Transcript
Speaker: Bigger Talks, Bigger Talks.
Speaker: Welcome back to another podcast episode and interview.
Speaker: And I have guests on, Steve Eisen.
Speaker: He's the founder and CEO of Loca, as well as Element Drinks.
Speaker: And we're going to talk about all things entrepreneurship, humanity, and evolving through pain and setbacks.
Speaker: Check it out.
Speaker: Welcome to the interview.
Speaker: He's still a fire sign, people.
Speaker: He's a Sagittarius, you know, 12 with the 3.
Speaker: Welcome to Bigger Talks, and man, let's get into this discussion.
Speaker: Before we get into it, I just want to do a rapid fire to kind of like break the ice.
Speaker: And a lot of these words will correlate to your story and behind who you are.
Speaker: So I'm going to say a word, whatever comes to mind, you just speak.
Speaker: So, low-cost.
Speaker: Balance.
Speaker: Being humble.
Speaker: Part of life.
Speaker: Wow, next one is life.
Speaker: Highs and lows.
Speaker: Cornell University.
Speaker: An amazing time.
Speaker: Your grandfather.
Speaker: Inspirational.
Speaker: Here we are.
Speaker: The guy, the name.
Speaker: So Steven, tell me a little bit about you.
Speaker: Like tell me about your background.
Speaker: I've did my research, but if the younger you was listening to you today, how would you explain your childhood and who you are today?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, Eric, first off, thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I think, uh,
Speaker: with age and time comes experience.
Speaker: And, you know, I think the younger me, and I think a lot of young entrepreneurs confuse the idea that being an entrepreneur is the idea that you're building within your company versus being an entrepreneur is a career path, which are very different things, you know, and it takes a lot of learning and an interesting skillset to be an entrepreneur and be a leader.
Speaker: And a lot of things that you learn, you learn through mistakes and that's life.
Speaker: And so I think the, uh, yeah, I'd say to my younger self, a lot of things that you're going to see that are exciting, a lot of hard things, but what you view as rewarding and why you do it absolutely changes as the years go on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think you have a amazing slogan or statement, the highs and lows, right?
Speaker: You know, life,
Speaker: just like entrepreneurship, you know, there's highs and there lows.
Speaker: And I guess it's all how you respond.
Speaker: So you talked about entrepreneurship.
Speaker: Where did that inspiration for you start?
Speaker: Like who inspired you to be an entrepreneur, to like work for yourself, to be innovative?
Speaker: Where did that start and what age?
Speaker: Yeah, you know, I was lucky enough that my father was an entrepreneur.
Speaker: So growing up, I viewed it as a very normal career path.
Speaker: And I was always the kid with the lemonade stand and trying to create a little business here and there.
Speaker: I had a little business in high school.
Speaker: And then when I was a freshman at Cornell, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker: And that brought me to a low in my life because he was someone I was really close to growing up.
Speaker: He drove me to school every day, taught me to play golf and pool.
Speaker: And so, yeah, I was thinking about the highs and lows that I was going through and how everybody goes through highs and lows.
Speaker: It doesn't matter your age, your demographic, your income level.
Speaker: You know, we all have highs and lows.
Speaker: And I said, OK, well, what are the highest and lowest points on Earth?
Speaker: Mount Everest and the Dead Sea.
Speaker: And how could I take elements from those two places and incorporate them in a product that people could wear every day as a reminder to find balance, staying humble when you're on top of the world and hopeful when you've hit a low?
Speaker: And yeah.
Speaker: I told the idea to my father and he said, that's a great idea, but everyone has great ideas.
Speaker: Now I go execute it.
Speaker: That's the hard part.
Speaker: And so for the next three years in college, I just bootstrapped it, worked on it, and then launched Loci in June of 2013 when I graduated.
Speaker: So this June will be our 10th birthday.
Speaker: Congratulations.
Speaker: That's an amazing story.
