Building an NFT Business in a Bear Market with Anthony Mongiello: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by HighLevel, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. And on today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how to build an NFT business in a bear market. So drop these value bombs, I brought Anthony Mongiello into EO Fire Studios. Anthony is a business leader with a passion for team culture and leadership development. And he is the co-founder of Bulls and Apes Project. And today we'll talk about how it's not just digital connection, it's also real-world meetings and handshakes, how to stay highly engaged with your community to bring ideas to life, and oh so much more.

0:38John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Anthony and ours. Sponsors! Sleep impacts everything. Your energy, focus, and performance. FitNexus Somnipods 3 are ultra-comfortable sleep airbags that block distractions, track your sleep, and deliver personalized insights to help you rest and recover. If better sleep is a priority for you, visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFire10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:15John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. Anthony, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? Thank you for listening in. For me, it's, and I learned this from my parents, from my grandparents, give before you take. Give before you take. And Fire Nation, you're going to see that's kind of a theme of what we're talking about here as we go through this very exciting episode, Bulls and Apes Setting a New NFT Standard.

1:59John Lee Dumas:So Anthony, you and I have been talking a lot over email and then our pre-interview chat about what's going on. And the reality is Web3, it's just a buzzword that seems to be everywhere now. What is Web3 in your mind and what compelled you to co-found an NFT project in this space? So if I think about web two, it's broke down the attention barriers and you don't have to go through gatekeepers for attention. And web three, it's breaking down barriers of commerce. So now you've got the attention barriers broken down where you've got audiences being able to interact with influencers, with companies pretty directly.

2:36Web three is the transaction end of it. And so now instead of going through a middle entity to conduct a transaction, once that person or a company or influencer has attention, they could go peer to peer and get a transaction done. And so for me, Web3 has broken down the barriers of commerce and transactions.

2:56John Lee Dumas:I love that. And that obviously opened your eyes to some possibilities and compelled you to co-found this NFT project. We'll be talking more about Bulls and Apes project. Can you share why you were compelled to do this? My first NFT project that I got involved in was VFriends. So Gary V launched an NFT project and I had a ton of respect for his content, his messaging, his business experience. So when he started talking about NFTs, I'm like, you know what, I got to get involved. But then when I got involved, the thing that surprised me the most was the community aspect. And I jumped into an application called Discord for the first time.

3:33Now Discord is second nature to me, but at the time it was new. And I was just blown away by the community aspect. I was blown away about how Gary was in there chatting with his community. And it started reminding me of running a business on Main Street. And you think about small businesses that are operating on Main Street, you've got everybody in there that your friends and your family and the neighbors giving you advice, let's say, on how to run your business. And I started seeing that in Discord, which I'll call the town square of Web3. And so in that town Square, I saw a different business operating model being developed and an operating model that broke down those barriers again between the people that are stakeholders of a company or people that are interested in a company and the people that are running the company.

4:21And so the business operating model and the potential to have that tight of a feedback loop between the business and the community is really what dragged me in.

4:33John Lee Dumas:I will say that I had the exact same experience as you as far as getting into the space. I can remember so clearly hearing Gary talk about NFT this, NFT that, I'm launching an NFT project. And I was finally like, you know what? I'm going to check a little bit more about this. And I read more about it. I was a little bit into some cryptocurrency. So I had some Ethereum, I moved it to my MetaMask wallet. And then I ended up minting three of his spectaculars during his actual launch. It went all the way down to the lowest ducks auction price, which was three Ethereum, which is a lot of money. It's like 9 ,000 bucks each.

5:07John Lee Dumas:And I was like, I can't believe I'm spending$27 ,000 on three pictures. Now, of course, you know, those are have skyrocketed, you know, so many X's in value that it's insane. And then I ended up acquiring a gift goat later on as well. So I hold that too. And then of course, I went big on Gary's most recent V2 launch with his V friends too, which has been really cool. And so I'm really been, I've really been enjoying this space and it's kind of cool to hear that both you and I had the same kind of initial introduction into this really cool space known as NFTs and non-fungible tokens, which has a ton of potential, Anthony, for amazingness.

