GSTAAD GUY: INSIDE THE MINDS OF THE ULTRA-RICH

0:00Coming up in this episode of Great Company. My followers at the time were and still are the highest concentration of high net worth followers in the world. I have the highest concentration of billionaires of any social media page globally. Wild! There's a strong desire to be wealthy. Wealth doesn't necessarily bring happiness. So why do you think we have this obsession with it? Hi, I'm the Stad Guy and I am in great company. If he looks at the right side of the menu and not just the left. A la frubel. Welcome to Stade Guy. I set out to make my character Constance, who's an ambassador of the world of ultra high net worth people.

0:40A lady stopped me on the street and said, what's your name by the way? My friends and I just call you the Stade Guy. And I was like, Stade Guy? Sounds really good. Why do you think it's popular? The people who were snobs felt celebrated, but also people who felt heard because I was finally poking fun at their boss or their uncle. There's a beautiful hotel in Stade called the Alpina. And during COVID, only hotel guests could dine at the hotel. These students, they were craving the pizza. So they would get a hotel room for two weeks. Just to get pizza. Never even take the key from the reception.

1:07That's£28 ,000 for a pizza. I don't think they know that. I don't think they care. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You do a startup for a bit, right? It worked well for a while, then I ended up going bankrupt. At the same time as working at Apple, I was making a lot of videos after work, on weekends. There'd be like a wider team call, and then I'd see them like, I'd be like, They're like, but I thought you were a billionaire from Stad. I'm like, I've never been to Stad. I just, I make these videos. So what's next for you? What do you think? I think, um...

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3:45Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

3:53Do you mind, before we start? Go on. I just want to mention that I have written a book. He's been beavering away with a quill. Yeah, with a quill. It's called Boys Don't Cry. And it's an agency of everything that we don't talk about. And the reason I wrote this book is because I truly believe that as men, as individuals in this world, we're really not talking about our emotions. And being vulnerable is the most important thing that you can do in this world at the moment. so it's an A to Z of everything we don't talk about. A is for anxiety, B is for best friend, there's K is for kindness, L is for loneliness, and I'm very honest and raw in it.

4:26It's not an autobiography, it's more of a self-help book, and I truly believe that so many people will really enjoy this book, and it can help so many people. So if you are someone who's listening to this right now, I think that's for you, you can pre-order it. There's the link in our podcast bio, go and click on it, or you may have a friend or a sibling or a brother or a son who needs it. Please, please, please If you think you are that person, go and get it If it's not for you, totally understand it But I really know it can help so many people It's called Boys Don't Cry You can pre-order it now or it's out in October Okay, you ready for the episode?

4:58I can't wait Here we go Hello everyone, my name is Jamie Lang And this is Great Company

5:08Well, hello everybody and welcome back to A Great Company A great episode of Great Company A great episode of Great Company An episode of greatness for Great Company. For the greatest of companions, you. Today is a great day for a Great Company episode. Yeah. That's it. Welcome back, everybody. Hey, listen, if you have returned to the show, thank you so much. It means you enjoy what we're creating. If you're new to Great Company, I am your host. My name is Jamie Lang, and this is my producer. Jemima. Yes, Jemima. Jemima keeps me on track, and I keep the show going. No. We dance hand in hand down the track of production.

5:43That's quite a nice little intro. I like that. Sort of hand in hand is quite sweet. I like that. We skip. We skip down. Today's guest, by the way, is really, really, really exciting. Today's guest is a friend of mine. He is a social media star. He has a really interesting outlook on the world of wealth. Yes. His name is... Stardguy. Or as I like to call him, Gustardguy, which is not how you say it. And every time he said it, he looked at me like, that's not my name. And I've just plowed on. You get rolling with it. Shtard Guy, you may see him on social media. He kind of creates satire videos around the wealthy and the beyond wealthy and beyond rich.

6:19And what he really does, he always makes sure that he's always punching up. The reason that it's funny and it's enjoyable to watch is because he's making fun of people who live these ridiculous lives. Flying private jets, buying ridiculous clothes, living in the most expensive places. And he makes his incredible videos surrounding it. You may have seen him, you may have heard of him, but if you haven't, this episode is going to be really interesting. And it's like another level of wealthy. I think like as lay people, we have an idea of wealth and this is like a whole other tier. Some of the stories he has to say today, like are jaw dropping.

6:52And I think that's the big thing we're going to take away from this. It's like, what are you, the listener, going to take away from this episode? You're going to take a more understanding of that world that we're going to get the curtain pulled back to have a little intro into this incredible world of wealth. And so the topics that we're going to be talking about today are the ridiculousness of that world and how unrelatable it is in so many different ways. and revolting I'm just going to throw that in yeah lots of things it's completely wild we want to talk about social media and the effect that social media has on you as a social media creator so so many things to take from it and we really really hope you enjoy it remember if you haven't subscribed to our show already please do if you enjoy what we're creating it helps us keep making the show and getting the guests that we want it takes one second it's completely free okay you ready for this?

7:35okay enjoy this episode of Great Company with Shtardguy Hi, I'm the Stad Guy and I am in great company.

7:48When people meet you, do they expect to meet Stad Guy? Yeah, for sure. First thing they say is, whoa, you're a lot taller than I thought you'd be. I get a lot shorter. Really? Yeah, I get that. I think you're taller it counts. I think people say, whoa, you're a lot taller. they're like oh my god you smile because my characters are always frowning i used to get this like moment of shock with people who would stop me because they would nearly like act like my characters and start like yapping about just garbage like oh you have the chalet next to mine i don't have a chalet instead oh you have your boat was parked next to mine i don't have a boat like you went to school with my sister at regents i never went to regents so they just make up these crazy things and just like they try to like i don't know relate to you they relate but not relate in a cute and wholesome way relate in a i'm also a shtad guy like your character and i can also buy into that lifestyle it's kind of like a macho wow a macho thing and then i kind of don't react to it and ask them like it's just a normal question and then they kind of have to recalibrate for a second.

