Transcript
Speaker: BiggerTalks, welcome to another BiggerTalks podcast episode.
Speaker: And I have a powerful serial entrepreneur, businessman, owner,
Speaker: powerful thinker, financial guru, Josh Landon.
Speaker: And let's not forget, he is in the craft beer business.
Speaker: I've done some research on this guy and this guy is pretty intense.
Speaker: He's very straightforward.
Speaker: He's very certain.
Speaker: And I found out he doesn't read books.
Speaker: But I read books, so I got to pick this man's brain.
Speaker: It's an honor to have him on here.
Speaker: He has two companies, Ashland, Hard Seltzer, right?
Speaker: And Villager Spirits.
Speaker: You also have a holding company, Wings and Arrows.
Speaker: And over his course of his time, he's raised $53 million.
Speaker: Yes, that's right.
Speaker: $53 million.
Speaker: and funding and capital.
Speaker: So we have a great discussion and I just want to talk, man, about before we get into the beer and alcohol industry, I want to get into the mentality of Josh Landon and where did it start?
Speaker: Where did it come from?
Speaker: Who was your inspiration?
Speaker: Where were you born?
Speaker: And where did this belief in yourself start?
Speaker: At what age for you?
Speaker: Well, I was born in Ventura.
Speaker: I was born and raised in Ventura, California.
Speaker: So for those who don't know, about 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara, Southern California here.
Speaker: I was an only child.
Speaker: My parents got divorced when I was young, like three, three, four.
Speaker: And I think there's a couple types of people that are, you know, the only children out there, right?
Speaker: That are, you kind of either go two ways when you're by yourself.
Speaker: Either you're spoiled and, you know, coddled and you're used to all the attention and all those types of things.
Speaker: Or...
Speaker: you know, you're independent and you, you know, kind of figure things out for yourself and you spend a lot of time by yourself and, and you have to be somewhat resourceful.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I think, um, you know, my parents, you know, middle-class family, um, and I think I was on the other side, right.
Speaker: Where I was, I was really independent and, um,
Speaker: kind of mature for my age, I think.
Speaker: Um, and I just had to figure stuff out for myself.
Speaker: And my mom was a, was obviously a, uh, you know, very positive influence, but it was a lot different than me too.
Speaker: I was, I was a horrible student.
Speaker: I mean, I mean, I hated fucking school, man.
Speaker: My mom is an Ivy League graduate.
Speaker: She went to Penn and put herself through Penn.
Speaker: She grew up in Philadelphia and then turned herself into an attorney when I was three or four years old, put herself through law
Speaker: school and you know she's had multiple different kind of careers and and a very interesting life path which was in a lot of ways an entrepreneurial path maybe not starting her own business but kind of uh doing a bunch of different things and and um when she told me when i was younger that you know you could kind of do anything you want to do i believed her you know so i even when i wasn't doing well in school she was still
Speaker: She would always tell me that she wasn't worried about me.
Speaker: And I guess I just kind of thought like whatever, when I started making films and these companies that I've started, when I've had the idea, I just felt like I could do it.
Speaker: And I'm not really sure if that's like a learned, I've never had a mentor.
Speaker: I wouldn't say there's any one person that's really been a big influence on me.
Speaker: Your mom, for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, my mom, for sure, but not from a business perspective, right?
Speaker: I didn't have that.
Speaker: I just never had that.
Speaker: I think I just had the belief that I could do it, and I wasn't scared of it, and I'm not really sure that that's a learned trait.
Speaker: I'm not sure, man.
Speaker: It's a gift.
Speaker: I think...
Speaker: You know, some people have an internal guiding system that's in them and it's not on them.
Speaker: And so they know when to move, they know how to delegate, they know how to speak to people.
Speaker: And you speaking on your mom, I'm inspired by your mom.
Speaker: You know, she put herself through school, she went to Ivy League, Penn.
Speaker: So she seems very ambitious, very focused, you know.
Speaker: What was your relationship like with your dad?
Speaker: Pretty much non-existent now.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: You know, he...
Speaker: My dad, I think a lot of the success that I've had is really rooted in the need for approval.
Speaker: And I think like the,
Speaker: the lack of approval came from him and and i think i just never got the type of support or like kind of unconditional love and approval and i think you know i guess i needed a good amount of it because i could have you know there's a lot more you know realistic and mellow ways to get approval than building these fucking multi-million dollar businesses and
Speaker: And like, it's been a little extreme, but I think like that was probably the biggest motivator.
Speaker: You know, I think a lot of people, a lot of business folks that do these podcasts and interviews and I've done a ton of them.
Speaker: And I think no one's really that honest.
Speaker: Yeah, we go.
Speaker: Let's talk about it.
Speaker: No one's authentic.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And to be honest, I really haven't done a whole lot of anything.
Speaker: And like my, you know, most people would say my driving force was this like, you know, I had this love for craft beer.
Speaker: I had this love for this or that.
Speaker: For me, that would be all bullshit if I said that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And really, I just, yeah, that just wasn't there.
Speaker: That wasn't it for me.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's the thing, and that's what I had to realize as a young man and just when I was young, a lot of my pain, a lot of my gain came from my pain.
Speaker: Like my mom, I was emotionally abandoned as a child, so not having that approval from my mom, it just made me frustrated and angry.
Speaker: Like why?
Speaker: Like is something wrong with me?
Speaker: So I used that energy, like you said, from your dad, non-approval.
Speaker: to go figure me out.
Speaker: Who am I?
Speaker: Forget what I want.
Speaker: And I think a lot of people see people like you and they don't understand the internal pain or the resistance or the challenges that made you be who you are to be in a position.
Speaker: Everyone is just full of fluff.
Speaker: It's like, come on, man.
Speaker: That's what I want to know because-
Speaker: I think people too, I think they, I think there's like a, you know, when you, when you have that need for approval and you, and that's just in you and then you have a, you know, above average competitive drive.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When you mix those two things and that's not – you don't learn to be competitive, right?
Speaker: When I was a kid, I was insanely competitive, right?
Speaker: Like where you would see red and I'd have to keep doing it until I won and I don't care if someone –
Speaker: It was a I'm going until I win.
