1 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: Okay, So I am engaged to Paul, who is very 2 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: generous and um has bought me beautiful gifts from the beginning. 3 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: He is like Prince Charming. The flowers are crazy. His 4 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: flower game. He could easily be a floral designer because 5 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: he calls the florist and he talks to them and 6 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: he chooses it, and he designs the floors. He doesn't 7 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: physically put the floor the flowers together, but he he 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: designs the flowers and it's literally crazy how spectacular they are. 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: So he also has bought me beautiful jewelry from the beginning, 10 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: Like now when I look back and think about what 11 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: date that was and how soon after we met, like 12 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: he was coming in for keeps. You know, he was 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: literally Prince Charming. He wasn't literally Prince Darming, because Prince 14 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: Charming is Prince charming. He was Paul, but he was 15 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: not literally Prince Charming. So UM, I have some gifts 16 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: and jewelry from other people. I have an X that 17 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: once bought me a nice watch that he then later 18 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: asked me if he could buy back from me because 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: it became the hottest watch. It's a collector's item now, 20 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: so just he bought me a very nice watch, but 21 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: not like crazy crazy, and all of a sudden it 22 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 1: became a collector's item. It's a he was expensive. I 23 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: don't know what it was to begin with, because I 24 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: think he bought it used, which is fine because I 25 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: believe in buying watches. He used and I'm a collector, 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: so on another day we can also talk about watch 27 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,320 Speaker 1: collecting and how to start and how to maintain it. 28 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: But um, he bought me a Rolex Hulk, which is 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: a stainless steel Rolex that has a green face and 30 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: a green dial, and when it came out, Um, there's 31 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: just another Rolex watches right now in the world because 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: of the pandemic and people being home and wanting better 33 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: and value and collecting in quality Rolexes they cannot keep 34 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: in stores. It sounds crazy, and I know it's insensitive 35 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: to um people that are on the unemployment line and 36 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: at food banks. And I'm not trying to be insulting. 37 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: I'm just explaining something that's going on in the luxury 38 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: goods market right now, where watches are crazy. UM, watches, 39 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: I assume, like high end jewelry, probably luxury goods. I 40 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: mean in Miami, every single person had a Gucci or 41 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:32,679 Speaker 1: Lou Louivittan or channelle back every person. I don't know 42 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: where everyone's getting all this money, but it seems like 43 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: a lot of people have disposable income. Maybe they've been 44 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: hoarding and storing since being away, but I'm air mes 45 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: bags are probably way up. So this role X is 46 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: now worth probably four times what it originally was. So 47 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: I don't really wear it because of Paul, and I 48 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: know he's not a big fan of wearing jewelry from exes, 49 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: but what if you have like your major watch, you 50 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? You're gonna just not ever 51 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: wear it? And thank god, Paul has brought me the 52 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: best presence of any person I've ever been with. But 53 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: what is the rule on presence from X's Is that 54 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: just out? Like what if someone got divorced, got married 55 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: to someone else, had that original diamond and then wanted 56 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: to put it in a pendant. Isn't that then just 57 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: a new piece of jewelry? Because I have a setting 58 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: that initially a really nice setting as diamonds on the side, 59 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: and it was initially supposed to go with a ring 60 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: from someone else. But I designed this setting. I now 61 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: own the setting. It doesn't have a diamond or a 62 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: stone or anything in the middle of it. But because 63 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: it was originally intended to be for something that was 64 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: going to be paid for by somebody before, does that 65 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: mean I couldn't wear it now? Like where do we 66 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: where do we draw the line on presents from X's. 67 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: I think you wear it. You don't bring it up, 68 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: and you don't bring it out, and you don't wear 69 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: it when you're with the person it does. It could 70 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: be a don't ask, don't tell you enough to do, 71 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: like a jewelry tour of everything you own. So Katie's 72 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: husband should be wearing it today when she's here, but 73 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: not when she's around, and that should be a deal. 74 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: I don't wear the Hulk with Paul. There's no reason 75 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: He's brought me so many beautiful watch is way more 76 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: valuable than the Hulk, and so I don't wear when 77 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: I'm with him. But when I'm knocking around the Hamptons 78 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: are with Brin, I'll wear it. And I don't think 79 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: she Paul. Paul would probably care if I give it 80 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: to Brin one day because they're very close. So just 81 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: don't wear it around your person is my opinion, But 82 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: I don't think you need to sell all your memories. 83 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: So what do you think? Can you wear gifts from 84 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: X is? Does it matter how valuable they are, doesn't 85 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: matter how meaningful they are? Does it matter what X 86 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: it is? Or do you just don't ask, don't tell, 87 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: don't wear around them? What do you all think? My 88 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: guest today is billionaire Daniel Lubetski, the founder and executive 89 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: chairman of snack company Kind. He launched a company in 90 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: two thousand three when he was unhappy with the unhealthy 91 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: or unappetizing snack choices went on the run. Kind has 92 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: since then become the fastest growing snack company in the US. Today, 93 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: we talked about how the best brands come from your 94 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: personal mission, the importance of building a strong foundation for 95 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: your business before expanding, the secret of clear branding, and 96 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: how the struggle of building your business will be some 97 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: of your fondest memories in the future. Daniel built Kind 98 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: from the bottom and was incredibly savvy and expanding the brand. 99 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: You're going to learn a lot from his story. I 100 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: definitely did. Hello, Hi, Bethany, So you have done some podcasts. 101 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: You were on Sharp Tank, so we have that in common. 