RHS 017 - How Self-Proclaimed Misfit, Quentin Allums, Built a Powerhouse Personal Brand

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See Lowe's.com slash same-day delivery for details. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Ryan Hanley Show and today we are joined by Quentin Q.
Alums. He's a guy that I ran into on LinkedIn.
He's really built his brand there. His career has really grown from the work that he's done on LinkedIn.
He's a creative guy. He's an entrepreneur.
He looks at the world in a very interesting and dynamic way, and it was just an absolute pleasure to have him on the show. This is an episode where we go a lot of different places, talk about a lot of different things, and it was just a ton of fun.
So I think you're going to enjoy Q and what he has to say. Before we get to him, real quick, my consistent ask for this show.
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and just share that with more people who may need to hear it.

It's always a pleasure, and if you're feeling super froggy,

just refer this show to a friend.

Send them a link via email or whatever you do, however you recommend.

I greatly appreciate it, but I love you for listening,

and it's time to get to cue.

Let's do it. Yeah I feel that.
I have one right over there. What kind of dog? Wheaton Terrier.
Nice. I've got a Kali, Bortokali Labbex.
He's a crazy one. Yeah yeah yeah I feel that.
Mine's seven years old and she still acts like she's like seven months old. So she doesn't slow down, although right now she's just sleeping in the sun.
How are you doing, dude? I'm good. Hey, I appreciate you coming on the show, man.
I know you're a good guy. Dude, I'm sorry to have to move it back.
Oh, and dude, it's all good. I mean, we're all busy people're all busy people.
So it's I get it. It stuff happens.
It's all good. But yeah, I'm just looking forward to chat and like, just give you the kind of breakdown, like, super conversational, super chill, hands, context, whatever you think is important, wherever you want to go, we'll go.
You know, I just want to kind of talk through your journey and some of the things I see you doing that I think are really cool. And I'm just interested in.
And the audience is mostly like, mostly a lot of people that you probably interact with on LinkedIn and stuff right now, like business professionals trying to figure out what to go on, what's going on. A lot of, a lot of tend to be like small business owners or people that have recently kind of started out on their own thing.
That tends to be or kind of work in a side hustle or something like that. So that tends to be the audience.
So you know, you can kind of go wherever you want life stuff, branding stuff, business. And yeah, but I just, I kind of have been in and out of your journey.
Like I've been on LinkedIn for, you know, basically since it started. And I've seen you kind of come up a little bit and seen your stuff come through my feed and just watched you from afar.
And I was like, this is the kind of dude that I just want to see what he's all about. So, um, thank you, man.
Appreciate that. Cool.
Cool. So how's your day going? Good, good.
Hectic, hectic. Yeah.
Which is a good thing. Do you do a lot of these? I do.
Yeah. I try to put two episodes out a week um i would do more if i could but right now you know i'm doing everything week is a lot yeah scheduling to post and all that so i also i just i'm i just i just love to create so i do a ton of stuff like i write an article i do a video and then i do two podcasts every week i don't know why i do that to stuff.
Like I write an article, I do a video, and then I do two podcasts every week.

I don't know why I do that to myself.

Like I have no idea why I do that to myself.

My wife thinks I'm crazy, but right.

Like if you have something to say, you know,

and this is one of the things that I want to talk to you about.

Like you put out some pretty emotional stuff around like your brother

and how you found block there.

And my wife recently lost her brother and had some stuff. um you know my point saying that is like like you have these moments where you have a ton of creativity and if you don't just open up the gates during those times and let it come out you know that it's going to be the other way at other times for whatever reason and um I just feel like when it's in you, you just have to don't throttle it, like just let it go.
I don't know. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah. So, so all right, man, like, is there anywhere that you particularly want to go while we're while we're chatting? Is there anything you got going on that you want to talk about that we can lead into? Otherwise, we'll just rock and roll.
Like I do kind of an intro preamble. we can um biggest thing I I don't know I like dissect things so I just pay attention how people interview um so whatever you want to do I'm good honestly I am excited about the new podcast I just launched but it's video game in Eastwood Bay so it's not this typically not um So, so kind of, that's actually where I wanted to start was kind of at what you're doing right now.
I saw the launch of, of your new podcast, which focuses on like, you know, the note that I wrote down when I was kind of doing research was like humans, that game and stuff. And, and like what, so you already have a podcast that's that's more associated with business stuff right that you you uh co-pilot your you do that with someone else this is your first solo podcast or just a solo podcast in the scheme of things that you do um so it's the first solo one um strange on purpose is our company podcast it's like it's my podcast you know our podcast, I'm still my baby.
I don't do any editing or anything, but I am a host on it. This one is just straight passion project.
I found it just made me so much better, dude. Like it's just, I want to, I want to invest in a team or start a team, but just the space in general, it's going to impact everybody.
Just it excites me, man. Um, and I wanted to do something that excited me so what took you from just being um from from being a gamer to feeling like you wanted to have commentary on it um honestly like i've been thinking about it for like maybe two years dude like damn i should do something in this i should really like start that it's just fear like so much fear when you're jumping into something new i haven't felt it in a long time so i just kind of held back on it wasn't till like my brother that i'm like okay like totally afraid like damn i'll probably fuck up but like you know like this this could be something cool it just there's so much growth in this space there's a lot of money in it but also like from a diversity like standpoint like you look at nba or like nfl nhl like wmba like it's women it's men you know or golf like there's a big barrier to entry where like people from inner city can't buy the clubs if they can't afford the country clubs yeah gaming like computer like at the grand scheme of thing is two thousand dollars right but you've got PlayStation, you've got like Xbox, you've got all these cheap consoles,

you've got mobile phones, like super, super like inexpensive,

but also women can compete with men and like children can compete with like,

it just, it's so, so interesting. That to me is a future of all,

all entertainment.

