MAFIA MOMENTS: Building a Personal Brand with Devon Levesque
Download MP3When I've noticed, and especially in the last 5 years, meeting people you know, when I ran nightclubs in New York, New Jersey, and in that area, and I was in that scene, you're naturally gonna network with people. Right? Mhmm. People are coming out. You you have to get their number.
Speaker 1:They wanna book a table. You talk with them. Great. You have a drink. Cool.
Speaker 1:But what I've seen the best relationships really form is when I go climb fucking mountains with people. Mhmm. And when I go and, do hard shit and do hard workouts or jump in a cold plunge or do a long sauna session with Jesse Itzler, and we have some deep conversations or you know? It it builds this bond that you can't you can't compete with any type of networking. You know?
Speaker 1:It's it's like, damn. I went through hardship with this person. I trust this person. You know? They got my back.
Speaker 1:And and that that I think is under you know, overlooked. It's overlooked quite a bit. All you have to do is put yourself in hard positions with hard with with good people, and and you can create some serious good bonds. And when you bring those type of people together to a ranch like we have, people are enticed more to do those type of things, you know? They they have percent.
Speaker 1:They have the recipe at their fingertips. So Yeah.
Speaker 2:We we just had, do you know Eric Hinman? I do. Yeah. So we just we went out to Denver 2 days ago to do a live episode with him out at his spot out there. And very similar to you where it's like he's basically curated this perfect environment where it's like beautiful house, saunas, cold plunges, CrossFit setup, urgs, rowers, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And he has these open sessions from, like, 4 to 6 where he just invites a bunch of his friends and interesting people into the sauna. And he kind of is, like, creating serendipity through that. Yep. And it seems like guys like him, guys like you, Jesse. It's like instead of just doing happy hours or something, why don't we, like, put ourselves in these healthy environments where we can kinda create that serendipity?
Speaker 2:Like, like, that Saturday event. Little coffee, little sweat, you're bumping into people, you're getting the cold plunge. Dude, we met Ryan, that founded the cold plunge just in his sauna. We had, like, an hour long conversation. And now we're probably gonna get to work with them, and we had them on the show.
Speaker 2:Yep. But, dude, that all came from the event and the community that you're fostering. It's so cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. They're yeah. Ryan and Michael, the the founders of Cold Plunge are amazing guys. I mean, the growth that they've had in their company and what they've been able to give back to humans, not just alright. They they have an unbelievable story from their data and their finances.
Speaker 1:That's great. Right? But the people and the lives that they're changing from a straight up anxiety standpoint, depression, PTSD, people are literally changing by getting into their units. Sara Blakely says this all the time. Sell what you're fixing.
Speaker 1:Sell what you're fixing. You know? And that's what they're doing. They're selling what they're fixing. They're not selling the plunge.
Speaker 1:They're selling fixing anxiety and PTSD and depression. That's what they're selling right now. And and I think that's why they've been able to come across as so authentic and real and and be able to, I don't know, just expand so quickly because they're selling what they're fixing. You know? They're fixing in humans.
Speaker 1:And and I just I don't know. I think it's remarkable when people come out with products, especially in the health and wellness world. It's not always just about, you know, the ingredients or, I don't know, like, how how you're putting this company together, how much money you've raised. It's like, what do you fix it? Like, what do you what are you honestly fixing in the community or with a human?
Speaker 1:You know? And Definitely. Emphasizing on it. Ryan and Michael do it phenomenally. Phenomenally.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And we wanna we wanna get into all that, your investing philosophy, the brands you work with. But I think it would be really cool for the listener. Yeah. How how the hell did you go from bartending to investing and building a bunch of these brands and companies?
Speaker 2:Like, it's an incredible story.
Speaker 1:Thanks. Well, I mean, it definitely goes back to probably military academy. Mhmm. I got high school? That was high school.
