In this deeply moving episode, we sit with Billy Mays III, son of America’s most famous pitchman, for a conversation about legacy, transformation and purpose. From experimental musician to nonprofit leader, Billy reveals how he's honoring his father's legacy while finding his unique path. Join us now to learn about the man behind the famous voice, through personal stories, and Host Jon LaClare’s experience working with the legend.
Discover how the legendary Bill Mays revolutionized the infomercial industry and changed countless lives through his talent, generosity and mentorship, and how this timeless legacy continues to impact the life of Billy III.
In this episode, we also explore Billy Mays III's involvement in the commercial production industry, his music career with influences stemming from personal loss and trauma, and his dedication to community initiatives like the Laundry Project. We even get a sneak peek into his creative work on platforms like Twitch, Bandcamp and Patreon, and his plans for an upcoming documentary focusing on his father’s life and career.
Join us as we celebrate the legacy of Billy Mays, delve into the heartwarming and impactful stories of generosity and community support, and learn how Billy Mays III is making his own mark in the world while honoring his father’s unforgettable spirit. Whether you’re a fan of classic infomercials or intrigued by the fusion of music and community service, this episode is one you won’t want to miss!
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
The untold story of Billy Mays' impact on the sales and advertising industry
How Billy Mays’ sales techniques remain relevant in today's digital age
The power of art, music, creativity and generosity in transforming personal tragedy into purpose and meaning
The importance of soft skills, kindness and generosity in creating a timeless legacy
And so much more!
You can listen to the full interview on your desktop or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
Please visit www.billymays.org to learn more about ongoing charitable initiatives inspired by Billy Mays' generosity, including The Laundry Project by Current Initiatives.
To listen to and support Billy Mays III's amazing music, visit www.infinitethird.com.
To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!
Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands that now total over $2 billion in revenues? Set up a free consultation with us today!
Prefer reading instead of listening? Read the full transcript here!
Jon LaClare [00:00:00]:
There will never be a pitch man better than Billy Mays. Sadly, it has been 15 years since he passed away and all of us that knew him surely miss him. But I can't think of Billy without smiling. He brought joy into the lives of millions. Today I sit down with his son, Billy Mays III to discuss his dad's legacy, some fun behind the scenes stories, and the exciting things that Billy Mays III is working on today. If you're a fan of infomercials or OxiClean or of Billy Mays, this is a must listen to interview.
Jon LaClare [00:00:50]:
Welcome back to the show. Today we have a very special guest I've been really excited with. For the past few weeks we've had this interview scheduled. I'm speaking with Billy Mays ii, Billy May's son, who I know a little bit from many years ago. I knew his dad very well. Of course, nobody knows him better than his son. And we're going to talk a little bit about the legacy of Billy Mays the second his father, what he's done for the world, for oxiclean, for so many brands, but also for many people around him. So we'll talk about his story and also a little bit about what Billy Mays III is doing today to carry on his legacy and build his own legacy.
Jon LaClare [00:01:26]:
Billy, first of all, welcome to the show.
Billy Mays III [00:01:28]:
Thanks, Jon. I'm really happy to be here.
Jon LaClare [00:01:31]:
I'm so excited. Now, you and I were chatting for a few minutes before we hit record on this and reminiscing about. It's been a long time since we've seen each other, certainly in person. We did a couple of video shoots together back in my OxiClean days. You worked as a production assistant along with your dad on set quite a few times. Did you say three or four years? Something like that.
Billy Mays III [00:01:51]:
I graduated college in 2006 and I think I worked with my dad from about 2007 to 2009 when he died. So two years, like over two years with him. And then I continued on in the business and I still kind of work in the business sometimes. So that was my career, you know, behind the scenes, commercial production.
Jon LaClare [00:02:16]:
Well, very cool. I wish we would have had the chance to work more together, but we had the pleasure a couple of times back in the day as well. For. No, let's just have a conversation, I guess, for the benefit of our audience. But really, I'm excited to have this conversation for myself as well. Let's talk about, about your, Your background. What was it like growing up with Billy Mays as your dad?
Billy Mays III [00:02:34]:
Well, it's. It's kind of funny. My dad, I think you're aware of this, but he, he didn't really become famous until he was like, 40 and he died when he was 50. So from the time I was born, he was in his 20s until he was 40, he was. I only knew him as this, like, traveling salesperson guy who would be working home and garden shows across the country, Fairs, boardwalks, the New Jersey Atlantic City boardwalk, you know. And so it was really weird to me. I didn't really. It was like a.
Billy Mays III [00:03:11]:
It was like a carny life kind of thing. And I would. Only. My mom and dad were divorced when I was about three and I lived with my mom in Pittsburgh and my dad traveled all the time. And so therefore there wasn't. There wasn't really like normal custody. It was basically, I would stay with him when he came to town for the Pittsburgh Home and Garden show. And then like any other time in between that.
Billy Mays III [00:03:35]:
And sometimes I would go to other cities and visit him for these shows or just wherever he was. Like, he lived in Florida for a while. So for me, it was. It was a strange time. I would, I would be like a kid that, that wandered around these home and garden shows. And funny enough, like, my dad was the, the rock star of these home shows. He was the. Always the biggest seller.
Billy Mays III [00:03:59]:
Like, everyone knew him, everyone knew me because like all the, I'm talking about all the, the pitch people. So I, I always felt like, especially even before he was on tv because I'd. I'd be walking around, they'd be like, hey, little Billy, you know, and so, I mean, that was it. I. I remember. I remember being under the booth while he would be pitching above me. He'd be making salsa with the salsa master and I'd be playing with X Men toys literally at his feet while he's doing it. So it's like that.
