029 - From FBI To Entrepreneurship
Episode Stats
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201.82841
Summary
Andrew Knapp is the Head of Sales and Marketing at Green Mountain Flower Company, a company that focuses on mushroom-slash-CBD-infused products. But it didn t start that way. In this episode, we talk about how he got into the business, his background in the military, and how he ended up in the startup world.
Transcript
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Welcome to another episode of the Playing to Win series.
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I really do enjoy this series. It's one of my favorite.
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I hope you guys spend a little more time in this playlist.
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There's a whole bunch in there. We're on episode number 29 right now.
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I'm joined today with Andrew Knapp. Welcome, Andrew.
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So we're going to be talking to Andrew a little bit about his background story,
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I mean, his current role is with Green Mountain Flower Company,
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which is basically focused much of its production, it seems, on mushroom-slash-CBD-infused products.
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But he's got a really interesting kind of like a Batman origin story,
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which I want to spend just as much time on as far as what the company's doing.
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But he's the head of sales and marketing at this company.
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Like, this is one of your earlier intros into entrepreneurship.
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I know you're also into real estate as well, but you started from Idaho.
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You know, you were a young man in Idaho that was graduating school,
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and you're looking to, you know, do something, you know, as a man,
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as you're kind of thrown into the world, and you had a couple options.
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Talk a little bit about that origin story for yourself.
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So home county is maybe 3,000 people over, you know, several hundred square miles,
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Really not a whole lot of options in that environment.
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I think the immediate income was, like, maybe 26,000 a year for a household
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And, you know, felt kind of rudderless and directionless as a kid.
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So, you know, part of that discovery course was figuring out, you know,
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I mean, I was born in 87, so peak millennial, right at the middle of kind
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But, you know, the choice in 2006 when I was graduating was, you know,
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either going to the military for this war that, you know, probably, like,
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it didn't make strategic sense to me at the time as a high schooler.
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So I wasn't really enthusiastic about that, despite coming from a military
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So I went to a college in Boise, Idaho, studied philosophy, political science,
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And then, you know, also with great timing, graduated right in the middle
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So there's, like, no opportunity anywhere whatsoever.
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So from there, I ended up going to grad school in D.C.
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I went to – I grew up with, you know, family stories.
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But my great-uncle had been one of the founding members of the CIA, so he was
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OSS, had the machete scar on the face, and all the stereotypical, like,
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straight-out-of-essential casting kind of backstory.
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So I grew up with these stories, always really cared about the intelligence
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world, and ended up going to grad school in D.C., then graduated into
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I had been interning with Naval Special Warfare, which is the command responsible
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I had just invested, taken out student debt to get into this world.
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And I have, like, really, really cared about it.
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So, you know, pretty young, still stupid, but very, very invested in this kind
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of world, ended up working as a personal trainer for a while, you know, just to get
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And that was all right for the time being, but I, like, invested a lot of, like, not
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just my personal energy, but, you know, my self-identity and kind of working in this
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So I ended up working for Think Tank for a little while, you know, met some
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But I ended up eventually getting into the FBI as a contractor.
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So I had kept my clearance from my job with the Navy and was really fortunate.
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I had – so in grad school, I had studied human intelligence, which is the actual
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process of how you run human spies inside an organization and did, you know, all the
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Harvard business law-type case studies to execute that.
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So I was fortunate to do something very similar inside the Bureau.
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So managing a lot of these cases for – this is the height of the Iraq War.
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So managing, you know, how ISIS interacts with people in the United States and
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Europe, everywhere else, it was pretty damn exciting.
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But as a result of getting in, I mentioned I had to take out student loans to get
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Go through this career and kind of realize that there wasn't much opportunity
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there, and a lot of the opportunity was almost impossible to get to.
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Like, I've always been kind of independent-spirited.
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And, you know, going through that, just to give you some rough examples, you know, most
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government employees, especially in D.C., are young guys that live with housemates or
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roommates in, like, a tiny apartment up until they're 35 on a government salary and oftentimes
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The analysts are responsible for, you know, going into work on Christmas.
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I actually, I think I worked on every single Christmas day for some crisis or another.
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And, you know, no bonuses for that or really anything.
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What's the average compensation for an FBI contractor in that role?
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So I had transitioned to a blue badge at the time.
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For a contractor, you're talking, the role I started in for what I was doing, I was making
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48 a year, and then in Northern Virginia, losing 40% of that taxes.
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So, I mean, like, you're, yeah, you're definitely living with roommates at that level of compensation,
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especially if you've got student loans and overhead, right?
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But, I mean, like you said, it was a lot of fun because, I mean, it sounds like you were
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watching, well, you know, fun from the perspective of excitement and fulfillment with what you're
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I mean, it's never fun to watch somebody die on a screen, but you mentioned that you
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watched a lot of, you know, drone strikes and stuff like that.
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I mean, I got to interact with all the partners you would assume somebody in that role would
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Like, the FBI, DOD, and other government agencies all have, like, their own pretty unique
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culture and getting to be in the middle of basically the food fight between all these
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agencies and, you know, getting to deal with, you know, knowing, okay, that guy, like, who
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I just had coffee with is hunting the number one terrorist in the world.
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Or, you know, this, you know, my coworker literally just found, you know, a plot inside the United
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Like, that sort of stuff is, there's really no way to describe that, but it's really fulfilling.
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But at the same time, if there's no promotion potential, and, you know, you're working your
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ass off, you're working Christmas, and you literally, like, I mean, I calculated I maybe
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had $200 left after, you know, after I had paid my bills to, you know, go out on a date
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or, you know, spend that on, you know, just clothes or, you know, eventually save up for
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And no matter how good the actual work was, at least for me, it was just corrosive.
