Join us as we converse with Austin Wolfe, who shares his compelling story of transformation from battling addiction in Benson, North Carolina, to owning a flourishing marketing company. Austin candidly delves into his personal struggles, leading to a life-altering decision to start his own venture during his college years.
Our conversation with Austin traverses his interesting transition from the finance world to marketing, detailing the hurdles and victories he experienced along the way. Listen to his inspiring story of investing his entire life savings, attending a life-altering seminar in Beverly Hills, and his relentless hustle in door-to-door marketing. This led him to meet his mentor, who would become his business partner, mentor, and launch pad into the world of billboards.
Austin's journey is as much about personal discovery as it is about professional growth. His reflections on success shift our conventional views, nudging us to see beyond material wealth. He underscores the importance of relationships and family, inspired by the Spanish and Italian cultures' emphasis on caring for their elders. Austin's story is a testament to resilience, grit, and the relentless pursuit of dreams. So come, let's journey together through this extraordinary tale that stretches the limits of possibility and redefines success.
Thank you all for listening to this week's podcast! If you enjoy listening please consider rating, following, and reviewing the show.
Want to support the show further? Consider subscribing to the show, HERE
How to find us:
Whiskey & Wisdom: @whiskey.and.wisdom
Chris Kellum: @ctkellum
LinkedIn: Christopher Kellum
Tyler Yaw: @tyler_yaw_
LinkedIn: Tyler Yaw
Join us as we converse with Austin Wolfe, who shares his compelling story of transformation from battling addiction in Benson, North Carolina, to owning a flourishing marketing company. Austin candidly delves into his personal struggles, leading to a life-altering decision to start his own venture during his college years.
Our conversation with Austin traverses his interesting transition from the finance world to marketing, detailing the hurdles and victories he experienced along the way. Listen to his inspiring story of investing his entire life savings, attending a life-altering seminar in Beverly Hills, and his relentless hustle in door-to-door marketing. This led him to meet his mentor, who would become his business partner, mentor, and launch pad into the world of billboards.
Austin's journey is as much about personal discovery as it is about professional growth. His reflections on success shift our conventional views, nudging us to see beyond material wealth. He underscores the importance of relationships and family, inspired by the Spanish and Italian cultures' emphasis on caring for their elders. Austin's story is a testament to resilience, grit, and the relentless pursuit of dreams. So come, let's journey together through this extraordinary tale that stretches the limits of possibility and redefines success.
Thank you all for listening to this week's podcast! If you enjoy listening please consider rating, following, and reviewing the show.
Want to support the show further? Consider subscribing to the show, HERE
How to find us:
Whiskey & Wisdom: @whiskey.and.wisdom
Chris Kellum: @ctkellum
LinkedIn: Christopher Kellum
Tyler Yaw: @tyler_yaw_
LinkedIn: Tyler Yaw
Welcome back to the whiskey and wisdom podcast everyone. This is your co-host, tyler y'all, and today I'm with Chris Kellan, and our special guest today is Austin Wolf. Thank you so much for coming on, austin. I actually found you online, which is kind of how we got connected, and I didn't even realize it at the time, but now I do. So all of the indoor electronic billboards that I see around there and might as well be street and all those other places that I go to often all yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it's, it's crazy. I mean you guys want to just dive into, you know, the, the business and or what do you guys? How, you guys want to do it.
Speaker 1:I mean, tell us about yourself.
Speaker 3:Figure it about yourself how you got started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. So I came from a small town in Benson, North Carolina. Where are you guys?
Speaker 1:from. I'm from here, I'm originally from PA, but my wife is from Irwin, north Carolina. No way, so yeah.
Speaker 2:You're basically, it's basically family.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you know small town, you know, raised really, really country, and which is not really my vibe. I'm more of like a. I think I've always, always like a city boy or like a beach boy, yeah, and so you know, just typical, you know childhood but got addicted to drugs in high school, which is kind of, you know, off the water, but that was, that was my story. And then I went to Cape Fear Community College, transferred to UNCW and pretty much started a company my junior year of college. It was a marketing company I was learning from this guy named Ty Lopez.
Speaker 3:I've seen so many of his videos.
Speaker 2:I know they're a little they're a little funny, like kind of like too much Sometimes, like I'm here in my garage and here's my lamp but you know it's a lot of people are turned off by that, but for me I was like damn dude, this guy can do it, let me see what I can do. And I I sucked at first, you know struggled. I basically put my life savings you know I did not grow up in a rich family, you know basically had to work hard. My grandma basically gave me a loan to go to California to learn from him.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow we did.
