 Doing something a little different today, not just with the light. And I just want to take a moment to set it up before we get to it. So this will be a podcast that I'm going to be doing with my friend, Eustace Hansen. You might already know him from his Instagram account. We'll talk a little bit about this in the actual broadcast, but I met Eustace for the first time in person in London when we were both there for an activation with Jeje LeCoultre. We became very fast friends. I obviously love his style. I was really impressed with his passion and real knowledge about style watches and many other things. So I just want to mention that because I don't typically make those types of connections at that level and that quickly very often. So fast forward almost a year and I texted him about this idea to do this podcast together to which he responded that he had been thinking the exact same thing. So we recorded our first one, which you'll see today. We wanted it to not just be a typical podcast audio product, but also something that you could watch. So because he is in Germany and I'm here in the States, there were some challenges to doing so in terms of filming it and syncing everything up and did a great job by the way. We were not without a couple small issues though. I had a problem with my connection about halfway through and then we had a video issue on Eustace's side. So for the last like five minutes or so, we just put up his photo. So instead of doing a whole thing over because there's a lot of good stuff, we just decided to roll with it. This is something we intend to keep doing. So please drop your suggestions down in the comments about things you want to see, ways we might improve the visual part of this. So open to anything and everything and looking forward to that. Show notes are down below in the description with time codes. So if you want to jump around, you can do that. I think that's enough setup. So let's get to the conversation. Okay, sweet. Hey, what's going on? We just fixed the camera. There we go. That's a good start. And to this, what's I'm just going to jump right in a lecture. What's the hardest part been about this whole thing for you about what you'll think it's sheltering in place, quarantine, COVID-19, whatever I see. That's what you mean. Yeah, that's what I mean. I honestly, I think the most most difficult part was I can't go to the gym. And I'm in the gym, too. Huh? I'm missing the gym, too, for sure. Yeah, everybody doesn't that. That's that's very, very annoying to me because, you know, I'm I'm not at the risk group, so I'm very I can be very lucky about that. So I really got minor issues that really annoy me here. And that's why, to me, it's the gym and not seeing friends, not socializing, not going out, actually not wearing outfits. That's why I'm wearing like a suit and a tie today because it was the second time I was going out and was like, I'm going out and going into the city. I can can just wear a suit up. Yeah, there was no reason at all. And that's what I said on stories, too. There's no reason for me to wear a suit at the moment, but I just felt like it and felt so good. I thought about doing that, like in the very beginning. My wife wanted to like take portraits. So she got dressed up and we took some photos of her down in the studio. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't know. Maybe I should. Maybe it'll make me feel better because I think that's probably like one of the reasons that we like to dress up as it makes us feel feel good. But it's been kind of hard to do that. Do you have like a in the in place of the gym? Is there something that you're doing like at home to work out? I've got like I'm getting sick of body weight and resistance band, but that's all I got right now. So I'm making it work for me. I bought some equipment, but to be honest, I just I just can't work out at home. It doesn't feel right to me. That's why I like going to the gym. That's why I miss it so much is I want to go outside and know I'm going. I got this 10 minute walk to the gym and I just need these those 10 minutes to mentally prepare for going to the gym and working out. And yeah, putting my body under stress. And that's what I that's what I feel like. I go out outdoor and I tell myself like, OK, I'm going to hit the gym now. I'm going to put my body under stress. And once I'm there, I'm going to redress again. I'm like, OK, I'm going to like I'm doing doing sports now. Yeah. So I need this kind of mental, mental step to get there. And like just working out next to my next to my bed is I just don't feel it. You know, it's tough to get into a routine. And that's actually been one of the biggest challenges for me is not having a routine or having my routine completely disrupted. I'm someone who really loves to have a routine. And then I don't know, maybe it's a fault of mine. But it's when I get into a routine, I'm really in a groove and I'm feeling really good about myself. But then when that gets upset, I just it takes me too long to kind of re-adapt to whatever the new thing is. And that's really how I've been feeling here. And also, like, if I take a break or pause between between the reps, I'm like, I look around, I look at people. I also get motivated because maybe sometimes they're girls around the stuff that kind of to be honest, or