Hi, and welcome to School of Hustle.
I'm Sarah, and you can find me on Instagram @sarahfunky.
- And I'm Maxym. You can find me online @maxymmckay.
(upbeat rock music)
- Today, we're chatting with Brett Conti,
founder of Fortune New York, a clothing and skate company
that's grown as a brand to include
more than 40 stores throughout eight different countries.
In their first year, a percentage of their annual proceeds
went to Toys for Tots,
they raised money for the homeless in New York City,
and they're always looking for ways to give back
to their community.
Brett, welcome to the show.
- Thank you guys so much for having me.
I'm happy to do this and it keeps me busy while
I'm here in my apartment.
- I hear you, right?
We're all looking for something to do.
So that's why I wanted to talk to you, you know, like,
we've been friends for a while,
we're both YouTubers, we're both entrepreneurs.
I'd love to hear more about Fortune New York.
I actually don't really know much about it.
I know a lot about your YouTube channel, though,
so could you tell us a little bit about Fortune New York?
- Yeah, you know, I kinda live two dual lives
where I have my YouTube career,
and everything with social media, and then also
my skateboard and clothing company.
And I do intertwine them a bit
where I'll sometimes talk about it on my YouTube channel
and I actually do plan to do more of that
in the near future, but the company does take up
so much of my daily time.
Like all morning today was based around the company.
And yeah, I mean, we make skateboards, we make clothing,
as far as socks, jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, hats,
all of that stuff. We sell online
and then also, like, small mom-and-pop shops, even Zumiez,
which is a huge retailer here in America.
- Yeah, I can see a few of your skateboards
behind you, actually.
So beautiful!
- Yeah, thank you, thank you.
They make for good decor.
- Yeah, and also you have a little skateboard
on the side, which,
that one, you don't sell that though, right?
- No.
- That's like a lamp or something?
- Yeah, so it's a shelf and also a lamp where I can
plug this in and I turned these into lightbulbs.
- That is so cool.
- Just from the decor of your room, you can tell you live
and breathe that skater lifestyle.
I love that so much about you.
- You know, a skateboard makes a great canvas, too.
- Yes.
- So it's good to hang up art pieces.
- So let's talk about, let's go back in time, right?
- You kind of came up with this concept in college,
I believe, and now it's developed into something
much, much more.
So what was your idea?
- Yeah, I mean, I've always been very entrepreneurial.
I always wanted to be my own boss.
Like, when my teachers would ask me as a little kid,
like elementary school, like, what I wanted to be when
I was older, I wasn't even being a wiseass
even though I was one.
I would say, "I wanna be a professional Brett."
- Wow.
(laughs loudly)
- And now I can go back to those teachers,
tell them what I do, and that's exactly what I would
describe my career.
So, yes, I have a YouTube channel where I, you know, make
YouTube videos about my life, my travels, even my business.
But the clothing did start when I was in college.
I got hurt skateboarding and I couldn't even walk.
I tore a ligament in my ankle.
- What happened?
- I just, honestly, you get hurt on the easiest things
because you're not thinking, you're not careful.
If you're doing like a crazy, gnarly trick, you know,
you're so precise in thinking it through, but I was just, like,
dorking around having fun with a friend just skateboarding
around New York, and then just, like, messed up on something
and my ankle just kinda went like that.
- And I was, like, telling myself, like, "mind over matter,
I can still skateboard, like, that didn't hurt that much."
And I skated on it for a couple more days.
And then it just, like, two days later, just blew up.
It was, like, purple, pink, huge--
- And at that moment, you had been planning on
pursuing skating as a career, right?
So was this really devastating to you?
How did you feel when you had that happen?
- Um, so, yeah this was like,
when it happened I was in my prime.
I had sponsors from, like, Red Bull, Nike, some huge brands.
- [Sarah] What?
- Yeah, I was doing contests all throughout the country.
Like, missing school all the time to compete and also
film video parts.
- That's amazing, Brett!
- Do you have videos of you skating and
doing these incredible tricks?
- Like, you did the whole thing?
- [Brett] I did.
Half pipes, street, all of that.
- [Sarah] What!
- So, yeah, if you type in Brett Conti skateboarding
on YouTube, you can get a sneak peek of what I used to do.
- I've seen some of your skating, and it's very impressive,
but I didn't know you were at Red Bull level, like,
with that type of sponsorship.
