Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #15 | Eric Franco

Transcript

#15 | Eric Franco · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: What's going on y'all?
0:00
SPEAKER_02: It's Zeus with Corpus Christi Originals.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: In this podcast episode, we had the pleasure of having Eric Franco.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: Eric is the owner of Texas Arena Fitness, part owner of Only Wolves Clothing Brand, and Only Wolves uh NFT.
0:12
SPEAKER_02: If you're interested in this podcast, stay tuned.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Can you hear me okay?
0:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:18
SPEAKER_02: What's going on, Eric?
0:19
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: What's going on, man?
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Happy to be here.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: Alright, yeah.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: So how'd you feel when we first invited you on to the show?
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Um like we talked about earlier.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: I saw uh Corpus Christi Originals and I I was immediately intrigued.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh the style, like the vibe, the energy of it kind of pulled me in.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: So whenever I got invited on, I was like, dude, hell yeah.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: I I would love to share some stuff with some other Corpus natives, of course.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited, I'm intrigued.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh what what schools did you go to here in Corpus?
0:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me see.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh elementary, that's funny.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh Elementary, I went to Fanton Elementary, and then and Fannon was awesome.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: I have like little fond memories of being elementary.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: That's funny that you asked that.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: I was actually talking about this the other day.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what schools do we all go to?
1:16
SPEAKER_01: And um, but I went to Fannon, and then I went to South Park Middle School, um, and then I went to Moody High School.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I was I graduated from Moody.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, bro.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: You Moody folks, man.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: You guys you guys put on the ground for sure.
1:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, why do you like why do you laugh about it?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: No, where did you go to high school?
1:42
SPEAKER_02: I went to uh Ray for three years, dropped out, graduated from Miller.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you and Ray.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have a lot of friends from Ray, have a lot of friends from actually my best friends, my best friends, like these guys are were in my wedding, you know what I mean?
1:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I met them when I was five years old at Fannon Elementary, and they are my friends this whole time.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: So, shout out to the bros.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Love y'all, and I hate y'all, and I want to choke y'all, but hug y'all at the same time.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's real interesting to me, bro, because I I saw some of your pictures.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Y'all had some uh wrestling uh party or something.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: That was live, bro.
2:22
SPEAKER_02: That was live.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: I was like, what the hell, man?
2:25
SPEAKER_02: This is sweet.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, real quick, hold on, go, go, go, go finish, finish, finish, finish.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: No, I I just think it's cool to have that that kind of fellowship, you know, brothership with somebody for that long period of time, you know what I mean?
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and I and I stress that so much to people because you know, some people are less fortunate to have these strong bonds with people, and um, you know, some people have like relationships.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, my my wife I consider, you know, she's like one of my best friends, and I'm in love with her.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: So, but my best friends, man, I have this bond with them where it's they're my brother for for life.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny about that, it's funny you brought that you brought up that wrestling thing.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh, quick story.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: I okay, so like I really don't watch wrestling a lot now.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: So if you notice, like, I mean, I was Macho Man Madness, bro.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, that that's way back in the day when it was when, in my opinion, when I enjoyed wrestling a lot more uh when I was a kid growing up.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: So Macho Man's always been someone where I just felt like, yo, if someone popped up as Macho Man, I think that would be super gnarly.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, so uh that's cool.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: It's funny.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh my birthday came up, and and you know, me and my wife, we do everything together.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: She's like, uh, what do you want to do for your birthday?
3:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, man, I don't want anything.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: I just let's just go away somewhere, take a trip, and hang out.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, No, I gotta I'll do something.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I and I I love surprises, I really do.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you tell me I got something for you, I'm like, okay, don't tell me.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: Wait, like I love the suspense.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why, it's weird, but I love it.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: And uh my wife's like, well, I gotta tell you.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, please don't tell me.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: She's like, no, I'm throwing you a wrestling party.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, got quiet in the car, and I'm like, oh my god, you messed up.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is gonna be badass.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: So I immediately, like a child, call my friends of like, oh my god, my wife told me a wrestling party.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: You guys gotta dress up, they're like, dude, of course, of course.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: So right away, I was like, Oh macho man, no one's macho man, let me be macho man.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: So it was my wife's idea, which was I'm super impressed, and she gets major points for it.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh my god, I like you're the you're the best ever.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: But but I mean it's yes, I'm very grateful for it.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: And then I immediately told her, like, I started thinking about the party.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you know, what what what do I don't want to happen?
4:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, first off, I didn't want someone to go through my table.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, like I don't want someone to power bomb someone in my table.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, do that.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: And then another thing, uh yeah, like and some of my friends, they're heavy into wrestling still, so I was like, please do not, please know when to start like front front yard backyard wrestling and go off the top rope off like my roof or something.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh my god.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: So sure enough, some of my homies brought like like you know those silver tin cans like for barbecues, like so they could hit each other.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, dude.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: And then uh, and then also I was like, I told my wife, I was like, please do not buy me a wrestling cake.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: She's like, what do you mean?
5:20
SPEAKER_01: I was like, don't buy me a cake, like a wrestling ring cake, yeah.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, like 30-year-old man.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't want no like blown out candles, like a little happy birthday with a little ring.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't want to do that.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: She was like, I was gonna buy you a cake.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: I was like, don't buy me a cake, don't do that, don't don't do that.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Like it's drinks and and just buy me some pizza or something to eat.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, man, it was it was really cool.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And and going back to you know that bond, my bros have been saying for years, like we need to do a wrestling theme party, and no one ever did it.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: So finally, I'm like, Yeah, man, I I gotta do this.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I was feeling pretty cool, man.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm just out of here at my house.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh your son was in there, he was uh cactus jack.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: Was it cactus jack?
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he was he was so it was so funny.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Every time I get these ideas, I tell my son, I'm like, hey man, I don't need you to wear this wig or where this and he's so he's so excited.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah, yeah, I'm down.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: And then when it comes to putting the wig on him, I immediately start laughing.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, and I'm wearing a wig too, so we're both like, yeah, man, like and he's like, shut up, take it off, take it off, everyone get out of my room.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, chill out.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: So and my wife, my wife puts a wig on up, and we just start following around with the kid with the phone and we're recording him.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: He's just like running around my house with a wig on, and he was so mad until he was like, Everyone out of my room, get out, take this wig off me.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And then as soon as like all the homies and everyone started coming over, yeah, he noticed like everyone was dressed up.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: He was like, you just see this kid like walk out.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: He just like sits there with this big old wig, and he was like, Hey, what's up?
