Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
From Nobody to Netflix: The Genius Marketer Behind the Liver King
Tue, 20 May 2025
Marketing genius John Hyland takes center stage in our latest episode, where he reveals the secrets behind his strategic prowess in building influential brands. Known for steering talents like the Liver King into the spotlight, John shares his remarkable journey from a quiet beach town in Florida to becoming a powerhouse in talent management and marketing. His stealthy approach to brand success is illuminated as he recounts his serendipitous entry into our podcast, sparked by a casual Netflix binge that turned into an unexpected Vegas meet-up. Listen as John elaborates on his philosophy of staying behind the scenes, crafting success stories for others rather than seeking the limelight himself. We dive into the nuts and bolts of John's methods, from launching massive events like Build-A-Beast to distilling core branding principles that stand the test of time. His philosophy, encapsulated in the MAX approach—Measurable, Actionable, and Extraordinary—serves as a blueprint for cutting through today's media noise. John’s unique insights into personal branding strategies prove invaluable, offering a fresh perspective on how to maintain a strategic edge in an ever-evolving industry. With over 200 influencers and athletes under his management, John's wisdom on capturing attention and creating compelling narratives is a masterclass in modern marketing. Join us for an enlightening conversation that promises to redefine how you perceive the art of brand building. CHAPTERS (00:00) - Escape the Drift With Special Guest (02:47) - Marketing and Brand Building Strategies (10:51) - Personal Branding Strategies and Philosophy 💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below! ☑️ If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space. ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company. ************* ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media: Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford Facebook ▶️ / gafford2 🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283 ************* #escapingthedrift #johnhyland #marketing #brandbuilding #johnhyland #strategicprowess #influentialbrands #talentmanagement #netflix #vegas #personalbranding #maxapproach #measurable #actionable #extraordinary #cuttingthroughnoise #medialandscapes #personalbrandingstrategies #compellingmessage #clearcommunicationstrategy #liverking #ancestraltenets #xfactor #strategicedge
Chapter 1: What inspired John Gafford to invite John Hyland?
We see the Liver King documentary. And if you don't remember who that is, that's that lunatic dude that was all jacked up. It was like jumping in cold water and eating animals alive or whatever he was doing. Everybody knew who this dude was. He went from nobody to everybody in like two seconds. And we're watching the documentary about his rise and fall, whatever it was.
And, you know, it's like 30 minutes into it and I'm, you know, I'm watching it, but I'm not super vested in it. Cause I'm like, okay, this is kind of whatever, but you know, I'm not super vested in the program. And then all of a sudden this dude pops on the screen and this guy says, I remember exactly what he said. He goes, so he came to us and he said he wanted a million followers.
Chapter 2: How did the Liver King rise to fame?
And we said, okay, we can make that happen. And I was like, okay, wait a second. Who's that guy? Who's this dude that's talking about you want a million followers that are highly engaged? I can make that happen. I'm like, this is for me. It's like I don't just look at the dancing chimps on the stage. I want to see the man behind the curtain. I want to see the Wizard of Oz.
I want to see the guy pulling the strings, making things happen. So I start Googling this cat. And my wife sees me pick up my phone and she's like, are you bored? Like, can we turn this off? Because she wasn't that into it. I was like, no, no, no, no. I'm just looking up this dude because this dude's obviously got something. And I Google him and I'd redo some research. I'm like, cool.
I'm like, I need to talk to this guy at some point. The very next morning, I get a text message from somebody that knows this guy that was on the screen and said, hey, are you recording a podcast on Tuesday by chance? Because this guy is going to be in Vegas and wants to be on your podcast. I was like, I'm in.
I told that story about, I told the guy the story that I just told you, and I said, I'm in. So, ladies and gentlemen, we are very lucky. Welcome to the program, The Wizard of Oz Behind the Lever King. This is... is the brains at the 1DS Collective. This is John Hyland. John, what's up, man? Thank you, man. What an intro. Thanks for joining us. Well, I got to tell a story, man.
You got to sink them in. You got to grab the attention.
