How a 2x Shark Tank REJECT Survived & Made MILLIONS | Ask Mr. Wonderful #15 Kevin O'Leary & Alpha M

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Hey Mr. Wonderful here with a really unique episode. I've asked Mr. Wonderful, you know, because we talk about entrepreneurship so much in the journey and the town the challenge of doing it. I thought we'd bring on someone who's actually been on Shark Tank, not once, but twice. This guy's a crazy chicken. Even to talk yourself on the Shark Tank twice is impossible, so he's done it. And who knows, he might be the only person who can come on three times. He's got the energy! I'll let him introduce himself and then we're gonna take a whole bunch of questions from Ask Mr. Wonderful viewers. But we've got an entrepreneur here extraordinaire: Aaron Kevin.

Thank you so much.

The problem? So, my name is Aaron Marino. I have the YouTube channel Alpha M, and basically from this channel, it allowed me to start different verticals and different businesses. I think that at my core, I'm an entrepreneur. It just happened that my business that I wanted to basically start from the age of 12 was a fitness center. I knew at 12 years old what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. You know, everything leading up to the point at which I actually opened a fitness center. That's what it was about. From 12 years old, I wanted to help people change their lives.

And you know, as you know, entrepreneurship is not a straight line, and it was the most devastating thing that happened when I had to end up shutting the business down back in 2006 because poopoo happens. Well, it happens, and it happened a lot. I think there should have been an omen; we signed the lease to our facility on September 11th. That was pretty much a telltale sign of how everything was going to unfold.

I think that's a very important list for everybody listening because just because you assume success, just because you have the energy, just because you have the desire, doesn't mean it's gonna happen for you in the first time. In fact, I believe that entrepreneurs that go through the sting of failure are motivated in a very special way afterward. And clearly, in your case, that's been exactly what's happened because there's been a lot of [ __ ] hits you, and somehow here we are, you very successful now, which I'm so happy to have you on my channel.

Because I want to talk a little bit about that journey. But you actually have a unique amount of aura and energy, and that's the fact that you've been on Shark Tank twice. Because when you came on the first time, I thought you were a real dick. I mean, the idea was so preposterous—the idea that you were gonna sell a style system for three hundred bucks? I know, but it DBDS. Yeah, and the whole idea was so crazy, but because your storytelling was so compelling, you actually got people seriously considering. I nearly had to go down the line of the other sharks to say, “Look, no one's given this guy any go. This is way too crazy!”

But you were very good at explaining why it might have value to somebody, and that's part of the challenge of being an entrepreneur: to be able to explain your opportunity in a very short, concise period of time, which you were very good at. But after that, you came back, which is remarkable, and let's talk about that experience. What was that like?

First of all, being on—I think it's less than 1% ever get back.

Yeah, Shark Tank is amazing, and it's a shame that people don't really understand what really goes into it. They only see a small window of what happens.

Well, here's a chance for you to say it!

It is brutal! It is! I mean, and the one thing that you're gonna notice if I tell you this, it sort of ruins it, your mouth gets so dry when you're out there because you're scared [ __ ]! You're scared shitless! Yeah, and so you're there, and lights, camera, action, and there is no stop, there is no, “Okay, do that again.” It's like go, go, go! And you get grilled! And that's what I was not expecting. I was not expecting—even though I watched it hundreds of times, I was not expecting the questions to be not only as direct and sort of cut through all the [ __ ] like it was, “This is what it's about.” You know? And I wasn't prepared for that, even though I knew my numbers.

I was prepared, and so the first time was kind of a disaster. I was so excited to be on, and I knew that, no matter what you guys said, I knew that I was going to sell a ton of style systems afterwards. And the night that Shark Tank aired, I had all my friends and family there. Everybody's there, and I'm sitting there, and I had my computer out, and I was ready to see that dollar amount start to ring. And I sold one unit the night that Shark Tank aired.

By the way, that's probably the worst performance of any product ever in Shark Tank history because the idea sucked. That's why. And I think I told you because I am Mr. Wonderful. I tell the truth. It shocked! But you came back. But so the reality hit me in the face. Alright, this is not working. And so there I was, about a month later, I knew that I needed a lower price-point product, something that every guy needed as your deal was 300 bucks, right?

Yeah, 300 bucks. Crazy on you! I sold one! Shut up! Usually, you made hundreds of dollars.

I did; I made hundreds! And so I was dyeing my hair when inspiration struck. My YouTube channel was all about helping guys look and feel great, and hair products were one of those things where I was passionate about and I loved. And so I thought, you know, I’m gonna start a hair product business. And it's been sort of a wild ride ever since. The YouTube channel continues to grow.

