Adult Site Broker Talk Episode 298 with Alan Michael Price of Thumper

This is Bruce Friedman of Adult Site Broker and welcome to Adult Site Broker Talk, where each week we interview one of the movers and shakers of the adult industry and we give you a tip on buying and selling websites. This week we'll be speaking with Alan Michael Price of Thumper Gummies. I'll be in Cali, Columbia for the LAL Expo April 27th through the 29th I hope to see many of you there If you'd like to sit down and discuss business contact me at adultsidebroker.com We're proud to announce our latest project thewaronporn.com You'll find articles on age verification laws and other attacks on our industry. It's to raise awareness of our industry's plight in the war on porn. You'll find all that and more at thewaronporn.com. Now time for our properties for sale at AdultSite Broker. We have a buyer who's looking for OnlyFans agencies, chatting companies, and OnlyFans traffic sites. He owns one of the top OnlyFans agencies in the world and many of the types of companies listed above. They have a large budget to acquire multiple properties. We have a premium AI companion platform focused on emotional realism and deep memory. Users interact with lifelike companions that remember every detail and respond with real emotion. They've just added advanced video capabilities. We're offering a growing free porn gaming site with adult sex games. The site is owned by one of the top entrepreneurs in our industry. We have a network of BDSM subreddits that has over 1.49 million users, over 3.8 million posts, and almost 45,000 comments. We have a buyer who's looking for dating and lifestyle sites in Europe. They'll also consider other geos. They currently operate some very successful sites. There's a unique platform that bridges the gap between mainstream social link services like Linktree and adult content creators on platforms like OnlyFans. They combine a bio link with the ability to sell virtual gifts. And there's a highly active, organically grown Reddit community centered around the stocking and foot fetish niches. It's one of the leading spaces for adult fetish content on Reddit. For more information on any of these listings, go to our listings page or contact us at adultsitebroker.com. Now time for this week's interview. My guest today on Adult Site Broker Talk is Alan Michael Price of Thumper. Alan, thanks for being with us on Adult Site Broker Talk. Yeah, Bruce, no, thank you. I'm the one that's excited to be here. Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and chat with you. It's exciting to have you. Alan is a firefighter, a paramedic, and newly turned entrepreneur based in Miami. He's the founder of Thumper Labs, LLC, the company behind Thumper, a premium line of his, hers, and couples' libido gummies designed for men, women, and couples. They're created to help people reconnect, boost intimacy, and add playfulness back into their relationships. Coming from the firehouse to the adult industry might sound like a jump, but both demand confidence under pressure. He wanted to create something bold, fun, and unapologetic, just like the people who use it. Since launching Thumper, he's built strong momentum through major trade shows like AVN, Exotica, and XBiz, and he continues to expand Thumper's retail presence across the U.S. and around the world. The gummies are crafted with trusted botanicals and science-backed ingredients that support energy, blood flow, and desire, all in a fun, bunny-shaped gummy. They're performing exceptionally well in sexual wellness and lifestyle retail markets. Alan, what inspired you to create Thumper, and how did your experience as a firefighter influence the brand? It's always such a difficult question to ask because when people say, how did you get into the sex supplement brand? I honestly have no idea how I made this job. It's kind of like when people ask me how I ended up living in Thailand. It's like, I don't know, I'm here. You're right. You're just like, I just had an idea and I just wanted to run with it. So basically, I'm a fireman and also a medic. My girlfriend's a nurse, so we definitely like to do, I don't want to say super organic things. We would find natural remedies. Being in the firehouse, a bunch of guys would get a script of Viagra or Cialis from their doctor. We'd pass it around to our friends whenever they would take their wives or girlfriends on vacation. And those work, and they're great, right? But I kind of wanted to find something that was an alternative to pharmaceuticals. And originally, this was a few years ago. This is, I think, when companies like Blue Chew and all that stuff first started coming out. I started seeing that Viagra and Cialis were becoming so easily for access to have online. And it kind of just made me wonder why was that such a big niche coming up and how come people were able to get it so easily. So I started researching and you needed to be a doctor or something like that. And it turns out anyone could start up a company like that and you just have to subcontract with doctors. And I actually decided to go into that space first. So I had a company called Cox's Rock that was doing pharmaceuticals. It was doing well, but then I definitely misjudged how expensive marketing would be in that space. So I struggled a little bit there. And then since I figured since I'm already in that industry, I know the sexual wellness space. I know kind of what the advertising looks like and wanting to do something on a more natural, organic side. I was like, okay, let's make the transition from pharmaceutical to doing an all-natural supplement. And that way, it's also easier to one-market, get on store shelves. You don't need a doctor or anything like that. So it was more easily accessible for a larger crowd. Now, when you said the marketing was expensive, were you speaking of like Google Ads? Yeah, like Google Ads, running ads on any social media platform, TikTok, Instagram, all that stuff. I