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Episode 5 - D.J. Gugenheim
531 Plays10 days ago
Welcome to Episode 5 of Lee Asher’s World Podcast!
Today’s guest is someone incredibly special to me — my brother, D.J. Gugenheim. D.J. has been by my side through the ups and downs of a wild childhood, and now, he’s a vital part of the Asher House Wellness mission. We’re diving into some meaningful stories, shared memories, and the work we’re doing together today.
I’m so excited to share this conversation with you —You won't want to miss this heartfelt conversation!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey everyone, I hope you're having a beautiful day. Welcome to episode five of the Lee Asher's World podcast. Today i have a special guest as an understatement.
00:00:18
Speaker
Of course, he has the most beautiful place in my heart, my brother, DJ Guggenheim. DJ Guggenheim is my brother, an award-winning producer, my best friend,
00:00:34
Speaker
a mentor and someone who I just don't know what I would do without. So please give me the warmest of welcomes to DJ Guggenheim. Woo.
Brotherly Bonding and Childhood Memories
00:00:46
Speaker
Woo. Wow. Amazing. This is wonderful. Hey man. Hey man. Hey brother. i love you too, man. You're a mentor to me too.
00:00:58
Speaker
And you're also one of my best friends. So that's really cool that we have that going for us. Yeah. We're very lucky to have that, especially because ah we it we we weren't always that way.
00:01:10
Speaker
we weren't you know born We weren't born with that, if you will. We're not like the... ah We're not like the brothers that people see in movies. We're not the brothers who were super close when we were younger, but we we also weren't the brothers who hated each other.
00:01:25
Speaker
We were just different. We had a different situation. Yeah. We we were in different paths of life. I mean, ah not only that, but we were also in different paths of life, you know?
00:01:38
Speaker
So just so that everyone understands, Lee is much more, uh, ah mature than I am in many ways. bigger He's bigger, he's got a presence, he's very successful.
00:01:51
Speaker
I'm not successful, but I've always looked to Lee as and being incredibly successful. But for many years, i was the bigger brother. Yeah. Yeah, man. I was ah seven years old when Lee was born.
00:02:05
Speaker
And, the you know, we were Lee was born in New York. And then we moved off to Israel. And Lee was a little baby in Israel. And I was running around Quesaria. And then we moved to Florida. And Lee was still a little baby when we moved to Florida. And kind of doing all these things in Boca Raton. And, you know, by the time I was 16, I left home. But Lee was eight.
00:02:29
Speaker
And so, yeah. Do you remember being seven? Yes, I do. I don't remember being
Family History and Home Environment
00:02:37
Speaker
seven at all. well what what but What was it like for you?
00:02:41
Speaker
ah like how how did you meet my dad? like Do you remember the first time you met Itzik? remember the By the way, everyone, Itzik is the name of my father, Itzik.
00:02:54
Speaker
It's Chak, if you say it appropriately, but Itzik is the American way. isaac Isaac is the American way. They called me Itzik initial. yeah i I don't remember the first time I met him.
00:03:08
Speaker
ah don't, ah which is odd because I'm usually pretty good with first memories, but I was young. I think I was like six ah when I first met Itzik.
00:03:19
Speaker
Itzik ran a small private beach in the old city of Caesarea. Scooby-Dobbing shop, I thought, wasn't it? He had a scuba diving shop. He kind of ran the entrance to this beach and he also had a gallery. He had a really interesting life yeah out there.
00:03:35
Speaker
And our mom met him on a holiday. ah she was still married to my dad when they met. And my dad was working in Europe.
00:03:47
Speaker
And I guess my mom decided to our mom made some changes. ah But it's a. Weren't they? um from what From what our mom told me, which let me just be clear here, I have no doubt that she would give me a version of the story that best made her look like you know someone who didn't do anything wrong, right which which which which very well could be.
00:04:10
Speaker
ah Not likely though. um I know we both love her very much, but she definitely was one who did exactly what she wanted. But from what mom told me was she had caught your dad had had an affair.
00:04:28
Speaker
um And she basically was like, I'm out of here and wanted a separation. And she went to this beach in Casaria where my dad was working.
00:04:43
Speaker
and she was already a point like they had or she had already been separated from your dad. It just wasn't on paper that they were divorced. And then she had an affair with my dad. Is that, is that what happened?
00:04:54
Speaker
Cause from, I know that she wasn't like happily married with your dad. And then she met my dad and was like, oh my gosh. Yeah, no, it wasn't like that. and It wasn't that exactly.
00:05:05
Speaker
Um, so Mom and my dad used to vacation a lot and travel a lot to Israel. And ah my dad had a lot of work in Europe. And so for summertime, ah they rented a house in Caesarea.
00:05:21
Speaker
And that would kind of be home base for the family, if you will. And then my dad would go off to trips to Europe and then come back. So they were definitely still together. They were not separated. um But the other part of that is true, which is ah my dad ah did not treat the marriage with integrity. And I think that mom was trying to figure out what to do with her life and probably had decided that she didn't want to be married to my dad for the rest of her life.
00:05:50
Speaker
And while she was left alone in Caesarea and unhappy in her marriage and taking care of me, yeah, she went to this beach and met Itzik. And yeah,
00:06:02
Speaker
they fell in love and started a love affair and, you know, she decided to to make some big changes. Yeah. Yeah, she did. And then, ah yeah, from what I understand, i was in plain quite the accident. they they were my My mom and Itzik, our mom and Itzik were not married.
00:06:26
Speaker
they were They were having fun. They were in their Yeah. And post-war, know? yeah and um postwar you know
00:06:42
Speaker
yeah but ah yeah they were Vietnam had recently ended. It had ended and Robin Williams was doing stand up. Yeah. Good times. No, but really. and um but What? Mom was in New York.
00:06:58
Speaker
my Mom had moved to New York. Dad was in Israel. They they were not together. and they thought it was just a fling and mom called them and said, I'm pregnant and I'm keeping it.
00:07:09
Speaker
that Is that how you remember it? I don't remember it exactly, but um from what I understood, well, they definitely weren't married yet. I don't know if that was the plan or not.
00:07:20
Speaker
I think that they were very much in love in the beginning. you know it was not in the end, a very happy, well-suited marriage. Because wasn't i my dad wasn't Itzik married at the time as well? Itzik wasn't married. No, he was already divorced. um Ronit and Daphna were a bit older.
00:07:35
Speaker
ah Lee's older two half sisters, my stepsisters. But no, Itzikha's already divorced and he was in Quesaria. And yeah, they decided to try and make it work.
00:07:46
Speaker
um Our mom flew out to live in Israel. They spent some time living in a house together in Israel. And after about two years of living together in Israel, they decided um that wasn't working, at least for mom.
00:08:00
Speaker
And they moved to South Florida, which is where many Israelis go. Yeah. Little Israel. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:09
Speaker
So what what was that like? what What was it like just going through that as ah as a six, seven-year-old, eight-year-old? Well, it was really confusing. um was really stable. I remember mom mom said that you were hiding under the table at their wedding.
00:08:25
Speaker
you remember that? I don't remember that, but I definitely remember, you know, feeling uncomfortable at the wedding, just being like, what's going on here? ah you know, I just,
00:08:36
Speaker
i i I didn't understand what was happening, right? Like my life had changed so much so quickly. It's like I was born in Manhattan and you know i had a certain life and family that's not like you understand it much as a six-year-old, but like that's what you know. And then all of a sudden my parents were getting divorced and we're moving to Israel shortly thereafter.
