Ashley Parker Angel and Bobby Klebanoff - Founders of High Level

 I feel really grateful for my past and I feel really grateful that happened because it was literally
 a one and a million slip on a banana peel and one of my very first auditions just turning 18 and
 I booked it. But these are the scars of an entrepreneur. I don't believe it in in failure. I like
 the concept that fail. F-A-I-L stands for a faithful attempt in learning. He was the biggest
 promoter of Get On YouTube now because YouTube is going to be the next big thing and I honestly
 I slept on.
 Great to be on. Hey co-founders of high level. We're going to talk all that backstory. It's good
 to have you guys. I'm excited. We're going to broaden the horizons here from just O-town.
 You know, one of my co-producers is like, hey, you need to talk to actually Parker Angel and I
 knew the name. You've got probably one of the greatest names ever for like show business.
 And I had music and acting everything else and I'm like, oh, I remember O-town. Oh, yeah.
 I was like, I think it was a freshman in college. I don't even remember what, you know.
 Every party playing some boy band music, you never know what was going to happen. So, excited to
 talk to you guys. I love it. So what's happening guys? We're out in Vegas.
 Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Out in Vegas now. Yeah. Thank you for the compliment. That name growing up
 was brutal in school, by the way, but I made up for it later in entertainment.
 Yeah. I would tell it was such a great start. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better launch pad
 right out of high school. I mean, you know, it was literally the summer I graduated. And,
 you know, we're just talking a little bit before the show started. It's interesting because O-town
 was also this reality television production at the time that, you know, the major networks
 hadn't caught up to that yet. So you had survivor. And then you had making the band at the same time.
 And it was at the whole thing, honestly, was an experiment. I mean, we didn't even know if we were
 going to have a record deal at the end of it. That's how experimental it was. Yeah. No, you guys
 broke a lot of ground. You know, like, this is before, this is a pre-idle, American idol,
 like all that stuff. You know, you guys figured it out. But before even we, you know,
 appreciate talking before social media, before anything, you know, the only thing that you,
 you know, we're kind of in with was the boy band stuff, which was interesting. We sounded how
 it was actually in all of those original meetings with Clyde Davis. Clyde Davis left
 Aristor records and he launches J records. And the very first act he signed was O-town. And
 Simon Cowell was in all those meetings. And you know, he really took that concept and made
 pop idol and then American Idol. Now you have the voice. But it was an interesting time because
 now they know exactly what your single is going to be. They know exactly who your record label is
 going to be. And we had an entire season come out on the ABC network. Millions of people watch
 and hit TV show. We still did not have a record deal. It wasn't until the end of that first season
 that Clyde Davis came in, signed the band. And we had all enough thing, which was a number one
 hit for us. And it was a really prove the model would work. And I think it also separated us
 a little bit, of course, from, you know, Backstreet Boys and then Sinc, obviously.
 Yep. You know, I know your stories out there, Ashley. And, you know, I want to focus more about
 the kind of the journey and the pivot points that we talked about. But I do want to pause and kind
 of, you know, reflect on that, that O-town day, those O-town days. Like, you know, yeah,
 I'm sure now, I mean, we're close to the same age, you know, like reflecting back. I mean,
 it's pretty damn cool. I mean, you know, like, just the experience. Like, I don't know, like,
 I'm sure in the moment, and there's been some drama and things like that. We don't have to get
 into that shit. It's more like, but just, I don't know, having that experience, being, you know,
 a heartthrob and, you know, like having a band and like traveling. I don't know. Give me
 some reflection on all that. Yeah. No, it was a crazy time, perhaps the craziest ever. And, you know,
 I don't thank you for the compliments and the kind of words. I don't think of myself that way.
 I was just this hometown kid. I come from a real small salt of the earth town,
 Reading, California, and boom, all of a sudden you're on TV and people are like, well, you're
 him. You're that guy. And it's like, it's interesting from a marketing point of view to you,
 because you feel yourself being turned into a product. And there's this split that happens.
 There's you. And then there's this version of you that's up on a shelf. And it's really an
 interesting thing to experience. It's kind of hard to put into words, but it was, the show was
 syndicated. So it's not even just, you know, an American thing. All of a sudden we're in
 Germany. We're in Europe and we're in Asia. And it was a wild roller coaster of a ride. And it
 lasted about four years. And then that journey continued because MTV wanted to follow my journey
 going solo and assigned a solo record deal with Universal. And I did the whole thing over again
 on my own. And it was just, it's the power of television, really. And both, you know,
 both iterations of my music career have also been connected to these television vehicles. And
 that's the medium. And we'll talk a little bit more about the emergence of social media. But
 it's just such a powerful medium to be on television and to also have hit singles at the same time.
 That's how I end up meeting Bobby Plebinoff who's my business partner now. We actually started
 an entertainment. He was my manager for a very long time all the way through the Broadway years
 and everything. But it's just, yeah, I feel really grateful for my past. And I feel really grateful
 that happened because it was literally, you know, it's a one and a million slip on a band,
 a band appeal. And one of my very first auditions just turning 18 and I booked it.
