value taters I’m excited about today’s
episode because today we have a special
guest with us we have Antonio Centeno
here with us the legend on YouTube with
seven hundred and fifteen thousand
subscribers if you get on YouTube ever
you have seen this face on YouTube and
I’m excited to have you mm yes oh
brother thank you for flying in here Pat
thank you very much
yes that’s his son is back there with us
styling it yesterday he was doing some
bungee jumping from seven stories which
is epic and he’s trying to convince me
to do it I’m a little bit we’ll see if
I’m going to do it or not but that’s a
whole different conversation but we have
a good time today
we have a good time today because you
know a lot of times our entrepreneurship
as you know this you’re a successful
business person and I’d love for the
audience to know who you are
entrepreneurship has a lot to do with
second chances and here’s what I mean by
second chances if you don’t do well on
your first impression you don’t have a
second chance so if you try to come and
sell me a product and you don’t do a
good job on me feeling good about the
way you presented yourself you may not
even get the second opportunity to do
follow-up so really excited about the
questions we have I think the audience
is going to learn a lot today we have
entrepreneurs from all over the world
that have been wanting us to do this
interview to find out more about style
and attire and I even I even put a tie
on for you today just so you know you
you rarely see me put a tie on this tie
is dedicated to you just so we’re trying
to make it work we’re trying to make it
work so uh Antonio I see you when you
explain and you educate I see you as an
incredible teacher you educate very well
you’re very specific in the way you
teach and then when you and I spoke
together and I learn more about your
background about the discipline about
the way you raise your family how
certain things mean a lot she has a
former officer yourself but why don’t
you tell us a little bit about who
I’m a former Marine I served the 3rd
battalion 1st Marines but yeah bad I
think I’m an educator what I like to do
is take the science of style and to
break it down for the regular guy so he
can use style as a weapon to get what he
wants out of life because I’m not big in
fashion
I don’t like we’re not big on fad I
really don’t care too much about
coddling what I care about is how men
can use it as a tool to be able to get
the job be able to get you know the girl
be able to go out there and get what
they want and as long as that’s
happening I’m good to go
and clothing to me is just the vehicle
that I feel is underused I mean you just
spent some time in Harvard right and
then and when you walk on that campus
what would you think let me tell you
everyone was dressed up everyone’s
dressed up but how did the campus feel
do you remember like when you look at it
was it was it with trash everywhere oh
not at all
no not at all was a very clean organized
class lots of pride lots of culture just
when you look at the building’s need
been there a while ok it was it was a
feeling there’s an ambiance when you
walk on to I mean go through Harvard
Square it’s an amazing place I’ve been
there myself
and that’s what I want guys to be able
to because I mean when you go to Harvard
you expect the smartest the best in the
world
and I know many men they’ve put in all
that time and effort to for their
education that you had that hundred
thousand dollar MBA or maybe they went
to night school and they busted their
butt for four years to get that 2-year
degree and then they you know when I
mean they really put in the time and
effort and I want them to have the
clothing it shows how did you get into
it how did this happen from military
into this how does that work in oh I was
in the Marine Corps so we’re the best
dressed you know best dress
sorry about the army by me you guys have
some nice uniforms but I learned a long
time ago meeting Marines and I think I
think my level of understanding for
human beings happened a moment I met
Marines and I realized one thing very
early that not everyone is perfect
so I started forgiving Marines
long time ago for their lack of
perfection but but I’m totally okay with
that forgiveness is a big part of my
life so yeah we go on we go on for this
for a while but I will say that you know
it was if I got my first custom suit
when I was in the morning cool so we
went to the marine shop and I paid a
little bit more you can go to the marine
shop we can go to the px px is just the
militarism the marine shop what you paid
for it is for them to fit the clothing
everything from I mean the literally
literally the length of your sword is
built to your body and that’s so you can
pull it out properly and it’s actually
made for you so when I started seeing
Wow even the length of your sword the
way the uniform fits your body it just
made me feel great and so I remember the
first time I’m wearing my marine blues
out on the town and I was kind of a thin
guy wasn’t really having too much luck
with the ladies but when you wear a
uniform like that I don’t know it seems
like that women are throwing themselves
at you you feel better and you feel like
you’re just stronger and you just have a
great time and then I realized the power
of clothing and then I went on with my
life didn’t think about it too much and
then when I got into the civilian world
after I transitioned out I knew I needed
a suit
I actually I went to interviewed at
Harvard I interviewed at Cornell
University and I was looking to go to
those schools end up going to the
University of Texas to get my MBA but
really you came University text yes I
went went to UT but anybody Iowa was for
okay undergrad kiyah so I got I went to
Cornell College right next to the
University of Iowa and for undergrad and
but when I was going to these high end
schools I thought I needed to look the
part so that was I bought some custom
suits and I just loved the way that I
looked I didn’t I didn’t want to feel
like an outsider when you’re going to
these Ivy League schools because I grew
up in a trailer park and you know you
just always kind of have this chip on
your shoulder that I don’t belong in
these places you know you’re there even
UT you know Texas is flagship school I’m
surrounded by all these people that went
to Princeton and all these other amazing
schools and I just didn’t want to give
them you know that I wanted to put my
best foot forward because I knew I
wanted to achieve something and when I
realized that a lot of guys didn’t
get this and they didn’t realize that
the clothing has such an effect on the
perception of who we are that I I just
felt there was an opportunity here and
that’s what I jumped on very cool so
Marines weren’t your unifor for the
first time and when you wore it
apparently all the girls jumped at you
and then the inspiration came from there
so and I know you’re listening to this
this is a uniform attract his mother you
know only the truth is said in videos
like this I hope you understand this but
we’re gonna have a good time today
because we have also project we’re
working on with Paul which that’d be a
whole different thing we’ll talk about
on on you and Kelly Nishimoto we brought
we brought Antonio from a men’s
perspective and Kelly Nishimoto who is
the host of something new something
borrowed for ladies very very well known
on the woman’s fashion side so we’re
gonna see who can dress Paul better
because Paul our friend there he rumor
has it this purely rumor so we don’t
know if this is true or not it’s purely
a conspiracy and I don’t know if it’s
been verified and validated yet but
there’s a conspiracy that the movie came
out a few years ago that was supposed to
be documentary was a part of the story
for Paul we don’t believe it we’re just
saying this is a rumor that was started
I don’t know if you heard of the
documentary – 40 year old virgin there
was a movie there’s a there’s a part of
that movie that we were told not Paul we
haven’t verified it yet but I just want
to know since he’s talking about the
blue suits maybe those kind of go
together for you to keep in mind with
some of the feedback is given to us so
that’s very cool so now you come out of
the military you go into fashion not
fashion but you see the fact that you
like when you’re going to want it to be
accepted by Harvard some of these places
you go to University of Texas it’s a
very reputable university you’ll like
the three-piece suits you weren’t take
us from there on how you let to what
you’re doing now with the YouTube
channel and now the YouTube channels led
to a business to an entrepreneur you run
multiple different companies you have
businesses you’re partners with guys
like you know John Lee Dumas from
spin oars on fire and your partners and
working with I think it’s errant as well
alpha-alpha
am so you get all these different things
now that’s going on how did that
transition take place well it was a
hundred percent planned out and I knew
exactly how it was going to happen no
that didn’t I was gonna say I’m really
curious where you’ve gone with that yeah
it never works out like that so the
first business I started was a custom
clothier and I thought I could sell
clothing I mean my idea of a business
was actually selling a physical product
and I needed to get traffic to my little
custom clothes in Wisconsin so I started
riding out content and that had a
website called the Art of Manliness
actually picked me up and say hey like
we like your riding can you come right
for us
Art of Manliness is a yeah brett-brett
McKay is actually just up in Tulsa and
his website you know at the time he only
had about 1213 articles so it wasn’t
really getting any traffic and but he
recognized in me that hey these guys are
good riders they know more about style
and that we do and so for the last I
think it’s eight years
I mean maybe nine years I guess I’ve
guest posted for about one article a
month and but really what drew me to it
and one of the things that defines me I
think as a business person is I always
look at what are the I mean what’s the
underlying goal of the company and is it
more than just money because it’s one of
the reasons I came out here you know
we’re talking about doing some guest
posting I wanted to measure you guys up
and see what you stand for and make sure
it’s a business I want to be associated
with so I looked at that and what I
learned from Brett is the power of
content and how actually that is can be
a way to be able to monetize a business
so I realized my custom clothier was one
way to monetize but it wasn’t going to
be the best there’s a lot of competition
there and I didn’t have unfair
advantages such as I didn’t own my own
factory or things like that
so I transitioned out of the clothing
and I started becoming an educator I
realized okay if I put out content I can
have advertisers I can make money with
affiliate marketing I can sell
electronic products and most importantly
the margin is much higher on these
products with clothing especially when
make a lot of mistakes and you don’t own
the factory you’re making a 20% mark and
with information products all these
other things we were making an 80%
margin so I didn’t have to make as much
money and I was able to keep a lot more
and in business that’s something when
you see something like that you realize
I need to start pivoting and there’s a
lot less competition now and what I do
as well
so I enjoy there’s a lot less
competition for people who are actually
talking about men’s style yeah why do
