He Built a Multimillion-Dollar Business Using THIS Content Strategy ft. Richard Ryan

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0:32I can't wait to see you there. Welcome to the Jasmine Starr Show, where we talk about life business. And today we are talking about life after the exit, before the exit, in the middle of the exit. We're talking a lot about building businesses. And I'm very honored to have a conversation with somebody who is, I have to tell you, this gentleman's reputation preceded him. I was in Austin, let's say like a year, year and a half ago. And that was an event and it was a group of entrepreneurs. And we went riding in these, I don't even know the name of them. They were just fast cars. They were like race cars.

1:01I don't know. it was something that we don't do in California. And it was like some sort of, I'm going to ask him right now if he probably knows. And we were racing these fast cars and I was one of two women at the entire event. It was like 30 of us. And we were there and people had kept on whispering this name, Richard Ryan, Richard Ryan. And I was just like, who is this guy? And then I come to find out somehow there's coffee involved. And somehow I found out he's in Austin. And I was like, I'm going to find out who this brother is. And so I plot and I plot. I happen to connect with a former podcast guest, Sam Parr, who is also co-founder of Hampton, an entrepreneur group that I am a part of.

1:39And rumor on the street, Richard Ryan was a part of that group too. So you want to know what? I did a little digging. I did a little research. I could not be more excited and impressed that he agreed to do the show, share his journey with you, inspire you to do big things, and also talk about what we do after. What is the legacy we leave on part of our business? Welcome to the show, Richard Ryan. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I didn't tell you about like how it was like whisperings of your name. Rally ready. That's what you're in. Rally car. Now, how did you know this? Well, I mean, fast cars in Austin.

2:09That's one of the few places outside of Coda. So yeah, that's such a fantastic facility and organization. We got a good relationship. It was rally cars. It was rally cars. And it made for great social content. But listen, I told my husband after that event, I'm like, if there's one thing you do for our daughter, you're going to teach her how to drive stick. All the guys who had to drive stick. I don't know how to drive stick. So I'm getting like a stick lesson at a rally car. So I'm like going a whopping all of like 60 miles an hour thinking I'm like living life on the edge. So it was great to kind of be brought into your orbit organically via that way.

2:40And so I know that you've done really great, incredible, massive things in your business. And so, you know, just off camera, we were talking how you had mentioned, oh, when people ask me what it is I do, we're not going to get to that part. So for those of you who are watching, we're going to break this podcast into three sections. We're going to talk about probably what he's most known for, which a lot of times after you've done something really successful, you're like, I'm going to do something even greater, different, better on my terms. We'll talk about that. Then we're going to talk about that, how he was able to achieve like really some massive success.

3:09And then we're going to talk about being a subject matter, not expert. We'll get to that in a second. At the end, we're going to talk about what we do with our legacy. Like what do we do when we have achieved the things that we've set out to do and how do we continue to push ourselves in the boundaries that we are most known for? So let's start off with a little bit of what are you most known for? because there's a lot though. Yeah, it's tough. It depends on who you're asking because I feel like I wear so many different hats that there's a lot of people who don't know the other kind of personas.

3:37Early days when I was teaching myself to program, I was building in the world of mobile and early days of social. I built a YouTube app, had it in the app store four years before YouTube did because it was native to iOS at the time, tying that to AdSense, predating the partner program and built a lot of relationships in the world of tech during those stages between Alphabet and YouTube and their acquisition of that during the whole DMCA drama and whatnot. The mobile app stuff in the world of technology was kind of like a flag or feather in my cap and was also doing comedy and entertainment stuff.

4:19I did stand up for probably five, seven years and got in the world of television and the internet was cast in the top 100 YouTube channel at that time. And then I carved off my own piece of the internet at that point in time. Just - What year is this? This is 2009, 2010 maybe. And when I really started thinking about how do I do this in a way that doesn't take away from the team that I'm part of now, I really was like, well, one, I don't want to get burned out. How do I create content on a regular basis? How do I optimize it for SEO and all these other different things. And I started a firearms kind of adventure, explosive, slow motion channel.

