Welcome back to another episode of The Boonafide Experience! Earlier this week, the podcast celebrated 500 downloads!! Thank you so much for your support <3.
This week, we have Zach Sass on the show, he is the Co-Owner & CEO of the Esports Jersey apparel company. We dive deep into the mind of how the name came about, how his freelance work lead to him owning one of the most trusted brands in the esports scene today.
Zach Socials: inktr.ee/zacksass
Boonafide Socials:
Follow me 📱
👉 https://twitch.tv/boonafidegaming
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Merch 👕
👉 https://teespring.com/stores/boonafid...
Code: Boona for 10% off the following products
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🧠 Chill: https://chillbyadvanced.gg/ref/boonaf...
Gamer Goo:
💦 https://gamergoo.com
Welcome back to another episode of The Boonafide Experience! Earlier this week, the podcast celebrated 500 downloads!! Thank you so much for your support <3.
This week, we have Zach Sass on the show, he is the Co-Owner & CEO of the Esports Jersey apparel company. We dive deep into the mind of how the name came about, how his freelance work lead to him owning one of the most trusted brands in the esports scene today.
Zach Socials: inktr.ee/zacksass
Boonafide Socials:
Follow me 📱
👉 https://twitch.tv/boonafidegaming
👉 https://twitter.com/boonafidegaming
👉 https://Instagram.com/boonafidegaming
Merch 👕
👉 https://teespring.com/stores/boonafid...
Code: Boona for 10% off the following products
Advanced.GG
🧠 Focus: https://advanced.gg/ref/boonafidegaming
🧠 Chill: https://chillbyadvanced.gg/ref/boonaf...
Gamer Goo:
💦 https://gamergoo.com
Good morning, and welcome to episode number 37 of the boonafide experience podcast. I'm your host, Kyle, or as many of you call me buena, or if you follow me on social media, it is at bona fide gaming. Want to take a moment before we get started into the show here to recognize a huge milestone that this podcast achieved this week. And that was 500 downloads. I didn't think I would see it so soon. So I can't tell you how much that means to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Each and every one of you who've listened, who have supported have been along this journey with me the entire time. It means the absolute world to me. So thank you. For those of you who are just tuning in, or this is your first time, welcome. Thank you for taking time out of your day. I genuinely do appreciate that. This, this is an Esports and gaming content creation podcast where I gather talent from all over the industry to share their story about who they are, what they do, and what role they play in shaping the current and future conversation of gaming and eSports. Yeah, yeah, gaming eSports. Sorry. So with that being said, this is episode number 37. We have we have Mr. Zack Sass is the owner. He is a co owner and CEO of the esports. apparel brand, sector six. This is a this was an awesome episode. I really, really dug the conversation. We went from everything from video game talk, is that story about his his entrepreneurial journey, we go into a lot of some of the tough decisions that most people don't think that business owners do make, you know, on a day to day basis, and how much responsibility how much weight those actually carry. Man does it with grace, he does it with integrity, you know, and he's a well respected member of the community. And so I don't want to tell his story for you. So I'm going to go ahead and let him do that. I getting started with the show. Good afternoon, Zack. How you doing, man?
Zach:I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited to chop it up with you. Thanks for having me on here. But I'm good. How are you? You know,
Kyle Warren:brother, I'm fantastic. It's been a it's been a really good day to day. Obviously, we have some good news coming in. But it's even besides that it's just been a it's been a day for me of reflection, a lot of a lot of gratitude, you know, and I feel like there's a very big sigh of relief, you know? Yeah,
Zach:I feel you that for sure.
Kyle Warren:I feel that it's it's a it's a good day, you know, and I think that we can kind of like finally begin whatever this whatever healing looks like whatever road we got to face like, I think that finally there's a lot of people that are finally just like, okay, we as a collective had enough.
Zach:Yeah, I mean, I definitely can't I cannot disagree with you. I know we mentioned a little bit before, I'm not the most well versed political taste. But um, you know, I just for one, I'm just glad for everything to be behind us, you know, there's more or less and just, you know, figure out what we got to do and just do that. That's kind of kind of where I'm at.
Kyle Warren:Exactly, exactly, dude. Thank you so much for coming on. I know COVID even though even though COVID has happened that has not presented that has not reduced the amount of work that we have to do it probably has increased in elevated so I yeah, it's been a wild time so I'm glad we're able to coordinate this I'm glad to hear but come on. As I mentioned a little bit earlier offline like I'd found you through your own podcast through my very first guest that I had the podcasts about which was synchro sir Brian have formerly of oh two you know so Yeah, dude. Happy to have you on here man. So kind of tell for the for those of you don't know for those people who are listening who don't know who you are, where are you? What do you do?
Zach:Yeah, so my name is Zack Sass. Ironically, I that's probably a whole nother story we get into but like if you put my first name and my last name together it's people made fun of me in middle school in high school you know the different story so that's why I kind of do the pause sometimes when I introduce myself but anyway you know i i own or partially uncle own and operate sector six apparel that's probably where most people would have heard my name in the esports space. And if you don't know what sector sixes sector six is a custom merchandise and apparel company for eSports teams, organizations and brands that are you know, Joe and his three buddies out or going to a local Halo event you know anywhere from there all the way up to like you know, your your mid tier professional organizations that sell merchandise to fans you know, we have pretty much we have a service for everybody up to and in the middle of all that. And you know, that's kind of where most of my eSports experience is I did some graphic design before and like intermittently through that and yeah, I mean that's that's pretty much what what where I come from and what sector sixes fantastic man
Kyle Warren:I mean so kind of tell me let's let's go back to let's go back a little bit and like like growing up like what were you as a gamer like what got you into gaming? What was like your game? What was what was what was that like?
Zach:Yeah, so I am I'm 26. So just I guess to get a frame of reference for anybody who's older, younger, the first game I played was, and I say this wrong and I get a lot of flack for it being from New York, but I played a lot of Super Mario. I know it's Mario, but I always say Mario(New York accent) and are not super mario was the one on the on the Nintendo. Like the what the rectangle controller was, it
Kyle Warren:was a I played I played suit. Mona wasn't super mario 64. But I just played Super Mario Brothers. I mean, yeah,I played on this SNES I played on the Super Nintend. I didn't play on the original Nintendo.
Zach:Okay, I'm trying to remember. Yeah, I played on the, I can't remember. I feel, I feel like I'm piecing things up. But yeah, one of those first ever played, and then like, you know, turned into like, duck hunter and other like, classic. And like, all those games, just because my dad had it, you know, I was probably, you know, five or six when I first came into that. But then after that, you know, the first I really got into gaming when I think it was a PlayStation one. And Spyro the Dragon played religiously, all of those, like, styles of games. But to be honest, you know, I was I really played whatever was around whatever's hot at the time I kind of just played. And then, you know, what led me to eSports was like, the first time I picked up call duty was just like, Oh, this is legit, Call of Duty in a competitive edge. And then online gaming, and then it's, you know, scaled, scaled, scaled, and you find out what this entire world is, you know, I'll be it. It was a much smaller world seven years ago, years ago. But you know, once once I my eyes were open to like, the potential of what this could be, and like, friendships and like true competition, and like, organization, whatever else. Just everything went up from there was really, really cool. But yeah, yeah, originally, all the games I really played. And now one thing led to another and found my way here. Oh, yeah. While
Kyle Warren:I like getting to like the one thing led to another because I think that's the beauty of this whole journey. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you mentioned you were in graphic design, you're like, did you go to school for that? Did you it was just a passion? Are you self taught? Like, what is that?
