 Anybody that wants to run a marathon for their first time, I'm running with them. Like, I'm running with them just because I want to be able to support you, but then I always leave them at mile 20, because I always say that last six miles was a personal journey. It's a personal journey where you're going to want to quit. You're going to want to say no. You're going to believe that you can. And the feeling you feel when you cross that finish line and everything in you, not outside of you, because you're used to dealing with people outside of you saying you can't do something. Usually yourself, you're kind of your biggest champion. When your biggest champion is your biggest enemy and you defeat that, you get to a place where you feel invincible. You get to a place where no matter what, when I decide what I want to do, I can do it. This is Star of the Storefront. Today's guest is Alan Maldonado, star of the new Netflix show, Sneakerheads. But to say he's an actor is only telling a small part of his story. He's also the founder of an app and film festival aimed at connecting short films with consumers. He's the co-founder of a music label that provides music for movies and television shows. And he's the founder of a running coalition that promotes a healthy lifestyle and positive self-image. Fittingly, his website and his Instagram are named Maldonado Is Everywhere. It's safe to say that when he's passionate about something, he spearheads a movement larger than himself. But if you ask him, he's just happy that people are finally pronouncing his name correctly. So listen in as we cover everything from why there needs to be an Indiana Jones equivalent for minorities, how a trip to Spain changed his outlook on life, and why shoe collections really aren't all that different from fine art galleries. Now, back to the episode. All right, guys, welcome to the podcast. On today's show, we have Alan Maldonado of Sneaker Heads and so much more. There's a lot to cover here. There's a lot of things you've been an entrepreneur for a while, but welcome to the show. Alan, thanks for coming on. Hey, man, it's my pleasure. I appreciate that you pronounce in my last name correctly. This has been, and I know the success of Sneaker Heads is the top 10 in the world right now. It's amazing, but what is even more amazing to me is people finally pronouncing my last name correctly for the first time in my career. That is, I have been working my butt off to make sure the world knows how to say Maldonado. And it's been, that's, yes. Yes, I've been McDonald, I've been McGregory, I've been everything but Maldonado. It's been hilarious. You know, it's funny, man. My name is Diego and it's like five letters and there's a city in America called San Diego and my whole childhood. People were like, Diego, like how? Diego? And I'm like, what is it? It's not hard, you know? There's a weird thing growing up. I'm like, my name has no C's in it. I don't know where McDonald comes from. So I've got that more than anything. So it's a beautiful thing, you know, beautiful thing. How has Sneaker Heads, how did it come about? I know it's like a brand new thing in this world. And so it's kind of cool to see it front and center as it relates to on Netflix. Thank you for releasing it at this time. I think I've run out of things to watch on Netflix. And so how was it making the show? When did you guys rap? So we, this process began maybe almost two years ago. It feels like, yeah. Where any one of the producers and creators of the show reached out to me and he wanted me to actually be a part of the writing staff for this series. And I wasn't able to do it because I was already on the writing staff for the lasso G and it was running at the same time. So schedules just didn't work. Then he reached out again and, you know, wanted me to play the role of Devin for the show. So, you know, the developing process of that, I wanted to, I handpicked who I wanted to be Bobby in which I thought Batch was the perfect guy for. So I reached out and he, you know, he did me a favor to do the show. Along with that favor, I had to do stand up for a week as a part of my deal. Like stand up comedy? Stand up comedy. I did stand up for comedy for a week because me and Batch are friends. Like me and Batch are friends. So he was like, if I do your show, all right, as a part of the deal, you got to do stand up. I said, all right, that's the deal. So I guess what I'm saying is that it's been a process of love and family. You know what I'm saying? And having Batch come aboard and just growing that family with Matt and Jarnest and Yanni and all the different cast that are on the show. This has been a process from going this, from the small show that Complex was producing. And it's highest hopes, probably being on like a digital platform, not the likes of Netflix to where it is now is incredible. And it's been a, it's been a dope process, seeing it all develop and seeing how the sneaking culture and just the world of them has embraced this story. You guys shot a lot of that here in LA, right? Like right on Fairfax, it looks like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we