Speaker: And I think it's a lot to unpack from that, from what you just spoke on.
Speaker: The first is, you know, your grandfather.
Speaker: I want to kind of like, if you can touch on just the details of your relationships.
Speaker: Like, is there like some type of quote he lived by?
Speaker: Is there some type of intention he set for you as a kid?
Speaker: What is like your most memorable moments being with your grandfather that you can kind of like vividly picture and remember that kind of like, that's my grandfather?
Speaker: Like is there any like moments or comments?
Speaker: Because when you talk about it, I feel like, you know, you're a great storyteller.
Speaker: I'm envisioning a movie, of you in a movie with your grandfather.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: And like in a moment he gets diagnosed with Alzheimer's
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: I'm just seeing it in my mind, but what was that like?
Speaker: Can you give me any details of our conversations?
Speaker: I don't know if you saw the movie Good Will Hunting and Robin Williams or whatever.
Speaker: Is it Matt Damon, I think?
Speaker: And he's talking to him on a bench, and he's like, he don't know what it's like.
Speaker: It brings me back to that moment, the way you were talking.
Speaker: So if you can kind of give me some of that from your perspective.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, my grandfather was a Marine, so he was a tough dude, but had a heart of gold and was super soft on the inside.
Speaker: And he was very lighthearted, easygoing dude and just loved spending time with me.
Speaker: I was the grandkid that he lived closest to as well.
Speaker: How many siblings do you have?
Speaker: I have a younger sister.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Are you an oldest?
Speaker: I'm the oldest, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So you said that military, serious, it was lighthearted, hardworking.
Speaker: We talked about that.
Speaker: And then you mentioned...
Speaker: the conversation you have with your father.
Speaker: And see, here's the thing I think in life, having those male role models in your life really shapes your identity and what you see the world to be and what you can become.
Speaker: And he said, everyone had great ideas.
Speaker: Now go out and execute.
Speaker: What is execution to you?
Speaker: Because I think anybody I know that's an entrepreneur, that's all they talk about.
Speaker: Like everyone can think great.
Speaker: It's all about execution.
Speaker: What is execution from your lens?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, we can break it down to the product itself, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I started by Googling, how do you find a factory in China?
Speaker: Like, that's...
Speaker: how it started.
Speaker: That's a great thought.
Speaker: Thoughts become things.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would say for good and for worse, there's never been an easier time to start a business, right?
Speaker: The amount of information that you can find on the internet, connecting through people on social media, like you can start businesses very easily right now, if you're passionate and hardworking, and it's something you really want to build, whether you'll be successful in the long run, that's a different story, right?
Speaker: But for me, it was just
Speaker: one day at a time, like, this is what has to get done to get the product made.
Speaker: Let me start there.
Speaker: For me, the executional side of anything is very easy.
Speaker: You have to know where you want to go.
Speaker: And once you know that, figure out how to get there.
Speaker: And you have to prioritize it, like not go to parties and not do other things.
Speaker: Sacrifice, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, you got to focus your time.
Speaker: Would you say that's the reason why some people cannot execute is because the lack of focus on something that they say they want or they just don't know how because they don't have the blueprint?
Speaker: So I think that's a challenge for most people.
Speaker: They can do everything but execute.
Speaker: I think not know how is an excuse.
Speaker: I think not willing to put in the work or the fear of failing are reasons why people don't try.
Speaker: Yeah, because it's easy to make excuses like, oh, I didn't grow up that way or I don't have this.
Speaker: I don't have that.
Speaker: You're not willing to do the work.
Speaker: You got to be really passionate about what you're creating and building.
Speaker: Because there's no easy way, right?
Speaker: There's going to be highs and lows, and those lows are going to crush you.
Speaker: And you need that purpose and that passion to get through it.
Speaker: And so I think a lot of people start companies with the idea, oh, I'll start this company, I'll make a lot of money, and I'll sell it.
Speaker: Without actually caring about what they're building, when the journey takes...
