#155: From Unemployed to Partnering with Odell Beckham Jr. featuring Devon Levesque
Devin, what's happening, brother? What is good?
Speaker 2:Welcome to the show. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. We're We're so pumped
Speaker 3:to have you on, man. We were saying that, with a lot of our guests, we like to just give the audience a little overview of how we met. Yeah. So we first met, probably about a month ago with that weekend at Cedar Trunk Ranch, which is you're in Jimmy DeChico's ranch. Yep.
Speaker 3:And you had posted about it on your Instagram story because you were doing a whole entrepreneur's weekend and networking event. Yep. And there was a running session, so we went to the the Saturday morning run. Yep. Dude, I think you had us on, like, four super coffees, energy drink, pro mix, bone marrow, liver.
Speaker 3:We were absolutely dialed. Just locked in.
Speaker 1:Through a keyhole. Literally. And it was supposed to be a
Speaker 3:little fun run, and you and Jimmy are freaking what were you guys cooking, like, seven minute miles? Like, you're freaking hammering that thing.
Speaker 2:At at the beginning, we're like, alright, guys. It's just supposed to be fun. Don't get hurt. And then we just took off, and we're like, we cannot lose this.
Speaker 3:We have to win this. Yeah. You guys aren't competitive at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, I I don't know where he went.
Speaker 2:I was running, and I was just in the zone, and Natasha's like, slow down. And I'm like, I'm not slowing down. No. And, like, on part of the ranch, there's that pretty big decline. Remember that hill?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes. And I just sprint down it. And that's when
Speaker 3:I it.
Speaker 2:That's when I just, yeah, I just separated. And then Jimmy caught up somehow. Jimmy's a savage, by the way. Jimmy's Desigo is like he's a proper savage, whether that's running, football, swimming, basketball. Like, you it's hard to find people that you can compete with.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. You know, I played almost every sport my whole life and done decently well, but, like, he's phenomenal. He's a phenomenal athlete. And then snowboarding. The guy's a savage.
Speaker 2:I mean, last time we went snowboarding in Whistler, we were up there, and, you know, we had this we had this clocker on our phone to to see how fast we would go. And I'm I'm hitting, like, 58 miles an hour on a snowboard, and he comes around the corner at 62 miles an hour.
Speaker 3:Holy shit. What the freak is going on? Dude, all three of those brothers are studs, man. Yes.
Speaker 1:That's what happens when you grow up with brothers that are close in age. Yeah. You just compete like hell. Happened. Definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I have four sisters. So
Speaker 3:I think we met one of them. Yeah. One of them at the event.
Speaker 2:Dude, all my sisters, though, savages. Really? The most independent badass chicks. My my older sister, she's I'm 30. She's 32.
Speaker 2:She's at my farm in Jersey right now literally putting in posts in the ground, cementing them, putting, like, chicken wire on. I have a hundred chickens up there. She's getting the whole thing ready solo. Just ripping it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Different breed.
Speaker 2:Different breed.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But, man, that, that ranch cedar trunk that you guys have built is we we walked away just being so impressed. Like, I mean, the the property is gorgeous, but then just the events and the connections that you're facilitating. Because we didn't even know that that whole weekend was going on. And, I mean, we probably met, like, 15 incredible people.
Speaker 3:Ryan from Cold Plunge.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:Dude, we'd love to just hear the story about how that that kinda came to be, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. For sure. I mean, well, I mean, that day you guys came, that was an all day running event, that was Mhmm. Which is cool, which is a great company we'll get into later on. You know, Jesse, myself, Todd, Amanda, you know, a couple people started this company, and that's just to build the biggest and funnest running community in the world.
Speaker 2:And so we're gonna do that. We're about couple months in, and we're just gonna have these really cool community events. So that's a big part of Cedar Trunk Ranch. We're gonna use it to, you know, run and cold plunge and sauna and just come about, but the whole ranch came about I was actually looking for a ranch. I grew up on a farm in in in New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Idaho and New Hampshire. I was born in Idaho, moved across country when I was maybe, like, seven. We had a full farm out there. Cow named Coco, horses, peacocks.
Speaker 2:You're milking cows. Right? Milking cows, Dobermans, Rottweilers. Like, we had a lot of animals growing up, and so we moved them all from Idaho to New Hampshire. I grew up in New Hampshire till I was about 16.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Milking cows. You know, my mom was a horse trainer and arm wrestler, and my father was a professional weightlifter. My grandfather was professional weightlifter. So I grew up very farm, health oriented, no junk food.
Speaker 2:Like, before a Whole Foods was even a thing, you know, we would be going to the health food store, and that's all we went to. So long of the short, you know, as I moved to New York City, went to college and whatnot, I was in New York and Hoboken and Jersey for eight years or so, and I always wanna get back to the farm life.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so I was like, man, where could I buy a farm, you know, in The United States? And so I actually went out to Colorado. And so I was out, I wanna say I was out towards, like, Boulder area, and I'm at this one property, 40 acres. I was like, this could be it. There wasn't too many trees.
Speaker 2:It was, like, very vast. Mhmm. And we're I'm leaving with a real estate agent. And all of a sudden, I get in the car. The real estate agent's pulling out.
Speaker 2:I'm pulling out behind him, and a freaking mountain lion jumped on my car. Like, jumped on the rental car and jumped off, and I'm like, what the fuck is going on?
Speaker 1:Like, that's a no for me.
Speaker 3:% no. I have three dogs, and
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking, man, like, I don't know if this is good for them. You know? I couldn't I couldn't do that. You know? Coincidentally, Jimmy hit me up.
Speaker 2:He's like, hey, man. I think I found us a ranch. Come out to Texas. So I came down to Austin. We walked the property, and thirty days later, we had it closed, and we owned this, you know, 60 acre ranch in, you know, Cedar Park, Leander, Texas.
Speaker 2:You know, twenty minutes, twenty five minutes outside of Downtown Austin. And that that was the first time I've ever been to Austin. I've never been. And so I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know it was, you know, United States' fastest growing city.
Speaker 2:I wasn't I was just looking for a farm. You know? I was looking for somewhere to just have some fun and bring some good people together. And, from then on, Jimmy and I just brainstormed. Jimmy's a super, super creative guy.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, him him and I being able to get on phone calls multiple times a day and just, what do we wanna do with this place? You know? We came down to building what, you know, what what we did growing up. Let's play football. Let's play basketball.
Speaker 2:Let's run. Let's have a pool. Let's we love to sun in cold plunge. Let's do that. Let's throw a volleyball court on here, and let's do it in the most economical way.
Speaker 2:So we went down the direction of building this big barndominium. It's about a 8,000 square foot barndominium, and the middle of the house is a pickleball court. You know? It's a basketball court. So that's kinda how it came about.
Speaker 2:We were gonna use it for friends and family. I threw a bur I threw my thirtieth birthday party on it couple years ago and, then saw, wow. Like, you know, between Jimmy's friends that came, my friends that came, a lot of founders, a lot of go getters, a lot of good positive vibe people. The the common denominator was people just wanted to give. People just wanted to help.
Speaker 2:And so after we saw that, we're like, why don't we just why don't we try to throw a weekend here, like an event? Mhmm. And, that's what we did. So we threw the first one back in September, and it went better than expected for sure. You know?
Speaker 2:I I I brought in my buddy Darren Conway who actually hired me out of college. I I was running nightclubs with him in New York at the time, and, I I brought him to help me run the event and, you know, our team at Creator and Co and and the DML group, and they all came out and just dominated. And, you know, we had a 12 person band and paintball and, you know, basketball and tournaments and, you know, workouts and, you know, unbelievable speakers and just founders. And it was just like a good it's a good place to meet people, but not do it in a douchey, you know, hey. Let's go to a happy hour for two hours, get drunk, and force this networking.
