Latest / AI for Founders with Ryan Estes / Golf fashion; betting big with Rico Leon

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Golf fashion; betting big with Rico Leon · AI for Founders with Ryan Estes

0:00
Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to AI For Founders.
0:02
I am Ryan Estes. Today's guest is the one and
0:05
only Rico Lyon. You probably know him from
0:08
HGTV's Rico to the Rescue, but what you might not know is that
0:13
Rico is about to blow up the golf fashion world.
0:16
This episode is a master class in momentum.
0:20
We're talking about turning a shopping trip with Canelo in
0:23
Tokyo into AVIP Invite to New York Fashion Week.
0:28
Rico's building a women's golf apparel brand called Golf Class
0:32
Society, and he's designing it with AI, instinct and pure
0:36
obsession. He's bootstrapping the whole
0:38
thing, calling in favors from A listers and sending the most
0:42
fire golf outfits you've ever seen to the influencers around
0:46
the world. This conversation is about
0:47
chasing what lights you up, ignoring the haters, and
0:50
choosing your passion over the pain in the ass clients.
0:53
It's electric, insightful and hilarious.
0:56
Let's get into it with Rico Lyon but for some business.
0:59
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Live tonight Shine stars computer life AIAI take the
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flight in the glow with me. Hey, what's up, everybody?
2:38
Ladies and gentlemen, we got special guests.
2:39
I met this gentleman maybe 10 years ago.
2:42
It was at Denver Startup Week. I was on a panel for podcasting
2:45
and this guy was shooting content back then, early, early
2:49
to the content game. And you guys all know him as
2:51
Rico to the Rescue on HGTV. Hello, buddy.
2:54
Rico, how you doing man? I'm I'm crazy good.
2:57
I'm so good, Very good. Let's dive right into what we
3:00
were talking about because I know you're super fired up now
3:03
what people who follow you on social media know is the kid
3:07
doesn't stop playing golf. So.
3:11
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a problem.
3:14
It's a problem. But it's it's a problem that I
3:16
love, that's for sure. Yeah, amazing.
3:18
So you're talking about this new brand you're getting ready to to
3:21
you're developing it. It sounds like there might be
3:24
like a a kind of maybe a launch at Fashion Week in New York
3:28
City. Give us the lay down.
3:30
Just run it down one more time. Yeah.
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So like a year ago I was like, I have girlfriends that I golf
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with all the time, Like, and we go to PGA Superstore and we'll
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just shop, right. A lot of the time they will go
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through 22,000 articles of clothing.
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PGA Superstore is like a Walmart of golf and they can't find
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anything. Like they, they're like, I don't
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like this, I don't like this, I don't like this, I don't like
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this. And I'm, I'm like, Oh my gosh.
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Like I just was in Japan. I was literally with Canelo.
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Yeah, in Japan, in Tokyo shopping and ran into the store
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and I just saw Japan had like the slickest sharp style that
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just doesn't exist in, you know, the US That's kind of where the
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light bulb went off. Came back here and I was like,
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you know what, I want to start a a woman's clothing brand that's
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like sexy, sharp, classy, functional, you know, like Alice
4:27
comfortable, Lulu's comfortable girls worth it.
4:29
But they're not even veered towards females that want to
4:32
golf. So I was like, all right, I'm
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going to make this real slick. So I started a company called
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golf class society and that's the that's the clothing brand
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name. So I literally made my own
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designs, like I drew them out, took a picture of them, like
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wrote down, pleaded here that I uploaded to like AI app so I
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could kind of get a visual change, change the patterns,
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what not. And then I started creating some
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really, really, really cool designs.
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So I started saving my favorites, sent it to a friend
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in New York and she showed it to someone that runs New York
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Fashion Week, like New York. It's like Paris and New York are
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like one and two. And they loved it so much that
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they invited me to New York Fashion Week VIP flying out
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front row because they loved it so much.
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And I'm in the, in the area of like sampling, like you have to
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send a tech pack to whatever manufacturer they send you
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samples. I still got to like have my
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friends try it out, wear it, pros, cons, all that kind of
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stuff. But we're like, it's just wait,
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like I'll send you some samples or like the video and and you'll
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see that it's just completely different than anyone has here.
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And it's funny because I post on social media something golf
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related. 400,000 views. 17,000 shares If I go on social media,
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which I'm known for what 5 shows on HETV Rica to the rescue bet
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on the mountain frozen in design.
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I was at the house hunters. I could be like, hey guys, like
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this is what you did for construction. 5000 likes or 5000
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views. You're like, all right.
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I could be like, hey guys, this is the cure for cancer. 10,000
6:20
views. I'm hitting a golf ball. 100,000
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views. So it's it's the the world's
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telling me like stick with what you love, right, so that like
6:31
still own a restoration company, still do construction, still
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killing it, literally still batting 1000 with a bunch of
6:37
five star reviews. But I could see myself veering
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towards like the passion, which is golf like right now you got
6:45
I'm sailor behind you right now. Happy go more to that's number
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one. But like it's it's it's the
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universe is just pretty much saying like this is your thing.
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So the fashion, the style plus being in golf, that's I mean, I
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just want to be immersed in that.
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I've been with you being so successful.
