KG of Bomb Projects on Ball Python Evolution, Branding, and Building in 2025

What's going on, guys? I got KG, the man himself from Bomb Projects, back on the show. It's been a little bit since he's been here. Buckle up. Let's get to it.

[Music] [Music]

What's going on, guys? Thank you for being here. Happy Tuesday night. It is uh 8 o'clock on the East Coast. It's 7 o'clock here in Minnesota. And I don't know, maybe the sun's still out there in uh sunny California. KG from Bomb Projects is here. Um, I would I would think most of you know who KG is, but if you don't, you need to stick around. Uh, I really enjoy his insight. I enjoy his perspective. um, making killer animals, all that total package. So, uh, I'm excited for this episode. So, stick around tonight.

Announcements, not too too much. I'm coming up uh I was going to say on the tail end, but actually I've still got quite a few things going on, but uh this Saturday, Fargo, North Dakota show. Hope to see you guys there. Uh, I think it's at the fairgrounds. If if you're out there in Fargo watching, just Google the Fargo Pet Expo. Um, but it's a great show and they only do it once a year and it's one day once a year. Man, it is gang busters. I love it in there. So, I'll be out there in Fargo on Saturday and then I'm doing a double header this weekend. I'll be back at the Snake Discovery Show in Hastings, Minnesota, right in my backyard here on Sunday. So, uh, big weekend for me. and then I wrap up uh my run of shows and really kind of my season on November 2nd in De Moine, Iowa at the Cold Blooded Expo show. So, hope to see you then.

If you can't make any of those shows and you think you might want to buy something from your boy Adam here, go check out proper royals.com. I've got just about all of the uh pictures updated. Keeping everything up to date is a challenge, but uh especially in a busy show season, but I think everything's up to date. I uh spent most of the day today uh getting pictures and and information up to date. So, proper royals.com is up to date.

Uh, as always, big thank you to Palm Street coming to you ad free tonight. Great content tonight. Great guest and uh it's Tuesday night. Proper royals. You're here, I'm here, we're going to be hanging out.

I thought I'd share uh before I jump in tonight. I thought I would share one experience that I had because I've been thinking about it and at first I have to admit I took it a little bit personal which I shouldn't have. That's no big deal. Um, I'll get over that and I didn't I wasn't rude to anybody about it. But I kind of asked myself why does this keep bugging me? And I think why it bugged me was aside from sort of taking it personal, there was a couple lessons and like if the other person had just done a little little bit different, um, it would just be a totally different outcome and I thought I'd share it anyway. It's it makes me feel better to get stuff off my chest, you know? So, um, I and I'll leave the details vague because I'm not calling anybody out. They're good people. Um, but I had a conversation with somebody who uh basically said, "Well, there's no sense in us talking business because uh you have exclusivity deals."

For the record, I'm completely independent. None of my business arrangements or relationships uh involve exclusivity. Any exclusivity that I have is based on loyalty to a brand or a relationship and it's because I value it that much, not because it's written in a contract somewhere. And sometimes exclusivity makes sense. If I advertise for Redline and there's only a handful of other shippers in the industry, I'd be probably a pretty underhanded dude uh if I wasn't loyal and exclusive to them. On the other hand, uh, four, five different ball python breeders advertise with me, and I think that they're all good people that in my heart I could tell you that they're good to do business with, and I can recommend them with a clear conscience. Um, and when I have done business with them in the past, I state that publicly. So, I don't I have the freedom to work how I want to work. And I always want to I So, it bothered me a little bit that there was that perception. I'm very proud of who I work with, but we work together because we want to work together. There are no contracts with any of the folks that I work with. They're handshake deals and we've never disrupted those. They're welcome to leave at any time and I I wouldn't leave. I mean, if they if they did something that misrepresented their mission or what they said that they were to me, I probably would have a conversation and consider it. But I say that because while I advertise a lot and it's a big part of my uh business model and my income, I always want to be sure that I'm free to represent my own values, my own vision, my own mission, and my own goals. And I want to work with people that I'm aligned with that way. That's where my loyalty and any perceived exclusivity comes from is loyalty, not uh a paycheck.

If I'm going to, let me make this very clear. If I'm going to be bought with a paycheck, I can make a whole lot more money going back to running private clubs and working for, you know, dudes with helicopters and stuff like that, which is what I did. And I ran my course with that. I had enough of it and I'm good without that. So, that was the first thing. The second thing was like if the person had just phrased it as a question seeking to understand, we we would probably do be doing business today. And so, for example, saying, "Hey, I know you work with a lot of people. Do you have exclusivity deals? Would you be interested? Is there an avenue we can work together?" Um, because at the end of the day, if it's good for you all, the customers, the consumers, the people that I talk to every week, multiple times a week, then I want to share that good news. That's where I'm dictated by. So, food for thought, all of that. I feel better now. Thanks for hearing me out.

Um, I know that you guys uh came tonight to see uh KG hang out. What a great guest. Um, he's one of the people that uh when I get a chance to talk with him, it's like we get like we just connect right off. We get down to business. And I don't mean business like transaction like like meaningful conversation. You know, there's some conversations you have where it's just like, alright, let me just do the pleasantries and get through stuff. There's none of that. Like if we ask each other how we're doing, it's because we really want to know how we've been and how things are going, you know? And I love that stuff. And then uh, you know, just the icing on the cake is amazing animals, amazing business insight. Great stories in life that I don't even know. I gotta let KG decide if he wants to share any of those. I I'm always guarded on like personal conversations that we've had. Those aren't my stories to tell, but if he wants to, that's okay. But anyway, uh, I'm really excited to have KG back on the show. I can't believe it. It's been two years. September uh 2023 was the last time that uh KG was on the show. So without further ado, please welcome back to the Proper Royal Stage uh from Bomb Projects. Uh, I'm gonna say LA, but I think that there's a more like specific neighborhood from uh Los Angeles, California, uh KG from Bomb Projects. What's going on, KG?

>> Bam. Hey, that was too much, man. Too too good. That was too good. I hope I live up to the expectations. I gotta tell you, man, I'm excited to have you. I'm going to be happy. And I love doing this show for the audience, as I just sort of explained, but I also enjoy doing it for my own uh education and fun. And

>> for sure,

>> if everybody's winning, then it's then it's always going to be a good show. How you been, man? It's been I can't believe it.

>> Two years it's been since you've been here, right?

>> I know. It seems like yesterday. That's what happens when you're having fun.

>> That's true. Hey, uh, the important stuff first, man. How's your uh home, your family, your neighborhood? I know you guys

>> Everything is devastated by

>> you know, the ball is the ball is rolling. Um,

>> you know, it's

>> right now you got to deal with the insurance. A lot of red tape, you know, all of that BS, but

>> it's uh, it's it's it's going.

>> Are you going to be able to are are any of your neighbors coming back? Is there going to be the same neighborhood and those relationships or do you know yet?

>> No, I I doubt it. I was talking with a a old friend of mine from the neighborhood yesterday last night and you know, just trying to get a grasp on what will it look like five 10 years from now. And I think like I was saying last night, I'd say 5 years from now, fast forward, I think it would be 50 to 55% rebuilt.

>> Mhm.

>> So the whole city I was burned down. It was, let's say there's 10,000 structures in the city. I say 9,500 were burned.

>> Like it looks like a war zone. It's crazy.

>> Yeah. I saw one picture and then I I think it was it was you or D that posted it and it was just your home and

>> it Yeah. man. What a Yes.

>> And that's just our city, you know what I mean? You also had the Pacific Coast cities that were affected, too. So,

>> just a crazy uh chain of events. Uh, when I saw it, it reminded me of uh Homestead, Florida after Hurricane Andrew. And I lived down there immediately in the aftermath. And

>> you're right, it's it's years of uh of of rebuilding and it it comes back, but it's slow and it's different. It's not the same. Yeah. It's not the same faces.

>> That's the city I was born and raised in. So I've been there 56 years of my life. So I know everybody there in that city. You know, it's such a small town. It's seven miles north of downtown LA.

>> Yeah.

>> In the foothills. So it was far enough away from the city,

>> but still had a city vibe. You know, it was just a unique place. So it it it pains you to see it like that. That's neat how you describe it because uh, you know, I anyhow not being from there, I think of uh Southern California is pretty packed and massive and the time I've spent there is it seems uh,

>> you know, it's not it's not skyscrapers but there's there's just I mean, you can't drive anywhere fast. I mean, it's just you're just packed.

>> And so to hear you describe it uh in sort of a small town feel that that's a really special uh place and you've been there. those unique places, man. It's it's it's crazy. It's crazy.

>> Well, thanks for sharing. I'm glad that you guys are okay. I'm glad that your animals were okay and your home is still there.

>> Thank God they weren't in the city.

>> Yeah,

>> the animals are, you know, three and a half miles away. So,

>> but it that was a scary night, you know.

>> Oh my goodness. So, they weren't in the house. No, no, we got a separate facility. So, that was uh, you know, that was real stress. I didn't sleep. You know, you trying, you don't you think your house is is airtight or the facility is, right?