Yeah. You know, the doc is funny. I got to see my parts. I think it morphed to when I got to see the cut, but it was very, very interesting to see how this stuff unfolded. I've been getting texts from all over the place saying, Holy hell. The same response you've had. It's been a wild week.
So let's talk. I don't want to talk just specific about liver King, but obviously there's some magic there. So is this, he came to you and said, I want a million followers. I want a million engaged followers. Not just, not just BS where you'd buy the bots from China. He wanted real engagement. Right.
And that's something that you guys obviously do because you made it happen for him and he's proof positive that he can be done. So how do you get, into that let's go back a little bit before we start talking let's talk about john highland what did you grow up doing what did you like how did you get into this
Yeah, I think, you know, I, a serial entrepreneur, you know, grew up in Florida as we were talking about. God bless. Yeah. And, you know, small beach town, wanted to get out. My grandparents' parents, all very business savvy. And I was saying, you know, I need to get out of sleepy beach town. This is where I'm going to retire.
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Chapter 3: What is the MAX approach in marketing?
copywriters are the most valuable part in marketing. They still are today. Who's your favorite copywriter? Well, I mean, you know, breakthrough advertising, amazing. We have a couple of really good copywriters at 1DS. And I don't, I think following, following how people get attention with words is amazing.
And I think watching that transform, like YouTube, we were able to all have a broadcast channel, change things. Now how do you get attention? Same thing. It's the same structure in like psychology behind all of that. And so I think fast forward, I think, yeah, you know, Liver King, for example, you know, we had to put really polarizing things on screen and get it in front of a lot of people.
And we have channels to be able to do that and strategically distribute content. That's what makes us pretty unique. And, but, but I mean, it comes down to the same thing. You have to have something that people are interested in. You have to present it in a compelling way and you have to find a way to keep them around. And, you know, I think it's, it's, it's the same thing.
It's just, how do you, how do you package it up? And, and everybody's unique with dance, with the example I gave you. You know, everybody had this, aspired to be part of this dance group, is the best dance group in the world, like from a credit standpoint. But, you know, and people traveled around and we created an experience out of it.
And then we sold, and then we created a media company from that. And then we created a studio where we shot and did classes and we created a clothing line and monetized that. And it's all the same stuff. How do you, how do you, you know, make something, whether it's a piece of clothing, a ticket to an event or a person like a liver King, um, interesting in a very simple way.
And then, you know, tell that story in a really compelling way. So do you think that.
obviously that guy's a cartoon character. Obviously, obviously. Right. Like he walks the door and you're like, okay, this is going to be easy. Yeah. How hard is it for you when clients come to you and they say, you know, I want to get the same kind of results. I want to do this, but, but I'm not all jacked up and I'm not jumping an ice pass and wearing an elk hat or whatever he's wearing.
Like, do you, do you have to have that sort of a thing to catch on like this? Or is just your content can be delivered in a certain way to make you that way?
Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a ton of different ways to grab attention. I think obviously when you have a guy with, you know, as jacked as he is, with a shirt off, eating crazy food, doing crazy workouts, like he was the real deal. We just needed to package this up and distill it in a really compelling way and then make it go.
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Chapter 4: How can you create engaging personal brand content?
And so now we've attracted some personal brand engagements. And we also have a talent management side that has like, I think roughly a little over 200 influencers and athletes under management. And we do some light strategy work with them too, but that's more of a traditional talent management thing.
And I think around the personal brand thing, I think you have to have an engaging and compelling message. We start everything with a strategy, a communication strategy, right? Branding. Branding is everything. But simplicity in branding. And the nine ancestral tenets for Liver King was very complex. I remember and list all the nine in a row, but all people cared about were a few of them. right?
