Kyle Hosick: From Agency Success to New York Fashion Week

Speaker A: Kyle, welcome to, uh, Founder Views. How's it going?

Speaker B: I am good. Thanks for having me, Costa. I really appreciate it.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, uh, I was super excited. We're just chatting a bit offline here. Uh, very excited to catch up with you. You are the. The definition of an entrepreneur in my perspective.

Speaker B: I appreciate that. I know that's a compliment.

Speaker A: It is. And, you know, I can't. I can't even keep up with what you have going on right now. Uh, I feel like you're on these. Correct me if I'm wrong, but just from the outside looking in, I feel like you're on, like, using a sports analogy. Like, you're on a run right now. You're just kind of, like, feeling it. You have a lot going on. You're dipping your toes in different things, a lot of confidence. Is that fair, or is that just, like, who you are in general?

Speaker B: 100%. And, you know, I haven't actually stopped to look at it that way myself, but I was just on Sunday trying to tell a group my story, and I got kind of put on the spot because I didn't have it all organized. And normally I would want to know, like, section one, section two. And sort of one thing I said to them was, like, this was a group that's all thinking they need to become different people to master their future. And my point to them was I became a totally different person to my audience by being more myself and not being afraid. Like, I have, uh, very niche interests in some case. And I didn't try to, like, control the narrative by only choosing to do certain things that look like they mesh together, which is why my story can bounce all over the place. But you mentioned a run. Like, once. I was, like, really leaning into just being me unapologetically and agreeing, yes, I will do that. No, I. That's not. I'm not feeling that right now. I might do it with you in the future. All the things start clicking together, and that's what's happening, where people I respect in business will reach out to me and go, hey, do you have bandwidth to, like, maybe consider this idea? Um, I run an advertising agency called Agency One, and for a long time, I was afraid to start a project because if it failed, it would look like I didn't know what I was doing. So not only I lose this side hustle I started, but my clients on the agency side would be like, hmm, m. Does he really know what he's doing? And I was scared to admit these side hustles. I have a New one now where I said, I'm almost going to be 50 years old. And I was like, now's the time. Do one where you tell everybody what you're doing and you don't hide. Because imagine the power of taking a company from 0 to 100 successfully quickly on those agency clients you were worried about losing. And I never look, I looked negative. I looked like, oh, shit, if this doesn't work, I can screw myself with both sides of the sword. Instead of like taking a positive outlook and being like, imagine if I kick ass in an arena that I have no business kicking ass in. Imagine that, what that will bring, not even just to my agency, but other businesses and the people around me who are like, okay, yeah, we need this guy's help and that's the run. Like, I literally. You're right, it is a run. And ah, I, I have every plan to keep it going. Because the sad thing about most runs is they stop.

Speaker A: That's unfortunately true.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, let me, let me take a step back though. So you, you're the owner, uh, and creative director of Agency One Marketing Agency, uh, owner of Revenue Brand luxury streetwear and clothing, uh, company. Author of a brand new book, highway to Sell, which I'm. I really want to get into that one.

Speaker B: Awesome.

Speaker A: And most recently Lumina Legacy Institute, A, uh, coaching, certification and training program. So.

Speaker B: That's right.

Speaker A: And I'm sure I'm missing some things

Speaker B: as well, but that's my, that's like my core four right now that you just. That's my Instagram bio, let's say, because those are, those are the entities that I'm like pouring most all of my time into.

Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. So I want to get into all these and like, ventures and like learn more about like what's going on on the ground in these businesses and extract any insights that I could use in my business and others listening could use as well. But before that, if you don't mind, just quickly introduce yourself.