102 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: And you've created a household name brand certainly in this country. 103 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: Have are you all over the world. We're in thirty 104 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: five countries. Wow. And in creating this brand, was this 105 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: a happy accident it or did you plan to have 106 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: a healthy food brand or did you just want do 107 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: this just solve a problem in your own life? So 108 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: I started by chance in the food industry. Had gone 109 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: to college and law school and reading about how to 110 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: use business to try to advance the peace process between 111 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: Arabs and Israelis. I'm a confused Mexican Jew trying to 112 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: get Arabs and Israelis together. And I started a company 113 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: called Piece Works to use business to bring neighbors together. 114 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: And seven or eight years later, I stumbled upon the 115 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: idea of what I needed for myself with a healthy 116 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: snack that I could feel good about eating on the 117 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: go when I was traveling, while skipping lunch to dinner, 118 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: going on the go. And that's how kind Oh okay, 119 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: But you did not think that that was going to 120 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: be your main thing. That was like a side thing 121 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: to solve a problem, and it became your main thing. 122 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: If you had told me that I was going to 123 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: be in the food industry or no. I thought I 124 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 1: was going to be a diploma bringing peace to the world, 125 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: which that have failed miserably. Interesting, but it's it. But 126 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: it's also interesting how somehow you found a way to 127 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: weave into your business brand, your personal mantra and goal set, 128 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: which is interesting to me. I mean that that you 129 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: know exactly what your brand is. I agree completely, and 130 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: I I learned that the hard way. I have figured 131 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:29,119 Speaker 1: out now when I look back, that what I'm here 132 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: for is to try to build bridges between people. And 133 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: so if you look back through when I was a 134 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: twelve year old on the world to now, it's always 135 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: been building bridges between people, partly because I was raised 136 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: in Mexico in a very small Jewish community, where my 137 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: parents taught me to build bridges. My father was rescued 138 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: from a concentration camping that how by American soldiers, and 139 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: so for them it was very important to prevent what 140 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: happened to him from happening again to others by connecting 141 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: with other fellow human beings. And so I discovered my 142 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: mission early on. I didn't understand branding that well. And 143 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: I think you're right, Bethany, that what I'm lucky that 144 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: I had that purpose from an early age. And once 145 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: I started Piece Works and I had discovered that you 146 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: can actually through business, have some social impact, I wanted 147 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: to try to create a model in Kind where we 148 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: could really actually embed a commitment to make our small 149 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: contribution to make this world a little kinder. And so 150 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: I was very mission driven. But I hadn't learned early 151 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: on that this important tenant that a brand is a promise, 152 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: and a great brand is a promise well kept. And 153 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: so I used to be all over the place and 154 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: tried to do too many things. And once we launched Kind, 155 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: we learned from our mistakes and Peace Works, and we're 156 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: very very very clear on our guard rails of what 157 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: we would be and what we would not be in 158 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: terms of our mission, in terms of our products, what 159 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: our products stood for. We didn't need to go overly 160 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: high end or overly lower end. We wanted to be 161 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: precisely a premium healthy snock brought up. But that was 162 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: I mean, we were very very focused, and I think 163 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: that made all the difference. Like you said, that we 164 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: understood what we were about and what promise you were 165 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: making dark consumers, and we needed to keep that well, 166 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: that's an excellent point that has never come up on 167 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,320 Speaker 1: the show, even though I've thought about it so many times. 168 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: Is that you said you were all over the place, 169 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: and in many points I was all over the place, 170 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: because you are all over the place until you figure 171 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: out what it is that you're supposed to do. I've 172 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,559 Speaker 1: heard people say I want to find out where white 173 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,839 Speaker 1: spaces and I want to create something, and I want 174 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: to do something, and typically good brands come from within. 175 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: You could really I was just on the phone about 176 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: a home line five minutes ago with this this this 177 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: company that manufactures different home products and some of the 178 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: things that I want to do have already been done before. 179 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: But I want to do them in my way. But 180 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: I will understand how to brand them, how to explain 181 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,680 Speaker 1: to people what the solution is that they bring. Where 182 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: four people could sell a towel, but am I selling 183 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: a towel with a certain feeling that has uh some 184 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: other um tewelholder that encases it or a hook on 185 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: the towel that makes it easier to hang, because that 186 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: would be part of the brand versus just selling a towel. 187 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: But it's also you know, entrepreneurs and you're a entrepreneur, 188 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: and I think I am too. Since I was a kid, 189 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: I was looking for president entrepreneurs. Their greatest strength is 190 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:26,719 Speaker 1: also their greatest weakness. We see opportunities, and we are 191 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: resourceful and entrepreneurial, and we want to pursue opportunities, and 192 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people just sit at home and don't 193 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: pursue those opportunities. Entrepreneurs have the opposite problem. They want 194 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: to pursue too many opportunities. And I think focus. You 195 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: need to balance that resourcefulness with the need to be 196 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: disciplined and focused, because you cannot be everything to everybody 197 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 1: or else will be nothing to nobody. But then you 198 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: have a question for you, because I've observed over the 199 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:58,719 Speaker 1: last many years that a lot of personalities and celebrities 200 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: that have incredible and do not succeed when they try 201 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: to build consumer prob goods brands. The vast majority of 202 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: incredible stars just don't succeed. You did a great job, 203 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 1: like you have one of the most prominent brands that 204 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 1: really did establish itself very well and has Like you said, 205 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: is that Do you think the secret was that clear 206 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: branding or what else did you do to make sure 207 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: that you're brand becomes such a success. Well, I think 208 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: I'm an expert on this only because I was in 209 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: a vehicle and a platform within being on television reality television. 