Billy Mays III [00:04:32]:
That evolves into Home Shopping Network, where he goes on the Home Shopping Network and I would go and visit. I would go late night, 2am when he'd have these overnight shoots and I'd be hanging out in the green room with the makeup lady. Sometimes he'd bring me on to home shopping. His Airing just to say hi. And, you know, so there was some exciting stuff like that. But I don't. I think the first OxiClean commercial was, like, 2000. And I was.
Billy Mays III [00:04:58]:
I just started high school. So throughout high school was when people started to, like, know the name. And, you know, it's. It's weird because in Pittsburgh, he was just a celebrity, like, a local celebrity. So I didn't know how much it rippled out. But then whenever I went to college in Florida, I remember that I would. Every time there was a new class, they would be doing Roll Call, and they say, billy May is like, oh, like the guy. And I would always be like, oh, I've never heard of him.
Billy Mays III [00:05:27]:
What do you mean? And, like, the whole class would laugh because they all know. But then, you know, it was just a thing. It was. It was a funny thing.
Jon LaClare [00:05:34]:
So it's interesting, so. Because I. I think my recollection is his fame from a national perspective really skyrocketed. It felt like it was overnight. You were obviously there and sort of behind the scenes and a little different perspective. The Internet wasn't really around, right? Not in the same way that it is today. So it's kind of hard to get a national pulse on what's going on. So when that really started to happen, you felt like he was locally famous and, you know, connected to your family and that sort of thing, but just had no idea how big he was and.
Jon LaClare [00:06:01]:
Until he went to college.
Billy Mays III [00:06:02]:
Yeah. And I. I feel like he had kind of an. And I don't mean this in, like, an arrogant way, but he had, like, an aura of, like, he. He had a dream and he was chasing it, and he felt like he was chasing success and, like, all the ups and downs of that. So I. That I kind of took that and knew, like, that he. He was like.
Billy Mays III [00:06:24]:
I don't. I don't know, special. Like, I felt like there was something going on before he was famous even, because it was just like he had this. This way of going about the world, like, just existing where he would kind of. He just had a big personality in a way, even though he was sort of a quiet guy. If you. You know, from. Like, a lot of people that knew him said he was sort of soft and gentle and quiet, but he.
Billy Mays III [00:06:47]:
He kind of turned it on frequently. That was. His whole life was turning it on so that he could sell or pitch or just give people an experience.
Jon LaClare [00:06:55]:
And you talked about the kind of the. I don't know how to word it, but the local fame. We'll Call it like at. At shows. The other pitch people knew him well and really revered him. By the time I knew your dad, he was already famous. He was just when he was starting out on TV and kind of growing and. And I got to go to a home show with him, even like laid into his fame, let's say, or, you know, it really skyrocketed by that point and so it was a little different.
Jon LaClare [00:07:21]:
But I gather that it was like that for a long time in home shows. What I mean is I went to the Heart, the Charlotte Christmas show, which is a big home and garden type show that goes on every year, and we were pitching a product that we're testing for Oxiclean. I used to do a lot of the new product marketing back in the day. And so we were going there, Billy tested from a booth, we filmed it, but really just trying to get a sense, like, is this a product we want to launch? Et cetera. And then I had the joy or opportunity of walking in the show with your dad after he'd done a few pitches and man, it was like walking with the most famous person in the world. And he was kind to everybody, right? The pitchman especially. Everybody knew him, you know, but the pitchman revered him. And was it like that when you were younger? So before he had sort of his tv, famous national fame, Was it similar just because of that magnetic personality he had? What was it like on the floor in these, in these home and garden shows?
Billy Mays III [00:08:11]:
Yeah, I think, I think there's a. There's a definite, like, family vibe to the, the pitchman, like the old school pitchmen and pitch women. And basically I just, I think that's just how it is. And he represented sort of like what's possible for someone who's like, in sales like that. So I think that there was that. But I, I also think that he was just like a fun guy. He had fun with it. So I think he just had.
Billy Mays III [00:08:40]:
He was very close with everyone. And so being like, I don't know, once he started to reach that success, like you're saying, I think it just like multiplied and it was just like, he's the success story of our industry. Like, there aren't many other people you could think of that transcended simply being a pitch person.
Jon LaClare [00:09:01]:
Agreed. And yet to that level of fame especially, I have my opinion as to why he was so successful. What are your thoughts, though? Like, what do you think made him have that magnetic personality that connected with hundreds of millions of people? Like, everybody knew him and knows him, you Know, for what he, what he was, for what he represented. What do you think was different about him?
Billy Mays III [00:09:23]:
Well, I think it's exactly what you're talking about or what we're talking about, which is he took the principles of selling directly to someone's face and brought them to television. And I think that this is like this an old art form that goes back, you know, civilizations, like there was always salespeople. So but in this form, you know, the, the mid-1900s had these, these shows where you'd be like, you'd be on the corner selling some product and it's all about the art of bringing them in. They call it valley in the tip and getting their attention, getting them to stay, having fun, cracking jokes, kind of like having a bit to get through, but also improvising with them. And so he just like, he took that and I think what happened was up until the OxiClean commercial, all infomercials were 30 minutes long. So they took that and they made a two minute infomercial call now at the end of it and it just like changed the industry. So what I'm trying to say is that that's the main reason is that he just had like this lifetime of apprenticeship from these, these legends that you never know their name. But they, they died out now, most of them.
Billy Mays III [00:10:50]:
But he learned from all them. He retained that, that skill, evolved it in his own way, brought it to tv. And then on top of that, I think he genuinely was just like a working class dude and people knew that and people got that. And I think that the combination of those things just connects with America.