00:09:00
Speaker
and then they're getting married and then I have a baby brother. And it was just like, I didn't understand. And I don't think that mom was the kind of parent who knew how to kind of sit you down and make sure that you could understand. i think, I mean, she was really young, right? She was younger then than we are now.
00:09:21
Speaker
And and so And I just, I think probably as adults now you see parents trying to kind of educate their kids a bit more about what's happening. Like this is what's happening for you right now. bit more man on sorry on that.
00:09:35
Speaker
yeah um and And this wasn't that. So yeah, know for me, i remember it being really confusing, really big changes really quickly. ah Different countries, different family setups, different family dynamics all of a sudden out of nowhere. Yeah, it was a, it was a a big moment of change.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah. And then I came into the picture. Yeah. And then you came into the picture and honestly, like, that's another place where I didn't know how to, not like any young kid knows how to be a sibling, but I do think that in ah in a family, oftentimes the parents are like making sure the kids understand what's proper for dynamics.
00:10:21
Speaker
yeah Right. Whereas I think in our situation, what was happening was even from you being very little, it's sick, your dad, my stepdad, was had a very triggered childhood because he grew up in a youth village and in this youth village that he grew up in he was really picked on and his older brother didn't brother didn't take care of him well he had a lot scarring can you explain to people what a youth village is not a lot of people know Yeah, so you know at the start of the creation of Israel, um a lot of families got broken up for many reasons, the war, leaving where they were. Itzik was a young child in Egypt actually,
00:11:02
Speaker
And his dad died ah from ah a fire. ah I think he was motorcycle motorcycle went on fire and he died in this fire. And so ah your grandmother decided to move to Israel, which had just been formed.
00:11:17
Speaker
And at the time of the formation of the state, ah most Jews who were living in Arab countries were, you know, basically pushed out. And also it was an opportunity to start a new life.
00:11:29
Speaker
So when you had all these new families coming to Israel, they set up these places, not exactly like a kibbutz where everyone is working together, but communal in a sense that ah kids can be taken care of together. So essentially you had just giant ongoing summer camp for young boys who had kind of missing parents or families that couldn't take care of them.
00:11:53
Speaker
And Itzik and his older brother found themselves in one of these youth villages and-
Leaving Home and Personal Challenges
00:11:59
Speaker
<unk> board Like a boarding school, but from the paid by the government. Exactly.
00:12:04
Speaker
And also i think like when you think of a boarding school, you think of like, you know, ties and, you know, very uniforms. Yeah. It wasn't like that. You're inside of buildings. And whereas these villages were like, you're in the fields. It's very open. You're in nature. like You're playing with snakes. You know, it's like got a long relationship using snakes in his art, especially his early days. And I think that came out of his time in the youth village.
00:12:28
Speaker
Um, But in it what I was getting at there is I think, and it's clear because we had these conversations, he he was a bit scarred in how he was treated as a younger sibling in that situation.
00:12:39
Speaker
And so when it came to the dynamics between us, um he had a hard time, I think, as an adult thinking back, he had a hard time explaining to me what I was not doing right to take care of you as an older brother, but rather when we had our moments, which every, you know, siblings would do, he would just like essentially scare me into like,
00:13:03
Speaker
being in the situation. i I felt a lot of fear as a kid. um And so, yeah, it's probably no surprise, but I you know i left home pretty early. I left home at 16, I think in part because I didn't feel safe.
00:13:18
Speaker
Not that I ever got hit. no one No one hurt me physically. I just didn't feel safe. Yeah. he He hit me only once. Yeah, that's good. Once. It literally knocked me out.
00:13:31
Speaker
That's not good. No, no, no. I mean, it was, I don't think he intended to, ah it wasn't a, ah he he didn't intend to hit me that hard, but yeah, he, I know he had it really rough when he was a kid and if he was the way he was with me, I could only imagine how hard he was on you.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah. And I don't think he meant to be hard on me. I think he meant to be protecting you. Not that I was, I think doing anything terrible to you, but you know I was an older brother who didn't understand how to be an older brother.
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there just wasn't a lot of communication. There were no rules. There were no protocol, if you will. But yet we were supposed to know things without ever being – there was no structure, but we were supposed to think that there was. It was – we just knew things were wrong by doing them wrong and then seeing the anger and the reaction from our parents, you know?
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's a very fair assessment.
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. I remember, I remember when you left, you were 16. I was so confused. I remember thinking like, So like, I have to deal with all this now.
00:14:50
Speaker
Sorry, man. yeah I mean, it makes sense why you left. It was just, uh, I remember being very nervous. I remember how angry mom was. she was Yeah. Mom was really angry. That I left.
00:15:04
Speaker
Yeah. Huh. That's not something that I was aware of. Really? Yeah. Yeah. She was angry.
00:15:15
Speaker
You know, i think about it sometimes, times but I was always doing sleepovers. Like I always wanted to be out of the house. I just, I didn't feel that comfortable. I really didn't. Yeah, was a pretty toxic environment. There was just so much fighting, so much shouting, so much manipulating, like manipulating and gaslighting. And it was just such a, I, it just sucked.
00:15:40
Speaker
Like, yes, it did not feel loving. That's for sure. Yeah. It did not feel loving. It did not feel inviting. It did not feel safe. Yeah. um Which is kind of what you need for home.
00:15:52
Speaker
I know. I hate when I am a certain way that reminds me where I learned it. You know what I mean? Like if I get triggered by something or if my ego is offended, i'm like, what do I like? Things that shouldn't.
00:16:09
Speaker
I just know it's just I'm always working on not being like, yeah and they have a lot of great, our parents have so many great qualities about them as well, of course.
00:16:20
Speaker
But the, you know, the things that I don't want to be like are so loud, if that makes sense. You know I'm trying to say? Of course, of course, of course, of course. I mean, that's everyone, right? I mean, and we talk, ah we talk about this often in our own conversation. It's not often, but often enough. And it's like, you are who you are. You're a product of your,
00:16:41
Speaker
nature and your nurture both of which you're going to get from your parents and then as you get older obviously you're trying to figure out who you want to be and it's going to be it's natural that you feel things that are reminiscent of you know your parental structure or your home life and then you know the job if you will ah part of the job right is to figure out okay well I see that and I don't wanna be that.
00:17:08
Speaker
So let's you know make adjustment here. You're so well-spoken, man. Thanks, man. It's so cool. You're just so well-spoken. was i a Was I an annoying younger brother? I remember being kind of annoying. Like you'd be watching the movie, The Crow and I'd try to get in your room and watch it. And what was I what was i like?
00:17:28
Speaker
I don't know if you were an annoying younger brother, but I was annoyed by you a lot. And I, and again, i think
00:17:37
Speaker
I think that that's again, part of like, nobody giving me the tools i was a i I was also a spoiled kid. I was also, you know, I was an only child till I was seven. I grew up in like a pretty kind of spoiled way for sure on the Upper West Side of New York.
00:17:55
Speaker
And i don't think anyone ever sat me down and be like, and again, in a loving way, hey, here's how you bring your brother in. Here's how you make your kid brother who's seven, eight years younger than you, depending on the point of the year, feel comfortable and happy to be around you. And all you wanted to do was be around your older brother. I mean, like that's the most natural thing in the world.
00:18:14
Speaker
And, you know, as ah as an adult who's a parent now, and I think if I if i got another kid, right, if I we meet another kid and my daughter ah all of a sudden had to contend with that, you would see when she would get jealous or get upset that her toys were being touched. You could see it when friends come over.
00:18:32
Speaker
But then you teach her ah you teach him, you teach them, this is how you treat your kid's sibling, you know, yeah with love and affection and and patience because they're learning.