Speaker: the whole time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Lack of passion or lack of authenticity.
Speaker: to the product or the brand they're trying to create.
Speaker: So, Loka, where did the name come from?
Speaker: And I feel like your grandfather energy is, like, so in it, you know?
Speaker: I think his energy added to, like, being what it is today.
Speaker: Because I believe when people leave this earth and they go to, you know, another realm, they're still here with us, you know, from a spiritual space.
Speaker: And I believe he's in that product some way, somehow.
Speaker: But how did you come up with the name?
Speaker: I like the name, Loka.
Speaker: That's, like, a really...
Speaker: It sounds like a sneaker brand.
Speaker: It's just a nice name.
Speaker: Like, did you channel that?
Speaker: Like, how did you create that?
Speaker: Like, what did that come from?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I changed the spelling, but L-O-K-A-H-I in Hawaiian means unity and to blend opposites.
Speaker: And I was just looking at a word that we could own, right?
Speaker: A single word that was
Speaker: ownable to us that really embodied the idea of balance.
Speaker: And I took out the inspiration from that word, changed the spelling to make it our own.
Speaker: And it stuck.
Speaker: Yeah, that's creative.
Speaker: You kind of change the spelling around to kind of create the brand.
Speaker: And then before you guys reach some type of success within the company, how long did it take for you guys to kind of get a big break for it to turn over and do what it's doing now and what it's done in the last few years?
Speaker: You said it's 10 years in.
Speaker: That's a long time, man.
Speaker: Congratulations.
Speaker: Thanks.
Speaker: Yeah, it launched 10 years ago and then I worked on it for three years before it even launched.
Speaker: So it was like four or five years before we saw any success.
Speaker: And at the beginning, those first year or two, I had a display with my product.
Speaker: And I walked around New York City going store to store, walking into like boutique stores, yoga studios, surfy type stores and say, hey, is the manager owner here?
Speaker: Can I tell you my story?
Speaker: And will you carry the product?
Speaker: I got turned down 99% of the time, but every one win.
Speaker: So exciting and just fueled me to keep going.
Speaker: That passion, man, you can't buy that.
Speaker: I mean, I think, you know, like you said, people hear the story, they know the story, but until you experience it, like the rejection phase or getting started, you don't really know what it's like.
Speaker: You just think like, oh, I want to have this company and I want to make money.
Speaker: But you're living proof.
Speaker: You've done it.
Speaker: You're doing it.
Speaker: And how did that inspire you to do other investments or other products and brands and get into that space?
Speaker: Because you have another company, Elements and Balance, right?
Speaker: Elements of Balance.
Speaker: Oh, of Balance.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: which is a beverage and supplement brand that uses clinical doses of adaptogens to help balance your cortisol levels.
Speaker: We have four different products in energy, focus, calm, and sleep.
Speaker: And that company really was incubated and started out of Loci because Loci's mission is to inspire people to find balance in life.
Speaker: And so we wanted to create a second product that delivered on that promise.
Speaker: And quickly realized though that beverages and
Speaker: bracelets are very different industries.
Speaker: And so we separated the two companies, but yeah, I still run both of them.
Speaker: And it's so loci is elements of balance or in balance of, of balance.
Speaker: And what's, what's the concept of behind that elements of balance?
Speaker: Cause like what I'm, what I'm learning, like when I talk to people, I'm not looking at their name and it starts, I'm thinking about how they think, like the name is so simple, but it's perfect.
Speaker: like elements of balance.
Speaker: How did that come about?
Speaker: Were you just think tank, brainstorming?
Speaker: It's really simple.
Speaker: Look at you.
Speaker: Well, if you rewind for all the listeners, when I was telling you the loci story, I was talking about getting elements from the highest and lowest points on earth.
Speaker: Ah, look at you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: I pulled that through.
Speaker: And you just got it in the balance.
Speaker: the elements we use in the drinks and the supplements are clinical doses of adaptogens, which are plant-based ingredients.
