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00:00:00
00:00:01
Serial Entrepreneur Josh Landan
246 Plays4 years ago
Eric discusses with Josh what it takes to sell a beer brand for $100 million!
And they chat about what mentality and intangibles you need to have to be successful as an entrepreneur.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Josh Landon
00:00:00
Speaker
BiggerTalks, welcome to another BiggerTalks podcast episode.
00:00:04
Speaker
And I have a powerful serial entrepreneur, businessman, owner,
00:00:10
Speaker
powerful thinker, financial guru, Josh Landon.
00:00:16
Speaker
And let's not forget, he is in the craft beer business.
00:00:22
Speaker
I've done some research on this guy and this guy is pretty intense.
00:00:26
Speaker
He's very straightforward.
00:00:27
Speaker
He's very certain.
00:00:28
Speaker
And I found out he doesn't read books.
00:00:32
Speaker
But I read books, so I got to pick this man's brain.
00:00:37
Speaker
It's an honor to have him on here.
Entrepreneurial Ventures Overview
00:00:40
Speaker
He has two companies, Ashland, Hard Seltzer, right?
00:00:45
Speaker
And Villager Spirits.
00:00:48
Speaker
You also have a holding company, Wings and Arrows.
00:00:52
Speaker
And over his course of his time, he's raised $53 million.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yes, that's right.
00:00:57
Speaker
$53 million.
00:01:00
Speaker
and funding and capital.
00:01:01
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?
00:01:15
Speaker
Where did it come from?
00:01:16
Speaker
Who was your inspiration?
00:01:18
Speaker
Where were you born?
00:01:18
Speaker
And where did this belief in yourself start?
00:01:21
Speaker
At what age for you?
Early Life and Independence
00:01:26
Speaker
Well, I was born in Ventura.
00:01:27
Speaker
I was born and raised in Ventura, California.
00:01:29
Speaker
So for those who don't know, about 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara, Southern California here.
00:01:36
Speaker
I was an only child.
00:01:41
Speaker
My parents got divorced when I was young, like three, three, four.
00:01:48
Speaker
And I think there's a couple types of people that are, you know, the only children out there, right?
00:01:54
Speaker
That are, you kind of either go two ways when you're by yourself.
00:01:58
Speaker
Either you're spoiled and, you know, coddled and you're used to all the attention and all those types of things.
00:02:07
Speaker
Or...
00:02:08
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.
00:02:17
Speaker
Right.
00:02:18
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.
00:02:26
Speaker
Where I was, I was really independent and, um,
00:02:30
Speaker
kind of mature for my age, I think.
00:02:33
Speaker
Um, and I just had to figure stuff out for myself.
00:02:37
Speaker
And my mom was a, was obviously a, uh, you know, very positive influence, but it was a lot different
Influence of Family and Personal Motivation
00:02:45
Speaker
than me too.
00:02:45
Speaker
I was, I was a horrible student.
00:02:50
Speaker
I mean, I mean, I hated fucking school, man.
00:02:57
Speaker
My mom is an Ivy League graduate.
00:02:59
Speaker
She went to Penn and put herself through Penn.
00:03:04
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
00:03:12
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
00:03:39
Speaker
She would always tell me that she wasn't worried about me.
00:03:44
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.
00:03:56
Speaker
And I'm not really sure if that's like a learned, I've never had a mentor.
00:04:02
Speaker
I wouldn't say there's any one person that's really been a big influence on me.
00:04:09
Speaker
Your mom, for sure.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah, my mom, for sure, but not from a business perspective, right?
00:04:16
Speaker
I didn't have that.
00:04:18
Speaker
I just never had that.
00:04:20
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.
00:04:31
Speaker
I'm not sure, man.
00:04:33
Speaker
It's a gift.
00:04:33
Speaker
I think...
00:04:35
Speaker
You know, some people have an internal guiding system that's in them and it's not on them.
00:04:42
Speaker
And so they know when to move, they know how to delegate, they know how to speak to people.
00:04:46
Speaker
And you speaking on your mom, I'm inspired by your mom.
00:04:49
Speaker
You know, she put herself through school, she went to Ivy League, Penn.
00:04:53
Speaker
So she seems very ambitious, very focused, you know.
00:04:57
Speaker
What was your relationship like with your dad?
00:05:01
Speaker
Pretty much non-existent now.
00:05:03
Speaker
Got it.
00:05:04
Speaker
You know, he...
00:05:06
Speaker
My dad, I think a lot of the success that I've had is really rooted in the need for approval.
00:05:16
Speaker
And I think like the,
00:05:20
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
00:05:45
Speaker
And like, it's been a little extreme, but I think like that was probably the biggest motivator.
00:05:51
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.
00:05:58
Speaker
And I think no one's really that honest.
00:06:01
Speaker
Yeah, we go.
00:06:02
Speaker
Let's talk about it.
00:06:04
Speaker
No one's authentic.
00:06:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:08
Speaker
And to be honest, I really haven't done a whole lot of anything.
00:06:11
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.
00:06:20
Speaker
I had this love for this or that.
00:06:22
Speaker
For me, that would be all bullshit if I said that.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
And really, I just, yeah, that just wasn't there.
00:06:28
Speaker
That wasn't it for me.
00:06:29
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.
00:06:38
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.
00:06:44
Speaker
Like why?
00:06:45
Speaker
Like is something wrong with me?
00:06:47
Speaker
So I used that energy, like you said, from your dad, non-approval.
00:06:51
Speaker
to go figure me out.
00:06:53
Speaker
Who am I?
00:06:54
Speaker
Forget what I want.
00:06:55
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.
00:07:06
Speaker
Everyone is just full of fluff.
00:07:09
Speaker
It's like, come on, man.
00:07:11
Speaker
That's what I want to know because-
00:07:14
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.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:32
Speaker
When you mix those two things and that's not – you don't learn to be competitive, right?
00:07:39
Speaker
When I was a kid, I was insanely competitive, right?
00:07:43
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 –
00:07:51
Speaker
It was a I'm going until I win.
00:07:56
Speaker
And I don't think that was in a lot of ways.
00:07:58
Speaker
That's, you know, it's funny that that's like a celebrated thing.
00:08:02
Speaker
In a lot of ways, it's it's it's a very damaging personality.
00:08:08
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
00:08:25
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.
00:08:34
Speaker
They didn't have that challenge.
00:08:36
Speaker
They didn't have to be stoic, right?
00:08:38
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.
00:08:48
Speaker
Right?
00:08:48
Speaker
So you learn from these things and
00:08:51
Speaker
I wanted to piggyback off of you saying your mom believing in you.
00:08:54
Speaker
You didn't have any mentors.
00:08:56
Speaker
You didn't get any advice.
00:08:56
Speaker
You just kind of believe.