think when you're new and you're coming into it, you think, oh, all I have to do is just make a couple of Instagram posts and thousands of people are going to see it. That's not how real life works. You have to pay to play. So every time you make an ad, you got to spend a few thousand dollars just for it to get in front of people. And then, you know, it's just a nonstop revolving door of throwing money at marketing to see what works and what doesn't work. I understand. And how do you balance a public service career with running a company in the sexual wellness space? I think that the fire department gives me a lot of lenience in terms of timeframes. Because what we do is we do 24 hours on, 48 hours off. And then every fifth shift, we call it a CR day. I get that day off and paid. So, for instance, whenever my work day lands on a Sunday, I'll get that day off. So every three weeks, I'll get five straight days off. So if you look at a schedule or a calendar, we're only working eight to nine days a month on that schedule. So it gives me a lot of free time. And for the first few years of my career, I was just enjoying it and having fun. And then I kind of got that little itch, like, you know what? I want to start something. So I moved out to that space. So yeah, the fire department is very generous where I'm able to still have a full-time salary, but then also I have a lot of free time where I'm able to work on things I want to on the side. Okay. What was the moment you realized there was a gap in the libido gummy market? So I didn't think that there was a gap. What I noticed when I started going to trade shows, I started just attending for fun. And I noticed that there were supplements. I'm not the first person to create a gummy. I'm not going to be the last person to create a gummy. But I started looking at different brands, different packaging. And I just started from a marketing standpoint, just kind of was curious on what other people were doing, what ingredients people were using. started doing my own research on like, you know, why would they use this? Why would they not use this ingredient? Why do they, why do they stop here? You know, so I kind of started like picking and choosing different ingredients, what people were doing. But then I also noticed that there was, you know, it's a sex product, but every product was either only directed towards one partner. Only men could take this or only females could take this. Or some people would do like, Hey, you could take this, but it's, uh, it's for either, or it doesn't matter if you're a man or you're a woman, you could take it. And I kind of didn't really like that take on it. What I wanted to do is I wanted to make something that couples take together, but you're not getting a one-size-fits-all product. So if you look at our formulation, our male gummies have ingredients that are specifically designed for men. And then our female gummies have ingredients that are specifically designed for females. That way, both partners are getting what their body chemically needs to help with arousal, stimulation, everything. And then that's kind of where our packaging came into play, too. Because, like I said, most of the competitors were like, hey, these are for men. You can only have this for men or these are for girls. So we made ours like a high luxury packaging, but it's made as like a couple's experience. So it's for your partner. So, you know, we have all our boxes are geared for couples to take together, whether if it's like a his, her box or his, his box or hers, hers box. We wanted to make sure that every couple felt like they were included and that we're making something special for them. And I think that's what really put us out above every other brand. Don't get me wrong. I think there's other products that are great, But no one was really targeting like, hey, this is for couples. This is for couples enjoyment. And so we kind of just found that little unique niche. And that's kind of what helped us give us our little bump forward. Fantastic. How do you keep Thumper sexy and bold, but still premium and approachable? I would say just by packaging, I think. Again, going, not picking other people apart, but just looking at what competitors were doing. A lot of it looked very cartoonish and childish. The packaging was very bright. So when you see it on a shelf, it definitely draws attention. But to me, it looked cheap. It looked gimmicky. I was like, I don't know. It doesn't really look like it'd be worth the $20 that they're charging. And so what I wanted to do is with our packaging, I wanted to make it something that stands out. Instead of putting it in just regular Myler bags, we made a premium box. So that way, you know, it feels like you're getting something that's a little more higher end than just, you know, something that's in a little plastic bag. But with that being said, while transitioning into retail space, a lot of storefronts asked if we could also provide packages, the pouches as well, just because it takes up less shelf space. Easier for the store, it's easier for them to keep by the cash register as like a last second purchase item. So, you know, we've adapted, but we still kept our brand on point. It's still like the packaging is a very sleek matte black packaging with either a holographic blue bunny or a pink bunny. So it's still very sleek. It's still very sexy. So I think our packaging helped with making it say, hey, this is what is the higher end luxurious. But if you also look at our ingredients, I would say every competitor, when they do list their ingredients, usually they say it's a proprietary blend. And the proprietary blend is capped at 500 milligrams. If you look at our ingredients, after Wanda, is one of the nine, and that alone is 500 milligrams. So if you add up all my other stuff, I think all my active ingredients sit over just above 1,000 milligrams of what you're actually getting. So I think my packaging stands out, and the ingredients definitely put us a little more over the top, so that's why we're able to say that this is a little more of a higher-end item. So that's really what makes your product stand out. Yeah. Okay. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about libido and sexual wellness supplements? I think there's always a little bit of a taboo. I don't think anyone ever wants to come to a realization or have the thought or need to tell a partner, like, I need help sexually, you know, whether if it's with an arousal or just, you know, blood flow or whatever the issue may be. I think that kind of gives the little taboo where no one really wants to have that discussion. But, you know, but there's a need for it, you know. People have been looking for libido supplements since you know freaking roman times where everyone was trying to find all these special herbs so it's it's not it's not a newly common thing but it's still something that makes people uncomfortable you know unless like i know you're very familiar with the adult space i'm very familiar with the adult space and when you meet those people everyone in the world talks about it right it's like marketing to those people are easy but now if you got to go freaking talk to this little old lady on the street you know she doesn't want to talk to you about that's the last thing in the she wants to talk to you about. Never know who the little old lady is. That's true. Here in Miami, you would be very surprised. The little old lady might teach you a thing or two. But for mass marketing purpose, you will say, most people don't want to have that conversation. That's kind of something that you have to, one, educate. Like, hey, there's nothing wrong with it. It happens. And it could just be a supplement thing, just because you're having a low libido. For females, it could be completely hormonal, depending on the time of the month. Diopause, there's a thousand things that are going on hormonally with their body as well as ours. And there's your peaks and valleys. And so we wanted to add, like I said, we want to get away from a pharmaceutical standpoint. So we say, hey, you have an issue. Here's medical fix. We want to find that approach for, hey, here's organic approach. These are all supplements that you'll see at GNC and vitamin shop. We're not giving you something that you can't pronounce chemically. So, you know, but like I said, so just talk, I think just starting conversations about libido in general stuff. But I think that's also why our branding did really good when we made it geared for couples. So it's like, hey, it's not just I'm having an issue or you're having an issue. Like, hey, this is like a little interesting that we'll have on a date night that will make us feel a little more aroused, a little more sexy with each other. And it's a fun, playful thing. So you kind of like have to sugarcoat it, you know? So to speak. Just to be clear, because you talked earlier about it being a product for low libido, but then you kind of presented it as more of a fun product for a night out or a night in, as the case may be. I mean, it's really appropriate for both. See, I mean, it is for both. It naturally helps boost your libido. It naturally helps with blood flow, like the male ingredients, L-arginine, helps with blood flow and basal dilation. Asha Wanda helps with calmness and relaxation. That way, if you're in your little head about you're feeling nervous about the girl that you're bringing home, everything has a specific purpose in it that helps with the stimulation and getting frisky. But yes, it's also the playful aspect where we want you and your partner to take this together to enjoy together. I know we said we were very big on focusing on couples taking it together. But when we also transitioned to the pouches for the stores, just to be able to compete with competitors, we do now offer a pouch that's all male gummies. So that way, obviously, if a single dude or whoever wanted to go and grab it, gummies for themselves for their own purposeful sex drive. And the same thing for the females. You don't need to be a couple to take this product. So just out of curiosity, I'm curious. So let's say I take one of your gummies. Okay. What's the sensation going to be? The sensation from, and I won't even talk about my personal view. I'll talk to you from all the reviews that we've got. A lot of the females say that after about like 30, 45 minutes, they'll start feeling like a little bit of like a, I don't want, I hate saying the word body high because there's nothing in here that makes you high. So I try to avoid saying that, but, um, you know, they, they feel kind of like a minor euphoric rush. They definitely, we've been told that, you know, it makes them feel like, I don't know if I could say it on a podcast, but, uh, you can be as explicit as you want. This is an adult podcast. I was trying to dance around. Okay. So it helps get her, helps get her wet. Right. You know, with the foreplay action, it kind of just makes you feel more aroused. It makes you feel giddy. It's kind of like knowing you're on your first date and you're having a few drinks at the bar, you're flirting with someone that you like. You just get that little butterfly feeling effect, and all of a sudden, everything they're saying is a little more funny. And all of a sudden, oh, now you want to be touched. Now you want to be a little playful. Now you want to go in for that kiss. And for the men, it's the same thing. It definitely helps you. Like I said, the last one, it helps with calmness, so it takes away the anxiety, it takes away the pressure, and all the other ingredients that help with blood flow for when it's time to perform, it's sending it to where you want it to go. Well, I know in the past when I've experimented with Cialis or Viagra, a small gust of wind comes up and... Bing! People ask that. Hey, is this going to make me rock hard for four hours? No, it's not going to. I wish. I always tell everyone, hey, Viagra