other guys just lifting weights and being you see the progress of people, too, you see like a guy. There was one guy he just started. Like I saw him coming to the gym and a month or two months later, I saw him was like he was ripped and everything. He was really, really feeling it. And that's part of it, too. And that just felt like around my room, there's nothing. There's nothing to do, nothing to see. Also, everything's quiet. We have a flat chair, as I mentioned before. And so he just hears me working out. And that's kind of strange, you know, he does his thing. I do mine. What is something that you do every day to kind of keep yourself sane? Um, what I really like about the quarantine at the moment is those routines I get. And the first thing and the most important thing for me is getting back to reading, because I noticed doing that. I love reading ever since, but I think like the last two or three years, I didn't really take the time. And I used to say to people, like, I don't have the time to read. And a friend of mine said, you don't, you never have the time. You just take the time if you really want to. And that's what I didn't quarantine now. Like, of course, I still got my stuff to do every day. Um, but I'm just taking the time one hour in the morning to just read. Right. Yeah. You really have to like physically make your own routines and carve out time for yourself, because I feel like before everything was sort of structured in place for you. And now you're left to your own devices. And if you're not making your own schedule, then it's really hard to kind of get into any kind of groove at all. What are you, what are you reading? At the moment, I'm reading, um, Zappians by, um, a short story about humankind by Herari. It's fascinating. I'm also reading it in English. That's why I'm only reading 10 pages a day because he comes up with so much vocabulary. I've never heard of that. I got to look up at least two words a page. Oh, really? Yeah, but it's fun. It's fun. It's, I'm learning so much. I'm trying to remember the last book that I read every around like the holidays, like Christmas time. I always say, I'm going to start reading again and always start like the same books. And I never, I never, I never really get through them. It's been a long time since I finished the book. You know, all the stuff you just, you, you're so motivated about vacation that you, you just take, uh, you take books with you, you take, uh, or you have the plan to, to work out more or be very, uh, healthy with your nutrition. But in the end, you don't do much different. Like that's what I've realized. Like I get to take so much stuff with me, but I mostly don't use it. I'm ready to, to kind of get back into the groove of, of eating. Well, it's just, it's been too easy not to, I've enjoyed the time that we've had at home, but more time to spend with the dog and walking around and, you know, my wife and I get to take walks with the dog together and we're cooking. And it's just like we have more time and it's, it's nice. So that's hunting the good stuff. That's one thing that I'm enjoying about it. And actually one thing that I've been doing every day, it seems kind of mundane and I don't know why I never did this before, but I've been unsubscribing from like almost every email list that I get because I don't know if it's like the same for you, but I get tons of junk email and I'm like, why, well, number one, like, why am I even on this list? I don't care about this. Uh, so I thought it was just going to take one day because I get so many, I'm like, oh, just like methodically going through unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe. And then, but it's still like three days later and I'm still unsubscribing from things. One thing I thought I was wondering, like, okay, I get all these emails, but and I'm unsubscribing and it's going to make me feel good because I don't have to delete like a thousand emails every day. But then I started thinking, like, am I going to be sad now that I don't get all these emails? Like all these people aren't thinking about sending me an email. It hasn't happened so far, but no, anyway. I do the same. I also got this from, it's called GoJack. It's an app you can, you can, I use on Bali to order stuff. They, um, you order something in a store and they just send someone with a scooter. He just brings it to you and then you pay. It's really convenient. It's like, we don't have that here. It's called GoJack. GoJack. G-O-J-E-K. Yeah. And, um, I still get emails from them, but I tried unsubscribing, but I can't because it's in their language. I don't know what language called it's Bali needs or whatever. Oh, okay. I can't unsubscribe. And so that's very clever of them. I still get their emails like twice a day at least. And I just can't unsubscribe. Some of them don't have ways to unsubscribe, but I think that's illegal. There, I got four emails to, I've, there's like different emails for Peaceburg style. And there's like questions and contact and advertising. And I think somehow they just found every single email address that was available. And I got like 10 emails from the same brand. But the things they know that you won't sue them for just sending you emails. That's why I think they, they, they get away with it. Right. There's like, there's so many other things