 I respect people that appreciate their past. You know, I've, I've had some people in the show
 and we've talked to others about coming on the show and we've kind of avoided it. I'm like,
 damn, I mean, like you said, it's one and a probably, probably one and a billion, you know,
 like how small people get the opportunity. No matter what the stigma is or isn't in the moment
 or after the fact or whatever, but to get that attention, you know, because we talk about now
 modern day social meeting, all these things, attention is currency and to have the opportunity
 to get your name out there, to get your name and likeness known, you know, it's such a, such a
 a rare occurrence. I love it when people just embrace what it was because, you know,
 nothing's sitting stone. You know, that was a trend. That was a thing there. You leveraged it,
 but it's how you leverage it and move with it pivot going forward. So I always, I always respect
 people that kind of embrace, you know, whatever that was that got them to a certain point. And then
 it's like, but what do you turn that into? Totally agree. Totally agree. And I think it's important
 to celebrate it because look, without that fan base, I mean, the truth is they grow and evolve too.
 So you're right. That was a place in a time and pop music of the early 2000s and the
 the spike tear and the frosted tips and the, you know, that all of that, but your audience grows
 with you and you hope to evolve with your audience with your fan base. They really, I've always
 really looked up to people who have mastered that pivot, so to speak. And I think of people like,
 I think one of the greatest stories is Arnold Schwarzenegger going from professional bodybuilding
 at the height to the top of Hollywood to then the top of politics. I mean, I just think it's,
 if you have that kind of view, then I think you know going into it. And I think that's where I was
 always at was trying to stay ahead of the curve. Like, okay, well, this is awesome right now,
 but this is a place in a time and it will, there'll be another chapter and what's that going to be?
 And I think that's where the pivot comes in. Yeah, I look at like, you know, like JT. I mean,
 just your timbre like, you know, the same thing. It was kind of like just that persona being in
 the boy band or whatever. And, you know, whether it was cool or not cool, who gives a shit. Like,
 but everybody thinks JT is cool now. I mean, you know, like, because he's levers, I mean,
 obviously he's talented, motherfucker. Like, let's be honest, like, he's, he's made his own, you
 know, because he's super talented. And he's got just a nose for popularity knowing the music,
 the stuff. But now, you know, he's, you know, one of those as well, just kind of pivots into it.
 But all right, before we talk to me, talk to me, before we transition, we move out of our hotel
 discussion, what's like, give me like something like you hadn't talked about in a long time. Like,
 memorable, most memorable moment, maybe like meeting someone or like, realizing how famous you
 are. I don't know. Like, give me, give me like, give me that moment. It was just like unbelievable.
 There's a lot of them. I mean, I remember just to speak to that idea of like, you becoming this,
 this, this product and this, this other version of yourself, just literally the week that make
 in the band dropped. I was sitting in an airport and this girl looks over. She had headphones on.
 She rips the headphones off and she goes, you're him. And I was like, she's like, you're him.
 And I was like, who's him? And she was like, you're the actually angel. And I was like,
 whoa, this is so weird. But I actually remember one time, like later on through Oatown years,
 Susan Sarandon actually reached out and invited me to be her guest to go see Michael Jackson
 perform when he did that 30 year reunion at Madison Square Garden, perform with Jackson
 five. And I'm sitting there with Susan Sarandon who I grew up, you know, just, just amazing talent.
 And I'm watching Michael Jackson. I'm sitting next to McColley Culkin. And I'm, you know, I'm just
 like, where am I right now? This is just insane. And, you know, it was, it was just a lot of
 experiences like that. But then you meet celebrities and you realize, look, these are just people.
 These are just people who are obviously very talented people. But you that, that veil sort of
 comes down a little bit and you realize, look, these are just human beings like the rest of us.
 And there are quite a few stories I could think of. But it's becoming a famous person is a trip.
 It's a bit of a, it throws you, it can throw you for a loop, which is why I think a lot of child
 stars, of course, end up grappling with that later in life. And it's being famous is a,
 it's a bit of a traumatic experience in some ways. But I don't want to say like, I mean,
 I'm grateful for all of it, but it is a bit of a, it's a shift. It's a complete shift into
 a whole new world. You really got to have your head on straight to be able to handle it.
 Susan's a random. I think that's like my first like girl, like woman movie crush or something.
 Like, you know, like, you're both a, you know, badass actress, but attractive, super attractive.
 Like, I was like, oh, yes, that rang a bell. That, that, that's a moment there.
 Getting to go to Michael Jackson, for sure.
 Let's transition, you know, Bobby talking with Bobby and, and Ashley, you know, like,
 what's been the journey from there? I know, I know we're going to build towards,
 you know, where we're at today. But let's talk about some of that journey after the band,
 after the, after the solo artist, you know, we're, where things went.
 Yeah, I think as soon as we started working together,
 um, started really to Ashley's point, like, thinking, what's next after this?