6:59
SPEAKER_01: Like eating pizza, it's hilarious, dude.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: And like, I'm like, what happened?
7:03
SPEAKER_01: He's like, he was like, nothing.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: I just I don't care anymore.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I don't care about nothing.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and I'm sitting there on my wig and I'm sitting there too.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, totally, man.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, he was cactus jack, it was awesome.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: And your wife, your wife knows that you're a big goofball.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bad.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: I think I I think I want her over that way.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I don't know why she gave me a chance.
7:28
SPEAKER_02: Crazy, bro.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: She's beautiful, so and you've known her, you've known her for years.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty cool.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've I've known my wife for years.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: I known my wife a couple years before we actually even dated.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: So we built a bond, built a friendship, and then eventually fell in love, and then uh got super lucky.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: That's what's now we're married, so she's not going nowhere.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: Locked her down.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what's up.
7:52
SPEAKER_02: That's cool, man.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so before you started, so which was the first business?
7:58
SPEAKER_02: Was it the the the fitness?
8:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh Texas Arena Straight and Fitness was my first one.
8:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh and before that, what were you doing before that?
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh man, I uh I had a crazy job.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: I used to work at the American Bank Center and I was like a parking attendant.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: I hated it.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: That was the first time I ever tried coffee in my life.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't drink coffee.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: That was the first time I drank coffee and and and I was in uh I was a parking attendant, so you know, like rain, heat, whatever.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm out there, right?
8:30
SPEAKER_01: And they put me in the furthest parking space, and uh it was freezing.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: It was probably like 13 degrees outside.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh I remember calling, you know, like the manager had like a walkie-talkie, and I was like, bro, do y'all got any like hot, hot like chocolate?
8:44
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, No man, we have coffee.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I've never had coffee in my life, so I was like, just bring it.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Is it hot?
8:50
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah, if you drink it, it's gonna warm you up.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, dude, please hurry up.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: So he brings it, and he's like in a golf cart all bundled up, and he gives me the coffee, and I I literally took like two sips, and I'm like, man, this is pretty good.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: And he's driving away, and I'm like, my stomach, dude.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: My stomach starts rumbling so bad.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh my god, oh my god, I'm like, please, Cold Brown, pick me up.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: He's like, he's like, he's like, Eric, what are you talking about?
9:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, dude, I'm gonna crab my pants, pick me up, and like, like, mind you, I'm like a whole football field away from our office or like the like where we go and like hang out before we go out to work.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh my god, turn around, all these cars are in the way.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm like in the golf, a little golf cart, like freezing.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, please, I'm gonna crap my pants up in the fire, dude.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, yeah, I'm never drinking coffee again.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh but yes, that's like last time I drink coffee.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: But that was the first time um I used to work, I used to work uh at Dominican Bank Center's parking attendant.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: I used to work at the Dollar Tree.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Um and then um I got into fitness.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, I started mixed martial arts first, and I was fighting in MMA, and I had all these ambitions to fight in the MMA.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I also and that's like a huge like my MMA like time when I was doing mixed martial arts, that's where like I found out who I was and uh and and who I wanted to be.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: And uh I found out how I am with diversity and and trials and tribulations.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: I found out through mixed martial arts, I found friendships and bonds, and uh I actually graduated from Del Mar uh from the Fire Academy before I was 21.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: So and when I graduated, I knew that I wanted to be a firefighter.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: So I was in high school and I knew I wanted to be a firefighter.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: I I actually was fighting while I was in high school too.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: I was doing MMA, I was doing boxing as well.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: And I always loved fitness, but I didn't want to be like put all my eggs in one basket.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna go to school.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna be a firefighter, and firefighting uh is honestly the only other job I would ever do in the rest of my life.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Like I absolutely love firefighting.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: And um when I graduated, I I was living with my dad, and uh I told my dad, hey, I graduated.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: He was like, oh man, I was like, Yeah, all my stuff comes in, I gotta do like a little ceremony.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm actually uh a firefighter and an EMT.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: So at the time we didn't have to be a paramedic as well to get like a job and everything.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: So I was an EMT and firefighter.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: I graduated, and he was like, All right, well, you know, get the hell out, go get a job.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, go work.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, yeah, and I'm like, uh, I'm like, well, hold up.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: He's like, what?
11:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, like I want to be a uh a mixed martial artist.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Eric, good God.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: He's like, please, please.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: I was like, just give me two years.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: At the time, I I was turning, I was 20 years old, so when I graduated, and I was like, I can't work anyways 21.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yes, you can.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: He's like, you can be like a EMT and get a side job.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I know myself and I know my personality when I'm in it, I'm all the way in it.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: So when I was doing MMA and I was like, man, I really want to give this a shot.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: And um he was like, you know, I was like, give me two years, Dad.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'll do anything.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: I'll take the kids to school, I'll cook, I'll clean, I'll I'll do anything.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, just give me two years.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: Like two years, if I don't make nothing happen or do something or something, don't get something out of it, I'll just go back and be a firefighter.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a win-win for me.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'll be 22.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: So he's like, all right, man, well, he's like, you better do something with it.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: So you know, I I started training, and uh this is when it all kind of comes together.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: Where I have this buddy of mine, uh Chris Garley, he's again one of those best friends I was talking about, one of my best friends, and he um he's like, Man, we need somewhere to train.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: I said, Absolutely.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: So we're here in corpus training, and I told him, I was yeah, I got two years, man.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I'm gonna give this up and I'm gonna be a firefighter.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, All right.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: So this place called Pro Performance uh Training Center opened up years ago, man.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: At the time, I'll say I'm barely turning 21 now.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: And um I had a place to train, I had just trades conditioning, uh, you know, I had sparring, I had rolling, and um I was trying to be like a you know black sheep of MMA here in corpus.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to train with anyone else, I wanted to do it on my own.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: I was being prideful and all that stuff, whatever.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: So we start fighting, and uh, you know, I win my first couple fights there, and the owner there uh offers me a job, you know, to teach like kickboxing or boxing or something like that.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember anymore.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: Or it's like do a strength conditioning class, like a circuit class, and I was like, man, I'm not certified in anything.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the guy believed in me, you know, helped me out, uh, get raised some money, and I started getting my certifications, everything for training, stuff like that.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: And right there, my fight game or my desire to be like the world's greatest fighter or whatever started to diminish because I fell in love just with helping people, yeah.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And through fitness, like you can help anyone, man.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: And and I just fell in love with it, just like actually helping someone, like someone driving away in their car and be like, Man, today was cool, like Eric really helped me out, and now I feel a little more confident about myself.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: That that was like the biggest reward ever for me.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: So um, that's when I started thinking about man, I want to open up my own place.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: So I think I worked at Pro Performance for two or three years, and uh after that, I just man, I saved up some money.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I went through some hell to save that money.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: I got burnt over, crossed over, lied to.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: I went broke.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: I man, I I just find me, man, like to save some kind of money to make something happen.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: And uh can you hear me?
14:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, cool.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so I opened up my first spot down Holly Road and it was like 1300 square feet.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Um man, it was just concrete, a couple racks, a couple of dumbbells, a couple barbells, and plates, and we got into that.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: We started we started grinding, man.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had a partner at the time.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh he he he he he actually went off and did his own thing.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh during that time we were super blessed, man.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: It was it was I was scared, man.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Like I was super scared, but the grind, man, just never stop.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: I always felt like fear is a good thing.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh why were you scared?
15:34
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, why were you scared?
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh well I had this thing where if I say I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And I and I and I it don't matter what it is.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: If I say you I'm playing tick-tac-toe for the rest of my life, pay tick-the-toe, I don't care.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: But uh, so whenever I started, and again, back to me, like my personality is like I'm I'm all the way in it.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: I didn't well, I I didn't want to be I didn't want to be the guy that said he was gonna do it, and then you know, you saw me a month later, and I and I was that was I failed.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: Right?
16:10
SPEAKER_01: I I I was just scared, I was so scared to fail, so scared that people wouldn't believe me.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: I was so scared like that I would actually able, I was actually able to convince someone to give me money to help them work out.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And and um and you know, in those three years that I was working uh at Pro Performance, I already generated or built kind of like a small little following, I want to say, of people that actually believed in me and and I did really good things with them, and they did really good things for me.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: So when I opened up, when I finally announced I'm open, people started to like, all right, man, I'm going to you, I'm going to your place anyways, and thank God for them.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And thank God for like this opportunity, man.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: I just saw it and I went for it.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: So I was so scared to fail.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: I was just super scared to fail, man.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: I was I was scared to spend money, I was scared to put money in different places.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: I I I was terrified, man.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: It just made me work so hard.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: It just like slept like four hours a day, got up, back to the grind.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: I it was it was wild, it was so wild.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, man, I was just scared to fail.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: I was scared to lose people's interest.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it just takes one person to be like, nah, he's wasting my time.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: And then for that person to talk, tell someone else, that person tells someone else, and before you know it, I'm out of business.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: So broke again.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: But I was I was broke, like when I opened up, I was I was broke for for a while.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: I and I feel like that's the that's the norm for small business owners for a little bit.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, man, I was scared, just scared to fail.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's tough.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, people you're involved with people, and then you want to, yeah, I understand, man.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: You want to not you want to please them in a way to where like they like the product, I guess you can say they like the service, right?
17:52
SPEAKER_02: You just want to be you want to serve well, and and when you serve well, that's when the uh the reward comes, you know.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like going to a restaurant, you go to a restaurant and you don't receive service, you're like, dude, what the heck?
18:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm here to I mean not that you're you're arrogant, like, oh, you need to serve no, but I mean I need a fork, you know, I need a fork to eat, you know what I mean?
18:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh no, you're absolutely right.
18:14
SPEAKER_02: So it's like you're putting yourself out there, man, especially uh you're just putting yourself out there because you you you are you, you know what I mean?
18:23
SPEAKER_02: And we have the and a lot of us have that fear too, you know what I mean?
18:27
SPEAKER_02: And like I was saying earlier, some of us don't act upon it because we're so afraid.
18:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know what I mean?
18:33
SPEAKER_02: There's risk.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: There's a risk.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: There's a um a thing, there's like a quote or a saying that I've always stuck by, and it's uh the reason why people don't shoot for what they want or don't go big is because they're embarrassed or afraid to be seen at the bottom.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: And that alone will make you crumble.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: And I remember I'd be I remember telling people I don't care if if I live in a box.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: I I don't care.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: I'll live in a cardboard box for this.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do this, and I'm and I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out a way to be successful through from what I said, because I said so.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: And my pride alone will allow me, man.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: It's a double-edged sword to live by, but my pride alone was one tool that I had in my you know, emotional and mental being that pushed me along to like I care about sleep.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: I didn't care about, you know, I didn't I I wasn't I was scared to fail, but I didn't care about who saw me struggle because I knew that through this struggle would would blossom this beauty of success.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: And uh not that I am the most successful person, but I have success from it.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: And it was from that struggle that helped mode my mind now.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: I feel like my mind has uh become hardened.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: My my my I'm I'm a lot more fortress now in my mind.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: I I things don't scare me the same anymore.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh a little struggle can build some character.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: For sure, bro.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's the only way they get there if you keep trying, failing, trialing, failing.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, failing is just a normal part of life.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's a teacher.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: Definitely me.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: Man, so that's that's awesome.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: So you got your your gym going 2015.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
20:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh so when did so you had the clothing brand, like the next year?
20:17
SPEAKER_02: Is that when you started it?