210 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: I was the first one to say, I'm on television, 211 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: I'm going to monetize this, and I'm going to use 212 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:44,079 Speaker 1: this as a business vehicle. I just knew that very clearly. 213 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: So first of all, having a plan and setting yourself 214 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: up regardless of which road you're going to go down, 215 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: is hugely important. Second of all, people slap their names 216 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: on things. It's too tempting. Once you get attention, people 217 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: want you to do a bunch of different things, and 218 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: if you're not um select, even if you don't have 219 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: a very cleared roadmap, you will get on the wrong 220 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: road and get tempted. So someone said to me years ago, 221 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: you always are making the right moves. I see it 222 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 1: as chess. I think four steps down the line, and 223 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,199 Speaker 1: so I am very methodical. I hold the steering wheel 224 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: very tight and make sure that I really make good decisions. 225 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: And that's risky sometimes because you give up money. But 226 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: I left the Housewives because I didn't think it reflected 227 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: where I am now, and I didn't think it was 228 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,680 Speaker 1: good for my brand overall. Even though I was leaving 229 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: a lot of money on the table, I was doing 230 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: that so I could jump and fly because I wanted 231 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: to preserve the brand um And I think it's about 232 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: excellent decision making and the right roadmap. And there are 233 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: people way more famous than me, Ryan SeaQuest, Jennifer Aniston, 234 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: people that they don't have a brand. They are a 235 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: brand because they're successful, but they don't have a consumer 236 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: products brand, as you said, because they have to focus 237 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: on their main career being on television doing all that. 238 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: It's not that easy to be the CEO and the talent. 239 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: Besides being highly strategic with your choices, which you clearly were, 240 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: Is there anything else that when you grew up you 241 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: learned from your parents or that made you be a 242 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: good business person and have a good head on your 243 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: shoulders to this out how this happened or how did 244 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: that come about the business side. I grew up in 245 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: a very dysfunctional, abusive, gambling race track household, so I 246 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: was a hustler early. It sounds crazy. I was going 247 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: to nightclubs when I was fourteen years old, thirteen years old. 248 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: When I was thirteen years old, I was going to 249 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:39,839 Speaker 1: night clubs. I was getting myself into Manhattan on a train, 250 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: figuring out a way to get myself in. I wasn't 251 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: like crazy with drugs or anything like that. It wasn't 252 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: like that. I was almost like an adult because at 253 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: four or five o'clock I used to hear physical abuse 254 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: in my house called cops like I was responsible. So 255 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: I was an adult very early, and I was analytical 256 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:59,079 Speaker 1: and thinking very uh strategically, very very early. And also 257 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: the race track is really there's no second. You come 258 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: in first. Nobody cares about who came in second at 259 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: the Kentucky Derby. So it's just a very competitive um 260 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: and strategic place to be. So I I think I 261 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: was always new. We went to I went to thirteen schools. 262 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: I was always knew that means you have to pivot, shift, 263 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: a just work in a crisis. So I have a 264 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: lot of the ingredients for someone that can hustle and 265 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: really doesn't get ruffled by crazy things happening. In fact, 266 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: when crazy things happen, that's when I really kick in 267 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,480 Speaker 1: and figure out the solutions. And as a person who's 268 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: an entrepreneur or a brand builder, you have to really 269 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: understand ship's gonna go sideways, and any entrepreneur knows that he. 270 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: Did you grow up wealthy, you went to good colleges, 271 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 1: did you what was your background? So it's a it's 272 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: a very good question because I when I grew up, 273 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: I didn't realized how blessed I was. I never wanted 274 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: for anything, and I had. We lived in Mexico City, 275 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: we had a very nice home. And when we immigrated 276 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: to San Antonio, Texas, we I was fifteen and a 277 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: half years old, and the contrast from my father to 278 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: us was, you know, my father, when he was fifteen 279 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: and a half years old, was liberated from the Dachau 280 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: concentration camp and he immigrated to Mexico with nothing but 281 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: the clothes on his back, and he had a third 282 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: grade education because after that he had been in the 283 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: war and he just had so compared to that, I 284 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: had everything. And so I would say we were upper 285 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: middle class or you know, I think we were very, 286 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,080 Speaker 1: very comfortable. And what I have right now with my kids, 287 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: what one are the things that I tried to do 288 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: is to try to make sure that you know, because 289 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: I think my dad's greatest success came when we were 290 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: a little bit older, but I'm not certain, and I 291 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: want to make sure that they remember, because they didn't 292 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: see when I was like waking up at six m 293 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: in the morning or five am in the morning and 294 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: finishing at five am at night, like you know, sometimes 295 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: literally twenty four hour days, eighteen our days, sixteen our days, 296 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: where I had to go walk up and down the 297 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: streets of Manhattan to knock on the doors to try 298 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: to get the orders, then process the order of myself, 299 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: then deliver the products myself, then invoice them myself, and 300 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: try to like myself. And it was it was a 301 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: very you know, and many many months and years