8:58It's like a system malfunction. It's like picking up a Coke can when it's like empty and you think it's full. You're like, what is that? It's like a weird moment. Exactly, exactly. So I'm like the empty Coke can sometimes.

9:12Okay, well, just give me this. So explain to anyone who doesn't understand what is Shtadgai? Who is he? What does he do? What does he create? What does his social media look like for anyone who doesn't know? Okay, so Shtadgai is a fictional character who's an ambassador of the world of ultra high net worth people. Also known as Constance. That's the Stade guy's name. He's someone who was born and raised in Stade. Stade is a small village in Switzerland, which happens to be a hideaway for billionaires around the world. It's one of the most absurd places on earth, but also beautiful. It's absurd in contrast.

9:48It's like this beautiful nature, like family owned farms and cattle and just middle of nowhere Switzerland, but then also incredibly luxurious hotels, very expensive restaurants, very expensive boutiques. A very prestigious boarding school is there as well, half the year, called Le Rosé. And a lot of the students who go there, their parents visit them and stay in Stad. So you have this cluster that ends up congregating of very wealthy people. Were you at that boarding school? I was not. I actually went to Stad for the first time two years after creating the page. Get out of here. Yeah, I was invited there by an events company.

10:24Are you serious? That was hilarious. What? I made a song called Commercial Flight, where my character talks about the horrors of flying commercial because my character only flies private, of course. Yeah, of course. And an events company took me to Stade to perform it live in front of an audience of like average age, I'd say was 60. And they were in the club singing the song. So I set out to make my character Constance this ambassador of all the values that a person in Stad would portray, of course, by turning the dial a bit. So he's absurd. He's stuck in his ways, but he's also obsessed with excellence.

11:05Excellence in manners, excellence in ways of living, but also excellence in the products he loves, the services he loves, the hotels he loves. And he's a connoisseur. And the connoisseur, for lack of a better word, as someone who is, I think, obsessed with very few things. And it's very hard to change their mind about those things. They love certain wines. They love certain restaurants. They love certain clothing brands. And they very rarely let new things in. And they're really obsessed on those things, often to a degree that is overkill. Like they buy the best of the best Porsche, but they only go to the grocery store.

11:41They buy the best of the best watch, and they rarely change and adjust the time. They just wear it because they love the brand. or they love the piece or they buy the best of the best MacBook or they're just checking their emails. It's like this obsession with excellence that comes in this world of high net worth people where they become obsessed with this sort of thing and Constance is the ambassador of that. His cousin Colton who I also play is the antithesis of Constance. He's everything hype, zero tradition, zero heritage and And he's like the voice of Gen Z. He's the generation of collabs.

12:21He loves vapes and he loves kind of music. He loves streetwear. You know, he's like the classic kid in this world, like this rich kid, spoiled brat, who's just consuming all the time. And Constance is like the voice of the parent, who's like, you should be well-mannered, you should be this, you should be that. And people in this community who end up following me actually rarely land as either character. They're actually somewhere in the middle. On Sunday morning, they're like this poised, elegant Constance. And on Friday night, they're this degenerate Colton. So it's like the angel and devil on the shoulders.

12:57And my characters end up being emotions people align with or misalign with and talk about. And that's Stade Guy. It's two emotions, really. But there are so many questions right after this, right? Because the first question is, is like how you find that character? Like, how do you find that online presence, right? Which is, you know, I've read and heard that supposedly you would make fun. And what you call, which is great, you always punch up. Which is a really important thing. Because punching down is not good, but you always punch up, which is really important. But how do you find that character?

13:34How did that come to life? One of my best friends is a toned down version of Constance. He's the best, funniest guy. But he's one of these guys who just... Tone down. He's toned down. Okay. I exaggerate him. But he's actually toned down a lot now. But he is one of those people who... I'm sorry, dude. He's one of those people who... He has access to a lot of the beauties of the world and would sometimes complain about some of the silly things a little too much. And he would sound ridiculous. Give me an example. I was on the phone with him when he was in Shtad once. and he was complaining about his masseuse being delayed in his chalet in Stade.

14:16How dare she? It's so unrelated, hilarious. Exactly. So I was telling him, you sound ridiculous. And you say that, you sound ridiculous. Yeah, of course, he's one of my best friends, of course. You say anything to a best friend. And he knows he sounds ridiculous. And it's actually part of the bit. He's like playing into it because he's like, oh. And my masseuse is late. My masseuse is late, you know. And when he laughs, he has this classic rich guy laugh where he'll slap his leg and do this. And he'll kind of freeze. And he has this frown when he laughs. I mean, there's no noise. His mouth is just open.

14:55He just looks around the room. I'm like, this is just too good. Even if the guy is naked in the room, you just know he's loaded. It's like a body language thing. You can just tell. When really rich people, how do they have that body language? I don't know what it is. He just oozes power and wealth and generational wealth. I don't know. It's also like a body language thing. He like, his shoulders are so laid back when he walks and his hips are first. It's like this crazy thing. It's so nonchalant. He wears the nicest clothes, but it looks like he just threw them on. It's like this. Quite slender as well, I imagine.

15:32Very slender. Yeah, very slender. Yeah, yeah. He's a lot of tennis. Yeah, there you go. Like Federer, like Federer body almost. Yeah, like Federer's a bit more. I mean, now he's actually, my friend's in great shape so yeah i kind of like federer you're right and he has this monster chalet in stade and i use the word monster intentionally because it's incredibly tasteful and it's beautiful of course but 12 guest bedrooms 10 staff three kitchens uh movie theater and it's like absurd because there's building laws in stade where you can't build more than two maybe three stories above ground and everything has to look like a farm cottage on the outside really but what they do is we have a similar thing in London.

