How a 2x Shark Tank REJECT Survived & Made MILLIONS | Ask Mr. Wonderful #15 Kevin O'Leary & Alpha M

[Music] hey mr. wonderful here with a really unique episode I've asked mr. wonderful you know because we talk about entrepreneurship so much in the journey and the town the challenge of doing it I thought we'd bring on someone who's actually been on Shark Tank not once twice this guy's a crazy chicken even to talk yourself on the shark tank twice is impossible so he's done it and who knows he might be the only person who can come on three times he's got the energy I'll let him introduce himself and then we're gonna take a whole bunch of questions from ask mr. wonderful viewers but we've got an entrepreneur here extraordinaire Aaron Kevin thank you so much the problem so my name is Aaron Marino I have the YouTube channel alpha M and basically from this channel it allowed me to start different verticals and different businesses I think that at my core I'm an entrepreneur it just happened that my business that I wanted to basically start from the age of 12 was a fitness center I knew at 12 years old what I wanted to do for the rest of my life you know everything leading up to the point at which I actually opened a fitness center that's what it was about from 12 years old I wanted to help people change their lives and you know as as you know entrepreneurship is not a straight line and it was it was the most devastating thing that happened when I had to end up shutting the business down back in 2006 because poopoo happens well it happens and it happened a lot I think there there should have been an omen we signed the lease to our facility on the September 11th that was pretty much a telltale sign of how everything was going to unfold I think that's a very important list for everybody listening because just because you assume success just because you have the energy just because you have the desire doesn't mean it's gonna happen for you in the first time in fact I believe that entrepreneurs that go through the sting of failure are motivated in a very special way afterwards and clearly in your case that's been exactly what's happened because there's been a lot of [ __ ] hits you and somehow here we are you very successful now which is I'm so happy to have you on my channel because I want to talk a little bit about that journey but you actually have a unique amount of aura and energy and that's the that you've been on Shark Tank twice because when you came on the first time I thought you were a real dick I mean the idea was so preposterous the idea that you were gonna sell a style system three hundred bucks I know but it D be DS yeah and the whole idea was so crazy but because your storytelling was so compelling you actually got people seriously considering and I nearly had to go down the line the other sharks to say look no one's given this guy any go this is way too crazy but you are very good at explaining why it might have value to somebody and that's part of the challenge of being an entrepreneur to be able to explain your opportunity in a very short concise period of time which you were very good at but after that you came back and which is remarkable and let's talk about that experience what was that like first of all being one I think it's less than 1% ever get back yeah Shark Tank is is is amazing and it's a it's a shame that people don't really understand like what really goes into it they only see a small window of what happens well here's a chance for you to say it is brutal it is I mean and the one thing that you're gonna notice if I tell you this it sort of ruins it you your mouth gets so dry when you're out there because you're scared [ __ ] you're scared shitless yeah and so you're there and and and lights camera action and there is no stop there is no okay do that again it's like go go go and and you get grilled and that's what I was not expecting I was not expecting even though I watched it hundreds of times I was not expecting the questions to be not only as direct and and sort of cut through all the [ __ ] like it was this is what it's about you know and I wasn't prepared for that even though I knew my numbers I was prepared and so the first time was kind of a disaster I was so excited to be on and I knew that I was gonna they matter what you guys said I knew that I was going to sell a ton of style systems afterwards and the night that Shark Tank aired I had all my friends and family there everybody's there and I'm sitting there and I had my my computer out and I was ready to see that in that that dollar amount to start there to ring and I sold one unit the night that shark tank aired like quickly which by the way is probably the worst performance of any product ever in Shark Tank history because the ideas sucked that's why and I think I told you because I am mr. wonderful I tell the truth it shocked but you came back but so the reality hit me in the face all right this is not this is not working and so there I was about a month later I knew that I needed a lower pricepoint product something that every guy needed as you deal was 300 bucks right yeah 300 bucks crazy on you I sold one shut up usually you made hundreds of dogs act I did I made hundreds and so I was I was dyeing my hair when inspiration struck my youtube channel was all about helping guys look and feel great and hair products were one of those things where I was passionate about and I loved and so I thought you know I'm gonna start a I'm gonna start a hair product business and it's been sort of a wild ride ever since the YouTube