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Like, I, uh, my stress level was up here 90% of the time and, um, started to feel the
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What's that show that they ran on Netflix for a while with that FBI, um, profiler, that
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chick, she's always wigged out and on medications.
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It's a blacklist or are you, um, is this a Homeland Homeland?
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Is that like, is that a fairly accurate representation of what guys can expect if they start working
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There's a scene at the start of season five in Homeland where they're all sitting in the
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basement of the CIA and talking about how ISIS is sneaking into Europe.
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And I like, it was funny watching that because I had literally been in that conference room
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So they actually use the actual conference room, like the set.
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Uh, so Jack Ryan, that show actually used the CIA's headquarters building a little bit
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for filming, but, um, but for, uh, a lot of Homeland that was filmed in South Carolina and
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So for example, they mentioned big, like roads that are huge in Northern Virginia, like a four
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or five lane highway and it's a two lane road in the show.
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So a lot of that and a lot of the trade craft and a lot of the storyline is pretty wacky for
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Homeland, but Homeland season five is super accurate.
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So, um, you're living in DC here, you're in your twenties.
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You pretty much don't have a pot to piss it or a window to throw it out of.
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And you can't afford any of that stuff because of the compensation you work.
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Like, do you work seven days a week when you're in that agency?
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I mean, the expectation is just to work the 40 and to kind of be a government employee,
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but on paper, but the expectation of real life, especially if you're managing anything
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with import, like anything that really matters.
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Um, I was probably in there six days a week and I mean, fortunately they had a gym in the
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So that's where I'd hang out on Sunday if, you know, I had nothing else to do, but, um,
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So, but, um, yeah, it's, uh, I would say probably 50, 60 hours a week at the height of like real
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I'm talking about mid 2016, probably spent 70 hours a week in there.
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Um, and, um, and that's for, again, like, I think I was getting paid like 60,000 a year
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So, um, yeah, the, uh, business side of it, not that appealing.
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So overall you, like, is this a career that you'd recommend guys get into or avoid?
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Um, it's really, it really depends if you're, uh, I mean, for me, it was kind of a patriotic
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And after getting in, like, that was, that was really important to me is like, I want
00:10:10.820
But, um, at the same time, if, uh, like imagine taking out, you know, a significant amount of
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student debt for a job that you have $200 left over after you pay your student loans.
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Like if you want to, I mean, I'm like, I'm, I'm a fairly traditional guy.
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I want the, you know, wife, the kids, the, you know, white naked fence at some point in
00:10:32.140
So, but, uh, just, uh, and this was kind of like, I mean, to borrow a term, like this
00:10:37.240
was kind of my red pill moment was being in the middle of this and like trying to hold
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relationship together and trying to, you know, save up for a house and these sorts of things
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and realizing, you know what, at current trajectory, this is pretty well possible.
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And, um, that was, uh, so slowly kind of realizing that kind of, you know, I was introduced
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I was introduced to a few other sources and started to really think through like what, uh,
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you know, I know I'm a capable person, but I'm clearly on a pathway that I'm, I wouldn't
00:11:05.000
say getting taken advantage of, but the opportunity for growth and the opportunity for me to have,
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you know, the basic things I really care about in life, you know, I've, I'm basically playing
00:11:13.620
to lose, so to speak, or playing just not to win there.
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So to speak, like the, uh, the opportunity for a win wasn't there.
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Um, you mentioned that you were kind of red pilled, um, having a conversation or sorry,
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being lectured on toxic masculinity by a girl that you were seeing.
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I had dated four women named Julia in a row and Julia number four was, Julia number four
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was gorgeous, but, um, she was, uh, she had, you know, a liberal job in DC.
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We agreed on like most, you know, value stuff, you know, being from a similar culture, but,
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um, she basically like snapped at me because I said the word illegal immigrant because people
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And then it may like easily a two hour lecture on toxic masculinity and how I'm being toxic
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And it just occurred to me, like, I mean, she's gorgeous.
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She's probably one of the most attractive women I've dated and I like her a lot, but I,
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um, it seems like I'm being shit tested constantly.
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And why am I trying so damn hard to just get lectured by somebody that, oh, I feel like
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Like I'm not where I want to be, but, uh, I'm trying my best, try my best to be, you
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And, um, you know, after, after that, you know, there was a moment that, uh, led to a
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little bit of personal bitterness, a little bit of anger relationship, obviously, you
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But, uh, after that, it was trying to find some intellectual system or some approach to
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life that, uh, would number one, you know, be rewarding.
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Also let me be myself, which, you know, I couldn't, uh, really in a government job, like
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your freedom's grossly constrained, both financially and just in terms of like, even what medications
00:13:09.600
And, um, you know, after doing that, probably a year of kind of exploring, you know, looking
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at the red pill movement, reading a lot of philosophy, had been a philosophy major in
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college, um, and, uh, looking into entrepreneurship.
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I read, uh, Peter Thiel's zero to one, which, uh, you know, excellent book everybody should
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read, but kind of just realizing the math of, you know, what a revolutionary idea looks
00:13:32.300
like, and, uh, I had a friend at the time that, um, you know, I, uh, that I had known
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through church and that, you know, still very close friends with, and, uh, this person was
00:13:44.120
And we started a conversation, like, clearly the housing market's broken.
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If you have a majority of the population in most of these cities that can't afford any
00:13:55.560
So we, um, you know, progressively thought through a few methods and it started to click like,
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Hey, not only is this possible, you could really build like a revolutionary company to
00:14:06.980
So I can talk probably a little bit more about that later, but, um, that was kind of the
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moment that, you know, yeah, there are more options than this.