Speaker: They're plants that have functional benefits.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I just like it.
Speaker: I just like the way you think.
Speaker: And I think,
Speaker: you just really believe in what you're doing.
Speaker: And I think it's so important for the listeners and people that will listen to this is that you've got to be passionate.
Speaker: Because, I mean, you can think about a hundred things, you can try to do it, but if your passion is not in it and you can't deal with rejection and failure, thank God for, you know, your dad, that blueprint of being an entrepreneur.
Speaker: I mean, that was your normalcy.
Speaker: You never knew, like, I'm not going to work for no one.
Speaker: I'm going to work for me.
Speaker: That's what dad does.
Speaker: And that's also, like,
Speaker: Stuff that helps when you don't entrepreneurship.
Speaker: You have to have self-belief.
Speaker: If you don't believe in yourself, no one else is going to believe in you.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: And it's so simple, but it's hard for some people to understand that when they're on their own, if they've never done it before.
Speaker: The universal human experience.
Speaker: Are you aware of Gary Zukav?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So Gary Zukav is the author.
Speaker: He wrote the book Seat of the Soul, and he has a new book called Universal Human.
Speaker: So I was like, I want to know if he got some of his ideologies from that.
Speaker: But can you kind of elaborate on the universal human experience with how you think and what that means to you and your brand?
Speaker: It's a great question.
Speaker: I think that the seed and the idea of Loci was about people's personal stories and experiences, right?
Speaker: We all go through the highs and the lows.
Speaker: And the bracelet is really just the vehicle for people to...
Speaker: tell their own story.
Speaker: and remember to find balance in those highs and lows in life.
Speaker: And so, yeah, I mean, our customer base ranges from little kids to grandparents, athletes, non-athletes, right?
Speaker: I were truly for everybody and which comes with some difficulties on the marketing side, but yeah, no, it's a brand and community about life essentially.
Speaker: And I think that universal, because Gary Zukav, the way he explains his universal human, the book or the mantra, the intentions behind it is that if we're just for who we're for, like our family, our culture, where we come from, then that's not being universal.
Speaker: It's not about being a universal human.
Speaker: Universal human is about community, about everyone, the whole, right?
Speaker: The collective.
Speaker: diversity.
Speaker: And when you're thinking about your products, you're not thinking about a demographic of people.
Speaker: You think about all people can use this.
Speaker: Everybody can benefit because everyone can relate to someone having Alzheimer's or someone being in a high or low in life.
Speaker: And it's all relatable.
Speaker: There's a quote by a good friend of mine.
Speaker: She said she had a company called Be Raw, Be Resilient, Authentic and Willing.
Speaker: And she said, everybody experienced the same emotions.
Speaker: but the challenges are different.
Speaker: Just because you have different challenges, they're still the same emotions.
Speaker: No matter if it's a million dollars in debt or a thousand dollars, right?
Speaker: The emotion is the same.
Speaker: It's all relative.
Speaker: And so as I've gotten older and been around different class of people and type of people, I realized like,
Speaker: We're all going through the same stuff, just some different phases and levels.
Speaker: And the fact that you can create a brand that you can bring people together and know that, listen, you might have this high, but you're going to have a low.
Speaker: How do you have balance in that, right?
Speaker: And how do you stay humble?
Speaker: Like when you think of being humble, what does it mean and represent for you?
Speaker: And how do you stay humble when you have so many highs in life?
Speaker: That's a great question.
Speaker: Well, one thing we do as a brand that
Speaker: started from day one as we donate 10% of our profits to charity.
Speaker: And we've donated a little over $9.4 million.
Speaker: It's actually, it's more like $9.7 million.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: different nonprofit organizations.
Speaker: And, you know, I think just having, I serve on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, giving back is so important.
Speaker: And when you're present and you're helping others and you're seeing and experiencing what other people are going through in life, it makes you feel very fortunate about your own situation and makes your tough times and struggles not feel so tough anymore.
