The Making of a Digital Mogul: Tracing Sean Kelly's Rise in Business

Welcome to Vegas Circle podcast with your hosts , Paqui and Chris . We are people who are passionate about business , success and culture and this is our platform to showcase to people in our city who make it happen . On today's podcast , we got something special .

Thanks guys , I'm excited .

We're going to finally make this happen , man . We've been trackin' each other down , runnin' into different events together . I want your event back in January , but you've been doin' some big things , man . We were talkin' offline , so first let's just talk about the genesis of the business idea of you startin' Jersey Champs .

So let's kinda start with there . Yeah , those were the days , man , early college days broke . You didn't know what to do , depressed , I mean , for being honest , felt pretty lost and never wanted to get a job for another year , company Okay , and I never had a job . So I was pretty stubborn with that early on and just finding out about dropshipping .

Back when it was hot .

So you'll see as this interview goes on , a lot of my success is timing , so I'm really good at getting in industries at the right time and back then dropshipping was hot . So , yeah , the Jersey Company's how I made my first six figures in profit at a young age .

You actually in Rutgers University ? Yeah , in Jersey , okay .

So you originally from New Jersey ? Yeah , grew up there , okay , so how did you actually end ?

up in Vegas , then Ended up in Vegas because I wanted to do what everyone wanted to do at the time go to LA . Everyone thought that was a spot For me . It was not the spot . Okay , I hated LA . So how come ? Just the people mainly ? This is kinda cliche , but yeah , the people . I'm from the East Coast , a different mindset .

It's kinda interesting . You bring up like you never had a job . Right , you knew immediately you wanted to be an entrepreneur . Where does that kind of stem from , like , did you always thought that way or was something like spurred you into doing that ?

Yeah , I think it was subconscious , because my dad , even though he had a nine to five , he was an entrepreneur on the side and I helped a lot with that company . He sold books online and he was able to sell millions of dollars of books . Oh , wow , yeah , we would go to book sales together .

Jeff Bezos , like before Jeff Bezos . Yeah , so it's limited .

So , he literally was doing , literally Amazon back in the day but on through eBay .

Yeah , he was doing eBay and Amazon . This was when I was young man , like 10 plus years ago , oh wow .

Yeah , how did he figure that out ? Like , how would he figure out hey , buy books and resale .

Yeah , first it was just a passion , because he loved reading . He read about a book a day . He was crazy , super smart , genius , iq , so he just loved reading and I think he somehow found a way to turn it into money , which is what I recommend people do . So I was reading .

So you've been pretty much an entrepreneur all your life , right , yeah ? And I saw something that was hilarious , man , I wanted to ask you about it . So you started off selling candy right In elementary school . Going into seventh grade , you got actually expelled from school , oh man .

From selling candy .

I still think about it and just for our listeners . You got to understand this so Shod . Actually , from my understanding tell me if the story is wrong so you got suspended because he was making more money selling candy more than what the vending machine was doing . So they're taking away that ROI . From my understanding , you got suspended from that .

Yeah , it's a haunting memory , honestly . I mean , I was in fifth or sixth grade and I'm walking to the bus after school and in one hand bag of money , other hand I had a few candy bars left . So I'm just smiling , you know , walking to the bus and this angry fat teacher is like walking next to me and she's like what is that ?

It's kind of interesting . They should actually make their pricing a little bit cheaper in the vending machines , if you over here were able to sell all that stuff at the school . But it's telling about your personality to be that young and entrepreneurship that early and kind of just carrying that over into college and ultimately , your own businesses .

And that's something I thank my parents for , because I grew up in a wealthy neighborhood middle upper class but I never got an allowance , never got . All the kids in my school got their cars paid for , all their expenses paid for . I had to get it on my own .

That's what's up , man . So backing up a little bit , right . So you went to college . You actually dropped out of college to actually build Jersey champs . You know what I'm saying . So what was the turning point ? To say , like I know I could do this and build Jersey champs and actually leave the school , Because that's hard to do .

Yeah , it was a very tough decision , especially because my mom stressed the importance of academics , grew up in an Asian household , so that was a big part of the lifestyle getting good grades , going to the best colleges , getting scholarships and stuff .