and Cialis were created in a lab for a purpose, right? And those work. I'm never going to tell someone that that doesn't work. I would say that ours is just the more natural version of it. So you won't be instantly hard for four hours, but it's definitely going to get you aroused, and then it's going to help send the blood flow to the area where it's supposed to go when it's time to perform. Okay. What's it like representing your brand at trade shows like ABN, Exotica, and X-Biz? It's really exciting. First time I went, obviously I was nervous. You're putting yourself out on the line. Here's my product. I really hope someone likes it. And you're test piloting everything, right? This is the first time people are seeing the displays. This is the first time people are seeing the packaging. This is the first time people are trying samples. This is the first time people are seeing me and talking to me all the time. And we also use it as a price point. Like, hey, if we don't know what to price it yet, am I able to charge $30 for this, $40 for this? And so we're kind of like testing the market and seeing what people are willing to pay for. So everything you do on that first trade show is just highly criticized by yourself. Do they like me? Do they like my stuff? Do they like my price? Is my presentation good? Am I speaking all right? Did I do the right marketing compared to everybody else? Thankfully, my girlfriends are ride or die. And being a freshly startup company, had no money to hire any models like all the other companies did where they had girls passing out samples. I said, babe, I need you to take off work the next three years, buy some lingerie, here's some bunny ears, and you're coming to be my showgirl. And that's what she did as a trooper. She got dressed up, passed out samples, and actually ended up being a blast. Talked to so many people there in the industry, not in the industry. Made some really good connections. Got amazing feedback on the product. So that part was exciting. And then going to other trade shows, still come with their own areas of intimidation. We went to AVN. I didn't really know what AVN was at the time. I just knew they were having a trade show I wanted to go. Turns out to be like the absolute, the who's who of adult stars at AVN. And I didn't realize like every single person there is, you know, famous in their own right. You know, these are people that have like millions of followers and you're like casually having conversations with them. So it was a very, that part was very different. But then being able to sell a product in that space with that kind of one, I guess what we'll call it like celebrity factor, following that brings that kind of clientele in who everyone already comes in, sexually charged, ready to go. They're wanting to buy whatever they can in the moment. So it was cool. It's definitely a cool experience. Definitely met a few girls that me and my girlfriend both liked. So we got a few numbers off that too. So that's not bad. So sales were good. Personal times were fun. If anyone's in that space and wants to get into a retail aspect, I highly recommend going to trade shows, no matter how scary or daunting it seems at first, because you end up having a blast. And the people there are absolutely incredible. I think it's funny that a lot of people have this weird stigma against adult stars. But once you meet the people that are actually in that realm, everyone is so incredibly friendly. I was like, man, I found my people. Everyone here is so friendly, no matter what. It's incredible. Yeah, it's a good group. No doubt about it. How do people react when they find out a firefighter is behind a sexual wellness brand? Surprisingly well. I didn't think people would really care. I don't really like telling people that I'm a fireman. I just don't think that people care to know about that. But as soon as someone finds out, whether it's a customer or they end up having a conversation, that was one of our biggest issues, which is also one of our biggest positives of being all these trade shows. Every single person that came up to talk to us, we were talking to them like they were going to be our new best friends no matter what. We don't want to sell you a product. We want to talk to you, get to know you, get to know us, take some samples, walk around if you like it, come back. And we ended up just making all these conversations. And every person ended up telling you, because you're having these intimate conversations, people that end up asking you, like, oh, what do you do? What's your real job? Oh, I'm a fireman. Oh, my God, you're a fireman. That's incredible. That's so cool. I bet the marketing you could do for that. I'm like, I don't think people, even when people tell me that I could use that as a spin on marketing, I'm like, I don't think people care about that stuff. So we get positive reactions, but it's very weird for me to receive those reactions. I just don't understand. Yeah, well, it is a cool profession. There's no two ways about it. And I think it's a profession that pretty much everyone respects and admires. So I think that's why you're getting that. What have been your biggest challenges breaking into the adult and lifestyle markets? The biggest challenges, I don't know if it's exclusive for this industry. I would imagine that every market has their own challenges. Our biggest one falls back on advertising again. And this time, it's not so much based on budget. It's about the content that you're able to put out. So for instance, when we did have the pharmaceutical company, if you're a pharmaceutical company and you want to sell online, you have to go through this company called Legit Scripts, who certifies you, says that you're legit, so that way you're not buying product from China or something, right? They're saying, hey, your product is coming from a laboratory in the States, used with state ingredients, and everything is on the up and up and everything's good. Once