Speaker: And I don't think that was in a lot of ways.
Speaker: That's, you know, it's funny that that's like a celebrated thing.
Speaker: In a lot of ways, it's it's it's a very damaging personality.
Speaker: yourself and to be around right like I it's unique but you need those types of internal things that are just either in you or they're not you know you need that anchor and you know I was listening to something not too long ago there are benefits from trauma
Speaker: You know, people who grew up with everything, usually not most, but some, they suffer later in life because they didn't have that resistance.
Speaker: They didn't have that challenge.
Speaker: They didn't have to be stoic, right?
Speaker: Like they had that epicurean kind of lifestyle and nice, you know, they can take the elevator where we, you know, let's take the stairs where they could spend the money we had no money to spend.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So you learn from these things and
Speaker: I wanted to piggyback off of you saying your mom believing in you.
Speaker: You didn't have any mentors.
Speaker: You didn't get any advice.
Speaker: You just kind of believe.
Speaker: And I think that's very, very important for the listeners to know.
Speaker: But there's a quote.
Speaker: It relates to school.
Speaker: Because I went to school, got good grades.
Speaker: I was all, you know, I love learning.
Speaker: I'm a nerd.
Speaker: And I realized once I graduated, it didn't mean anything.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So the quote goes, the A students work for the B students.
Speaker: The B students run the company that the C students own, but the D students own the land that the company is on.
Speaker: I say damn if that's not true.
Speaker: And, you know, they always say it's not how strong you are.
Speaker: It's not how smart you are.
Speaker: They usually are the people who are the most adaptable.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: If you have adaptability, can you make decisions on the go?
Speaker: Are you confident in taking chances?
Speaker: And I think for you, just having that internal guidance and.
Speaker: belief in yourself you created millions of business and made millions of dollars but i think for you when i look at you and i hear you speak i don't really think it's so much about the money i think it's more about proving what you know is true inside before it even happens
Speaker: You know, they said sometimes to get the blessing in life, you got to receive it in your spirit first, right?
Speaker: And then it happens.
Speaker: So from that to this, what was your intentions to get into the craft beer industry?
Speaker: Why alcohol?
Speaker: Like, what was that about?
Speaker: Like, how did that start?
Speaker: Yeah, so I was a filmmaker from 18 until 32.
Speaker: And then all the films for the brands, I've made them all through the years here.
Speaker: And I was on a surf trip.
Speaker: And a tequila for some of my friends that were on tour.
Speaker: a tequila brand approached them about investing in the company and being an ambassador for them and so on.
Speaker: And they were like, you know, what do you think?
Speaker: And I said, I don't know, tequila, I'm not sure if that would be the best fit for you right now, but why not beer?
Speaker: I think everybody drinks beer, you know, whether you drink one a day or one every six months.
Speaker: It's, and then one of my buddies was from San Diego.
Speaker: I'm like, and you live in San Diego.
Speaker: That's like the craft beer capital of the United States.
Speaker: You've got to be able to find one that thinks, you know, they would want to partner with you.
Speaker: And, um, and then in that moment I thought, I wonder why there's never been a craft beer from our California culture, real California, right?
Speaker: Like, um,
Speaker: skating and surfing and art and film and photography and just more outdoor creative life yeah maybe not so much that what's portrayed like you know board shorts and
Speaker: We could be, we could do something that's authentic and real from, from us that portrays our culture in the right way.
Speaker: And I think, um, I said, why, you know, why not?
Speaker: And in that moment was when I had the idea for St.
Speaker: Archer and I, I didn't know anybody in the beer business.
Speaker: I didn't know anything about beer.
Speaker: I didn't, um, I definitely never heard of a capital raise.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I didn't know anything about, I wasn't a brewer.
Speaker: I'm not even like that big of a drinker.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it was something where I felt like, and then as I kind of like, I had the idea, and then as I kind of like, you know, now started to like look at the beer category, I thought like a lot of the craft beers from a brand perspective were asleep at the wheel.
Speaker: And I guess as a filmmaker and as a storyteller making documentary films, I felt that I could make a better brand and tell more authentic stories.
Speaker: with ultimately the folks that are in the films and then obviously the brand that we're putting out there.
Speaker: And it was really like, especially in skateboards,
Speaker: storytelling category there is right it's uh outside it's really like one of the biggest cultural needle movers right there's a lot of folks that I mean look at all the brands that you see people wearing most of the people that are wearing supreme nowadays don't even know it's a fucking skate right I didn't know that that's right
Speaker: So I think like, that's what skateboarding does.
Speaker: And I think if we can, you know, take, we, you know, my friends just happen to be some of the best in the world because of the films that I've made through the years.
Speaker: And, um, it was a different approach to, to have them own the business with me and, and be a part of it.
Speaker: And, and, um,
Speaker: And I just figured it out.
Speaker: I mean, I saw Mikey Taylor, who was who at the time was the face of DC and Paul Rodriguez, who was the yeah, was the face of Nike and still is a lot of ways.
Speaker: I brought it to them first and I said hey I have an idea to do this beer brand what do you guys think and they said yeah let's do it and a couple months went by and obviously Paul wasn't going to stop being the face of Mikey and Mikey DC so it was like either I quit everything and do it or it kind of just goes away right there wasn't those guys weren't going to do it so we met at a restaurant downtown LA and
Speaker: And it was kind of the come to Jesus dinner.
Speaker: And I said, okay, cool, I'll do it.
Speaker: And I went home and told my wife I'm quitting making movies.
Speaker: And my daughter was three and a half and our oldest son was six months old.
Speaker: And I said, we're moving to San Diego.
Speaker: She said, I'll find us a place to live.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: And that's the thing I think, what I took from that story that you,
Speaker: As you're speaking, I can tell you're in film.
Speaker: I'm picturing the meeting at downtown somewhere in LA.
Speaker: I'm picturing you talking to your wife in a movie setting, the way you were articulating it.
Speaker: So what I took from that is that you've learned how to leverage your relationships
Speaker: in tact with your experiences, right?
Speaker: From business and film to connect the dots to create another type of film in a different realm through the beer and craft industry, right?
