S2 E3: Mitch Alan, Founder & CEO of NorCal Esports

Mitch is the founder & CEO of the up and coming RED HOT organization NorCal Esports. NorCal Esports is a content org that has a primary focus on Fortnite content creators. They recently hit a major milestone of 200k subscribers on YouTube and landed their first-ever sponsorship deal with Steel Series!

Mitch Socials:

Twitter

NorCal:

200k Montage
YouTube
Twitch
Twitter
Instagram
Website

Transcript

Kyle Warren: 0:00

Good morning, and welcome to the bonafide experience podcast. I'm your host, Kyle, really everyone just calls me boona this is an Esports podcast that brings on talent from across the industry to be the spark that fuels passionate gamers to change the world. If you're new here or returning, please consider subscribing or following on your platform of choice. Doing so allows you to support my dream and allows you to stay up to date with the current episode, and gets this content into the hands or ears of gamers that need to hear it. Thank you so much for being here. And let's go ahead and get started with the show. Good, good evening Mitch How are you?

Mitch: 0:46

I'm fantastic How you doing?

Kyle Warren: 0:48

You know I'm doing good I just I got I just ran some errands got the beard trim got the haircut is good. Went to the coffee shop. You know it? You know did the whole Austin thing, man.

Mitch: 0:58

I love it. That's you prepared for this. Unlike me, I got things everywhere. I was working all day. So how to keep things in line for the business.

Kyle Warren: 1:06

Hey man sometimes would be like that.

Mitch: 1:08

Absolutely.

Kyle Warren: 1:09

Yeah I do. I appreciate you making some time. I know February's an insanely busy month. You not only have you just been carrying some insane momentum, you had birthdays, you know your birthday, you had other birthdays. Thanks for making some time to do this. And I mean, it's just an absolute treat to like, be able to chat with you right now.

Mitch: 1:26

It's been an absolute treat to you know, be your friend for so long and be by my side through this journey. It's been pretty cool.

Kyle Warren: 1:32

Yeah, man. So for those of y'all who don't know what the friendship we're talking about, cultivated as a relationship where, when, when Mitch was starting what he's going to, I'm gonna I'm not gonna steal his thunder. But when he was starting his own passion, we became connected through a company called LegalZoom. And I was his account manager for the past year, almost a year?

Mitch: 1:49

Yeah.

Kyle Warren: 1:50

And you know, obviously, I love gaming. He's doing some incredible things he's about to tell you why we got connected in the first place. Mitch, go ahead, man. Give us tell us who you are. What do you do, man? Oh,

Mitch: 1:59

man, that's, that's a lot to put on my shoulders I can go on forever is probably one hour talk. But yeah, so my name is So I started it. But I have a really business mind, I want to Mitch, I decided in college that I played college football, I also play college baseball. But what I'd love to do is coach and teach. And when I didn't have that I needed to be competitive at something else. So I did end up starting an Esports team at the beginning, not knowing how big it would be. But just like me and my friend, I like to do video design editing, thinking that guy was going to do some of that on the side, just keep me engaged in college. I'm someone that always needs to be working as much as I can. Like, that's the thing. grow, I want to be the best. And I slowly started catching on to similar trends, seeing what was busy in the community, what was active what was going on the algorithms. And now as of recently, after about two and a half years of running the team are one of the fastest upcoming teams, I would say, right now we are a legal organization, we have about 100 people that compete across the world just to make content become influencers, we have our own energy drinks, we just got sponsored by Steel Series. And it's been a pretty incredible journey. And I'm sure we'll get a little more in depth and a little bit. But that's kind of like an overview what I do, I'm the owner of a team called NorCal eSports LLC, I don't know if we've established that yet across. I saw I grew up in Northern California, the Bay Area, that's where I grew up. I love the bridge. So I did make it called NorCal and that's why you see the bridge in a lot of them and our logo. It's actually it's flipped right now just due to my camera, but you can kind of see the pillar of the bridge and then like the bridge is supposed to be resembled by that. And then the sea on the other side, so you can see the bridges and pretty much everything we do.

Kyle Warren: 3:31

I didn't know that thank you for sharing that.

Unknown: 3:33

Yeah, there's a bridge inside of our logo. That's kind of why we went with the new, clean style. So yeah,

Kyle Warren: 3:38

that's sick, man. I mean, you know, so I mean, and for those of you who don't know, like eSports is like for the audience who, you know, whether you're in esports or not, you know, this is going to be valuable. It's like, this is a, this is the Wild Wild West. I mean, this is a brand new industry. No, it like, no one really, there's not really a playbook on how to do it, you know, people kind of stumble their way into it. And so, you know, the, the amount of just sheer grit and awareness, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a thorough awareness that it takes to actually succeed in some of the space and to do it the right way, because there's a right way but we can't, as gamers don't know how to communicate that but we feel it, you know? So, I mean, kind of give us you know, like you said, You started this in college man, you know, so I, I had the pleasure watching one of your your journeys, your first 100k on YouTube, you know what I mean? And that that was that was some cool shit, dude, I enjoyed it. kind of tell me, like one of the main reasons like, why eSports like, why, you know, like, what was really about you? Was there a moment that got you into this?

Mitch: 4:36

Sure. Um, yeah, that's a really interesting question for me. So the biggest thing I would say is I'm competitive. If I can't be competitive, I don't know how hard I'm going to try something. So everything in my life I try to make something I can compete at. But when I say competitive, I don't mean against someone else. It's always within myself. I want to be the best I can be at whatever I choose to do. So when I did start this, I was actually a pretty good Call of Duty player, we were sniping. And that's what we started doing. I'd realized we were pretty good sniping so I was like, Yeah, let's do this. I see you know that at that time, there was like the Redhouse and Faze doing their stuff and Optic and all these amazing sniping Call of Duty Team Pamaj. Yeah, it was. So that's exactly what we focused on in the beginning. Now, when fortnight came out, we realized that that had a bigger community. And that was kind of more content based. So we did switch over to that. But I think what really was challenging at first is when you start, like, everything sets you up to be, like, not positive is really hard to explain. But like, every issue you'd run into is people trying to bring you down people saying, You suck, people saying you're not good enough. And I think that's why most teams fail. So I think there was when I started this team, and I realized, like, I'm a college football player, like I can take when people are talking crap about me, I can take that. So when I realized that I can actually use that hate and influence more people and spread more positivity, I started seeing a growth and people started to really believe in those core values of NorCal, when we started and we put down this foundation of positivity, helping each other, never like back talking, and we have those fundamental values to this day in NorCal. Still, every person that joins goes through, but a five or 10 minute talk with me about our rules and our basics and holding us accountable. And they go through an eight page rule sheet that just holds them to standards. And I think that's the biggest thing that's made NorCal stand out first is I think we had 1000 subscribers. We have 200,000 subscribers who ever came in at whatever time you went through the same rules, the same standards, that I don't care how clouted you are, our company falls you are if you can't be a decent human being, you're not going to make it on this team organization. And I think that is when I started seeing this really big growth spike. That's what made us different. That's what made it stand out. That's what made people want to be on board. Especially through COVID and all these lockdowns and stuff. Mental Health has probably been the hardest thing that we've had to deal with. I am in endless calls, just making sure people are okay making sure people make the right decisions. I think that's one thing that NorCal has been a really good outlet for a lot of people is they have someone has their back someone that can guide them, some of that can be positive. I think that's probably like the biggest kickstarting to NorCal when we started was just like seeing that no one has really taken that this route. From how low we were we started at nothing, I no clout, no friends, no money, no investors. To this day, I don't even really have that much. But I'm just doing this to just the general care that we have and bring people buy into this program and system and love doing it. And we could smell every day.