shot most of that in LA. Then we took a trip to Hong Kong, man. That's awesome. I saw that. So there's a part, I won't give it away, but there's a part of the series where you guys are basically, you find like a treasure map and you're on a hunt and it lands you in Hong Kong. And then a lot of interesting things develop. Were you a sneakerhead before this? Are you a sneakerhead now? I'm a novice. I'm a novice sneakerhead to say the least, man. This levels to this is guys out there with me and Dada collections. And they know when every shoe drop and when the designer and where the designer and how the designer came up with the shoe, I'm far from that guy, but I can appreciate a good shoe. Like I definitely have grown over the years and loving different sneakers and just getting more pricey. I remember when a buying a $100 pair of sneakers was outrageous. Now I've spent way more than that on the $8,000 on a pair of sneakers. It's like your appreciation grows and so does the damn dollar amount. Mike put me on to something. He said you released your own shoe. You got a shoe coming out or is it already out? It's a collab you did? Yeah, we dropped it. We dropped it on the day of the premiere and it's designed by Katie Customs. I can't say it enough. She is iconic shoe designer. The things that she's able to do is when we created the shoe called the Wild Ems, man. It's the AJ1 custom. It's only gonna be a hundred made and they're made at order. So it's a piece of art and that's what I feel shoe culture is. Like it's the shoe art culture. And if you say it in that way, people will further understand what it really is because these shoes are pieces of art, are a mark in history where the scarcity of it brings value and that's the same thing as paintings. The paintings are different eras. There's different times, there's different artists and the things that they went through and it's more than just the art. It's the lifestyle that came with it and I think shoes are fitting right in that line and I wanted to design a shoe to celebrate the culture and also join the culture in another way as a shoe designer. I love it. I feel the same way about fashion in general, whether it's like glasses. I'm one of these people where I like to wear things that no one has and sometimes that costs a lot of money and sometimes it's just art and unique and you get lucky at a vintage shop or something like that. When did you, why did you first get into acting? When did you first want to become an actor? Man, acting man, it was my senior year in high school. Like I had ventured off and did like an acting class before but it didn't really like spark anything but it was my senior year in high school. Shout out to Ms. Barlett and I had just finished playing basketball my entire high school career and I wasn't thinking about anything but that and it was very hard for me. I was short of six, seven, you know what I mean? So it was a challenge being that I was, I started playing basketball my ninth grade year where everyone around me basically been playing since five. So it was hard and I worked very, very, very, very hard. I'm only saying that to say this, when I got into acting, into that acting class it was the easiest thing I ever did in my life. It was one of those days where it was like a fish to water. It was just where I was naturally gifted at and I recognized that that moment is which is crazy at a young age. I was like, I believe this is my gift. I believe this is what God is gifted me with and I applied that same work ethic that I did in basketball to the acting and that's been the result of my success as an actor man and it's been, you know, all she wrote since. I really love that. And then in terms of like the journey, so once you start, let's say, did you move to LA and then you had to start looking for roles and you know, I have a friend, he was recently in Crazy Rich Asians and he talks about how, you know, Hollywood kind of has its rules, right? Where you have to look a certain way or they wanna peg you in a certain light and I think that movie in some ways debunked or opened doors for a lot of Asian actors that would have never gotten the chance in the past and are now maybe being considered for leading roles or at least that seed has, you know, the seed has now planted. You've been in the game for a long time, it sounds like, but how long is it, you know, how have you seen that journey change and the difficulties with some of those things? Well, I've been in this game 20 years, man. So I've seen it go from black and white headshots to, there are no headshots. There's just digital images that you see online now. There's no hard copies from backstage West and mailing headshots to getting auditions that way. That's how long in a tooth I've been in the game, you know? And just seeing how it's all changed, but it's all the same. And I'll say that you have to sort of demand and tell people who you are and not allow them to dictate who you are. And I think as we continue to grow as artists and just being able to have larger platforms to the world and letting the world decide