>> And when the city was on fire, I mean, ashes were I don't even know how they were getting in here.

>> Crazy.

>> Oh, and they were So, you were

>> Yeah, it was in here. I'm choking. You know, I still got to keep the windows closed, you know? How is How are the animals going to respond? The uh, you know, the rats. Like, it was Yeah, it was pure hell. That's if you're like me, the worst, not the worst, I have felt worse things, but one of the worst feelings is just feeling helpless, just feeling like

>> Oh, yeah. No, that's

>> you just have to wait and there's nothing there's literally nothing you can do. And honestly, if you tried to do something, you probably end up dead. So, you can't really do anything that way either. The hardest part, you know, was probably it hit me about 2 in the morning.

>> and I have two big totes in here that I had threw all the stuff out like show stuff and I was thinking I can probably get about 40 snakes in here. So now I got a decision. I'm sitting here trying to mark the tub like which ones am I going to take? Which project means the most to me,

>> you know? And then I'm thinking, damn, I can't even say rats. Like it was it's a terrible film. Terrible.

>> That's an awful catch 22. I don't even want to pick that apart. That that's that's awful. I'm sorry.

>> I mean, thank God I didn't have to do that, but those were decisions that was running through my mind. Crazy.

>> Right. Right. Um, Yeah, I've been through some hurricanes. Um, but not not with not with animals. I I've had those thoughts with uh with guitars, but that's a little different. Those are those are

>> right

>> obviously replaceable.

>> And it's the same thing. Yeah. I mean, these animals are replaceable. Granted, they are living, but right.

>> you know, it's just you don't even just to think that I have to choose.

>> Exactly. Exactly.

>> You know what I mean? Is that's a terrible feeling.

>> Yeah. Um, well, how about uh, how about some better topics? How about we talk about some snakes and better times? Man,

>> welcome everybody to the therapy session. Right. Exactly. Hey, man. I got my couch session in. I'm good.

>> There we go. There we go. Uh, good uh, good evening, Rage Games. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks for a couple bucks in the jar.

>> Oh, let me say just a big shout out to everybody in the, you know, that showed up tonight to show support to you and myself.

>> Absolutely, man.

>> Your your um generosity and love doesn't is not ignored or is it overlooked. So, I just want to say thanks.

>> And a special shout out to Riley. She knows why. Okay. Who's Riley? Where's Riley at?

>> She's just watching. Riley reptiles.

>> Yeah, she's watching. She's a young up and coming breeder, man.

>> Ah, I know Riley. I I did not Thank you for saying I didn't see Riley in the room. Riley, thank you for the little uh feature on the video. I watched it. It came out very cool. Um, keep doing what you're doing and uh, if I can ever help you in this this space, let me know. Um, yeah,

>> that's what I told her. I said, "Everybody's here for you. You know, you're the future."

>> She is. And that was a cool, uh, man, I got questions for Riley. I want to know who did her editing and who chose. It's great. Get the, uh, the equipment.

>> Hey, Riley, make sure you reach out to Adam. You can get a show now.

>> That's right. That's right. We'll do We'll do a feature one night. So, uh, KG, when did you get I'm I wanted to I kind of know where I want to get to here, but I want to set the stage a little bit. Where did When did you get started in ball pythons? What What year was that?

>> Um, I've had snakes forever. You know, just a quick backstory. Um, I was born and raised with Chad Brown from Ship Your Reptiles.

>> I didn't know that.

>> Yeah. We lived around the corner. His parents are like my second parents. And you know, we herped growing up as kids cuz we lived in the foothills. So,

>> wow.

>> We were always into Yeah. Just crazy stuff. So,

>> I mean, all speaking of stuff I don't want to get into, all stuff aside, it's amazing how small the world is, right? I mean, that's incredible, man. Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> We'll leave that one there. But, okay. So, you guys So, you've been you've been at reptiles and and her everything. Oh, forever. In my household, my parents, I could have anything that had legs. Chad could have anything.

>> Yours had to have legs, though.

>> Oh, yeah. In my house, it had to have legs. So, I I wasn't able to get a snake until I remember moving out with my uncle, my first apartment, and my mom gave me some money for furniture, and I took the couch money and bought a boa. So, that's probably when it started with the snakes, you know? I'm like, I'm not going to have company.

>> [ __ ]

>> They don't need to sit on the couch,

>> right? They could sit.

>> Well, yeah. We'll put a

>> We'll put a lid on on the bag. Old school bean bag. That's all you need.

>> So, that's where the snake venture started. That was uh 1988.

>> Gotcha. And then when did uh when did like the ball python focus with uh Bomb Projects come about?

>> Okay. So, fast forward. I'd say 20 the middle of 2019.

>> Yeah.

>> I bought a um It's funny. So, back up a little. I say 2005, I saw my first pieball.

>> Right.

>> And somebody showed it to me and I was like, "Man, that's Photoshop."

>> Uhhuh.

>> It's not real. Right.

>> Right.

>> And they're like, "No, I swear it's real." So immediately I text a picture to Chad and I said, "Hey, what is this?" And he he, you know, shot back like, "Oh, that's a pieball ball." I'm like, "That's real." Yeah. I said, "Well, I need one of those." He's like, "It's a hundred grand." I was like, "I don't need that."

>> Yeah. I remember Yeah. I remember in Gainesville, Florida. I I don't know if it was Ben Cole's shop or if he was just there, but Ben Cole's a pretty recognizable uh memorable human when you when he's recognizable. And I remember seeing him in this reptile shop and it had to be sometime between 1998 and 2000 and there was a pie bald and I can't remember the price but I remember saying to myself,

>> I could buy a Mercedes or that snake.

>> Oh, right. Yeah.

>> And I can't buy either one of them at that point in my life, but I was like, "Holy cow." Yeah, man.

>> It was crazy. I'm I'm saying I'm being facitious when I say 100 grand. I think it was like 50,000 he told me.

>> Whatever it was,

>> it could have been 100, could have been 50. use the same thing, you know what I mean? So I said,

>> I'm not getting that obviously. It's cool.

>> And then, you know, he sent me another boa.

>> I would always call him so my kids would, you know, see something they wanted and I'd call him and he just drop ship me something. So, um, I say 2019, I was, you know, YouTubing and all that stuff and I learned about Morph Market. What What is that? So, I logged on there like, oh [ __ ] Cool.

>> So then I go down the rabbit hole and somebody had a Black Friday sale I think on Morph Market.

>> Uhhuh.

>> And I bought a banana pieball. Man,

>> there you go. Right.

>> Yeah. And I got everything I wanted. I got the banana and the pieball and I checked it both off the list. Both boxes right in one. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Two snakes that are unobtainable all of a sudden are reachable. So, I think I paid 500 bucks, you know, which was on sale and I thought it was a steal.

>> I think that still was a Yeah, I would say that was a steal at that time for sure.

>> Yeah, I want to say that was I don't know, November, October, somewhere around whatever the Black Friday was. And then maybe three or four weeks after that, bought another one.

>> And that's when the snowball started. And I want to say then fast forward March, the lockdown hit, COVID lockdown.

>> Yep. Yep.

>> And I had already inked a deal to buy my third snake from a guy up in Fresno.

>> So he's like, "Hey, they're not shipping whatever. I can meet you halfway." So I'm going to pick up this snake and De's like, "Where you going?" I'm like, "Um, going up to Calabasas." And she's like, "You know, it's lockdown. We can't leave. It's illegal. You can't drive." You know that whole thing. I'm like, "Man, you getting lost in the weeds. You want to go or not?" So, we jump in the car, we make this deal in a in a Taco Bell parking lot, and De's like, "The cops are going to come. This is this legal." And and then that set in another chain of events where, you know, D got on Morph Market. And she started going crazy, man.

>> Right. Yeah. Don't make no plans Tuesday. Go to go to FedEx. I go to FedEx. like five boxes, then eight boxes, then 12 boxes. I'm like, you don't even have a rack yet. What are we doing?

>> You had an enabler with you. Like most of us were keeping that under wraps. Like, I'm going to sneak another one in the house. No, it was wide open for you.

>> She went crazier than I did. I was like, listen, all I want to do is make a panda. That's it. Now we got Mojave, pastels, spiders, pides, you know, everything. It was crazy. So, knowing what you know now or what you see now, uh, how's your perspective changed? I mean, it's a it really what I wanted to get to was 2020 versus 2025 like

>> Yeah,

>> it is a it's a whole different business model now.

>> It is. It is.

>> And and how do you how do you play into that? And what do you see the future as?

>> I mean, right now, if you're just getting in, you couldn't have picked a better time. That's true. That's true.

>> You know what I mean? It's it's obviously a buyer market right now. It's crazy as the seller. You know, it sucks for us, especially to see a lot of projects that have taken three and four years to come to fruition.

>> And now to see that it's pennies on a dollar versus what we anticipated. You know what I mean? That's a that's a tough pill to swallow. But, you know, like with any business, I'm old enough and and had been self-employed that you understand the es and flows. So it doesn't affect me as bad as it does, you know, the people who put everything into it and said this is what I'm going to do.