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The podcast consistent, by the way, your consistency adds the
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value of how good you are in the podcast game.
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Cuz like same thing. Joe Rogan could have just
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stopped, but he kept it going and now he's number one in the
7:18
world when it comes to that. Yeah.
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You know, one thing I've always just to interrupt you real
7:22
quick, Sorry, but yeah. But this is something I've
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always really admired about you is that you have you have great
7:27
taste and you always seeing where the puck is going and you
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chase it. You know, you're like, OK, well,
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to your point, you're like, golf is working, cure for cancer is
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not working. Let's go with golf.
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I love golf. Keep that going.
7:40
You know, you spun that all the way up to, you know, hosting
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cable television shows. You know, your your your
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personal brand, to use kind of a, a cringey term, has always
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been based on trust and integrity and fun.
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And, and you've been able to leverage that into a couple of
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things that really stand out. So of course you're an
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entrepreneur. You're going to have ideas,
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You're going to put those out there.
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But like, like these two scenarios you mentioned, like
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one, somehow you're shopping in Japan with Canelo Alvarez,
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that's insane. And then two, you have somebody
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in, in New York who's in the right position to be like,
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actually this is a great idea. Let me connect the dots here.
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You know, how, how have you kind of developed that?
8:19
You've also also excellent at maintaining these kind of
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relationships. That's that's a phenomenal
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question. I have to like it's, I think
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that I convey a lot of momentum and energy when I'm passionate
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about something. It, it transfers over the phone,
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It'll transfer over a text, it'll transfer over a Zoom.
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Like when I was talking to my friend, very like, I'm just
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walking in circles, like in my house, just this and that, the
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vision. And sometimes when I'm talking
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to people, their momentum is down.
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And like, all of a sudden I'm just gasoline.
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I'm just, I'm just, I'm just fueling them back up.
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They're like, oh, my gosh, when's the last time I talked to
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someone who was passionate about something like this?
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Passionate, like this passionate.
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And then they take some of that energy and they're like, let's
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do something with it. And most of the time, they'll
9:14
maybe do nothing. But in this scenario, that
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person reached out to somebody, showed them my designs.
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They go hell yeah. Then then all of a sudden
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they're like, hey, I got your VIP, your VIP, just mention my
9:28
name. You could come every single day
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or two days, whatever. And and you're good.
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Like on the House. So I was like, oh, shit.
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Like, but now I'm telling my friends like I got VIP at, you
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know, New York Fashion. Now it's just building momentum,
9:43
doing what? Why are you going there?
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And then I show them my designs and they're like, what the F?
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Yeah. Like they're just like I'm by.
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I want, I want all of it. I want every single one of them.
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Yeah. It's so.
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It builds that momentum, you know?
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And I, I maybe I've seen it since you, you kind of landed in
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Denver with kind of a auspicious story.
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Car breaks down, you take a look around, you're like, this is
10:03
great. Immediately you, you put down a
10:06
flag and start working. And I remember talking to you
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around this time. You're like, hey, man, I'm from
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Pittsburgh. He's like these people out here
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are soft and what you meant was just the competitors like the
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the attitude and the drive that you brought was such an
10:22
unbelievable advantage that like you rose very quickly to the
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top. You you the the most fun parties
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too. You brought together people from
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the business world. You pop brought people together
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from entertainment and would have these like almost like
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salons, you know, like small private parties that just had
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this like infective energy. So it it's cool to see like it.
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It's like the butterfly effect has just like gone through your
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career and now you're about to enter this whole new chamber
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with with women's golf fashion. And to that point, you know,
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what you were saying is that there really isn't competition.
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You can't on the tip of your tongue talk about 1 elite golf
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brand, you know, for women and of course gals love to look good
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on the course. Who doesn't, you know, So let's
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walk since you're in what? World in what world?
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When I golf with my girlfriends, I get more compliments than
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them. Not OK, not OK, you know, and
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that, and that's the thing, like there's it's, it's they're
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definitely missing something. Like a lot of them are saying
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it's hard. Like they're just wearing black,
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black, white, white, chill, chill.
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But nothing's really like edgy fashion.
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Rare, unique to the point where you're getting 1015 compliments
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a day. And again, when I send my
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designs to people, they're like lights out.
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Like they, they're just waiting for for us to start launching.
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But yeah, I mean, I got the manufacturers, I got people to
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do all the shipping receiving. I got all that like ready to
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roll. And then it's funny, I just sold
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this big job and that big job, all that money is going to go
11:58
into, into this because I'm going to go all in.
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Like, I don't care if I'm living out of my car.
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Every dollar, every, every cent is to build this thing up.
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Like that's, that's, that's definitely the passion.
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When I wake up, I don't go, Oh, I can't wait to go do this mold
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job. Oh, I can't wait to, you know,
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have this meeting with insurance so they could underpay me again.
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Like it's I'm not waking up excited about that, you know,
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but I wake up thinking about designs.
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I actually, I don't wake up. I don't go to sleep.
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Like I'm just up till 23 AM just creating designs and, you know,
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figuring out like eventually get with BMW or whoever like Anamar
12:38
AP watches so that we could do a collab.
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Like my brains just so racing towards that whole goal.