Speaker 2:And, oh, let me give you my business card. It's like, yo, let's go jump in the cold plunge and, oh, shit. What do you do for a living? Or, hey. You know, what charity?
Speaker 2:Or whatever it is. It just starts conversation better than, you know, the normal networking that we all grew up doing. Yeah. Totally. Just I don't know.
Speaker 2:It just kinda came about, and now we're just ripping.
Speaker 1:Let's take a minute to talk about some of the sponsors and brands who support the show. What are you thinking? I was thinking about Carnivore Bar. What what are your thoughts on Carnivore Bar?
Speaker 3:I mean, it's unbelievable. It's an unbelievable product. We were lucky enough to have the founder, Philip Meese, on the show a few months ago, and he was able to send us a bunch of product when we started the relationship and absolutely loved it. I mean, you know, it's a minimum ingredient product, beef, tallow, salt. And then they do have a honey flavored option as well, but it's so nice to have a bar that's, like, three to four ingredients.
Speaker 3:And, like, when you're following a carnivore diet, it's really tough to find products that are
Speaker 1:in line with that specific diet, you know? Yeah. For me, it kinda hits, like, the holy trinity of what you're looking for when you're looking for food. So it's nutrient dense, it's convenient, and it tastes great. And as you said, most people who are trying to eat healthy, the convenience factor is kind of a a tough part.
Speaker 1:So just being able to have something you can grab on the go, know that you're gonna have that nutrition for the day, it's huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And we we were lucky enough. We got to actually see their factory too in Missouri, and they're just doing things the right way. I love how they offer an option for, like, carnivore purists where it's just beef, tallow, salt. Then they also have an animal based option too if you do want a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of variety.
Speaker 3:They have the honey in that option. And they're just people that are doing things the right way. They're very mission focused. They're carnivores themselves. And, you know, we're always on the go.
Speaker 3:We're traveling. We've taken a bunch of flights together. To have a bar that has 30 grams of fat too, like, that's huge from an energy density standpoint. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. He checks all the boxes or the company checks all the boxes, and I just think the fact that they're sourcing from a regenerative farm as well and Joyce Farms, just a win win. Hundred percent.
Speaker 3:So Carnivore Bar. So we got the affiliate link and then it's code mafia for 10% off.
Speaker 1:And then another one of our sponsors, one of our favorite farms, Holy Cow. What what they're doing, Holy Cow is is pretty remarkable. The relationships that they've built, in the industry and how long they've been doing the grass fed, grass finished regenerative model is really, innovative. They were one of the first people, to be doing that and supplying Whole Foods early on. Just a a great, community farm and also just product is something that speaks for itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think number one to your point, Harry, they're just incredible people. We got to hear them speak at the Beef Initiative Conference in Colorado. We had never met them before, but just hearing Warren's story where they were following a standard American diet, he had had a heart attack, and they were just looking for answers of, like, how can we actually get healthier? Do I need to be dependent on medication? And they started changing their diets to incorporating more animal foods, and he completely reversed those symptoms of his stroke.
Speaker 3:And now they're just doing things the right way. They're they're grass finishing their beef. They're incorporating incredible practices. They have great relationships with the animals. And they're very passionate about just, like, connecting directly with the customer and also educating their customer on grass finished beef.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think the best part is too, they're shipping nationally and trying to reach a bigger audience. So being able to not only supply beef nationally, but also educate people on the the quality of good, clean, whole foods is just it's an incredible mission. How much do
Speaker 3:you love their beef bacon, by the way? I know that's your
Speaker 1:go to. It's one of the best things I've ever tasted. It's that good. No. Honest to God, it's so good.
Speaker 1:Holy cow. Yeah. One of the other farms that supports us is Perennial Pastures, another regenerative farm out of San Diego. Our experience with Kevin Munoz, the owner, we had him on the show, a young first generation rancher who's really empowered by this movement of regenerative agriculture and really wants to be a leader in the space. I think our conversation with him was so insightful just in terms of how mission focused he is and how he really thinks about his farm as a business and wanting it to be here fifty, a hundred years down the road even though he's just the first generation of it.
Speaker 1:And I think just being able to spend time with him out in San Diego was kind of the perfect indication of that where we got to go have a meal with him at his house, hang out with his wife and kids. Like, what an amazing person. And I think his mission focus around raising really high quality beef and restoring nutrients to the soil is just one of one of those rare missions that I think everyone can get around.
Speaker 3:Yeah. He has such a commitment to really feeding the local community in San Diego in the San Diego County First and foremost, but he's also passionate about feeding the community around the country. So I know they've invested a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of resources to being able to order beef in bulk on their website. So I know I know that they now offer quarter half whole cows directly directly off the website. They have that great ancestral blend ground beef product, so it actually has organ grinds, mixed into the ground beef.
Speaker 3:So you're getting the benefits of, like, an ounce or so of organ meat. But because it's in the ground beef, you really can't taste it at all. And I think to your point, Harry, just an another amazing person, you know, he Kev was someone that he was following a paleo diet in college and started realizing, wow, when I nourish my body with real foods, I feel amazing. Had a really successful stint in tech, but realized that there was just something else that he was passionate about. So he's one of those rare cases where, you know, he put his money where his mouth is, and he's a first generation farmer just, you know, bootstrapping this thing, raising money, and just so passionate about feeding the community.
Speaker 3:Just an amazing guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for listening. Now we're gonna go back to the show. That weekend was such a good reminder for me of, like, the people you surround yourself with is kind of just, like, the the bottom line of, like, getting you where you wanna be in life.
Speaker 1:And it also just makes life so much better. Like, the people that were there were so impressive. And they had intentionally put themselves in that position. They're, you know, they paid money to be there. And they and then they have this amazing weekend where, you know, they're doing fun activities, but they're doing fun activities with cool people who are founding companies and, you know, doing just great things with their lives.
Speaker 1:So Yeah. It was just a great reminder of that that key, like, point, which is surround yourself with the right people.
Speaker 2:You got it, man. And and I I think when when I've noticed, and especially in the last five years, meeting people. You know? When I ran nightclubs in New York, New Jersey, and in that area, and I was in that scene, you're naturally gonna network with people. Right?
Speaker 2:Mhmm. People are coming out. You you have to get their number. They wanna book a table. You talk with them.
Speaker 2:Great. You have a drink. Cool. But what I've seen the best relationships really form is when I go climb fucking mountains with people. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And when I go and, do hard shit and do hard workouts or jump in a cold plunge or do a long sauna session with Jesse Itzler and we have some deep conversations or you know? It it builds this bond that you can't you can't compete with any type of networking. You know? It's it's like, damn. I went through hardship with this person.
Speaker 2:I trust this person. You know? They got my back. And and that that, I think, is under you know, overlooked. It's overlooked quite a bit.
Speaker 2:All you have to do is put yourself in hard positions with heart with with good people, and and you can create some serious good bonds. And when you bring those type of people together to a ranch like we have, people are enticed more to do those type of things. You know? They they have percent. They have the recipe at their fingertips.
Speaker 2:So Yeah.
Speaker 3:We we just had, do you know Eric Hinman? I do. Yeah. So we just we went out to Denver Two Days ago to do a live episode with him out at his spot out there. And very similar to you where it's like, he's basically curated this perfect environment where it's, like, beautiful house, saunas, cold plunges, CrossFit setup, ERGs, rowers, all that stuff.