- Yeah, so it was, like, pretty serious.
And then when I got hurt,
I didn't know severe that injury was going to be.
I've never broken a bone, knock on wood.
So I've never, like, been out of commission
for a long period of time,
and this was the first time it happened, and unfortunately it
was a long time.
It was like six months before I could even start really
skateboarding again.
And I think it's just in me to be productive and always,
like, doing something.
So I went to school for business,
and I was probably the only kid in my business school
with a sewing machine, and
I was so bored.
So I was like, "All right, I guess I'm gonna, like,
learn to sew," because I had all this fabric,
and I was always intrigued by making different clothing,
and making it myself.
So I started making pocket t-shirts.
I was making hats from scratch.
I was just making anything I could, and--
- Where did you learn to sew?
Most people don't just know how to sew.
I mean, I can't sew a single item, I assure you of that.
- I've always done that, even when I was, like,
in high school.
I liked to wear, like, slimmer pants, and I would custom
hem my pants to, like, fit exactly how I want.
I'm, like, always so intrigued by, like,
having my clothes fit exactly how I wanted.
So I knew a sewing machine.
And also my grandfather was president of a textile company,
so he always taught me about fabrics and, like,
which ones were good, which ones were garbage, and just like
how patterns worked--
- Wow.
Did he teach you to sew?
- It was my grandma.
He knew how to sew, and his father was, like,
he was, like, the seamstress to the,
like, he was a tailor to the stars.
He made wedding dresses.
He made so many amazing things when he came over from Italy.
So it's always, like, been in my blood, I guess,
to get into that.
- Yeah, sounds like it.
And so you came up with this concept of Fortune New York,
started making t-shirts, beanies,
all different types of items.
- At first, it wasn't a brand.
At first, it was just, I'm making this stuff,
and then I sold it, like it was just--
- Where did you start selling first?
- Just to kids on my college campus, and like,
friends through skateboarding.
- Was it all word of mouth or 177 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:43,520 did you have a website at this point?
- I had a website, and then also just word of mouth
on campus, and then, when I was like, "All right,
I should turn this into a brand, like, I'm starting
to make some money with it," even though that wasn't even,
like, my goal at first.
And then, I remember I was riding the subway from my
college dorm room downtown and it was during the winter
and there were so many homeless individuals on the subway.
- [Sarah] Yeah.
- And that just sparked this idea.
I was like, "Wait, what happens if I can, like, sell these
clothes I'm making and give back to these people?"
And that's where Fortune came from, and then--
- Yeah, tell me a little bit about the name Fortune
because there's a really interesting story
associated with that.
- Yeah, that's exactly how it happened, just wanting to
give back to the less fortunate.
And also I just thought it was a cool name, too,
like, I feel like it--
- [Maxym] Yeah, how did it feel when you fulfilled
that first order?
- The first order, I guess I made it myself, so it was like,
"Okay, this is cool, I have now go and spend
an hour to sew this item."
We're, like, selling it for twenty bucks.
But it was definitely satisfying,
and I just really saw, like, the future.
And I think, even the first time we sent an order to
Zumiez, I shipped it out of my mom's garage by myself.
And I remember, like, I think I teared
because they give you a deadline on
when you can ship it, and it was the night
before, like, the day I had, and I was not gonna get it
the next day, and I had to email them saying, like,
"Hey, I'm sorry, I need, like,
a couple more days to fulfill this order,"
'cause I had to put the tags on, like, the arm,
like, they send you the price tags, pretty much, then you
have to put them on yourself--
- You went and put them on all individually?
- I was doing it all myself.
I was even sewing on, like, neck labels, so like--
- [Sarah] Wow.
- Just making sure it was exactly how I wanted it.
But then, after that, I figured out tags are just all
manufactured and manually done, where like, we ship
thousands of SKUs and I don't even see it--
- Now it's not you working in your mom's garage.
- Exactly, yeah.
Now I can be in Bali and still
fulfill thousands of orders, so.
- So you didn't just stay with Fortune clothing, though.
You transitioned to a second company,
which is Fortune Skate.
And your business partner is Manny Santiago, who is a
big time professional skater.
So tell us about that whole thing.
How did you transition from a clothing brand to a skating
brand and then connect with Manny?
- Yeah, so, like I said, I was huge into skateboarding,
doing all these contests.