Speaker: With some people who are very popular and who have access and success.
Speaker: So what from film, from the film industry that you took on, gave you the confidence that you can really do this in the beer industry?
Speaker: How did that coincide?
Speaker: Growing up, I was an athlete, so I took the energy of being disciplined and work ethic to put it into my business, into myself to be more.
Speaker: How did you do that from film to beer?
Speaker: Yeah, to be honest, I mean, I think like there was there was not a lot, you know, it was a very different, you know, it's it's it's entrepreneurial to be a filmmaker, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, you're kind of figuring everything out yourself, especially as an independent filmmaker.
Speaker: But, you know, when you start doing, you know, we had a we raised money.
Speaker: That was the start of kind of like just being.
Speaker: you know, totally out of the box, right?
Speaker: It's one thing if you have, you know, you make a film on P-Rod and, you know, Nike throws in some money and Primitive and some of his other stuff, right?
Speaker: But it's different when you're raising, you know, $3 million and going to everyday folks and asking them for money, right?
Speaker: And then leasing a $20,000
Speaker: thousand square foot building and buying millions of dollars worth of brewing equipment, right?
Speaker: Hiring people, firing people.
Speaker: I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, man.
Speaker: Straight the fuck up.
Speaker: I didn't know.
Speaker: I was not ready.
Speaker: I grew into being a business leader.
Speaker: I definitely was not one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, but I think, you know, I think for the most, and there's a lot of, there's a lot that goes into just raising money, right?
Speaker: Like it's, I think that's the question I get the most.
Speaker: Like, how did you do it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think my thing is for you, like, what was your relationship with money coming up?
Speaker: Did you have a good relationship with money?
Speaker: Was it a bad relationship?
Speaker: Because I've been studying the psychology of money and our relationship really dictates like how we make it, how we manage it, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess I never really thought a whole heck of a lot about it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I always knew that I wanted to like do something on my own.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think everybody goes through those phases of like, we should do a t-shirt business, right?
Speaker: You know, everybody says shit like that, right?
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: But I think like for me, it was more...
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I guess I was just never afraid to jump in and give it a shot.
Speaker: And Janine, my wife, same way.
Speaker: We're willing to just kind of see what happens and roll the dice.
Speaker: And if it doesn't work out, then we'll figure something else out.
Speaker: But I think when going to raise money,
Speaker: I believed in what I was doing so much that it would be so great.
Speaker: I think because I would have been a fan of St.
Speaker: Archer, right?
Speaker: Like you, you would have gotten me.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I, when I'm speaking about it, you know, I, I really wholeheartedly believed it.
Speaker: And I think to be honest, I didn't have a backup plan, you know, just think about it now.
Speaker: Like I'm talking to you.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: saying listen Eric man I just moved to SD here's my brand book I'm fucking in the deep end right right my wife's here my kids are here I don't have another job this is it this is like St.
Speaker: Archer is gonna be successful
Speaker: There we go.
Speaker: A lot of people go, I mean, I got 25 grand.
Speaker: And this fucking dude has to pull this off.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, he's like, there's something to be said for that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Do I think people should just quit their jobs and start asking everybody for money?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: But I think the prerequisite to having people take you seriously is when you're in the deep end.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's almost disrespectful to not be in the deep end and asking somebody for something.
Speaker: And I think also, too, I always like to correlate that to your mentality.
Speaker: You didn't have a scarcity mindset.
Speaker: You wasn't in fear.
Speaker: You might have felt fear, but you wasn't letting fear stop you from asking what you needed or making this shit work.
Speaker: And so I think as individuals, we always want to know all the answers before we make the decision.
Speaker: We want to be comfortable.
Speaker: We want to protect ourselves.
Speaker: You're like, man, fuck.
Speaker: that.
Speaker: I'm jumping in.
Speaker: You guys want to stay?
Speaker: I'm getting in the pool with the sharks.
Speaker: I'm trying to eat some real food.
Speaker: And I think that fearlessness and that faith and that confidence, why wouldn't I want to work for you?
Speaker: Why wouldn't I want to drink your beer?
Speaker: Why wouldn't I?
Speaker: When things fail, I realize it comes from the top.
Speaker: It's not from the bottom.
Speaker: It's from the top down, not the bottom up.
Speaker: So if the master or the owner is not convinced that he has the best beer, why should I be convinced?
Speaker: You have no chance.
Speaker: You have no chance.
Speaker: I'm thinking like, damn, this guy should have a mentor school or something in charge.
Speaker: $5,000 a month for people to come and listen to you talk.
Speaker: Membership.
Speaker: You know, like, why not?
Speaker: Because I'm looking like, forget the material.
Speaker: I'm talking about this.
Speaker: Because I was thinking like, how does a man of his stature get in a position for someone to buy a company for $100 million?
Speaker: Forget the monetary.
Speaker: How do you even get in the position?
Speaker: Forget the money.
Speaker: How do you get there?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, what's the intangible stuff?
Speaker: What rules did you break?
Speaker: What did you shift?
Speaker: What paradigm shifts did you have?
Speaker: Who did you piss off?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Because I think as a as a young man, you know, I was always got to follow the rules.
Speaker: I got to do it right.
Speaker: I got to do this.
Speaker: And it's like you start learning.
Speaker: You got to break some rules, my friend, if you really want to go big and go large, not in a bad way.
Speaker: But you know what I mean?
Speaker: You sound like Jonah Hill in the movie right now.
Speaker: And I've told, I mean, I've had multiple people.
Speaker: I get business plans all the time, right?
Speaker: And I don't know the products they're talking about, but I look at them and go, are you really going to win at all costs?
Speaker: Like for real?
Speaker: You know, when you're.
Speaker: No, hold on.
Speaker: Hold on.
Speaker: I don't want to cut you off, Josh.
Speaker: That statement, you should tag that.
Speaker: No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: Like, no, no, no.
Speaker: Are you willing to win at all costs?
Speaker: Like, really?
Speaker: Question mark.
Speaker: That should be on the show.
Speaker: I'm going to give you a story.
Speaker: And I actually, I never tell this story.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: I never, I actually, I've never.