Speaker 3:And he has these open sessions from, like, four to six where he just invites a bunch of his friends and interesting people into the sauna, and he kind of is, like, creating serendipity through that. Yep. And it seems like guys like him, guys like you, Jesse, it's like instead of just doing happy hours or something, why don't we, like, put ourselves in these healthy environments where we can kinda create that serendipity? Like %. Like that Saturday event.
Speaker 3:Little coffee, little sweat. You're bumping into people. You're getting in the cold plunge. Dude, we met Ryan, that founded the cold plunge just in his sauna. And we had, like, an hour long conversation, and now we're probably gonna get to work with them.
Speaker 3:And we had them on the show. Yep. But, dude, that all came from the event and the community that you're fostering. It's
Speaker 2:so cool. Yeah, man. They're yeah. Ryan and Michael, the the founders of Cold Plunge are amazing guys. I mean, the growth that they've had in their company and what they've been able to get back to humans, not just alright.
Speaker 2:They they have an unbelievable story from their data and their finances. That's great. Right? But the people and the lives that they're changing from a straight up anxiety standpoint, depression, PTSD, people are literally changing by getting into their units. Sara Blakely says this all the time.
Speaker 2:Sell what you're fixing. Sell what you're fixing. You know? And that's what they're doing. They're selling what they're fixing.
Speaker 2:They're not selling the plunge. They're selling fixing anxiety and PTSD and depression. That's what they're selling right now.
Speaker 3:And and
Speaker 2:I think that's why they've been able to come across as so authentic and real and and be able to, I don't know, just expand so quickly because they're selling what they're fixing. You know? They're fixing in humans. And and I just I don't know. I think it's remarkable when people come out with products, especially in the health and wellness world.
Speaker 2:It's not always just about, you know, the ingredients or, I don't know, like, how how you're putting this company together, how much money you've raised. It's like, what do you fix it? Like, what do you what are you honestly fixing in the community or with a human? You know? And Definitely.
Speaker 2:Emphasizing on it. Ryan and Michael do it phenomenally. Phenomenally.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And we wanna we wanna get into all that, your investing philosophy, the brands you work with. But I think it would be really cool for the listener. Yeah. How how the hell did you go from bartending to investing and building a bunch of these brands and companies?
Speaker 3:Like, it's an incredible story.
Speaker 2:Thanks. Well, I mean, it definitely goes back to probably military academy. Mhmm. I got
Speaker 3:high school?
Speaker 2:That was high school. Junior and senior year. I repeat my junior year, so I actually did five years in high school. Not a lot of people know this, but I I went to five different high schools Mhmm. Growing up.
Speaker 2:My dad passed away. My parents are going through divorce. I was just bouncing around, and, it it was it was tough, but, like, it definitely opened my mind into kind of what the world is. I grew up in a very small town in New Hampshire, fifteen hundred people. You know?
Speaker 2:The closest target was, like, two hours away. So I wasn't too too cultured per se. But once I started to go to these different high schools and was able to go to this military academy, it helped out. And from then on, yeah, I I went to I went to college, went to Long Island University, got a scholarship there to play football, baseball, academics, and, I had no money. I was like, I was totally broke.
Speaker 2:You know? I didn't have any, you know, support from family or anything. I just had to figure it out. And I remember I had this little green cell phone, and I was like, how am I gonna pay for this $50 cell phone each month? Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so, I remember I was I was out at a bar one night, maybe, like, $20 to my name, and I was just having a good time. I wasn't really focused on money. I was just like, alright. Let's have a good time tonight. Just got out of military academy.
Speaker 2:We're, you know, underage drinking, and we're just having a fun time. And the the bar owner hit me up the next day on Facebook, and he was like, hey. I need you to come into the bar. And my first thought is, shoot. I'm, you know, a freshman at the time.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble. You know, I'm gonna get kicked out of this place, banned. And he's like, hey, man. Like, you were really fun last night. Do you wanna help promote this bar and these these clubs I own?
Speaker 2:And I said, I don't even know what that means, man. Like, what is a promoter? And so I started I started promoting. And so long and short, he said, hey. I'll give you $5 every person you bring into the into the bar.
Speaker 3:Nice. And I
Speaker 2:was playing football at the time. It was football season. I was like, I could bring well, if I bring 50 people and that's, like, $250, I would definitely pay for my cell phone, and I could Yeah. I would be that $250 in college, you're rich. Right?
Speaker 2:And so that weekend, I I remember I brought in about 50 people, some sorority girls, some football players, some lacrosse players. The next weekend, though, is when it kicked off, and there was, like, five, six, seven hundred people that all said Devin at the door. And that just when it started, I was like, woah. I'm definitely onto something. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And then they were like, hey. Do you wanna promote and bartend? And I was like, cool. So I can make even more money and, you know, pay for more things and, you know, help more people out. Now my sense of making money isn't not isn't necessarily just for myself.
Speaker 2:It's, like, to help people around me. So I was taking all the money and paying for all my friends' food and drinks and, like, you know, we'd we'd go out to big dinners afterwards and, you know, it, I was I was kinda using it to just help others and, like, bring in I don't know. I I didn't I didn't really know what community was at that point, but I guess that's what it was. And so I was just trying to make more money to help others out. And so that went on for a couple years, and I was at a point then where the athletic director came up to me and said, hey, man.
Speaker 2:Like, you know, I was kind of an ultimatum. I'm a I'm a scholarship athlete, but I'm Mhmm. Getting all these athletes, you know, part they're all partying and, you know, probably not supposed to be. And so I had to make a decision of where I wanna go with my life. And I remember looking at some of the kids in college that graduated, and it's not that they weren't doing anything but with their life, but they weren't doing things I wanted to do Mhmm.
Speaker 2:For sure. And I was like, why am I, like, why am I in college right now? You know? Like, what's the point? And so I ended up dropping out.
Speaker 2:I dropped out when I was junior. I went into this interview with this guy, Darren Conway, who actually ran the nightclub event or ran the weekend event. And, he basically told me, he's like, hey, man. You know, I'm not gonna make you a bartender here. I know you're in here for a bartending position.
Speaker 2:I wanna make you a manager. And I'm like, woah. This is a like, my big break. I remember leaving that meeting, and I was ecstatic. I I I think I was screaming in the car.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my god. I made it. This is insane. I'm a manager at the w Hotel.
Speaker 3:Like, 20 years old.
Speaker 2:I was literally 20 years old. I didn't even
Speaker 3:hit 21. I'm like,
Speaker 2:oh my god. Like, things are falling in place. By the way, I'm making, like, no money as a manager. Make, like, $500 a week, but I was ecstatic. I was like, man, like, this is a cool different career.
Speaker 2:Like, I've never I grew up doing construction my whole life. I don't I didn't I didn't really know what the city life was about. So I got into it, and, I don't know. It it just went really well. I I ended up managing the w Hotel and the nightclub in there for three years.
Speaker 2:This w Hotel was partnered with the Premier League soccer teams and, the Giants and the Jets. So any teams that would come in to this place, all the players would come upstairs. So I did get to host all these athletes where I met a lot of these, you know, people that I'm friends with now today and just have a good time. And, you know, slowly, my career started to take off a little bit in the in the nightlife scene, and I started getting, you know, opportunities for, you know, bigger opportunities, started taking them, failed in a couple, you know, went through that whole thing. And, I was at a point where I was about 24 years old, and I was on unemployment.
Speaker 2:And I was like, I got screwed out of a restaurant. I got I was kinda just in a stuck point. I had a really bad taste in my mouth from the restaurant industry and nightclub industry, and it's not that I necessarily did anything wrong. I think it's the people I was surrounding myself with. Not Darren.
Speaker 2:Darren's a great guy, but like some of the other people I was around, it just it was a weird spot. So I was like, I'm not going back to the restaurant or nightclub. I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I remember sitting down with this one guy outside a gym. I just got done working out, and I always kept health and wellness pretty much at the top of my priority.