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And I, you know, as, as good as it is to, you know, have the security of, you know, government
00:14:18.220
work at the same time, like I wouldn't feel personally, just like I wouldn't feel personally
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fulfilled if I didn't work in the intelligence world when I was like a, you know, 17 year
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old kind of watching movies it's, uh, you know, 26, 27, I wouldn't feel fulfilled if
00:14:32.340
I didn't pursue building a company, being free, like creating value, being out in the
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I was, uh, I had moved to Austin, Texas for a while, which was, you know, pretty great
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experience for city, easily one of the best cities in the United States.
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That's one of the big hubs for startups right now.
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So about 33% of the economy in Austin is all tech companies, all the Silicon and Silicon
00:15:05.480
Valley is, you know, basically South of Austin.
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Um, like all the chip manufacturers, uh, tons and tons of startups, a pretty healthy scene
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I had, uh, so, you know, I had, um, getting out.
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So the transition from government to entrepreneurship, you don't know a lot of shit.
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I, uh, tried to work with somebody that I considered a friend at the time and somebody
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I'd known for a lifetime and had some really fundamental disagreements.
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Uh, their mental health wasn't in, you know, great spec exactly.
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And, uh, it became very apparent to me going through this process that number one, this
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person can't hold the company, sees me as a threat to their masculinity and, um, has
00:15:49.760
some mental stuff that will, you know, probably embarrass the company.
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If they, you know, go on a tirade, you know, 20 beers deep at a bar or anything like that.
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And then have spent most of the summer kind of rebuilding from there.
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The, the, um, the guy that you partnered with, with that business.
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And I'm not a big fan of partners in business unless there's like a true compliment, right?
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Like I think, uh, Steve jobs, Wozniak are probably one of the best examples because jobs
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He was the guy that would stand on the stage and, you know, push the marketing.
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And then Woz would sit in the back kind of, you know, making all the shit.
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Um, but it usually doesn't work out that way with a business partnership.
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I mean, the failure rate with business partnership is probably just as bad as, uh, marriage, you
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know, to be honest with you, it's probably even worse.
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Um, why did you think that it, that it was going to work out?
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Like at the time, why did you sign up with a partner?
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Um, so at the time, like, uh, number one, I wasn't familiar with it.
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And this person would seem to have been successful.
00:16:56.920
So they had some capital to invest in a software background and, you know, I wouldn't slander
00:17:03.640
Like when we were friends, uh, when we were younger, like one of the most, uh, you know,
00:17:08.980
outstanding people I knew, I didn't know how much their mental health had deteriorated
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and also, uh, evolving in terms of like, this person would brag about manipulating me
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to my face, not to mention parties and would talk down, like interrupt and talk down to
00:17:27.900
Was this early on or was this into the partnership?
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Uh, so this was, uh, later in the partnership, there were signs of it earlier and I wish I
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had just picked up on those and put my foot down, but there really is.
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I mean, you talk about a red pill for how men and women interact.
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There's equally, if not more detail in terms of how people interact in the course of a business.
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I'm personally not at all a fan of 50, 50 partnerships.
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I think no matter what, it's going to be asymmetric and there has to be somebody who's the lead.
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And if there's somebody there who's like actively stealing responsibility from other people,
00:18:00.040
like won't let other people make decisions and then doesn't execute, like that's the most
00:18:07.920
And there are actually, you know, plenty of people who fit that category, some unwittingly,
00:18:11.920
but, um, that's, that's something to, um, that I would always look out for.
00:18:17.180
And I don't think, I mean, I think by having a 50, 50 partnership, you're usually asking
00:18:24.340
I mean, people that start up businesses are, um, you know, they're like, you have to have
00:18:33.560
I mean, you're just never going to be successful unless you have some of the narcissistic traits,
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but at the same time, um, my old business coach, I had him on a plane to win.
00:18:42.500
I think it might've been two or three episodes back.
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I think it was episode number 26 or 27 with Cameron.
00:18:47.680
He was saying that almost all successful entrepreneurs that he knows that are doing over a million
00:18:51.680
dollars a year in annual sales are clinically or could be clinically diagnosed as bipolar.
00:18:58.160
Um, it's, you know, it's a bizarre thing because you're celebrated when you go and create something
00:19:04.280
that has some impact and you're often, um, admired by many people, but nobody truly understands
00:19:11.280
the kind of crap that you go through as somebody that's the founder or the co-founder of the
00:19:16.620
business, because playing the wind is not easy.
00:19:20.860
Um, you know, like the mindset is the starting point, but so, so I mean, like you had that
00:19:26.100
mindset shift, you're like, okay, so I tried this with this guy.
00:19:31.300
And then you get involved with this, um, mushroom CBD infused supplement or, or a nutraceutical
00:19:39.740
So, um, I had, uh, you know, I had the good fortune of meeting like really quality advisors.
00:19:44.820
And, uh, one of those introduced me to a green mountain flower company.
00:19:48.760
So they're kind of a growth stage, a CBD company based in Austin, one of the oldest, uh, CBD
00:19:53.800
dispensaries in Texas and in Austin specifically.
00:19:57.840
And, um, you know, being growth stage, they didn't have a sales presence.
00:20:01.560
So, uh, uh, my advisor basically asked me, Hey, like, uh, let me set you up here.
00:20:07.040
Like, uh, we'll work on the real estate stuff later.
00:20:09.580
But, um, for right now it's, you know, kind of about, you know, using our time appropriately.
00:20:16.220
So, uh, started with that about, uh, three months ago.
00:20:18.720
So right now I'm managing the, uh, so VP of sales and marketing that covers wholesale,
00:20:24.560
that covers affiliate marketing, that covers pretty much all stack, everything from cold
00:20:28.740
calling all the way up to, uh, you know, more strategic management, let's say a grocery
00:20:34.680
Uh, I had not tried CBD personally before, you know, being in government and I didn't experiment
00:20:41.240
So trying it for the first time, especially after like, I had a coworker, I found out a
00:20:46.400
few weeks ago, she literally cracked a tooth in half because of the stress levels, just
00:20:51.800
It would have been nice to have something like, you know, CBD in that environment.