Zach:Yeah, so originally, like, um, so explaining how I got into Call of Duty, or eventually I made my way to call duty played, you know, if you're, for anybody to understand how call duty works, or the competitive off of game ladder was called game battles that most people used. I played a ton of game battles, tournaments, I hated having the default team picture. So I was like, let's make something Let me see what I could do. And then I found, like Twitter. And that's what I made. I knew what Twitter was, but I found here, that's what I was, like, I have to dress my account up. I don't want this to be boring. So I cracked Photoshop CS for whatever. And I was like, Alright, let me figure this out. I figured out I make a black background, I figured out how to throw text on there. And I picked a pretty fun I throw an M for a one for Black Ops two, I put my gamertag and you know, one thing led to another and I was like, Okay, oh, you could do this. And then like, you know, I definitely didn't become a professional overnight. I don't consider myself a professional, but didn't get good at it overnight. But I got major interest in it because I've always been tech forward and not like, like software forward. I like like things working for me. I didn't I don't know anything about the back end stuff. Um, but you know, I consider myself kind of creative. So you know, I just tried to learn how to use this program. And you know, one thing kind of led to another and I people started hitting me up to get work done then I was like, Oh, I can make $5 a header here. One thing led to another you know, and that's kind of where that scaled but you know, I do graphic design still you know, like I edit photography that I shoot for myself I do like you know work for friends the company I also run blackbox we do graphic design there you know odds and ends for sector six we I do for us here and there. But you know, I'm not a professional but I I know my way around Photoshop now a lot more than I did back then.
Kyle Warren:Well yeah, I mean, and you seem like the person who has like you seem like the person you don't have to teach how to hustle like like the hustle is probably already there but like when the hustle is there the skill can be learned whatever like whatever it is.
Zach:Yeah, yeah. And I mean it to something I say quite a bit here recently actually more than anything is like that I I joke that I went to the International School of YouTube or whatever, or YouTube or whatever just because like you know everything I learned graphic design wise, especially since we're on that topic was from a couple of really really big guys that I watch in the design space back then that still are around now are rated rated designs. He's He's big in that. That is much but he was and Sesa who's on hundred thieves. Now, you know, he Yeah. On it tutorials. And like, you know, I don't eat that content as much as I used to. But like, the amount of times I'm like, How the hell do I do this? And I jump in and it's like, oh, there's a tool for it. And I'm like, doing it all backwards. And then like, you know, one thing leads to another but like, you know, whether it's that or even now with photography, like I try, you know, I try to I think spend my time on YouTube trying to educate myself, you know, with payment here and there. So like, you know, you really could learn anything on YouTube, you don't get the paper that comes with it saying that you're
Kyle Warren:good at it. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, you touched on a fantastic point was actually, I've been watching a few YouTube videos on this I've been I've been really exploring that it's like, you know, the main thing that people go to YouTube for is like, how to like how to, like, How the fuck do I do something, you know? And it's like, yeah, you can find everything on there. And I like I think that's a lot of what why these people are so big is because like, there's a sense of trust that's built when you create YouTube videos, because people understand that, like, you're not like, yeah, some of it is some of entertainment. Some people find their niche, you know, entertaining. Sure. You got to be entertaining to do, but the primary purpose is to provide value, you know, like, and I like, it's like, literally the most commonly searched thing in YouTube is how to do something. So I'm not surprised. And that's really cool. Yeah,
Zach:yeah.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, dude. So, you know, got a little bit of graphics. And did you ever compete? Like, do you ever like, make it? I'm curious, did you make it like foreign game battles? Or was it kind of just like, No, no,
Zach:I found out very, very quickly that I was not cut out for it, I had way to fit a friend group that or there was a friend group though it was like a moving friend group. But my good friend of mine, we go down, he was probably one of my first friends in the industry. His name is also Zach smalls. He, he and I played dual tournaments, we were like, a lot of times, we were a team of two. And like, we would get a third and fourth in and we rotate guys around. And it took me a little while to realize I wasn't the guy to compete, you know, I, you know, I didn't really bring a lot to the table. I didn't shoot straight more or less, I didn't understand. You know, there's a lot that goes into Call of Duty, especially map rotations and spawn, hybrids, all that stuff. And I just didn't click, it didn't click for me. So I found out, you know, pretty much in Black Ops to the game that I started playing competitively, and that it wasn't for me. So I pursued graphic design at that point it but I want it to be in the community. Like, I knew I wanted to be in the community, I just couldn't play. So at that point, you know, it clicked. And I was like, let me just do freelance design. I joined a few teams just to kind of get my feet wet and see what was out. But yeah, that you know that at that point, I found out that I knew I wanted to be in the community. But yeah, definitely not as a gamer, or as a professional.
Kyle Warren:I suffer as a competitor, you know, like a game gaming competitor, I think that's it's part of the it's one of the major points this podcast is because like when you know, I'm 28, you know, about to be 29 in March. And so like for Pete, for people like you and me, like we live in a funny jet. Like, you could honestly say, we were blessed to be born in the way we were born. Because I think we understand, we suffered just enough with how bad technology used to be, to make it to where we can actually appreciate what we have now. I think it's one of the major things that we can actually appreciate. Because, you know, we made the switch from dial up to high speed and how just revolutionary that was.
Unknown:Well, you know, just you saying that, and I could hear the AOL instant messages thing when you log in. And then I can also hear my mom screaming at me, because she was on a phone call that I just booted her off for days.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, they were a man. And I think you know, because if for any of those people who's young, who's either listening or watching, like, you know, before the high speed internet came out, like this is why gaming was such a big thing, because we were gaming before high speed internet and even just broadband was like, it was just gaming locally. This like, opened the door to like, actually create a real community around this. And it wasn't just some like, group of kids in their mother's basement. It's like a lot of people enjoyed this. And a lot of people were able to connect, like being able to connect worldwide nationwide. Like, what a cool thing, man, you know?
