Encarta | MFM Goes to Jail, Startup Cities, Julian Shapiro Building a Ranch, Testing Out Purchases, and More

00:00

And he's, like, he's, like, you afraid of me. And I was, like, I was, like, yeah, I'm afraid. And he goes,

00:06

that's your truth.

00:09

I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to.

00:13

I put my all in it like a day's off on a road. Let's travel and never What's going on? How was,

00:20

Wednesday?

00:21

It was good, man. Ramon was on.

00:23

So, no, you know, Ramon, Ramon is the best. So Ramon came on and did his thing. He was the best. Good. I'm, I'm happy for him. He he's getting a bunch of wins right now, and that makes me happy for him.

00:34

Yeah. You where were you? So you were doing something interesting. That's why So let me tell you. Coming back tell us a story.

00:40

Yeah. Let me tell you what I did. So I volunteer with this program called The Last Mile. It was started by my friend Chris Redlitz. Chris started,

00:48

he did a bunch of stuff. He was early at Revach he's sixty five years old. He was an early employee at Reebok when you probably became very financially successful there. Then he started a company that he took public and then he started a VC fund that I I believe was quite successful. They were in on Wish dot com and a few other things. And

01:05

He started this charity or nonprofit called the Last Mile, and the whole vision behind this thing is basically,

01:12

So I I'm not supposed to use the word inmates. They've asked me not to use the word inmates, but sometimes I'm still gonna use that word because that's what most people know what it means. But basically

01:20

prison inmates

01:21

They are gonna What what do they want you to say?

01:25

Well, the and and it's a good it's a good terminology and good way of thinking, but basically they're like, well, look, to get them out of prison and into the mindset of they're gonna be working and having a job. We don't wanna refer to them as offenders as inmates, but students.

01:37

But but that would be confusing in this context. Okay. Yeah. In this context, yes. And so I'm gonna kinda go against his rules in this context. So there's, something like a million

01:48

people in prison. Right? And a lot of guys are there for ten, twenty, thirty years for manslaughter for doing whatever.

01:55

They're gonna get out. And whether you like the whether you forgive them for the crime or not, the fact is is that you they're gonna get out. And so the last mile is teaching them how to code for about two or three years through a program and then helping them get jobs at, like, Slack, I believe eBay, things like that.

02:12

And they've graduated, I think, eight hundred people out of prison who have went through the program, and none of them have gone back to prison. And I believe the average

02:22

prison the average person who goes to prison, I think it's like a sixty five percent chance that they go back to prison. Right. So the fact is that these guys, like, for example, I was with this one guy who,

02:34

basically, he caught his wife cheating

02:37

and they got into an argument.

02:39

According to the news, I googled it. She, like, went to fight him with a hammer. He grabbed the hammer and killed her.

02:46

And he was in prison for twenty years. And I was hanging out with this guy, which is weird. That's weird. You know, that's like a mind fuck. And he was like, yeah, I'm gonna get out in three years.

02:57

Prior to this, I was an engineer

02:59

or sorry. I was a sales person at a pharmaceutical company. I had a great job.

03:03

And I'm learning how to do JavaScript and MongoDB so I can get a job at a tech company hopefully because no one's gonna hire me unless I go through this program.

03:12

And that's crazy. Right? Isn't that weird? Like, I'm hanging out. And I was with my wife, Sarah. We're walking around this prison

03:19

just hanging out with these guys, and I get to know them. And I'm like, I I would hang I mean, you you're nice enough. You're we would get along fine. I'm I have no idea you'd ever done this. And they start opening up and telling me what they did. And it's pretty amazing. And it's amazing for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that,

03:35

when you're in this, Like, when you're so some guys are just like habitual criminals. Like, I talked to this one

03:40

guy. I was like, what was your job before this? He was like, oh, it was a meth dealer. Right. I sold meth and and I killed a guy. We we went to rob this house and I killed someone.

03:48

And,

03:50

and I and and he was like besides killing them, I was just like criminal. I just did types of crazy shit. But once I've learned how to do coding, I actually got more logical. Right? I realized that if I do this, then this other thing is going to happen. And so I started learning about impulse control and I started learning about myself. And so it's like learning how to code, but also learning about yourself type of thing. Like a like a if then statement for your life.

04:11

Yes. And so that's quite fascinating. The second thing is, you know, there's not a lot of black coders, but unfortunately, there's a lot of black folks in prison. And so,

04:20

these guys are learning how to code. We are with we're in Indiana. It was mostly white people, but I've done this in San Quicken, but,

04:26

like, for someone who graduates and leaves jail and they go back to an all black neighborhood. A lot of times, it's these these kids, these young kids, it's the first time they're gonna meet a programmer who's black and who looks like them. And so not only are we helping these folks stay out of prison, but it's kinda cool that, like, you know, you're actually, like, helping the diversity issue in tech. And so it it so how the heck did this guy Chris read, let's start this. That seems so random from, like, you know, your employee at a d a reebok, and then you start a VC Fund, and

04:57

where did this come from?

04:58

I I believe the story is ten years ago. He was dating a woman and she volunteered at a prison and she was teaching, I think math Like, she just got pulled into it at San Coitin. She lived in San Francisco, and someone was like, Hey, we need like or no. Sorry. Someone was like, Chris. Can you come and talk about entrepreneurship to these inmates? Right. And he was like, I guess I'll go. And he goes, and they're like, can you come again? Can you come again? He's like, I guess. And then eventually, he was like, wow, you know, this is a major problem.

05:25

That I'm passionate and I care about. And so him and his wife, they started a thing where they go, hey,

05:31

they went to Sacramento, the the Capitol of California, and they basically

05:35

lobbied for this program. They go, hey, everyone. We'll put up the hundred thousand dollars.

05:39

You know, they're talking to the politicians. When it would okay if we did a cohort for entrepreneurship in San Quicken. And they, like, threw friends of friends, they got in front of the right people and it approved. And then they're like, well, you know, entrepreneurship is okay, but teaching them out of code is way better. Right. And so he starts doing that and then he goes and convinces

05:56

Apple.

05:58

I believe the trump the trump administration,

06:01

the Koch brothers,

06:03

rich people to donate money, and now they have this, like, huge

06:07

program.

06:08

That's kind of amazing. They've trained some huge number of people. Right? Like, there are a lot of people in this program. Is is that right?

06:15

Yeah. They've got I believe that they only allow like twenty or thirty people per,

06:20

like, cohort.