 Because the truth is entertainment's fleeting, you know, even, um, you know, probably more so now
 than it was even back then, you know, people are hot for six months than they're not. And so it's like,
 it's finding that next thing while you're in it. When you're at the height of it, what are you
 going to now start laying the groundwork for? And these things take time. And so,
 I think to your point about even Justin Timberlake and you see what Beyonce and it's like,
 all these, all these entertainers that you see that have really created just unbelievable
 success, they all have that same, they're the ones driving it. You know, a lot of entertainment is
 you're sitting around waiting for your manager, your agent, your booking person, the label,
 this and that to tell you where to go. And I think the, what separates the people that really have
 long lasting tears is you can tell they're driving the ship. And so I think Ashley and I have always
 worked so well together because we both have that same entrepreneurial spirit, you know.
 Just to explain, like we met through my manager, Larry Rudolph, and Larry Rudolph managed
 Britney Spears real quick. They tapped Bobby right out of high school because he was the internet
 whiz kid that understood this new emerging world of social media. And I wanted to do my space
 for free, which was really going really. It's free. Well, hire you. I was like, yeah. But then you
 called call Larry Rudolph like 16. So he, he's a go getter. He's a hustler. He called calls Larry
 Rudolph's office at 16 and says, all do all your websites and all your social media for free.
 All right. And they're like, what social media we've heard. Yeah.
 Tired, hired. And then so now, and then that's where that's where I intersect with Bobby and just,
 and then he was such a visionary from such a young age and had such a great understanding of
 marketing and the world of social media. He was like, you got to start a YouTube. You got to
 get on my space. This is where everything is going. And even for our generation, like I was a
 little slow to adopt it. I mean, remember you were saying earlier, like even people that
 capital records were like telling like the internet's a bad don't we're not participating in.
 It's not going to nobody's going to ever want to listen to music on their computer. And it's
 just you see like to what we just said. It's like you need to start laying the groundwork
 ahead of time. These things move fast. And so if you're not you're not prepared. And so I think,
 you know, for us, we've gone through so many business ideas together, like in the last 10 years,
 at one point we're going to open a serial restaurant that we went through that entire process.
 Then we then we pivoted to, you know, t-shirts and a clothing company. And that didn't really work out.
 And it's it's these trials and errors. But as long as you keep going. And I think we've now gotten
 to this this business that we've been in for a long time now. We've really have been pursuing that
 we're we're really excited about it. And obviously, you know, talking with you, you're such,
 you know, the work that you guys do and the work that you've done. It's it's just inspiring to
 talk to other people that understand like, hey, these things don't happen by accident. They they get
 the groundwork gets laid. And there's a reason why people rise to the top and why people, you know,
 you kind of come in and out and fade away. And so having the entertainment background,
 I think it's been really exciting for us to understand creating an experience with a business that
 is entertaining for people. And so, you know, we'll get more into it. But that's that's kind of where we
 he and I come together. We realize we want to do things outside of entertainment. And we start
 laying that groundwork very quickly. And that's kind of where our story starts. So I always like to keep
 human on the radcasts. You know, not everybody gets to be in no town. Not everybody gets to be
 Britney Spears and all this stuff. I heard some failures potentially in there.
 What talk about what maybe like you can laugh about it now or smile about it. But like,
 was there any good stories in there for things that didn't go the way you thought they would?
 Oh yeah, you talked about it. We wanted, I had this concept that like, this is at the time that
 yogurt shops are blowing up. And at one point, I was going to launch a yogurt shop called
 Yo Town. And that was going to be a role playoff of O Town. But that just got so, you know,
 it got that space got crowded. And so I thought, I love cereal. What if we had a yogurt style shop
 every flavor of cereal and you got different flavors milk and you got, you could go, we called
 that cereal spoon and we spent a big chunk of money getting that company incorporated and we're
 dropping. This is what I was doing hairspray on Broadway. But it was that entrepreneurial spirit
 that he was talking about. Like, what's next? How can we leverage all of this attention into something
 in business knowing that entertainment is a rollercoaster ride and you're going to be up and down
 no matter who you are. And that was not a very expensive and then realizing that the pitfalls
 that that was that trying to open a spot in New York and what it would cost and all those things
 trying to do it on our own dime. I mean, we spent a lot of money and lost a lot of money. But you
 learned that lesson as an entrepreneur. And then I was also 17 at the time. We're not giving you
 a loan. And I was like, why? He was like, well, you're 17. You have no history or experience.
 All right. Well, that one's not going to work. So, yeah, no, that would crash and burn.
 I kind of like the cereal concept as a guy that likes some cereal. Who does it like cereal?
 You know, I will say we were a bit ahead of the curve and I think it was even a shark tank concept.
 Serial killers is actually a successful company. That's the same concept. So there's a little
 plug for cereal killers. They have that exact concept. They proved that it would work. And it's
 been a successful. They have many locations. But I was just trying to, yeah, as an entrepreneur,
 you think about like, what do I love? What am I passionate about grew up just eating cold cereal?
 Like, like just that's all IA. And I still think it's an awesome idea. Then we had a T-shirt company
 that we that we attempted to launch that didn't do well. But these are the scars of an entrepreneur.
