and say hey, we're gonna do some really cool.
• 23:12
  Dominic Cambrione: My dad is probably one of the most creative persons I know. And when he was building the restaurant, he all the artwork was different and unique. And one of the tables he built was a poker table with the cards laid out all the way around. It was on the wall, and then it had the little these little doll hands holding the cards. So it was it was really funny, but it's just yeah, it was cool to see the way he did things even if I didn't think it was tasteful. But it was cool that he did it. And he did it himself. He didn't he didn't wait for someone else and it wasn't perfect.
• 23:49
  Randall Kaplan: So when when I'll get my shoe and I got some sick Travis Scott's on. Kevin Vela, thank you for getting me these shoes, by the way, as a thank you gift. I would be afraid to touch the shoe. And I think that Nike brand is the swoosh. People know where this wishes? Yeah. So tell us about the first time you took it off.
• 24:09
  Randall Kaplan: And you put it on the tongue. I mean, what, what's what's here without the stitching, it's white. You got to cover it up.
• 24:16
  Randall Kaplan: And then you put it on the tongue, I believe for your first real mash up of a pair of Nikes.
• 24:25
  Dominic Cambrione: I don't recall my first night Nike, I mean, besides painting a pair in all camouflage in high school, but cutting it up. I mean, even before I was even putting them back together, I just started cutting a bunch of stuff up. So you know what people that would think that I've roomed a bunch of shoes. For me, that was my schooling. That's how I learned how to do stuff. And I've done so many things to different shoe brands. And I've even merged shoe brands like for me, I just see it as a canvas that I get to create
• 25:00
  Randall Kaplan: when you started collecting shoes. Was it a hobby and when did it become more than a hobby and you remember the first few shoes you bought and you started putting things in the closet. I think
• 25:12
  Dominic Cambrione: high school it was less. I mean, I don't know if it was a hobby yet at first it was more just I liked dressing up. I went to school so I can show my outfits off. I got best dressed in high school. So for me it was like what outfit that I have that day and the difference between me and a lot of my friends. I wear everything from DITA shell toes to Stan Smith to Rod lavars to timberland to sperrys to all types of shoes and outfits. And then you know this, the sneakers were more of the hype stuff, but I liked dressing in all different ways.
• 25:45
  Randall Kaplan: When my son graduated high school, I want a nice watch. Farmer watch. I read your high school I got I think a coach leather briefcase. I mean, that's kind of weird to get in high school that I hit wasn't going to work or anything. Other people want a new car. Yeah.
• 26:02
  Randall Kaplan: Tell everyone what what you wanted and what you got. And which is very, I think, yeah, unusual.
• 26:10
  Dominic Cambrione: Ya know, a lot of my friends wanted trips to Cancun or Cabo and, you know, or got a car and I got, my grandmother bought me a home sewing machine.
• 26:20
  Randall Kaplan: Called a PS 1030.
• 26:23
  Dominic Cambrione: This is the pack setter. I mean, I don't know what exactly it's called.
• 26:25
  Dominic Cambrione: But a Pacesetter, excuse me. It was, it was just, yeah, it was just a kid that wanted to use a sewing machine.
• 26:34
  Randall Kaplan: So I don't know the technical details. But that was a 13 stitch. Sewing Machine.
• 26:37
  Randall Kaplan: Can you explain to people what what it is there are two stitches or a 50 stitch? What
• 26:44
  Dominic Cambrione: does that mean? 13 stitch just means there's different types of stitches. So zigzags longer stitch, like there's so many different. And this was years ago now. So like the new ones, the whole, the home sewing machines now have so many settings that I, I don't even comprehend. And we don't even use that anymore, we have one stitch. Like when you produce something like high level, you just need single needle, one stitch, you can do it, all of the double stitching on your shoe is done twice with a single needle.
• 27:13
  Randall Kaplan: I'm excited I go over here. Yeah, so I'll just see what kind of needle can punch through all this stuff.
• 27:17
  Randall Kaplan: Because this is back. Yeah.
• 27:21
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean to process making shoes is a process and we teach a lot of people and a lot of people will do it. And then they're like, fuck that. Because it's very hard to do. And that's why a lot of brands don't even have sneakers or shoes in it. Because so many things can go wrong.
• 27:36
  Dominic Cambrione: Every size is different, every last is different. The outsole cost a lot of money to open up with tip for you have your own and so there's a lot that goes into shoemaking. And that's why I was so attracted to it because it was it was hard to do, and no one else was doing it. So
• 27:51
  Randall Kaplan: that's a good point, I think to share with people, a lot of people think alright, I'm just gonna go through the motion, and I'm going to just do what everybody else does. So how important is it in our success, to do what no one else is doing and to plod through and push through the things that are difficult that people don't want to do.
• 28:12
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I'm, you know, there's no right or wrong way to do it. Everyone has a different path and if different journey. But for me, I just I started it for me, it wasn't for anyone else. And I wanted something that no one else had. And you know, now that I'm now I'm doing music, I'm doing clothing, I don't want to do what's out there, I wanted to do something different and unique that doesn't exist yet.