5:01And for me, it was easy because I had pre-existing relationships with studios and ad agencies. And so every time they had a new movie come out, I could consult for them on creative marketing strategies, but they'd also hire me to integrate the product for the release. It was really, really cool because now a lot of these things, attribution models are kind of standard practices, whereas 2010 studios and ad agencies were throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall. Okay, give us an example. Tell us the story. So say any movie comes out, they'll have a budget and they'll allocate X amount to traditional media and then X amount to digital.

5:43Back then, the digital budget was discretionary. There was no real attribution model. I mean, you still had Google and AdSense and various different methods of tracking pixels and everything, but it wasn't nearly as sophisticated as it is today with cookies or unique identifiers within the phone and sharing information among apps. And then they would just take money and say, hey, look, we're going to allocate five,$10 million to this. What could we do with that? That we could, if the movie's successful, they would go to their superiors and be like, look what we did. It was because of this. and there was no way to really authenticate their data sets.

6:20So now it's way more sophisticated. And it's kind of interesting to see that the budgets have kind of inversed. Yeah. So you have more digital spend than you do probably traditional unless it's a big blockbuster film. Can we pause here? Yeah. Because there was like a lot. And so this is part of the reasons I was really fascinated to have you come on the show is because you have a lot of life experience that gives like a very 360 look at business. and we're starting at the point where content, it was content forward and content backed into, head into whatever the case it was, you became a subject matter enthusiast about this.

6:54You were brought in because you knew a lot about this particular thing. And there's people right now, and I just feel like just like a deep impression, there's things that people are doing and I'm speaking to you who's listening or watching and it doesn't really quite make sense, but you are a subject matter enthusiast. If you see where the puck is going, your job is to get there before anybody else. And what I have seen Richard do is really go to where the puck is going and then position himself right at the right time. And so he's looking at content. And as you are looking at content, you're looking at it and there are things that are traditional that are done and there's things that are not so traditional.

7:29If I hear it correctly, lean into the not traditional. Yeah. I mean, kind of to sum that up, too, is luck is the intersect of preparedness and opportunity. And so being passionate about what it is that you're doing gives you a little bit of a competitive advantage because your curiosity leads you in places that might not be as boring or status quo. Sometimes you can find an edge there. And for me, that's been great because a few examples, actually some bad examples, was YouTube and 360 video, right? Because I am a software developer, I was able to work with a YouTube product team to inject Python script into my videos, 3D printed camera housings for GoPros and stitched them together in post-production and had some of the first 360 videos on YouTube, jumping from a hot air balloon and all these other different things.

8:23And while that didn't take off, it's just these emerging technologies that just get me or keep me excited about the content creation process or even the development process. Like, who knows, like maybe that I could have came out a business that sold 360 hardware software solutions or something. I don't know. It's not really something that I'm passionate about. But that little bit of, I don't know, that spark kept everything else going. So I guess the other lesson learned in that is you have to know when to cut bait, too. Yeah. Yes. So like, I'd say one of my biggest flaws is follow through in a lot of ways.

8:59Okay. The A-B testing, because I cut bait really fast. Okay. Like as soon as the enthusiasm's gone, it's really hard for me to follow through. Oh, this is good. Okay. I have to bring somebody on to do that. Okay. Okay. Okay. This is good because I see a linchpin between the stories. And so we talked about the three parts of the podcast and we talked about like what you're most known for. And you're like, it depends who you're asking to. It depends what probably iteration, what chapter of your life. Yeah. And also when we talk about being a subject matter enthusiast and then also talking about cutting bait or bringing somebody in to run that, let's talk about a business where you got it off the ground.

9:30It was doing really well. And then you had to bring somebody in to really push through execution. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't take the credit for this, really, because it's a team effort in that. But Verizon Media and Hearst Publications did a joint venture where they were launching a new technology or tech stack for video, Go90. And they were trying to do it to compete with YouTube cross-platforms, desktop, mobile, and everything. and they were one of the largest procurers of media for probably a couple of years. I mean, they were buying up everything, scripted, reality, music, events, all these different things.