>> Do you look at it as like it's out of my control? There's nothing I can do about it.

>> Absolutely. Yeah.

>> Is there a part also of you saying like do you see a rebound in prices or do you see it as just a different business model where there's going to be the slope down?

>> No. Just even talking to breeders that have been around for 20 plus years. They all say the same thing. You know, it's dead, it's over, that's it. And people leave and then new people come. There's always peaks and valleys. I think this market because we're in such a niche market. This is a we sell uh wants, not needs.

>> Yes, we do.

>> So, we're we're at the bottom of the totem pole. So, right now, people are only spending on needs.

>> Mhm. Not once. So, as the economy changes, I'm sure that the spike will change. Also, you know, do I think we're at the bottom? I think we're pretty If we're not there, we're damn close.

>> Knock on wood. Let's hope,

>> right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

>> Let me ask you this. If we can't because this is I think this is something you probably have have that you and I would probably click on. Maybe you might go, I don't know. I have no idea. I have no opinion. Um, and without wading into politics, god forbid too, how do you square? What do you think of the economic situation of obviously day to day on the street? Like you say, people are buying needs, not wants right now,

>> but behind the scenes, I mean, the stock market is on a tear. Somebody's making money somewhere. I mean, even just the S&P 500, which I mean, I am a

>> very, very conservative investor. Even the S&P 500 is is working magic for me right now and has been for damn near a decade.

>> It's funny. I was talking to another breeder, Scott Foster from uh Colorado, and he does a lot of day trading.

>> and it's funny, we probably talk three, four times a week and you know, he calls me for the wins and the and the losses. Now, you know, the last six months has been a lot more wins than losses, right?

>> So, yeah. you know, he he plays in that in that pool. I don't really gamble on things that, you know, I can't control.

>> Yeah. And I guess my I'm I'm a little I joke with people. People are like, "What should I buy?" I'm like, "I can tell you what to buy. I have no idea how to sell." I have never sold even one asset. Everything since since I started a 401k at, you know, 27,

>> everything I've ever bought is still

>> just locked away. Exactly.

>> Yeah. So, I mean, it's on the balance sheet, but that balance sheet doesn't pay the electric bill, you know? So, like, on the one hand, you're going,

>> I'm doing pretty good for myself. On the other hand, you're going,

>> I really need to sell a snake, man.

>> Yeah.

>> But, so like I wrest instead of being house rich, you got snake rich on the

>> snake rich. Yeah. Um, but I aside from any personal experiences, I feel like I feel like there's just this weird situation where like I say the day to day and maybe the pep buyers that's very very far down, but somebody somewhere is making that money because the the overall uh not the overall that sector of investment um returns is still just cranking, man. Well, you know, too, I think a lot of, you know, it's it's like everything, right? It's supply and demand,

>> right? So, um, there's there's certain there is certain uh projects

>> that are recession proof that I like to view as recession proof. And that and I say that to say, you know, I'll give uh Leviathan, you know, Stephen and Courtney as a prime example, a super orange dream ultra male sunset. That's a recession proof snake. You know what I mean? So at Tenley, I'm sure they got offers of 40 probably north of 40 grand for that. So is it are we in is it bad market for the majority of people? Yes. But you know, if you have that that niche that niche project that somebody wants, they're willing to spend,

>> right? And I would argue that at the moment it's recession proof because just like 20 years ago banana pides would have been recession proof but they're but they're not now. It's all the supply and demand. Right.

>> Exactly. That's that's what I'm saying. So there's only one.

>> Yes.

>> They have it.

>> and and it's hot.

>> You know what I mean? So you get to dictate the price. Now next year if there's 25 hatched out and 10 hit the market obviously you know the price is coming down.

>> Yeah.

>> But that's that's life. I think you know, what what I think what we need as a whole as a reptile industry is we need a a big spokesman, a big A-list person to endorse it and I see, you know, it would just take off if you, you know, Taylor Swift shot a video holding a ball python.

>> I don't think there would be any available.

>> You know what I mean? She has that kind of influence. You know what I mean? If she she does a video or goes on the Today show like, "This is my new pet, you know, I got it from Proper Royals." You'd be calling everybody that you knew, "Hey, I need some snakes."

>> I need some snakes.

>> Exactly. Yeah. ASAP. You know,

>> and everybody be calling me to try and sell.

>> Oh, for sure. For sure. So, you know, we there's I think there's way creative ways now. We have to get creative, you know. That's what that's what this market has has brought to everybody. You got to get creative now, you know. And I've always said even when the market was good, it's our responsibility as breeders to try to bring at least five new people into the hobby annually.

>> And that will keep the ball rolling. You know what I mean? And people, you know, now it's a oh, it's a pyramid scheme. It's this, it's that. There's so many different ways to look at it. It's like just like dogs and birds and fish and everything else. Guitars, cars, Harley-Davidson. These are

>> everything. Everything.

>> At least what like I tell people. Yeah. At least it's tangible.

>> That's true.

>> You know what I mean? You

>> I do know what you mean.

>> That stock market is, you know, the old fairy dust. Don't Don't let them cash in. You know, the old wolf of Wall Street.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I I need enough people to still have faith in that market, man. Let me give me another 20 years and then then it can go away. I don't care.

>> Then you can do whatever you want.

>> Yeah. Right. Then then we can call it a day. Um, how does all that play into your uh breeding plans to your decision making? How much of that sort of market talk versus damn I just love how this animal looks? Uh, and I know there's a lot of overlap there. Really good-looking animals tend to be really good looking market uh items. Yeah. Talk about some of those decisions.

>> It's, you know, it's funny cuz we've we've made some some pretty unique and rare world's first snakes and have crazy offers on them.

>> And you know, D's always the one like, "Sell it." And I'm the one like, "No, you know, if you hit a one in 256, oh, it will behoove you to keep that because what are your chances? It might take you 10 years to hit that again, right?"

>> If I sell it, you know,

>> like I was explaining to her, now I breed that back. I'm down to one and eight to reproduce that. Okay, now we can start selling. You know what I mean?

>> One and 256, that's tough. That's a tough pill to swallow. So from the business perspective, if you can hold, and I understand cuz I talk to breeders all the time, man, that make a crazy snake, I said, listen, if you really need the money, then you got to sell it. It's not that's not even an issue. You know what I mean? But if you can afford to hold on, then, you know, please do because you'll thank yourself in the long run.

>> Do you think uh and obviously I know the I don't know the answer. You just made the argument for this. Do you think the uh holding it one year what it will produce will outpace what it will drop in that time? Does that make sense? So if you

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, now that's another thing, right? Are you holding a male or a female

>> and how many are out there? And

>> right, you got to you got to weigh the whole thing. A lot of times, you know, if that project, let's say you've hit a crazy combo in that project, but there's other people producing in that project, I think that market's going to drop a lot faster than

>> Right.

>> Yeah. If I'm the first one to it, nobody has it. You know, you got a little time to to play around. You know what I mean? But like the DG clown,

>> you can get a DG clown right now for $1,000.

>> Right. But if you want a DG clown with three incomplete dominance, and I mean not pastel, not leopard, not pin, you know, not the discount genes, you have blackhead, stranger, uh, confusion, you know, something like that, something unique,

>> okay, I would say you need to sell that now because the chances of more of those coming to market are pretty pretty good. You know what I mean? So,

>> there's a lot of factors that go into it. It just, you know, it's a personal decision. Ultimately. But you know, if somebody seeks my opinion, then I'm going to ask them, hey, you know, I don't want to get into your finances, but would this change, you know, a few things in your life? Yes, it would. Then sell it.

>> I think that's a great point. We, and when I say we, that this like podcast, this ball python podcast world of, let's be honest, 4 500 of us that watch the same content and stare the same people in the eyes all the time. Um, we all like to make these blanket statements of this is how it is for everybody. And one of my strongest beliefs to me is everybody has different resources and different needs. And I thought I thought that was a great way to put it. If it will change your life,

>> yeah,

>> by all means,

>> I'm telling you, immediately sell that. You got to roll the dice and hope you get lucky next year on the odds because it it's you know, something that I mean say you need a new car or you know, your property taxes are coming up.

>> God forbid I'm not going to tell you to hey hold that because you can potentially make this next year like that doesn't make any sense. You know, I would absolutely cash in right now. Strike while the iron's hot. Well, and if I would even say if it'll make a long-term difference just in a again, I I'll go back to my, you know, stable investments or or or conservative investments. You know, $40 $50,000 is a lot of money right now.

>> Oh, for sure.

>> But stocking it away for 24 years, in theory, that should triple by, you know, that should that should grow by a by an exponential magnitude of three in that amount of time, 25 years. But it depends on how you sock it away. If you put it under the bed, you get nothing.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> If you just put it in a standard checking account, you get nothing. You know, standard savings, you get nothing. So, you got to have the right vehicle to to achieve that. You know what I mean? So,

>> you do.

>> And that's another thing, too, is you know, financial literacy is

>> something that should be taught. That should be a

>> Oh, absolutely. I say

>> Yep.