00:08:58
Speaker
And I think that's very, very important for the listeners to know.
00:09:01
Speaker
But there's a quote.
00:09:03
Speaker
It relates to school.
00:09:04
Speaker
Because I went to school, got good grades.
00:09:06
Speaker
I was all, you know, I love learning.
00:09:08
Speaker
I'm a nerd.
00:09:09
Speaker
And I realized once I graduated, it didn't mean anything.
00:09:11
Speaker
Right?
00:09:12
Speaker
So the quote goes, the A students work for the B students.
00:09:17
Speaker
The B students run the company that the C students own, but the D students own the land that the company is on.
00:09:25
Speaker
I say damn if that's not true.
00:09:31
Speaker
And, you know, they always say it's not how strong you are.
00:09:36
Speaker
It's not how smart you are.
00:09:37
Speaker
They usually are the people who are the most adaptable.
00:09:40
Speaker
Right.
00:09:41
Speaker
If you have adaptability, can you make decisions on the go?
00:09:45
Speaker
Are you confident in taking chances?
00:09:47
Speaker
And I think for you, just having that internal guidance and.
00:09:52
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
00:10:08
Speaker
You know, they said sometimes to get the blessing in life, you got to receive it in your spirit first, right?
00:10:13
Speaker
And then it happens.
00:10:14
Speaker
So from that to this, what was your intentions to get into the craft beer
Birth of St. Archer and Entrepreneurial Growth
00:10:20
Speaker
industry?
00:10:20
Speaker
Why alcohol?
00:10:21
Speaker
Like, what was that about?
00:10:23
Speaker
Like, how did that start?
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, so I was a filmmaker from 18 until 32.
00:10:30
Speaker
And then all the films for the brands, I've made them all through the years here.
00:10:36
Speaker
And I was on a surf trip.
00:10:41
Speaker
And a tequila for some of my friends that were on tour.
00:10:46
Speaker
a tequila brand approached them about investing in the company and being an ambassador for them and so on.
00:10:52
Speaker
And they were like, you know, what do you think?
00:10:54
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?
00:11:02
Speaker
I think everybody drinks beer, you know, whether you drink one a day or one every six months.
00:11:07
Speaker
It's, and then one of my buddies was from San Diego.
00:11:10
Speaker
I'm like, and you live in San Diego.
00:11:12
Speaker
That's like the craft beer capital of the United States.
00:11:15
Speaker
You've got to be able to find one that thinks, you know, they would want to partner with you.
00:11:20
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?
00:11:31
Speaker
Like, um,
00:11:32
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
00:11:52
Speaker
We could be, we could do something that's authentic and real from, from us that portrays our culture in the right way.
00:12:00
Speaker
And I think, um, I said, why, you know, why not?
00:12:05
Speaker
And in that moment was when I had the idea for St.
00:12:07
Speaker
Archer and I, I didn't know anybody in the beer business.
00:12:11
Speaker
I didn't know anything about beer.
00:12:14
Speaker
I didn't, um, I definitely never heard of a capital raise.
00:12:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:18
Speaker
I didn't know anything about, I wasn't a brewer.
00:12:20
Speaker
I'm not even like that big of a drinker.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:24
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.
00:12:39
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.
00:12:53
Speaker
with ultimately the folks that are in the films and then obviously the brand that we're putting out there.
00:12:59
Speaker
And it was really like, especially in skateboards,
00:13:04
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
00:13:25
Speaker
So I think like, that's what skateboarding does.
00:13:29
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.
00:13:37
Speaker
And, um, it was a different approach to, to have them own the business with me and, and be a part of it.
00:13:46
Speaker
And, and, um,
00:13:48
Speaker
And I just figured it out.
00:13:50
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.
00:14:05
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
00:14:33
Speaker
And it was kind of the come to Jesus dinner.
00:14:38
Speaker
And I said, okay, cool, I'll do it.
00:14:41
Speaker
And I went home and told my wife I'm quitting making movies.
00:14:44
Speaker
And my daughter was three and a half and our oldest son was six months old.
00:14:50
Speaker
And I said, we're moving to San Diego.
00:14:53
Speaker
She said, I'll find us a place to live.
00:14:55
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:14:57
Speaker
And that's the thing I think, what I took from that story that you,
00:15:01
Speaker
As you're speaking, I can tell you're in film.
00:15:02
Speaker
I'm picturing the meeting at downtown somewhere in LA.
00:15:06
Speaker
I'm picturing you talking to your wife in a movie setting, the way you were articulating it.
00:15:11
Speaker
So what I took from that is that you've learned how to leverage your relationships
00:15:17
Speaker
in tact with your experiences, right?
00:15:19
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?
00:15:27
Speaker
With some people who are very popular and who have access and success.
00:15:33
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?
00:15:45
Speaker
How did that coincide?
00:15:47
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.
00:15:54
Speaker
How did you do that from film to beer?
00:15:57
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.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
You know, you're kind of figuring everything out yourself, especially as an independent filmmaker.
00:16:12
Speaker
But, you know, when you start doing, you know, we had a we raised money.
00:16:17
Speaker
That was the start of kind of like just being.
00:16:20
Speaker
you know, totally out of the box, right?
00:16:22
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?
00:16:33
Speaker
But it's different when you're raising, you know, $3 million and going to everyday folks and asking them for money, right?
00:16:43
Speaker
And then leasing a $20,000
00:16:45
Speaker
thousand square foot building and buying millions of dollars worth of brewing equipment, right?
00:16:53
Speaker
Hiring people, firing people.
00:16:56
Speaker
I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, man.
00:16:58
Speaker
Straight the fuck up.
00:17:01
Speaker
I didn't know.
00:17:02
Speaker
I was not ready.
00:17:05
Speaker
I grew into being a business leader.
00:17:08
Speaker
I definitely was not one.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:13
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?
00:17:19
Speaker
Like it's, I think that's the question I get the most.
00:17:22
Speaker
Like, how did you do it?
00:17:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I think my thing is for you, like, what was your relationship with money coming up?
00:17:28
Speaker
Did you have a good relationship with money?
00:17:29
Speaker
Was it a bad relationship?
00:17:30
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?
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting.
00:17:39
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I never really thought a whole heck of a lot about it.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:44
Speaker
I always knew that I wanted to like do something on my own.
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:51
Speaker
I think everybody goes through those phases of like, we should do a t-shirt business, right?
00:17:56
Speaker
You know, everybody says shit like that, right?
00:17:59
Speaker
There you go.
00:18:00
Speaker
But I think like for me, it was more...
00:18:05
Speaker
I don't know.
00:18:06
Speaker
I guess I was just never afraid to jump in and give it a shot.
00:18:11
Speaker
And Janine, my wife, same way.
00:18:18
Speaker
We're willing to just kind of see what happens and roll the dice.