Zach:Yeah, yeah, I mean, one of my. Well, so this is before I knew anything about competitive but like, if you ever call duty World War, one of my best friends never even knew his first name, never knew anything about him. We played. We we climbed to the hardcore Search and Destroy ladder in that game. You know, we were both, you know, top 500 or something. And I was like, how long goes World War? I want to say it was probably I want to say 13 or 14, maybe. If you're fact checking, I'm gonna just let you run it. But anyway, like, he I never knew his first name. But every single day, and this is before I had a cell phone every single day, I would sign on see if I had a message from him. See if he was online, if he wasn't on, I come back in an hour. And I'm like, I'll play with him later. And like, it's just weird how you can connect with people? It doesn't 8008 so that would make me I would have been 14. Yeah. And it's just I don't know, like the unfortunately, you know, it was one of those things where I mean, you've probably seen this meme where you sign on an Xbox and all of a sudden that person just never shows up ever again. Yeah. Like it's it's weird. The relationships, you could have people who like never actually meeting which I was. I was I was raised to steer away from that. But, you know, my best tips aside from my fiance right now and my family are people I met in gaming.
Kyle Warren:I'm glad you said that. Because like I was raised the exact same way where it's like everyone on the internet is out to get you, you know, it's not a safe place. Like you know, there's they're not somehow like I was painted the picture that they weren't real people, you know, like, as weird as it is to say it's like, just because they're online, they it means they're a robot or like me They're less than or it means that they're like it was I was always raised to believe that and just how untrue that is. Because very much like you like I like I have a very strong recovery community, but like, you know, some of my most meaningful friendships have been on the internet or people that I've never even met in person before, you know, people that have had my back without me having to ask with, like, out with, like, they just reach out at the right times, like, whether I'm doing good, or whether I'm not doing good, or you know, like it. And you can't, you can't put a price tag on that. And just like the real world, there's a lot of people out to get you there. But there's a few people that you call friends. It's the same shit.
Zach:Yeah, it's got a bigger pool. Exactly. And, you know, obviously, you know, there is the, the, the potential of some, like, really weird shit happening on the internet, which is kind of what our parents were probably trying to keep us away from. And obviously, they did a good job because we didn't mess up. More or less, you know, but, uh, like, it is, it's the same, the best thing about the internet is like, there are people in, you know, Chicago, Illinois, that I never thought I probably wouldn't have met if there was an internet, there's people in, you know, in what, Nashville, Tennessee that like I work with, and I'm work with, and I'm really good friends with that, like, you know, I would have never met at the Internet wasn't a thing. So like, I'm super grateful. But on the flip side, to combat all of that, I'm super curious how I think about this all the time, I'm super curious how successful I would or would not be if we lived in a world or I lived in if I grew up, or if I was this age, in the 60s, or the 50s, where there was no internet. And like, if I wanted to meet with you, I had to fly to wherever you were, sit down with you and like, have a suit and tie and like, do all that stuff. Just cuz it'd be a different way of life. And that's something that like, it's in my head all the time. If I could time travel, that's what I'd want to do.
Kyle Warren:Same bro. I mean, because like, I honestly think about that, but you also got to look at the the narrative was so different back then, like the narrative was, you know, wood wood, what you're doing even be a relevant craft, you know, back then, you know, like, would you still like the same things? Would you have been influenced by different like, I think by the light. So it's a it's a fascinating topic, because, you know, right now, we wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for the internet, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't be able to do what I love. If it wasn't for the internet, saying probably, you probably could do what you wanted to do. Yeah, good. But it would be very hard.
Zach:Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, like, I love it, you know, it makes it on one hand makes things a lot easier. But on the other hand, there is a little different nuance to it. But at the same time, you know, in theory, I could pick my phone up, and I could tweet, whatever. And anybody could potentially see that it doesn't mean that they will, but the it could get in front of, you know, Derek Jeter his face or it could get in front of, you know, LeBron James his face just because the right person interacted with it. And that is the really cool part about the internet to me. Yeah,
Unknown:like my graphic designer. He's in the UK, you know, like I would, yeah, like I would have never, I would have never, you know, known who he was or what he did. I'm not sure if you follow like, there's a content creator that I've always followed. His name is stallion or M stallion. And he's a UK streamer. He does a lot of content. And like, I remember he found this guy. And I remember seeing his branding, and I'm just like, Oh, my God, like, I whatever price I got to pay, I got to have that. You know, and I just think it's a fact that we're able to have not only have calls, but have free calls where I don't have to pay international phone, you know, phone line, you know, phone fees. I mean, that used to be a thing for people who don't know that.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, yeah. Like now you can video chat, literally take payments, share screens with people across the world without having to be charged for it. And I mean, I don't know, man. Yes.
Zach:And that that's the great part. I didn't know that I think about all those aspects. Like, I don't know, I don't know how well I would do back in the 60s.
Kyle Warren:I feel very blessed. I think about what you because I think about that as well Believe it or not like and I when I think about that. I just feel it brings me back to this moment. I'm like, Man, I'm fucking blessed, like be alive in the time that I am. Because if I was the same person born in the 60s, where I'd be miserable, yes, I'd be miserable. Why me? I tried to find a way to be happy, but like, there just wouldn't be as many opportunities. You know? Yeah,
Zach:no, I feel that for sure. I guess my thing. Yeah. I only say it because like, I'm curious. I don't know how to. Like, you know, I I definitely agree with you. I feel the same way. I feel and I'm so glad you said it the way you said it. of like, you know, people that are, you know, our range, whether it's probably probably 24 to like, maybe 35 is probably pushing a little bit but yeah, but, you know, came up in a world where it was like very, very hard, you know, you'd have to show up, you know, when the sun came up to like your friend's house or you went knocked on their door, like mom, it's like, you know, I'm outside or it's like, you know, you have everything is different, you know, at the childhood level and whatever. But, you know, I'm I because I think about that a lot as well. I'm saying this but you know, I think, you know, it's a really interesting concept for sure.
Kyle Warren:It is, man. And I think we had just enough of like, you could call it quote unquote real world because what is the real world anymore? You know, but like we, we were taught to interact with people face to face, you know what we also can appreciate how to bring that communication and teach others how to communicate communications the same way like is communicate your role people, it's just the the medium has changed with how we primarily communicate. And so we were able to bring things like that to the internet. And that's why like, there's been times where, like, I've reached out to people, and they're like, yeah, I had like a couple other requests for a podcast, but I wanted to do yours because like, it was genuine it was authentic. It was you know, like there were there wasn't like a it wasn't like an obvious attention grab. It was like, Hey, man, let's let's get together and chat about your story. Yeah, and I just I yeah, I think about that a lot. That was it's nice to hear someone with the same. Same kind of fascinations or curiosities, because we could call it
Zach:Yeah, definitely. I mean, we can probably dive super deep into all these. But uh,
Kyle Warren:that's right, we could then it's probably a conversation for offline. But yeah, when it came to, you know, so when How long has sector said I'm gonna jump into such sector six man, like, How long has that been around? And like, what was the kind of like the the one thing led to another when it came to like, just freelance work to like, I own my own business? Like, kind of tell me about that journey?