Jon LaClare [00:11:09]:
And you use the word at the end. That's the reason I always give is he was genuine. So you. And that really came out. I think the experience is absolutely part of it. There are other pitch men that are good and on the home and garden trade show floor, they've got the energy, et cetera, but they've never transcended to be as good right as, as Billy was. And part of it I think is, you know, there's experience side, there's also just. He was a good person, right? And that genuine nature.
Jon LaClare [00:11:34]:
When he, whether you were, you know, I was on set with him, you were too, right? And he's pitching to camera, but man, you just believed or knew that he believed in what he was saying. He loved these products, he wanted to sell, he wanted to get them out there. And there was that kind of integrity that came through as well as the energy behind it. But that's the word that I Most often use, you know, beyond his personality and everything else that, of course, he had going for him.
Billy Mays III [00:11:56]:
Well, my. My biggest. Like, the word that always comes to mind when people ask about, like, my dad, as a human, is generous. And I don't know if a lot of people know this, but, like, he. Not just to me, not just to my family, to friends and other people in the business. I. I have countless people who have told me how that he helped them with money or something or, you know, just helped them in some way. He connected them to someone, and he went out of his way to pull them up somehow.
Billy Mays III [00:12:24]:
And I have people who feel that I'm owed a favor from them because one person, you know, he. He. He paid for the lawyer for the divorce that they were going through, and he's just like, yeah, I'm indebted to your dad, so whatever you need. And so I. You know, that kind of ripples out long after he's. He's passed away. And so that's my memory of my dad and a little story I share sometimes, and it's. It's one of my favorites, is one time we were at a grocery store in Tampa together.
Billy Mays III [00:12:54]:
This was probably two years before he died. And he. He drove, like. I feel like his weakness with money was that he. He loved luxury cars, and he would lease these. These Bentleys, and he had a Rolls Royce Phantom at one point, Escalade, you know, and we didn't need all these cars. It was just like. That was.
Billy Mays III [00:13:13]:
He was poor and growing up, and he became wealthy, and he spent way too much money, like most people do from that background. And so anytime he pulled up somewhere, he would kind of pull up like he was the mayor or something. And, you know, he had. He loved showing the car off. He loved when people would be like, oh, can I sit in it? Or he'd. He'd give him the keys. You know, there's plenty of those stories on shoots where they'd say, oh, that Bentley's cool. He's like, yeah, you want to drive? And he'd, like, throw him the keys.
Billy Mays III [00:13:38]:
And so, you know, he. He wasn't like, showing off. I think he was just like, look how fun this is. Let's just enjoy this. And one time, all these kids were at this grocery store, and they kind of swarmed the car, and they were just like, what's going on? They don't know who it was. He gets out. The parents all recognize him. A couple of the kids know who he is, and they're.
Billy Mays III [00:13:57]:
It's Kind of like this frenzy, like this small scale frenzy at the grocery store. He starts signing autographs and taking pictures and he. He went. We finally went in the store and he ended. He came out with like a cart full of OxiClean and just started giving it out. And that's kind of. That's kind of how he was, was he wanted to like over deliver. When people recognized him, he was just like.
Billy Mays III [00:14:22]:
He knew it was. The reason that he even got to live the way he did was that people recognized him and trusted him. So and that. That kind of spins off into the. The bigger part of the story, which is when Oxiclean, and you would know this, when OxiClean became more corporate and was purchased by a bigger company, kind of got a little bit more like just corporate, let's say. So it became harder to just like get the free product because he used to just ask for some and get it and give it away. So people would always ask him for product and what he ended up doing regularly because I lived with him in this time, he would go to the store and he would just buy it, buy loads of it and give it out and say that he got it for free. He would just buy it at the store and he would just say, yeah, you know, it's all.
Billy Mays III [00:15:07]:
It's all good. They give it to me, you know, but at that point, he wasn't getting any for free. So it just represents like how. How I view him just always kind of trying to do that kind of thing, you know?
Jon LaClare [00:15:18]:
Yeah, and I'd echo that. I mean, nobody knows him as well as you, of course, but it's something I saw a lot on set is he was kind to everybody. Right. Everybody that came around him. It didn't matter whether it was, you know, the client flying in, it was paying them to be on the shoot, or whether it was a production assistant or somebody coming in to work for an hour delivering food. It didn't matter. It's. It was kind to everybody.
Jon LaClare [00:15:38]:
I've. For me, I've tried to explain my understanding of fame and how it can change you. And it was miraculous to me how I don't think it changed Billy, at least from my perspective, you know, again, you know him intimately. But at least it didn't take the generosity, the genuine nature away from, as far as I could tell, right where I. When I was on set with them, you know, I felt like I was doting. Right. I wanted to make sure Billy had exactly the drink he needed and everything. Because you wanted him to be on Right.
Jon LaClare [00:16:08]:
He's only on for, you know, call it, I don't know, an hour of talking over the course of a 10 hour shoot day or whatever it is. So you want to make sure he's got everything he absolutely needs because it helps us. Right. As we were at the thing, the producers at the time, or we're working with the producers, but you know, the client company, let's call it. So you wanted to, to really treat him that way. And I felt like, you know, at that level, like a lot of celebrities that's their whole lives are like that. Right. People are looking up to him, they're always kind to him, they're giving him stuff and a lot of them let it go to their head.
Jon LaClare [00:16:34]:
And I think that's where I was. I think it's interesting to see Billy. I just didn't see that it didn't go to his head where he appreciated it every time I was with him, at least to, to get whatever he got. And I think like you said, maybe remember his roots, remember who he was as opposed to who people thought he was.