So I see the potential and I just want to be in it because there is not a lot of people like me in the space. And there's not a lot of people like me communicating to like the business people.
So I just, again, there's something I'm excited about, man. Yeah.
I like testing things and just being able to show people that you don't have to pigeonhole yourself and you can test things and testing it on myself. What was the fear in particular? Like what things when you were, when you, you know, this idea hits you, right? You're, you're wherever you are and you go, you know what, for every, every reason that you just gave this, this feels like something I want to do.
Like I want to have some commentary. I want to start to talk through all these really cool aspects of e-sports and gaming in general.
And, and, and to be honest with you, I think in many ways, the culture that you just described around gaming is, is absolutely something that probably just in society, we need more of that type of community today in general, just so people are so crazy. Um, but what was the, and I think I like to just ask people this question, because I think so many of us have projects that we want to engage in and we feel that same fear.
So for you, what was it? And like, what, you know, what kept you to the point where you're like, and then pushed you over? Like, what were those things that kept you from making that move? Yeah. Yeah.
I'm a, like I said, like I, I'm big into strategy. I i'm big into dissecting everything i thought i was doing myself a favor by like planning out like this is where we're gonna go this is what i'm gonna do like here's all the things that i'm gonna try and i'm like yeah i got this and then like i wouldn't do the thing because i'm like oh then there's this i thought i was leaning into my strengths and um when i one of my business coaches is like dude like you have such a unique ability to like you're, you're a, you're a futurist, but you're strategist, but you're also like a doer, right? It's like, you have this unique ability to plan and do at the same time.
And right now you're just overly leaning into that planning side because you're afraid because, and then he walked me through and I'm like, damn, like I am afraid to, this is a new space. What if they don't accept me? Like I'm a business dude.
I'm not a video game dude even though I've always been a gamer you know it's just overthinking over planning leaning into what I thought was my strengths but it's just a lot man a lot yeah so I really like or I find it very interesting and a valuable thought to say that by, by leaning into what you believed were your strengths in this particular