>> You say seven. Yeah. What are you uh 11 years old? 12 years old in seventh grade. That's right about that's perfect time. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Yep. Sorry. I I resent that it took me basically till I was 41 to go

>> I'm in the same boat.

>> I you know

>> nobody nobody teaches you about business deductions, cost of goods, inventory so that you can take deductions further down the line rather than the first year or amortization or depreciation. And it's this scary stuff. And it seems like, you know,

>> only rich people have a tax guy. Like,

>> I've never lost money having a tax guy. And I wish I'd known that when I was broke because I would have done it then.

>> And it drives me bonkers, man. And

>> you just said it, too. And it's and it's funny because there's a lot of uh tax people that will work pro bono,

>> but you scared. Like you said, you don't know any better, right? So you're like, "Oh, that's just I can't even afford that. Let me just get on TurboTax." [ __ ] it. I'll do my own thing. You know what I mean?

>> And you think you think it's cheaper, but in the long run, you're screwing yourself.

>> Yeah. And I hate to say it. I'll just speak for myself. If I don't have much to begin with and then somebody's doing something pro bono, then I feel like I'm taking a handout, right? Like I'm already the little guy. Now you're going to make me littleer.

>> Yeah. Yeah, you go beg. Yeah, that's just society doing that to us, but it's it's there. It's it's I would, you know, I get it. Um, it's maddening and like I So, I take as much time as I can like I talk openly about family finances. You know, when Kelly and I are having a discussion, I don't worry if my son's in the room. This is

>> Yeah.

>> This is what goes into it. These are decisions that we have to make. Um,

>> and uh, you know, so, and look, Again, talk to your t I'm not a tax professional. I'm not telling you to I would say that uh you probably don't depreciate ball pythons, but if your guy or woman is good with it, cool. I would argue to do it as a cost of goods uh inventory that you run, it would probably fly a little better. But um

>> and I don't want to turn this into a financial literacy show, but yeah, I agree, man, that that um

>> I just I was mad at 27 when I first learned about Roth IRAs. I'm like, man, I could have had six more years of the most productive time of growth in my career and addition in my life, you know?

>> But think about just IRA, right?

>> Yeah.

>> As a teenager or, you know, a young adult,

>> that just sounds so foreign. You don't even know that's an acronym.

>> Yeah.

>> You just It just goes right over your head. You know what I mean?

>> Well, and we don't realize both how long life is and how fast it goes. So, we think, "Well, we're 20, man. That's forever and a day away. Hey, who knows if I'll even get there."

>> I don't need it. That's what I always say. You know what I mean? It's funny.

>> And I I sell life insurance. And, you know, a lot of my friends are like, "All right, cool. You know, sign me up." I'm like, "No, this isn't car insurance. You got to qualify." They're like, "What do you mean?" You know, they don't even understand that. There's so many factors that go, you know, you're a risk. You You can't even get it. I'm sorry. Yeah.

>> Yeah. I'm sorry.

>> I hate to say it and I mean I say this understanding as a life insurance policy holder.

>> They're wagering that I'm going to live long enough for them to make plenty of money on me before they make a penny back.

>> That's what it is. Everybody's got to make money before Adam makes money. That's the rule in the world.

>> Bottom line.

>> You get priced out. [ __ ] You can't afford I can't afford it now. It's crazy. Well, you know, I will say I got lucky on that. I I think when I was 28 or 29, I got my and I'm talking whole life whole life term, but whole life policy.

>> Um,

>> but uh well, uh, more interesting stuff. Talk a little bit about you've had, you talked, you said you've made some really cool animals, uh, some world's first and that stuff. What about, uh, I saw lately on Instagram, um, you've been talking, discussing, trying to figure out, uh, your own bomb gene. Tell us about that. What goes into that? And um

>> talk about a long payoff. That's a long play, right?

>> man? And that's funny. So first season,

>> no, it was probably it was in the first, you know, I'd say 20 clutches we hatched. I you know, we imported a snake from Europe and it was uh supposed to be an inchie clown pie.

>> Mhm. And we got it in and we start breeding it to everything because clown pies were the thing, right? Bunch of hats and, you know, pies, everything was crazy. So, the first snake we bred to was supposed to be just a a leopard and it was supposed to be 100% het pie, proven breeder. That's how we bought it.

>> Mhm.

>> Well, we breed it to a visual pod, seven eggs, no pods. I'm like, damn. And at that time, I'm still trying to figure out the odds. So, I go to the morph calculator. I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, we should have got three and a half,

>> right?" That's right. Maybe my math is off or, you know, whatever.

>> So, in that clutch, you know, the fir I would say out of the seven, there were four snakes that just didn't make sense. Now, I wasn't good at IDing back then.

>> So, I leaned on people who had experience and everybody came up with the same thing. I don't know.

>> And I apologize. What year was this?

>> 2020.

>> 20. Wow. Okay.

>> Late 2020.

>> Yeah. Okay.

>> So, you know, I'm leaning on people like, "Hey, help me out. What is it?" I don't know. I don't know. So, at that point, I had already said, "Screw it." You know, I'll just sell it. Whatever. I can't ID it. You know, leopard,

>> question mark, whatever.

>> Yeah.

>> And a friend of mine, Mike, uh, told me, "Listen, man. Don't uh, don't sell it." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You don't even know what you're selling." I said, 'Th that's why I'm selling. He said, 'N no, that's why you're holding it. And you know, shout out to him. Thank God I didn't sell it because the next clutch from him sired some more weird wonky stuff.

>> I said, "Okay, we might have something here." So, I just started keeping all of that. The problem is you don't know that you have some or he's holding something. So, I'm trying to ganpack snakes. Right. So now two years in to making all this crazy [ __ ] that I can't ID. Now I have to reverse it now. Now I got to try to breed backwards and and get it down to the single form.

>> Now you got to find a normal that maybe doesn't even exist in the world anymore.

>> That's what I'm saying. So people are like, uh, what does the single gene look like? I'm like,

>> I don't know. So yeah, you know, now reversing going backwards. This year was the first year I think I was able to isolate it. Oh, really? Okay.

>> Yeah. To see, okay, this is what it looks like with nothing else in it.

>> So, and what shed testing is great because now you can panel test, right?

>> Yeah.

>> So, that was the the beauty of that was, you know, send in a couple of these sheds from these wonky snakes, get them panel tested, and then we can shake out what's in there and what's not.

>> Mhm.

>> Well, to my surprise, you know, I was totally off. I We had hatched this pi looking thing. look like a confusion puzzle. I don't know what this thing look crazy. So I send it in and I said in my mind minimum it's gonna test in OD yellow belly possible fire.

>> Those are four genes I knew for a fact just you know with a little bit experience I have in IDing okay I can see that.

>> That panel test come back it only comes back as homozygous p. So now I'm like, "Oh [ __ ] now now I really know I'm on to something."

>> Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, okay, that's when the excitement reignited for me

>> was, you know, to get, you know, that was refreshing to know that, okay, I'm not going crazy. There is something there. I see it. And, you know, now is the fun part. So, um, this next season is going to be really fun.

>> How do you see, um, how do you see the business, aside from the fun part, how do you see the business of it playing out? because like

>> right

>> it seems like uh people like to market their their new genes and let's just assume let's just say everybody's got everybody that says they got something actually has something just for this scenario just for fun.

>> So they actually have something.

>> Um, it seems like you got to have like other people working it or other people that want to have it.

>> I've had this discussion right how do you how do you market that? Right.

>> Right.

>> Yeah. So that that's the hardest part now because I have a lot of people who are put me on the wait list. I want some.

>> Mhm.

>> How do I market that? So let's say it's

A a pi and I know it has this gene in it. So you're going to pay the base for the pi 300 bucks. Okay. Now how much do I how much can I add on to that for this gene? Right.

>> Right. >> That's the hard part. So if I if I'm in my mind I'm saying okay I want to charge a thousand for single gene bomb. Right.

>> So, I'm telling you, okay, give me 1,300. You can get in the bomb, Jean. Okay. Now, the word gets out and people are blowing my phone up. I want one. I want one. Oh, [ __ ] Well, maybe I came in a little too low.

>> Right. >> You know what I mean? But now you reverse that coin and say, "Okay, it's a bomb pi. I want 10,000." And everybody's like, "That dude's crazy."

>> Yeah. Suddenly it's good luck, right? So now you shot yourself. Yeah. you shot yourself in the foot. Now you you back to nothing again. You know what I mean? So it's kind of like it's it's a weird space. How do you market that? You know, and D's like, "Well, when are we going to sell something?" You know?

>> Yeah. >> You know, the women are like, "Hey, I I got a purse on on hold. I got some things I need to get."

>> Yeah. >> So, it it's it's weird. I don't know, man. You know, I Where does it start? I think realistically for me is the people that are really interested in I would shoot it by them.

>> You know, what do you what would you value this? Make me an offer. And then you can kind of play from there. What is it worth?