Billy Mays III [00:16:50]:
Yeah, it didn't change him. It definitely affected him. Sure. The, the pressure of it all. And I, you know, ultimately I feel like that's what leads to his death, is that it was a lot on his shoulders. But I think you're right. And, and that's something a lot of people probably don't understand even to this day. Like he was not at the level he was very famous, but you know, financially it was kind of complicated.
Billy Mays III [00:17:19]:
And there was. He made a lot of people money. He made money for a lot of people, but he made a lot of money. But he got screwed a bunch of different ways. And I think that comes with his sort of generosity and like kind of assuming the best in people. Whereas he would, he would get into kind of bad deals sometimes and he'd trust people that he shouldn't have trusted and, and on top of that, he didn't really have like a PR person. He barely had an accountant. You know, like, there was just.
Billy Mays III [00:17:48]:
There was a lot of things that he just didn't know how to do. And he didn't really. He wasn't famous long enough for him for it really to hit him of like what he needed to do to like manage all this. I do think if he would have been alive for another five years, he would have drastically had to change his lifestyle and, you know, his team and all that. And I know I was sort of serving as his PR person in a way. I was, I was like 21 before he died, and I was like, running. I made him start a Twitter account. I had him, like, messaging fans and stuff.
Billy Mays III [00:18:18]:
And, you know, we'd send out stickers and autographs to people. And like, I. That was the only consideration that was given to that kind of thing was me kind of insisting, like, hey, people obviously, like, want more from you. And like, they want. They want you to be. They want to interact with you. And like, that's possible now. So, you know, that.
Billy Mays III [00:18:37]:
All that to say he was still kind of just a guy, even though he was famous and, like, recognizable. He had major health issues. He had a. He had a bad hip. You probably saw him during that time when he, you know, long story short, he. He had a bad hip. He got a hip replacement. The hip replacement did not take, so they had to do another one.
Billy Mays III [00:19:00]:
The second one also didn't take and he got a staph infection. So his third hip replacement was scheduled for the. The Monday after he died, which was a Saturday night. It was scheduled for that Monday. And they told him, if this one doesn't work, you might never walk again. Like, we can't do another one. So he never got to go to that surgery. But, you know, he was going through a lot in that time on top of all this pressure, not having a team of experienced people knowing how to handle this kind of stuff.
Billy Mays III [00:19:30]:
And he was abusing painkillers just because he was in constant pain all the time. So, you know, I think that's just a side of my dad's life, especially the end that people don't understand. And it reflects even now when people just assume that I'm some, like, trust fund billionaire kid, you know, And I've definitely had tons of perks and definitely some nepotism in the. In the production industry, but, you know, there's not like some fund I've been living off of. I've gotten some royalty checks over the years, but all that to say, like, I'm just a working guy too, and I'm. I'm hustling and I feel just like my dad at his age, where I am now. So the age he was, where I am now, like, I feel that way kind of just like trying to figure out what my. Where my ambitions lead.
Jon LaClare [00:20:24]:
And let's switch gears and talk about that a little bit. So there's a couple of big projects you're working on. I'd love to get into your music, but while we're on the topic of your dad, you run something called the laundry project. And our audience. You can check it out@billymaze.org or BM, as in BillyMaze3me to learn more about all the stuff that's going on, both the music side as well as a laundry project. But so on the laundry project. Tell us, what is that? So tell us about the project itself and how you're involved in it and how it takes, you know, kind of carries on the legacy of your dad, but also how you're helping people.
Billy Mays III [00:20:56]:
Yeah, man, it's a great organization. I, I didn't, I'm not the founder of it. My friend Jason is. They're, they're a Tampa based organization and the, the entire premise of this part of it is they host, they facilitate free laundry day pop ups at laundromats around the country. It's that simple. Like raise some money, basically rent out a laundromat, invite people to come for this block of hours, and all your laundry is paid for and done. And we assist with the laundry. There's volunteers.
Billy Mays III [00:21:34]:
It kind of becomes like this community center. And the whole point, they say, they say there are hope dealers and it's just like giving hope. It's, it's, it's, it's helping in a small way, but it's like an overlooked expense is that a lot of families have to take all this, you know, multiple loads of laundry and it only costs more and more, you know, the detergent, the washer, the dryer. So, you know, it's, that's what it is, is I, I volunteered a lot of them over the years and I've always tried to like, direct any kind of donations that came my way or, you know, any, any project that I've ever done with my dad's face on it. Like we've done shirts and all that. All the proceeds always end up going somewhere. And the majority of them have gone to the laundry project along with other causes. But the laundry project has, has slowly become the one that I feel the most connected to for obvious reasons with the laundry stuff.
Billy Mays III [00:22:24]:
And you know, one of my Dad's catchphrases with OxiClean was long live your laundry. So we've sort of adopted that with the laundry project. And we're, we're, we're sort of developing what the relationship looks like. But the way it started is just last month, just about a month ago, we launched the Atlanta chapter, which is where I live, right in my neighborhood. We, we raised money, I raised it in my local community and we did the, we did the free laundry day. We served 50 plus families in one day. And it was just a great time. So the part of the reason, another reason why it's become such a partnership now, Jason, who runs it is he's just a great, like, his vision is so clear, he gets it done.
Billy Mays III [00:23:09]:
It's like very boots on the ground, grassroots kind of organization. There's no like bloat of where the money goes. It's basically just him, another guy who does like the accounting and stuff. And then like volunteers and helpers and me and, you know, a lot of, a lot of people just giving their time. So just recently we found out that they're on their 15th anniversary since the organization was launched. And I was doing the math and I was like, wait, I'm on the 15 year anniversary of when my dad died. It turns out he launched it the same month my dad died. And so we just, it was kind of like this light bulb moment of like, let's just, let's just see what we can do.
