← back to the archive // episode file

This Guy Made Hurley Possible - Paul Gomez

#doorclick#businessmovie#surfteam#osaka#quicksilver
the transcript auto-captions · entered into evidence

0:00 Like that guy can call me anytime and he I'll take his call. He says, "Hey, I need this. I'll be there." Right. Who? Saka Shaka. You. Oh, me. That's true. Thank you. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even know. We're both, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's why you guys can speak the same language. [Music] Welcome back everybody to an amazing episode of the Careful Boys where we are blessed to have Paul Gomez in the seat today. What's up, dude? What's cracking? What's crackleackling? Okay, so obviously everybody wants to know how the hell did you meet the resident of Bart? Well, run in the same circles. Yes. Yes. Wow. All right. So if you're if you look if

0:52 you look at Bart like he shaves his hair a certain way cuz you kind of got him too the low ear strength. Mhm. Like a little bit down but he's down with the down with the downs, right? Fair enough. That's fair. So how did I meet Bart? Uh through a friend named Jacob Ross, a fitness guy. And um I'm the most fit guy ever, but um no, I met Jacob through um EFT, right? EFT or E. He was in Chicago. He was Oh, yeah. And he was running like private training. He was run He ran the whole stuff for uh like Major League Baseball. All the NFL stuff. And I I don't watch sports at all. Like I don't care. I watch MMA and I surf. You don't even watch surfing? Uh kind of. It's kind of jockey so I don't really watch it. But I met Jacob and then we worked on some stuff together cuz I I own a

1:43 supplement company called Progenics. Have you heard of it? So during the CrossFit like shebang bang nuclear explosion like at the highest Progenics was like the flagship supplement company that uh sponsored it all. So um when I met Jacob he was Lu Al Deng's personal trainer at the time and so he trained all kinds of high-profile people and he's like oh you know you're doing this thing at Borrow Brigade. I know someone that was super heavy in clothing, super heavy in supplements. Would you like to meet him? I'm like oh yeah of course. Uh he was one of the co-founders of Hurly and he also owned Progenics. I was like what the ████ I was like please I would love to because I didn't know ████ I still don't know ████ And that's how he linked this up. And then Paul was super cool and any other random question I ever asked them he always answered for me. Well cuz I'm No, literally I'm not

2:33 making this up. So I'm old as you pointed out. That was off camera. Well you said I'm old. So let's just break it out. Asians don't age. We don't raise. You got to say it's like a tagline. Asian don't raise. Asians don't raisin. They do eventually though when they raising but when they do it's like it's like that old apple thing that goes quick. It just goes quick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then we look like a prune. We look like we're 35 until we're 50 and then between 50 to 60 we look like we're 80. Yeah. Yeah. So So with that I have I'm like highly dyslexic. So when I was a kid and you went to school, they didn't know what it was. So I had really bad dyslexia. So I stayed back in the third grade and then I was like the older kid. And then when I got as a freshman in high school, I was like I was going to be 16 as a freshman. And

3:24 then I went to my first year freshman year of high school and all my friends who I went to junior high school, they're like going to the classes and I go to this one class there's like kids with helmets on and in wheelchairs and I'm in there. I'm like, "This isn't cool. This isn't going to get me laid." No, dude. I was like, "This is bad." Right. So, I was like, "Oh." And my friend, but my friends are in real school going, "Dude, I want to go to your class. That thing's sick. You get to like go on these weird field trips and the whole thing." And I'm like, "No, dude. It sucks." Like, I have like crazy like people attacking me helmets on. I'm like, "Whoa." Like, and I want to punch him, but I can't. So then so then after my freshman year I was this like my friend was in film school and he moved to San Francisco and I was like a hack pro surfer and he

4:15 moved to he moved to San Francisco. You're a sign what do you mean by hack prourfer? I've seen you in magazines and stuff. I surfed tried to make it as a pro surfing career but I wasn't good enough. Oh I see. So my friend went to high went to college at film school in San Francisco and he calls me up. He's like, "Bro, you got a fake ID and the waves are insane up here. Ocean Beach, that's all you cared about. Ocean Beach is one of the best beach breaks in the world. Hands out." Like, I've been all over the world surfing. One of the best beach breakers in the world. So, I go up there, go out. Nightclubs are crazy. Waves are good all day. I went back to school. Dang. Like, so you you dropped out of high school freshman freshman year. Yeah. Holy smokes. So like super super super Damn, someone got me beat.