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, so when I was fighting, okay, so yeah, like Only Wolves came on the next the next year that I made the gym, and I I was been I've been sitting on that plan since I was like in college.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: So uh a couple years later, I I had this sketch of Only Wolves like in in a old notepad of mine.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: And I I carry I have man, my my wife and I was like I have all these notepads around my house.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: I have like a dozen of them with all these crazy notes and sketches and things that I put down, otherwise I'll go crazy.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: And uh Only Wolves was in there.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: It was like one whole notebook of like hoodies and socks and hats and stuff like that that I always wanted to wear.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: And I always wanted to wanted to design.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: So a year after I opened up the arena, I was like, man, I really want to get into this, which is like probably not a good time because I had so much to juggle, but I'm glad I did it.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh just giving myself freaking migraines every day.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: But I did it and um but ended up becoming really cool.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: I remember the day I made one hoodie and I took a picture in it, and you know, I spilled my heart out on a caption, and I was like, man, only wolves.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: And my thing is like, you know, just like a wolf, we would have to adapt to its environment to survive.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: And so will we.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: So whenever I said that, I think that it connected a lot with people.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: People were like, man, like to survive, to adapt, to be an alpha, to hunt for yours, to defend for yours.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: And that's what only wolves, like the kind of mentality that lifestyle came from.
21:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: And uh I now I wanted pieces that you could put on your body to wear and represent that and have that same kind of family feeling of being a wolf, and no matter what.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: And it was cool, like lions, you know, lions.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: But a wolf is, I feel, it's a it's a pack, it's a it's a unified unit.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: It's not alone.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: Although, you know, this wolf is cool to travel alone, to travel forever, but knowing that throughout throughout this whole process, the whole life journey, it always has a pack to come back to, it always always has a family to come back to.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like wolves are like that.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: They're beautiful animals, man.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, but I've always been obsessed with them.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: So now only wolves is here, man.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: It's been cool.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: I I've done business literally across the world with that, with that.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: I've met people crazy, man.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Weird, awesome, creative minds from that clothing line.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: Got to meet different people, create clothes that people would, you know, call me for this day.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: They're like, yo, you guys still have this to talk.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, man, it's like two years ago I dropped that.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: We're still going, we're going forward.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Wow, man.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: But thanks for noticing, dude.
22:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, for sure.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: It it uh so it seems like you you didn't approach it like, oh, I want to start a brand and get it going.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: It's so it seemed like it came from a different place, which is interesting.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh it came from more like a how could I say like at first I didn't think of it like I'm gonna make this global brand.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's not, it's still a small business that it's still growing.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: These things take years to develop, which I've again I'm not not afraid to be seen at a at a small because I'll grow to I'll grow bigger, but um, but yeah, I never looked at it like I'm gonna grow this global brand.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to make something that if you knew me, and it was because I started alone first.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh if if you knew who I was, you knew you saw only wolves, you knew who I was, or you saw me, you know what only wolves is.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: So it was like an extension of me.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: And I thought it would be cool for me to wear it.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I didn't care about what anyone else thought.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: And then uh then I met man again, one of my best bros, Isaac.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh I remember one time he just I had like a pop-up to do uh for my homie Josh, Josh Winston, he's the one that owns uh good.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's like good merchandise good apparel.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: He's the one that does the the good uh the good festival for Noasis Brewery.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh shout out to Josh, man.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Dude's uh he's like a little brother to me.
24:15
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Um I I love that boy.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: He's he's the coolest, the coolest dude ever.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: And uh but I was doing a festival with Josh, and Isaac you know approached me.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey man, like you got someone to get down with you.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, nah, I'm doing this like on my own.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Well, let me just like help out.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, I mean I could use some help.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: So after that, man, he just came really cool and he had this amazing idea to like start branching out and making things better and bigger.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know, my mind was so stuck on you know the arena, uh, my my gym, and then a little bit on only wolves that I helped with another another mind and body to help develop you know more creations for only wolves.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: And then before I know him, man, I was calling him like, hey man, I need another brother on this thing.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: He was like, Absolutely, dude.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: So me and him clicked, and uh, I think God for Isaac, Isaac's one of the coolest, most stand-up 100% dudes I've ever met in my life.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: I call that guy and he'll be here drop and die, man.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: And me, same for him.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: I love him, I love Isaac, and uh I thank God for him helping me so much.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh then me and him just kind of took off.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: That's from meeting Isaac, that's when Only World kind of started to pick up a little bit more pace because I had another person to help me build and create.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: And uh no, we we just work like a two-headed monster, man.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: We just get going, so it was pretty cool.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: So is it it yeah, it's is it like uh so you added another another person just recently?
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Martin.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, cool.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: Is that is it like a how do y'all do that?
25:44
SPEAKER_02: Is it like a triple ownership or I mean Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: We all we all own it, uh, which means you know, we're all managers of the business.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're all you know, we all make sure we take the time to communicate on what we want to create, the aesthetic of the look.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh we recently just like erased a lot of old things to help uh rebrand.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh now we're thinking bigger.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Now we're thinking, okay, let's get going on a bigger looking brand.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, we have visions, uh ambitions to create a big brand.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: Like I do want to be in stores.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh I feel like Only Wolves does fit in um, you know, in maybe like a Paxson or maybe like a Tilly store or maybe something like that.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh I I really I really do or really do believe it does fit that vibe.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Um it looks real skate, it looks kind of surf, but it also looks like more mature depending on some of the products that we make.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: So Martin uh was it was crazy because before before I get to Martin, that's and this explains why Martin's very important.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh I was recently beginning really, really stressed out about it, about only wolves, because I feel you know that saying, like if you love something, let it go.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: And I was getting to that point with only wolves to where I felt like man, I'm just gonna give up.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: I I don't want to be, it's kind of stressing me out, and you know, I was gonna sell it.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna sell it to someone, and um, you know, I talked to my brother Isaac, and Isaac's like, man, you know, like I know I see you, man, I see you stressed, and I don't like you like that.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I kind of prayed on it, talked to my wife about it, and um, I was like, you know what?
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Let me I'm I'm freaking out.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: Maybe maybe I'm just like overwhelmed, and um because I felt like it should be, I feel like it should be better, like it should be bigger.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: And maybe, maybe it was me that was holding it back from what it could be.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: And so during this week, right?
27:42
SPEAKER_01: It was it was it was you know months ago that I was feeling like this.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: During this one week of feeling like this, you know, I started telling myself, like, man, we just need someone that could bring more of a visual to express and show what Only Wolves is through lifestyle.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: Because right now you have the image, you have images, and that's really cool.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I want to do better.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: I want to show people what only wolves really is and how it feels to like wear it and have to, you know, live in it, driving your car.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: If you're a parent, have kids, if you're a professional athlete, right?