Kyle Warren: 7:07

Yeah, I mean, you and I think something that you really touched on was that since there's no real roadmap, you go back to the basic fundamentals of of what does it take to be a good human being.

Mitch: 7:17

Sure?

Kyle Warren: 7:17

It's like when there's no when there's no Northstar that's laid out. I mean, obviously, that's lined up with it. It's, you know, you obviously want to get to where you want to go the right way. And by making a big difference in people's lives, but Sure, I think that's, you know, because with eSports, there is this mystical door that no one there's barrier, this barrier to entry that no one knows how to like, you just kind of like, find your way through it. And yeah, yeah, man. So I think that's, I think that's incredible. One thing that I wanted to ask you is, you know, when it when it came to like, being a positive influence, man, like, cuz I'm gonna, I'm gonna backtrack, I'm gonna give you some context. So the question is that, you know, I walked through, like, the reason why I know even when I'm walking through a really tough time that things are going to get better is because I've experienced some of the absolute worst. Like, I've been down. I've had some I've had experiences that have brought me to the opposite end of life that makes this life worth living. And sure, there's that kind of perspective that you only get from going through that. And positivity is a hard thing to keep, especially as human beings, we're so bad. We're hard on ourselves. We like we put ourselves down all the time. There's a lot of shame. There's a lot of guilt, you know, was there if you're comfortable sharing it? Was there like a moment that kind of like, woke you up to that where it's like, man, like, like, pardon my french, but fuck being toxic!

Mitch: 8:32

Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. That's a great way. And, um, there's been a couple of those moments. I'm going up. I know. So my senior year in high school, I was like the MVP of the league. I had all this division one offers and then my second or third game of my senior year, I shattered my foot had screws put in I missed the whole year. Football, but that kind of I lost my offers. I went into a depressive state where I kind of really, I couldn't be competitive. I couldn't fight through. I couldn't fight through. You know, I couldn't compete. I literally just had to sit on the sidelines of my football practice. And watch now it was ironically, when I just sat there and watched there was this kid that lived next to the field. He came to the field with a football one day and he just asked me to throw the ball to him when I was on a scooter, or Yeah, when I was on my little scooter. So I threw the ball to him. Right? His name is Nate. And now Nate was kind of like just someone And like I said, I think that that might have been the biggest that like, I can go and I don't have to watch people compete. I can just throw the ball and have a good time. So skip forward a lot. A lot of in between stuff. Me and Nate knew each other. We weren't friends. Now, when I was in college. The craziest thing thing because my goal is at first wasn't I want on the this is actually true, but I was randomly playing a search industry Call of Duty game, and voice chat, and I heard Nate's voice and then we were on the same team. So we find each other we start playing. He was super good at the game. I was super clout, I want all the followers, I want to blow up I want fame. good. Good at game. And that's how I started NorCal I started Nortel with Nate. He was a good sniper. I was good sniper. And then that's kind of what sparked it. So I guess starting it with him knowing that that was like an escape and that's how I wanted it to be for NorCal like want to NorCal to a place for people to come have an escape. Like you know that there's so much stuff going on but why not believe in this? Why not help each other Why not be there for each other? That was never the goal. My goal is just be like, I want to be there for people like it's super simple to do. Not many people do. And I think that's kind of what spiral into this day, the same thing applies. Like, it's cool to see numbers. It's cool to see growth obviously, that's what's pulling in sponsors and stuff. But like if you do it patiently, I think it's a lot more sturdy and safe on the on the climb. And I think maybe that might be the answer is like, I've just like where I started and how I felt not having a senior year like, I just knew that I was needed something like this. So I wanted to develop that for other people just having something that's always there for them. And I yeah, I think, you know, in college, too, I was like a cultural player. But I was never a huge partier. I wasn't going o t to the dorm. So sometimes I needed to do things at nigh. And then that was video gam s and stuff. So Video Games h s been my escape. So why would I use video games to make it li e worse on for other people or, r trying to put people down r encourage anything like that. o I guess that's kind of maybe w y I've been so focused on buildi g a positive community f r everybod

Kyle Warren: 11:01

And what I've wanted, I didn't actually know that. But you know, what, one thing that when I heard from that, I don't know, you know, whether you made this connection up, it's like, to me, like you were, you had something that you truly, truly loved. You had offer letters, you were competitive, like you You enjoy it, like, you truly enjoyed what you did, which I mean, that's a tough sport. But But the moment you became, you know, incapable of playing or they disabled, you know, from from actually playing, to me that, you know, to Nate, Nate was, like someone that just showed up and help you out when, like, you saw that you couldn't do it, you know, do what you love to do. And, you know, do it again. And so I mean, I think that, that, whether I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not, but to me, like that's to me, like a great parallel, like, Damn man, like, this dude has helped me because, why not do the same thing for other people? You know, I mean, like,

Mitch: 11:47

that's exactly how NorCal started, I started NorCal telling him, we'll start a team, but my goal is to get you to a bigger team, like I get here too good. Like, I'm just gonna help you. And it actually happened when we were at like 2000 subs, he joined a team at 13,000 subscribers. They didn't treat him well there. So I made him come back. And I said, Don't worry, we'll be bigger than them one day, and you kind of can see where we're at now, which is all the motivation in the world.

Kyle Warren: 12:08

Yeah. So you started with two people. And I love how simple that is. Because I think I myself try to complicate the shit out of everything. And I think everyone since there's no knowledge of it tries to do the same. Sure. So journey from like two people, you know, you two people extremely passionate about sniping, Call of Duty, like that's obviously driven, like what was in your eyes? The next step? And how did you know is the next step?