instance, and, and you kind of felt like you were doing yourself a favor,

but actually it was the opposite. Like,

and I love a little more context or just any like expansion that you can do

around maybe what it was exactly that that coach, like what,

what got you to say, you know what, like,

even though I'm feeling unconfident about this or like there's some serious

Thank you. what it was exactly that that coach, like, what, what got you to say, you know what, like, even though I'm feeling unconfident about this, or like, there's some serious resistance that's pulling on my leg, like, I'm just gonna take this plunge.
Like, I'm, because I think that's a perfectly natural thought. Like, it feels very real to me that you'd go, I'm a strategist.
I'm, you know, this is these are the things that I have traditionally been very good at. So I'm going to use those to move into this.
And all it was really doing was putting the brakes on you, you know, making this move. Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm a, I'm a part of this, um, actually ends this week, but this entrepreneurs, um, accelerator kind of think like startup accelerator, but for the person.
Um, and this business coach is a part of that. I have another business coach that directly just works with our business.
She's freaking incredible. So is this guy.
But we're talking and like everyone in that cohort talks about the business, you know, like, where are we at my business? Like, we're good. Like, we're fine.
Like, we definitely have our issues and growing pains, but we're fine. Every single call, I would just talk about e-sports and video games.
And I hadn't even started anything yet. He's like, dude, like, it just bleeds through you.
Like, you know like you get excited like my phone case like I'm not sure if this is a video thing but it's a it's a game boy right like just I love video games I love that culture I love the potential there and I would always talk about it and he's like okay I get it you need to plan like so schedule out a once an hour thing where you just sit and you plan you think about the future because because that excites you. But then I need you to make a list and say, okay, this is what I'm going to do now because you keep talking about this.
And if you don't let yourself feel that, if you don't let yourself like actually explore that avenue, you're going to burn out. You're not going to be happy because it's not that I'm losing passion for my day job or anything like that.
It's just, I have multiple things that I'm passionate about. So he just, he really just shook me and said, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah.
You know, I think that's really, I think that's a really interesting thought. You know, one of the things, I don't know, you don't have kids, correct? No kids yet? I've got a dog.
You got a dog. Okay.
Yeah. So, and so this applies to, this applies to dogs too.
So when you start having children, you have one kid, right? Unless you have twins, but normally you have one or most often you have one. And then you have this weird feeling inside you.
I have two boys. You have this weird feeling inside you.
Like if I have another one, I'm gonna, am I going to love the first one less? Or like, like it, like, you have this irrational, but very logical thought that there is a finite pool of love. And by having a second child, now the first one gets less in order to, to love the second one.
And what you really, what really happens is, you have this bucket of love for the first child, and you just take another bucket. And bucket is this big right like it just gets bigger same exact thing with animals and what I heard you say and I completely agree with because it's been true in my own life is that when you follow now obviously you can't follow every passion you have you just be too spread out but when you can have a few separate passions even if they're disparate it gives you, like when you go back to your day job, now that you've started this eSports podcast, like, you know, gaming podcast, I bet you almost have even more energy and enthusiasm for what you were doing before because you have both these things.
Because you're not, does that make sense? Do you feel that way? It does percent. Like I'm more alive now than I've ever been.
But also like we have a bunch of meetings with not a bunch, but a handful of meetings with e-sports teams because of what I've done, because of what my business partner has done. Um, and it's like, we make content.
So like, it makes sense, but like it's something that we're passionate about. So totally, like it just makes us better.
Also like just starting the podcast and doing it on my own has shown me, wow, like we've been recording this entire time for video, not for audio. I know that's something I never wouldn't, I never would have realized if I didn't do it myself, if I wasn't editing.
So just a lot of benefits from just doing something different than what you usually do. And it's weird when you say day job to me because I totally have worked myself back into a job, even though it's mine, you know? Yeah.
That's crazy to think about. I feel that.
So I want to give some context to esports too because I've looked into the space. I don't play video games, not because I'm not interested, but I've found a similar passion for other things that I like to do.
I'm also a video creator, and I don't even want to go down all the rabbit holes of things that I enjoy. And you just see only so many things, right? But I get it.
Like I see it and in every regard, but I would love for you to break it down because I'm positive that there are a lot of people who are probably listening who either just maybe don't even know it exists that the whole genre or two, maybe I've heard but disregarded because they don't, you know, they haven't given it to time yeah dude there's a there's a lot of things that i could talk about but like esports in general like a lot of the numbers are inflated like you'll hear like more people tuned into this than the super bowl but like what really does a view online mean you know because someone can revisit someone can leave someone could be it could be in the background they're not actually listening to it so a lot of numbers are inflated but there is a lot of attention on like these gamers on these streamers on these tournaments um i know like the cod league just started and like all these teams are opening up these training facilities for gamers and it sounds weird thinking about it but to me like the future of literally all entertainment you you name like any type of entertainment like the future of entertainment is it's immersive like it's more it's video games video games are the future of fun to me at least um what that looks like specifically i would say something like ready player one but there's already like so much money being poured into these teams and into these leagues and into these people um it's just it's ridiculous man. And it's incredible.
And it's amazing to see. I had someone like, we were like going back and forth and he's like, why would you watch someone like play a game? But if you think about it like football, we're watching someone play a game, you know, we're sitting down on a couch and watching someone play a game.
But when it comes to like streamers and gamers, like you're already connected with these people because they're always online, you know, and it's completely different. And it's, it's like that.
I'm not sure if this is video, but I'm like, I'm connecting my hand.

Yeah, no, it is. It's good.

There's just, there's so much to explore there, you know?