Speaker: And this one says it all.
Speaker: This like, this says it all.
Speaker: And, and like, if you, whoever's listening, if you say to yourself, I would absolutely fucking do that.
Speaker: Well, then you got something.
Speaker: So when I started St.
Speaker: Archer, I had the brand book and I'd never raised capital before.
Speaker: And I, I had gotten through a couple of meetings and people were like,
Speaker: You know, like, I don't, I don't see it.
Speaker: Um, and then I got like into a handful of meetings and I'm getting shut down.
Speaker: And then, and then one guy goes, I love it.
Speaker: I just need to taste it.
Speaker: Hold up.
Speaker: Hold up.
Speaker: Something just came through.
Speaker: Something just came through to my spirit.
Speaker: It's something about when you speak, like seriously.
Speaker: And the fact that you said that, I felt this five minutes ago when you were speaking about your company.
Speaker: I was like, I want to taste the beer, but I don't know why.
Speaker: I'm like, I don't want any drinks.
Speaker: And I said, taste it.
Speaker: Well, fuck.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: It's beer.
Speaker: You probably want to drink it.
Speaker: God damn it.
Speaker: How did I not think of that?
Speaker: And I, and so I'm like, well, I guess I'm fucked then.
Speaker: Cause I mean, I need, and I told him, I'm all, well, you know, I need the $3 million to get, to make the beers.
Speaker: I don't have any beer.
Speaker: I'm not a brewer.
Speaker: So I'm not going to make you that shit in my bathtub.
Speaker: So like I don't – I guess like that's a fucking wrap.
Speaker: And I'm at the grocery store.
Speaker: I'm at Trader Joe's.
Speaker: And going down the aisle and I get to the beer and I – it was on sale or it was like $5.99.
Speaker: It was cheap.
Speaker: I buy the Trader Joe's private label beer.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: They had an IPA, they had a blonde ale and a pale ale.
Speaker: The three styles I just happened to be thinking about making as St.
Speaker: Archer to launch the business.
Speaker: And I get the beer, we go over to a barbecue and I put it in a cooler and I pull the first one out and it's cold and wet and the label is coming off the bottle.
Speaker: And I go...
Speaker: Wait, the labels just, I don't know why I never, the paper label just comes off?
Speaker: I mean, I guess I could just, I mean, how the fuck would anybody ever know that wasn't my shit?
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And I peeled the labels off.
Speaker: I raised $3 million on fucking Trader Joe's private label beer.
Speaker: That shit wasn't even St.
Speaker: R.
Speaker: That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker: So smart, man.
Speaker: That's how you think.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: I mean, that's toeing the line, right?
Speaker: When is the movie coming out?
Speaker: When is the movie coming out, man?
Speaker: You know, St.
Speaker: Archer investors don't even... Now they'd obviously like said that people love that, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it's telling the line of like, you're lying to folks.
Speaker: But you know, it was what you know, what was interesting was because I'm like going fuck.
Speaker: Yeah, this is ours.
Speaker: I had this ball by this whole story.
Speaker: Total fucking bullshit.
Speaker: But I was like, I will toe the line.
Speaker: And put myself in uncomfortable position and conversation because I fucking believe this is going to be successful and I'm going to do whatever it fucking takes by any means necessary.
Speaker: And like I lived that statement and I think people, that's an uncomfortable place to be.
Speaker: Like, would you really do that?
Speaker: Like, would you really do that?
Speaker: Would you really like, and then the interesting thing was it taught me so much from a psychology perspective because now I'm sitting here going, I'm with you.
Speaker: And I tell you this whole story about St.
Speaker: Archer and what I'm going to do.
Speaker: And you see the beautiful brand and all my friends that are involved in it.
Speaker: then I hand you the beer and you look at it and go, this is the best fucking IPA you ever had.
Speaker: And I'm like, you just drink a private label.
Speaker: But it's all in here.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And that's the power of like being a good storyteller and having people believe in your authentic vision, believe in you.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You know, like, and that's the power of that.
Speaker: It's,
Speaker: Man, listen.
Speaker: Man, listen.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: You just healed and helped me in so many ways.
Speaker: You don't even understand.
Speaker: I'm waiting for the book and the movie to come out.
Speaker: Because you just said it.
Speaker: It's not the story.
Speaker: It's the person who's telling the story.
Speaker: The product is secondary.
Speaker: When I should sell shoes, it wasn't the shoe I was selling.
Speaker: It was who was wearing it.
Speaker: I always say, it ain't the shoe.
Speaker: It's how you feel in it.
Speaker: How do you feel?
Speaker: You feel good?
Speaker: You should buy it.
Speaker: It ain't about how it looks.
Speaker: It's how it feels.
Speaker: And that's just what I've been learning these last few weeks, having these big discussions with people about tons of money,
Speaker: It's all, I can't say it's a finesse, but I understand, I get it.
Speaker: I respect it.
Speaker: And you look at life.
Speaker: Life is a big story.
Speaker: We create a headline.
Speaker: We get you to bite.
Speaker: So I'm going to buy it.
Speaker: So that is, wow, that's just shifting my whole paradigm right there about business.
Speaker: You know, so you have that story, which is phenomenal.
Speaker: I like, I need a movie.
Speaker: Can you get Jonah Hill to play you?
Speaker: Like, I need the movie, bro.
Speaker: Like, you need some funding.
Speaker: I got somebody at the bank that can help.
Speaker: Like, this is a...
Speaker: Brad Pitt that jump in is your boy.
Speaker: Let's try and get those guys.
Speaker: I'm serious because I'm so... You have that part.
Speaker: Take me from that's done.
Speaker: You get the investors.
Speaker: Now, what's next?
Speaker: You still have to build out the belief you sold to everybody.
Speaker: How does the next... Was it nine years?
Speaker: How long did it take you to get to that place where you sold it for 100 million?
Speaker: Two years.
Speaker: What was that process like?
Speaker: Yeah, it was – I mean first and foremost, I think like I know what I'm really good at and I know what I'm really bad at.
Speaker: And I think if – I've hired the best of the best.