channel continues to grow I came back on Shark Tank for the hair product and nobody wanted to invest in the product no because first of all your premise was for men right yes which is a brutally competitive space and everybody's question was the same what's your customer acquisition strategy because you're competing with some of the Giants on earth some of the biggest companies on earth are in this space and they're beating each other up and here you are Aaron saying hey hey I'm here for a second time on shark take I've got another crazy idea please give me some money but I got it I got to defend myself for a second if anybody else would have gone in the shark tank if they'd if I didn't have the the backing or the reason I was selling was because of my youtube channel if I went in there or a entrepreneur went in there with the business that in two years made a million dollars it does and and the margins were great growing at a fast rate everybody would have been throwing money at him but because I had this ladies have the future in front of us we only had your second idea the first one absolutely suck we all remembered that and we're thinking why is this guy back the reason you were back is you are tremendously good television which is a great message to everybody out there you have such energy in such a Noren the camera likes you so much that the producer said one more time with feeling from the sky because everybody know sometimes the second time up at bat is when you hit the homerun and so I did I I got a deal with Barbara but she didn't want to invest in the in the hair product business because she still thought it sucked no she didn't think it'd suck she but she was investing it in to your point she wanted a piece of my my youtube channel now this was she wanted to diversify her risk is what she wanted cuz she didn't she knew you were great but she didn't know which one of your ideas was gonna hit which is fair I'll speak for her I would have done the same thing with you in fact I would have been much tougher but the point was that she was saying look I know something's gonna work for this guy because he's got such an incredible amount of energy I don't know what it's going to be and that's exactly what happened so fast forward I didn't end up taking the deal since then I've been able to start a few other businesses basically leveraging my my ability to you know communicate and and have a large following so which one's actually worked the hair product business worked it's what are the sales of that thing right now this past year Barbara you bozo you let that get away I can't believe it shame on you it's imagine that dog that piece of poop was doing million dollars gotta get to the numbers said that was what why not I'm all about no that's not and so that's that's that's not so I have other businesses as well I don't want to go into the numbers with all of them that's a pretty good number that's a pretty good number for a product that really thought was gonna suck so then my largest business is a skincare company called Tish Hanley that is a men's skincare subscription business I have a advertising agency that I started as a result of not being able to sell my I didn't want to sell advertising to my channel I wanted somebody else to do it and so I hired my best friend from high school Terry who is a car salesman and amazing car salesman and from moment one everything took off in terms of your sponsorship just just teases what's the big nut what are you doing sales this year across all this stuff a lot like just give me a number I mean a la see see here's where here's it listen a lot is can mean two dollars it's more than one dollar that's a lot or it can mean something stops in it what do you guys what about you come on because you're the one that got out of the tail yeah and I want Barbara to hear just hell yeah you know eight figures in that and that and that more than ten million more than ten million more than twenty million more than we'll just get let's just leave it there wait Barbara Barbara Barbara I'm gonna buy you a new baby you can fly here right now to meet Aaron again new broom for you Barbara right over here you can supply she can fly in a broom yeah you know what love Barbara but up but no everything is great I'm incredibly fortunate that I get to do what I love everyday which is create content and the fact that you know being an entrepreneur and having that in my DNA in my blood you know you never know where opportunity and the you never know which one is gonna work exactly and you got to keep your eyes open because what but that's why I'm glad we're here today together cuz we've got I get thousands of questions from entrepreneurs that we're actually at the beginning of your journey maybe they failed once maybe they haven't even started yet that's why I want to tap into you today on these ask mr. wonderful questions I got a bunch of them here let's listen and then I want us both to answer them from the different perspectives we have because you have come out of a hole you have a little story on this watch before we see ya right this is a beautiful Rolex you know I'm a watch collector I really appreciate that it's a gorgeous rose gold piece but it's got an inscription on the back of it what does it say yeah most people it's funny most people celebrate victories or wins or benchmarks in their business by by buying nice watches or they'll buy a watch to represent some some zeal that's what I do that's what I do something good at a celebration of success I bought this watch when