Speaker 2:we took a seminar out in Beverly Hills and that pretty much changed my life, just like, hey, investing my own money or somebody else's money that I had to pay back, basically like going to school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:This was like more you know hands on, like you know learning from somebody who's actually doing what I want to do. So, yeah, I started that and then that kind of just kind of just plateaued. I was going door to door, bourbon Street, downtown was one of my first clients and then Parkway Wilmington on Market Street. I just when they were my business partner. We door knocked and I was like hey, man, we do social media, we do marketing. You know, can we help you guys out? And this was in 2017, when Facebook and Instagram was really taken off. Facebook obviously been a while, but Instagram really just took off. And you know, we just struggled. We really didn't know what we were doing, but we kind of did things. And then I met this guy named Gray. Vic Gray's a entrepreneur here in Wilmington. He's got a bunch of billboards. He was speaking that business week at UNCW and I went up to him after and I was some Gary V Shit and I was like, hey, dude, can I work for you for free? Yeah, yeah. He was like, yeah, dude, he's surfer or layback dude, you got to get great on the podcast. You know he can probably put you guys on the outdoor billboard, Y'all's face.
Speaker 1:That'd be pretty sick.
Speaker 2:Hopefully too many women don't call, but I know you guys have women. But yes, I met him and then you know, six, seven years later we kind of just had that relationship and then we decided to partner up together. So he owns some equity in our indoor and we basically do a lot of sales for his outdoor. So, yeah, man, just do a bunch of sales and marketing here at local Wilmington and all around North Carolina.
Speaker 1:That's sweet. So one of the main things that when everyone asks, like what do we do as whiskey and wisdom, like what kind of stories you're trying to promote? Right, and you kind of did exactly what most podcasts tend to focus on, right, it's like hey in high school wasn't doing the right shit, right, right. And then, like now, I asked the right questions, I did the right things, and now here, here's where I'm at. So I guess my next question for you is what was that catalyst for you? Like, what was that rock bottom moment where you were like shit, this is not right. Like this is where I would need to turn the turn the page.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I had a bunch of friends that overdosed, so that was like really hard. My cousin died. I got really close to God and so that was big for me. Obviously, you know it was really a big. You know kind of like a rock bottom for me and I had to find him and you know I just saw people. I was like man you only get one life, you know, here on earth. So why are we settling for average? Why are we just doing like, just like the government wants us to be, work towards 65, retire and then hopefully to live another 10 years? I don't want to do that and you know. Obviously that's why people like you try to help people get their finances together, and so that's why I was like man I want to be. I want to be somebody that my family's proud of. I don't want to be that guy that's under the ground. And so it was like, really just it got to a point where, man, I was just like I can't do this anymore, you know, and I was partying, you know, doing the typical college stuff. Right Of course, but I was like, man, this is not for me, it's not for me, and I just got really honestly obsessed with, like entrepreneurship and with growth. Yeah, like I just got to a point where I was just following, this all followed and I was just like a little above average and I had to cut a lot of people off that I grew up with and hung out with, but it just got to that point where I just wanted to separate myself from. I want to be the best version of me. I'm not in competition with you Nobody. I'm in comments with myself. And so I just had to get my shit together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like that. It's crazy Cause I was. I was listening to another podcast a couple of weeks ago and when people typically think of like people doing a lot of drugs and having like a bad, like younger health, they're always assuming it's like in a big, big city. I was like no. I mean country people have, like living out in the woods. You still have issues too, yeah, and I just I just want to like make the connection. Like everybody, you always. Everyone's going through shit but you got to find that thing that'll help you push past, like the reason why I'm doing better. I feel like as one I got married and two that always helps. You married the right person. That's the statement, true. And two, building a good company Community in a small circle, like having those friends and people who were like you know. This is what you want to do. I'm going to push you to try and do that and I feel like you've done that to yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, like my dad was an alcoholic, he's still recovering Alcohol. My mom was on drugs for 16 years, like I didn't have the perfect mom and dad together relationship. You know my grandma and basically helped raise me, so it was really tough, you know seeing you know other people growing up that had more than I did and it wasn't like I was trying to compare myself, but you know it is when you're a kid and your friends down the street are going to Disney every two weeks and you know you're just like playing Xbox, but it was fun. It was dope. I want to train it for the world and shout out to my grandma you know I call her nanny for helping you know, raise me and just basically giving me on the right path. But it is tough, man. A lot of people think you know getting drugs is but back in those like dirt roads, man, there's not shit to do. You get high and you get drawn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's like on some like trailer park boys type, shit Sounds kind of redneck, but where I'm from is where I'm from, you know.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, yeah, we're big, it's brother. Exactly where that is brother. Yeah, exactly what you kind of said is exactly kind of the Like when I go back there, like with her, like you can kind of see like it's super easy, kind of. What Chris said, like when you think of like the inner cities, was like oh yeah, of course there's drug dealers and stuff. Like when you go and experience that area it's like what else you can do other than like drink out of the bonfire?