00:18:22
Speaker
And if it doesn't work out, then we'll figure something else out.
00:18:25
Speaker
But I think when going to raise money,
00:18:31
Speaker
I believed in what I was doing so much that it would be so great.
00:18:35
Speaker
I think because I would have been a fan of St.
00:18:38
Speaker
Archer, right?
00:18:39
Speaker
Like you, you would have gotten me.
00:18:41
Speaker
Right.
00:18:41
Speaker
So I, when I'm speaking about it, you know, I, I really wholeheartedly believed it.
00:18:47
Speaker
And I think to be honest, I didn't have a backup plan, you know, just think about it now.
00:18:52
Speaker
Like I'm talking to you.
00:18:54
Speaker
Right.
00:18:54
Speaker
Right.
00:18:54
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.
00:19:09
Speaker
Archer is gonna be successful
00:19:12
Speaker
There we go.
00:19:13
Speaker
A lot of people go, I mean, I got 25 grand.
00:19:17
Speaker
And this fucking dude has to pull this off.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:20
Speaker
You know, he's like, there's something to be said for that.
00:19:23
Speaker
Right.
00:19:25
Speaker
Do I think people should just quit their jobs and start asking everybody for money?
00:19:29
Speaker
No.
00:19:30
Speaker
But I think the prerequisite to having people take you seriously is when you're in the deep end.
00:19:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:39
Speaker
It's almost disrespectful to not be in the deep end and asking somebody for something.
00:19:45
Speaker
And I think also, too, I always like to correlate that to your mentality.
00:19:50
Speaker
You didn't have a scarcity mindset.
00:19:51
Speaker
You wasn't in fear.
00:19:53
Speaker
You might have felt fear, but you wasn't letting fear stop you from asking what you needed or making this shit work.
00:20:01
Speaker
And so I think as individuals, we always want to know all the answers before we make the decision.
00:20:07
Speaker
We want to be comfortable.
00:20:08
Speaker
We want to protect ourselves.
00:20:09
Speaker
You're like, man, fuck.
00:20:10
Speaker
that.
00:20:10
Speaker
I'm jumping in.
00:20:12
Speaker
You guys want to stay?
00:20:14
Speaker
I'm getting in the pool with the sharks.
00:20:16
Speaker
I'm trying to eat some real food.
00:20:19
Speaker
And I think that fearlessness and that faith and that confidence, why wouldn't I want to work for you?
00:20:24
Speaker
Why wouldn't I want to drink your beer?
00:20:27
Speaker
Why wouldn't I?
00:20:28
Speaker
When things fail, I realize it comes from the top.
00:20:31
Speaker
It's not from the bottom.
00:20:31
Speaker
It's from the top down, not the bottom up.
00:20:34
Speaker
So if the master or the owner is not convinced that he has the best beer, why should I be convinced?
00:20:42
Speaker
You have no chance.
00:20:43
Speaker
You have no chance.
00:20:44
Speaker
I'm thinking like, damn, this guy should have a mentor school or something in charge.
00:20:49
Speaker
$5,000 a month for people to come and listen to you talk.
00:20:52
Speaker
Membership.
00:20:52
Speaker
You know, like, why not?
00:20:54
Speaker
Because I'm looking like, forget the material.
00:20:57
Speaker
I'm talking about this.
00:20:59
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?
00:21:07
Speaker
Forget the monetary.
00:21:10
Speaker
How do you even get in the position?
00:21:12
Speaker
Forget the money.
00:21:13
Speaker
How do you get there?
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:15
Speaker
You know, what's the intangible stuff?
00:21:17
Speaker
What rules did you break?
00:21:20
Speaker
What did you shift?
00:21:21
Speaker
What paradigm shifts did you have?
00:21:23
Speaker
Who did you piss off?
00:21:24
Speaker
Right.
00:21:24
Speaker
Because I think as a as a young man, you know, I was always got to follow the rules.
00:21:29
Speaker
I got to do it right.
00:21:30
Speaker
I got to do this.
00:21:31
Speaker
And it's like you start learning.
00:21:32
Speaker
You got to break some rules, my friend, if you really want to go big and go large, not in a bad way.
00:21:39
Speaker
But you know what I mean?
00:21:40
Speaker
You sound like Jonah Hill in the movie right now.
00:22:06
Speaker
And I've told, I mean, I've had multiple people.
00:22:09
Speaker
I get business plans all the time, right?
00:22:11
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?
00:22:18
Speaker
Like for real?
00:22:20
Speaker
You know, when you're.
00:22:22
Speaker
No, hold on.
00:22:23
Speaker
Hold on.
00:22:23
Speaker
I don't want to cut you off, Josh.
00:22:25
Speaker
That statement, you should tag that.
00:22:28
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no.
00:22:30
Speaker
Seriously.
00:22:30
Speaker
Like, no, no, no.
00:22:32
Speaker
Are you willing to win at all costs?
00:22:35
Speaker
Like, really?
00:22:35
Speaker
Question mark.
00:22:36
Speaker
That should be on the show.
00:22:37
Speaker
I'm going to give you a story.
00:22:39
Speaker
And I actually, I never tell this story.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:43
Speaker
Right?
00:22:43
Speaker
I never, I actually, I've never.
00:22:49
Speaker
And this one says it all.
00:22:51
Speaker
This like, this says it all.
00:22:52
Speaker
And, and like, if you, whoever's listening, if you say to yourself, I would absolutely fucking do that.
00:22:59
Speaker
Well, then you got something.
00:23:01
Speaker
So when I started St.
00:23:02
Speaker
Archer, I had the brand book and I'd never raised capital before.
00:23:08
Speaker
And I, I had gotten through a couple of meetings and people were like,
00:23:15
Speaker
You know, like, I don't, I don't see it.
00:23:18
Speaker
Um, and then I got like into a handful of meetings and I'm getting shut down.
00:23:21
Speaker
And then, and then one guy goes, I love it.
00:23:26
Speaker
I just need to taste it.
00:23:29
Speaker
Hold up.
00:23:29
Speaker
Hold up.
00:23:30
Speaker
Something just came through.
00:23:32
Speaker
Something just came through to my spirit.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's something about when you speak, like seriously.
00:23:37
Speaker
And the fact that you said that, I felt this five minutes ago when you were speaking about your company.
00:23:42
Speaker
I was like, I want to taste the beer, but I don't know why.
00:23:46
Speaker
I'm like, I don't want any drinks.
00:23:48
Speaker
And I said, taste it.
00:23:50
Speaker
Well, fuck.
00:23:52
Speaker
That's right.
00:23:52
Speaker
It's beer.
00:23:53
Speaker
You probably want to drink it.
00:23:55
Speaker
God damn it.
00:23:56
Speaker
How did I not think of that?
00:23:58
Speaker
And I, and so I'm like, well, I guess I'm fucked then.