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Like, you know, the most famous women in the world doing a
12:48
collab with that, you know, like getting the licensing, like all
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that kind of stuff is what I'm thinking about all the time,
12:53
mostly because I want that confidence to translate on the
12:57
golf course. Because like, you know, for me,
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when I wear slick stuff, it translates on the on the golf
13:03
course. Like if I'm looking good, all of
13:05
a sudden it hurts start hitting straight.
13:07
So. If if you develop this is a a
13:10
Unicorn company, you exit for a billion dollars cash, but it
13:13
doesn't improve your golf game, are you going to be kind of
13:15
disappointed? No, no, not at all.
13:17
I just want to, I just want to leave my mark.
13:19
Hey, golf is so mental, right? Golf is, is it's crazy.
13:23
I'm like one thing about me is I'm golf is dishes.
13:26
So like certain shirts that I wear, I might look good, but
13:30
like I know I don't like it. Just I don't know what it is.
13:34
I just don't swing well. Like there's some shirts that I
13:38
wear that I'm like super comfortable like this, that, and
13:43
I'm all of a sudden golfing. Well, that's golf vicious.
13:45
You know what I mean? That's that mental thing that I
13:47
did to myself with the articles of clothing.
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Like even some golf shoes, like I, there's ones that I'm like,
13:53
it looks good, but like I just, I don't like this.
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It's not as comfortable. And, and then all of a sudden
13:57
that translates to golf. So imagine like a female golf
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clothing line that like is sharp and, and trust me, like there's
14:04
G4J, Lindbergh, Barstool, there's, there's, there's brands
14:08
out there, but nothing like what I'm creating now, which is
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exciting because I think the very few female friends that
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I've shown, maybe like less like 10, they've all just went crazy
14:20
for it. So I'm very excited.
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We're probably going to launch in like 3-4 months.
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You know, it takes a lot of like the sampling, all that kind of
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stuff. But after that, then I'm going
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to go gung ho. It's going to be exciting.
14:33
Amazing. One thing that's coming up for
14:35
me that you mentioned, I think is really important for
14:37
entrepreneurs. You know, you've had this
14:39
unbelievably successful career and kind of created a portfolio
14:43
of different companies. And as you're starting to select
14:47
projects in the course, you're looking to grant, grow and get
14:50
new projects. Is, is the differentiation of
14:53
like or the validation of like? Should I work on this?
14:57
Is it the right time for me right now?
14:59
And one thing that I'm really getting from you is you're
15:01
really chasing your passion. And I think what happens when
15:04
you go after something that you really enjoy doing, it frees
15:08
your mind to work on multiple projects.
15:11
Like there's going to be projects that are really heavy
15:13
lift, have maybe big upside potential, But like it creates
15:16
like a cloud, at least in my brain.
15:18
Like there's a fog I can't see through.
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I can't find another project. So like it's been important to
15:23
me to try and select things that are like creating this clarity.
15:26
And honestly, clarity for me ends up being like joy and like
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I do this because I love to do it.
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And it sounds like you're doing the same thing.
15:35
It's headache to income ratio, headache to income ratio.
15:39
Like I've, I could take out a project, no, I can make a easy
15:43
3K from it or whatever, but it's going to be with a lady who has
15:46
a lot of issues. She's asking 1,000,000 questions
15:48
a day. She's doing this even with my
15:50
reputation. She's like, I want you to sign a
15:52
contract and it's what what why did you even call me?
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I thought you called me because you knew I bought 1000 and you
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should just trust me, right? Like I'm I'm gonna for the first
16:01
time ever screw you over out of a million people that I've
16:05
worked with. Like headache not worth not
16:09
worth anything. I'd pay, I'd pay money to not
16:11
talk to that person. So like that, it's a headache to
16:14
income ratio. Like I can, I can grow.
16:16
I could get more jobs. Yes, money matters, paying bills
16:22
matter, but like I think it's a headache to income ratio like
16:26
I'd rather do, I'd rather take on less work.
16:28
I was saying no now more than ever, very selective of who I do
16:33
business with like customers or anything, but it's I could see a
16:38
shift. I could see a shift happening
16:40
like internally here where it's I'm known for this and don't get
16:44
me wrong, this will this business will stay open.
16:47
Rescue restoration will stay open.
16:48
I'll keep taking homework, I'll sub it out, I'll do this, but
16:53
it's, it's almost like I'm just doing that to like keep the
16:56
lights on because I my, my life, my passion, my, I got golf
17:01
tattoos like all over. It's, it's, it's, that's, that's
17:04
what I want to wake up doing. Is, is going to the golf course.
17:08
I do collaborations with different golf companies and
17:12
this brand is like, I could just, it's a, it's a need.
17:15
Like it, it's a need. It's it's something that doesn't
17:18
exist. And I see the vision and it's
17:22
crazy because it's like, man, when I was growing up, like I
17:25
would have my own style of clothing in high school.
17:28
And like now I'm like looking back when I post on social media
17:32
and it's like a scene from Rico to the rescue.
17:36
People were like, where'd you get that sweater?
17:38
Where's that sweater from? Love that sweater.
17:39
What I'm like, oh, Ralph Lauren and Aspen and they're like, oh,
17:43
I need it for my husband. I'm like, they don't even give a
17:46
shit that I'm like putting drywall up.