Zach:Yeah, well, you know, another really good example of like, one thing led to another with this. So sector six was started under another name, it was actually called eSports apparel for the first year and a quarter, 14 months ago. October of 2014, was when we publicly launched that brand eSports apparel. The way it started, though, was very, very, not as most people would expect it. This gentleman had reached out to her to back up I, knowing my history of graphic design, you know, I just got interested in a ton of different things. I was like, I don't really know if I like this style. I don't know if I like this style. I found a a jersey PSD. I was like, let me just design a jersey. Let's see what happens. So I design a couple jerseys. I don't even remember what they looked like to be honest. And I tweeted them and I was like, Alright, well, whatever. See people like, this dude hits me up. And he's like, Yo, I think I want to start this a jersey company. We're gonna, you know, print jerseys for teams, get them to events, you know, whatever, whatever. And I was like, Oh, he was like, do you want to do the jerseys for me, I'll pay you like 50 bucks a jersey, I was like, sign me up. That sounds cool. Let's get on the phone, we get on the phone. And I was like, You know what, at this point, I had just recently got promoted at my my real life job. I was a guest service team lead at Target. So I managed the front end and all that stuff. But had this massive ego that I could run my own business. And I was like, This is perfect. I can run my own business. Let's let's put on it's 5050 I'll design the stuff you do the business, you figure out how to source it all, whatever. You know, one thing led to I was like, by the way, I have another designer friend who could help me with this, or it could help us with this. We'll split it three legs. brought my friend in. The first guys, his name was Nathan, the second guy his name was Drew. We're starting this company. One thing leads to another. Nathan is no longer involved with the company. It's true. And I and then from there one thing leads to another. And then we get Josh involved. And then one thing leads to another. This I guess just the ownership part of it.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, no, no, it's fascinating stuff.
Zach:One thing led to another drew was no longer involved. That's not a story that I really would like to get into. But as we scaled right, like, you know, the originally it was, it was me, Drew and Nathan. And we were like, Alright, let's just kind of, let's just kind of do this on the side. See what happens. There was no intention of me ever quitting my job. This being full time we just wanted to have some type of legitimacy or like, tie to the community in some capacity. So you know, the first jersey we made we did more or less pro bono, we charge them cost. We sent them jerseys. They actually were a team in. In the UK, I forget exactly where somewhere, I think right outside of London or something. We spent an absurd amount of money on them because they ship them. Right. It was it was a learning experience. But yeah, so we were like, this is cool. You know, they didn't pay a lot for these jerseys. Maybe we could charge for this. This is a service we could charge for one thing leads to another we're taking meetings, we're like, yeah, let's let's print jerseys for you. Like, you know, you might not sell them for fans, but you have a call duty event a couple months, so you might need them for and then one thing leads to another and then all of a sudden we have you know, we're talking to this team team revenge, which I don't know if you're familiar how familiar call duty they ended up a little bit of Call of Duty but not not.
Kyle Warren:That's not like yeah, I'm not familiar with who they are specifically.
Zach:Okay. Yeah, so I'll get into it before like, ruining this plot of the story. But team Avengers team we did jerseys for and they were competing in cod champs. And, you know, this is also how we met Josh because he co founded that company.
Kyle Warren:Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
Zach:So, we, you know, did these jerseys for this event. We sold them To them, whatever that relationship looks like, and then they come in place in second champs. And it was like this really big legitimacy feeling for both at that time it was drew and I were like, Alright, there's something here we could we could sell this we could do this could be a business, we don't have to quit our jobs or anything. But this is our side hustle for now. Shortly after that revenge kind of went on a little bit of a hiatus, we got Josh involved. And then in. At this point, we were sector six also, by the way. So then, towards the end of 20, I want to say 2015, or I'm sorry, towards the end of 2016. You know, we were like, We were at a point where like, we want this to be legit, let's let's What do we have to do to figure out how, you know, I can quit my job, you can quit your job talking to Josh, and we can scale this thing. And it's like, you know, becomes a real life job. So for me, I guess to shortly answer your question, like seeing our jerseys, like, at an event as big as Call of Duty champs, with players wearing jerseys with our, you know, logo on it. I was like, Alright, you know, it might not be there yet. We might not be able to turn this into a company that, you know, pays salaries and like, I have to be I can be financially secure on yet. But there's something yet, I think sorry, yet.
Kyle Warren:It's important.
Zach:Exactly. So, you know, one thing led to another, we kept we kept at it kept data kept at it, you know, didn't take any funding or anything like that. And then, you know, we get to the point where end of 2017. And obviously, that's not when the conversation started. Yeah, but ended 2017 we finalized a deal to be a part of the infinite holding group. So that basically, you know, allowed us to kickstart the I mean, we were legit before that, but like that allowed us to, I guess, take it full time, full time. That's when I moved out here to Texas. And you know, Josh, and I were able to like, you know, what, for a year we live together, like, we live together and kind of put everything into this and it you know, it has been an amazing experience. Dude, that's awesome. And where did the name I appreciate you going in that foreign deadly because like, there's, there's so many like it there. You know, I
Kyle Warren:love how easy it is to start a business today. But it's because it's so easy to do it everyone thinks that it's really easy to actually run a business like, just because it's easy to start a business and slap CEO in your Instagram title doesn't mean that it's actually and I'm sure I struck a chord there. But yeah, you know, but everyone who calls himself in eSports. org, it's like, what the fuck does that actually mean? Um, I that's a whole that's probably a side banter conversation. But, um, you know, I enjoy like, the process of like, cuz like, business owners are human beings, right? This is like, and you could argue that there's a, there's a, there's a huge level of risk that you're Why is why business owners are respected. Because it's not a risk that a lot of people are actually willing to take not only time, financially, you know, like, like, emotionally, like, it's a huge thing to do that. And from what it sounds like, it was a rocky start with like, figuring out like, you know, I don't want to go into the stories, but like, when it comes to the ownership, like, that's a whole, like, how do you make this right for everybody? How do you treat this, like a business? How do you like, that is a huge thing to discuss,
Zach:especially with, you know, over the course of, you know, our direct ownership group, or the time that it's changed. It's been, you know, obviously me and then three other guys, and obviously, Josh, you know, it's just Josh and I now and that'll ever change that, like, the direct mindset of this company? Yeah. Yeah. Prior to that, like, um, you know, all all of us never had, like, any degree in business management had any aspirations. Or maybe maybe there were hidden aspirations that nobody really recognized right away. But like, if, if you were to ask me what I wanted to be at 16 years old, I probably would have told you a lawyer, or like an architect or something, like, just because those things were always going back and forth. In my head, I never really even saw this, you know, looking back their tendencies. But like, it was one of those things that we were all like, you know, we don't need this to be a full time thing right now. But we know there's potential, and in the time of the potential of growing the brand, and like speaking more, and like learning how to sell and like, learning how to run a website, and like learning how to logistically move product around and all that stuff, will learn how to also run a business. You know, by the time we actually know how to run a business, maybe we could take this full time. And that was the mindset we had for for literally, you know, pretty much the entire lifespan of the company until we took it full time. So I don't know, it's like, you know, like you said about ownership and things like that decisions were made, obviously, you know, the original gentlemen who came to me, you know, was, I couldn't say, No, I don't want to work with you. I don't want to take the idea just that's not the person I am. But right. We didn't we didn't see idi more or less. He had different intentions than we did. And that was a very easy conversation. The drew one is a little bit more of a it's a little bit more of a deeper conversation, but more or less, you know, we weren't We also didn't see eye to eye, I guess it was just a little bit deeper. And then Josh and I have, Josh and I have almost always had the exact same vision about where we want to take this company. And, you know, that's, I think that's one of the reasons why we're so successful. And that's gonna be magical dude. Like,
Kyle Warren:that's got to be cool thing to like, like, when you when you get past all the humanists, when you get past all the bullshit, when you get past, like the trust, like when you when you finally get to that point where, like, you both trust each other, and you honestly both believe in the same thing, like it makes even disagree. I'm sure it makes disagreements a lot less of a big deal. Like if there are disagreements, I'm sure they're easier to work through if there's are very, very many.