you get that cert, you're able to advertise on any platform you want, whether it's TikTok, Instagram, Meta, Google, you name it, you could post it anywhere. If you don't, and so now going to a natural supplement, Legit Scripts doesn't do anything with supplements or herbals or any of that stuff. They don't care. They're exclusively only with pharmaceuticals. So there's no counterpart for a natural supplement. And being in the adult space, I could have all my ingredients that I have in my gummies, put it into another bottle. And as long as I don't have any sexual reference and I don't say, oh, this is a libido booster or it's a stannema, even the word stannema can get flagged at times. Then you get in trouble with the FDA. Right. And now it's not so much the FDA. It's just like the Instagram and meta policies are huge for adult products. So the second that they realize that you have an adult product, they don't care what you're selling, anything. They're taking it down, whether it's a toy, a supplement, frigging handcuffs, they don't care. And Google, unfortunately, has also gotten very strict. So the marketing is definitely a weird way to navigate because now you're relying on one reviews, which I think are great. But you also have to rely on user-generated content. And working with influencers is kind of like herding cats. You'll send them product. They want a ridiculous amount of money up front. And then you never hear from them again. Or they give you something really crappy and they don't do any edits. So it's very hard to navigate that space. And like I said, I'm sure everyone has their own difficulty in many aspects. I think for the adult space products, I think that's what everyone would probably mention is their number one hassle is finding the way that you can advertise. Because Google will say you're allowed to do X, Y, Z for one month. And then out of nowhere, they'll change their policy without even informing you. And all of a sudden, your products aren't showing anymore. And you're not told that your products aren't showing anymore. You just realize your sales are going down. You're like, oh, well, why did this happen? After doing a deep dive in all your analytics for an hour, you realize, oh, all my products aren't even being shown anymore. Google's still happy taking my money and charging me for the ads that are supposed to be running, but the ads aren't running. So you're like, oh, perfect. So now I'm just giving you all this cash for nothing. And that's where the nightmare comes. So they keep charging you even when they take your ads down? Yep. Yeah, you know, that goes kind of like something Google would do, no doubt. How are conversations around sexual wellness and intimacy evolving right now? Well, so earlier I did mention that there was, there's definitely still like a taboo, but I don't want to make it sound like it's an impossible taboo to work in because of social media. And I don't know if it's something that's just always been around or now that I'm older, I'm more aware of it, or maybe it's because of my logarithm that I've looked at too many things on Instagram and now that's all I'm flooded with. But I think, you know, sex in general, sexual activity or sexual images or, you know, any of that aspect is just becoming so, I don't want to say monotized, so regularly seen. And, you know, you can't, like, Sydney Sweeney, love her death, she's gorgeous. You know, she went on a red carpet and all of a sudden she's wearing a sister dress. Loved it, not complaining. But like now everyone in the world that has an iPhone sees it. I don't even follow an account that has anything to do with her. But yeah, I still found my way to have it. I know my friend's little brother who's like 14 saw it. He absolutely loves it. So I think because of how easy it is to be exposed to, maybe not just sex, I don't want to say like porn or anything, but as easy as it is to see the human body or girls on Instagram, I think it's just because it's so much more out there in your face, Everyone's becoming desensitized to it. And I don't think that's a bad thing. But because people are just seeing it more regularly, people are now more okay to talk about it, be curious about it. And it's really funny. When we go to the trade shows, we'll have a huge age gap. People that come up to us, you'll have 19, 20-year-olds who know all about libido. And they're all about the natural stuff. They want it. They see the ingredients. Oh, we love all these. I take these on and some of our other pills that we take throughout the day. And they know everything about libido. And then all of a sudden you'll meet someone who's like 50 and you would think that they would know something. They're like, oh, I don't even know what libido is. What's that? What? I thought this is a common term. So it's really funny. You see the generational age gap of the knowledge of sexual intimacy and wellness. All of a sudden, this younger generation knows all about it because we have Google and ChatGPT. We can learn anything in a second. And then you have the older generation who only had your friends or your neighbors to talk to. And back then, no one wanted to ask their neighbor what they were doing to get their neck up. So people weren't having these conversations with each other. I think that's not a real common topic of conversation among men. So what do you do to get your Peter up? Yeah, right? No one wants to have it. Letting you know I'm a masculine. Not exactly. Where do you see the future of the libido and intimacy supplement space? I don't think it's going anywhere. I'm not the only product. There's a bunch of others on the market. There's always going to be something there. It's, I think, the future of the libido products themselves will vary heavily on regulations, advertising. And, you know, it's just navigating, you know, how could you go find a loophole to make sure that your product is being shown in front of the people that you want to see? There's