00:24:02
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.
00:24:09
Speaker
I don't have any beer.
00:24:10
Speaker
I'm not a brewer.
00:24:11
Speaker
So I'm not going to make you that shit in my bathtub.
00:24:14
Speaker
So like I don't – I guess like that's a fucking wrap.
00:24:20
Speaker
And I'm at the grocery store.
00:24:23
Speaker
I'm at Trader Joe's.
00:24:26
Speaker
And going down the aisle and I get to the beer and I – it was on sale or it was like $5.99.
00:24:33
Speaker
It was cheap.
00:24:34
Speaker
I buy the Trader Joe's private label beer.
00:24:38
Speaker
Right?
00:24:40
Speaker
They had an IPA, they had a blonde ale and a pale ale.
00:24:44
Speaker
The three styles I just happened to be thinking about making as St.
00:24:48
Speaker
Archer to launch the business.
00:24:51
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.
00:25:05
Speaker
And I go...
00:25:07
Speaker
Wait, the labels just, I don't know why I never, the paper label just comes off?
00:25:14
Speaker
I mean, I guess I could just, I mean, how the fuck would anybody ever know that wasn't my shit?
00:25:21
Speaker
Wow.
00:25:23
Speaker
And I peeled the labels off.
00:25:24
Speaker
I raised $3 million on fucking Trader Joe's private label beer.
00:25:28
Speaker
That shit wasn't even St.
00:25:29
Speaker
R.
00:25:31
Speaker
That's what I'm talking about.
00:25:33
Speaker
So smart, man.
00:25:34
Speaker
That's how you think.
00:25:36
Speaker
Damn.
00:25:37
Speaker
I mean, that's toeing the line, right?
00:25:41
Speaker
When is the movie coming out?
00:25:43
Speaker
When is the movie coming out, man?
00:25:45
Speaker
You know, St.
00:25:46
Speaker
Archer investors don't even... Now they'd obviously like said that people love that, right?
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
But it's telling the line of like, you're lying to folks.
00:25:56
Speaker
But you know, it was what you know, what was interesting was because I'm like going fuck.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, this is ours.
00:26:02
Speaker
I had this ball by this whole story.
00:26:03
Speaker
Total fucking bullshit.
00:26:06
Speaker
But I was like, I will toe the line.
00:26:10
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.
00:26:21
Speaker
And like I lived that statement and I think people, that's an uncomfortable place to be.
00:26:27
Speaker
Like, would you really do that?
00:26:29
Speaker
Like, would you really do that?
00:26:30
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.
00:26:39
Speaker
And I tell you this whole story about St.
00:26:41
Speaker
Archer and what I'm going to do.
00:26:42
Speaker
And you see the beautiful brand and all my friends that are involved in it.
00:26:47
Speaker
then I hand you the beer and you look at it and go, this is the best fucking IPA you ever had.
00:26:52
Speaker
And I'm like, you just drink a private label.
00:26:55
Speaker
But it's all in here.
00:26:59
Speaker
Right.
00:27:00
Speaker
And that's the power of like being a good storyteller and having people believe in your authentic vision, believe in you.
00:27:08
Speaker
Right.
00:27:08
Speaker
You know, like, and that's the power of that.
00:27:11
Speaker
It's,
00:27:12
Speaker
Man, listen.
00:27:13
Speaker
Man, listen.
00:27:14
Speaker
Damn.
00:27:14
Speaker
You just healed and helped me in so many ways.
00:27:16
Speaker
You don't even understand.
00:27:17
Speaker
I'm waiting for the book and the movie to come out.
00:27:32
Speaker
Because you just said it.
00:27:34
Speaker
It's not the story.
00:27:35
Speaker
It's the person who's telling the story.
00:27:38
Speaker
The product is secondary.
00:27:40
Speaker
When I should sell shoes, it wasn't the shoe I was selling.
00:27:44
Speaker
It was who was wearing it.
00:27:45
Speaker
I always say, it ain't the shoe.
00:27:46
Speaker
It's how you feel in it.
00:27:48
Speaker
How do you feel?
00:27:49
Speaker
You feel good?
00:27:49
Speaker
You should buy it.
00:27:51
Speaker
It ain't about how it looks.
00:27:52
Speaker
It's how it feels.
00:27:53
Speaker
And that's just what I've been learning these last few weeks, having these big discussions with people about tons of money,
00:28:01
Speaker
It's all, I can't say it's a finesse, but I understand, I get it.
00:28:05
Speaker
I respect it.
00:28:07
Speaker
And you look at life.
00:28:08
Speaker
Life is a big story.
00:28:11
Speaker
We create a headline.
00:28:13
Speaker
We get you to bite.
00:28:15
Speaker
So I'm going to buy it.
00:28:17
Speaker
So that is, wow, that's just shifting my whole paradigm right there about business.
00:28:24
Speaker
You know, so you have that story, which is phenomenal.
00:28:28
Speaker
I like, I need a movie.
00:28:29
Speaker
Can you get Jonah Hill to play you?
00:28:30
Speaker
Like, I need the movie, bro.
00:28:31
Speaker
Like, you need some funding.
00:28:33
Speaker
I got somebody at the bank that can help.
00:28:34
Speaker
Like, this is a...
00:28:37
Speaker
Brad Pitt that jump in is your boy.
00:28:39
Speaker
Let's try and get those guys.
00:28:41
Speaker
I'm serious because I'm so... You have that part.
00:28:46
Speaker
Take me from that's done.
00:28:48
Speaker
You get the investors.
00:28:49
Speaker
Now, what's next?
00:28:50
Speaker
You still have to build out the belief you sold to everybody.
00:28:55
Speaker
How does the next... Was it nine years?
00:28:57
Speaker
How long did it take you to get to that place where you sold it for 100 million?
00:29:01
Speaker
Two years.
00:29:05
Speaker
What was that process like?
00:29:07
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.
00:29:16
Speaker
And I think if – I've hired the best of the best.
00:29:23
Speaker
And I think that that's, you know, today, do you have the ability to do that?
00:29:27
Speaker
Right.
00:29:28
Speaker
And that's just comes down to your personality.
00:29:30
Speaker
Do people believe in you and want to follow your lead and believe in what you're going to do?
00:29:36
Speaker
And, um, I have that.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:40
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.
00:29:49
Speaker
that I'm going down, you know?
00:29:53
Speaker
And, you know, I raised $10 million to kind of keep the business going.
00:29:56
Speaker
Right away it took off.
00:29:58
Speaker
The beer did well right away.
00:30:00
Speaker
And we knew we had something special.
00:30:04
Speaker
You know, we...
00:30:06
Speaker
We raised 10 mil and then I needed another 10 million to kind of expand outside of California.
00:30:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:14
Speaker
And we had a couple of businesses that were acquiring other companies.