Speaker 1:Junior and senior year. I repeat my junior year, so I actually did 5 years in high school. Not a lot of people know this, but I I went to 5 different high schools Mhmm. Growing up. My dad passed away.
Speaker 1:My parents are going through a divorce. I was just bouncing around, and, it it was it was tough, but, like, it definitely opened my mind into kinda what the world is. I grew up in a very small town in New Hampshire, 1500 people. You know? The closest target was, like, 2 hours away.
Speaker 1:So I wasn't too too cultured per se. But once I started to go to these different high schools and was able to go to this military academy, it helped out. And from then on, yeah, I I went to I went to college, went to Long Island University, got a scholarship there to play football, baseball, academics, and, I had no money. I was, like, I was totally broke. You know?
Speaker 1:I didn't have any, you know, support from family or anything. I just had to figure it out. And I remember I had this little green cell phone, and I was like, how am I gonna pay for this $50 cell phone each month? And so, I remember I was I was out at a bar one night, maybe, like, $20 to my name, and I was just having a good time. I wasn't really focused on money.
Speaker 1:I was just like, alright. Let's have a good time tonight. Just got out of Military Academy. We're, you know, underage drinking, and we're just having a fun time. And the the bar owner hit me up the next day on Facebook, and he was like, hey.
Speaker 1:I need you to come into the bar. And my first thought is shoot. You know, a freshman at the time. I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble. You know, I'm gonna get kicked out of this place, band.
Speaker 1:And he's like, hey, man. Like, you were really fun last night. Do you wanna help promote this bar and these these clubs I own? And I said, I don't even know what that means, man. Like, what is a promoter?
Speaker 1:And so I started I started promoting. And so long and short, he said, hey. I'll give you $5 every person you bring into the into the bar. Nice. And I was playing football at the time.
Speaker 1:It was football season. I was like, I could bring well, if I bring 50 people in, that's, like, $250. I would definitely pay for my cell phone. And I Yeah. I would feel that $250 in college, you're rich.
Speaker 1:Right? And so that weekend, I I remember I brought in about 50 people, some sorority girls, some football players, some lacrosse players. The next weekend, though, is when it kicked off, and there was, like, 5, 6, 700 people that all said Devin at the door. And that's just when it started. I was like, woah.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely onto something. Mhmm. And then they were like, hey. Do you wanna promote and bartend? And I was like, cool.
Speaker 1:So I can make even more money and, you know, pay for more things and, you know, help more people out. Now my sense of making money isn't not isn't necessarily just for myself. It's, like, to help people around me. So I was taking all the money and paying for all my friends' food and drinks and, like, you know, we'd we'd go out to big dinners afterwards. And, you know, it, I was I was kinda using it to just help others and, like, bring in I don't know.
Speaker 1:I I didn't I didn't really know what community was at that point, but I guess that's what it was. And so I was just trying to make more money to help others out. And so that went on for a couple years, and I was at a point then where the athletic director came up to me and said, hey, man. Like, you know, I was kind of an ultimatum. I'm a I'm a scholarship athlete, but I'm getting all these athletes, you know, part they're all partying and, you know, probably not supposed to be.
Speaker 1:And so I had to make a decision of where I wanna go with my life. And I remember looking at some of the kids in college that graduated, and it's not that they weren't doing anything but with their life, but they weren't doing things I wanted to do Mhmm. For sure. And I was like, why am I, like, why am I in college right now? You know?
Speaker 1:Like, what's the point? And so I ended up dropping out. I dropped out when I was junior. I went into this interview with this guy, Darren Conway, who actually ran the nightclub event or ran the weekend event. And he basically told me he's like, hey, man.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm not gonna make you a bartender here. I know you're in here for a bartending position. I wanna make you a manager. And I'm like, woah. This is a like, my big break.
Speaker 1:I remember leaving that meeting, and I was ecstatic. I I think I was screaming in the car. I'm like, oh my god. I made it. This is insane.
Speaker 1:I'm a manager at the w Hotel.
