- Nov 4, 2003
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PART 1 of 3
Interview by: theRenegade
Renegade: IV, thanks for taking the time to talk to me bro. I know your busy. I read your threads on Anasci and your one of the busiest guys I have seen in a long while. With good reason too. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this interview. I know the meat monkey's will love to read this.
IV: Hey brother, no problem. Im glad to do it. I read your interviews every month and I love them so when you asked me to do this I didn't even give it a second thought.
Renegade: Like all the other sources I interview, i know you can't reveal everything you do but I know the readers will like to get a glimpse into your daily workings and how things are run at IV.
IV: hey brother, like I said..Im pretty much an open book. What you see or hear with me is what you get. I dont BS or pull punches. I'm a pretty stright shooter. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have provided they arenot private or the answer would not incriminate me or get me into any kind of trouble.
Renegade: Hell no bro. I wouldn't expect you to do that. I'm not gonna put you out on front street. We need more good spurces like you brother. I read yoru feedback threads and gys absolutely love you and your shit. There are only a few good sources left. We as a community need to do everything in our power to protect the good ones.
IV: Thanks brother.
Renegade: The question I like to start off every source I interview is "How did you get started?" People generally like to know the reasons why.
IV: Well, I have been at this a while and like most sources I started as just a regular lifter paying high prices for gear. I've always been a guy that has tried to lower my own costs so like alot of sources who start out, I just wanted to get free gear for myself. So I came across a guy in my gym who introduced me to mexican steroids. Up until that time I was using nothing but human grade, getting it from guys in my gym who would pretty much ass rape me on prices. i was young and dumb and didnt know any better. Hell the first time I ever saw a vial of gear... I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 1999. I met a guy at my gym who wasn't a bodybuilder but just a really big dude. About 5'10" and somewhere north of 250. I remember him curling 225 for a set of 4 and just being in awe. So me being me, I eventually struck uo a conversation with him and as the days and weeks went by we actually became good friends. Then one day out of the blue he asked me where I got my supply, and up until that point our conversations had never progressed to that level but just basic steroid talk. Being dumb and not even thinking about LE I told him I didnt even use, and he laughed. Right in my face. Told him that I always wanted to try it but never had the chance. So he took me to the locker room and out of his bag he pulled out a bottle of schein test cypionate. I remeber taking it in my hand and i swear to god it was like a scene from Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. I thought I had found the monkey head from the begining of the movie. Just the sight of the vial and allthe potential it had inside made me giddy.....until i heard the fukcing price he wanted and then that snapped me back to reality. $250 for a vial.
Renegade: 250...? As in two hundred and fifty bucks....for one vial? Shit I know gym prices are high but god damn!!!
IV: I know...and I paid it too.
Renegade: You really were young a dumb.
IV: naieve and naieve can be. I didnt know shit from shine-ola about the price of gear. All I knew is that if i poked myself in the ass, ate like a horse and lifted everyday i would get big. Thats all I was thinking about.
Renegade: So what..you bought just the one bottle? Nothing else? No deca, no eq, no pct?
IV: I was 19. I didn't have two lousy nickels to run together much less have any money to buy anything else.
Renegade: So what did you do take 1mL a week for 10 weeks?
IV: yep. and I gained 15 pounds too. Went from a sloppy 185 to 200. I was hooked from then on. And then i eventually met a guy who would get shit from Mexico and I started getting my cycles from him he had more access to more things and he was alot cheaper but not by much. Charging $100 for a lousy bottle of Brovel test and $150 for the Norandren Deca. Still alot of money by todays standards but still half of what I was paying originally.
Renegade: So Let me guess....you wanting to bring your costs down thought of the idea to sell to your buddies to get yours for free?
IV: Funny how great minds think alike.
Renegade: I think this is like the standard M.O. for sources to get involved into the dealing side. Start using and then sell to buddies and then graduate to a larger scale to make actual income.
IV: Well think about it brother. Who in the hell wakes up one morning and just decides to sell gear for a living?
Renegade: I'm sure there are some someplace witht that background story. I hope to run into one someday. That would make for hell of a story.
IV: or comedy...or tragedy. if you just wake up one morning as a teenager and decide to start slinging as a career goal you have some searious problems.
Renegade: isn't this your full time job now? lets be real here...with the kind of biz yoour doing it would almost have to be. All these people knocking on your door when would you have time to do anything else?
IV: Actually I have a day job. Its okay. It pays the bills but its not like Im swimming in money from it. If I had to rely on it and only it I would get by but not much else. In my field you dont get paid much.. you do it more because you love it not because you get rich from it.
Renegade: What exactly do you do for a "real" job?
IV: I would tell you but since this is the internet and you never know who is reading this i would prefer to keep that to myself to keep more anonymous than most.
Renegade: I understand, but still? what.. do you work at the local car wash?
IV: ha...no I dont scrub dirt from grandma's buick. Although I'd probably make more money doing that at my day job.
Renegade; Okay so you got a new source that gets stuff from mexico..and you decide to charge your buddies to get your's for free. How long did that last before you graduated to the next level?
IV: It wasnt long. By that time I had found the internet and I knew a few guys and we would get things online and directly from mexico.
Renegade: So you made trips to mexico?
IV: Every once an a while... and let me tell you. I have some wild stories from Mexico. But that would possibly incrminate me.
Renegade: C'mon dude you cant even share a little bit about mexico?
IV: I'm about 99% positive 3/4th's of the people reading this don't even know mexico used to be roid heaven until it got shut down.
Renegade: yeah alot of these noobs are young and wouldn't even remember anything like that at all. Still give us one small little nugget of a story.