00:30:19
Speaker
And I signed with an investment banking firm from L.A.
00:30:22
Speaker
to help me raise the additional 10.
00:30:26
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.
00:30:32
Speaker
And I'm like, I mean, our brand's performing better than those.
00:30:37
Speaker
Maybe there's an opportunity to exit the business and finally partner with someone that could take this brand national.
Acquisition and Business Insights
00:30:45
Speaker
And, you know, we started, we put it out there to five different companies.
00:30:50
Speaker
It was Anheuser-Busch,
00:30:53
Speaker
Miller Coors at the time, Pabst, New Belgium, and somebody else, who I can't remember now, and Boston Beer, Sam Adams.
00:31:04
Speaker
And it was down to Miller Coors and Anheuser-Busch, and I was comfortable in those negotiations with those two businesses.
00:31:13
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:31:14
Speaker
It just went crazy.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah, I wound up hiring three of the most famous brewers in the country.
00:31:32
Speaker
Got it.
00:31:58
Speaker
as fucking lights out.
00:32:00
Speaker
Lights out, yeah.
00:32:00
Speaker
So you're willing to throw the money into it and make it work.
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah, so I got really into that.
00:32:05
Speaker
I really wanted to have the highest quality beer and it got better as time went on.
00:32:10
Speaker
We won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.
00:32:14
Speaker
So it was, as we went along with beer, a beer got really, really good.
00:32:19
Speaker
Wow.
00:32:20
Speaker
And that's the thing because you said two years, you guys won awards.
00:32:26
Speaker
And then, so you went from that, let's transition into like, okay, you sold the company at this point, right?
00:32:32
Speaker
What was the next, just to build more companies or better beer?
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:36
Speaker
Better, like, what was the intention?
00:32:39
Speaker
I stayed at Coors for 18 months.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:42
Speaker
And it just wasn't for me.
00:32:44
Speaker
So you were working at Coors, at Whiff Coors?
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:48
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that.
00:32:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:50
Speaker
So that's the connection.
00:32:50
Speaker
My plan was to stay there forever and build St.
00:32:54
Speaker
Archer and make it the national brand that it was built to be.
00:33:02
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.
00:33:08
Speaker
It just would have been...
00:33:09
Speaker
tens of millions of dollars.
00:33:11
Speaker
And that really wasn't in the cards for me.
00:33:13
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.
00:33:20
Speaker
I think when you have that kind of financial event, it really teaches you a lot about who you are.
00:33:28
Speaker
And in my opinion, there's three types of folks.
00:33:31
Speaker
There's an employee, there's a business owner, and then there's an entrepreneur.
00:33:36
Speaker
And neither of them are, you know, it's not good or bad or right or wrong.
00:33:40
Speaker
It's just, who are you?
00:33:42
Speaker
Right.
00:33:42
Speaker
I think you can go.
00:33:46
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
00:34:09
Speaker
You know, they just did it.
00:34:12
Speaker
So when you was with Coors, when you were working with them, was that a partnership with your brand that they bought into?
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they bought the company and I was an employee.
00:34:22
Speaker
Got it.
00:34:22
Speaker
So when they bought the company, you still was working there?
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:25
Speaker
To kind of help it grow?
00:34:27
Speaker
Yep.
00:34:28
Speaker
Got it.
00:34:29
Speaker
And was frustrated because, like I said, they didn't want to win as bad as I did.
00:34:34
Speaker
Ah, so you just said, the heck with it, you guys can have it, I'll go do something else.
00:34:39
Speaker
Yeah, and a lot of people thought I was nuts, right?
00:34:42
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.
00:34:49
Speaker
I could have just been like, and I was like, fuck that.
00:34:53
Speaker
I'm down to go back to square one and compete all over again.
00:34:58
Speaker
And that's really what it is for me, is my desire to compete
00:35:03
Speaker
And try and have the small guy compete with the big guys.
00:35:08
Speaker
It's really like an addiction.
00:35:12
Speaker
I'm addicted to building businesses and competing with the best of them.
00:35:17
Speaker
Rob Markman, And can you elaborate on a difference between business owner and entrepreneur?
00:35:23
Speaker
Because I was telling a family member, I was like, man, you're really an entrepreneur.
00:35:27
Speaker
I might own a company with a name, but I don't have that.
00:35:31
Speaker
You're paying employees, you got payroll, that's a different type of mindset.
00:35:35
Speaker
So can you elaborate on that?
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I think a business owner – you have like my best friend has owned a hair salon for 30 years, right?
00:35:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:46
Speaker
And that's a business owner.
00:35:48
Speaker
You have your one trade or your one kind of passion and it doesn't really go beyond that.
00:35:54
Speaker
And generally what you're – like his passion was cutting hair.
00:36:00
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
00:36:28
Speaker
building and really disrupting.
00:36:31
Speaker
Do you have that where you want to piss people off?
00:36:36
Speaker
That's like the vibe.
00:36:40
Speaker
And I think a lot of people just go, yeah, you know what?
00:36:42
Speaker
I'm totally good owning this restaurant and bar for the next 40 years.
00:36:48
Speaker
My kids are going to work here and that's what I'm going to do.
00:36:52
Speaker
Right, right.
00:36:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's important because I think in these times, especially the millennials, we get caught up in terms and language and lingo.
00:37:01
Speaker
Oh, I'm an entrepreneur.
00:37:02
Speaker
Oh, I'm an influencer.
00:37:03
Speaker
Oh, I'm a trainer.
00:37:04
Speaker
Oh, I'm a financial advisor.
00:37:05
Speaker
Oh, I'm an investor.
00:37:06
Speaker
Like, okay, what does that mean?
00:37:07
Speaker
Who are you?
00:37:08
Speaker
What does that mean?
00:37:09
Speaker
You take that... There's a thing where you ask someone a question and say, uh...
00:37:13
Speaker
Who are you?
00:37:14
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.
00:37:21
Speaker
So then you take that away from you.
00:37:23
Speaker
Who are you?
00:37:25
Speaker
God forbid a family member or a child dies or you lose your job.
00:37:29
Speaker
Who are you?
00:37:30
Speaker
And I think we're not designed or programmed to discover who we really are.
00:37:35
Speaker
So we attach our identity to our profession, but what we do is not who we are.
00:37:42
Speaker
Michael Jordan, a basketball player, is not Michael Jordan, the person.
00:37:45
Speaker
It's two different entities.
00:37:47
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.
00:37:57
Speaker
What's next?
00:37:58
Speaker
So then you started the Hard Seltzer Company, Villager Spirits.
00:38:04
Speaker
Can you kind of elaborate on what those intentions of those companies and what they're all about?
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think I just got to a point.
00:38:12
Speaker
I started a couple more businesses in there that I just co-founded but left.