rather than a few men in a couple of offices, I think that has allowed people to stand up and make their art and have the world like it or not. And I think we're getting to a place where that's more and more prevalent in these studios and in these writers' room. And it's, we have a long way to go, I think we're in a great mindset to get where we need to be. And that's the change that I've seen is, it's definitely more diverse stories that are being produced at this moment and just opening their eyes to a world and allowing the people who actually live them to tell them. So, wow, look at that concept. Look at that concept. And in seeing these great successes and I think that's, again, going back to what I was saying is that we have to demand our success rather than ask for it. I really love that. And you've done just the flip gears here on some entrepreneurship stuff. You've done some things in entrepreneurship. You tried to launch a platform called Everybody Digital a while back. What made you wanna get into tech, let's call it? And are you trying to do something now? What are you launching? What are you working on? Yeah, it's, that's still interesting. It's a genre, like we had to put a hold on Everybody Digital and just kind of rethink things. That's still a genre that I thoroughly believe in with the short films and how there isn't really a way to monetize these particular projects. It's more seen as a collegiate art rather than an actual profession and our industry for short films. And it's about cracking that particular code and figuring out the dynamics of how to make and properly execute that for the world to see this in a certain way, rather than, again, a collegiate way of filmmaking. What the thing that I've been really focused on, I was just outside of Texas to talk on an entrepreneur side is my knees out coalition, my running crew is something that I believe is important to my soul because running saved my life. I was going through depression and running was the thing that helped me mentally. It was the physical training that I needed for my mind. The running was just a, as a result of what I needed for my mental. And I really began to come up with the philosophies for our running and meditating. And I started the crew knees out coalition. And every month we've been doing monthly challenges and corporate rating, running and meditation together. And that has been a passion project for me as I think the world needs, we're in it, you know, due to COVID everybody is sitting with themselves. And a lot of times they don't really like what they see. And it's tough to deal with that sometimes. And I know that, and that's where running and I'm just trying to help people with that during this time, through, you know, this running crew that I have, man. And we've been doing challenges. It's been incredible responses and people just sharing their story. It's really dope how, you know, running can just help you so much with just self-care and self-improvement. What brought you to that state of depression? Yesterday I was with a bunch of friends and, you know, we're all entrepreneurs and there's this like, we were talking about imposter syndrome actually last night. And it's like a thing that we'll all deal with that one time especially when you're trying to achieve something, when you're reaching for greatness, you know, what brought you to that moment? Yeah, it was a combination of a lot of things, family stuff, business stuff. Like my foundation got ripped from underneath me. And that has never happened to me. I've been hit by drunk. Drivers, I've been had tumors in my back. I've been through a lot physically that I, you know, my boys would say he thinks he's invincible. Like I, you know, I'm not concerned with that. I'm not concerned with that. I'll be okay. I know that. But I've never been broken mentally, you know. And that was this first time the combination of business and family where I literally was blessed enough to book a film in Spain and just detox from America, from the world, from the world that I lived in and, you know, at home and just the environment that I was in. I had to start a whole new life shooting this movie for two and a half months in Spain. And I remember the only thing that ever broke me mentally doing something physical was running a marathon. Now, needless to say, I ran that marathon the last four miles with a broke foot and did not know. And that's why I was going crazy in my mind. But that was the, that's why I broke cause I actually broke my foot. But I remember thinking I can't go home. Like I had people waiting for me at the finish line. I'm like, I, I'm going to start a new life. Like I can't, I can't not, not show up, but I don't think I can show up, you know. And I persevered and it was one of the greatest feelings I've ever felt. So with everything around me feeling like it's, it's falling apart, I went to that moment of what broke me and I was like, I wanted to not only meet that challenge but defeat that challenge and dominate that challenge. So I decided to run four marathons in five months. So I began to train in Spain and it