Are you still running Jersey champs now ? Is it still up and running in the whole nine or are you taking a step back a little bit ?

It's still running , but I don't run any paid ads . It's all organic . Now I make a lot more money doing other ventures .

Yeah , sure , yeah , you started there . Obviously I was about to kick you off . And then , ultimately , what made you want to transition to different environments instead of strictly just focusing on that ? Is it like the want to just continue to grow , because a lot of people would just make that their thing and just run with it ?

Yeah , that's what I did for a while , honestly . So I did jerseys for about four or five years , but I noticed a ceiling . So with e-commerce the margins are pretty thin and the work you're putting in is a lot of work 10 plus hour days there's so many hats you have to wear in e-commerce , Customer service , fulfillment , marketing .

That's what's up . Yeah , what should it take now ? On education , right , so you , like you were saying , on your coming from Asian household , university's big . I mean , I college , you know college graduate . But what should it take now , being so young and being able to build all these businesses ?

on education . I mean , it's tough because as children you don't really have a choice . I don't think you could just drop out . Pretty sure you need your parents signature until you're 18 or something . But I love learning , I mean . But the thing with school is you're not learning about stuff you care about for most people , I agree .

Yeah , I've noticed a lot more now . I mean , it's like you got all these master classes right . We obviously interviewing you as an entrepreneur .

You know , the money is the people you're around . So that's what I did at a younger age .

Yeah , it's almost like it's you know really depends on what you want to do . School is great for a lot of people you want to be a doctor , go to school , like but if you're entrepreneurship it's kind of tough because it really doesn't teach you how to be an entrepreneur . I think me at least , what I've learned how to grow up .

I like both , but what stands out to me is that first mastermind I joined because I was the youngest one in it . I just turned 21 years old . Everyone else is , you know , 30s , 40s , 50s , all making multi-millions . Because the cost of this mastermind was a hundred grand to join , oh geez .

was this A hundred million mastermind ? Oh wow . Yeah , dan Flachman's , oh wow .

So it was just such a humbling experience because , like the people I was hanging out with , I was like the top dog , but when I went there I was a bottom feeder . I was the most broke kid in the room .

Where'd you get the money to be able to do it ? Because how did that ? I was from Jersey , chaps , oh wow .

So I saved up doing that for two years , I think , and then I used that money for the mastermind and then from that mastermind met some people ended up making millions with those people , all networking man relationships .

The power of networking is just amazing . I mean , that's what I've noticed just with building podcasts is that you meet so many different people and then the networking behind the scenes , like we were talking offline . It's like so many people , especially in Vegas , everybody knows everybody right .

Yeah , it's definitely something I want to start one day , I think .

So were you doing a little bit of masterminding right ? You were hosting ? I think I went to one of your events at CES right in January .

Yeah , I host meetups . Oh , meetups , I'm sorry , yeah , so I've been doing those for five , six years . My first one in Jersey , I was in New York . Actually 30 people came and I was still talked to about 10 of them and we're all like super successful now . So it's cool to see the journey , because back then we were all broke .

What was the initial focus of doing it ? Just networking to get people in a room and kind of .

Yeah , networking and in Jersey there wasn't really events . It's not like an entrepreneurial state , like kind of Vegas . I mean Vegas has a lot of conferences , a lot of inspiration here , but in Jersey it's like a family state . Everyone's working corporate jobs . So being an entrepreneur there is pretty weird .

Yeah , what made you not stop to be able to do that ? Cause that's a lot , man , when you're dealing with bullying , and you're dealing with a lot of folks .

No , I mean definitely put on the brakes , if we're being honest , cause didn't really reach my full potential until , probably , I moved out of Jersey . So yeah , looking back , it definitely put breaks , cause you're just so scared of being judged .

Yeah .

Especially nowadays with social media . I mean , it's just everybody judged , yeah , everybody just does that . Yeah , it's even worse now . I bet it is .

It's kind of you know . They always say sometimes you know you have to get out of that environment . Right , it's a stifling environment . I was watching a show or a podcast or something the other day and they were talking about that . Like , a lot of times you have to go into a new place and reinvent yourself to really to maximize your potential . Cause .

And now it's like the point , like who really cares ? Right , Like I was looking at , I just have my . I'm not gonna say what age it was , but I just had my high school reunion this past week .