 And I think you have to have, I don't believe it in failure. I like the concept that fail. F-A-I-L
 stands for a faithful attempt in learning. There's no such thing as a mistake. I call it being on
 the mistake learners high. You have to have like if you think of a great film, you think of all those
 mistakes that an actor had to go through to get that one take. But all those mistakes leading up
 to that beautiful Oscar-winning take of the film, you wouldn't get there if you didn't have all
 those mistakes that led up to it. So I think it's important to reframe how you view mistakes on
 the entrepreneur's journey. 100%. So I couldn't have said it any better. And look, you already had
 a win like no one else has ever had. You know, so like, you know, rising together. So you can't
 be greedy, angel. I feel like I your dad there. You know, can't be greedy. You've had more wins
 than anybody that ever had. 99.9% of the people. So speaking of wins, we got the wicked poster behind
 you. You mentioned some Broadway stuff. I know that's been part of the journey. What got you in
 the Broadway? You know, I always looked up to people that like Mark Wahlberg started off as
 Marky Mark and the funky bunch. And then he got into acting and he really started to stretch. And
 of course, a lot of people have done that. It's going back to Elvis, you know, breaking into film
 and acting. And Broadway was like the perfect thing for me because I was already singing and dancing.
 And you have to be able to have that. And then it was very meta because the first show I got was
 Link Larkin, the lead of hairspray who plays a teenage star on a show that's patterned after
 Dick Clark's American bandstand. So this is the in hairspray. It's the Corny Collins show. But
 it was a very meta role. I was in it with Lance. Lance Basterman Sink was playing Corny Collins.
 It was like a rock concert. We had a George Went from Cheers playing the Edna character, which is
 of course the character and drag that plays the mom. So it was just an amazing time in my life.
 And it was two years. Started off as sort of what seemed like a stunt cast. And there was a 12-week
 contract. And they resigned me four times. And I ended up doing it for two years. And then that led
 to Wicked, which was really my dream world. And did that on both the tour and then on Broadway.
 So thousands of performances on Broadway. And also just getting into a slightly different
 audience there. Because a lot of the Broadway audiences also international. Some of them may or
 may not have known about O-town. But I felt like I had something to prove, which was that I'm a talent
 outside of just being a boy band. And that's what Broadway represented for me was an opportunity
 to show, hey, I'm not just this guy who you might think of as the spiky hair grunt kit from O-town.
 I've actually got some shops. And that's what that that was an opportunity to try to prove myself
 in that world. Because as much as it was a win, the truth is when you're in a boy band, you get
 pegged. It's just like if you're in a sitcom, it's sometimes you see a sitcom star. It's like the
 biggest sitcom that they can never break out from that role. And it's challenging to try to get
 people to see you as something else. And that's been my journey after that was it was an amazing
 success. And O-town will be I have nothing but like appreciation for it and gratitude at the same
 time. It's been challenging to try to pivot out of it and be taken as more than just the
 quote boy band guy if that makes sense. Oh, a big total sense. I mean, George Costanza,
 I mean, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, have that cast has never done anything but
 that. I mean, even, I mean, Jerry's side felt struggled a bit, you know, I mean, obviously,
 he's got very few things to worry about, you know, he's standing up, just amazing. And whether
 you're probably like still top 10 most wealthiest people on in Broadway are excuse me, Hollywood.
 But yeah, he's not okay. I don't feel too bad for him. But I'm not sure George has ever landed
 anything else. But yeah, you're right. I mean, it's like getting I'm sure it's not like taking
 seriously. It's just they can't get out of that frame of reference. It's just like, you know,
 you're this 18 year old kid still like or whatever. And now you're exactly you've got other
 abilities. But obviously you've proven them being on tour. We talked you a pre episode. You
 became through the whole town here of Greenville, South Carolina with the wicked tour. I remember the
 buses and everything else being around clogging up all the traffic. Yes. So any any future plans on
 the Broadway thing? I mean, is that kind of I know we're about to pivot here a bit, but any future
 in Broadway? Are you still interested? I think I will I think I will make my return to Broadway
 at a certain point. And I think the last the last show I did, you know, we were starting to Bobby and
 I were already kind of creating the journey and the storyline of where I was going, which was
 into fitness and health and wellness. And interestingly, it starts on social media as a 90 day fitness
 challenge. And this is something I did all throughout the Broadway year. So a lot of people
 like he's on Broadway. But if you went to my social media, you saw I was just doing these 90 day
 fitness challenges and building an audience of people that were discovering me outside of that
 Broadway world, that pop music world. And just starting to follow me for fitness advice. And
 I've always been into like, you know, really been a fitness music and acting where my my three
 passions growing up. I thought as a teenager that I would go into fitness and try to use that success
 to pivot into Hollywood. And then it just happened in reverse. I fell backwards into a Hollywood,
 you know, music career. And then years later started exploring fitness again. And I think looking
 at the people who are in my category pop stars like Jessica Simpson, who has launched an incredible
 international brand of shoes. And you look at Jessica Alba with the honest company. You look at,
 you know, Wineth Paltrow with Goop. And it was like, well, where can I take where can I take this next?