Speaker 2:That was was a no brainer for me. I grew up in a health and wellness, very oriented household. And, I remember I was outside and sitting down with this guy, and I was kinda just spilling my beans. Like, this is kinda what I'm going through. And he's like, man, why don't you train people?
Speaker 2:And I was like, how can I make a career out of training people? Because he makes sense. Yeah. And he kind of explained it to me. And, again, coincidentally, you know, god spoke to me, and he was just like, someone from the restaurant hit me up.
Speaker 2:This guy Bobby, he hit me up, and he said, hey, man. I'm going through a divorce. I'm a little overweight. I need some help. I know you work out.
Speaker 2:Can you help me out? Can you come and meet with me, like, three, four, five times a week? I'm like, sure. So I went and met with him, and he was my first client. I started training him.
Speaker 2:And then the next person in his building, I started training him. And the building manager came up to me, and they said, hey. Do you have your certification? You have to have your certification to train in here. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I was like,
Speaker 3:what the fuck? Yeah.
Speaker 2:What is a certification? And so I remember going online, and it's a walking distance from my apartment at the time. And I searched online, and it said certification online. And I found one for $30. I went through I'm not getting the certification said, you know, like, what muscles do you do use if you do a curl?
Speaker 2:And I said biceps. Yeah. I got and I got certification. And I brought it back to the building manager the next day, and I was like, here's my certification. They said you're good to go.
Speaker 2:I was like, I'm fucking free. I'm about to train everyone in New York City. I'm a be the best trainer in New York City. Everyone's gonna know me for training. And so that's what I did for the next couple years.
Speaker 2:And quickly as a career that I was like, oh, I can't really I don't know if I can make this career. I soon made 7 figures training people, some of the biggest billionaires, celebrities, entrepreneurs, highly successful individuals. They've just wanted to train with me, and it was because, to be honest, I was torturing them. They love being tortured. They love just going through hard shit.
Speaker 2:And I was like, this is so interesting how these people in New York City are so high strung, and they and they are always their leaders in their own space, and they're constantly be being told yes. Yes. Yes. But I'm telling them, fuck no. You're doing this.
Speaker 2:You're gonna bear crawl. You're gonna go on the assault bike. You're gonna run five miles. You're gonna do x y z. And it was like, I was now their authority.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I
Speaker 2:was like, this is so interesting how this world works, you know, and, like, how people get caught up in this rat race of the world and, like, they go, go, go, but then they really do need someone to tell them what the fuck to do every day. Definitely. And that's kinda where my niche was. And so then I started building out this training, company and this meal prep company and, you know, ended up, you know, getting rid of it in in a great way and, made a little cash and, I don't know, you know, start started in my next venture. But it was just really interesting on none of these things I went to college for.
Speaker 2:None of these things was I planning on doing. But, you know, I was passionate about each one of them at the time,
Speaker 3:and I
Speaker 2:think that's what kinda pushed me through each thing. It doesn't matter what industry you're in. You money's always gonna come. It's it's more about, like, how freaking passionate you are and how much love you have for that specific item at a certain time, and that's kinda what I've learned till now. It's like, you can make money doing anything you want in the world, man.
Speaker 2:It's just like, you have to love it, though. You know? And, I don't know. I guess I guess now we're here and, you know, we're doing some pretty fun stuff with all of our brands
Speaker 1:and Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Growing and doing a lot of philanthropy work. And, but I don't know. That I I like telling that story because it's it's it's a good base of kinda where I started from, you know, 20, really 18 years old from military academy until I was about 25. And that was some big growth phases of my life, just trying to figure it out and putting pieces together. And what I've also noticed and learned from all these people I've been able to hang out with is all of them have very similar stories in the sense that they're not the fucking same.
Speaker 2:No one has a cookie cutter. No one just went to Harvard and, you know, started this, and then that went perfectly. Like, everyone has put together their own story in their own unique way, and that's why I do genuinely like getting on podcasts and listening to podcasts because it is true, man. Everyone has their story, and there's no there's no one that's the same. And so anyone that's listening on this that is young, that's 18 to 25, like, you kinda just have to show up and figure it the fuck out.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Because every day where everyone else is also trying to figure it out and just put your best foot forward and have some passion with it.
Speaker 1:Are are there any lessons that you feel like you needed to learn the hard way early on?
Speaker 2:I would say if it's if it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true. Yeah. No one's ever gonna hand anything to you as much as we all wait for, oh, I'm gonna get this half a billion dollar check. It's coming. It's coming.
Speaker 2:It's never coming.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know? It's very it's like, it's just not coming, so don't wait for it. Like, you need to constantly stack different things up from a revenue standpoint. You everyone should have ten, twenty different streams of revenue for sure. And then from a business standpoint, like, work with people you love.
Speaker 2:You know? Don't don't try to fast track everything. I think focus more on just having fun and really loving the people you you work with. Because when you start to look back and you you get into that rat race that I spoke about before, you're gonna look back in ten years and be like, shit, man. I wish I would've worked with better people.
Speaker 2:I wish I had a little bit more fun along the way. And I'm talking to too many very successful people, spiritually, financially, family wise, that all say, man, I wish I would've slowed down a little bit. I wish I would've, you know, been a little bit more present. And so I know that's what I'm trying to do now. I'm 30 years old, and I I like I wanna be a little bit more present.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I think being more present, if it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true. And yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You you've touched on, just a number of the incredible brands that you work with. I think that's one of the most striking things when you go to your Instagram for the for the first time. You're like, this guy's got his hands in so many incredible things. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I think that you're one of the original guys be it being a fitness influencer instead of just, like, taking cash or a monthly retainer. You were like, hey. Can I actually get some shares or some options or, like, a piece of this thing so I have some long term incentive to grow? Can you talk a little bit about maybe, like, some of the initial brands you worked with and how you kinda developed that methodology? Because that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thank you. Well, I think I always you know, I have always been really intrigued with marketing in general and just like how a con a consumer or psycholog I was always intrigued with, like, psychology. Mhmm. The psychology class was always my favorite.
Speaker 2:You know? And just thinking about how someone thinks about a certain thing, whether it's buying a super coffee. Like, why are they buying this super coffee? Is it because of the story behind it, Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan, they dropped out of college? Is it because of the flavor on the front?
Speaker 2:Is it because of the ingredients? Is it because they saw it in the store? How many times do they have to see this product before they actually buy it? Was it through an ad, a a a text, you know, an email, through a friend using an influencer? Like, what is that?
Speaker 2:And that's always intriguing. So deep diving in on a product and why someone buys it, I think, was the first step. And I knew as this influencer that and, like, I'd go in quotes because, like, I don't know. Like, I never want I I never was like, oh, I wanna be an influencer. I think it just, I guess, things I was doing was influential, and so people were following it.
Speaker 2:But Well,
Speaker 3:you were posting your workouts, and they were going really viral, like, a couple years ago.
Speaker 2:Right? Yeah. And I was these these are by the way, if I wish I had footage of, like, me as a kid because I was doing this this shit my whole life.
Speaker 1:I mean,
Speaker 2:I did ballet. I did gymnastics. I was always back flipping off something. I got kicked out of class almost every day in fifth grade because I would do back flips off the science grade desk. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Like, those big desks that Yeah. Yeah. Give two or three kids sit at. I would I would constantly do back flips off them. And so, like, I've always been doing this, and I guess now, you know, social media gives you a platform where you can just express yourself and just put what you do every day on it.
