 George Bruno with the 21 report in Orlando, Florida and Tanner Guzzi just came off the stage And we're gonna talk to him about his content called masculine style He's a father of three and gonna be four real soon. We're excited to talk to him. Welcome. Thanks George. Happy to be here absolutely What what is the problem that most men encounter when it comes to style? Oh, man, there's a lot of them But I would say the biggest one is most men Their whole relationship with their appearance is that they're They're just trying not to lose as opposed to actually trying to win They're looking at it as as long as I don't look like an idiot Yeah, or as long as I don't look like something that I'm not yeah Then I don't really care what I look like yeah When really what they should be doing is trying to express who they are and trying to be able to communicate that to the World around them. Yeah What what happens when a man gets enlightened? What happens when he when a switch gets flipped inside of him you had Made a comment in your speech about how men stepped it up some men look different this year than they did last year Yeah, tell us about that. Yeah, it's fun because It's not even something that you can necessarily Pinpoint or quantify as far as you know, they wear these type of shoes or everybody's got a suit on or anything else like that But you can just tell the difference between a man who is wearing Clothes that are just available to him because that's what his wife happened to pick up at Kohl's or you know It's just that's whatever versus he actually puts some thought into it Yeah, because even if it's something that are The shoes are just not average or normally have to go to a specific kind of store Or the jeans are actually the right length as opposed to being six inches too long Yeah, the shirt actually looks like it fits his body instead of being two sizes too big or too small Even just that little bit It's just indicative of the fact that there's some concern there that they care about it and ultimately what's cool Is it it shows that they they have some self-respect and they expect some respect from us the people who are seeing them too And so I've loved seeing the guys step up their game because it looks like they have more respect for themselves And they have in previous years and I noticed you made a comment and I was really happy to see this a Lot of times that men's events and when I think of men's events I'm from the Monty Python generation and the you know the men's on men Yes, and you know the lumberjack thing and flannel shirts, whatever and I think the the There's what I call like the baseball cap on Backwards guy with the mesh shorts and just that kind of guy who just thinks that's a great attire to go to anything Yeah, and I'm seeing less and less of that as men are becoming more and more Aware of how their appearance impacts others right and you made a comment in the very beginning About some men wearing suits and some men looking great in jeans and a tee right expand on that Yeah, I think a lot of times and this is you know going back to your first question is one of the things that is Another big problem with guys related to style is they think that Good style means that it's formal and bad style is casual and those are the only two options And a lot of times I mean there's some pretty bad suits and guys who just look ridiculous in them Even if a lot of times even if the suit is well made and it fits you well If you're wearing it in the wrong context, it can look red. Yes And so I think sadly a lot of times guys they and I can see historically why that happened because back when men The most recent time in which men had good style Everybody wore suits. Yeah, and so it's easy to kind of go to that as the default mode But it's confusing correlation with causation and so you really can have wonderful Self-respecting intentional style that communicates that you're a man who cares about himself You expect some level of respect from other people around you and do it in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt If they fit right if they're made well if the quality is high and all those kind of things Yeah, I remember last year Ryan stone looked like he came right off of a fashion catalog that suit looked fantastic But Cooper got up there in jeans and a t-shirt and killed it. Yep. And is it funny how it's kind of swapped I mean stone still look great, but Cooper this year. He's fantastic. He really did right? He was nailing it. Yes, he was and it just and it again. It's not he looks great in both Yes, style is good in both. Yes, and so he just is communicating something a little bit differently Yes, there was a little bit more Seriousness and authority. Yes to what he had on this year where his last year it was a little bit more Approachable and a little bit more Kind of casual and well, you're just here to have a conversation with me as opposed to I'm both of those are great Yeah And so it just depends on what you're trying to accomplish and you can leverage your appearance to help you with either one of These goals. Yeah, I remember watching a Clip from a video and it was a husband and wife. He was standing in front of a mirror I think it was one of the Kendrick brothers films They did a series of like christian films for men And it was a guy standing in front of a mirror wearing a suit who never wore a suit and he's like You know straightening lapels And i'll show you that clip and his wife is behind him the camera