Speaker 2:There's not much play sports and then you try to hook up with girls. But you know that. You know it's just. That's one of the things you do. You know I didn't go to church at the time, I just playing sports and partying. It was fun.
Speaker 3:But it was. It was fun, but it was stupid and you hit that wall right, I'm glad.
Speaker 2:I did it now and not in college when. I got to college I started saying okay, some people were dying, that's before fentanyl. So fentanyl was not even big. I was doing cocaine and Xanax and stuff like that back in 2013-2012, like 10 years ago, we never had laced Xanax laced coke. Nowadays, you couldn't pay me to do drugs Like cause. Fentanyl was in everything, right not everything, but it's everywhere. it's the number one killer for ages 20 to 45. It's the number one killer out of anything you know suicides, drunk driving, fetanyl was the number one killer.
Speaker 3:It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:So and it's big here in Wilmington man, you know it's we try to help a lot of nonprofits on the billboards promoting that man. Can I tell a quick story?
Speaker 1:Yeah please.
Speaker 2:This is a little this, a little deep, but this woman reached out to us about two or three weeks ago. Her daughter was going to app she's from Charlotte, her boyfriend or the guy she was seeing let's say they were hooking up right. He was they didn't know the time was a joke dealer, but he had fentanyl in his water bottle. Oh, she came to see him and, boom, she went his friend and he basically was Mike. I don't know if he was micro dosen or selling that out of the water bottle. I don't know how you do that. She basically drank the water bottle. He didn't tell her hey, I got a fentanyl bottle in the water. It's terrible. She drank it, died instantly and you know it's just sad. Her mom's called me and that's why she started a nonprofit trying to help people that have been victims of fentanyl who've been around it. And I'm like man, that's so. That's just sad and you know, I mean I don't know, the guy didn't even go to jail.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:It's like you know there's so many like weird little things and you know I just hate it for her, I hate it for anybody that's going through that. You know, like I said, my cousin, my best friend, I've had him die from fat and all. So that was one of big momentum changers for me in my life was seeing those people die and you know you got to, you got to get with the show where it's going to get. You know, opposite end.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:We don't want that.
Speaker 1:Have you heard of Ed Milet? Oh yeah, big Ed.
Speaker 2:I love the Ed Milet show Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 1:Kind of what you were saying is reminding me of Ed Milet is for two reasons. One, two of the main things that he typically says is the first thing is you can be the one person in your family to change the whole dynamic, to like start the legacy, yeah, and it sounds like you kind of look back and you're like you know what, I'm going to be the one, yeah, and so you kind of started there. And so the second thing that I think is really important on the side of that too, is he always says I don't believe God gave you another day of life for yourself, but for someone else.
Speaker 2:And just kind of yeah.
Speaker 1:And kind of what you were saying to you by like, given that the billboards and stuff and extra way of just kind of putting it out there so everyone driving every single day the people are walking along the street can see that every single day too, and I think that was really powerful, just the kind of way that it connected there too. And same what you said about Tai Lopez and everything as well.
Speaker 3:So I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:But to kind of go back to the professional life, how did you get in the marketing Like what made you really interested in that?
Speaker 2:Man, I was on social media like, so you know, guys know who Barstool Sports is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:I created the Barstool UNCW.
Speaker 1:Oh no.
Speaker 3:Don't judge me for it, because I know there's a lot of videos, I don't run it anymore.
Speaker 2:But I started it in finance class at UNCW. I was like to Graham. Yeah, graham.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't blame you, and so.
Speaker 2:I was sitting in there I was like dude, we don't have a Barstool UNCW page, so fuck it. I said I want to start one and then it started getting like a hundred followers. The first had to start a bunch of guys and girls and went to UNCW whatever Barstool Sports, the official page. It might have been fifth row, you remember fifth row or old row. No, it's a fifth year, or whatever.
Speaker 3:Old row is different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There was like their Instagram page. They reached out. I was like dude. Who gave you authorization to create this Dude?
Speaker 3:I don't know, I just did it. I was like, am I in trouble?
