Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another Essent Me Not Happy Monday from Sunny Miami. Now today we're going to have a special guest that is doing something very unique if we look into luxury lifestyle, there's different components that fit into it. But golf definitely we could say is one of them. So he is the CEO of Live Like The Prose, which is the ultimate luxury golf experience.
There he is. What's going on Chris? Good morning, how are you doing? I'm doing fantastic.
What about yourself? Well, it's been a pretty solid morning so far. I got a lot of my work knocked out. I just really appreciate the invitation and just taking some time to talk with you today.
Absolutely. And that's the way to start the week, right? Getting things done, getting it in depth momentum so that you can carry that throughout the week. Because you are wearing brickel, right?
Yeah, we're right around the corner. You're on the brick right now. I'll look out and try to find it. Right, right, right.
Well, fantastic. Well, thank you for joining us. And definitely I was mentioning how unique what you guys are doing at Live Like The Prose. Because I mean, I love the golf.
And in fact, I've been for a couple years in the Minitale Republic. And I'm sure you're familiar with the Punta Espada Golf Course, which is the number one in the Caribbean. And for me, it was just such a dream to be able to play golf. And that's what actually got me to play.
And to enjoy the beautiful nature that these courses have to offer, the unique experiences around it. And that's what you guys offer, correct? Is this all in class of experience? Talk about it.
Yeah, I mean, you know, similar story. I mean, I've been golfing since I was pretty young. Pretty much with Live Like The Prose, you know, you're going on a luxury golf experience now. The reason why we put this together is because, you know, you're living the life that most likely Jack Nicklaus, so much less entitled to replicate the professional golf experience.
And that pretty much means, you know, as you saw like the practice jets, the lavish dinners, you know, that luxury lifestyle of being chauffeured from golf course to golf course. You get on the jet, you go to the next golf course, you play around a Beijing, then you get on the jet, you go to the next golf course. So pretty much last year was the Florida Swing Invitational, the first ever Live Like The Prose Tour. And it's super exciting.
It's in November. We have another massive tour. And we're ending in Miami. So very exciting stuff coming up.
Wow. So how this idea got into fruition? Well, you know, I just got connected with a lot of great people, you know, over the years have been doing social media marketing and essentially I niche down to just primarily focus on golf courses, hotels and restaurants, you know. And so pretty much, you know, I got connected with a lot of people at, you know, Marriott, Ritz-Carlson, and of course, you know, that really great individual.
And we pretty much put this together. You know, it was definitely years in the making, but obviously launch it, have a successful trip. And then, you know, we have so many more trips coming up with, you know, going through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. And I mean, you know, the scalability is definitely there.
So it's pretty exciting and obviously for true golf enthusiasts or, you know, people that obviously, you know, they don't want the pressure just to, you know, go out and enjoy luxury golf experience. You know, that's kind of what we're tailoring this to is, you know, that all-inclusive, you know, luxury golf experience. So, you know, it's going to be pretty exciting here, especially in a couple of weeks with the next tour. Well, can't wait to see it.
Do you need to come up with your own team or group or you can just say, Hey, I want to join for the next tour. Right. I mean, it just depends on what you're looking for. You know, we'd obviously just do an in-person meeting or, you know, virtual call just to kind of figure out, you know, what would suit you best, whether it's a group or individuals.
You know, obviously we just kind of put together the logistics and the planning is, it's pretty extensive. You know, there's a lot of pulling off these kinds of experiences. But as you obviously know, there's, you know, a lot of prior planning and preparation is, you know, necessary, especially in the luxury space. Tell me about how you promote this.
How do you sell this experience? Yeah, I mean, obviously, there's a lot of different ways you got to market in person face to face and then obviously you got to be even more dominant online. But this is something that obviously, you know, you have to be in, you know, Ritz Carlton's, Marriott's, golf forces, you know, meeting managers, networking, and really just really took a lot of face to face, you know, word of mouth to really get, obviously, you know, kind of those upper echelon individuals to come on trucks like these, especially, you know, in Miami, we're ending at the Trump International in Dural, which I think you might know that live golf tournament, they're finishing October 20th to 30th. So, see, I mean, it really just takes a lot of hard work, a lot of just, you know, making sure every single day you got 168 hours and a week.
So you got to make every hour count. And that means just, you know, putting strong work ethic to, you know, make your business happen. Yeah, I have a favorite of both of course. Well, yes, I mean, personally, for me, TPC Sawgrass, up in Pana, Bidra, you know, the Players Championship, I mean, up into, you know, TPC, have been to the Honda Classic, you know, all of these tournaments go to go and play the same hole, you know, Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer, where to play the 17th hole, car three at TPC.
And, you know, I did hit some of the water there because that's a tough one. It's a tough one. Yes. Awesome.
But yeah, that's, I'd say TPC's doggrass. I mean, every single time I go to that course, it's just, it's an unreal experience there. Now, do you use a specific approach? Like I know influencer marketing became also very strong.
Do you also do celebrity endorsement where you get a lot of the golfers to talk about it? What's a good approach to you on that angle? Oh, honestly, no, we've, we've got to really have, I guess you could say some major celebrity endorsements, mainly just because it's just really finding golfers that see the vision, you know, obviously, you know, the price tag and essentially it's not really, that's not really their concern. They're concerned.
It's like, what is an experience look like, you know, what am I getting from going with this trip? And again, like for me, over the past few years, we're just, you know, doing marketing, you know, really I realized by going to, you know, the hotels, these resorts, you know, just putting myself out there and having, you know, great people around me that allow me to scale. I mean, ultimately it's really just you have to really spread yourself out accordingly. But yeah, I mean, I've done some influencer marketing, you know, just really promoting at a lot of different golf courses as well, but really just for tailoring this to that upper echelon golfers.