Speaker: And so I think giving back is a really important
Speaker: Hard to find a balance and stay humble.
Speaker: That's listen, Steve, listen, man, that is I've never heard that because when people when I'm listening, I'm taking like bits and pieces on what you're saying.
Speaker: But you said the way to stay humble when you're in your eyes is to give back.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: That's a bar.
Speaker: Think about it, though.
Speaker: That's really good.
Speaker: Tony Robbins says the secret to living is giving.
Speaker: I like to say the more we give, the better we live.
Speaker: Because we can't take it with us.
Speaker: But we can give it out, we can share it, and we have other people experience what we feel.
Speaker: That is...
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: You got to quote that.
Speaker: The way to stay humble when you're on a high, whatever that is, is to give back in charity, make a wish foundation.
Speaker: Now, the question is, how does one, someone listening right now, they could be at home, they could be at a job, could have just lost a job, could have just broke up from a partner, and they're in a very low place.
Speaker: What would you recommend or what would you...
Speaker: What would you say they should do and how do they come up out of that?
Speaker: I mean, because, I mean, you created a product from your grandfather's situation, but what is it a person should do when they're in a low state?
Speaker: How do you get back up and how do you stay even keel and get high enough and not too low enough, you know, stay the middle ground?
Speaker: How does that work?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I can't speak for others, but for me, first, I try to really understand the situation, what's going on.
Speaker: And if it's a self-imposed emotion of being upset and down, and then how to move forward and keep going and get out of it.
Speaker: And you can really just take it one day at a time.
Speaker: But being an entrepreneur, there's some crazy highs and crazy lows.
Speaker: Yeah, I know.
Speaker: And it's like,
Speaker: Whoa, I feel good.
Speaker: Oh, what just happened?
Speaker: We need balance.
Speaker: Elements of balance.
Speaker: Loci, get your bracelet now.
Speaker: Have a drink.
Speaker: I wanted to talk to you about emotional intelligence and rational decision making.
Speaker: So what is your take on EQ, having a good EQ or just emotional intelligence as an entrepreneur?
Speaker: And what is rational decision making?
Speaker: What is your perspective on that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So bringing it back to the Make-A-Wish board, one of the most incredible learning experiences I've ever had.
Speaker: On that board sit some amazing business operators from all over the industries.
Speaker: And what I've really watched from them is how emotional they are about the mission and what the large vision is of the organization and
Speaker: or the companies that they are running, but then taking all emotion out of the decision-making within the business.
Speaker: Because being emotional about the business decisions can cloud your judgment and you can just make the wrong decision or it's maybe you're making a irrational decision because you feel a certain way, which isn't best for the company.
Speaker: And so I think being able to separate those two
Speaker: has really helped me as a leader.
Speaker: It's one of those things where you know of it, but like, again, when you experience and you gotta really be really aware of your emotions, right?
Speaker: You have to be in tune to know that it is the emotional decision or this is a rational decision.
Speaker: I'm making this from logic or just fear or scarcity or shit.
Speaker: You might just be so happy, you know, you make an emotional decision, right?
Speaker: So I think it's important.
Speaker: This one thing I realized about life, having a high EQ,
Speaker: and being able to regulate your emotions when things are not going your way.
Speaker: Because when we're triggered or things go out of whack, you got to be able to center and say, okay, what's a rational move here?
Speaker: Because I'm triggered by this response of this thing.
Speaker: How do I respond?
Speaker: How do I react?
Speaker: How do I stay humble and stay balanced with these lows and highs of life?
Speaker: And I think you are a representation of
Speaker: someone who continues to show up, someone who believes in a product, who believes in humanity, who believes in the betterment of the universe, then you're putting products out there in the marketplace to enhance someone's experience, to increase their vibration, right?
Speaker: And I think it's remarkable, you know, for you, and if you know, if you don't know, to be proud of yourself, man.