Mitch: 12:31

Yeah, no, that's a great question. I don't really, I can't really pinpoint that. So what happened was me and him played. And we started having he's had some school friends, I had some college friends that start playing, and that's how the team grew from two to four, from two to six. Okay, now we have eight. Now, like, there's one guy that you know, I had a like a six on feed, and he messaged me on ps4 saying, oh, my god, that was crazy. I ended up finding him, he ended up being on a pro team. So that's how we started just friends of friends, friends. And that's how I recommend you start like, do not start with anyone that just has numbers of stuff, start with the right people that trust the system, they're not going to give you problems and just cause drama, because that will bring down any small team. If you have any kind of drama, problems, drama, it will pull it down. So that's how I started now I started getting into this rhythm

Kyle Warren: 13:11

Yeah, we still got your feet, you got me Still, I where I found one of the best things to do. And I can give an analogy later, but like is to message people and talk to people as much as I can. So I started doing that. On our Instagram, I started just dming people and talking to people and tell them, Hey, you know, great work. We love what you're seeing, keep up the good work, I made it hashtag people use the hashtag. And I think that's when I decided to do my first think I hope you never go away from that man. Because like it recruitment challenge. And I didn't know how to do recruitment challenge. I just figured, hey, if you guys post this hashtag and use these clips, I'll look through them. And then you have this much time and like that was our the birt of our first recruitmen challenge. Now you see i everywhere. Now I know that thi was before how I did it. But th way I did it was just I didn' know like, like you said, I wa brand new this community didn't follow. I saw the Faze montage that I didn't follow how to start a team and stuff. I started from nothing. I just knew business wise how to build it. So that's kind of Yeah, that was like the basics of how NorCal started. And we started getting recruits here and there. And then that's what we continue to do recruitment challenge. Now we still do recruitment challenges, I still look. But since we're such a higher caliber, now I do have the authority and power to dm some bigger names to see if they're interested. So now it's more of a half and half, like seeing what people are grinding and seeing, like, what we can go out and maybe get keeps you It keeps your feet it keeps you on the pulse. Like it literally gives you a pulse of where the community is that and like it gives that person that hasn't gotten the exposure, the exposure that they need and the opportunity to really prove themselves.

Mitch: 14:30

You don't I mean, absolutely, no, absolutely.

Kyle Warren: 14:32

And I mean, look at Faze like they're still doing it. You don't even know that there's a little bit. Yeah, but there are but they you know, they're probably one of the largest brands in esports. And they've been around for the longest and they hit them in the optic kind of invented, you know, this culture of, you know, content. Sure, at least in the gaming world, you know, so so I mean with you. So we have we have two people, you got one so I want to backtrack a little bit when you talk about like you you have like 2,4,6,8 members and then you decide your recruitment challenge. For those who like don't like what consists of, you know, what did this team mean? Where did y'all hang out? Like What Did y'all do? Did you hang out every day? Did you guys like just collaborate? Like what was that dynamic when it was such a small unit?

Mitch: 15:12

Yeah, um, so one of the biggest things when I started was discord was our go to communication, it still is. So we had our discord and pretty much between 8 to 10, 12. I dm to every single person every single day. How are you doing checking in? "If you need anything, let me know." At that time, we were strictly Call of Duty that we were just called any only so it's pretty easy."Hey, who's getting on today? What times let's get in to games let's play together." So that was kind of the basics of just checking in and making sure everyone's just doing their thing and stuff. And the number one rule of NorCal and I started NorCal till this day, it is the number one rule they get this like this big speech when they join NorCal, this is the number one thing I make them Promise me. And that is that your life priorities come first. So I say friends, family work girlfriend, boyfriend religion, exercise sports, comes first no matter what if you're mentally positive. If you're mentally like healthy, you can do anything in this community. But if you need to take time off, if you need to focus on school grades, anything like it is okay, take time off. So I think that was the biggest thing of at that 8 to 10 we had this value of like, hey, if you can grind today, if you can get some clothes, no worries, bro. Like, if you can't, I'll work around it. But then you know, you start seeing people have some time off. But then you start bringing more people on. That's why you go from 10 to 12 to 14, 16,18. And why NorCal maybe has a little bit bigger of a roster is because I give the people the option to make sure that their mental health is in check. Like I want them to know like life is still a priority. Now some of these people are starting to make like lifelong earnings. That's a little bit different. But for most of us, you know, this is still not our lifelong like careers and stuff. But I want to make sure they understand like if you're sacrificing good grades in school because you're trying to put together a couple videos one night and you're gonna get the study and then you didn't sleep well then you fail the test like I'm going to be mad like that's not setting you up for a successful future. So that's that's always been like the number one rule of NorCal no matter what makes your life come first.

Kyle Warren: 16:52

Well, I mean, I think you draw a big distinction. It's been it's been talked about a lot and people have different takes on it. You know, I'm not sure if you follow a guy named Adam Acipella. He's the runner of Esports. Team eSports team, but like he builds out global esports events, you know, like does all the logistics that he was a he was a former to cons in some contexts. He was a former like event staff for MLG back in the hayday, as you know, like back in 2005-06, you know, like back when it was huge. And so he he's got his roots deep in the community. And I I mentioned him, because he has a different mindset. And there's he's got a very traditional mindset of like hustle, like, work 18 hours a day, you know, and like, for him that works. And I think it's such an important thing that you mentioned that it's like, I think there's a huge level of self awareness that comes in the spaces that your take is the take that a lot of other people are doing is like when you show up, grind your ass off. But like, it doesn't mean that the grind comes before literally everything else.

Mitch: 17:52

Sure.

Kyle Warren: 17:54

And I'll tell you like, even even at LegalZoom. And even at some of these companies, we're just now catching up with that mentality where it's like, if you're not your whole self at work, you're not going to produce results. No, you know,

Mitch: 18:07

Yeah. And I tell people to they don't realize when we say grind, I was like taking a break or sleeping longer. That is part of the grind. Like it is impossible to run 84% of the time, right? So people say like, Hey, I'm taking the night off. I'm like, perfect man do that. Like that's yourself. Now everybody knows there is a standard at NorCal, you have to be held to if you're just taking five days off a week and not really producing content. You know, that's a little bit different. But that doesn't mean I'm on your ass. And I'm trying to like you know, force you to do stuff. But I sit down and call to say, "Hey, this is where I'm at, this is where you're at, we need you to get here, let's meet in the middle, let's take the steps to get there." And if you can't, at that point, they understand. And they usually leave the team before I'm just like kicking people for not doing it. Because that's what builds like bad community connections is you just start kicking people and you're trying to hold people to standards, aren't reasonable. Like I try to work through everything I can we have team meetings every couple weeks, supposed to be at once every other week. But when you get busy, we have teammates where we cover they say, "hey, this, we're not cutting out this is our growth patterns. This is what we're doing. And, you know, we're trying to build that social footprint, just everyone's trying to grow. And if you're not seeing growth, well either you got to change something or you take a step back and you know, let someone else fill your place." And you know, everyone is bought into that system and understands it. So that's why we don't really see many people leave and when they do leave, it's always positive. We're always understanding on both sides.

Kyle Warren: 19:16

I mean, I've seen a few departures and it doesn't sound like it doesn't look because like usually when I see team departures, it's like there's like even though it's cordial on social, you know, you can tell that there was some like, you could just tell that there was something going on? Absolutely. So I mean, one question I have is like when you're when you're holding these meetings number one, I think it is awesome that you know, the the guys running this is you know, having meetings with his entire community every couple weeks I think number one is you CEOs a great position, but if you don't ever like work for your community, it's fucking useless.