you think that is why do you think
there’s not a lot of people doing that
well there’s I think if you’re gonna put
yourself out there you’re gonna get
you’re gonna have people ridicule you I
mean you got people say things that they
they don’t like you that you know your
hair is messed up that you’ve got bad
teeth that you’ve got small hands I know
I hear the jokes apparently I have small
hands which I do nothing I can do about
that it’s where I was born and so you
can put up with stuff like that which
many people can’t that’s it you start to
I think when you become a leader and
that’s what many people are afraid of is
become a leader in their industry and to
be attacked and when you put yourself
out there you will be attacked so me
being able to put up with that and
realizing that I can deal with that has
enabled us to succeed where many people
have come out and they’ve sort of tried
but they either gave up because they
they just didn’t want to deal with the
kind of the hate or they didn’t want to
really put in the time and effort for
two years I was running my clothes but
before I would show up to work at around
8 o’clock in the morning I would start
my filming at 4 o’clock in morning and
so I had two jobs and one of the jobs
building up my youtube channel didn’t
pay me anything but like I mean I had
the end goal was in mind I knew that I
would build this up bigger than my
clothing and eventually reached a point
where I just shut down the clothing
because it wasn’t making nearly as much
money as I started making
when did you see the shift with your
YouTube channel I know you got started
on say December of 2010 if I remember
something like that yeah not a few and
it was I think it was the commitment of
doing 200 videos in 200 days and so I
would batch the videos I didn’t have the
money to make great videos so I would
just simply stand in front of the camera
give the information no edits no cuts
and just give good solid in no edits no
cuts no edits no cut and how long were
the videos you will make anywhere from 6
to 12 minutes got it so I would usually
have a whiteboard right next to the
camera and so if you look at those early
videos they weren’t always color
corrected so sometimes I look yellow
like I have jaundice jaundice or
something I would just simply read
through the points and I knew the
material well enough because all that
writing I had did for my own artists and
yes I knew the material and I knew it
like so I could talk about this all day
and to me it was something that well
doesn’t everyone know this but as you
know like in the financial world where
you’re an expert you think I mean yeah
if you say the word Roth IRA everyone
should know what that is but very few
people really know whether we’re off
their arias and there’s so much
opportunity for someone just to go out
there and take something that appears to
be complex and make it very simple and
that’s what I look to do is stop so why
don’t we get into them why don’t we get
into that why do you think it’s
important for entrepreneurs to pay
attention to their style and the way
they dress simply because it’s what
people see it this is how we perceive
the world I mean if I was sitting here
naked it would send nah I mean I
probably would go it would go viral it
would be impressive but you know it
wouldn’t be it wouldn’t be the signal
that we would want to send and it that’s
an extreme but if I was wearing clothing
like a clown outfit I mean it would
and the clothing that we have from the
jackets that build up the shoulders well
when you build up the shoulders on a man
he becomes more masculine even when you
put the bill up the shoulders on a woman
she becomes innocence
more she has more masculine features now
what do you want to exaggerate as a man
you want to look more manly because
especially if ages you know maybe
putting weight around the midsection
maybe you have sloped shoulders but if
you appear more masculine you appear
more healthy if you appear more healthy
we want to do business with people that
are healthy so all of that to me it
comes down to you using the clothing as
a tool to be able to close the sale
build the trust be able to get that
person to hand you the money to invest
hand you the money to be able to start
your company so how do I you know I
remember myself when I got started as an
entrepreneur how to wear a you know a
dress anything I mean I was in high
school it was Dickies and an M it’s
immature Z if you want to kind of figure
out the outfits on what we wear high
school you really don’t have a lot of
you’re trying to figure it out and then
we go into the army and army you’ll
learn how to iron your clothes err that
kind of helps you out a little bit when
I’m in the army and then I get out I’m a
bodybuilder then I’m trying to get into
business I don’t know how to tie a tie I
don’t know how to put a suit on as a
start-up entrepreneur brand spanking new
executive salesperson entrepreneur what
are some must to have in the closet for
me well it’s funny you mention the army
and the army they actually have SOPs you
know you have the standard operating
procedures and you have the regs
basically and you’ve got certain
uniforms and the Marines we had car
class a class b we had various types of
uniforms for different functions it’s
the same thing in the civilian world is
that you actually have certain dress
codes for certain events so you’ll look
around and you should just look for
inspiration and it can come from
Hollywood it can come from the music
industry it can come from successful
executives you see on television and so
if you’ve got a favorite show maybe it
suits maybe it’s going to be you know
Mad Men or something like that because
you want to
I’m an agency then simply look to them
and what’s cool about men’s style which
is one of the reasons I love it is it
moves very slowly so if you stick with
style which is timeless in many ways
versus fashion which is fleeting fashion
is something where we see trends going
on and bashing changes pretty quick very
interesting what you just said again so
style stays it changes slowly
yes fashion changes rapidly yes so if
you look at Cary Grant a picture of him
from a 1950 1960 movie the guy could
literally walk out of that movie and
he’s fine you go to watch the movie
Ocean’s eleven the original one or watch
the newer ones their style can walk a
very good point and it’s very good so on
but fashion if you look at I mean I saw
a picture of a lot of basketball players
that visited the White House I think was
the year 2005 or something like that and
they’re all wearing these really like
baggy loose suits and then they showed
them again in 2015 they put that
actually really actually well fitted
suits that is more a bit fashion so if
you see things that it looks very trendy
or if it’s in a high-end boutique if it
looks a bit extreme you may want to
avoid it but getting to your original
question about what items to look for it
really comes down to what is your need I
do think every man needs to have a
dark-colored suit that fits him well and
the best thing that you can do is go to
a menswear store yes you’re gonna spend
a little bit more money but find
somebody that can guide you can look at
your body type and actually find
something that’s going to fit you so I
always talk about the style pyramid
which is fit function and fabric and
those three things right there so get
the fit run make sure it fits your body
then it’s gonna go down with a function
so this is where you get the right
clothing for the right you know you’re
working in your office I don’t think
people need to wear a suit but they
still need to look professional so this
is what’s the function of the clothing
and then the fabric that’s basically the
best that you can
there’s a difference between a $40 pair
of shoes and a $400 pair of shoes now if
you can only afford a $40 pair then sure
get the best $40 pair you can afford but
you’re always looking that if you’re
gonna upgrade your wardrobe after you
get that first bonus first Christmas
bonus you say I’m gonna reinvest in
myself and I’m gonna maybe look to get
those shoes that cost two to three
hundred or they were four hundred but
they’re on sale for two hundred and I
know I’ve been watching these and I’m
gonna go in there and scoop them up
because those expensive shoes may seem
expensive but I’m gonna be able to wear
them 400 times before they wear out
versus the other ones I can only wear a
hundred times and they start to look bad
any specific stores you would recommend
we can get those discounts are they any
favorites yeah you know I’m just gonna
say box stores in general the reason box
stores is they bring in a lot of
inventory and they usually have their
you know multi I mean I like Nordstrom’s
simply because the customer service and
they have a long history but I mean you
can go to you know and go to Macy’s and
find amazing deals you can go to JC
Penney’s and find good deals find a
store that you resonate with the price
know what you’re looking for and kind of
create almost like a hit list of okay I
need to get the suit and you need to get
the shoes I need to and we can going to
we could spend all that going into a lot
of the details but you know get the
shirts I like to call it the
interchangeable wardrobe but first you
need to know where you’re you know
ideally who you’re dressing for because
if you’re gonna be going to New York and
you’re a banker or if you’re gonna be
selling insurance in Dallas or if you’re
gonna be a creative out at Google in San
Francisco very different dress codes and
so the clothing you’re putting together
is going to be different but at the same
time yeah having that hit list that’s
gonna help so you would you say I mean
who is your real men real style who is
your ideal customer who’s the ideal
candidate for you I find use a man in
transition so he’s either just left the
military he’s just graduated from
undergrad or maybe graduate school he’s
gone through a divorce perhaps but he
realizes that style matters something
happened in his
that he realizes he has to up his style
game and so that kind of guy comes to my
website and I really you know help him I
get a motivator i focusing on the y and
i you simon Sinek he’s written about
this really great points but he talks
but you’ve got to have an emotional
component to getting on board because
once a man has an emotional component
he’ll find a way to satisfy that itch if
you’re hungry
yuma go make yourself a sandwich or you
go out and you get food like there are
many ways to feed yourself but you find
a way to make that happen and that’s my
goal at real men real style is to get
you emotionally invested so that you
will then maybe you’ll leave my website
I’m fine with that because I recommend
to like 20 or 30 other guys in my
industry I just had somebody there’s a
guy Ryan McGann he really talks a lot
about dressing in a way to pick up women
now that’s not an angle I go with I’m
married I’ve got four kids I just can’t
speak to that audience as well as he
does but I recommend him if that’s what
you want or Aaron Marino
you know he’s me and Aaron are of the
same age but he has no kids him and his
wife they live a great life in Atlanta
Georgia and if that’s the type of style
with you know with more the alpha male
that you know wears earrings and you
know goes with that type of lifestyle go
for it go find him but my websites an
entry point to get you emotionally
evolved involved and if you want the
basics like how to tie a tie how a suit
should fit
