Scam Stuff (Modern Rogue Gear)

Brian Brushwood spent over a decade as a full-time touring performer—a "guy with a magic show who also dabbled in the internet." He was making money through live stage performances (150-200 days on the road annually), TV appearances on Discovery's *Scam School* (400+ episodes), National Geographic's *Hacking the System*, podcast hosting, and comedy albums. But after 7-8 years, a critical realization hit: he was still fundamentally trading time for money, no matter how famous or successful he became. "Only after doing all these things for seven or eight years did it occur to me that you need to have a back end," he explains. The solution was to build what he calls "the rest of the iceberg underneath"—a passive income stream.

Three years before this interview, Brian launched **Scam Stuff** (branded as "Gear for the Modern Rogue"), an online store selling three categories of products: high-end magic supplies (marked decks of cards), sneaky/underhanded items (lockpicking training sets), and bar culture accessories (like the "Bottle Loft," neodymium magnets that let you suspend a six-pack from your fridge). The lockpick sets exemplify his product thinking: most people try lockpicking, get frustrated with a generic set, and quit. His solution is a progressive training set that takes users through five increasingly difficult locks, ending with one matching their front door—solving the abandonment problem through thoughtful UX.

When asked directly "what's making you the most money right now," Brian answered: **"The online store."** He's careful to clarify that revenue ≠ profit, but the store clearly outperforms his other ventures. His podcasts (three independent shows on Patreon) generate ~$2,000/episode in direct listener donations—a 13x jump from the $150/episode they earned via network affiliation. Corporate speaking commands $10,000+ per gig for custom presentations to 300+ people, or $3,500 for college shows. TV hosting ($2,000-5,000 per episode for *Hacking the System*, which took 2-3 months and pulled him off the road) is lucrative but time-consuming. The store, by contrast, scales without his direct presence—a true backend asset.

Brian continues to leverage his diversified platform synergistically. He recently said yes to YouTube's *Dance Showdown* (a competitor to *Dancing with the Stars*) despite personal fears, reasoning that exposure outweighs discomfort. Since launch, his YouTube subscriptions doubled. His agents (Sophie K Entertainment, ICM, and Intelligent Artists) keep multiple revenue streams flowing. He's become a living case study in Alan Ries's *Origin of Brands*—finding unfilled niches in the "tree of brands" and occupying a unique position: the entertainer-turned-entrepreneur who builds backends, not just spectacles.