Speaker: And I think that that's, you know, today, do you have the ability to do that?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And that's just comes down to your personality.
Speaker: Do people believe in you and want to follow your lead and believe in what you're going to do?
Speaker: And, um, I have that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, um, probably like one of the only things that I do really well is, um, authentically getting people to understand the vision and the path.
Speaker: that I'm going down, you know?
Speaker: And, you know, I raised $10 million to kind of keep the business going.
Speaker: Right away it took off.
Speaker: The beer did well right away.
Speaker: And we knew we had something special.
Speaker: You know, we...
Speaker: We raised 10 mil and then I needed another 10 million to kind of expand outside of California.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we had a couple of businesses that were acquiring other companies.
Speaker: And I signed with an investment banking firm from L.A.
Speaker: to help me raise the additional 10.
Speaker: And they were like, hey, so-and-so, you know, Anheuser-Busch had just purchased a brewery and there were a couple other folks.
Speaker: And I'm like, I mean, our brand's performing better than those.
Speaker: Maybe there's an opportunity to exit the business and finally partner with someone that could take this brand national.
Speaker: And, you know, we started, we put it out there to five different companies.
Speaker: It was Anheuser-Busch,
Speaker: Miller Coors at the time, Pabst, New Belgium, and somebody else, who I can't remember now, and Boston Beer, Sam Adams.
Speaker: And it was down to Miller Coors and Anheuser-Busch, and I was comfortable in those negotiations with those two businesses.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It just went crazy.
Speaker: Yeah, I wound up hiring three of the most famous brewers in the country.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: as fucking lights out.
Speaker: Lights out, yeah.
Speaker: So you're willing to throw the money into it and make it work.
Speaker: Yeah, so I got really into that.
Speaker: I really wanted to have the highest quality beer and it got better as time went on.
Speaker: We won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.
Speaker: So it was, as we went along with beer, a beer got really, really good.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And that's the thing because you said two years, you guys won awards.
Speaker: And then, so you went from that, let's transition into like, okay, you sold the company at this point, right?
Speaker: What was the next, just to build more companies or better beer?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Better, like, what was the intention?
Speaker: I stayed at Coors for 18 months.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it just wasn't for me.
Speaker: So you were working at Coors, at Whiff Coors?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's the connection.
Speaker: My plan was to stay there forever and build St.
Speaker: Archer and make it the national brand that it was built to be.
Speaker: And we needed the help of a Coors or an Anheuser-Busch to do that, or we wouldn't have been able to do it.
Speaker: It just would have been...
Speaker: tens of millions of dollars.
Speaker: And that really wasn't in the cards for me.
Speaker: And a lot of the reason why when I sold the business, I wanted to see how I would feel when I sold it.
Speaker: I think when you have that kind of financial event, it really teaches you a lot about who you are.
Speaker: And in my opinion, there's three types of folks.
Speaker: There's an employee, there's a business owner, and then there's an entrepreneur.
Speaker: And neither of them are, you know, it's not good or bad or right or wrong.
Speaker: It's just, who are you?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think you can go.
Speaker: been a business owner right like I sold the business and I don't have any really any other ideas or desires to do another one and you know I work for them and that's kind of it and but I realized in that time that I was an entrepreneur and I wanted to create more businesses and Coors didn't want to win as bad as I did
Speaker: You know, they just did it.
Speaker: So when you was with Coors, when you were working with them, was that a partnership with your brand that they bought into?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, they bought the company and I was an employee.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: So when they bought the company, you still was working there?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: To kind of help it grow?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: And was frustrated because, like I said, they didn't want to win as bad as I did.
Speaker: Ah, so you just said, the heck with it, you guys can have it, I'll go do something else.
Speaker: Yeah, and a lot of people thought I was nuts, right?
Speaker: They were paying me a lot of money, the security was there, and I could have just gone to the beach, to be honest.
Speaker: I could have just been like, and I was like, fuck that.
Speaker: I'm down to go back to square one and compete all over again.
Speaker: And that's really what it is for me, is my desire to compete
Speaker: And try and have the small guy compete with the big guys.
Speaker: It's really like an addiction.
Speaker: I'm addicted to building businesses and competing with the best of them.
Speaker: Rob Markman, And can you elaborate on a difference between business owner and entrepreneur?
Speaker: Because I was telling a family member, I was like, man, you're really an entrepreneur.
Speaker: I might own a company with a name, but I don't have that.
Speaker: You're paying employees, you got payroll, that's a different type of mindset.
Speaker: So can you elaborate on that?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean I think a business owner – you have like my best friend has owned a hair salon for 30 years, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's a business owner.
Speaker: You have your one trade or your one kind of passion and it doesn't really go beyond that.
Speaker: And generally what you're – like his passion was cutting hair.
Speaker: doing hair whereas with me the passion isn't in the product the passion is in the building of the brand got it right so then i just it's not you know i don't have this undying passion for hard seltzer the liquid yeah but i really enjoyed building the hard seltzer brand and competing in that category right so it's it's it's totally different um and i think when you you just have that you want to keep
Speaker: building and really disrupting.
Speaker: Do you have that where you want to piss people off?
Speaker: That's like the vibe.
Speaker: And I think a lot of people just go, yeah, you know what?
Speaker: I'm totally good owning this restaurant and bar for the next 40 years.
Speaker: My kids are going to work here and that's what I'm going to do.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: Yeah, that's important because I think in these times, especially the millennials, we get caught up in terms and language and lingo.
Speaker: Oh, I'm an entrepreneur.
Speaker: Oh, I'm an influencer.
Speaker: Oh, I'm a trainer.
Speaker: Oh, I'm a financial advisor.
Speaker: Oh, I'm an investor.
Speaker: Like, okay, what does that mean?
Speaker: Who are you?
Speaker: What does that mean?
Speaker: You take that... There's a thing where you ask someone a question and say, uh...
Speaker: Who are you?
Speaker: And so a person says, I'm a banker, I'm a lawyer, I'm a trainer, I'm a husband, I'm a boyfriend, whatever.
Speaker: So then you take that away from you.
Speaker: Who are you?
Speaker: God forbid a family member or a child dies or you lose your job.