things were bad in terms of and and bad is relative because that's not a cheap piece no but I I had my eye on it and I was going through sort of a low point in terms of emotionally you know things with YouTube weren't going in the direction that I wanted but I bought it to remind myself that as long as I keep trying as long as I don't stop it'll get better and I can do this and so on the back I had inscribed get to work and so everybody told me all that these values get to work those get to work figure it out initially I would have said that would've devalue to watch except since then maybe that watch is your lucky timepiece because look what's happened to you you look at it every day and you remind yourself what you put on the back of that at your low point I love that story watches are about conversations we just had one so that's a very successful piece for you because every time someone looks at it says well I really like that watch you can tell them the story of that absolutely that's great I love it I love that too that's great let's get to some questions okay because we're gonna have some fun here I mean I love the fact that you can relate and I've not listened to these questions so they're men either so we're ready let's go at a fashion tech startup that uses AI to automate the fashion photography process here in New York City a finished college with more debt than originally planned around 21,000 yeah I want to save and invest for the future so I can start my own business one day I believe I need to eliminate all my debt before saving and investing and of course eventually starting my own business do you recommend someone in my pitch in my position to focus all their extra money your savings and commissions towards my student debt or is it advantageous to do a little bit of both saving and invest as well as pay off the debt even if it'll take more time thanks mr. wonderful I've always resonated with your story growing up as an expat with you and myself I love your videos any advice would be great thanks you know what's cool about this question it's in your space it's in fashion a little bit yeah but the guy is $21,000 in the hole he hasn't even brought any revenue in doesn't have a business yet what do you tell so for me I think it really depends on for one interest rate on that on that on that student level at 7% 7% I would probably not wait to start saving for both my my future in terms of my business it sounds like he's an entrepreneur he has an idea that he wants to go after I would pay down the debt but I think that I would be utilizing my funds to try to start that business that I that I ultimately feel will propel me towards success but you know so that freaks you out is what you're saying I I don't have any debt once I had to file bankruptcy so you you felt I felt felt that the terror of that there's nothing there nothing that takes the fun out of life like debt and not knowing how you're gonna pay your well said and and for me when I had my fitness center and it was failing I was taking money off of my credit cards to pay my staff I mean it was bad and at that point I had to dry I was driving a beer cart to put gas in my car at a country club and Here I am a thirty year old guy who has a business at a fitness center that I was trying to franchise and I'm driving a beer cart and the worst part about it Kevin I didn't have a plan B I'm the type of entrepreneur that I don't have a safety net I'm plan a all the time direct and when that exploded I know a [ __ ] idea what I was gonna do and that was the scariest part for me so I totally agree with you in that I share I have no debt zero and every time my credit card comes in every month every cent is paid off because I live in fear of debt I've been through that too I didn't get to bankruptcy but I got very close and it scared the living [ __ ] out of me and it made me feel unhealthy it puts so much stress on you so I think both of us giving the same advice number one focus is paid on the twenty one thousand dollars but don't give up your dream you have an interesting idea of fashion using AI I love entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas he's got one but that debt thing is a real message in that question and and so too you know that's for everybody with college debt it's between six to seven percent most of these loans they kick up to that rate pretty damn fast and you've got to start focusing but whatever you're doing take 20% 10% and pay it down there's also but there's something also exciting about that because he's in this new space and so you know there's with startups there's there is that entrepreneurial spirit and so you know that there there's also the idea that if this hits it could hit big but there's also a tremendous amount of risk you know exactly the risk with a start-up or something that's unproven you know everybody's looking for that exit and I really think that with certain businesses you really just need to be smart and disciplined with the way that you spend your money and not think that and not assume that it's going to hit super big and so just be careful pay your debt down because being debt free is the most liberating feeling you'll ever have well-said let's get another question here I'm sorry am I am I talking more than you know cool then I love the fact that we're doing this together because at the end of the day you've lived that ride you've gone through it and so this is great advice let's listen to this one again I've never heard these questions so I love the fact that just cold turkey