16:09Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's like insane homes with crazy basements. So he has one of these crazy basement monster chalets. And just quickly, Stard is one of the highest, it's one of the richest places to live in terms of just buying property. So what would a property like that cost? If you had to guess. Probably like 80 million pounds. 70, 80 million pounds. If I had to guess. Like that one. There's probably only like five or ten there that are like that. That is just wild. Yeah. So if someone owns a property like that, every single person who works in the town knows the name of the property. Actually, everyone who works in the town knows the name of every property.

16:50So they'd be called like Chalet Jamie. Let's say I have Chalet Jamie in Stad. How do we make that happen? That sounds unbelievable. Maybe after this podcast. Then we can start doing something together. Then we can make it happen. Exactly. Let's say you own Chalet Jamie. Yeah. You walk into any restaurant in Stad. And of course, immediately the manager, ah, Jamie, buongiorno. The table's ready for you. Of course, they hug you, they kiss you, this whole spiel. And in stores, the same thing. In a luxury boutique where you can buy a beautiful cashmere sweater, they would know who you are. They know the chalet you're in.

17:24You'd never carry your own bags. You'd never even pay. You'd never touch your wallet. They would just send the bags to your home. And they just know that in the next few days, someone who works for you will go clear the tab eventually this is there is no place like that in the world it feels like no it's just that it's like this secret treasure some other resorts like maybe have this sort of tab system like maybe like you see a bit of it in a place like portofino or a bit of it in a place like corchevel or saint moritz but instead it's like really on steroids there's a few reasons for it i think there's lots of location barriers to entry it's like three hours away from the nearest airport.

18:02So it's very inconvenient to get to. So you get very few random people stumbling upon Stad. You actually have to decide to go there. And then once you get there, it's also very expensive to stay there. So you get some day visitors. But then once the train stops moving at night, you have to stay there. You have to get a hotel room or have a house. Just quickly before you go back to your friend. So just give us an example of it. And the big thing, because people just are going to be like, Like this is just, it feels like a crazy Lapland, like total place. What does, what is like the expensive thing that you can buy in Stad that here would just be cheap?

18:35Like what does water cost or anything like that? I mean, first of all, Switzerland is very expensive. So you have that first thing we have to acknowledge. And then Stad is like two or three X that. So the cheapest burger you can get in Stad is a place called Wally's. It's like a little shack. It's like the only fast food in Stad. I think the cheapest burger they have is like 50 francs, so like 45 pounds. It's really crazy. I heard that a bottle of water is 30 francs. Yes. At a hotel. Are you serious? Yeah. So, okay, going back to your friend. So your friend, he lives in this place and he's invited you out there?

19:12No, he was there on the phone. My friend and I were on FaceTime. He was complaining about his masseuse. I had a laugh and his mom was next to him. And of course, like any parents of privileged kids, they like to laugh at their kids. And we all have a laugh together. And I was saying, your son sounds ridiculous. And she's like, I know. Tell him how ridiculous he sounds. And I hang up on the phone with him and start filming a video, poking fun at him, exaggerated, talking about the Laura Piana outfit. He's always wearing Laura Piana head to toe. So I go into my dad's wardrobes, take a couple of Laura Piana sweaters.

19:45For those who don't know, Loro Piana is this incredible Italian brand that is known for being very understated, but also known for being excellent in quality and therefore very pricey. And he's always wearing Loro Piana. And I was having a laugh about him being overstated about being understated, which is that ridiculous contrast. And I made this video talking the way he does about Shtad.

20:15and he sent it to his friends and they sent it to their friends and they went viral i say this in quotes viral in this micro community because it really is a micro community viral where on whatsapp on whatsapp they just all forwarded it to each other on whatsapp and it went through all these stade group chats which then ended up overlapping with monaco group chats and then went from monaco to san tropez and san tropez to aspen in the u.s and all these microcosms of mega wealth resorts started to circulate my video. And fast forward six weeks, I was in London and a lady stopped me on the street and said, oh my God, you're that guy from that video on WhatsApp.

20:52The guy from Stade. We loved your video. What's your name, by the way? My friends and I just call you the Stade guy because we don't know your name. And I was like, Stade guy. Sounds really good. and also I had scrolled like any of us at least half an hour that day or one hour that day on a good day just watching random garbage and if you paid me on the spot to tell me about one video I had seen that day I wouldn't be able to we can't remember the stuff we watch we watch too much and the fact that I made one video six weeks prior and a lady could remember the video I thought was a big deal because I can't remember anything I watch when I'm scrolling especially on WhatsApp random videos so I thought this means I should make more of these because I had some sort of cultural impact so I made the account but okay the big thing is this right like having spoken all about that you know we live we're talking and we're talking about the the literal sort of 0.0001 % of the population the wealth these people have is just crazy it's unrelatable in so many different ways why do you think it's popular and why do you think your content resonates with people now now in the first year or so my content was very niche to people who could relate through experience i talk about very focused on specific restaurants these people would go to or things they would say and it was this very contained members club i slowly slowly started to expand the storytelling a bit beyond and talk about things like manners ways of being, things my character disapproves of and throws à la poubelle, which means to the trash in French.

22:34And those ended up expanding beyond this ultra-niche Stade Monaco world because of people who were either curious to see what this world was really like, but also people who felt hurt because I was finally poking fun at their boss or their uncle or that person in school that they thought to be a snob. and the people who were snobs felt celebrated so there's this strange balance where by bullying up no one really felt bullied people who i was bullying and poking fun at felt celebrated and heard because like oh he actually notices these things that's so funny and the people who weren't in that position would feel heard because i was like finally someone's pointing a finger at my boss that no one's made fun of before because winning both sides so i'm trying to win both sides why do the people when they're being punched up why do you think they don't care imagine we're at dinner and you're known amongst your friends as the guy who just can't stop buying watches it's like so ridiculous you have so many rolexes and audemars pigues and it's so ridiculous and i'm like you know jamie he just can't stop buying watches and you're like it's not a bad thing you know it's like it's ridiculous and it's funny but it's still a praise because you're in a position where you can buy lots of watches so you're flatter than you're like you're like bullied but bullying up doesn't really exist not really bullying because you're up bullying is only mean if there's something someone's insecure about no one's insecure about having too much money and or something that you you want to work on that you feel is a part of you possibly want to change and if those things are being highlighted or poked fun And that's what hurts people.