• 28:43
  Dominic Cambrione: And I'm doing it for myself first and then you know, and then it will come and that's, you know, where I started this whole business. It was never for anyone except myself. I wanted to wear a pair of shoes that no one else had. And then soon as I did that then attracted other people like, oh, I want that. I want that. And that's, you know, I think it's about being niche and doing something for yourself. And, and again, no, that's me, right? There's experiences that people start businesses specifically off dollars and cents and formulas and data and that works too. You know, there's no right or wrong way to do it other than just to do it.
• 29:21
  Randall Kaplan: Fantastic. I mean, we're filming the studio or film film this place. I mean, I've been to a lot of places this place is sick and I remember when I walked in the first time I was here for an event shout out to Mike ball and Sandy man for making the intro to Michael What are you doing in the music space? just exploring, creating every creating music?
• 29:47
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, both Korean singer
• 29:49
  Dominic Cambrione: singing I could do anything. Yeah. You know, it's just about you know, practicing and doing it more and I'm just creating a sound that you know, when I'm when I build something, I want a full circle brand. I want it the set to be a certain way I want it to feel a certain way I wanted to sound a certain way. I wanted to feel sort of like seating you can touch and feel it a certain way.
• 30:08
  Dominic Cambrione: And so music is just a way of me exploring my creative
• 30:14
  Randall Kaplan: expression. How would you explain what kind of music
• 30:18
  Dominic Cambrione: people ask me all the time? I don't even have a name for it yet. Some new job I didn't know it's just like some new age Lo Fi like Johnny Cash on like, Western type of I can't even explain it. It's just like, chill. Chill. Yeah, it's like you can you know you can play it in a hotel lobby. Or it can be in a fashion show.
• 30:43
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, it's got some homage to her it's not like a hotel lobby for your sleep.
• 30:47
  Dominic Cambrione: It's Oh no, this Yeah, that's why I don't I I don't really know how to explain it.
• 30:55
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about branding and the importance of branding in a consumer product setting. Talk to us about your trip to New York. 18 years old and where your name came from.
• 31:06
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was 18. And we, we drove to New York City. Just being on the East Coast, you could go to New York City, you go to Florida in one day. And when you lived in California, all you have is California, which was boring hill at times.
• 31:24
  Dominic Cambrione: So you're able to I drove to New York City, I ran into Pharrell Williams at the vape store, there was a Louis Vuitton party.
• 31:32
  Dominic Cambrione: Hype Williams was there. I mean, it was just, it was just, I mean, anyone that's been to New York for the first time, it's just like, mind blowing, especially at 18 with a dream of being an, you know, an artist or a shoe maker, whatever I thought it was at the time. And I remember just after that run, and going up to the hotel room and starting to write down, like, what do I call this? What do I call myself? What do I call this thing that I'm building, and I wrote down surgeon, and so she originally became the shoe surgeon. And, and it stuck. And then I think, a couple of years later, and moving back to Northern California, I had my tattoo artists designed the logo, which is the school with the scalpels as a and a mask with blood on it. And so it's just like, Yeah, I had a brand, I had something that I could use and call myself and I don't think I thought too much of it at the time, but it was just like, yeah, you need, you need branding you need I mean, look at the best brands in the world, Apple, you know, or Nike, or that you have brands and logos you people need to remember people need to know what to call it. So you can just be like, Oh, this shoe maker, made shoes, you know what I mean? Like, there needs to be more. So branding is important in any aspect. And I love marketing. I love branding.
• 32:56
  Dominic Cambrione: I love design, and it's all very important for a brand.
• 33:04
  Randall Kaplan: You tried junior college, you didn't like it? You moved to Charlotte to live with your grandmother, you did yard work for your uncle when you were there. Tell us about meeting a guy who made cleats for I think the Carolina Panthers. Yep. Super Bowl. Yeah.
• 33:22
  Dominic Cambrione: So when I was living out there, I was just going out to all the malls and meeting people in the kiosk and just doing as much as I could to meet people. And I think that's what's different about me too, is like, I'll go up and talk to anyone, like, I don't care.
• 33:37
  Dominic Cambrione: Like, if I want to learn something I'll ask. And I've been cursed away many times, but I remember
• 33:44
  Randall Kaplan: walking through someone told you some point to fuck off your Oh, yeah. One of
• 33:49
  Dominic Cambrione: the shoe repair guys told me to fuck off.
• 33:51
  Dominic Cambrione: And I may have been a little angry. But I was just confused.