00:18:44
Speaker
You know, and I just don't feel like I got that education. You didn't, man. you you did You didn't, you know, you didn't. And you definitely did the best that you could. And as you got older, that's something for sure. You know, as you got older, I think you picked up on all the things that you wish you
Identity Struggles and Conditional Love
00:19:02
Speaker
did yeah you were younger as a brother and you were there, you know, as an older brother when I needed and an older brother most.
00:19:10
Speaker
you know and It's interesting to hear you say that, and I don't say this to to make you feel bad because there are so many things I wish I did differently as well. But to hear you say that, you know what's interesting is it was very similar ah you know during that when I was younger at school as well, where it had felt like people didn't want me around them. you know So like being that I had all these learning disabilities and I was getting bullied. so It really felt like at home there wasn't people for me and then at school.
00:19:43
Speaker
And that's why I can't help but think now, um like being alone is just always my my go to. It's my favorite drug. It's my safe where I'm just.
00:19:55
Speaker
Like even just saying it because I'm so hardly alone anymore, man. You know, it's just, and it's so funny because it's almost a good thing that I'm not alone because it is my my escape, right? Where like everything, where i I couldn't be hurt or misunderstood.
00:20:11
Speaker
It sucks because when Sarah and I have any sort of argument whatsoever, like it could be the smallest thing. my My immediate defense mechanism, I don't tell her this. I don't use it as a threat.
00:20:25
Speaker
But the first thing that I say to myself that I have to tell myself to shut up is like, you should you should go be alone. You should be alone somewhere. Like you should you should leave and be alone for a little bit.
00:20:37
Speaker
and And sometimes someone should be alone, you know? yeah It's not like the worst of things. But I just remember younger, when I was younger, that that was just the only place where I was like, all right, everything's fine, you know?
00:20:49
Speaker
You know, i think that... you You always had a lot of friends, dude. Like you were always cool. You were the cool one. You were smart. You know, you had great grades. you would Your hair was different. You had all these friends and the hot girls like you were experiencing with drugs and just like you were just you were just so cool.
00:21:08
Speaker
i remember so i was so jealous. Like you you had all those cool friends who would draw on your walls and you were really creative. And I remember like thinking, I'm just not good at shit.
00:21:20
Speaker
Like I have no friends here. Like all I wanted to do all day was play with dogs or go fishing. Remember? i mean right correct Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just remember you always had like girls over or guys over and you were just like the man and smart.
00:21:37
Speaker
every Mom, dad, everyone would talk about how smart you were, which was weird. Like you're the only one who knows that I got kicked out of Harvard. Right?
00:21:52
Speaker
Well, a sidebar, I just have to say, there was ah this amazing time, what time when I was spending a few days with Lee at the house and one of the trips, our mom came with us and it was a very nice trip and when my daughter was there and some good family bonding time.
00:22:09
Speaker
At one point in one of the dinners, my mom, our mom says, And I think she was a little bit drunk at this point. And she was just like, look, she looks around the house and all the dogs and everything going on. And she goes something like, DJ, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.
00:22:30
Speaker
Which is just like the perfect encapsulation of like, of mom. like Yeah, like you're trying to be nice, but like also you're being offensive to both of us at the same time. 100% offensive to both of us and bless her heart. She was drunk. I remember because I was the one ah opening the bottles for her and it was it was just one glass, of course, but um shea she would no filter.
00:23:02
Speaker
Our mom has no No filter when as soon it's like as soon as the wine touches her lips, you could see her eyes get glossy. It's like without fail.
00:23:15
Speaker
And I love it about her. I mean, it's really fascinating. There is no filter. And I do remember that. But it is true. You know you you were in and and in my very strong opinion still are just You've always known so much. You were so smart.
00:23:30
Speaker
And you know i I didn't only want to be around you when we were younger. I wanted to be just like you. I also wanted to be known as the smart one. it was it was And I wasn't jealous, but to to hear that so often.
00:23:44
Speaker
yeah We talked about mom. it's a you know I remember it's like saying it all the time. DJ is the smart one. Right. And yeah, it'd say and so, and they would say, I'm the one with the imagination, which is really a nice way to call someone a dumb ass.
00:23:58
Speaker
I mean, you know, what the truth of the matter is that you're very, very smart and you're really, really you you do have a big imagination. Yeah, it's okay. i don't I don't let it feel bad. I don't think that i'm I'm very smart. I think that what I have is ah like you're smart, smart, where there are so many different topics you could talk about.
00:24:23
Speaker
And I'm gonna say this in ah in a, where not only not trying to be competitive, i don't i don't I'm at a point in my life where whether my my belief about this is that true or not, it's either way, like I believe it and I'm okay with it. what what i I am just creative and relentless. And I think for me, i i ah keep with everything that i do like know even when I fail at it, there's good in it and I keep pushing that good and I hope it turns into something and something and something, if that makes sense. And I think for me,
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, i don't i don't i don't I wouldn't consider myself a very smart person. I've had a couple of good ideas that I think not a lot of people would do because of how crazy they are. And I've given it all of me, especially my health.
00:25:15
Speaker
And it it happened, but it wasn't because of smarts, you know? Well, I mean, I think that to make it in the world, you have to have a certain level of intelligence to understand how to deal with people and how to take care of yourself.
00:25:29
Speaker
And at a certain point, you know, you need a lot of luck, tenacity and you know timing. It's like. every single day I wish to myself that I was smarter and I work with plenty of people where i'm always like, damn, they're so smart, you know, every single day. But, you know, ultimately the success that I have had and hope to have or the success that you have had and you will have, ultimately this, this, this idea it's, it's again, I think unfortunate. It's, it's really, i think an indication of, and look, if, if our, if our mom and it's like, you listen to this, I'm not trying to be hard on them, but like,
00:26:05
Speaker
that we should not have been raised. You should not be raising your kids in a way where you're constantly having to think about your level of intelligence to justify who you are on a daily basis. They're not gonna listen to this, but. Yeah, okay.
00:26:20
Speaker
Maybe, maybe not, but but but that's the point. It's like something was going on there where the feedback, the parenting, the education of the child a those wasn't reinforcing. The love was so conditional, bro.
00:26:33
Speaker
yeah The love was so conditional on being smart, being good looking, you know being successful. It was all it was so conditional.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. There was there was a lot of ah so success modeling, a lot of looks modeling, not you know in terms of like, oh, that person looks good. That's a good thing. That person has money. That's a good thing. you know That was like a constant you know thing all the time whenever you'd be out and about.
00:27:05
Speaker
Oh, look what that person has. That's good. Always comparing. know Always comparing. Yeah. Well, at least you don't have the, at least you're not dealing with this. Like, it's okay. Don't feel bad because at least you don't have that problem. It was never dealing with the problem.
00:27:17
Speaker
It was, you shouldn't deal with that problem because the problem could be worse. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Good times. But you know, here we are. Yeah. I mean, as often as I wish I grew up differently, selfishly, I say, I know we both do, but yeah you know, I, ah there is that whole, and I'm not just trying to be all positive and rah-rah. I just try to end things with thinking about the alternative.
00:27:47
Speaker
ah it You can't go through an upbringing like that. um i don't think I could have had something normal or more loving and wouldn't have had my obsession with animals. And it obviously all happened for me.
00:28:05
Speaker
And as far as for us, you know, never... i know ah People may not know this. If you don't, I'm i'm telling you now, DJ and i work together.
00:28:18
Speaker
DJ works with our for-profit company, Asher House Wellness. And who you know who gets to be able to have this type of relationship with their brother and partnership and business relationship. So it it was...