17:50
They just love the outfit. I'm like, all right, like the
17:52
universe was kind of telling me a certain thing.
17:55
I just wasn't paying attention to it.
17:57
And now, like now I see everything kind of aligned and
18:01
it takes a lot to like start a clothing brand and a high end
18:05
high, you know, price, maybe not price point, but like it's more
18:09
expensive to do what I'm trying to do than just a simple just
18:12
skirt that you can just whatever.
18:14
So I'm investing like everything I'm making into it, you know,
18:19
I'm going all lean on it so. Let's talk about that.
18:21
I mean, fascism is notoriously difficult.
18:24
I mean you need a little bit of luck obviously you got that you
18:27
need to have absolute Immaculate product.
18:31
You've got that you it's also very capital intensive in the
18:34
beginning and then you have to find distribution and then it
18:37
has to pop and when it does, it goes absolutely nuclear.
18:41
So like as you're thinking about just the financing right now,
18:44
you're self financing, which you said and I love the commitment,
18:47
but how are you going to kind of tactically bring on new
18:51
partners? Or if you're thinking about is
18:54
it venture capital play, like how are you thinking about
18:56
financing as the as the brand kind of grows?
18:59
So I've done a lot of research. I have a lot of friends that are
19:03
hedge fund guys. They might be in construction,
19:05
might be in other things, but I have friends that are
19:08
interested, you know, I especially after I sent it to
19:12
New York and they're like, yeah. And then once they see it,
19:14
they're like, oh, OK, for now it's like I kind of, you know,
19:19
trademark own 100% of it. I have my friend Stella, she's
19:24
helping me out with it on the back end for now.
19:27
I want to like build the brands, show the world what I'm working
19:30
with. And then at some point, because
19:33
I have a list of, it's really actually right behind me, a list
19:36
of hedge fund people that I would reach out to.
19:38
Yeah, when the time is there. Like people are specifically
19:42
hedge fund people for golf, Like they just invest into golf
19:45
related companies. And I saw their investments like
19:49
I did research, I saw what they put money into and the clothing
19:53
brand that they paid like ten $20 million for.
19:56
Boring as fuck, boring as shit. It's just, or maybe that's just
20:00
old money class, but it there, there's no one marketing it, no
20:03
celebrity wearing it, No nothing.
20:05
No, there's no energy coming from it.
20:07
There's no energy coming from it.
20:09
And what's cool is I never asked.
20:11
Like I've done a lot of celebrity things.
20:14
Never asked anyone for any favors, never asked them.
20:17
We're just we're just all homies.
20:19
But when it comes to the clothing brand, I'm going to
20:21
send it to Marc Anthony for his for his girl wear Luis Fonsi.
20:26
I'm going to send it to JJ Barreda's wife.
20:29
I'm going to send it to I'm going to send this to Canelo's
20:31
check. I'm going to send this to all
20:33
the golf influencer females that I've met in Miami.
20:37
I'm going to send it to Lenny. 7 million followers he's got, you
20:40
know, he's going to use the pot. He's going have is throw away
20:43
that stuff and do like I got that part down.
20:47
Like that's. I'm never asking for favors.
20:49
I'm just sending them the clothes and then the rest is
20:52
just going to take over. And I have like cool designs for
20:54
like Puerto Rico, Brazil, yeah, Greece, like very neat designs
21:00
that are like kind of like nationalistic, like, you know,
21:03
like it's really like really cool.
21:05
And yeah, it's just, I'm just excited for it.
21:08
Like, I just, I just want to be like the Tom Ford of just
21:12
specifically like women's golf clothing, you know?
21:16
Yeah, that actually looking at these designs and they're so
21:19
gorgeous. The the kind of like nation
21:22
specific. That's the energy it's giving
21:24
me. It almost has like an Olympic
21:26
feel, you know what I mean? Where like it would look great
21:29
if you saw a whole team walking out in this.
21:32
He'd be like, Dang that like a uniform, like a kit.
21:35
I should reach out. I should probably reach out to
21:37
them too, yeah. You have the lunch team.
21:40
Oh, that'd be amazing. So that'd be cool.
21:43
You know, brands like this absolutely catch fire from what
21:47
you call influencers and you have a bunch in your phone who,
21:51
if you see one person like who would wear this, who could
21:55
absolutely be the game changer? Who would she be?
22:00
Charlie Hall, Charlie Hall, if you can look her up, she's a a
22:07
phenomenal pro golfer, but she's just stunning.
22:10
Like she's like the Anna Kournikova of like golf.
22:13
She's just a badass. You know, she's got presents.
22:16
She's gorgeous. Once you look her up, you'll see
22:19
like if I can have anyone golf related where it it would be
22:25
her. And then this girl, young check
22:27
her name's like Gabby Golfs, golf influencer, she's awesome.
22:32
Like if she would wear something like that, like let's go, like
22:35
those two would be top 2G related.
22:39
Outside of that will be like, you know, whatever celebrities
22:42
want to wear. But yeah, yeah, it would be
22:44
Charlie Hall would be #1 for sure.
22:46
Wanna see Beyoncé and Serena Williams in that?