Billy Mays III [00:23:47]:
So for now, I have the Atlanta chapter. We're looking to our next one. We're about to find some sponsors to fund it moving forward. But you know, we're aiming for. If you, if you follow me on social media, I've done giveaways, I've done raffles where if you donate, you entered, entered into a raffle. I recently gave away one of the last autographed pictures of my dad. We, I give away stickers and I get, I had a pitchman dvd like just. I have memorabilia and we, we like to auction it off for, for this cause.
Billy Mays III [00:24:19]:
And we only have bigger things planned for the next year along those lines. So if you follow me, you'll, you'll see all that. If you're interested in getting on it, getting any of that stuff, we have art, you know, there's, there's a lot of fun, fun things.
Jon LaClare [00:24:33]:
That's awesome. And I did not realize it was. Yes. Started at the same time coincidentally. And then you of course joined on and helped the PR to grow or the recognition to grow. If people are interested in donating or volunteering or being a part of this in any way, what's the best way to get in contact?
Billy Mays III [00:24:49]:
If you just go to laundrybycurrent.org the bigger company is current initiatives. If you just go to laundrybycurrent.org, it tells the story of it. There's videos, there's a volunteer thing, I believe, like a sign up. But even just reaching out to me, I can connect you with someone maybe in your city. If you're interested in starting one in your city, it takes a little work, but if you're genuinely just someone who has that time and energy, you know, let's see if it's possible.
Jon LaClare [00:25:20]:
And to reach you, you said to reach out directly to you, go through your website or what's the web? What's the best way?
Billy Mays III [00:25:24]:
There's email. I'm pretty easy to find. Any social media platform. I'll probably see it eventually. Infinite third.com My, my music website has a contact. BillyMaze.org has a contact that actually goes to my email. So I'm reachable.
Jon LaClare [00:25:41]:
Perfect. So you mentioned Infinite Third. Let's talk about that a little bit. That's a big part of what you do today is. Is the music side. So I love the connection from the outside. I look at it as. Your dad was a creator, right? So he created.
Jon LaClare [00:25:53]:
You mentioned catchphrases, right? Long live your laundry. I believe he came up with that. If not that, certainly most other catchphrases. Like, I remember going to shoots and we would spend three months working on demonstrations and firing out this perfect script. And then we'd show up with your dad the day before and he would Billy Ize it or whatever, right? He would put his own catchphrase and like, this is so much better. Like, it just. It changed everything. And nobody could write for him.
Jon LaClare [00:26:18]:
We would do the shell, right? But he would add his catchphrases in, and so many of them just seem like they were off the cuff. And I'm sure that from so many years of experience of live pitching, live selling for, I think 17 years, if I remember the number, right before he ever went on, on TV or even HSN and just honing his craft. And then of course, his unique personality, his humor, and everything else that went inside that. So he was a creator. And you are a creator in a slightly different way. Right. But. But it's.
Jon LaClare [00:26:45]:
I think that shared connection is how I would view it from the outside. But let's talk about your music.
Billy Mays III [00:26:50]:
Well, before we jump to that, you brought up the catchphrases, and I think it's a funny little thing that the, the meme that goes around, like, in every different form is. But wait, there's more. And it's my dad. The funny thing is he didn't really say, but wait, there's more. That many times, I don't think if ever on an actual commercial, there's like some funny little clips of him saying it sort of as a joke. But he was more fond of Saying, like, but I'm not done yet, or that's not all. And I think the reason for that is that Ron Popeil was known for. But wait, there's more.
Billy Mays III [00:27:23]:
And I think he had such respect for Ron that he just wanted to change it and not just, like, do his exact thing. And I know he had huge respect for Ron Papille because he talked about him all the time as basically, like, his inspiration for the TV side of things. But it's funny because I made a video about this a couple years ago, and, you know, people call it a Mandela effect. You know, that. That weird thing where everyone remembers him saying it, but really, I think you're just remembering seeing the memes and everyone kind of referencing that. But anyway, yes, that's funny.
Jon LaClare [00:27:55]:
As I go back now, I got to watch those videos because I'm definitely a victim of the Mandela effect on that.
Billy Mays III [00:27:59]:
I know, right?
Jon LaClare [00:28:00]:
Yeah. Yeah. He certainly made infomercials, I think, even that much more present in everybody's lives. So maybe just we remember back to Ron Popil. The phrase is kind of in, you know, intuitive with what infomercials are. But you're. Yeah, you're right. I have to go watch those videos.
Jon LaClare [00:28:13]:
So, on the music side, so tell us about Infinite Third and what, you know, what do you do on the. On the music side?
Billy Mays III [00:28:18]:
Well, I have always made music since, like, high school. And I lived with my mom. Like I said, she was a big supporter. My dad was also a big supporter of me making music. At an early age. He got me a guitar. You know, I took guitar lessons that I didn't really take seriously, but I. I was always fond of recording, self recording, self.
Billy Mays III [00:28:36]:
Teaching myself to put together albums and music, instrumental music, and it's just something that always kind of. I felt right doing, and I still do it to this day. But up until about. Up until the year my dad died, I was making a certain type of music just for fun. I never released anything. And then the year that my dad died was February 2009. But just as important a part of my story is that In February of 2009, I escaped an apartment fire in the middle of the night in my apartment. And I lost everything I owned.
Billy Mays III [00:29:11]:
But thankfully, I didn't get hurt or anything. So I lost all my music gear, all my clothes, all my pictures, like, anything you could think of. I lost it. And it was, like, super humbling traumatic. I was lucky that my dad was able to help me get back on my feet, but it really messed me up, and it like, kind of, like, messed with my creativity and all that. So I had to kind of start fresh with, like, just a guitar, no equipment, no pedals. And I just started, like, sort of playing very simply. And that was where my style kind of changed into this emotionally connected, like, form of therapy where I would just, like, you know, access catharsis about what I was going through.