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, if if you're a young teenager that's looking to play football or basketball or baseball or whatever, man, if you're a skater, surfer, whatever, uh uh biker, I I just wanted to show that Only Wolves just fits with anything and everyone.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, so then during this week of going through all that stress, uh uh my wife was at Sutra Photography, and shout out to Sutra, he's amazing.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Um uh we're at Sutra Photography, and uh Sucha's there, and he didn't even know that I owned only Wolves.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then Martin was there, and uh, I think they saw a picture of my wife wearing like a woman's jogger suit that me and Isaac designed.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh and he was like, Man, that that that jogger suit's pretty dope.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: But sutra, I think sutra's from like Europe or something, so like jogger suits are jogger sets are big for them.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Man, I love jogger sets, like that's that's my look.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: I love the feel.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I pop in sutra sutra photography like a couple days later, and he's like, Man, you own it?
29:18
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I can't even say anything.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I just I don't I don't hey guess what, guys?
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't like it's kind of weird.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh I was like, oh, by the way, I own only wolves.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, like yeah, like I don't think I'm anyone important.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, Yeah, man, I own it.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: And uh he was like, dude, you gotta give me one of those jogger sets.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, Martin comes out, he was like, bro, you own only wolves.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: Like, I've seen it.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, like man, bet.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, I appreciate y'all, you know, showing love because they were telling me some good things about it and giving me good feedback.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Man, I saw I came back with a gift.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: I you know, I gave him a set and I gave uh my homie Martin a hoodie, and uh just wanted to see if they liked it.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: And I love criticism, I love hearing it back, right?
29:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it just makes me elevate.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: So so Martin ended up, you know, we kind of vibed out a little bit on Only Wolves, and Martin uh does videography.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: He has like he's amazing with video content and bringing like art to life.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: And uh I thought it was really cool.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: So we had this we started like yelling, man.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: We're like, yo, we gotta do this, create this, and again, like how I start getting that business, and I'm like moving our hands, we're all talking and stuff like that.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: And and he's like, dude, he's like, let's sit down, let's talk, let's figure something out.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Right.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: So we start uh you know, vibing back and forth, and um man, I just we did some video content we put out and it hit, it was really, really cool.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a really great way to show lifestyle of only Wolves.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I was talking to my brother Isaac, and I was like, man, I feel like we're great together, but we don't, you know, I feel like it's a good thing to know your place.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not I'm not a know-it-all.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh I know that I have some really cool ideas that people like uh and and and people you know mess with, but uh I'm not a videography, uh I'm I'm not a great photographer.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: I I know my skill set, I know what I bring, and um I feel like if we're honest about what our skill set can bring, and and we meet this guy, and I'm like, dude, this dude's dope.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, if we had someone like that on the team, that'll help us build our brand a lot better.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: So and uh we ended up agreeing, called Martin up, and like, yo, man, like you wanna hop on and be an owner of this thing.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: He's like, man, he's like, let me think about it, like literally like a second later, okay.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: And so we start we start chopping up, and and now I'm wondering uh now that there's three of us, you know, we're fine at all pistons right now.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: So we kind of took a step back and we're about to do some really cool stuff right now.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna drop some really cool stuff.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh we do have like a cool corpus tee coming out, and then uh along with like shoes and like socks and hats and all this cool stuff.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: And you know, we've been reaching out to like other local brands too as well.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I hit you up.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: I remember I I was like, man, we definitely gotta do something with y'all.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: Like I would love to do something with you, like really cool corpus original, kind of like stuff like that, you know, slash only wolves collab, and you know, make a make a you know, get a venue, get a pop-up, get a lot of music, food, invite people, let them live life and love and laugh.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like we could really do something like that with you, uh, because it's a corpus native.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I know that there's a lot of corpus brands out here that I would hope to reach out to, or hope to organically uh connect with.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: So uh, and I love that when it's or when it's organic, you know it means something.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Um so I always kind of like wait for my opportunity or wait, you know, wait for the times right.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, I would hope to you know collab with these other people, but for right now, we definitely, you know, we definitely saw Corpus Origins really like, man, this is this is dope.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, man.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: So now there's three of us, three owners of Only Wolves, and uh, you know, it's me, Isaac Martin, and we got some fire coming out for Only Wolves, some cool brands and stuff like that.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited, man.
33:04
SPEAKER_02: Super excited.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: That's cool, man.
33:06
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome, bro.
33:07
SPEAKER_02: So you weren't, yeah, there's a lot of stuff in there, man.
33:09
SPEAKER_02: So you weren't really you weren't stressed out because of the workload.
33:12
SPEAKER_02: You just it seemed like you were stressed out for the brand's sake.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: Like I kind of I felt, you know, if I'm an owner, it's my responsibility to see what's going bad and what's going good.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: So I had to step back and be like, is it me?
33:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, is it that that that's that that sucks right now?
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, good god.
33:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, what happened?
33:33
SPEAKER_02: What happened to make like what did something happen to like make you start to stress out about it?
33:37
SPEAKER_02: Like, did you see the numbers?
33:39
SPEAKER_02: Like, which numbers were you looking at?
33:40
SPEAKER_02: Like, what the you know?
33:42
SPEAKER_01: It's so I have a you know, we have like a like a roadmap.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh I like uh, you know, if you don't write things down, and this is my opinion, if you don't write things down and get things step by step and try to do your best to stick to that plan, I feel like things are falling apart.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I had a plan to to you know maybe open up a store, like a local flagship store, or you know, maybe shoot my shot at getting into you know stores in the mall.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: And uh, we had those conversations.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: I had people reach out to me like to give them a portfolio, you know, of items that I've created, how much and things like that.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of how you get in.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: And then they'll be like, you know, provide me portfolio, how much you make, how much you charge, what does it cost for wholesale, and things like that, and then they could compare and see if it's worth it putting you in your store.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh, I think it was around like before COVID hit.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: COVID hit, I was like, holy shit, this sucks.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: I was like, who's gonna go buy clothes?