Speaker 2:So long and short is I started seeing brands reach out, and they're like, hey. We want you to hold this up. But I knew I'm like, me holding this up isn't gonna just convert a ton of consumers. It might convert a little bit, but this is only one piece of the puzzle. So Mhmm.
Speaker 2:In what other ways can we help grow this brand than just posting something? What other value can I add? What if I develop an email list for you? What if I show up at an event for you? What if I actually bring in quite a bit of capital for you from myself, my friends, and we do some syndicates for you?
Speaker 2:What if, you know, x y z? And so that's what I started doing. And so I start providing just more value to these brands and just, hey. I'm gonna do a post. And I think that's where the whole trend started of me building out the DML group of, hey.
Speaker 2:I can provide way more value than just being this creator in the space to just create content. I think it's a part of it. I think it's important. You know, it's one touch point of, of a brand getting awareness out there, but it's not all of it. It's not the end all be all.
Speaker 2:And so I saw that. I started getting some friends together. We started putting some cash together, and we started investing in brands. And that's what the DML group is. And then I start I started slowly seeing, well, what makes a brand good?
Speaker 2:What makes it so this brand can eventually sell one day? Is it the people around it? Is is it the funds that are behind it? Is it the is it this unique product? Does a Nestle, a Coca Cola, a Keurig do they need it?
Speaker 2:Like, what is gonna help an investor now make money on this? Right? Because now this is a whole another, formula that you have to worry about. So start deep and dive into that and start networking more and and meet more people in that space that actually sell or buy companies and start to just bring this whole pie full circle. Right?
Speaker 2:And so now a startup all the way until the endgame of selling. Then after selling, is it going public? Where is it going? Is it staying private? Is it cash cow?
Speaker 2:What is it? And so I started just understanding the formula of a company, specifically in the CPG space. And that's when I started putting the team together. The right lawyers, Ryan Lowen and Gianuzzi. I mean, they're the best lawyers in the space.
Speaker 2:They sold BodyArmor, Essentia, Vitamin Water, Oregon, Vega. I mean, they they are the best CPG lawyers in the world. Ryan, I trained him. I trained him for four years. He stumbled upon me.
Speaker 2:God put him upon me. I was like, train this guy. And so I trained him three, four days a week. I got to know him really well. And so I picked his brain.
Speaker 2:And I started just surrounding myself with these people and just getting really curious with this space. And that's when we started to kind of just looking into these different brand. I think the beauty about what we do at the DML Group and the syndicates we put together are the word strategic gets thrown around too much in the world when you need a strategic investor. The strategic we bring in are people that have actually sold these companies. They're people that can actually put put placement into, you know, a Whole Foods, a Walmart, a Target.
Speaker 2:Like, they you know, we have that retail, distribution. We have the capital if need so. We have the celebrity faces if we need that. Mhmm. You have influencers if you want that.
Speaker 2:You have the market like, we put real strategics that are all gonna help grow these companies, and so that's why we picked to go into Super Coffee. We think they're the leader in the space for bottled coffee. That's why we went into Olipop. That is the fastest growing beverage in The United States right now. You know, that's why we went into Beam and the CBD, sleep formula.
Speaker 2:That's why ProMix is one of our main brands. You know? We we think ProMix is one of the leading in categories and the healthiest supplements in the world. You know? So we we're picking the best products in each category that we want to invest in and help grow and scale, and that's kinda how it came about.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I'm short. Go ahead.
Speaker 1:It seems like your ability to ask the right questions and connect with the right people is kinda your superpower. Would you say that's pretty fair?
Speaker 2:I I I I think it's yeah. And connect. Yeah. I love connecting people, man. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And and it feels like that's part of, like, your genuine story, like, with the training aspect and, like, the promoting aspect of, like, actually just, like, creating these networks of people that are excited about doing something together.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which I think is really cool. Like, what you're bringing to the space of health and wellness is, like, how can we get the best people on our team to grow these brands and, like, create value for them?
Speaker 2:Exactly right. Yeah. I think I think it's really important to have, yeah, the right people around you. You know? What who like I said, who's your legal?
Speaker 2:You know? Who who's your distributor? Who's putting together your formulations? Who's doing your marketing? And who's authentic with it?
Speaker 2:You know? Who Hold on. The the big thing I see within marketing and, like, brand building and, you know, peep they're so easy to create a brand right now. Everyone has a phone. It's very easy for me to go online to a hat website and create a custom hat and go sell it.
Speaker 2:That's a brand. That's easy. Right? But it's like, if I'm creating a product and I'm the founder, how am I how is an outsider that comes in, say a marketer, for example, how are they gonna relay what the founder is thinking and what his vision is or her vision is or their vision is out until the consumer? And make sure that that whole, communication stays consistent the whole way.
Speaker 2:Right? Through email, through SMS, through ads, through events, through, you know, word-of-mouth, through guerilla marketing. Like, how is that communication staying the same?
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And
Speaker 2:so, yeah, you have to have the right people in place, whether it's your Amazon partner, whether it's your ecom partner, whether it's your ads partner, whether it's your legal partner. Everyone has to have an open mind and be able to consistently relay what the founder's knowledge is and what their vision is out to their consumer or whoever they're helping.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I've actually heard you say before, when you're thinking about working with a brand, if you feel like you can't get a beer with that founder, that's a no for you. Yeah. And I'm just curious, you know, why is that framework important to you? And then also, are there any other frameworks that you have when you're just looking at potentially working with new brands?
Speaker 2:Yeah. For sure. So I, back when I was in the restaurant, I we owned a beer garden.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so I got really into just IPAs and beers and and craft beers and whatnot. And I just I'm I'm a beer guy. And so I always just say I've I've always had just really good talks with people with beer. And, so it's it you know, if they drink or don't drink, whatever, but I just use that analogy because if it's if I can't sit down with you like this and just have a real raw conversation and it's awkward or there's, like, too much small talk or, like, we don't understand the same visions on philanthropy or Mhmm. Kinda where this vision's going with the brand, then it's probably we're probably both just gonna be wasting our time and just be butting the heads the whole time.
Speaker 2:But if we can have a solid beer and that fifteen minute combo is then turned into a two hour, I know that that's probably a right partner for me.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so that's why I just say, you gotta have a beer with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You've brought up philanthropy a few times, so tongue twister. What where, where does that stem from?
Speaker 2:Definitely from, the bear crawl Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And so my dad committed suicide when I was 16. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And I wanted to raise awareness for that and just people struggling with mental health. I came, I don't know, to some understanding of kinda what suicide was and mental health was, I don't know, maybe, like, three, four years ago when I started training for the bear crawl. And I was I went through also a pretty changing moment in my life. And so I was like, man, like, it's better to help people, man. It's it's really everyone can take.
Speaker 2:Anyone it's very easy to take, but it's harder to give. Right? And it should be balanced. There's a great book out there called Give and Take by Adam Grant that I think everyone yeah. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2:And I think everyone should read it on. Everyone should be a giver, man. I I love surrounding myself with givers. That's what you probably saw at the ranch. Everyone's a giver, man.
Speaker 2:Everyone should give. Givers always end up on top. It's I'd rather go into my grave knowing, hey, man. That guy that guy helped out. He was a giver.
Speaker 2:He, you know, he really changed some people's lives, gave time back, gave money back, etcetera, than, oh, that was a person who was an awesome billionaire, great entrepreneur. Fuck that. Anyone can do that. Yeah. It's the it's how are you actually changing the world?
Speaker 2:How are you giving back? So the bear crawl was the first big philanthropy thing I did. Bear crawl the the New York marathon, and that was hard. Wild too. But, yeah, it was wild.
Speaker 2:But, you know, we raised really good money, and we changed a lot of people's lives. I mean, the amount of messages I got the next day on people that were literally on the brink of suicide, and they were like, dude, you stopped me. Like, you gave me new purpose. And I was like, holy shit. This is awesome.