>> You know, at that point, >> uh, you know, that's a it's just that's a tough one. You know,

>> what do you base it on? What do you do? You know, I I know for a fact it takes a lot of um marketing,

>> you know what I mean? >> Yeah. Because it's like Stranger, you know, this guy founded it in 2012. He didn't release it till 2016,

>> but he was able to build that that buzz and create, you know, that interest. And the same with Cosmo. Same thing. Mhm.

>> You know, he had this gene forever >> and now it's Do I want to wait 12 years? [ __ ] I'm too old for that,

>> right? Yeah. Like, just I'll just sell >> 12 years. I'll damn near be 70. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, [ __ ] I don't have 12 years to invest in, you know, the marketing and and I got it in every combo and this is that. So, it's kind of like I gotta I got to unleash the tiger sooner or later. So, probably next year I'll start releasing some. And I don't know where it's going to start or what it's going to do, but

>> that's cool. >> It's on wood. Hopefully everybody wants it.

>> I mean, it seems like uh seems like you have takers at 1300. We'll just leave it there for now.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Send it here.

>> Then again, everybody says that. So you say, "Okay, here's where you send the money." Yeah.

>> No, you send them the wire instructions. They're like, "What is that?"

>> That's not a knock on Macorph. I'm just I'm just talking out loud. Yeah, that's not a knock on anybody. But no, I had a uh and again, this is one of those like

>> conversations that was private, so I can't give too many details or who it was, but you know, I talked to somebody. I picked up some some animals at at Tinley.

>> Mhm. >> And let's just say one person was selling them for thousands and one person was selling them for hundreds. Um,

>> and and I just said, you know, what do you make of this? At the price you're asking, I don't care if you know what's in it or don't know what's in it. Those are so good looking. I just want to fake more snakes that look like that. And you know, I got to say there there, especially at Tinley, knowing that there's money in the room and buyers in the room, um, their answer was really refreshing where he said, you know, I think it's beautiful. It's a dominant gene as far as I know and we haven't really figured it out. I can't be the guy that says this is worth six or $7,000 kind of deal, right?

>> And

>> I got a lot of respect for that person because they could have they could have taken a lot more money that that it would have been for me just because I didn't have the money at the end. I'm not saying

>> I know what you're talking about, but it's a beautiful I understand. Yeah.

>> Yeah. you know, and and I don't knock the people that do take the money because one of the beauties of ball pythons is it literally is the embodiment of it's worth what somebody will pay right now.

>> The old economic theory of what is something worth? It's what will they pay right now. So, I can't knock anybody in it. As long as everybody's consenting to the deal, I got no not nobody to knock, you know? So,

>> yeah,

>> I think a lot about that stuff, you know, and I don't I don't

>> I know I always struggle with um like I'll give you a Tinley experience. This past Tinley,

>> I had an animal on the table. So, I for you know, I made this whole list. Had the the husbandry stickers are put on the thing. You know what happens when you rush and pack. I thought I sent it with the snakes. I didn't. It was in my back. So, I didn't have it right.

>> Uhhuh. So now I'm like, [ __ ] I don't even have labels. You know, I'm looking at these snakes. I need to get prices on here. People keep asking. So I said, okay, I got to go the oldfashioned way. Pull up morph and I'm looking. I'm like, that just don't seem right. So I'm asking the guys vending next to me. Am I reading this right? There's only, you know, eight animals available.

>> I have one of them. Mine has an extra gene in it. These do not. These are selling, you know, the cheapest one on there was like six grand. And I'm like, man, I just don't feel comfortable asking 6,000 for this.

>> And they're like, why not? And I said, I don't know, man. The market is bad, you know, whatever. So, I put it at four grand.

>> Yeah. >> And they were, the guys next to me are like, you're crazy. I'm like, well, I don't want to, you know, I can just ride it off. This is a show price.

>> Yeah. >> I don't want to be the guy like, "Hey, KG's over there killing the project." You know, you always hear those stories.

>> There's that, too. Yeah. And I don't like

>> as much as I >> love free market and uh uh I mean in this sense capitalism that means I don't believe in price fixing and uh you know what I mean

>> right? >> Well I've never been mad at somebody for selling their animal.

>> It's well and like you said no. Exactly. How can you be bad? It's not, you know, we don't, all of us, our brand's not called Macy's and it's a set price. You know what I mean?

>> We don't have Yeah. This is not a franchise.

>> So, we're not under one umbrella and it's got to be a standard price. You know, it is what it is. Um, do you like to see it? No. But I understand it. You know what I mean? I like like we were talking earlier, I don't understand that guy's finances.

>> He probably said, you know, wife said, "Don't come home with less than a grand."

>> That's right. So if he got to have a fire sale, then that's what it is. I don't condone it. I don't like it, but I understand.

>> Well, and then I asked the people too, okay, if we're not going to sell it lower than this? You going to give me the price you don't want me to sell it lower than

>> how protective of this price are you? Let's let's get a real discussion here.

>> Exactly. Well, people too, you know, I've been at Tinley's and seen people that have been in a certain project

>> and saw a certain breeder selling it for half.

>> Well, they didn't make any stink about it. They just went and bought all of his.

>> I was going to say that's the other option.

>> Yeah. And then just put it back on his table. Now I'm controlling the product. You understand? So there's there's a lot of ways to look at it, a lot of ways to address it, but

>> you can never be mad. You know, this is we in independent space. You know what I mean? It's like if you at an ice cream shop and then I open up across the street, your ice cream cones are $2 a scoop. Mine are 75 cent. You don't be upset, but there's What can you really do about it?

>> Yeah. And that's,

>> you know what I mean?

>> That is realer than um put it this way. I had a lot of people pop up selling chicken tenders cheaper than my chicken tenders for my career. All right. I'm wearing a suit. Okay. I know about this stuff and it didn't matter if it was chicken tenders, if it was steak or if it was high-end wine.

>> And I had to I had to know with confidence

>> my service and my experience were better. And I knew the business well enough to know that that person wasn't going to be in business and and however long at this price that they were selling those things at. So

>> they would not be a long-term problem. They were a short-term problem. And that that was really kind of how it turned out. And I think now I'm saying all this as somebody who's never isolated a gene and built up a certain you I mean a truly unique project. I I'm I'm getting there. I actually am probably knocking on the door of one. But

>> um at the end of the day, you got to know if you know your business and you know what what it what it takes to get there and then you see people selling themselves short, they're not going to they're not going to be a problem for long in the moment. That's it's annoying.

>> Yeah. Exactly. But a long-term thing, I don't I don't think it'll be a longterm issue. So, that's easy for me to say. Ask me in five years. Maybe when I'm doing, you know, maybe I'll have it.

>> How do you really feel now?

>> Yeah. Okay, Adam, that was all good when you had your opinions and hadn't done it. Right.

>> But, you know, I always say this, too. Nobody cares until it affects them,

>> right?

>> So, let's say I'm only doing DG Clown, right? And you're doing DG Pi. I don't care. But now you start producing DG clown pides. All of a sudden I'm clocking. What is Adam doing? You know, what is he selling it for? Why is he selling? You know, then people give a crap.

>> Nobody really cares till it affects them,

>> right?

>> That's just human nature.

>> Well, you're exactly right. And I I would say in the same breath as me saying I I don't care if it doesn't affect me. I would say in the same breath if somebody's selling stuff higher than me, why in the world do I want less? I want what they're getting for. So I'm gonna go at the top. Like I'm not, you know. So for anybody who's going, Adam doesn't get it. Yeah, I do. I want I want I want what they're getting

>> 100%. I know I'm not Justin and I'm not a few other people out there, but okay, I'll take 95 90% of that.

>> So many now, right? So, think about five years ago and five years now.

>> We have exponentially sped up combos.

>> Absolutely.

>> So, yeah. Between, you know, five years ago. Yeah. Five years ago it was, you know, that that's what I loved about your show. You show the best snake, right? World's first. That was that was my jam, bro. Like what I love.

>> That was one of the best compliments when you told me.

>> This is what I'm telling you, man. I look forward to that. Every month you say, "This is the snake of the month." And I couldn't wait to see it and then go to morph and research it and who produced it and all that. But now it's sped up so fast that world's first doesn't mean jack now.

>> No.

>> Means nothing cuz everybody's hatching the world's first now.

>> I got to tell you I'll tell I know you know the story but that's a long time ago. I don't think the audience knows the story. So I used to do and there's a funny outcome. I don't know if you remember why really ultimately why it stopped but so I used to do this YouTube segment and it was like the long format YouTube video. So, it took work and it took participation of the breeder as well. But I would do uh the coolest ball python in the world. That's what that's what the episode was called.

>> And it was just that I would try and find the coolest ball python that I could in the world.

>> And then I would dissect, you know, not literally obviously, but you know, the genes in it, what, you know, this is causing this pattern, this is causing this color. And at the same time that was going on, I had never been on Instagram. And I'd heard everybody telling me, "You gotta get on Instagram." And I kind of thought it was like

>> I thought it was like the thing that like the kids did, you know? I was like, "I don't know. I'm too old for that stuff. I don't I don't need that headache in my life." And blah blah blah.