Speaker B: Okay. So my elevator pitch. Wow. I don't really have this organized either. I've been running Agency One for almost 25 years. Um, you mentioned entrepreneur as a good way to describe me. And I agree. I did have like coming out of university, my first job, I woke, I worked for a female entrepreneur and I got to watch like her navigate business and how she made decisions and how checks came in the door. So I learned a ton of. And I knew then like, I was like, I think I didn't attach the word entrepreneur to it yet at that time, but I was Like, I want to do something for myself, like she has done. And that's when I started Agency One. I quit that job in 2001 and I started designing websites. And that's kind of morphed into an agency, um, because, you know, you add things like developing brands for clients. And then YouTube became popular and I was, I bought a camera right away so I could start doing video production. And, you know, you work with enough clients over the years, you, you know, I'm in the hundreds now where I've Talked to enough CEOs or CMOs that I have a good sense of pain points, how to fix them, how to get around them. And I've used that in my own life to, you know, with an agency, I can get something started really quickly. Like, you can buy a domain name. I can have a website up within a few days. I work on the brand myself. And I have done a bunch of other, you know, side hustles. And I, you know, I kind of mentioned that fear that I had of admitting that they failed. That was with me for, like, literally 20 years, where I really, I didn't talk with friends and family about the side hustle. I'd always focus kind of like on my clients in the agency. And you can't make a business work when you're being quiet about it. And I, One of the things I'm having to, like, forgive myself for is not realizing that early enough.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, so what, you know, I've done some, some wacky things. Like, I had a. I was a president of Biz Bash, which is an event planning magazine when I was really young and we did a trade show. They, um, had a concept that basically listed event, uh, companies on a website. And I, I, I moved on from Biz Bash and I started a website called Babyontheway CA in the mid 2000s that I sold to digital. And it was a resource for people who were going to have kids. And it's the type of thing where, like, I was about to have a child and I was surfing online and was like, this is garbage. Like, there is no single website that organizes all this content. So I had that, um, I went on Dragon's Den for another concept that was similar, called everyday actors. Around 2000, I'm gonna say 14. Um, so I was doing video production and I needed people. And I used to go to a bank machine and take out a bunch of 50s and walk the street and say, hey, do you want to give a testimonial for a product? Um, and I was like, there's gotta be a better way than this. So I created Everyday Actors. Subscribers paid five bucks a month and they had a chance at being in legitimate production. Um, and it didn't matter what you looked like. That's why it was called Everyday Actors. Most, you know, you might pay 800 bucks as a day rate for a professional actor, but you could pay 100 for half a day for Joe Blow you found on our site. Um, that was another project. There's been a bunch of them. I play music and I've had like, I've seriously pursued recording an album and hiring professional producers late in the, um, like 2018 kind of range. Um, and then revenue brand you mentioned. I started about 16 months ago, um, because I had like two unique things happen. I created a T shirt for my agency, um, and I put agency one on the sleeve. I was going to give it out to clients and I thought, what can I put on the front of this that sums up our relationship? Like, why do they come to me and it's revenue. Like, if I don't deliver on increasing the money coming in their email account and mailbox, I have not done my job. So I put revenue on the front of a T shirt. It was just kind of a tongue in cheek thing. And I was wearing, I live in Oakville. I was wearing it in downtown Oakville and a guy, another entrepreneur, clearly, like, stopped me, put his hands in front of me and was like, where the hell did you get that? And I knew that day, like, oh, uh, here's a side hustle, here's a spark. And I'll, I'll talk later about sparks. Here's a spark of an idea that I'm going to put into action quickly. And I drove home, I bought my domain name and I started working out what would become the logo and the crest and the brand assets for revenue brand. Um, that, that day, you know, that's kind of a roundabout description of myself that was kind of disguised as descriptions of projects. But that's kind of the way I work is like, I love having a bunch of stuff all at one time.

Speaker A: Um,

Speaker B: it's, it's a challenge. And that's why I wake up in the morning.

Speaker A: Love it. Love it. You mentioned a couple of times this idea of where it took you like 20 years to kind of like, you know, not worry about, you know, failing or not delivering, like, did something happen? Or like, what made you kind of like, you know, eliminate that frame of

Speaker B: mind and just, yeah, you know what? I, I cannot peg it to a single moment or something. Somebody said to me, be like, get over that fear. But I just knew, hey, I, I've had, uh, four of these side projects. You know, they're successful, they worked as businesses, they didn't just flop. I was making money and in some cases I sold them. But like I said, I'm approaching 50. And I was like, now's the time. Like, I need to do something that both my kids are going to be like, holy shit, look what dad did. That would live on way past, uh, my time here. And I was like, I chose fashion and clothing also because it's super hard to do and you can't have a glamorous story if you choose something that's kind of like low hanging fruit. I wanted it to be seemingly impossible, um, or in an arena where the competition is like multimillion dollar brands and companies so that I could be like, remember, I took that kind of like one last kick at the can in, at that. Like, I just was like, I, I want to have pride in, in what I did myself. And it's, it's like truthfully kind of working this whole thing about not keeping my mouth shut. And every person I meet, I go, here's what I'm working on. I'm not asking you for your help, but if you're intrigued by it, let's talk. And I've been meeting people in the fashion world that have helped me immensely with not only product design, but other relationships and avenues. Like, we're sold in nine stores in Ontario and it's just working where getting over that fear was the answer. Like, I'm deep enough into this now that I'm not guessing that that's the answer. It is, it is. And you know, I know your listeners, if they could only tune into 10 seconds of this, get over the fear. If you can tell, you've got it. You know, it's one thing to be an entrepreneur and start the project, but there's like so much risk in borrowing money or taking investment and waking up on a Monday, maybe not in the right mood to consider the future of your company. You got to press all of that down and just roll, roll with it. And I, I kind of bunk the fear in that same thing is like, get over it and go, yeah, it.

Speaker A: You kind of summed up one of my kind of, you know, I don't know if it's a philosophy or just kind of ways I think about things in business is, is no plan Bs, right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: If you have the conviction enough to, to start that business or do whatever it is that, that side hustle or whatever it is. Uh, you can't have a plan B because. A plan B, what is it? It's essentially you're planning to fail.

Speaker B: That's right.

Speaker A: You're instilling a, uh, grain of doubt in your mind. And once you do that, I feel like your, your chances of failure have now exponentially increased because you're literally like implanting that in your head and you've

Speaker B: opened that path mentally.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So you, you know. Yeah, I, I agree 100%. And I've never. Yeah, I, I typically, I can't remember a time where I gave myself a plan B, even though some of the things I've moved on from. But yeah, you're right, it's. There is this sort of like the way you carry yourself mentally. It will dictate your success and I, you know, manifestation or, and that kind of thing. That's not my jam or, but is a little bit in that you got to believe.

Speaker A: I think there's something to that. Uh, for sure. I think the, there's so much power in your mind. Like, uh, I believe, like, yeah, you can, you can dictate your outcomes by like what you're feeding your mind. Like, I strongly believe that.