IV: Okay.. well I remeber my 2nd time going down there to get my own stuff. I was rolling down there with a buddy of mine who i had met in the gym and had been going to laredo to get his gear. But this time he wanted to go to nogales because he had a buddy there who he said could get the things across the border and we wouldn't have to do it. So we drive from where we were living all the way down to Arizona. I remember thinking how long that ride was. God that drive sucked ass. For the noobs this day and age who have the internet and all the sources at the click of a mouese ...they have no idea how easy they have it compared to when I was young. Anyway we get to nogales and I remember going across the border for the first time and seeing this gigantic sign with a gum and a red cross going through it and it said that if you bring guns into mexico they will throw you in jail for 10 years. I remember thinking that it was mexico and mexico was supposed to be drugs and cartels and the wild west type of shit. Why the hell would they care about guns. So anyway we get to the border crossing into mexico and if you have never been to mexico, the mexicans have a border crossing station that the pull random people over and search thier car. With the amount of people crossing everyday no way did I think we would get stopped. So we pull into a lane and wait out turn to cross and BAM...a red light and no sooner than that light turned red a little mexican border guard...I swaer not more than 3 feet tall pops out of his midget chair and runs to our car and tells us to pull over...ell tried to tell us. he did more pointing than speaking. So i asked my buddy what the hell was going on and he told me that they pull people over to search thier cars. Since we were in his car I asked him if he had anything and he said no. So the mexican motion us to get out of the car and one of the guards who speaks broken english asked us if we had any guns in the car. I said no...and my buddy didnt say a word. So they open the trunk and start to look through our bags. All of a sudden one agent pops his head up and yells to the other guards and like 5 of them come running. All of a sudden two guards grab me and grab him and throw us up to the passenger doors of the car. The little midget guards walk up to us and he has what looks like a glock in his hand. He holds it up by the barrel and waves it at us and starts yelling in spanish.
Renegade: Holy shit so your buddy had a gun in the car and didn't tell you...?
IV: Well it sure looked like that at that moment. I looked over at him and said " WTF dude. i thought you said you didn't have a gun?" And he looked at me and told me it was a pellet gun not a real one
.
Renegade: Wait...are you telling me..that the mexican cops mistakes a pellet gun for a real one?
IV: Oh yeah and it gets better. The little midget guard comes up to me and starts to scream in my face like its my gun. He's waving that shit around by the grip and I have no idea if its loaded with pellets but at point blank range that woill still sting like amother fucker if his ass pulls the trigger so he is waving it around and here I am trying to move out of the way of the barrell because Im thinking if this fool doesn something stupid I could get hit. In the mean time Im telling my friend to tell them its a pellet gun not a real one. He kpet looking at me and saying " Do I look like I speak spanish? The only spanish i know is yo quiero taco bell!" And when he said that the other guards came up to him and slapped him across the face. I guess they were taking this seriously and they thought he asked them to go get him taco bell.
Renegade: Holy Shit..(laughing). Holy shit could you imagine. Some mexican coming across the US border witha gun and getting caught and the border agent yelling at him and the only thing he says to the agent is " I want some taco bell?" ( laughing). God that would be funny.
IV: Well thats what it sounded like except my buddy was talking me. Its funny now when you look back on it but trust me at that time nobody was laughing. So anyway we stading there with these mexican yelling in our faces and the little midget guard waving the pellet gun until one of the other guards noticed the barrell of the gun was different than a regular hand gun barrell and said something to the midget guard. The little midget stopped and looked at the barrell and realized it wasnt a real gun. When he looked at it closer and realized it was a pellet gun he had ths dumbfounded look on his face. So he points the gun in the air and starts pulling the trigger shooting off rounds and making thay yelling sound mexican make when they get excited.
Renegade: Are you shitting me? Like that yell from the movies?
IV: Yep..same one. Brother..I couldn't make this stuff up if i tried. At the time Im just standing there looking at him yelling and shooting the gun in the air thinking to myself " what the fuck is going on?" I turned to my buddy and asked him what the hell was going on and he just looked at me a shook his head that he didnt know. So finally the little midget guard calms down and walks up to my buddy and hands him back the gun and points to the car and then points for us to leave. He mumbled something in spanish while his was pointing but I didnt speak spanish so i have no idea what he said. Finally my buddy told me to hurry up and get in the car. The guards huddled up for a minute before we left and two came to the car and motioned for us to roll down the window. So i rolled down my window and the guard kept saying "Cien, cien" which is $100 in spanish. At the time Im like what? What the fuck are you saying?" So the guard knowing we dont speak spanish pulls out a hundred dollar bill and say "We want?" I asked why but I was cut off by my buddy who handed them $100. After that we were free to go.
Renegade: so let me get this right. You roll up into mexico, get pulled over at the border station, almost get thrown in jail for 10 years because the little mexico border agent thinks you have a glock in your trunk which is really a pellet gun. He takes the gun and shoots it in the air like its out of a movie and then gives you the gun back after he realizes its a pellet gun and probably becuase shakedowns are so common in mexico he tells you to give him $100?
IV: Yep
Renegade: Jesus.
IV: I know. Thats not even a good one. Thats just a little tiny one compared to what other shit we did as the years went by.
Renegade: I'd love to hear them sometime.
IV: Brother..I have stories about shit we did that was straight out of a movie. You couldn't do the things now that we did then. You;d end up dead, in jail, or....well dead. Mexico is overrun by the cartels now. You just cant do the same stuff anymore.
Renegade: Oh I know. I have heard some pretty crazy stories about trips to mexico and crossing back over. No way you coudl do that these days. The crossing part yes. Im talking about all the side shit.
IV: Yeah man I wouldn't even attempt it now. Not in today's mexico.
Renegade: Okay so you start going to mexico and coming back with gear..to sell to your buddies to get your's for free? Right?
IV: Right.
Renegade: So how did you end up evolving from that to where you are now?
IV: Economics, the internet, operation gear grinder, and shady ass little mexicans trying to rip me off. Not necessarily in that order.
Renegade: Explain that alittle.
IV: Well...even though mexico was cheap, it was never as cheap as the UG products were. See around that time UG's were not around yet or they were just starting. I was doing this way before raw powders were even available like they are now. So mex gear was cheaper and I always found it to be pretty good. Then the internet blew up and I was able to find a few message boards, Meso-rx in particular which at this tme circa 2001 was just a free for all in the classifieds section, I was able to find cheaper gear.
Renegade: So you just quit going to mexico in favor of buying your stuff online?
IV: No not totally. See back then, even though the internet and the forums were still pretty new people relied on the magazines and what they said to be the truth. So crappy UG labeled gear you see today that everybody just takes for granted and thinks nothing of would never have passed back then. People woild have cried scammer lomg before that source was eastablished. back then it was either a licensed pharm company or mexi gear. Nothing else. So i had to keep going to mexico to get my own things and things for my buddies. Then operation gear grinder happened in fall of 2005 and that just fucked everything to hell. The government thought they were doing soemthing good but all they did was killing the mex market and making the US UGL market that much more popular. When gear grinder happened my mexico days were done. So I looked into alternatives and found some decent UG gear. After using that for a bit i was able to secure a raw provider and well the rest is history.