Speaker 2:Like, even if I just change one person's life, it's awesome. When you get hundreds of DMs like that, it was it was mind blowing. And that was that was my big eye opening. I need to do more of this. I need to figure how can I give back more into the world?
Speaker 2:And so the second one was when I went to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro, which, if anyone's listening, it's a great group hike. It's not hard. Like, anyone can do it. It I mean, you could walk up it in three days. It's very, very simple.
Speaker 2:But, I mean, altitude, it's 19,000 feet. But it's a great country to go to to witness, to go out, getting out in the jungle, and just explore. But,
Speaker 3:yeah,
Speaker 2:you know, notice this village out there, and they didn't have water. And they would walk twelve hours a day to get water. So, hey. Let's build them a water tank. You know?
Speaker 2:They don't have access to capital like a lot of people do in The US, and so raised them some money and built this water village. Now we're working on their, working on their, their actual village, their health care center. Yeah. And, yeah, we're we do a lot of things in philanthropy. I'm launching a a big foundation soon, which I can't talk about it yet, but it's, it's it's with a a family in Qatar, and we're gonna we're gonna do some really amazing stuff.
Speaker 2:It's a global charity. So sneak peek on that. But, yeah, I love
Speaker 3:too. We'll have you back on for that. Right?
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I mean, I love philanthropy, man. It it it helps me sleep better at night. It helps me know that I'm doing my part in the world. It, I know it helps others, and it just feels good, man. It feels freaking good.
Speaker 3:Dude, I hope people the listener understands what it probably I don't think anyone can imagine what it actually feels like to bear crawl a marathon. 26.2 miles, let alone just your hands, your back, that position. So So I'm just curious. Like, I can only imagine how jacked up your body was. But what was the feeling like just literally exerting yourself so hard at something, but then the next day, like, just seeing DMs from people literally saying I was on the verge committing suicide, but because of this event, it inspired me to push on and keep going.
Speaker 3:Like, could you even express what that what that meant to you? It it was,
Speaker 2:it no. I mean, it's kinda hard to express. It was more of just a, wow. It it opens your brain into what's really happening in the world and what people are really going through. You know, not no.
Speaker 2:You hear this all the time. Not enough people talk about it, but they really don't. You know? Like, a lot of us just keep it bottled up because we get in that rat race, and we're just going, going, going, and oh, people are going through the same shit. But the more we can talk about it, the more that you can bring awareness to it, the more it'll hopefully give another human that You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna fucking start talking about it too. And the more that you can just talk, just putting your words out into the world, anything, whatever it is, just talking, just getting that those little voices we all have in our brain, get those out. Like, just talk. Find a friend. Find a random person.
Speaker 2:Find a person in a coffee shop. Like, just talk. Just talk your ideas out. Talk your expressions out. Talk your struggles out.
Speaker 2:Your everyone's mental health would be better. Mhmm. You know what I mean? But if you just talk to many of us, just keep it bottled in. Good, bad, ideas, this, that.
Speaker 2:It's crazy. That's why I fucking talk so much. I haven't stopped talking for a while. I like talking. It makes me feel better.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah. What about the other side of that equation, acting and and doing stuff? Because I feel like that also has, like, kind of that therapeutic effect, and especially if you do it in a group.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think I think and I know putting a team together is the best thing I think all of us should do. Everyone in this room right now has their own personal brand. It's your first and last name. That's where the that's where you first start off.
Speaker 2:And if you can start building a team around you, and eve they don't have to be full time employees. They don't even have to be employees. But if you can start building a great network around you I hate using the word network. A great soundboard system around you that believes in what you believe in, that you can lean on, that there's a team effect, that's when you can start executing things because you have support that you wouldn't normally have. I've built companies by by myself, and I've built companies with people, and it always feels better with people because you have that soundboard effect.
Speaker 2:And then that's when things actually start getting executed. My partner, Albert, and I at Promix, we're we couldn't be more opposite, and he is a % operations, back end, figuring out the formulations. I am a % front end marketing. But we have this push and pull, you know, formulation where he's constantly nagging me, and I'm nagging him, but that's how we execute things going forward. And so you need to build these teams around you, whether that's, again, your personal brand.
Speaker 2:That's your first and last name. You started this personal brand. You love it. Great. And you have some people you can soundboard on.
Speaker 2:That's how you execute things. You get your out word out in the into the world. You start, talking about it. You start people start believing in it, and then you start executing. Right?
Speaker 2:But when everything's bottled up, it's you're never gonna execute it. You know what I mean? You need a you need a team to execute stuff. And if you don't and you're you're you're a lone wolf, cool. But I do think you'll plateau at some point.
Speaker 2:You know? It's better to be on top with more people than just yourself Totally.
Speaker 3:On a
Speaker 2:mountain or in business.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Speaking of team, I mean, the team that you guys have at All Day Running Co, it seems like such a unique, diverse group of people. Yeah. And, I mean, we that's really how we got introduced was that All Day Running event that you guys did on Saturday, and it seems like you're really curating a lot of these incredible positive experiences, building community. Can you tell us a little bit about how you and Jesse and the team built that concept out and why that's so important to you all?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I met Jesse a couple years ago at one of his events, twenty nine zero two nine, which he recently sold. Jesse's obviously an amazing human. If you guys don't know who Jesse Itzler is, let me give you a quick brief. The guy, unbelievable philanthropist, built a company, sold to Warren Buffett, a jet company.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Sold a couple companies to, Coca Cola. Fifty Cent was his intern. He ran Run DMC for six years. The guy has ran hundred milers.
Speaker 2:He is the ultimate authentic human out there and probably has the biggest network of any human I've ever met. I've met a lot of humans. He has an insane network of humans, and he's just raw. I define success as someone that can be the same person across any platform, talking to any human at any any time in in time. And that's who he is.
Speaker 2:He's the same person whether he's talking to his child, whether he's talking to the president, whether he's talking to me, or he's talking to the team. And so when I met Jesse, I was like, this guy is authentic. I love this guy. Great human. I just wanna be friends with him.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We started vibing. We both love honey. Fucking started eating honey together. Yeah. We both, like, doing hard shit, cold plunges on us.
Speaker 2:Started doing that together. That's when he brought me the concept of, all day. And at first, it was more apparel. I know it was events. Then it was just three sixty count three sixty five calendar where we do a workout every day, and then it was just all of it together.
Speaker 2:And this amazing girl, Amanda, put together the brand, and, you know, she's never she's not even a runner. And so she put together this brand for a running brand. And then Jesse came in, and then we have Todd from Home Depot come in and super see like, we just have these I don't even wanna say weird. It's yeah. I mean, it's a weird group of, like, just it's a circus.
Speaker 2:It's really just a circus of humans that are all from different backgrounds. I've put together this all day running community and and team. And what's unique about it is the whole point is for us to just have a fun running community, the funnest running community in the world. And the common denominator with all these people are they are fun. They just like to have a good time.
Speaker 2:And so that's why I say circus. It's fun. Mhmm. And so we just wanna constantly have fun events, be at fun activations. It's not a this or that conversation.
Speaker 2:It's this and that. We don't wanna compete with Nike or Under Armour or Adidas or, you know, Iron Man or whatever. We're just we're just here to collaborate and have a good time and live life. And and I think that's what all day is. You know?
Speaker 2:I I know every person that's a part of this has this open minded mentality to just do more with more people. There's too many brands that start and say, well, this brand is not doing it right, so we're gonna do this. We're not saying that. We're just saying, hey. We're here to have fun.