Speaker B: Well, I, you know, I have a real like deep rooted passion for making this work. And I think when I talk to someone as they can see that and if, when I had that like layer of fear, maybe in these other projects, I feel like maybe they could see that and I wasn't as marketable as a reference they would give somebody else. Like, hey, you got to meet this guy. What he's building is insane. I'm getting those kind of introductions in this industry that I don't remember getting when I didn't have the focus and like exuding, like, I know it's gonna work. So, you know, out of the way or come along.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Love it. Um, okay, I have a question for you. Uh, coming back to Agency One, so. Sure.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, it's about AI. So you know, as, as you know, AI disrupting a lot of industries very quickly. You know, things are just rapidly accelerating there. Uh, particularly with video and marketing. It's pretty amazing. The quality of some of the stuff you're seeing, videos we're seeing generated by AI and it's just getting exponentially better. Uh, so I'm curious to hear from you. What kind of either threats or opportunities do you see with AI? Uh, particularly with Agency One.

Speaker B: Uh, so there's both definitely threats and opportunities is the perfect way to describe it. Uh, in the last six months, I've just focused on the opportunities, um, because to worry about the threats, again, that's the fear. And it takes your head out of the game. Right. So I have a lot of clients that rely on me for. I've been with them for a long time and they rely on me for my history with them, which I think insulates me a little bit in that regard. Where it'd be a lot of prompts and typing to bring someone up to speed with every nuance of their marketing activities over 36 months. Yeah, but I get it. Like, yeah, I can generate a photo right now or a logo. You know, I'm a brand builder for people. But I think still, like, I'm kind of still priding myself on not using those tools and giving my projects a lot of thought. What I do, on the other hand, really like it for is, you know, sometimes I'm working in a silo here by myself in my home office. It's like a co worker who's beside me that I can be like, what do you think of this? And I've really gotten into a groove with like, how to process the feedback that I will give me on ideas and whether I even explore changes it suggests I make. So I'm. That's the opportunity is. You know, I was listening to another podcast. I listened a lot to How I Built this, which is an NPR podcast. I don't believe it was this one, but somebody made the point and I got, you know, if I'm going to do podcasts like this, I need to properly credit people. But I can't remember, they made the point about refrigeration. That was somebody invented that. And no one can name the person who invented refrigeration. M. But it changed the world. But Coca Cola was the company that came along and used it strategically to build a billion plus dollar brand, multi billion. And you remember them and not the person who came up with refrigeration. And I, uh, look at AI the same way where it's like sitting there for the taking, for the person who's going to be the Coca Cola in that equation, who builds their business around using that opportunity.

Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. Good analogy.

Speaker B: And I, you know, as much as I'm trying to will that for myself into existence, I haven't landed on what that would look like for me to do. Um, you mentioned Lumina Legacy and we were basically training executive coaches to become International Coaching Federation certified, which could seem like a Very niche business, but it isn't. And, uh, there are tools where you can go online and use AI to coach you, but you can't. Like one tool we want to develop is use AI to let you practice coaching somebody else. So the AI tool would come to you as someone in need of coaching and you could, you know, essentially rehearse. So that's, you know, a seemingly very niche little product opportunity. But it could be, it could explode into industries beyond coaching where you need to get your chops and you need to put your hours in before you're certified. That's something we're looking at.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's. I like that. Um, diving a bit more into this. So, you know, we're living in this like blurred reality almost where like you don't even know what's real or not anymore, which is kind of freaky to think about. We're interacting with bots, speaking to bots online verbally. Uh, so as a marketing company, um, I feel like AI has now released like a swath of competitors in your industry. So how do you view that? And like, how do you differentiate yourself from all these other alternative options out there? Like, do you have like a niche of, uh, customers that you generally work with? Like, who's your ideal customer?

Speaker B: Uh, all of my business now is referrals. Like, I had my best year ever in 2023, which has allowed me to use some of the revenue left over from that to do these other side projects. But in that year I stopped advertising completely. Like, I had to take my Google Ads down and anything that comes in the door now is somebody going, oh, you need to work with him because he's good at X, Y and Z. So I kind of pride myself on that. But you know, back to the AI thing, I can still, like, I've seen some of my clients try to get away with like an AI generated headshot on LinkedIn and you can tell like, yeah, uh, you, it's. So I think there's still this, like, I'm still priding myself on using all real pictures of myself anywhere. And I'm not. I have no plan to be like, you know, some gritty black and white image where the sweat's dripping down my face and trying to be that guy. And I think the people who don't do that will always win when it's real. And that could sound like a fluffy rose colored glasses view at AI, but I really think there's going to be a moment where vinyl records are massive now because it sounds more real and people like the tactile and the experience and it's all going to. There's going to be some big crash and it's. I don't know what is going to cause everybody to come back to. I'll, uh, call it reality, because that's what it is. It's on the future, it's on the, you know, the timeline.

Speaker A: I just don't know where I agree that's what I'm kind of like, was going to get at as well. Like, I think there will always be people who value authenticity. Like, we're humans. Like, you know, we value that. And I can see the, the, the uh, reference I, I like to use from a historical comparison is one of the recent ones, uh, is with pearls. Right. At one point, pearls were regarded for their. Because they're rare. But in the early 1900s, I believe the invention of cultured pearls made pearls become widely available. So over time, natural pearls only became valuable to, you know, and still are, to like, niche collectors. So, like, there's the, in, in any comparison there, there's always like a pocket of people who still value, like, the real thing, the, the authenticity. Right. And I think that's, uh, that'll never go away, no matter in any industry.

Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. And truthfully, you know, there is a technical, um, proficiency required to even interact with AI still. Like me, I do it, you do it, and you're like, oh, all you do is open this and type your prompts in. But there's like, more. There's probably two thirds of the global population that's like, I don't even understand that. Where do you go? What do you do? Yeah. So, you know, like, this goes back to like, when I started doing web design. Like, we were still faxing contracts when we had email. Like, it lasted for years. Now, I know fax machines are pretty much dead, but I think I got a fax last year still. Like, not to say that that's real authentic technology, but there's a period where everything still, you know, Yellow Pages was still relevant in 2010, believe it or not. Like, so there's a big overlap. And I just think the AI overlap might already bounce back before it's even had a chance to actually take everything over.

Speaker A: Could be, yeah, we'll see. It's one of these things that, uh, you know, it's the, the rate of change, it's exponential, uh, lots changing. But I see it more on, uh, not necessarily like replacing people or industries, which in some cases it will, but, uh, more so like how to leverage These tools to improve your offering and your business and whatever that is.

Speaker B: I've seen you can, you can see chat, GPT and documents and emails where people aren't deleting pieces, they need to. And it's uh, in my mind it's a black mark. Like when I see that I'm like, oh, you phoned it in a and you didn't even like wherewithal.

Speaker A: Yeah, you can sniff that out pretty easy. And that's, that's starting to become like a pet peeve of mine. Like when you like an email or like a comment and you know, it's like AI, it's like, yeah, I want to engage with that.

Speaker B: Even on, I've had like messages through Instagram where you're, you know, I was puzzled because I'm like, on Instagram I might type six words to somebody as a dm, but I got this paragraph, paragraph chunked in that I was like, oh, okay. Well we're like on our soapbox in my direct messages and it was obvious.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Um, okay, revenue brand I'm curious to see. So 16 months in, um, tell me, like, how's it going? You know, what are some of the challenges you're, you're seeing in this? I guess it's like a new, new area for you, new arena. Getting into like the clothing, completely new.

Speaker B: So I had the advantage. I had one of my clients for Agency One was a high end retailer, um, in the Western GTA that I was helping them market. And so I knew kind of in the back of my mind if I did this I could probably get support from them and it would be likely that they would give me a chance anyway, put some of my stuff on the floor. And the good news was this stuff all sold out.

Speaker A: Nice.

Speaker B: That was the first, like, that's where I was like, okay, okay. You know, someone else is seeing this. And this wasn't a plan B. Like, I wasn't like, if this doesn't sell out, I'm probably going to fold this up. I still was like, I started making a list of like the decisions I would need to make to get this across the finish line. And it's like it's percolating a little bit in my head for a book I might write next year. Which like every good business, if you make 25 of the right decisions in the right order, I think you can have a million bucks in revenue.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: But it's kind of like that. Choose your own adventure where you're like, left, left, right, left. There is a Path. There's a path in front of every business. And I started to kind of visualize revenue brand that way. And I also was not in a rush. So I've had months where I've had no sales, none, not even direct to consumer, but that I'm fine with that. And it fails if that starts to get into your head where you're like, oh shit, this isn't working. I'm building a brand that like I want to sell one day as an asset to a, uh, major, you know, Hugo Boss for instance. When they go we're, we need to refresh our brand stable. I want to have revenue brands sitting on a silver platter ready to go because it's got brand equity, consumer awareness. I have a whole, you know, essentials line and a more fashion forward line. That's all developed people designing for me. There's proven sales through uh, the website and at retail and celebrities are wearing it. Like that's, I'm like celebrity seating is the next step for me. And I'm just sort of being patient about who that is when they're seen wearing it and what the exact product is. Because I know frankly if I got one of my early products on say Scotty Barnes, then it might not have worked because I wasn't at the right phase of the company. So I'm just being patient. And that's probably new for me too. I said the fear thing I had to strip away, but the like just mellowing out and like letting stuff happen the way it's supposed to is probably equally important to this.

Speaker A: That's funny what you just said. I uh, I um, think that's such a competitive advantage when you can be patient and like there's, there's no rush

Speaker B: to uh, you know, that's when mistakes happen. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And with I'm pretty much culturing a brand on Instagram right now. So with one couple posts that don't suit the message, like fall outside of what I'm trying to do because I'm like thinking I had have to rush and I have to keep momentum and I have to, have to have to do this. That's important to avoid too I guess if I'm giving advice because my nature is to move as fast as possible

Speaker A: for sure with revenue brand. Who is the ideal person that you want wearing, you know, these clothes?