was emotional. It was emotional for me cause I was by myself and I had to deal with me and I had to challenge myself in a way when I didn't want to get up, when I didn't want to do these things. And I celebrated, you know, it was, you would have thought I was running against a hundred people out there in my mind cause it was a, it was a challenge. I was running against a hundred versions of myself and the one that I wanted to win, I had to, I had to get through that because it was so many different ideas and directions I could have taken myself. But this, this one in the head of the race is the one I got to win because this is what I need to be. And when I tell you, it was, it was life changing in Spain. That's what Spain has my heart and coming back and it's been just incredible ever since. Like it's been incredible ever since like the sneaker has been dropping like all of these different projects happening, you know, I'm currently shooting them show called heels, you know, everything on the personal side is better. Like it's just sometimes you got to go through things and it's a part of life. So we need tools to help deal with them. And running is the tool that helped me and I'm just looking to influence other people to do the same. I love that. And it sounds like, I mean, it sounds like your mental toughness just went to a point that it's probably unbreakable at this point, I imagine, right? You're just at a point where nothing's really gonna phase you or at least you know how to deal with it because I mean, I've done some athletic pursuits and I mean, I've lost my mind on cycling routes. Like I've just lost, like literally lost my mind and I started seeing things and then there's like this little part of you that's like, you got to keep it moving, you got to keep going. And then there's another part of your brain that just wants safety and water. And you know, I did this like 100 or 200 mile bike ride in Florida and it was like 114 degrees on the asphalt. And it was like seven hours in, it's really messed up. We had gone past the last car. So typically there's vans at every 10 miles to give you water and nutrients. And that van, we had gone way too fast and we were ahead of the vans and we had no idea where to go. And I just remember, man, it was, bro, I think I found 17 layers of myself during that experience and it was pretty awesome to come back from that, you know? And that's the experience that like I, when I tell people, you know, running your first marathon is so much more than just being in shape and everyone that I run, because anybody that wants to run a marathon for their first time, I'm running with them. Like I'm running with them just because I wanna be able to support you. But then I always leave them at mile 20 because I always say that last six mile was a personal journey. It's a personal journey where you're going to be, you're going to wanna quit. You're gonna wanna say no, you're gonna believe that you can. And the feeling you feel when you cross that finish line and everything in you, not outside of you, because you're used to dealing with people outside of you, saying you can't do something. It's usually yourself, you're kind of your biggest champion. When your biggest champion is your biggest enemy and you defeat that, you get to a place where you feel invincible. You get to a place where no matter what, when I decide what I want to do, I can do it. And that's a superpower. I love it, bro. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm right there with you. I've developed that a while back and entrepreneurship with different companies and just, I don't know. Nothing will ever change anymore. I feel like it's inherent to who I am now. And I kind of love that. I have it and it's a superpower like you said. And I respect the hell out of it too. Don't get me wrong. It's something that I know it's there and I respect it. It keeps it moving when things are hard. I do real estate development now and I was on a lot yesterday. I go in the building. I ended up talking to this homeless guy right outside. Right, homeless guys outside. I'm like, hey brother, what's going on? His name is Jonathan. Jonathan's like, hey, there's a bunch of, there's like, they're using this as a stash house. There's a gang inside. They have guns just to let you know. And I'm like, all right. So I call the LAPD, LAPD shows up. I'm like, hey, just letting you know, this is what's going on. This is what this homeless guy is telling me. Seems like a nice guy. He's just, he's living with his wife and whatever. So the police go in and sure enough, they find, luckily there's no like gunfire, which I was kind of worried about, but they end up finding like two stolen cars. And now it's a bit of a crime scene and they're using as a chop shop. And in these moments, you know, it's kind of like this thing where this is your project, right? Like this is your project and you're watching policemen go in and take these cars out and you got to deal with it. And there's this weird thing where my mind just flips to like, all right, this is okay. Let's get, let's, let's pick up the oil leak. You