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Welcome to living not so

fabulously. So, David, you and I know a thing or two about creating something really valuable only for the market to offer pocket change for it,

right? Oh, just a little bit. Lots of people want that gold treatment, but they're only willing to pay that iron price, right? And that's exactly what happens withToday's guest during one of the most challenging times of his life.

Brandon Aversano was going through a medical emergency and needed cash fast. Through that experience, he realized that people often sell their gold during vulnerable times. His

experience led him on a mission to bring transparency and trust to the precious metals industry. Welcome to the show, Brandon.

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Of course. So you founded a business that trades in gold, and that's not really the typical career path that many of us choose, unless, you know, we're laying yellow brick roads, right? Um, how did you get into that? What's the origin story of this?

Yeah, um, so it's a bit of a crazy origin story, uh, but the, the long and short of it is I was working for JPMorgan Chase at the time, living in Philadelphia, uh, and I was 30 years old and unexpectedly and suddenly diagnosed with testicular cancer, which was a huge shock to me, as it would be to.Uh, and, uh, a cancer diagnosis, uh, you know, forces a whole bunch of different kind of questions and things to consider, but one of the things that was an immediate concern was the medical debt that was piling up from my treatment journey.And so I was again living in Center City Philadelphia at the time, uh, I went into a couple of pawn shops and jewelry stores to attempt to sell some of the gold jewelry that I had inherited from my grandmother who had passed the year prior. And what I found sadly was that they wereWilling and interested to give me 20 cents on the dollar. Um, it was an intimidating experience. I felt very bullied. Uh, needless to say, I ended up not being able to sell the jewelry, uh, and I went home thinking there has to be an online digital solution for this. There has to be a brand that does this, not, not a pawnshop. And again, what I found was that the online options were sort ofWebsites that you couldn't figure out who was behind them and it and it just had this similar very pawnshop experience, and I kind of had a lightning bolt moment that was like, wait a minute. If I'm being taken advantage of in what I would consider to be the most vulnerable moment in my life so far, while I'm trying to sell gold to pay down medical debt, I am quite certain that thousands of other people around the United States are experiencing something similar, and so itIt was just, uh, again, a light and bolt moment and an opportunity for me to say, hey, um, I've been diagnosed with cancer. I'm experiencing this problem in real time in the real world, and I have an opportunity to fix it. And so, uh, we created, I, I started a company called Alloy, the Alloy Market, uh, and we like to say that we are the easiest to use and highest paying platform through which the everyday person like you and me can sell their gold jewelry or other precious metals or honest and fair pricing.So it was uh a pretty crazy journey to get where I am to today, but here we are.

Right on, that's, yeah, that is, that is a crazy story. So first of all, um, it's great to see that you recovered from the uh the diagnosis and and and uh the disease. Um, John and I just finished watching the first season of White Lotus again, and that whole existential crisis of finding out or thinking that you might have cancer really played out, especially in that particular instance, it was testicular cancer, um, it.Kind of leads a lot of people into this whole idea of what life choices am I making, andIt really, it's kind of a, I, I would say it's really more it's it's more than a Debbie Downer. It's really frustrating when you realize that this whole industry is really the wild west, right? So what was going through your head when you started feeling the these or getting these lowball offers and feel like you were being pushed around by the industry?

On my initial reaction was like, what the heck is going on? Like, how, how has this problem not been solved? Why is this not standardized? Why does this truly feel like the wild west? Because people have been selling gold for thousands of years. This is not like a new behavior, this is not like a new activity, uh, and so I was just wildly taken aback.confused, uh, and, and frankly, I almost didn't even believe myself that I, that when I was researching and trying to find the company that I wanted to transact with to do this, that there wasn't one. There just was not a branded company in the space that did this. Um, and so that was truly shocking, because you look at, you look at other companies likeCarvana, for example, and I say this very humbly because we are still Alloy is still an early stage company and Carvana is, you know, a great, amazing way farther along. But what Carvana did was they said, hold on.Buying a car in person is a really, really unpleasant experience, and it doesn't need to be. We can just take out all the ambiguity, we can take out having to drive around to different dealerships, and we're just going to give you a nice clean online experience. And that's what I assumed existed for gold, and it didn't. And so we just had to build it ourselves.