5:43John Lee Dumas:But it also has a ton of potential for scams and the projects that we refer to as rug pulls where the founders just disappear. And that's actually why I'm so excited to be connecting with you now and to be talking about your project because you're doing something so different with the Bulls and Apes project. You are literally setting a new standard. Talk about that. We're hoping to set a standard where other founders see that there's value in it and potential community members and holders start holding founders to account. And so for us, when we entered the space and we did our project reveal, well, always from the very beginning, back in December, when we were talking about starting our own project, it was always going to be fully doxed.

6:26And I joke around, my profile picture has always been me. And so I've never not been doxed. And for those in the audience, doxing is when you have a public persona. So your personal persona is your public persona. And you're not just a cartoon character and an anonymous name. And so for us, it was really important that we were always going to be doxed from the beginning. We wanted to be a pre-funded and we are a pre-funded project. So just as you would pre-fund a business to get started, that was important to us. And it was important to us that we had a level of professionalism in the space. But when we did our project reveal, we launched our Twitter, we launched our Discord.

7:08It was right around the time when there were some major scandals, major scams, rug pulls, cash grabs. And we were looking at each other and said, what are we going to do? This space is nuts. And we said, well, guess what? That's not us. So let's lean into it. And so we took a traditional business idea of offering refunds. And we said, we're going to bring that to the NFT space, which was done a couple of times, but it's largely unprecedented to do it and market it and bill it the way that we have. And so we have a six month ETH back guarantee that's built into our smart contract. And what we're saying is we have confidence in what we're going to deliver.

7:46And so we're going to take on some of the risk. We know NFTs and crypto are just inherently risky. So how can we take on some of the risk from our holders?

7:54John Lee Dumas:That's so exciting for me to see that and to see, you know, the unfortunate situations that some people have experienced in other NFT projects where these quote unquote undoxed anonymous founders have all of a sudden just stopped showing up, like stopped, you know, being in the discord, you know, taking down their Twitter account. Like, again, it's not the majority because otherwise this space would be in big trouble, but it does happen all too often. And so now what I love what you're doing is you are drawing a line in the sand and you're basically like, Hey, we're going to launch an awesome, fun, amazing project.

8:27John Lee Dumas:We are going to be fully docs and meaning, you know, our names, you know, our faces, you know, where we're at. And we are going to offer a six month money back guarantee, basically saying, Hey, if at any point between, you know, when you meant day, essentially day 31, we can get into more specifics later, but day 31 to day 180, if you at any point want your full investment back, then your full minting money back, then all you need to do is essentially ask for it, press a button in the smart contract, which has it locked up or return those funds. And you walk away with every single dollar that you initially put in to this project.

9:06John Lee Dumas:And again, of course, if the project goes up, you're going to be like, well, I would ever want my money back because the projects up. And these guys, Anthony, Manny, and the other founders are saying, this project is going to win. We believe it so much that this is what we're willing to do, which is really exciting. So for those in Fire Nation who are thinking about collecting their very first NFT, we're talking about people who are saying, okay, like maybe I have a Coinbase account. Maybe I don't, I'm going to set one up and maybe I'll buy some Ethereum and then maybe I'll create a MetaMask and send some Ethereum to my MetaMask.

9:37John Lee Dumas:So I'm ready to buy my first NFT. What are a few tips you can share? Yeah, sure. So I think first you mentioned setting up your Coinbase. And I think something that most people aren't aware of, I know I wasn't, even though at the time Gary was saying it as loud as he could say it, I still waited and set up my Coinbase probably a little too late. And there's a process in there for Coinbase. If you do a traditional transfer, an ACH transfer from your bank to Coinbase, Coinbase has to validate the funds, validate the person behind the funds before they allow you. They allow you to buy the crypto, but they don't allow you to then transfer it.

10:19And you need to transfer it in order to execute an NFT transaction. And so there is a nine day, 10 day period from when you set up your Coinbase till you'll be able to actually transfer it out. There is a little hack, though. And you could you could talk to your bank and you could do a direct wire transfer. You pay a little bit of an extra fee and it happens within a 24 hour period. And so so there is a little hack I'll give to give to people. But generally speaking, I tell people to start slow. Make sure that you're getting involved. Make sure that you're comfortable. There are so many scams that are out there.