hey mr. wonderful Joe here you expand your my favorite shark I was just wondering what you do when the woman you love will never love you back thanks mr. wonderful whoa Joe baby yeah this is a good question great question you know I'll tell you something in life when you fall in love with somebody and they don't return that that can be a bad affliction because it really drags your energy down but at some point you have to be honest with yourself particularly when you have that conversation with them say look is there any chance between the two of us all of us have been there people try and say oh it's never happened to me [ __ ] it happens to everybody but that makes you realize they're not your partner they're not there for you they don't love you back and that's just the nature of love it's a [ __ ] that way but you have to have that conversation with them this is my advice to Joe and say look I really have some strong feelings for you but if you if you can never reciprocate that this is a Bonnie Raitt song by the way it's a classic which you professors are loved to somebody and they're never gonna love her back broke her heart what do you do Joe my advice to you is you got to be honest the fact is you are amazing right you're an incredible guy and you're gonna make some woman the luckiest woman ever but one of the issues that we fall into as men is that we do get sort of tied in and preoccupied with that one person right and really it's because of something that we can't have right the truth is you need to read the writing on the wall and and it's time for you to take care of yourself and understand that you're never going to find that perfect person that's out there for you until you are able to shut the door on on this this person that that obviously is not worthy of your love and affection you think as you get a little older Aaron that you understand the pitfalls of love and you start to realize I don't want to drag myself maybe you maybe you become more of an oyster you protect your emotions because they know how much it hurts but if you've never been hurt you can never really fall in love absolutely that's the issue that's the issue so I think for Joe you got to write this one off and you got to move on aaron has the right advice there there's always another fish in the ocean somewhere by the way she really smoking hot that's breaking your heart I'll never meet someone that hot you will absolutely it's you will that's a great question is it founder is it really a cofounders no it isn't it's a partner she's talking about but I mean here's the real debate that I've learned you know you're really good at some things and not good at others every entrepreneur is exactly that way so I'm a good sales marketing person I hate logistics in manufacturing bores the [ __ ] out of me but without that skillset I can't really scale so along the way in my businesses I've always found someone who can make up for my weaknesses and I've made them partners by giving them equity they're not really co-founders as you've said but in order for them to stick through the hard times and really suffer the pains the slings and arrows of building a business you got to give them a piece of the action that's the way I look at it so if you are actually growing and it's working and you realize you have weaknesses you've got to find someone else to fill those holes now maybe you can find a point employees we're gonna have to pay them a lot I prefer to have people with skin in the game soldiers beside me we're all fighting the same war together and we're in for the mission and we all get the upside so I think if you're asking me this question right now and I'm dying to hear what erin has to say I think you're ready for a partner but make sure you're not greedy don't be a greedy Pig pigs got slaughtered if you're if you're giving away equity make sure it's the right person take a long time to make that decision but together you'll make a much bigger pie and that equity will be worth a lot to both of you what do you say the one thing I would say I have some businesses that I partners in some businesses that I don't and there are upsides to both both scenarios the one thing I would say whenever you are considering adding somebody to the team to something that you're building your baby you want to make sure that it's not only the right fit now but it's the right fit moving forward and what I mean by that is I think too often people are thinking I need to give away too much too soon and they think it's you know it has the best like immediately I would say that in this scenario find somebody that is going to add value that's going to fulfill or fill the voids in which you know you're not good at and and then do it over time do it gradually there's nothing wrong with seeing how this person performs because the worst scenario give them the equity as they as they perform have it best over two years a year give them you know certain a little bit of equity you know after year one your to have different benchmarks and really because everybody's gonna sell you how great they are everybody is going to tell you you I'm amazing I can do this I can do that but the truth is it's put up or shut up and in business you know talk is cheap you've got to actually execute and and you've got to make sure that the person that has told you how excellent they are at executing is actually able to do it and help your business move forward and if it's not well then that's like you're you're cool with giving a piece of the pie oh absolutely you see the merit in