Yeah , this past Saturday .

It was interesting . I really wanted to go . It's back east and when I started thinking about it , a lot of the folks that I graduated with you only talk to a small amount of people . So at the end of the day , it's like who really cares ? You just want to stay in your lane man and be happy with what you know , who , the people you respect .

Or yeah , there's been a few and it changes as the problems get bigger or the

Okay .

I don't talk to him , but I watch all his videos , so that's , that's a form of mentorship to me .

That's yeah that's interesting . I learned so much like that . You look almost like getting mentor from a distance . Yeah , you can learn so much from people . So it's interesting because now I've seen that I kind of have this shopping cart method right .

Oh , that's tough . It's been a lot , man , I've been getting scammed a lot .

Is that right ? Yeah , how so .

Yeah , uh , can't talk about one of them because he'll price and I don't know who after me Got it Okay . But Celsius , I lost a lot Really . Yeah , okay , lost a million there . It was like a thing where you were to earn interest on your money .

Those crypto wallets . It's kind of hard because you know , in one way , you know , being a forward thinker , you have to jump into those trends a little bit early . But then it opens you up for exposure , because now you're kind of in a situation where you want to be at the you know precipice of it blowing up .

Yeah , I mean . So I was in the crypto space . We were all printing money during that bull run like life changing money . So it got to the point where I mean this is all paper money , so it doesn't really feel real . But I had $20 million in crypto Okay , but still what do we get ?

That was just . That's not . Yeah , that's ridiculous about money .

It's ridiculous but it doesn't mean anything unless you cash it out . Right , yeah , fair enough . So I didn't . So I lost pretty much all of that , so that that was a huge wake up call , and so that happened to a lot of people I knew .

That I'm going to talk offline . That'll make him want to hurt . That's . That's a lot , yeah , and that's where mindset kicks in right Cause .

Yeah , obviously that I was depressed for a bit and it hurt , but some people are still not recovered from that mentally , and this was two years ago . But I told myself , dude , I need to bounce back . That's what I got in the podcasting . I knew . I knew I needed to do something , just stepping back for a little bit . I mean $20 million , $20 million .

Can you talk a little bit about how that works , man ? So that that's is it . Is it done ? I mean , is crypto pretty much ?

done in your perspective , or so when the coins I had that in , there's a very small chance to lever . Get back to that because they're called alt coins . But , in terms of Bitcoin , ethereum , the main , like three to five coins , those always come back . I mean , over time we'll see if it does , but over time , the past 10 years , it has always come back .

I think everybody was making so much money so quickly and a lot of those alt coins during the pandemic , so you could literally put $1,000 and overnight next year making a million dollars and then .

but any coin , any one . Yeah , it was wild . I remember there'd be days where I'd make like six figures in a day , just not even doing anything .

And the problem is like they're not super liquid , so , like you , they're buying it some so it looks inflated , but you can't really convert , you can't really take it all , like you said .

So the one I had actually was , which is that's even better . Yeah , which was crazy , Like I could have actually .

I want to hurt you .

I could have pressed two buttons and add 20 million man . That would hurt Because it was a top 100 coin .

Well , that's a good learning experience , and I wonder you want to pay for it , but so you must put a lot of like keeping your circle tight .

Your circle must be extremely tight .

Just get screwed like that . So yeah , super tight . I mean I could count on one hand who I would consider my circle . I'm with you .

When we first started off . We'll all go too far into it but be a crisp and cool for a long time . But you know how it is when you're building business . People take advantage and people have different side stories , so it's unreal . What makes you trust that person now ? Do they have to show you something , or what is it ?

That's tough in any business , because once the money starts coming in , people change . So now I just set really clear expectations , because I've sold two companies now and you know this happens every time .

Smart , extremely smart . You were talking a little bit about learning , right Like you're learning online , things like that . Do you read a lot , too . Is there books that you're reading or currently that you can recommend for entrepreneurs ?

I'm an audiobook guy . I was never a reader . My attention span is too short . I'm with you there .

I'm with you . What would you recommend right now to shoot this ? This been an impact for you .

The biggest one that impacted me , where I saw a direct result . I'm all about being able to take action on what I'm ingesting was 100 million offers .