I came back on Shark Tank for the hair product, and nobody wanted to invest in the product.

No, because first of all your premise was for men, right?

Yes, which is a brutally competitive space, and everybody's question was the same: “What's your customer acquisition strategy?” Because you're competing with some of the giants on earth. Some of the biggest companies on earth are in this space, and they're beating each other up. And here you are, Aaron, saying, “Hey, hey, I'm here for a second time on Shark Tank. I've got another crazy idea. Please give me some money!”

But I got to defend myself for a second. If anybody else would have gone in the Shark Tank, if I didn't have the backing—or the reason I was selling was because of my YouTube channel—if I went in there, or an entrepreneur went in there with a business that, in two years, made a million dollars, and the margins were great, growing at a fast rate, everybody would have been throwing money at him.

But because I had this ladies have the future in front of us, we only had your second idea. The first one absolutely sucked! We all remembered that, and we're thinking, “Why is this guy back?” The reason you were back is you are tremendously good television, which is a great message to everybody out there. You have such energy and such an aura; the camera likes you so much that the producer said, “One more time with feeling from the sky!” Because everybody knows sometimes the second time up at bat is when you hit the home run.

And so I did! I got a deal with Barbara, but she didn't want to invest in the hair product business because she still thought it sucked.

No, she didn't think it sucked, but she was investing into your point. She wanted a piece of my YouTube channel.

Now this was, she wanted to diversify her risk, is what she wanted. Because she knew you were great, but she didn't know which one of your ideas was gonna hit, which is fair. I'll speak for her—I would have done the same thing with you. In fact, I would have been much tougher.

But the point was that she was saying, “Look, I know something's gonna work for this guy because he's got such an incredible amount of energy. I don't know what it's going to be.” And that's exactly what happened.

So fast forward, I didn't end up taking the deal. Since then, I've been able to start a few other businesses, basically leveraging my ability to communicate and have a large following.

So which one's actually worked?

The hair product business worked!

What are the sales of that thing right now?

This past year, Barbara, you bozo! You let that get away! I can't believe it. Shame on you! Imagine that dog! That piece of poop was doing a million dollars!

Gotta get to the numbers set—that was what? Why not?

I'm all about no—that's not!

And so that's not. So I have other businesses as well. I don't want to go into the numbers with all of them.

That's a pretty good number. That's a pretty good number for a product that really thought was gonna suck!

So then my largest business is a skincare company called Tish Hanley that is a men's skincare subscription business. I have an advertising agency that I started as a result of not being able to sell my—I didn't want to sell advertising to my channel; I wanted somebody else to do it.

And so I hired my best friend from high school, Terry, who is a car salesman and an amazing car salesman, and from moment one, everything took off in terms of your sponsorship.

Just teases what's the big nut? What are you doing sales this year across all this stuff?

A lot! Like, just give me a number. I mean, you know.

A lot!

See, here's where—here's it. Listen, a lot can mean two dollars! It’s more than one dollar—that's a lot! Or it can mean something stops in!

What about you? Come on, because you're the one that got out of the tail, and I want Barbara to hear just hell yeah!

You know, eight figures in that.

And that...

More than ten million?

More than ten million!

More than twenty million?

More than—let’s just leave it there!

Wait, Barbara! Barbara! Barbara! I'm gonna buy you a new baby. You can fly here right now to meet Aaron again—a new broom for you, Barbara! Right over here.

You can fly in a broom!

Yeah, you know what, love Barbara, but no! Everything is great! I'm incredibly fortunate that I get to do what I love every day, which is create content, and the fact that being an entrepreneur and having that in my DNA, in my blood, you know, you never know where opportunity and the—you never know which one is gonna work exactly, and you gotta keep your eyes open because what—but that's why I'm glad we're here today together.

'Cause we've got—I get thousands of questions from entrepreneurs that we’re actually at the beginning of your journey. Maybe they failed once, maybe they haven't even started yet. That's why I want to tap into you today on these Ask Mr. Wonderful questions. I got a bunch of them here. Let’s listen, and then I want us both to answer them from the different perspectives we have because you have come out of a hole!

You have a little story on this!

Watch before we see ya!

Right! This is a beautiful Rolex. You know I'm a watch collector—I really appreciate that. It's a gorgeous rose gold piece, but it's got an inscription on the back of it. What does it say?