Speaker: Who are you?
Speaker: And I think we're not designed or programmed to discover who we really are.
Speaker: So we attach our identity to our profession, but what we do is not who we are.
Speaker: Michael Jordan, a basketball player, is not Michael Jordan, the person.
Speaker: It's two different entities.
Speaker: So I think with your life and how you go about craft beer and being in the film industry and working with Coors, then like saying, fuck that, man.
Speaker: What's next?
Speaker: So then you started the Hard Seltzer Company, Villager Spirits.
Speaker: Can you kind of elaborate on what those intentions of those companies and what they're all about?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think I just got to a point.
Speaker: I started a couple more businesses in there that I just co-founded but left.
Speaker: And there's other folks that run them.
Speaker: And then I just wanted to have, you know, all the brands that I create.
Speaker: The alcohol business for me is just conducive to my personality.
Speaker: You know, you can...
Speaker: you can be aggressive and, and like hard charging and alcohol because you can go up and down the street and get yourself business.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Whereas non-alcoholic beverages or food, or it's just not that way.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You have to go through the corporate channels and, and it's a different, it's a different type of business.
Speaker: So I, I had, I wanted to go into the beyond beer.
Speaker: I thought that's
Speaker: finally hit alcohol.
Speaker: You know, people want to, they want to be irresponsible and get fucked up and feel good about it the next day, right?
Speaker: They don't want to feel like shit.
Speaker: But they still want to have fun, right?
Speaker: They still want to have fun.
Speaker: So I think I kind of like saw white
Speaker: and said we need to have there needs to be an independent version of these bigger guys hard seltzers right and there wasn't really anything and ashland i had the idea for ashland yeah we launched the brand two weeks before covid shut everything down interesting and and then it just went bananas like 10 times what saint archer ever was and
Speaker: Because everybody's home.
Speaker: And they're like, what are we going to do?
Speaker: Let's drink.
Speaker: Everyone's home drinking at 10 a.m.
Speaker: and bragging about it on the gram.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: On the gram.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: It was just like,
Speaker: And the businesses just kept going.
Speaker: And then canned cocktails, you know, Villager Spirits was originally, Villager was a coconut water.
Speaker: And that business kind of ran its course.
Speaker: And then through COVID, a lot of the investors were having a lot of financial issues.
Speaker: And instead of saying, we're done and we lost, I said, fuck that.
Speaker: I'm going to turn it into a canned cocktail.
Speaker: We're going to start from scratch and I'm going to fucking hit a home run.
Speaker: Damn, lovely.
Speaker: All of the investors that were a part of Villager Coconut Water I brought into Villager Spirits.
Speaker: And it's the first two months and it's killing it, man.
Speaker: Man, I got it.
Speaker: Like, where can we get these products?
Speaker: I mean, Trader Joe's, Rouse, Erwan, like, Safeway.
Speaker: Rouse, Rouse, Vons, Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, everywhere, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And now we have a hard lemonade business coming out in May.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then, you know, we have another.
Speaker: I got one more up my sleeve.
Speaker: uh-huh you know just trying to build basically the premier independent beyond beer brand house of the country when you say beyond beer can you what's the definition of that because i'm thinking about like you know like plant base yeah no hard seltzer or outside of the beer got it got it okay like white claw yeah like seltzer a canned cocktail hard lemonade um hard
Speaker: I love kombucha, man.
Speaker: It's my favorite.
Speaker: Make a kombucha, man.
Speaker: I want to promote it.
Speaker: Yeah, who doesn't love it?
Speaker: And that's the thing, you know, my mom told me years ago, she was like, you know, people don't buy products, they buy people.
Speaker: And people don't care about how much you know till they know how much you care.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: And so because of who you are as an individual, because of what you represent from an authentic space, I want to buy your products.
Speaker: I don't even drink this shit.
Speaker: And it's like, that's a true testament of believing in something more than anything you make others believe.
Speaker: And I think that passion, that love and that drive, man, you can help so many people heal any wounds, get through any pain if they really believe in what you have to say because you don't meet people like you.
Speaker: I don't.
Speaker: Not the way you are designed.
Speaker: You know, you're like a complex puzzle piece.
Speaker: Like, bro, how did you get all these pieces together?
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: And I think it's time for the world to wake up
Speaker: And give the true people, the true warriors, their acknowledgement.
Speaker: They say, if I got it, then I got it.
Speaker: Then just give me some acknowledgement.
Speaker: And not for prestige or praise.
Speaker: Just so these are the people we should be reading in school books.
Speaker: These are the people we should be taking entrepreneurship classes from.
Speaker: No disrespect to the teachers, but you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker: Like you're in it.
Speaker: Completely, yes.
Speaker: You're in it.
Speaker: You're in the flesh.
Speaker: You're on the field.
Speaker: So why wouldn't I want to learn from you?
Speaker: agree more, yep.
Speaker: And this is what Bigger Talks is about.
Speaker: It's like, forget all the good stuff and it's cool.
Speaker: Nah, fuck that, man.
Speaker: This man had pain since he was a young boy.
Speaker: Dad not being around.
Speaker: He got to prove himself.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: He had an idea that he ran with and it got him funding to take his business off.
Speaker: You not hearing what this man is saying?
Speaker: People listening?
Speaker: I need a movie.
Speaker: Can we get a movie?
Speaker: I want the movie.
Speaker: Please.
Speaker: Five years.
Speaker: Come on, bring it together.
Speaker: But what I'm saying is that
Speaker: It's not the characters involved.
Speaker: It's the story play out.
Speaker: People got to see it.
Speaker: These are the movies and stories that I'm compelled to.
Speaker: What's the movie with Roman J. Israel with Denzel Washington?
Speaker: He was an autism lawyer.
Speaker: I love all his movies.
Speaker: Equalizer.
Speaker: Anything Southpaw, comeback stories.
Speaker: Like, fuck, man.
Speaker: 21 Bridges.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Because it wasn't handed to you, Josh.
Speaker: You made it happen.
Speaker: So I just want to say thank you for just being here.
Speaker: We're not just finished yet.
Speaker: I just have a few more questions.
