Nick Nanton: Winning Gold with Bourbon, Branding and Bold Moves

0:00I have to work out. Like I have to get my energy out so I can be a normal human. And like I do my best thinking or my best, like I listen to audio books. If I'm not running with a friend, I run five miles a day or three and then I lift. But if I'm not with a friend, I listen to audio books or podcasts at 2x because that's, but I'm like, I'm getting all the nervous energy out and I'm actually able to focus and think and all that.

0:22Mick:Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.

0:47Mick:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today, I have a story of connection. He is the mastermind behind Impact Branding. He is the go-to storyteller for legends. And he is also a 22-time Emmy Award-winning director who's turned ordinary lives into extraordinary legacies. From boardrooms to backstages to bourbon He's built empires through narrative Please join me in welcoming the bold, the brilliant, the boundary-breaking, my guy Mr. Nick Matten Nick, how you doing today, brother? Oh man, I hope I can live up to all that, man I'm doing great, it's good to see you, man I'm excited to chat with you today Dude, I am the excited one And I think we just need to tell the story of how we connected, man Like, most outrageous connection possible We're on an early bird 5 30 in the morning from vegas to dallas texas flight There's weather in dallas.

1:44Mick:So we get rerouted to austin texas But what the people don't know is this I sit down in my seat nick sits next to me And puts on his eye shades or the eye blinders and passes out. So there's no conversation Nick wakes up and I have to inform him hey bro we're not going to be in gallus we're going to austin i remember yeah because i like i'm like a narcolepte on planes i can't stay awake and so i remember hearing like please put your seats up and i'm like okay i'll do that and then we're landing in austin i remember turning to you like is that for is that a joke is that one of those like welcome to jamaica new york that i usually do right i'm like is that a joke because we're supposed to be going to dallas like no no there's like weather i'm like oh all right and uh i was like well that sort of sucks but okay and then we hit the tarmac and for way longer than any of us expected.

2:36Mick:Yeah, three hours sitting there, but I didn't know I'd find my future best friend, man. We had some amazing conversations, realized we had some folks in similar circles and literally got to know each other, man. And so the power of connection, the power of conversation, but I think more importantly, just the power of networking, because had we not talked about our mutual circles, it probably would have been like, hey, I'm Mick. Hey, I'm Nick. Nice to meet you. Absolutely. Well, and that is, you know, my whole thing is like I will, like I said, I just fall asleep on planes. But I also, you know, what I don't like about certain settings is I'm not ever looking for a shallow conversation.

3:16Right. I'm looking for deep connections. And usually, you know, I value the people beside me. They're working or they're sleeping or they're doing their thing. So I typically like I have great relationships in my life, but I typically don't say more than hello, goodbye to the person next to me on an airplane flight just because, you know, that's I don't need to I don't need to do more than that. Right. And and let them do their thing. But it was funny because I remember when you informed me of this and we decided that there wasn't a whole lot more to do because they also rerouted another 300 planes into into Austin, into Dallas, into Austin.

3:51sorry. And so no, like people were losing their minds, right? Because, and it is frustrating when you, when you plan to get somewhere, but like they can't affect tornadoes. And so there was actually so many planes, we couldn't even go anywhere to get off the plane. And I remember them saying, well, you could get off the plane, but you can't get back on the plane and wherever your luggage goes, like we're out. I'm like, well, that doesn't seem like the best customer support, but okay, I'll, I'll roll with it. I was thankful. I only had a dinner to get to, and we had seemingly hours. I was late to the dinner, but I got there.

4:21And then I remember, so there wasn't a whole lot to do, but maybe have a couple of cocktails. And I heard you order a Woodford Reserve, which is a beautiful bourbon. And I said, hey, we got to keep this on the DL. But I got some bourbon that I think you might really enjoy because I founded The Difference, which is a bourbon with Chris Voss. His book is Never Split the Difference. Some of you might I've seen it on masterclass. And so it was my dumb idea. We should start a bourbon called the difference because you never split it. And so I have these little airplane bottles that you can travel with.