Yeah, most people—it's funny—most people celebrate victories or wins or benchmarks in their business by buying nice watches, or they'll buy a watch to represent some zeal. That's what I do! That's what I do!

Something good at a celebration of success! I bought this watch when things were bad in terms of—and bad is relative because that's not a cheap piece! No, but I had my eye on it, and I was going through sort of a low point in terms of emotionally. You know, things with YouTube weren't going in the direction that I wanted. But I bought it to remind myself that as long as I keep trying, as long as I don't stop, it'll get better, and I can do this.

And so on the back, I had inscribed: “Get to work.” And so everybody told me, “All that these values! Get to work! Get to work! Figure it out!”

Initially, I would have said that would have devalued the watch, except since then, maybe that watch is your lucky timepiece because look what's happened to you. You look at it every day, and you remind yourself what you put on the back of that at your low point. I love that story!

Watches are about conversations; we just had one! So that's a very successful piece for you because every time someone looks at it, says, “Well, I really like that watch!” You can tell them the story of that.

Absolutely! That's great! I love it! I love that too—that's great!

Let's get to some questions, okay? Because we're gonna have some fun here! I mean, I love the fact that you can relate, and I've not listened to these questions so they’re men either, so we're ready. Let's go!

Hi Mr. Wonderful, my name is Tara, and I was wondering if you could give me—will me and my husband a little bit of advice on dressing for job interviews?

We were both actually interviewing at new companies this month and neither of us have been in the job interview game for five years or more. I've heard that wearing a suit and tie or a blazer and heels for a woman used to be the way to go, but that some new companies can think that you're stuffy or will fit the job culture.

Yeah, we would love your advice! Is it better to overdress, or is it better to be cool and approachable? You're always fashionable, and you've talked a lot about dressing for your job before, so we would love to get your advice. Thank you!

Well, Tara, you've come to the right place! I have the fashionista man beside me here, Aaron. I'm gonna let you take a stab at this.

Sure! She's raising a really good question for both men and women—they're back in the job market; they want to look sharp; they want to win the job. Basically, I think the first thing you need to do is do your research. Figure out what the corporate culture is like at the place that you're actually applying for because one of the issues if you're going to like a cool tech startup, I really feel like it does to some degree depend on the business that you're actually going and applying for.

And so, do your research! If it's a cool tech startup in the valley, what are you saying? You're gonna be a little hipper in terms of what clothing you wear—a little more free. You don't have the pressure to dress—it might not require a suit and tie, something super professional—it might be a business casual or a business casual type of environment.

But I always would say err on the side of overdressing versus underdressing 100% of the time! That is your one shot, and your employer knows that. It doesn't get any better than right now—like this is the best! If you are going in for an interview, you know that if this person didn't shave, if you know this person didn't wear pantyhose or whatever the situation is, it’s never getting any better!

And so I would say that if you want to dress and be cool and hip later, that's fine—that's for HR to work out! But right now, you need to be respectful of the position you're going after, but also do your due diligence in identifying what the corporate culture is because if you go in in a three-piece suit and it doesn't require that, you may be overdressing for the potential job or interview!

It's a great answer! I'm gonna take a stab at it too because I actually interview a lot of people, and I've learned that the keywords you just brought up there—and you only get first time to do a first impression only once; that only happens once! When you walk in that room and you look at each other, so clothing is really interesting because it's different for men and women.

Men have fewer choices; particularly if you're going for a job in financial services. What's happened on both the east and the west coast over the last five years is the tie has come back as a sign of respect—that you care! If you're in financial services, you're in an industry of trust, and the styles have become very, very clean. The tie, and also, you know that the colors have become more muted. It's very interesting to watch that happen.

It happens in San Francisco, Los Angeles—I see it in New York, Miami, Chicago! And I travel all those cities; people are looking crisp, clean, and subtle for them—for the sight of men. Now women, this is very controversial because if you look at some of the codes that are now written by large corporations about women's clothing, they're putting in the concept of not showing too much chest.

They don’t want controversial dressing; they don't want it to be flirtatious because of all the meat to things that are going on in the world, and they're trying to tone down. And believe me, in big companies, people meet each other, and stuff happens—that's just men and women doing their thing.

But how you clothe is caught—if you close yourself in a controversial way, that's gonna hurt you in a job interview! Are they risking something? That's the employer saying themselves, and they make notes about this stuff, I can guarantee you. And very often, they're asking for a picture of you before you show up just so they can see what you're wearing.