I’ve got infographics and all that grace
you’ve got very good content I mean you
got every single if you haven’t been to
his channel you got to go to his channel
I mean anything any man can think about
who’s in sales executive business you’re
trying to impress you’re gonna find
content on your site on your channel
about any of those questions that
somebody may have so you know with that
being said the fact that that’s your
customer your friend Aaron would be
somebody because he’s same age as you
but he’s married no kids lives in
Atlanta with his wife were you said Ryan
I believe who was dress on how to get
girls etc etc I’m married I have three
kids myself so I’m in a different place
but how do you how do you feel yourself
about today with you know
because I have my own opinions on how
you dress and in what settings you dress
what do you think about the you know the
white shirt Steve Jobs what do you think
I’m not the white shirt Steve Jobs where
he wears the you know a circle
turtleneck or you have the white shirt
the Zuckerberg or what do you think
about that part that’s starting to
become a trend in oh it’s actually a
gray shirt and I just actually did a
video on this and he showed his wardrobe
when he returned from a maternity leave
and her maternity leave and his wardrobe
it’s all the same it’s all grey shirts
gray sweatshirts and he basically has a
uniform and I love that certain men have
uniforms the fact that they take the
thinking out of getting dressed in the
morning and for me to dress like this is
easy because this is my wardrobe and
it’s all interchangeable I mean we
talked to I think I received from Mario
you know he’s like have four different
outfits but I’m like I looked at what I
have I’ve got two jackets I have four
shirts and I have two pairs of trousers
everything matches so of those
combinations I’ve got two times four
times 2 which is 16 and different
outfits and for me that’s the beauty of
interchangeability that is my uniform so
for somebody like Mark Zuckerberg or
Steve Jobs the late Steve Jobs in what
they did
they knew the message that they wanted
to send the world you know Steve Jobs
wanted to be like the everyday guy I
mean but was funny as you saw people in
Apple stores dressing like him they were
inspired to be like him and that was the
uniform so as long as you recognize that
these guys have thought through that
process and it’s a uniform I think it’s
genius got it so so again uniformity
with Zuckerberg Jobs there’s a part of
it that Zuckerberg also says I don’t
want to think a lot to be dressed and
what I need to wear in the morning and I
feel like that every single morning I
wake up I don’t want to think a lot so
I’ll wear my I am an entrepreneurship I
could wear that every single that word
every single day to come you know if I’m
meeting with you know AIG executives or
foresters or nationwide executives and
we’re negotiating a major contract then
I’m gonna wear my suit if I’m selling
it’s on presenting if I’m speaking
depending
the audience how do you because what you
just said right now you sound like a
mathematician to four to the combination
shirts matches any of the jackets and
the shoes etc etc how does somebody who
is not as structured and organized as
you get structured and organized and
have an outfits mansion is there a
formula to it
unmagic do you know what I’m asking
I I kind of get I mean when it comes
down to it you you start off with one
outfit look and be inspired I really
advise I mean everyone’s got some great
musicians that they like maybe some
actors someone they even you have to go
back go back and watch some of your
favorite movies and maybe Goodfellas it
may be you know I’ve mentioned the
oceans but the Thomas Crown Affair
especially some of the historic movies
and it’s one of the exercises I have
guys doing so my course is go watch
these fun movies but you start to
realize how important costume is now a
costume is something that you don’t wear
very often hub such as on Halloween kids
are going to be out in costume ideally
though you find the look that you want
and you start to wear it and then it
doesn’t become a costume it becomes you
practice wearing it it becomes your
outfit I mean if you if Keith Richards
or Johnny Depp we’re a walk into this
room and if they were dressed a little
bit you know kind of outlandish we
wouldn’t think anything of it because
that’s not a costume for them that is
actually it seems like their persona and
who they are
they’ve conditioned the world to see
them in that way
so I always challenge a man like if you
see yourself as the next you know
insurance you are gonna dominate this
industry what does that man look like 20
years from now what do you look like
what is he wearing
okay that’s but you start to put
together and guess what you start to
dress like him today
because you don’t just wake up you know
being you know how does you you don’t
wake up and all of a sudden success
happens in one day it’s something that
you have to practice you have to live
through you need to practice become
better every single day and the clothing
when you are able to take that and
practice wearing it it gets better you
start to see that okay I like this tie
it works with this outfit this shirt
goes with these trousers does that
accidental is that intentional so is
that something you learn or is it
something bye-bye mistakes like mini
rice green with you know blue let me try
you know this with this how does that
happen we are a formula to it there’s a
basic I mean there’s very simple things
like going with monochromatic looks so
the shirt I have right here is gonna go
with these dark colored pants and these
jeans I have right here that is a look
that I repeat again and again it works
for me but the great thing about the
monochromatic look right here is I throw
on a jacket of five to six different
colors and they all work and that right
there is this shirt right here is a
variation of a navy shirt so Navy shirts
make up probably about twenty to thirty
percent of my wardrobe I love Navy
shirts and it’s just something I go with
so I take small variations of those this
one right here is a small dot repeating
pattern this shirt was also custom made
so it has it you know fun little things
I had with the buttons here now I
changed that up but I had one I started
off with one look and then I started
finding variations of it by taking one
piece and changing it out and the same
thing I like most of the jeans I they’re
all dark-colored well I don’t really
wear any light colored jeans is that a
personal preference or is it something I
find that darker colors in general work
for my complexion work for for Who I am
where I’m at in my life right now but if
I had red hair
light colored skin I would probably go
on and go with more mild colors perhaps
you know what you have actually right
here would work better for that
complexion maybe not the red tie with
red hair it would be too much you know
too much of a mirror here but that would
be something that you a lot of men know
the colors they natural
gravitate towards I know for me it’s all
of green brown dark blues since a kid
I mean I’m gravitated towards these when
it comes to metals I gravitate towards
silver because I’m cool toned I can look
at my arm here and see like the blue
veins so that indicates to me like and
once you start to pick up on these
things you just repeat them again and
again got it so it’s a little bit of a
cell phone so fashion is a little bit of
self-awareness on you knowing what your
style is and what fits you based on what
you’re saying it’s got it and are based
on that if I’m watching this right now
and I’m saying man I want to figure out
a way to be more fashion I want to look
better what do I do
I’ll go back to the inspiration part
again focus in on one outfit look at
maybe it’s right awesome you just see
him in the movie drive you’re like I
love that look well guess what just copy
that exact look try to put it together
and no one is going to say you look just
like Ryan Gosling and Ryan no one who
remembers that they just look at you
like that looks really good
yeah and you just smile and keep going
and you can go with casual looks that
way you can go with a little bit but I
find that you know Hollywood think about
it they’ve paid these stylists a lot of
money to come up with these great looks
and it’s all right there it used to be
that you could look at maybe statesman
or you could look at people in the you
know Esquire you should do a pretty good
job you know
GQ go to those magazines you can find
some inspiration there but all of a lot
of them will list out like really
expensive clothing realize that you can
always go to a box store you can find
something similar and if you don’t have
the money for a lot of clothing you will
have to up your level of education if
you’ve got the money then you can just
hire someone to go off and you know
custom clothiers to have a stylist so
it’s kind of that’s the trade-off
and I always that’s one of the reasons I
put out so much free content is I
realize I’ve got guys over in India over
in Pakistan over in various parts of the
world from South Africa to Australia
that I have tight budgets and I figure
you know don’t put in a little bit of
time then I can educate them so they can
put together a great outfit on
Hongki so let’s let’s transition back
I’d want to go back because at this
point based on your answers I mean if I
ask you about tattoos and artwork and
all this other stuff your your your
answer is probably gonna be if it fits
you so if it’s gonna be based on the
person’s identity and the creativity so
we can skip that part I want to go back
to something else with you for
entrepreneurs to kind of learn from you
how did you know that the moment you
decided to do this because when I’m
watching you as a consultant I’m
watching you from the consultants
I’m looking at you as a brand and if I’m
your agent let’s just say I’m wanting to
manage somebody like Antonio I just
learned a lot about you the last 30
minutes 25 minutes I learned that you
are very comfortable not trying to be a
product for everybody you know what
you’re tailored to it was very obvious
you said I’m not the guy that’s gonna
teach you how to be a player and a
womanizer and how to do this that’s not
like him I’m married with four kids I’m
at a different phase of my life great
now we found out your wife is the only
person you’ve kissed in your life which
is very impressive more power – that’s
incredible I’m impressed by that okay
the second thing we learned was the fact
that if you want somebody that is same
age as you married but they don’t have
kids
hey maybe go to a different kind of a
stock that’s also not me I’m not trying
to be that right but here’s Who I am so
it seems like you found out exactly what
product you’re marketing towards and who
your customer is how did you yourself be
self-aware that that is your customer
because I think so many times
entrepreneurs try to make everybody
their customer and they wonder how can
they fail how did you transition
yourself your military got your alluring
guy you’re an officer you’ve gone to
school is it because you went to
university Texas where they taught you
that it’s always good to find your ideal
customer and stick to that what was your
transition or did you have one point
make the mistake of wanting to be
everything to everybody and then you
went out to specific elaborate the talk
on that a little bit if you could well
you know just getting the
education all that spending all that