Billy Mays III [00:29:59]:
So I'd started doing that, and then just four months later, in June, my dad died. And. And that also just, like, compounded and, you know, way heavier to just lose my dad out of nowhere. And. And at that point, the music just, like, stopped. It was. I was grieving. I was very.
Billy Mays III [00:30:18]:
Just, like, numb. And I remember In August of 2009, I. Another example of my dad's generosity to someone else was that he never went to this place, but he. Through a long series of events, he helped a person who owns a celebrity retreat center in California. He basically. It's a long story, but Sully Anthony Sullivan, his partner, went there, and they ended up gifting her a car through some series of events. And my dad pitched in, even not knowing her, just because she helped them out. And apparently he had an open invite to go there, but he never got to go.
Billy Mays III [00:31:04]:
So when they heard that he died, they reached out to me and said, hey, would you like a week here at this retreat? Which. This retreat center is, like, thousands and thousands. This is where, like, Oprah goes. You. You work out every day, you hike, you eat raw, healthy food, and it's just like, an experience. And I went. I went in August of 2009, and that was sort of. I remember the exact moment when we're on one of these hikes.
Billy Mays III [00:31:28]:
It was a silent hike in the mountains, and the music just instantly just, like, came flooding back. All the music I had been working on, developing just sort of came back. And from that moment on, I recorded this album when I got home, and it became my debut album, and I released it in December of 2009. We just hit the 15th anniversary of that three days ago, December 15th. Well, I just gave away when we're recording this, but so basically, that's the start of me as a musician. Like, not just for fun. I'm a musician now. And I.
Billy Mays III [00:32:03]:
And they ended up using some of those songs on Discovery Channel for the tributes to my dad. So it sort of got intertwined with the grieving of my dad in multiple ways, not just with me, but with people who watch that, and they connected with that music. The album is called Gently Infinite Third Gently. It's on all the streaming services now. It's still pretty special. I'm planning to do a vinyl release of it to commemorate the 15 year anniversary next year. And basically from then on, I've found my way as a musician. And what that means is that I had this process which I imagine we're going to talk about, which is, you know, why didn't I become a pitch man? Or why, you know, I was invited to try and to be part of that world.
Billy Mays III [00:32:54]:
And I was in such a desperate, kind of like, artistic zone where I needed to create art. And I had this, like, vision of who I was and what I wasn't. And what I knew I wasn't was a pitch man. So I was like, I'm not going to sit here and sell cleaning products. And like, that's not who I am. I'm not a pitch man. I'm an artist. Like, that was.
Billy Mays III [00:33:13]:
For years, that was how I felt. I even kind of distanced myself from my dad's legacy in a lot of ways, where I. I just wanted to be me. I wanted to be a musician. And slowly over the years, I started to realize, as I became an independent musician on the road doing these DIY tours, selling merch, I started to realize I'm having to pitch myself. I'm having to pitch this. This music itself. I'm having to pitch the merch.
Billy Mays III [00:33:41]:
I would perform, and then right after that, I'd be at a table, a booth, pitching my merch. And I. It hit me at one point right when I was. I was actually going through a divorce at the time, and I was on tour, and I. It hit me that, like, this is how my dad felt. He was divorced. He was trying to make his way with his art form. His art form was getting in front of a booth, performing and trying to sell things.
Billy Mays III [00:34:06]:
My. My art form is performing and then trying to sell things. And that's when it hit me. I was just like, I don't. I don't need to distance myself from this really, at all. I can pay tribute to my dad. I can be Billy Mays and be an artist. I can be whatever I want.
Billy Mays III [00:34:20]:
And I can. I don't. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to not do anything. I can just see where it takes me. And what that led to is BillyMayes.org, which is just tribute. It's just a tribute site where I collect memes, I collect tribute art. I do all this nonprofit stuff.
Billy Mays III [00:34:34]:
I sort of manage it out of my Own pocket. Like, there's no. There's no revenue. I'm just paying for it at all times. And it's a special part of my life. You know, I connect with a lot of people through it, and people reach out to me. It's a. It's a fun fact to learn once you know me, once you know about my music.
Billy Mays III [00:34:50]:
Oh, yeah. And by the way, like, his dad is that guy, you know, from growing up. And so all that to say that I'm where we're at now is that I'm Billy Mays. There's no, like, shame or, you know, discomfort around talking about him, about not talking about him. It's just I'm in a good place. And the laundry project has become this way of, like, really doing what I have always wanted to do, which is take that loss that we experienced in 2009 and funnel it into something tangible and good in the world. And that's what I think ultimately would have happened with my dad is I think he would have continued kind of grinding and becoming more famous and more rich or whatever, but eventually he would have had to face, like, what am I doing? Like, am I able to slow down and give back in a more real way? And so that's just what I'm following now is that's what I want to do.
Jon LaClare [00:35:53]:
I love that. And I think sometimes dealing with loss of someone so important in our lives can help us on that process, to get perspective on life. I lost my father earlier this year, so almost a year ago, and. Thank you. And it's. But, you know, I think it's healthy to celebrate the lives of those we admire, right? And our parents, hopefully for a lot of us, or most of us is, you know, someone that we really look up to. And, you know, it's. It's sad, right? But there's so many positive things, too.
Jon LaClare [00:36:23]:
To carry on their legacy, to learn from what they taught us, learn from who they were. We don't need to be the same, but we can learn from their. Their strengths and their weaknesses right along the way. And, you know, it can really be a celebration. So I think it's healthy to talk about the great things and maybe the hard thing, hard things, too, right? None of our parents just, like, we are not perfect, right? There are. We learn from their foibles or their mistakes just as much as we learn from their. Their strengths along the way. But it's a great.
