Ken Rideout

I learned how about CPG brands and how difficult it is managing their cashflow and building out inventory and

getting terms with manufacturers, contract manufacturers, the whole shit.

It was a lot of crash costs in CPG and entrepreneurship because I worked with the founders.

And through all that, I just had all this experience.

And I was getting influencer type deals from the running I was doing.

I had a shoe deal with Reebok, which was crazy.

They only had like three athletes, me, Shaq, and like Angel Reese.

It was crazy.

And I started to get so many deals that

Brands were coming to me and I'm like, I can't do any more brand deals, but I know a guy that would be a good fit for you.

And I just, for years, my wife would be like, you're doing all these intros.

Like, why don't you try to make that a business?

Like, it seems like you're creating just a bunch of extra work for yourself.

And I'm like, I'm just, they're my friends.

I'm building relationships.

I never wanted anything in exchange for being a good friend.

And it just morphed into a career and a job.

And it's the same thing with running.

I didn't set out with running like, hey, I'm going to be a run influencer and people are going to know me.

Like I frigging toiled in darkness and anonymity in those hills above Malibu and Calabasas for so long.