Speaker B: Uh, so that's evolving. Like I, the name I'm, I've realized pretty early on can apply in many different arenas. So when I first started I was like, entrepreneurs like me are going to love this because that word is like the top of the balance sheet. You, you're going to identify with it and you're going to, you know, uh, creator somebody who's responsible for their own paycheck. I was like, there is no brand out there that's, like, focused on that. And I really felt I had Runway. I am higher on the price scale for revenue brand stuff. So as much as we've sold a lot in stores, probably to 40 to 60 year olds that are professionals in business, I want, I'm, um, again, being patient for when the wave hits, where it's high school and college kids who are all like, I'm money. I'm. I'm going to adopt this culture early because I know I want to start my own thing. And, you know, there's that side to this where I think it could be applicable to everyone. There's a streetwear element that I'm leaning into. You can see with that tactical vest there and some of the larger print stuff. Um, there was, there's a jean jacket there on our Instagram that Steven Sabados designed. Um, and I, I've partnered with him to do some design stuff, which, frankly, is mind blowing, but wouldn't have happened if I tried to rush things through and be impatient because, you know, I could, I could have started emailing him 10 months ago and it was too early and I would have that door closes, but instead, I just kind of let it go with the flow and it's been good. So, sorry, back to your question is. Truthfully, I think it's a brand that carries enough weight that everyone can wear it. Like, I met, like, a very famous fitness and nutrition influencer on the weekend who was like, revenue means to me, like, personal gains from the work that I'm putting into my body. And I was like, oh, I never even, like, good. Okay, I'm going to write that down because that is revenue. It's like personal currency. And I think even if I could just tap into the fitness industry, there's a whole business for revenue outside of streetwear or elevated. You know, I want people, when they go to work, they're, you know, they're downtown five days a week. I wanted something, and, you know, this is part of why I think it will be successful as well. As I kind of designed the early stuff for me. Like, I was like, I want, I'm building this because I want to wear something like that. I don't want to have a, you know, if I, if I'm going to wear A tracksuit on the weekend, and I'm going to be out doing groceries. I still want people to look and go, holy, that's nice.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Like, where did that come from? And it's not, you know, promotional product with. With a silkscreen logo on it. Like, all my stuff is custom. There's embellishments that I put a ton of time into, not only conceiving and sampling, but that's. That's also the patience that has been required here to be like, this isn't right, so I'm gonna work on it more. Instead of, like, having product that's halfway there and being like, okay, it's good enough. I'm gonna hang my hat on this and start running. I didn't do that. And when I hand it to someone now, or, you know, because I still, you know, I'm gifting to influencers and stuff, there's like a. It's a vibe, like, they put it on and go, oh, okay. This is different. And that's another struggle I'm having is most direct to consumer through a website. You're supposed to be able to just look at it and go, I want that. But ours is a product that the price point is high enough that most people need to have seen it on someone and touched it for it to work. I'm also fine with that.

Speaker A: Do you design the pieces yourself?

Speaker B: Most. All of them. Up until this jean jacket collab with Steven. I designed every piece of.

Speaker A: Yeah. How did you, uh. Where do you manufacture so early?

Speaker B: I was trying to manufacture in Canada when I started, and the cost, it's ridiculous. Like, especially I mentioned some embellishments. Like, I do like a liquid rubber. Like, this I'm wearing now is a knit sweater. Like, to have this made here would be. It would probably be more than what I'm selling it for, truthfully. And you just. You're priced out of the market at that point.

Speaker A: Doesn't make sense.

Speaker B: So I did make a ton of stuff locally, and it was. I probably wasted a lot of money at the early stage of this, but it got my Instagram up to the point where a supplier, um, from Pakistan reached out to me and said, I'm an entrepreneur. These are pictures of my factory.

Speaker A: These.

Speaker B: This is. These are the working conditions. And I got to look at all of that and be like, you know what? I will give you a shot. And I admire your hustle as an entrepreneur for reaching out to me to try to secure all of my business. And he's been fantastic. Uh, and you know what? I thought this is gonna, like, a Canadian GTA retailer is gonna go, we can't have this in here. It's made in Pakistan. Like, I get that you're a Canadian brand, but that hasn't been the case. They're like, you know, what it is, what it is. You're a Canadian. The brand is Canadian. You're celebrating Toronto, right? In most of your pieces, it's okay. And so I, you know, I could have been afraid to announce that to the masses because, you know, made in China, made in Asia. Most of the stores that I'm in is all Italian menswear. Like, that's their stick. Like, shirts are 400 bucks made in Italy, and that's what everyone wants. But I've, like, snuck in the door there because the quality is so good, uh, that most people aren't really asking questions about it.

Speaker A: Is that even. Is that a real, like, bottleneck, though? Like, I feel like every, like, Hugo Boss. Like, these are made in, like, you know they are.

Speaker B: Yeah. If you look close, you can shoot holes in any. Any brand like Zara. And all of that stuff's all made in China. China and Malaysia.

Speaker A: Speaking of AI, though, have you seen. I saw, I think the other day, someone sent it to me. I, uh, believe it's Zara.

Speaker B: Ah.

Speaker A: Online, you can, like, take a picture of yourself and, like, choose an outfit and, like, see how it looks on you. Yeah, I look pretty cool. I never actually.

Speaker B: It's cool. Yeah. Like, I did that to buy my glasses, uh, ah, ages ago. Like, Warby Parker would let you try your glasses on. Um, so I know that type of stuff is coming, and that's where, like, I might not have the resources now to compete with, like, incorporating a tool like that, but I still think that's okay.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Like, Zara is a massive company. So when I go back to brands, buying brands. Perfect.

Speaker A: Perfect. Do you have a team with revenue brand, or is it just you right now?

Speaker B: I do, I do. Like, I have. I've been. I've been lucky in that, uh, again, with, like, fashion, it's a glamorous industry, and people want to support because it's cool story. Like, when you tell someone, oh, I'm design, I'm modeling. Like, I have, like, probably 40 models in my roster that I could text right now and be like, hey, do you want to do a thing on Friday? And they want, like, I pay very little. You know, hopefully they're not watching because you want to be attached to a brand like that, and you want to say you're working and you want to say, look what I'm helping build. You know, my agency doesn't have that same cachet where you're like instantly able to post something on Instagram. I haven't posted on my agency Instagram in like eight months because I'm busy and I'm doing my thing. I have my other buckets. Is that a little irresponsible? Maybe. But I uh, there's still people out there doing business that don't even have Instagram.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And that's important to remember because I think it's easy to get caught up in like likes and views and follower counts. And you know, my, my, uh, I have a business partner who's an influencer through and through like hundred of thousands of followers and we work together and I have 550 personal followers. You know, and we, we consider each other equals in this.