Speaker 2:Like, 20 years old.
Speaker 1:I was literally 20 years old. I didn't even hit 21. I'm like, oh my god. Like, things are falling in place. By the way, I'm making, like, no money as a manager.
Speaker 1:You make, like, $500 a week. But I was ecstatic. I was like, man. Like, this is a cool different career. Like, I've never I grew up doing construction my whole life.
Speaker 1:I don't I did I didn't really know what this city life was about. So I got into it, and, I don't know. It it just went really well. I I ended up managing the W Hotel and the nightclub in there for 3 years. This w Hotel was partnered with the Premier League Soccer teams and, the Giants and the Jets.
Speaker 1:So any teams that would come in to this place, all the players would come upstairs. So I did get to host all these athletes where I met a lot of these, you know, people that I'm friends with now today and just have a good time. And, you know, slowly, my career started to take off a little bit in the in the nightlife scene, and I started getting, you know, opportunities for, you know, bigger opportunities, started taking them, failed in a couple, you know, went through that whole thing. And, I was at a point where I was about 24 years old, and I was on unemployment. And I was like, I got screwed out of a restaurant.
Speaker 1:I got I was kinda just in a stuck point. I had a really bad taste in my mouth from the restaurant industry and nightclub industry, and it's not that I necessarily did anything wrong. I think it's the people I was surrounding myself with. Not Darren. Darren's a great guy, but, like, some of the other people I was around, it just it was a weird spot.
Speaker 1:So I was like, I'm not going back to the restaurant or nightclub. I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I remember sitting down with this one guy outside a gym. I just got done working out, and I always kept health and wellness pretty much at the top of my priority. That was was a no brainer for me.
Speaker 1:I grew up in a health and wellness, very oriented household. And, I remember I was outside and sitting down with this guy, and I was kinda just spilling my beans. Like, this is kinda what I'm going through. And he's like, man, why don't you train people? And I was like, how can I make a career out of training people?
Speaker 1:Because he makes sense. Yeah. And he kind of explained it to me. And, again, coincidentally, you know, god spoke to me, and he was just like, someone from the restaurant hit me up. This guy, Bobby, he hit me up, and he said, hey, man.
Speaker 1:I'm going through a divorce. I'm a little overweight. I need some help. I know you work out. Can you help me out?
Speaker 1:Can you come and meet with me, like, 3, 4, 5 times a week? I'm like, sure. So I went and met with him, and he was my first client. I started training him. And then the next person in his building, I started training him.
Speaker 1:And the building manager came up to me, and they said, hey. Do you have your certification? You have to have your certification to train in here. Mhmm. I was like, what the fuck?
Speaker 1:Yeah. What is a certification? And so I remember going online, and it's a walking distance from my apartment at the time. And I searched online, and it said certification online. And I found one for $30.
Speaker 1:I went through it. I'm not kidding. This certification said, you know, like, what muscles do you do use if you do a curl? And I said biceps. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I got and I got certification. And I brought it back to the building manager the next day, and I was like, here's my certification. They said you're good to go. I was like, I'm fucking free. I'm about to train everyone in New York City.
Speaker 1:I'm a be the best trainer in New York City. Everyone's gonna know me for training. And so that's what I did for the next couple years. And quickly as a career that I was like, oh, I can't really I don't know if I can make this career. I soon made 7 figures training people.
Speaker 1:Some of the biggest billionaires, celebrities, entrepreneurs, highly successful individuals, they've just wanted to train with me. And it was because, to be honest, I was torturing them. They love being tortured. They love just going through hard shit. And I was like, this is so interesting how these people in New York City are so high strung, and they and they are always their leaders in their own space, and they're constantly be being told yes.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yes. But I'm telling them, fuck no. You're doing this. You're gonna bear crawl.