money all that time learning the things
I mean that that helps a bit like you’re
supposed to be able to see that but
you’ve got to make the mistakes don’t I
think that maybe having mentors around
you I’m definitely part of many
masterminds where I mean with other
entrepreneurs to be able to tell me the
obvious but I think for years with my
custom clothing I was hitting my head up
against the wall trying to make that
work because I’m I’m like I’m gonna make
this work I’m gonna make this work and
I’m just hitting these barriers and it
was until I really sat down and looked
at the numbers and the amount of time I
was putting in there that I realized
I’ve just got to call it quits on this
business in transition to the other one
being able to identify who my target
customers yeah I had to go through the
painful process of realizing that I’m
spending twenty percent of my time on
these 80 percent of Pete or these people
that are making 80 percent of my money
versus all these other people that I’m
trying to spend and close deals with and
get them to buy my products aren’t
buying anything why I mean even focused
on flowers and so yeah I dealt with
return us I mean I looked at who’s
returning at what point of your career
did you do that like how did that happen
was it was it you were noticing you’re
spinning your wheels was it you noticed
that your and how did you go that’s what
I want to know like I want to know what
caused you did you inspect your business
did you sit down and write down the
numbers was there a where our profits
coming from what’s our profit margin how
did you do how did you process that
you’re signed a question oh man yeah so
what I want to know is because someone’s
watching this let’s just say and this
person’s a real estate agent okay and
imagine this guy’s a real estate agent
out of pick a place Boise Idaho and he’s
been trying to get into this market of
lawyers and it’s not working for him but
he’s doing very well on the market of
working with you know 250,000 dollar
loans he’s trying to get into the six
hundred thousand dollar loans and so far
he’s landed one he sold one property
that’s six hundred thousand dollars in
Boise Idaho which is not six hundred
thousand dollars homes in Boise or
bigger homes and he’s realizing 250 is
working form how does he process that to
stop chasing the 650 and realized he
does very well with the 250 just get
better at the 2/3
how did you go through that transition
you know I it’s going through a very
painful time in your life in which you
realize you’ve got a that businesses and
everything and you’ve got to be able to
drop quite a few things so I thinking to
a time that it was 2009 and my sister
had died she committed suicide so I’m
the son in my family and I had to stop
everything and I’m driving down from
Wisconsin to Texas she was in Austin
Texas and I had to drive her cremated
body I had to clean out of her apartment
all the way out to California with my
brother and I remember I was having to
take business calls that led to nowhere
with her urn in between my legs is I’m
driving across the United States so when
I realized that I was spread so thin in
my business that I was I couldn’t even
grieve the death of my little sister I
think that right there kind of gave me a
I mean really put business in
perspective that I didn’t have an
unlimited amount of time to spend on
things and that I needed to focus in on
my winners because if I kept focusing in
on these losers and you know they’re
probably right business for something
else
that I just don’t have too much time so
now as you can see I mean that’s why I
bring my son on projects with me
why I homeschool my kids it’s really I
realized the time I have is very limited
and I think the dangerous thing for an
entrepreneur especially one that’s
tasting success is that we get
comfortable we get you know happy okay
my business is doing a million dollars
and I’m keeping a lot of that how do you
get that hunger back to make that jump
to five million or if you’re at five
million to go from five million to 25
million or whatever that jump is or if
you’re at two hundred thousand how to go
from five hundred thousand and so for me
it was having something very painful
something very and I do find it
smaller events like that happen again
and again in life and I try to really
recognize when those happen and then
motivate myself so you know and
masterminds help a lot being around
other entrepreneurs they get it you know
that they’ve had it so that they’ve you
know no one the ball stops okay I mean
the buck stops with you as a business
owner I mean you have to be there or do
and so that’s why and we were talking
about this earlier one of the reasons
I’ve decided to build at this point more
of a lifestyle business than one that
requires me to be there because I wanted
a business that I could take time away
to be able to travel that’s why I ask
you to question I said do you really
want to do that
and you really want to go to this face
because you want to home-school anyone
is skill they may not match together on
what you want to do at that point so
interesting I find that very interesting
because do you think if you sometimes
people chase following versus valuable
followers if that makes any sense like
you may have certain amount of followers
but they’re 100% loyal followers to what
you’re teaching were so somebody else
may have more following but their
conversion on their following may be
minimal compared to the conversion that
you’re having yeah so a life-changing
event that happened to you which I’m
sorry to hear that but that made you
realize the value of time and I think a
big part of entrepreneurship is you
realize in one you don’t have a lot of
time especially later on when you have
kids I have three kids under the age of
five and they’re all wanting daddy time
and makes you look at things in a
complete different way so what’s next
for you what’s next for you what are you
doing next what’s your vision now you’re
doing good you’re yeah got good things
going on you have choices you have
options you have you know kids who love
you you got a family you got you know
you got your wife you making the money
what’s your vision of what’s what’s next
for you we’ve got a conference out in
Atlanta that we’ve been running for
about three years and that’s really it’s
called style calm we’re probably gonna
rebrand it because it’s more about just
bringing men together to talk about
business communication
ownership and we do talk about style and
lifestyle so I run that with Aaron
Marino over at alpha and about 300
people out into that one so that one’s
been a lot of fun we also uh let me
think
our company men flew intial what
happened is a lot we some influential
men flew in children eve that company a
great name we realize that there’s a lot
of men influencers in the industry learn
that may we simply brought them all
together because we found that we were
getting a lot of leads and so i’ll get
ten leads a day people that want to work
with me of which only like one out of
twenty turn into any real business but
the thing is is many of those could be
business for smaller craters I just
simply don’t touch a deal if it’s less
than five thousand dollars that’s that’s
my beer but there’s many craters that
would love to do a deal for a thousand
of two thousand dollars so what we did
is we started farming out we took all
those leads and we found other smaller
craters and we just became a place where
influencers come who are focused in on
men and if we just you know been
building up that kind of media company
alright look at like you start to look
at business from just building your own
business to be able to create something
maybe that could be acquired create
something that just simply feeds into
your other businesses and you know so
that’s those are the two things that
keeping me busy besides real men real
style I love it I love the whole men
flew initial concept that the name just
you know for us like when we came out
with value taming it was we want to
bring value but we think you know we
have to do it in a way where we
captivate and entertain so we combine
entertainment with value came up with
value famous I love the name men flew
intial okay sounds good any last
thoughts that you want to share with the
entrepreneurs out there on what they can
be thinking about when they’re thinking
about style when they’re thinking about
fashion when they’re thinking about
professionals and when they’re thinking
about having an edge in their business
when they’re thinking about growing
their businesses what are some last
thoughts you could say to everybody out
there you know I so you know you know
about neil patel you know yes yes as a
marketer right he’s a marketing guy he
is he he doesn’t use even care about
clothing yet I just read the other day I
think he’s spent like a hundred and
sixty two thousand three hundred and
twenty one dollars and 42 cents
something like that on clothing in one
year and he stood he showed exactly he’s
a conversion expert he showed how that
spend on clothing equated to almost
seven hundred thousand dollars in extra
sales and this is a guy that just meets
with people and he showed that okay I
did nothing different in my pitch
everything was kept the same some
started wearing Tom Horn suits and all
this other stuff because he was like I
asked people for an outlandish amount of
money to be able to work on their
websites increase the conversions and
when he showed it like the breakout of
how he went from a twenty five percent
closure rate of his of his meetings to
sales to forty percent
and Holly changed was the way he dressed
to me
that’s what should motivate an
entrepreneur is it’s not about like okay
you may say oh I’m not gonna be
comfortable I’m not a suit jacket kind
of guy well who are you I mean if you
pursue think about who you want to be
and then dress to be I mean this
clothing I know fits me perfectly and
I’m very comfortable in it because I
practiced wearing it and just something
because something’s unfamiliar doesn’t
mean it’s uncomfortable it’s just you’re
not used to it’s like going to the gym
you start to wear it and start to become
you and then you get compliments you
feel better and I think from an
entrepreneurs perspective most
importantly your business does better
excellent that’s great you know so where
can people find you and follow you what
would you like people to go and find the
apology just check out my youtube
channel real men real stuff real men
Rosa will put all the links on the
bottom let’s make sure we put the
website it is men fluent or something
you want to market is is that something
that Dad if they check out real men real
style we’ve got a link over them on the
website okay so under will put the link
will put the video will put everything I
highly highly recommend I wish honestly
I’m 38 yesterday count 38 yesterday I
wish when I was 20 years old 21 years
old getting out of the army I truly wish
there was a youtube channel like yours
for me to go to and learn the basics it
would have saved me two years of looking
terrible it would have saved me your
of not being presentable if I had a
channel like your so I highly recommend
you follows you to channel in this
content again Antonio thank you so much
for joining us brother this has been a
blast and gank you got any questions you
got any thoughts any comments please
comment on the bottom if you haven’t
subscribed to this channel subscribe as
well thank you so much everybody take care bye bye