Mitch: 19:48

Sure,

Kyle Warren: 19:49

You know, how transparent Are you with your with your content creators and you and your some of your staff?

Mitch: 19:56

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, Then known as the teddy bear the team, I'll be honest, like, I do have a big heart, I want to care. I think that's really important in charge. Now my co owner, he lives in the next room to me. So he's been my best friend since kindergarten. And he is awesome. And he works his ass off for the team, but he's kind of the more of the, like, Hey, Chris, I need you to step in, and like knock some sense in this guy. But people understand that I've actually started learning understand that, like, when I put my foot down, it's to the point where I have so much respect, when I put my foot down, it is to help you it is not to put you down it is to, like, give you that respect that I've given you and just like kind of put in your face be like, "dude, if you don't step up to the plate right now, you are going to miss this opportunity. And if you don't do that," and like I've had really good, like, like people do like that. They're like, thank you. Like, please like, and if you see that if I step on a plate like so, I would say we have gotten to pretty transparency in NorCal. Now, obviously, there's times where there's, you know, stuff that you might not know, you know, the biggest thing I asked for in NorCal, people are h nest with me, some people have f mily issues going on. And you k ow that so when you're trying t step in and something comes u, you can kind of tell right a ay, Okay, wait, something's w ong. This is bigger than the f ur night scene or the NorCal s ene. This is a live thing you s t down talk, but that I would s y is pretty much like 50% of m job is getting calls making s re people are okay, make sure t ey're happy. Make sure just c ecking up on people. I think i's so big. And I think, as a C O of the team, you need to put t me aside to do that. And I t ink when people tell me and a k me, I'm trying to start a t am, what's the number one t ing I should do the number one t ing that I can tell you to do i quit gaming, quit everything, p t your team first. Now the s cond you can do everything on t e team first, then you can of c urse you can go game or w atever you like to, but it's a ways that guy that's like, I t ink I'm really good at f rtnite, I want to be huge. I' gonna start a team, well, yo can't do both, you can't put ei ht hours in a fortnight day, an eight hours a day, like I ha to put the team first. I'm no that good of a video game pl yer. So I put it to the side. Li e I focus on team, like, if yo want to do the team, that's fi e. But if you can't put 100% of time effort, you're just go na be a friend group the wh le time, no matter what if yo want to take the next steps, pu everything aside sacrifice th t because you either want to do this and you can go for it or yo can't because I'm not gonna li. Like I'd say 95% of teams wi l fail in this community when th y try to start out no matter wh t it just happens,

Kyle Warren: 21:59

Gave me goosebumps. Because I've actually noticed that with my own podcasts like there's I when I when I finally like woke up to how much in this happened literally last week, like sure how much how many video games I was actually how much time I was actually spending playing war zone. And to be honest, like, I fuckin hate war zone right now, I'd like to state that warzone is in but like, I like playing my friends, you know. But I realized how much time I was spending doing that. And I realized how unhappy I was because I was spending literally every waking moment gaming and giving myself like three hours every four days to do what I need to do for the podcast for school for branding for, you know, for literally getting new people. It's just, and I really it took me like, probably a good like year and a half to like realize that like, sure. I'm actually more happy not doing that. So sure, bring up a good point in reason I got chills. I got sidetracked there. But the reason I got chills was that I think there's a huge distinction between a friend group and esports organization, and I think that needs to be properly defined, you know? Sure. I don't think that people truly understand that. It's, it is about it's all about the game. But for you personally, it can't be sure. And I think you've defined that. And is there any other like, you know, when it comes to running an organization, like the different any differences between like running an org and running a friend group? Sure, you know, are there you know, what are some of the other differences that what can people look out for?

Mitch: 23:19

Sure. So the biggest thing is, like, I hope people understand, everybody in this community has an LLC, all of a sudden, everyone is just like you have our LLC, we're fine. We're an organization and, like, I got an LLC too. But I was able to sacrifice some of my money to get this you know, Legal Zoom equipped team that was going to work on my side, and it is mind blowing how much you don't know, LLC means nothing is gonna even if your LLC I still consider your friend group. But if you're consistently working people to file your taxes, get your DBAs, or register your trademarks, and do all the things that a real organization has to do to take those steps like at that point, anything before it, you're a friend group still, and that doesn't mean we're making steps to the way up, but like, you know, like in our community, you're paying so many people for projects and, and media work and this and that. And if you can't keep track of that, and register and do every little thing, which I still don't I have no clue. Like, I am so glad to be working along people that know exactly how to do it. And that's something I've learned. But I think that's the biggest thing for me is everyone just wants to put LLC in their name and think you're legit, but it's actually like enforcing the LLC regulations and rules and taxes and all that stuff. I think that's the biggest difference. I mean, yes, there's all these little steps there between you know, what we pay him to be on the team and stuff but if it's all under the table if it's all not transparent with you know the rules and regulations to me, it's it's a friend group and there's amazing friend groups out there like don't get me wrong, there's some people pulling big numbers and stuff, but I think we all know like it's a business. It's not it's not a video game team. It's a business, it's a company and you have to abide by all the rules and regulations.

Kyle Warren: 24:48

And I think that's also like sometimes I forget when I watch basketball and football, like when people get traded and people you know the salary. It's like, at the end of the day, it's a business you know it as much as I want to think it's not a business that people just Do this for the love of their passion, they get paid quite a bit of money. And this is a this is an organization. You know, one thing that I actually haven't thought about when it comes to like having friend groups versus having esports organizations, you know, do you see, like someone being able to create a friend group, like a content group, a friend group that could self sustain? You know, does it does it have to be an esports. org? Or do you think they can coexist at the same time?

Mitch: 25:25

100%, like, it is totally fine. But the thing, the difference between a friend group that will succeed is, the friends or recruiting have already established that they are successful, they're already pulling in numbers that even without the friend group, they would still be successful, those friend groups will make it like, regardless, that means that person's good content and stuff. But team wise like we had, we have to make the sacrifice of pulling in people that maybe don't have that at first, but we see potential, and then we work with them to grow them. I think that's when organizations more come into play where, you know, you might sign contracts to these amazing competitive Fortnite players. If we haven't made clear by now we are more of a Fortnite based team. That's why I use fortnight and most of our things. But you know, you might take this person that might be an amazing competitive player, but he's not producing any content. He's not making any skill, like if he did, people would love to watch it, he would get more views and influence and stuff. And I think that might be where organizations are easily more established, where you can make that sacrifice where friend groups, if you're really not pulling in people that can self sustain and help work. You're right. And also, like, it kind of depends, like for our team, we know we have a team twitch we have team like, you know, socials and stuff like we're we're pulling in money that way. Now, frankly, you don't technically need it, you can all just have a bunch of friends that put like this word in their name, and you can just say your friend group, right? You don't need all the social stuff. So again, friend groups can make it but that's my take on friend groups, maybe, um, you know, you have to be like self sufficient, you don't need like the organization to support you and stuff. So yeah,

Kyle Warren: 26:43

I mean, it's a great question, because I, at least something that I've thought of, and if I thought of it, I know, at least a few other people have thought of it too, is because I've been a part of part of a few for friend groups, you know, it's like, there's this thing of like it. If it's not an esports organization, then it's not going to be successful, you know, I mean, then we're not doing something right. And I, I think there's that dialogue that people got to understand that, like, it's, it's okay to own who you are. And if you don't want to be an esports organization, you don't have to do something just because you think it's the only path.