 And starting from a place that feels authentic is I think really important. You can't fake it.
 And so for me, living that lifestyle of being healthy was also what being a Broadway performer,
 which by the way is the most grueling and hardest job I've ever had, way harder than even being a
 pop star or a rock star like you do eight performances a week and you're beating your body up.
 And you have to take care of yourself like a peak performer. And so as hiring all these peak
 performance coaches and all these different categories, I started sharing these tips and tricks
 of how to get, you know, yourself to the higher peak performance level and really started building
 an audience in fitness and health and wellness very organically was how it all started. And so a
 dovetails, it dovetails with being a performer because you can't do Broadway unless you're taking
 care of yourself at a higher level really like an athlete. You have to treat yourself like a high
 level athlete to be able to sing, to be able to dance, to be able to actually get on stage and knock
 out eight Broadway level performances a week because people go see a Broadway show, those tickets
 are $180. They expect a certain level of performance, a certain level of energy. You have to take
 care of yourself like an athlete. And it was something I started just talking about organically
 on social media. And then Bobby and I were like, let's launch a product, let's launch a supplement.
 And the very first concept was, I love caffeine, but I'm also caffeine sensitive. So
 when I perform, if I have coffee, it makes me too jittery because I'm already, I'm already feeling
 nerves from performing. And so we create a product called next level focus. We literally out of our
 closet, we launched it on Amazon. It became a best seller. And the concept was it's an energy
 product that has caffeine, but it's for people that are caffeine sensitive. So it's got a couple
 ingredients in there that actually counteract the adrenalizing effects of caffeine. And this just
 came from being a coffee lover and reading message boards. On the internet, if you take L-theanine,
 which is a supplement people use for anti-anxiety, it's the number one popular supplement for anti-anxiety.
 You put that in your coffee, you'll have such a smoother caffeine experience. And I thought,
 well, people are putting this in their coffee, let's just make it a supplement. And it hit,
 and that was how high level supplements was born, literally from an apartment closet,
 and launched as an Amazon company, of course, in this new age of fulfilled by Amazon, which has been
 ironically, I gained 40 pounds like he was on Broadway, because I would just come to New York and
 go to get cheesecake and bagels. And so I've always been on the business side. I don't have a
 lick of musical talent. I got kicked out of Trumply class growing up. So our talent stacks of
 a line well in terms of, you know, but we'll, you know, we'll backtrack a little bit in terms of
 the business, but, and we don't want to talk too much, but, you know, I started working with a
 woman, Nicole Winiman, who was widely regarded as like the brand endorsement agent in Hollywood
 from music. She did Alan's American Express, the, for me with candies, Justin Bieber with
 Willy Wonka, and what happened was that the kind of market started shift where endorsements weren't
 really doing as well anymore, these big $100 million, you know, Britney and Pepsi deals because
 people started to get a little wiser too. Hey, that doesn't mean they use the product. Didn't
 you get caught drinking coke? No, you forgot to call saying that his favorite candy was a
 Cadbury product instead of a Willy Wonka. It was right. But long story short, so it started pivot
 to celebrity owned businesses instead. And that's when you started to see Jessica Simpson come up
 with the shoe line and Sarah Jessica Parker with shoes and Jessica Alba with honest company. And,
 you know, and, and my background has just been working with other serial entrepreneurs, mentors,
 Burpadruzians, one of those of ours mentors who invented life alert. I fall on them. I can't get up.
 And, you know, it was an early investor in the UFC and tap out. And so when he started doing Broadway,
 like he said, we were like, we have this great audience that we can capitalize on. We have
 social media presence. Let's start laying the groundwork on this visual medium of Instagram.
 You know, he looks good. We can kind of, you know, use it as an excuse to basically show off
 more physique shots and those kinds of things. Knowing that eventually we're going to build this
 audience and then we're going to monetize it. And that kind of was where we started.
 Yeah, I love that. I'm glad you pivoted into the social aspect. I wanted to talk about that and how
 what, what, you know, what leverage that's brought in, you know, building off of Ashley's audience,
 obviously, both from the hotel days to the Broadway, everything like that. What has been kind
 of the social media approach, both for high level and, you know, Ashley's popularity?
 Well, I think it's important to also focus on pain points. Like you said, in the journey,
 the ups and downs, like he was the biggest promoter of get on YouTube now because YouTube's
 going to be the next big thing. And I honestly, I slept on it. I was like, I'm not sure. I just
 don't know if this is really going to take off or not. So I missed the vote on YouTube. Hard,
 like so hard. Yeah, what? What, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, if I had those,
 I'd be playing the Read My Lips, no, yeah, you got it wrong, Ashley. Yeah, I did. I got it dead
 wrong. And so when Instagram started to come up, um, really started blowing up around like,
 obviously, two, I think it was 2012, 2013, 2014, somewhere around there. We were like, I was like,
 I'm not missing the vote on Instagram. I'm not missing the vote. So the very first 90 day fitness
 challenge I started telling that story was back in 2014. And that segwayed with all the Broadway
 touring and then going and then wicked. And then I did the tour. And I did the Broadway show.