>> And then I find And so it was hard work. I had to get the breeders to participate or not get mad that I was showing their snake or saying something wrong that they disagreed about it. And so I was getting a little bit of negative feedback. It was a bunch of work. And then um one day I signed on to Instagram. I was like, "All right, I guess I have to do this if I'm going to be serious about what I'm doing."

>> And my whole feed was the coolest feed. The coolest python in the world to find it and it's right here.

>> I don't Well, they're all the coolest one. I told But I did tell you I said I don't care. You still need to bring that back. Like that. That was like, man, I don't know about everybody else, but you know, I used to just geek out on that. Look forward to those videos all the time.

>> I gotta go. I'm gonna have to They're still out there. I'm going to have to maybe have to repost some segments of them or something.

>> No, you should just You should just run them again. Full full segments. Yeah. I'm telling you, anybody in the chat, go back, try to find it, and if you know what I'm talking about, get on at him, bombard his DMs, make him bring it back.

>> That would be the coolest. Yeah.

>> But now instead, see, now you've reached the a level of u success slash um credibility that I think it would be even cooler because now you can actually bring the breeder on.

>> That's true.

>> Do a do a whole show, right? In my opinion, this would be cool, right? You know what I mean? And then they can walk you through the history. How did you see this? And you know, the evolution of the whole No, don't do it. I'll do it. Don't worry. I'll start the show. All right. That'll be my YouTube kickoff.

>> There's a secret I I've never let out before. I can't even say don't steal it cuz I stole it. There's a there's a rock and roll station on Sirius XM called Little Stevens Underground Garage.

>> Every every week he has a song called the coolest song in the world of the week. And I was like that's it, man. I said it's the coolest snake in the world. So, I can't even get mad if somebody steals it, man. I'll get a little mad, but I can't get mad. But yeah, maybe I do need to

>> You should revisit that, but change the format. You know,

>> I go through these uh creative es and flows of like uh feeling really inspired and like I appreciate every guest that comes on and some of them I make the I make the analogy of like some animals you got to pull to keep them with you and others you have to pull a leash back because they run away with you and the best ones are the ones that walk beside you and those are the best shows but the variety is of course the spice of life and that's fun but I go through these like motivational es and flows Maybe I need to do that to get the juices flowing again. And

>> I'm telling you,

>> I will say on the upside,

>> that would be super cool.

>> I at least know how to edit faster, man. I was do I didn't know I didn't know how to edit back then, man. It took me hours to I can bang out editing now pretty quick. So, yeah, maybe I do need to uh get back to it.

>> Yeah, that would be a cool cool setup for sure.

>> I want to talk to you about uh your marketing, your branding. You got a community that sort of uh follows around. Hell, you got a section on your Instagram page of just people wearing your merch and stuff. Uh, I want to talk about that. Maybe that sounded Maybe you're like, "That sounds weird." I don't know. But I I I saw it today. U let me uh I got to pay some bills here real quick. Tell some people about some good people to do some business with and then uh can we talk about that for the last segment tonight?

>> For sure.

>> All right, everybody. Stick around. Uh I use uh Redline Shipping. I think you guys know that. I use them for the service. You could call them up. You can ask about how to ship your animals. I don't know about you all, but it was cold today here in Minnesota. It's getting to be that time of year. We need to know how to ship and how to do it safely and we need the supplies to do it. The end of the day, the service is what makes the difference for me and the dedication of the team. So, check them out. Uh, not sheding. We'll get there in a minute. Redline shipping.com. Use the promo code proper five. Get yourself five bucks off your next shipping label. Uh, shedtesting.com. Um, a lot has been going on there. If speaking of videos, if you haven't checked it out, check out the video of uh the evolution of shed testing uh into a company and a project called Phenome. I'm not going to tell you all about it right now, but over time, shed Testing will transition fully into Phenome. It already has as a business and a team entity, but as far as a website and that stuff, just be prepared. Don't be confused. It is the same great people with even more resources. So, I don't know if you guys saw Charlie lowered his prices uh maybe two months ago now. Uh so, he lowered his prices. He improved the process and the lab processes that he goes through. So, there's less even less chance for any human error. And uh you get your results in uh five business days from when Charlie gets your shed now. So, better, faster, and cheaper. That's like the the the holy grail, the trifecta, the trinity in business. So, check out Charlie. The prices are incredibly competitive. You can run a 10 test panel for $85. That's eight and a half bucks a test on your animals now. And that includes recessives. Um I just sent him on a hunch. I This is a true story. Uh I sent him a shed test. I said, "Yeah, just run this recessive panel." And anyhow, it doesn't matter what came out. But that animal got very, very valuable in my life. And uh so I'm looking forward to working with it. It's worth it. Save yourself the time, the money. You don't have to hold everything back. Go shed test your stuff. Uh use a promo code proper 10. You get to do that twice on two orders. You can order as many sheds as you want per order. Uh or tests as you want per order and then you get 10% off of uh these already recently lowered prices. Hot off the press is Reagan Renee Royal Pythons just rolled out. I got to get all the details right. I had it pulled up right here on the phone. Uh just rolled out reagan rene.com. That's re a gn.com. Reagan renee.com now has Charlie's full That's two Charlie's two two different Charlie's there. Uh has Charlie's full inventory on his website now. Charlie specializes in krypton DG gstripe candy pied clowns and single, double, and triple ingredients. But check this out. Um, when you go to his website, uh, shipping is always free. You no longer have to worry about the price of shipping. Uh, on his website, it's free. That's a great, uh, incentive to go to his website. You can use, uh, Apple Pay, Cash App, credit card, and you can even set up Afterpay payment plans on his website as well. And last but not least, how about this? Perks for the uh, Proper Royals audience. Use the promo code proper 10 for 10% off of any animal on his site. As far as I know, there's no exclusions on that and it's a brand new website full of his inventory. So, go check that out. That's reagan renee.com from Reagan Renee Royal Pythons. Portuguese pythons, Danny and Renee Roachcha down there in the neighborhood at uh what do you call it? The Inland Empire there, KG. A little bit uh east of town, huh?

>> Yeah. Yeah, they're not too far. maybe with no traffic. Like I always got to put the clause in that. Yeah, no traffic. Uh they're about 25 minutes away.

>> Uh they're great people. Really? Uh KG said something earlier about, you know what? If you hit this uh double or triple, it's a price, but if you get it with certain codoms and uh genes in there, you're going to have a really really excellent animal, both from a price point and genetics wise. And that's something that Danny and I have always talked about just privately on the phone of uh you know what's your mission? How do you get to these things? So check out like their uh let's say Ultraml Pides with genes like blackhead redanthic u mixed in there. The very dark jeans with some uh of the projects like Ultraml. They're doing incredibly cool stuff with Ultraml. They've got Ultraml Puzzle, Ultramal Clown, Ultramal Pi projects with those nice kodons mixed in there as well. uh and they've been great people to work with. So check them out. Sund Dog Serpents, that's uh Josh and Sarah down in Orlando. Um check them out on Morph Market if you get a chance. TSK Aanthic Clown projects if you're working TSK uh projects, they have a lot of opportunities, a lot of inventory and ingredients for you. They also have a whole lot of asphalt, some of the uh um and super asphalt. So not as much here in the States as there is north of the border of that stuff. uh and puzzle clutches available right now. I think they said they have about 180 hatchlings available right now as well. So, if you don't see something in those projects that you're looking for, drop them a note, see how they can help you out. Okay. I've been doing business with them since the Florida Reps and like late 2020, early 2021. So, it's nice to see them uh still going and still doing amazing things. Last but not least is BNS Reptilia, uh the original advertising partner of Proper Royals. That is Chris. He just vended Tinley with me. We are partners vending at Tinley and we own a couple animals and projects together. Uh Chris is reptilia because he specializes not only in ball pythons but blood pythons, locality boas, uh colubrids of all shapes and sizes, including the pituous uh family. Maybe it's a family or is it a film? If you know what pituous is, he's your guy. Bullsnakes and pine snakes. He's got all the permits and uh information that you'll need to acquire those animals. He's also the regional distributor of the Chipper in Pennsylvania. And if you're interested in being a distributor of the Chipper yourself, get in touch with him. He can help you on that as well. Audience, thank you the most. Uh I appreciate you all being here. I appreciate the support. Coming up on actually I think November. I think next month is four years that I've been at this. No, maybe I have to look. many years that I've lost track of and it's because you guys keep coming back and the support and people like KG coming on the show. So, thank you all for hanging out tonight. Thank you for 47 of you all sticking through the promos. Uh if you didn't see the beginning of the show, these are people that support our industry and that I'm highly confident will take great care of you and that you will have great experiences with. So, I hope you give them a consideration um if you're looking for ball pythons uh shipping or shed tests. All right. Thanks guys. Uh KG.

>> Yeah. Let me just say one thing.

>> All your sponsors need to give you a little more because you're the only person on YouTube that doesn't have a a pre-made video. Oh, let's go. I mean, you do this right off the cuff, bro. That that deserves an accolade in and of itself. And make sure all you sponsors that are watching, take care of my guy.