Yeah, yeah, I, for a little while there I was doing freelance writing for a gold website. I remember telling this is back when SEO still mattered search engine optimization, and I remember telling David like, I feel like we used to live in Las Vegas and we used to drive past Pawn Stars, the Pawn Stars uh uh uh uh pawnshop all the time.And I'm like, I feel like I'm standing on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of Pawn Stars trying to write articles for this gold, and their their their their uh their requirements for writing articles was not that stringent. It's pretty easy to write, but I did feel that it was getting a little bit icky and it's like, why is it like this? It's it's, I mean, gold is oftentimes very expensive and you're right, we've been selling it for thousands of years. What why is this so, I don't know, dirty. Yeah,

exactly.

Yeah, I mean, it's a hard question to answer and, you know, I can't speak to to anyone else, but the one thing I'll say is that if you don't understand how gold is priced, it's very easy to be taken advantage of, and I think that there are a lot ofBad actors in the world who take advantage of that of that lack of education, right? And so,For example, a lot of our, our clients that we deal with, um, they don't know what the price of gold is today, right? And so, if we were a company that didn't believe in values and transparency and honesty, it wouldn't be hard to play games, right? But, but we go above and beyond to give customers that education and to say this is actually how it works. So if you take this anywhere else, this is also how it's gonna work and how they're gonna calculate it.Um, and so, so yeah, I think like the reason why is because it's just, it's easy to take advantage of people in the space. Um, I have a ton of stories that I'm that I'm happy to share about that, but, but yeah.

Yeah, we, we, we'll dive into that, but you've said in the past that this experience changed how you thought about money and especially how you value the real value of things. What do you mean by that exactly? that that experience changed how you think about money? What, what, what, what changed exactly?

Yeah, I mean, I had never been very fortunately. Um, I had been working since I was 13 years old, um, kind of just because I've always been interested in in it andUm, I have never been in a position where I felt like really financially desperate, and that was an interesting, um, and uncomfortable and humbling situation to be in, right? Uh, and in that kind of period of instability where I was feeling financially desperate, I had to figure out how to generate income really quickly, but I was also sick, so I couldn't.Do gig work, like I couldn't start driving Uber, I couldn't, I couldn't deliver food. Um, and so just trying to figure out, uh, you know, how do, how do I generate income on the side really quickly, um, it definitely, it just changed my relationship to money because all of a sudden it became something that for me had been, again, very fortunately discretionary in the past to one of like desperation. Like all of a sudden I needed it, and the way in which I was going about trying to get it wasn't working.It was making me feel bad, right? I was like in the street crying because people were bullying me trying to take my grandmother's gold. So, yeah, it uh it definitely changed changed the way that I um that I, I see in value and save money now, frankly.

So it did change the way you actually use your money today, how you handle your finances personally and professionally.

Yes, yes, absolutely, um, yeah, I never had an emergency fund, um, you know, I, I played with, you know, with like I, you know, I've been working again, so, um, I, I never built that emergency fund, so if something like being diagnosed with cancer, I would have a nicechunk of change to fall back on, um, and that is just a, a really good lesson learned, that if you start saving a little bit each day, a little bit slowly over time, um, you'll have that emergency fund when you need it.

Yeah, so you were in a really precarious position, and I think a lot of LGBTQ plus folks, especially during these times, uh feel themselves to be in a precarious position, um, and at the risk of being taken advantage of, right, because you're desperate, you're almost like buy into anything or or you'll take almost any attempt, maybe your your level of risk is, is a little bit lower, um, but your what your threshold for risk is maybe a little bit lower than it otherwise would be. What advice do you have for those who might be in a similar tough situation?Today to to what financial options might be available to them.

Use alloy. No, I mean, I, I'm kind of kidding, but um I think, you know, one of the things that the, the kind of theme and the concept that I was thinking about while I was sick and in that position, I think is one that that's applicable, sort of like across the LGBT community.We own a lot of stuff, so like we have stuff in our in our houses, in our in our homes, apartments, whatever, and it's all montizable and there's all different sorts of channels and avenues and pathways and websites to sell things now. And so you have websites like Poshmark that you can sell all of your old clothing on. You have websites like MPB.com where you can sell all sorts of equipment.Um, uh, camera equipment right away. And so, uh, you know, one piece of advice I would say to, to folks who are in sort of like a tight position financially is take a look at what you already have because there's a really, really good chance that you can monetize it in various ways pretty quickly. Brandon,

we're gonna take a quick break. Thank you very much. We'll be right back in just a

second.So welcome back to Living Not so fabulously with Brandon Albersano. So Brandon, you turned an old school shady business into something modern and transparent, right? Kind of like what we said Carvana is. Um, Alloy hit $1 million in revenue within less than a year. That's crazy. Uh, why do you think that is? How did that happen?

Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, we are super honored and grateful to have had that happen. Uh, honestly, the truth is, we got into an unexpected CBS news article. Uh, we've been working really, really hard on building up uh transparency and the brand and treating our customers really well, and one of the clients that actuallySold gold to us, happened to be interviewed in a CBS news article and mentioned the alloy market and we really took off from there. So that was kind of like the jumping off point. Um, and we 5xed the business since then. So word of mouth, referrals and reviews have really, really helped us, um.And our mission, you know, we're in this to really, really help people, and people feel that, people feel that difference, um, and I think uh that contributes to a lot of the word of mouth growth that we're experiencing.

Nice. Yeah, you used the word trust earlier and it's really interesting that you have decided to bring this whole idea of trust into what many people might call a partially uh uh tech industry, right, which seems to be missing a lot today. Why do you think that it is that you were able to build that kind of trust with people so quickly?

Yeah, it's a, it's a great question. I will say we invested and continued to invest really heavily in our client support team. We call them our alloy advisors, but from my perspective, there's no more important position at this organization than the individuals who are interacting directly with our clients.Uh, and so we do a lot of work on behind the scenes to train them to give them the tools they need to help script, and so when a client reaches out to us or calls in, um, we are able to establish that relationship really quickly because we have a really amazing team, um, ready to go, and they're, they're provided with sort of all the information, the education, the tools they need to create that exceptional customer experience. Um, so the minute you reach out to us, essentially, uh, and request a free appraisal.Kit or or reach out to one of our advisors, you're actually assigned an individual human to your kind of contact, and they will walk you through the process step by step. You don't get passed around to different people. You get to work with one person who you know, who you trust, who will work with you, and they'll take you every step of the way, which I think is really cool.

So do you think it's that human element that builds that trust better? Do you feel there's still an aversion for us to sort of just do all them via robots?

Yeah, I, I honestly do, um, you know, don't get me wrong, we integrate a little bit of AI and chatbot and stuff when when we can, um, but that human connection is such a huge part of this, and what I think the industry missed before, and, and I'm not saying technology can't accomplish this over time.Um, but was the fact that these are deeply emotionally laden transactions, right? And so people want to talk about why they're selling the gold. They want to share their story, they want to be heard, and so that human connection, it really matters in this.This type of trenda, this isn't like buying an iPhone, right? This is like my grandmother passed and I'm going to sell her bracelet that has my entire family's like photos around it, kind of transaction that type of thing. So human to human really matters um and the quality of that interaction matters.

Absolutely. So as of the record this recording, gold is currently at 3,226 per ounce, and that's up for about half point from yesterday, right? And many people have no idea what their goal is worth, and you used to sort of thrive on that to your point. So what would be the first steps for somebody to engage with alloy and sort of start building that relationship with you?

Yeah, so we make it really easy. If you want to interact with Alloy, just head to our website, the alloymarket.com. Our client support phone number is textable and callable, so you know, feel free to text. That's the way you like to like to roll, that's the way I like to roll. So, um you can reach out to us that way and then it's completely free to get started and there's no obligation to ever actually sell us your stuff. So, for example, we had a client this week who basically just emptied their jewelry box.To the appraisal kit we sent them, mailed all their jewelry to us. We tested it all. Some of it was real, some of it was fake. We made them a great cash offer. They accepted it. They asked for a couple pieces back and we were more than happy to ship it back to them. So it's a really, really quick process to get started. Just head to the website and either call or text us or request a free appraisal kit and then mail it through to your house.

Nice. Let's talk a little bit about going the other direction. We know that right now, um, especially with the volatility in the market, gold seems to be a safe haven, or at least maybe you can share with us. Is that really the case right now that it is, that's that part of the reason why the prices have gone up, and could you give maybe give us uh some advice what what you would share with investors who may be looking to purchase, whether it's gold as in the boillo or gold as it is in pieces.Like that you purchase.