Mitch: 27:12

Sure.

Kyle Warren: 27:12

You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. This is something that I see so often here is, people putting each other, like people wanting people success until they become more successful than that person. You know, and it's like, it's almost like this belief of like, there's no room for the both of both of you to succeed. And, you know, I just, I don't know, I go, I get on my soapbox every once in a while and talk about it. Because it's just, it's, it's infuriating, because it's just there is this world of abundance, and everyone can have a piece of the pie. And so I mean, question from that. So let me hop down on the soapbox. This isn't about me. But, um, you know, the role that for, you know, friend groups or organizations play? Do you see that as a natural evolution to an esports team? And do you what do you see after, you know, something like that? Like, say a friend group is really successful, they're pulling in numbers, they have individual sponsorship deals, you know? Do. They just where did they plug into the ecosystem? You don't I mean, like, I just want you to take on that.

Mitch: 28:10

Yeah, so the number one thing I focus on when we recruit anything and developing our guys here, and it's, it's a simple word, it's called influence, all I want these guys to do is develop influence, doesn't matter where you're going, you're playing Fortnite where you're playing, Call of Duty Warzone, whatever game it is, people want to see, because you have influenced, they like your smile, you bring happiness, if you bring laughter like that, you bring something to the table that that and I think that is what I'm trying to develop, like, I tell these people I will never guarantee Fortnite now we'll be here forever, Twitch won't be here forever, like everything is changing technology wise, but the one thing I'll be there forever is your character, how you handle adversity, how you find happiness, how you help others. So I think when we do become successful, we are pulling in money and stuff. Like I don't think any of this is going to matter unless we can build an influence where, you know, I want to start a new shirt company, like are people really going to buy that am I going to take the next step, like where I can go wherever I want, but I built that influence. I've built that brand into the community so I can do different things. And I think that's where you really fit into the ecosystem. That's kind of where I'm starting to see like, you know, use Faze a examples, because they're s big, like, these guys are se for life, not just becaus they're good at video games like most of them aren't. heir lifestyle branding, th y're making videos, they're h ving fun, and no matter what the do, they're going to be succe sful because they have built that influence into their con ent. And that is so important. T at's what we focus on here. ike, just so much about influenc how much you smile, help peopl and bring people to your commu ity. So that's that's the bi gest t

Kyle Warren: 29:31

Yeah, man, I and you honestly, man, like you do one of the best jobs and like, I remember when I first followed you on social media, like the amount of you know, like building positivity, it's like one of the first things in your bio, you know, in your specific bio, it I think that goes a lot farther than people think. Now, the one area that I think a lot of people struggle with is that there's so many you know, we're gonna call them snakes with so many snakes on the internet that like try to like put some false, you know, like a false sense of positivity to bring them in. So I think that's honestly what helps you stand out though, to be honest, but Yeah, one quite. I want to shift some gears to shift gears again, I know we talked about some of these support communities and friend groups, you know, when it comes to when it comes to NorCal when it comes to esports. You know, what are the some of the different revenue streams that NorCal has? And how do you bring them in? kind of tell me a little bit about that.

Mitch: 30:16

He explained revenue streams isn't how we're making profit.

Kyle Warren: 30:18

Yeah, yeah, pretty much how you bring your shirt organization?

Mitch: 30:21

Yeah, yeah. So I think a bit so our biggest by far is, um, so when I started this, I always want to do team events, but I didn't want to share it with the team and share with the community. So I started a Twitch, where I would stream on it and I have developed this, I've developed this really big twitch community for NorCal, where we spread our positivity, that's where we're picking up people watching people's videos explaining what to do better. So their biggest revenue source is just pure donations, people believe how much happiness we bring people, and they want to see us succeed, and spread. So that's the biggest thing is just Twitch donations. And it's pretty amazing what we've been able to accomplish as a team. And we're very thankful for that. Now, the second one, well, obviously, we just got Steel Series using code nor cash, shameless plug here, but NorCal gives you 12% off, we get a profit of that it's been really successful. It was funny, one of my old managers messaged me that he bought some from Steel Series, and he used Honey and it automatically applied NorCal for him. So it's like, kind of cool to see how much NorCal is already getting out there. IVC, I don't know if you really see on my wall back there. Now you can't really see it's cut out. But I have a wall of all of our merchandise, I actually make big orders and have them shipped here where you can buy on our website. So obviously, that's good. We obviously have a supported creator code and Fortnite where people can put in our code, buy stuff, and we'll get like 5% of it. So I think it's been just about piecing all these little parts to the puzzle. I I'm, I've always told people, I'm not going to be rich in life. Like I love giving back too much. But that's what I've done. Because all my investments like I always am trying to pay the right editor, the right amount at the right time making sure that we can produce the best content and you have to sacrifice in this community. You know, I'm not driving a Tesla around, yet, you know, living in the fanciest, biggest house and stuff like yeah, I mean, but that's the thing is I will only do that once I am comfortable. And so I think everyone has this belief of like, oh, I'll get 10,000 followers on Twitter, and I'm going to be making money and like, no, you're not like the order to get there. Like it takes so much sacrifice. And the people you see the most successful with the money wise right now is actually the people with the most influence the people that are given those donations. And I think that's really important. Because, you know, YouTube is there's so many big creators out there. It's so competitive, like YouTube pays so little compared to like, what you might think like, Oh, you have 100,000 subs, you can live the rest of life out there like no, you can't, I promise. Like, it is very hard to actually like have, you know, success just based off like ad revenues and stuff. So there's all these little parts of the puzzle and you know, you have your all your QuickBooks and all that stuff where it's coming into si but you're checking in every day, making sure you're staying up to date with all that. Yeah.

Kyle Warren: 32:34

Yeah, dude. And I mean, so when it comes to when it comes to you, though, like, like, in wanting to dive a little bit into the weeds, because I think it's, it's important, you know, because it's a when it comes when it comes to you yourself, you know? How, like, how much do you take for yourself? You know, how much should I put back into the organization? You know, when is the revenue that NorCal bring in enough for you to live on? Or do you have other income sources for you personally?