Right. Now, have you considered instead of just hotels, to also place the experience in luxury homes? No, I mean, you know, the sky is the limit with this. I mean, I think for the next few years, I mean, our goal is really, you know, about like four trips per year, but you know, we could even do six or seven, or, you know, it's about, you know, obviously been very impressed with your work, followed a lot of your, you know, content and so forth.
And so, I mean, at the end of the day, the key is in collaboration. What's been the hardest thing for you and what did you learn from it? I mean, I would say, you know, your mistakes don't define you. It's how you move past your mistakes.
That's pretty nice. So, yeah, I mean, there's been lots of ups and downs over the years. I mean, you know, I was born and raised up in Virginia, spent some time in Atlanta, Georgia, and I've been in Florida since the beginning of 2018, and, you know, it takes a lot of persistence and consistency. You know, this is obviously something I'm passionate about again, just been golfing since I was a kid.
And, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you know, it's an marathon, not a sprint, and you got to play chess and not checkers. I mean, it takes a lot of perseverance and just, you know, really just understanding, knowing your goals and why and what you need to implement every day of your week and every year, you know, to ultimately scale your personal and business ventures. I like that you said about passion because I do believe that when you create a business that fuels your passion, everything is natural. And you are a golfer.
You love golfing. So I can tell when you talk about the business, how passionate you're about it. And that energy that comes from your passion becomes contagious and people want to be part of it. So, no one, I think it's a great business model.
A beautiful trajectory ahead. Yeah, no, I appreciate the other kind words. I mean, it's, you know, I think with entrepreneurship, I mean, this is really my third venture, because as you said, like typically, you know, your business or your occupation often will fuel your passion and then obviously you're able to scale that. But, you know, it's a lot of people don't see the behind scenes.
You know, a lot of people don't see the endless emails and the phone calls and the zoom calls and the back and forth or the negotiating. You know, this really kind of been what's gone on ever since, you know, two and a half years ago, when everything in the world shifted, you know, you had to also shift your business, shift some of your, you know, processes and so forth. And, you know, for me, I kind of, I kind of saw what was going on. So I made sure I pivoted and adjusted accordingly.
And you know, you kind of got to do that nowadays just because, you know, just with, you know, the digital space is always changing and evolving and so that applies to business. And so just you got to make sure you're always proactive and not reactive in business, you know. Indeed, indeed. Now the word luxury, you know, it comes in so many different shapes and forms, but what is it really for you?
I mean, I would say luxury to me, it is a, it's a mixture of your mindset and your actions and your vision. You know, ultimately, you know, sits all up here in the mind, right? If you control your mind, power of your mind, your thoughts, you know, control your actions and your actions to get you into that environment, whether it's, you know, lapish resorts, fancy, exotic cars. I mean, the end of the day, you know, you have the power to create your own reality.
So I would say luxury to me is just again, you're controlling your mind to control your actions to create that environment and that reality of the luxury lifestyle. I love that. You know, I've been asking this question to all of our guests. That is the first time that I have this.
So it's pretty, pretty powerful and deep because I do agree on the power of the mind. So tell me about mindset. Do you have like a specific routine in the morning that charges your mind or how do you look at it? Well, I mean, you know, well, it's funny.
I moved to brick world recently. I was pretty much traveling kind of nonstop since like April, May of 2020. And so it's definitely a little bit more challenging to have that, you know, the million dollar morning or that's not a routine when you are constantly on flights. You're checking in and out of hotels, you're going to meetings.
But then obviously, if you know, now that I'm here in brick world, you know, really just making sure, you know, my priorities are in alignment. You know, for me, obviously, it's just kind of having that quiet time of 10, 15 minutes every morning, like right here on the balcony just to really make sure that I'm rooted and grounded and then obviously understand, you know, what my purpose is what I need to attack every single day. Fantastic. Well, it seems like it's working.
So I wanted to wrap this up by asking you the last question, which is about takeaways. What are some things or one thing that you've learned throughout your career is like, wow, this definitely changed my career. I mean, really it's just being I call it the triple C's, you know, cool, calm, collected. And what I mean by that is you're always going to have that massive client presentation.
You're going to have like these golf tours or, you know, when I've done some marketing or content productions, you have deadlines to meet dates, times and just over the years, you know, as time always tells. And you know, those big presentations or those big client meetings. I'm like, oh, I really hope they send the wire, right? Just by remaining cool, calm and collected and just believing in yourself and your God given abilities that you know that you're there for a divine reason.
And really, you know, I feel like over really this year, even as well, I've just been able to really just kind of relax and be more at peace because everything happens for a reason. And so it's like if you're such a partner with that company or corporation or if you're supposed to do business, you know, it will be meant to be. And if not, then I guess there's a different, you know, past the, you know, you're meant to go down. Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing that. And well, I just wanted to thank you once again for sharing all these amazing insights on how your business is looking, how your mindset is looking and everything that has made you so successful so far. So, I mean, I'm here in Miami as well. So definitely we need to catch up soon and want to wish you all the best.
Yeah, you know, perhaps we could try to, you know, fit in 18 holes sometime. Oh, I love that. I'm ready. You tell me when I let's do it.
All right, great. Well, thank you so much. Is there anything else that you would like to add? I mean, again, I just really appreciate the invitation.
It was an honor just being able to chat with you. And you know, you were really asked some some very intellectual questions there. But, you know, again, I think there's key in the collaboration and just, you know, excited for, you know, for really what I'm about to embark on. But I know obviously you're embarking on some very colossal things as well.
So I wish you all the best. And, you know, thank you again for taking out some times morning. This was a great conversation with you. Thank you, Chris.
Looking forward to growing together and to see you where this is going to take. So all the best. Thanks again. And have a good day.
Thank you. Bye. Bye. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.