know, let's get these cars out. Let's call my framers so we can barricade the doors. And it is what it is. You just move on from it. But it's, it's a thing of like, when you, and it's in the same sense when you're running a marathon, it's like what does complaining do for me? Right. It does nothing. I'm still, I still got to run this thing. I still got to keep moving. I can't stop. What does complaining do? So you, you tend to find yourself focusing on the resolution rather than the problem. And that's something that I feel is this, you know, is similar in both stories. It's like, I could focus my energy on a problem or I could focus on the solution. And you just decided to focus on the solution because it's like, okay, this is what it is. Cool. Let's just, let's just, let's just clean it up. Let's get it done. You know, that's beautiful. Right. That's beautiful. Let's talk about a get it done music. What are you doing with get it done music? It looks like that's where you're going now. I imagine the studio. What's, what's going on with that? I'm at it to, I'm at it to set actually for heels, but get it done music, man. I've been doing a library music for man, almost 10 years, man longer than that because I took a six year break from music. Me and my partner, Trevor Lawalen, started this company three, three and a half years ago. We found ourselves in a situation where we both became free agents and we wanted to do and build this company ourselves. So he runs it, man. He runs the operations. He is the, the brain of it. And I'm sort of the guy that brings the spotlight on everything and, you know, open up certain doors for us due to my connections in television as an actor. It's been an incredible company unlike most other, not to be on my, my shit night, or not like other labels, you know, that's gonna be in your videos. No, we, we, we built a catalog and a network of artists that we are partners with. And what frustrated me from the last relationship I had with doing music for TV, it wasn't fair to the artists where they weren't getting the proper contributions from their royalties and their sink fees. And where the music and the artists that we work with, we share 50-50. We share 50-50 with our artists. And I'm proud to say that because that's why I built the company. Because of that sour taste in my mouth from my first, first deal, I stopped doing music for six years. And I think that's the worst thing you could ever do to an artist is make them not love the things that they love. So I didn't want to start a company that did that. So with that being said, we just signed a huge deal with BMI Production Music and we're in the largest catalog in the world for music. And our music is being featured from Get It Done, Get It Done music throughout the BMI TV production family. So our network and our catalog is growing. So any artists out there that are, you know, want to get into TV, music, production music, you know, hit us up, GetItDone.com. Is this a beautiful situation that we've created? And it's not only just as good business, all I wanted to practice good business and make sure our artists are paid what they worth. That's really smart. I mean, Kanye was just on a rant on Twitter about this. And what's interesting about what Kanye was talking about in relation to the music artists is he's referencing tech. He's referencing Y Combinator, which is a tech incubator in San Francisco that I happened to go through. And in tech, this has happened probably 10 years ago, there's a guy named Paul Graham that started this whole thing. And the people that went through this incubator, companies like Airbnb and Reddit, I mean, some of like the billion dollar companies. And basically what he found on was, this was very crazy at the time, but he said, if you're a founder, typically what happens is an investor comes in, it takes, let's just say 20% of your company and then gives themselves either majority in terms of voting rights or let's say three out of five seats on your board. When that happens, you as the founder, the creator, the CEO is probably gonna get replaced in year two. And the reason is because you don't, like you're just a 20 year old kid who really has never done that before and they don't really value that. And so Paul Graham said, we're getting rid of that, you're just money. So if you're an investor, you're just money, you get no rights, no voting, no board, nothing. And he convinced all of Silicon Valley that this was the way to go. Fast forward 10 years, you now see Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, and these are founder led companies because I would put it to you in a different way where it's like the artist wasn't interrupted. The artist didn't have to deal with the bullshit of these fucking investors that can fuck your shit up and think they know. And it's not that they don't know and it's not that they're not accomplished people, it's just that the art, you need to keep the drivers. You're right, yeah, you put the filters on the art. It's stepped on, it's things that, you're not letting the artist be him to his purest form. And I think