Speaker: Like, I think entrepreneurs alone don't get enough credit
Speaker: It's like, oh yeah, easy for you.
Speaker: Your dad was an entrepreneur.
Speaker: You got these, it's like, yeah, but you deserve your just due.
Speaker: You deserve your acknowledgement.
Speaker: You deserve not even your accolades, it's just the awareness that I see you, man.
Speaker: Like Steven, I see you.
Speaker: Congratulations, keep going.
Speaker: There's other people that aspire to be like you, to be in your position.
Speaker: And I just love what you're about.
Speaker: You say the highs and lows of life and having balance.
Speaker: And just being of something that has meaning to people out here, I think is very important.
Speaker: Thanks, Eric.
Speaker: You deserve it, man.
Speaker: Because I just think what we're getting to in this world, social media has created this, I can't say a false reality for most people.
Speaker: But when you look at people that's up there and that's doing great, you don't understand what they go through on the day to day.
Speaker: Cause it's not about creating a brand and having things go.
Speaker: It's like, how do you sustain it?
Speaker: And that's what I wanna ask you.
Speaker: You know, how do you, sustainability, how do you sustain the product for so long?
Speaker: What's the key ingredients?
Speaker: I know you talked about execution.
Speaker: How do you sustain this, man?
Speaker: Cause everybody can get the job and get the girl and make the money and go pro.
Speaker: How do you stay there?
Speaker: And how do you keep going and elevating?
Speaker: Like what's the secret magic of sauce?
Speaker: 10 years?
Speaker: discipline and creating a lifestyle that you can do for the long run.
Speaker: So like, I want to do what I'm doing for the next 50 years, whether it's low-tech elements or other ventures after.
Speaker: So I live by my calendar.
Speaker: I'm asleep by 930.
Speaker: I'm up at five.
Speaker: I have times blocked out during the day to be with my kids, right, in the morning and then from 5 to 7 p.m.
Speaker: to feed them, bathe them, put them to bed.
Speaker: So I really try to live my life in a sustainable way that I can keep doing it.
Speaker: I think if you're sprinting and you're working until 3 in the morning every night in that grind, grind, grind type culture that you see on social media and –
Speaker: Yeah, like I think that's totally false.
Speaker: You could do it for a month or a year, but you're going to burn out quick.
Speaker: I want to do it for 30, 40, 50 years.
Speaker: So you would recommend time blocking.
Speaker: I have a good friend.
Speaker: Like she is to the T. She has four kids, married, CEO.
Speaker: She might tell her husband, hey, look, babe, we got 31 minutes.
Speaker: We got to get the kids home and change them and put them.
Speaker: It's like what you look at, you look at their life and you're like, they're successful because they have discipline.
Speaker: They're by the book.
Speaker: And it's so odd because you're like, really?
Speaker: You really go to bed at nine?
Speaker: You're really up at five?
Speaker: Like, I'm up at five, but every day of the year, as much as you can.
Speaker: And I think that's not talked about enough, the discipline that it takes.
Speaker: I think something else that I do is, maybe it's a weird thing, but I always think about the last day on earth for myself and looking back in my life.
Speaker: What am I going to regret?
Speaker: What am I going to be proud of?
Speaker: What am I going to wish I spent less time on or more time on?
Speaker: And I try to live that every day.
Speaker: And so I cut out everything that doesn't fit within my fitness, my work, my family, my friends.
Speaker: I just don't do it.
Speaker: And I mean, here's again, man, like how you think.
Speaker: It's like it's these little nuggets.
Speaker: You said, I think about my last day on Earth.
Speaker: And if those things that I'm doing doesn't contribute to me being my best self, whether that's my legacy, whether it's, you know, family man, the entrepreneur, the son, whatever, then it doesn't deserve my time and energy.
Speaker: And I think you being so intentional about that is why, you know, you have success in the space you're in, but you are a successful person.
Speaker: I think that's not talked about either.