episode because today we have a special
guest with us we have Antonio Centeno
here with us the legend on YouTube with
seven hundred and fifteen thousand
subscribers if you get on YouTube ever
you have seen this face on YouTube and
I’m excited to have you mm yes oh
brother thank you for flying in here Pat
thank you very much
yes that’s his son is back there with us
styling it yesterday he was doing some
bungee jumping from seven stories which
is epic and he’s trying to convince me
to do it I’m a little bit we’ll see if
I’m going to do it or not but that’s a
whole different conversation but we have
a good time today
we have a good time today because you
know a lot of times our entrepreneurship
as you know this you’re a successful
business person and I’d love for the
audience to know who you are
entrepreneurship has a lot to do with
second chances and here’s what I mean by
second chances if you don’t do well on
your first impression you don’t have a
second chance so if you try to come and
sell me a product and you don’t do a
good job on me feeling good about the
way you presented yourself you may not
even get the second opportunity to do
follow-up so really excited about the
questions we have I think the audience
is going to learn a lot today we have
entrepreneurs from all over the world
that have been wanting us to do this
interview to find out more about style
and attire and I even I even put a tie
on for you today just so you know you
you rarely see me put a tie on this tie
is dedicated to you just so we’re trying
to make it work we’re trying to make it
work so uh Antonio I see you when you
explain and you educate I see you as an
incredible teacher you educate very well
you’re very specific in the way you
teach and then when you and I spoke
together and I learn more about your
background about the discipline about
the way you raise your family how
certain things mean a lot she has a
former officer yourself but why don’t
you tell us a little bit about who
I’m a former Marine I served the 3rd
battalion 1st Marines but yeah bad I
think I’m an educator what I like to do
is take the science of style and to
break it down for the regular guy so he
can use style as a weapon to get what he
wants out of life because I’m not big in
fashion
I don’t like we’re not big on fad I
really don’t care too much about
coddling what I care about is how men
can use it as a tool to be able to get
the job be able to get you know the girl
be able to go out there and get what
they want and as long as that’s
happening I’m good to go
and clothing to me is just the vehicle
that I feel is underused I mean you just
spent some time in Harvard right and
then and when you walk on that campus
what would you think let me tell you
everyone was dressed up everyone’s
dressed up but how did the campus feel
do you remember like when you look at it
was it was it with trash everywhere oh
not at all
no not at all was a very clean organized
class lots of pride lots of culture just
when you look at the building’s need
been there a while ok it was it was a
feeling there’s an ambiance when you
walk on to I mean go through Harvard
Square it’s an amazing place I’ve been
there myself
and that’s what I want guys to be able
to because I mean when you go to Harvard
you expect the smartest the best in the
world
and I know many men they’ve put in all
that time and effort to for their
education that you had that hundred
thousand dollar MBA or maybe they went
to night school and they busted their
butt for four years to get that 2-year
degree and then they you know when I
mean they really put in the time and
effort and I want them to have the
clothing it shows how did you get into
it how did this happen from military
into this how does that work in oh I was
in the Marine Corps so we’re the best
dressed you know best dress
sorry about the army by me you guys have
some nice uniforms but I learned a long
time ago meeting Marines and I think I
think my level of understanding for
human beings happened a moment I met
Marines and I realized one thing very
early that not everyone is perfect
so I started forgiving Marines
long time ago for their lack of
perfection but but I’m totally okay with
that forgiveness is a big part of my
life so yeah we go on we go on for this
for a while but I will say that you know
it was if I got my first custom suit
when I was in the morning cool so we
went to the marine shop and I paid a
little bit more you can go to the marine
shop we can go to the px px is just the
militarism the marine shop what you paid
for it is for them to fit the clothing
everything from I mean the literally
literally the length of your sword is
built to your body and that’s so you can
pull it out properly and it’s actually
made for you so when I started seeing
Wow even the length of your sword the
way the uniform fits your body it just
made me feel great and so I remember the
first time I’m wearing my marine blues
out on the town and I was kind of a thin
guy wasn’t really having too much luck
with the ladies but when you wear a
uniform like that I don’t know it seems
like that women are throwing themselves
at you you feel better and you feel like
you’re just stronger and you just have a
great time and then I realized the power
of clothing and then I went on with my
life didn’t think about it too much and
then when I got into the civilian world
after I transitioned out I knew I needed
a suit
I actually I went to interviewed at
Harvard I interviewed at Cornell
University and I was looking to go to
those schools end up going to the
University of Texas to get my MBA but
really you came University text yes I
went went to UT but anybody Iowa was for
okay undergrad kiyah so I got I went to
Cornell College right next to the
University of Iowa and for undergrad and
but when I was going to these high end
schools I thought I needed to look the
part so that was I bought some custom
suits and I just loved the way that I
looked I didn’t I didn’t want to feel
like an outsider when you’re going to
these Ivy League schools because I grew
up in a trailer park and you know you
just always kind of have this chip on
your shoulder that I don’t belong in
these places you know you’re there even
UT you know Texas is flagship school I’m
surrounded by all these people that went
to Princeton and all these other amazing
schools and I just didn’t want to give
them you know that I wanted to put my
best foot forward because I knew I
wanted to achieve something and when I
realized that a lot of guys didn’t
get this and they didn’t realize that
the clothing has such an effect on the
perception of who we are that I I just
felt there was an opportunity here and
that’s what I jumped on very cool so
Marines weren’t your unifor for the
first time and when you wore it
apparently all the girls jumped at you
and then the inspiration came from there
so and I know you’re listening to this
this is a uniform attract his mother you
know only the truth is said in videos
like this I hope you understand this but
we’re gonna have a good time today
because we have also project we’re
working on with Paul which that’d be a
whole different thing we’ll talk about
on on you and Kelly Nishimoto we brought
we brought Antonio from a men’s
perspective and Kelly Nishimoto who is
the host of something new something
borrowed for ladies very very well known
on the woman’s fashion side so we’re
gonna see who can dress Paul better
because Paul our friend there he rumor
has it this purely rumor so we don’t
know if this is true or not it’s purely
a conspiracy and I don’t know if it’s
been verified and validated yet but
there’s a conspiracy that the movie came
out a few years ago that was supposed to
be documentary was a part of the story
for Paul we don’t believe it we’re just
saying this is a rumor that was started
I don’t know if you heard of the
documentary – 40 year old virgin there
was a movie there’s a there’s a part of
that movie that we were told not Paul we
haven’t verified it yet but I just want
to know since he’s talking about the
blue suits maybe those kind of go
together for you to keep in mind with
some of the feedback is given to us so
that’s very cool so now you come out of
the military you go into fashion not
fashion but you see the fact that you
like when you’re going to want it to be
accepted by Harvard some of these places
you go to University of Texas it’s a
very reputable university you’ll like
the three-piece suits you weren’t take
us from there on how you let to what
you’re doing now with the YouTube
channel and now the YouTube channels led
to a business to an entrepreneur you run
multiple different companies you have
businesses you’re partners with guys
like you know John Lee Dumas from
spin oars on fire and your partners and
working with I think it’s errant as well
alpha-alpha
am so you get all these different things
now that’s going on how did that
transition take place well it was a
hundred percent planned out and I knew
exactly how it was going to happen no
that didn’t I was gonna say I’m really
curious where you’ve gone with that yeah
it never works out like that so the
first business I started was a custom
clothier and I thought I could sell
clothing I mean my idea of a business
was actually selling a physical product
and I needed to get traffic to my little
custom clothes in Wisconsin so I started
riding out content and that had a
website called the Art of Manliness
actually picked me up and say hey like
we like your riding can you come right
for us
Art of Manliness is a yeah brett-brett
McKay is actually just up in Tulsa and
his website you know at the time he only
had about 1213 articles so it wasn’t
really getting any traffic and but he
recognized in me that hey these guys are
good riders they know more about style
and that we do and so for the last I
think it’s eight years
I mean maybe nine years I guess I’ve
guest posted for about one article a
month and but really what drew me to it
and one of the things that defines me I
think as a business person is I always
look at what are the I mean what’s the
underlying goal of the company and is it
more than just money because it’s one of
the reasons I came out here you know
we’re talking about doing some guest
posting I wanted to measure you guys up
and see what you stand for and make sure
it’s a business I want to be associated
with so I looked at that and what I
learned from Brett is the power of
content and how actually that is can be
a way to be able to monetize a business
so I realized my custom clothier was one
way to monetize but it wasn’t going to
be the best there’s a lot of competition
there and I didn’t have unfair
advantages such as I didn’t own my own
factory or things like that
so I transitioned out of the clothing
and I started becoming an educator I
realized okay if I put out content I can
have advertisers I can make money with
affiliate marketing I can sell
electronic products and most importantly
the margin is much higher on these
products with clothing especially when
make a lot of mistakes and you don’t own
the factory you’re making a 20% mark and
with information products all these
other things we were making an 80%
margin so I didn’t have to make as much
money and I was able to keep a lot more
and in business that’s something when
you see something like that you realize
I need to start pivoting and there’s a
lot less competition now and what I do
as well
so I enjoy there’s a lot less
competition for people who are actually
talking about men’s style yeah why do
you think that is why do you think