Speaker 1:You're gonna go on the assault bike. You're gonna run 5 miles. You're gonna do x y z. And it was like, I was now their authority. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And I was like, this is so interesting how this world works, you know, and, like, how people get caught up in this rat race of the world. And, like, they go go go, but then they really do need someone to tell them what the fuck to do every
Speaker 2:day. Definitely.
Speaker 1:And that's kinda where my niche was. And so then I started building out this training, company and this meal prep company and, you know, ended up, you know, getting rid of it in in a great way and, made a little cash and, I don't know, you know, start started in my next venture. But it was just really interesting on none of these things I went to college for. None of these things was I planning on doing. But, you know, I was passionate about each one of them at the time, and I think that's what kinda pushed me through each thing.
Speaker 1:Doesn't matter what industry you're in. Money's always gonna come. It's it's more about, like, how freaking passionate you are and how much love you have for that specific item at a certain time. And that's kinda what I've learned till now. It's like, you can make money doing anything you want in the world, man.
Speaker 1:It's just like, you have to love it, though. You know? And, I don't know. I guess I guess now we're here, and, you know, we're doing some pretty fun stuff with all of our brands and Mhmm. Growing and doing a lot of philanthropy work.
Speaker 1:And, but I don't know. That I I like telling that story because it's it's it's a good base of kinda where I started from, you know, 20 really 18 years old for military academy until I was about 25. And that was some big growth phases of my life just trying to figure it out and putting pieces together. And what I've also noticed and learned from all these people I've been able to hang out with is all of them have very similar stories in the sense that they're not the fucking same. No one has a cookie cutter.
Speaker 1:No one just went to Harvard and, you know, started this, and then that went perfectly. Like, everyone has put together their own story in their own unique way. And that's why I do genuinely like getting on podcasts and listening to podcasts because it is true, man. Everyone has their story, and there's no there's no one that's the same. And so anyone that's listening on this that is young, that's 18 to 25, like, you kinda just have to show up and figure it the fuck out.
Speaker 1:Because every day, we're all everyone else is also trying to figure it out and just put your best foot forward and have some passion with it.
Speaker 3:Are are there any lessons that you feel like you needed to learn the hard way early on?
Speaker 1:I would say if it's if it if it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true. Yeah. No one's ever gonna hand anything to you as much as we all wait for, oh, I'm gonna get this half a $1,000,000,000 check. It's coming. It's coming.
Speaker 1:It's never coming. Mhmm. You know? It's very it's like, it's just not coming, so don't wait for it. Like, you need to constantly stack different things up from a revenue standpoint.
Speaker 1:You everyone should have 10, 20 different streams of revenue for sure. And then from a business standpoint, like, work with people you love. You know? Don't don't try to fast track everything. I think focus more on just having fun and really loving the people you you work with.
Speaker 1:Because when you start to look back and you you get into that rat race I spoke about before, you're gonna look back in 10 years and be like, shit, man. I wish I would have worked with better people. I wish I had a little bit more fun along the way. And I'm talking to too many very successful people, spiritually, financially, family wise, that all say, man, I wish I would have slowed down a little bit. I wish I would have, you know, been a little bit more present.
Speaker 1:And so I know that's what I'm trying to do now. I'm 30 years old, and I I like I wanna be a little bit more present. But, yeah, I think being more present, if it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true. And yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You you've touched on, just a number of the incredible brands that you work with. I think that's one of the most striking things when you go to your Instagram for the for the first time. You're like, this guy's got his hands in so many incredible things.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And I think that you're one of the original guys be it being a fitness influencer instead of just like taking cash or a monthly retainer. You were like, hey, can I actually get some shares or some options or like a piece of this thing so I have some long term incentive to grow? Can you talk a little bit about maybe, like, some of the initial brands you worked with and how you kinda developed that methodology? Because that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Thank you. Well, I think I always, you know, I have always been really intrigued with marketing in general Mhmm. Just like how a con a consumer or psychologic I was always intrigued with, like, psychology. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:The psychology class was always my favorite. You know? And just thinking about how someone thinks about a certain thing, whether it's buying a super coffee. Like, why are they buying this super coffee? Is it because of the story behind it?