Speaker 2:Whoever wants to join, join in. You know? We're not we're we're just here to have a good time. And I think with that mentality, it makes this startup process with all day running that much more fun Mhmm. And that much more easygoing and less stressful because we're not competing.
Speaker 2:We're just here to have fun. Yeah. And that's, I think, why it's gaining the recognition that it has in just two months that we've been around. You know? Which is wild.
Speaker 3:You guys
Speaker 1:have only been around for two months. Just longer. That's wild. It feels like it's been around for a long time. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But what I love about what you guys are doing is, like, you know, after COVID, everyone was pretty isolated and I feel like people's health took a hit for the worse. And this is, like, one of these events where people are coming together around health and trying to inspire each other and do you know, live an active life and, you know, go go and be more ambitious and find your find your groove when it comes to, like, getting healthier. And, I I think there's a lot of power to that. And I think the timing of it being something that's happened after COVID is really inspiring. Like, it's Yes.
Speaker 1:Something that needs to be more, like, more prevalent. Like, you know, people getting healthier together. Like, it's such an awesome feeling.
Speaker 2:I yeah. It's man, it's it's I'll I'll tell you one thing. I I was telling my friend the other day. My grandfather, my dad's dad, he was a professional weightlifter. Right?
Speaker 2:Bodybuilder, like, way back. You know, he's he's a war veteran like most were. And, when I started working out when I was young I mean, I was young. My dad was I was doing chin ups when I was, like, five, six. Right?
Speaker 2:And I remember when I first started working out, like, seriously, maybe, like, 14, my grandfather called me, and he was like, Dev, make sure always make sure that you work out with a partner. Always. He's like, it's gonna make your life a lot easier. And that always stuck in my head. And I'm like, how is this guy that he just turned 90 a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2:I was like, how is this guy like, he has so much knowledge in this space. Like, why does he always say that to me? And he constantly said it to me. And now I'm 30 years old, and I get it. And I'm like, this is why.
Speaker 2:Like, you have to have a workout partner. You really should find someone. And if you don't have someone immediately, find a community and go and go and find it because it's gonna make your health process that much easier, that much more fun, and doing it with other people. Again, like I said, being at the top of a mountain by yourself is not fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, being at the top of a business by yourself is not fun. Being working out by yourself is not necessarily fun. Like, have someone that you can do it with, and it's gonna emphasize. You need someone that can always push and pull you and and you can lean on. You know?
Speaker 2:It's part of human. Totally.
Speaker 3:I mean, iron sharpens iron. Right?
Speaker 2:It's like
Speaker 3:that's why this this show has been so fun having a cohost and a great friend.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine doing this by yourself. Right?
Speaker 3:It's so much fun.
Speaker 1:And we do we do other shit outside of the show too that, like, I think forges the bond even more. Like, we did a hundred k in August. Sad. I was telling them a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Suffering with someone is so much fun.
Speaker 2:It's tough, man. And Yeah. And you guys build this bond that just it's next level. Right?
Speaker 3:Totally. Yeah. I think you'd said, hey. I feel like all day has been around longer for two months. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And my theory is that I think because you guys have built this brand that's, like, just so synonymous to who you, Jesse, Amanda, the team are as people, we probably just assume that it's been around longer than it really has been because it's like you're just you're both just doing the shit that you wanna do anyway through this brand, which is so cool. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. He, he said something to me one day that I'll never really forget, but he was, like him and I were on a walker in Atlanta, Jesse, and he was like, Dev, he's like, if I gave you a billion dollars right now, he's like, you'd be doing the exact same thing tomorrow. And I was like, you're right. I wouldn't I would still be saunaing and cold plunging and running and having fun and working out and meeting with good people.
Speaker 2:Like, that's just I like doing that. Like, I've genuinely this is gonna sound crazy. I genuinely feel like I'm retired right now. Wow. Like, I don't think I'm gonna be doing much different things when I'm 70, 80, maybe on, like, a bigger scale with more people, but not too much different.
Speaker 2:Like, I love what I do every single day, and I think everyone can get to that point. It just like and then and then bleed that into your business that you're starting.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 2:And then that's how you combine work and life. Too many people in the Western culture separate work and life. We're one of the only cultures in the world that do it. You go to Italy right now and you try to get you try to go to a restaurant for lunch, they're not open. They're not they're just not open.
Speaker 2:Everyone's going back to their family to have lunch, right? They're like people separate to go back to their family. They're combining work and life into one thing because work and life is still life. It's not like we're stopping. Like, Oh, we're going to stop.
Speaker 2:And it's all we're still life. It's still living. Mhmm. Right? And so how can you live life for a living, I think.
Speaker 2:And how do you do that? Well, you start by taking back your time in the day and doing what you love and then saturating that into your business and your ethics, you know, and and what you believe in. And I know that's what I try to do at the DML Group, Creator and Co, ProMix, every brand that we're a part of all day running. It's just who we are. This is what we're doing on a daily basis anyway.
Speaker 2:So it doesn't feel like work. It's just you're living life for a living.
Speaker 1:I I feel like the pushback on that would be like, oh, but what about, like, the risk, you you know, of, like, kind of taking back your time and, like, maybe not having a job for a little bit and focusing on trying to create that alignment. How do you think about that? And and maybe, like because it your journey has been Yeah. You know, a long windy road. So maybe put yourself back in your shoes back then.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How did you think about risk?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I would say how much do you value time over money? And I think they're not comparable even to the slightest because as we're talking right now, seconds are going by, minutes are going by. Totally. Time is the most valuable thing we have, and it's not guaranteed ever.
Speaker 2:Money is. Anyone you can make money whenever. You can make money if you're training people. You can make money if you go sell coffee, if you work at McDonald's, if you do whatever. But, like, time, you cannot get back.
Speaker 2:So I think the question that to ask anyone that's listening is, like, how much do you actually value your time is the biggest question. Mhmm. And then that'll answer a lot of questions. Mhmm. You know?
Speaker 2:That's a serious conversation you have to have with yourself. And if you don't value time that much and you value money more, then, yes, of course, you're gonna probably be a little bit more miserable
Speaker 3:than
Speaker 2:you normally would. But if you're like, I love my time. I value my health. What are your values? Like, what are your what are your value what are your no matter fucking what's in life?
Speaker 2:My no matter what's. My family and friends, my spiritual growth, my financial growth. Right? Like, those are my no matter what's. Like, I won't always wanna have those.
Speaker 2:Right? What are your no matter what's in life? You know? My health. No matter what, I always base my decisions on my values.
Speaker 2:Business decisions, life decisions, friend decisions, always go back to that. If someone's not adding value, then they're taking value from me.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so it could just goes back to what are your values in life? Time is a big, big value for me. If it's taking too much of my time and it's not hitting on one of those values, I'm not even it's not I'm not doing it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I know how I know Jesse you and Jesse, that's a commonality that you both have as you're super intentional about your time. And I've actually heard you say before that one of your frameworks when you're making decisions is you think about maybe, like, an 85 year old version of yourself at a retirement community and basically being like, hey. When I'm 85, am I gonna regret not doing this thing? And that kinda helps you determine if you're gonna pull the trigger on something. Right?
Speaker 2:All the time. And it's whether whether it's simply going to a game or a concert or an event or even this podcast, like, will I regret this when I'm older? Yeah. I probably would have regretted this shit, man. I wish I would have gone on this podcast.
Speaker 2:You know? Like, you you kinda just show start showing up if you if you feel like there's ever gonna be regret. And it starts not necessarily when it's eighty five, but at night. And so if you can start just going day by day, and you can go to sleep and be like, what did I regret today? And you can start getting this point of, I didn't regret anything today.