Speaker 2:They were like, yeah, we need to have a conversation. So we got on a zoom call with them. They're up in New York. I was like, yeah, brother, you're not the sign of an agreement, you just can't use our name and I was like shit. I was like this is either really good or really bad. It was never straight. They're like, yes, I just signed an agreement with them, basically just saying, hey, this is what I was doing. I basically didn't make any money but, you know, got some free shit out of it and met some girls and, yeah, pretty much I think I found my girlfriend through Barstool, so that got me to marking. I used to have a lot of sports pages, so I was basically doing filming for sports. Yeah, like ball was life slam type stuff, like mix tapes for football, basketball. So that's where I did. So I've been marketing my whole life. I didn't even know it so just kind of, and I was like man, well, businesses where you really make good money and where you can help them out so that's where I got into.
Speaker 3:That's sweet. So my question is you were doing that door to door, which is probably I applaud everybody who has the cahones to like go door to door, to like businesses and talk like door to door in neighborhoods is, I feel like a little bit easier because, like, well, half the time no one's going to answer the phone, but at least businesses are like you got to, you got to have something on your like in your head, something that will push you. But when you did that, what was the mindset where you're like, all right, so we need to have this mini by this time, or were you just like you know, let's just do it, let's hope for the best.
Speaker 2:My last name is Wolf, so I know you all seem willful.
Speaker 3:All three I wish my.
Speaker 2:Instagram handle was willful, wilmington. But man, I'm just gotten that. That almost like savage mode and I hate to say that like the way. That is because I'm not like a savage at all, I'm not like somebody anybody's scared of, but I just gotten that mode like hey, I'm either going to make money or I'm going to go broke. So when you're in sales, I mean you're in sales, you're technically right now both kind of like do sales Like you're you know if you don't make, if you don't make, you know sales, you don't make money. So that was kind of like hey, I got to go out in here and get it and I don't care if nobody tells me no. When I was working from these guys they were basically like you're going to get told no, it doesn't matter how many knows you get, it's how many yeses you get out of the hundred knows. If you get 10 yeses, that's not bad, that's 10 yeses may turn into 10 grand a month. Yeah, at the time we probably got like a hundred knows. We got like two, two or three yeses. Bourbon street was one of our first clients. Parkway of Wilminton and the spa are there by Mayfair. And yeah yeah, that was a weird one. If you guys are watching, that was weird, you know it was like we were one thing I hate man is being micro managed. I think humans do Right. We don't want to be managed Like, yes, you know it's like we have to have people holding us accountable, but they were just like holding us, like they were micromanaging way too much. But go back to like your. Like, how did I do it? I just, man, we just went out there and we just tried to be very genuine, like, hey, we're genuine, yes, we're maybe a little aggressive of how we sell, but we're really going to help you guys out. We're going to provide value. We're going to over deliver and we're going to under promise. We're going to under promise on what we do and that way, we over deliver on what we actually provide and your services and your product speak for themselves.
Speaker 3:Yes, so, like Tyler was saying, you're in a few different places. Now, how many shops are you in? Are you just local or have you expanded a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. Yes, so we have like 50 indoor billboards all over North and South Carolina Raleigh, wilmington, emerald Isle, new Bern, smithfield, johnson County. So we basically put up TVs and, you know, different bars, restaurants and we advertise other businesses. So it's very similar to outdoor billboards but they're just indoor. You know, we've got one next here to Beach Street and we just help local businesses out and so it's very affordable. You know, it's only like 40 or 50 bucks a month for them to advertise their business. Oh wow. And then we either give the host location that's where we have a TV at we either give them cash straight up for the year to let us put the TV in there, almost like rent, or we give them a free ads in other locations, or we give them a commission of the ads. So it's a win-win for everybody.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's neat, yeah, and so before we started airing, you were talking about a course that you've started and stuff as well too.
Speaker 2:So, what kind of course are?
Speaker 1:you doing and what are you trying to grow with that? Yeah, so man.
Speaker 2:I've started off, like three or four months ago, basically teaching other people how to start their own indoor billboard you know, like a company and really we're just showing them A to Z, the blueprint, how to get from zero to you know six figures with that Obviously nobody here in Wilmington but like other people outside in different states, but Just showing them how easy it is to really just, you know, go buy some TVs, go put them in locations and, you know, sell the ads. There's very low cost to entry, it's a very highly profitable business, but you know you do have barriers to enter as far as like what locations? How many advertisers do you have a sales team? What software do you use? What kind of TVs do you use? So there's a lot of different, intricate, you know problems that go into starting that, but you know I've got the solutions for them.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, yes, yeah. It's always interesting because everyone's always trying to come up with some course of or something, but I feel like your course actually makes sense, like it's not the oh, you know how to become a billionaire by flipping houses or doing section eight and silly stuff all the time. But like that makes sense, Like finding that's a good niche market and I feel like a lot of people in places could benefit from it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's. It's a very cool business to be in. Advertising is a multi-trillion dollar business. It's one of the biggest businesses in the world. You guys do a lot of advertising. Yeah, You're at. You're at Reeves, right? Yes, yes, I mean you guys spend a lot of money at advertising. Yeah, but it's paid off. You probably see customers come in. You guys do all types of marketing, don't?