This was, like, ten years ago, now, like, high school
I started doing them.
And a lot of the people I competed with ended up
becoming huge pros, and one of them being Manny Santiago.
So I've known him since he was technically an amateur.
And we've just always clicked.
He's very entrepreneurial, he's very driven, very into
health and just, like, building stuff, and has a
few other companies.
So we were hanging out in New York a couple days in a row,
and he just, like, spit out the idea, just saying
"Hey, we should start Fortune Skateboards."
And I was like, "Yeah, that'd be cool."
Next day, we meet up again, and he's like,
"Hey, I got these board graphic ideas."
And I'm like, "Wait, you're serious--"
(laughter)
That's the kind of person he is.
Is where like, if he throws out an idea, he's gonna
follow up on it.
So the next day, he already had ideas for graphics.
- Did he design them, or did he connect with someone?
- Yeah, he also does design work, as well,
so he designed them himself.
Even a lot of his pro models, he wants to still
design his own pro models.
- Let's talk about your whole second life, your whole
YouTuber, social media presence.
Now, as a YouTuber myself, I know the power of YouTube,
and I know how much it can elevate a brand.
How have you found that YouTube has impacted your life
and, maybe, how has it impacted Fortune, as well?
- Yeah, I mean, it impacts my life so much, and I
definitely say for the better--
- [Sarah] Yeah.
- I love YouTube so much.
It's one of those things that I would do even if I
had to pay for it, but, of course, I get paid to do it,
which is very nice.
- So convenient, right?
- [Brett] Yeah, exactly.
But as far as even building my own brand and getting to
work with other brands or tourism boards,
or licensing footage that I've created, but then to
even promote Fortune through it.
So even more recently, like when I don't maybe have a
sponsor for a video I'm making, I will just shout out
Fortune and that will be the unofficial sponsor
of the video, and still able to make a good profit,
just in case the AdSense from YouTube might not be
great from that video.
- And I love the way you integrate Fortune
into your videos, as well.
It's not very sales-y.
It's so seamless, and it talks so much about
your lifestyle and it's really, it's like
Brett and then Fortune are one.
- Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do more of in the future,
and, even create more content around it, because when I
first started the channel, it used to all be around,
just like, me moving to New York in this tiny,
seven-bedroom apartment in Chinatown with random people,
trying to get my company to, like, become successful
so I could make a living off of it, and then I--
- But those are the sacrifices you have to take, you know.
- Yeah, and I wanted to document that,
and that's how the channel exactly started.
If you go back to, like, my first videos, it was
me just trying to ship Fortune orders and grow it into
more stores, and then now, um,
I kinda, like, or in the middle
I kinda stopped doing that.
I felt like I was too much of a salesman.
And now, people are like, "We want more videos about
Fortune and being an entrepreneur, and, like, you know,
everything you're doing on a day to day basis."
So it's cool that people actually want to even see
those types of videos.
- Speaking of telling your story, though, you did have to
make a lot of sacrifices to get to the points that you're
at today, so can you talk a little bit about that?
- Yeah, I guess it was more, I went to college and got a
finance and marketing degree.
I was president of the senior class, and had a great GPA,
and I feel like all my friends who I would hang out with
were very smart and they were going to get their jobs.
And when they would ask me what I'm gonna do, I'm like,
"Oh, I'm gonna try and, like, turn that little sewing
business I started into, like, a legit company."
And they were all like, "Okay, man, like,
have fun with that--"
- "I'm gonna be making a lot of money in finance--"
- Yeah.
- "Have a fun time with your sewing hobby."
- And I also interned for Morgan Stanley, and was
potentially gonna go work for them full time, which a
couple of my friends ended up doing, and I steered
away from that, and went this direction.
So I guess, just, there was definitely the opportunity
cost of making good money and then, also, the first two
years out of school, like, I wouldn't say I was broke,
but I definitely didn't have much income, so--
- I feel you.
I feel your pain.
- I feel like you need it, though.
I'm so appreciative of those years, and just like,
understanding the value of hard-earned money.
- And I read in an interview that you did with In the Know,
you led with this really interesting quote where you said,
"I didn't just want to be a robot."
And that sounds kind of exactly like what you were just
talking about, so can you explain what that means, and how
it pertains to your journey as an entrepreneur, or with
Fortune clothing and Fortune Skate?