4:56Um, they're, they're actually liquid bottles. You can put anything legal in them and you can, you don't have to check it. They're all small and they're a little rubber coated. They're very cool. And so I happen to have some with me. So I think at some point the flight attendant didn't care because I think they were running out of alcohol. So, and we were, we were there for so long. But yeah, it was fun to let you try some of it. Since then, it's won six gold medals, which is pretty exciting. So I knew we were onto something. I knew it tasted good, but I'm more of a red wine guy than a bourbon guy.

5:23I'm learning. But yeah, I mean, it was fun to just be able to sit there. And of course, yeah, we know like 100 of the same people, which is fun too.

5:29Mick:Yeah. So the crazy thing is Nick told the real story. I wasn't going to go into, hey, we were drinking the difference on the plane. Both of us are going to have to go through extra security the next time we go i'm not saying what airline but but what was crazy so nick's exactly right we were stuck for three hours the only way to get off the plane was to stay off the plane and even if you elected to get off the plane because they only had so many buses or vans it was taking like 45 minutes to an hour once you said you wanted off the plane i'm not gonna say that I saw people faking emergencies so that EMT could come get them.

6:11Mick:But I saw some people that all of a sudden were not feeling well. There were some of that. And then there were some guys like, like six guys got off and said they were going to drive to New York. Yeah. And it was like, I don't know if they're YouTubers or what. I mean, they're pretty funny, but I was like, man, that's a wild, that's a wild trip. Okay. Good luck. Yeah. I would wait four or five hours before I decided to drive from Austin, Texas to New York city. Yeah. Amen to that. Amen. So, Nick, so much I want to get into. Let's just go straight to the difference. Literally, and everyone knows I'm a bourbon connoisseur.

6:47Mick:The best bourbon I have ever tasted in my life is the difference. And it's not just me saying it because it's a newly released, not even to the public, and you've already won six gold medals. So it's not just me saying it. The world is also saying it. The difference is the best bourbon that is on the market today. Well, thank you. I love that, man. Yeah, that was a fun story. So I met Chris Voss through some mutual friends, my friends Joe Polish and Dan Sullivan. And I don't name drop. I just like to give credit where credit's due. So you'll hear me say names because if I learn something from somebody, I want you to know who they are.

7:28And so I met Chris and I remember Joe said, hey, you want to come sit down with us? It was at the end of an event with Dan Sullivan. I was like, sure. And Joe actually runs an entire organization for addiction recovery. So Joe does not drink, which is a good thing for everybody. And Chris ordered a bourbon, Four Roses. I ordered a glass of red wine and we started chatting, whatever. like a week later I went to Iraq to do an anti-human trafficking film that I was working on and COVID broke out when I was in Iraq and we decided we didn't want to get stranded there so we bailed out went to the airport went home and then very very shortly after that the entire U.S.

8:08was shut down and I remember asking myself like well I'm grounded for a little bit I mean it was really a sweet time with my family which was great you know I had three kids all at home at the time. But I just started thinking like, what can I do to actually provide value to my community? Whoever that is, whether it's parents at my kid's school or kids that are stuck at home and everyone's anxious, like what can I do? I have a good friend named Dr. Nito Cobain. He's president of High Point University. He taught me what I call Dr. Cobain's rule of thirds. He said, Nick, a life lived one third earning, one third learning, one third serving is a life while I lived.

8:44And I'm like, Oh, I like that. Right. So that's, that's wisdom right there. That's wisdom. So I was like, okay. So even though my life is no one knew what life was going to be. Right. I mean, we all remember that you will never forget where you're at when the world shut down. Right. So I was trying to figure out every day, a little bit more, like, what does, what is earning going to look like in my future and soon? Uh, what could I be learning? Cause when you're learning, I thought I hated learning by the way, because it used to make me sit in a desk for eight hours a day and learn. Now I've realized I love learning because I only learn now speaking to the best in the world about everything.