Yeah, I think, you know, what I, the reason that I would anyone who just heard that in is still disregarding, you know, what I would say is think about a sport, like for me, it's tennis, right? I appreciate that tennis takes skill. I have absolutely no way of connecting to the sport of tennis.
I just never played it. And to me, I don't find it particularly interesting, even though I appreciate the amount of talent it takes to be good at tennis.
But football, baseball, basketball, sports, I played even soccer to a certain extent, golf, like I love watching these sports. And because I played them and I can appreciate like how hard it is to do different things.
And all esports is, in my opinion, are people who play these video games going, holy crap, what they're doing is incredibly difficult. And just like you said, it's the same thing as watching live action sports.
you have an you have an appreciation for the skill talent the amount of work training that it took for that person to execute that play or whatever some of these some of these like people like like they're putting in like eight at a minimum hours of work you know like it's so rigorous that some people burn out and retire by the time they're 20 like 20 years old you know that's ridiculous and there's a lot of things that need to change so that doesn't happen but like basketball like you're on a court like you're working your body and a lot of these gamers like if they don't have facilities yet or anything like that they're at home on the computer they have no separation they can play anytime they have access all the time they're always playing always working always getting better in the competition level it was like it's on 10 because again everybody's always have access so it's it's insane i'm excited to see where it goes it's still very much in its infancy but a lot of money there a lot of attention there already the other thing that seems like it would be an issue to me is that you don't get to practice in private like you know i mean like when you go out into if you're going to practice you're going to go out into the web you're going to join whatever forum it is and and again it's been a few years since i've been engaged basically after halo 2 my it's been a while my gaming has so yeah so like these teams like actually like we did some work with um bucks gaming here like they have a facility here like awesome facility they've got like hot pockets and like the freezer and stuff all these like setups like they practice in private all the time because they're all there a lot of these teams want them in the same place but even like organizations that aren't necessarily professional like they'll practice online they're they're practicing together you know they're not always streaming it it's smart to stream it but they're not always streaming oh that's a good that's a good uh okay that's good because i i didn't know that that you could do that because in because in halo you got johnny 674 who's you know that's the only way to practice is you gotta get in there and join one of those it that's funny actually just saying the word halo i don't even know that i've said that out loud in and how long halo is amazing man that was the best I sucked at it but oh my god yeah so um okay so that's cool I you know what I loved about what I you know listening to you talk about it when you're doing some of the launch videos and that kind of stuff just just working through your content like I really liked like like you have I don't want to call it your day job but I guess it kind of is because it's your company. And obviously, this is what you've grown and built your brand around this urban misadventures.
And I want to hear you talk about that as well. But what I think more people should do is embrace passion projects, you know, that could ultimately become businesses.
And I think, you know, in some regard, you even mentioned the other day that you've had some people reach out to you about sponsorship or deals for your other business. So it's not a true passion project, because it is ultimately providing you with with some income.
But um, but you're doing it out of, you know, this isn't my main thing. And what I hear you saying is you're learning so much about and I just love that I think I more people should, should take hold of some of these things and just try them.
And the best part is like, if you got six months into this and you're like, you know what? I'm good. You could turn it off and you, you know, you can go right back to what you've always done and try something else.
And dude, it's imperative. Yeah.
It's imperative that people do that, man. Like, again, like I was like stressing him like, damn, like I'm starting from scratch.
Like I've've got zero listeners like i've never actually edited a podcast like damn i've got to do all this and sorry there's a siren going by but um like just stressing and then my girlfriend's like talking to me and i just i said i'm doing this to have fun and to learn and to make my little brother proud and that's it and i'm like damn i care anymore. I'm good.
You know, and like we do things we want to do. Like that's when the success comes.
That's why my company has gotten here. You know, it's because we were passionate about it.
Yeah. So let's take the wheel and dial it back to kind of the beginning of you starting to create it, at least like in the LinkedIn space and some of these videos you were doing and, and you've put, and I will link up some, some really, um, I find them to be tremendously valuable kind of, I'm going to call this, it does not do them justice, but kind of recap videos talking about your evolution and stuff.
Um, and I'll link that stuff up, but I'm just super interested in, in sharing with the audience, how you got started to kind of where you are now, like goes deeper is, you, just kind of, yeah, through that how you want. But I find to be tremendously interesting.
And I just love for you to share that. For sure.
Out of out of college, I was offered a job with a wearable tech company and a VR company. I denied them.
I did some work for them. But I denied them to start my own thing.
And my buddy pulls me aside is is like, can I interview you like on camera? And I was like, oh my, it's like, all right, I'll do it. I'll do it.
He convinced me. And it was probably the worst thing I've ever done in my life.
Like I look, I have not shared that video publicly. That's the only one that I have not shared publicly.
And it was the worst thing that I've ever done in my life. And I was so embarrassed.
And I'm like, this is never going to happen again. And from that point, I I recorded a video basically every single day and it started just me picking up the camera and talking about that company that I was starting and like this is what I was feeling that day and I kept going and I bounced around different platforms I found some success on like Ask Whale which most people haven't heard of and right after that I moved to LinkedIn like I had this experience, like on camera, I got pretty good at like making things sound good.
I got pretty good at being myself and like figuring out why people gravitated towards me. So I started watching these videos because it just released, I wrote some copy, but video was just released.
And I saw a few people there and I'm like, I can do that better. I can stand out and I can actually like build something here because there's no one else here.
So I picked it up and I made a video about how I was so hesitant about making a video on LinkedIn. I waited like two weeks after I discovered people and I just, I started there, man.
And then I just started telling stories because people were talking about storytelling, but I didn't really find that it was storytelling. It was like long and extensive and it wasn't really anything that brought value to people.
So I just started interviewing people. Then I started implementing B-roll.
I wasn't even a videographer really. I had dabbled with like photography in the past, but started implementing B-roll, started meeting people, started traveling.
And I was building this story as I was creating content around other people and other things then eventually i met one of my business partners and we linked up and i just i started taking everything to the next level and i just i'm super competitive dude i wanted to be the first to try everything on linkedin so i just kept trying new things and kept trying new things and now it's gotten to the point where it's like damn like we can literally do anything that we want to do what do we want to try today what do we want to experiment with um and not so much on LinkedIn but just just life but in terms of video it stemmed from me just being bad at something and I don't I don't like being bad at something you know and then I just really devoted myself to um to just growing as a person and actually living a story so that I can then share that story. What do you think about your personality or your mentality allowed you to be, you know, self-proclaimed bad at something and still publish it online? I had nothing to lose, man.
I had absolutely nothing to lose. I was broke.
Company was failing. No one was watching my videos already.
So the worst that they could say was, wow, this sucks. I'm not going to watch it.
And I already had that, you know? So it was just, let's go. Maybe I'll get someone.
And that video hit 30,000 views. So I definitely got people.
You know, it was a different time back then. But definitely got people.
People definitely watched. And I was like, okay, I've got something.
Yeah. What were some of the early lessons about storytelling um that you learned that you you know you had said that you think you know a lot of people were you know telling stories but that it didn't seem to add value and they were you know what was different about the way that you were telling stories yeah so initially a lot of what I saw was hey my name is Quentin Alms and I'm going to talk to you about personal branding today.
And, um, I like this went on with my dog today, you know, and like, here we go. And now I'm going to jump in and then thank you.
And please subscribe. I'm going to tag a million people in the comments, you know, and maybe that one video would be incredible.
Right. But then they didn't work that hard to get and keep their followers there.
And that was the issue that I saw. They just didn't maintain that relationship.

They would work really hard in one video and then like they hit it big and that was it.

And for me, it was like, I had to work really hard

and I needed, I needed to prove to myself

because I didn't think I was good enough.

And I still don't think I'm good enough really.

That I needed to keep them there.

I needed to give them a reason like to stay.

I needed to give them the reason to click.