06:21

And they have like fifteen prisons doing it. By the way, if you're listening to this, well, they graduated. I think a thousand people. And I was gonna say, by the way, if you're listening to this, I'm getting some of these numbers wrong. I didn't, like, write all this down. So whatever I'm saying divide by two and multiply by two. So I think they have like a thousand people, but let me tell you something that's interesting. So I was in this prison I mean, you wanna know what's crazy, dude.

06:42

Most everyone was really fat and out of shape.

06:46

And Yes. As a fitness influencer,

06:48

you just you couldn't you couldn't help herself.

06:51

Well, here's why this is interesting to me. So I was talking to Chris, and I was, like, you know, everyone was, like, fat. And, like, the food that they give these folks, it's horrible. It was, like, white bread and baloney and, like, generic, like, oreo cookies.

07:04

And you can buy stuff. But he was like, yeah. Well, you know, at some of the longer maximum,

07:09

maximum security prisons, they're a little bit more fit. But, yeah, it's a huge problem. And in China, I was like, Chris, like, if we gave these guys like, look, they're I understand like the idea of, like, You committed a crime, you sacrifice privileges, whatever. But I think if we just gave them, like, some better meat and vegetables for every meal and four them to exercise. Like, you gotta get up at seven AM. And as a prison, we're gonna do jumping jacks, push ups, calisthenics, and, like, you know, it's, like, the military,

07:34

I think they would behave better. And ultimately, like, if your body works better, you're gonna maybe behave and act a little bit better. And he was like, yeah, you know, I I think I agree, but even in American prisons, you can't force the people to do anything. It's, like, against the law or against the rules.

07:48

But I started thinking about this. And and and I and I think that's kind of interesting. And they do this in China. And he was like, yeah, we, we, like, got some We, like, saw Chinese prisons and everyone shredded because they make you do this. Wow.

08:01

Okay. So did you did you know I've done a very similar thing? And so I got a couple of,

08:06

like, when you said you were doing this, I've I, like, remembered

08:09

back when I did this. So there's a group in the Bay Area that does this called the Inside Inside Circle. I think it's called. And, nonprofit. They basically go into it's like,

08:19

a men's group. So for people who listen to this that don't know what a men's group is, it's idea that's been around for a long time. There's many different flavors of this. There's some that are, like, kinda business oriented. There's some that are, oriented around just sort of changing your life. I forgot what's what's the famous one of the barrier that people think is a cult that's like a men's group?

08:36

I don't know if you know the name of it. It's like a weekend. It's like a weekend thing you do.

08:40

But there's a whole bunch of these water or something? Yeah. Something like that. Not not that, but there's something like that. So, anyway, so men's group is where a bunch of men get together. They sit in a circle and they talk about their feelings. And they talk about what's going on, and they and they have, like, a whole process that's, like, basically helps people unpack what's going on inside so that they when you unpack what's going on inside, you're not carrying all this baggage around, and then you you will act more like the way you wanna act because you don't have this sort of suppressed and pent up stuff inside. That's my, like, layman's version of, I'm sure. There's a much fancier, better way of explaining it. So I went to Folsom Prison, did the same same sort of thing, two day program. You go in. I met this guy Gino. He was kinda like, you know, you get a penpal buddy, basically. So, you know, you meet your buddy, and he was in there. He's been in there since he was eighteen. And he had murdered somebody when he was eighteen. And he's, like, been in there for twenty years now. So he's thirty eight. And he was, like, you know, yeah, I did this horrible thing when I was eighteen. And, like, I'm in here for life. Basically,

09:37

like, my whole life is basically in prison. And, he had a great, great attitude about him, funny guy. He was, you know, he was just It was kind of unreal,

09:47

because I had been, you know, kind of,

09:50

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had been kind of,

09:53

You know, in my head, I just sort of wrote this off. Like, I just wrote off people in prison. Like, I think society writes them off, and I had sort of just done. Like, yeah. Not super interested in going in and meeting people who have murdered people before.

10:04

But, you know, it's really not that simple. Let's you meet them. It's really not that simple.

10:10

To to sort of like bucket people like that as good and bad. And so, you know, it kind of, you know, it's kind of embarrassing to even say it out loud. It sounds obvious, but, you know, it was kind of a I don't know. It was kind of awakening moment. And then we we did these exercise. So we did these exercises where you're like, you know, you sit in your little group and you talk about what's going on. And it's so funny because it was basically half successful tech guys and then half people from Fulton prison. And,

10:35

And they would be like, you know, the tech guy is like, oh, you know,

10:39

you know, just a stereotype for a second. Like, my kids trying to get into this private school, the admissions process, and my wife is really blah blah blah. And then, like, the next guy, he's like, you know,

10:50

I haven't seen my daughter in twenty five years. And I just hope she's okay and I heard something heard something happen to her and I'm not able to help and it's just gutting me. And then the tech guy is like, you know, my company, we we raised our We're just trying to raise our b. I'd like, you know, so it was like, yeah, it's so funny, like, real problems, fake problems, real problems, fake problems.

11:08

And, but this is sort of like no judgment. Right? That's the idea. It's like,

11:12

actually, it's funny. The guys who lead you in there, they're very, like, sort of wise people. The the there's one guy at BJ who runs the program and then, I forgot the name of the other guy. He's awesome guy. He's, like, he's, like, recognized as a shaman in, like, seven different civilizations in Africa. Like, This guy is just a beast in all ways. They in fact, they call his nickname as Beastmaster because he sort of is able to tame the beast in the prison.

11:34

And he's got this, like, presence about him that he wouldn't believe. Like, imagine Ray Lewis, he does volunteer anywhere.

11:40

He was in prison, but he was in prison. He got out, and then he you know, devoted his life to this work,

11:46

and he's, like, sort of one of the most wise guys ever. And he said this early on. He's like,

11:50

you know, let's set some ground rules before we go in here, man. Like, okay. What what do we and one guy was like, you know, no judgment. I wanna be going here. I don't wanna judge the guys in there.

11:59

He goes, okay. So we're gonna lie to ourselves. And he's like, what? What do you mean? He's like he's like, you're going to make a judgment

12:07

the when somebody says something or does something, the brain is instantaneously

12:11

going to make a judgment. And you could sit there and say, no. No. No. I'm not doing it. I don't wanna do it. I you can try to resist it, but you're gonna fail. He goes, instead, let's just agree to this. You'll make the judgment, but then just agree to this. The judgment says more about you than it does about them. He's like, so just use that that reaction to teach you about yourself. Don't use it to define the other people in there. That's something that I still use to this day, kind of, like, in every every walk of life, because it's it's so true.