a thousand ways, you know, there's a saying there's a thousand ways to skin a cat. There's a thousand ways to market an item. But Instagram and everyone is doing a really good job at limiting all those options. So you just have to get creative, whether if it's, you know, working with influencers or whatever. My biggest thing is, okay, I wasn't able to completely dominate the online space that I wanted to. Or like, you know, my big-eyed dreams when I first got into it. Like, oh, I'm going to make a product in the Amazon and TikTok and people are going to love it. I noticed that wasn't going as fast as I wanted to. And that's when we said, okay, well, what's different? How else do you sell things? Okay, well, sex stores. People that go to sex stores want sex products. Okay, well, how do you get into a sex store? Oh, you go to a trade show. Go to a distributor, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So you find – these are all things I didn't know. I didn't know what a distributor was. I didn't know how this world worked. So it's just finding a way to be able to put yourself out there. You've got to find which river is leading to the ocean, right? So the future of the products are great. They're not going anywhere. They're not being banned, especially if you have natural ingredients. No one's going to shut you down and say you can't have this. It's just going through all the hoops to find out how you're going to get eyes onto your product. Well, just get Sidney Sweeney to be your spokesmodel. Simple as that, right? If I could, brother. if I could. I'm a decent looking guy, but I don't think I got the game to pick her up. I don't think she would want anything to do with me. Hey, you never know until you try. How do you make Thumper inclusive and appealing to all types of couples? I think that's one of the biggest things that helped us really stand out is we were inclusive to all couples. When I originally mentioned, a lot of competitors were for men only or for females only, which is fine which we offer now too, but we wanted it to be a couple's experience. I didn't want you to feel like you can only have one supplement for yourself and your chick was left off with nothing or vice versa. I wanted this to be a very like, hey, this is a date night experience. We used to call it a date night in a box. There's one for you, there's one for me. And then the male-female couple isn't the only couple out there anymore. There's a bunch of male-male couples, a bunch of female-female couples. And we noticed that there wasn't anyone that was catering to that. So we're like, okay, cool. I don't want it just to be, hey, this is only for this one couple. No one else could have it. I want, hey, I don't care who you're in love with. I don't care who you're touching. You'll take their money. Yeah, I have a product for you. So you can kiss whoever you want. Just take my stuff with you and you'll have a good time. Have you done anything with pride celebrations or anything like that? No, we want to. There's a few pride things down here in Miami. L.A., San Francisco, everywhere. Yeah. They're really big. That's what we plan on doing. We have to find points of contact, how to get booths in those spaces. We wanted to do one last year in Miami, but we missed the cutoff for that one. So the year's almost over. Everything's going to start again new next year. So we're going to definitely find spaces. And again, marketing-wise, even though Google is the most lenient with what we can advertise. The most lenient, but they steal your money. Yes, they steal your money. Of course they're lenient. I'm not allowed to run ads on Google. They won't sponsor the product because it's an adult product. But at least you can do keyword searches. So someone types in libido. We pay for one of the words libido to pop up. So that way you'll see us. And you're still buying AdWords. So that's advertising. Yeah, certainly. You're right. We're buying AdWords. But they won't promote your product for no reason. You can't just have a random ad pop up. but they just changed is now they don't want you to, I guess like single people out based on their sexuality preference. So if I say, you know, this is a, his, his box, it gets flagged. If I say this is a hers, hers box or his hers, I can't like, it's, it's very hard for me to advertise, Hey, this is for couples and it doesn't matter what kind of couple you're in. There's an option for you. They don't want you mentioning any of that. probably has to do with the whole DEI thing. Yeah. And so, you know, what becomes one of our biggest selling points is like, hey, this is not a one size fits all product. This is specifically for men. This is specific for women. And now this is specifically for the couples. Now we're getting, now it's our biggest, you know, our biggest draw is now becoming like a biggest negative for us. Yeah, that's certainly the case. But I think you can certainly more than make up for that with the events. There's a lot of ways to advertise in the LGBTQ plus space. So sounds like it might be your strength, actually. Yes. And in person, yes, it's the online marketing is tough. Or online because there's lots of gay spaces online. So gay and lesbian spaces and trans spaces. How do you make Trumper inclusive and appealing to all types of couples? I think it's just appealing just because, like, going back to what the packaging looks like. You know, it's a very high-end luxury box. It's matte black. It has metallic bunnies on it. The interior of the box follows the design. So we made sure that, like, every part of the box and the shipping that it goes in, everything looks high-end. So everything looks really pretty from the time you get it, the time you open it, to the time you throw it in the trash. The box still looks good. We had a few people tell us, like, they keep the boxes and they use it as, like, you know, they collect their jewelry or buttons or whatever they want to keep in it because the box