doing it oh 100% - but I like your strategy if you if you layer it in that's fine but by that time it may be more employees or maybe more people that have to share and that's what options generally companies put about 15 percent of their equity into people that are coming on to grow it you love to have that problem if you're actually giving away equity because you need more help that means you're growing that's a wonderful outcome I wish them good luck on that one it's very cool all right let's go to the next one I'm having so much fun with this there we go they're going hi mr. wonderful my name is Tara and I was wondering if you could give me will me and my husband a little bit of advice on dressing for job interviews we were both actually interviewing at new companies this month and neither of us have been in the job interview game for we five years or more I've heard that wearing a suit and tie or a blazer and heels for a woman used to be the way to go but that some new companies can think that you're stuffy or will fit the job culture yeah we would love your advice is it better to over dress or is it better to be cool and approachable you're always fashionable and you've talked a lot about dressing for your job before so we would love to get your advice thank you well Tara you've come to the right place I have the fashionista man beside me here Aaron I'm gonna let you take a stab at this sure she's raising a really good question for both men and way they're back in the job market they want to look sharp they want to win the job basically I think the first thing you need to do is do your research figure out what the corporate culture is like at the the place that you're actually applying for because one of the issues if you're going to like a cool like tech startup I really feel like it does to some degree depend on the the the business that you're actually going and applying for and so do your research if it's a cool tech startup in the valley what are you saying you're gonna be a little hipper in terms of what clothing your weight a little more free you don't have the pressure to dress it might not require a suit and tie something super professional it might be a business casual or a business casual type of environment but I always would say err on the side of overdressing versus under dressing 100% of the time that is your one shot and your employer knows that it doesn't get any better than right now like this is the best if you are going in for an interview you know that if this person didn't shave if you know this person didn't you know didn't wear pantyhose or whatever the situation is it's never getting any better and so I would say that you if you want to dress and be cool and hip later that's fine that's for HR to work out but right now you need to be respectful of the position you're going after but also do your due diligence in identifying what the corporate culture is because if you go in in a three-piece suit and it doesn't require that you may be over dressing for the potential job or interview it's a great answer I'm gonna take a stab at it too because I actually interview a lot of people and and I've learned that the keywords you just brought up there and you only get first time to do a first impression only once that only happens once when you walk in that room and you look at each other so clothing is really interesting because it's different for men and women men have fewer choices particularly if you're going for a job in financial services what's happened on both the east and the west coast over the last five years is the tie has come back as a sign of respect that you care if you're in the financial services you're in an industry of trust and the Styles have become very very clean and the tie and also you know that the the colors have become more muted it's very interesting to watch that happen it happens in San Francisco Los Angeles I see it in New York Miami Chicago and I travel all those cities people are looking crisp clean and subtle for them for the sight of men now women this is very controversial because if you look at some of the codes that are now written by large corporations about women's clothing they're putting in the concept of not showing too much chest they don't want controversial dressing they don't want it to be flirtatious because of all the meat to things that are going on in the world and they're trying to tone down and believe me in big companies people meet each other and stuff happens that's just men and women doing their thing but how you clothe of its caught if you close yourself in a controversial way that's gonna hurt you in a job interview are they risking something that's the employer saying themselves and they make notes about this stuff I can guarantee you and very often they're asking for a picture of you before you show up just so they can see what you're wearing women have to be very careful that they look professional that's what matters whatever that means to you taking into account your idea about the company you're going to work in but if you come in with anything controversial that hurts and that's why their dress coats and that's why companies as they grow just passed 25 people HR starts to put in place dress codes because they don't want to cause tension in the workplace great question though I loved it never had one like that before and good it came when you are on the set because you're the fast and ista guy you keep telling me that you're overestimating my ability come on I told him he is twice on Shark Tank remember all right [Music] from Colombia at the moment my question is if it is better to grow slowly or seek funds to grow faster we're spending over a million dollars a year wide open for two years only thank you a million bucks in three stands the kid knows what he's doing you gonna live off that you're good you're probably making about 30% margin on product like that I would think you know bringing in 300,000 maybe it's speak to you 200 300 thousand I'm gonna give him that if he's running it so that's a good question you first you go out you borrow money to expand or you just grow slow and steady so here's the thing that you got to figure out if you raise money how are you going to use that money in order to take your business to that next level one of the big mistakes that I see a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses get into is they take money because they think hey I need more money but they don't know how they're going to spend it in order to actually generate more revenue I am a firm believer that you never you know it sort of goes back to the whole debt thing I don't want that on my personal life I don't want that in my business unless I know if I can use and you've said this all the time I just want to add fuel to the fire right or or cash to the fire make it burn gasoline to the fats what it is and so unless you know how you're going to spend that money and you've got the the infrastructure in place in order to be able to scale your business bigger stronger more profitable based on you taking money I say until you know how you're going to do that until you have a roadmap of I'm gonna spend X I'm gonna get this back don't take the money do not fall into the trap because if you take money from friends and family they'll let it slide but once you go into that institutional money then they're calling you then they're like hey why aren't you selling 27 more burgers a day and do you want to answer to those people that's my question to you I think it's a great question because clearly they figured out the model 3 stands doing a million bucks I'm gonna say that they're probably making two hundred and fifty thousand dollars pre-tax on that it could be a pretty good margin business you're selling direct to the customer cash so you don't have a lot of credit you have to worry or bad loans or anything else what I would do is I would open one more stand using the cash flow of the other three in a very close geography in other words just make it a place that you can actually go visit every day I love businesses that spin cash and you can live off I hate debt so I it's it's just what happens is you have to start hiring people relying on them to have the same fire you have that maintain these stand sounds like a bit of a family business which i think is terrific you don't have to become McDonald's to have a successful business so I would cool it I'd open one more with the cash you've got then one after that grow it slowly zero debt that's for other people not you my friend but a great question great answer yeah great answer Kevin it's like you've done this before yeah well I hate that just like you do okay here we go one more time with feeling earn I'm here Hank that's a simple question right saying no to Aaron that was my biggest steal and it was a huge mistake the guys walking around with maybe 20 million in sales it's more barbers problem she's the one that missed it the largest deal in Shark Tank history actually is mine it's the the company called plated and is measured by the biggest axe said it was three hundred million dollars they came on Shark Tank did not get a deal they were asking for such a ridiculous valuation two guys just like you we ran in from a year later in the streets of New York they talked they told me where they were at and they said look we'd love to get a shark into the deal and I then did the deal a year afterwards and that was sold only 24 months after that to Albertsons for three hundred million dollars so they had nothing when they came on Shark Tank that's the biggest acts that we've seen so far in Shark Tank history but it just shows you the dream is alive you can come on shark tank with a great idea you know get an investment for a shark and together we can use the platform to blow it up big there's been so many cases of that and great entrepreneurs show up every day and you know all joking aside Aaron's probably one of the best examples of what it takes to get on Shark Tank you need energy you need you need to show that you really care and are passionate about the business as he was and he got on twice now barber screwed up that's her problem you know I'm gonna get Barbara to new brooms this you go east west that's how it'll work listen it's been great with you today Thanks amazing thank you this is one of the best episodes so far I've asked mr. wonderful until next time keep dreaming big that's what it takes thank you so much Aaron thank you Kevin good luck guys you can do it [Music]

Channel: Kevin O'Leary

Views: 1,101,167

Keywords: shark tank, kevin o'leary, mr wonderful, ask mr wonderful, business advice, luxury lifestyle, ask kevin o'leary, best advice for entrepreneurs, how to make money with no money, kevin o'leary best advice, how to start a business, shark tank behind the scenes, kevin olery, shark tank best pitches, how to be successful entrepreneur, earn money, mark cuban, mr. wonderful, #1 key to success, how to be a successful entrepreneur with no money

Id: y_inZW20i3M

Length: 31min 16sec (1876 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 29 2020