Mitch: 32:56

Yeah, sure. Um, I'll be honest, like up to probably right before the house, which was about six to seven months ago, I was putting 100% back of all revenue. I did have like a side job, I was coaching a basketball. So that was my small side revenue and stuff. But to this date, like I put everything back in NorCal. Now I do have stuff set aside where if you know, like, my birthday came up, and I wanted to order wings for the house on the Super Bowl. As my birthday was one day off the super bowl like, do those are the things I do set aside. But to this day, yeah, it is all going back. And I would say this month has been very successful for us, we have made a lot of really big moves. And this is probably the first month where I'm actually sitting back saying like, yes, like I can start saving money and put it to the side and start developing like a lifelong career right now. But up to this point it was I had to believe that that point was coming, I just had to keep putting stuff back in. Because when you're in this community, the second the second you take a step backwards, or take a month off, all your guys are going to go to that next team that's on the rise and what they also you have to continue to bring it, bring the best content, bring the best people in and continue to keep going. So that's been so big to me, it's like I can't step backwards. I got to keep making investments I got to keep people to believe in it's pretty much indicative of how hard I worked. I mean, the harder I work like you know, if I take a little break, you'll start seeing some stuff go down and you know, you see me sitting here at this computer all day every day you'll start seeing like a lot of numbers coming in and stuff just making the right moves and stuff. Yeah.

Kyle Warren: 34:13

So like when it comes to like when it comes to like you eating on a day to day basis. You're like are you is that coming from NorCal? Or is that coming in from like you like from your for your personal needs? Because like, I think it's important, it's like you put 100% back into NorCal Sure. Are you are you a part of that? Like is is 100% back in the NorCal does does that include some like living expenses for yourself?

Mitch: 34:30

Yes, absolutely. So right now 100% of what NorCal brings in is like what and I'm pretty strategic like I know exactly what I'm pretty much trying like I'll go out like two or three times a week and then have like you know, we have a lot of rice and eggs here that's obviously that's that's pretty much like what we love here is protein and like we like getting to the gym and stuff. So but yeah, you're very smart about it and it's all laid out and yeah, pretty much everything I make from NorCal is something that I do have set aside because obviously we have this house to pay for. We have Have you very big plans coming up as well that, you know, maybe in a future podcast we can talk about, there's gonna be some big moves coming from NorCal.

Kyle Warren: 35:06

I like it, and I asked that question just because it's, it's real, you know, and it's like, it's when it comes to this, like, you know, you're you're, you're a humble guy, like you get your give a lot you give more than, you know, you give way more than you take, um, you know, but at the same time, like, we all have to, like, eat and like, you know, put on deodorant and drive our car. Yeah, there's some basic needs that need to be met. So I, that's, that's really why I want to do it. Because it's, you know, you can put 100% back, but you also start to make sure some of your basic needs are being taken care of.

Mitch: 35:36

Absolutely. And I think moving to this house at first was that was my first concern is that I have to put my life first, like if I can't drive to the store, if I can't, so when I got here, that was my first thing. But then that's what kind of motivated me to say I need to kick in next gear, I need to start making sure I can start paying for all this stuff in NorCal. And, again, it's all strategically planning like, you know, there's just so much there's so many different ways I can divvy up the money maybe I want to pay some more players this month or more editors this month, or contract players, again, in a whole new rebrand and logo that's extremely expensive. So you kind of have to pick and choose Yeah, yeah, you have to pick and choose exactly what you're going for. I think I've done a pretty good job that kind of based on where I see this going, what projects we have planned this month, how much I know like recruitment challenge weeks you're gonna obviously drive in more money at the streams, that kind of thing. Yeah,

Kyle Warren: 36:23

Yeah, man. No, it's awesome. And I want to I want to I want to touch on I when the house happened, I like I was as ecstatic man, like, you know, so I want to touch on a moment before that, though. You know, like, cuz you start off at you. You grew up in Northern California. You grew up, you know, when you move to Texas, what what sparked the move to Texas? What was? What was that thought process? Like? And how soon was it? Yeah, just that one for right now will happen to the house later.

Mitch: 36:46

Yeah, sure. Um, yeah, one night, I was just like, having a few drinks. And I got on a call with one of my managers and he was from Houston. And he was just like, you know, like, I know, we were just like, you talk about it. What's the next step of an organization if you can establish a house? That is huge. Not only because you have a house, it's just like for the next year, but we're not we can't just leave our lease we can't. So like that That house is huge. So within that talk with that manager, within a month and a half, I had had a house so pretty much what happened was decided one house I got everybody on my team that I knew had graduated from school was ready to leave or could leave. I started group of about 20 people I said, leave this now if you can't, if you can't do this here, all the rules is what I'm gonna look for. Got it down to six. And then yeah, once we got it down to six, we went looking, I got a real estate agent, we were gonna do Houston at first, because that's where my managers were. However, we had a very good connection with Faze Mew, his name's Carrie. And he's a trickshot, and fortnight and that's what we are primarily. And he was in Dallas. So we started looking at Dallas looked like it was kind of a newer, thriving area, real estate agent found got us all into this, like compass, we also are looking at houses, we found the right one we sent in an application. And let me tell you trying to convince a landlord of a bunch of video games player to come live in your house that are all first year out of school is not easy. However, I think I was able to kind of sit down we crafted our own like, what we represent what we're doing, how we would drive in money, and they believed and they loved it. And so it's important that people understand like NorCal was not big before this house like we were growing. But everybody in this house does pay for their rent in the house. And like it's not a fully funded from NorCal from me house, everyone agreed that this is what we're gonna do. This is the next step. Now obviously, in the future, we plan to pay for a whole house, we plan to buy a house to put a down payment. But this was like the first step like, again, like this is technically just a bunch of friends living in house. We're all part of the same org. We all love the team, we all grind content, we all make content. So again, I'm not gonna sit here and say we're the best ever we have this house that like we worked with this, we all understood the sacrifice, we're making the small steps you had to make, and we got this house.

Kyle Warren: 38:42

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's fuckin Awesome, man. Because it's like, you know, that there's this, there's the goal. And I think you've done a beautiful job of like, reverse engineering what that looks like, you know, it's because you start off with to, you know, to, you know, to two people, you grew that to 10 people doing some RC's, you know, and the next thing you know, like, you're in a house in Texas, right. And I mean, it's, I think something special about that, at least from my observation. Is that you built the brand first before the business. Sure. You know,

Mitch: 39:12

That's huge.

Kyle Warren: 39:13

I think it's the most important piece and I think that's really like, something that I focus on with my clients. You know, like, you like everyone, everyone else like that I that I had was like, the business comes next, right? But the brand is what Outlast any any COVID any you know, event anything changing businesses change brands, don't you know what I mean? I just I think it's one of the most vital things there you know, so when it comes to some of your like, obviously, your, your your on site, you've had a huge month Steel Series, just a part of, you know, massive partnership. Tell me, I want to I want to know if for what you can share. You know, tell me a little bit about that journey, because I know you told me a timeframe and I'll let you tell the story, but what was that process like? I mean, When did you go through to get them?