10:54You want to interact with a reputable project. Hopefully it's ours. But even if it's not ours, do your research. Make sure you know who you're getting involved in. Join a Discord. Get a sense of the community. And one of the powerful things about the Web3 space and the NFT space in particular is the power of the community. There's so many people that want to help. And if you jump into a Discord, you join a Discord, and you don't need to own an NFT to go into a Discord. There's always some education resources. There's always somebody that's willing to answer a question. Everybody in the NFT space is very welcoming and they want to bring new people on board.

11:32So my recommendation is to start with what you're comfortable with and try to get involved and connect with people.

11:38John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, I love that advice. There's no reason to jump in quickly and try to speed through things and try to catch up and fall for any hype that might be out there because believe me, if you miss one project, if you miss one opportunity, there's always another one coming. In fact, in this space, there's hundreds more coming down the line. So just be patient, be slow, be safe. There are scams out there. You've got to be careful. You know, you want to make sure, you know, for instance, a tip I like to tell people is that as soon as you join Discord, turn off your direct messages. That's how the scam artists get ahold of you.

12:11John Lee Dumas:That's just a reality of the world that we live in. Like you should only be looking at the actual channel itself. So like the Bulls and Apes Project Discord channel, what their announcements are. And, you know, I want to throw something out there as well. I mean, I'm sure Anthony and Manny are doing all the right things to protect their Discord, but there also have been problems where other Discords have been hacked. And so announcements that have been posted in the official Discords have actually been troublesome and actually have led to malicious scams and whatnot. So you always have to double check.

12:41John Lee Dumas:You always have to go slow, never be in a rush. When you're in a rush, you're probably going to do something wrong. So take your time do the right thing verify verify verify You know like to say there's never a reason why you should be giving your seed phrase under any circumstance period end of story Never And again, none of this of what mani and I are talking about today is any financial advice We're just a couple of guys that are excited about this space that are in this space And are looking to give some thoughts and advice and feedback of what we've experienced over the years Or not even years jeez.

13:14John Lee Dumas:I mean, that's what the space is over the months you know, that we've been in this coming up on a year. Cause I guess our Gary Vaynerchuk launch was about a year ago today, almost identical actually. Yeah. May 5th, May 10th. So we're almost a year in. And that's one thing that we've learned is that slow and steady win the race. Like I love that Warren Buffett quote, you know, it's not timing the markets it's time in the markets. So go slow, verify, don't take any chances. We'll be talking about a lot of cool things like this. when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, you know I'm passionate about freedom.

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14:19John Lee Dumas:Today, he uses that experience in his network around the world to help others create their own international plan B. That might include second residences and citizenships, international real estate or offshore legal structures, all designed to give you more options and greater control over your future. And Expat Money has created a free report to help you get started. Go to expatmoney.com slash fire to get your free report today. That's expatmoney.com slash fire. One thing I've been dialing in for over a decade now is sleep. Not only am I in bed every night by 9 p.m., but I've really perfected my sleep environments, and one thing that's helped me do that is Fitnexa.

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15:30John Lee Dumas:You can even set a private alarm that wakes you without disturbing your partner, which my wife loves. If better sleep is a priority for you, Fitnexa helps you create the environment and routine to make it happen. Visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFIRE10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more.

16:05John Lee Dumas:everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business. And their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most. When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Entering the Web3 space, it can be a scary place for those coming from the traditional business space.

16:47John Lee Dumas:So what are some obstacles that you faced? How do you overcome those obstacles? It's quite different because it's a bit of the wild, wild west right now. We're pioneers. And so we're paving the road while we're trying to build a business. And one of the examples is recruitment and trying to bring good people onto the team. And so we talked a little bit earlier about the anonymous aspect. And I was interviewing people at the very beginning and just trying to reach out and go on Twitter and say, hey, and you get just so many people coming in and nobody wants to give up their name. Nobody wants to hop on a video call.