00:28:39
Speaker
I do wish i I grew up with a better belief system. I really do. I wish I grew up with a better belief system. Um, but I'm grateful to be able to experience the growth and the changes that I am going through with the community and that I'm able to have the relationship that I have now with, with you, man, you know?
00:29:01
Speaker
Absolutely. It's fantastic. What was i like as a kid?
00:29:08
Speaker
What were like as a kid? yeah um Yeah. You loved animals. ah You loved going fishing. You loved touching my crap. I love touching your stuff. Yeah.
00:29:21
Speaker
yeah Always touching my stuff. I mean, were really a sweet kid. You were a really sweet, young, pretty shy, you know, you've talked about before, but you had...
00:29:34
Speaker
ah you know, one of your eyes was a bit lazy and, you know, your mom was, you know, you had a patch to try and help with the lazy eye. You were a bit awkward. You were really a sweet kind of awkward kid and kind of shy. You know, I remember the very first time that you came back, it was a, what year was it?
00:29:56
Speaker
You were probably still in college or just so about to graduate college and you were like rehearsing to give the Tony Robbins sales pitch. And that was like the first time you would like ever held the attention of like our extended family, you know, while you performed essentially a sales pitch.
00:30:15
Speaker
And I was just like, whoa, it was a whole new you. Like you found something. And I think, and look, honestly, we did not interact all that much in your college years.
00:30:28
Speaker
um At that point, I think you were very kind of in your college bubble. And I was very much in my, you know, Hollywood work bubble. We would talk here and there, but we were not the closest in those years.
00:30:39
Speaker
And then i see you and you were just a completely changed person. Like you, you had this gregariousness that I, um, didn't know, um and a confidence that I hadn't seen before. You really found that, I guess, over your time in college.
00:30:55
Speaker
And, I mean, I remember like you wanting to put yourself in situations that I thought you weren't ready for. You know, for example, there was one point ah we went on a cruise ah for my graduation from UCLA. So I was like 21 and you were like well, how old are you, like 15 or something? And you're like getting yourself, you know, these like club and bar spaces and you wanted everyone to think of you as 18. And I'm like, bro, like you're young, like you're still a kid, like you shouldn't be here.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I think you took it like I was like salting your game. And I was just kind of like, you're still really young, you know, like, um but, you know, so that was a shift in your young teen years mid teen years. But by the time you got out of college,
00:31:43
Speaker
you just had a confidence that like blew me away. um So even by the time you were like, you know, 21 and I was 28 or something, like you were the one getting me into clubs. Like you were the one who knew everyone, you know, at that point, I'm like, i don't know how to do this. Like, how do you get into this club? And then we'd have a great time. was awesome.
00:32:03
Speaker
you really found the ability, like you broke out of your shell in college. Yeah, I did. You know, you've never, you've never had, I mean, I guess when you're upset or, you know, that there's dramatic things happening, you might, you say you might want to be alone, but ever since you've broken out of your shell, you're an incredibly gregarious, wonderful people person.
00:32:21
Speaker
um And I would have no idea that I had no expectation that that's, your personality based on just how you were around people as a kid.
00:32:33
Speaker
Because definitely as a kid, you were shy, you were by yourself a lot. And you know, you know what was going on in your head at that time. Maybe you felt uncomfortable, maybe you felt unwanted.
00:32:44
Speaker
um But from an experiential point of view outside looking in, and it just seemed like you kind of were shy and didn't really know how to be around people, wanted to be alone a little bit. Yeah, I think college really helped me ah recreate my identity.
00:33:01
Speaker
um ah hit a growth spurt, so I got bigger and stronger. i was working out a lot. You know, in school, when like middle school, high school, you know, I was getting bullied quite a bit.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah. So I think being able to, and which I wish more people did this, I just didn't know that I was doing it, was just leaving the environment.
00:33:24
Speaker
Like all the things that reminded me ah that I was not strong, that reminded me I was weak or that I couldn't defend myself or that I was stupid, just the environment. And I think moving to i went to school at Arizona State, going to Arizona.
00:33:42
Speaker
And it was just this opportunity where i where no one knew I had a learning disability. ah what you know you know Because in high school and middle school, there's these special classes in college. No one could tell the difference.
00:33:55
Speaker
So it was just a good place for me to recreate my identity. And I really remember going to college with with that intention. It didn't just happen. i mean, it did just happen, but I went there with the intention.
00:34:09
Speaker
yeah um And that's when I started getting really into the motivational books and the motivational seminars and all the psychology ah books, Robert Greene and Tony Robbins and all these different people where ah I could...
00:34:27
Speaker
just at least learn how to think differently. I didn't even know it was an option, man. you know It wasn't literally until college that i really I even knew what a habit was, that I even knew what a belief system was.
00:34:42
Speaker
And I think that's what helped me do that is i'm I'm in school, I'm away from the environment. That's a and B I have the quote unquote formula of how to change your thought process and how to change your mind or how to be successful, if you will, you know, and that, and that helped me.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, it's interesting that you you put it that way. I think Most people don't grow up with an education system that you understand that you do have the ability to ah impact your emotions, your state. I mean, I remember the first time you took me to a Tony Robbins event.
00:35:22
Speaker
um I was just blown away. i mean, like it was so fun. I was blown away. And like, you know, with with hindsight, like is everything that he's saying like amazing? No, but there's a lot that's really good there. And one of the things that I was just like, God, I wish Every young adult should understand that you have the power to change your state, that you have the power to affect who you want to be, that like it's about your own story. Yeah, man. It really is your own story. and you know it's so
00:35:53
Speaker
you know One of the things that these hate pages always talk about, all these you know pages that are trying to just You know, the worthless.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yes. um They say that i worked for I used to work for Tony Robbins, a ah snake oil salesman, and and try to make it like it was a bad thing. And I always think, you know, people, when I see these motivational people with their motivational podcasts, like whether it be Jay Shetty, Tony Robbins, any of them, and people talk about how they don't like the person, right? They're like, oh, I hate Tony Robbins or Jay, I really don't know. There's a lot of them now.
00:36:36
Speaker
And I always think about who cares how you feel about that person. the message The message on a young adult is crucial. Like why why not?
00:36:48
Speaker
yeah Who cares what they sell or what your feelings are? To me, those motivational speakers, Jim Rohn, they and Tony and all of them, I don't know what would have happened to my life if I didn't have a mentor, A, or B, these these people, their their CDs and their tapes even.
00:37:12
Speaker
I mean, there was no one else telling me stuff like that. I had no idea that, I had no idea what it meant of someone saying, you're your own story, you write your own story. Like those words of our beliefs, our stories, none of that language was ever communicated when before before I was 18 years old, before I went to college. I'd never heard anyone talk like that.
00:37:35
Speaker
I never heard about positive thinking. I never heard about any of it. Like yeah even even the book, The Secret, where now it's you know one of the ah I would say it's an amateur step. I say that respectfully, but I would say it's an amateur step in the inspirational book world and all that stuff.
00:37:53
Speaker
um It is a good first step, but I remember that was when I was in in college. Even that was like, oh my gosh, you know, it was all. And to me, as you said, I was a sweet kid.
00:38:05
Speaker
I was. i had so much love that i that I wanted to give and so much love that I needed. So hearing love, like hearing this language of love and no judgment and acceptance, you know,
00:38:22
Speaker
It was just really beautiful. It was really beautiful to leave the environment and develop a new thought process and new habits.
Career Transition to Animal Rescue
00:38:30
Speaker
um it was so I don't know what would have happened if I would have stayed in Florida, but nothing good.