 So it was like two and a half, three years in my life. And I'm telling these stories. And it's
 working. And I'm gaining this audience that's also outside of pop music. And now, of course,
 we see the emergence of TikTok. And I think, you know, but then you have the clubhouses of the world
 where you know, it, it, it seems like it's going to be the next big thing. But then it, it
 fizzles. And so if you want to ask three years ago, you know, you know, you know, clubhouse
 was not going to be the next big thing. I got more audio of that than anyone. I told everybody,
 no, no, it's, it's, it's hard going to look at that. You like, you're like, just trust me.
 Trust me. No, I love this a long time thing. They know the sense because everyone was in
 podcasts was growing. And you listen to podcasts when you have time. So live audio is when
 you may not have time. So it never made sense to me that you had to listen to audio only when
 it was live. I was like, no, I listen to my podcast when I'm at the gym or on my time. Yeah,
 you know, and you don't want to participate always in them. And so yeah, and that's the same
 frustration. I mean, you probably see it just in your business, Ryan, like when you're trying to
 convince a client like, hey, you need to do this. And they're pushing. And that's kind of,
 you know, in terms of that pain point, I was like, hey, this is something we need to focus on.
 And that's what it works. Yes. Yeah. I think it's up YouTube 10 years ago. Yes. But you know,
 it's it's the other thing is like social media's work. You know, it's like, you know, and I think
 as as marketing people like we, you know, sometimes everybody thinks they can do it. You know,
 and that's the other thing. And you're like, yeah, technically everybody thinks they can do it.
 But in terms of creating a real strategy around it, you know, even when it doesn't make sense
 at first, you know, and I think that's what we started doing in terms of high level and
 Ashley personal brand is when he's in wicked, everybody else in wicked would be promoting wicked,
 you know, because they're in a Broadway show. And, you know, but our mentality was always, well,
 wicked's a $3 billion show at this point. You know, they made their own by universal. They're
 they're successful. It's not our job to promote wicked. Wicked spend a ton of money on marketing.
 They spent a ton of money on media. And what we need to do is really be thinking
 nine months from now, this contract's going to be over. And if we spent these entire months,
 nine months promoted just wicked, but we haven't really built anything. So we start laying the
 groundwork for this fitness brand. Again, kind of in the similar way to what Ashley was describing
 for our call about O-town, like we had no product, you know, and O-town had no record label. So we're
 creating this awareness and we're starting to my goal was to always I want people to start
 recognizing you for what we're doing on social media. And they could come to it having no knowledge
 of your past whatsoever. And I think that's really where the power of social media starts to come.
 It's like anybody can grow on social media if they have huge outside, you know, drivers,
 whether it's on TV, whether it's a brand, whether it's this, but I'm really interested in the people
 that have come up on social media purely from the content they're creating on there. So yeah,
 that's where I think we started to see that that turn where we would be out in public or you
 would even be in New York and people like, oh my god, I love your fitness tips. I lost 50 pounds
 because of what you're telling me on social media. We've started, we started to see those
 strides pop up so much that were like, okay, now it's time to monetize. Yeah, now it's time to take
 this from awareness to an actual product and start monetizing. And I think that's what just to
 add real quick, that's what sold it for me is you start seeing the the age of the social media
 influencer has bigger engagement and bigger numbers than movie stars. And you're like, whoa,
 like, okay, so this vehicle is is changed the game. It is a game changer. And I think that's why
 our talent stock really, we complement each other because he's always really understood that world.
 And coming just also to from a place of authenticity, like being a certified coach, like actually
 having the knowledge of teaching people these things is a pivot for myself, but I'm in complete
 control of that. I can create that brand. And I like the control that social media gives you to
 tell that story yourself, not through the medium of a record label, not through the medium of
 a television producer, et cetera. So really puts the power in your own hands. It's it's incredible
 cool. That's a great point. There at the end, I asked, I mean, there's a lot to unpack with what
 you guys just talked about, but that at the end, social media has democratized business. I mean,
 from music to acting, you can self-produce. And I mean, I'm not saying it's you still got to have
 money and some distribution, all that. I get all that. But social media is democratized so many
 things from business to production, anything like that because you can if you're talented and
 you're driven enough, you can create, you can build your own audience. And that just wasn't,
 you know, O-town, you know, was built through TV and built through the music that you produced.
 And all of that, but those are the old, the radio channels and the television channels and
 traditional media. And now businesses are built through start from the ground up from social media.
 It's incredible. The old gatekeepers, so to speak, have are they're trying to catch up. They're
 they're now pursuing, you know, these these YouTube kids who are out earning, you know,
 all of us.
 Yeah.
 Let's call it Bay this Bay.