Zach:Yeah, I mean, again, like I said, Josh, and I see eye to eye on pretty much everything there. But there are definitely times where it's like, now that doesn't make sense. And we like have, you know, that type of conversation. And I don't, I can't recall, Josh and I ever having a disagreement or an argument about something that turned into anything other than like, Oh, yeah, fuck it, we'll move on to the next thing. And it's like, it's something that we take, you know, personally, because at the end of the day, you know, we're having this conversation for the betterment of the business, not because of like, you know, he needs to have this ego, or I need to have this ego or like, I need to be the better person, it's always just been, like, you know, we want the company to succeed here, which is very, very important. If you if you're going to get it for anybody who's looking to start a business just recently started one or whatever, you cannot have that type of power struggle with somebody, if you're gonna own the company, 5050 or whatever, it ends up being equally. You know, if there's a different conversation, and you know, someone has majority, then they're, you know, they're obviously, however you want to deal with that is on you. But it's very important for the partners, within a company to see eye to eye as often as possible. Yeah,
Kyle Warren:yeah. I mean, it's not about your success, but the company's success, I think, I think that's if that's understood, then I think a lot of good things can happen, man. So like, what? sector six? Like, what is the story behind that specific name?
Zach:Um, so, so Drew, he was very adamant about the military. And as my brother is, my brother's a marine. And I've personally always supported the military in general. So, you know, I, I don't know where it can't kind of came from, to be totally honest with you, then the name was, uh, I think it was one of a couple names that were kind of being thrown around. And we were just, I think it just kind of came up. And we're just like, that just kind of makes sense. But it came in tandem with, you know, when we first launched the brand, with the tagline on your six, which most people even call duty players typically know what that means. But like, signify, like having your back. And that was kind of our like, you know, like, it was like, we were kind of here to help you. Because at that time, you know, apparel was super tough. in this industry jerseys. And submitted apparel was super tough. A lot of times, people were showing up with like watermelon sized head holes on a medium size, t shirt, like belly button length, and it was like Who the hell did this? So, you know, our big thing was like, you know, we want to be here to make sure you get your shit done, right, more or less. You know, and then the other at in 2016, when we launched this brand, and the other portion of the company was meant to be like a military support type company. Think of grunt style or like a knife like that. Yeah. You know, one thing led to another jus was no longer. I don't know ever happened before, after GE wasn't involved. Probably before, we kind of just like, this doesn't make sense, like eSports is working for us, this is probably 85 90% of our business. Let's double down here. So we just x that entire side kept the name because we didn't want to go back to eSports apparel, because very generic. Right. And then you just double down on it. You know, we built a really strong brand. At that point. We had some brand presence. And then yeah, we just doubled down on it. But yeah, you know, it really comes back to like, it came to like, up from like, some type of military support. And that's kind of the roots. I guess. That's cool, man.
Kyle Warren:No, no, that's awesome. I was like, it's a it's a very different name. You know, it's not it's not it doesn't fit in with the rest of it. So I had to ask, you know, you know, and so I've I've bought just just a almost kind of like a selfish or personal question. Like, it's like, you know, when it comes to the sublimated jersey process, you mentioned about, like, how challenging it was, like, you know, what is kind of like, every time I'd order one, I see that the process was like a 20 to 30 business day turnaround time. I can you like, because there's like, as a consumer, for someone, like, and especially in a world now where everything is so instant, and today and like, you know, now now now, you know, that it's almost kind of like, Whoa, like, why is that? You know, so what kind of goes into that man?
Zach:Yeah, so, you know, I guess, you know, in the beginning of this, it was really, really hard to communicate, to get people to understand why. Yeah, but now, you know, a lot of people have been in this space long enough. There are definitely new organizations that have made made this year and don't know the process that we have to communicate on and we do a really good job of like, on communicating the process up front. But there is a really lengthy process and back in the day, or back in the day, when we first started Most companies printed out of, you know, one of two or three factories in China. And the sublimation process itself is a pretty lengthy process. And, you know, in China, you know, when, when you're working with a manufacturer in China that you don't really have a connection with, or you're just another asset line on their on their list, they're literally you're going to be the bottom of the barrel, when they print your stuff, and they saw it, that's when it goes out. And there's really nothing you could do about it. So that's the average four to six week turnaround time, I think, is what most companies do right now. But in theory, trying to find something flat here, I'm gonna use this rack, alright. So in theory, you know, you get a piece of transfer paper, this goes through a sublimation printer, it runs through flat, you know, and this though B sleeve here, a shirt, front and back, sleeve, collar, whatever. And then this goes on a piece of cloth. Gotcha, press it on there, or it's not really a heat press, but it's pressed on there to transfer to the cloth, you get rid of that. And then you have the cloth, and you cut that out and sew together. In between, there is a curing process that like, you know, the, the the ink casts a cure to the T shirt, or the jersey and all that. So, you know, in the, when, when you're talking about printing in China, and like a massive factory, you know, you're just kind of on a line, you know, and whenever you're, whenever our order gets put in, that is our, whatever 15 2025 jerseys that we put in that that day. It just gets they get to it when they get to it.
Kyle Warren:Right.
Zach:So that's kind of why the process takes so long. And then to add to all that, you know, typically shipping from China, to the states is a massive process, especially when you're not doing like,
Kyle Warren:bulk, like mass. Yeah,
Unknown:yeah. And when you're doing bulk, it's, it's more costly, but at the same time, it's way more efficient, because, you know, unless you're sending it by boat, um, but then it has to come in. And then you know, especially even with us in the beginning, like it came in, in a giant box, or a couple boxes, and we'd have to open them up, take them out, figure out which order went where, and then send them out. So there is all of that process in it. And that probably still is the same turnaround time for like, if you are, you know, some random guy wants to start up an apparel company, does all the business stuff and then finds a place that could do it. There is that, you know, that's, that's the entry level aspect of it, God, now, what we do is a little bit different. You know, we work with manufacturers that we have really, really strong relationships with. And, you know, most of our product is off the production line packaged up and out on its way to us, excuse me, in about 10 business days. From the day we put the order in or whatever, obviously, we provide, like rush services and all that. Sure, sure, sure. And then you know, same concept, you know, it has to have fulfillment center, fulfillment center out. But and the big thing, there's a stigma around jerseys and submitted apparel that that four to six weeks. And most of that is because you're putting in a china or like a Pakistan, or somewhere where it's like, you know, you're you don't have that provider doesn't have a lot of relate a strong relationship with the manufacturer itself. So they have no leverage. But with us, we provide a really strong relationship. And, you know, we have a little bit more leverage is maybe not the right word, but we have a good relationship, and there's a lot we could do to kind of amplify that experience. So all in, you know, for us, we look at around it's like a two to three week and that's mostly because of COVID. But um, right, you know, obviously,
Kyle Warren:that's Yeah, no one no one could predict that happening.