00:38:18
Speaker
And there's other folks that run them.
00:38:20
Speaker
And then I just wanted to have, you know, all the brands that I create.
00:38:23
Speaker
The alcohol business for me is just conducive to my personality.
00:38:28
Speaker
You know, you can...
00:38:30
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.
00:38:37
Speaker
Right.
00:38:37
Speaker
Whereas non-alcoholic beverages or food, or it's just not that way.
00:38:43
Speaker
Right.
00:38:43
Speaker
You have to go through the corporate channels and, and it's a different, it's a different type of business.
00:38:48
Speaker
So I, I had, I wanted to go into the beyond
Success of Ashland Hard Seltzer
00:38:52
Speaker
beer.
00:38:52
Speaker
I thought that's
00:39:00
Speaker
finally hit alcohol.
00:39:01
Speaker
You know, people want to, they want to be irresponsible and get fucked up and feel good about it the next day, right?
00:39:08
Speaker
They don't want to feel like shit.
00:39:09
Speaker
But they still want to have fun, right?
00:39:11
Speaker
They still want to have fun.
00:39:13
Speaker
So I think I kind of like saw white
00:39:19
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
00:39:45
Speaker
Because everybody's home.
00:39:46
Speaker
And they're like, what are we going to do?
00:39:48
Speaker
Let's drink.
00:39:49
Speaker
Everyone's home drinking at 10 a.m.
00:39:52
Speaker
and bragging about it on the gram.
00:39:54
Speaker
Right.
00:39:55
Speaker
On the gram.
00:39:55
Speaker
I love it.
00:39:56
Speaker
It was just like,
00:40:00
Speaker
And the businesses just kept going.
00:40:02
Speaker
And then canned cocktails, you know, Villager Spirits was originally, Villager was a coconut water.
00:40:10
Speaker
And that business kind of ran its course.
00:40:11
Speaker
And then through COVID, a lot of the investors were having a lot of financial issues.
00:40:16
Speaker
And instead of saying, we're done and we lost, I said, fuck that.
00:40:23
Speaker
I'm going to turn it into a canned cocktail.
00:40:25
Speaker
We're going to start from scratch and I'm going to fucking hit a home run.
00:40:28
Speaker
Damn, lovely.
00:40:32
Speaker
All of the investors that were a part of Villager Coconut Water I brought into Villager Spirits.
00:40:39
Speaker
And it's the first two months and it's killing it, man.
00:40:42
Speaker
Man, I got it.
00:40:43
Speaker
Like, where can we get these products?
00:40:44
Speaker
I mean, Trader Joe's, Rouse, Erwan, like, Safeway.
00:40:51
Speaker
Rouse, Rouse, Vons, Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, everywhere, man.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
And now we have a hard lemonade business coming out in May.
00:41:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:41:02
Speaker
And then, you know, we have another.
00:41:04
Speaker
I got one more up my sleeve.
00:41:06
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
00:41:32
Speaker
I love kombucha, man.
00:41:33
Speaker
It's my favorite.
00:41:33
Speaker
Make a kombucha, man.
00:41:35
Speaker
I want to promote it.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah, who doesn't love it?
00:41:39
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.
00:41:47
Speaker
And people don't care about how much you know till they know how much you care.
00:41:51
Speaker
Right?
00:41:51
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.
00:41:58
Speaker
I don't even drink this shit.
00:42:00
Speaker
And it's like, that's a true testament of believing in something more than anything you make others believe.
00:42:07
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.
00:42:19
Speaker
I don't.
00:42:20
Speaker
Not the way you are designed.
00:42:22
Speaker
You know, you're like a complex puzzle piece.
00:42:25
Speaker
Like, bro, how did you get all these pieces together?
00:42:28
Speaker
Right?
00:42:29
Speaker
And I think it's time for the world to wake up
00:42:34
Speaker
And give the true people, the true warriors, their acknowledgement.
00:42:38
Speaker
They say, if I got it, then I got it.
00:42:39
Speaker
Then just give me some acknowledgement.
00:42:41
Speaker
And not for prestige or praise.
00:42:43
Speaker
Just so these are the people we should be reading in school books.
00:42:47
Speaker
These are the people we should be taking entrepreneurship classes from.
00:42:51
Speaker
No disrespect to the teachers, but you understand what I'm saying?
00:42:54
Speaker
Like you're in it.
00:42:55
Speaker
Completely, yes.
00:42:57
Speaker
You're in it.
00:42:57
Speaker
You're in the flesh.
00:42:58
Speaker
You're on the field.
00:42:59
Speaker
So why wouldn't I want to learn from you?
00:43:02
Speaker
agree more, yep.
00:43:03
Speaker
And this is what Bigger Talks is about.
00:43:05
Speaker
It's like, forget all the good stuff and it's cool.
00:43:08
Speaker
Nah, fuck that, man.
00:43:09
Speaker
This man had pain since he was a young boy.
00:43:11
Speaker
Dad not being around.
00:43:12
Speaker
He got to prove himself.
00:43:14
Speaker
You know?
00:43:14
Speaker
He had an idea that he ran with and it got him funding to take his business off.
00:43:19
Speaker
You not hearing what this man is saying?
00:43:21
Speaker
People listening?
00:43:22
Speaker
I need a movie.
00:43:23
Speaker
Can we get a movie?
00:43:24
Speaker
I want the movie.
00:43:25
Speaker
Please.
00:43:28
Speaker
Five years.
00:43:28
Speaker
Come on, bring it together.
00:43:29
Speaker
But what I'm saying is that
00:43:32
Speaker
It's not the characters involved.
00:43:34
Speaker
It's the story play out.
00:43:36
Speaker
People got to see it.
00:43:38
Speaker
These are the movies and stories that I'm compelled to.
00:43:41
Speaker
What's the movie with Roman J. Israel with Denzel Washington?
00:43:46
Speaker
He was an autism lawyer.
00:43:48
Speaker
I love all his movies.
00:43:49
Speaker
Equalizer.
00:43:50
Speaker
Anything Southpaw, comeback stories.
00:43:52
Speaker
Like, fuck, man.
00:43:54
Speaker
21 Bridges.
00:43:55
Speaker
I love that.
00:43:56
Speaker
Because it wasn't handed to you, Josh.
00:43:59
Speaker
You made it happen.
00:44:01
Speaker
So I just want to say thank you for just being here.
00:44:05
Speaker
We're not just finished yet.
00:44:06
Speaker
I just have a few more questions.
00:44:08
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.
00:44:18
Speaker
Right?
00:44:19
Speaker
You know this Nike check, but you don't know the guy behind Nike.
00:44:24
Speaker
Instead of the guy on camera, who's the guy behind the camera?
00:44:27
Speaker
Who's the guy holding the lights?
00:44:30
Speaker
We need to acknowledge these people because without that, things are not happening.