Renegade: So when gear grinder killed the mex market you were still getting gear for you andyour buddies, or had you graduated to full one sales?
IV: At that moment I was kind of in the middle. Still getting it for my buddies but tying to make a good ,little amount of money to save on the sides. However when the raw market blew up and i did a little more research i realized I could make just as good if not better product that people are using. So I looked around found a good raw supplier and well the rest is history.
Renegade: Well if you have been around since 2005 as your own company, tell me. Whith the market so competitve, how do you garner so much business? I see hundreds of sources and yes there is alot of money to go around but there simply are only a few sources who really get the majority of the money online.
IV: true. the market is competitve. it always has been. back in the day on meso-rx the classifieds were an all out war. source vs source. and then it migrated to steroid super baord but we all know what happened with that. ( for those of you who dont know about opertion raw deal, go look it up). In order to be competitive there are a certain number of factors that all have to come together. having the right procduct and the right price, good customer service, a good fast t/a time. all thesr thinhgs when you bring them all together will make a good source. BUT...I will tell you this.
Renegade....this should be good!
IV: You need to have a great looking product. if you have a shit looking product I dont care who it is. Nobody will do business with you becuase they will in thier minds associate the quality with the label. Presentation is %90 of the job. People associate quality with that is looks like. Even if the gear is shit, but it has a pretty labels, people will buy it. Conversly if you have a great product but shit labels you will sell less. In my years, I have seen more people coming to buy from other sources online asking if the labsl looks nice than at any other time. Bottom line if your a UGL and you want to be popular? Obvioulsy have a product that works but you need one that looks great. People are now more brazen about steroids like its nothing. They act like its shopping at GNC and its a competitive marketplace. Everybody and thier momma has access to raws and can whip up thier own line if they have the right amount of money and access to a label maker. With the return on yu money so high everybody is looking to make money so the market has become oversaturated with sellers. In order to be competitve you have to have something that stands out. Your label and product and customer service is the only thing.
Renegade: I've seen the pics our the Iso-vet line. They look like they belong on the shelf in a real store. Incredibly professional.
IV: Thanks. Iso-vet as a whole takes great pride in thier product. The IV line is something that you can resell over and over again. Basically the design was to be simplistic but professional, Something that would pretty much based on looks sell itself and then cement itself in popularity once people used it.
Renegade: I havent heard many complaints that I can recall. Your threads here at AnaSCI and on AB and even PM were littered with nothing but good compliments.
IV: We are appreciative of all our clients who enjoy not only the products but the service we provide. Too many sources are gruff and act like they dont gve a shit. We as a company never want to give that vibe. Without our customers what do we have? A whole lot of gear and not much else. We try to appreciate each and every customer for choosing to do business with us and as a result we try to make each experience better than that last. Are we sucessful with that 100% of the time? No. Because you cant please everybody. I think in the last year we have had 1 issue and it wasnt even to do anything with the gear. it was with the mail and thats something we cannot control.
Renegade; Speaking of good product, since Iso Vet is so popular how to you make sure that your always getting or making the intended product. I have heard alot of shady shit coming out of mexico regarding thier HGH and it only makes me wonder since SRCS went down and we really have no legit ways to test purity for the different powders out there, how do you, or what stoes do you take to ensure that the IV line is always top quality?
IV: Good question and you raise a good point. Ever since SRCS was raided a few years back we really dont have a place that can test for the purity of the powders that any UGL gets these days. You can do the traditional melting point tests and you can look for certain smells that belong only to certain powders and like with tren turing orange or dark brown when made, are pretty good indicators that you have legit things. But really there isn't much we can do and Im being honest when I say this. If the supplier sends us fake or the wrong things we wouldnt know it unless it was something like the tren where you have a certain color. Without SRCS we are kind of at the mercy of what we can and cant do. Thats a shame too because the biggest problem the government has with the UGL's is the lack of oversight and proper care yet the one main thing we had to make sure we were getting what we said we were has been taken from us.
Renegade: have you been the victim of a raw guy sending you fake stuff?
IV: Not so much on the cheap things like test, deca, etc because those are cheap enough to not really do much but its those more expensive compounds like anavar, tren, mast, dbol etc that pose the biggest concern for any lab. The more expensive ones tend to lead to fakes more often than none. I have yet to have any supplier do that but to tell you the truth its only a matter of time before it does. Its just like getting scammed. It happens to everybody eventually.
Renegade: How are your products prices so low? You see most other sources selling for twice what you do?
IV: Well I have always thought about the bigger picture. Would you rather sell 1 bottle for $100.00 or 10 bottles for $100. I would rather do the second option and get more product out there for people to use and like. To grow the name and the brand. To make it popular. Do I make less profit per item overall...yes and no. But I;ll take a little less to have a superior and popular product. Also you have to realize the game has changed in recent years. There are more cutthroat sources out there than ever before. Hell I have seen guy selling a bottle of var for $15.00. You have to stay competitive because lets be honest, everybody is looking for the best deal possible and there are the reseller guys who want th ebest deal possible so they can make the most money too.
Renegade: Whoa..wait did you say var for $15.00? No way..it would cost more in raw prices to make that. What are they 1mg tabs?
IV: No they were 10mg I think. Which is like $7.00 - $10 in raw product alone. Plus the powder to press the tab and then the bottle and label, he isnt making much. Guys these days are taking these huge risks for such little profit. Its reallt shocking actually.
Renegade: $15? There is no way. He has to be faking that shit. Which lab was this?
IV: I thought the same thing when I saw the price and the milligram of each tab. I wont say thier name because honestly its not my operation or my resonsibility and I dont like to give free plugs to a competitor but needless to say he is on PM and OLM I beleive. What funny is they have up and down reviews but still..they do have good reviews.
Renegade: He must be a huge operation then to get that kind of a discount from a chinese raw supplier to be able to offer 10mg var for $15.00. To get that kind of price to be able to offer it for that and still make a profit he must be ordering 5 kilo's worth.