And I wanted everything that I created

to feel like a drug.

I wanted to elicit a response. So for me, I jumped right in, like right away.
No one was really using music intentionally. And I was a musician.
No one was really using B-roll. No one was truly using like story.
Like, I'm going to tell you a story. So I started doing that.
And I think like early on, it was, I would just ask people like, Hey, like what's one pivotal moment in your life that led you to becoming the person that you are? They would tell it and I would show it, you know, I would do something and try to show it. And that was really where I started, but I, I wanted people to have a reason to click cue when they saw my face.
And I was doing like some simple hacks too. Like I saw people just like, if thumbnail was out of whack, you know, like it was a black screen.
So black screen so I'm gonna use something that it's like oh he looks kind of like good in there you know like just simple things like that which um still go a long way but clearly like people are doing that but just giving people a reason to stay yeah I feel like I feel like so many people drop the ball like right right at the goal line line, not to be too sports reference-y, but like they put time into the content, they turn on the camera, they gear themselves up, they talk into the thing, and then like you said, it never actually ends up – I guess what I'm trying to say is what I heard you just describe is a very audience-focused mentality. And I feel like the issues that I see in a lot of creators who are struggling is that they have a very self-oriented mentality.
And it may not even mean that. I don't mean that they're selfish or actually self-oriented people.
It's just their content comes off as very – it's what's important to them. And from watching your work, it is very obvious that you are creating for the people that are watching.
You know what I mean? That just comes through. It's why I think people relate to what you're doing in your work and they watch your stuff.
So how, you know, what advice would you give? You know you know, whatever, whatever, you know, from your own experience, if someone is feeling that, and they may even be even kind of subconsciously understand that they have this problem and just not know how to refocus, what, what are some things that maybe you can let them know, or tips that you do? Dude, it's hard. It's really hard.
And like, when I first started, I was nowhere was nowhere near the caliber that I am now. And I know a few months from now I will be nowhere near the caliber that I am done.
Um, so it's definitely, it's not easy. It's, it's totally not easy.
Like I would start with like reaching out to people that you know, you're creating for like that persona, like, and just ask them like, why do you watch my stuff? Or like, what do you want to see? You know, like just actually talk to those people. I started a group originally was called house of starters.
Now it's house of misfits. You know, my whole brand has been built around this idea of being a misfit about being different.
I started that group so I could just talk to people all the time. They could talk to me and I could learn from them and I could connect them.
And it's gotten to the point where they picked me up from the airport. I'm in their city, you know, and vice versa.
So I would say talk to those people is a really, really good place to start. And from there, like you've got to test, you've got to pivot, you've got to change.
Because if I stayed the same as when I first started, I would not be where I am. And if you stay the same, you're clearly not evolving, you're not changing.
And it's very hard to keep people there if you're always the same.

So talk, open that dialogue and know who you're actually speaking to.

And it's a lot easier to speak to those people.

Yeah.

There's this fitness guy that I used to follow.

His name is Brian Mazza.

And he has this saying called nothing changes if nothing changes.

And it's so simple.

And I say it to myself all the time. Every time I'm'm feeling like every time I'm feeling boring or I'm feeling like what I'm creating is contrived I literally will say to myself like nothing changes if nothing changes like make some change like don't wear a hoodie in this video like you know what I mean like make the background blue instead of purple like sometimes it's just that stupid little change that gets your brain to think about something different or maybe if I'm you know I again you can probably tell like how old I am like with halo like I love 90s gangster rap I just do hey man raised with I dig it you know like give me a solid like like a real lyricist with a 90s rap beat behind it and I could listen that shit all day long and but sometimes like if I'm listening to that and nothing's coming out of it for me because I've had a tremendous amount of creativity because I think that those guys at that time were some of the you know most raw and real lyricists that maybe the music industry has ever seen since maybe like like some of the 60s rock and roll like country rock and roll West, but sorry.
Um, and I don't know. So, um, that all being said, you know, like I'll switch it up.
I'll start to listen to classical music, like something like what's the opposite of what I've been listening to and see if I can pull anything out of that. So I, that's what I say.
I say that I just completely agree with you. Like nothing changes if nothing changes.
Like if you're always doing the same thing, eventually people already know, they know the punchline. So they're not gonna watch, they're gonna skip it.
And that's not good. So the next thing I kind of wanted to get into with you is the idea of personal branding.
And I know you talk about this a lot. I think I watched a video that you did the other day about the reactions to you you so you used to wear like a black hat or a hat in all your videos.
And then you stopped wearing it and people like went bananas. And, and you did this video about how, and I'll put this in the show notes, but like how that hat, you know, that doesn't define your personal brand.
I just love for you to talk a little bit about maybe personal branding in general and your perspective on it. And then we can kind of go from there.
Yeah. I think my ideology on personal branding really comes from definitely a handful of sources.
One, Brittany Crystal, who's worked with Gary Vee and Tom Bilyeu on their personal brand, just incredible human being, one of my friends, and I've just learned a lot from her. A lot of it comes from her, but also my time as a musician.
And just like these other unconventional areas of my life, like as an athlete, a lot of people look at brand as like this just stagnant thing.