5:07 Yeah. Why? When did you stop? No, he's just super super. So I only went to high school for a year and I hung out until it was the time to sign myself out at 17. I think that was the legal. You could walk up, sign myself out, and then I left. And I uh I got my GED though. So yay. I don't know that either. Yeah, but I do I do like the facial kind of Asian Joe Dirt. Thank you. Thank you. Like I try to do that too. Makes me makes me What? Kind of hides the chub in your face. Oh yeah. Yeah. I have a round oval face. Yeah. Stretches. Yeah. I'm trying to make it longer. How did you get to like can't read to all the crazy He's done some crazy ████ too. Like all the like record label stuff. Here's how you do it. And this is what I tell everybody. And this is what I kind of told you when you when I first met you. So, I loved music and then so as you go

5:59 through things in music, I would go see I would go see bands play and I was 16 and I did illegal things to have money. So, I had a car and I had a driver's license and I had ways to make money. So, let's not brush over those. What were the illegal things you were doing to make money? Well, here's what I tell every person in any business situation and I consult when I consult for big companies. You know what I the first thing I say to every company I go and I go I'm a high school dropout with dyslexia. You're hiring a borderline retirement. But I go, I've seen everything you could ever imagine. So the first business thing I make everyone watch as I make them watch American Gangster. Yeah. Love that movie. Business movie. That's the best business movie. Best business movie. That is the best business movie you're ever doing. You give homework to people who are hiring you. Well, cuz you

6:50 have to look at it. So tight move. Were you like throwing turkeys off the truck? No, but I was doing other things. So, that being said, if you look at that's a true story. And what do we all try to do? We always we're always trying to give somebody the best product. We're trying to get it for the cheapest possible way. And what kills every brand? The commissioners. Everybody's got their hand in it. So he figured out how to take what Bumpy was doing, go to the people, test it, cut out the middleman, fly to the jungles, make a deal, get everything there. And what caused his downfall? His family being flossy. Yeah. The the mink coat. The mink coat that his wife gave him. He was never that guy. Remember his his

7:40 cousin rolled up and he's like or his brother and he's like, "Don't trust like that. You're drawing attention to yourself." And he smashed his head in the window. Yeah, he's like, well, that was after he got cop. Spoiler alert. I haven't watched movies just coming out next year. I think he was under the radar for a long time. He was clean like Yeah. And then they also at the time didn't think that a black dude could do something like that. Yeah. So that that to me is the ultimate business movie cuz you learn and this is like what I try to tell people like so I have friends who have properties in Mexico and if you're if you VBO a house in Mexico you have to pay the cartel. Oh ████ Because any business is happening in Mexico you have to pay the cartel and they're they're actually just businessmen. So when I opened up my um business in Japan, I was trying to go

8:30 through the proper channels and lands at the Yakuza. I'll get to that. So I was go I was going through the all the proper channels. So have any of you been to Japan? Yeah. So So there's like Haruku, Shimuku, uh Shinjuku, Shabuya, the whole trip. That's all mob area. So but you're trying to get an office there. So like beams and everything, all the cool stuff cuz all the street wear and stuff, bathing ape, everything. So, I was going through the proper channels and I was just running into problems. I couldn't get a I couldn't get a store. I couldn't get a store. So, I called my friend up and he's like, "Oh, I'm dude, I'm struggling." He's like, "Where do you want your store?" I go, "Beams is here. I want There's like a empty building like four doors up from Beams." He's like, "All right, let's let me make some phone calls." Calls back up and he's like, "You got the keys? Go get

9:20 your store." I'm like, "All right." And he goes, "What what do we got to do now?" is oh you're going to come to um Osaka. So the Yagazas from Osaka that's where they were founded. So I always say Osaka Shaka Osaka heavy metal. Yeah. Yeah. Oh cuz no finger. Osaka shaka. Osaka shaka. Oaka shakra. More like a thumbs up. Osaka shak. It's like a hitchhiker. Yeah. Osaka shaky. Oh no. So when you look at that, you you have to look at every single person in business. And this is what I try to tell the people in business. If I if I if I work with you or we work together, I hire you to I always say I'm your boss when I hire you. I'm your boss when I warn you, then I'm just not your boss anymore. What up, guys? Come join our