IV: Im not sure but I doubt its that much. I only know a few guys who can move volume like that. This guy pretty much popped out of nowhere overnight.
Renegade: Damn...sounds fishy to me.
IV: real fishy!
Renegade: So tell me man you have been around a long time. How are you and other guys who have been around for years able to do it?
IV: Well I have had my fair share of ups and downs believe me. It hasn't always been smooth sailing but I guess the reason why I have been so successful is becuase Im honest. And Im upfront about that. I always try to be upfront with guys and let them know what is always going on with what we are doing or in case of orders where there orders are, what products we have in, what we dont have in etc.
Renegade: I keep seeing people rave about your service. You must really be doing something right that other guys dont do.
IV: Well the main thing is I try to treat everybody with respect. And I dont put a priority over the little guy because his money is just as good as the guy ordering 5k worth. Just because you order $400 doesnt mean you shouldnt get the same service as the bigger guys and thats where i think alot of sources fall short. They place the big emphasis on the bigger guys and forget about the smaller ones. To me its all the same. You get the same service from em no matter if you order $300 or $3,000.
Renegade: thats awesome man. You don't see alot of sources with that kind of attitude these days. Its pretty refreshing actually. Most sources act like they are a god and doing you a favor by even speaking to you.
IV: Exactly and they come across as being assholes which turns people off. Would you want to deal with an asshole who frankly could give two shits if you get your order or not? I know I wouldn't. It's funny, more and more recently I have been getting emails from guys telling me how nice it is I actually take the time to talk to them and hell some even say thanks just just replying to them. Im kind of shocked and i think to myself all the time what kind of treatment are they getting from these other sources.
Renegade: Shit service I can tell you that. I have had my fair share of dealings over the years and 95% of the time these sources are shit. Hell just in this interview i can tell your a genuine guy.
IV: I appreciate that brother and lets be honest here. Back in the day when things were no so wide open a source could act like that and get away with it because there wasnt that much competition, but now since the game is so wide open and there are so many other sources competing for the same piece of the pie, you have to distance yourself to make your service stand out. To me the best way to do that is to have th best customer service popular. I try to reply to emails twice or three times a day. Generally its two but I reply to everybody. I try to answer thier questions as truthfully as possible and generallyi just try to help them as best as I can and in return I usually get pretty loyal guys.
Renegade: good product, good service, great attitude..you must be swimming in business?
IV: I have a good customer base. My customers are very good and a pleasure to work with. The majority of them are return guys which is good but I have the one and done guys and for them I hope they have a good experience with me and the IV line. More than anything else I hope they come away satisfied.
Renegade: I think after reading this more sources will start doing a better job with thier customer service. You might have given away your edge now.
IV: tell you what, if this makes other sources shape up and start doing a better job then I guess it was worth it right? The IV line speaks for itself. I think it will always be a popular line.
Renegade: So let me ask you this. Since you have been around the block a few times you know every source only has a certain amount of time. Do you think your time is coming?
IV: I think about that all the time, and to be honest IP GEAR just retired recently and while his retirement may have more to do with other factors than just knowing it was time to retire, he still went out on his terms without trouble to himself personally...at least i think. Thats the way we all want. We don't ever want to go out the other way but if you stay in for too long or get sloppy that will happen. For me my time will come and while it wont be tomorrow it will come and I can tell you I will never be one of the greedy ones that just stays in because they cant get out. I have a set number and when I reach it I will sell the IV line and let somebody else continue with it.
Renegade: Shit make your money and then make more with selling the brand? Genius!
IV: Well thats why I work hard at making sure the brand is right! I want it t be a lasting name.
Renegade: Since yiu have been around for as long as you have, you have probably seen countless guys go down. It has to scare the shit out of you. What do you do to stay safe?
IV: Well first I will tell you Im as paranoid as you can get. So because of that when I see a guy go down I try to get as much info about how he went down so I can take that and learn from it, apply that to myself to make sure I stay as safe and anonymous as possible.
Renegade: Its almost impossible in todays world to stay completely anonymous.
IV: True but there are steps to elimiate things that make it easy for LE to get you. For example you wouldnt believe how many guys I see ghet busted for dumb shit like, using a telephone, a buddy ratted them out, speeding with gear in thier car and no license plate etc. Just dumb stuff that you shake yor head at when you read it. For me, I dont talk on the phone. Email only. I dont sell local. Thats just a huge no no. To me thats even more risky than online becuase you show your face to people. I dont tell people what I do and I have no friends that know what I do. So basically i keep to myself. I dont give out any addies excpet to a select few that I have known for YEARS and I know are on top of thier game. And even then the addy isnt connected to me or anybody else persoanlly for that matter. I dont do paypal or credit cards for payment like some sources. I dont keep anything in my residence, I never drive with anything in my car. I dont use my home computer. I use a proxy IP addy. And I use encyrpted email that doesnt show the IP addy that I use even the proxy one. I try to take every precaution possible. I cant get into great detail but just general common sense stuff help to go along way. Some of the stuff I read just blows my mind. The stupid easy stuff to avoid getting caught guys are doing left and right. Hell I even read once a guy used face book to sell stuff. FACEBOOK!
Renegade: I remember reading about that one a while back. Those gusy deserved to get it for doing stupid shit like that.
IV: You'd be surprised how many guys I read get busted with stuff in thier homes. I mean how dumb can you be to keep anything in your residence. If they never catch you with anything on you and they have no rats to point a finger at you, it really reduces the chance they have to get you.
Renegade: I agree but there is still the small little thing about the gear actually getting here. Seems gusy get busted for that alot too. Going to go pick it up.
IV: Thats the one wild card thats uncontrollable. Its a double edged sword. if you dont involve others you have to have things that are connected to you, if you dont then you have to involve people. The bigger the circle of people the more chance for soemthing to go wrong. The smaller the circle the better BUT the more risk is on you personally. hard choice to make. Thats part of the risk. You can downsize the risk but you cant elimiate it totally. Nobody can.
Renegade: Thanks to IV for allowing me the chance to interview him. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We get way more indepth and IV really shows us some insight into his world in part 2. Stay tuned next month. I can promise you its soemthing you will not want to miss! Until next month, stay safe !!!