Women have to be very careful that they look professional; that's what matters—whatever that means to you, taking into account your idea about the company you're going to work in. But if you come in with anything controversial, that hurts. And that's why their dress coats, and that's why companies as they grow, just passed 25 people, HR starts to put in place dress codes because they don't want to cause tension in the workplace!

Great question though; I loved it! Never had one like that before, and good it came when you are on the set because you're the fashionista guy! You keep telling me that you're overestimating my ability! Come on! I told him he is twice on Shark Tank, remember?

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From Colombia at the moment, my question is if it’s better to grow slowly or seek funds to grow faster. We're spending over a million dollars a year, wide open for two years only. Thank you! A million bucks in three stands—the kid knows what he's doing! You gonna live off that? You're good! You're probably making about 30% margin on a product like that, I would think.

You know, bringing in $300,000—maybe it’s $200,000, $300,000. I'm gonna give him that if he's running it. So that's a good question: you first! You go out, you borrow money to expand, or you just grow slow and steady?

So, here's the thing that you gotta figure out: if you raise money, how are you going to use that money in order to take your business to the next level? One of the big mistakes that I see a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses get into is they take money because they think, “Hey, I need more money!” but they don't know how they're going to spend it in order to actually generate more revenue.

I am a firm believer that you never—you know, it sort of goes back to the whole debt thing! I don't want that on my personal life; I don't want that in my business unless I know if I can use—and you've said this all the time—I just want to add fuel to the fire, right? Or cash to the fire—make it burn! Gasoline to the fats, what it is!

And so unless you know how you're going to spend that money and you've got the infrastructure in place in order to be able to scale your business bigger, stronger, more profitable based on you taking money, I say until you know how you're going to do that—until you have a roadmap of “I'm gonna spend X, I'm gonna get this back”—don't take the money!

Do not fall into the trap! Because if you take money from friends and family, they'll let it slide. But once you go into that institutional money, then they're calling you! Then they're like, “Hey, why aren't you selling 27 more burgers a day?”

And do you want to answer to those people? That’s my question to you!

I think it's a great question because clearly, they figured out the model—Three stands doing a million bucks! I'm gonna say that they're probably making two hundred and fifty thousand dollars pre-tax on that. It could be a pretty good margin business. You're selling direct to the customer, cash, so you don't have a lot of credit you have to worry about or bad loans or anything else; what I would do is I would open one more stand using the cash flow of the other three in a very close geography!

In other words, just make it a place that you can actually go visit every day! I love businesses that spin cash! And you can live off! I hate debt! So it's just—what happens is you have to start hiring people, relying on them to have the same fire you have that maintain these stands. Sounds like a bit of a family business, which I think is terrific.

You don't have to become McDonald's to have a successful business, so I would cool it. I'd open one more with the cash you've got, then one after that. Grow it slowly—zero debt! That's for other people, not you, my friend! But a great question—great answer!

Yeah, great answer, Kevin! It's like you've done this before!

Yeah, well, I hate that just like you do!

Okay, here we go—one more time with feeling, Aaron! I'm here, Hank!

That's a simple question, right? Saying no to Aaron—that was my biggest steal, and it was a huge mistake! The guy's walking around with maybe twenty million in sales!

It's more Barbara's problem; she's the one that missed it! The largest deal in Shark Tank history actually is mine! It's the company called Plated, and it's measured by the biggest exit—it was three hundred million dollars!

They came on Shark Tank, did not get a deal—they were asking for such a ridiculous valuation! Two guys just like you! We ran in from a year later in the streets of New York; they talked, they told me where they were at, and they said, “Look, we’d love to get a shark into the deal.”

And I then did the deal a year afterwards, and that was sold only 24 months after that to Albertsons for three hundred million dollars! So they had nothing when they came on Shark Tank! That’s the biggest exit that we've seen so far in Shark Tank history, but it just shows you the dream is alive!

You can come on Shark Tank with a great idea, you know, get an investment for a shark, and together we can use the platform to blow it up big! There have been so many cases of that, and great entrepreneurs show up every day!

And, you know, all joking aside, Aaron's probably one of the best examples of what it takes to get on Shark Tank! You need energy; you need to show that you really care and are passionate about the business, as he was, and he got on twice now!

Barbara screwed up—that's her problem! You know, I'm gonna get Barbara two new brooms this—you go east, west, that's how it'll work!

Listen, it’s been great with you today! Thanks—amazing! Thank you! This is one of the best episodes so far of Ask Mr. Wonderful! Until next time, keep dreaming big—that's what it takes! Thank you so much, Aaron!

Thank you, Kevin! Good luck, guys! You can do it!

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