Unknown:Right? For real man, right? I mean, to be honest, and on the topic of it, COVID hit and we were like, Oh my god, like this is gonna be a I could not not that we gave up or anything like that. But it's like, this is going to be a weird hurdle to get out of, and this year is shaping up to, like, financially be our best year, which is like, really about, um, but you know, yeah. COVID But yeah, that's how the timelines kind of work. You know, it's, there's more to get into it. But I don't want to know, and that was the now I guess, that was a, like, personal as a consumer cuz I bought jerseys from a few different places. And it's just, I just, I knew there was something to it, but until I know the why it's hard for me to be like, Okay, I'm cool with that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and there are things like and on the, you know, we live in a two day world here. Um, there are t shirts, right, that we are even like a hat like this, this hat. It's like a single print hat. This is something that you know, the blanks already put together, you're just sewing on it, or a T shirt, like the one you're wearing, you know that that might be a screen printed t shirt, but assume it's a direct to garment print, in theory that just kind of goes through a belt, printer prints ink on it, and then sends it off kind of like you're putting a piece of paper and then packaged up and ready to go. Like that's something that's done pretty quick. The fact that this is you know, printed, cut, sewn, you know, and all that. So there's a little bit longer of a process. But yeah, the world thing is something that we hear quite a bit and it's Yeah, it's, we're kind of in a different type of market. Definitely, man. Definitely. And I think it's a good thing to I I really wanted to ask Because it's it's good to educate people on the process because like when people understand why things take so long, and how this is different than your just your typical, typical product, your typical t shirt, like this is actually a Teespring show. This is actually one of the Creator that podcasts I follow. And so you know, it is a it is a Teespring shirt. But again, it's you know, and even then it's a 10 to 14 business day, you know, turnaround time? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because it's some 10 to 14, maybe. But, you know, like, it's, it's no more, it's not a two business day thing. Yes, it's custom. It's not, there's not like, there's not like a inventory of the shirts. Right? made to order. Yeah. Um, and I think that, you know, as people, we, especially as a lot of people focus on consumer businesses and not like bigger brands, like, it's important understand that, like, you know, these things take time, there's a reason why it's a better quality is a reason why, you know, it takes this long, because there's like, 18 steps that you have to go through to get it.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, yeah
Zach:don'tget me wrong. Like, I've put a lot of thought into, like, what can we or AI or, you know, whoever I can get involved do to make this process like, you know, you buy a jersey, and it ships next day. And in theory, it's possible, what, what makes that possible, I, you know, we start to print all that stuff, we either buy a giant factory, which we're not at a point to do, you, or we we buy and bring that stuff in house and print it all in house. And like I physically print, cut and sew. But that the issue there is the scalability becomes immensely more difficult, you know, so if I'm spending my entire day printing all the orders that come in today, I'm not building the company, right? And then, you know, if we need to bring somebody else on, then Josh needs to get involved. And then nobody's working on building the company. We're all servicing clients, and there's nothing that we could do, you know, to scale. So like, you know, there is that, I would believe me, one of the things that is, you know, has concerned me for the longest time is like, why can't we just find a way to print jerseys next day or two days, whatever. Because, you know, Amazon has us beat their butt there. Yeah.
Kyle Warren:And I and I, and I knew by like, just just by watching your presence watching it, like, just just like who you are based on what I've seen, and based on chatting with y'all. Like, I know that that's probably something that keeps you up on certain nights. You're like, why, like, why can't we do this? You
Zach:wish? Yeah, I mean, yeah. nights thinking about it, because like, it's one of those things that, like, there's probably two or two. Exactly, yes. And that's important to like, for a lot of people, a lot of people don't understand that a lot of, you know, business owners or people involved in business are also consumers. So like, they see a lot too. And like, I see a lot of things from the consumer side. But like, you know, there's definitely a piece of tech that's going to come out and it's gonna be like, Oh my god, like, you know, sublimation printing is going to be like insanely different, our there's going to be a printer that comes out, and the printer is going to cut so and print all together. And you know, you're not going to need a human you just going to drop a quarter million on it, or whatever it is. But I'll be first in line to pick that up. That's for sure. Yeah,
Unknown:absolutely, man. Absolutely. So you know, I wanna I want to touch on some of the, some of the recent expansions man, like you, you have expanded to the UK, like, no, like, how did I mean, kind of, like, I guess, I don't even know what to ask her. Like, what did that like? How did that come to be? And like, kinda like, what has been? Um, yeah, what does that look like? I mean, coming from someone who's only service in the US.