24:20That's why I think bullying up is barely bullying.

24:25Tell me the most unbelievable thing you've seen since starting StartGuy. I'm blessed that I've seen a lot of random, random things. During COVID, there was a law in Switzerland that people had to stay in hotels for two weeks if they stayed at a hotel because of quarantine rules. So there's two-week minimum stay. The students of that boarding school in Stade called La Rose, the most expensive boarding school in the world. Naturally, the kids there are quite spoiled because they come from very wealthy families. There's a beautiful hotel in Stade called the Alpina, one of the most beautiful hotels you'd see in your life.

25:02And they have a great burger and a great pizza. They have great food. And during COVID, only hotel guests could dine at the hotel. These students live on campus in their dorms, but they were craving the pizza. and they couldn't go have the pizza and the burger because only for hotel guests. Yeah. Average room per night starts at around two and a half thousand pounds. So they would get a hotel room for two weeks because it's two week minimum stay. Just to get pizza. Never even take the key from the reception. Go get the pizza get the burger.

25:38It's ridiculous. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's crazy. Kids. These kids are like and they're all like decked out in jewelry and crazy designer and That's 28 ,000 pounds for a pizza. I don't think they know that. I don't think they care. I don't think their parents know. I think they just show up and the parents pay the tab when they pay the tab. They don't know what was them and what was the kids. Wild. Why do you think we have this obsession with wealth? Because I have a big thing about this sort of area, right? Which is where, especially with social media and growing up.

26:17Growing up, definitely, you think success is about wealth. It's about material things. It's about, you know, everyone wants to have the aim to drive the Ferrari and have the house in the south of France. That's what you want. And then social media has amplified that. It's volumed it up, right, in so many different ways. And so all we want to do is kind of be successful and have lots of money. But you know probably better than me, and I've seen it as well, that wealth doesn't necessarily bring happiness. It brings freedom in lots of different ways, but it definitely doesn't bring happiness. So why do you think we have this obsession with it?

26:51I think it's a difficult question. It's a really hard question. Try and answer it for me. I'll try. I think there's tears to the obsession. I think there's a strong desire to be wealthy, mostly at a global level, to not struggle. I think that's like probably 99 % of the world, right? It's like money doesn't buy happiness, but the lack of money does buy stress, anxiety, and difficulty. It's undeniable that people who make money can solve problems more easily, can have more time spent with family, can do the things they want to do more and do the things they don't want to do less. I think the world can agree on that.

27:37once you pass the point of necessity people pass the point of taking care of the people they love and solving the problems that need solving which i think is the biggest driver for making money is actually problem solving globally you get to a point beyond necessity of luxury doing the things you don't have to do but that you want to do because they're cool or fun or whatever and within that world of luxury the ceiling is really high and it gets higher every year where people get more and more and more ridiculous.

28:07And when people are struggling to solve simple problems in their life and they see people throwing money away on silly things, it can either anger them or inspire them or make them laugh because it is inherently ridiculous. and I think everyone no matter their socioeconomic status or wealth gap will agree that at a certain point spending a lot of money is ridiculous even the person spending it like you can talk to someone who spends ridiculous money and they don't take themselves that seriously they know it's like what they're doing is ridiculous they know they don't need that car and the person who can't afford the car also knows they don't need it so there is some ridicule there and I think that's where the appeal of my page comes where it's ridiculous and it's absurd so people can laugh at it back to your question of why are people obsessed with it I think some people are obsessed with it because it's ridiculous people having access to these insane amounts of money where they can do insane things is shocking there's this shock factor that transcends language like you can people don't even speak english and they they see a shtad guy video and they don't even know what i'm saying but they see these absurd backgrounds of course they're like oh my god like they understand the frown the frown transcends language the body language transcends language so i was saying earlier about if my friend walked into a room naked he could also have his lips duct taped but his duct taped but like just his energy and his body language and the way he moves you can tell the guy is like noble you know he like and you could also throw him a thousand years in the past or 10 ,000 years in the past.

29:50And he'd look like a count or like a duke. There's so, and I think that that is ridiculous because it's rare. It's absurd. I get what you're saying. So what do you think? What makes you happy then in life? Because if we're just, cause I, I wouldn't like, if we're, if as young kids, like look at all this content online, right. And to see like, okay, the way that we get happy is we have to drive a Lamborghini or we have to, you know, have a sudden job or we have to be skiing and start or whatever it is. That's like an unrealistic dream. So we kind of have to like change that and sort of say, okay, what actually brings happiness?

30:27And so for you, what makes you happy? I think what makes me happy is solving problems that are bothering me. So if there's something in my life that needs solving and I can fix that usually quite slowly and incrementally, I'm happy that I'm not facing that problem anymore. Wow, I was not expecting that. Like what, give me an example. That's a great thing to, that's a great answer. Because, yeah, I just want to, because most people don't think like that. What you're saying there is you're saying you want to better yourself. Yeah, I think progress is a driver of happiness. But more than progress, I think slow and incremental progress.

31:09I think quick fixes make me feel pleasure, not happiness. which I think are two very different feelings. Because I think you can feel pleasure between lunch and dinner, but I think happiness lasts weeks and months.