• 33:56
  Dominic Cambrione: How can someone you know if I ask questions, how can someone just say fuck off like that. And so being in North Carolina, I was walking around the mall, and I saw this kiosk and this guy had shirts, and I think shoes that he was painting. And I went up to talk to him. And he's like, he told me that he made he painted the game cleats for the Carolina Panthers and out there in the Super Bowl. 2004. So it was just, you know, I didn't care about football. I didn't care about sports, other than playing soccer. But for someone to tell you that they painted cleats for a Super Bowl. Like that was a big deal for me. And to hear that and to be like, Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, and then full circle. You know, I've made many cleats for Super Bowls and won Super Bowls and got touchdowns. And it's not just paint, but it's just, you know, I think as a kid or person in general, the more you see, the more you'll you know, understand that you can go past that too.
• 34:55
  Dominic Cambrione: And that's why I teach to is in speak on everything so you can show and the faster you see something, the faster you can get through the next part.
• 35:06
  Randall Kaplan: I think one of the motivators that makes people successful is being challenged.
• 35:07
  Randall Kaplan: Oh, that's really hard to do.
• 35:11
  Randall Kaplan: And it was super simple. You know, we could all do it. Tell us about your job and niche market. And then someone challenged you on these size seven bands, shoes and why that was so difficult to do.
• 35:31
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, when I was out in North Carolina, I would just in Charlotte, I would go to the different stores.
• 35:36
  Dominic Cambrione: There was a skate shop called Black Sheep across the street was niche market, which I have tattooed on me. And I went in there and I just said, Hey, I want to make a custom pair of shoes. And originally he was like, what are you gonna put rhinestones on Air Force ones and I said, Give me something about I'll do it. So he gave me a inexpensive pair that he most likely would have sold. It was a size seven, all white vans chucka. And he gave them to me and no one bought size seven. So I gave you that, yeah, he probably gave me the shoe that he thought he wouldn't sell, right? So it gave it to me to do and I took his logo, I laser engraved it on leather, I brought it to a shoe repair shop, and I was 18 at the time, and they sewed a piece on it.
• 36:18
  Dominic Cambrione: And then I hand sewed some stuff. And I brought it back.
• 36:20
  Dominic Cambrione: And it was very progressive for the time. And he was mind blown.
• 36:24
  Dominic Cambrione: And since then I did another pair for him. And this is just still my schooling. This is me, you know, putting myself through school. And that was like, a project, right? Like some of the tests to go to the next phase.
• 36:41
  Randall Kaplan: I also think it's important to be successful, have a plan and writing your goals down. And can you tell people out, buy your experience at borders, books and buying? I think the magazine was called sneaker freaker. Yep. And you wrote something down that you want to be the best at? Yeah, I
• 36:59
  Dominic Cambrione: mean, you know, I was just consuming information, whether it was Nike talk on my dial up Internet back in the day, and just like finding as much information sneaker freaker was an amazing book, sneaker freaker is from Australia. And there was so much information in there, I just remember opening it up. And in the back there was all of these different custom shoes, right.
• 37:21
  Dominic Cambrione: And none of them was how I wanted, but it was still cool to see. And so yeah, that has just started writing everything down.
• 37:32
  Dominic Cambrione: I used to work at a store in the mall called no fear. And I just remember having my own notebook and writing down everything. I bought my own laser machine, I want my own embroidery machine.
• 37:42
  Dominic Cambrione: Now I'm going to be the biggest, you know, customizer in the world. And I wrote all this stuff down and then I mean,
• 37:51
  Randall Kaplan: and now we're here. So at some point, your size, some shoes, I think I know fair, you were making some money if while you were the assistant manager, and tell everyone how much we're making, for pursuing you putting them up on the shell.
• 38:08
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, nah, so I was just bringing shoes in just to display them, right.
• 38:11
  Dominic Cambrione: Like, I'm just trying to get my stuff out there. And I would always talking about my stuff.
• 38:18
  Dominic Cambrione: And so I wasn't supposed to do that. But I did it anyway, you know, I was supposed to be selling their product, which was$20 T shirts. And I just brought my stuff up to display. And I didn't think I was selling my work at the time. And it was custom made order wasn't like I made something and then I sold it, it was more like, this is what I can do, I can do something custom for you.
• 38:37
  Dominic Cambrione: There's like 100 bucks, 150 bucks, I used to give away so many pairs of shoes. And you know, it's hard. It was hard.
• 38:45
  Dominic Cambrione: And it wasn't even about the money at first, but it was like just to you know, just to start
• 38:54
  Randall Kaplan: off, let's talk about starting a business. And I think my kids when they start growing, because they're going to come to me for a while. And depending on what they do, and we do some research on this, my son just bought a watch. For example, as you know, the watch market sort of like a shoe market, you're likely to get one ask his saying you got to get in line. And as a friend who's bought a lot of washing or particular brand, and he got the shoot in the wash. It was a very expensive watch. I'm not gonna say on camera, but it was very expensive. And I did the research and I said, Alright, he can flip this watch like that and make $30,000 in a day. As long as he has to hold a watch for a year, but you can sell finally, you know, again, so talk to us about why you asked your parents while you're at your dad for that loan. And what he made you do to get the loan?