going on in the world. Why are you going to sue us over spam email? I think people might be wondering how this is happening right now. And we sort of talked about it and we, we texted over WhatsApp and I think we kind of had the same idea at about the same time. But one thing that was striking to me and we've, we've talked about this previously, but I think it's a really, really interesting topic is the perception that you have of someone who you might only know via their Instagram feed versus the reality of who they are. Oh yeah. And a lot of times, at least in my case, and it's not always the case, but I say more times than not, I form a opinion of someone of who they are based on the photos they take and what I see online, which as, as you know, is, is not always, you know, the most authentic picture of who they are and how they live, especially in photographs. It's hard to see and tell stories. Yeah, but you can still kind of, you know, fudge it a little bit if you like. Um, so we met for the very first time in person in London, we were both on a trip for Gégère Lecoultre and we were sitting next to each other at the Royal Academy for the Gala dinner. I was after they did, uh, what was it, Benedict Cumberbatch, something live, stories live. What was it called? They were, they were, um, that's, that's a good question, whether we were telling stories of Oh, letters live. It was Benedict Cumberbatch and the thing was called Letters Live. Yeah. Clark Peters was there. He plays, I don't know. Do you know the wire? I've, I've watched the wire. And I just, I watched the whole series, but it just, I didn't like it to be honest. No, everybody loves it. It takes place in Baltimore. That's, uh, that's where I'm at. Yeah. Yeah. I remember, I liked the, the time I watched, uh, I watched the wire was, um, I was expecting something different because everybody was like, Oh, have you watched the wire? It's the best series ever. And at that time, to me, that was, um, breaking bed, for example. And I kind of expected something like this. I didn't know that this was kind of the first series ever made. So I didn't, I haven't had the, the view on it as I maybe should have. So it's, it's, it's a Godfather of all serious. And I didn't, didn't see it like that at that point. So it probably had to be lower pace. Uh, and it takes time to get into, but you really get invested in the characters. We're getting off on it. I didn't hear it. Anyway, we were at the Royal Academy, the Letters Live, and we were there with JLC and they sat us next to each other. And I had only known you through your Instagram and, and, you know, I, I had no idea what you were like. And typically, um, uh, when I meet people, not all the time, but the image I have formed in my head is not who they are. And then when I actually talked to them, I'm like really disappointed in some way. Oh, I thought you were like this. And I was talking with Robin, my wife about this last night, and she said, it's like, you know, no one wants to meet their like idol or this famous celebrity that they know and then be disappointed because they're not what they, who they thought they were. I remember seeing that. I remember seeing Jillian Anderson. I loved Jillian Anderson on the X files. And she is like this super smart and introspective person. And then I was so disappointed. I saw her on like a late night show. She was such a, a dits, but, but you, so I, I didn't know what to expect. And then we had this deep conversation about watches and you're so knowledgeable about that. And I wasn't expecting to click and hit it off with you quite the way that we did. It's rare that I find that kind of synergy with someone who also is in this world of whatever it is that we're doing. So absolutely. I don't know what were your perceptions of me before we had met? That's a very good question. Since you're asking, I was thinking about that the last minute, but I genuinely, genuinely can't recall. I can't recall. I just, I just know you were there. I saw that you once made a, made a blog post about me. That was a very, um, I love that. It was very, very, very nice. The rules of style, according to. Yeah. And you took quite a lot of pictures. So I was really, I felt honored. It was an honor, but still I can't recall what I was thinking about you. But I was, I was amazed afterwards because you were so, you were into so much topics just like now. You're doing a podcast, you're doing YouTube, you're doing Instagram. Can't do everything. It feels like you're doing everything. I do my best trying. Yeah. That, that's why, like, um, I'm usually always surprised of people like positive wise. I rarely get, um, negative experiences from people, to be honest. But with you, it was a peak. Interesting. 