Not the second one . Ok , the first one .

I've heard of the first one yeah , so he just released a second one 100 million leads , which is also good . Ok , but I thought 100 million offers for me was great , and it was also what I mentioned earlier the timing . I had a business at the time where that book really applied to it and I was able to directly make a million dollars off that book .

That's a strong statement man , If I listen to that , yeah , that's extremely strong . And how long of a period Just from learning that .

Six months , that's awesome . So that was the crypto marketing agency I had at the time , and the book taught you how to make an incredible offer that's so good that the person feels like really dumb saying no to it . Basically , and yeah , it's a great book . You probably read that .

You know I'm surprised . Yeah , that sounds like you're down . Yeah , ali , for sure .

Because the one challenge I have personally , like when you're trying to translate a book , I'm going to have an audio book listener as well Listen to strictly entrepreneurship book , but I'm not really good at making them actionable , right , and I think you in the situation that you referred to , is that you were able to make that actionable Like .

So I hear , and when I hear something that I think I can implement in my business right away , I'll literally stop the book and do it that moment . Because the thing is , when you don't , you'll like forget about it , or at least write it down if you're doing something like driving .

That's me . I'm not like that .

Shots fired , yeah , that's all right , that's OK , but you learned a lot from that . So a little bit about you . Were talking about podcasting , right , so you've done extremely well . I don't know if you want to say how far back you are on podcast , but I've been very impressed with what you've been able to do with your current digital social hour .

Yeah , I mean I always wanted to , but I was just making excuses and I felt like it paid off to wait , though , because my network was way bigger when I did start . If I started when I was younger , I wouldn't have the knowledge or the connections , so I'm kind of thankful I built up a resume . It gives me credibility when I'm interviewing people .

OK , who's been ? I know you probably want to say , but who's been , I guess , the biggest guest that you've learned the most from ? I guess ?

you could say it was hard to pick one guest that you've had , that's your best , but Wow .

So in terms of health , Gary Brecker , Gary's a beast .

I was just listening to Dana White talk about Gary . He's a beast .

I did the blood test ? Did the gene test ?

Well , you actually did it . Yeah , okay .

Paid for it . Found out I was allergic to some stuff . Found out I had some major deficiencies . Wow , Because as a young kid you think you're invincible . But , like looking back , I used to get sick every month and I was like what the heck , Like ?

I said you know it's funny , we got to meet your friend . I don't know if you know Colin Foucahnaca . I'm a Foucahnaca , oh , okay , he's big on that too Close to Dana and everything but he took it and he looks absolutely amazing . Everyone that took it looks amazing .

Yeah , he got it . I'm like what happened

Colin gave me the whole setup . He's the whole thing that Dana did .

Yeah .

He went to UFC right here and met with him . He showed him the whole setup . It , colin , looks like 20 years younger .

Fast too , like he's super quick .

Yeah , he's in major shape so , but what did you learn the most from Gary Brecker ?

It was mainly just fixing the deficiencies , naturally , which I like , right , he's not a fan of any of these medications that have a lot of side effects , and I align with that philosophy . Okay , and then just sauna , grounding barefoot on grass . So now I ground every day since I met him , so I do that .

Okay , shout out to Colin so .

Colin for some money . Okay , I didn't know it was that much .

Yeah , that's awesome . Yeah , talk a little bit about environment by impact .

Is that a new ?

company that you started recently , or so I .

So when I was younger , I was big on Instagram . That's how I used to sell my jerseys . Actually , I would pay pages to post it . Okay , they were called shout outs .

Okay .

And a lot of pages . Businesses were selling the usernames right , so you could buy the LLC and it would come with the username .

Okay .

So I stacked up about 10 , 15 . Really good handles .

Okay .

And environment was one of them .

Okay .

So sold . That company Never really did anything with the page , just I saw them as domain names , those usernames . Oh , that's interesting , yeah , cause every once in a while , a brand will come with some money and offer you some good money .

So you have like the handle at environment .

I had environment . I had OCD , delicious edible , oh man you must have been real early on yeah . Surfer bio cam . Yeah , a bunch of them bought a ton of them Like borrow with Circa .

Yeah Bar was sold Circa to the hotel .