there’s not a lot of people doing that
well there’s I think if you’re gonna put
yourself out there you’re gonna get
you’re gonna have people ridicule you I
mean you got people say things that they
they don’t like you that you know your
hair is messed up that you’ve got bad
teeth that you’ve got small hands I know
I hear the jokes apparently I have small
hands which I do nothing I can do about
that it’s where I was born and so you
can put up with stuff like that which
many people can’t that’s it you start to
I think when you become a leader and
that’s what many people are afraid of is
become a leader in their industry and to
be attacked and when you put yourself
out there you will be attacked so me
being able to put up with that and
realizing that I can deal with that has
enabled us to succeed where many people
have come out and they’ve sort of tried
but they either gave up because they
they just didn’t want to deal with the
kind of the hate or they didn’t want to
really put in the time and effort for
two years I was running my clothes but
before I would show up to work at around
8 o’clock in the morning I would start
my filming at 4 o’clock in morning and
so I had two jobs and one of the jobs
building up my youtube channel didn’t
pay me anything but like I mean I had
the end goal was in mind I knew that I
would build this up bigger than my
clothing and eventually reached a point
where I just shut down the clothing
because it wasn’t making nearly as much
money as I started making
when did you see the shift with your
YouTube channel I know you got started
on say December of 2010 if I remember
something like that yeah not a few and
it was I think it was the commitment of
doing 200 videos in 200 days and so I
would batch the videos I didn’t have the
money to make great videos so I would
just simply stand in front of the camera
give the information no edits no cuts
and just give good solid in no edits no
cuts no edits no cut and how long were
the videos you will make anywhere from 6
to 12 minutes got it so I would usually
have a whiteboard right next to the
camera and so if you look at those early
videos they weren’t always color
corrected so sometimes I look yellow
like I have jaundice jaundice or
something I would just simply read
through the points and I knew the
material well enough because all that
writing I had did for my own artists and
yes I knew the material and I knew it
like so I could talk about this all day
and to me it was something that well
doesn’t everyone know this but as you
know like in the financial world where
you’re an expert you think I mean yeah
if you say the word Roth IRA everyone
should know what that is but very few
people really know whether we’re off
their arias and there’s so much
opportunity for someone just to go out
there and take something that appears to
be complex and make it very simple and
that’s what I look to do is stop so why
don’t we get into them why don’t we get
into that why do you think it’s
important for entrepreneurs to pay
attention to their style and the way
they dress simply because it’s what
people see it this is how we perceive
the world I mean if I was sitting here
naked it would send nah I mean I
probably would go it would go viral it
would be impressive but you know it
wouldn’t be it wouldn’t be the signal
that we would want to send and it that’s
an extreme but if I was wearing clothing
like a clown outfit I mean it would
and the clothing that we have from the
jackets that build up the shoulders well
when you build up the shoulders on a man
he becomes more masculine even when you
put the bill up the shoulders on a woman
she becomes innocence
more she has more masculine features now
what do you want to exaggerate as a man
you want to look more manly because
especially if ages you know maybe
putting weight around the midsection
maybe you have sloped shoulders but if
you appear more masculine you appear
more healthy if you appear more healthy
we want to do business with people that
are healthy so all of that to me it
comes down to you using the clothing as
a tool to be able to close the sale
build the trust be able to get that
person to hand you the money to invest
hand you the money to be able to start
your company so how do I you know I
remember myself when I got started as an
entrepreneur how to wear a you know a
dress anything I mean I was in high
school it was Dickies and an M it’s
immature Z if you want to kind of figure
out the outfits on what we wear high
school you really don’t have a lot of
you’re trying to figure it out and then
we go into the army and army you’ll
learn how to iron your clothes err that
kind of helps you out a little bit when
I’m in the army and then I get out I’m a
bodybuilder then I’m trying to get into
business I don’t know how to tie a tie I
don’t know how to put a suit on as a
start-up entrepreneur brand spanking new
executive salesperson entrepreneur what
are some must to have in the closet for
me well it’s funny you mention the army
and the army they actually have SOPs you
know you have the standard operating
procedures and you have the regs
basically and you’ve got certain
uniforms and the Marines we had car
class a class b we had various types of
uniforms for different functions it’s
the same thing in the civilian world is
that you actually have certain dress
codes for certain events so you’ll look
around and you should just look for
inspiration and it can come from
Hollywood it can come from the music
industry it can come from successful
executives you see on television and so
if you’ve got a favorite show maybe it
suits maybe it’s going to be you know
Mad Men or something like that because
you want to
I’m an agency then simply look to them
and what’s cool about men’s style which
is one of the reasons I love it is it
moves very slowly so if you stick with
style which is timeless in many ways
versus fashion which is fleeting fashion
is something where we see trends going
on and bashing changes pretty quick very
interesting what you just said again so
style stays it changes slowly
yes fashion changes rapidly yes so if
you look at Cary Grant a picture of him
from a 1950 1960 movie the guy could
literally walk out of that movie and
he’s fine you go to watch the movie
Ocean’s eleven the original one or watch
the newer ones their style can walk a
very good point and it’s very good so on
but fashion if you look at I mean I saw
a picture of a lot of basketball players
that visited the White House I think was
the year 2005 or something like that and
they’re all wearing these really like
baggy loose suits and then they showed
them again in 2015 they put that
actually really actually well fitted
suits that is more a bit fashion so if
you see things that it looks very trendy
or if it’s in a high-end boutique if it
looks a bit extreme you may want to
avoid it but getting to your original
question about what items to look for it
really comes down to what is your need I
do think every man needs to have a
dark-colored suit that fits him well and
the best thing that you can do is go to
a menswear store yes you’re gonna spend
a little bit more money but find
somebody that can guide you can look at
your body type and actually find
something that’s going to fit you so I
always talk about the style pyramid
which is fit function and fabric and
those three things right there so get
the fit run make sure it fits your body
then it’s gonna go down with a function
so this is where you get the right
clothing for the right you know you’re
working in your office I don’t think
people need to wear a suit but they
still need to look professional so this
is what’s the function of the clothing
and then the fabric that’s basically the
best that you can
there’s a difference between a $40 pair
of shoes and a $400 pair of shoes now if
you can only afford a $40 pair then sure
get the best $40 pair you can afford but
you’re always looking that if you’re
gonna upgrade your wardrobe after you
get that first bonus first Christmas
bonus you say I’m gonna reinvest in
myself and I’m gonna maybe look to get
those shoes that cost two to three
hundred or they were four hundred but
they’re on sale for two hundred and I
know I’ve been watching these and I’m
gonna go in there and scoop them up
because those expensive shoes may seem
expensive but I’m gonna be able to wear
them 400 times before they wear out
versus the other ones I can only wear a
hundred times and they start to look bad
any specific stores you would recommend
we can get those discounts are they any
favorites yeah you know I’m just gonna
say box stores in general the reason box
stores is they bring in a lot of
inventory and they usually have their
you know multi I mean I like Nordstrom’s
simply because the customer service and
they have a long history but I mean you
can go to you know and go to Macy’s and
find amazing deals you can go to JC
Penney’s and find good deals find a
store that you resonate with the price
know what you’re looking for and kind of
create almost like a hit list of okay I
need to get the suit and you need to get
the shoes I need to and we can going to
we could spend all that going into a lot
of the details but you know get the
shirts I like to call it the
interchangeable wardrobe but first you
need to know where you’re you know
ideally who you’re dressing for because
if you’re gonna be going to New York and
you’re a banker or if you’re gonna be
selling insurance in Dallas or if you’re
gonna be a creative out at Google in San
Francisco very different dress codes and
so the clothing you’re putting together
is going to be different but at the same
time yeah having that hit list that’s
gonna help so you would you say I mean
who is your real men real style who is
your ideal customer who’s the ideal
candidate for you I find use a man in
transition so he’s either just left the
military he’s just graduated from
undergrad or maybe graduate school he’s
gone through a divorce perhaps but he
realizes that style matters something
happened in his
that he realizes he has to up his style
game and so that kind of guy comes to my
website and I really you know help him I
get a motivator i focusing on the y and
i you simon Sinek he’s written about
this really great points but he talks
but you’ve got to have an emotional
component to getting on board because
once a man has an emotional component
he’ll find a way to satisfy that itch if
you’re hungry
yuma go make yourself a sandwich or you
go out and you get food like there are
many ways to feed yourself but you find
a way to make that happen and that’s my
goal at real men real style is to get
you emotionally invested so that you
will then maybe you’ll leave my website
I’m fine with that because I recommend
to like 20 or 30 other guys in my
industry I just had somebody there’s a
guy Ryan McGann he really talks a lot
about dressing in a way to pick up women
now that’s not an angle I go with I’m
married I’ve got four kids I just can’t
speak to that audience as well as he
does but I recommend him if that’s what
you want or Aaron Marino
you know he’s me and Aaron are of the
same age but he has no kids him and his
wife they live a great life in Atlanta
Georgia and if that’s the type of style
with you know with more the alpha male
that you know wears earrings and you
know goes with that type of lifestyle go
for it go find him but my websites an
entry point to get you emotionally
evolved involved and if you want the
basics like how to tie a tie how a suit
should fit
I’ve got infographics and all that grace