10:10And they specifically wanted to target the Heartland Millennial Mail. And so the executive team brought me in and they were like, hey, look, we want to do this thing on essentially a daily editorial news product. And we want you to be the kind of focal point of that. And at the time. Can I ask why? Like, how are you on this list? Like the millennial, do you say millennial Midwest male? Yeah. The Heartland Millennial Male. Yeah. It's a mouthful for sure. It's funny, but they're very, very much looking for the younger. Wait a minute. Were you in LA at this time? I was. Yeah, I was. So you're in LA, but they see Heartland.

10:48They're in New York. Yeah. Well, I joke that people inherently gravitate towards the things that they disagree with you on. So whenever I was in Los Angeles, I was the gun-toting redneck. But when I was in Nashville, I was the gay-loving liberal. But I had a YouTube channel. And at that time, it was called Rated RR. I got a cease and desist from the MPAA. This was a play on my initials, Richard Ryan. But being young and everyone's YouTube channels, early days, didn't probably have a whole lot of thought. into the naming and nomenclature of it. But they said, hey, look, we want to call this thing Rated Red.

11:23Red being a play on the conservative demographic and everything. Your channel Rated RR, it makes a good kind of segue into that. Anyways, they brought me into Studio Nashville and we came up with a media strategy. Okay, hold on. I just have to pause. For those of you who are watching and listening, he was brought into the room based on the content he was creating. Correct. And so I think that I just need to like say it again and again. It's like it's a disproportionate amount to be perceived as or known as a subject matter enthusiast or even a leader in the field. And so an opportunity came to you because of the content that you were creating.

12:01Correct. But also my relationships with the studios and ad agencies prior because I had a proven track record in high level strategy and the execution of that. Because content creation is an extremely important aspect of it. But the strategy from the ground floor and a product launch is extremely important. For newer people to the space, it's probably more important for you to get reps on. If you have enough money and talent, then the strategy is important. Because the execution is everything, at least, you know, from their perspective, because they're going to be burning a lot of cash to get going.

12:39And I think that they ended up, not with us, but the whole initiative was over, I think, a billion dollars. I might be a little bit off on that, but I remember between the mobile app and all the shows and everything that they were buying and all the intellectual property they acquired over that period of time, it was a substantial amount of money. It was a lot. So did they bring you in in the capacity of a creator or as a strategist? Both. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, so that's how we negotiated a contract and justified my compensation. Because they have internal SOPs and regulations around compensation.

13:15And I was like... So did they originally bring you on as a creator? They were wanting to bring me on as talent and an executive producer and the creative strategist. Okay. And I was like, well, that's not enough money for me. So they literally combined the salary of all the roles to justify my comp. Beautiful. Because I was like, I don't want to go. Sorry, this could come across probably as arrogant, but. Not at all. Not on the show. Say it. I would much rather work a minimum wage, minimum wage job for myself than be paid above market for somebody else on a product that I don't own or a company that I don't own or have a vested stake in.

13:59Cool. Just because it's, again, to each their own. It's just, for me, I need incentives. I need motivation to outwork everybody. I was there at one o 'clock in the morning with the Nashville Police Department showing up because I was cutting two by fours and building sets and stuff like like nobody's going to outwork me and I'm going to be compensated for it for sure. And so we came to an agreement on compensation and brought me in after a couple of years working there. It was great. We were kind of the conservative, quote, it's funny, I say conservative, but I joke that I'm libertarian short of anarchy.

14:39I really despise politics in so many ways because of, again, the incentive misalignment. But, you know, I was there. We did a fantastic job. I think within eight months, we had a million followers on Facebook and we were growing pretty quick on YouTube and across other platforms. And again, I can't take all the credit for it. We had a team of close to 50 people. And yeah, it was amazing because we were the bastard child of this kind of politically liberal organization that kind of had some, I don't know, disdain for us. We didn't get any, everything that we did was organic. There was no paid. Were the other products within that they kind of pitted us against as far as performance.