Speaker 1:Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan, they dropped out of college? Is it because of the flavor on the front? Is it because of the ingredients? Is it because they saw it in the store? How many times do they have to see this product before they actually buy it?
Speaker 1:Was it through an ad, a a a text, you know, an email, through a friend using an influencer? Like, what is that? And that's always intriguing. So deep diving in on a product and why someone buys it, I think, was the first step. And I knew as this influencer that and, like, I'd go in quotes because, like, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Like, I never want I I never was like, oh, I wanna be an influencer. I think it just I guess, things I was doing was influential, and so people were following it.
Speaker 2:But Well, you were posting your workouts, and they were going really viral, like,
Speaker 1:a couple years ago. That's it. Yeah. And I was these these are by the way, if I wish I had footage of, like, me as a kid because I was doing this this shit my whole life. I mean, I did ballet.
Speaker 1:I did gymnastics. I was always back flipping off something. I got kicked out of class almost every day in 5th grade because I would do back flips off the science grade desk. You know what I mean? Like, those big desks that Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Give 2 or 3 kids sit at. I would I would constantly do back flips off them. And so, like, I've always been doing this. And I guess now, you know, social media gives you a platform where you can just express yourself and just put what you do every day on it.
Speaker 1:So long and short is I started seeing brands reach out, and they're like, hey. We want you to hold this up. But I knew. I'm like, me holding this up isn't gonna just convert a ton of consumers. It might convert a little bit, but this is only one piece of the puzzle.
Speaker 1:So in what other ways can we help grow this brand than just posting something? What other value can I add? What if I develop an email list for you? What if I show up in an event for you? What if I actually bring in quite a bit of capital for you from myself, my friends, and we do some syndicates for you?
Speaker 1:What if, you know, x y z? And so that's what I started doing. And so I started providing just more value to these brands and just, hey. I'm gonna do a post. And I think that's where the whole trend started of me building out the DML group of, hey.
Speaker 1:I can provide way more value than just being this creator in the space to just create content. I think it's a part of it. I think it's important. You know, it's one touch point of, of a brand getting awareness out there, but it's not all of it. It's not the end all, be all.
Speaker 1:And so I saw that. I started getting some friends together. We started putting some cash together, and we started investing in brands. And that's what the DML group is. And then I start I started slowly seeing, well, what makes a brand good?
Speaker 1:What makes it so this brand can eventually sell one day? Is it the people around it? Is is it the funds that are behind it? Is it the is it this unique product? Does a Nestle, a Coca Cola, a Keurig, do they need it?
Speaker 1:Like, what is gonna help an investor now make money on this? Right? Because now this is a whole another, formula that you have to worry about. So start deep and dive into that and start networking more and and meet more people in that space that actually sell or buy companies and start to just bring this whole pie full circle. Right?
Speaker 1:And so now a startup all the way until the end game of selling. And after selling, is it going public? Where is it going? Is it staying private? Is it cash cow?
Speaker 1:What is it? And so I started just understanding the formula of a company, specifically in the CPG space. And that's when I started putting the team together. The right lawyers, Ryan Lowenda Gianuzzi. I mean, they're the best lawyers in the space.
Speaker 1:They sold BodyArmor, Essentia, Vitamin Water, Orgain, Vega. I mean, they they are the best CPG lawyers in the world. Ryan, I trained him. I trained him for 4 years. He stumbled upon me.
Speaker 1:God put him upon me. I was like, train this guy. And so I trained him 3, 4 days a week. I got to know him really well. And so I picked his brain.
Speaker 1:And I started just surrounding myself with these people and just getting really curious with this space. And that's when we started kind of just looking into these different brand. I think the beauty about what we do at the DML group and the syndicates we put together are the word strategic gets thrown around too much in the world when you need a strategic investor. The strategic we bring in are people that have actually sold these companies. They're people that can actually put put placement into, you know, a Whole Foods, a Walmart, a Target.