I 302 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: could barely makends meet, to make no money. And you're 303 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: too young to know this, uh, Bethany. But back when 304 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: I was doing this, there were no apps and there 305 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: was no internet. So I would literally take a piece 306 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: of paper and then I would hand right the map 307 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: and I would plot okay on forty second streets brother store, 308 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: and I would like literally I still today, I can 309 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: tell you the best treat for the most grocery stores 310 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: per capita in New York City is Broadway on the 311 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: west side of Broadway, and I and tell you the 312 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: iris the streets that you shouldn't waste your time on. 313 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: And like the delis and the forties were good. The 314 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: delis and the forties were good. They sold more cookies. Yeah, 315 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: it's so funny. No, I totally remember you no GPS, 316 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: you had no you know, you just drove up and 317 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: down the streets. I I did it to make no money. 318 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: And the best parties that whenever I had a quote 319 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: unquote vacation, I was working. So if I had my 320 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: friend's wedding in Cape Cod, he always teaches me about it. 321 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: That when they were doing the clam bake, I was 322 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: going selling products to the little corner shops and I 323 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: had no idea what I was doing because I was 324 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: selling these Mediterranean spreads made through corporation between Abs and Israelis. 325 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 1: And I was going through these like New England clam 326 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: bake shops and they're like why was exactly no sense 327 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: to us. But I would not relent fill the people buy, 328 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: you know, one case for thirties six dollars. I got it, 329 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 1: I really do. I know that's an entrepreneur. You don't 330 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: even know what you're doing. And the thing is that 331 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,359 Speaker 1: I always say to people making the mistakes early is 332 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: so great because the mistakes you made then you still 333 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: can remember now and apply them to what you're doing 334 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: now on some level, like throwing good money after bad 335 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: a main, main, main thing that every new entrepreneur or 336 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: young entrepreneur mistake, that they make good money after bad. 337 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: You are halfway between Cuba and Florida and you have 338 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: no idea to keep swimming. You're drowning whether you have 339 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: to go back, because you just know you're not making money. 340 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: It's very hard on your ego to shut it down. 341 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 1: You think you might be able to make it because 342 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: people do like what you're selling, but you're not making 343 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: any money and it's not working out, and it's honestly brutal, 344 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: brutal being an entrepreneur. But that is what really makes you. 345 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: I remember that like it was yesterday, and also to 346 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: the entrepreneurs that are listening to you and right now, 347 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: we it's actually really interesting because those horrible memories and 348 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: end up being the most fun to look at ten 349 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: twenty years later. But to be clear, when you are 350 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: in the midst of it and you spend three days 351 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: pummeling the pavement and trying to get into the stores, 352 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: and you look back and you realize that you made 353 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: no money or you lost fifty dollars. It is depressing 354 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: as hell. And there were many very, very tough moments 355 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:10,920 Speaker 1: along the way. But then you look back and those 356 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,399 Speaker 1: are the moments when you forged your you know your grit. 357 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: And and like you said Bethany, as long as long 358 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: as you are self reflective and you analyze your mistakes, 359 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: it should be okay for you to make those mistakes 360 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,120 Speaker 1: as long as you're learning from it. Because really, truly, 361 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: a lot of Kind success and you know, Kind is 362 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: not five billion dollar company, and a lot of those 363 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: successes came from the lessons of the mistakes that you 364 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: make earlier. And you just need to be disciplined in 365 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: the future. And you wouldn't feel as good about your 366 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: success if you couldn't say that you had gone through 367 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: that they have been handed to you. That grit is 368 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: part of the you know your fiber. So are you 369 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: particularly I want to get into the building of your business, 370 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: but are you personally very healthy? Are you? Are you 371 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: fastidious about your exercise, your food and your diet. So 372 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: one my former greatest weaknesses was solved by COVID. I 373 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: didn't used to exercise or sleeping off. I still I 374 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: think don't sleeping off uest. I got six and a 375 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: half hours, but it's much better than it used to be. 376 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: And on average right now I'm averaging seven hours where 377 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: it used to be five. Why I I, yeah, I 378 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 1: always have stuff going on in my mind, and I'm 379 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: always worried about the world. And I'm worried worried about, 380 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: you know, the world we're inheriting to our children and 381 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: the stuff that's going on. I don't know I have this. 382 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: You know, well, I I told you I'm a confused 383 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: Mexican Jews. So I have this neurotic worrying and you know, 384 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 1: being with my background, I worry a lot about a 385 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: lot of things. But also I didn't used to do 386 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: enough exercise. And then in the last year now I 387 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,400 Speaker 1: realized that I was telling my wife recently, I work 388 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: out five to seven days a week now and it's 389 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: something I feel so much better about it because I 390 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: used to only work out two days a week. I 391 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: think my eating habits are relatively speaking, very good. It 392 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: does not mean that I don't need doledge a lot 393 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: of When when we did this partnership with Mars, the 394 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: CEO in his great Scottish accent, that I'm not gonna 395 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,640 Speaker 1: try to imitate. I said, oh, I heard, well, maybe 396 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: I will try to imitate U. He said, I heard 397 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,480 Speaker 1: you don't like swits. I said, no, that's not It's 398 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 1: not that I don't like sweets. I don't like dishonesty, 399 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: and so I love Donald Tilots sweets and I just 400 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,359 Speaker 1: for me, it's very important to make sure that you 401 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: are what you say rather than you know, convey something 402 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,159 Speaker 1: or something other than what it is. I want to 403 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: understand how you took this business to five billion dollars. 