15:30They had paid media behind them. Okay, so I want to pause here. This is a David and Goliath story. For sure. I mean, they're literally, every truest odd is stacked against y 'all. Yeah, for sure. And again, we were the discretionary budget, right? We're like, hey, we'll just do this little thing to say that we have this in our portfolio or whatever. And so for me, I take that, again, as a challenge. And so - Game on. Yeah, that's exactly it. That's exactly it. So like I look at the playbook and for me, specifically around media, you know, I try to come at it from a very like strategic perspective.

16:09So created a library of videos, be it cooking, tutorials, all these other different things. Black Rifle Coffee is another good example. Whenever we launched the company, I had. Okay, wait, wait, wait. We just jumped. No, no, no. It's just the media strategy. It's all the same. Okay, because we got to come back to Black Rocket Coffee. This is like a huge, incredible, amazing, freaking hold your breath and just wait for it chapter in this man's life. But I'm looking at the story that we look now and it's essentially preparing you to... They're actually going on at the exact same time. No. Yeah. Oh, I think I got my timeline.

16:43I thought there was like a brief overlap. No, which is really funny is that I negotiated my contract with Verizon to state that, one, it wouldn't impact my executive role as chief marketing officer or whatever at Black Rifle Coffee. Okay, then let's pause. Like if we're making this, we're making a movie because we're making some media right now. We're making some media. Like the scene is, I picture this, like it's dark and then you got like an industrial couple lights and you could actually see like the little flickerings of dust in the air. And then like the Nashville cops pull up and they're asking what you're doing and you're like, I'm building a set.

17:16And then we like cut the scene and then there's you building a coffee company. Like what in the world set that scene for me? Yeah. I mean, when you're single and don't have kids, you can really work a lot. Sounds like it. So for me, again, as far as the coffee company is concerned, I had four business partners and everybody kind of had lines in the water. Where did it start? Yeah. Like talk to me, like let's go back to literally, oh my, what if I say the origin story? Do you see what I did there? Yeah. I mean, well. But I'm saying mom jokes, dude, mom jokes. I feel like the origin story changes all the time depending on who you ask or what the publication is.

17:55So Matt and JT, two of my business partners, had a clothing apparel company called Article 15 Clothing. And they had kind of some lines in the water in other businesses. They have a whiskey company, cigar company, and other business partners and those different things. And then Evan, he was doing a tactical media company, I think called Twistray and then like kind of another media company that was kind of prepper related firearms, food and stuff like that called Ready Man. And he wanted to do coffee. So he roasted, I think it was 100 bags for Article 15 clothing in 2014. And it sold out really fast.

18:43And he was like, hey, look, there's something here. let's do this let's make it official and we created black rifle coffee and so again because people had so many lines in the water i was negotiating my contract with verizon at the time and i was like hey i have all these other different brands i have full mag which has a few million subscribers on my youtube channel we're creating this black rifle coffee thing i have all these other different things my contract needs to stipulate that good for you i can promote any of that wearing the merchandise and any of the content that we create oh that's so good yeah oh that's so good it hurts it's so good so on someone else's dime in our first year business black rifle coffee i did 350 million views impressions on it yeah and so when people okay when you look back at that when you look back at that i mean that's like a huge number we said like what do you think it was what like how are how were you how were you no no no i mean And so Rated Red did 350 million views with me promoting Black Rifle Coffee in it on Verizon and Hearst time.

19:47Yeah. Dang. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So really that. Okay, hold on. I got to time out. If there are women who are watching and listening, I'm sure you totally got just what happened here. But let's bring it a little bit more contextual. Do you remember when Bethany Frankel was on Real Housewives of New York City and she was drinking her Skinny Girl Margarita and it didn't exist? And then she gets married and creates her own company. Well, she's doling out bottles of Skinny Girl Margaritas. And essentially, the Real Housewives franchise is sponsoring her commercials for her business. That's essentially what had happened over here at Verizon and Black Rifle.