you’ve got very good content I mean you
got every single if you haven’t been to
his channel you got to go to his channel
I mean anything any man can think about
who’s in sales executive business you’re
trying to impress you’re gonna find
content on your site on your channel
about any of those questions that
somebody may have so you know with that
being said the fact that that’s your
customer your friend Aaron would be
somebody because he’s same age as you
but he’s married no kids lives in
Atlanta with his wife were you said Ryan
I believe who was dress on how to get
girls etc etc I’m married I have three
kids myself so I’m in a different place
but how do you how do you feel yourself
about today with you know
because I have my own opinions on how
you dress and in what settings you dress
what do you think about the you know the
white shirt Steve Jobs what do you think
I’m not the white shirt Steve Jobs where
he wears the you know a circle
turtleneck or you have the white shirt
the Zuckerberg or what do you think
about that part that’s starting to
become a trend in oh it’s actually a
gray shirt and I just actually did a
video on this and he showed his wardrobe
when he returned from a maternity leave
and her maternity leave and his wardrobe
it’s all the same it’s all grey shirts
gray sweatshirts and he basically has a
uniform and I love that certain men have
uniforms the fact that they take the
thinking out of getting dressed in the
morning and for me to dress like this is
easy because this is my wardrobe and
it’s all interchangeable I mean we
talked to I think I received from Mario
you know he’s like have four different
outfits but I’m like I looked at what I
have I’ve got two jackets I have four
shirts and I have two pairs of trousers
everything matches so of those
combinations I’ve got two times four
times 2 which is 16 and different
outfits and for me that’s the beauty of
interchangeability that is my uniform so
for somebody like Mark Zuckerberg or
Steve Jobs the late Steve Jobs in what
they did
they knew the message that they wanted
to send the world you know Steve Jobs
wanted to be like the everyday guy I
mean but was funny as you saw people in
Apple stores dressing like him they were
inspired to be like him and that was the
uniform so as long as you recognize that
these guys have thought through that
process and it’s a uniform I think it’s
genius got it so so again uniformity
with Zuckerberg Jobs there’s a part of
it that Zuckerberg also says I don’t
want to think a lot to be dressed and
what I need to wear in the morning and I
feel like that every single morning I
wake up I don’t want to think a lot so
I’ll wear my I am an entrepreneurship I
could wear that every single that word
every single day to come you know if I’m
meeting with you know AIG executives or
foresters or nationwide executives and
we’re negotiating a major contract then
I’m gonna wear my suit if I’m selling
it’s on presenting if I’m speaking
depending
the audience how do you because what you
just said right now you sound like a
mathematician to four to the combination
shirts matches any of the jackets and
the shoes etc etc how does somebody who
is not as structured and organized as
you get structured and organized and
have an outfits mansion is there a
formula to it
unmagic do you know what I’m asking
I I kind of get I mean when it comes
down to it you you start off with one
outfit look and be inspired I really
advise I mean everyone’s got some great
musicians that they like maybe some
actors someone they even you have to go
back go back and watch some of your
favorite movies and maybe Goodfellas it
may be you know I’ve mentioned the
oceans but the Thomas Crown Affair
especially some of the historic movies
and it’s one of the exercises I have
guys doing so my course is go watch
these fun movies but you start to
realize how important costume is now a
costume is something that you don’t wear
very often hub such as on Halloween kids
are going to be out in costume ideally
though you find the look that you want
and you start to wear it and then it
doesn’t become a costume it becomes you
practice wearing it it becomes your
outfit I mean if you if Keith Richards
or Johnny Depp we’re a walk into this
room and if they were dressed a little
bit you know kind of outlandish we
wouldn’t think anything of it because
that’s not a costume for them that is
actually it seems like their persona and
who they are
they’ve conditioned the world to see
them in that way
so I always challenge a man like if you
see yourself as the next you know
insurance you are gonna dominate this
industry what does that man look like 20
years from now what do you look like
what is he wearing
okay that’s but you start to put
together and guess what you start to
dress like him today
because you don’t just wake up you know
being you know how does you you don’t
wake up and all of a sudden success
happens in one day it’s something that
you have to practice you have to live
through you need to practice become
better every single day and the clothing
when you are able to take that and
practice wearing it it gets better you
start to see that okay I like this tie
it works with this outfit this shirt
goes with these trousers does that
accidental is that intentional so is
that something you learn or is it
something bye-bye mistakes like mini
rice green with you know blue let me try
you know this with this how does that
happen we are a formula to it there’s a
basic I mean there’s very simple things
like going with monochromatic looks so
the shirt I have right here is gonna go
with these dark colored pants and these
jeans I have right here that is a look
that I repeat again and again it works
for me but the great thing about the
monochromatic look right here is I throw
on a jacket of five to six different
colors and they all work and that right
there is this shirt right here is a
variation of a navy shirt so Navy shirts
make up probably about twenty to thirty
percent of my wardrobe I love Navy
shirts and it’s just something I go with
so I take small variations of those this
one right here is a small dot repeating
pattern this shirt was also custom made
so it has it you know fun little things
I had with the buttons here now I
changed that up but I had one I started
off with one look and then I started
finding variations of it by taking one
piece and changing it out and the same
thing I like most of the jeans I they’re
all dark-colored well I don’t really
wear any light colored jeans is that a
personal preference or is it something I
find that darker colors in general work
for my complexion work for for Who I am
where I’m at in my life right now but if
I had red hair
light colored skin I would probably go
on and go with more mild colors perhaps
you know what you have actually right
here would work better for that
complexion maybe not the red tie with
red hair it would be too much you know
too much of a mirror here but that would
be something that you a lot of men know
the colors they natural
gravitate towards I know for me it’s all
of green brown dark blues since a kid
I mean I’m gravitated towards these when
it comes to metals I gravitate towards
silver because I’m cool toned I can look
at my arm here and see like the blue
veins so that indicates to me like and
once you start to pick up on these
things you just repeat them again and
again got it so it’s a little bit of a
cell phone so fashion is a little bit of
self-awareness on you knowing what your
style is and what fits you based on what
you’re saying it’s got it and are based
on that if I’m watching this right now
and I’m saying man I want to figure out
a way to be more fashion I want to look
better what do I do
I’ll go back to the inspiration part
again focus in on one outfit look at
maybe it’s right awesome you just see
him in the movie drive you’re like I
love that look well guess what just copy
that exact look try to put it together
and no one is going to say you look just
like Ryan Gosling and Ryan no one who
remembers that they just look at you
like that looks really good
yeah and you just smile and keep going
and you can go with casual looks that
way you can go with a little bit but I
find that you know Hollywood think about
it they’ve paid these stylists a lot of
money to come up with these great looks
and it’s all right there it used to be
that you could look at maybe statesman
or you could look at people in the you
know Esquire you should do a pretty good
job you know
GQ go to those magazines you can find
some inspiration there but all of a lot
of them will list out like really
expensive clothing realize that you can
always go to a box store you can find
something similar and if you don’t have
the money for a lot of clothing you will
have to up your level of education if
you’ve got the money then you can just
hire someone to go off and you know
custom clothiers to have a stylist so
it’s kind of that’s the trade-off
and I always that’s one of the reasons I
put out so much free content is I
realize I’ve got guys over in India over
in Pakistan over in various parts of the
world from South Africa to Australia
that I have tight budgets and I figure
you know don’t put in a little bit of
time then I can educate them so they can
put together a great outfit on
Hongki so let’s let’s transition back
I’d want to go back because at this
point based on your answers I mean if I
ask you about tattoos and artwork and
all this other stuff your your your
answer is probably gonna be if it fits
you so if it’s gonna be based on the
person’s identity and the creativity so
we can skip that part I want to go back
to something else with you for
entrepreneurs to kind of learn from you
how did you know that the moment you
decided to do this because when I’m
watching you as a consultant I’m
watching you from the consultants
I’m looking at you as a brand and if I’m
your agent let’s just say I’m wanting to
manage somebody like Antonio I just
learned a lot about you the last 30
minutes 25 minutes I learned that you
are very comfortable not trying to be a
product for everybody you know what
you’re tailored to it was very obvious
you said I’m not the guy that’s gonna
teach you how to be a player and a
womanizer and how to do this that’s not
like him I’m married with four kids I’m
at a different phase of my life great
now we found out your wife is the only
person you’ve kissed in your life which
is very impressive more power – that’s
incredible I’m impressed by that okay
the second thing we learned was the fact
that if you want somebody that is same
age as you married but they don’t have
kids
hey maybe go to a different kind of a
stock that’s also not me I’m not trying
to be that right but here’s Who I am so
it seems like you found out exactly what
product you’re marketing towards and who
your customer is how did you yourself be
self-aware that that is your customer
because I think so many times
entrepreneurs try to make everybody
their customer and they wonder how can
they fail how did you transition
yourself your military got your alluring
guy you’re an officer you’ve gone to
school is it because you went to
university Texas where they taught you
that it’s always good to find your ideal
customer and stick to that what was your
transition or did you have one point
make the mistake of wanting to be
everything to everybody and then you
went out to specific elaborate the talk
on that a little bit if you could well
you know just getting the
education all that spending all that
money all that time learning the things