12:38

And so anyways, I had this, like, crazy experience in there So I was, I was talking,

12:43

or I guess, like, I don't know if I should even tell the story, but, basically, I when I went in, there was one guy in there that just looked like the baddest dude in the prison. He was wearing his sunglasses. Nobody else was wearing sunglasses. He had, like, a cane He wasn't the strongest or the biggest, but you could tell he had the respect of everybody in there and almost like the fear, like, a fear version of respect or at least that's what I perceived. Cause, you know, you go into the situation. You sort of quickly scope it out, and you're trying to, like, understand the lay of the land. And so, instantaneously, my brain's judgment was That's the baddest dude in here. Like, don't piss that guy off. Don't say the wrong thing in front of that person.

13:19

He kinda scares me. And, of course, as fate would have it, We get into a group of four. We get matched up, and he's my buddy in the group of four.

13:27

And this guy, basically, I was, you know, so then you're supposed to, like, talk again, talk about your problems. And I was kinda conscious to be like, okay. I'm not gonna talk about these, like, first world problems. So I tried to say some shit that was, like, deeper than that, but he saw straight through it because These people have a very good, you know, bullshit detector.

13:42

And, he was like, he's like, man, you're just saying what we wanna hear. He just cut me off, like, two minutes Oh, that's bad. And I was in the middle of my big, kinda like heartfelt thing, and I'm a good talker. I'm a good storyteller. I'm a good liar, frankly.

13:54

And he immediately was like, man, Don't come in here, just say what we wanna hear. And I was like, oh, shit. And then I'm, like, my the guy I was already afraid of is now calling me out specifically

14:05

for basically one of the worst things you could do in these situations, which is being inauthenticating,

14:10

and be fake. And it's like, you didn't really, you really didn't have to do anything. That was the one thing. Just don't be fake.

14:14

And I was I was being vacant. This guy called me out on it. He's like, what you really thinking?

14:19

And I was like and I just said, what was on my mind? I go,

14:24

I go, I really just don't wanna sound like an idiot in front of you.

14:28

And he starts laughing. And he goes. He goes, you afraid of me? I was like, yeah, I'm afraid. Hey, hey, I'm afraid. He goes, so if I get closer, you'd be afraid? It gets closer. Close here. It gets right up to my face, like, one inch from my face. And he's, like, he's, like, you afraid of me.

14:41

And I was like, I was like, yeah. I'm afraid. And he goes, that's your truth. I go, yeah. And he goes,

14:49

he I go yeah. I'm like, in my head, I'm like, oh, okay. I think I did it right. I just said, well, I was thinking of that. I think, you know, and so then the brain The voice in my head that was, like, judging every word I was saying kinda, like, relaxed for a second because this guy put him at ease. And he was, like,

15:03

He's like, he's like, I can respect that. And he's like,

15:06

he's he starts telling a story about a time, like, his life when he was afraid. And, like, you know, I'm off the hook. I go sit down now.

15:12

And, and at the end, the guy, like, you know, basically gave me a hug on the way out. And he was like, you know, he's like, I hope I see you again sometime. And I was like, wow, that was a just like a little

15:21

life moment that it doesn't, like, I I don't know. I'm telling the story now. I don't think this even means anything to anybody, but I remember this, like, like, it happened yesterday. There's very few moments in my life that I can remember so vividly, but this was one of them. And I think it's because it was, like, a primal moment where I didn't know what was gonna happen. There was real fear. You talk about this a lot. Like, we're very rarely in real danger situations.

15:44

Even though this wasn't actual danger this guy wasn't gonna do anything to me, it definitely felt that way, and I remember it.

15:49

And the crazy part and we can move on after this, but the crazy part is, like, I think what's separates you and me or anyone listening to this podcast, which, by the way, I learned well, I'll talk about that in a second. What separates from someone like these folks. Like, they're I I I met a bunch of people who were, like, habitual criminals. They were, like, yeah, you know, I just, like, I was a drug addict, or I was just, I hated authority and I and I've changed, but I was young and mean. And I met a bunch of other people who work. I met a guy who worked at Abbott. I met a guy who worked at Ford. I met a guy who as engineers, like, they're probably making six figures and they go, my marriage

16:21

went horrible. One of us cheated

16:23

and I got into a fist fight and I killed someone or I hurt someone really badly. And I was like, I don't think I'm ever gonna, like, hurt someone,

16:31

but I could. Like, it's not, like, in a in a in a thing of rage. Like, you could flip out or I could get drunk and kill someone and driving, you know, like you could. And it's not that we're not that different. Some of these guys. And so that was really crazy. And while there so let's get we'll talk about business. There was this there's these guys have, like, iPads. They're not Apple, but they're, like, a different brand of, like, I I I had type of like tablet. Okay. And, you can be an approved podcast.

16:59

And so if we go through this the process of getting approved. We can go on there. And there's about a and there's about a million incarcerated folks in America, and there's not that many podcasts on this on this thing. I was like, oh, I was like, dude, let's boost our numbers. And so I'm I'm I'm working, with the right people. There's like a company that makes these, like,

17:18

And and we're It's called Microsoft, and it's a surface. The the Microsoft manages this in shambles as you keep calling it an iPad.

17:26

Dude, I looked it up on on Wikipedia. It's this company, and they were they sold to a PE company for two billion dollars. And they basically make things that the prison

17:35

gives to Right. You know, in cars and they could buy They can like buy movies and shit. And, you basically if you have enough money on your accounts, you can watch movies your entire stay. And so,

17:46

Anyway, it was kinda cool. So that's my story. I've I've a related thing. Do you know the guy Mike Posner?

17:53

Of course. The musician. So he I know who he is. Yeah. See, he's, like, kinda like rapper singer type dude. I I I took a pill in a Biza. That's, like, a I took a pill in a Biza. Cooler than me. He's got a couple big, big, big, big songs.

18:05

He went to Duke. Right? He went to Duke. So he was there while I was there. We were in the same year. And,

18:11

and I remember meeting him or seeing him, and he said he was white Katie said he was gonna be a white Detroit. He said he was gonna be a rapper. I was like, alright, like, imminent. Like, you know, that's Who goes to Duke? Yeah. Like, you went to Duke. Yeah. That's not really the path, my friend.

18:23

But he killed it. He did amazing. And actually, like, one of the things I remember from that was

18:28

he released his song

18:30

on iTunes You,

18:33

because he was in school. So he could only somebody, only a student or professor could put content on iTunes You, which was like subsection of iTunes.