00:20:55.220
But, uh, after trying it and kind of seeing the different scope of, uh, you know, different
00:21:00.220
products, all a hundred percent organic, like organically derived made for the human body
00:21:04.780
and, uh, kind of seeing the business potential of that as well as just in terms of, you know,
00:21:09.720
psychological health as an entrepreneur and also just, uh, psychological and physical health
00:21:14.140
generally is kind of not just a maintenance thing, but also a supplementation thing to, you
00:21:18.200
know, feel decent and be able to, uh, you know, conduct your business in a responsible
00:21:22.980
So, um, it's pretty competitive when it comes to CBD type of products.
00:21:28.980
I mean, I think from 20, 2012, 13 to at least the last few years, I've seen a lot of companies
00:21:36.980
pop up that are selling CBD oil, um, products that like maybe vape pens or anything like that.
00:21:42.980
Like it, like the whole delivery system changes depending on who's putting it out there, but
00:21:50.040
I mean, the, like, can you talk about the different kinds and what the benefits are?
00:21:54.940
Cause I've, cause I've got a note here from you, but I mean, you basically messed up your
00:21:59.380
road, your rotator cuff, but you couldn't supplement with CBD at the time cause you were working for
00:22:04.520
I guess they P test you and that would have like, you know, got you fired or something, but
00:22:08.180
yeah, but I mean like you can have sons of politicians do blow off a stripper's butt and
00:22:17.780
So talk a little bit about that interest in CBD and, and why you basically double down on
00:22:24.200
I mean, that's, that's a very, very competitive space.
00:22:26.700
I mean, for me, like I don't like physical products personally, and it's also a very competitive
00:22:30.700
space, but I mean, you guys seem to have a great product.
00:22:32.760
I mean, I've been using it for the last couple of months, but talk to, talk to me more about
00:22:37.260
I also want to talk about the mushroom stuff separately.
00:22:40.000
Yeah, we're definitely, definitely a quality player.
00:22:46.220
Then you'll have like one producer producing for volume.
00:22:49.100
And then a lot of these different brands that are selling basically the same thing.
00:23:00.440
So we grow our own in Colorado and bring that to Texas.
00:23:04.240
We also, for smokable flour, get that from Vermont.
00:23:08.520
So, but all of our, everything we make is number one, American made, 100% within the
00:23:14.880
And also we lab test every single batch we have for output, for quality and freshness.
00:23:21.080
There are a lot of pitfalls in the CBD industry, especially when it comes to manufacturing quality.
00:23:25.620
You've got, I mean, I won't mention specific competitors, but you've got certain bigger
00:23:32.700
So you'll order a tincture or something and it'll come and basically mold will come out
00:23:39.560
So for us, at least everything that we have has a one-year shelf life.
00:23:44.400
And when it's delivered, it's, we've only had that product for usually a month at most.
00:23:51.740
When it comes to different products, obviously people are putting CBD and a lot of things.
00:24:00.880
One of the top ones we have right now is now forever natural hemp, kind of a long name,
00:24:05.640
but it's the first water soluble coffee supplement.
00:24:09.560
So taking that is a lot like taking L-theanine in an energy drink.
00:24:15.260
So a lot of the coffee shops we wholesale to sell out rapidly, but what it does is you,
00:24:21.840
you know, you combine it with your coffee, but instead of getting the jitters or starting
00:24:26.100
to get distracted, usually you can keep a pretty close focus for several hours.
00:24:31.040
And that's kind of, I mean, it's a little bit biohacking, but it's also just using CBD
00:24:35.080
appropriately to modulate the stimulants that you're taking.
00:24:38.600
So that's one of our headline products selling super well.
00:24:41.700
Um, we, uh, also have a handful of, uh, classic tinctures.
00:24:46.120
So classic oil that's absorbed through the liver and usually get about between 15 and
00:24:51.260
40%, depending on, you know, physical health in terms of bioavailability.
00:24:55.480
So a lot of places produce that we, ours is an extra strength.
00:24:59.460
So it's a 2,400 milligrams per bottle, which is pretty high by industry standards.
00:25:03.980
And then, um, I mentioned the coffee additive is water soluble.
00:25:08.000
We also have a, uh, handful of water soluble tinctures that are very close to 100% bioavailability.
00:25:14.480
So you're talking about, you know, five milligrams doing the job that 30 milligrams of oil would
00:25:20.140
So much, much more efficient when it comes to bodily absorption.
00:25:24.860
Um, I skipped over this question, but I made a mental note to ask you what, what was
00:25:31.120
Cause it, cause for most guys, it's usually some kind of trauma.
00:25:34.360
I'm not sure if somebody introduced you or if it's, you know, you're on the homepage
00:25:37.660
one day and YouTube recommended a video, but how'd you come across my stuff?
00:25:41.100
You know, honestly, I think I searched it on YouTube and I was, you know, trying to figure
00:25:45.180
out some personal stuff after, uh, you know, after a tough breakup and kind of thinking like
00:25:51.680
We were to anticipate Julie number five, but, um, after kind of going through that, like
00:25:58.000
it really occurred to me, I was doing something wrong.
00:26:00.160
Like clearly, clearly I'm making the exact same mistake over and over.