Mitch: 40:01

For Steel Series? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's a that's a very good one. So there's a couple little parts of the puzzle. So one of the biggest things when we started growing and from the start is I never once said yes to a sponsorship, I know sponsorships are important. But every single one that came my way it was you're going to get this code, you're going to get this much percent off, you'll make this much money and I knew, like we just didn't have a big enough brand yet to like, say, this code is going to get us this might like, might be a couple 100 bucks a month. But what's that really gonna do, and I don't want to lock myself into anything long term, I'm not going to and one of the biggest thing is I don't want to lock into something if I don't believe in the product. That is the biggest thing I need to believe in the product. So but Steel Series, I always like their products. They're always good. They're always talked about. So I knew it was a big accomplishment. And I knew that I always had my eyes on that. So when I came out here, Carrie or Faze Mew, he is sponsored by steel series, they flew him out to LA did a commercial with them. So I just I knew I already had connections. And then above me, his name is Red Vines. He's part of my organization. He was one of the tournament's that did a Gamers Got Talent tournament. So he individually got sponsored by SteelSeries. Now SteelSeries isn't necessarily known for sponsoring teams, they obviously sponsor Faze, but it's more individuals. However, I knew we had this house, I knew how much influence we had. So I talked to them. And I said, Hey, can I just have an email of one person I can contact and just like put together and craft an email. So I got an email of a contact of someone that's a representative for them. I spent one night from 2am to 6am. It's just one of those nights where you just feel like I'm not tired. I want to work on that give me something to do and, and I should have done this a while ago. But finally I had that night I sat there I wrote about nine, eight to nine pages. I said, This Is Us, this is what I represent. This is what I built. This is where I graduated. Here's my background. This is where my future plans are here, the people that live in the house, their socials, our footprint. Here's all the people on our team, our biggest content creators how we can help you how we can I said this are working to help you and this is also how you can help us get to our next future goals. Within a day, I got an email back they said we would love to get an interview call with me, I did a couple interviews with them. They genuinely love what they saw. And like, you know, when I get interviews, I'm very, like, I'm appreciative I'm happy, I'm excited. Like, like, that is pretty obvious that comes out when when I'm talking and such big deals like that. It's like even if I don't get it, like it's just crazy, to me them in this call, it's Steel Series. Like I'm gonna be thankful for that. So, and they ended up saying like, we would love to work with you guys. And as of today, it's pretty funny, but we just opened we got all of our boxes, I literally have a keyboard and a mouse right now that I set up the headsets are a little delayed, they're coming in so I can't wait to get my headset. But they just had like Steel Series gear and like all the socks and switches and then they put in like controller freaks they put in everything. And that was for a whole house and you know all on them. And they're all just send like this is our 20 year anniversary, like enjoy promote it. But the biggest thing was like I'm not promoting this for you guys use like I'm approaching this because this is like the best keyboard I've ever used. This is the best mouse I type emails all day. I don't need a mouse, that's 50 grams. And it's like light as a feather, it's like the number one like gaming mouse but like, Hey, I'll use it. I'll wrap this and I'm going to tell everyone how amazing it is because it is it generally is. So it's been pretty special and journey. And I think they also want to help supply us in future for when COVID becomes less strict. Like if we have big events or we want to fly big content creators down do videos with them. Like they said, like, we'd love to do that. And the biggest thing that I loved about them, when we our first call, they said one thing they want to focus on is fundraising and charity streams. And that like hit my heart because that is what I want NorCal to do when people ask what my future is, when I NorCal, I want to make a difference in the community. So charity streams, impact impacting the community, charity streams, fundraisers anything where I can do that, like I'm all for, and that's something that they mentioned. And I was like, I will do anything right now to be working with you guys, I want to be by your side. And they already have things set up. And it's really an honor to be working with them.

Kyle Warren: 43:34

I mean, that's, that's phenomenal man, like it's and I really the business side of me wants to wants to tackle part of that, or really just shine some light on something you mentioned was that, you know, that you didn't want to tie NorCal to a brand you personally didn't believe in. If the product didn't match, you know, then it's not a good fit. And I want to track the back of some trend that I'm noticing not just with esports, I'm gonna I'm gonna nerd out a little bit on business here. But you know, when it comes to when you zoom out outside of esports, at least from the consumer level, the the companies that are investing in the product over the marketing doesn't mean that marketing doesn't exist. But when they invest in the product over the marketing, the marketing is not that hard to do. Right people will come to you as an example of your your organization came to them because of the product that they built, you know, and when you focus on the product, and the product can mean the actual physical product, but also what you're doing with that product. Sure, right. Yeah, if you're just shoving a bunch of marketing material down people's throats and like bombarding them with a million emails and targeted ads and you can't breathe without seeing them. It's not going to work, you know, and I really I want you to reason I said that is a lot a lot of streamers. I see personally, they chase after brand. I'll admit I did it at 1.2 it just so happened to be a product that I love and I'll still rep the day I die. It's like advanced and you Advanced GG and it's like but People in myself included thought that that was going to be like a ticket to like, make them big. But tell them, you know, it seems, from what I'm telling you hearing from us the exact opposite. Like, it's, it's what can you do for them? You know, because they it's a it's an investment on their end. And I don't think people realize that there's a level of expectation that this generation has that it's just like, I just deserve this. You know what I mean?

Mitch: 45:23

Oh, yeah, like happens a lot. I mean, I guess saying that I thought to when I went through this is like, it is it is business to some point. But to me, it was like, it was never about money. Right? It was about the product, it was about being proud of it. And it was about working with them on bigger things. So I think so many people get caught up in like, Oh my God, we get 15% off, they're gonna send us a free this, this this and like, it's all money. It's all cool. And like, it's more of like, it's a flex on your friends. Like, Hey, Mom, Dad, I gotta, you know, I got a free hat from this company. Like, are you proud of me? Like, to me, it was never about that I was never gonna, you know, try to like, and I generally like, I'll tell people, this keyboard Apex Pro, like, I am in love with it. I love messing with it. So you know, actuation points of how, like, how much pressure you need put on, and it's just fun to me. And like, I don't know, like, that's kind of why I've just never been like, yes, companies have come to me and you know, don't disrespect to them. Like, I love what they do. But like, if I'm not gonna invest, you know, 100% of my heart into something like I don't want to try to force anything. And I want to be patient and the right things that come my way. And, you know, this was a little bit of a moment was Steel Series, where I kind of just like, shrug my shoulders, like "told you so" like, yeah, I knew one day, I knew one day, like, I just got to keep working. You got to be patient, like the old you said, I like and everyone believes it. Like, I've been so successful. And I started out so low to this point where people are like, No, hey, like, he knows what he's doing. Like, give him his room and stuff. And I'm always open to hearing other stuff. Like, I'm not like, trying to say I'm the, you know, Almighty know everything. But like, you know, I generally like, I know what's gonna work and what's worth it and not in this community as of right now.