18:41

And because most of the things that go up there are, like, extremely academic. Right? It's just like a lecture from this random biology class in at Duke. So now all of a sudden you get this, like, rap song that goes on iTunes iTunes too. And he hit the top of the charts on iTunes too. And he he would tell so he put out there, like, yo, I'm number one on iTunes, you know, like parentheses. Yeah. Yeah.

19:02

And so that's how I think he got booked on first we got a lot of college. It's like a growth hack. Like, a lot of college students heard a song because iTunes You had, like,

19:11

like, there was, like, the rankings that, like, show the top ten iTunes songs, which super competitive. You gotta be, like, mega famous to do that. And then right below, it was top ten iTunes u downloads, and he's his was number one. And so I think he got a lot of fans that way and then he booked a bunch of early gigs when he had no name to say it by saying, yeah, I'm number one on college campuses on iTunes. And they were like, well, okay. That sounds decent. Alright. Well, we'll give you a And that's and then he went on a college tour, and that's how he built his following. So he did a very similar thing to what you're talking about.

19:39

That's badass. I I like him a lot. That's a good that that's a good story. It's like it's like B York getting famous in Iceland or something. Like, it's better to be, like, have like a local maximum, like, to be famous on a local on a local level and then you leverage

19:52

So so one

19:53

more quick, prison one before we we switch off that. So,

19:56

so my buddy did my buddy my best friend, Trevor, did this thing called a book storm. I think is a great idea in general, which is he wanted to write a book. And so he's like, alright, books normally take a long time. What if I did it differently? He's like, so let me,

20:08

He did, like, a quick, not a draft, but, like, just a quick, like, kind of concept of the book. And then he flew out the five most badass people he knew. And he put us all up in a hotel, and he said,

20:19

I want you here for, basically, a day and a half to just help me think through this book.

20:24

And he's like, we'll brainstorm it together. And he's like, I think if I just do this with deep intensity, I can make way more progress than if I just kinda, like, lightly touch this book every day. For, like, two years. Yeah. For two years. And it totally worked. What's their last name? What's Trevor's last name? Reagan,

20:39

r a g a n. So he, so he and now he has the book. It's coming out. It did like a, for what he called, like, a audio book. It's like a podcast of the audio of the book or something like that. So,

20:49

anyways, he was he flew out. It was me because I was, like, his best friend from college, and then it was, like, this person who was, like, the,

20:56

the the Olympic coach for the women's volleyball team is that the US US women's volleyball

21:01

has just kicked ass internationally, which is not expected because volleyball is a much bigger sport in other countries, but this guy, like, turned the program around and, like, So he was amazing. He was there, and this one guy was there,

21:13

and he had been in prison for twenty years, and he had gotten out. And he had Trevor does a lot of, pro bonos, like, talking in prisons. And so he had met this guy in in the process, and he was like, wow, this is this guy's amazing. And this guy shared two things. And I was like, he came out and I was like, man, this guy's like, He is so wise. He is so articulate. I feel like he's read every fucking book because he keeps referencing

21:33

really insightful pieces from all these different books. It sounds like, what's your story, man? He's like, actually, I was in prison for twenty years. I was like, whoa. No shit. And he goes, you know, I said, so you read all these books while you're there. He goes, He goes, yeah, he goes, my first year when I was there. I was, like, I was twenty years old or something like that. He's, like, I decided,

21:50

I'm gonna see what I wanna see. He goes, so I I decided, oh, you said they're calling they're called the students there. Hey, that's what he's that's that's what he did for himself and his brain. He goes, I told myself I'm not in prison. I'm in university. He's like, and every day I woke up, I said, I have a I'm getting a twenty year PhD in life. He said, every day I woke up, and I just I would tell everybody around me in the line. We're getting food. Oh, this is this is the student union. I'm at the student union. I'm getting food from the from the from the meal hall. I'm going to the library. I am in university right now. I am not in prison. He just literally, like, worked himself up into a frenzy where his mind only saw that, and he saw everything as as university. So he read all these different books. And then similarly, he said, you know, I would look around on the on the yard. And on the yard, you'd see all kinds of bad shit going on. You know, the black guys find the white guys and the Mexican guys and all that. You'd see broken, you know, just broken down, you know, our basketball hoop was half crooked, all that. And he's like, I just played a game every day. In my mind, I would change what I saw. So I would see a beautiful green field. I would see that he's, like, every day. He's, like, if I saw broken glass, I would see roses. And this guy's mindset impressed me so much. It's another one that stuck with me, which was, like, create your own reality. And, like, how many times, if this guy could do that in prison, then when I'm waiting in line at Starbucks, I'm not waiting in line bored,

23:04

I change it. My head just like the guy changed his university things. That was another one that was like That's amazing. Huge life thing that I took away from that guy. Dude, I love his prison talk. We we should I gotta we got I think we should do, like, an entire episode on this. There's, like, all these guys who are blowing up on YouTube who, like, are it's all about crime and and and prison talk and and whatnot. And I learned so much from those folks.

23:26

Do you watch these videos that's basically like a guy? These are not insightful and and deep, but they're just entertaining to me. Have you seen these ones where guys will go, they'll film around a police station?

23:36

And then the cop comes out and he's like, hey. Why are you filming, man? What are you what are you doing here? Let me see your lights. Let me see your ID. He's like, nope. I'm not gonna show you my ID. And he's like, what? He's like, let me see your ID. I watch that shit all the time. And he's like, no. But I know my rights. I'm in a public place. I'm allowed to film. He's like, yeah. But what what are you doing here? He's like, do you not know the rights? And they just, like, talk back to cops. And there's something about this about just talking back to cops. It's a call. It's it's called Justice porn, and it's fun. It's like, it's Justice porn. That's what I call it. It's like And the comments are super polarized half the people are like, what an asshole, dude? The you're just make you're just being annoying to the cops. They're, like, you're provoking them,

24:13

and then they take the bait. And then you, like, jump on them because you you why did you spend your day doing this? And then the other half, people are sort of like me. They're like, god. I don't know why I find this so entertaining. I just love when somebody like It's just like most of the show accident. Yeah. There's something to it, man. I can't I can't resist. That's my junk. That's my new reality TV.

24:32

Yeah. Go to,

24:33

reddit dot com

24:35

slash justice porn, and there's a whole subreddit for that. And there's like a million subscribers. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. It's it's not. It's like there'll be a guy gets pulled over and he's like, let me see your ID, and he shows him a password from another country. And he's like, no. I need your ID. He's like, no, you don't. There's a treaty that says, if I show you this password, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you cannot rest me. He's like, know some random ass, like, loophole, and he's just driving around fast. Hoping to get pulled over just so we could do this thing on camera and get a bunch of views. It's kinda sick, but I like it. Speaking above the countries, let me tell you about something

25:05

Interesting. Have you heard of Prosper? Have you heard of Prospera?