 They're trying to raise a role's voice as you can do. You can be like, oh, the TikTok star. And I'm like,
 um, okay, well, but no, but to your point, I think it's a threat. You know, it was such a threat to,
 like, the big content, you know, gatekeepers, hashtags point like record labels, they were so
 hesitant to get involved because it went from all of a sudden to get to have a record go,
 you know, really become successful. You needed you needed money on lots of money on radio,
 you needed touring, you needed it. And it was the labels that could pay for that same with movies.
 I had a meeting the really high up a paramount about three years ago when we were working on
 some streaming stuff with another company. And they they had a the studio was like, you don't
 understand. We would never let people watch our films for free. And I was like, you don't understand.
 It's not that you're going to let people. It's like, you will have no choice. You will have to
 find a different way to monetize your content because this idea that you will never let people,
 you know, watch things for free. It's like, it's so backwards at this point. I think COVID
 accelerated, right? Are pushed to this kind of new world of content consumption content,
 development content distribution. But that's what we saw with fitness thing too, where it was like,
 all of a sudden, we go from, you know, people are in gyms and then COVID and people are like,
 how do I work out? And that's where we saw like, wow, we need to pivot very quickly to create a
 product and sell it because people need this. And it was it was really developed as a need. And
 people just coming to us and they're like, hey, your products are working for us. But I want to know
 how do I take this to the next level? And so that's where we were like, let's create a coaching
 business that we can sell knowledge. And we can really help people beyond having them buy,
 you know, bottle of protein powder or whatever it was. Like now people need help to actually
 how to use it. And I think the democratization of that, it's also presented an issue where there's
 almost too much content. And so now it's like, you get on and you really don't know what to do. And so
 even like trying to find knowledge, it's like, I think I could find 700 different ways to fix
 X problem now when you go to the internet. So you really need like somebody with authority to come
 in that you trust. And that's where we think Ashley's background has benefited so much. It's like
 people trust him, right? So if you grew up with him and you're into pop music and now you're in
 your 30s, had a couple kids, you're trying to get back in the shape, you're going to feel a lot
 more comfortable hiring Ashley Parker Angel from Oatown because you grew up loving him,
 then you might a complete stranger. And so that's where we feel like we've been building this
 business for 20 years. And we're just now seeing the fruits of like that trust and that audience
 that we've curated for. And let's have fun doing it. Because if you think about the pop culture
 element, we bring a lot of fun to what we do. We built a community very similar to what Peloton
 has built where we have this incredible international community. You might have been, you maybe
 were someone that loved pop music. We've got a lot of people that weren't necessarily the biggest
 fans of Oatown. But even if you were just a fan of boy bands in general, pop music in general,
 we also saw there was a hole in this space where there's not really anyone from my,
 from my category, so to speak, that's gone this direction. It also worked out perfectly,
 that naturally, authentically, this is something I've always been passionate about. So I think it was
 like a combination of filling a real need in the marketplace and then providing a home solution
 during COVID when like that's nobody, I mean, the gym shut down. Nobody could exercise from
 an actual location. Everybody wanted to move to a home solution anyway. So it was sort of a perfect
 storm to be honest. Where we had a gentleman with high level. Where's all this? What's the future
 hold? I love that question. I mean, I think, you know, being fitness entrepreneurs at this point,
 we've realized there's so many different, there's so many different ways to be a fitness entrepreneur.
 We also want to focus on our core category of online fitness community. So we have high level
 performance academy, which is a virtual coaching academy where you get to work with me and we provide
 all the things that people need. We have custom nutritionists, giving you custom meal plans,
 we do live workouts, but we really do live coaching and it's a support community. And I think that
 the biggest pitfall, the number one reason people fail to get in shape is they say we don't have
 the motivation or accountability. And so we provide that for people online on a daily basis. It's a
 support community. We know support communities work for all different categories, but it's different
 than it's again, it's this new technology spin of emerging technology that allows us to connect
 internationally and have, be able to coach someone in Germany and Iceland and the Philippines.
 And being able to connect with people through the internet this way has just been incredible,
 because now you can work with people that you grew up admiring if they're offering a service
 like this. It's just been unlike anything I think people have experienced in a category like this.
 You know, you can, you can go watch the Backstreet Boys and how much is it for a VIP meeting
 for the Backstreet Boys so a lot. It's like $1200 to meet the Backstreet Boys on 500 plus the ticket.
 Right, for about a minute. Yeah, I think the goal to answer your question is to scale,
 you know, right? It's like how do we, how do we package what Ashley, you know, his energy,
 his ability to inspire people to move people, you know, we've had people that have lost over 100 pounds.