17:30and coming from a traditional business side, you're just blown away by it. You're like, well, how can't you just show who you are and conduct an interview? I had one person who said, rather than even on a voice call, well, I'll send you a voice message in WhatsApp and then why don't you send me a voice message back? I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna be able to conduct business like this. So you quickly learn that it's through networking. And so there aren't any big recruitment firms that you can go to in the Web3 space. So it's really just grassroots. It's getting into different communities, getting the word out on what you're trying to do.

18:06And people don't just want a job. They want to buy in to the company or the project that they work for. And so there's very much about value alignment. And so if you're going to start an NFT project, it's very important to have the story behind it, who you are, why you're doing what you're doing, what do you hope to achieve? I mean, that's the kind of thing that the top talent in Web3 buy into. So they're looking at that value alignment. And that was one big thing that we had, but we had to overcome it from the beginning because we were taking more traditional approach to recruitment.

18:40John Lee Dumas:No, I love that explanation. And I can definitely resonate with it so much coming from a similar background as you. And one thing I want to talk about next is you're in an NFT project now. Like you are literally in it up to your elbows, up to your knees, like you are all in on the Bulls and Apes project. What are some of the key lessons that you're learning as you go through your first NFT launch? Learn to operate without sleep. It's a 24-hour cycle when you're on Twitter spaces. And a lot of the attention that you get in the NFT space is on Twitter spaces. And we'll get to Twitter space in a second because we've gotten pretty darn good at it.

19:18But you've got to spend time connecting with the community. It's all about connection. It's all about building a network. And people want to see you. They want to hear from you. And so you could be on Twitter spaces till two o 'clock in the morning. And then you've got normal meetings, coming in the following morning. And so you've got to learn to get through some of that grind. We've been talking a lot about balance and making sure that we get back to balance after we're done with our initial mint. And we'll get there. We're going to run it like a legitimate business. But starting out, everybody's looking for the founders.

19:50They want to see you. They want to hear from you. They want you to be the one that is virtually shaking hands and patting backs. And so it's getting out. and doing that. And one of the other things that we learned pretty quickly is, for us, the turning point was actually having in real life meetups and going to a conference and meeting with people and then looking at people eye to eye. And because of all the scams and the cash grabs that were out there, I always joke around that a lot of the conversation started with the person slouched back in a chair, arms crossed, looking at you doubtful. And then you start telling your story and they start leaning forward a little bit more, leaning forward a little bit more.

20:26It's like, oh, you guys are real. Oh, you're really going to do this. Oh, you're going to do what you say that you're going to do. We're like, yeah, we are. And so we started getting that reaction from people because they saw that we were bringing a level of professionalism to the space and they started getting really excited about it.

20:40John Lee Dumas:Well, there's a lot to be excited about. In fact, I've had some friends and some family members who I've been talking about NFTs with a little bit for a little while now. And they've kind of been looking at me cross-eyed and kind of like, all right. You do your thing, JLD, like whatever. But the reality is I've never had a project that I wanted to get them excited about and get them into because, you know, frankly, I know that I'm only going to hit like one out of 10, two out of 10 on the projects that I do. Now those one or two hits that I make, you know, those are grand slams. Like I'm a hundred X on a couple of projects that I've done.

21:12John Lee Dumas:You can't replicate that. You know, I mean, that's unbelievable success, but those are eight losses. Those are nine losses that, you know, some people just can't take. So when I came across your project and saw, you know, you know, Manny was there and, you know, we've worked with him actually with entrepreneurs on fire with as sponsors with Helium 10. So I knew him and his company. I've talked to him face to face before and on virtual calls. And then, you know, Anthony, you and I actually have a kind of a crazy crossing path with, you know, my best man, Ryan Kellogg was actually here in Puerto Rico last weekend, giving me away.

21:48John Lee Dumas:No, giving my best man speech at my wedding. I was his best man at his wedding. So, you know, our paths have crossed in various circles, which is kind of crazy to see. And then seeing, you know, your six month, you know, full refund guarantee and just all the cool mechanics that you're doing that actually kind of want to get into a little bit as we close down here, because I think they're so fun and cool without overcomplicating things and making your head Fire Nation spin, but I'm getting my friends and family into this project because of that. Because, you know, essentially, you know, of course, anything can happen.