Interview by: theRenegade
Renegade: IV, thanks for taking the time to talk to me bro. I know your busy. I read your threads on Anasci and your one of the busiest guys I have seen in a long while. With good reason too. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this interview. I know the meat monkey's will love to read this.
IV: Hey brother, no problem. Im glad to do it. I read your interviews every month and I love them so when you asked me to do this I didn't even give it a second thought.
Renegade: Like all the other sources I interview, i know you can't reveal everything you do but I know the readers will like to get a glimpse into your daily workings and how things are run at IV.
IV: hey brother, like I said..Im pretty much an open book. What you see or hear with me is what you get. I dont BS or pull punches. I'm a pretty stright shooter. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have provided they arenot private or the answer would not incriminate me or get me into any kind of trouble.
Renegade: Hell no bro. I wouldn't expect you to do that. I'm not gonna put you out on front street. We need more good spurces like you brother. I read yoru feedback threads and gys absolutely love you and your shit. There are only a few good sources left. We as a community need to do everything in our power to protect the good ones.
IV: Thanks brother.
Renegade: The question I like to start off every source I interview is "How did you get started?" People generally like to know the reasons why.
IV: Well, I have been at this a while and like most sources I started as just a regular lifter paying high prices for gear. I've always been a guy that has tried to lower my own costs so like alot of sources who start out, I just wanted to get free gear for myself. So I came across a guy in my gym who introduced me to mexican steroids. Up until that time I was using nothing but human grade, getting it from guys in my gym who would pretty much ass rape me on prices. i was young and dumb and didnt know any better. Hell the first time I ever saw a vial of gear... I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 1999. I met a guy at my gym who wasn't a bodybuilder but just a really big dude. About 5'10" and somewhere north of 250. I remember him curling 225 for a set of 4 and just being in awe. So me being me, I eventually struck uo a conversation with him and as the days and weeks went by we actually became good friends. Then one day out of the blue he asked me where I got my supply, and up until that point our conversations had never progressed to that level but just basic steroid talk. Being dumb and not even thinking about LE I told him I didnt even use, and he laughed. Right in my face. Told him that I always wanted to try it but never had the chance. So he took me to the locker room and out of his bag he pulled out a bottle of schein test cypionate. I remeber taking it in my hand and i swear to god it was like a scene from Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. I thought I had found the monkey head from the begining of the movie. Just the sight of the vial and allthe potential it had inside made me giddy.....until i heard the fukcing price he wanted and then that snapped me back to reality. $250 for a vial.
Renegade: 250...? As in two hundred and fifty bucks....for one vial? Shit I know gym prices are high but god damn!!!
IV: I know...and I paid it too.
Renegade: You really were young a dumb.
IV: naieve and naieve can be. I didnt know shit from shine-ola about the price of gear. All I knew is that if i poked myself in the ass, ate like a horse and lifted everyday i would get big. Thats all I was thinking about.
Renegade: So what..you bought just the one bottle? Nothing else? No deca, no eq, no pct?
IV: I was 19. I didn't have two lousy nickels to run together much less have any money to buy anything else.
Renegade: So what did you do take 1mL a week for 10 weeks?
IV: yep. and I gained 15 pounds too. Went from a sloppy 185 to 200. I was hooked from then on. And then i eventually met a guy who would get shit from Mexico and I started getting my cycles from him he had more access to more things and he was alot cheaper but not by much. Charging $100 for a lousy bottle of Brovel test and $150 for the Norandren Deca. Still alot of money by todays standards but still half of what I was paying originally.
Renegade: So Let me guess....you wanting to bring your costs down thought of the idea to sell to your buddies to get yours for free?
IV: Funny how great minds think alike.
Renegade: I think this is like the standard M.O. for sources to get involved into the dealing side. Start using and then sell to buddies and then graduate to a larger scale to make actual income.
IV: Well think about it brother. Who in the hell wakes up one morning and just decides to sell gear for a living?
Renegade: I'm sure there are some someplace witht that background story. I hope to run into one someday. That would make for hell of a story.
IV: or comedy...or tragedy. if you just wake up one morning as a teenager and decide to start slinging as a career goal you have some searious problems.
Renegade: isn't this your full time job now? lets be real here...with the kind of biz yoour doing it would almost have to be. All these people knocking on your door when would you have time to do anything else?
IV: Actually I have a day job. Its okay. It pays the bills but its not like Im swimming in money from it. If I had to rely on it and only it I would get by but not much else. In my field you dont get paid much.. you do it more because you love it not because you get rich from it.
Renegade: What exactly do you do for a "real" job?
IV: I would tell you but since this is the internet and you never know who is reading this i would prefer to keep that to myself to keep more anonymous than most.
Renegade: I understand, but still? what.. do you work at the local car wash?
IV: ha...no I dont scrub dirt from grandma's buick. Although I'd probably make more money doing that at my day job.
Renegade; Okay so you got a new source that gets stuff from mexico..and you decide to charge your buddies to get your's for free. How long did that last before you graduated to the next level?
IV: It wasnt long. By that time I had found the internet and I knew a few guys and we would get things online and directly from mexico.
Renegade: So you made trips to mexico?
IV: Every once an a while... and let me tell you. I have some wild stories from Mexico. But that would possibly incrminate me.
Renegade: C'mon dude you cant even share a little bit about mexico?
IV: I'm about 99% positive 3/4th's of the people reading this don't even know mexico used to be roid heaven until it got shut down.
Renegade: yeah alot of these noobs are young and wouldn't even remember anything like that at all. Still give us one small little nugget of a story.