31:25So solving problems that mean a lot to me makes me happy. An example of a problem could be if I'm not happy with the way I look and I work hard at improving my health and fitness and then I achieve a goal, then I feel happy, right? Or I don't like my living conditions because I want to live in a place that makes me happier and I want to move out of my house and not share a bathroom with siblings and have my own bathroom and have my own personal space and have a place to live out with my girlfriend. That also makes me happy. These are just examples. So you have a girlfriend? I don't. I'm single.

32:01Oh, okay. I thought I was going to get a little bit. Straight in there. I'm single. Okay. This was a state of mind that I was in the past. But I think problem solving makes people happy, mostly because having problems people can't solve makes them unhappy. So it's just the inverse. You've totally nailed it there. You've completely nailed it. It's funny. We do. We think that outside ourselves, those are the things that are going to make us happy. We go on holiday. It's going to make us happy. We're going to get that new job. it's going to make us happy maybe a new relationship it's going to make us happy but actually what truly makes us happy is making ourselves happier and that's the hardest thing to realize and it took me so long to realize that that actually i was trying to get all these different things i was like well why don't i feel that content and actually feeling content is just being happy so there's a i watched this have you seen the movie meet joe black i haven't okay man there's this great thing at the end where it's like anti hopkins who plays the character gets up at the end he's very wealthy guy but he says he says um i feel very blessed because um i realize in life i don't want anymore i don't need anymore i feel content and you're just like that's what you want to get to in life you want to get to a place of just feeling completely content and that's kind of a hard place to get to i think it's it's very hard and if you oversimplify it you could go very buddhist with it right of like expectations minus reality equals uh like your happiness right explain that explain that to me if your expectations are very high yeah and your reality is lower then they'll never meet up and they'll never match so you'll never be happy and you'll never feel satisfied with your work but if your expectations are very low and you just want to like chill in the sun and be a monk then you can be happier much more easily right because your reality and your expectations are matched so really the mismatch where your expectations far exceed your reality is where people find unhappiness often but i think it's difficult to generalize reducing expectations because some people's expectations are fueled by necessity for example wanting a lamborghini and thinking that will make you happy is ridiculous But I think the norm is actually more problem-based where people want money actually to fill holes of debt in their life or cover the divorce that they really want to go through with a partner or fix problems or like do this health thing or do this thing for themselves that would really help them get into a different state of mind.

34:42And that actually might make them a lot happier because the burden of the problem is not there anymore. So I think a lot of happiness can unfortunately be bought. But only unfortunately if you can't buy it, right? It's also fortunate because someone who has a huge debt issue, for example, that keeps them up all night. They have loads of student debt or medical debt or whatever it is. If they make a lot of money and they aspire to become wealthy and they get rid of that debt, they'll be a lot happier. They may not be hunky-dory the happiest people in the world, but I assure you they'll feel less stressed.

35:16And being less stressed does make you happy. so i think this question is really complex because what i was saying earlier about the tiers of wealth it's like yeah if you get to the stade grade lamborghini or ferrari it's like of course it doesn't matter but like 99 of the world is in a whole different headspace with a whole different set of issues and a whole different set of expectations and the realities are like offset so that's why that the you can reduce your expectations if you're this solitary monk with no dependence if no one relies on you yeah you can just move to thailand smoke a joint and do white high all day it will cost you like 20 pounds a day and you'll be the happiest guy in the world but most people have you know most people have a wife and kids and and problems and and their ex so you think responsibilities make us unhappy.

36:08I think complexities that we can't solve easily make us stressed and ultimately unhappy. I think problems we can solve and that we do solve make us happier. Yeah, I've never looked at it like that.

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38:01How much do you like sharing of your past? let's see so where did you grow up i grew up in london you did born and raised school in london yes um parents together yes that's what brothers sisters two sisters only boy i like this straightforward answers we're just getting through it two sisters yes older younger i'm in the middle you're in the middle yeah what do they think about your online presence they're very supportive I like these answers okay these are good so you go to university and you study business administration I went to university in the US I went to a business school called Babson College it's very entrepreneurship focused I've always been a let me try and make a business and make some money on the side and sell some things which I think is very typical in our generation.

39:04So what was your first hustle? I was selling sneakers when I was 13. It's a classic. Get out of here. I used to line up in front of Nike Town on Regent Street, buy some shoes, resell them. People would be so shocked because Stadgei doesn't seem like a sneakerhead line-up type. It's like the complete opposite. I had this girlfriend at uni and we went to Disneyland Orlando for our two year. And she really wanted to go to Disneyland. and I was like yeah let's go to Disneyland and I couldn't afford the trip and I sold the pair of Nikes and paid for the trip I mean it was a fun trip every single person here just went oh it was I was a very privileged kid it's not like I was using it for a luxury like a trip to Disney I wasn't using it to pay for a medical bill so thank god it was still like a fun funny thing do you know what I did when I was at uni I was at Leeds University and I went and took out a student overdraft from a bank.

40:01I didn't realize you had to pay it back. I thought it was free money. Free cash. I thought it was free cash. So I took my girlfriend at the time to New York on a trip and we stayed in the Gossip Girl Hotel and we had this amazing time. And I was like, I'm balling out of control. I've got like two grand to my name. I was like, see ya, this is the best thing. Spent all my money, never ever thought about it. Oh God. Never paid it back. Baylifters turned off at my parents' house because I had never paid it back. My credit rating when I was like 18 to 21 was so bad that I couldn't even go and get a SIM card from a car from warehouse because it was that bad because I had no idea about it.

40:38But we never taught these things. You had this entrepreneurial spirit from such a young age. Why? What was the obsession? The obsession must have been with cash. Yeah, honestly, I've always been a dreamer. You can read my report cards since I was like five and every teacher will say, Sweet kid, okay to below average in class, and always daydreaming. I was always a big daydreamer. You leave university, you go and work. You do a startup for a bit, right? Yes. Which doesn't work out. It worked well for a while, then I ended up going bankrupt. And then I filmed my first odd guy video right after the startup went bust.