• 39:41
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, my dad,
• 39:44
  Dominic Cambrione: my parents just sold a house right before the market crashed. And so they had some cash sitting in the bank and, you know, had this idea of doing this career, whatever was at that time. And my dad said, how can you know, what can I help you with? Like, what do you need? What do you want? Like, what do you will need to help you? And so I said, I'm not sure. And so we started just poking our heads around and we went to a shoe repair shop and Daryl Fazio was, he said, This is the machine you should get because I said I want to sell on top of shoes and I want to you know, make our on top of shoes. I want to make them look differently. And he said this is what you should get. And it was$3,500 That's a lot of money.
• 40:25
  Dominic Cambrione: Still a lot of money. That machine now is worth double that. But yeah, my dad was like, well, you need to write a business plan. And I'm like, Well, what the fuck some business plan because, you know, I was a creative kid. Like, I wasn't into numbers. I wasn't into, you know, business in that standpoint. I knew marketing. I knew how to get I knew how to get my stuff, the stuff out there, but I didn't understand the other side. And so I've made me went on Ask Jeeves at the time and like Google searched, you know how to write a business plan. And so I did as best as I could, and definitely didn't have a lot of the numbers in there. But all the other stuff looked good. So I ended up, you know, doing the business plan and giving it to him. And, you know, he loaned me the money for this machine.
• 41:19
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, man, interesting guy along the way, as well, who did give you some financial advice? Can you talk a bit about why Yeah, I
• 41:24
  Dominic Cambrione: think, you know, coming from small town, I ran into guy for Yeti, who became a mentor, in many ways, and it was just as a kid from a small town, seeing someone come out of the, out of the town with their talents and on TV, or whatever it was, was cool to see an interesting. So I ran into him on my 21st birthday. And I said, Hey, can I send you this business plan? Because I told him the idea. And I said, I want to share it with you. And so I emailed it to him, and he emailed me back right away, and said, it looks good. But the numbers side doesn't really look too good. But so we stayed in contact a little bit. And yeah, it was just cool to be able to share something like that, especially at an age so young, to like, share that with someone and someone gives you feedback, especially, you know, that he was, you know, the beginning of his career, being on TV and really blowing up.
• 42:30
  Randall Kaplan: So you mentioned the word mentor, I mentor is a very important talk about Michael current Akshay and then girl Fazio and the influence they had on your life and talk to people on the importance of not just saying, We you mentor me, but earning the mentorship?
• 42:47
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, you have to do the work to to be a mentor mentary like, you need to prove to them that you're you take it serious, right. And so for Michael Anthony was a Western bootmaker still is he's up there. And I never learned how to make boots from him. But I got to just see how passionate he was and how well he made boots and how he did and how I use exotic skins. And even with him was a lot of more spiritual journey stuff with him to just speaking on, you know, the mental health and stuff that we dealt with. And then Darrell Fazio was a shoe repair that will let was that knew the business that pumped out shoes that got the work done, but it was more it was repair focus. So I got to piece apart different mentors in my life. And you know, gave them my time and gave them energy from from what I provided, and they gave it as well. So, I mean, every I believe every human should have a mentor, every human should have a coach in different facets to right like, you know, you couldn't be you know, Kobe had coaches, LeBron has coaches, everyone has coaches. So you know, whether it's mental health or physical or training or business, you should always have coaches. And if you know, if your therapist is no therapist, then there's something wrong.
• 44:20
  Randall Kaplan: A lot of people walk into the store, ask for something or walk into a job.
• 44:22
  Randall Kaplan: They say no, and then that's it.
• 44:27
  Randall Kaplan: All right. I think preparing and persist is more important than any other step of preparation. I teach preparation. We're talking about preparation in a minute to talk about how long it took you to actually get one of these apprenticeships, for lack of a better word, because you didn't just walk away and say I'm done.
• 44:44
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. You came back the
• 44:46
  Dominic Cambrione: next day. The first shoe repair guy went to was the one that crushed me away. I just went in there asking questions like what are these machines? Do I want to learn more because I visited a shoe repair shop in North Carolina. And then he cursed me away same day, I went to another place, started talking to him.
• 45:02
  Dominic Cambrione: He was so busy if you've been in a shoe repair shop. It's not very glamorous. The guy was smoking a cigarette putting glue on shoes, and he was just had up to his head and shoes and smell of bail. Oh, it's just I mean, it. Yeah, most of them. So he was able to listen to me, but he didn't really there was not much more there. So the same day I went to another shoe repair.
• 45:23
  Dominic Cambrione: That's when I met Daryl Fazio.
• 45:26
  Dominic Cambrione: The same time I was like, hey, I want to learn from you. And he said no. He said no. Right away.
• 45:28
  Dominic Cambrione: He said you could be a liability. And I said, alright, but the next day I would, you know, go back and just keep watching. Because I was I wanted to learn and then eventually, he saw how serious I was just want to learn he said Alright, come check it out. And so then I started selling and fixing purses and bags and started learning on my machine at home and just kept doing stuff and That's how I learned to use the machine was by repairing stuff.