25:09

Perea. Sounds very familiar. What is it?

25:11

Okay. So I almost or I'm in the process and I hope I can make it happen of investing in this company called,

25:18

mini circle.

25:19

25:21

prospera is this new like private charter city. We've talked about private charter cities a bunch. Right. Okay.

25:28

And so it was set up in part by Peter Till who's a very controversial weirdo

25:33

type of guy. I like him, but a lot of people don't.

25:36

And so he basically set up this country

25:39

or the city in Honduras, and they have their own rules and their own laws and weird things like that. So do you know what gene therapy is? Have you heard of gene therapy? Yeah. Is it basically,

25:51

like, is would CRISPR be part of gene therapy? So it's basically the modification of your DNA in order to, like, fight disease. Is that is that a good description? Yeah. So it's this very experimental

26:00

kind of technique, kinda like medical procedure where basically you

26:03

insert and modify genes in order to,

26:07

in order to replace surgeries or drugs. So for example, there's this kid in Syria He had some weird disorder where, like, all this skin started deterior

26:16

deteriorating. He was about to die and they did this gene editing stuff and he was able to regrow back his skin.

26:23

And a lot of people but it's very controversial because you're doing a couple things. You're kinda like playing god, which

26:29

I don't buy in, but that's an argument. People don't like it. And also, yeah, and people don't like it. And also, it's

26:35

experimental. And so the DA, like, very closely monitors the stuff. Right? And they'll say, like, and so there's and there's a lot of, like, weird, like, biohacker, fringe types who are interested in this stuff. And so it's all like

26:48

controversial kind of. But nonetheless, it's cool. So I'm trying to invest in this company called mini circle, and they're making this new gene therapy. That, like, increases muscle mass, bone density helps you, with insulin sensitivity and does all this, like, crazy shit to you. But In order to get it done in America, you gotta go to the FDA, and it's like this big process. And so they've moved their company to Prospera.

27:09

This Peter Teel

27:11

City in order to make all this shit happen, and they're doing their testing for people?

27:17

Or is this No. In Honduras. Latin America. It's in Honduras. It's in Honduras. And so they're doing it, like, so basically they're like, we're working with fully informed and trusted, reading off something. We're working with fully informed and trusted study participants who are choosing to do this. Right. But

27:32

it we couldn't get this done in America. It would take forty years to do this gonna do this on this land, on this weird city type of thing. Yep. And I'm trying to invest in this company. I think it's ridiculous. I think it's crazy,

27:43

but

27:44

Kinda cool. It is very cool. I invested in one charter city called, praxis.

27:50

And they're what they did was pretty smart. They were, like, they first created just a bunch of, like, like, a, like, a group here in America. So they they invited a bunch of cool people from New York, LA, San Francisco,

28:00

and they're just, like, host events, so they throw dope parties. So these people that they're, like, in a community, they get to meet each other at these events, and there's, like, an online component.

28:08

And, they keep doing this, they keep doing this. And meanwhile, they're searching. They're going around to, like, all around the world, and they're basically

28:16

negotiating with governments, and they're saying, hey,

28:18

give us some free land

28:20

and let us have our own rule of law and rule of financial law.

28:26

In the, like, our own financial regulations and our own rule of law in this zone, we're gonna create a new city, and we're gonna bring all these, like, cool people plus, like, development dollars to your place. Right? So in the in the US, you could never say, hey, US government, go give us, you know, a little piece of Wyoming. They're not really gonna give you that. But, you know, you go to whatever, you know, you go just in the Mediterranean training into the Balkans

28:49

and you find some random piece of land. You say, oh, this is beautiful. It's right on the ocean. It's undeveloped. And you go to the government, you say, look, what if I could get a bunch of, people from America, you know, successful people who want to kinda live in a new a new charter city. And, and so it's this, like, really wild moonshot idea. I totally

29:07

fully expect this investment to go to zero. I put in a very small check, but I had to participate because the founder was so convinced that, like, yeah, of course, people will do this. And, and that if you did it, it would be very large. It'd be like owning the raw land, you know,

29:22

you know, the land under Manhattan where all the buildings are gonna get built. And you can either do development yourself or you sell off the pads and make a ton of money. So the business is great if you can kick off a new charter city. And one of the ways you attract people is this, like, if you own it, if you have your own rule of law, you can say, hey,

29:37

biohackers

29:38

come here because you're allowed to do, you know, you're allowed to run your experiments here because we have our own kind of like free zone where we can do our own shit. And so, I think it's really cool what's happening. Biology is pretty convinced that in the next ten years, we're gonna see charter cities, you know, pop up startup cities.

29:55

Yeah. And on one hand, to say to explain why this, like, why the haters exist on this.

30:01

And why I I definitely hate on them a little bit. You know, there's like some negativity which is like it's most likely like fringe, libertarian types. Kinda like how all the Bitcoin rich folks are going to Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. You know, you could say, like, the FDA exists for a good reason. Rules exist for a good reason. You guys are freaks just trying to, like, avoid the reality.

30:22

And there's definitely a truth to that. And there are, like, probably that's a solid argument.

30:28

Some parts of that. And then on the other side, you could say, Well, like, that's, like, what the fucking,

30:32

America started. Right? Like, you know, we we bailed on We were the we were the free experimentation zone. Right? Yeah. Like, we wrote a ship across, like, you know, three thousand miles not knowing what to expect and we just landed and we figured it out. So

30:46

I think even the people who like startup cities would say, yeah, great. There should be the FDA. There should be all the stuff for most people in most places. But if it covers all

30:55

all land and all people within a country, then you stamp out the wild experimentation. So I know that Google guys have been talking about this before, which is that they need a

31:04

There should be a free space where if you opt in,

31:08

you can go and you could do some of the experimental things that you can't do here. And the learnings from that. Let's say nine out of the ten things don't work out or they have bad consequences. Okay. Fine. But if one breakthrough innovation

31:20

or,

31:21

or or discovery is made, then that can be exported back to the mainland. And we could say, look, let's go. Let's take this through proper testing and roll it out to everybody. So, like, you know, people go to Germany to go get, you know, stem cell treatments and things like that because it's not legal here, but in other countries, they're more liberal about it. So, like, you know, I started a company once a biotech company, and the technology was made in the US. The government US government had funded forty million dollars of R and D for this technology,

31:48

but you couldn't go use it in anywhere in the US because the, like, you would never get the permits. The people would say, why would we will not let you put these microbes into the ground. It was basically these little micro bugs that could eat coal underground, so you don't have to mine it. And they would basically just, like, fart or breathe out natural gas. And so they will just mine the coal themselves and you just collect the natural gas. You don't have to frack the earth. And you don't have to mine the coal, but the US would never let us pump these microbes into the ground because they're like, we don't have to. We're life is pretty good here. We don't have to do that. So we went to Indonesia,

32:19

and we went to India where they were like,

32:22

yeah. Hey, here's a huge plot of land. How much money do you need to go do this? We love this. Right? We want economic activity. We want innovation. And if this works, then we wanna capture some of the upside of being able to, like, sell this technology to others. And so we got quick permits in Indonesia, where we couldn't, you know, the company is trying to do the same thing in the US. They were bogged down for years and never got approvals.