looks so nice, which is cool. We keep it inclusive because you can definitely tell, you know, this box is made for you as this kind of couple. And people love that. People say, oh, man, like, you know, we love that, you know, the gang community is being advertised to, is being addressed. And it's cool, you know, it's, why not? Especially with the fact of all the negative that's going on, especially with the trans community. Oh, and I also should mention, give the standard disclaimer, we're recording this November 4th and it will run in March. So there you go. What's next for thumpers such as new products, partnerships, or expansions? Right now, expansions is probably where my focus is on. We've been doing a lot of outreaches with distributors. That's kind of the area that we really want to start getting into. I don't know how it is over by you, but in Miami and all of South Florida, smoke and vape shops have become pretty much like the new adult stores. Nope, not here. And vape's illegal here. So there you go. Oh, is it really? No way. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, wow. They've made vape's illegal, which I don't think that's necessarily bad, but that's the whole other thing. They're trying to keep them away from children, and that's their way of doing it. So interesting anyway. Yeah, I want to say it's Texas. Don't quote me on what state it is, but there is one or two states who they haven't banned vapes, but they banned flavored vapes because they don't want it being marketed to children. Florida is not on that aspect. We are super capitalistic, and Florida will sell anything. So vape shops are huge and they're really good for the adult space because I would say every single vape and smoke shop that I've been to in South Florida will say like maybe 25% of their shelf space is now adult product. So whether if it's supplements, vibrators, toys, apparel, it's becoming very big in the smoke and vape shop. So that's kind of where we've been really looking into partnerships with to get into either single retailers. It's so funny. I remember this was years ago. I didn't want to be in sales. But I think I watched the movie Wolf of Wall Street. I thought it was so entertaining. I was like, man, I wish I could sell things like that. Even if I don't have anything to sell, I'm a fireman. What am I going to do? but I would just be able to have that ability to sell something. And I even thought, I was like, man, I wish I could go to have a mentorship. Or what's it called? It's one of the people's internships. I would say, I wish I could have an internship. I'm too old. I'm 30-something. But no one would take me. But I was like, it would be really cool if I could have an internship for someone doing sales. And now I find myself where if I'm not emailing and making all these phone calls to distributors, I'm taking product, going to every single store in our area. I have a list of like 70 stores, I think West Kendall alone that I have to go to and just show my face, leave them some samples. Now, hopefully they'll like me. And it's funny. So it's like, oh, I'm finally going to get that sales experience firsthand. That's very true. And you're so funny. You're talking about 38. I just turned 68. So there you go. But you sound handsome as hell. I'll give you that. 38 does not sound old. Well, sounds can be deceiving. Anyway, what advice would you give someone trying to build a brand in a taboo space? The advice I would give is one, go for it. If you have the dream to do it, do it. Because I personally would always hate to be the guy who would say what if. It sucks to say, and it's very painful to say, if I was to lose all the money that I invested into this, of course, I'd be bummed. I'd definitely be on suicide watch for a week or two. But at the end of the day, I would be very happy that, hey, man, what the fuck could I try? I made it to the Super Bowl. I lost the Super Bowl, but fuck, we got pretty damn far. I'm a Niner fan. Losing Super Bowls suck. Dude, I'm a Dolphins fan. I was just going to say, if you're a Dolphins fan, you have nothing to worry about. But anyway. Yeah. As a Dolphins fan, we've only known disappointment. For a long time. Probably in your lifetime. I remember when the Dolphins did nothing but win Super Bowls. But anyway. Nope, wasn't there for that part. I was here for the suck, all the suck of it. But so yeah, so I'd rather fall on my face than be 90 years old in the retirement home, rethinking my life, saying, man, what if I would have done this? And then life could have been different. So if you want to do something that's challenging or something that's new as an entrepreneur, you have to kind of just pull up your big boy pants or your big girl pants and be willing to do it, be willing to fail. And you're going to fail, but those failures don't really set you back. They kind of just put you on a better path. Like you're going to learn a hundred ways that don't work, but then you'll find that a hundred first that does work. And that's where, you know, things change. Aside from that, I would say before you start anything, you know, no matter what it is, whether it's an adult product or anything, it's just really do your homework on what every aspect looks like. And again, going back to even the first brand that we had, the pharmaceutical and with Thumper, I knew the space well. I knew what the manufacturing portion looked like. I knew how to get the packaging because I just done a shit ton of research on that part. I also went through it once, even though that one failed. But hey, I took that failure, applied it to something else, and it was such much easier on the second run. And I felt very, very confident. I know exactly how the manufacturing is going to be done. I know exactly where the packaging is coming from. I know how it's going to be packaged. I know how I'm going to ship it. I had everything down to a detail. Even small things. I know what the website is going to do. I know what