41:18So you've had failure? I have, yeah. How do you react to failure? Do you think failure is a good thing? I mean, I can lie to you and say, like, oh, it motivates me, but I was sad. Like, yeah, of course. I was like, oh, my God, the world feels over at that point when you're going through failure. But I'm so grateful for all those failures because here I am today. What do you learn from it? I think failure teaches grit. And grit's very important because if you don't have that heartbreak with your relationship, you will think they come easy and you think relationships don't require work and the same thing for fitness same thing with work life career anything i think grit is very important because nothing good gets handed to you easily and i think where a lot of very wealthy parents fail when raising their kids is they don't allow them to fail and they give them too many safety nets and their kids have no grit and then when they go out into the real world maybe they're fine financially but they'll struggle in their love lives they'll have lots of divorces they'll have lots of breakups because they weren't taught to fight for things they want because they always had the safety net of their parents and they'll have low grit so i think grit is the main thing and life can prescribe grit and that's probably the best prescription people who have a tough time as kids usually end up being tough adults it's a beautiful thing with unfortunately the not the ideal reasons to become tough having a tough childhood but they become tough people and i think that parents of privileged kids sometimes fail to prescribe that toughness on their kids which could be just by being strict parents putting them through sports, putting them through some level of controlled hardship to teach them grit and to make them have grit.

43:19So when you're working at Apple, you have this stable job, right? It's a good job. And there's a career path. It's, you know, one of the big businesses in the world. You start making your content on the side. I mean, for someone who's experienced failure, it's another risk to kind of leave that safety net to go over and start making content, which there is a huge amount of risk in making content. Everyone wants to be a content creator and be a YouTuber or be an influencer or whatever it is, but they don't understand the pressures of it when you're actually in it. Why did you decide to suddenly go, right, I'm going to go and do that?

43:54Leaving Apple. A big part of why I joined Apple was because of the stress that I went through when the startup went bust. I just wanted security. I wanted to be locked into a job that could really keep me safe for years, that I could just show up to work, do a good job. And I knew that at the end of the month, end of the year, I'm good to go. But just like we learn in our relationships, the truth always comes out. You can pretend to be someone you're not, and you can act the way that you think you could be, but really we all end up just being ourselves. The truth always comes back. And that's my entrepreneurial self.

44:33So I was in the Apple environment. I was working there. I loved it. I learned so much. Shout out to Ashna, my boss who honestly changed my life. She was the coolest girl ever. She taught me so much. And she always encouraged me. She's like, are you sure this is the real you? Like, I feel like you're a bigger risk taker. I feel like you should be doing more. You always talk about these big dreams. And she helped me create these vision boards at the beginning of every year where i'd it's the oprah winfrey vision board where i'd have these quadrants and talk about my dreams in different categories and i'd put it above my desk and just look at it every day and that's on there it's like four sections you have um corporate growth personal growth material growth and things like words of wisdom family i willy i'm doing this at the moment yeah it's really interesting exactly it was right above my desk because i'd be like annoyed at something at work and I'd look up and remember why I'm working.

45:26So it was literally like right above. That's a great piece of advice for anyone listening. Thank you. It's so good. Do that. Do that vision aboard above your bed, above your desk, above where you do your homework. So you look up every single time you remember the reason behind it. Just why. Why, why, why? Yeah. Thanks, Ashna. Ashna, whoever you are. Great. She's still at Apple. She's still at Apple. She's still at Apple. She's crushing it. She's crushing it. She's the best. She's a machine. Ashna's the best. so Ashna um pushed me to continue to be true to myself and figure out who that is and at the same time as working at Apple I was making a lot of videos after work on weekends they didn't realize very occasionally someone would notice and I'd see their eyes spark on a call or something because my career was mostly through COVID at Apple so it's mostly calls not face-to-face they would notice on the calls yeah like someone there'd be like a wider team call and then i'd see them like i'd be like shit and i'd find their name and the directory messages and being like please don't say anything we'll talk about this later and i probably did this with like 12 people 15 people and would get on the call i'd tell them yeah yes i'm actually the stad guy i work here but they're like but i thought you're a billionaire from stad i'm like i've never been to stad I just I make these videos so it was ridiculous it's ridiculous it's ridiculous and I eventually started to make some money off the page this is brand deals right?

46:52brand deals I became lucrative also I had merch I started selling merch my merch was so badly done it was horrific what was it? so I my merch was actually part of the joke so I remember I was sitting at my desk and I thought how funny would it be if my self-obsessed character has merch with his face on it and if I sell two or three great it really is just a joke so I went on YouTube and I searched how to make merch and I found this like tutorial on YouTube of how to integrate this production on demand service called Printful into Shopify so you make a Shopify website you integrate the Shopify app called Printful and you start making clothes immediately you did all this by yourself I appreciate the question because it praises me and makes me sound really smart it's so easy okay I would know where the fuck you watch this YouTube video it says like step one create a account it's like so simple I'm not gonna sit here and take your praise but I love it I appreciate it yeah but your attention indeed 50 % of success is turning up you went and did it I appreciate that that's the big thing I made this merch threw my face on it I swear it took me maybe an hour and a half okay maybe so on the second hour so shout out to anyone who wants to go and do it it's that easy YouTube it you can go and find it okay great most things YouTube can teach you how to raise a family you can do the The most difficult things in the world.

48:05YouTube is the best. You can do anything on YouTube. So I figured out how to make shop fun. Raise a family. I was making X in my Apple salary. And an hour after launch, I made my Apple salary in one hour in merch. No ways. Yeah, it was insane. I barely had any followers. I just posted it. People found my merch funny. And it was production on demand. So I had no inventory risk. Someone had placed the order. The sweatshirt would get printed and produced. And they would show up to their house like 10 days later. And my merch is not like something people need for their friend's birthday on Friday.