>> Well, thank you very much. Uh there's two parts to that. Uh one is that I I genuinely believe uh for whatever the rec whatever this would mean, it's not just the agreement is not just write me a check. The agreement is we got to be a good fit for each other. So that makes it easy.

>> The other part, and I'm getting chills saying this, is that nearly every one of those uh all of them, not nearly, all of them I've been doing business with for over two years now. So I've gotten to know them. I don't have to memorize various details.

>> Yeah.

>> Charlie rolls something out

>> from the heart. Yeah.

>> It sounds genuine versus you know a video playing.

>> Yeah.

>> Well, thank you. There we go. It's working then. That's what I like to hear. So, and uh and kudos to the audience. Now, I will say uh thank you. That's pretty much the one and only commercial because like I say, Palm Street takes care of uh that for us. So, if you're joining on the replay, you haven't had any commercials. And if you joined mid show tonight, you didn't have to watch a commercial to get in the room. So, I'm thankful for that as well. Uh, Kun, you've done a awesome uh um awesome job. Sounds like a performance review. I love your branding, let's put it that way. Um, and you've done one of the really difficult or the one of the things that I'm not good at is being simple and effective. Your logo is just perfect. It looks like the embodiment of the word bomb project in the world of snakes, man. Great job on that. Where did that logo come from?

>> Um, well, the name is, you know, D had the name already.

>> And, you know, we come from that era where bomb meant the best,

>> right?

>> You know, something was the bomb. You know, in the 80s, you you always said that, man, that was the bomb. So she started bomb projects with um her other company and when we started you know

>> was it was it rep it was a reptile company. No. Okay.

>> No no no she does uh um damn what's the word? She gonna kill me for if I don't say it right. Let's just say has to do with marketing.

>> Okay. Gotcha.

>> Okay. So, she already had that going and she was like, "Well, let's just do let's use bomb projects and I was like, okay, I kind of like that because it's funny that in ball pythons, everything is a project,

>> right?" So, even the word was already there.

>> So, it already it everything it was like peanut butter and jelly. I was like, damn. I had this aha moment. Damn. The best projects. Basically, that's what it means, right?

>> Right. And then that's when, you know, she got to do her marketing thing and I was like, "Yeah, I want a snake shaped like a bomb and I want the the tongue to be like the fuse to the bomb." Right now, I can't draw to save my life.

>> Right.

>> I might be able to play hangman on a good day.

>> So, you know, I gave her that and, you know, she ran.

>> How How creepy was that for a game for kids to play when we were playing? Isn't that crazy?

>> That's a little nuts, isn't it? Now that I think all things

>> When you think back Yeah. Like of all the [ __ ] to play. Yeah. That was like the game, you know?

>> We couldn't call it draw the cat or or flag on the dog. Uhuh.

>> Yeah. You're dead. You didn't guess. You're dead. Like what? This is crazy.

>> That's that old school right there.

>> Sorry. I just when you said that, I was like, man, how psychotic were the 80s growing up, man. Man, even the cartoons were diabolical.

>> Yeah.

>> Just sitcoms. You go back and my kids are like I'd send them clips of the Jeffersons and Sanford and Son. They're like, "Where was this on cable?" I said, "No, that was 5:00 on Friday

>> with the with the antennas that you had to adjust cuz your dad wouldn't get get off the device. Turn the channel." Yeah. No, you were the remote control.

>> That's right. You get up outside. You run inside. put that on channel two. I'm like,

>> move those antennas while you're at it.

>> Yeah, exactly. Oh, man. Hilarious.

>> Sorry, I set you off on the side there. Okay, so you can't show the vision. Yeah.

>> Yeah. So, she came with, you know, I I told her what I wanted. She came with like three or four different designs and I'm like, that's it right there. So, we put the two together and I, you know, I told her like, man, we need to get some swag, some shirts, some stickers. we need to just go on this this media blitz cuz nobody knows who you are,

>> right?

>> And I just didn't, you know, I was never I'm a very outspoken person, right? So, you know, I'm not a shy guy by nature. So, I just pushed myself into I've told her maybe when the the uh the first show that opened was um Arlington

>> fall of 2020. And I was like, "Man, pack up at least a 100 shirts." She's like, "What are we selling them?" I'm like, "Hell no." She was pissed. I said, "D, just fall back. Trust me on this." So, I made it a point to give them to every breeder. What size you wear? Boom, boom, boom, boom.

>> And that got the ball rolling. And, you know, lucky enough, the design was so simple. It wasn't like it said, you know, grab your balls, which was clever and cool, but it was so simple that I think that people didn't mind wearing it. You know what I mean?

>> And it became almost like I don't know, it took a life of its own. It was crazy.

>> Well, I've always said and I I again, I've not been successful at it. I like my logo and actually it's become its own little icon and that's cool. Yeah. But, uh, like the best, we could see the font. You said Macy's earlier. We could see the font of Macy's,

>> right?

>> And it doesn't have to be an M, an A, a C, a Y, or an S. And we know that should be on a brown bag, right?

>> And certain things are like that.

>> That is an is right. Um, but yeah, you're right because you didn't have to have like the word the name proper royals for me came because I wanted to be an if you know you know kind of thing because I didn't want my neighbors to think I had cobras in the basement calling it Adam's serpent,

>> right?

>> So I was like and you can't get scared about the royals.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> You know, but if you know you know,

>> right?

>> And your your logo is is really just delivers, man. I love it, man. I thought I I've always thought it was great that way, man. And yeah, um, you know, and Nikes that way.

>> Yeah. And even even the Reebok I don't even know what that thing is. The the three like weird angled things. I don't know what that is. Uh

>> yeah. Yeah. Proxima tapped in. I give him a little shout out.

>> They're out in Colorado, right?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. There. Hey, look at that. Right on the spot there.

>> It's uh Well, that's why I saw it pop up. So I said, "Let me give him a

>> shirt." My guy Big L from Lindworm.

>> Okay. All right. Excellent.

>> So, you know, I'm not a uh one of those guys that just, "Hey, wear my stuff." No, you give me a shirt, I'm going to wear it. So,

>> don't be afraid to send me something.

>> Has the uh uh has the merch uh in retrospect now, you know, five years later, did that all pay off? Was that worth it? I I think sometimes people get caught caught up too much in the pennies and the dimes, you know, myself included.

>> No, it it paid off for sure. For sure. For us, you know, it's funny because I think it paid off so well that people just assume that I've been breeding for 20 years because they've seen it. It's dripped on them for so long that now, you know, they just feel like, oh, you just one of the old school guys. Then when I, you know, they hear the story like, damn, wait, 2020, you started with me.

>> That's like the definition of of of brand strength, man. Fantastic.

>> Yeah. So that did work.

>> Um,

>> shout out to D.

>> Definitely. If So did D de D's the one that designed the logo though?

>> Yeah, she gave me three options and I said that's the one I like. I told her I wanted a snake like a bomb with the fuse and all that and it was so clean. It was so simple. I was like, man, it can't be any better than that. That's perfect.

>> Yeah, you can always make things more complicated later. Yeah, if it's if it's effective at the

>> And we've had, you know, since the original, we always do like an annual, you know, knockoff theme or something. I got the Marorrow look. I got a Bass Pro Shop look one.

>> I saw that one. Yeah, that one caught me off guard.

>> Super Mario Brothers look like

>> I remember that one.

>> We've done it. Yeah. So, it's we've had fun with it now. So,

>> I wrestle with that because I like the idea of keeping it fresh but also keeping it iconic, which is hard to do. Uh because you can't change it too much or else it's not going to be iconic. So, I like those themes. I was

>> My whole thing start the person that did my logo actually used to do my uh like tour posters, my my band tour posters, and I was like, I like sort of the tattoo look. I like your art style. just give me give me give me some I I can't describe it but I'll know it when I see it kind of thing. And he's like all right first one I was like that's it.

>> That's it.

>> And then he was like what's this royals thing? And I was like I explained to him why ball pythons are called royals. He's like what if I put a little crown on top of the snake in the background then? He goes now that I understand it. I was like oh that'd be cool. All right do that. You know and that

>> that was it.

>> That's the beauty of having Deep. You had to outsource it. I got it in house.

>> Well,

>> like she can I don't know how, you know, like I said, I would have if

>> five years in, if it was just me,

>> I'd probably have some chicken scratch, you know, for the logo. So, I can't take credit for that. You know what I mean? It's just I'm like you. I'm like I just don't Nothing fits. Nothing works. But when you see it, you know, like, okay, that's it.

>> Yep. I'm gonna figure it out.

>> It's hard to put it in words. Um, KG, we got a few more minutes and just something I'm really personally personally interested in and I thought speaking of marketing, I thought you guys did a great job. Just from what I could see from a distance, I regret it. I couldn't get there. Tell us a little bit about the shows that you put on and uh sort of the uh uh the purpose or what was the why behind it. Um because I feel like they had a different feel even though I wasn't there. Man, I really I from what I understand of the concept, I really liked what I was hearing about it.

>> This is the fun. See, it goes back to D.