404 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,199 Speaker 1: So you're peddling your your bars and you're peddling them 405 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: to the deli's and you know, no one knows who 406 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: you are. You're not on a television show, So so 407 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: what happened? Like what's going on? And you own how 408 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: much of the company do you own to You allowed 409 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: to say this type of thing, like I want to 410 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: get into the business a little. Um now we're in 411 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: there an NBA, but I still own an ongoing financial stake. 412 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: But I did have a transaction earlier, you know, a 413 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: few months ago when I sold out for the time 414 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: in my in the last six months we I saw 415 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 1: them a majority state for the first time to Mars, 416 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: so they were our partners. So Mars helped us um 417 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: grow global. You asked earlier, and we we had on 418 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,719 Speaker 1: our own gun into four or five countries, and we 419 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: were maybe thirty four countries, but without us controlling our destinies. 420 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: And we realized that if we didn't do this ourselves, 421 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: somebody else was going to do it, and they were 422 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:25,120 Speaker 1: not going to do it right. They were just gonna 423 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: We literally have people going into Costco and buying palette 424 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,160 Speaker 1: loads and then exporting them to their countries, and then 425 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,160 Speaker 1: your brand is not being handled the way you want 426 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: to handle it. So we're almost forced to find an 427 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: international partner. And Mars is a very long term oriented family. 428 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,120 Speaker 1: Most people associate them with candy, but their number one 429 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: businesses veterinary services and pet food and they are a 430 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: very very large company, very long term oriented. So we 431 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: chose them as our partner to help us grow globally, 432 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: and that's they helped us get to these verty five countries. 433 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: The reason why we achieve what we achieved is because 434 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: I surrounded myself with amazing people and when I figured 435 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: out that I should feel common it's not easy. It's 436 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: easier said than done. But you need to find people 437 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: that are better than you at whatever they focus on. 438 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: And so you know, when you are a one person operation, 439 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: you're doing every job and it's actually good because you 440 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,679 Speaker 1: learn all the facets of business. But once you're able 441 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,119 Speaker 1: to attract talent, you want to feel comfortable movie ego aside, 442 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: which is not easy. All of us as human being 443 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: sometimes feeling timidi about people that are better than us. 444 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: But once I found the comfort with that, that's when 445 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: we started soaring. Well, you need to build an all 446 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,400 Speaker 1: star team, like a basketball team. And I think about 447 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: this because I'm going through this with the show that 448 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: I have in hiring the right person. And the truth 449 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: is it takes time. It's very tedious and taxing to 450 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: build a team. So all right, so you're selling bars 451 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: to Deli's. So what's the first thing that makes you realize, Okay, 452 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: this is gonna pop off? Like what year was that? 453 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: I need some sort of a timeline, some sort of 454 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: an understanding you'll understand. And this because you're from the 455 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: East Coast. I used to live in a tiny studio 456 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: apartment and I had my car that I had used 457 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: in college and law school. I drove it to New 458 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: York and I couldn't afford parking spots, so I used 459 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: to parking on the streets and it was totally beating up, 460 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: and it was I used doct tape to hold the 461 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: the trunk closed. And I used to go to a 462 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: friend of mine. His parents were so sweet. It never 463 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: crossed my mind where I was in my twenties, I 464 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,600 Speaker 1: used to They used to invite me to the Hampton's 465 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: and I would arrive with my beating up car with 466 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: with the trunk literally doct taped, and it never crossed 467 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: my mind that I was embarrassing this poor family. But 468 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: the neighbors were like, oh, that was this guy hosting 469 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 1: in their fans at Hampton's home. But they were so 470 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: loving and so welcoming, and so they actually had fun 471 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: that I was an entrepreneur and that I just did 472 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,199 Speaker 1: my stuff. So the year, the year we came up 473 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,439 Speaker 1: with the idea, who's we keep saying we are motley 474 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: crew of ex or seven people that were working at 475 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: Peace Rocks. And it was a very tough year to us, 476 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 1: and three because my dad had died that year, so 477 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: I was suffering a lot from that and and missing 478 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: him a lot. And then we had lost distribution of 479 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: one of our lines that we had been building that 480 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: we represented somebody else and they had changed the ingredients 481 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: and we had lost a lot of our distribution. So 482 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: we sat around the table and we said, you know, 483 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: should we give this a goal or should we just close? 484 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: It was that, Bethany, we were this close from throwing 485 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: in the towel. Literally, I remember that meeting. We sat 486 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 1: around the table, Why were you going to close? It 487 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: just wasn't going well. I could barely pay myself my 488 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: salary or pay my team member salaries. We had just 489 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: worked for two or three years building this other brand, 490 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: getting it to one or two million dollars, and then 491 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: all of a sudden losing everything and losing all of 492 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,160 Speaker 1: the distributions. So all of our investment had gone to zero. 493 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: But none of this was the Kind bar that we know, 494 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 1: None of this was that. But now we were we 495 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: were designed, we were incubating the Kind brand, but we 496 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: were losing a lot of money, and so it was 497 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: very very hard, you know, it was two steps forward, 498 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: three steps back. It was very tough. And so we 499 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: sat around the table and said, do we give this 500 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: a shotow do we just? I was almost asking for 501 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,199 Speaker 1: permission from a team