We caught up with the brilliant and insightful AJ Good a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

AJ, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so one thing we think people don’t talk about nearly enough is investments – either time or money. What’s one of the best or worst investments you’ve made and what did you learned from the experience?

The best decision I ever made was getting the building that The House of Masks is currently located in.

I had a very interesting, life long relationship with the building, and as odd as it sounds, I always knew, even as a child, that the building would be mine one day. It was like a soul mate in a nonhuman form. I don’t know how to explain it, but I day dreamed about having it from the time that I was a child buying my first bmx bike in the bike shop that was in there at the time, right up to the year I graduated and I was having my senior photos taken by a good friend who was renting it as his photography studio.

I was going through a horrible break up, covid had hit, and the world was in a really weird state. I had to go full time with my YouTube career because at the time, I was back and forth between tattooing and making YouTube videos, and Ohio had shut down all tattoo shops during the pandemic, so I had no choice but to switch to YouTube full time. Between this, and the break up, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had driven past the building one day and realized the current renters had vanished and it was abandoned yet again. It seemed like like business that’s been in here in the past 10 years had ever stayed longer than 6 months to a year.

So I started making calls… my hometown is small and everyone knows everyone so I figured I could get a fellow business owner to put in a good word for me with the landlord, before approaching him myself.

I did exactly that, and then I started contacting the landlord, Steve. I bothered him every day for a week until he finally agreed to meet up with me to look at the space. I pulled up to the building and saw a little old man with his pants tucked in and thought “man, this won’t go well” – he looked pretty conservative, and I have tattoos on my hands, neck, and face. But, to my surprise, we hit it off. Talked for hours about all sorts of things. He gave me the key and told me it was mine, and we hadn’t even discussed a rent price yet.

Since getting the building my career has exploded onto such different levels than I ever thought possible, and into such crazy different ideals and situations that I never expected. I’ve hosted concerts and festivals here. I’ve had my hero’s stop by to film with me. The collection is a legitimate museum at this point. I’ve become a part of the real downtown Chillicothe. I can’t put into words everything that the building has done for me, but I love it and I can’t wait to see what else happens. I can’t fathom a day where and this place are split up, but who knows…

AJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is AJ Good and I am the owner/operator/curator of The House of Masks. The House of Masks is not only a literal physical museum, housing the largest mask collection in the world, but an online entity consisting mainly of YouTube and Instagram, where I create content based on and around the collection.

Recently the content has shifted a little further away from the usual “unboxing” or “review” videos, as I’ve had the chance to start working with my favorite artists, host concerts, throw conventions, etc. but I’ll always be true to my roots and keep the majority of the content based around my passion for collecting.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

This whole YouTube thing started as a side hustle that wasn’t even a hustle. I wasn’t making money from my videos because the channel was just something I used to show my 10 or 15 friends my newest score. I’d shoot a 30 second video of a new mask and upload it under a username for other people who I didn’t know, because all they had was a username too, and it slowly got more and more attention. Now I’m receiving YouTube awards and making 15 minute review videos for 160,000 plus subscribers.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

This is a tricky one because we are both very prideful of our own businesses, but we are most certainly business partners. Our relationship is so symbiotic that it feels like there is a third entity outside of our own two individual businesses.

I’m talking about Bishop Walker, owner of Paleface and Co, a dude from the west coast who I started working with a few years back, just promoting his pieces through unboxing videos and what not, who quite literally moved from California to Ohio, just to be closer to me so we could elevate the entire hobby. As of the last month, be bought a house 20 mins away so we could get even more serious.

Since linking up, we’ve quite literally created and nurtured a culture via a festival that we throw together called “Palefest” – it’s actually outgrown us and we’re constantly running around trying to figure out what we’re doing. Palefest 2023 is going to be absolutely bonkers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.palefest.net
• Instagram: @thehouseofmasks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealhouseofmasks?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@TheHouseOfMasks

Image Credits
Felicia Detty Karlie Jones Matt Day