Speaker 1:Like, they you know, we have that retail distribution. We have the capital of need so. We have the celebrity faces if we need that. Mhmm. You have influencers if you want that.
Speaker 1:You have the market. Like, we put real strategics that are all gonna help grow these companies. And so that's why we picked to go into Super Coffee. We think they're the leader in the space for bottled coffee. That's why we went into Olipop.
Speaker 1:That is the fastest growing beverage in the United States right now. You know, that's why we went into Beam and the CBD, sleep formula. That's why Pro Mix is one of our main brands. You know? We we think Pro Mix is one of the leading in categories in the healthiest supplements in the world.
Speaker 1:You know? So we we're picking the best products in each category that we want to invest in and help grow and scale, and that's kinda how it came about. Mhmm. I'm short. Go ahead.
Speaker 3:It seems like your ability to ask the right questions and connect with the right people is kinda your superpower. Would you say that's pretty fair?
Speaker 1:I I yeah. I I think it's yeah. And connect. Yeah. I love connecting people, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And and it feels like that's part of, like, your genuine story, like, with the training aspect and, like, the promoting aspect of, like, actually just, like, creating these networks of people that are excited about doing something together.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Which I think is really cool. Like, what you're bringing to the space of health and wellness is, like, how can we get the best people on our team to grow these brands and, like, create value for them?
Speaker 1:Exactly right. Yeah. I think I think it's really important to have, yeah, the right people around you. You know, what who like I said, who's your legal? You know, who who's your distributor?
Speaker 1:Who's putting together your formulations? Who's doing your marketing? And who's authentic with it? You know? Who Hold on.
Speaker 1:The the big thing I see within marketing and, like, brand building and, you know, they're so easy to create a brand right now. Everyone has a phone. It's very easy for me to go online to a hat website and create a custom hat and go sell it. That's a brand. That's easy.
Speaker 1:Right? But it's like, if I'm creating a product and I'm the founder, how am I how is an outsider that comes in, say a marketer, for example, how are they gonna relay what the founder is thinking and what his vision is or her vision is or their vision is out until the consumer? And make sure that that whole, communication stays consistent the whole way. Right? Through email, through SMS, through ads, through events, through, you know, word-of-mouth, through guerilla marketing.
Speaker 1:Like, how is that communication staying the same? Mhmm. And so, yeah, you have to have the right people in place, whether it's your Amazon partner, whether it's your ecom partner, whether it's your ads partner, whether it's your legal partner. Everyone has to have an open mind and be able to consistently relay what the founder's knowledge is and what their vision is out to their consumer or whoever they're helping.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I've actually heard you say before, when you're thinking about working with a brand, if you feel like you can't get a beer with that founder, that's a no for you. Yeah. And I'm just curious, you know, why is that framework important to you? And then also, are there any other frameworks that you have when you're just looking at potentially working with new brands?
Speaker 1:Yeah. For sure. So I, back when I was in the restaurant, I we owned a beer garden. Mhmm. And so I got really into just IPAs and beers and craft beers and whatnot.
Speaker 1:And I I'm I'm a beer guy. And so I always just say I've I've always had just really good talks with people with beer. And, so it's it you know, if they drink or don't drink, whatever. But I just use that analogy because if it's if I can't sit down with you like this and just have a real raw conversation and it's awkward or there's, like, too much small talk or, like, we don't understand the same visions on philanthropy or Mhmm. Kinda where this vision's going with the brand, then it's probably we're probably both just gonna be wasting our time and just be butting the heads the whole time.
Speaker 1:But if we can have a solid beer and that 15 minute combo is then turned into a 2 hour, I know that that's probably a right partner for me. Mhmm. And so that's why I just say, you gotta have a beer with them.
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