32:43

Have you ever heard of medical tourism?

32:46

Yeah. I've always been curious about, like, how how people have the guts to do this, but it makes sense. You you go to Mexico and get your teeth fixed or whatever. You know, have you ever done anything like this? No. So for those who don't know what this is, I learned about this because me and Sean's buddy, John Howard. Your friends with John Howard. Yeah. Yeah. He's great.

33:03

We I shared an office with him at this place called founders dojo, and they created a company. I forget the name of it, but it was basically medical tourism.

33:11

So, basically,

33:13

I I think a a a use case is typically like dentist or like veneers and teeth stuff. Although, then there's other stuff like breast implants and, plastic surgery. Where their premise was, basically, it's cheaper to get it done in Bali or Mexico or India. Somewhere like that where, like, they're I have no idea if this is true. They're like the the doctors are just as good, but it's a fraction of the cost to fly out there

33:38

Get the surgery done and chill there for a week and recover and fly back. The company did not work out. And frankly, in my opinion, it sounds like fucking pain in the ass. I would never do that. I'd rather pay twenty thousand dollars in America for veneers, but be able to get it done, like, three bucks for my house than I would wanna go to Mexico.

33:55

But

33:57

Well, yeah. It's not it's not for you. Right? It's for somebody who can't afford it here. It's it's not if I could do this or that. It's I can't do this, and my teeth fucking hurt, or I can't do this, and I need this surgery done.

34:08

Okay. If I can't afford it here, even with insurance,

34:11

then, okay, I'll go to Mexico and I'll do it because I have no no no real other option. Alright? It it's so prohibitively expensive. It would cripple me financially.

34:20

And I don't wanna save my health and cripple my finances. So I'm gonna do this. There's I think it's a hundred billion dollars a year is paid up there. Yeah. It's a hundred billion dollars of medical tours a per year globally.

34:32

That amazes me. I never would have thought that. I'm I just think something that they paid in the ass. It seems wild. Right? But I think that's the

34:40

you know, when people are pushed into a corner, they will find a way, you know, that that is sort of the the innovation of people.

34:46

And, yeah, I'm actually surprised this thing didn't work. What he was doing was he was selling leads. So he would find customers who are interested in it. He would educate them and he would sell those leads to the off medical offices,

34:56

you know, in Mexico or wherever and say, hey, this person is interested.

35:00

They wanna do a phone call with you. Would you pay us a hundred dollars for that lead? And they were like, yeah. Sure. You know? And I I honestly think that business should have worked and would have worked had you stuck with it. It was like a pivot and maybe you didn't have enough time to to figure it out. Yeah. I don't I don't know particulars, but I know that it's it's when he told me about it, I was like, there's no way this would work, but

35:19

I say that about a lot of stuff.

35:22

Yeah. Exactly.

35:23

Alright. What else do you wanna talk about?

35:26

I don't know. What do you wanna do? Let me look at your here. Okay. So there's a Juliet building of ranch. I think that's pretty cool. And we should talk about that.

35:34

Let's do Julie building a ranch, and then let's do,

35:37

let's do that. Okay. I have a I have a good deep dive, but I'm gonna save it for the next episode. That's a good one about the diamond industry.

35:43

Alright. Lay the background of this. So You know Julian better than I do. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So Julian Shapiro. He's just at Julian on Twitter.

35:51

A lot of people follow him there. I think he got, like, you know, two hundred thousand or maybe more followers. He's a weirdo.

35:56

Total weirdo in the best way possible.

35:59

Yeah. He called me the other day, and I say, I go, hello, and he goes, the love of my life.

36:05

I was, like, check my phone. Who the fuck is calling me? And then he's like, I have this deal, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then he, you know, just goes straight into it. Doesn't even the love of my life part.

36:14

It was just hilarious. He's just a hilarious character. He sends us, like, the funniest memes. Like, on Twitter, he's like this really full intellectual,

36:21

like, guy who'll teach you how to write and teach you about all this other stuff, teach you how to think frameworks, blah blah blah. And then in our group chat, he's sending, you know, the the goofiest teams, which is, like, that's my favorite type of person who's got both of those sides to him, the silly side and the smart side. So he tweeted out that he's basically he's been talking about this for a while, so it's not just like a bullshit thing. But he's like, he really, really wants to build a ranch.

36:43

Actually, by the way, I should share the most interesting thing about him. For the last eight months,

36:48

All he has eaten

36:50

is wagyu steak

36:52

at boiled eggs.

36:54

What's I don't believe?

36:56

I believe it because he's crazy and he he kinda needed to. I think he had some, like, his his gut health wasn't right. He just, like, like, took control. He's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out how to fix this. The doctors are helping me. I'm gonna fix this myself. He had read about the carnivore diet. I think Jordan Peterson had a very similar like, kind of, like, issue. And he famously came out, so I did carnivoref.

37:14

It healed me, basically.

37:15

And so he started doing it. He started feeling a little better. Then he committed to it. He's like, okay. So he literally

37:20

orders Wagyu steak

37:23

from these, like, farm from this one farm, actually, in particular. And he orders, like, three thousand dollars a month of steak. And he shows me his freezer. His freezer is just full of bricks of steak. Like, imagine, like, you know, when you see in a movie piles of cash, like, just bound up piles of cash, it's that, but with waggy steaks. And so he had, like, he said, He said it was miserable for, like, six or eight weeks. He was, like, I craved carbs. I craved sugar. And then he got six, eight weeks into it. And he's, like, I can't even imagine eating sugar, carbs again. I I don't crave them at all. It sounds horrible. And by the way, that's a real thing from what I understand that there's at there's basically in your microbiome in your gut. There's all these, you know, basically there's bacteria that live there. And the bacteria feed oh, the different yeast and bacteria feed off of

38:09

different, like, substrate, different different food. And so the more you eat carbs, so imagine if what you're putting in is carbs,

38:15

the bacteria that thrived off of, let's call it meat are gonna sort of die out and the bacteria that thrive on carbs are gonna, like, proliferate. They're gonna spread. They're gonna multiply, and they're gonna they're they're gonna make up the majority of your gut. And then if you decide to switch and go low carb, all of a sudden, those bacteria are gonna say where the hells are food. And the and the craving you feel, those carb cravings is not just like your mind being weak. It's literally the gut bacteria

38:42

that are signaling to your body. We need our fix. We need our shitter. We're gonna die. Good. What are you? Are you reading about body stuff now? How do you know all this?