100%. I didn't expect that. And that's why it's so, so it's cool sitting here now talking to you. I think, um, is it different in Germany? The whole, I mean, let's just influence or whatever it is, is the scene. Are there as many people? I feel like there's so many people in the States who do this kind of thing and new people are always popping up and it's, you know, easy to, in a way, especially with Instagram, to be something you want to be and let people think that that's what you are. Is it the same in Germany or is it different? I mean, I don't know. 100% the same, I think. It's probably just, you just downscale it because we're just 80 million people and you're like 250 million. Something like that. And it's the same, but in a smaller scale, it's just the generations that they picked up on it, the new generation that they really see like, okay, you can, you can be someone. You know, I mean, for me, it was like, I'm just a random guy from a small town village and people start knowing me in the US. Like the first time somebody came up to me saying, hey, I know you. That was in Seoul, South Korea, 2016 and like 40,000 followers. And there was a group of Spanish guys saying like, hey, I know you. I was like, you do not. And I think people just love the idea of, yeah, of making something, of getting famous on platform without being a TV star or, or a singer or something. That's why people start picking up on it. And that's why there are quite a lot of people. Do you think, do you think things will shift? I mean, they always do. I remember when I first got into this whole thing that it was like the website, you know, people would have a website and that's always good. Or that's what you needed to have. And then Facebook as well. But Facebook wasn't that popular anymore. So everyone shifted to Instagram. And do you feel like Instagram has had its day? It's a very good question. I mean, it's still my main platform. So I definitely don't want it to be like that. But I kind of feel like because there's so much more social platforms coming up like TikTok. Yeah, I can't do TikTok. That's that's just not my my jam. Personally, I've never looked up looked into TikTok. I've just seen some some videos on Instagram that have this TikTok logo and at the bottom right. But what I've what I always see is that people are imitating music, music stuff. And I don't see myself doing that. I don't see my I don't see myself putting out my content on TikTok in an entertaining way like everybody else does. I wouldn't know how like that's why. But this is another platform that just shares the the attention of people. And that's why like there's got to be something coming up that again gets the attention of people. And then you have a variety and you have to choose from which app you open. If you're in a public transport from A to B. Are you a YouTube guy? Are you an Instagram guy? Are you a Facebook guy? Are you a TikTok guy? It's already four platforms. It's hard to do it all. And you said you think that I'm doing everything like myself. I'm not. I have like a team of people who help out, especially with the video. But one of the things that was really hard to do was to make that shift because I put a lot of time and effort into the website. And you know, I sense that things needed to change. Actually, if you need another book to read, I could recommend for you. It's called Only the Paranoid Survive. Yeah, write that down. Only the Paranoid Survive by Larry Grove. Am I getting that right? I got to look this up because I don't want to get it wrong. Paranoid only. I can just can just Google the. Yeah. Andrew Grove, excuse me, Andrew Grove. He was and he talks about he was the head of Intel, the computer company. And he talks about, you know, there were all these businesses like that, like Intel back then. And they were I think they were all vertically integrated or not. I can't remember. I got it backwards. But anyway, the main point is that there's a thing called a strategic inflection point. And it's not something that's written in stone. It's just, you know, something's changing in the world and how you adapt and position yourself and prepare for the next thing will determine whether you succeed or fail. There's a reason that we still talk about Intel and we know Intel these days because he was a very forward thinking individual and he first saw these changes in the industry and they adapted quickly and they were like, you know, at the, you know, edge of the tip edge end of the spear. And all these other companies who just kept doing what they were doing and not changing or adapting or doing anything different. We don't talk about them anymore because they disappeared because they weren't ready for the next evolution. I feel like there's something of that nature going on now. By the way, if you read that book, you can totally skip over the end because it talks about the Internet. Like it was written, I think, in the nineties. Yeah. Times change so fast. I mean, from from the day they they brought up with the the mobile phone from from that day to the iPhones now. That's just years. I mean, how long it took for us to get electricity and everything going. And now we're here talking on a on a liquid crystal screen. And it's pretty incredible. What I think what I was saying earlier was that making the switch like you have to prioritize. I can't do everything myself. And I deprioritize the website. Well, I was taking a risk in a way and focused wanted to focus not so much on Instagram. I mean, you kind of we do Instagram using stories more now. But shifting to YouTube was what I thought was important for me because I feel like it would be a place that I could really speak to people. They could see who I was and have a voice put a voice and to the face. And, you know, it growth didn't happen right away. But like anything, you know, you have to be consistent and put out quality in that that that