Zach:Yeah, and I guess to shed a little bit of light on it, we are production of filament. Before that has been in the US, we still shipped, but the issue there was, like, you know, shipping to Europe or Asia, or, you know, South America, like sometimes things we get stuck in customs and customs is like, you know, especially now customs is really bad with like, letting things through and all that. So there's just a process. And then on top of like, that length, there's a lot of times there's like a duty fee, you have to pay that, like, you know, if you're buying a 60 $60 Jersey, you might have to pay an additional on top of shipping, the $30 for customs clearance, which, you know, varies from country to country. So it's like, we can't prepay that is like a really, really tough situation to be in because we want to be able to service everybody. So thus, this conversation of Europe, honestly, has been something that, you know, we originally planned to do this and I think we want to we're gonna do it in March, or maybe early April, but then COVID hit and I was like, well, let's do this now. But the thought process behind it is we feel that we've done a really, really good job of being able to mitigate the time from you know, you coming on our website and saying I want a jersey or a store, US designing it, listing it on sale, and then you having it in your store or in your hand. So all in you know, assuming everything goes smoothly, we typically have that entire process takes about a month. You know, the you purchasing a store us going through the entire design process, and you know, a month is kind of, I guess average which is pretty good. But then after all that, you know, our like I was saying before two to three week turnaround time is kind of our average there. So what we wanted to do Because we know, you know, there aren't a lot of companies that could consistently hit two to three weeks on all orders, or even 10 to 14 days prior to COVID, for us was the conversation starter. So what we wanted to do is pick, pick our process up and put it in Europe. So there are no customs fees, or there are less customs fees, you know, then we can at least service the UK specifically. And there's never any issues gone from, you know, England to Ireland or whatever. But, and then, and then obviously, we would open up to all of Europe, because it's a lot easier for us to ship from our fulfillment centers in the UK. Or, yeah, so it's a lot easier for us to ship internally in the UK, and then outside, you know, from or into, like, any other country in Europe, as opposed to like shipping from here to Europe. So, you know, we really just want to be able to replicate this process over there. And that's kind of in theory, you know, we fluffed it up quite a bit. But in theory, that's really all it is, you know, where we're doing this the process of the same the product is the same and everything we're all the same we're not we didn't like you know, bring on a group of guys that aren't us they kind of don't really know what we're doing and it's still all of us. But you know, we saw if we were to get into any other continent, I guess, you know, Europe kind of made the most sense and it was the most attainable just because our our partner or or ownership group and parent company, we are nations You know, one of the guys for one is from the UK. But um, you know, we have kind of a direct connection there so it was a little bit easier for us to get everything set up. That way you can just activate on it and you know what we did? That's awesome but I think it's something to i know i know you minimize it a little bit like Yeah,
Kyle Warren:all we really did was just kind of pick up and move over but there's a lot of it goes to show like I mean that's not an easy thing to do number one, but number two like there's a lot of value in keeping thing if when people know a brand they want to know that nothing is going to be meddled with like you know what a burger here in Texas is like this is it's what a burger like it I can't imagine and when what a burger I think it's actually going to franchise like if they franchise the other states like what that quality is going to be like over there it's like that's not what a burger like you know like I just you you gotta you gotta wonder with that man like because it's you know it was built here in Texas there's the heart and soul of it here like it like like I will die on that hill that what a burger is the best fast food burger joint you know hands down as
Zach:as a as a non native Texan. I support that statement and so I like and be here what three years yeah, just over a year at this point. And I support the hell out of that because for one the pride in that champion and it's so and they recently What do they recently sell and like the the internet exploded laterally I love that place man.
Kyle Warren:That was fantastic. Like I'm sure in and out in California is different than in and out here in Austin like cuz I'm in Austin like you know, it's like like, but I don't get it like I don't understand like why it's so good to me that's just a like okay, the burger may be healthier but like when it comes to like wanting You're going too fast but I could give two shits about it being healthy like you know like, let's be real here. I'd rather have caramelized onions and bacon and sweet and spicy salt like you know that's what I want you know
Zach:my order Brahma literally got it but on the same token like if they did franchise and a water burger popped up in New York you know it's they might not be as good as here but like something that an issue that I have is pizza here sucks yo without a doubt there there's there's pizza places that are okay but like back home I could find some you know some guy His name is Joe he opened a pizza place and called the Joe's pizza and that place is bought here pizzas a little bit harder. So like it is I don't know why people say it's the water. But for water burger specifically. I would imagine it's more of like a you know, they just want to franchise and be a part of it. And it might be a money grab in a different state or something.
Kyle Warren:I think so. But I think so. I'll say there is something about the water because there there is there is some truth to that, that I thought a bunch of bullshit but like someone my friend's family, they own the number one pizzeria in Staten Island called the Nino's. You know, they actually own that, really, that was and they also own a Bella ruse, or Bella rose on Staten Island as well. So it's two company two restaurants that both of them own. Number one Italians eat like there's no tomorrow. I've never in New York eat. I have never been so full of my entire life number one, but to get back on topic, the water. There's a place in Texas in Austin here called homeslice. It's right off of Congress. And they actually have a relationship with the Dinos restaurant in New York, where they actually buy imported water from New York to make their pizza down. Here
Zach:I go. The only place that I'll eat here is about five minutes from my house. They opened up like right after we moved into the house rent and we went in we're like all this place. The space looks good. Looks like the right thing. We met with the owner or like I shook his hand. And he was like, yeah, or we said we're from Long Island and I shook his hand He was like, Oh, we import our water the people is good here because he was originally from Brooklyn. Yeah, it's the Water. Water.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, there's something to it may not be everything, but it's the water. It's the passion is it's where something was born away. So I think there's a lot of that too. There's a lot of like, kind of like, I'm a diehard Halo two, Halo three fan. Like, there's just some because that I don't like Halo five, I love to see the franchise progress. But those games did it for me, like, yeah, I mean, for a lot of different reasons, reasons we discussed earlier in the show, you know, reasons, just like there's a lot of personal reasons as well, but it's just like that, I think that plays a part in it, too. It's like where it was born, you know, means a lot to different people. Oh, yeah. So that's cool. If you can replicate your brand in the UK, and still deliver the same experience kind of circling back on that tangent, like, you know, that's how the whole thing started, you know, but I think it's fantastic, man, if you can just copy paste it, like where you literally get the same experience, and it provides a better experience, there's less money because CIT, even my designer, like, you know, when we talk about things, like when new technology coming out, he's to get Yeah, dude, it's honestly, it's a struggle here. Because like, we have to pay VAT, we have to pay the duty fees, we have to pay, like, it's almost like double the price of the item to get something shipped over there from here. And that's a real world problem. And, you know, so
Zach:I mean, between, like, this is, between you, me, and the people listening is not the only thing we're doing as far as expansion. We have plans to do more of this. You know, and I think, but I think that the big thing here is like, you know, like you're saying the big the, our biggest problem was the shipping, or that problem. Like that was the biggest facility or issue we wanted to facilitate. And the fact that, you know, Europe in general, hasn't been serviced super, super well. And that's, you know, an itch that we're looking to scratch.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, absolutely. No, it's awesome. And it kind of kind of ties me into, like, you know, the final couple of questions, man, I don't want to wrap wrap this up, but like, you know, sector six now, like were like, wait, like, what's kind of your dream with this? Like, is there like, a different leg of product that you also want to sell here? Like, what's the dream of sector six? Like, what's the evolution of it?