Speaker 3:you.
Speaker 1:Yes, people come in, they see our billboards, they're like they see ads, they do social media, you and CW basketball.
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean. So they're actually a sponsor. I want to say ACC.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's right. Reads is yeah.
Speaker 3:That's like because they're on the top of the like on. I can't remember what team it was, but I saw them like they're on top of the backboard, like this is. Reed Shuler's.
Speaker 2:That's dope, but I mean we get you on a billboard, get your face out there. That'd be dope, and you too. Yeah, that would be dope.
Speaker 3:I am. I love the family, but I know I'm not part of the family. Do not try and put my face on a billboard.
Speaker 2:So you, you, you know the value of marketing advertising, and Tyler, I'm sure you do too, and you guys right here. What you guys do is you know you guys help brand other entrepreneurs and just people in general. It doesn't have to be an entrepreneur, it can be anybody. But I mean Reads is a good example of what they've been. They've been around since when For 77 years. They've been around 77 years. Yeah Damn, that means you got what? Three generations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's wild. The third generation is working in the company now, and Tyler used to work there too, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was there for a while as well, and that's how I met Chris Dude. That's dope.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see you guys just selling engagement rings and wedding rings left and right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got to come. We were the watch guys over there, the watch guys.
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean, I do everything, but mostly watches now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and of it's, it's good man, and that's the thing. That's what business is all about is providing good products and services. I mean, you see it, you're in the finance industry and you see it in the industry. Would you call that the I?
Speaker 3:just call it retail jewelry, retail the jewelry, yeah, the jewelry, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:So, like services, everything, and you guys obviously provide good service, and that's where so many people make a mistake nowadays is they don't provide good service for their customers. They half-ass everything. When you half-ass something, I mean I come in here. This is a really good podcast studio, like you know, you guys watching, if you all ever get a chance to come by here and check it out man, this is dope. It's a cool setup. Um, and you know, so many people just half-ass shit and that's why they don't get nothing done. Um, I was watching some of the day. You guys know who Alex Hermose is. Oh yeah, yeah. So he was like man. He says the average millionaire has seven income streams. Right, he said that's like. I mean, yes, most of them do, but you need to dump all your eggs, like what you're good at, into one thing. Yeah, instead of trying to do multiple different things. That's what so many people they see. Like you said, like the get rich quick schemes yeah, it's like no dude, why don't you focus on your craft for 10 years, become an expert? Once you take that money, then you could apply it to maybe rentals or stocks, crypto, whatever you want to do build board business, you know. I think that's where people make mistakes is. They try to do so many things, and I've been. I've been a product of that. I've tried to do multiple things and I failed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would like you to tell that too. One of the things I was listening to and it made a lot of sense to me is when you're first starting out. If you're trying to build seven bridges, you're going to have seven Half complete bridges. Yeah, what you have to do is you need to get over the river first and then, once you see what the other side of the river looks like, then you can start building bridges back to the other side. I like that.
Speaker 3:I was like oh, you know what that makes sense. I like that. That's that dude. That's interesting. I have never heard that story.
Speaker 1:See, I've been on a weird like same thing with you too, like when it comes to like professional growth and just personal growth and stuff too. Like I dive into all of it and I heard that one and that's what. Like real quick for me, yeah.
Speaker 2:For sure that's a good one and I think that that really opens your eyes to like what's real. Yeah, so many times social media and and following other people you know we should so much out there, man Like just focus on you, focus on you, focus on what you're good at, focus on what you believe in, what you're passionate about. The rest will come in.
Speaker 1:And one of the things to that I've been really kind of focusing on myself is like I'm at one point I was trying to find like all of these mentors You're saying such amazing things, like I want to follow what all of these people were saying. And then what it seemed like you did right away and took me longer to figure out, is find the one good mentor that you want to be like and just take that playbook and kind of going after it. So it sounded like you found that like with tie, and then with great Vic as well too, and you're like, hey, this is the playbook I want to go by. And you weren't just like, oh, and then there's this mentor doing this and there's this mentor doing that. So you just kind of found that one, that one path, and ran with it.