00:26:05.200
And, you know, all the, you know, so-called adults, I know you people, two, three generations
00:26:13.940
Like if somebody really cares about best practices to try and identify like an intellectual system,
00:26:19.200
your channel came up, I think either number one or number two and started watching through
00:26:25.680
I've, I've started to notice that a lot of like, as you, as you described Julie, who
00:26:30.780
was feminine, beautiful, one of the most beautiful girls that you've dated, it's, it's starting
00:26:36.020
to become obvious to me anyway that, you know, there's a lot of guys that will say, oh, just
00:26:41.000
stay away from like short haired, obese, tatted up, purple haired, um, you know, unemployed
00:26:47.200
or coffee barista chicks that look like total toxic feminists.
00:26:51.380
And that's not enough anymore because feminism has, and it's toxic form that we deal with
00:26:56.720
Like, you know, the, the sort of example that you talked about where you got lectured for
00:27:00.100
an hour about toxic masculinity, because you mentioned something about immigrants being
00:27:07.660
Um, there's a lot of very beautiful women out there that have the toxic version of feminism
00:27:14.980
So it's not just enough to avoid what looks obvious.
00:27:18.100
You actually have to spend time with women to see where their, um, uh, headspace is actually
00:27:24.840
It's, you know, it's one of the longer things that, um, guys will need to do as they're
00:27:29.500
spinning plates and dating is, you know, okay, well, what is this chick's opinion about certain
00:27:40.640
And I mean, this is a, this is a topic we could probably talk about for a bit, but I mean,
00:27:45.700
women, my age, especially, you know, people in a little bit younger are told that, you
00:27:50.880
They need to, uh, you know, forget about having kids.
00:27:53.720
So complete anti-natalist, uh, kind of attitude that absolute sexual freedom is good.
00:27:59.440
You know, whatever we can think what we think on that.
00:28:02.040
But, um, they're also told they need to, you know, live in a tiny apartment and, uh, just,
00:28:10.120
I mean, who tells you all those things except somebody who just wants to keep you at the
00:28:13.760
mill, like, you know, keep you working to have you live a meaningless life, focus on,
00:28:18.780
you know, sexuality and consumption as opposed to like really important, you know, personal
00:28:24.180
And, um, you like, no, plenty of women are going through that process too.
00:28:29.300
And kind of thinking, you know what, I've been lied to, I'm going to miss out on having
00:28:32.100
kids and a family and I need to realize a way to, um, you know, have something better
00:28:38.280
I mean, I always talk about how guys love to complicate their lives and justify why,
00:28:44.320
I mean, I, I'd more specifically talk to men when I'm on this channel, cause it's like 95%
00:28:50.340
But, um, yeah, like men and women do it from their own different perspectives.
00:28:53.880
It's, it's, it's just, uh, you know, it is what it is guys.
00:28:57.240
You just have to get used to it and, uh, you know, get really good at, at, at spotting potential
00:29:03.400
Um, okay, so let's, uh, let's dive into more of the mushroom stuff because I'm super interested
00:29:15.640
I don't know if that's the best way to just, you know, describe it's, it's, it's benefits,
00:29:20.840
but, um, I think it was chaga mushrooms, which I first got, uh, the intro on about five or
00:29:28.460
six years ago and the benefits around them because of anti-aging and reduced inflammation
00:29:34.180
But I'm listening to this book right now that I'm, that I'm going to put out as a book club
00:29:39.400
for my guys community, which is called how to change your mind, but it deals more specifically
00:29:45.480
Um, again, more specifically psilocybin and a little bit of talk in there about LSD, but
00:29:52.180
Uh, there's a lot of discussion in the book about the therapeutic use of mushrooms, um, the
00:29:57.100
medicinal use of it, but they also talk a lot about the psychedelic use of it and how
00:30:00.500
it's very good at, you know, curing, um, like none of this stuff has psilocybin in it.
00:30:06.080
Just to be clear, the sort of stuff that Andrew puts together out there with CBD is the non-psychoactive
00:30:11.180
stuff, but I find it fascinating as an up and coming industry.
00:30:14.500
I did a broadcast a couple of weeks ago on playing to win with Ronan Levy, who's, um, one
00:30:20.240
of the co-founders of a company that does, um, uh, psychotherapy.
00:30:24.540
I'm going to butcher this, but I think it's called, uh, psychedelic assisted psychotherapy
00:30:31.040
and they've got a bunch of clinics that they've just opened up.
00:30:34.180
Now I became an investor and an early investor.
00:30:36.220
So I'm real, I'm super interested, but I want to talk to you about the stuff that's available
00:30:42.120
Like you've got, um, I've got a bunch of them here on my desk.
00:30:45.300
Cause you guys sent me this a couple months ago.
00:30:49.220
So talk a little bit about the different kinds of mushrooms and the benefits on this one.
00:30:53.360
And it talks about cognitive enhancement and a bunch of other things.
00:30:56.960
Let's just go through them one by one, just so people know what they are and what the
00:31:00.140
Cause I get a lot of guys are like, okay, so how do I level up?
00:31:02.260
How do I, you know, become more focused, more, more productive.
00:31:05.860
All of, all of these solve some area of that actually.
00:31:09.960
Lion's wave is actually our top seller right now.
00:31:12.300
So let's say a nootropic it's, um, plenty of research out there.
00:31:15.860
That's pretty easily accessible, but, um, for lion's mane specifically, it's, uh, is very
00:31:21.360
close to what the myelin sheath around your neurons uses.
00:31:24.440
So starting close to that, uh, usually, I mean, when I personally take it, like I feel
00:31:28.940
more curious, more intellectually awake, but, um, lion's mane has been shown to actually
00:31:33.940
reverse neural damage in mice as, uh, you know, one aspect of it.
00:31:38.160
But a big element of, uh, that is supplementing brain chemistry and giving your brain the
00:31:42.620
architecture that, or not the architecture of the components and needs to, uh, don't put
00:31:47.580
So both CBD and, uh, lion's mane have been shown to stimulate neurogenesis.