00:44:35
Speaker
And so as of now, for all your businesses, what is the focus and what is the attention going forward?
00:44:42
Speaker
Is it more marketing, brand awareness?
00:44:44
Speaker
Is it more capital or money?
00:44:47
Speaker
What is the focus moving forward?
00:44:49
Speaker
What's working and what's not working, you think?
00:44:51
Speaker
Or what's your challenges?
00:44:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the challenges are getting pretty limited these days, right?
00:44:59
Speaker
We know how to win in the alcohol space.
00:45:02
Speaker
We know how to put brands in the market.
00:45:04
Speaker
And I think we, you know, for now, we know how to create brands that people actually give a shit about.
00:45:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:10
Speaker
Which I think is really, that's the hardest thing, right?
00:45:13
Speaker
Like I let go of, you know, I try and build a perfect business, right?
00:45:18
Speaker
And then I can let it go at the shelf because I can't really control whether people buy it or not.
00:45:25
Speaker
But what is on me is to create the best business possible and give us every chance to win.
00:45:32
Speaker
Right.
00:45:32
Speaker
And that could be perfecting our supply chain.
00:45:35
Speaker
And marketing has always been just me.
00:45:38
Speaker
OK.
00:45:39
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.
00:45:51
Speaker
That's, that's really the whole business, you know, and we've gotten that pretty down then.
00:45:56
Speaker
We know what we're doing.
00:45:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:58
Speaker
And I think that's the.
00:46:00
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?
00:46:11
Speaker
Or are you the type of person who eventually wants to be an investor of business?
00:46:16
Speaker
Business where you invest your capital like how did you see your future in 10 years from now?
00:46:20
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
00:46:36
Speaker
you know, raise $200 million.
00:46:38
Speaker
Like I don't, I don't have any desire for that.
00:46:41
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.
00:46:48
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.
00:47:04
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:47:19
Speaker
Hands on.
00:47:20
Speaker
To be honest, man, I don't know what I'll do.
00:47:24
Speaker
I don't think I'll stop working.
00:47:27
Speaker
I love sports.
00:47:28
Speaker
I love making films.
00:47:31
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.
00:47:39
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:47:39
Speaker
I'm like, where the fuck were all you guys like 10 years ago?
00:47:42
Speaker
Right, right, right.
00:47:43
Speaker
And that's what they say.
00:47:45
Speaker
You build it, they'll come.
00:47:46
Speaker
You build it and they'll come.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:51
Speaker
the film.
00:47:51
Speaker
I see it.
00:47:52
Speaker
I feel it, Josh.
00:47:53
Speaker
Listen, Josh, I'm a very intuitive guy.
00:47:55
Speaker
I'm a Pisces.
00:47:56
Speaker
I'm sensitive.
00:47:57
Speaker
I'm emotional.
00:47:58
Speaker
I feel things.
00:47:59
Speaker
I want to watch your movie on... And it don't have to be your name.
00:48:02
Speaker
It could just be some character, but it needs to be your energy in it because...
00:48:08
Speaker
I'm inspired.
00:48:09
Speaker
I'm inspired.
00:48:10
Speaker
You just gave me so much faith on what I know.
00:48:13
Speaker
But sometimes the universe brings people and things to kind of like, yeah, this is what you need to do.
00:48:17
Speaker
Definitely, man.
00:48:19
Speaker
So stop trying to be this person.
00:48:21
Speaker
Be that person if you want to get to that place.
00:48:24
Speaker
I just think...
00:48:27
Speaker
Man, I'm so happy, man.
00:48:28
Speaker
So my question is, what makes you happy?
00:48:31
Speaker
We talked about business, we talked about taking chances and believing in yourself.
00:48:34
Speaker
What makes Josh, at the end of the day, happy the most?
00:48:40
Speaker
You know, man, I think being as authentic to myself as possible.
00:48:52
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,
Reflections on Success and Fulfillment
00:49:08
Speaker
right?
00:49:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:09
Speaker
And I was crazy because I didn't feel anything, like nothing.
00:49:13
Speaker
Right.
00:49:14
Speaker
And, um,
00:49:15
Speaker
I didn't feel like there was no, I think it's important to be proud of yourself.
00:49:20
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.
00:49:33
Speaker
Like I, I had self approval.
00:49:36
Speaker
And that was a big deal for me.
00:49:38
Speaker
And the funny thing is, is it came.
00:49:43
Speaker
Go Eagles.
00:49:44
Speaker
Go Sixers.
00:49:45
Speaker
You fucking A, go Birds.
00:49:49
Speaker
And so I, one of the investors, so with my mom, we would always go back to Philly, right?
00:49:56
Speaker
And if I was lucky enough, I'd go to an Eagles game or a Sixers game or Phillies.
00:50:01
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
00:50:31
Speaker
Like, I fucking did it.
00:50:32
Speaker
I did it.
00:50:33
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.
00:50:43
Speaker
Like, fuck where you live.
00:50:45
Speaker
Fuck all the other bullshit.
00:50:47
Speaker
Like, you did it, man.
00:50:49
Speaker
And it's funny, that was it.
00:50:52
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.
00:50:59
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.
00:51:06
Speaker
I want to hug him.
00:51:07
Speaker
Like, bro, daddy wasn't around.
00:51:09
Speaker
You did it, man.
00:51:10
Speaker
You did it.
00:51:11
Speaker
And I think that was a challenge in my life.
00:51:14
Speaker
It was hard for me to say I did it.
00:51:17
Speaker
That I kept trying to put everything on everyone else.
00:51:20
Speaker
And I got to a point where I said, I'm proud of me.
00:51:23
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:51:24
Speaker
Society doesn't celebrate that vulnerability and sensitivity, right?
00:51:30
Speaker
For some reason, they celebrate the hard charging fucking asshole who
00:51:42
Speaker
That's not even, that's like what a horrible, like sad and cold life that is.
00:51:49
Speaker
And like, I, I wanted no part of that.
00:51:52
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.
00:52:04
Speaker
And, and, um, it's been tough, man.
00:52:07
Speaker
It's been tough.
00:52:08
Speaker
It's been a long road.
00:52:09
Speaker
It's been a long road.
00:52:10
Speaker
My wife and I, we've been together since we were 15.
00:52:12
Speaker
What?
00:52:13
Speaker
You know?
00:52:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:14
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:52:15
Speaker
I love her and I don't even know her because she's a glue to the thing.
00:52:20
Speaker
She's a glue.
00:52:20
Speaker
She's been through.
00:52:21
Speaker
She's like, she's been through it all, man.
00:52:24
Speaker
15, bro?
00:52:25
Speaker
She's been through it all.
00:52:26
Speaker
15?
00:52:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:27
Speaker
And we're both 42 now.
00:52:29
Speaker
Man, congratulations, man.