because I didn't want to let 502 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: let them down. But I almost felt like I should 503 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: just go back and look for a job. And you know, 504 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: I had a lot of degrees, so I could go 505 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: work for one of my friends and my each of 506 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: my team members would go to their own thing. We 507 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 1: literally said, should we give this a shot of closed down? 508 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: And we're voted, and everybody voted, let's give this one 509 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: last shot, and if it doesn't work, then we close 510 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,880 Speaker 1: up shop. And then we launched Kind and the rest 511 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,359 Speaker 1: is history. And so what happened is that exactly what 512 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,639 Speaker 1: we're talking about earlier. What year was that? It was 513 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: two thousand and three when we conceived the concept. Alright, 514 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,400 Speaker 1: so two three you you have the idea for Kind, 515 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: or you're launching Kind. And then two dozen three conceived that, incubated, 516 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: voted to pursue it, two four we launched it. And 517 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: what happened is each hit a spot. You know the 518 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: product as you may have seen it. It's ingredients. You 519 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: can see I'm pronounced, which is a trademark that's in 520 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,479 Speaker 1: my first book, Naturally Thin literally eat ingredients you can 521 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,920 Speaker 1: pronounce oh, that's literally from two seven, and it's all. 522 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: It's all you know, crafted. You can see beautiful whole 523 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: almonds in transparent packaging, which back then, all of that 524 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 1: was very disruptive. In fact, when I would go to 525 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: the stores and I would try to get them to 526 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: even the natural stores, they didn't know what to put 527 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 1: it because there wasn't our healthy snack bar said so 528 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: they were like, well, this doesn't look like a nutrition bar. 529 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: And I'm like, but that's the whole point, that this 530 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: other stuff looks like astronaut food and like it doesn't 531 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 1: look real food. This is real food. But they would 532 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: give me a shot. But then the consumer would really 533 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: resonate with people. We had this little stands or pop displays, 534 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: and the product would just sell itself. You know. The 535 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: first billion dollars that we solved was with almost no advertising. 536 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,679 Speaker 1: We had over our our entire marketing budget that got 537 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: us to a billion dollars in revenues was only five 538 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: million dollars. So whose money was that all these people 539 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,479 Speaker 1: are marketing what you came from our company? The investor 540 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: at that point that we didn't really have investors, It 541 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: was just us it was just me and I had 542 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: three friends from childhood that had invested a hundred thousand 543 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,680 Speaker 1: dollars in peace Works, and peace worksgrad on sideways. The 544 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: investment was worthless. But when I launched Kind, I launched 545 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: it from peace Works so I could give them hopefully credit. 546 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: And though these guys that had believed in me for 547 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: ten years with that their investment had gone to nothing, 548 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: then ended up making tens of millions of dollars because 549 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: of what Kind became. But but we were just bootstrapped 550 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: it and we just whatever we sold, we put it 551 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: back into the business. So through two dozen and eight 552 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: we had no investment. We had just you know, whatever 553 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: would make would put it back into the company. We 554 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: just grew aneically. So you had five years and you're 555 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: all freaking out like we have something crazy here right, 556 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,000 Speaker 1: Like you're like, wow, this is major. Right from two 557 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: thousand and four to two and eight, it just doubles 558 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: every year cash flow positively and profitably, and it just 559 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: we just fuel their own growth. And in some ways 560 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: it's amazing because it allowed me not to loot myself. 561 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: In some ways, we were not being assertive enough. I 562 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: had learned the wrong lesson The lesson I had learned 563 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: is don't waste money, which is good, but it was 564 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: taken to an extreme. I had a scarcity mentality where 565 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: I assumed any amount of money spent was a waste. 566 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: Where sometimes you need to invest. And so there's three 567 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: types of mentalities in business. There's a scarcity mentality, which 568 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: is the one I have adopted by not having money. 569 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: The opposite extreme is the wasteful mentality, were just you 570 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: have all these money from investors and you're just wasting. 571 00:29:58,280 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 1: Put the money back in the business. Put the money 572 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: back in business. With the money back in the busin 573 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: you might not be wasting, you might think you're not wasting, 574 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: but wasting mentality is where you're buying that ping pong 575 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: table and you're just we're just you're like spending money 576 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: without thinking, and or you or you're throwing an advertising 577 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: but you're not checking that the advertising actually works. And 578 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: then the right mentalities in the middle is the resourceful 579 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: mentality where you don't waste but you invest. And so 580 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: in us, in our case it was we found out 581 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: that nine out of ten people that tried a kind 582 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: bar would come back and within three months the investment 583 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: paid for itself. So we just started sampling. We just 584 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: started getting people free kind bars, and that's when our 585 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: growth just explored it and accelerated. And the key was 586 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: that we started making strategic investments in our community. We 587 00:30:46,720 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: would just give them product to try for free. So 588 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: what works for you and your wife in your relationship 589 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: being successful? Being an idea hamster um. I don't know. 590 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: Does she work? Does she have a career, Yeah, she's 591 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: a she's a doctor, she's a transplant netthrologist. Okay, so 592 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: you have four kids. You both have serious careers, not 593 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: just jobs, and how do you manage that dynamic and 594 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: what goes right and what goes wrong? So many years ago, 595 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: when I was dating Michelle and my wife, I talked 596 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: to one of my best friends, greg Or Schneider, and 597 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: he said something that's helped me a lot. He he said, Marge, 598 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: what people tend to forget and they think it's like 599 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: Madison Avenue or Disney, and it's like the romance and 600 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: there is, there's hopefully romance, and all those elements are 601 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 1: very important, but the most important thing is it's a partnership. 