Speaker 2:I think you got to be a sponge, right, like, yeah, you got to be a sponge of how you take in information and apply it to your life. So that's what I try to do and I am like it's good and bad that I am. You know, certain people that I follow like intake with a grain of salt, likes and people just say some stuff and I'm like hey, just said you know what? I mean, and then there's some people and I'm like okay, like let me just really absorb this in and really look at it, so. But I think it's good and I've one of my, you know, thank keys. So the success was just reading so many books. I know everybody says hey, you got to read books. You got to read a book a day or book a month. But no, like there's so much, there's so much good stuff out there, man, there's so much good stuff out there as far as books go.
Speaker 1:What's your favorite book so far?
Speaker 2:Probably the richest man to ever live.
Speaker 1:My grandpa.
Speaker 2:just a little backstory he sold Michael Jordan his first Mercedes.
Speaker 1:No way.
Speaker 2:After Carolina yeah, when, like you read him a check, he was selling Mercedes down at on Leith on Capitol Boulevard.
Speaker 3:Okay, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And so he came and bought a Mercedes.
Speaker 3:He got two autographs, you know, gave one to my mom, and you know he gave me that book.
Speaker 2:You know, I was in like a sophomore in college and I wasn't even reading books. I got fucking hate of books Like I was like I'm not reading another book, I got enough books from college. Yeah, I'm not doing that. And he was like, no, you need to read this book. And at the time it's getting, my faith was getting bigger and God and I was like, well, let's talk about money, let's talk about God.
Speaker 3:Hmm.
Speaker 2:It's kind of cool, like let's kind of match them together. I was talking about King Solomon. Oh yeah, he was the richest person to ever live and he had everything. And obviously he had some things that went wrong for him, but principles of Solomon were super profound and things that I could be applied in my life. You just just super basic life principles. Be nice to people you know, do work hard. You know it's not like it was like a freaking maze and you got to sit here and do this. No man, just follow these simple principles and I think not really changed my life and I got invested in the books after that.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. Yeah, this is kind of off topic, but it made me think about it. This is the second person in a row that we had a story about Capitol Boulevard up there in Raleigh.
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean, it is the strip. If you wanted a car or still want a car you're going, you're going on Capitol Boulevard.
Speaker 2:Capitol Boulevard has so many cars.
Speaker 3:It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:If you guys see how many times I'm drinking water, it's cause I'm on 75 hard and it's a gallon of water a day. I probably have to piss here in a minute, yeah, but yeah, that's good man, it's uh, it's cool. My grandpa he's actually battling cancer right now, so he's got melanoma, but he was in Vietnam. But a super big sports guy, um, just all around good guy. You know sell Michael Jordan's first Mercedes and you know just did some really cool stuff. So shout out to him for helping me on my my journey.
Speaker 1:I like that. Cool, I'm going to go up there in that Benson area. Now he's actually way far down. Oh no, okay, cuz the rally, yeah yeah, I forgot the bull already actually. Okay, so up there, yeah, yeah, no capital, boulevard plug right.
Speaker 3:So I have my random question, cuz I'm bringing these back sir? When you get off 75 hard, what is the first thing you're going to eat or drink?
Speaker 2:to it. I love that question. That's a. Nobody's asked me that question yet. And 74 days tomorrow, 75, I would say pizza, but I'm not like a cheat meal, like you technically have to have cheap meal, but like we didn't really do nothing crazy, probably just some really good ice cream, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm not a super big drinker.
Speaker 2:So, like I'm not gonna like go like down like a you know a fifth tomorrow, but I'm definitely gonna have some coronas this weekend, yeah, my birthday Sunday, yeah, and so probably ice cream in and I don't know. Like, honestly, like I've been seeing these chick-fil-a commercials the honey Pummin, the pimento cheese you know the Johnson County. Like the southern thing, Pimento cheese like right.
Speaker 3:I remember when Bojangles started their pimento cheese yeah, like thing. And everyone in Wilmington was like can we get it? And they were like no, you got to go to Shaloe.
Speaker 2:You gotta go. I was like, yeah, it's started.
Speaker 1:Not to show you like I yeah they brought it to Wilmington eventually.
Speaker 3:But, the fact that you had to drive an hour almost out of town just to go get this and people were doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's. It's crazy that you know you build a brand and people come to you, right, yes, and I think you guys are doing this here in your spot. Yes, right, you know, it's like you guys got to build a brand and so many businesses it's just branding is everything, and that's why I like exposure marketing. It's all like if your business is failing, you have a lack of sales, which is a lack of marketing. Yeah, and that's the number one thing I tell any business owner like, hey, you know, sales equals your business life. You know, if you guys couldn't sell engagement rings, y'all wouldn't be in business. No, I mean, if you couldn't sell, you wouldn't be able. Just people couldn't come in just look for free. I mean if you weren't making any money. You know and you know. I think that's why so many businesses fail is because they don't know how to market themselves. I agree, you gotta be omnipresent baby. You want to be everywhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I want to be.