00:31:54.340
And, uh, that's one of the primary use cases for it.
00:31:58.460
Uh, and is there a reason why you guys infuse it with like each different mushroom blend
00:32:05.700
Um, so it's, uh, it's really kind of two sides of the same equation from a, um, from a supplemental
00:32:13.920
So CBD is a much more simple compound and, um, you know, your body's endocannabinoid
00:32:21.460
So it runs your mood, runs your immune system, runs, you know, a lot of other aspects of your
00:32:27.940
And, uh, adding the CBD to the mushroom is just basically hitting both of those sockets.
00:32:32.880
And then there's also the polysaccharides and compounds you get from mushrooms, which are,
00:32:37.720
I mean, the molder weight of some of these compounds is about half a million.
00:32:41.960
So you're talking very, very complex, uh, chains of, um, of, uh, components that are in that.
00:32:50.780
So, um, where CBD is, you know, about the size of a caffeine molecule.
00:32:54.780
So, uh, adding those together, you're getting the calming effect of CBD as well as the, um,
00:33:01.740
And there are so many compounds in each mushroom that it'd be difficult to go into the weeds on
00:33:06.600
But, um, it's, uh, it's basically just trying to dovetail and hit both sides at once.
00:33:12.180
I noticed a lot of these seem to help with heart health and cholesterol, like the shiitake
00:33:24.640
So I've been using them for at least, um, month and a half, maybe even a little bit longer.
00:33:29.400
Cause sometimes I don't take them daily, but I just had my blood labs come back from my doctor
00:33:35.520
And, you know, he always goes over the cholesterol, the red blood cell, the white blood cell.
00:33:42.280
One of the things he said, he goes, you actually have better cholesterol and heart markers
00:33:54.600
I mean, I take care of myself, obviously, you know, I try to eat right as much as possible.
00:33:58.140
And I almost wondered if, you know, some of this stuff was assisting with, uh, some of
00:34:02.880
the blood labs, but talk a little bit about shiitake and CBD.
00:34:06.180
It says here on the cover of this one, lowers cholesterol, heart health, supports circulation.
00:34:11.620
So, uh, that one specifically has a lot of antioxidants.
00:34:19.540
So out of, uh, you know, all five, like that one probably has the best flavor.
00:34:22.920
It's usually served with sushi and, you know, classical Asian cuisine.
00:34:26.000
But, uh, in terms of, uh, reducing cholesterol and so on, that's, uh, the particular polysaccharide
00:34:32.060
compounds in shiitake, um, have some of the strongest associations with cardiovascular health.
00:34:37.700
So each of these supplements is hitting a specific subsystem of the human body for lion's mane.
00:34:42.860
It's, you know, nootropics, it's neurons, it's your central nervous system for a shiitake.
00:34:49.960
Um, so even though they dovetail with each other, so there are a lot of common antioxidants and so on,
00:34:55.780
each of these is designed for at least one system of the human body.
00:35:01.220
Is there a best time of day to take these things?
00:35:05.720
Like when do you usually recommend people take these?
00:35:08.100
Um, there's not necessarily a time dependent one.
00:35:10.380
I usually take it before going to bed or, uh, early in the morning with the exception to reishi.
00:35:14.780
So reishi is, uh, your sleep system, uh, reishi also affects the testosterone cycle.
00:35:20.140
So, uh, there's a one Italian study that I have in mind and, uh, taking reishi and I think
00:35:25.520
cordyceps together in a cocktail, um, Italian athletes had a double boost in free testosterone.
00:35:32.120
So they literally doubled their free testosterone and increased their recovery times by a 30%.
00:35:37.120
So, uh, reishi specifically is, um, you know, very much focused on the sleep side of the equation.
00:35:47.620
That's the reishi one, by the way, which I kept separate because, because that's part
00:35:50.740
of my bedtime pill routine with magnesium, GABA, tryptophan, HTP, uh, five HTP.
00:36:03.660
A lot of you guys have asked me what this ring is.
00:36:05.160
It's just a, it's just a health tracker ring, but, um, you talked about reishi.
00:36:09.940
By the way, guys, if you want to like grab any of these, uh, products that Andrew's talking
00:36:17.000
I'll pin it in the top comment when I get off the broadcast, but I'll drop this in the
00:36:24.480
And that link already has a 10% discount code that I've just dropped there.
00:36:30.720
Um, so if you want to grab some of this stuff and check it out, you'll get the 10% off.
00:36:35.420
Talk about the, uh, chaga mushroom and why that's important.
00:36:40.760
That's anti-aging, reduced inflammation, lower LDL cholesterol.
00:36:46.100
So chaga is, uh, I mean, it's one of the few mushrooms that doesn't have an Asian name.
00:36:49.900
It's actually a Russian or it's more using Russian cuisine, but it's a conch that'll grow
00:36:55.000
on a birch tree, but traditionally it's boiled down to, uh, make a tea and, uh, or, you know,
00:37:01.920
But, uh, chaga itself is, uh, primarily used for the aging process.
00:37:07.360
So you're affecting like the telomeres on your health.
00:37:10.460
And, um, in terms of reducing inflammation, again, that's, you know, very similar to, uh,
00:37:15.660
CBD, but, um, chaga itself is more of a general, more than any of the others.
00:37:25.040
And I got another one here with turkey tail, immune support, free radicals, antioxidants.
00:37:31.920
Turkey tail is probably the most, uh, tailored specific one, but a lot of research out there
00:37:38.920
So a lot of people when they're undergoing chemotherapy will take a turkey tail as a supplement
00:37:45.520
Um, a lot of studies, um, seem to indicate that, uh, it helps the body's immune system
00:37:50.420
recognize free radicals and recognize, you know, basically carcinogens, dying cells and
00:37:57.600
So, um, you know, a handful of different studies, like this, this is the medical claim by us.