9:17And when you are learning, or I listened to a lot of audio books and podcasts, like, man, it just, it allows your mind to stay positive and be focused on opportunity and hope if you're listening to the right things. And so I was like, okay, what can I be learning? I need to, I need to keep my chops up. And then how can I be serving? And some days serving would just be like, I put my parents on the very first zoom call because they'd just gotten back from a trip and they were quarantined for 14 days and they want to see their grandkids. And so it doesn't have to be fly to India and feed a bunch of people.

9:45Not as a bad idea, but like what does serving look like? And I, so I, it was a really cool time for me to realize like all the things I love doing out in the world daily, I can just do here and I can really help a lot of people. So I said, how can I serve my community? You know what? I know a lot of pretty interesting people. I'm going to host like a live, a live stream once a week, whatever it was, and whenever I could get them. And I had two astronauts on one time. I let a bunch of kids ask them questions. Of course, they only want to know, how do you poop in space? You know, stuff like that.

10:11And then I would, you know, I just had a bunch of my celebrity friends on and I was like, you know, I'd really like to have Chris Voss on. It'd probably be a good idea. He's a big deal. But I didn't want to read his book because I read like so many bad negotiation books. Well, I read like half of so many bad negotiation books in law school. I never want to read another one again. I'm like, all right, I'll listen to it. And I was blown away. And I tell Chris, now this is like one of my top 10 books ever like i that book is so well written and the top that it's just so good so i had chris on my podcast and we had a great time and then i pitched him not long after like hey man you should let me do your documentary he's like all right let's talk about it so i end up doing chris's documentary i remember being around the country dc new york city la wherever we were and at the end of a shoot day chris and i'd have a nice dinner chris we get a bourbon, I get a red wine.

11:02So eventually my dumb brain goes, spits out, Chris, we should start a bourbon. I'll just call it the difference. Do you get it? He's like, yeah, we should. And so that to me was, was permission. Uh, and then I went bird dog, the rest was introduced to our partner, Roy Milner, who's sort of a sorcerer when it comes to spirits. We're able to acquire our first barrels that you've now tried. And so that was a really fun and you know, I've never done anything in consumer package goods. So it was like a really fun way to like express your creativity in something that you can consume, you can hold it, the bottles, all that stuff.

11:35It was a fun journey.

11:37Mick:So I'm so intrigued, Nick. You know, you told me this, obviously, when we were on the plane for 200 hours, but it really started to sink in. And I said, I'm going to wait and ask him this, not in a phone call, not in a text, but on the podcast so I can see the true reaction. How does one just say, yeah, we should start a bourbon. Like, like not, you know, we should think about it. Do you know any connections? No, let's go do it. Like, how did that in that split second just come to your mind? But then more importantly, for the viewers and listeners, what was that process like to actually start it?

12:16Yeah, so I have been really blessed with being so bad at so many things that I have learned that like if you can build a world-class team, you can pretty much accomplish anything you want. And so my idea muscle has gotten strong. I had a guy who used to work for me and he got into a role where he was like pitching me all these ideas. And I was like, I was trying to explain to him, trying to help him have better ideas in a way. And I, and I said, you know, and they weren't bad ideas, but like monetizable ideas. And I had to make a distinction that I had never thought of. I said, you know what? I love the fact that you have these ideas, but I've realized that I have, you know, 30 something years of experience.

13:03Cause I started my first businesses when I was, you know, entrepreneurial kid in the neighborhood, whatever of monetizing ideas, which is very different than having ideas. And so I've been blessed with, um, you know, through immigrant parents and everything where we struggled when I was growing up with financials. So I had to learn certain things and I had to make money. And I, so like I had to, I had to struggle and learn these things. I learned a lot of times what I was really bad at, but I learned how to monetize ideas and I learned to do it. I can do it. I can execute on anything in a world-class way if I have a world-class team.