• 45:58
  Randall Kaplan: At some point and move back home, you started the business in your parent's garage, you're giving away free stuff, you're selling pair for$100 here and there, then you got a job selling supplements and things went very soft, very quick man. And I think it's very important to people listening and watching the show, we've all struggled bill, I've had guests on the show who are sentenced to life sentences in jail. And now one of the best speakers in the world. Damon West, shout out to them. And so I think telling your story, and some of these struggles will be helpful for people. So So what can you tell us about what you were doing to make Barney?
• 46:39
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I was working at a gym, and I would also steal a lot of supplements to sell them on, however I could. I would take just about anything that I could sell. And that was, you know, something that ate at me for the longest time and was very unhealthy, mentally, and physically, but mentally and ended up. Yeah, and I'm in a very negative place because of it went to jail. I mean, I've been to jail a few times and ended up in the mental hospital a few times.
• 47:17
  Randall Kaplan: So at some point, you move into a two bedroom house with four of your friends, you're partying or drinking, or making some very cool shoes. Why don't you talk to us about your big break?
• 47:28
  Randall Kaplan: Well, I am just then having to produce all these shoes. And then sometimes your biggest break is great. But then there's also a big downside to that as well.
• 47:40
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, so I made another mentor through Facebook. Javier Laval who was a shoe designer,
• 47:48
  Randall Kaplan: you reach out to some random guy, yeah, just reached out.
• 47:51
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, that's what I did. I mean, I had some work to prove who I was like, that I was interested. You know, like, I knew how to market myself in a way of like, oh, look, these shoes. I did, or, you know, I'm interested in this. And so I reached out to Javier and we just started talking on Facebook. And then eventually, I don't know if a year goes by, and he says, Hey, are you able to make a pair of shoes for the VMAs? For will? I am and I said, Sure. And so, I mean, I didn't finish them until the night before. But, you know, that was the way I worked. And I went came down and delivered them to him in LA. And that's when the same time I got introduced to Justin Bieber stylist. And then the same time I got, I was making shoes for H Lorenzo, the fashion boutique and also Law and Order SVU emailed me to make some shoes for the show. Show was about you. I mean, I mean, it's about the pair of shoes by the shoe.
• 48:48
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, it wasn't about me. It was it was about, you know, this player in the in the show, you know, had his own shoe line that was about to come out. And the manager had him on and you got to watch the show for the rest.
• 49:03
  Dominic Cambrione: But like, you know, the shoe played the play the main role on the evidence of what happened.
• 49:06
  Dominic Cambrione: So
• 49:11
  Randall Kaplan: one month, your first big baggy made 15k. Yeah.
• 49:15
  Randall Kaplan: What do you do with the money?
• 49:18
  Dominic Cambrione: I eat good, old guy like that. Oh, yeah.
• 49:20
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah. When you know, when, you know, for a big amount of money.
• 49:26
  Dominic Cambrione: It's at a young age, like, you know, you just think or for me, it just thought it was going to continue to come. And that was, you know, sad and depressing for sure.
• 49:36
  Randall Kaplan: So, Justin Bieber comes in last 20 parachutes for the tour. You got to make them very, very quickly.
• 49:45
  Randall Kaplan: Your mental health is not good.
• 49:45
  Randall Kaplan: You're doing drugs. What prompted you to jump out for a window of a second story of a building? onto concrete? Yeah.
• 49:58
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, I made a lot of shoes for Justin Bieber. And then he was going on so many tours. So they asked me to do 20 pairs and, you know, I think it was in a week or something. And I said, Yes, of course, because I thought anything was possible. And again, I wasn't being kind to myself. I was not eating healthy. I was not exercising. I was not. And then I was on drugs. I was on everything from steroids to out drinking regularly to smoking weed to doing cocaine.
• 50:32
  Randall Kaplan: Every day, oh,
• 50:33
  Dominic Cambrione: not every day. You know, not every day it would be like, you know, the weekend I'd go out and party.
• 50:40
  Dominic Cambrione: But definitely, you know, and then when when that stuff happened, you know, so I was caught up in stress and, and I don't know if you know much about, you know, psychotic episodes or mania. I got caught in an in a manic episode. It was just my brain went on this loop.
• 51:01
  Dominic Cambrione: And it was, it was, I didn't know what it was at the time.
• 51:06
  Dominic Cambrione: And it was really scary. And it was in and out every like it was about a week where it was continuing to happen, I'd wake up and be okay. And then, you know, a few hours later it went it and I didn't know what it was, and no one listened to me.
• 51:21
  Dominic Cambrione: I said, Hey, I need help. And they're just like, Yo, you're fine, you'll be fine. And so I was in my two storey house, and I was going up and down the stairs, and eventually I barely remember it. But I jumped right through glass around my girlfriend at the time, right through the glass landed on the concrete, and then got ended up going to the hospital. And that's when they diagnosed me bipolar.
• 52:00
  Randall Kaplan: Where you're misdiagnosed with bipolar?