And it's like, wait, I can, if I eat better, if I move and if I sleep good, what? And then you can block and shield and sun and ground and bond and all this stuff. But no. And then it's like, well, let's digest this because if people are interested in that, they're going to unpack more. So simplicity is key. And so with a personal brand, with anybody, unique angle,
copycats crazy like i think i think the personal branding space is everyone's trying to take everybody else's message and remix it some way yeah yeah and and and i think i think unique we have we have something in that we dubbed it 1ds that i think is really really helpful um it's for clients as well as our philosophy it's called max measurable actionable and extraordinary and the extraordinary stands for unique right
And I think that X factor there is very important in things. I think that, hey, in your business, real estate, right? How does an agent stand out? Well, I mean, you talk about it, integrity, going above and beyond. You might have to buy a refrigerator, as you say, right? Everybody buys a refrigerator once in a while.
But, you know, and you're getting down to like what makes you special and being able to communicate that to have people trust you and then continually build upon that message and stand for something. Because at the end of the day, the entire real estate industry, they're just trying to do one thing. They're trying to get properties, move from one entity to another.
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Chapter 5: What strategies help maintain attention in content creation?
And so how do you create that compelling? And I think a lot of people do. It's a unique touches. It's when you get in a Lyft and an Uber and they have water for you and a snack or something. And it's like, you don't have to do this. But it was a good experience. And so we just try with the personal branding side, tying them all back around.
how do we create a unique brand story that we can distill down in a really compelling way and then do some proactive strategy of like, how can we be different, but also how can we ride the trend and what's currently happening in the social media and digital world that we can latch onto because people are searching that, but also play into a unique go forward strategy that, you know,
you know, gets people's attention in this creative. Yeah.
I think it's talking about most talking heads on online also on the same because they're watching each other's content. And I think you absorb it at kind of this at a visceral level, right? Like I had a, it was on here. Oh, somebody great. And I said something and Ari Mizell, who's great. Ari's amazing. He is the go-to guy on streamlining organization, organization and business. He's the guy.
He's written great books on it. And I made a comment about something that I do with my, with my email while I was talking to him. He goes, Oh, where'd you get that? And I said, I don't know. You know, maybe I thought it up. Maybe I do this. And he goes, no, you got it from my book. I was like, you know, sorry, I didn't give you credit for that, but there is a certain amount of redundancy.
But I think a bigger problem to that is you see like as you're scrolling down social media, you see like all of these ads for you're going to get our foolproof system for, you know, making content and we're going to have our ads. AI pull what's trending and then rewrite the scripts for you. And so it becomes this just hamster wheel of the same shit. You know what I mean? That just spins.
So for you guys, when you're working with, listen, not even you're working with them. If somebody is out there that wants to start making good content, like how do they make it? What do they need to focus on to make good content? Yeah.
I think they need to understand who they are and what they stand for, first and foremost. I think as people, we need to understand that. Escaping the drift. Yeah. Right? But I think once you have that and you're passionate about something,
Um, I hadn't even stepped up and made content at the level I should, and that I, you know, built our entire organization with my partner around, you know, helping people do. Um, I always say I'm like the painter on the street who has the worst painted house, right? And I'm like, that's a horrible excuse, but I laugh about it. Um, but, but no, I think, I think that, um, you know, uh, you know, we,
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Chapter 6: How do authenticity and passion influence content success?
And I think that because it takes so long to see success with content and branding from a personal side, I mean, hey, you can have amazing press events happen and you get a little bump, but like consistency in it, it has to be something that you're doing. It can't be fabricated. It has to be authentic.
And as long as that's happening, there's tons of ways to slice and dice a strategy to make it, and content strategy, social strategy, to make it unique, yet still capturing waves of trends, right? Recent trend right now, this big guy blew up on Instagram and he put in work, Ashton Hall, get ready with me routines.
Everybody on the internet is dubbing him in parody and we pour the Saratoga water in the ice thing and shove the face in. But that became a viral phenomenon. And so if you would have caught that trend early, You could have done a really compelling video just trend jacking that and seeing view just from people looking and recognizing that setup in a video.
Yeah, but doesn't that dilute your authenticity like dreadfully? But that is a part of the strategy.
Okay.
Because I think that now, obviously, hey, you're going to have a professional business person not dumping their head into a... For fitness and other entertainment, looking for content ideas, riding these trends strategically is a part of the strategy. But I think it's- So for long-term success, you have to do part of that.