13:38And so I didn't think it would be hard to build a world-class team. I hadn't done it in bourbon, but my idea muscle is so strong now for better or for worse. I'm now at this place where like, oh yeah, that's not a problem. Let me just go find the right team. I knew I had a team of great designers. I've been having people trying, I've had people trying to invest money with me for over a decade and I would never take their money. I would only like with my documentaries, I only take contributions. Like I guarantee you no return because I don't want you. Documentaries usually are not profitable and I don't want you.

14:16I just tell people I sell great steak dinners, not poker matches. Like, you know, you know exactly what you're getting and I'm going to, I'm gonna do my best to over deliver, but there's not, none of this like, Ooh, I don't, You know, like just that, like I spend a ton of money on great food and booze. I don't like losing money at the, at the craps table. I just don't or whatever. Right. So I try to demonetize it. And so I finally, when I had this idea, I actually called a couple of friends of mine. I knew some, my buddies own a company called blue Delta jeans. They make custom jeans for like everybody.

14:51Right. And I, they've been very good to me and I knew they worked with some people in the bourbon industry. And so I called my friend Nick Weaver there and he told me, he's like, man, I love Chris Voss and I love bourbon. Let's do something with this. I'm like, all right. And so originally I thought we were just going to host like a two day seminar in Kentucky and we're going to bottle some custom bourbon and everyone's going to take a case home or whatever. And we're going to charge whatever for the two days with Chris and whatever. Everyone goes home. and then my buddy keeps he's super busy he owns like a mattress company the gene company they do fema cleanups like he's just like a straight up entrepreneur first time i met met with him him and his partner business partner josh took me to a barbecue joint and a bait shop in mississippi it was like all right these dudes are they're awesome so i got restless so i started talking to some other people i knew and like oh no it doesn't work that way like you can't just go get bourbon And like you could get like a barrel pick, which means you like taste a barrel.

15:47You like this barrel better than the other one. Great. And they put like, you know, let's say it's four roses. They put a little sticker on the side of it that says, you know, Nick and Chris's barrel. I'm like, well, that's not what I want to do. And so kept bugging my buddy Nick. And he's like, dude, I'm too busy. But let me introduce you to my friend, Roy Milner. Roy built one of the top 100 breweries in America at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. And he owns a bourbon brand. And Roy and I talked on the phone for maybe eight minutes before we had like 14 different connections that were mutual. And we both had trust from this other guy.

16:17And he says, why don't you and Chris just meet me in Louisville and Kentucky? I'll take you around some distilleries and I'll show you what I think we can do. So great. So within a month, we were there. And then by the end of that trip, I'm like, Chris, I don't think I want to just bring some people in for like an event. I think I want to, like, why don't we start a bourbon together and let our friends play too? He's like, I was thinking the same thing. So I was like, Roy, can we do that? He's like, yeah, yeah, we could absolutely do that. I got the right partners, whatever. And so that's what we decided to do.

16:45I did it pretty uniquely. And maybe this will be helpful to people listening. The only reason I'll share the whole deal structure. I invited my investors in. I said, I'm taking 25 investors. And it's$120 ,000 each. But it's$30 ,000 a year for four years. So that, because I don't need it all now, And I told him, I'm like, think of it like a mastermind. Think of it like a mastermind like that. You might make some money back, but I can guarantee you a great experience. So first of all, if you don't want to learn about, like, I don't know that much about bourbon, but if you don't want to learn about bourbon and you don't drink, you're not invited because you're in it for all their own reasons.

17:21And if you are interested in that, then why don't you come join me on this journey? We're going to learn a ton. You're going to get a lot of bourbon. You're going to, you're going to own a bourbon with Chris Voss. And I said, if you can't make more than your investment back annually by saying you own a bourbon with Chris Voss. Don't do this. So I told him all the reasons not to do it. And then everyone's like, take my money. I'm like, wait a minute. Now I got to get everything drawn up. So we held a dinner in Nashville. I think I had 18 people. I then got my first 15 investors from that 18. And then I went to some other friends and we closed it out very quickly.