34:40
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, right?
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: No one's gonna do that.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Like, so I guess that kind of started distress.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh and man, as well as my business, man.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: The arena got hit, uh, Texas arena got hit really bad from COVID, really bad, to where I was like, like, I don't know, I was like, bro, I'm gonna Did you start?
35:00
SPEAKER_02: Did you start thinking firefighter again?
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, bro.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Like design with uh like cardboard science is like we'll we'll help you like work out like yeah, bro.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: Like please hire me.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, man, it was crazy, but like just like everything, man, we had to adapt.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: So crazy, man.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: COVID was wild, bro.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Like just thinking about that right now is oh my god, yeah, dude.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: It was wild, bro.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: I was in football fields yelling at people, chasing people down.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Like they were like, Everything workout.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, dude, me too.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Like yelling at each other, parking lots sprinting, like it was wild, bro.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: I was designing workouts.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: I had a whole like private uh arena Facebook page.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: People come in and like I would drop workouts for them.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: It was at home workouts, like uh at the football field workouts.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: It was crazy.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Like I was I was firing, bro.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: Like anything to help people, man.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: Kids like kids that were trying to go to college or hitting me up, they're like, bro, we need to work out.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I know, dude, I know.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: It was it was just it was crazy, dude.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: It was depressing, and only was stressed me out a little bit, and it was wild, man.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: It was it was crazy, but now it's now to look back on it, man.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: It was it was you know, it's it's wild, dude.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: I know you know, some people are heavily affected.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: What I Iowa, I lost family members, things like that.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: And it was terrible, man.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: It was a terrible time, but but you know, happy to be here.
36:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude.
36:35
SPEAKER_02: So uh you have two but do you have another business?
36:39
SPEAKER_02: You have two businesses.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: I own um for me and a couple founders.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh I started an NFT Club, uh, Only Wolf NFT Club, which is it's an extension of Only Old's Clothing.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: Only those clothing lines sells physical items, merchandise that can be shipped in place or you could wear.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: And then uh we started NFTs.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh NFTs is like a booming business.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh recently hit like a really like bad like market, it's a bear market right now, but that's like a lot more uh to the people that don't know what I'm talking about.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: I won't go too deep into it.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: They're like start freaking like what the hell are you talking about?
37:10
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, yeah.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, man, NFTs are non-fusible tokens.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, I really got heavy into it.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: And uh so Only Wolves has a expansion business on the side, the NFT, where we sell cool character like designs, uh as well as merchandise with it as well.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, people purchase NFTs and now they own that artwork, and then they can resell for higher higher value if they want to, or do whatever they want with it.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's their design now.
37:36
SPEAKER_01: So say like Corpus Christi Originals has like the shark, and uh you created an NFT for it, that design, and you sold it as an NFT.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: I could purchase that from you and I can go and put that on whatever I want because now I own it.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, I can do whatever I want with it.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: Um that's not the same as for you know, only like an LSC or a logo or any like the image of it.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of different.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: But like an NFT is a token, a digital thing that you could do whatever you want with.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I can go off and resell it somewhere else, and you know, maybe make tweaks to it or whatever I want to do to it.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: But it's mine now, so I can do whatever I want.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: So OnlyWolf fans that were that support the movement were like, yo, y'all get an NFTs, we're like, yeah, man.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: So like all those designs that maybe we never put out, but maybe you want to do something with it, here it is.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe we drop a collection, like a zombie collection, or drop uh, you know, like a skate collection or surf collection, a bunch of wolf skating and stuff like that.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, man, I'm filling this.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: I want to buy this and I'm gonna go resell it for whatever I want.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: So NFTs is kind of crazy.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot to talk to talk about, a lot to get into, but yeah, but yeah, I own I own that as well.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: Um it's pretty it's it's it's wild, man.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: People become millionaires off that.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Like people make thousands, literally thousands of dollars.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so do you have like a div do you have like a developer or something like that?
38:57
SPEAKER_02: Or I mean how do you and how do you get it on the chain, you know what I mean?
39:02
SPEAKER_01: So okay, so I mean I can do all that myself.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, you can do it yourself.
39:06
SPEAKER_01: You can do it off your phone.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh you can create things.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, and if you know kind of what I'm talking about, like if you I know I heard you say chain, yeah.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: So that kind of lets you understand like blockchains.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, blockchain.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: With Ethereum, Polygon, stuff like that.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: So these cryptocurrencies or these, like uh, you know, these websites called like OpenC.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can upload your NFTs, and it can it could be music, it could be like movie scenes, it could be like anything that are art, literally could be anything.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: You can draw a smiley face, take a picture of that, and upload that as an NFT and sell it for a million dollars, and there's some guy that's balling like that, or some or guy that wants to buy that, they'll they'll buy it from you.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, and that's what NFT space the NFT space is is wild.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to make something that meant something.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: So uh only Worlds means something to me, and now I have NFT collection of it.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: That means something to me, it's important to me.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, I mean, uh uh you could you can ask for developers, you don't it is you don't need like a uh a coder or anything like that, right?
40:06
SPEAKER_01: You just need that can provide you artwork, and uh some of my these uh local artists, which by the way, NFTs doesn't put power in the artist per se.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you're an artist that understands NFTs and how cryptocurrency, like how crypto works and how uh reselling and buying, how a project works, how uh developing a roadmap for that project so that investors or buyers see in the distance a ongoing higher value of your project, then yes, it puts power in the artist.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: But some artists have no idea what the hell is going on.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: They just get calls from a thousand-piece NFT collection, and then they're like, okay, and they make uh they make money one time and then that's it.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: I reached out to local artists and was like, dude, if you create for me, please be on my team and we're gonna ride this thing out forever.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: And because you're an artist, I'm gonna give you X amount uh percentages as long as we keep going, as long as you stick with me.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but this is a long roadmap.
41:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, I have a long roadmap, I'm not gonna go anywhere.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: It's not a quick slip.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: I didn't do this to make money off like in a in a in a couple months.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had plans of six months to change something.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: So um we're coming up on six months, I think like in August of my collection.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Then from there, we have like a lot of more big announcements to get into like the metaverse.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: And um I already sound like a crazy nerd now, but uh but when you're like say you're playing uh like VR or you're playing a game that allows you to change, you know, clothing.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to, and there's ways where you can log on VR, build a character, and I want only Wolf's clothing line to be in there.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: So if you're a character and you're like, hey man, I want to wear this Only Wolf's clothes, you can purchase it online and wear it for your character.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: So and that's what I wanted to get into digital space, and uh that's where we're going to towards the end of this year.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, man, like uh a lot of artists shout out to the artist that I worked with here, uh uh Justin, which is the owner of Just One Tattoo.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh Justin, dude, that's just like a brother of me.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: He's been making art like the dude is so talented.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, he's a tattoo artist, but he's not like man, like he makes digital work like so fast, so easy.
42:34
SPEAKER_01: The dude is awesome.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then again, Justin that owns uh Foil Creations, uh amazing.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: He has his own clothing line too, God King.
42:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh Justin is crazy amazing with his artwork.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: I work with artists from like Brazil, uh, the UK.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: I work with artists from um Nigeria.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: Like, dude, I work with artists from literally all over the world, dude.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: I can't even think of like all their names now, so I'm sorry, but but dude, and they're like all on all my like I have a Discord where like all their names are shout out, all my Instagram, they're shout out.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: You can see them, man, and like on our Facebook.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: Like, dude, they're there, these are amazing local artists that should have the knowledge and power to create literally thousands and millions of dollars for their artwork, but it's a space that's so unknown and uncomfortable and and it's not very secure, like so you kind of freak out.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I was the one to introduce them to that space, and uh it's been a wild ride, bro.
43:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, and we're not even we're not even we barely touch the surface, dude.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a long ride for this, but it's really cool.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: I love I just love artwork, so it's pretty cool.
43:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so when are you gonna get uh when's your next uh tattoo session?
43:49
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I don't know.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh speaking of that, I need a hit of justice.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of that, I was supposed to go get my NFT.
43:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, I have a if you go on my Facebook, it's like a wolf with like lightning bolts and stuff like that.
43:59
SPEAKER_01: That's my NFT.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna personal personalize customized NFT.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: That's all that thing is gonna be like worth like ten thousand dollars or whatever.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: But but Justin uh I actually booked an appointment for him to get a tattooed and I freaking forgot.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh my god, but sorry Justin, but uh but I'm definitely gonna be out there uh uh Jason.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely gonna be out there getting my NFT tatted on me because I'm crazy.
44:26
SPEAKER_01: But I definitely want to do tattoos.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I hate the feeling of it.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm a I'm a punk ass.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Whenever I have all these tattoos on me and I and I hate the feeling I can't.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: Jason's always like he starts doing tattoos on me, and he's like, bro, I'm always crying the whole time, just like yelling, I'm mad at him.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm scared.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: It's funny, bro.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the whole time I'm like insulting him.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I hate you.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: Why would you do this to me?
44:53
SPEAKER_01: I'll be here next week.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Alright.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of like the workout sessions, like, oh, I hate you right now, but yeah, yeah, it's exactly like that.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: It's just he'd just be laughing at me.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: I'll be like, I think like one time I wore jeans like to get a tattoo.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, my legs were sweating through my jeans.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: He was like, What is wrong with you?
45:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, dude, I I don't want to do this no more.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, yeah, man.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh bro, uh, yeah, man.
45:21
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty that's awesome.
45:22
SPEAKER_02: It's awesome, dude.
45:23
SPEAKER_02: This is a cool story here.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: You got, yeah, yeah, and you're very knowledgeable, bro, and stuff.
45:28
SPEAKER_02: It seems like it, and it's like it's it's cool that you're uh you're knowledgeable about what's going on around you, dude.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh and and it's almost like you have to be.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh and when you get uh opinions from other people, that's important too.
45:45
SPEAKER_02: Not everybody's opinion it will be valued, you know.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: But the ones where you where you're actually looking for some advice and you find the good advice, it that's very helpful.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we can't be, especially as small business owners, you can't be afraid of uh someone telling you, like, man, I don't like it here, or like what you're doing, I don't like it.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I don't, it may not be the best thing, but back to not being afraid to be seen at the bottom.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, or I'm not afraid for you to see me stumble.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: I I I I I may stumble a little bit, but I won't fail.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: And come too far to fail.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: And I don't care what people say or people do.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: I it's you owe it to yourself to challenge yourself to be better, to elevate, force yourself to progress.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: And uh I have this, I have this thing, and I uh my wife freaks this out like when she met me.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, I love pressure.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, What do you mean?
46:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, I love pressure, I love feeling like my back's against the wall.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: That that'll make me move more faster, more smarter than I've ever done.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh back to being like having that fear of when I say like fear is good, fear, fear will make you move fast as you ever ran.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, you I mean, you think you see like a lion running at you, you're gonna run the fastest you've ever ran in your life.
47:06
SPEAKER_01: So, like, it's gonna make you move, man.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna do anything you can.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna flip a car, you're gonna run through a brick wall.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that feeling.
47:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, I love that feeling.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, man, you this might not work.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, bet.
47:18
SPEAKER_01: Let's go for it.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, like if you feel that way, I don't feel the same.
47:23
SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's a challenge that I wanna, I wanna, you know, I wanna excel.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: And that's how I always feel about fear or pressure.
47:31
SPEAKER_01: Pressure makes diamonds, man.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: I want to be a diamond.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, I just want to, and then I want to be able to give everyone these diamonds, you know, these jewels.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, I love it.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: I love being um prolific.
47:44
SPEAKER_02: I love being so oh I so why are you like that?
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, do you have an answer to that?
47:49
SPEAKER_02: Like to why you're like that?
47:50
SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's I have a big family.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: I got I have three brothers, three sisters, uh, and I feel like we have to share everything.
47:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh also growing up, you know, I didn't grow up, you know, the most fortunate life.
48:04
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a lot of options.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: I've made something that I'm proud of.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, people may not see it as big as I do, but what I am and what I've created, I didn't come from a lot of options or a lot of choices.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: I had to make these choices and make these options.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: And I wish that along the way I had someone that was just willing to help and willing to give.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: And although I have a big supportive system, I have a big supportive family and people around me and friends.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: But what I was getting into and the direction, the route that I took, a lot of people couldn't help me or give me the knowledge that I was looking for.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people saw me going off doing my own thing, and they didn't want to see me be successful.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: They wanted to see me fail.