00:38:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's a it's not a it's not a great place for ah psychological development. That's for sure. i think it depends who your parents are. I mean i have friends that stayed in Florida who are doing amazing. you know Fair enough, but there really is a lot a lot of insistence on um wealth and how you position yourself. and it Yeah, priorities are different.
00:39:02
Speaker
But that's everywhere now, dude. Everywhere is about wealth now. you you you turn like you You turn on social media, it's everyone flexing their cars and...
00:39:14
Speaker
their jewelry and their man. I mean, everywhere it is that it's all around you. It's what you focus on. It's really not just Florida. Yeah, that's fair. Of course. Of course. I mean, I want to say also like the yeah and we could talk about the the hate pages at some point if you want, but just like the fact that some of these, you know, really idiotic people who spend their energy, you know, without any fucking clue of what they're talking about, trying to like hurt the work that you do. it's just blows the mind.
00:39:47
Speaker
But then like that they want to make it as a bad thing that you work with Tony Robbins because he sells snake. Well, I mean what the fuck are you talking about? Like, There are so many people whose lives have been enriched from these programs and to teach someone that they have the ability to positively impact the way they're thinking.
00:40:08
Speaker
And that you wanna say is snake oil and that someone who spends energy trying to teach people that they can dig themselves themselves out of a depression is snake oil. Like it's just stupidity.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah, which almost like, ah it's such a It's such a scary thing because all of Tony Robbins, like he puts everything out there. all the Not just him.
00:40:32
Speaker
Man, Tony, if you're watching this, I really hope we're good now.
00:40:40
Speaker
Because if you're still mad at me for leaving, I definitely just got you at least a book or a ticket sale.
00:40:50
Speaker
yeah i would Yeah, for those of you who don't know, i i when i and I decided to leave ah Tony to to find my own way, i was really... I'll tell you guys another story. I got my brother on now. But basically, we left on not not necessarily bad terms, but it wasn't um it wasn't, you're going to be really successful and I wish you the best of luck. yeah it It was...
00:41:16
Speaker
ah you know not it it There was nothing there, which which what I got to say, you know what is so funny, DJ? i got to tell you something hilarious. So when I left Tony and I would be like, man, i you know I can't believe he didn't say anything to me. I can't believe he didn't say goodbye.
00:41:32
Speaker
My ego was like, after all I did for him and did it whatever, right? Dude, now it's like if I have an employee who doesn't matter if they leave,
00:41:43
Speaker
you know, out of nowhere, right? Like they just, they wanna go start their own thing. You think I'm gonna take 20 minutes? Like i get it, dude. He's one of the busiest people. Now I'm as busy.
00:41:55
Speaker
i With all due respect to him, I would say I'm probably even busier than him. i don't have any time whatsoever. A 10 minute phone call, I remember when I wasn't where I'm at now and a 10 minute phone call felt like nothing.
00:42:08
Speaker
Like people who email the Asher house ah Can I just get ten minutes of least time? It's like, no, there's no way that is a huge amount of time. If I have ten minutes to do nothing, um I'm going to be giving my dogs affection.
00:42:24
Speaker
I'm going to be giving it to Sarah. You know, maybe you'll give me a call. I'll call you. Like, I barely talked to my brother. You know, it's ah it's just I have such limited time. So it's so funny that it just shows you when you don't know how busy someone is, your expectation is they should just call you or they he he should have called me. And now years later, I'm like, oh, my gosh, of course, he wasn't going to hop on the phone with me to be like, hey, dude, ah thanks for working for me for two years.
00:42:53
Speaker
Good luck. You know, it's like, get out of here. I worked for him. I wasn't his son. i was an employee. You know? But you were looking for a father figure. You wanted- you you wanted him to be I wanted him to take me under his wing. I really did, man. I wanted him to love me, you know, because I loved him.
00:43:10
Speaker
He was like, I loved him. And i wanted i wanted a dad. i wanted, because, you know, at first it was Steve Irwin, but when he died, I was like, I got to find another father.
00:43:25
Speaker
Oh my God. I just have to say like sidebar for a second after you left your finance job to go on the road. I remember when you were telling me about it, I was just like, are you sure you want to do this?
00:43:39
Speaker
And like, what are you going to do if this doesn't work? Well, you were like well look you need to tell the beginning because ah if I was a listener,
00:43:53
Speaker
and I wasn't there, i wouldn't quite know what you're talking about. So tell tell me yeah tell them exactly what happened. Well, after Lee worked with Tony, he then went to work in finance and that job was really not where Lee felt good. And he kind of went- be i was beyond miserable.
00:44:11
Speaker
and you And the reason I worked in this finance job is because when I was working for Tony, um I was telling people in corporate training how to be successful, right?
00:44:25
Speaker
But I felt like a phony because I wasn't successful. I was basically just regurgitating Tony's words. They weren't my words. They were Tony's words.
00:44:35
Speaker
So I felt like a fraud and I wanted to learn about business. I wanted to learn how to actually give someone advice so that I didn't feel like a fraud when I was speaking. And i made a very difficult decision, which was leaving Tony, who was like a father to me.
00:44:51
Speaker
And I worked for my mentor because he because he said he had an opportunity for me in a finance company. And it was really the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I've never felt so small and just so like I had no value.
00:45:11
Speaker
I had no I was so not I didn't know what I was doing. it it was really hard for me. Please continue. Yeah. And so Lee, while he was working in this job, that was right when he did have the ability in the time to rescue more dogs. And all of a sudden I come over to his house and he's got like four dogs. Now he's got five dogs.
00:45:34
Speaker
And and um and um' I was living in California at the time about 15 minutes away from DJ. Yeah. So that was like one of the parts in our life together where like we finally started spending a lot of quality time together as adults, not kids. I mean, a few years earlier,
00:45:49
Speaker
you we lived together, which was awesome and and really think it was for like three months, right? Yeah, yeah, but it was a really great three months and super important for both of us are just our lives and our brotherhood and everything.
00:46:02
Speaker
ah But then Lee comes back and he's living there. and What was really interesting about that time also is interestingly enough is like, So this was like 2010-ish and like Instagram is like just starting to become like a thing. And Lee was just like, he was just like getting it, you know? And so it's like, everyone's kind of has this instagram instagram an Instagram account and like people have like 20 friends, 30 friends, like 70 friends back in 2010, you're like, look at this community i got. And all of a sudden you're like, my brother's got like 5,000 people following on Instagram, this is crazy. He's got 10,000 people on Instagram, this is crazy. What's happening over there?
00:46:37
Speaker
Well, this is more like 2015. No, no, this was earlier than that, wasn't it? No, not 2010. I mean, in 2010, I didn't really have a following. that my My following kind of started picking up in 2015. Oh, sorry, sorry. Yeah, of course, you're right. i got You know what, guys? like It's a lot of time at this point. Yeah, yeah. you Yes, you're 100% right, of course. I've got a few things. Because it we live together.
00:47:00
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. The timeline doesn't really matter, but just just in case. Yeah. So we lived together at the end of 2012, beginning of 2013. Yeah. Exactly. and and And the dog stuff and the Instagram stuff, yes, that was like 2015, you just said?
00:47:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. when it started When it started like around 5,000, when it sounded started slowly picking up yeah was 2015. 2016 was... Yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
yeah So, you know, you, youd I would see this and I was like, wow, this is really cool. I mean, like I, I don't even think being like a social media influencer was a thing at that time yet. Like, I just think it was still pretty young.