38:50

No. Well, I heard this once. I was fascinated by it. And somebody had told me this, and I looked into it because I was like, is that bullshit? And, like, I'll I'll just say,

38:58

Half the shit I read five years later turns out to be bullshit. So, like, with health, I feel like nobody knows anything. But

39:03

in hearing this, I was like, oh, that makes total sense. And that's how you get, you know, just like you get withdrawal pangs, if you stop caffeine,

39:10

the same exact thing happens with carbs. And when you know that that's what's happening, you're like, oh, okay. I just need to ride you motherfuckers out. Like, I just need to keep I just need to hold you guys. I'll starve you guys out. And in seven days, you'll be dead, and the only bacteria left will be the ones that feed that life the stuff I I want to be eating. So it's a total thing.

39:28

Well, okay. So and back to Julian, and and by the way, always why I wanted to start my startup called hostage where we just, like, take you and, throw you in this, like, like, land and, keep you in a cabin for, like, three weeks and just like monitor exactly. A guaranteed weight loss program. Would you yes. Would you be interested in a ten day program that would guarantee results

39:48

I will I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars if you don't lose weight. It sounds good. Yeah. We just give you fourteen hundred calories a day. Welcome to hostage. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's Like, would you like a glass of water?

40:00

Like, that's all we that's all you get.

40:03

What are your top ten ideas?

40:06

Anyway, so Juliet basically, yeah, he buys and and by the way, the the ranch thought he was a restaurant because he was ordering a so much fucking steak. They're like, well,

40:15

Certainly, you're a restaurant. Here's your, like, wholesale price break, and it just turns out he's just a dude. Anyway, so he really wants to build this ranch in the middle of nowhere because he's thinking about where do I wanna live? And then he he tweeted out this thread that I love. It's just just search his name, Julian, and I'm building a ranch in the middle of nature. And, basically, he's, like, know, why am I doing this? I wanna leave San Francisco.

40:34

40:35

you know, I just think it would be amazing. And he basically tweets out his plans. He's like, here's where I'm looking. Here's the land, here's how much it costs. I'm gonna build this, like, these, like, pre fabbed homes. I'm gonna build this podcast studio. I'm gonna have, like, like, like, blank, blank, blank, you like this. I know this is, like, right up your alley. So what did you think about this?

40:53

Okay. So

40:55

This is, in my opinion,

40:57

very romanticized,

40:59

incredibly not practical, and it won't work in most cases.

41:03

Have you ever been,

41:04

you know, you live in you lived in a city for a long time, you now live in the Burbs, but it's still populated with people. Have you ever been by yourself for a while? Like, in in rural area. Shoot me. Yeah. No. Horrible.

41:15

It's fun for a minute. It's great. I was just in Hawaii and it was like, this is relaxing. This is great.

41:21

I can't I think that You basically, you wanna do it to the point where you're like,

41:26

I felt the benefits, and now I wanna run back into society and tell everyone how Amaya for doing this retreat from society?

41:33

Yes. And so, like, I'm reading the the Teddy Roosevelt biography, and he did the same thing. So, basically,

41:39

his wife and mother died on the same day, and it was tragic. It was horrible.

41:43

And while she the wife died Allison while giving birth to his daughter.

41:48

So, like, the most complicated day ever. And he was like, the light of my life is gone. I I cannot live anymore

41:56

just life is done for me. And so he went and he bailed, and he lived in the badlands, which is in the Dakotas. And he said, I feel replenished. I feel wonderful. But you still gotta get he went eventually back to DC and or New York and became a politician.

42:09

And I think that I think what a lot of people overestimate

42:13

is or rather underestimate is community.

42:16

So in order to make this work, I think a few people can make this work. But from nine out of ten folks, You need peers, you need family, you need friends. Life is I don't give a fuck if I live in the most beautiful place on earth. If I don't have people that I can see on a regular basis, who I love, It's stupid. I'd rather live pouring in a shack with people I love than in a mansion on a fifty plot fifty acre, a hundred acre, plot of land. That's beautiful.

42:41

Hundred percent agree. I think,

42:44

part of his plan is to basically have a bunch of, basically, guest houses making an awesome ranch where he'll just have this rotation of kind of friends and cool people that wanna come stay. And I think that will I think that will happen,

42:55

but he's think he's single. So I don't, like, you know, if I went out there with my my wife, my kids, then I think I could last a lot longer

43:02

than, then if I went out there literally by myself,

43:05

You've just hoping to kind of friends would come to visit. So I think that is one thing. And I think this is a great example of you wanna have this dream but then I think he need to test it. I think he need to go live. I think he needs he should stop right now. He should go somewhere for one week and just say, okay. Let me go test or two weeks. Let me go spend two weeks by myself in this Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. And let me just see how I feel after two weeks. And then let me try that again. And I know he's got the discipline because if you can eat steak only for, you know, steak and eggs only for for eight months, you know, props. But, like, you don't want it to feel like an endurance contest. If you're trying to choose your life You want it to be one that feels effortlessly awesome, not, like,

43:41

a test of your mental fortitude, I think. So I think it's amazing. I would love to go visit, but I would not wanna do this myself.

43:48

So I've actually, like, done this a bunch of times. So there's a bunch of stuff that I wanted in my life. And I was able to test it on a very small scale. And I'll give you a few examples. So for example,

43:58

I wanted to retire.