Speaker 2:I want you be thinking about me and your sleep. Not really, because I may call some red flags with some, with some.
Speaker 3:You know people, but yeah so it's super dope here so question or one of my last questions for you. Yeah what does success look like for you?
Speaker 2:Man, that's a tough one. Yeah, I think success for me is just being happy. Okay, you know just being happy. I, you know money I make. I make good money. I mean, money's not really a, it's not even really a motivator anymore. It was at first. Success for me was like making money Okay let me make six figures. Well, once you hit that, it's like what do you do? You hit seven figures. You just keep going and going and going and it's like it's never enough, like I like Grant Cardone, but for me I thought he's never enough. Right just keeps going. Dude, you're a fucking billionaire, you have a jet, you have a yacht, you you know what's once, what's enough. So for me, brother, it's like having a good family, having a good relationship with God, you know, be able to travel a little bit, have a good business, help us out. But for me it's just happiness. Man, just find that piece. I love it because I, yeah, as a kid I struggled with depression and growing up just really was, was sad, you know. I really didn't have that. You know the positive positivity that I have now. So you know if you can, if anybody can, if y'all can experience that, you know how it is to feel sad, feel depressed for a long period of time and then once you find that happiness, would you find that piece, man? That's that success all day long, baby. There's so many people that got a billion trillion dollars. They're not happy. The people that are Broke, that are living with their, their mom and their dad or their whole family, like it's crazy how, like the Spanish culture and the Italian culture, they basically take care of their mom and dad for so long and that's why they live so fucking long. Yeah, you know it's because, like you know, they they have like the blue zones, like there with family. Yeah, the blue zones man, and so it's like dude, they hurt that success man. For me it's like just being like a good person and society and being with your family and being able to like do some stuff you like. I.
Speaker 1:Feel like you kind of touched on what my last question is gonna be now too. But I guess, to make it a little bit more kind of like hit, the point in right is so if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Wow, that's another one. You guys are dropping some bombs in a boy's honestly, I regret doing as many drugs as I did just because you know health wives. But probably just that's a tough one, man, I don't know. I wish I'd have. Wish I'd have done more things that I really wanted to do. Like, my confidence wasn't as high Mm-hmm, so I didn't shop for the high school baseball team. But I played in middle school. I got cut my seventh grade year, yeah. Made it my eighth grade year, oh well, but I was like man, I'm not fast enough like I was. I was fat back then, I was really overweight, and so I was like I can't do ninth grade baseball, like if I doesn't make the team in high school, everybody's gonna laugh at me. That's one thing I regret, because I never know what my potential would have been if I went out, because I was a damn good Basshop player. It's just slow, it's just slow. But you had to run a mile in like seven minutes and I was like damn dude.
Speaker 1:Enough home runs.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter I know right, I wasn't hitting home runs. But so I wish, I wish I'd have done. I wish I'd have shot it for baseball and and maybe just you know, you know I've done as many drugs. Yeah, it's like some Jordan Belfort shit. I will for us. He's like yeah, taking quail dudes I, just to get pumped up and get on the boat, but it up and up my life. But so I really don't regret too many things. But my I would tell my future self just, or younger self just to do everything I wanted to do and just take it with you know, grain of salt.
Speaker 1:Hey see, I love it, appreciate that. Yeah, that answer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, what would you guys tell your younger self?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a great question. It's been a while. I told Tyler we should revisit this on a different way, I guess. I would probably tell myself yeah, fuck it.
Speaker 2:Literally just yeah, just fuck it.
Speaker 3:There's so much stuff in life where you're worried about everybody else's thoughts and where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 2:I went to Laney Laney. Okay, you graduated in what year? Seven, 2007. Yeah, I'm old, you don't look old. You'd say fuck it, what about you? Dream bigger dream bigger, wow like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was too many times that I had my middle school and high school dreams which are small dreams at the time, and Just kind of kept on going with them. When I hit them I was like, well, shit, now what?
Speaker 2:I like somebody says like Dreams so big when you tell people, it makes them uncomfortable. Yeah, but somebody told me one of my clients sort of leads yes, not a client, yeah, I'm turning them into a client. But is that man when a hundred million dollar company? Imagine if I damn dude, all right, they would laugh.
Speaker 3:I'm just like oh, yeah, let's go, let's run, let's run it yeah.
Speaker 2:Like what does y'all's go for this podcast? Like what shall's go here?
Speaker 3:My goal Is to get some whiskey for free.
Speaker 2:You want some sponsors.