• 52:02
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, they Yeah, I would say so. And then they put you on all kinds
• 52:05
  Randall Kaplan: of drugs. Yeah.
• 52:05
  Randall Kaplan: Which saved you. Yeah. And then it hurt you as well talk to us about kind of the slip there and how drugs can actually stifle creativity, which was your which was your calling? Yeah,
• 52:17
  Dominic Cambrione: I think, you know, Western medicine is beautiful for many things. And I think it's needed for a lot of things. I don't think it needs to be something forever. And there's also some things that are out there that yeah, you may need them. But in my case, or anyone's case for, or not anyone, but for a lot of cases you don't, it's like there's other ways to be healthy, to, to, to break through where you don't need a western medicine.
• 52:41
  Dominic Cambrione: So yeah, that these, this medicine helped me come down from the super high that I was at which I needed, but then to be on them, and then to continue that, which they once said forever. That's very depressing.
• 53:00
  Dominic Cambrione: And in you're very slow, and you're lethargic. And you're, you feel like a zombie. So what I wasn't able to be my creative self. And so now it's like about that it's finding that balance.
• 53:11
  Dominic Cambrione: And you went back out again, yeah, ended up you know, getting off the drugs completely then going out partying, drinking and doing cocaine when I was out.
• 53:18
  Dominic Cambrione: But, you know, ultimately, I was trying to find myself through this journey.
• 53:26
  Randall Kaplan: And one of the having kids that kind of woke you up and said, Hey, I gotta get clean. And I ended up I know,
• 53:32
  Dominic Cambrione: it was more, my girlfriend at the time, helped me believe that I didn't need to be on these pills. And how we believed that I wasn't bipolar. And because you know, when you're young, and you're when you feel like that you don't know who to who to believe. And you know, you believe a doctor, because they went to school for so long. And my mom didn't know any better, she believed the doctor too. And so the doctor said, you had to be on these pills for the rest of your life. And that's hard to hear. And so as I started getting healthy, in, you know, my, my mentor, Javier Laval and Michael Anthony, they all played an important role to help me through that time as well mentally into how to talk to myself. And I also started getting lost in self help on on YouTube at the time, and, you know, listening to Alan Watts to Jim Carrey to all types of the power of the now really diving in, and that was me doing my own research and learning more and more about stuff, you know, the secret and the notebook, like all of these things that I just dove into and just learned more and more. And then just being healthy. I started walking, I started playing soccer, I started going to whole foods and eating completely healthier, and my whole and then I started Chinese herbs instead of the pills, and then it just my whole life started to shift during that time.
• 55:08
  Randall Kaplan: I do a lot of paid coaching. And I have this guy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who very impressive guy, pediatric dentists, as a good business where they can 500k a year DMA love my show and and basically wanted me to help him plan his future. So he was going to have a partner to open up his new business and we went through all the numbers in the map. I said, you don't need a partner.
• 55:33
  Randall Kaplan: I think a lot of people want a partner for the the psychological support of not being on their own. You know, they're kind of fearful. I said, Yeah, you don't need a partner.
• 55:43
  Randall Kaplan: Some people do some don't. You had a partner that didn't work out. And now you have a partner who's really helped you grow your business. You said seven years ago, tell us about Dallas and what you've gone through together?
• 56:03
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, I was building so much by myself, and slowly building the team and having a small team and then being pulled in so many directions, flying to New York to do events like, you know, doing classes already. So, I, and I already had my first kid come, so my son Emile was born.
• 56:28
  Dominic Cambrione: So, you know, I knew the business was bigger than myself.
• 56:33
  Dominic Cambrione: And so eventually, I had a client, Dallas, who was ordering some shoes for me, and I got to see him build other businesses.
• 56:42
  Dominic Cambrione: And one of the things that stuck out most for me was just the one of his business one, the best place to work out in Orange County. And like, that's, for me is the biggest thing is making sure staff feels like family, and they feel good to be working right. And then yeah, you helped out for a long time before we decided to go into business together.
• 57:04
  Randall Kaplan: Social media has been a huge part of your success. You said you couldn't even be successful without Instagram and Pay Pal. Talk us about why.
• 57:14
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, it was just the time it was the right time in the right moment.
• 57:16
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, I wouldn't be successful, still in some other way. But like, we don't know that social media was happening, Instagram was happening, it was a way for me to physically get my art in the world, and people can actually see it, and then they can buy it or even just see it right and built is it's, you know, it's free marketing. In the sense. We've
• 57:40
  Randall Kaplan: talked about some of the things that make people successful mentor, being persistent, being creative being different. What are three other elements of success that it would take to build a successful business? Like your I mean,
• 57:58
  Dominic Cambrione: like mine delusion, you need needs to be delusional, for sure. And I would say delusion, like, if most everything I have was never like, no one could ever imagine that. So and you can't tell anyone, either. You just got to do it, and then show it and do it again. And again. And again.