Well, I mean, it's not stealing somebody else's idea, but it's like, what are people interested in and what is currently getting attention? It's the same thing. Now, if we want to take an escaping the drift analogy, right?
You could be talking about how people are wavering and paralysis by analysis and all of this stuff, but you have to bring it into current two-day situations and things we're dealing with to be able to make it relatable. I think the same thing happens on social. The way that we can tell a story and the way we can capture attention is how do we hook them in the first three seconds?
Well, let's give them something they recognize. Let's give them something they're used to, and then we can take them on our own journey.
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Chapter 7: What are the key components for effective storytelling?
He goes, now the dude is amazing. But when we first started getting him over that hump, it took so much work. But people see him come rolling down like, hey, it's Vin from Beach Red, blah, blah. And it's like, he's just such a natural at it. Well, no, that's a skill that's learned. He earned that skill through reps.
It's crazy. And, you know, I think that's why I think the biggest thing, coming off the top of the head, be able to format. So authenticity, that's where it comes from. It's the same thing with public speaking, right? You get up on a stage, you talk about something you know inside and out.
Most of the time, I remember in college, we had to get up in high school, whatever, public speaking, when you're taking and learning how to put together a presentation. Nine times out of 10, those things are, you're talking about something you're not passionate about. So I remember when I was in college, I talked about counting cards. I was passionate about that.
I was like, hey, I'm going to teach the class how to count cards.
Not that he does that here in Las Vegas, MGM executives that may be listening. Not happened. Does not happen. It was how he wishes he could count cards, not count cards.
Keep going. Exactly, exactly. But no, I got up and I was passionate about it. didn't matter. Like fears go away. You're passionate about something you could talk now. Okay. So I'm passionate about something I could talk. Then once you're passionate, like comfortable talking, then let's work on the formatting. Then let's, so, so you can, so like speaking is second nature about the topic.
Now I can think about, wait, I could have said that better to capture someone's attention better in the first few seconds. I could have built the story arc a little differently. Let me go back here. Let me tease it and let me come back to this because I know that I need to keep them till the end where the payoff or call to action is. And I need to keep them that long.
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Chapter 8: Why is consistency important in building a brand?
And it is an iterative and generative process. And it takes time. And I think like, you know, people will see a success story or any success story and say, I want that. And like a million followers. And I'm like, the amount of dedication... and time in, and resources that takes to get there. It's wild. Well, and it can happen. It can happen for anybody. But it's an absolute commitment.
And I think people that are committed to any craft can do it. And there's a science to success. There's a science and an art to it.
I think that was one of the weirdest things that I think he said in that documentary when he's like, I'll take 100 takes for a story. I'm like, bro, like, I mean, I'm pretty good at this, but dude, a hundred takes. I mean, are you that bad at this?
Well, I mean, you can go back and look. I don't know what's up on it anymore, but we would often go back. We launched, I remember this because it was either the day before or day after my birthday. My birthday is August 17th. And we didn't launch his Instagram or his socials. We launched TikTok before we launched Instagram. And he didn't even know about TikTok.
We built TikTok to a million followers before he even knew how to TikTok. And we just said, hey. And we just said, oh, by the way, we built your TikTok up. But I think we launched it either the 16th or the 18th.
in february to the day we got a million followers on instagram that didn't count all the other platforms that was the goal million followers on instagram in six or seven months we did it in four or five i think uh to the day and um and but but like in the very beginning you can go back to the to the early videos and he was horrible on camera like, like very uncomfortable.
Yeah.
Um, I don't know what to do with my hands. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like doing it and, and, but Hey, he got up every day and said, good morning primals. I put my feet on the earth and I, you know, stay anchored, grounded to the earth. And he had the same thing every day. People knew what to wake up to. He had a motivating message and he was changing lives and, and showing up every day as anything in life.
It is so, it's It's the same thing. People think there's some secret formula to success or social. It's the same thing that needs success in every other realm of our life. Show up. You got to show up every day. Every day. And you're going to get 1% 1DS stands for one degree shift.
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