22:49
Oh my gosh, that would be cool. I mean, if Beyoncé wore I don't
22:54
think she golfs though. I don't I don't like I I think
22:56
she just is like just gorgeous all the time, just chilling at
22:59
the pool or like grinding. I don't, and that's my
23:03
assumption of what he does. Just prides and chills, which
23:06
she should. She's the goat, so.
23:08
Well, and then you got like the Kardashians, they changed
23:11
businesses overnight. Just hypothetical, like what
23:14
percentage of the company would you be willing to separate
23:17
yourself with if the Kardashians posted your stuff for a week?
23:23
I have to look at the PNLS, but like if, if they're, if they're
23:27
launching it like that, I mean 90. 9%.
23:33
It's hey, Bezos is worth $300 billion and he only owns 12% of
23:39
Amazon, right? So if it, if it makes sense, it
23:41
makes sense. And my thing is this like, I
23:45
think there's a lot, there's a lot of celebrities that wear
23:47
clothing brands that they love without getting the endorsement.
23:52
Sometimes they're like, Hey, I love your clothes.
23:53
Can I get an endorsement or they just wear it For me, it's like
23:57
this is kind of such a rare, unique style that will pop.
24:02
And I think that it's going to naturally just kind of catch on
24:05
fire. But in the meantime, I will
24:10
reach out to those people and, and see if they want to do a
24:12
deal and whether it's equity or royalty or this.
24:16
Like you see the glove, like the the glove that I sang, even my
24:20
gloves are going to be one of one.
24:22
Like I have an artist based out here in Colorado.
24:25
He's going to make one specifically for this brand.
24:29
And then we'll have our logo here and like, it's going to be
24:32
dope. And, and when, when have you
24:34
ever seen a glove like that ever?
24:36
It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist.
24:38
It's so cool. Well, and it, it kind of it, it
24:42
helps the whole thing because again, you're going to, if this
24:44
is women's golf and then it's this and then it's this.
24:46
And I, I think we're again, like your asset of like just you, you
24:51
know, ultimately like you're the guy behind.
24:53
And so that as, as much as it blows up, so do you.
24:56
And so now, you know, everyone knows Rico, Oh, he's from, from
25:00
the golf brand. But then that pivots into a
25:02
another TV show that pivots into a record daily.
25:05
Can you sing and dance? What's going on?
25:08
I can dance, I definitely Can't Sing.
25:11
Fun fact, I've won, I've won 7 competitions in Spanish dancing.
25:17
Really. 7 competition Spanish dancing.
25:20
Wow. No one really knows that because
25:24
I don't have a dating profile. So that's I would put that on a
25:26
dating profile if I had one. But yeah, like salsa, merengue,
25:32
like that's, you know, I'm Puerto Rican.
25:33
My mom, my mom taught me. You want to hear a funny story?
25:36
Yeah. Embarrassing.
25:38
Embarrassing, embarrassing. So I grew up watching my parents
25:42
dance. My mom taught me how to dance.
25:45
Like, I was good, like, growing up young.
25:48
And there's this girl from my high school, like an exchange
25:51
studio for Venezuela. And I was like, enamored with
25:54
her. I was like, oh, and we're
25:56
speaking Spanish. And I'm like, oh, you know, you
25:58
know, Merengue, Elvis Crespo. Then she's like, yeah, of
26:01
course. So my friend was having a party,
26:04
and I was like, I'm going to show off.
26:06
I'm going to like, I'm going to just show everyone the gangster
26:09
skills. So the song Suavemente comes up
26:13
and you have to dance to that. So she and I start dancing,
26:17
dancing. I'm purely up.
26:19
And she's like confused. She's confused.
26:23
And I'm like, what's up? And she's like, she's like, you
26:26
don't want to lead? And I'm like, what are you
26:27
talking about? When my mom taught me, she LED.
26:32
Yeah. LED she she showed me how to be
26:34
the chick. She showed me how to Oh my God,
26:38
I was so Oh my what the what the fuck?
26:40
I was so, yes, I was so. Angry.
26:45
So how did it end? Did she did she show you how to
26:47
leave? Was she like she grabbed your
26:48
hand like I was given here? I was able to adapt for sure,
26:52
But I went home and I was like, mom, what the fuck?
26:55
Like what? Like my dad said, oh, yeah, your
26:57
mom likes to leave. But my dad LED.
26:59
But he's like, yeah. And I was, it was so
27:02
embarrassing. But like, it was just, it was
27:04
humbling at the same time. Was it was it was funny, but
27:07
damn, she set me up for failure on that one because I was trying
27:10
to just impress. But it's funny because she and I
27:14
ended up being good friends and doing those competitions and
27:17
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28:35
It's amazing, man. That's so cool.
28:37
I love that. You know, as you're growing this
28:40
brand and you're talking about sleepless nights and the
28:42
contagion of like an idea. Is that my favorite part?
28:46
Zero to 1 is my favorite part because it is this volcano of
28:50
energy. And then there's doubt.
28:52
And that starts chiseling in. And when you wake up that
28:55
morning, you're like, oh, yeah, I'm really doing this, OK.
28:57
Or when you go to sign that check and you're like, whoa, OK,
29:00
we're really doing this. Like, how do you balance that?