20:24Yes and amen. Just let's go, brother. That's the tip of the iceberg, though, too. Whereas like most people, we don't get into the nitty gritty of talking about these different things. But again, you look at my background and the things that I get curious about and having, I guess you could say, a competitive edge in the world of analytics and technology. This is kind of like the Wild West, right? 2014, 2015. The partner program really kicked off. The YouTube mobile app was 2012. So you have to remember, this is still somewhat the Wild West. So I was able to tie the unique identifiers of the Verizon channel, my full mag channel, Black Rifle Coffee's YouTube channel, and create and segment audiences to market Black Rifle ads to or whatever.

21:13And we could remarket at a fraction of a cost people who were already down at the bottom of the funnel. Oh my God. And so, yeah. I lose my breath, y 'all. This is like buying land in Malibu in the 1940s. Yeah, it's crazy. And then you just went and developed. Like literally, oh, I did it again. Developed. Yeah. You're developing. Yeah, that's exactly it. Look at me. And most people are like, well, duh. It's like, no, you don't understand. No, no, back then. It was like calculus in space. Yeah, well, even Facebook ads and stuff like that. People don't realize Facebook was such a game changer. even one of my business partners, he was just not very tech savvy.

21:53And I think he was burning through cash, spend a dollar, make$4. Like it was a no brainer on Facebook early days. Now everything's way more competitive and it's saturated. And it's, again, you just have to be curious and excited and you'll find the edge. See, well, that's why you're the rich one of us. I was like, the land is cheap. You're like, go with curiosity. I was like, I don't listen to you. Okay. But hold on, hold on, hold on. I know a bit of like a punchline in the story or like not a punchline. I know a bit of a peak. And so for people who are watching and listening and you're like, where do these two stories intersect?

22:26Hold on because Verizon is great and it's another feather in his hat, but Black Rifle is the thing that is really, to my best understanding, this is like a leapfrog moment in life, right? It's like the culmination of skill sets and curiosity that led you here. But before we get into, I was wearing merch and getting free advertising on other people's channels that I was all up front with in the beginning. Yeah. And everybody was co-signing. So you're building two major pipelines of success. Let's go back to the I'm building sets, Nashville, Flickers of Dust in the Air. Where did the stories intersect?

22:57Well, I mean, they're going the exact same time. So I'm building the sets in March of 2015. But does Black Rifle get so big that you step away? Okay. Yeah. I mean, the first year. Or maybe they don't intersect. I'm sorry. Yeah. The first year we did, I think, a million in revenue at Black Rifle. Now, what were your anticipations? Like, you guys were like, I think there's something here. Do you guys set like goals for like, Like, hey, we have a coffee company and we think we could do a million or we have a coffee company. We think we could do 500 ,000. Like, where were you guys at? Yeah, I mean, I just have to lean on and give credit to Evan, the CEO, on that.

23:27He was the one so focused on that, telling everybody, hey, look, like, I need help. We need to consolidate here and cut out as many middlemen as possible. if you look at most of the coffee companies now especially the creator ones they're all using the same company to white label their coffee and it's a substantial profit margin that they're leaving on the table by doing so and i totally understand it but evan was really pushing to get enough money to have our own roasting facility do our own packaging and not have to rely on 3pl and everything, which we do now. But, you know, when you're using like the same 3PLs as like Apple and stuff like that, it really helps you turn the dials in a way that the market as it adjusts, you can pivot in a way that doesn't cost you too much.

24:18Whereas in the past, that was a big problem to solve for. So I would say in 2016, there was, you know, it was an election year coming up and there was a lot of political wins that kind of carried us into the spotlight and controversy because you mean black rifle carried black rifle into the spot yeah because starbucks starbucks was very vocal in their leadership as to border policy and things of that nature that really led the conservative talking heads to look for a conservative coffee company to endorse instead of the liberal elite coffee company. And so that really was a catalyst for us as a company.

25:05But again, intersect of opportunity and preparedness, right? You know, Evan and the team were very much dialed in in a way that they were, it was a daily challenge that they were having to figure out ways to solve for problems. Yeah. And it was... How much of your time during this time are you dedicated to Black Rifle? Half and half. And I love it. Even to this day, ADD is a hell of a thing. And I don't know if I quite subscribe to it. But the attention component for me, at least I found, is I try to be as obsessive about one thing as much as possible. Give it 110 % and then completely turn it off.