10:12 Patreon cuz there's hundreds of videos dating back to 2019. Support the channel's growth and new ideas and tap into the closer community by joining our Discord. Come chat with me inside and then you can say funny things to me and get the opportunity to suggest new video ideas. Come join our Patreon. Thank you. Link is in the description box below. Right. So if somebody has to warn you, if it gets to the top guy's radar, you're blown. Right? So, you learn that in any kind of business situation. So, when somebody tells me they're busy, we all have dads, right? Not really. No, mine's dad. We all have We all have somebody who took care of us when we were kids, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did any of your

11:02 parents ever go to busy? Like, I'm for busy. I'm too busy for that. Uh, does anyone get paid for busy? No. They get paid for work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if somebody tells me I'm busy, you're pretty much out the door cuz what are you busy doing? What are you doing? Scrolling on the phone. Get work done, right? Yeah. Yeah. So that's I learned that when I was a kid from my dad. It's like the world wants to get by 95%. Pick up their 5%. You'll always be ahead of them. And if your word is good, you'll always be good. But if you your word's not good and it gets out, your word's not good. Nobody's going to trust you. And it gets out like, "Wow, like that guy can call me anytime and he I'll take his call." He says, "Hey, I need this. I'll be there."

11:52 Right. Who? O Saka Shaka. You Oh, me. That's true. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even know. We're both right. Yeah. Yeah. That's why you guys can speak the same language. And we have we have this guy over here is the smartest guy ever. He's our brains. Mr. T starter pack. Hey, don't floss. All right. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to get Mine's on leather. That's pretty cool. That's cool. You know why? Cuz that stuff will get your neck all grubby when you're surfing. Oh yeah. I definitely You could tell I surf. You know, he's busy dancing, so it's okay. You got to music scene before apparel. We're talking about surfing right now. I got I got it I got into the music scene and everything through the fact that I loved music and I didn't have a job. I and I did criminal things and what do

12:44 musicians like criminals but I didn't want I didn't want to do that. So what I would do is I would go to clubs and count bands merchanting for them. So like if you're going to a nightclub or any venue like small venue the the venue takes a cut of your merch. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they take a cut of everything. So I would go in there, I would show up early and go, "Oh, I love your band." And they go, "Oh, cool, kid. Whatever." And I'm like, "Hey, can I count? I'll count your merch." "Oh, really?" Count their merch, size it out. "Hey, I'll click the door for you." Cuz promoters will always rip you off. I've sold this many tickets. And it's like, "Click the door, click the door, click the door, click the door, click the door, click the door." And then when you close out the show, you go, "Oh, we've sold this many." It's like I clicked the door. This is how many you sold. This is what you owe.

13:34 That's tight. So, I became really good friends with bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beasty Boys, all these guys back in the early like kind of mid80s. I was like in my teens and then they just all became my friends. And then as that started happening, I got a job. I had the opportunity 17 turning 18 to a guy named Danny Quac. He was the He got He's a He's another Asian guy. Awesome. Used to be a Hack Pro Surfer. Really famous. But um he got he got busted stealing clothes from Quicksilver. That was his first thing he went there. Stole all these shorts, but they were all size 38. Oh ████ that's funny. So he stole all the wrong size shorts and he was trying to give away all these sell these shorts, but they were all too big for everybody.

14:25 Couldn't. So he so he he in turn knew who I was and he was like I met him cuz I was going to Hawaii cuz my uncle was in the military. I go over there and surf. He's like you you surf Newport all the time. He goes, "What are you doing here?" I go, "My uncle's in the military." So you're out surfing pip. Yeah. He goes, "Maybe you should try and do this." So he gave me a shot to try to be a surfer for like a year and a half. And then he's like, "I'll give you one more year to try me a surfer or I'm going to move the marketing position if you want to be the team manager for which company?" Quicksilver. For Quicksilver. Yeah. Quicksilver just gave you a shot like that. Just gave me a shot like that. He goes, "You got an outgoing personality and I that back in that time it's recognizing other." Well, not only that, but in that time in the ' 80s where people were into that, you know, the the stuff that energy powder. Oh, starts with a C. Yeah. Energy