angle is perfect and he says I feel important And I got goose bumps and this is a guy who's not normally in a suit right And it was a transformation. It was that Clark Kent thing. Yep Tell us about that. Well, it's one of those things that is so and most men don't think about it Sadly because all they think about when it comes to clothing is How does that impact my relationship with other people and do I care what other people think or should I Should I care what other people think or all this kind of weird dialogue that we have But one of the biggest kept secrets about dressing while it's what it does for you yourself Now, obviously if you were to put that same suit on a man 600 years ago, he's not going to put that on and go I feel important. Right. He's going to think I feel weird in this Yes, because he doesn't understand everything that has been imbued on that on that clothing all the stuff that we get That's reinforced by media and authority and all these other things because a suit means something to us now And important men wear suits. Yes, that's becoming less and less the case But that is still the case strong enough that for someone like him to put that on it becomes Important men wear suits. I am wearing a suit. I look good in a suit Maybe I deserve to be important right to feel important, right? Yeah It's interesting how certain people have created styles. I think of steve jobs Kind of like what the mock turtleneck. Yes and the the round rimless glasses. Yeah Let's talk about that style that seems to be fairly timeless I mean it it i'm not sure if he had a person that he consulted with but it really worked and I identify that look as steve jobs, right? Yeah, it was very much a personal branding move And what's interesting is you get guys like him versus somebody else like mark zuckerberg You know, yeah similar industry and he very much has a personal uniform and a personal brand and it's not as good You know, and obviously somebody like jobs. He's more polarizing because some guys look at that go. Yeah, that's that's timeless That's good. Other guys are gonna go those shoes were really bad or you know, those are obvious dad jeans or something else and and What's fun is that both of them have understood and most men I think miss this opportunity is You can create a personal brand with your clothing And it can be whatever you want it to be whatever is going to work for you And so somebody like jobs doing what he did I think it was hugely especially because it got to the point where That was him Originally, it's like see we're in the same thing again. Like what but then it just became you're not focused on the clothes They're just the frame and you're actually paying attention to jobs Because you're not being distracted by anything else. Right. Yeah, I can't picture him without the It's a it's a mock tea, right? Is that what it is? Yeah, I can't picture him without it Right, exactly And if you were to see him go out and give a keynote or something else and something totally different That would be so distracting Right And so he was able to turn this into a uniform that was so strong that All you really paid attention to was him His body language his nuance and everything else because he created that yeah Performing was so consistent in wearing it that you stopped seeing it Interesting. Yeah, let's talk about glasses. Okay, that's not something that we've talked about before Uh, I remember I was interested in what kind of glasses he wore So I googled Steve Jobs glasses and there is a company out of France that custom makes glasses and they use 14 karat gold Very expensive But honestly, they are incredible and I was just looking at some higher-end things and as I cut guys here I work in the salon industry I see some guys glasses and I'm like, oh, what kind of glasses are those and some guys and this is not a product endorsement It's a uh an an excellence recognition Uh Good distinction. Yeah, good distinction Some guys would say oh, they're silhouettes and I said silhouettes and they oh, yeah, they're the lightest their titanium You notice the man not the glasses Let's talk about glasses a lot of people wear glasses So I end up falling more into the opposite camp where as I'm working with my one-on-one coaching clients a lot of times Um, I tell them that you're better off embracing Some unapologetic glasses as opposed to trying to make it look like they're not there Because if you want to look like you don't wear glasses then For most men, you can either wear contacts or I've had lacyx surgery down or something else And so most of the time if you're wearing glasses, you're choosing to do it And it's kind of like it's kind of like going bald where Most of the time you're better off just embracing it embracing it all the way as opposed to doing a comb over anything else And so my philosophy is if it's something that Biologically would be considered to be defective A lot of times you're better off leaning into it and kind of going with this contrast principle Like this is part of who I am as opposed to trying to minimize the visual effect of it. I get that I get that On the food channel. It was either food or travel channel. There was a guy kind of a quirky fella Uh, his name will come to me, but he would get into the the history of food So he was funny and quirky and he had these Nerdish kind of glasses on and if he walked in here without the glasses, I wouldn't recognize him Yeah, because it's part of who he is. It's part of who he is I