Speaker: Like we always say the brand and the company is successful, but
Speaker: people are successful people as how they show up with themselves and their family.
Speaker: Cause you have a family, you have something outside of business that you have to commit to.
Speaker: That's a whole nother like realm of commitment and thinking and responsibility and attention to detail that, you know, like I said, I think people don't think about it.
Speaker: Like, Oh yeah, it's father.
Speaker: And you got just like, yeah, it's work all around the board.
Speaker: So again, attention to detail and just like being disciplined, having passion,
Speaker: and having meaning to what you do, man.
Speaker: And is there anything fun you got coming up or anything that, you know, the listeners should know about outside of, you know, low-cost?
Speaker: Can I get them at a local store?
Speaker: Where can I go?
Speaker: I want to get, I'm into, I'm very spiritual.
Speaker: So I'm into the bracelets, all the things, anything, crystals, all that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, you can get Loci at loci.com.
Speaker: We're also on Amazon.
Speaker: And then some big retail partners.
Speaker: We're in Kohl's.
Speaker: We're in Dick's Sporting Goods.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: And then we're in a ton of surf shops, yoga studios, boutique stores around the country.
Speaker: And then Amazon, easiest place is just – or sorry, Elements, easiest place is just Amazon.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I got to get some.
Speaker: I got to prime it.
Speaker: I like trying new stuff, man.
Speaker: You know, I work out a lot.
Speaker: And I always say, motion changes emotion.
Speaker: You know, every day we had them highs, we had them lows.
Speaker: But sometimes when I wake up, I don't feel high.
Speaker: Need a little push.
Speaker: Now, you said I saw something on you.
Speaker: So you say Dream Pop.
Speaker: You're just an investor in that company, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: David Greenfeld, one of my best friends, is the founder and CEO of Dream Pops, which is a plant-based confection company.
Speaker: And yeah, invested in Dream Pops at the very beginning.
Speaker: So you just, you invested all the way through.
Speaker: So outside of like entrepreneurship, like what is your life like?
Speaker: Like what do you do for fun?
Speaker: Like how do you find balance?
Speaker: Working out is my, that's where I feel the most balance.
Speaker: Cycling, running.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: Triathlon?
Speaker: I haven't done one yet.
Speaker: I'll do an Ironman.
Speaker: Once I get out of two little kids and two companies and have time for that, I'll put it on the plate.
Speaker: But not right now.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: No, I think working out, I've been working out since I was a kid and people look at it for how you look, but it's more so how you feel.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: A hundred percent.
Speaker: Mental health, you know, how you think it clears your mind, get those endorphins.
Speaker: And I always think if I didn't have motivation and fitness, where would I be in life?
Speaker: Because that's what got me through any low.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Staying on and staying active, you know, running weights.
Speaker: And I think it deserves more attention than just the look of it that comes from it.
Speaker: So before we get off, I always try to ask like some ending questions.
Speaker: And I got three for you.
Speaker: So the first two is what's working for you right now in business and life?
Speaker: And what is a challenge?
Speaker: It's a great question.
Speaker: What's working?
Speaker: is focusing on my people and my team on the business side, right?
Speaker: You have a big staff?
Speaker: Huh?
Speaker: You have a big staff of people?
Speaker: Between the two companies, like 25, 30.
Speaker: Okay, that's more than enough.
Speaker: What's challenging, it's the macro economy, bro.
Speaker: It's hard to always put your finger on exactly how or why, but when the market's down and
Speaker: Like you feel it in the businesses.
Speaker: Everyone tightens up.
Speaker: Like retail partners tighten up.
Speaker: Customers tighten up their spending.
Speaker: Things move slower.
Speaker: Fundraising is harder.
Speaker: Getting through the hard times.
Speaker: The lows, you know.
Speaker: And I mean, you have the pedigree for that.
Speaker: And I think that's real for everybody.
Speaker: Because, you know, everybody can put on a good poker face, right?