602 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: You have so many decisions to reach about raising your children. 603 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: Every single day, and you might have differences in opinion. 604 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: You will have difference opinion because by definition, people are 605 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: individuals and they hopefully have individual personalities or else. It's 606 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: like the woman from Coming to America that Eddie Murphy 607 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: was going to be forced to marry. So you you 608 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: have to understand that it's a partnership, and you need 609 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: to learn how to navigate a partnership like with a partner, 610 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: how to listen to your partner and and learn to 611 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: converse with each other and work things out together. I 612 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: think it's it's very essential when you're in a relationship 613 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: that you learned to it's almost like it's a partnership. 614 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: The other thing that I try to remind myself, and 615 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: Michelle and I tried to remind ourselves, is you cannot 616 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: take it for granted. You have to invest into it 617 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: every single day. That's the next question I was gonna 618 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,239 Speaker 1: have working at it? Would you say you work at 619 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: it actively like you do your business. You work at 620 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: your relationship, which she and I talked about it very frequently, 621 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: and we you know, life gets in the way and 622 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: all these things happen, and so then you neglect going 623 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: out on dates together. You neglect going on and walks together, 624 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: You're gonna neglect enjoying each other. And then your kids 625 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: go to call lege and you realize that you don't 626 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: have that partner anymore. So we try wherever we can 627 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: to go out for a walk together here there, to 628 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: go for a talk here there, to go for a 629 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 1: date here there, and and it's I think it's very 630 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 1: important that you not take your partner for granted, and 631 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: then you constantly invest in one another. So it's a discipline, 632 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: just like sleep or health or anything else. It's a discipline. 633 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: You have to work at it and a conscious effort 634 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,520 Speaker 1: to not you know, you and our entrepreneurs I have, 635 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of team members that recognize that I'm 636 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: the leader in the company or in in either in 637 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: our foundation or in our family office or when I 638 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: was the CEO. What kind that you're used to? And 639 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: I tried to create a culture in all of those 640 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: organizations with people are comfortable challenging me and are comfortable 641 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: keeping me, you know, grounded. But the best person to 642 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: do that is your spouse. And you need to remind 643 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: yourself that you're not the boss, and she is a 644 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: good job, and that your partners, and it's it's really important. 645 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 1: A lot of the good CEOs and a lot of 646 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: the good marriages are people whose partners are very comfortable 647 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: telling them where they're wrong. You know. I was talking 648 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: to chef cos Andres, who's a very dear friend of mine, 649 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,800 Speaker 1: and we were talking about this topic and he basically 650 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: told me his wife just reminds them who he is. 651 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: And I think it's really important. The more that you 652 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: succeed in life, the more that you surround yourself with 653 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,279 Speaker 1: people in your team and in your friends that are 654 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,439 Speaker 1: not just gonna tell you what you want to hear, 655 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: it's very hard to succeed. And then for the people 656 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: that report you to not even give you too much 657 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,319 Speaker 1: benefit of that. Well, he got there, so he must 658 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,880 Speaker 1: be right. And the minute you surrounders some people that 659 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: think that way, you're gonna start making more mistakes. So 660 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: what So now, do you feel that you still have 661 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 1: control in your company? Do you feel that it was 662 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:02,400 Speaker 1: a great decision? Do you have a little bit of 663 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,719 Speaker 1: growing pains? You know, as every entrepreneur does when they're 664 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: getting involved with big business. And this is a new 665 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: marriage for you, So how do you feel about the 666 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: future and having such a massive partner. I'm super excited 667 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: about Kind and its future. But absolutely it's a very, 668 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: very challenging journey. But it didn't start now. It started 669 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: when I was a one personal operation. Right, you're one 670 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,080 Speaker 1: personal operation and you're bringing that one first person. That's 671 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: the hardest thing. Where you need to go from one 672 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,480 Speaker 1: to two and that just takes so much learning and 673 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: I made a lot of mistakes along the way initially. 674 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: Then you go from two to three and to five 675 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:39,880 Speaker 1: and that's a whole set of new things. So you 676 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,720 Speaker 1: need to and throughout your journey, if you're a good leader, 677 00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: you are contracting yourself and letting people make mistakes and 678 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,759 Speaker 1: letting people lead and attracting people that are in many 679 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: ways better than you're what they do, but in many 680 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 1: ways they're not, and you need to just learn to 681 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: deal with it. And as long as people have a 682 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: commitment to excellence, records that they are going to make 683 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,319 Speaker 1: mistakes and it is not easy. And then going from 684 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: thirty to fifty two two d at every step of 685 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: the way, you are like, you know, going from when 686 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: I was CEO to becoming executive chairman was very hard 687 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,879 Speaker 1: for the first time. No longer executive chairman. I'm moving 688 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 1: into a chief impact officer role, and you know, I'm 689 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: always going to be the founder. It's by the way, 690 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,319 Speaker 1: it's really fun too, because it's a lot of your 691 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,719 Speaker 1: personal and professional growth. You want to do additional things. 692 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: I want to do more things for society. I'm working 693 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: really hard on building a movement for moderate voices to discourage. 694 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: You alluded earlier about the environment we're living in. I 695 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,239 Speaker 1: think you were talking about what all of us feel, 696 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: whether you're left, center or right. Suddenly we're living in 697 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 1: a very unforgiving world where people are very quick to 698 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: judge and to and and and it's so on forgiving. 