Speaker: But I just had to give you this acknowledgement, man, because you are the future of a lot of things that people look forward to, but they don't know what they're looking at.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: You know this Nike check, but you don't know the guy behind Nike.
Speaker: Instead of the guy on camera, who's the guy behind the camera?
Speaker: Who's the guy holding the lights?
Speaker: We need to acknowledge these people because without that, things are not happening.
Speaker: And so as of now, for all your businesses, what is the focus and what is the attention going forward?
Speaker: Is it more marketing, brand awareness?
Speaker: Is it more capital or money?
Speaker: What is the focus moving forward?
Speaker: What's working and what's not working, you think?
Speaker: Or what's your challenges?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the challenges are getting pretty limited these days, right?
Speaker: We know how to win in the alcohol space.
Speaker: We know how to put brands in the market.
Speaker: And I think we, you know, for now, we know how to create brands that people actually give a shit about.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which I think is really, that's the hardest thing, right?
Speaker: Like I let go of, you know, I try and build a perfect business, right?
Speaker: And then I can let it go at the shelf because I can't really control whether people buy it or not.
Speaker: But what is on me is to create the best business possible and give us every chance to win.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And that could be perfecting our supply chain.
Speaker: And marketing has always been just me.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: So it's, that's an easy, now I have a little bit of help, which is nice, but it's always been me and my vision and building out our finance and operations and the sales staff.
Speaker: That's, that's really the whole business, you know, and we've gotten that pretty down then.
Speaker: We know what we're doing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think that's the.
Speaker: So are you more of an entrepreneur who wants to build businesses and sell them or you just want to build business to be in them to grow them and then kind of sell them and have an attachment to it?
Speaker: Or are you the type of person who eventually wants to be an investor of business?
Speaker: Business where you invest your capital like how did you see your future in 10 years from now?
Speaker: Yeah, I think for me my focus is to build the business as big as I could take it yeah, and Or like that I even want to take it is probably better decide, you know, I don't have a desire to build a business that's global and yeah
Speaker: you know, raise $200 million.
Speaker: Like I don't, I don't have any desire for that.
Speaker: What I, I want the businesses to be global brands, but I don't think I'll be able to take it there by myself.
Speaker: So it's really just building a profitable business in a small footprint and, and, but selling the type of volume that may be like the, what we're doing now, most folks would be doing in, you know, 25 to 35 States and we're doing it in one.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: Hands on.
Speaker: To be honest, man, I don't know what I'll do.
Speaker: I don't think I'll stop working.
Speaker: I love sports.
Speaker: I love making films.
Speaker: And now so many of the investors are kind of the who's who of Hollywood agents and studio owners and heads of studio.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: I'm like, where the fuck were all you guys like 10 years ago?
Speaker: Right, right, right.
Speaker: And that's what they say.
Speaker: You build it, they'll come.
Speaker: You build it and they'll come.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: the film.
Speaker: I see it.
Speaker: I feel it, Josh.
Speaker: Listen, Josh, I'm a very intuitive guy.
Speaker: I'm a Pisces.
Speaker: I'm sensitive.
Speaker: I'm emotional.
Speaker: I feel things.
Speaker: I want to watch your movie on... And it don't have to be your name.
Speaker: It could just be some character, but it needs to be your energy in it because...
Speaker: I'm inspired.
Speaker: I'm inspired.
Speaker: You just gave me so much faith on what I know.
Speaker: But sometimes the universe brings people and things to kind of like, yeah, this is what you need to do.
Speaker: Definitely, man.
Speaker: So stop trying to be this person.
Speaker: Be that person if you want to get to that place.
Speaker: I just think...
Speaker: Man, I'm so happy, man.
Speaker: So my question is, what makes you happy?
Speaker: We talked about business, we talked about taking chances and believing in yourself.
Speaker: What makes Josh, at the end of the day, happy the most?
Speaker: You know, man, I think being as authentic to myself as possible.
Speaker: Everything else is like, you know, most people ask like all, you know, how did it feel when you sold your business and, you know, when the money hit the account or how did you feel when you bought that home or the cars or all this shit, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I was crazy because I didn't feel anything, like nothing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: I didn't feel like there was no, I think it's important to be proud of yourself.
Speaker: I think it's like, it's important to, you know, that's where my life changed was when I, I started saying you did it and I didn't need the external approval.
Speaker: Like I, I had self approval.
Speaker: And that was a big deal for me.
Speaker: And the funny thing is, is it came.
Speaker: Go Eagles.
Speaker: Go Sixers.
Speaker: You fucking A, go Birds.
Speaker: And so I, one of the investors, so with my mom, we would always go back to Philly, right?
Speaker: And if I was lucky enough, I'd go to an Eagles game or a Sixers game or Phillies.
Speaker: Flyers with my uncle and I went to a couple Eagles games at the vet and we'd fly in and I'd look at the stadium and all these things right and then I'm flying back in a couple years ago and I'm looking out the window and I see Lincoln Financial where the Eagles play and I'm coming back because their general manager and vice president Howie Roseman is an investor in my businesses and I'm going I did it
Speaker: Like, I fucking did it.
Speaker: I did it.
Speaker: Like, if you would have told the five-year-old me, you're going to be flying back here to have dinner with the guy who's running the day-to-day Eagles operations, you would have said you did it.
Speaker: Like, fuck where you live.
Speaker: Fuck all the other bullshit.
Speaker: Like, you did it, man.
Speaker: And it's funny, that was it.
Speaker: And it's so true because as you're speaking, I'm telling you, I know you're a storyteller because I'm telling you, I'm getting visions.
Speaker: As you saying you did it, I'm envisioning a five-year-old you as I want to hug that guy, the inner guy, that five-year-old.
Speaker: I want to hug him.
Speaker: Like, bro, daddy wasn't around.
Speaker: You did it, man.
Speaker: You did it.
Speaker: And I think that was a challenge in my life.
Speaker: It was hard for me to say I did it.
Speaker: That I kept trying to put everything on everyone else.
Speaker: And I got to a point where I said, I'm proud of me.
Speaker: Well, you know what?