Zach:Honestly, man, and I wish I had a better answer for you. But like, I, like, this is what it is, you know, Originally, it was like, I want to quit my job and do this full time. And obviously, you know, that happened. But what we want to do is, we just want to continue to cement the name for ourselves, you know, we provide a really, really quality product and a reasonable amount of time, you know, and, and we don't, our big thing is, we want everybody to be treated the same, you know, regardless of the size of organization, we don't care if you have 100,000 followers on Twitter, or if you have zero, like, if you're gonna get the same treatment overall. So like, we want to continue to do what we do well, as far as new product that will probably stick to what we do. And that's not to say, you know, every once in a while, we have a new cut of product. Sure. You know, about a year ago, we did this six series collection, which is like, basically an elevated bunch of cuts. But as far as like, goals, I just want to close out every year, I guess, bigger than the previous year, whether that's clients or financial books, or whatever. But yeah, honestly, like what, what what I'm doing right now is kind of living the goal that we had set for ourselves and doing this full time. And we just want to be able to keep making this a, you know, a bigger thing and like, I guess, a big thing that I've wanted to do and it took us up until now but um, you know, when we all first moved out here we were all able to do this, but you know, I see the success in this company for me personally, the ability to pay people's paychecks that isn't just mine and isn't just Josh is like Josh and I, we own the company, we own piece of the company with our ownership group. But the ability to provide you know, either contractor payments or salaries for other people I want to be able to scale that you know, right now we work with three designers and we have a full time employee but I want to be able to turn that into like you know, I want to hire this guy to only do this and not hire somebody who do does a little bit of everything I want to tell the country that and be able to pay people and like not change their lives but like be able to provide them a stable job within the industry.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, that's awesome man. I think I dude honestly I love that that last piece because it's just like there's nothing stable about eSports right now. You know it because it's still brand new. I mean we're just it although it's exploded there's a lot of growth it's a lot easier today than it was or a lot of the path is more clear than it was like 10 years ago but still like I look at the last guest I had on here was actually ashes from he's the UI gears coach, you know, and dude, awesome. And I love that chat. And, you know, he dove into a little bit of like the You know, like, when you lose, you know, then sponsors may drop out, players may get cut, you know, and this is people's livelihoods. You know what I mean? The same thing for business owner. I mean, it's so it, I love the fact that like to be able to provide stability in the esports industry, I think it's a bigger thing than most people realize. Like, that would just be awesome. So,
Zach:yeah, I mean, and, you know, on the same note of the stability, like I coming into COVID, right, like, you know, I, I consider myself pessimistically optimistic, in the sense that, while there's something crazy happening, I understand the severity of it, but I try to be optimistic about it, or, or vice versa. I, I guess it's a real vision is kind of what I have. But we came into Cove and I was like, I don't know what's gonna happen, we might, you know, tank, the company might have to shut down or whatever. So immediately my brain when it's like, what happens if this happens? And how do I sustain myself? How do I be able to provide the same financial feeling that I have now, you know, not that I make a stupid amount of money, but like, what I'm saying, Can I get by if I had to shut the company down today. Um, and, to me, it was a huge learning experience, the beginning of COVID, because I understood that, you know, just because I feel financially stable now that can be taken away. And if that does get taken away, I know the steps I need to take to make sure that, you know, I am in a financially safe place, you know, whether that's a combination of hustling through all the different skill sets I have, or you know, you know, I sell myself somewhere, or whatever that looks like. And so myself in the sense, like, you know, I pitch myself as a service. Yeah, like, or, you know, I take a ton of freelance work, or I do something based on my skill set. I know I can get somewhere with it. And it's super important that there are people out there. And you know, if anybody takes one thing away from this podcast, it's super important to, if you have an entrepreneurial itch, or if you think you're a business person, or if you want to do anything, or if you want to get anywhere, figuring out what you're super good at, and just leaning into it. You know, if you're a good public speaker, lean into that speak on the corner, you might might think you're crazy, but one viral clip, and you're now more or less famous, if you're new, if you're a gamer, obviously eSports. Same thing. You know, we're already in here, but like, if you're a good designer, design shit, if you're good at marketing pitch to people that you're a good marketer work for free for a week or two, and just whatever it is, scale into whatever your skill set is, and like, you can be financially Safe, safe. If you lean into that.
Kyle Warren:Yeah, no, you make a fantastic point. I think. Before we shut it down, I want to make a highlight that last part, like the people like free like people, it's how D ROC got his job of Gary like, that's how like, you know what I mean? Like, I love that story.
Zach:Yeah, even to like tie it to the esports space. Like I'm pretty sure I don't know the exact story. I didn't get to listen to the podcast that he was on yet. But like, Matt, the photographer, photographer, videographer editor that works for hex, you know, he, that relationship started on just him being like, Yo, I want to basically do this. And it was exactly similar, similar concept to like D ROC and Gary Vee for the people who are eSports only, I guess it was kind of sad as well. Yeah. Yeah. And, and to be honest, I, and I, I'm sorry to go off on this tangent. But I've had, I've had people reach out to me too. And I have this, this feeling of like, it's hard for me to have a certain expectation of somebody, when, you know, they want to work for free. So like, when people reach out to me and say, I want to work for free, it's really hard for me to say yes, because I, I mentally won't hold you to a certain standard, because I'm not paying you. Like, if I take a chance on that person, and it flops, you know, then it might be a bad look. But so I'm a little weird about it. But I I'm all for it, if you're on the other side of it. So like I've done tons of free work, I was on tons of free creative, tons of free photography and videography. And I've done a lot of just favors for people and all of that good karma comes back whether it's, you know, just karma or it's like a job opening that comes up or whatever it is. It all comes full circle.
Kyle Warren:Always and it never does. And I think that's a linkway only cool ended on that man. Like it just it's it's uh, there's analytics, there's data, there's their strategy, there's this but at the end of the day, if you're if you love what you do, and you try to be better at it, people are going to recognize that like in like with these podcasts, like so like sometimes there's only a few people listen to each episode, but like, Who are those people? Like what what what are they being inspired by? What is it that they're going to go do? What like what difference could they make? It's it's all it all happens, you know? So long story short, man all comes full circle, but, um, that pleasure having you man, thank you so much for coming on the show. Dude, absolute treat. Yeah, no,
Zach:thank you for having me. This. This episode has been a long time coming. But I'm super excited or not excited anymore. Very happy to have been on here. It's been a great episode. I love talking to you.
Kyle Warren:So lastly, before we shut it off, where can people find you where he's the most active? Where's your company? Put some stuff in the show notes. But I want people to hear that.
Zach:Yeah, I mean, sector six, we have a few different handles that were on Twitter or that's our biggest one sector underscore six and then sector six apparel calm are probably the most informational places you're gonna find on us. And then for me, it's just Zack sass with a K. On literally every social media platform. I was able to get that for myself, but not the company, which is kind of upsetting. But yeah, pretty much everywhere socially, or I try to be so are you guys around, hit me up. And if you got questions, I'm here to answer them.
Kyle Warren:Fantastic, man. Fantastic. I'll put all that in the show notes below. That way people can get an easy click and dude, fantastic, man, dude, have a great rest your day brother.
Zach:Yeah, same to you,
Kyle Warren:y'all, thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of The bonafide experience podcast. If you enjoyed your time here, please do me a favor and go ahead and like and subscribe to your favorite platform of choice, it would mean the absolute world. And also, if you are on iTunes, I would love a five star review. And I would like to show that appreciation by shouting you out on social media. If you gave me one of those that helps the podcast get into more ears of people who do need to hear it and who would benefit from hearing what people had to say on this show. Until next week, that is all I have for you. I am not sure I do have a few guests pending. So we may not have an episode next week, but definitely the following week. So stay tuned to my Twitter is at bona fide gaming. If you do want to check me out on streams, I do stream on Twitch on Tuesdays Thursdays, where I do play Call of Duty Warzone. And I will be running an addiction special where I will be doing like a live q&a every week having discussions around my story with drug addiction and how we can help people on my YouTube channel. So if you're looking for for more information on that, I put that in the show notes below on buzzsprout. Again, that is at bona fide gaming on any platform that you choose. Until next time, have a great rest of your day and have an amazing week.