699 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,800 Speaker 1: People make mistakes and their lives are obliterated, and we 700 00:36:57,960 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: just need to learn to be a little bit give 701 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 1: people more the benefit of the doubt as some positive 702 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: intent accepted. All humans by definition make mistakes and are 703 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 1: going to make mistakes, and just give people the opportunity 704 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 1: to learn from their mistakes, not be so militant. And 705 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: the generations that are growing up with social media being 706 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:22,439 Speaker 1: an attack platform, with this inhuman things, it then goes 707 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: you know, ten years ago and fifteen years ago, we 708 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,239 Speaker 1: started noticing the danger of this online chace where people 709 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: were just so nasty to one another because of the anonymity, 710 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: and it's the death of human interaction. But we thought 711 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: it was going to stay there, right, we thought, and 712 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 1: guess what we are? How we behave every single day, 713 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: and all those little moments becomes who we are, and 714 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: we as a society, all of these things are now 715 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: sipping into our offline worlds, and all of a sudden 716 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:55,800 Speaker 1: we find a society that's much less respectful were we 717 00:37:55,960 --> 00:38:00,919 Speaker 1: have stopped listening, where we're no longer learning to more 718 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,400 Speaker 1: humble and pathetic listeners and critical thinkers and and just 719 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,279 Speaker 1: recognize that we're not perfect, and then we can learn 720 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: from others that we don't have all the answers. And 721 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: so we're in the press of creating a platform for 722 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 1: radical moderation. What does it mean to be a radical 723 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:20,320 Speaker 1: moderate that you consciously because it represented vast majority of 724 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: society are not on the fire extreme left, on the 725 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 1: fire extreme right, whether you're you know, progressive or conservative 726 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,319 Speaker 1: or centrist. How can you learn to listen to others better? 727 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,880 Speaker 1: How can you learn to think more reflectively and to 728 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,120 Speaker 1: be more accepting of others and more forgiving and that 729 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: we're in the process of building this home for radical moderation. Well, 730 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: because it eliminates the fear based aspect where you say 731 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: you might want to vote for someone, or you believe 732 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: in something, and someone says you're an idiot, you don't 733 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,959 Speaker 1: know anything, you're a racist, or whatever it is, versus saying, okay, 734 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: explain to me why you feel that way and having 735 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,880 Speaker 1: an actual conversation. This is why people closet vote. This 736 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: is why people don't discuss who they vote for what 737 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: they believe in, because they're terrified they're going to be 738 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: bullied in trolled for saying something that they might think. 739 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 1: Maybe it's ignorant what they think, but someone educate them 740 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: and have a conversation. I completely agree with that. So 741 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,400 Speaker 1: you know, you know John Mackie, Yeah, why do I 742 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: know that name? Who's John McKie? John McKee is the 743 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:19,040 Speaker 1: founder of Wholefood and he's he had not become friendly 744 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,759 Speaker 1: over the last several years, and he gave me one 745 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,440 Speaker 1: of my favorite frameworks. There are people that are progressive, 746 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: there are people that are conservative, but there are people 747 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: that try to learn from both and say, you know, 748 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: and he calls those integrationists and he says we need 749 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: more integration ist. We mean more people that say there's 750 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: great things in progressive thinking and there's things that are 751 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: not great. There's great things in conservative thinking, and there's 752 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: things that are not so great. We just learned the 753 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 1: best things from me and accept that no ideology is perfect, 754 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: that no party is perfect, that no leader is perfect, 755 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,240 Speaker 1: and that we should be a little bit more humble 756 00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: to learn about each other. I agree. That's an amazing 757 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: saing note to end on. You are amazing, wonderful to 758 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 1: speak to. It's such a learning experience and I'm just 759 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:10,239 Speaker 1: so grateful for today. So congratulations. It's amazing what you've done. 760 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: You've built it with a great team, but you know 761 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,080 Speaker 1: the idea came from you. So um impressed and I 762 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: appreciate you giving us your time today. Thank you, Evan. 763 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:19,439 Speaker 1: It's a pleasure to meet you and I look forward 764 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 1: to meet person one day. Absolutely. Thank you so much. 765 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:28,240 Speaker 1: Have a great day. The conversation with Daniel, the founder 766 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: of Kind, was very interesting. He is very kind, he's 767 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,280 Speaker 1: very humble, and he has so much information about creating 768 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: a business from the ground up when it's challenging, when 769 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 1: you think you're not going to make it when you 770 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:41,920 Speaker 1: really don't know which way to turn and which way 771 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: to go, And we really went into the grass tacks 772 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,840 Speaker 1: of business and struggles and moves to make and creating 773 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:51,720 Speaker 1: a business is really like just getting on your hiking 774 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:53,319 Speaker 1: shoes and going on a hike, and you just don't 775 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: know what path you're going to take. And many of 776 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,480 Speaker 1: the paths could work. If you're a really driven, hard working, 777 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: passion it smart entrepreneur, many of these paths could work. 778 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: We're just hearing about the paths people actually took. You 779 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:07,840 Speaker 1: have to create your own path. You have to figure 780 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,120 Speaker 1: out how you're going to navigate this journey, knowing that 781 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:11,840 Speaker 1: all of these people that I speak to have a 782 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,200 Speaker 1: completely different journey than each other. So good luck with 783 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:20,919 Speaker 1: your journey and I can't wait to hear more about it. YEA. 784 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: Just b is hosted and executive produced by me Bethany Frankel. 785 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,920 Speaker 1: Just Be as a production of Be Real Productions and 786 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Our Managing Producer is Fiona Smith and 787 00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:37,480 Speaker 1: our producer is Stephanie Stender. Our EP is Morgan Levoy. 788 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: To catch more moments from the show, follow us on 789 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,000 Speaker 1: Instagram at Just Be with Bethany