• 58:18
  Dominic Cambrione: So I would say being delusional, I would say, being consistent, because that's one of the that's the hardest thing. So many people come and like, tell me they have an idea. And I'm so sick of hearing people with ideas. Because if you can't execute an idea, it's not worth nothing. Right? And then if you execute the idea, it has to be consistent. That's the hardest thing. So delusional consistency. And yeah, never saying no. I guess that's kind of delusional, in a way, but
• 58:52
  Randall Kaplan: you said no, to a lot of clients who come to you for shoes. Yeah. You just said, well, never say no, but you've said no. Why do you say no to people who come in and said no, not gonna do that?
• 59:03
  Dominic Cambrione: That's what I mean by not never saying no. Is is more so? Not taking no for an answer for me? Not taking no for an answer for me. Right. So like being delusional in the sense of like, I never took no for an answer. So yeah, for and then separately, I think, not are saying no to clients is like, we don't need to work with everyone. I don't want to work with people that I don't want to work with. And at this stage of my life, I get to say, No, I don't want to work with everyone. It's not about, you know, the masses. It's about, you know, life's too short. I want to work with good people.
• 59:38
  Dominic Cambrione: And I will only want to, you know, grow and work with people that respect. Me, my, my team in the business. And, yeah, it's less about just the money. And it's more about building something bigger.
• 59:54
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about STN Academy. So you've referred a little bit to that. But tell everyone what it is and what your mission there.
• 1:00:02
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, SRG and Academy is our Surgeon Academy where we teach everything from introductory shoe workshops, how to customize, slightly customize a shoe to then fully deconstruct a shoe and rebuild it, which is a four day class. And it's just a way to to get people to be creative and get into shoes. And you know, people take the class and build other businesses out of it that has nothing to do with building a shoe. And then I've also taught, you know, some of the students that now build shoes and sell shoes, and then some that build their own classes and now have classes and it's just a way for me to give to catapult someone to keep going to doing something walk
• 1:00:45
  Randall Kaplan: around this place, which is incredible. And everyone's happy here. And I think one of the things is I Um, you're going to a really nice setting the offices, beautiful wall design, it's got everything here that people would love to work. Tell us about the Li, and why you built a basketball court here, which, by the way, apparently is the place to be you get all kinds of Yeah, interesting people, former players, you know, rappers like Simba, I saw him posting, Hey, Tim, I'm gonna go. It'd be the shoe surgeon. It's like, it's like, man, that's still.
• 1:01:26
  Dominic Cambrione: I just always wanted a place where you could, you know, work in play. And, you know, with the work that I do is play, but also, you know, whether it's basketball or soccer, it's a way you can just go. Sport was big for me growing up, I played basketball till High School, and then I stuck with soccer more, and I was very competitive in soccer, I ran track. And so it was important for me, and so like to have, and then to go through my mental health journey, and how important it is to be active, how important that is for your mental health. So I wanted to create a place where you can, you know, this used to be the full facility. So if you were at lunch every day, we would used to play five on five soccer against the whole staff. And that was one of the funnest times. I mean, people got hurt, which I had to be careful. But like, it was the funnest time because you can go just not think about work or anything other than let's just go have fun and win.
• 1:02:28
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about how much these shoes cost. And first, I want to go to the all time record for a shoe.
• 1:02:35
  Randall Kaplan: Sotheby's auction off Jordan 13 That it wore, I think that 2000 And actually the 1998 NBA Finals against a new job, Utah Jazz$2.2 million for that pair of shoe. The most expensive pair of shoe you ever made was for PJ Tucker $250,000. What are the shoe costs for people that want to go on your website?
• 1:03:00
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, the shoes are anywhere from 5000 to 15,000. And it's just it's not enough, right? Like, there's no amount of money that someone could give me that is worth what I've been able to create my entire life. And it's wearable art. It's like collecting art, right? Like, it's, you know, ended the quarter million dollar shoe, and now we're working on a$4 million shoe. And he
• 1:03:30
  Randall Kaplan: talks about that shoe.
• 1:03:31
  Dominic Cambrione: I mean, it's just it was four or I, I'm gonna build it, and then it's gonna sell stop for anyone. I just, that's what I do, I build a concept. And then he figures out
• 1:03:41
  Randall Kaplan: how to sell it.
• 1:03:41
  Randall Kaplan: What goes into a $4 million shoe. I
• 1:03:44
  Dominic Cambrione: mean, there'll be some some American alligator and diamonds and some controls that you can control from your phone.
• 1:03:55
  Randall Kaplan: Alright, we're getting towards the end of the show. And I want to talk about something very important. That may be the last day what is the highlight of your career, and it's some ad money. It's giving back. So talk to us about what you're doing to give back and how important it is to for us all to focus on our mental health, which has long been neglected by for way too long.