15:15 powder. Con. Constant energy powder. Constant. Con energy drink. That's a good one. So they were in and I had inroads that cuz of where I grew up and so I had all gangster family members and the whole trip. So then I did that and he was like, "Hey, you want to want to run the surf team?" And I'm like, "Heck yeah." So if I wouldn't have done that, I would not be sitting here. So I ran the surf team, but then when I ran the surf team, when you get when you run the surf team, are you on a like livable wage or are are these kind of like half internship type positions? No, it's kind of in the beginning. It's not, but it's rad. The lifestyle. You get to go all over the world. You do everything you want and you have a credit card and you're taking the team writers out. So, you're eating the craziest dinners you ever want to eat and you're going

16:05 wherever you want and you're gone for weeks at a time. Like, we're going to go to Indonesia. Cool. Go. You're a credit card. You're in charge of the Team Riders. Dang, that's hella trust. You're going to go You're going to go to France. You're in charge of the Teen Writers. That must have been wild. Yeah. A teenager. Yeah. That's pretty crazy. Like you're Think about that. You're going around. But you got some stories in every every continent. I got I got crazy band stories. We could go on for we could spend hours here talking about bands and stupid people and every every kind of crazy story in the world, right? But that that gave me my start at Quicksilver. And then when Quicksilver went public was like I think it was 1988. They were the first company to go public. First surf company. First surf company to go public. And I was like it

16:56 just kind of felt weird to me. So I'm like And I was really good friends with Bob Hurley. Why? Why did it feel weird? Did it It didn't feel like success. Like oh no. It felt like success but it felt like Wall Street. And like you got to realize I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. So, I was like, "Oh." And there was like questions and like at this time I'm more in the marketing position and I'm being asked these questions by like Wall Street people and all this kind of stuff and I'm like like I I just felt like out of my out of my depth, you know what I mean? So then Bob's like Mike, a guy named Mike went over and became our sales manager and I went over to Bill with Bob and I started in customer service. I wasn't even the team manager. I just took a different job. I'm all worked in customer service. So I started whole different department whole different department and like at that time I had like super long hair like just going out every night and

17:48 whatever and then I was doing customer service and then I was a nightclub promoter. So I was promoting nightclubs like anywhere from San Francisco, LA. So like back downtown LA we used to um do illegal stuff but we go get so much illegal. We would go get big speakers. We'd take a credit card that wasn't ours and we'd go get speakers and everything and we'd go put them in a warehouse and we'd turn it up as loud as we could and just leave it going all night long and just cruise by and see if the cops would show up. Boom, boom, boom. All night long like this place isn't a bust. Take them back. We wouldn't steal them. Take them back. And then we go get them again and we do the thing where you I don't know if you guys are this is like an old school thing where you hand out a flyer, give a

18:38 person a flyer and it would and they would take them to one address and then you get the address to go rape stuff. Yeah. So we do that and then when you'd show up it was like our clubs would start like at midnight and go to 6:00 a.m. cuz everyone's like clubs are shutting down. It was just like you come in this warehouse and the cops would never come cuz it was like they'd be going to where they thought they were going but there wasn't. And we we'd already, you know, misdirection. Yeah. Total misdirection. And it was like we were in in an abandoned warehouse. It's just banging music out. So we had like power tools, uh, dirt box. And so my friend John Cidell, he used to own Dominics over there, the restaurant. He was married to he used to have a a club called Power Tools and he signed he's a record guy. He signed uh White Stripes.

19:29 Oh wow. That's a another story. But um so we were doing nightclubs and then I was doing up up in San Francisco and doing all these different kind of clubs. So I kind of got a name when I was like around between 19 and 21. I had a pretty good name in promoting bands and doing nightclubs. And then always my friends would always laugh. like I could be up till 4:00 in the morning and be at work at 7:00. So, so at this point you had dropped out of high school. You're now the street or surf team lead for Quicksilver. You were also promoting bands and doing nightclubs and stuff like that with a bunch of random legal stuff going on at the same time. Yeah. But I I almost went to jail when I was 18. when there was going to be a bust and my friend was sitting at a table and he heard the cop and my name came up. Uh

20:19 we're gonna get into that story on the part two of meeting Paul Gomez. Everybody strap yourselves in. Wow. Woo.

// end of tape