Like I believe in honor, you know, or respect, or I make videos or blah. And I, for me, it's so

much more than that. Like you like nineties, like hip hop, right.
If you think of your favorite

artists, it's probably more than the lyrics, probably more than the sound. It's probably

more than the music. It's probably more than the way that they look more than the way that they

dress, but it is all of that. It's their beliefs.
It's all of that. It's a feeling.
How do they make

Thank you. sound.
It's probably more than the music. It's probably more than the way that they look, more than the way that they dress.
But it is all of that. It's their beliefs.
It's all of that.

It's a feeling. How do they make you feel when you hear them talk, when you see them standing there, when you're meeting them in person? It's so much more than a look or a thing that you do

or function. It's a feeling.
Just like a musician, Adele walks on stage before she starts singing,

I'm like, damn, I'm listening because I know what to expect and I know what she believes.

and I'll see she believes in. And I know why I connect with her.
That's brand, that's personal branding. I think a lot of people get stuck because it's, Hey, I'm, I'm an entrepreneur.
I can't start a video games podcast. I'm a, I'm a personal branding guy.
I can't talk about music, you know, and they get stuck in that, but it's just, how do you make people feel? I know I could turn around and sell rubber ducks tomorrow because I know that I know who I am and I know how to communicate that, you know? So brand for me is personal brand or just brand in general. It's a feeling.
And I think that really comes from my time with being a musician and Brittany specifically, She, something that really influenced me, she talks about clarity. And I think that really comes from my time with being a musician.
And Brittany specifically, something that really influenced me, she talks about clarity. And I think as a society, we just were in love with this idea of personal branding.
And it's kind of what I do for a living. So I get it.
But like, build your brand, tell your story. And I hate it because we push that on people before they really know who they are.
And I think we need to have that self-awareness and that clarity around us before we can communicate because people can't follow you if you don't know who you are or where you're going. So I would say the biggest influence are Brittany Crystal and just my time as a musician as well.
How do you figure out who you are? Dude, that's, everyone's trying to figure it out, you know, like nothing changes as nothing's nothing changes again. So like, um, big event happened in my life, just crappy event, like recently.
And my business coach, the one from the entrepreneur thing, he's like, okay, like you have always known who you are, you know, like, and that's a part of who you are. That's self-awareness.
You're grounded. And now you've got to kind of figure that out again.
Like, what's your favorite food? He asked meb and j don't judge me if you're listening to that i love pb and j um he's like okay initially like to figure out that you love pb and j you had to try a mac and cheese you had to try hot dogs you had to try all these different things and then you're like oh my god i really like this right exploration and then stage two it's like okay you're going to mention it to your mom or your dad and make sure that it's there. And they're going to put PB&Js in your lunches and eventually start finding them there all the time.
Stage three, you start morphing your environment. So I'm going to have a system.
When we're down on peanut butter, I'm going to tell my mom, okay, you need to put this on the list, right? So you are back at stage one. You need to figure out where you need to go.
You need to test new things. Maybe try something that you've never done.
Try something that scares you. It's probably similar to who you were, but it's probably in the same spectrum, but you got to go back to that stage one and figure out who you are.
So it's all exploration, man. I feel like nobody truly knows everything about themselves because we change all the time and that's okay that's okay.
How would you talk someone through like,

whether you build your personal brand or you don't,

you have one, right? Like,

because it's other people's perception of the value that you, you know,

bring to them and that's, you know, so it's,

it's not like you get control over it. You get to be who you are.