29:04
How do you harmonize that kind of doubt in your mind?
29:07
I, I'm OK, I, I've been broke so many times, but it's, it's, it's
29:11
not that it's comfort. It's just that I've been there,
29:14
you know, it's just, it's, it's, it's stresses people out.
29:18
But mentally, if you don't let us stress, you know, like the
29:21
universe is just looking out for you.
29:23
Like I've been up and down hardcore.
29:25
I've made a lot of money and I've lost a lot of money.
29:28
I've had a lot of money stolen from me.
29:30
I was done with money back in the day, you know, like where
29:32
I'm like, oh, if I can go back in time, which is something we
29:35
all say. But one thing I will never not
29:37
do is not full send. Like I will always go all in.
29:42
Like, you know, my mom be like, oh, you should just work 9:00 to
29:44
5:00 and you know, save money and whatever.
29:47
It's just not built to me at all, not built to me at all at
29:51
all. Like it's just I cannot not go
29:54
all in and and risk and then lose, lose or win.
29:58
But you know, for me it's I don't mind gambling.
30:02
Like let's just say I'm, I'm a tech like I'm a stock in the
30:05
stock market. I'll put money in and I'll lose
30:07
and I'll gain. So I definitely invest in
30:10
myself. And if I have a supporting cast
30:13
that that will take it to the next level.
30:15
If I have a lot of people saying like this is it and making
30:19
connections, then it build it keeps my momentum up as well.
30:23
If I go all in, spend a lot of money and everyone's just taking
30:27
it and not putting it back, that just will burn to the ground.
30:30
You know, that's just showing me it's not there.
30:32
But with the golf clothing brand, every like every guy
30:38
friend of mine that shows it to his wife or girlfriend,
30:41
whatever, they're like this is it.
30:44
Like they're just, they're like waiting for it.
30:47
They're just like, I'll be the first ones to buy.
30:48
I'm going to actually plug my laptop in before it dies.
30:51
Please. Yeah, you know, and there it's
30:54
probably tempting to put up a landing page and do some
30:56
pre-orders, be like, all right, well let's see, what are we
30:59
thinking, $800? Go ahead and do that.
31:03
Yeah, the 100. Dollars.
31:06
Do it when you think, OK, let's talk about the I love his
31:09
position. Like I said, zero to 1 and it
31:11
speaking about team, you know, talk about the manufacturing and
31:17
the shipping and all that. Does that become third party?
31:19
Is that overseas? And then if you're thinking
31:21
about your next 3 or 4 hires, like as the brand picks up
31:25
steam, like what those roles will be.
31:27
Yeah. So great question.
31:29
So I have a company that I work with that has history and
31:34
experience in working with manufacturers in Pakistan or
31:38
China or or wherever the Philippines.
31:42
They have set relationships. So they do a lot of the, they
31:45
help me with the design, creating a tech pack, changing
31:49
this, moving this, move this, that it up pleaded over here the
31:52
the squirt, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
31:55
Then they send it to their manufacturer.
31:57
We get samples. When the samples come in, I'll
32:01
give it to whoever to try it out, you know, wash it, see how
32:04
it work, you know, all that kind of stuff.
32:06
Make a couple changes. Then the MOQ like the minimal
32:10
order, let's say it's 100 skirts or 1000, then that's the check
32:14
that I write where it's like, if it's 100 skirts at $35 a skirt,
32:18
then that's 3500 bucks right there for one size or mix of
32:22
sizes. And, and that's where it starts,
32:24
right? So you sell those and use that
32:27
money and that you just keep revolving and seeing what works,
32:30
seeing what doesn't. Like there's ones that are like
32:33
super sharp designs that I, I'm going to love and there's ones
32:35
that I'm going to like full like risk on, you know, like ones
32:39
that are out there just to see if people love it or not.
32:42
So that's kind of the, the, and they do all the shipping, they
32:45
do the returns, they'll manage the Shopify, the website, all
32:49
that kind of stuff. And I pay a premium for them to
32:52
handle stuff. I could make more money just
32:54
doing it on my own, But that's, that's not my lane.
32:58
My lane is growing the brand, making relationships, getting it
33:01
out there, creating social media this doing content.
33:06
That's my lane. I'd rather pay more for someone
33:08
to handle this all that you know, beautifully than than
33:12
myself. So like I will make less money,
33:15
but I don't care. Like I want to just grow the
33:17
brand. That's that's my MO.
33:20
Yeah, golf class society too. It really speaks to what the
33:24
kind of brand standards are going to be.
33:26
When you see it on that landing page, when somebody sees it on
33:29
Instagram and they follow it to the Instagram page and they go
33:32
to the shopping, what does it look like?
33:33
What's the look and feel of the brand?
33:35
So the websites getting built right now and tell me this isn't
33:39
gangster, OK, I'm going to have five different models of
33:44
different heights, sizes, builds.
33:47
They're going to where the small, medium and large and
33:51
we're gonna do video like in a white room of them walking,
33:56
swinging, laughing, being mad, like just spinning.
34:02
So when you type in your size like you're female, you're like,
34:06
I'm 100, whatever I'm, you know, I'm 5, whatever.