- Yeah totally, because when I was doing the internship,
this was before The Wolf of Wall Street came out, and I
remember a higher-up guy came in, like, on one of my
first days, and he was just, like, giving me the low-down,
and he told me, he was like,
"You're gonna make 500 phone calls a day, and like,
don't pick up your head until you do."
And that's exactly what I had to do, was just cold call
every single day, trying to set up seminars.
So that just made me feel like I wasn't doing anything
challenging, I wasn't doing anything to, like, push myself,
so I just felt like automated computers dialing the phone.
I don't I've ever said this publicly, but I'm not gonna lie,
when I was doing that internship, and, like, it was around
lunchtime when I had already made some phone calls, I would
be on the computer at work, and I was learning how to code
websites, making the first ever Fortune website.
- I did the same thing when I worked for Disney.
Also, I didn't say this publicly, but I would totally...
(laughter)
When I worked for Disney, I would do the same thing.
I would do my work and then, like, every moment like lunch,
I would just go and try to start my brand.
- Yeah.
- You gotta make sacrifices.
- I feel like that's a common truth for entrepreneurs,
like, hustling on the side to get your dream launched,
while, you know, going through the day-to-day grind.
- Yeah, I think that's just such, like, the make or break
point of like, true entrepreneurs, and who has the
passion and drive to overcome that and become
successful in it.
- So is there anything you learned along the way that you
wished you knew when you first started?
I'm sure there are some things.
- I wish I understood, even though I did study finance,
cash flow better.
Not that I ever had problems with, like, debt or anything,
but one of the hardest things with starting Fortune was
trying to fulfill orders 'cause we started selling to
pretty big retailers kinda early on, maybe after like
two years of the business, so--
- That's great.
- Yeah, so, like, once I graduated school and was taking it
more seriously, I was like, "How am I gonna, you know,
take this to the next level in scale."
And that was to get into more retailers
And once we started doing that was when I would have to pay
pretty much 90 days before I got paid from the retailer
for the products.
There was production time, and then, like,
there are terms of payments.
So that was, like, the toughest part, to, like, try and
figure out because there would be, like, a two-month period
where I had, like, $0, and, like, the next month, I would
have a decent amount of money.
But then, like, it was just keep happening.
So then, like, I figured out, like, the best way to make
sure that there was enough money in the bank account to
run ads and do stuff like that.
- Yeah, that definitely is a learning process, especially
when there's inventory involved.
- I get to thank, I thank my YouTube channel for that,
because then the YouTube channel started making money,
and then I barely, like, there was a couple years when I
didn't take even, like, a penny out of Fortune's account,
'cause I was, like, making money from YouTube, so it, like,
really kind of saved it, having that second source of, like,
kinda consistent, good income.
- So let's get back to Fortune a little bit.
What's next for them?
What's next for your business?
- Yeah, I think incorporating it more in my videos and
creating content around that.
They're gonna definitely be going side by side
and going together.
As far as not doing sponsored videos with other brands, but
focusing on just being able to do it through Fortune,
just because people do want to support their
favorite creator.
- How has COVID-19 impacted Fortune?
Is it similar to how other businesses have been impacted?
- Yeah, I guess so.
Like, we deal with some big retailers that we sent stuff
right before they all shut down, and then they definitely
haven't paid yet, so.
But, like, luckily I don't think any of them are going
out of business, so, hopefully it's all good--
- Are you doing anything to pivot, to try and keep your
brand relevant?
- Yeah, I mean, we're doing stuff online, and, like, I've
been doing, like, in my past few videos I've been promoting
it more in the videos and, like,
the online sales have skyrocketed.
- You have been so amazing throughout this whole interview.
So I appreciate you coming on.
Is there anything else that you would like to share
before we go?
- Yeah, I think if you do want to be an entrepreneur and
your own boss, then I think anyone has the potential
to do it, but it's just if you have the will power to do it
and overcome some of those hardships.
- It is definitely a challenge making your dreams
come true, but I think you're a living example of making
that happen, Brett.
So it's been such a joy having you on the show.
Thank you for joining us, and thank you everyone who's
tuned in today.
Now, if you want to learn more about Brett and
Fortune New York, visit fortuneny.com and check out his
YouTube channel @BrettConti.
And that is all for this episode of School of Hustle.
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We'll see you next time.
Bye.
(upbeat rock music)