Jon LaClare [00:36:48]:
It's great to celebrate their lives and what they've done for us and for. For so many others. On the music side, so what you talked about the album. And again, for our audience, check it out@infinite third.com we'll put all these links. Thank you. And we'll put all these notes or all these URLs in the show, notes for people who might be driving or whatever, and check them out later to check out various things that you're working on. So where do you distribute or, you know, for our audience's benefit, like if they wanted to benefit from your music, besides listening to it, you also create music for certain purposes, if you wouldn't mind talking about that.
Billy Mays III [00:37:20]:
Yeah, well, there's a lot to it. I've. I've made tons of albums, ambient albums, meditative kind of albums, heavier, kind of like almost metal albums. Like, they all kind of fall into this world. I, I just, I'm constantly trying to make music, so it is quantity over quality. Sometimes with me, like, it's. For me, it's a, It's a practice. So I have all these different outlets and I'm.
Billy Mays III [00:37:41]:
It's like a spiritual practice for me. I perform live. I just, I have a show this Friday actually, in Atlanta, and I play festivals. I. If you, if you see the video or any photo of me, I play on the ground. I play almost surrounded by a spaceship of pedals and lights and a guitar. And I do live looping. I improvise.
Billy Mays III [00:38:04]:
That's. That's how I perform is just this sort of cathartic experience. It's not really a traditional type of music performance where I'm just like playing songs. So there's that. You can catch me live. I don't. I'm not really touring right now so much. I play a few festivals in different cities, but right now I'm more Atlanta based and online based.
Billy Mays III [00:38:23]:
For a while, I was live streaming during the Pandemic, I was doing my performance but like on Twitch, and I built a little community there. I, I also, I also compose for people. I've done podcast themes. People use my music in their documentaries or their movies or whatever. I'm very open to just letting people use my songs for, you know, whatever fits their budget or even just for free for certain types of projects. And I've done some custom ones just like if it fits within my. My realm of what I. The type of stuff I make.
Billy Mays III [00:39:08]:
And yeah, I mean, you can find all my stuff on the streaming services. If anyone's familiar with Bandcamp, that's. That has the most of my music that's like, has got not only all this stuff that you see it has private stuff that you can like subscribe to, which is more like demos and rare things and live recordings and stuff. I also have a Patreon, which I have a decent amount of supporters who basically subscribe to support me. $3.33 a month. And I release a new piece of music for them every Wednesday. It's just on Patreon, so they kind of get to follow along on my creative process. And yeah, I mean there's, there's plenty of ways.
Jon LaClare [00:39:51]:
I think most of these you mentioned you can find them at bm3me. That's kind of your library of everything you're doing. Yeah. Cool. That might be the easiest one for our audience. So as we come to the end, this has been a really fun conversation. I want to talk about a couple more things though. And you know, going back to your dad, what do you think the world has changed so much in 15 years, right? Where he was at the pinnacle of TV pitchmen, right? Probably ever.
Jon LaClare [00:40:16]:
Because that world is different. It doesn't exist in the same way as it, as it used to before. And I suspect he would still be doing that, right? He's so good at it and there's still a value in it. But what else, what do you think? What else do you think he would be doing today as the world has changed?
Billy Mays III [00:40:31]:
Well, so there's, there's a couple aspects to this I do hear all the time. Like imagine if Billy Mays was alive, how the numbers he would do on TikTok, you know, or like just. Or cameo, where people pay to have you do like a message to someone for their birthday. I do think he would be doing that and I would be filming the videos and uploading them. Like I would be managing that. So if, you know, going along those lines, like he would thrive in this environment in a lot of ways. There'd be a lot of viral videos, a lot of different, like brand partnerships in different ways. A lot of people don't know that he was signed to be the Taco Bell spokesperson before he died.
Billy Mays III [00:41:09]:
And they never got to shoot anything. And it was a big deal. It was a major contract and they were going to film infomercials for Taco Bell, like sort of parody type stuff. And you know, that's something that I think would have propelled him into an even bigger stratosphere of what he was doing because he had just started to be in on the joke a little bit and self referential and acting sort of more rather than just pitching and being his himself because There's a couple skits out there he did that. You kind of get to see that he was aware of, like, the meme that he was before this, before we even talking about memes too much, he was definitely a meme. So I think he would have definitely capitalized on that. There is a world where I think he would have, unfortunately, or fortunately, no matter, depending on who you are. For me, I feel like this is not the future I would have wanted for myself or for us, but I do think he would have ended up on Celebrity Apprentice and found his way into the current cabinet somehow.
Billy Mays III [00:42:10]:
The. The incoming cabinet. I. I don't think that's what I would have enjoyed in my life, but I. There's a. There's an alternate timeline somewhere where he's. He's pitching for the president, and, you know, and I'm. I'm publicly getting into arguments with him.
Jon LaClare [00:42:31]:
That's funny. Especially now as we've got a president is selling, like, Trump watches and Trump shoes and. Yes, he would have been a great person.
Billy Mays III [00:42:38]:
And I see a lot of tweets and stuff where it be basically people calling him Billy Mays and, you know, so that's. That's one way I think he would have possibly gone also. I do think. Yeah, I don't know. I think he. I do think he would have found, like, a new avenue. I don't know what that would have been. It could have been acting.
Billy Mays III [00:43:02]:
I don't know. Like, he did have good timing. He was. He was developing this kind of like, you know, he had that improvisational way where I think a little bit longer, and he. He would have been kind of like, more, like, reliable as a character in things, and he would have. He probably would have found some kind of way into. More into entertainment. Yeah, I don't know.