It's a great question. Um, you know, I am not an economist by trade, and so I will caveat that before I provide any type of financial advice or my thoughts, but, uh, in my experience and and having been in the industry for a little while now, the amount of gold that governments and central banks are buying is at historic levels. So thisThe surge in gold price is being driven both by increased consumer demand, so people who are buying gold to wear or store in value, but also because banks across the world like China's central bank, JP Morgan in the United States, are buying massive quantities of gold, like we're talking billions of dollars' worth of solid gold and storing them.Um, and some interesting facts about gold, you cannot make gold on planet Earth. It is made in the birth of stars, and so we cannot make gold on Earth, and there's only about 23% of unmined gold left. So it is a resource that we need, right? It's not like a discretionary resource, like a gemstone. We use gold in electronics and medical equipment and circuit boards, and dental practices, and in all sorts of things.Um, and so the combination of the scarcity of the actual metal.And the fact that so much of it has already been bought and mined is gonna continue to increase the price of bull. So, because it actually has like an industrial use, I would consider it to be a good safe haven asset, whereas some of the other things that folks invest in, um, they really only only hold their value if other people agree that those that is valuable, if that makes sense. There's not necessarily like a real use for it.

So it's like the epitome of supply and demand, right there, right? It's like your, you know I almost went along, right?

There you go, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I mean people think.All of the gold that you've ever seen, ever seen, all of the gold that has ever been mined could fit in the size of a regular swimming pool. Isn't that crazy? Like there's just not that much gold on Earth, so, and it's something we really need because of the, the chemical properties of the gold and its use. So it's um it's a really fascinating industry to be in.

So is thatwhy you think maybe that some people don't think that there's gold at Fort Knox?Correct.Do you think they're so?

Hey, I'm not, I'm not going to speculate. I can't speculate. I don't know.

So awesome. So, uh, what piece of advice would you give to the LGBTQ community, just general best advice that you have regarding our finances?

I kind of mentioned it earlier, um, but I think that we are entering.Unintended, the golden age of resale, and I don't just mean with gold. I just mean generally speaking, I think resale is becoming more and more of a common practice.And on both sides, on the people who are selling it and then people who are willing to buy it, um, particularly in fashion and jewelry and clothing in that space. So you're seeing all of these new platforms and marketplaces and companies pop up. So my advice to the LGBT community when it comes to finances and, you know, this could go a million different ways, but if you're looking to generate some some income on the side, and especially these turbulent economic and political times who is in.Um, take a look at your closet, take a look at what you got in your house, rummage through some stuff, and I guarantee you're sitting on items and valuables that somebody else wants and or needs and is willing to pay for, and it's not that hard for you to to sell it. And so it's just a quick way to generate income on the side, um, during a tough time right now.

Yeah, I love that. It's very, very unique advice. Thank you for sharing that. So what's your takeaway, sir?

Well, thank you again, Brandon for sharing sharing your experience with us. And I think one of the things that really stands out to me is that uh we all all face challenges in our lives, uh, and sometimes they're very personal challenges uh that only we are experiencing and sometimes they're common challenges, but I think it's important to think, look at those challenges and say, is there an opportunity with this challenge? You get that and then is there an opportunity that thatThe challenge actually is the solution to me overcoming the challenge, or is this maybe even a bigger opportunity like you, you are actually helping change the world of purchasing and selling gold, uh, so that people feel safe and comfortable and uh they have a level of

trust in the transactions that they're doing.

Yeah, yeah, I think necessity is the mother of invention, I think Brandon sort of epitomizes that, but I also think Brand is yet another guest who has shown that I think because we're LGBTQ we've had to learn how to survive and navigate unwelcoming situations and unwelcome circumstances for our entire lives that I think many of us should take heart in knowing that we're able to survive childhood, we can possibly survive, whatever it is that we're dealing with today. Yeah.Definitely. So thanks for joining us for another episode of Moving not so fabulously like what you see here, please scan the QR code to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insights, because when you do, it helps Lady Gaga keep causing mayhem. So until next time,

stay fabulous.

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.