00:38:02.720
It's just, you know, citing what's in, you know, current circulation and study, but a turkey
00:38:07.780
tail more than any other is an anti-cancer and pro immune system supplement.
00:38:11.780
Um, there's some other stuff on your site as well.
00:38:20.480
It was a CBD stick, I think, but it was infused with lavender.
00:38:25.160
Um, I don't take any products that have lavender in them cause I know that they're estrogenic
00:38:30.320
So I try to stay away from those cause I'm already a, a fast converter of estrogen to,
00:38:34.780
uh, or sorry, uh, testosterone estrogen with my, uh, AI system.
00:38:39.680
But, um, talk a little bit more about some of the other stuff that you guys have in what
00:38:45.120
you're working on in the future and why you're working on that.
00:38:47.280
If you, I mean, you obviously don't want to get, give away trade secrets to the farm,
00:38:51.180
but what are the next steps for you and the company?
00:38:54.820
Um, so, I mean, uh, you're mentioning the bomb, the bomb's one of our oldest products.
00:38:59.360
Uh, the lavender is there to get a CBD through the skin.
00:39:03.340
And so if you have a shoulder locked out or something like that, I mean, I use it for
00:39:08.840
I actually gave the stick to my dad cause he's got a bad knee.
00:39:13.120
It's a, so for a kind of a physical pain, either a musculoskeletal or, you know, based
00:39:18.340
on an actual skin issue, that's what the bomb's for.
00:39:23.600
Uh, we have three sizes of it, um, other products too.
00:39:26.900
So we just, uh, last week, and this is a little bit, um, into the weeds, but, uh, we
00:39:35.160
So Delta eight is a similar to TH it's very chemically similar to THC, but, uh, how it's
00:39:41.780
legally derived in the United States, you have cannabis, which is anything over 30 bits of
00:39:48.640
And then with hemp, uh, if you take hemp, uh, transfer the, uh, THC or chemically process
00:39:58.720
You can change that CBD again to get Delta eight THC.
00:40:04.700
And we have, uh, we're getting these on the side side as we speak, but we have both vapes
00:40:10.380
and gummies for that really it's a sleep supplement.
00:40:13.340
So I've been taking that for a couple of weeks now.
00:40:15.660
And, uh, with 30 milligrams of Delta eight, you're talking, I I've been getting 10 hours
00:40:21.120
of sleep, just knocked out and waking up in a great mood.
00:40:24.740
What, uh, Delta eight is specifically is a neuroprotective.
00:40:28.340
So you're talking about, again, affecting the nervous system and, uh, you know, deepening
00:40:34.900
So that's one of our newest products, uh, and it's not really, I wouldn't characterize it
00:40:42.760
It can, you know, be fun to take in the evening, not nearly the same kind of high that a Delta
00:40:49.280
You might get the munchies at the worst, but, um, for the actual kind of use cases for
00:40:54.360
that, that's kind of, uh, the frontier for right now, the coffee supplement water solubles
00:41:00.460
Like we're one of the very few companies that, uh, has nano emulsified CBD.
00:41:04.900
So that's, um, in terms of the output you're getting significantly better talking about going
00:41:10.180
from getting, you know, a trace amount of an oil to getting almost a hundred percent and
00:41:14.980
So if somebody likes coffee, but they get the jitters from the coffee, you're saying this
00:41:18.960
will actually let them enjoy the coffee, but they don't get the jittery component of it
00:41:24.580
So, uh, you're talking about, and you know, sometimes I'll combine it with a cup of coffee
00:41:29.380
and maybe a cigar or something, but the way that CBD acts, especially when it's, uh, emulsified
00:41:34.860
like that is a lot like L-theanine and, uh, in terms of regulating the jitters that you get
00:41:41.080
So whether it's, you know, nicotine, caffeine, you know, some other stimulant, uh, what it's
00:41:46.580
going to do is, uh, give you like one cup of coffee.
00:41:49.280
I'm usually good for an hour, a cup of coffee with especially water-soluble CBD in it good
00:41:54.260
for four or five hours of just straight work and not losing my flow state.
00:41:58.160
So that's, that's one of the primary selling points of kind of that aspect.
00:42:02.840
Um, did you want to talk a little bit about, um, and we've got another five or 10 minutes
00:42:07.240
left, you know, before we need to start to wrap up, but did you want to talk a little
00:42:10.040
bit about the, the other stuff that you're working on?
00:42:13.880
Um, again, you know, the series is really about dispensing some wisdom to guys out there
00:42:19.580
when it comes to playing the win in life, rather than playing not to lose.
00:42:23.420
Um, I mean, the sooner that you can lose, like learn that skill in life, the better off that
00:42:28.320
you're going to be a lot of, a lot of the questions that I get is, you know, how do I
00:42:36.540
And it's like the sooner that you guys can learn the lessons that a lot of these guys that
00:42:41.620
I've put in the plane, the wind series have made in their lives, like these stories that
00:42:45.200
they're telling, I guess, I guess what I'm driving at here, Andrew is what advice would
00:42:50.240
If you could go back into a time machine when you were leaving school in Idaho and you're
00:42:55.940
like, okay, I've got military or I can go and work at the Walmart sort of thing.
00:43:00.080
Like what sort of lecture would you give yourself aside from the fact that there is no such
00:43:04.800
thing as toxic masculinity, there's just conventional masculinity.
00:43:11.360
I'm not sure I can afford a time machine to go back that far.
00:43:13.600
But, um, in, in terms of advice, my younger self, I mean, debt sucks.
00:43:20.860
I, um, for me, it was like, you know, I got to use leverage to get out of this situation.
00:43:27.460
Like it's a, it's kind of the cost of doing business at the same time.