Speaker: Society doesn't celebrate that vulnerability and sensitivity, right?
Speaker: For some reason, they celebrate the hard charging fucking asshole who
Speaker: That's not even, that's like what a horrible, like sad and cold life that is.
Speaker: And like, I, I wanted no part of that.
Speaker: I wanted like, and I'm content, you know, whether the business fails or succeeds, if I do everything to the best of my ability, I'm content with who I am.
Speaker: And, and, um, it's been tough, man.
Speaker: It's been tough.
Speaker: It's been a long road.
Speaker: It's been a long road.
Speaker: My wife and I, we've been together since we were 15.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: I love her and I don't even know her because she's a glue to the thing.
Speaker: She's a glue.
Speaker: She's been through.
Speaker: She's like, she's been through it all, man.
Speaker: 15, bro?
Speaker: She's been through it all.
Speaker: 15?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we're both 42 now.
Speaker: Man, congratulations, man.
Speaker: Can we have an anniversary?
Speaker: Can we do a soundtrack to your longevity?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, can we have some hard seltzer?
Speaker: Like, come on, we got some St.
Speaker: Archer back in there?
Speaker: Yeah, but it's been a long road, man.
Speaker: Hey, man, congratulations.
Speaker: I'm proud of you, and I barely know you, but you make me happy because I'm seeing a real person tell me their real story about how they got where they are.
Speaker: And it's not even about the money.
Speaker: It's about you doing what you love to do and believing in yourself.
Speaker: That's it, man.
Speaker: You know, because the money's going to come.
Speaker: It's all about how you feel.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's harder to get there than people make it out to be.
Speaker: That's why I think like I've never like when we started like you were saying that I don't do the book thing.
Speaker: I think that's why because it's like I've only gotten through one book in the last 10 years on a business perspective.
Speaker: I do read a lot just not business related books.
Speaker: But like Bob Iger's book, the former CEO of
Speaker: Yeah, I love that guy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: And it's not that perfect.
Speaker: So what's the real story and no one tells it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I want the truth.
Speaker: I tell women that all the time when I'm dating.
Speaker: I was like, all that, trying to be classy and spiritual, I can see right through it.
Speaker: I want your dark side.
Speaker: Give me your dark side.
Speaker: Give me your pain.
Speaker: Give me when you feel like shit.
Speaker: Like seriously, because now I know who I'm dealing with.
Speaker: Because I did that for years.
Speaker: Oh, hey, you know.
Speaker: I'm full of it.
Speaker: I'm in pain.
Speaker: I'm suppressing my emotions.
Speaker: I'm afraid to open up and receive love because I got hurt when I was a kid.
Speaker: So I'm not letting you love me, but I'll love you.
Speaker: So then I fail.
Speaker: So being authentic, I think, is the most important thing in life.
Speaker: But this is what I took from this episode.
Speaker: You have to be authentic if you want anything to be what you desire to be.
Speaker: And you're going to go through shit.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: It's not going to be easy.
Speaker: I mean, dude, I'd say like...
Speaker: There's moments of fun with what I do.
Speaker: Moments.
Speaker: Everything else is a legitimate grind.
Speaker: I just enjoy the grind.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: People go, yeah, I don't give a fuck about the money.
Speaker: Yeah, well, that's because you don't have the option.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So it's easy to say you don't give a fuck when you're not really going to go out and fucking do it because you're too much of a pussy to do it.
Speaker: Yeah, you're lazy.
Speaker: You're talking it because you ain't living it.
Speaker: No, I want this money I'm working for anymore.
Speaker: So it's easy to say like on the gram, yeah, I don't give a fuck.
Speaker: I don't blah, blah.
Speaker: Yeah, well, just shut up.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: You're full of it.
Speaker: Just like those are the dudes that don't look in the mirror and really figure out who they really are.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Look, man, this has been an awesome episode.
Speaker: Is there anything you want to share?
Speaker: Anything that the listeners should know about from all your beer industry with your companies?
Speaker: Do you have Instagram accounts or social media platforms that we can follow and check out the products?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would love to try it.
Speaker: If you got something in the grocery store right now, I'll just go get some myself and just sip it.
Speaker: Yeah, Ashlyn and...
Speaker: Man, this is beautiful and you deserve everything you got coming in more, man.
Speaker: Just keep going, don't stop.
Speaker: And if anywhere I can be an asset or add value to your business or your life, I'm here, man.
Speaker: My passion is people.
Speaker: I study human psychology, I'm into all like...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's what you want.
Speaker: Yeah, like, oh, okay, oh, you were molested, oh, that's why you're like that.
Speaker: Cool, now I know.
Speaker: So those stories and those pain points, you know, from my perspective gives me more insight on like, I'm inspired by the mob and how they ran their operation.
Speaker: Like, you know, how did they do it?
Speaker: What was it about?
Speaker: What did you have to go through?
Speaker: And things like that and just real people, real things.
Speaker: I want the real.
Speaker: And so this was real as it get and
Speaker: Man, I just want to say thank you and this has been beautiful.
Speaker: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: It's really been a bigger talk conversation because this is probably one of the, by far one of my best because
Speaker: It's so raw.
Speaker: Like, I'm that way in spurts, but this has been like, you brought it today.
Speaker: Like, hey, man, yeah, check it out.
Speaker: And so let's continue to win.
Speaker: Let's continue to prosper in much love and abundance to your career, your health, your wife, your family.
Speaker: Just keep winning, man.
Speaker: Why not?
Speaker: You deserve it.
Speaker: I'm trying, man.
Speaker: I'm trying.
Speaker: You put in the work.
Speaker: So that's all.
Speaker: That's it, man.
Speaker: I don't want to take too much of your time.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Like I said, that's it.
Speaker: That's all.
Speaker: We're done.
Speaker: Man, you have a good one.
Speaker: I'll follow up with Nikki.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We be good.
Speaker: And I'll let you know the episode is live.
Speaker: Sounds good, brother.
Speaker: Let's talk soon.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Have a phenomenal day.
Speaker: Be safe.
Speaker: Peace.
Speaker: Love.
Speaker: All right, you too.
Speaker: My God.