IV: Okay.. well I remeber my 2nd time going down there to get my own stuff. I was rolling down there with a buddy of mine who i had met in the gym and had been going to laredo to get his gear. But this time he wanted to go to nogales because he had a buddy there who he said could get the things across the border and we wouldn't have to do it. So we drive from where we were living all the way down to Arizona. I remember thinking how long that ride was. God that drive sucked ass. For the noobs this day and age who have the internet and all the sources at the click of a mouese ...they have no idea how easy they have it compared to when I was young. Anyway we get to nogales and I remember going across the border for the first time and seeing this gigantic sign with a gum and a red cross going through it and it said that if you bring guns into mexico they will throw you in jail for 10 years. I remember thinking that it was mexico and mexico was supposed to be drugs and cartels and the wild west type of shit. Why the hell would they care about guns. So anyway we get to the border crossing into mexico and if you have never been to mexico, the mexicans have a border crossing station that the pull random people over and search thier car. With the amount of people crossing everyday no way did I think we would get stopped. So we pull into a lane and wait out turn to cross and BAM...a red light and no sooner than that light turned red a little mexican border guard...I swaer not more than 3 feet tall pops out of his midget chair and runs to our car and tells us to pull over...ell tried to tell us. he did more pointing than speaking. So i asked my buddy what the hell was going on and he told me that they pull people over to search thier cars. Since we were in his car I asked him if he had anything and he said no. So the mexican motion us to get out of the car and one of the guards who speaks broken english asked us if we had any guns in the car. I said no...and my buddy didnt say a word. So they open the trunk and start to look through our bags. All of a sudden one agent pops his head up and yells to the other guards and like 5 of them come running. All of a sudden two guards grab me and grab him and throw us up to the passenger doors of the car. The little midget guards walk up to us and he has what looks like a glock in his hand. He holds it up by the barrel and waves it at us and starts yelling in spanish.
Renegade: Holy shit so your buddy had a gun in the car and didn't tell you...?
IV: Well it sure looked like that at that moment. I looked over at him and said " WTF dude. i thought you said you didn't have a gun?" And he looked at me and told me it was a pellet gun not a real one
.
Renegade: Wait...are you telling me..that the mexican cops mistakes a pellet gun for a real one?
IV: Oh yeah and it gets better. The little midget guard comes up to me and starts to scream in my face like its my gun. He's waving that shit around by the grip and I have no idea if its loaded with pellets but at point blank range that woill still sting like amother fucker if his ass pulls the trigger so he is waving it around and here I am trying to move out of the way of the barrell because Im thinking if this fool doesn something stupid I could get hit. In the mean time Im telling my friend to tell them its a pellet gun not a real one. He kpet looking at me and saying " Do I look like I speak spanish? The only spanish i know is yo quiero taco bell!" And when he said that the other guards came up to him and slapped him across the face. I guess they were taking this seriously and they thought he asked them to go get him taco bell.
Renegade: Holy Shit..(laughing). Holy shit could you imagine. Some mexican coming across the US border witha gun and getting caught and the border agent yelling at him and the only thing he says to the agent is " I want some taco bell?" ( laughing). God that would be funny.
IV: Well thats what it sounded like except my buddy was talking me. Its funny now when you look back on it but trust me at that time nobody was laughing. So anyway we stading there with these mexican yelling in our faces and the little midget guard waving the pellet gun until one of the other guards noticed the barrell of the gun was different than a regular hand gun barrell and said something to the midget guard. The little midget stopped and looked at the barrell and realized it wasnt a real gun. When he looked at it closer and realized it was a pellet gun he had ths dumbfounded look on his face. So he points the gun in the air and starts pulling the trigger shooting off rounds and making thay yelling sound mexican make when they get excited.
Renegade: Are you shitting me? Like that yell from the movies?
IV: Yep..same one. Brother..I couldn't make this stuff up if i tried. At the time Im just standing there looking at him yelling and shooting the gun in the air thinking to myself " what the fuck is going on?" I turned to my buddy and asked him what the hell was going on and he just looked at me a shook his head that he didnt know. So finally the little midget guard calms down and walks up to my buddy and hands him back the gun and points to the car and then points for us to leave. He mumbled something in spanish while his was pointing but I didnt speak spanish so i have no idea what he said. Finally my buddy told me to hurry up and get in the car. The guards huddled up for a minute before we left and two came to the car and motioned for us to roll down the window. So i rolled down my window and the guard kept saying "Cien, cien" which is $100 in spanish. At the time Im like what? What the fuck are you saying?" So the guard knowing we dont speak spanish pulls out a hundred dollar bill and say "We want?" I asked why but I was cut off by my buddy who handed them $100. After that we were free to go.
Renegade: so let me get this right. You roll up into mexico, get pulled over at the border station, almost get thrown in jail for 10 years because the little mexico border agent thinks you have a glock in your trunk which is really a pellet gun. He takes the gun and shoots it in the air like its out of a movie and then gives you the gun back after he realizes its a pellet gun and probably becuase shakedowns are so common in mexico he tells you to give him $100?
IV: Yep
Renegade: Jesus.
IV: I know. Thats not even a good one. Thats just a little tiny one compared to what other shit we did as the years went by.
Renegade: I'd love to hear them sometime.
IV: Brother..I have stories about shit we did that was straight out of a movie. You couldn't do the things now that we did then. You;d end up dead, in jail, or....well dead. Mexico is overrun by the cartels now. You just cant do the same stuff anymore.
Renegade: Oh I know. I have heard some pretty crazy stories about trips to mexico and crossing back over. No way you coudl do that these days. The crossing part yes. Im talking about all the side shit.
IV: Yeah man I wouldn't even attempt it now. Not in today's mexico.
Renegade: Okay so you start going to mexico and coming back with gear..to sell to your buddies to get your's for free? Right?
IV: Right.
Renegade: So how did you end up evolving from that to where you are now?
IV: Economics, the internet, operation gear grinder, and shady ass little mexicans trying to rip me off. Not necessarily in that order.
Renegade: Explain that alittle.
IV: Well...even though mexico was cheap, it was never as cheap as the UG products were. See around that time UG's were not around yet or they were just starting. I was doing this way before raw powders were even available like they are now. So mex gear was cheaper and I always found it to be pretty good. Then the internet blew up and I was able to find a few message boards, Meso-rx in particular which at this tme circa 2001 was just a free for all in the classifieds section, I was able to find cheaper gear.
Renegade: So you just quit going to mexico in favor of buying your stuff online?
IV: No not totally. See back then, even though the internet and the forums were still pretty new people relied on the magazines and what they said to be the truth. So crappy UG labeled gear you see today that everybody just takes for granted and thinks nothing of would never have passed back then. People woild have cried scammer lomg before that source was eastablished. back then it was either a licensed pharm company or mexi gear. Nothing else. So i had to keep going to mexico to get my own things and things for my buddies. Then operation gear grinder happened in fall of 2005 and that just fucked everything to hell. The government thought they were doing soemthing good but all they did was killing the mex market and making the US UGL market that much more popular. When gear grinder happened my mexico days were done. So I looked into alternatives and found some decent UG gear. After using that for a bit i was able to secure a raw provider and well the rest is history.