>> That's that marketing mindset, right? So, I'd say a couple years ago was probably I want to say it she put it together in probably 30 days. So, it was our last show out here is the Pomona Super Show, the fall one. That's usually the last big show.

>> Mhm. And then, you know, a lot of our stuff had hatched late, so we couldn't bring it to the show. And she was like, "Damn, we need like a stocking stuff for the show." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" Like, "We should do our own show." I said, "That's not a good idea."

>> Yeah. I don't want to be part of that.

>> Yeah. What are you talking about? And then I So then I was like, "Okay, well, when you want to do it?" She's like, "December." I'm okay. 2023. She's like, "No, this year." like in 30 days. Where are we gonna get a venue? What are we gonna do? You know, I then I'm like, "What are you talking about?" I was like, "Whatever." I said, "I don't want any parts of that. We have nothing." Right? In a matter of 24 hours, she had, you know, called old friends, secured a location, said, "Hey, what are you doing? Let's go look at this location." Drove down there. I'm like, "Damn, this is pretty dope. Yeah, this is this could work." Then I'm start see Now she got me going. I'm all pumped like I can see the vision. And she's like, "I only want to do it one day, you know." I said, "Well, why you want to do it one day?" She said, "Because so many people come to our shows. Let's say they come Saturday and they say, "Okay, well, you know, I'mma walk around. I make my decision. I'll come back Sunday." Life happens. They don't come or vice versa, right? Yeah.

>> Oh, I meant to get there. I didn't get there. She said, "I want to put the

>> the pressure on the buyer. This is a one, you know, like this is so limited. You have to come today."

>> Right. And the concept was great. Everything she thought of, you know, came to fruition and it was amazing. Knocked it out the park.

>> Did it from a distance it felt like it had like a

>> It was a uh boutique style.

>> I was going to say like a curated boutique style and

>> the whole flow of the show. She strategically placed all the ball python breeders. She didn't want everybody to have, you know, like Portuguese showed up. Well, he we know he's got ultra male, so nobody else brought ultra male. M

>> you know Renown showed up. He's heavy in clowns so he had most of the clown stuff and then we had you know a pie guy and so it kind of made it unique so everybody wasn't stepping on each other's toes like you know bring something niche that you're known for and then let the other breeder bring what they're known for.

>> Then he has spiders and turtles and all that other stuff. So

>> Oh cool.

>> Turned out really cool. Yeah.

>> Yeah. I I really like the feel of it and um, you know, couple thoughts on what you said. It was funny when I got here to the Midwest to Minnesota. Those of you watching don't know I've only been here two years. All the shows Timley uh literally Yeah, Timley is the only multi-day show that I do and I probably do I think I did 26 shows this year.

>> Right. Okay.

>> You're right. Like and on the one hand it feels weird to go be like I'm doing all this work set up one day and break down,

>> right? Whether it's two days or one day, I average the same amount of revenue. And I'm like, I don't have to pay hotels. I can get my animals back home where they're at.

>> I watch football on one of the days if I want, you know, and

>> now I actually and it's not so hard on your knees and you're, you know, and you feel like you're like, dude, there's no lull. It is.

>> But it that's what I'm saying. that from day from the doors open people know like okay [ __ ] I only got you know let's say seven hours I I got to get in there I got to be there

>> so it puts yeah it puts that little bit of pressure on the buyer the consumer

>> y >> because they know hey they only there for a minute

>> people get a little you know like oh I'll make plans to go Saturday something comes up well I'll just go Sunday and they don't go

>> no

>> oh [ __ ] I meant to go you know what I mean so if you only know it's one Hey, you're going to put a, you know, if you really want to buy, I think those are the people who show up.

>> So,

>> well, and and it helps even more when you see the cool stuff and and like you say, if it's got a boutique feel and you got the vendors that are bringing the nice stuff and

>> all of those things together, man, and the setting, the promo on it was so cool, man. I loved it. It had like the uh old school festival poster kind of feel look to it, man. It it all just felt like very uh

>> Yeah, it it was cool. grassroots organ the dice and it it worked out. So yeah.

>> Yeah. Will you guys be doing any more of those? Uh on the

>> We're going to do one in the spring. So we were doing it in December. We were actually going to do it this year. Now these you know she's one of these people that don't want to step on toes.

>> Mhm.

>> So we we're going to do it December 13th. And another promoter out here

>> I see

>> has a two-day show and he's doing his on the same day.

>> Right. Right. So D was like, you know what? I don't even want to I don't want people to have to choose or any of that. So now she's made it a point to talk to all the promoters and make sure that whatever day she picks in the spring, nobody's doing anything. So, you know, it's that competition.

>> I have to say overall, I think it's probably it's probably better for the consumer and

>> 100%.

>> Yeah. And as the promoter, your customers or the vendors too, it's better for the vendors as well.

>> Yeah. Cuz then you put you're putting the consumer and the vendor in a in a spot, right?

>> Right.

>> So a lot of vendors feel like, well, I want if there's a two-day show, I'd rather do that because in their mind, they figure I can make twice the money,

>> right?

>> I don't want to go to one day setup breakdown. You know what I mean? So me and you look at it differently because we vended single day shows versus But if all you know was a two-day show,

>> right,

>> you're probably going like, "Ah, you know what? I can make double the money. I'll just do the two-day show."

>> Yeah. If if the Yeah. Before I got to the Midwest, I was like, "What are these one day shows? This is I don't know about this." You know, and then uh and now I'm like, "You guys are wasting your time. These two, three day things, man. Get in, get out, you know."

>> Um Well, man, I gotta get out there and check out one of them. I'm I just uh I I could talk all night, but man, I I enjoy

>> You got You got to have a Yeah, we got a VIP lounge, the whole thing. So, you can set up your own little thing and we can do the best of show, Snake

>> right there.

>> We can bring back my favorite segment and have it

>> just happened. That's right. The coolest It just turns out. And you know,

>> snake in the show.

>> You can get real cheeky with it where you're just like, it turns out the coolest snake in the world is right here in this room. You know what I mean? you just have a good time with it. So,

>> man, uh KG, I got to come hang out and uh see you on on your turf, so to speak. I always get to see you, whether it be Daytona or Tinley, and I'm so glad that you travel and that we do get to hang out a little bit.

>> Uh it wasn't enough at Tinley this time, man. So, thanks for being on the show. So close.

>> Quick. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Um

>> thanks for being here, man. I really enjoy uh hanging out with you. I enjoy um thanks for all that you've looked out for me for. You've always been there with advice. if I have it. And uh just like I say, camaraderie is uh fantastic.

>> Everything. Yeah, for sure. I told you you one of my first fans. You and Chris Hardwick. So, I'm still trying to get him back.

>> I know. Where did I look, I know he got he he took it on the chin.

>> He's probably got Yeah, he's pro and he's got five different YouTube channels, so you know.

>> Yeah, he's he's figured it out. Um

>> Right. But yeah, he he deserves the credit. That's for sure. For uh for a generation of us a lot from this generation, people that started 2019 to 2022.

>> Yep.

>> Yeah.

>> And you put yourself in that conversation also because you big part of that too.

>> Well,

>> whether you want to give yourself credit or not,

>> time lot a lot of people won't tell you, but I'm giving you flowers.

>> Thank you very much. That means a lot because you've worked hard for uh the flowers you got already. So, I can respect that then. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

>> Yes, sir. Thank you.

>> Um, approximately I won't be uh hopefully I'll be out in Colorado in the spring. I think the fall show is what either this weekend coming up. It is this weekend coming up. No, I'm in Fargo this weekend. Actually, vending myself versus uh um um filming and working with Redline. So, I won't be there. Hopefully in the springtime. Uh Riley, thank you. It's a pleasure. Keep doing what you're doing. Thank you again for your spotlight and showcasing Yeah. showcasing me to some of your new audience. So, thanks very much.

>> Audience members, those of y'all that uh showed up tonight, maybe you hadn't seen me before and you came for KG, thank you very much. I appreciate you being here. Uh consider liking, subscribing, all that. Uh come hang out. We do it every Tuesday night. Uh if you like the show tonight, I think you'll generally will enjoy what the show is. Different guests every week. So, um KG, thank you very much, man. Uh where can people if anybody doesn't know where to find you? Where can people find you and check out your animals and uh all that stuff?

>> Instagram, Facebook. Yeah. Uh Morph Market. We're on all the We don't have a Do we have a Tik Tok? If we have one, I haven't posted. So don't don't go to Tik Tok. We're not We're not there yet.

>> That's how I say about mine. Like I got one, but you need That's not where the good stuff's at, man.

>> Exactly. No, don't go there.

>> All right, brother. Uh, stick around for just a second, KG. Audience, thanks so much. Uh, same time, same place. Um, my huge thanks, KG. I appreciate it. Let's not make it two years next time, man. I

>> We got We got to do at least uh, you know, what do you call a semiannual

>> at least, man? And I do like I like your idea of getting out there and and doing a show from the show, man. That would be uh that'd be pretty cool. That'd be pretty cool.

>> All right. Uh, well, I'm going to hit the music, KJ. I'll see you in just a second. Audience, thanks. See you next time. [Music]