Kyle Warren: 46:48

Well, I mean, you Steel Series did with you what you did with creators, you know what I mean? Like, it's like you, they saw it, like, it's like, for a company to invest for you to invest in your players, even if they don't have certain aspects that you would like them, like a spot for them to be. They have, they have the thing, you know what I mean? That, that they have it, you know, and you don't know what you call it, but they have it.

Mitch: 47:08

Sure.

Kyle Warren: 47:09

And that's just really what the company, that's what SteelSeries did with you, it's like, you know, like, like, you are a rapidly growing organization. And there's something that you're doing right. And that's just, you know, the attach the activation gets both companies to a larger level. And I you know, congrats, man, I remember when you messaged me that I'm just like, this is this is all those

Mitch: 47:32

that don't know, like, we worked so long. So whenever I accomplish something, like Kyle was one of the first people I have to go back to pretty much and say, like, Hey, remember, like, we talked about this while like, look what we're doing now. And these moves in this movement, what comes next? And, you know, it's kind of fun to have, you know, your partner in crime to help establish organization and stuff, like just being able to support you and stuff. So yeah.

Kyle Warren: 47:50

yeah, man. I mean, it's, it's been an absolute pleasure. You know, it's I know, some things have changed, where I can't do work directly, but it's just like, I still get to hear I still get to see I still get to, like, it's, it's a cool to, it's so cool to be a part of that man. And Mitch, like, we're gonna start wrapping things up, man. You know, one thing I want to want to ask is, like, you know, you have you mentioned, like, one of the biggest things with NorCal is to give back to the community to do these fundraising and charity streams. When it comes to, you know, outside of NorCal, you know, is NorCal you're like, how big do you want NorCal to grow? What is like, if you could just like, you know, if you were to die tomorrow, like the next day is like, what, what would you want to accomplish with NorCal?

Mitch: 48:33

Yeah, that's there's so much so one of the biggest things

Kyle Warren: 48:35

let's hear it.

Mitch: 48:36

Yeah, so one like, I'll be honest, like Faze a dream of everyone like just to be a part of it. But if I can get no But I want to make the right steps. So I don't want to look NorCal any close to Faze, no, I'm not talking about numbers at all, I could care less, I'm talking about influence, I want NorCal's influence to be up there with Faze in terms of like how much of a difference we can make if we choose to.. The biggest thing and I have a tough time answering this, but this is what I'm feeling. But I want NorCal not to be an esports team to be more of a school in the future. I want it to be too far in the future. I always tell people set your goals close somewhere a place to teach others. Whether that's like, I don't even know like whether that's doing taxes, how to be a good person how to behave on social media, like, someday I want NorCal not to be a place of Hey, we produce content, but it's something like, Hey, we're here. We're being successful, we're producing content. And this is what we did to do that that your dreams far. So if you just look at your dreams, you're here you guys can learn to, and I don't 100% know how I'm gonna accomplish that yet. gonna forget all those small steps to get there. So your goals are, you know, and your goals have to be something you're going 100% accomplish 100% of the time. So when people say I want to join NorCal one day, I'd say that's a terrible goal. Because I get to decide that and you don't you don't say that's a horrible goal. But if your goal is like, I want to produce two videos this week, I want to you know, try to make this many tiktoks this week and like those are all goals you can accomplish those are the goals that are gonna get to the dreams now the dreams can be stuff that you don't 100% control, but if you do all the goals, right, you should probably be pretty close. And that's the same thing I have with that. Like I want it to be a school so I'm like, I'm hoping that you We can get a website up and running, which is we have it up and running but like more of a, maybe a monthly subscription where we can help have classes or calls and stuff we actually like on the side kind of started a little bit of an investment team we have like a discord that like kind of talks over like they focus on stock market stuff, like just the small steps here and there to really like learn the values understanding of just life in general like To this day, like no one in schools teaching how to do taxes, I do this and I'm like, No, why not? Maybe one day just like very briefly be like, Hey, we're a content creator for influencers. But this is the main reason we're here. And I think that's, that's my overall goal. But again, I want to focus on what we have in front of me right now, which is the content creation asset esports aspect of it, and that's what we're gonna focus on. But if I died tomorrow, and I said, This is my only goal in the NorCal would be make it more of a school online place of learning one day, that's my biggest thing.

Kyle Warren: 50:46

Yeah, I mean, I can't tell you how happy that makes me because like it, it's such a like, I'm in school, but it's also such it's, you know, high, none of actual in the world is changing so fast, man. I mean, the world is changing so fast. So I mean, I think that, that just I go on a tangent, but we're gonna we're gonna know it's noise. Lastly, before we, before we wrap things up, man, you know, want to give the plug to you, like where, where can people support you? Where can people find you? You know, where are you personally the most active and where do you want people to go?

Mitch: 51:17

Yeah, sure. Okay, so the biggest influencing platform that is just about NorCal is gonna be Twitter. That's just NorCal_eSports. Now that's you're gonna see where our updates are, and events. Now if you want to see more of our content, that is going to be our YouTube, that's where I post videos, house content, pranks, all that kind of stuff, you'll probably get more of a laugh there. Now on Twitch if you just do NorCal I go live every other day. Usually, in the mornings. I'm Central Standard Time. But so in the mornings for Pacific same time afternoon for Eastern Standard Time. That's when I stream if you're kind of interested in know more about me, that's probably more more Mitch more. He's the CEO This cois gonna talk about NorCal. And then obviously we have our Instagram which is NorCaleSports, all one word. I think the biggest thing too is if you do enjoy NorCal, NorCal is not just a team, we are made up of a bunch of amazing people. So if you enjoy what you seen the content, I highly recommend, check who we follow, try to find some of those guys in there. And you're gonna make some of the most amazing like friendships and stuff. I think the biggest thing is everyone's on NorCal for a reason. It's not just because they're good at the Games, because they're good at games, and they're a good person. So reach out to them and see what they're up to go to their streams, I guarantee you again, we hold them to the highest accountability and standards to be good people. So that's what I'm hoping is like you guys find a place to like, you know, understanding of like, hey, friendship, a sub community. And the biggest thing we do and I think every good sports team says this and I was a football baseball player in basketball, player growing up. It's a family like that. There's nothing else so we're a family and we want you guys to be a part of it.

Kyle Warren: 52:44

Sick, man. Well, Mitch, thankyou, Mitch, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your transparency. I like we'll have to do in other ways in the future man, I'm I'm absolutely jazzed for you. And Dude, I I am extremely thankful that we crossed paths and we'll go ahead and go end it right there. Man, you have a great rest your night.

Mitch: 53:00

Thank you Kyle I appreciate it. Thank you for your time as well. And yeah, good luck on all your podcasts and school and everything in your future.

Kyle Warren: 53:07

Absolutely man. Peace.

Mitch: 53:08

Peace!