Speaker A: I agree. Uh, old school sales and marketing still works. I mean that's, that'll never go away. Um, I'm curious because I was on the website and I see uh, really sick shirt. That Benjamin Franklin one.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, my favorite biography to my on my shelf is on uh, Benjamin Franklin.

Speaker B: No way.

Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm curious, do you, was there any like, did you need like licensing for certain pieces?

Speaker B: So that's Ben Franklin from the US hundred dollar bill on purpose for obvious reasons, like with revenue brands. So we kept like the little lines the way they produce it on the money. And I, um. So you asked about A.I. i, I plugged that in to vector image that was unique to Agency one at the time. So it is not actually a copyrighted image. By the time I vectorized it and warped it to be just different enough. So there, there's a perfect example of like the opportunity in AI was like, it's like super high resolution, it's all black, Whereas on the $100 bill it's green. Like so I definitely finessed the rules using AI there.

Speaker A: Awesome.

Speaker B: Uh, and we have the one that's the Queen of England from the Canadian $20 bill. That actually is my favorite of the whole lineup because that brings me sort of back to my childhood. Probably the first 20 bill I ever had, which was a big deal that one day it wasn't a 5 or a 10 that you had in your wallet. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah. Ah, these are, these are nice. Very cool. So, um, anything you want to like where do you see revenue brand in the next, like end of this year, end of 27. Like anything in the pipe, Anything exciting you?

Speaker B: Uh, we're doing New York fashion week on February 13th. I'm down there in New York. I have a Runway on the Emerging Designers Showcase there. Stephen, uh, Sabados is coming with me. Um, and we're going to showcase these, the denim jackets. He did 10 of them, and they're insane. Um, all. Every one of them is custom. Um, we're doing a party on February 5th to sort of celebrate the fact that those jackets are done and that we're going to New York Fashion Week the following week. And then from there, I mentioned, like, uh, this year is going to all be about celebrity seating. And it's about finding the right investor who sees what I've accomplished in this 16 or 18 months and goes, okay, here's a chunk of change. I have connections now where I could get certain athletes or stars on the phone through some people that I've met in Toronto. And it's about finding the right time to do that, ensuring my website can handle the traffic. And, um, what. What does that contract look like? Is it four posts over a month for X amount of dollars? Like, that's all the fun part of this is trying to negotiate, you know, frequency of, uh, posting. Are you a brand ambassador? Like, it would be. You know, that's a funny thing, is you could have the wrong brand ambassador. And then I'm. I've made a mistake in my 25 decisions. And that's why I'm being patient there, too. Like, it's. It's, uh, it's tough, like, but it's fun.

Speaker A: How did you, uh, like, New York Fashion Week? Like, was there, like, an application? Like, what does that even look like?

Speaker B: So I got invited to do Toronto Swim Week in. In July, which I was kind of like, well, we don't have bathing suits. I'm not sure how this fits, but I guess you could, after you swim, put on a hoodie. But it's all like. We were at, uh, there's a venue in Toronto called Lavelle, which has a rooftop pool. And it was there. And, you know, I had just the right amount of pairs of shorts and, like, a few hot male models with their shirts off modeling the shorts and stuff. And these organizations all pay attention to one another. And I had an email very soon after swim week from New York Fashion Week saying, come on down. Do you want to do September? And I was like, oh, geez, September. Um, no, that might be too quick. And they said, okay, the next one's in February. And I said, okay, that's enough of a Runway that I can like get my ducks in a row, so to speak, to have some new product curate five to 10 looks that aren't simply our leisure wear, which is the tracksuits. Um, and so we're ready now. Um, and that's exciting. But yeah, that's the other thing about being patient in a business with Instagram these days. Your brand is always alive and always working for you online and you never know who's looking at it for sure. And that has been key too, where it's like, you know, someone's called up the website in front of me and I'm like, oh, yeah, shoot. I haven't been even been on our site in a while. And I think does a good job of presenting all of the products in a way that you're, uh, like, whoa, this looks like a five year brand, not an under two year.

Speaker A: It really does. Yeah. Looks great. Yeah, that's impressive. That's awesome. All right, very cool. Um, your book, highway to Sell.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Um, tell me about it.