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean, we get sponsorships every once in a while but, it's always. The joke is like that hits my bank account every time. I'm like because we we're not bougie, but we're not cheap when it comes to buying whiskey and we buy a lot of whiskey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mine for the for the podcast. The reason why I got started was a networking vehicle. Yeah more than anything. So just to continue building the network and building the community and making it an even stronger community, where I Didn't do it for this, but if it came down to it, that like if it came down to it and I was like, hey, like I really need help for something, that I built that strong enough community around the podcast, so they, they come in and help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, I love that. I want to talk to you about what you do. You know, and if you're a future conversation and for you, I'm coming to see you before Christmas, I'll be there. I need to. I need to get my girlfriend something and if she's watching this, then you know, you'll know that you got something coming. You just don't know what. But yeah, nice, it's cool, do you guys? What you guys doing here, man, it's awesome. I mean, I appreciate you reaching out, tyler. Yeah, definitely appreciate y'all being great co-host man, it's dope here. I mean, honestly, I'll be back here, you know doing some content here. How are you guys finding your guests?
Speaker 1:Probably 90% of our guests reach out to us, and then we're just kind of sorting through it. And then the other 10%. It's someone we've ran across or we saw, some of those really interesting We'll reach out reach out to you and say like hey, man, you want to come on?
Speaker 2:How did you find me? But just by just curiosity.
Speaker 1:I think I found you was it on connect Cape fear? Yeah, yeah, yeah, connect Cape fear. I was. I was going through there looking at some of those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like oh this is interesting.
Speaker 1:We're just out to this guy.
Speaker 2:Have you guys? I'm gonna get gray on here, great yeah, and we'll put you guys. He'll probably just put you guys on a billboard for free for a few weeks. Have the podcast up there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be. That's actually been one of my dreams is that is the podcast on.
Speaker 2:What you do is you get a picture. You have a billboard of you guys up there. I know you guys. You need to have your face because you are the brand and then you take a picture of that and then run a Facebook ad or Instagram ad on that same. Hey, check out our podcast. So women's and podcast or Contact us for a feature today and what you guys can start doing is you can charge for people to come on your podcast. So connect Cape fear is doing yeah, charging like for like $400 for a podcast episode Like that's just branding so you guys can do the same, and especially if your viewerships up right. So yeah, we need to get you guys on a billboard man.
Speaker 1:I want to see y'all face up there.
Speaker 2:I can make that. We can make that happen for you.
Speaker 1:See that that was one of my goals, like every time I talk about raising more money. I'm like we're raising money to get on a billboard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the billboard will be free. You guys don't have to pay for that. So I look out for you guys on that and yeah, I mean definitely. There's a lot of people around Wilmington. Wilmington's a cool city, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean really we're. I mean, you grew up here, yeah, so I mean I didn't, but I've been here since 2014. What about you, tyler?
Speaker 1:I've been here since 2011, 2011.
Speaker 3:Dude, it's a dope city bro, yeah, it's changing, but in a good way, yeah, I feel like, yeah, we would fight everybody's coming together.
Speaker 2:Man Like it's all love here. Yeah, it's family Like, even though we don't always that like family, you know. You know people down the street, you know. But it's like man like we're. It's a small, it's really a small city. I mean there's a lot of people, but you know, it's a small town yeah, it's a small town. I love the, I love the vibe here, man, I love it so.
Speaker 1:So how can people find you then on social media?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can follow me on Instagram at the real Austin Wolfe. Pretty much Instagram's pretty much the main outlet you know, you can find me on Facebook if you're over 45, but Nah if you're up. But yeah, instagram pretty much a tick tock. You know the real Austin Wolf. I do a bunch of cool little tick tocks, you know the show and people different stuff, like I had, like a friggin. I'm having a blank here, bobby, what's the guy from dry fast? Ricky Bobby, ricky Bobby, yeah, I was Ricky Bobby and like I did some stuff, like some content, on Tick-Tock. I got some views, man, I believe it. So you guys do something for Halloween me. I should dress up, oh.
Speaker 3:I don't know, probably she for Halloween. I still got to figure that out.
Speaker 2:But yeah, man, I appreciate you guys have me on the podcast. Yeah, definitely, thank you, it's been dope dude.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you guys for listening and following, checking out this story as quick Not too fast, because we weren't in a hurry but I just want to say thank you for following, like, comment, share. If you need some ads or you want to run some ads, check out Austin, follow his link trees and we'll post some of his stuff on our the podcast show notes.
Speaker 2:Yep sure, nuts socials if you guys are a business y'all to definitely sponsor an episode. Come on now. Come on now.
Speaker 3:What are you guys waiting on? I'm down for it. So yeah, thank you guys for checking in. We'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Cheers, cheers, let's go.