48:39Now I have 1.3 million. Then? Max 20K. My followers at the time were and still are the highest concentration of high net worth followers in the world. So Forbes a year later did like an audit of my followers and realized that I have the highest concentration of billionaires of any social media page globally. That's a good bunch of people to have if you want to sell stuff. Luxury stuff. Luxury stuff, yeah. Wow. It's a blessing. So you make your salary in sales? Yes. And then like... So it's like, what, 56, 57... No, my salary, like my month wage... Oh, it's a monthly wage. Yeah, like I made my month salary in like a couple of hours in merch.

49:20Wow. And I tell Ashna, and she's like, whoa, that's really cool. You should do whatever your heart desires. She was very free-spirited and very cool about this. I love Ashna was your boss and paying you, but also like supporting your side hustle. at the same time. Honestly, she's the best. That's amazing. I like that. That's like a secure person. You know? It's like... I couldn't agree with you. I'm a huge believer. I say this to everyone who ever joins the team. It's like, whatever your dream is, I want to help you achieve it. And if you want to help this along the way, great. That's just a bonus for me.

49:51But whatever you want to achieve is the most important thing. 100%. Yeah. And I remember telling my parents and they're like, there's a difference between the path of your life that you build slowly in the path of your life that you get lucky with. This merch thing sounds like a lucky thing. So take it slow. Think about it. Whatever you do, we'll support you regardless. But we don't think you should sell a couple of t-shirts and quit your job. It's a little crazy. And honestly, they're right. Like I worked my entire life to get a job at Apple. I made merch by accident on YouTube and made my month's salary.

50:25Who knows if that could last? But that's a great example of making sure that short-term success isn't your long-term goal. I mean, the fact that you're making quick cash doesn't mean it's going to be in the future. And that's when people get mistaken. Yes, I do feel like now more than ever, we have the tools to be able to test things out on the TubeRite home. You can literally open your phone and test out content. And there's so many tools to just do random things at random times to just test and hedge risk and make slow calculated decisions versus rash, emotion-driven decisions. where you're like, actually, I'm going to drop it all.

51:02And I want to be a singer. Yeah, because there's this big idea that you have to go all in. That's what you have to do. And I agree with you. It's weird, right? There's this whole narrative being spread right on social media, which is like, quit school, become an entrepreneur, don't work for anyone else, go all in on this. If you're not all in on this, then you're a failure, which is just total rubbish. It's nonsense. I don't think everyone should be anything. No, I agree. If you want to do that, fine, go down that path. But like, there's so much like founder porn online now, which makes people think they should just drop everything and then they'll get everything.

51:36But the world, I think reality exists in nuance. Nothing is extreme. I agree with you, right? And I find, I mean, I could go for hours about this, but this whole idea that if you're not an entrepreneur and you're not running your own business, that you're some sort of failure is just bizarre. And it's a really like toxic, I think, kind of narrative. Firstly, people, running a business is is one of the hardest things to do in the world it's non-stop it's all the time you have to worry about money people costs everything that's going on so i think it's a real sort of problem that people are sort of pushing that narrative absolutely in terms of business right off the back of like your followers and everything you've you've created poobel which is your jewelry business you're wearing right now i am which is a genius business thank you explain it um it's a modular charm bracelet yeah the reason why i say modular is because the charms connect side by side charms historically dangle and jingle when charms like dangle and jingle they make this noise like a christmas tree and they're a bit childish i wanted a charm bracelet where the charms hang side by side so it's just a bit more masculine a bit more presentable so i came up with this design where every single link opens and closes and you can connect charms side by side and then each charm at least in our initial launch was very shtad guy world so private jets private jet i have a jet here i have a caviar i have a dice i have a passport i have an airmas birkin sorry i have a bag i have a chess piece i have a watermelon i have a golf bag i have a pilates reformer pilates machine that's a good one i have a sauna bucket you know all about the saunas i'm sure yeah yeah you look like a sauna cold plunger are you yeah a little bit yeah yeah young successful white dude he saunas and he cold plunges for sure it's a big thing um rubel golf ball so we have all these charms and we have over 100 charms and people can link them and create bracelets create necklaces create handbag chains you can do anything with them and they're all sterling silver and hand painted with enamel and Amo's like this molten glass.

53:48It's all done by hand. So some of the charms take like 11 hours to make. Who have you seen wearing it that you didn't know was a fan? Lando was wearing it recently. I saw that. It's great. I was very happy. Love Lando. Lando's wearing it. Central Sea put it on his bag recently. Peggy Goo wears them all the time, which makes me very happy. Yeah, a lot of cool people love the brand, which means a lot to me. I'm very grateful. Because you make your brand yourself, but then also you have these incredible brands collaborating with you. Yeah. and they never collaborate with anyone yes i work with laura piano i was their first ambassador which is cool and apparently you made the shoes and this you made a shoe with them and they sold out yes we when i had about 50 000 followers we collaborated on an online exclusive of a shoe and it sold out in like six hours um what is a what is a shoe retailer what price just under a thousand euros we sold like 700 pairs in a few hours it's just unbelievable long time ago it was fun very fun so what's next for you what do you think i don't know lunch with you i would love that this has been a long time coming because it but it is but it's like for you you it feels like you can kind of drift into sort of any sort of space at the moment which must feel really exciting yeah it's very exciting um what's next for me is i'll answer that uh without joking it's i think staying true to the archetypes what i mean by that is who are my characters and i every few months i update these character profiles of who is constance and who is colton and what are the real versions of these people doing day to day i have like 10 or 15 people that i'll check in with every few months and see if their habits have changed a bit see if the trends have changed.

55:42Get out of here. You do research? Yeah, I do a lot of research. No, you don't. It's also like, it's not lab research. I'm not sitting there like studying. It's actually just having a conversation and asking a billionaire that I know, by the way, what have you done the past couple of weeks? And now a big thing, for example, is cycling. That's a new thing. It was paddle a few months ago, but now a lot of my billionaire friends are really into cycling. They're buying the whole, the whole gear and the cool helmets and the nice bikes. Are you serious? Yeah, and they take them on their boats. They put the bike in the plane.