Speaker B: So that's a labor of love and there's a few connections to be made there. So I talked early on in this podcast. I said that the key for my recent success has been me owning who I am. And ACDC is a huge, huge part of my life. People close to me would say it's way too big of a part of my life because I rarely listen to anything else. But I love it. I own that and I don't care. And I don't care about what other people think of them as a band or they do the same thing over and over and over. So for like 10 years I've had this idea in my mind that like, they really like, they're still touring. Brian Johnson, their singer, is 80 and he can still do it. Angus, who's my personal hero, their guitar player, he's 71, 72 now, and he's still running around. He stopped dying his hair. He owned the big white doc from Back to the Future look that he has going on now. But I, I, there's these, there's probably 10 key principles that were in my mind that if that ACDC have really done well to maintain their band as a brand and as a business that I've always admired with Revenue brand. I started following those things, um, before I decided to, I'm going to write the actual book. And those things worked. So then I was like, oh shit, okay, I'm writing the book. And on September 1st of 2025, I truthfully plugged into AI like I want to write a Book, I want it to be based on AC dc. And this is what I mean about that co worker. Like, I really like I for that. I don't want it producing the content, but I want it to go. Have you ever thought to move this chapter in front of that one, right? Because you might have a bit better of a flow and that, that's not cheating to me. That's, um, just having a knowledgeable advisor. And I feel like that's. That doesn't break the rules. And so, yeah, I organized my thoughts. I have a bunch of stories about AC DC that are personal anecdotes, but I also mixed in with this book stories of other partners. Because one, the key sort of underlying theme that I get into first in the book is one of the band members. His name's Malcolm Young. That's Angus's brother, who you wouldn't recognize because he did not try to steal the spotlight. He didn't give a shit. He said, we can have a good business here. If I recognize that my brother is going to be the face of this thing, I'm going to stand in the back and count the money. And he did that with humility and grace. And he never. It didn't get to 1986. And he went, you know what? I'm going to turn this thing on its back because, uh, we're successful now. And now I do want the spotlight. They didn't mess with that. That's the first rule their logo is. Has not been with in a long time because it's arguably perfect. And they dialed in on that. Their brand is consistency. They didn't change a thing through the 80s when new wave and synthesizers. They didn't wear makeup, they didn't wear eyeliner, they didn't tease their hair to fit in with Poison. And even Guns N Roses is guilty of coming out with like big hair at the beginning because that was the end of a trend. And they didn't follow that at all. They said, we're good at doing this, we're sticking to it. And that is literally one of the best business lessons you could ever share with someone is like, if you found your thing, don't screw it up by trying to add, uh, too many services or too many products. If you have a simple offering that people are continuing to buy, stick with it. And that. That is sort of the book in a nutshell. And I've been. When people ask me, like, it is confusing. They're like, really? An AC DC business book. Like, what, what's going on? There's no product these days that's too niche at all. Like almost the more niche you can make a product, the more successful it's going to be because there's a niche out there for everything. Sometimes even in like my TikTok algorithm, I'm like, really? People care about this.

Speaker A: And the more niche you get, the more granular you get, just the easier it is to market, to sell. That's right, because you just now know exactly who to market to. Right.

Speaker B: And that's my audience. I've been running a Google, uh, YouTube ad that only plays during ACDC videos. So probably half of, half of the people who see it don't give a shit about business. But I know there's a big chunk of them who are guys wired like me who are like, what the hell? There's a business ACDC business book out there that's awesome. This is under 30 bucks sold. Like, I would be all over that if I stumbled across it.

Speaker A: How long is the book and how long did it take you to write it?

Speaker B: I spent a month writing it. Um, let's see. I have it right here beside me. It's an easy read. It's like 215 pages. I've got some pages in there that I mentioned the spark when we were talking about how revenue brand kind of hit me when that guy asked me about the T shirt. I talk a lot about sparks and that's the idea that hits you. So Malcolm is the guy who had that idea. I'm going to start a band. And uh, it's funny how little glamour there is and how these guys came to making this spark into a billion dollar thing. But like, Angus wears a schoolboy uniform because he would get home from school and practice playing guitar and his sister was like, why don't you wear that? Like that's. And it's like iconic. As iconic as probably any other music. Um, look. And the name ACDC is also from their sister. It was on her sewing machine on the back with the lightning bolt even through the middle of it. And she's like, why don't you call. You guys are heavy and it's electric. Call it AC dc. And it's not, there's not some focus group that went into this. It was a spark that they went, yeah, ah, we're gonna, we're gonna run with this, we're gonna own it. And, and I let, uh, the reader take some notes in the book and I have some challenges in there for them where it's like, if you have a spark, write it down here. But also I'm going to give you 48 hours to try to do the first thing to act on the spark. And if you can't think of what to do, the spark probably needs a bit of work. Um, the other thing I've worked into here is a bunch of examples from other businesses. So it's not just 200 pages of AC DC did this. So you need to do this. It's Apple, Steve Jobs and Wozniak. Steve Jobs is the Angus, Wozniak is the Malcolm. Uh, Instagram is the same thing. Um, Ben and Jerry's is an example I bring into this book where one of them is the face, truly, but the name is two people and they come together, they understand where they fit in the puzzle and they've built a million dollar business on not trying to step out of your lane.

Speaker A: Love it. Amazing. Okay, um, I want to round out the latest venture, Luminar Legacy.

Speaker B: Uh, like Lumina Legacy Institute. Yeah, so that's that. Um, I met with my partner in that in April of 2025 for what we thought was going to be a meeting for Agency one where I was going to help her kind of. She's got, uh, her own brand and her own thing going as an influencer and a little bit. Yeah. Where she, rather than like, and I told this story to that same group on Sunday is I didn't try to like rush a sail through with her. Like, I can do your photography, I can do your videography and we're going to do a video like this. And I just like kind of stayed quiet and was patient in the conversation so she could go, truthfully, I want to start a business. Like, she's a certified coach. And she said, in all honesty, my dream is to like build this certification accredited institute where coaches can come to get certified. Because she's just been through a success school that helped her get certified. And she was like, I could do it so much better. And I was like, do you want help with that?

Speaker A: Was she a new client to Agency One or brand new?

Speaker B: I had just met her. I knew her husband, but truthfully, not well. I knew I had met him a couple times about, um, his entrepreneurial life. Um, but I had just met her and, and we were together for two hours. I have a studio here at my house. And the conversation again, it was like I already had revenue brand going, so I knew what worked with that. I think that helped paint a picture of what I was capable of too. So we go back to your analogy of the run that you can be on as I was confident in that and not thinking, how can I get a $2,000 gig from this woman right now? And that that's all of how these sort of things have like kind of woven together to create a new me by not changing anything, leaning more into just what I like. And I do. If you don't like ACDC and you want to laugh that I have a book book that is a business book focused on them. You have every right to do that. I don't care. I do not care.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And I used to care. I used to care.