Billy Mays III [00:43:23]:
It's hard to say, but that's. That's a lot of the. The options, I think, like you said.
Jon LaClare [00:43:28]:
Alternate timeline, but it's. It's fun to think about. So let's talk about what's next for you. So you and I were chatting before this a little bit that as you've evolved and explored your connection with your dad and a willingness to do some of the things maybe he did, but in your own way that you're potentially considering being a pitch person or pitch man. Is that correct?
Billy Mays III [00:43:48]:
Well, I think I mentioned it earlier that I. I sort of feel like I became my own little pitch person, like, my own version of it. And. And I'm not. I'm not my dad. I don't have that volume or, you know, maybe I do, I don't know. I haven't really accessed it. So I do, I do sort of have a curiosity about what if I did just try it sort of like as an experiment and sort of step into his shoes and, you know, it'll help no matter what.
Billy Mays III [00:44:17]:
To promote the laundry project. So I am exploring the idea of. I'm already in touch with a lot of the old pitch men, the ones that are still around. Sully's one of them. I talked to him somewhat often. Anthony Sullivan, the current Oxiclean guy. Um, we've, we've talked about it. You know, I have access to a lot of wisdom and a lot of skill about this.
Billy Mays III [00:44:42]:
So I'm, I'm sort of exploring the idea of kind of taking the plunge and seeing what would it be like if, if I were Billy Mays here, you know, in 2024, 2025, what would that, what would that be? And you know, I'm open to suggestions or invitations and seeing what, seeing what might work for that.
Jon LaClare [00:45:05]:
I love that. It's, as I said before, it's got my juices really going and thinking about it. We'll talk more about that from our perspective. But others that might be listening or watching, check out bm3me. You can get a hold of Billy directly@billymayes.org and infinite third.com as well. Well, Billy, what's next for you?
Billy Mays III [00:45:24]:
Well, I'm, I'm still making music. I have yet another album coming out next year. It's, it's a fun one. It's a side project under a different name. It's just, I find myself on all these different paths with music and it's just what I love to do. I would do it even if we couldn't release it. Like, I just love the process of it. But yeah, I mean, laundry project's a big part of next year for me.
Billy Mays III [00:45:48]:
We're going to be seeing how far we can take it. There will probably be more fundraising type things where we give away stuff and do some fun contests. I do. I have been developing sort of slowly a documentary about my dad's life. I've teamed with, with some producers recently and we're talking about what that might look like. And you know, when I talk to people about it, it seems like a no brainer, like, yeah, let's tell the story. But I think there's more to the story. There's, there's the industry itself, there's this esoteric art of pitching.
Billy Mays III [00:46:25]:
There's a lot of little fun things that come up if you really explore my dad's life that don't even involve him, that are just other side side roads to go down. So it should be fun. And I think it's going to end up, you know, as a big release sometime eventually. Could be years down the road, but look out for that. I'll be a big part of it. And yeah, I mean that's, that's as far as I can see right now.
Jon LaClare [00:46:50]:
Well, keep us posted on that front. We'll have you back on the show. We can, as the documentary launches and talk more about that and other stuff as it comes up as well. Was there anything I didn't ask you that you think could be helpful for our audience to hear?
Billy Mays III [00:47:02]:
You know, I, you, you did a great job and I think we covered quite a lot. I can't, I can't express enough how important the Laundry project feels as like a symbol. Just look more into it, connect with it. Mainly whenever we do our next steps, it would just be helpful to have more people interested and more people sharing links and stuff like that because that's the biggest thing. I, I'm not an influencer or a pitch person like quite yet. And I don't know like, what that looks like for me. So really the more community I can have that supports these kinds of things, the more we can help people. So that's where my heart's at right now.
Billy Mays III [00:47:47]:
And of course, anyone who listens to my music, thank you. Because that's a big deal to me. It's, it's not, it's not for everyone. Let's say that it's a very experimental type of music. But I feel like the people who connect with it, they really connect with it. And it's usually people who have experienced some kind of loss or grief because it's very emotionally connected for me. So if that's you, give it a shot.
Jon LaClare [00:48:08]:
And I, I, I love it personally. So, yeah, check it out on, as you mentioned, all the streaming platforms or of course infinite third.com or the many websites we've, we've talked about. Well, Billy, this has been super fun for me and really a great experience. I really appreciate the reconnection. It's been a lot of fun to talk with you, get to really get to know you a lot better and see all that you're doing with your life and, you know, reiterate one more time. The Laundry project, I think is such a powerful thing. It's a need that, that we maybe don't think about in our everyday lives. If we have a washing machine in our house, it may be easy, right? For many that don't, this is such a need that goes unaddressed because it's gotten so much more expensive.
Jon LaClare [00:48:44]:
And man, clean clothes just can change your life, right? Change how you feel about who you are in this world, right? It doesn't change who you are, but it change your own perception and that can be so powerful, right? We don't really care if they're a little bit dirty or whatever, but it's going to change their personal perception and how they fit into the world and, you know, enjoy it. So I'd love the, love the project for sure. Encourage our audience to please go check it out and you know, the many different websites we've talked about. But Billy, thanks again. This has been super fun. I really appreciate it.
Billy Mays III [00:49:12]:
Thank you so much. John. Yes.
Jon LaClare [00:49:14]:
Did you know you can meet with a member of my team absolutely free for a 30 minute strategy consultation? We've launched and grown hundreds of products since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing OxiClean back in Billy Mays dad's days. We're here to help, so please go to harvestgrowth.com and set up a call if you'd like to discuss further.
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