We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Galfano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I sort of fell into this business by chance. It was a hobby that turned into a full-time job. In my early 40’s, I got into fitness and I lost close to 40 lbs, and nothing in my closet fit anymore. Since I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, I wanted to make sure that I was buying smart. I wasn’t a kid anymore, but I also wasn’t an old man. I wanted to make sure that I was buying wardrobe items that allowed me to remain who I was, but also age-appropriate, relevant and cool. Because if you boil it all down, as men, we just want to look cool.
I started spamming all my Facebook friends with men’s style posts until someone told me to get off Facebook go start a blog. So I did. That was back in 2014 and people slowly started to read it. The blog was growing (slowly), so in 2018 I started making short YouTube videos for the sole purpose of driving traffic to my website.
What I didn’t realize at the time, is that nobody was on YouTube speaking directly to the mid-40’s guy. So the style videos I was making, that were geared specifically towards older men, really took off and became viral. At that time, I really didn’t understand YouTube, but I did understand the following and how fast it was growing.
I decided to double down on YouTube and committed myself to produce 2 (sometimes 3) videos every single week. That’s when things really started to take off. I now work with two different media agencies that handle various brand partners in the men’s lifestyle space and I’ve never missed a scheduled upload in the last 4 years, and I’m very proud of that.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m proudly born & raised in Seattle, and for the last 7 years, I’ve been enjoying living in beautiful Southern California. My work solves a problem facing mid-life men. These guys have spent their whole lives up until this point working & raising families. Some of these guys now find themselves alone with their kids off to college, or even divorced and back out on the dating market.
Non-verbal communication and how you present yourself to the world says a lot about who you are and your own self-respect. Letting yourself go as you get older is one of the biggest mistakes I see older gentlemen make. And a lot of men seem to fall back on the excuse that “Who cares what other people think”. It’s not always about what other people think. It’s about your relationship the the guy staring back at you in the mirror.
I provide useful and valuable tips and suggestions in a visual format that’s easy to digest. This helps men to look better, fell better, and improves their overall self-confidence.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Building (and maintaining) an audience isn’t easy, but it’s absolutely possible. I can say, as a 53 year old guy, I never thought I’d be making YouTube videos full time and making a great living from it. People say to ‘find a niche’ all the time, and that’s true. I was able to find a niche and create content for that specific audience. My content is solving problems and showing older men that it’s 100% okay to care about the clothes you but on your back.
If you’re just getting started or trying to grow an audience, my first piece of advice is to find a niche and stick to it. Secondly, is to keep going. Commit to 1 video a week, or two videos a week and stick to it. I’ve mentored a few guys with their YouTube channels, and consistency is key. You have to keep going and upload on a regular schedule.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
There’s a video on my channel called; “I lost Everything”. It’s very emotional for me, but in that video I share a period of my life where I was essentially homeless. I’m not proud of that, and many people judge me on the financial decisions I made leading up to that point, but I’m not perfect. That video resonated with a large number of people who’ve sent emails and left comments saying how much they needed to hear that message. The decision to put one foot in front of the other, and to keep going has led me to where I am today. I get a lot of joy and fulfilment by helping other men become better men.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://40overfashion.com/
- Instagram: @40overfashion
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/40overfashion
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/40OverFashion/videos