00:43:31.380
I think, um, the most important thing, at least in my life.
00:43:35.640
And I think a lot of lives of the people I know is sad.
00:43:38.940
The one thing, like, uh, you know, you might accomplish your goals and then be disappointed.
00:43:42.660
Like, Hey, I landed in the FBI, you know, I'm doing exactly what I want to do, but it's,
00:43:47.660
Like it's not satisfying spiritually right now.
00:43:54.120
I would, um, was there, was there a period of your life where you found the frustration
00:44:01.000
and the lack of satisfaction in the job that you were doing with the FBI where it's like
00:44:10.200
How long, how long did you do it after the point that you recognize that your soul was
00:44:15.300
I think, um, so I was in for almost exactly four years.
00:44:19.620
So I, and before that, I was a contractor for the year for a year, but the last two years
00:44:28.440
Uh, we could get into a bit of it, uh, back in the Trump transition, Trump's team asked
00:44:33.000
me to join the national security council, um, went through that process, the FBI and the
00:44:38.620
Uh, my career got stomped on, you know, basically I was stuck between the white house and the FBI
00:44:45.340
And, uh, that's, that's a super long story, but especially after that, like, I mean, I,
00:44:52.320
Like, I mean, imagine being 29 years old and being in the white house and like dictating,
00:44:56.280
not dictating, but assisting in terrorism policy and being like the number three guy for that.
00:45:03.400
Like I already, you know, picked out, um, what I was going to get myself and that sort of
00:45:10.340
Um, but, um, after that, like, basically after I was stuck in limbo for, you know,
00:45:16.320
several weeks, I, um, kind of realized, Hey, this, this is not going to happen.
00:45:22.900
I went through the agent process, uh, year after that, you know, had Sterling test results,
00:45:30.540
And, um, you know, the FBI itself was, was, and is a fairly like insular kind of political
00:45:36.400
environment and I don't harbor any malice towards anybody, but, um, after going through
00:45:40.580
that, I'm like, why, why would I stick around and reapply?
00:45:43.880
And why would I continue to take like a salary that I can't afford, you know, a lot of the
00:45:48.040
basics, like I can get by with housemates, but that's not, that's not life.
00:45:52.240
Um, why, why would I do that as opposed to leave and like trust myself and take some risks
00:45:59.340
And I mean, the fact of the matter is most people who, um, live life have a lot of risk
00:46:08.040
And, um, that's, that's the asymmetric part of it.
00:46:12.100
This is, this is a very distinct story of playing not to lose working for the government versus,
00:46:19.360
I'm going to go and do my own thing and get into real estate, get into nutraceuticals and,
00:46:24.660
you know, at least, at least hop in the driver's seat.
00:46:27.160
Cause I think whenever you do what you were doing during that four year span, you're basically
00:46:34.100
It's cross the T's, dot the I's, color within the lines.
00:46:37.480
Don't think outside of the box too much, you know, give us some ideas, but we've always
00:46:42.120
So don't go too far out of that, you know, system.
00:46:44.780
So, yeah, I mean, if you want that sort of flexibility guys, I mean, um, it's good to
00:46:49.980
get it out of the way early on and see how, you know, the establishment does things and
00:46:55.640
always has done things, but don't get too caught up into it where you find yourself
00:47:00.560
like your soul's dying every day for many, many years after that.
00:47:03.860
You only did it for two more years, but it was enough for you to say, okay, this is, you
00:47:08.760
Well, like just on a final question, was the relocation from the DC area to Austin, uh,
00:47:16.500
pivotal in the shift from, um, you know, playing not to lose to playing to win.
00:47:21.740
And like, was the environment, a big part of that too?
00:47:25.880
I mean, if you're in a town that's, uh, I mean, DC is a government town.
00:47:30.220
If you're in a place that there's a particular industry that's dominant and you can't just
00:47:34.600
crack it in that industry, like move, like there's a, the situation matters a lot.
00:47:39.900
Austin's a great town, but I would say in terms of like genuinely playing to win, uh, that's
00:47:46.920
Like it's, uh, it's more of a sliding scale than it is like an on off switch, at least
00:47:51.760
for me personally, but in terms of having the freedom to actually do that, I mean, in
00:47:56.180
terms of like the stress level of working in government versus the stress level of having
00:47:59.540
no income, being broke and trying to make something, uh, give me the second one every
00:48:03.660
single time, like a complete paradigm shift in terms of like getting free of the one system
00:48:08.700
and moving into, uh, you know, being responsible.
00:48:13.600
I'm going to drop the link again here in the chat.
00:48:15.620
If you guys want to grab, uh, some of the mushroom CBD supplements and the other stuff
00:48:20.200
that's online, you click that link, everything's 10% off with that, uh, code.
00:48:26.080
If you're watching the replay and you can't see the live chat, so you can just go there
00:48:30.520
Um, Andrew, appreciate you hopping on and, you know, sharing some stories, uh, check out
00:48:35.380
all the products that, you know, he's mentioned here with all this stuff with mushroom and
00:48:41.440
I mean, um, I've certainly slept better with the reishi supplement and I do take the other
00:48:46.640
daytime stuff that you kind of walk through with the other mushroom stuff.
00:48:49.180
I'm really excited to see what happens with, uh, the fungi industry.
00:48:53.820
I'm going to call it the fungi industry, but, um, you know, super stoked with it.
00:48:57.620
So yeah, thanks for hopping on and sharing that one, Andrew.
00:49:01.820
Where can people find you if they want to follow up or see what else you're up to?
00:49:08.020
If you want to hit me by email for wholesale, anything like that, it's just Andrew at green
00:49:13.380
Um, uh, a David Knapp on Twitter, if you want to connect there and, um, yeah, those are both