And that's what the brand becomes to a certain extent and And it's what they see, right? So, or, you know, some version of that. I'm sure we could debate that a little bit, which I'm actually happy to do.
But my question for you, because I think this is something that certainly I run into a lot. So my expertise was not something as fun as being a musician, although wish I was I have very limited um very limited musical ability uh unless you count uh singing like Wu-Tang or Gangstar in the shower I do man um so uh or Mo's Death who's probably my favorite but um so uh what I find is in the insurance industry, a lot of times I run into, um, men and women who like their career has taken them into a place, right.
And they get to a place and, and, and maybe it's as successful as they hope to be. Maybe it's somewhere between that and, and unsuccessful, but they've, they've gotten to this place and that place is just successful enough that they, that, that they, that it's very hard for them emotionally to pivot out of that place, even if they know who they actually are is somebody that's slightly over here.
You know, I mean, so like what, you know, just in your experience and I just, you know, like, again, I find your perspective very valuable. So I'm interested in it, like, like that, that person who is somehow wedged themselves into a brand or a position or, or, you know, a state, there's expectations on that person that they're this thing.
But really, when they wake up in the morning, before they get dressed, and they put on all these clothes that they're supposed to put on for this thing over here before they get here they're this person over here how do you start to make that transition what advice would you give to that person who wants to make that change or just wants to start to move in that place does that make sense no that's a good question i i think the old me would say something along the lines of if you're not pivoting or you're not taking the jump, then you don't want it bad enough. So just stay where you are.
I think the old me would say something like that. I think where I'm at now, like I did that, right? I jumped and I struggled, you know, and I barely ate.
I wasn't feeding my dog sometimes or sharing my food, you know, like rice and chicken. And I don't want that for other people.
And I think there's a lot of bad advice out there, which is you should just jump. You should just do it.
And maybe if that works for you, if you can afford to just jump and not eat, you know, eat ramen noodles or whatever it is, totally do that. But in terms of making that transition, it's, again, like what I probably needed to hear before all this happened for my esports podcast is like what can i do now like to start making that transition because you probably do want it because you are thinking about it maybe you're not ready to do it maybe you are ready to do it like ask yourself those questions get clear on who you are and like how you can take those next steps and just figure out step one and figure out the end goal.
Do that long-term thinking. Like I like to get stuck in, but also that short-term action, you know, like what are some things that I can do now so that I can get myself there and figure out that timeframe and just do it.
You know, if you want it, just do it because it's totally possible. And then find some people that are doing those things and you'll probably be accelerated and achieve it faster i've got 22 year olds around me driving modest maseratis and making millions of dollars you know like they're younger than me like just freaking dominate people around me all ages all like backgrounds just dominating that makes me better so don't just quit your job you know don't listen to that advice but figure out what works for you and if my my advice is bullshit don't listen listen to that advice, but figure out what works for you.
And if my advice is bullshit, don't listen to me either. Like just, just figure out what works for you.
Yeah. Yeah.
My dad, my dad, there was a brief period of time in my life where I was a halfway decent baseball player. And when I was 15 years old, my dad pulled me aside after a game and he said like, I'm done.
Like I've literally taught you everything that I can teach you. He goes, so what's going to happen now is like other people are going to teach you.
And he goes, 90% of what they tell you is going to be nonsense. He goes, take that nonsense and throw that out and just keep the 10% that actually works for you.
And he said, and then do that enough times that you get to a hundred percent of good stuff, but it's never going to be all from one person. And it's never going to be exactly the same as those other people said.
He said a lot of crazy shit, but that's always felt pretty real to me. 10%.
That's always felt pretty real. So, you know, man, you've talked about this company that you have, I'd love to just, you know, hear a little bit more, but I want to be respectful of your time and everything.
But, you know, what, like, what is Urban Misfit Ventures do? Is that the only part of the company? Are there sub companies? Like, like, what exactly is the work? Like, when you wake up in the morning, and you're working on your day job, not your not the podcast we've discussed so far. But like, what is that work? Like, who are you interacting with? And where are you trying to take them? Yeah, so urban misfit ventures, I know it's a weird, weird name.
So we currently own two companies, one being a content agency. So we work and content agency with a personal branding focus, but we do other work.
We work with brands, companies and people to help them build influence through story. So a lot of video, a lot of strategy on that end.
And the part that I'm really excited about is the events company, which is MK Misfits, where we're really focused now on more exclusive and signature experiences, looking at like the sneaker culture and video game culture and fashion culture, never doing the same event ever, ever again, you know, but just exclusive invite only last minute, but weird experiences. So that side, and then the agency side and my role really within that, I head up like the event side because I'm weird and I want my hands at everything.
And it's really hard for me to let go of control, but right now they need me. And then on the company itself, I'm really just focused on sales.
Izzy leads sales, but I'm focused on sales and then just ultimately vision. And then when I need to step in, I do, but what's coming next, like, where should we be going? Like, should we roll out this new offering? And then just really just sales and just getting myself out there so that I can drive the leads for the company.
So I don't really work in the business. Myself and Izzy really work on the business and then get an ops guy that just is amazing.
And then he really manages the team. Yeah.
Interesting about the event side, like you read what I believe is completely nonsense that like events are dying. And I do believe that crappy events are dying.
Events that don't adjust and morph and change and serve their people that just act as like a watering hole or an oasis in the desert that we're just supposed to show up to by obligation when we travel some path. And I feel like those are drying up very much so.
But I am completely into events in general, because and this is I'm just interested, there's a little bit context to the actual question. And I'm, again, I not, I'm a horrible interviewer in that way.
No, dude, you're actually really good. Don't say that about yourself.
So, you know, so my point is, like, I feel like the pendulum has swung way too far towards digital. And I know we're only going to go that way.
But what I mean is, I feel like it's swung way too far towards digital at the expense of humanity. And what, and actually what I think it is, is there's two pendulums.
It's two different things. Like, like, we absolutely have to have a human aspect.
Like we didn't, you know, a million years of evolution doesn't lead towards us just sitting in little pods with VR glasses on playing games. Like that's a huge part of our life.
And I get that. And I think it's completely cool.
And I can't wait to see what comes out next. Like most likely I'll live vicariously through my child who will be plugged into that.
But, you know, I can't wait to see what it is. But the other side of it is like I almost feel like there's this this move away from us breathing the same air and bumping into each other.
And like the serendipity of like plopping the muse on your shoulder and just seeing where she takes you like that, that piece of it to me is so incredibly important. So, um, I'm interested just in your take in general on the health of events.
And you know, you, what you just described very briefly, we're probably not the events that most people in say a more corporate role would, would, would, would have an interaction with, but I'm super interested in maybe like, have, what have you seen like that mixture of it? Like, like, I don't know, I live in Albany, new york so cool events like that don't happen here but but um so i'm just i'm just interesting that's a big question um i think that there's two things that i'll touch on first like to give you an idea um one day like we're just brainstorming and izzy walks in he's like yo like we got this project what do you guys want to do like, we should do an event. Just do an experience.
And we start brainstorming. So this is what we came up with.
Made a list of about 20, 35 people that we knew were movers and shakers, probably didn't know each other, probably didn't have a relationship or at least a strong relationship. There were movers and shakers in Milwaukee or near Milwaukee.
Send them a message two days before we decided to do this event. Are you in? It's probably going to be something about mental health.
Nothing else. So they give us thumbs up, right? So day of, we send them texts with location, with time.
And again, like that's it. And they show up, everything's locked.
They can't get in. Like they're all forced to talk to each other.
We're in the other room. Um, they open it up.
They walk in. Um, when they walk in, they get a number on their hand.
I was number zero. And from there, like one, two, three, right.
Um, eventually like they see a person on the piano, which is just random as hell, right? See a bar. Um, they can get a drink if they want to.
And then there's a stage and there's a soap box. There's a mic above you.
And then there's a bunch of lights in that area. And I walk up and I'm like, yo, welcome to our experiment.
Just want to thank you for coming. You're all here for a reason.
And for us, like the biggest thing is like, we're entrepreneurs, we're creatives, whatever label you want to give us as of all of you. And we struggle with opening up.
It's like, Hey Q, how are you are you doing good hey how are you doing i'm good and like that's it and we don't go past that we don't go beyond that we really wanted to open up so you've got a number on your hand here's a prompt i'm going to start what are you struggling with or what have you struggled with and i opened up about like the growth of my company the growth growth of me as a human being and how like with that, it's very hard to think that people actually care about me. And the next person opened up about like sexual abuse.
You know, I expected, our team expected five to 10 people to go up and talk. Every single person in that room talked.
We created this film around it, this experience around it. And it was the most real and raw shit that I've ever seen in my life.
And it made me rethink everything that we've done events wise. We want to go in that direction where we're intentional, you know? So I think, again, humans are wired for connection, man, like a thousand percent wired for connection.
When we get into technology, like I think we're in this big feedback loop, right? Like cavemen, communities, right? Like let's go hunt. Like let's make a fire.
Like we're here together, but we're still kind of distant from the other people, right? people right technology comes in disconnect even before that of course there's a disconnect but technology disconnect but we're kind of connected and i think eventually what technology is designed to do i think we have a very shitty relationship with technology right now but when we get there it's designed to connect us and we're on a feedback loop and we'll get to that point where we're caveman we're hunting we're fired like not actually hunting you know and creating fires but we're together but on a larger scale we're connected to that point where we're caveman, we're hunting, we're fired, like not actually hunting, you know, and creating fires, but we're together, but on a larger scale, we're connected to everything. And hopefully, like we get there, and it's a good relationship with technology.
And I think there's some things that have to change with that. But human connection 1000% is necessary.
And I think events will always, always be a thing. People literally tuned into Fortnite, which I think is a future of social media, like that world that landscape i already think it's a social media platform like so many people tuned into ninja and i think it was marshmallow collaborating on a concert or something or just like just marshmallow like an edm guy like concert in a digital world that's an event you know like that is an event humans are wired for connection want to be together.
Social media is just an extension of us, right? So a thousand percent, I think they'll always, always be a thing. Even if we are, and we get to that point where we're Wally and we're fat as hell sitting in a little hover chair, you know, events will still be a thing always.
Yeah, it is. You know, I, I, I, I completely agree with you.
I just think that there is