00:47:35
Speaker
um But then one day Lee comes to me and he's like, okay, I'm going to quit my job and I'm going to raise money on Kickstarter and buy an RV. And Luke and i are going to go travel across the country and like raise awareness and get dogs adopted in every state.
00:47:51
Speaker
And I was like, Are you crazy? Yeah, dude. i and And then they got upset because I wasn't supportive, but I just- remember i remember in your i was in your apartment. I remember that. Yeah, yeah we got into it. I felt bad because I just wanted you to be safe and I felt that you had stability and I guess I've always really wanted stability um and I like stability and you were just at a place in life where that's not what you needed, but I didn't really understand what you were talking about. But like you know to your credit, for real,
00:48:21
Speaker
ah for real you had a vision for something that did not exist. The idea of, I'm going to raise money on Kickstarter to get an RV, to go raise awareness for pet adoptions.
00:48:35
Speaker
And somehow I'm going to turn that into like a living somehow. You're just like, What even is that? I know. Yeah. Sorry. I got, sorry. I got upset about you thinking it was crazy because you're right. Like I should have, I was just so insecure.
00:48:50
Speaker
i was so insecure at that time. So you thinking something wasn't a good idea. My insecurity took that as you like not being on my team or not being, I, I was looking for yes people, but I was also really young and dumb. And like, I should, when I, when i Looking back at it, like what I would do now I would tell people,
00:49:13
Speaker
with the me knowing they're going to think it's crazy and they're going to love it when it happens. Right. Like yeah at the time i had to convince everyone that it was a good idea. Why?
00:49:24
Speaker
Why did I have to convince everyone was a good idea? Like I could have just said, like, I know it sounds crazy, but once it happens, you're going to love it. Instead, it's like, okay, that person thinks that person wants me to fail. And that person wants me to fail.
00:49:34
Speaker
You know, you think everyone's out to get you. It was, it was, I was just young and immature and stupid. I mean, I definitely didn't want you to fail. I want to know that you want. That's why you were. and yeah That's why you were protecting. Yeah, you were concerned. dis concerned i was like, this is like, what's going happen? You know, because but any event, you did it.
00:49:52
Speaker
Yeah, man, and did. can't believe it. Can you believe how big the community is now and how much love there is? It's just so powerful. It's so cool. It's so special.
00:50:03
Speaker
It just- I see all the patrons always loving on your posts and it's just like, once you're under the umbrella of love, yeah they they they put it on everybody in the circle. Yeah.
00:50:15
Speaker
It's a really special community. and And it's a community that's really built around doing good, you know like good. good um It's just so crazy that there's stupid people out there who are just convinced themselves that there's something nefarious happening. It's just like,
00:50:33
Speaker
yeah don't give it energy. You know, what i what's funny about that, ah it's like if we wanted to start a community to make money, we would would find something better than a nonprofit.
00:50:44
Speaker
i would find something, you know. um Speaking of making money, let's talk about the for-profit, if you don't mind. Yes, yeah don't mind, yeah. um Asher House Wellness. I remember...
00:50:57
Speaker
growing up, mom would always say, I hope one day dj will put you in a movie. You remember that mom always wanted you to make me an actor, even though I've never had acting classes or anything. yeah But she wanted you to put me in a movie.
00:51:16
Speaker
She wanted me to be successful. And I feel like she never thought I could figure out how to get there on my own. She wanted someone to make it happen for me.
00:51:27
Speaker
And you were in the movie business for quite some time, ah the majority of your life. how did How did you get into the film business? Well, at first I wanted to be an actor.
00:51:40
Speaker
I moved out to LA at 16, as we talked about, to pursue acting. I got into UCLA ah School of Theater, Film and Television um to be an actor.
00:51:52
Speaker
And i I learned pretty quickly that that learned, I understood just based on looking around me that I wasn't gonna have a career as an actor, but I really wanted to tell stories, entertain people.
00:52:06
Speaker
And I thought that maybe as a producer, I could bring that kind of tenacity that we both grew up with, this entrepreneurial spirit that obviously we both grew up with ah to help get stories told.
00:52:18
Speaker
um And so as a theater major, I also started taking business classes And I talked to ah our mentor and he got me an interview with a director when I graduated college.
00:52:37
Speaker
ah And the director is a lovely guy named Joel Zwick who had done many TV shows over the years, including, you know, Mork and Mindy, Bosom Buddies, Laverne and Shirley, Step by Step, Full House, ah the list goes on. and And he had just done one of his first successful films, which was a movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
00:52:56
Speaker
I flew out to l LA, met with him at the Denny's on Sunset and Gower, and he liked me and he said, i'm going to hire you ah to be my assistant on my next job. And, um,
00:53:08
Speaker
I'm giving you the abridged version here, but you know, how old were you at that time? we text Sonia saying I'm going to be late for the meeting.
00:53:19
Speaker
Uh huh. And yeah, I got my job. i got this job as a director's assistant. I did that for two years. And then I worked at CAA, which is the biggest talent agency in the business. I worked for a very powerful talent agent there. It was a very hard desk, very, very demanding job. can ah Are you allowed to talk about that?
00:53:39
Speaker
Sure. um I'm curious about something, not to get too off topic, but yeah I wanted to talk to you about this when I had a alone time with you, but what better place than now?
00:53:52
Speaker
um so I recall like when you had, ah ah can you say the name of the person you worked for? i don't think I can, no. Okay. So he was he's he was one of the top agents at CAA?
00:54:06
Speaker
Yes. Okay. What's it like? Because I remember you were, i mean, i I was in college and I remember, you know, I know mom kind of exaggerates a little bit, but even when I would talk to you, you would tell me like he was calling you at 2 a.m. to find his TV remote. Is that true?
00:54:26
Speaker
Well, he didn't call me at 2 a.m. to find a CV remote, but it was a pretty miserable job. I mean, he did- What's it like being a top agent at CAA assistant? First of all, it depends on who you're working for and it depends on where they're at in their life. I mean, I am quite friendly with him now, 20 years later. oh yeah? You guys are are friendly? Yeah, yeah, yeah. um like My shorts are so short.
00:54:52
Speaker
i know it looks like my balls are about to pop out, but I'm chilling. But yeah, I mean, what was like, look, one time he ran his Porsche too fast over some potholes on Sunset Boulevard and asked me to go up to Sunset Boulevard to find the potholes so he could do an insurance claim and not pay for the, you know, ah cracks in his rims.
00:55:13
Speaker
And I was literally walking along Sunset Boulevard, which is this incredibly windy, ah very busy street in LA. And there's no sidewalks and cars are just flying by you.
00:55:24
Speaker
And he knew what Sunset Boulevard is like. And I'm like, for real. So I'm like, I'm getting paid. You know, you get paid as an assistant, very little money. And your whole thing is you want to learn how to work in the entertainment business.
00:55:35
Speaker
And I'm walking around Sunset Boulevard, dodging cars, looking for a pop potholes. yeah you know like He didn't tell you where on Sunset Boulevard. he's like He gave me a region. He gave me like a certain area. It was like near Bel Air.
00:55:46
Speaker
And I'm literally like walking on this like super dangerous road where everyone's on their phone. Yeah, people on their phone, and it's like whizzing by, and I'm like, oh my God. yeah um you know And that's a silly thing, but it's it's a thing. you know like That was crazy. Or at one point, he he wanted to watch the Tour de France with his son, ah because they were traveling, and he he said that they would watch it together.
00:56:09
Speaker
So he's like, go to my house and record the Tour de France. And I'm like like, the highlights are like everything. He's like well, i don't know what i want to watch. Just record everything. He's like, how do you record everything of the Tour de France? They're cycling all day long. I can't do this.