Speaker: But we're all going through it in some capacity, whether it's, you know, the economy, whether it's mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, you know, relationship-wise.
Speaker: And like here on Bigger Talks, I just like to be transparent with the audience and be authentic.
Speaker: Like, listen, we're all going through it.
Speaker: No one has it figured out.
Speaker: No one has the answers.
Speaker: I don't care what they got in that bank account.
Speaker: I don't care what their net worth is.
Speaker: But one thing I would say is don't be fooled.
Speaker: I like to win.
Speaker: Yeah!
Speaker: the hard times are where the real winners show yeah that's where your character's built you get to see who you really are I said come on I tell myself come on Big E come on you target all this energy what's up you in the deep end with the sharks how you gonna swim low-cost man get you some elements of balance but uh yeah and then last question
Speaker: You can take your time with this because you talked about this earlier, but it just came to me.
Speaker: For your last day on earth, what is one thing you will have to do and what would be one message you would leave?
Speaker: I don't know that answer yet.
Speaker: That's okay.
Speaker: It's okay.
Speaker: I still got a whole life of learning before I know that message.
Speaker: Yeah, you know, but what would one thing you would do?
Speaker: Like I say my last day
Speaker: I don't know if I would have to work out, man.
Speaker: I would have to work out.
Speaker: Even if I could, no, I had to just work out.
Speaker: You know, some type of working out.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I probably would say it's miracle season.
Speaker: But, yeah, man, I just think these things we don't think about.
Speaker: You know, and I had to leave you with this, and the people listening.
Speaker: I had a client that I trained and coached very well off and, you know, buried a, you know, family member.
Speaker: And he was saying, like, when you leave the people behind, it's like, what is life?
Speaker: He's like, what are problems?
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Like when you experience something like that, you just want to be more meaningful.
Speaker: He was like, you know, maybe I should be like she was and just be, be more of service, you know, as he talked about giving.
Speaker: And I think at the end of the day, there are, we all have a, you know, an end day, an end mark.
Speaker: I don't think nowhere near now, but it'll happen when it's supposed to.
Speaker: But I think what you're doing for the world and for your family and for yourself and for the legacy of your grandfather is beautiful.
Speaker: And that is a miracle season because it gets you where you're at.
Speaker: Wasn't easy.
Speaker: Wasn't handed to you.
Speaker: You had to go through it to get to it and you're still moving.
Speaker: So, pat yourself on the back, man.
Speaker: I wish you nothing but more success, more abundance, more momentum, more love, more joy, more happiness.
Speaker: And by the way, you got so many social media accounts.
Speaker: How do we connect with Steven?
Speaker: Where should we follow you on, you know, to get the products, to get your IP, how you think, your ideology?
Speaker: Like, where are you the most active and what is the Instagram handles for your accounts?
Speaker: For me, just at Steven Eisen.
Speaker: I'm not too active, but if anyone, if you DM me, I'll respond.
Speaker: And then it's just at LiveLokai and at Elements.
Speaker: Oh, it's just Elements.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So at Lokai, at Elements, Steven Eisen.
Speaker: I LiveLokai.
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: Live low-cock.
Speaker: Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker: Live low-cock, people.
Speaker: So you hear that.
Speaker: Yeah, man, this was phenomenal.
Speaker: This was great.
Speaker: Thank you for being so vulnerable.
Speaker: Thank you for sharing your story and your testimony.
Speaker: And I'm here to tell you, man, keep going.
Speaker: Like, keep going, man.
Speaker: You know, they say everything's greater later.
Speaker: It gets better if we just keep showing up.
Speaker: Sometimes 90% of the game is showing up.
Speaker: The rest, the universe and yourself will figure out.
Speaker: So I think you're doing more than enough for the world and the planet.
Speaker: And I'll continue to share your light and your energy with us.
Speaker: And thank you for being on Bigger Talks.
Speaker: Have a good one.
Speaker: Thanks, Eric.
Speaker: Amen.