Renegade: So when gear grinder killed the mex market you were still getting gear for you andyour buddies, or had you graduated to full one sales?
IV: At that moment I was kind of in the middle. Still getting it for my buddies but tying to make a good ,little amount of money to save on the sides. However when the raw market blew up and i did a little more research i realized I could make just as good if not better product that people are using. So I looked around found a good raw supplier and well the rest is history.
Renegade: Well if you have been around since 2005 as your own company, tell me. Whith the market so competitve, how do you garner so much business? I see hundreds of sources and yes there is alot of money to go around but there simply are only a few sources who really get the majority of the money online.
IV: true. the market is competitve. it always has been. back in the day on meso-rx the classifieds were an all out war. source vs source. and then it migrated to steroid super baord but we all know what happened with that. ( for those of you who dont know about opertion raw deal, go look it up). In order to be competitive there are a certain number of factors that all have to come together. having the right procduct and the right price, good customer service, a good fast t/a time. all thesr thinhgs when you bring them all together will make a good source. BUT...I will tell you this.
Renegade....this should be good!
IV: You need to have a great looking product. if you have a shit looking product I dont care who it is. Nobody will do business with you becuase they will in thier minds associate the quality with the label. Presentation is %90 of the job. People associate quality with that is looks like. Even if the gear is shit, but it has a pretty labels, people will buy it. Conversly if you have a great product but shit labels you will sell less. In my years, I have seen more people coming to buy from other sources online asking if the labsl looks nice than at any other time. Bottom line if your a UGL and you want to be popular? Obvioulsy have a product that works but you need one that looks great. People are now more brazen about steroids like its nothing. They act like its shopping at GNC and its a competitive marketplace. Everybody and thier momma has access to raws and can whip up thier own line if they have the right amount of money and access to a label maker. With the return on yu money so high everybody is looking to make money so the market has become oversaturated with sellers. In order to be competitve you have to have something that stands out. Your label and product and customer service is the only thing.
Renegade: I've seen the pics our the Iso-vet line. They look like they belong on the shelf in a real store. Incredibly professional.
IV: Thanks. Iso-vet as a whole takes great pride in thier product. The IV line is something that you can resell over and over again. Basically the design was to be simplistic but professional, Something that would pretty much based on looks sell itself and then cement itself in popularity once people used it.
Renegade: I havent heard many complaints that I can recall. Your threads here at AnaSCI and on AB and even PM were littered with nothing but good compliments.
IV: We are appreciative of all our clients who enjoy not only the products but the service we provide. Too many sources are gruff and act like they dont gve a shit. We as a company never want to give that vibe. Without our customers what do we have? A whole lot of gear and not much else. We try to appreciate each and every customer for choosing to do business with us and as a result we try to make each experience better than that last. Are we sucessful with that 100% of the time? No. Because you cant please everybody. I think in the last year we have had 1 issue and it wasnt even to do anything with the gear. it was with the mail and thats something we cannot control.
Renegade; Speaking of good product, since Iso Vet is so popular how to you make sure that your always getting or making the intended product. I have heard alot of shady shit coming out of mexico regarding thier HGH and it only makes me wonder since SRCS went down and we really have no legit ways to test purity for the different powders out there, how do you, or what stoes do you take to ensure that the IV line is always top quality?
IV: Good question and you raise a good point. Ever since SRCS was raided a few years back we really dont have a place that can test for the purity of the powders that any UGL gets these days. You can do the traditional melting point tests and you can look for certain smells that belong only to certain powders and like with tren turing orange or dark brown when made, are pretty good indicators that you have legit things. But really there isn't much we can do and Im being honest when I say this. If the supplier sends us fake or the wrong things we wouldnt know it unless it was something like the tren where you have a certain color. Without SRCS we are kind of at the mercy of what we can and cant do. Thats a shame too because the biggest problem the government has with the UGL's is the lack of oversight and proper care yet the one main thing we had to make sure we were getting what we said we were has been taken from us.
Renegade: have you been the victim of a raw guy sending you fake stuff?
IV: Not so much on the cheap things like test, deca, etc because those are cheap enough to not really do much but its those more expensive compounds like anavar, tren, mast, dbol etc that pose the biggest concern for any lab. The more expensive ones tend to lead to fakes more often than none. I have yet to have any supplier do that but to tell you the truth its only a matter of time before it does. Its just like getting scammed. It happens to everybody eventually.
Renegade: How are your products prices so low? You see most other sources selling for twice what you do?
IV: Well I have always thought about the bigger picture. Would you rather sell 1 bottle for $100.00 or 10 bottles for $100. I would rather do the second option and get more product out there for people to use and like. To grow the name and the brand. To make it popular. Do I make less profit per item overall...yes and no. But I;ll take a little less to have a superior and popular product. Also you have to realize the game has changed in recent years. There are more cutthroat sources out there than ever before. Hell I have seen guy selling a bottle of var for $15.00. You have to stay competitive because lets be honest, everybody is looking for the best deal possible and there are the reseller guys who want th ebest deal possible so they can make the most money too.
Renegade: Whoa..wait did you say var for $15.00? No way..it would cost more in raw prices to make that. What are they 1mg tabs?
IV: No they were 10mg I think. Which is like $7.00 - $10 in raw product alone. Plus the powder to press the tab and then the bottle and label, he isnt making much. Guys these days are taking these huge risks for such little profit. Its reallt shocking actually.
Renegade: $15? There is no way. He has to be faking that shit. Which lab was this?
IV: I thought the same thing when I saw the price and the milligram of each tab. I wont say thier name because honestly its not my operation or my resonsibility and I dont like to give free plugs to a competitor but needless to say he is on PM and OLM I beleive. What funny is they have up and down reviews but still..they do have good reviews.
Renegade: He must be a huge operation then to get that kind of a discount from a chinese raw supplier to be able to offer 10mg var for $15.00. To get that kind of price to be able to offer it for that and still make a profit he must be ordering 5 kilo's worth.