00:52:31
Speaker
Can we have an anniversary?
00:52:32
Speaker
Can we do a soundtrack to your longevity?
00:52:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, can we have some hard seltzer?
00:52:40
Speaker
Like, come on, we got some St.
00:52:41
Speaker
Archer back in there?
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, but it's been a long road, man.
00:52:46
Speaker
Hey, man, congratulations.
00:52:47
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.
00:52:57
Speaker
And it's not even about the money.
00:52:58
Speaker
It's about you doing what you love to do and believing in yourself.
00:53:03
Speaker
That's it, man.
00:53:03
Speaker
You know, because the money's going to come.
00:53:04
Speaker
It's all about how you feel.
00:53:06
Speaker
Yeah, and it's harder to get there than people make it out to be.
00:53:09
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.
00:53:16
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.
00:53:26
Speaker
I do read a lot just not business related books.
00:53:29
Speaker
But like Bob Iger's book, the former CEO of
00:53:32
Speaker
Yeah, I love that guy.
00:53:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:52
Speaker
Right?
00:53:53
Speaker
And it's not that perfect.
00:53:54
Speaker
So what's the real story and no one tells it?
00:53:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:58
Speaker
I want the truth.
00:53:58
Speaker
I tell women that all the time when I'm dating.
00:54:00
Speaker
I was like, all that, trying to be classy and spiritual, I can see right through it.
00:54:04
Speaker
I want your dark side.
00:54:06
Speaker
Give me your dark side.
00:54:07
Speaker
Give me your pain.
00:54:08
Speaker
Give me when you feel like shit.
00:54:09
Speaker
Like seriously, because now I know who I'm dealing with.
00:54:13
Speaker
Because I did that for years.
00:54:14
Speaker
Oh, hey, you know.
00:54:15
Speaker
I'm full of it.
00:54:16
Speaker
I'm in pain.
00:54:17
Speaker
I'm suppressing my emotions.
00:54:18
Speaker
I'm afraid to open up and receive love because I got hurt when I was a kid.
00:54:22
Speaker
So I'm not letting you love me, but I'll love you.
00:54:24
Speaker
So then I fail.
00:54:26
Speaker
So being authentic, I think, is the most important thing in life.
00:54:30
Speaker
But this is what I took from this episode.
00:54:33
Speaker
You have to be authentic if you want anything to be what you desire to be.
00:54:37
Speaker
And you're going to go through shit.
00:54:39
Speaker
You know?
00:54:40
Speaker
It's not going to be easy.
00:54:41
Speaker
I mean, dude, I'd say like...
00:54:44
Speaker
There's moments of fun with what I do.
00:54:48
Speaker
Moments.
00:54:49
Speaker
Everything else is a legitimate grind.
00:54:53
Speaker
I just enjoy the grind.
00:54:55
Speaker
There you go.
00:54:56
Speaker
People go, yeah, I don't give a fuck about the money.
00:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's because you don't have the option.
00:55:05
Speaker
Right.
00:55:06
Speaker
Right.
00:55:07
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.
00:55:14
Speaker
Yeah, you're lazy.
00:55:15
Speaker
You're talking it because you ain't living it.
00:55:17
Speaker
No, I want this money I'm working for anymore.
00:55:19
Speaker
So it's easy to say like on the gram, yeah, I don't give a fuck.
00:55:22
Speaker
I don't blah, blah.
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah, well, just shut up.
00:55:26
Speaker
Right, right.
00:55:27
Speaker
You're full of it.
00:55:27
Speaker
Just like those are the dudes that don't look in the mirror and really figure out who they really are.
00:55:32
Speaker
Yeah, man.
00:55:34
Speaker
Look, man, this has been an awesome episode.
00:55:36
Speaker
Is there anything you want to share?
00:55:38
Speaker
Anything that the listeners should know about from all your beer industry with your companies?
00:55:43
Speaker
Do you have Instagram accounts or social media platforms that we can follow and check out the products?
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:49
Speaker
I would love to try it.
00:55:50
Speaker
If you got something in the grocery store right now, I'll just go get some myself and just sip it.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah, Ashlyn and...
00:55:59
Speaker
Man, this is beautiful and you deserve everything you got coming in more, man.
00:56:04
Speaker
Just keep going, don't stop.
00:56:05
Speaker
And if anywhere I can be an asset or add value to your business or your life, I'm here, man.
00:56:10
Speaker
My passion is people.
00:56:12
Speaker
I study human psychology, I'm into all like...
00:56:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:16
Speaker
That's what you want.
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah, like, oh, okay, oh, you were molested, oh, that's why you're like that.
00:56:37
Speaker
Cool, now I know.
00:56:39
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.
00:56:49
Speaker
Like, you know, how did they do it?
00:56:51
Speaker
What was it about?
00:56:51
Speaker
What did you have to go through?
00:56:52
Speaker
And things like that and just real people, real things.
00:56:56
Speaker
I want the real.
00:56:57
Speaker
And so this was real as it get and
00:57:01
Speaker
Man, I just want to say thank you and this has been beautiful.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah, thank you.
00:57:04
Speaker
Thank you.
00:57:05
Speaker
It's really been a bigger talk conversation because this is probably one of the, by far one of my best because
00:57:13
Speaker
It's so raw.
00:57:14
Speaker
Like, I'm that way in spurts, but this has been like, you brought it today.
00:57:19
Speaker
Like, hey, man, yeah, check it out.
00:57:20
Speaker
And so let's continue to win.
00:57:22
Speaker
Let's continue to prosper in much love and abundance to your career, your health, your wife, your family.
00:57:28
Speaker
Just keep winning, man.
00:57:30
Speaker
Why not?
00:57:30
Speaker
You deserve it.
00:57:31
Speaker
I'm trying, man.
00:57:31
Speaker
I'm trying.
00:57:33
Speaker
You put in the work.
00:57:34
Speaker
So that's all.
00:57:35
Speaker
That's it, man.
00:57:36
Speaker
I don't want to take too much of your time.
00:57:38
Speaker
Thank you.
00:57:39
Speaker
Like I said, that's it.
00:57:40
Speaker
That's all.
00:57:41
Speaker
We're done.
00:57:43
Speaker
Man, you have a good one.
00:57:45
Speaker
I'll follow up with Nikki.
00:57:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:47
Speaker
We be good.
00:57:48
Speaker
And I'll let you know the episode is live.
00:57:51
Speaker
Sounds good, brother.
00:57:52
Speaker
Let's talk soon.
00:57:52
Speaker
All right.
00:57:53
Speaker
Have a phenomenal day.
00:57:53
Speaker
Be safe.
00:57:54
Speaker
Peace.
00:57:54
Speaker
Love.
00:57:54
Speaker
All right, you too.
00:57:55
Speaker
My God.