48:45
SPEAKER_01: I had people literally tell me to my face, like, you know, in three months you're gonna fail.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, man, that's like seven years ago.
48:52
SPEAKER_01: So I I I it was it's crazy to hear, you know, it's crazy to see someone being successful and see you see other people just like literally hating.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: So now that I'm in an opportunity, and again, I'm not the most successful person, but I am an opportunity where I can share my experiences and my knowledge that, dude, you can ask all my trainers, man.
49:12
SPEAKER_01: I I sit there and drop jewels all day, every day of my hand, my sweat, like whatever they need to help them be better, or or just people around me.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: I I love putting people in positions where they can elevate because I that's all I wanted was a chance.
49:29
SPEAKER_01: So, like my old bosses gave me chances.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
49:33
SPEAKER_01: So now I'm like in a position where I can give people a chance.
49:36
SPEAKER_01: Man, I I always I never say no, I always say let's see, like let's let's let's let's talk, let's work, and maybe something can organically blossom from that.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: But you gotta plan to see first, bro.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: Like, and I've always just wanted that chance, and from that chance blossomed this, man.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: I I've I I love what I do.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: I love the people around me, I love meeting new people.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: I love being even the slightest help in someone's life that maybe along their life, their journey, they said, like, oh, I met this guy, Eric, one time, and you know, he helped me out a little bit.
50:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, cool, that's what I'm here for.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think it just comes from not having a lot to actually having something.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: And uh I think it's not about what you can get.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: Like everyone thinks life's about what you could get and what you could what you what you could take.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: It I don't think so.
50:28
SPEAKER_01: It's it's about what you could give.
50:30
SPEAKER_01: And I'll give 1000% of me until you know the casket drops in order to leave something I've built behind so that my kids, kids can see that and be like, no, like, you know, Eric left something, he built something here.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: I just I can't do all this for nothing, man.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, I it can't be for nothing, you know.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be I gotta be leaving the seeds as I go, you know.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: So it's not about what you can get, man.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: It's what you could give.
50:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna give all of me, you know what I mean?
50:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that comes out, yeah.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: That comes down to purpose, legacy, thinking beyond thinking beyond uh what's just happening in the now, man.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's yeah, that's I appreciate it, man.
51:11
SPEAKER_01: This is Nala.
51:13
SPEAKER_02: Hey Nala.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: Nala's just jumped in my lap.
51:16
SPEAKER_02: That's a beautiful dog.
51:17
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
51:19
SPEAKER_02: Cool, man.
51:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, we'll probably be wrapping it up.
51:22
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything else you want to share, Eric?
51:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I just want to say thank you, man.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, thank I've always had you know some pretty cool ideas.
51:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'm glad I met you.
51:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh man, we definitely got to collab more and do some more stuff.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'll I'll definitely talk to you soon about some cool ideas.
51:41
SPEAKER_01: And let's try to get it going, man.
51:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you, dude, for giving me a chance to talk.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: I hope that what I said was cool.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Um uh thank you for the opportunity to share.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: I love to share.
51:53
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, whoever you share this with, I hope that they get some couple gems from there, and then you know, kind of gives them a little bit more courage to push forward.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh small business here in Corpus Christie need to help each other out.
52:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we can grow, man.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: It's hard, it's hard for everyone.
52:07
SPEAKER_01: So I just want everyone around me to succeed.
52:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh it brings me happiness and joy, and it gives me inspiration.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: So when I see someone else is successful, it inspires me very, very well.
52:17
SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate the opportunity, man.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: You inspired me too.
52:20
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, you're welcome, man.
52:21
SPEAKER_02: You're welcome.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: That was one of the yeah, that's one of the uh uh incentives, I guess you could say, to start the podcast.
52:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh people from Corpus Christi, they look like us, they talk like us, yeah, that are that are doing stuff uh globally, locally, whatever.
52:37
SPEAKER_02: Just to just give people hope, encouragement.
52:40
SPEAKER_02: Like, look, dude, we can do stuff, we can leave a legacy, we can have live with purpose.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
52:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah.
52:48
SPEAKER_01: How small?
52:48
SPEAKER_01: No matter how small, you you could help.
52:50
SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
52:51
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: Well, all right, Eric.
52:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh we'll say goodbye, man.
52:55
SPEAKER_02: We'll tell we'll uh we'll talk soon.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you very much, man.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: Have a good day.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else, if you watch this.
53:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
53:01
SPEAKER_02: Where do we find you?
53:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh where um um, you know, if you go on Facebook, I'm uh it's Eric Franco.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you go on uh my Instagram, uh it's I am the Fury.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: It's I am the underscore Fury91.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh I only mess with Facebook and Instagram.
53:17
SPEAKER_01: Um and then if you look at my businesses, you know, you look up uh Only Wolves, uh Only Wolves Call on IG, um, only Wolves NFT Club on IG, Only Wolves Call on Facebook, Only Wolves NFT Club on Facebook.
53:31
SPEAKER_01: It's Facebook and Instagram, the arena straight, or Texas Arena Strain the Fitness, Facebook, Texas Arena Straight and Fitness on Instagram.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: It's all there, man.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: It's all connected.
53:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh show some support.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it very much.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
53:44
SPEAKER_02: Y'all leave some links in the description as well.
53:45
SPEAKER_02: So check out Eric.
53:46
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you, dude.
53:47
SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
53:47
SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
53:48
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk to you soon.
53:49
SPEAKER_02: Thanks a lot.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: All right, man.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Peace.
53:52
unknown: Bye.
53:53
SPEAKER_02: All right, y'all.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: That was Eric Franco.
53:55
SPEAKER_02: I'll leave links in the description where you can find his businesses, where you can find them on Facebook or Instagram.
54:00
SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, hit him up.
54:02
SPEAKER_02: And we appreciate you guys listening.
54:03
SPEAKER_02: Also, if you want to support this podcast, check out the merch at Corpus Christi Originals.com