34:10
It's gonna match you up with the closest model to your body type,
34:15
so you could see what it looks like wearing a small, medium and
34:19
large nice from them. Yeah, that's great.
34:23
And. Like, let's go wait, lots of
34:26
work, lots of work to do this. But guess what?
34:29
I got the supporting cast, I got models, I got all this kind of
34:31
stuff. People love the idea of being
34:35
able to see the person that's closest to you, like size wise,
34:40
wearing all sizes. So then you're like, oh, that's
34:43
it, we're good. Let's go send less returns.
34:47
You know, you, you could see. And what's funny is the video's
34:50
gonna be of them swinging. Yeah.
34:51
Walking, laughing, being angry, having a drink.
34:57
You know, it's gonna be like, literally like what you do on a
35:00
golf course for in real life. And that does not exist.
35:04
Yeah, it when you're thinking about sizing small, medium,
35:06
large, you're gonna go with that cuz aren't women's sizes like 0
35:10
all over? Yeah, I mean, well, that's the
35:13
thing. Like if, if, if there's XXL, I'm
35:15
going to spend $3500 for to sell two of them, right.
35:18
Three of them, right. So like for me, it's like since
35:20
we're starting off. Yeah.
35:22
I need, I need data analytics like I need to see what, like,
35:28
who is buying it, right? Like what if, what if it's
35:31
nothing but small and I ordered medium and large and no one's
35:35
wearing it Like it's it's that I spent $7000 to not sell that.
35:41
So like, I think at the beginning it's going to be like
35:44
the top three skirt designs, polar designs, full outfit.
35:49
I'm doing accessories as well. Like really set like girls bring
35:53
their purses to the golf course gets messy, dirty this Instead,
35:57
why don't we have a high end like bag lot of space, nice soft
36:03
on the inside, looks classy. They can just attach to your
36:05
golf bag, you know, like, just things like that.
36:08
Is, is kind of what we're, we're trying to accomplish, you know,
36:11
But yeah, it's, it's, I mean, again, you could just tell like
36:15
my mind's already, my mind's already there.
36:18
But it's going to be a big investment to begin with.
36:20
And the world's going to tell us what they like, you know?
36:25
Yeah, well, I mean, the the designs, you have so many and
36:29
there's such a thread that runs through it.
36:31
Like the brand is like very clear even from the it's infancy
36:34
here. And also the the the cuts are
36:37
really flattering. You know what I mean?
36:38
I can see like a lot of different body types looking
36:40
great in this. I'm like I'm I'm sending you
36:43
some other wild ones here. Now the the tech stack that you
36:50
made these mock ups is unbelievable because it's like,
36:53
you know, AI models and it it just, I mean, we're in a wild
36:57
age of AI video, which will just become ubiquitous and no time,
37:01
you know, what kind of tech stack are you using to kind of
37:03
like actualize your designs If in the.
37:06
Past you think of a fashion. Designer, they have a, a
37:08
watercolor pad and they're like, you know, sketching out some,
37:12
some dainty silhouette. How did how did you go about it?
37:15
So I just did a million hours of research of, of, of clothing
37:21
brands all over the world. Like I'd be like clothing brand
37:25
in Japan, clothing brand in, in Europe.
37:28
Like I just looked at and every single clothing company from
37:32
Louis Vuitton to Gucci to Ralph Lauren, like you name it, every
37:36
single, I went through every single page, every single page
37:39
from like the companies that just came out to companies that
37:42
have been out there forever. And there's certain cuts like
37:46
pleated this that like, and I do research.
37:50
I ask every single girl, like a female friend of mine, what do
37:53
you love? What do you hate?
37:55
What, what's your height? What?
37:56
OK, what's the skirt length that you like?
37:58
What do you like? I did all this research, a lot
38:02
of research and the uniqueness like half pleaded, half not like
38:08
the, the, the secret pocket on the right side and the, you
38:11
know, all these little intricacies, you know, or like
38:15
the one with the little strap on the side.
38:16
Like ads like this, like sexy, like tease.
38:20
OK. Like can you swing in it?
38:22
Is it, can you run in it? Are you comfortable in it?
38:25
All that stuff I drew out like I took a lot of the things I like.
38:29
I drew out my own design. Like on the whiteboard, I would
38:33
take a picture of it, upload it to any AI app and ask it to
38:38
create A and you have to be hyper descriptive in your
38:43
prompt. Like make it hat pleaded, but
38:45
there. So then I like little higher on
38:47
the leg da da da da da using this image, this image and this
38:51
image and then combine it. And then you gotta ask the AI
38:54
app to change it cuz it's gonna do something.
38:56
So it'll be like, hey, add the word golf class society.
38:58
And then it adds like, you know, letters this big.
39:01
I'm like make, you know, so those little tweaks and I'll
39:05
save it. And, you know, the same thing
39:07
with the caller. Yeah.
39:08
You know, like I like the the Mandorian.
39:12
Mandorian. It's like, it's more like a like
39:15
a something like this. Like it's more like Asian.
39:18
Like it's like like this. That's not a full caller, but
39:21
you could wear it on the golf course.
39:22
Yeah. Just things like that.
39:23
Is is what I'm trying to do and I'm like sending you stuff well.