Speaker 2:I loved everything I did today. I wanted to do everything I wanted great. And day by day. Now when you're 85, you're like, damn. I just had tens of thousands of days where I didn't regret anything.
Speaker 2:That was awesome.
Speaker 3:You know
Speaker 2:what I mean? That's a good life. Mhmm. So that's that's how I think about regret and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's a shared trait among successful people? Kind of just, like, thinking about regret as this thing that's you're you're just trying to avoid or, like, try trying to, like, steer your life away from.
Speaker 2:I think well, I think it's it's how it's how those people define their success. Right? You know, is it money? Is it time? Is it, family?
Speaker 2:Is it spiritual? You know, monks are so different. Right? Monks are Like, they're successful in their own way. Right?
Speaker 3:Right. And so it's like,
Speaker 2:I think the common trait, one, you have to figure out what your success is. You can divide it in a million different ways. But, yeah, I mean, it's it's what's it what's what makes you happy, right, at that certain moment in time. And as long as you're happy the other thing, like, none of us ever talk about is is how we went to elementary school for four years. We went to middle school for four years.
Speaker 2:We went to high school for four years, and we went to college for four years. That's what is that? Sixteen years, right, of four year increments. Right? And then we're expected to go into a job for forty years.
Speaker 2:How that doesn't even make make sense. How is my brain triggered if I was just constantly taught every four years to switch up, switch up, switch up, switch up, switch up, and then go do something for forty years and then supposed to retire? That doesn't make sense. So we're naturally naturally supposed to be expanding out. We're naturally supposed to be switching up.
Speaker 2:We're supposed to constantly be redefining what our values are, redefining what life is every couple years. That's what it's supposed to be. So, like, be a little bit more curious. Be a little bit more out there. Like, don't be so stuck to having this one job.
Speaker 2:Like, go take some risks. Like, we're supposed to. We're we're literally by society, we're being taught to do that. Mhmm. Right?
Speaker 2:And so I don't know. I I just think it it goes it goes deep in that, which it'll take another hour to get into. But Yeah. But you know what I mean? Like, we're we're we're, like, we're supposed to be changing.
Speaker 2:We're supposed to be growing. You know, we're not supposed to be stagnant. And too much of us too many of us get stagnant at these individual jobs, and don't expand out. Like I said at the beginning very beginning of the podcast, everyone should have ten, twenty, 30 different streams of revenue. Yes.
Speaker 2:And they should be taking risks. And that's not only just from a revenue standpoint, but just from a mental health. If I have 30 streams of revenue and one fails, I have 29 more. I am not fucking losing sleep over it. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:But if
Speaker 2:you have one and you lose one, you're fucked.
Speaker 3:A %.
Speaker 2:That's just what it is. Yeah. And so how are you de stressing your life? How are you thinking about your whole life? How are you thinking about regret?
Speaker 2:How are you just thinking about the overall picture is, I think, a bigger question that everyone should just have a honest conversation with themselves.
Speaker 3:I have a two part question for you. The first is no. It's it's simple. Do you your do you deal with imposter syndrome, and do you have any advice for people that deal with imposter syndrome? The reason why I ask that is that
Speaker 2:Impa you can explain imposter syndrome a
Speaker 3:little bit. Almost like you have this, like, you've achieved success, but maybe there's this internal state of, like, oh, do I actually deserve this? Yeah. I think that's, like, probably a block for a lot of people. And the reason why I'm asking that is you're someone that's you've had such incredible success at a young age.
Speaker 3:You know, you're partnering with people like Jesse. You're invested in all these incredible brands, building brands. And I'm just wondering if there's ever a party that's like, shit. I still just kinda view myself as this kid from New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:All the time. Yeah. Every day. I like, even just being on this podcast, I'm like Yeah. Why the fuck do they wanna talk to me?
Speaker 2:Yeah. All the time. All the I didn't even know it in pot that % it makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I'm Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm constantly thinking, like, some of the messages or emails or calls I get, I'm like, why does why does Odell Beckham wanna be my business partner? I'm like, I have no clue. But it always stems back. And when I deep dive into these questions, energy. You know?
Speaker 2:Everyone is attracted to energy. Negative or positive? I like putting positive energy out there. If I'm putting negative energy, I think you guys would see my circle become a lot different. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Right? And so I think when I do think of this imposter syndrome of, do I deserve this? Am I supposed to be here? It definitely makes me work harder, think deeper into conversations, think deeper into decisions. I definitely tippy toe around a little bit more because I'm like, oh, man.
Speaker 2:I really don't wanna mess this up. This is a really cool opportunity. But then it always I always stem back to energy. I always like, well, I do I think I've been pretty positive about it. I think I gave back enough.
Speaker 2:I think I'm I'm doing the right thing. I I as long as I can go to sleep at night
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:That that kind of brings me full circle. But Yeah. Imposter syndrome, yeah, I mean, I guess that's a real thing. I definitely I mean, dead ass even on this podcast. I'm like, and this is a pretty cool production.
Speaker 2:I don't know what freak I'm doing here, but Yeah.
Speaker 3:Hey. I'll what's going on? I'll just rip it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How, how do you think about legacy and sort of, like, what you what sort of mark you wanna leave on the world?
Speaker 2:I think there's three ways that a human dies. I think the first one and people might have heard this. First one is when you're dead. Like, you're dead. Okay.
Speaker 2:That person just died, unfortunately. The second is when they get buried in the ground, and the third is when your name is last spoken on Earth. And so I think legacy is how long can that how long can your how long can you be alive for, you know, before you're really dead. There's the third the third way. Right?
Speaker 2:Are you bare crowning a marathon? Are you setting a record? Are you building a village? Are you, you know, doing something that's gonna leave a mark on society in, like, a really positive manner? What are you gonna do where your name never gets forgotten in a positive way?
Speaker 2:Right? I would also say legacy. Family is important. I always I would love for, you know, my generations and, you know, kids I hopefully have in the future, you know, them to have they can look back and be like, oh, my grandfather, my great grandfather, this, that. Like, I definitely think about that.
Speaker 2:But more importantly, like, what did what am I doing now to set a good standard for them to be like, wow. He was a philanthropist, or, you know, he helped give back here. Like, I wanna keep this foundation going, or I wanna I wanna continue to build this village out in Africa. I wanna keep, you know, going there. So, like, I think setting the right standards with legacy, not necessarily just money.
Speaker 2:Money, money, money, able to talk about money. It's not that. It's more just like what how can you keep that going? And, yeah, how how can you give your family and your community and a a solid base, you know, of of the right things to do? Definitely.
Speaker 1:No. A bad answer.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's an amazing answer. It's probably a great great point to probably end the conversation. Dude, you're, we're just gonna confirm that you're definitely leaving your mark, man. We've we've admired you for some time now.
Speaker 3:So it's just it's special for us to be able to actually have you in the studio and get to talk to you and learn more about your story and just ask you the questions that we wanted to know the answer to. Cool. And, just appreciate everything you're doing, man.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you guys, man. You guys are some positive dudes. Great facial hair and
Speaker 3:Good smile. Trying.
Speaker 1:Need the facial hair.
Speaker 2:Need the facial hair. Guys, they're great. Always welcome at the ranch, the farm, all day running, every brand we have. Gonna send you guys a bunch of care packages and appreciate you guys, man. You guys are doing some epic stuff as well.
Speaker 2:I know you guys have some awesome guests, and I'm imposter syndrome's kicking in. I don't know why you had me on, but I appreciate it. And, anything I can ever do to help you guys, please let me know. Awesome.
Speaker 1:Oh,
Speaker 3:yeah. Thanks, brother.
Speaker 1:Alright. Thanks, man.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you. Love. Love. Love.
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