helps everything. So. Justus or justice or use how do you say it? It's actually it's up to you whatever is more comfortable for you because I don't think it's it's you can really pronounce it in a German way. We pronounce it used us. You use us. I think that's pretty good. You used us. You still use us. Just us. Just us. Is there an umlau on it now? No. Darling. But yeah, my I mentioned before that my teacher in the U.S. I lived in the U.S. from 2001 to 2003. Cherry Ann Wendling, she she pronounced it used us. She was from Texas. You used us. Yeah, she was from Texas and it was fun. So I don't mind it. A lot of people think my name is a justice. Just because of because of the F on Instagram. But it's actually Justice F underscore Hansen because for my second name, my name is used to Frederick Hansen. So that's why the F is there and people kind of miss miss see it. I think I knew that from your email. And I get a lot of used to for you. So the the Turkish version. So I don't mind. Have you seen do you drink cocktails? I can't remember if you had one. I now I don't drink cocktails. I what what I really like is gentonic. That's what that's. Oh, and call that cocktail. So that that's you don't drink the gronies. Yeah. No, that's too bitter. And I don't know. I was talking about negronies because I was going to bring up the Stanley Tucci negroni thing, which I had a reaction to. But since you're not an negroni person, we can we can we can scratch that one off the list. I can't drink. I can't drink beer. I feel disgusting after I drink a beer like bloated. But is it only the idea that you like? And once you drink it, you you're like, I have a bad idea or do you really enjoy it then? Every once in a while, like I'm in the mood only like in the summertime. A lot of people in the states drink these really heavy beers like porters and like the craft beer industry here is ridiculous. But I was into that maybe like 15 years ago. But then I liked IPAs and things just got completely bonkers. They were way too bitter and I'd be parched the next day if I drank one. But every so often in the summer, I feel like drinking a very crisp cold cheap beer. I will really only drink one beer at a time. And I probably throughout the year, I might drink six total. And they're like cheap beers. I'm talking like Mick ultra Michelob ultra or what else do I have in the fridge? I literally will buy like a six pack of beer and they'll sit in the little fridge we have in the garage for years. But no, I really I don't really drink beer that much. It's not. Yeah, so because I only drink one, it never really bothers me. But yeah, no, not my not really my thing. I always get that ask because I'm German people like oh, your beer drinking like like what's the best German beer? Oh, I mean, there's there's opinions. Personally, I if I drink beer, I like becks. It is very bitter, but I don't I kind of like that bitterness. Yeah. I like becks. We have becks here. Becks really good and and Rothaus. I think it's got the Rothaus. It's from from the south. It's really good too. But I mean, we have so many beer, like sorts of beer that I don't really I don't I haven't tried enough to give you an educated answer to that. Yeah, people are listening to a couple of beer experts here. No. So obviously there's been this whole COVID-19 thing has changed so much about everything. I think that's the understatement of the year. What do you think or predict will be some of the bigger changes in the industry that you and I find ourselves working in? I think the the digital digital life kind of just got boosted because everything else is on hold. Even magazines, we don't really know if all the magazines survive and the journalism itself, if that survives. So I think in that case, budgets will be will be switched to social media to digital, let's say digital. I think that could be positive in a way for our industry. But at the same time, it could also be different because people are still in shock. And if we have recession coming up, that could also affect the whole situation. So I really don't know if everybody nowadays is like a hobby virologist and hobby economists. So it's you put kind of a positive optimistic outlook on that. Things going more digital for our industry. Yeah. And I think that's a point I'm going to offer a counterpoint. So everything's moving online. Everyone is doing things online. Like every time I open up Instagram, there's so many people doing these live conversations. Oh, yeah. Right. It's almost like market saturation in my point, in my view. I don't know how do people rise above? How do you cut through the noise? I guess is what I'm trying to answer for myself or asking you. What do you think it's easy being niche? Niche. Yeah, because if if everybody does the same, I mean, what I what I what I found the last couple of years is that there is a certain starter kit to all people think there is a certain starter to being a blogger and that kind of is as like you use the same vocabulary. You are everybody craves. That's also one of those words. Everybody craves the same things. If it is cars, flats, travel destinations or just mindset and politician politics, then standpoints. That's why I think if everybody does the same, you don't know who to follow. But if there's someone that just has a niche and only talks about that