 We've had people who's in their entire lives have radically transformed from being part of
 this community. And I think we're constantly trying to find out like how can we be more impactful
 with lower, you know, touch, right? And so we launched an app recently and that's kind of our first
 entry into this kind of more of a mass market thing where, you know, there's only one Ashley. So
 it's like if we're leveraging him so much and you see Tony Robbins has obviously done a great
 job with this where, you know, there's a way to kind of bottle up that energy and now put it into
 courses, now put it into even like additional coaches who can help. And so I think that's where
 that's our next hurdle is like, okay, we know this works. We know in its current iteration,
 we're changing lives, we're doing, you know, all these impactful things. But now instead of
 reaching hundreds of people, thousands of people, we need to take that next level to reach hundreds
 of thousands of people, millions of people. And so obviously technology is going to play a part in
 that, but it's, it's just talking, even, even just talking to other marketing people, talking to
 other, you know, the trends are changing so much and the technology is changing so much that it's
 just, it's just about staying ahead of that curve. Like what's the next delivery system for I think
 what we're offering is the challenge. Scale, baby, scale. Yeah. Yes. Holograms. As a part of the
 radio. Now I love that. Hologram living room work out with me and my holograms. Hey,
 it's on the back. holograms are coming back. I'm telling you, Star Wars, it'll be here. It's
 the Whitney Houston one in Vegas was a little, a little weird, but I think they're going to
 perfect. I know. All right. I got one last question before we till everybody were to find
 everything. Is it? Oh, oh, oh, time coming. I saw the, you know, we're not breaking any news
 here, but we ever getting back together. We getting the band. Are we getting the band back together,
 Ashley? I get that question a lot. I know they do too. I mean, the, the honest answer is there's
 no plans as of right now for that. Yeah. And you know, we've had some brief discussions, but
 there's been no solid plans. And it's, this new direction I'm going in is, is, I mean,
 it's so full time to be honest, like to have the time again, set back into being a band,
 it would cost me a lot in terms of the business that I now run. And so it's, you get to a point
 where I think when you are pivoting, you, you start realizing you have to make a decision,
 and you have to start, if you are going to rebrand yourself, you can't be all over the place.
 And I think being a peak performance coach, like working with people one-on-one, like he said,
 helping people change their lives has been so rewarding for me on a spiritual level.
 For me, it has been, I love performing and some to see someone in the audience enjoying your
 performance, but now I'm working with people one-on-one to help them level up in their personal lives.
 And the feedback I get from people daily, like Jeff who I help lose a hundred pounds,
 it's like it is just an unbelievable experience when you help someone change their life.
 I feel like I went from jobs to career to now finding my purpose. And that is a very powerful thing
 to find. I'm in my 40s now, and I think this is the direction I want to stay handed in.
 I'm going to summarize for never say never. But never say never. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 Whether you reach out, the producer of making the band recently did reach out,
 said, hey, how would you feel about doing it, making the band TV reunion?
 I would be, I think I would be a bit more open to something like that than say for instance,
 like I'm never going to be, O-town got together, and they tour as the four guys.
 And they've been together longer now, this iteration than previous. So yeah.
 So they've reunited. And I mean, I would love them, you know, I would love to make,
 maybe there is an opportunity for a TV reunion or something like that in the future. But
 I celebrate my past and at the same time, I've also, I've also evolved to this new journey
 that I'm on now. And it's probably, it's for me, maybe that ship has sailed, but I do appreciate
 it and I love it. And like I said, there's nothing but gratitude and love for that time in my life
 because it's amazing. Yep. Well, you leverage it, but you build on it. So where can we keep up
 with you gentlemen? I know Ashley Parker, Agile, and people who know who Google Search,
 she still get, I don't know, but we're going to keep up with all things business and personal.
 Yeah. Yeah. Well, people can follow me of course on my socials like Instagram, TikTok,
 Facebook, it's just Ashley Parker Angel. People that want an affordable solution to get in shape,
 you can go to Ashley Parker Angel.app, Ashley Parker Angel.app. And you can sign up for the app I
 just launched, which is a really cool concept. It's actually, we didn't even fully get into this,
 but it's like the Netflix of fitness. And so I partnered with a company called Playbook that
 offers a solution very similar to Netflix. It's $14.99 a month and you actually have access to
 over 200 different coaches. So it's not just my strategies, but you got 200 different coaches from
 all over the best of the best offering their solutions and methods as well. So it's a lot like Netflix,
 you get on and there's so much content from health and wellness teachers of all kinds, meditation, yoga,
 nutrition, fitness, all of it. And it's only, it's only $14.99 a month. So we just recently launched
 that livehighlevel.com, high level performance academy.com, Amazon.com, Fort slash live high level,
 Fort slash high level. So we're just search high level supplements, high level nutrition. We come
 up everywhere. We're on Amazon, we're on the web, we're on all the social media, but you'll find this
 with a comeback for round two and talk, you know, the ins and outs of e-commerce and the
 the pluses and minuses of Amazon. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a necessary evil dancing with the devil,
 not the angel.
 Uh,
 gentlemen, it's been a pleasure. I really appreciate you coming on.
 Thank you. It was awesome. Yes. Well, this has been so great to be on the red cast. Thank you
 so much, Ryan. Yeah. Hey guys, you know, to find us the radcast.com search for angel. You'll find
 all the content from today, all the highlight clips, everything you need to know about high level
 Bobby, angel, everything. You know where I'm at, Ryan off-road on all the platform.
 Go follow me on TikTok. I'm blowing up. We'll see you next time on radcast.