56:10They do the whole thing. And that's a new thing. So maybe I'll make videos about cycling now. So you can see where trends go. Almost. I mean, maybe. I just talk to people who I think are often leading a lot of these trends because... Because they're bringing the wealth to these places. They're bringing the wealth to the places. They're bringing the wealth to the interest. And a lot of the times, the biggest spenders move the trend because the brands follow the biggest spender in a lot of ways. So I think like also the biggest spenders have the luxury of time. So they have more time to do things in their free time, which means they have more time to test and see what they like and don't like.

56:48Whereas someone who's working 10 hour days, they can't play paddle every day. They can't wear the full kit of paddle. They can't go shop for random trinkets to attach their handbags. They're busy like working and raising families and doing all these things. So I think a lot of trends actually end up starting with this ultra net worth community of people who have a lot of free time on their hands to just chat and spread trends and buy random things. Dude, I've really enjoyed this. Me too. I just, I've been trying to get you on for so long and to finally sort of somewhat get the sort of the real person behind the persona is super interesting.

57:24We like to end the podcast with eight questions. Are you ready for this? Yes, let's do it. What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up? I love gratitude so when someone says they appreciate something even like I appreciate you thank you like but a genuine sign of gratitude I think always makes me very happy if someone says like by the way that thing you did last week that was really sweet of you I appreciate it just that moment of introspection that people have to call out an action ideally like sometime in the past so you realize people are thinking about things you're doing makes me very happy yeah i have one where whenever i do this thing now whenever i'm talking about someone with someone i always send that person a message saying hey just talking about how great you are that's such a nice i do that all the time and so when you receive that message feels so good you're like this is the greatest thing ever it really goes a long way it goes such a long way which leads nicely on the question too best compliment anyone's ever given you i think today when you said that i really think about things a lot.

58:29I think it's a nice compliment. Consider it. It's a great way to be. What scares you most about yourself? Sometimes I'm harsh. Really? Yeah, with people I love the most. I don't sugarcoat things very often and I'm scared that sometimes I'm too harsh and I hurt people's feelings because I think I'm like most people probably. I'm like most considerate with people I don't know and the least considerate with people I know very well and I'm just like filterless and I just say things the way they are. yeah it's true i never thought of it like christmas dinner cutthroat you think it's going to be the soft cute wholesome moment usually people are just like i hate you you know i've never told you before but i hate you don't go that far but it's like you know i think i can be harsh and i need to work on that when was the last time you cried i have no idea no keep those emotions in years ago all right okay good what's something you can't let go of my teddy bear get out of here yeah my parents gave me this bear from gap when i was born and they gave me a matching outfit it's like it's denim overalls and my bear had these denim overalls and i used to travel with him as a kid so i went to military camp when i was like 14 and i brought my teddy bear with me so you can just imagine it's glass you know and um i don't i don't sleep with him he's at my parents house but he's i like that i call him he what's his name i called him barry when i was like I don't know two I don't know when you were 12 when I was 19 yeah when you were 19 but yeah he's at my parents house and I hope to never get rid of him hopefully my kids can meet him one day which would be cute do you still wear the outfit?

1:00:09I don't it's literally this big it's tiny what's your guilty pleasure? chocolate mousse what turns you off? a few things to be honest hit me one of them is yapping okay loud yapping that's kind of me no no you're good i think you're careful with your words i just don't like i don't like high volume over dinner like it's just not for me what turns you on honestly people are very like soft-spoken and kind i think kindness but not just like oh he's a nice person whatever but it's like if everyone who crosses this person's path can say oh that is a very kind person. I love that about them as a friend.

1:00:54Most things I look for in close friends are things I look for in a relationship as well, to be honest. So like in close friends, I want someone to be kind and mindful. And everyone from a waiter to a doorman to their own family would say they're above all, they're kind. Yeah, it's the most important thing. Hi, this is Nox from the Popcast with Nox and Jamie. And maybe like us at the Popcast, you also know people who have been smokers or vapers. And Zen is the one product that seems like everyone is talking about. Because there are many good reasons to make a change to Zen nicotine pouches. Reasons like Zen nicotine pouches are still America's number one choice for smoke-free, hands-free nicotine satisfaction.

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1:02:07Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by. Grainger for the ones who get it done. Hello, I'm Katherine Ryan, and this is Write Me Dirty, the podcast where two comedians write steamy, ridiculous erotica about each other. I give them a bizarre prompt, think apocalypse must include a zombie, and they read their spicy stories aloud while I judge them on sexiness, funniness, and sheer chaos. It's hilarious, awkward, and occasionally kinda hot. Write Me Dirty. Thursdays just got thirstier I love that last one what's Constance's favourite swear way to curse? Alapobel there we go Stard thank you so much man I really appreciate it you've been amazing go and listen to your podcast go and check everything you do you're amazing man I appreciate it that's amazing thank you so much thank you

1:03:06what do you think? so fascinating Wild right? Absolutely wild The story about Those teenagers at that school That really posh school How much money they would spend for a pizza Did that upset you? I can't comprehend it It's at a level where It doesn't make sense in my brain It's like thinking about space Yeah a little bit and time For me time But it was interesting Peeling back the curtain to that incredible why are we so fascinated by it? because it's sort of unattainable and it's unrealistic it's the 0.001 % of the world I mean so no one really has that wealth and so to understand what having that wealth is like is kind of interesting to know we really really hope you enjoyed it we hope you liked the episode we'll be back next week for another episode of Great Company as always stay in touch with us so subscribe to the show if you haven't already get in touch via Instagram at greatcompanypodcast or you can send us an email greatcompany at jamperproductions.co.uk and of course we'll be back next week for another episode of Great Company