• 1:04:14
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, no, I
• 1:04:17
  Dominic Cambrione: think, you know, the simple give back was it for me, it was always, you know, if I had excess of stuff, giving it away, I mean, even to this day, I get so many things that now I bring it to staff and give it because you only have so much stuff. And I've come to this realization in the last four years. That like really having no attachments to anything, I can figure it out and move forward through no matter what happens. But, you know, I used to all of the uppers that we used to take apart, I would put other souls on him and we would go around Skid Row and all the way around and give shoes aways and people that needed the shoes and and now it's even just about the classes and the workshop and giving that and you know, doing things in a way that you're helping people. And so when you come take a class, it's less about just the shoemaking and also my story, and all of the things that I overcame, and a lot. Every human, you know, is deals with mental health. It's not like it's new, it's just a better, how do you talk on it?
• 1:05:23
  Dominic Cambrione: And how do you get through it?
• 1:05:25
  Dominic Cambrione: It's through with it, right? And I'm grateful that I'm vulnerable and I'm able to be able to share it because it doesn't define who I am. And I've been I've had a very wild shitty crazy past that most came from myself. And I didn't know that and to get through the other side and to keep moving forward is important. So to be able to share that and to share with us The story and the journey and also how I look at it now, it helps. You know, not only myself, but it helps other people get through, I
• 1:06:01
  Randall Kaplan: always end my show with a game called fill in the blank to excellence, you're a boy, fill
• 1:06:05
  Dominic Cambrione: in the blank of excellent to excellent. Fill in the blank to excellence.
• 1:06:10
  Randall Kaplan: The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is never give up. A number one professional goal
• 1:06:15
  Dominic Cambrione: is enjoy life, because that's professional too.
• 1:06:19
  Randall Kaplan: My number one personal goal is
• 1:06:22
  Dominic Cambrione: to cover Men's Health right now,
• 1:06:23
  Randall Kaplan: the best moment of my career is showing my kids all of this my biggest regret if
• 1:06:30
  Dominic Cambrione: it's a tough one. I don't believe in regrets.
• 1:06:35
  Dominic Cambrione: being kinder to myself sooner, I wouldn't know what I don't know now. But like, you know, if you could go back and, you know, learning this faster, but it's like, I had to learn it at the pace that I learned it.
• 1:06:47
  Randall Kaplan: My biggest fear is it's
• 1:06:49
  Dominic Cambrione: changed over the years. What is it now,
• 1:06:53
  Randall Kaplan: the craziest thing that's happened in my career is
• 1:06:57
  Dominic Cambrione: jumping out of window was this sticks out for me? If
• 1:07:00
  Randall Kaplan: you could go back in time, and give your 21 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
• 1:07:08
  Dominic Cambrione: They would just say I love you. Give yourself that love that. Most of us don't give ourselves we're so hard on ourselves. And no one teaches us that if you're softer with yourself even that earlier age, like for me, I went through very hard mental times with then happened with drugs and everything else. But like, if I would have been kinder to myself, I mean, even even recently, it's like it's so easy to get caught up in the details and what went wrong instead of what went right. So, being kind to yourself,
• 1:07:40
  Randall Kaplan: if you give me one person in the world, who would it be? meet one person in the world meet one person that we're all
• 1:07:45
  Dominic Cambrione: alive or dead?
• 1:07:46
  Randall Kaplan: Let's go with both
• 1:07:48
  Dominic Cambrione: Abraham Lincoln alive who and meet? Have no idea. I have no clue who I want to meet right now.
• 1:08:05
  Randall Kaplan: What's the one question you wish I'd asked you, but didn't ask you.
• 1:08:13
  Dominic Cambrione: What drives you?
• 1:08:15
  Randall Kaplan: What drives you think it's a
• 1:08:17
  Dominic Cambrione: mix of things. The older I get and the more things in my children. It's a mix between me proving myself still. And my art and showing myself that I can do anything.
• 1:08:32
  Dominic Cambrione: And showing my children I can do anything as well.
• 1:08:35
  Randall Kaplan: As money drive you when when we met few weeks ago, you told me some numbers.
• 1:08:38
  Randall Kaplan: We're not going to share them on camera right now.
• 1:08:40
  Dominic Cambrione: Yeah, I mean, I think you know, what I've learned and money was the hardest thing for me. I mean, it's still not easy, but it's it's energy at the end of the day. You know, a friend of mine years ago, said just look at it, like energy exchange, right?
• 1:08:54
  Dominic Cambrione: Like I'm building a shoe, it takes me my energy and everything. And a person may work a job or do whatever, but they get this money that they had to, you know, to exchange their energy for and it's able to exchange it so he had to say money doesn't drive me at all that would be false. But I don't look at it like dollars and cents and I don't do it for you know, just the money. It's for fulfilling something and and showing my art to the world.
• 1:09:26
  Randall Kaplan: I've enjoyed the interview. I've enjoyed getting to know you. I love meeting you weeks ago and as I said, I've been a fan for years. And the opportunity to come and meet in person was super, super pumped about it. You're amazing guy have a great story. Congrats on all your success. I think it's incredible. So yeah, more and more in the future.
• 1:09:44
  Dominic Cambrione: It was good to meet you and thanks for coming by and having me on the show that we got to do it in my studio.