I mean that that helps a bit like you’re
supposed to be able to see that but
you’ve got to make the mistakes don’t I
think that maybe having mentors around
you I’m definitely part of many
masterminds where I mean with other
entrepreneurs to be able to tell me the
obvious but I think for years with my
custom clothing I was hitting my head up
against the wall trying to make that
work because I’m I’m like I’m gonna make
this work I’m gonna make this work and
I’m just hitting these barriers and it
was until I really sat down and looked
at the numbers and the amount of time I
was putting in there that I realized
I’ve just got to call it quits on this
business in transition to the other one
being able to identify who my target
customers yeah I had to go through the
painful process of realizing that I’m
spending twenty percent of my time on
these 80 percent of Pete or these people
that are making 80 percent of my money
versus all these other people that I’m
trying to spend and close deals with and
get them to buy my products aren’t
buying anything why I mean even focused
on flowers and so yeah I dealt with
return us I mean I looked at who’s
returning at what point of your career
did you do that like how did that happen
was it was it you were noticing you’re
spinning your wheels was it you noticed
that your and how did you go that’s what
I want to know like I want to know what
caused you did you inspect your business
did you sit down and write down the
numbers was there a where our profits
coming from what’s our profit margin how
did you do how did you process that
you’re signed a question oh man yeah so
what I want to know is because someone’s
watching this let’s just say and this
person’s a real estate agent okay and
imagine this guy’s a real estate agent
out of pick a place Boise Idaho and he’s
been trying to get into this market of
lawyers and it’s not working for him but
he’s doing very well on the market of
working with you know 250,000 dollar
loans he’s trying to get into the six
hundred thousand dollar loans and so far
he’s landed one he sold one property
that’s six hundred thousand dollars in
Boise Idaho which is not six hundred
thousand dollars homes in Boise or
bigger homes and he’s realizing 250 is
working form how does he process that to
stop chasing the 650 and realized he
does very well with the 250 just get
better at the 2/3
how did you go through that transition
you know I it’s going through a very
painful time in your life in which you
realize you’ve got a that businesses and
everything and you’ve got to be able to
drop quite a few things so I thinking to
a time that it was 2009 and my sister
had died she committed suicide so I’m
the son in my family and I had to stop
everything and I’m driving down from
Wisconsin to Texas she was in Austin
Texas and I had to drive her cremated
body I had to clean out of her apartment
all the way out to California with my
brother and I remember I was having to
take business calls that led to nowhere
with her urn in between my legs is I’m
driving across the United States so when
I realized that I was spread so thin in
my business that I was I couldn’t even
grieve the death of my little sister I
think that right there kind of gave me a
I mean really put business in
perspective that I didn’t have an
unlimited amount of time to spend on
things and that I needed to focus in on
my winners because if I kept focusing in
on these losers and you know they’re
probably right business for something
else
that I just don’t have too much time so
now as you can see I mean that’s why I
bring my son on projects with me
why I homeschool my kids it’s really I
realized the time I have is very limited
and I think the dangerous thing for an
entrepreneur especially one that’s
tasting success is that we get
comfortable we get you know happy okay
my business is doing a million dollars
and I’m keeping a lot of that how do you
get that hunger back to make that jump
to five million or if you’re at five
million to go from five million to 25
million or whatever that jump is or if
you’re at two hundred thousand how to go
from five hundred thousand and so for me
it was having something very painful
something very and I do find it
smaller events like that happen again
and again in life and I try to really
recognize when those happen and then
motivate myself so you know and
masterminds help a lot being around
other entrepreneurs they get it you know
that they’ve had it so that they’ve you
know no one the ball stops okay I mean
the buck stops with you as a business
owner I mean you have to be there or do
and so that’s why and we were talking
about this earlier one of the reasons
I’ve decided to build at this point more
of a lifestyle business than one that
requires me to be there because I wanted
a business that I could take time away
to be able to travel that’s why I ask
you to question I said do you really
want to do that
and you really want to go to this face
because you want to home-school anyone
is skill they may not match together on
what you want to do at that point so
interesting I find that very interesting
because do you think if you sometimes
people chase following versus valuable
followers if that makes any sense like
you may have certain amount of followers
but they’re 100% loyal followers to what
you’re teaching were so somebody else
may have more following but their
conversion on their following may be
minimal compared to the conversion that
you’re having yeah so a life-changing
event that happened to you which I’m
sorry to hear that but that made you
realize the value of time and I think a
big part of entrepreneurship is you
realize in one you don’t have a lot of
time especially later on when you have
kids I have three kids under the age of
five and they’re all wanting daddy time
and makes you look at things in a
complete different way so what’s next
for you what’s next for you what are you
doing next what’s your vision now you’re
doing good you’re yeah got good things
going on you have choices you have
options you have you know kids who love
you you got a family you got you know
you got your wife you making the money
what’s your vision of what’s what’s next
for you we’ve got a conference out in
Atlanta that we’ve been running for
about three years and that’s really it’s
called style calm we’re probably gonna
rebrand it because it’s more about just
bringing men together to talk about
business communication
ownership and we do talk about style and
lifestyle so I run that with Aaron
Marino over at alpha and about 300
people out into that one so that one’s
been a lot of fun we also uh let me
think
our company men flew intial what
happened is a lot we some influential
men flew in children eve that company a
great name we realize that there’s a lot
of men influencers in the industry learn
that may we simply brought them all
together because we found that we were
getting a lot of leads and so i’ll get
ten leads a day people that want to work
with me of which only like one out of
twenty turn into any real business but
the thing is is many of those could be
business for smaller craters I just
simply don’t touch a deal if it’s less
than five thousand dollars that’s that’s
my beer but there’s many craters that
would love to do a deal for a thousand
of two thousand dollars so what we did
is we started farming out we took all
those leads and we found other smaller
craters and we just became a place where
influencers come who are focused in on
men and if we just you know been
building up that kind of media company
alright look at like you start to look
at business from just building your own
business to be able to create something
maybe that could be acquired create
something that just simply feeds into
your other businesses and you know so
that’s those are the two things that
keeping me busy besides real men real
style I love it I love the whole men
flew initial concept that the name just
you know for us like when we came out
with value taming it was we want to
bring value but we think you know we
have to do it in a way where we
captivate and entertain so we combine
entertainment with value came up with
value famous I love the name men flew
intial okay sounds good any last
thoughts that you want to share with the
entrepreneurs out there on what they can
be thinking about when they’re thinking
about style when they’re thinking about
fashion when they’re thinking about
professionals and when they’re thinking
about having an edge in their business
when they’re thinking about growing
their businesses what are some last
thoughts you could say to everybody out
there you know I so you know you know
about neil patel you know yes yes as a
marketer right he’s a marketing guy he
is he he doesn’t use even care about
clothing yet I just read the other day I
think he’s spent like a hundred and
sixty two thousand three hundred and
twenty one dollars and 42 cents
something like that on clothing in one
year and he stood he showed exactly he’s
a conversion expert he showed how that
spend on clothing equated to almost
seven hundred thousand dollars in extra
sales and this is a guy that just meets
with people and he showed that okay I
did nothing different in my pitch
everything was kept the same some
started wearing Tom Horn suits and all
this other stuff because he was like I
asked people for an outlandish amount of
money to be able to work on their
websites increase the conversions and
when he showed it like the breakout of
how he went from a twenty five percent
closure rate of his of his meetings to
sales to forty percent
and Holly changed was the way he dressed
to me
that’s what should motivate an
entrepreneur is it’s not about like okay
you may say oh I’m not gonna be
comfortable I’m not a suit jacket kind
of guy well who are you I mean if you
pursue think about who you want to be
and then dress to be I mean this
clothing I know fits me perfectly and
I’m very comfortable in it because I
practiced wearing it and just something
because something’s unfamiliar doesn’t
mean it’s uncomfortable it’s just you’re
not used to it’s like going to the gym
you start to wear it and start to become
you and then you get compliments you
feel better and I think from an
entrepreneurs perspective most
importantly your business does better
excellent that’s great you know so where
can people find you and follow you what
would you like people to go and find the
apology just check out my youtube
channel real men real stuff real men
Rosa will put all the links on the
bottom let’s make sure we put the
website it is men fluent or something
you want to market is is that something
that Dad if they check out real men real
style we’ve got a link over them on the
website okay so under will put the link
will put the video will put everything I
highly highly recommend I wish honestly
I’m 38 yesterday count 38 yesterday I
wish when I was 20 years old 21 years
old getting out of the army I truly wish
there was a youtube channel like yours
for me to go to and learn the basics it
would have saved me two years of looking
terrible it would have saved me your
of not being presentable if I had a
channel like your so I highly recommend
you follows you to channel in this
content again Antonio thank you so much
for joining us brother this has been a
blast and gank you got any questions you
got any thoughts any comments please
comment on the bottom if you haven’t
subscribed to this channel subscribe as
well thank you so much everybody take care bye bye
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