the connections that I've made in the digital world are only amplified by the moments that

we've spent, even if they're brief in person. And when you do not have that connection with

somebody, like, you know, we've had a good conversation. This has been a good conversation,

right? If we were able to have this conversation in person, it may have been even

better. But this starts the ball.
And then if I'm in Milwaukee, you know, hey, maybe I text you,

maybe we bump into each other someplace. I actually love Milwaukee.
I used to do a lot

of business down in the third ward. Yes, we're right right we're a block out of the third ward we're

downtown yeah yes it's one of my favorite cities in the entire country by far um just good people awesome food great beer all things that i love so um uh uh and a northern culture which is another thing that i'm a fan of southern my southern brothers and sisters but you just you're soft compared as northertherners so um uh you know I just I believe so strongly in events and I just hope that people keep trying new things like what you're describing and and and small batch is super interesting to me like like these these more intimate things um I like big events too because there's a lot of serendipity that happens in these biggest spaces, but the intimacy of forcing of providing people with a platform like you did to open up to me is, is capturing that in conjunction with digital, like mashing those two things together, giving people that time together where they're breathing that same air, and then the platform to expand those conversations in a digital world when they go home and their minds start to, you know, relax or open up or whatever. I just think that's a great place to be.
And I'm glad creative dudes who seem to have some guts to actually make them happen. I'm glad that you're doing that.
So my man,

this has been tremendous. I very much appreciate you and your time and your willingness to share with us on the show today.
Where is the best place for people to connect with you and just engage with what you have going on and get to know you a little better? Yeah, if you search at tagjustq, q the letters, so tag,a-g-j-u-s-t q on any social media platform i should pop up just started a new podcast called humans that game if you're interested more in the business side we also have strange on purpose that's our company podcast but tag just q just about anywhere i'm most i'm active everywhere i'm gonna spend more time on time on TikTok as well, but I'm really active everywhere. But LinkedIn is probably my main platform.
Yeah, great, man. And for everyone listening at home, I'll have all this stuff linked up on the show notes as well.
So if you just want to go there, you can get out or just go direct. You don't have to go to my website.
Go to his website. Yeah, got it.
Just love to see that Google Analytics pop up, right?

Give me that little hit of dopamine that we all need.

So, hey, I appreciate you, man.

Thank you so much.

We're going to get out of here. Thank you.
So

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