that's, again, that's the suppression that people fight, it's bigger than just the money, it's being able to be allowed to do your art at a high level, the way you want to do it. It's incredible, but that's again why that part of the company means so much to me just because I knew the effect of being in a bad deal and letting the business put a sour taste in your mouth about art is just, it's criminal to me, it's criminal to me. Yeah, I love that, I think that's true. We have some friends who are musicians and I hear like the worst story I've ever heard was they weren't 18 yet, they were in a girl group, they put them in New York. First of all, they signed with Diddy at the Hamptons and then they're like, oh, we made it and then they go to New York, they're just left in that room, they're not told to leave and they're just like working out, they're on a schedule, you work out, you go to the studio, you eat and then you go back and you can't really even enjoy the city. And then they were making all this music that they had a two-year contract. So they canceled the contract in year two after living two years in this New York hotel for two years. And then they say, oh, and by the way, all that music you made, we own it and we're not doing anything with it. So thank you for your time, here's a ticket home. And I was like, what on earth are we doing? Like these are still humans. Yeah, that's crazy, man. What's the day-to-day like for you as an actor? Cause it's like the way I view it, so in real estate development, I don't know if this is the same, but in real estate development, it's basically like it's a hurry up and wait game. It's like, all right, we're hurrying up, now we wait and we chill. And then during that time, I'm able to do other things like podcast and we invest in some companies. So I'm always trying to meet new entrepreneurs and see where the world is moving. What is it like for you on the day-to-day? For me, it's juggling 20 things that I'm doing at once from the music to the running stuff, to acting and to writing and developing shows and selling shows, doing music. We're doing all of those things. So throughout the day, I could be juggling about nine different projects that I'm focusing on. So there's really no time that I'm not working unless I designate time for me not working. And that's something that I've learned to balance out more, not trying to take over the world in a day and allow myself to be still and do nothing. And that's been beautiful in my whole kind of evolution over the last couple of years and balancing that because I was a workaholic, like I was a maniac, like nothing else mattered but to work. And if you try to pull me out of work, I might bite your head off. Like it was that type of obsession which was needed to get to a certain place in my life to find myself again, you know what I'm saying? Like I had to get there to get to this level. You know, I had to get to that step to this. So it's just, you know, it's beautiful. I think for me it was 31. Something happened at 31 for me where I was like, I was grinding so hard in my 20s every waking second. It was like a family, I missed weddings. You know, I like lost friends or whatever. They got upset because I was like so focused and you know what it is, what it is. And I think by the time I taught 31, I was like, maybe I should, I started thinking different about things. I was like, maybe I should just take time to, I don't know, not be so consumed by certain goals I want to hit but really try to like focus, right? I really tried to, how do I, basically it became about yield to me. It's like, how do I maximize yield? So if I want to have impact, how can I do that at scale but still have time to dabble into other projects? And that, it took a little while to figure out. Yeah, that's what that was with Spain. The Spain culture is, you know, simple. We live to work in the States and they work to live. And that's something that I had to incorporate in my life. Like, you know, I'm not living to work. Like I didn't, I'm not alive just to be working, working, working, working, working, like I'm supposed to live life. So work will allow me to live a certain lifestyle that I want to live. So in the certain lifestyle that I want to live, yes. It's luxurious how I want to live. So there's a certain amount of work that has to go in to obtain that. But if my, at whatever level that I want my life to be, I will work accordingly. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, there was a time where I wanted to be the billionaire. I don't know if I want that anymore. You know what I'm saying? I don't know if I want that level. Cast me around $300 million. Cast me around $300 million, you know? I'm cool with that. But I don't know if I want to be at the billion set. You know what I mean? Like it's levels to this. And just identifying where your happiness is, man. And understanding that like that and not getting lost in work, man. So I actually have a great project that I'm trying and we're in the process of selling. I can't go into it, but it speaks on the dynamic of being able to balance work in personal life and teaching at an early age. So it's been profound on how the things and the philosophies that I've grown have kind of secretly been installed in all of my projects without even me knowing. Because I was getting there. Like that was crazy as I'm writing these projects. These projects I didn't start yesterday. Some of these projects that I've been developing for like 10 years. And I can see through my writing, my evolution that I actually couldn't see looking in the mirror. That's really cool. That's cool to reflect on that. Yeah, it's fascinating. As we wrap up here, what's your like dream role, dream person or group of people it'll work with? What does that look like? Are you going to be the next 007? What's it looking like? You know, it's crazy. I was thinking of a couple of, a couple of wild scenarios when they, you know but that's why I got the wild Ms. You know, first I was like Black Wolverine. I like that. I like that. I like that. I love that. And then I was watching the other day and I was like watching Indiana Jones and I was like, we need one of those. We need one of those. We need one of those. It doesn't have to be Indiana Jones but we need that adventure that fairytale, that world of a person of color being the hero. Being the Batman, because that's all Indiana Jones was, was a regular guy with a few, a whip and his wit. And he was able to, you know, I'm now giving you the log line. You know, with the whip and his wit, you know, escaping all of these guys. You know what I'm saying? I would love to be a part of a project like that but ultimately I will want to play Bob Marley. Oh, okay. That's a dream role. Like I even had years. I'm talking about years ago, maybe 15 years ago, a few of his family members like approached me and was like, yo, you look like Bob. Like I'm like, and you know, and I began to look at certain things. I'm like, oh, I can see it. So that will be a role that I would love to sink my teeth in. I'm so nervous about that role though. I haven't even began to do my research because I know I'm going to be so obsessed with it. I might turn into Bob Marley. So when I get to a place where I feel I can probably make that project myself or you know, in an event that somebody sees this and you know, seems the same motivation that I see and we put something together, then I will dive, you know, head first into that and come out with something special. But that's definitely a dream role. It's definitely a dream role. Let's pretend that you wrote that script and you have it. What's the hard part of it? Is it selling it? Is it getting investors for it? What's the hardest part of it? You know, it depends. Now will be the investment part. You know, maybe in a year or two, that won't be a problem. You know what I'm saying? Goblin, you know, as things continue to go up for me, sneak heads, the success of sneak heads and the other projects that I have, hopefully in a year, that won't be the issue. The problem will be, you know, not even the distribution, it will be in the execution. It will be in the execution. I think I'm positioning myself in a place where business won't be my biggest hurdle. It will be execution. And that's a project and that's a person, that's an individual that is special in, you know, Godlike when you think of how people still appreciate this man, what, 50 years, you know? So it has to be done right. So that will be the biggest challenge execution. Now, there's something I wanted to ask you. So on sneakerheads, I think it's episode three. You're on a tennis court with my homeboy Paul Pierce and a bunch of other, two other actors. Are you guys all really that bad at tennis? Really? Are you really that? Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. But listen, I need everybody, everybody that watched that to know 99% of the people that go out and play tennis look like that. That's right. Look like that, that's true. It's similar to golf. We all think we're good. We going out there, we just getting a sweat. No, but yeah, we were trash. We were trash. We were trash, man. I got obsessed with tennis recently. Like you with marathons, tennis is like my new thing. And I got a coach and we're like every goddamn day working on all this stuff. So when I watched that. It's tough, man, it's tough. I thought it was like for like, you know, the nerds in school and whatever. It is such a workout. It's a dip. Like I box, I play basketball, you know, I run, yes. And no, I look like a top tier athlete. Tennis, it ain't showcasing the same. And I think that's where you got to respect people from different sports that are great at them. Like you just can't plug that person into another sport and think that same athleticism is going to have the same results. That's what's beauty about. That's the beauty of when you watch a Serena Williams versus LeBron James, like these are two different individuals that dedicated and got obsessed with a craft so well that they are they are this good out of it that everybody in the world has to watch them do this thing. That's incredible. That is incredible. Let me ask you a question. If I order the shoes, how long does it take? How long does it take to to arrive? Five to seven days. Five to seven days. We get things out. Yeah. Five to seven days. Katie is Katie is is on a man and I can't wait for people to, you know, start posting and start showing. We've been selling a lot of them. Actually, it's been great. How much do they go for? What do they sell for? They go for 12. 