Oh , we did yeah .

One of my friends , marvin we had a podcast . So he had that for like 10 years Exactly . He did it . So that's a hell of a smooth business . So just buying URLs , yeah . So , people make a lot selling domains . That's awesome .

I think you're gonna see some for too many , I just never thought about for like social handles Like domains . That was kind of the comment , but really Instagram or social handles are never one that you really think about .

Yeah , they're important , though . I just saw the guy that owned X on Twitter . He offered them a million , but then they just took it from you . Yeah , he saw that so they just bulleted it .

He was like I'll just take it . Yeah , you know the company's , they just took the name . That's hilarious .

Because it'd be cheaper to pay him like a legal fee probably .

Yeah , versus doing that . That's amazing . So , with us being a business podcast , right , you've you've done a lot right in this period . What would you say to somebody that wants to get in business for themselves right now , that thinking of it and they're scared , or whatever the situation is , what would you share with them ?

Yeah , I'd say for the podcast , or I mean business . Yet I would do the mentorship route or at least a mastermind get some ideas . See what people are making a lot of money at .

Yeah , that's great advice for sure .

Give us a gym man . I like Chinese food , so I'm gonna say does price matter ? Doesn't matter ? Oh , it doesn't matter , it doesn't matter .

Any place that we , that you could recommend , wow In .

Vegas . Yeah , that's tough . I really like Missoumi . Missoumi is kind of biased because the chef came on the show , but okay , he was telling me his sushi is , like some of the highest quality . Also likes wing lay a lot .

Wing lay , I don't know , I've seen that one . Where's that one at ? It's at the wind . Oh , that's the wind Okay .

Also the wind all the time .

See , I'm high .

That's what he said . Okay , I got it . I got what you say yeah , yeah .

But in terms of like good value , I'd say China , mama's good . You know I'm so .

I think they just read they just did a redevelopment or something , right ? Yeah , I'm so mad I have not been there before . What .

I have not , and I'm mad at my son . I heard China mama's where .

That too is right across from Fugalberg , literally .

Oh , China town Right off of Fugalberg .

I like to .

Fugalberg is great with Colin , but the China mama have heard nothing about things that out . But they just I think they closed down for a little bit and just did a redevelopment fire .

Yeah , yeah , oh , the women at the first one .

Yeah , oh sure , I didn't know that you gave some good ones . Yeah , so Missoumi , china , mama . And what was the other one ? Wing lay , wing lay . Okay , give us some gyms . And then I'm just going to say this , just because I know her Did you recently go to Golden Steer ?

Oh , it's supposed to go tonight , but my girl got sick . I was pumped . Have you been there ?

I had . Well , we had a man on the show too that owns Gold . Steer oh nice , but I love it it's great .

Yeah , I was pumped , so I definitely want to go . I had to cancel the reservation .

I never heard a bad experience there .

Yeah .

Yeah , gold Steer is good .

Nice , really good . Shout out to Amanda . But what else are you focused on man for for , let's say , for 20 . I know you're behind on the podcast . You're trying to make those happen , just about listeners . This gentleman is six months behind , killing it , yeah , with your podcast . But what else is focused ? What else you focus on for 2023 ?

That's the main focus . I mean I like to really focus on one thing at a

I don't even know what ERC is .

Employee retention credit Okay .

Oh , okay .

Yeah , have you heard about I have .

Yeah , you get like 25,000 per per employee .

Yeah , it's like I forgot the number . Yeah , I should probably know . I didn't know it was called that , but yeah , I know what it is yeah , but , like I said , I'm really good at connecting the dots and that's how I've always made my money .

Yeah , it's not even messing around man .

Yeah , we'll talk offline some other stuff .

That's great man . Now it's an absolute pleasure to sit down with you , man , just to understand , kind of , how you work and how your mind works . What else did we forget to ask you at all ? Anything else you want to share ?

No , I mean , that was good , you guys killed it I appreciate it , Sean .

Yeah , we're good talking . What's your social handles ? People can reach out to you .

Yeah , Sean Mike Kelly on Instagram is the best one Pay attention to this guy , man .

He's doing some amazing things , man , so we appreciate you hanging out with us , man . Thanks man .

Thanks man , Great stuff .

Yeah .