IV: Im not sure but I doubt its that much. I only know a few guys who can move volume like that. This guy pretty much popped out of nowhere overnight.
Renegade: Damn...sounds fishy to me.
IV: real fishy!
Renegade: So tell me man you have been around a long time. How are you and other guys who have been around for years able to do it?
IV: Well I have had my fair share of ups and downs believe me. It hasn't always been smooth sailing but I guess the reason why I have been so successful is becuase Im honest. And Im upfront about that. I always try to be upfront with guys and let them know what is always going on with what we are doing or in case of orders where there orders are, what products we have in, what we dont have in etc.
Renegade: I keep seeing people rave about your service. You must really be doing something right that other guys dont do.
IV: Well the main thing is I try to treat everybody with respect. And I dont put a priority over the little guy because his money is just as good as the guy ordering 5k worth. Just because you order $400 doesnt mean you shouldnt get the same service as the bigger guys and thats where i think alot of sources fall short. They place the big emphasis on the bigger guys and forget about the smaller ones. To me its all the same. You get the same service from em no matter if you order $300 or $3,000.
Renegade: thats awesome man. You don't see alot of sources with that kind of attitude these days. Its pretty refreshing actually. Most sources act like they are a god and doing you a favor by even speaking to you.
IV: Exactly and they come across as being assholes which turns people off. Would you want to deal with an asshole who frankly could give two shits if you get your order or not? I know I wouldn't. It's funny, more and more recently I have been getting emails from guys telling me how nice it is I actually take the time to talk to them and hell some even say thanks just just replying to them. Im kind of shocked and i think to myself all the time what kind of treatment are they getting from these other sources.
Renegade: Shit service I can tell you that. I have had my fair share of dealings over the years and 95% of the time these sources are shit. Hell just in this interview i can tell your a genuine guy.
IV: I appreciate that brother and lets be honest here. Back in the day when things were no so wide open a source could act like that and get away with it because there wasnt that much competition, but now since the game is so wide open and there are so many other sources competing for the same piece of the pie, you have to distance yourself to make your service stand out. To me the best way to do that is to have th best customer service popular. I try to reply to emails twice or three times a day. Generally its two but I reply to everybody. I try to answer thier questions as truthfully as possible and generallyi just try to help them as best as I can and in return I usually get pretty loyal guys.
Renegade: good product, good service, great attitude..you must be swimming in business?
IV: I have a good customer base. My customers are very good and a pleasure to work with. The majority of them are return guys which is good but I have the one and done guys and for them I hope they have a good experience with me and the IV line. More than anything else I hope they come away satisfied.
Renegade: I think after reading this more sources will start doing a better job with thier customer service. You might have given away your edge now.
IV: tell you what, if this makes other sources shape up and start doing a better job then I guess it was worth it right? The IV line speaks for itself. I think it will always be a popular line.
Renegade: So let me ask you this. Since you have been around the block a few times you know every source only has a certain amount of time. Do you think your time is coming?
IV: I think about that all the time, and to be honest IP GEAR just retired recently and while his retirement may have more to do with other factors than just knowing it was time to retire, he still went out on his terms without trouble to himself personally...at least i think. Thats the way we all want. We don't ever want to go out the other way but if you stay in for too long or get sloppy that will happen. For me my time will come and while it wont be tomorrow it will come and I can tell you I will never be one of the greedy ones that just stays in because they cant get out. I have a set number and when I reach it I will sell the IV line and let somebody else continue with it.
Renegade: Shit make your money and then make more with selling the brand? Genius!
IV: Well thats why I work hard at making sure the brand is right! I want it t be a lasting name.
Renegade: Since yiu have been around for as long as you have, you have probably seen countless guys go down. It has to scare the shit out of you. What do you do to stay safe?
IV: Well first I will tell you Im as paranoid as you can get. So because of that when I see a guy go down I try to get as much info about how he went down so I can take that and learn from it, apply that to myself to make sure I stay as safe and anonymous as possible.
Renegade: Its almost impossible in todays world to stay completely anonymous.
IV: True but there are steps to elimiate things that make it easy for LE to get you. For example you wouldnt believe how many guys I see ghet busted for dumb shit like, using a telephone, a buddy ratted them out, speeding with gear in thier car and no license plate etc. Just dumb stuff that you shake yor head at when you read it. For me, I dont talk on the phone. Email only. I dont sell local. Thats just a huge no no. To me thats even more risky than online becuase you show your face to people. I dont tell people what I do and I have no friends that know what I do. So basically i keep to myself. I dont give out any addies excpet to a select few that I have known for YEARS and I know are on top of thier game. And even then the addy isnt connected to me or anybody else persoanlly for that matter. I dont do paypal or credit cards for payment like some sources. I dont keep anything in my residence, I never drive with anything in my car. I dont use my home computer. I use a proxy IP addy. And I use encyrpted email that doesnt show the IP addy that I use even the proxy one. I try to take every precaution possible. I cant get into great detail but just general common sense stuff help to go along way. Some of the stuff I read just blows my mind. The stupid easy stuff to avoid getting caught guys are doing left and right. Hell I even read once a guy used face book to sell stuff. FACEBOOK!
Renegade: I remember reading about that one a while back. Those gusy deserved to get it for doing stupid shit like that.
IV: You'd be surprised how many guys I read get busted with stuff in thier homes. I mean how dumb can you be to keep anything in your residence. If they never catch you with anything on you and they have no rats to point a finger at you, it really reduces the chance they have to get you.
Renegade: I agree but there is still the small little thing about the gear actually getting here. Seems gusy get busted for that alot too. Going to go pick it up.
IV: Thats the one wild card thats uncontrollable. Its a double edged sword. if you dont involve others you have to have things that are connected to you, if you dont then you have to involve people. The bigger the circle of people the more chance for soemthing to go wrong. The smaller the circle the better BUT the more risk is on you personally. hard choice to make. Thats part of the risk. You can downsize the risk but you cant elimiate it totally. Nobody can.
Renegade: Thanks to IV for allowing me the chance to interview him. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We get way more indepth and IV really shows us some insight into his world in part 2. Stay tuned next month. I can promise you its soemthing you will not want to miss! Until next month, stay safe !!!