Speaker A: So with Lumina Legacy, what's, what's the, what's the pitch? Like, who do you like? What's the offering essentially?

Speaker B: So icf, the International Coaching Federation, is a gigantic organization and executive coaching is based on big business. Big business. Like there are coaches within most large companies, um, that are sort of part of the HR function of the business where they've realized like human potential. And the output of our employees is directly tied to their mindset and how they move inside this company. And I didn't know anything really about that business. I have a cousin who's not a certified coach, but he charges a fortune and coaches professional sports teams and like he's, he's in this format most of his day, uh, cashing a big check. Helping people work through their own minds and how they organize them. Coaching isn't really about giving advice. It's about asking the right questions of the person. And that's that whole icf, um, model. And so it's, the pitch is we probably compete with a thousand other schools out there that will help you train to write the ICF exam. But we said we're going to be the best. And I think uh, we built something at the tail end of 2025. Like we sold out a 25 person cohort for 2026 very quickly. And we're doing everything top notch. Our learning management system, our in person product, which just happened this weekend, we did an introductory immersion, was second to none. Um, because of the agency background, I'm bringing to this all of our video assets and any training that's going to be module based online, looks and sounds and feels better than anybody else's. And we have a, we have a distinct competitive advantage because of that. And it's a great business because a lot of this can live on. Once you've delivered module one once and it's recorded, it's there.

Speaker A: Yeah. So, um, people who come through this program, they then have to write the, the exam.

Speaker B: Exactly. So I use this analogy. If you remember when you got your driver's license, you probably did young drivers or Sears driver training to prepare you to pass. That's what we are.

Speaker A: Okay. We're preparing 25, um, um, slots, so to speak.

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: Uh, for the first cohort. How did you, how did you guys do that? Like, what was the execution on, on the marketing? Were these people like in your network or like what was that?

Speaker B: Well, we were following those decisions. We built a good brand. We properly stated our service. We didn't cut corners on like presenting the brand and doing photography that matched what we were trying to do. But also my partner, like, I, I compared us to like a Venn diagram. If you know, like the two circles and there's that part that crosses over.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: The way I was introduced to her was because a friend of mine said, you guys share that middle. And it's so funny that most people will only introduce you to someone if you share the middle of the Venn diagram. But what actually makes sense is that they should introduce you because of what you don't share. On the outsides of the Venn diagram, that would make a pop, like an explosive combination. And we found out that when we combine those two sides plus had that little area in the middle, that is describes both of us perfectly, which is hustle, hard work, head down. Who cares what people are thinking of you while you're building it? Um, and plus she's an influencer. Like she has a network. She knows the people who want the coach training. And that was her side of um, building this was she's great at sales and she had a network and she has reach beyond the reach that I have. So it was kind of the perfect combination.

Speaker A: Love it. And is this geared towards female? Uh, I saw something on your Instagram. Is it females?

Speaker B: Nope, nope, it's everybody. It's just, it just happened to be that our entire first cohort was female. Okay, that's it. Um, but you know, we're going to, we're doing a podcast ourselves that's going to help expand our marketing. Um, we want to do a co written book to help coaches get into a coaching mindset. A lot of this is about mindset and, and definitely we, we want to see an equal split and you know, males, females, anybody who, who wants that ICF certification. Because truthfully that is important when a corporation is going to either hire you to be an external coach or bring you inside the fold. That's the differentiator. And though you know, back to AI and what matters and what's a threat, what's an opportunity. There's still a lot of lot, you know, of certifications out there that AI is not going to replace.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Very cool, man. Uh, very, very awesome. Um, thank you. I always wrap it up. Kyle, I wonder. I want to be mindful of your time. I always like to ask people, uh, one last question. If you had to. If you had a billboard that every entrepreneur in the world could see and you have to put a message on it, what would it say?

Speaker B: Well, um, I mentioned the thing about fear, and I think if I was talking. I spent a lot of time talking to my own son, who's going to be 18 this year, about fatherly advice. And so I think I'm going to say the billboard is for him and my daughter. He's older, but I talk the same way to both of them. And it's that, no fear, like, get rid of that, because if you let it creep in, it's going to affect. It's never going to have a good effect on what you're trying to do. It saves, you know, I know fight or flight. It saves you from getting hit by a bus. It makes you look both ways before you cross the street. But in entrepreneurial pursuits, it's only ever in the way.

Speaker A: Yeah. Love it. Love it. Kyle, man, very impressive. Very inspiring, motivating. Keep it up.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: I genuinely wish you all the success in the world and continued growth. Um, if someone wanted to learn more, reach out, where's the best place to do that?

Speaker B: Yeah, Sheesh. There's all kinds of places. Um, at Kyle Hosick on Instagram, my name's here on the screen. That's a good way to just kind of know about all the things. And I have my web links all in there, but. Revenuebrand, uh,.com thehighwaytocell.com luminalegacy.org those are good places, too.

Speaker A: Amazing. All right, Kyle. Pleasure as always.

Speaker B: Appreciate you. Thank you, Costa. I really appreciate, uh, you reaching out to me. And this was a great chat. I could do an hour where I turn the tables on. On you. So we can book that time separate easily.

Speaker A: Yeah, we'll definitely do it again, man. I appreciate it. And, uh, we'll definitely be in touch. Awesome.

Speaker B: Thanks, Costa. Take care.