17:55And we're about a year in and showing some great promise. We also trademarked Business Bourbon. it's the first spirit in the world to celebrate the art of fair dealing. So just partying, we decided we did not want to go retail with it because retail is very difficult. Very, I mean, you can't outspend the pappies of the world, the Buffalo traces of the world. I mean, name it, name it, name it. Right. And so we've decided we were going to do something different where it's a, we have, I think all this shareholder society. So, and again, this is no pitch. It's just, I'm sharing how my brain works.

18:28It's the, it's the difference. Never split. always share is our slogan. And so if you want to hold your share of our bourbon, you have to join the shareholder society. And so we, it's an invite only community for entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and investors. We meet up twice a year in different locations, usually at least once a year in Kentucky, and you get quarterly allotments of bourbon shipped to your house. We have full-size bottles, then we have what we call shareables. So you can share it with your friends and business acquaintances. It's been, the community is incredible because, because we set the boundaries, right?

19:03We said, this is why you would fit. This is why you wouldn't. And you also, we have a no a-hole rule. So that gets rid of a lot of people quick. And it's just been amazing. The amount of deals that are starting to get done in those rooms and the amount of friendships that are being created. So that's the story of the difference. And hopefully it helps people see that there is number one, money is the cheapest commodity in the world. It is worth what it is worth. I often promise people ROE, return on experience, because I can promise that. I cannot promise ROI. I don't know what's going to happen in the world.

19:37But if I can create an experience, my goal would be that you do this only for the experience. And if you got money back, it would just be gravy. And everyone's like, yeah, and we have the right people involved. We have some really cool, some heroes of mine who actually invested, which has been really fun. So I would just encourage people to think in a way that if I was offering it the way everyone else offered it, I would be competing. My friend Sally Hogg said, great author, says, different is better than better. Being better is almost impossible, but being different is pretty easy. So in whatever it is you're doing in your business, in your life, reframe to what would make me different.

20:19This is a different, by name, it's a different offering. It allows people to join a community, get to know Chris, get to know, and to learn about bourbon together and to socialize, to network and do business together.

20:31Mick:Well, I am looking forward to my first experience. Again, it is literally the best bourbon I have tasted. And I consider myself a connoisseur. I told you that on the plane, man. And well, the new release, dude, the new release is, my mind is blown. It's a Bottle and Bond release, and I'll get you some before I see it. All right. I'm excited about that, too. I'm excited about that, too. So let's change gears a little bit. You talk about experience, which is going to segue to 22-time Emmy Award winner. Bro, when you told me that on the plane, you didn't say it like you were bragging, right? It was more like I looked it up, and I was like, wait, that's you?

21:16Mick:And then you started talking to me about what you do in film. 22 times to win the Emmy, bro. Like, we're not even talking about the nominations, but to win. That means that people appreciate the experience that you're able to deliver through storytelling, which is freaking hard. And it's harder now that we have cell phones that, you know, the average person is trying to get into that business. It's not saying it's right, wrong, and different, but you have more competition now than you ever had. And you still are a 22-time Emmy award-winning guy. When did you know that that was a passion that you had?

21:59So it's funny. I never intended to get into making documentaries or film. Like I just didn't. I mean, I did some stuff in elementary and middle school with like projects, you know, like the stuff that they make you do. And I thought it was fun. I didn't do TV production or anything in high school. In college, I managed some bands. I ended up, you know, I don't recommend this to everyone, but I took out some extra student loans, bought some video equipment and filmed some music videos and even made a mockumentary for one of my bands. I actually ended up getting me my business partner to invest with me.

22:30He's 30 years older than me at the time. So like it worked out, but I just, I used it as a tool. And I never, until I did a bunch of podcasts during COVID, um i never would have considered myself a storyteller although i've been a songwriter since the age of 15 16 and i'm currently ranked in top 5 percent of songwriters in the world i just didn't ever internalize as i'm a storyteller and so what it's it's wild because i was doing i played guitar since i was six and i've been songwriting forever and um when i the way i got into documentary is funny because i was coming back from i don't remember my fourth or fifth Grammys, whatever it was.