think that's Can glasses be a branding? Absolutely. Absolutely. Especially when They are something that's more of a statement or something else Then when you get to the point where people see you without them, it's I mean the same thing with the beard Yeah, you know, I have to I have to shave mine in a month Taking my first fight amateur boxing And one of the rules is that you have to be clean shaven. My kids have never seen me without a beard That's why you need to go MMA. Yeah, exactly. Or just go pro right away. Yeah, right Because then I don't have yeah, and so my kids aren't going to recognize who I am You know, my daughter my oldest daughter is six. She's never seen you without a beard Right and so it is very much all of those things are part of our branding and part of how people see us and recognize us. Yeah You might or might not remember I had a beard down to my belt buckle. It was pretty long and it was pretty killer It was it was interesting. It comes with its pluses and minuses and I remember it when I took it off I lost 5,000 followers in one day. It was the weirdest that I was like you would have think I Benedict Arnold, I mean Yeah, exactly. It was just the strangest thing I ever experienced and I and my reaction was strange because I had no idea that People just watched me for the beard and not for the content and then those that hung around were like I like your content beard or no beard. So that's that was kind of interesting Let's talk about facial hair as an adornment and as a branding tool. Well, and I love even that because I think a lot of times people are so afraid of Doing anything that's even a little bit polarizing And obviously having a long beard is polarizing clearly shaving it off was polarizing And a lot of times people look at that as a negative And I see that as such a good thing because those 5,000 If the only thing that they cared about was how long your beard was they're not gonna be loyal to you anyway They don't care about your content. They'll never be long-term subscribers They'll never be customers and they'll be part of your tribe or anything else So a lot of times using those kinds of things Being polarizing in your appearance can actually be really good because it doesn't leave room for neutrality People either on board or they're off and I think that's a good branding move. It absolutely is There's no wishy-washy right. You can't be everything to everybody Exactly choose to be what you want to be to whom you want to be as opposed to just trying to play it safe We have a mutual friend Eric the beard brand and I remember when he I mean he was rocking a very long beard for a while And then he went back to just like kind of like your length and just a little bit more than a face beard It was a handsome looking beard, but I remember I actually learned this from my mother That when you watch a video The video could be entertaining and educational, but what's even more entertaining is the comments below it and My mom is the one that taught me read the comments below everything and I remember when Eric trimmed his beard Holy cow the hate that he got a lot of hate. Yep. I mean it was like betrayal. You betrayed us Yeah, and isn't it so funny because people buy into it so much that this is who you are and you owe this to them because this is how you are And Eric like a lot of us. I mean he's doing a mullet thing right now He's getting a lot of hate for that. Yeah, and I'm kind of bugged that I like it as much as I do but part of what we do especially men who are interested in Understanding this and navigating all of it is We're trying new stuff. You know, I yesterday for the event I was in a t-shirt in jeans and I had multiple guys who had been here previous years I've never seen you this casual before. I'm really surprised to see you dress this way and Again, that polarization can be a really good thing because you don't want to be one dimensional There is something good about branding like we're talking about with jobs But there's also the downside of that which is that you can become one dimensional and so Either one of those approaches changing things up a lot or having your personal uniform They've both got their pros and their cons How can a man Who wants to change his life like the clip in the movie where I feel important the man says to his wife as he's looking at himself in the mirror There's a guy out there right now and he Shops and just picks up whatever jeans happen to fit. He's not really concerned about anything And he's now thinking Maybe that could work for me Talk to him. Yeah about how he looks on the outside how it can change outcomes and how people treat him Right. Well, what's fun is that it's so applicable Regardless of where you are if you're a man who's gone through self-improvement to self-optimization And you've dialed in things like your fitness and your finances and your relationships A lot of times if you don't improve your style Then the man who's staring back at you in the mirror is still the man that you used to be And so you get caught up in this inertia. Have I really changed as much as I would like to am I really making as much progress as I would like to so if that's where he is then there's huge benefits there And if it's a man who's just getting started then one of the biggest benefits This is a super easy thing to do because if you think about trying to lose weight or put on some muscle Or you're trying to get out of debt or you're trying to get better with your relationships