00:56:23
Speaker
um he You know, it was it was a very, you know, we talk about that desire for um having a connection with someone you're working with. ah You talk about wanting your, to feel like your work is meaningful.
00:56:39
Speaker
um You know, that's not a place where you get that. Yeah.
00:56:46
Speaker
And how did you end up with Asher House Wellness? I mean, after many years in the film business and really having had a number of successes, I realized that the film business is just really unstable and and was I was in a position where I wasn't clear where I was going to be making salary. I mean, I'm um ah i a successful producer and that I can make films, but it was a position where I was like I don't know how to take care of my family.
00:57:15
Speaker
And, uh, you know, we were talking a lot in that time and I kept, uh, wanting to see like, what do you think I would be good at? Like if I would change careers or if I would do something else, uh, what do you think I i should do?
00:57:28
Speaker
um And I was also talking to our mentor, Al Malnick, you know, what do you think I should do? Like, I've got all these years, you know, in entrepreneurial business ah management, if you will, and making films. But I don't know, like what can I do?
00:57:42
Speaker
um And then I guess both of you had the thought, but you had the thought, but he had the thought, but I'll take it from both places. And you guys thought we should work together.
00:57:53
Speaker
um and I was like, that's phenomenal.
00:57:58
Speaker
And I had been you know watching you kind of really build out this world of yours in terms of animal rescue, in terms of wellness, in terms of the CBD oils.
00:58:10
Speaker
you know All of it was I was looking at it from a bit of afar being like, this looks pretty great. um and i don't think if i I don't know what would have happened without the kick in the butt where it's like for the first time in a 20 plus year career, i didn't know where to draw a salary from.
00:58:27
Speaker
But that happened. And I was really excited for the opportunity to work with you and to help build a business with you. And it's been a really steep learning curve, but it's been great.
00:58:40
Speaker
what What has been the ah biggest challenge do you think of going from the film industry to now the pet space and Asher House Wellness as a whole? Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges is like, if you think back to what what it was for you to kind of pivot from one job where you're on the road, you know, yeah selling for Tony and all of a sudden you're in an office helping to manage, you know,
00:59:08
Speaker
managers in totally different space, it's like all of a sudden everything that you've learned and everything that you know and how you kind of think about your day just kind of like shifts, right? And that it's hard.
00:59:21
Speaker
especially when you've been doing something for over 20 years to be like, okay, like this is how I think about emails and this is how I think about communication. And this is what we have to figure out. Like, oh, what is important metrics to understand success in this business?
00:59:35
Speaker
Oh, is what's the customer acquisition costs? What's the lifetime value of a customer? What are we doing to make sure that customers are happy with their products? What are we making doing to make sure that, you know customers are getting their products the way they want to get their products? I mean, like these are just different,
00:59:51
Speaker
problems that you don't even know that you're solving for them yet. You know, so it's, it's just like you have to wake up every morning and say, okay, so what is that I don't know? and start asking questions ah to learn what it is that you don't know but to then learn how to navigate and manage that, which you don't know.
01:00:12
Speaker
You're learning a lot though, man. Yeah. Step by step. I mean, i I, I wish I was a faster learner. This is my feeling, but, I do feel like we're learning it's and it's going well.
01:00:23
Speaker
I know what you mean. ah
01:00:28
Speaker
like it's It's weird for me to be able to... like I learned ah Spanish and French both in the same day. like It was just easy. ah just I took a 30-minute course and now I'm fluent. and I think for you, as I look at you and I see how hard things are for you to figure out, it reminds me of when I had my learning disabilities. and I think about the tough times I had and I just hope that I'm more supportive to you than you were. Unbelievable. Hearing you, hearing you say, I wish I learned things faster. I was, I'm like, Oh gosh, it's scary. Yeah.
01:01:09
Speaker
Well, that's, that's the truth. I do wish, you know, and every day, you know, we have me too, man. I wish I learned things faster too. All these things that we're trying to figure out and I'll sit in these meetings and I'm like,
01:01:21
Speaker
Okay, let me make sure that everyone else in this meeting understand exactly what we're talking about here because I'm not sure I know exactly what we're talking about yet. Like I still have to kind of process this. Yeah.
01:01:31
Speaker
Do you think, and tell tell me honestly, bro, really yeah safe place. I promise. I promise. Okay. Okay. but Otherwise it's not like after this, I'm going to have a meeting with you. You know, I really want to you to tell me from your heart.
01:01:47
Speaker
It, Do you think that you're just as passionate? Because I've seen you you know negotiate movie deals and and I mean, you're an Oscar nominated producer, right? DJ produced a movie ah called The Brutalist ah that won, I think three Oscars and was nominated for five.
01:02:12
Speaker
Oscar nominations, three Oscars. you You really have to have so much passion, commitment and dedication to achieve something like that.
01:02:24
Speaker
Especially you made the brutalist during COVID almost an impossible time to make a movie. Yeah, we started building it at that time. Yeah. Do you think you have the same sort of, I can't help but think it's be hard to have the same sort of passion for Asher House Wellness.
01:02:42
Speaker
For me, if i could if I could tell you why I do. Yeah, I look at saving dogs and helping people as and so beautifully vague. So much goes under that umbrella.
01:02:56
Speaker
And for me, i i want to be able to help dogs right in every single way that I can, every single way that I can. And I want to, more importantly, is help the dogs that I don't rescue.
01:03:12
Speaker
And that's where Ash House Wellness comes in for me. Right. I know this sounds like a sales pitch, but I'm just giving my brother this example. I'm just giving my brother this example. So he knows why I'm questioning him on this, if you will.
01:03:23
Speaker
So, right. So I just want to be clear. It's not a sales pitch. i'm um um Maybe it is if it influences you to buy something. But it's not my intention. And same for people, right? Vitamins and and protein, all the good stuff. So for you, you've i there was a i don't know if you remember, but there was a time, and I believe I was in college, where you were pretty...
01:03:46
Speaker
ah passionate about health. I remember that you still are, but it was all these different vitamins, ALA and all these things. yeah But now for you to be in this space, like did you just need a job?
01:03:59
Speaker
did you Was there something specific about Asher House Wellness? what What is it about it and where do you see us going with it? Two part question. That's a really good question. It's a fair question.
01:04:12
Speaker
And I'll give you an honest It doesn't sound as sexy, right? I'm a movie producer. I work with Asher. Saying I'm a movie producer, you're living in Hollywood. There's this, it's sexy. Now, is it still sexy? What what are you thinking?
01:04:26
Speaker
Okay, so life gets votes. Life is giving path, you know, and we have to make choices of how we're kind of moving through life, right?
01:04:36
Speaker
Now, you asked me if I have the same passion as a producer. I mean, when I was 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, the amount of energy and passion that i was able to put into learning how to be in the film business I mean, I wouldn't have that level of energy and passion for anything anymore because that's something that you kind of have in your early twenties.
01:04:58
Speaker
ah Where I'm at in my life now is i want to put my energy towards good. I want to put my energy towards something that is going to work.
01:05:10
Speaker
And I want to put my energy towards something that feels like you can have ah positive impact, right? Now, like if I had never called you and asked you, what can I do? What do you think I should do to change careers?
01:05:26
Speaker
We probably wouldn't be in this position. But life put me into a position where that's where I was. And in that moment, the second you talked about, well, why don't you come help me build Asher House Wellness?
01:05:39
Speaker
I was very excited by that. I was genuinely thrilled because, you know, that gives you ability to learn. It gives you a ability to do something with your brother.