niche, for example, suited racer, this guy is genius. He just does his thing and you can you can tell by his by his his choice of words that he's a very intelligent guy and he just exactly knows how to put himself out there and he's a guy you will never get tired of. And that's why he really stands out and that's the way I think you have to do it now. And also for us, it's the same like if if you think if somebody asked like, do you know a guy on Instagram that wears that's good in suits. There's just us. And if you ask someone, is there someone who's good at fitness? There's so many out there. So we are kind of a niche. I mean, there is the potential is kind of small for us to grow to millions. But I don't mind. We still have have the audience and I think that's a way to stand out. Yeah. Yeah, we made a decision speaking of niche to kind of go more luxury a few years ago, not that, you know, a part of my style has always been to be attainable and approachable as well. Like luxury, I think it can fall into the trap of being like exclusive. If you don't know this or you can't afford this, you're not in the club. And that's not what I'm all about. But in terms of the business focusing on that niche and making content, I think that kind of exemplified that helped to position us in a different in a different way. We take great care with every kind of content we make and it's very deliberate. So anyway, but yeah, what I also wanted to say is the market can be oversaturated. But if you have a true following, if you build up the true following for years, then I don't think you're really affected. That's why I think it's always important to answer people to interact with your community in a way that everyone feels like he means something. That's why I answer each and every direct message only if it's only don't answer if it's just somebody flirting or just wanting something some stupid things like can I buy your socks or something like that? Buy your socks? What kind of socks do you wear? You really want to know? I mean, just average socks if I walk around the flat and sometimes you just see my socks or something or whatever or you just see my me wearing a suit and you have like a piece of sock looking out. There were some people like, hey, nice socks can I buy them? I must admit that I am not good at answering DMs on Instagram. Part of that, I answer so many comments on YouTube and I feel like I have a really great relationship with my following on YouTube because of that. But I think part of the reason for me is that I don't like to type with my thumbs. I prefer to type with my fingers. I know what you mean and I got to that point as well. That's why I got really bad at a private conversation to be on. What's that for example? I just don't reply anymore. People start complaining. I'm like, I'm really sorry but I just don't want to be on the phone the whole day. So to me it is my job to answer direct messages because I don't have that many platforms as you do. That's why I can focus on Instagram and I have to. So it is my job to answer questions. What's great that you do that and that's why your audience is so engaged. I hope so. But yeah, like in personal life I don't like texting anymore. Yeah. So I get your point. I can't do it. I'm less likely to answer a DM just because I'll have to type with my thumbs. If they could move it online that would be easier. I could just type. I just so much faster. You know, I don't... Yeah, you can only use Instagram via your phone, right? You can't even use the iPad for it. Upload something by the iPad or something. It doesn't work. I don't know if you can do... Let me look right now. I'm going to see if I can... I know I can look at Instagram on the web, but can I reply to direct messages? Did I know? I don't think so. Well, something to explore. Well, I think this has been good. I know you've got a phone call. You've got a run-to. Oh yeah, that's in eight minutes. You're right. Eight minutes, so we can give you some time. We haven't really worked out how to end this. This is something we're going to be doing. It's also the first time I've ever doing a podcast also. It's in a foreign language, so excuse some mistakes I made. I didn't hear any. Okay, that's good. But the thing is we just do it the way it comes. So, yeah, like right now I've got the phone call I have to take. And I think it's doing it like very, very amateur-wise. It's also kind of cool because there's so many people out there doing it so professionally. I have to get comfortable with the whole situation too, so that's a progress. At some point we should ask people. We should do like an Ask Me Anything, put out something on Instagram and line up the questions and go down. Yeah, and also I'm interested in getting feedback. With topics people want to hear us talk about philosophy philosophies. Philosophy. Exactly. That's what I mean. It's a language barrier here. All right. Well, I think that's a good place to leave it. Your English is wonderful. I think you should be ashamed of it at all. This is a good first session and we'll check back in, I don't know, in a week or two and see how it goes. Perfect. Sound good. So we got a clap now, right? To stop the whole audio. I don't think so. You can clap if you want. Well done. Hey, stay well and we'll catch up soon. You too. Thanks. All right. Bye.