Those are things that can take a lot of time to be able to do but improving your style You can just get a good idea of what good fit is and you don't even have to necessarily change the formality Or the color of anything that you're wearing you can wear the same stuff You have you just get rid of the graphic t-shirts and buy solid t-shirts And you get jeans that fit and you get some classic sneakers that are going to look better than just you know The whatever beat-up pair is that you have and then You get a whole different vision of yourself and you go, okay Well, I can make this change and I feel this much better Then that can lead to snowballing into other types of changes And so that's what's so cool is that wherever you are in this journey of becoming the best version of yourself at some point Improving your outward appearance is a big component of it And you can either do it at the beginning the middle or the end and you're going to benefit from it either way Let me ask you this between last year and this year Something something flipped a switch in you Not only do I notice changes in a lot of attendees to the 21 convention I see a physical change in you. I saw a physical change in cooper. He was you know tall trim athletic looking now he's Massive. Yeah, I'm like wow You have like you went from tall trim, you know A slim look now you're like Like beefy I'm just looking at like I'm looking at a side view of you sitting there And I'm like you're just like there's more beef there. What's happening? It's been it's been a good year for me. I mean from a confidence perspective My business is doing great. My family life is great And what that leads to is better sleep better rest those kinds of things Did I've been uh really having a good year as far as sitting in the gym I put on 20 pounds this year and most of it is the right kind of the right kind of pounds Yeah, exactly But even then um fight training, you know getting ready to take my first boxing match and getting a familiarity with martial arts and some sort of violence and things you just All of these things that That are tied into the old versions of what it was to be a man Those are real things and whether or not I actually have to do any violence to protect my families It doesn't matter because I'm a better version of myself for knowing that I can get punched in the face And I'm not as fragile as I thought I was right being able to lift more weight and having more discipline and going to the gym And and eating correctly and you know being able to know that I've weathered storms with my business or the things All I mean you do hard things You do hard things and you conquer them and you're physically better You're spiritually better you're socially better You're better in every regard and it comes across in your countenance And I love that that's what I've noticed too with so many of the attendees is Everybody's countenance just seems to be better because it's not just talking to talk But everybody's putting in the work on it too. They're doing hard things I love that and you wrote a book called the appearance of power. I read the book. I did a review of it Which I really appreciated. I'll tell you what one of my lady friends When I was trying to explain to her what this conference was about last year after I let her read this She said I get it now. I get it now. Awesome. It was and it's not just a book for men. No No, it's and it's also not just a book for style Yeah, I think that's kind of one of the biggest secrets about What I do and how I teach whether that's to the book or coaching or anything else like that is Style the way that we apply these principles to style is important But it's really those principles are applicable for navigating anything when it comes to social hierarchies Or how they interact with other people or anything else? Well, I had this on my desk at the salon I'm the only guy working amongst all women and women have been saying can I read that book when you're done with it? Awesome, it's great. I love it. So you have a market. You might not even be aware. Yes. I gotta start marketing to women now Here you go. They could buy that for their husbands for their sons for their boyfriends. Absolutely. Absolutely How can people find you on the web? I know I don't know a lot of tanner guzzies Right. Yeah, it's pretty easy to look that up. So they could just even just google you right find you But your main website or content is at where? It's masculine-style.com One of the biggest things that's an advantage for you guys who are interested in learning more is if you go there the first opportunity you'll have is to Click to start to take a quiz that will it's seven questions and it helps you get a better idea of You know, we were talking about different ways to what good style looks like because it's not just this one Linear thing, but there's a lot of options And so by going there and taking that it'll help you start to get an idea of what the direction is And so go do that social media. I'm most most active on twitter Twitter and instagram which are at tanner guzzy and that's g u z y with one z So those are that yeah masculine style.com and then twitter and instagram are at tanner guzzy I come from the the dress for success generation from that that john maloy's book And this goes way beyond it your whole thing is it just it really speaks to the person I love it. I love it too George bruno for the 21 report talking with tanner guzzy. Thank you tanner. Thanks, george