01:05:50
Speaker
gives you an ability to do something which has a real, you know, track record and path for success. I mean, i do care about dogs and animals very much.
01:06:02
Speaker
Honestly, not to level that you do. That would be, you know, pretty wild if I did. But, i know, i I am passionate about animals and The ability to sell products that are good for them is a very wonderful thing.
01:06:17
Speaker
And I'm really passionate about human health and you know the ability to try and sell great products for people is something that I love. And you know if we can build this company as successful as we want it to be, where it's getting an incredible amount of reach,
01:06:36
Speaker
that is something to be, that is something I'm passionate about because that then means that we're impacting lives. We're doing well for ourselves. It's a win-win situation.
01:06:46
Speaker
So, so that and And look, the truth of the matter is I now am an Oscar nominated producer. To think that I'm going to go produce another movie that's going to you know get nominated for 10 Oscars is a little bit silly. So I'm very happy to be focused right now on building a company with you. that That's like what I get excited about.
01:07:08
Speaker
Where do you see it going in the next five years?
Future Vision for Asher House Wellness
01:07:12
Speaker
I mean, my hope for for us is that we have the ability to to reach a marketplace that's probably 10, 20, 30 times ah who we're selling to at this point.
01:07:26
Speaker
um I think it's incredible that we have such a dedicated core audience, um but we see in the feedback from so many of our customers how happy people are with the products. So i What do you think we're lacking? what what do what Why do you think we're not there now?
01:07:46
Speaker
I don't know yet. I mean, it's hard it's hard to say. i think we're in a competitive space and we're trying to figure out how to get people to trust our brand who don't know you yet.
01:07:58
Speaker
um People who know you, obviously, understand that we have this business here. And you do have a great footprint and a good great presence in this in the world. And there's a lot of people who don't know you yet.
01:08:10
Speaker
So the challenge is to make sure that more people know what your passion is, more people know what your mission is, and then to understand that. And that's what's the really cool thing here is, right? Like you use our products on your rescue animals.
01:08:26
Speaker
You use your products on yourself. so do you this Do you use our products on your rescue? Because i think it's a good time to tell everybody about Gracie. I do use our products on our rescue. She loves, loves, loves all of our treats. What kind of dog do you have?
01:08:45
Speaker
I have, well, I use Embark. Thank you very much. problem. I have a mutt who is like 30% Chihuahua, 20% Poodle, and then like 17% Terrier, 15% Cattle Dog, 10% Super Mutt, and a little bit Pollywood.
01:09:05
Speaker
She does not shed, no. you That's what you really wanted. I remember were so happy about that. Yeah, well, because I have pretty bad, I used to have at least pretty bad allergies. Yeah, I remember. And so shedding would be very hard for me.
01:09:18
Speaker
I remember when you saw her, can you tell everybody how you got her? Okay. So I was spending the weekend ah alone with my daughter because my wife was at a music festival and she texted me an image of this dog at a local, um, diner that your wife did yeah, my wife texted me a dog and we had been talking about getting a dog for a long, long time, long, long long time.
01:09:41
Speaker
But you know, it's a lot of work and we have a little little kid and there's always an excuse to not get your first dog as, you know, as a, as a family. um You want it, but it's a lot of work. And we had talked about it and this and that. And you know to be fair, I also, was a little like, well, maybe we'll buy a dog and maybe we'll get a fancy dog. And he was like, please don't do that. And I was like, yeah, okay. I remember I even had a conversation with Don who was like, but maybe we do. And we just tell him it was a rescue.
01:10:10
Speaker
Oh my gosh. That's so funny. You never lied to me, bro. No, I wouldn't do that, but I definitely said maybe. yeah it was a thought. The difference between thought and action. 100%, trust me when I say I know that. yeah yeah yeah and and ah so But anyway, so she's at the music festival. She sends me a picture of this dog ah that's at a local rescuer called the Milo shelter out in Richmond.
01:10:36
Speaker
And I saw that photo. I was like, oh, my God, this dog is adorable. We should go look at this dog. Right. and She's like, yeah, you should check it out. So I call the the shelter and they're like, oh, um a lot of families want this dog, you know, she's going to go right away. I'm like, well, please let us at least meet the dog.
01:10:56
Speaker
um So I like call up Lee and i'm like, Hey, there's this dog at this animal shelter. I've never been in there. Like we really want her. I mean, we have to mute her first, but also i think we really want her. Can you just like call and like get a lay of the land there and um you could tell your part of story.
01:11:13
Speaker
But anyway, I tell our daughter in the car, like, don't get your hopes up. A lot of people want this car. i mean, this dog, lee Lee's making a call, I can't know for sure. Anyway, we get there, go inside and we overhear woman talking to the other woman. I'm like, Lee Asher's brother is coming in here to look at a dog.
01:11:33
Speaker
And I'm like, hey, that's me.
01:11:38
Speaker
We got the dog. We got the dog. So what'd you do? Really nothing. I mean, they were extremely professional. I honestly don't even think it wasn't until you told me that, that ah I had any idea that they knew who I was.
01:11:53
Speaker
Really. i just said that ah I'm a reference for my brother. um i let them know that I have an animal sanctuary and that you're my big brother. And I told them the truth. You're the most responsible person i had ever known.
01:12:09
Speaker
um You're an amazing dad. This is going to be your first family dog. I was just so i really wanted to be a really strong reference. I didn't want to be Lee Asher of the Asher House.
01:12:19
Speaker
I didn't tell them I was going to promote. you know There was no exchange whatsoever. um I really, by her name, the dog's name is Gracie. And I remember really looking at her knowing that she was the perfect dog for you.
01:12:33
Speaker
Because I knew you wanted like a toy dog. When I say toy dog, the ones that look like stuffed animals that don't shed, you know, the doodles. And she was just so special. So i was just a good reference. And ah it was really the shelter that did their due diligence and approved your adoption.
01:12:53
Speaker
Yeah. And we're super grateful. Like she's such a important part of our family now. And, uh, it's just awesome. Oh yeah. I see how happy she makes you and Danya and emrose.
01:13:06
Speaker
I mean, gosh, there's so much love there. Yeah. So much It's really special. Yeah.
01:13:14
Speaker
Well, Deej, I know this isn't the first time I'll have you on. i ah just want you to know that I love you. i love working with you. ah love being your friend and your baby brother.
01:13:25
Speaker
and um
01:13:28
Speaker
ah i've I've just learned so much from you, dude, so much from you. And i am just like what I told you when I called you when I was in Boston last week. i i I said what i wanted to tell you then, so I don't need to say it again publicly just because we're public. So just know that I look forward to talking to I look forward to talking to you tomorrow and every day after that, because I love you so much.
01:13:53
Speaker
And thanks for being my guest and my big bro. Oh man, ah it's my honor. It's my honor and I'm here anytime. I'm always here for you. I love you so much. And and yeah, man, let's do many more. You're one.
01:14:08
Speaker
Oh my God.
01:14:11
Speaker
You hear that mom?
01:14:15
Speaker
yeah I love you, bro. Have an awesome day. All right. For anyone curious about learning more about DJ or following him on social media, DJ, what's your what's your ah name on on Instagram, if you could spell it out?
01:14:32
Speaker
It's d.j.guggenheim. G-U-G-E-N-H-E-I-M. g u g e n h e i m All right, asherhousewellness.com. Thank you all so much for listening.
01:14:46
Speaker
Don't forget what everybody says. you know Subscribe, click, like, join, hug. Do all the things. Do all those things, make it happen. Let's take it to the next level.
01:14:58
Speaker
Next level. Great day, everybody. ya. Bye, I love you.