39:27
I know it's gorgeous, man. You know, one thing that's
39:30
really interesting too is I always like parameters in
39:33
creativity. Being completely free is is a
39:35
lot harder than if you have some guardrails and golf, you know,
39:39
obviously you got to wear collar probably depending on where you
39:42
are, you got to be pretty close to the shoulder.
39:45
You know, it, it is a, a conservative kind of dress, but
39:49
also it has this like history of like really wild fashion,
39:54
whether it's like Plaid or bright colors, white belts.
39:58
And you know, I mean, it's like it, it, it, it, it contains
40:01
within those parameters, like all of this creativity and
40:05
opportunity for improvisation. So when what were some important
40:09
limiting factors like you talked about, like the collar course?
40:12
Can you swing in it like you got to be able to?
40:15
Play What were some others? For me, like, of course, like
40:20
it, it really is translating confidence into the female
40:24
golfer. What they feel good in what they
40:26
feel good in active. Can you run in it?
40:29
Can it breathe like and again, all these little factors are
40:32
things I take into consideration the color, what can you like
40:36
There's certain rules in golf. Don't get me wrong.
40:38
There's golf courses that don't care at all.
40:41
And then there's private courses, a lot of private
40:43
courses that you have to have a standard.
40:45
Yeah, they don't want, they don't want the riffraff, they
40:47
don't want untouched shirts and this and they don't.
40:50
That's just not the etiquette. See that they pay a lot of money
40:54
to have. So there are definitely
40:57
parameters of what you have to wear.
40:59
And we will do mostly things that are to par, like to, to
41:03
make sure that they could do all those things.
41:05
But we'll do, we'll do vintage, we'll do like class of O5, We'll
41:09
do some really cool stuff. Like, I mean, half, half my
41:12
stuff is like futuristic sometimes.
41:14
But for me it's like the society is going to be like, Hey, we
41:17
love this, we love this design more of this, don't like that.
41:21
And then it'll shift. And then sometimes I won't even
41:24
care. I'm just going to send it and
41:25
just take that that risk and then see what happens.
41:28
So, but again, I'm getting a lot of positive, like everyone I
41:33
send it to, they're like Yup, Yup, Yup, Yup.
41:36
There's not much like you should change this.
41:39
So that's what feels good. It's amazing.
41:42
Now there's a lot of investors that listen to this show.
41:47
Is there opportunity here? When would be a a time and will
41:49
you let us know if there's an opportunity?
41:53
You know, it's, I will talk to anyone now.
41:56
You know, I think once they see it, then they're they're going
41:59
to see it. And then not only are they going
42:01
to like, love the design, they're going to love the fact
42:04
that the time is now. The, the crazy growth of women
42:08
into golf is, is it's going to be 7 million new female golfers
42:13
getting into it now. And there's, there's nothing
42:17
like what I'm doing here in the States.
42:19
So the opportunities like there with an investor, the one thing
42:24
that I could do is more like more different designs and that
42:30
would be off. Like that would take it to the
42:32
next level because for me, I could do 7 designs going to be
42:34
an investment of maybe 30-40 K, right?
42:37
But with an investor who wants to see it grow, then we could do
42:40
a lot more and bring people in and have our think tanks and do
42:45
all this kind of stuff. But like, I'm punching out crazy
42:49
awesome designs and like, I'm just hearing like, and again, I
42:52
asked my female friends at golf who buy Aloe, who buy Lulu and
42:57
they're just like, this is it. They're like, just just let us
43:00
know. Just let us know.
43:01
They didn't even ask. Like, hey, it's going to be
43:03
like, it's going to be probably the price point of Aloe, if not
43:05
more, but it's going to be so unique.
43:08
You're going to get 10 times more compliments wearing that.
43:11
I already foresee the the content that I'm going to be
43:14
doing. So it's I'm excited like again,
43:17
this is I wake up and if it's stuff I'm not golfing, I'm
43:20
thinking about this. It's absolutely incredible,
43:23
Rico, This has been such a fun conversation.
43:27
I had good energy this morning. Yeah, you're omnipresent online.
43:30
What's the best place that people can connect with you
43:32
online? I would say either my website,
43:35
which is Rico leon.com, or my Instagram.
43:38
My Instagram would be #1 it's just Rico rescues.
43:42
Send me a message. If you want to know more about
43:44
the clothing line or even see some samples before it even gets
43:47
out there, definitely hit me up. But yeah, it's right now it's
43:50
like semi in the DL when it comes to putting it out there.
43:53
But I mean, it's I'm just itching to kind of show everyone
43:57
because, you know, but then again, I'm going to see like a
44:00
bunch of companies be like copy paste, full set and you know,
44:03
the people that have the money. So I want to make sure it's, you
44:06
know, here before. Before that, well, such a cool
44:09
time and you know, you, you launch 3-4 months give or take,
44:12
you know, that puts you right in, in firing range for a
44:16
Christmas season, you know, with pre-orders and, and you know,
44:19
shipping, you know, so maybe we'll have you back after the
44:22
holiday and see how, how the launch went.
44:24
Man this has been so cool. Excited.
44:27
Thanks again man. Thank you.
44:29
Good to see you, brother. Have a good one.
44:31
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