12. 1200. Okay. Yeah, 1250, I think. Okay. I think 1250, if my memory is correct. And yeah, man, it's a it's it's a sneaker head only shoe. You know what I'm saying? It's a sneaker head only like it's again, the sneaker heads will understand the importance of this shoe being it's the shoe associated with the first scripted sneaker show. This is the this is the show associate the shoe associated with that and that memory and that time capsule that comes with, you know, the Wild Ems, man. So I'm excited again, just to add my art to the long list of other great art or rather shoe designers out there now. I might have to get a pair. I'm doing a collaboration with WSS shoes and they've been releasing new J's like every like their own they had the wristband last week and I'm like talking to the management and I'm like, Hey guys, can you like, you know, leave me a pet? Can I put me on the reserve thing? Cause when I'm online, it's like, it's I know tech. I know how these websites are built. I could hire an engineer to do this little thing. And I know for sure I'd still miss it. So I don't know, I don't know what's happening. So I'm like, Hey, and he's like, dude, there's a ban on all of us ordering shoes. Like the employees and any management and so I'm like, you know, when I, when I watched the show, I was like, this is a movement. I mean, this is a real thing that's happening because if being an insider, you can't even get it. It's just like, how attractive is that? So, you know, it's, it's, you know, having a, having a dope shoe plug is vital as having a barber now you gotta find a good one. You gotta, you gotta find a good one. You gotta find someone that you trust and they basically become family. Well, Alan, look, I appreciate your time, man. Thanks for the great conversation. Let's end on this, man. Thank you, great question. How do you want to be remembered, brother? How do you want to be remembered, man? You got a lot going on. You got a lot of life left. How do you want to be remembered? Oh, man, I want to be remembered as a warrior. The things that I've had to endure and overcome and to get the things that I've gotten, you know, that's, that's all a warrior spirit and everything that, and anything that I approach in the future, I approach it with that same warrior spirit. And it's a, it's a, you know, it's a uphill climb to success. It's a uphill climb and you can't see that as a negative. You got to see that I embrace the battle. I embrace the incline. I embrace it, I want it, I yearn for it. And that's the warrior spirit that loves to just get to war. Like, you know, that's the part of the accession that will never leave me about work is because I love a warrior without a battle is, is soulless. It's soulless. It's a warrior without a battle is soulless. Where do I exist? And, you know, that's what like work in this art that I'm doing as an actor and as a filmmaker and as a creator, that's what that is for me. So, you know, no matter the level of success that things will obtain, I would love to be known as just somebody that loved what he did and was a warrior to continue to challenge himself to do, to demand more out of itself. I love that. And I appreciate that. This is why I love doing the podcast. For me, it's like therapy because being in the trenches every day, you know, dude, being in the trenches every day can get hard. And when you see other people around you, you know, I look at it simple. You're either a gladiator in the arena or you're someone sitting in the stands. And I'm for sure in the arena. And to talk to other people, other warriors is so, it's like, it's empowering. You know, it's, it's a good reflection. I can feel the same thing, man. You know, and I think that's why we even kind of just turned this way in the whole interview is that I could, I could definitely, I knew you would understand what I'm saying, you know what I'm saying? Like some people may not get it. Some might get the level of understanding that you, that comes with the self-mental challenges that you put a place upon yourself and the heights you'll, the heights you'll go to continue to move that, that goalpost further. You know, that's the crazy part. That's what makes us crazy. That's what makes us crazy. That's true. I call myself a tropical flower. I can only survive in certain, certain, you know, certain weather, certain habitats. And this just happens to be the crazy I require. Exactly, exactly. Same here, brother. Respect. All right, brother. That's it. Look, I appreciate it, Alan. Thank you so much. We'll plug all the stuff. You got a lot going on. Wish you nothing but the best. I'm going to order these shoes. I'll send you a photo. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it, man. Thank you, man.