the websites are going to look like, blah, blah, blah. The only thing that I think once I should have learned from the first lesson is I think I overshot my expectation of the marketing. Because I was like, oh, okay, marketing is fine. I know that this time the money thing won't be an issue. but it was what killed me is i didn't realize that without having that legit script search for the pharmaceutical being in the adult space is hard like on amazon it's hard everywhere and even if i didn't need that you know like some type of certification saying that your product is good and we do get our our product is third party tested so we have you know documents that everything is legit but you know not every website cares about that but um i thought because it was a natural product and it's a supplement and a vitamin. I was like, oh, this is going to be so easy. So I see them online all the time. I didn't realize while I was getting started that everyone else was cracking down with their adult product policies. Because I remember I would go on TikTok and I would see naked girls everywhere on TikTok. You're not even supposed to do that. Content creators can do pretty much whatever they want. But the second you become a brand and you want to push a product and it's adult, they flag it. They can do whatever they want until they get banned. You're absolutely right until they get banned. But I've seen you can have one content creator. She'll do a thousand videos, not get banned. Finally, she gets flagged. She gets banned. Okay, cool. What does she do? She starts another account, finds a way to tell her followers to go to that account, and then she's able to pick back up. Which is great. Good for them. I don't want anyone to fail. But for a brand, it's just a lot harder because all of a sudden, okay, cool. Just because a content creator can do that, they can say what they want. But now if they want to show your product, they can show your product. But if they add a link to where to go, that's where now all of a sudden it becomes a collab with a brand and you can't do it. So like I said, it's just making sure that you find every little detail. You want to uncover the issues before you run into the issues. Yeah, that's always the optimum way to do it. Right. But easier said than done because sometimes you don't know what to look for until you're in it, unfortunately. You don't know what you don't know until you don't know it. Exactly. So you try to, you try to foreplan. So like, if you know, Hey, I'm going to do, someone's going to start something and they know that they're going to do, whether if it's online retail or whatever, just make sure you find out every single aspect of what would possibly be indirect or directly related to you. Cause you need to know those ins and outs. Like I, I am a master at like a Google ads and all this. I could probably go like apply and work for them. Cause I know their policies back and forth. That are you with a thousand customer service reps and I can quote their policies better than they can. So I have like my own Google university education, but that's what you need to do. You know, if you're going to be investing with your own money or, you know, God forbid you're investing other people's money, you better make sure that you know the answers to a question or you know how to find an answer. Right. Alan, I'd like to thank you for being with us today on AdultSite Broker Talk, and I hope we'll get a chance to do this again soon. Yeah, I'd love to. Thank you so much for having me, man. This has been a blast. Thank you. My broker tip today is part four of how to buy a site. Last week, we discussed making an offer and deciding the best price for the site you're buying. Once you've made your offer, the work begins. If you're working with a broker, like say, oh, I don't know, maybe adult site broker, we handle the negotiation for you. Let's say the seller doesn't accept your offer. They may make a counteroffer. If you decide that you're willing to pay more, you can either accept their counteroffer or counter back to them. A good rule of thumb is to always leave room to negotiate, so don't make an offer that's the absolute most you're willing to pay. If you do that, then you have nowhere to go if the owner counters your offer. Once the owner and you have come to a deal, then it's time to do some due diligence beyond what it is you've already done. During the initial process of looking at the site, you should have asked some questions, like in the case of a pay site, how many joins and rebills there are per day and any other pertinent questions. During due diligence, you need to make sure everything is where you need it to be technically to integrate it with what you're already doing. You may even get your developer involved if you're not tech savvy. You and or your developer should ask these pertinent questions. Once those are answered to your satisfaction, you should either have the seller or yourself draw up a sales agreement. I always tell my clients to do the agreement. Why? Because that way you can dictate the terms. So whether you're the buyer or the seller, you can make the rules. But just get ready to have the seller's attorney change some of those rules. Nothing is final until everything is signed off on. Another thing we do for our clients is a letter of intent prior to the sales agreement being done. This gives your attorney a roadmap for the agreement. The letter of intent and more so the agreement will have all the terms involved, including who pays for everything, who pays for escrow, for instance. This can be paid by the buyer, the seller, or split between both parties. We'll talk about this subject more next week. And next week, we'll be speaking with Tsukuru Fors of Tosai Productions. And that's it for this week's Adult Site Broker Talk. I'd once again like to thank my guest, Alan Michael Price of Thumper Gummies. Talk to you again next week on Adult Site Broker Talk. I'm Bruce Friedman.