44:00

And so I had the opportunity a couple years ago. I took six weeks off. Right. And I just took it off completely. And by the fifth week, I was like, I can't retire. I have to be around I have to have something to do. Another example is buying a fancy car. You can go and test these cars for Right. It's a lot of money. It's a thousand dollars a day. But you could then testing a two hundred thousand dollar car for two days is might you you you get into it. This Ferrari is so small. I cannot drive this up and down like a driveway. It's just gonna smack the ground and it's not fun. Oh, yeah. I'm stressed about this in the fun of having Yes. Versus the stress of having it is actually not a good trade. Now that I feel it, I know it. Another example is having a five thousand square foot home. For the longest time, I was like, I want a five thousand square foot house. So I went and rented a five thousand square foot house. I I spent a lot of money. Maybe I think I did it in New York. I I rented a fifty five hundred square foot house and it was like thirteen thousand dollars for a month. A lot of money. No doubt about that. But the house was way more expensive than that. And I got in this house and I was like, I I cannot imagine having to fix all this crap all the time. This is exhausting. I can't do this. I don't want this. Or I'm I'm only using the living the bedroom and this huge kitchen, which I like. I don't need these six other bedrooms.

45:14

And,

45:15

anyway, I think that you could actually test a lot of stuff and more people should do that. They should they you can Hundred percent.

45:22

Dude, so I I'm okay. I'm gonna rant for a second. Think about, like, in college. Right? So I think there's this

45:27

crazy thing in society, which is, like, over commitment

45:31

and over specialization

45:33

without dabbling.

45:34

Like, you're a freshman in college. I remember at the end of my freshman year in college, I had to commit to a major. Like, I had just figured out, like, where the hell the bathroom is, I don't know what a major is. I don't know what the other majors could be. I know that if I don't commit, I'm gonna be falling behind and off track. You know, I'm not gonna have my credits on time, and I'm not gonna courses to take. And I'm basically picking my career without ever even knowing what my career should be. So forget what classes I'm gonna like. These that my major sort of dictates what job I'm eligible for at the end. And I think it's crazy. And the same thing with people's, you know, like, first job. They just sort of pick a career track without dabbling and figuring out what they actually might like to do. The, like, the idea of dating is amazing. Like, my parents were arranged marriage, so they You know, they literally my mom read an ad in the newspaper

46:19

for my dad, which said, like, you know, a six feet tall, which is a slight lie. You know, he's five ten.

46:25

You know,

46:26

Indian,

46:27

what else? Engineer degree

46:29

and a good family. And I was basically at the ad, and she was, like, describe, like, every Indian American man. Good enough. Good enough to marry. Let's let's meet. And then they the parents met, and they're like, okay.

46:40

In this one tea we're having together, this one coffee meeting we're having. Alright. Cool. We're done deal.

46:46

See you. The next time I see you, we'll be at the wedding.

46:49

And that's how they got married. And, like, you know Really?

46:52

Shocker that, you know, these marriages aren't always the best. And so that Well, are they happy?

46:58

No. And most so I would say, like, Indian Americans have, like, a very low divorce rate because, like, societally, it's, like, like, there's, like, a taboo against getting divorced. So they just, like, even worse stay together, unhappy is what most people do. And then, obviously, some get divorced, but, like, there's arranged marriage ideas. It's not great. Now the counterpoint would be

47:15

you know, I think in New York, there's a fifty three percent divorce rate also. So, you know, maybe the whole dating thing doesn't work as well. So that that's the that's a fair counterpoint. But I would say,

47:24

this idea of dating of basically try before you buy is,

47:28

is really important in life. And, like, these these tests that you've done for yourself are super important, and I'm shocked. More people don't do them. I started doing them. And I'm like, wow. That's way better than

47:40

this. I I'll just have this idea in my head, and it'll get so real in my head.

47:45

And then when I finally do it, I'm like, oh, shit. That was underwhelming. It's like, couldn't I have just sampled this beforehand and known that and not had this idea?

47:52

Like,

47:54

what's an example?

47:56

Like, okay. I'll give you an example on the plus side. So they've an example on the plus side. So I hired a chef. So I have a personal chef. I wanted a personal chef for a really long time.

48:04

How much does that cost a month?

48:06

So,

48:07

how much does it cost me a month? It's about three thousand four hundred dollars a month. Three thousand five hundred dollars, maybe.

48:14

Thirty five hundred. That includes food.

48:16

That does not include the food. No. The food's on top. That's just like the Just service. The service of having a private chef in my house. And,

48:24

by the way, worth it. Amazing. Like, you know, fortunate to be able to afford it, but, like, to me, I don't have a fancy car. I don't even have a fancy home. But I got a housekeeper who comes, you know, three three days a week, and I got a private chef. And to me, that's, like, that's my version of luxury. That's, like, you know, That's my version of a Lambo. It's like a lifestyle Lambo. Does this person help me everything? Does this so I had a chef as well for a minute, but it was a little bit different. It was more like meal prep. Does this person come? And and I paid way less a fraction of that. Right. Well, I'm in the Bay area too. So, you know, it's a Yeah. But my guy came two days a week and they would meal prep for me. And I didn't like it. I ended up just not using them, and I I made my own food. So I tested them. So to to do the sample idea,

49:07

I, I first even got the idea because I got to sample it. So my previous company, monkey Ferno, you've you've been there before for lunch, I think, probably

49:15

the the the investors behind us, they were kinda like a a billionaire family, the the Birch family. They had a private chef in their home. But, you know, they were out and about all day working or they'd be at the office. So their chef would just come to the office and cook for all of us. And so, you know, a company of like twenty people, and he would cook this amazing spread all of a sudden, healthy food tasted good. So immediately, I was like, holy shit. This is kind of amazing. I don't have to, like, go out, figure out what to eat every day. This guy just decides. So that's one decision I don't make. He cooks healthy food, and it tastes like junk food. Alright. That's like, you know, wow. That's amazing. If I just ate this for all my meals, I'd be way healthier than just my lunch. And so, so I got to sample it. That told me I want this.

49:53

And there's other things that I got to try, you know, I was at their house or fancy parties that they throw or fancy cars that they have that, you know, I got to try. And I was like, I I don't care about this. Good. I can scratch that off the list. It's one less thing I want. It's one less thing I care about. And so that's just hanging out with him. Got me got me to try some things that I I was working for and figure out what I like and don't like. So then I tried some meal prep people. What what I figured out what I really like is somebody who comes, I don't decide what to eat. They know my they know my

50:23

life. They they know what food I like. They know what what health what level of healthiness I I care about,

50:28

and they just come make it fresh on the spot because I think fresh food tastes way better than meal prep food. And so she comes and she can and then I also thought I also realized, oh, this is not just about my health. Like, one of the most time consuming parts of being a parent is constantly trying to feed your kid. Are, like, my kid's like a picky eater? And so she,

50:44

you know, like, I'm making the three dishes for her every meal just trying to get her to eat something that she likes. And, that just takes up more time than even cooking for myself did. So the chef cooks for me, my wife, who's vegan, and,

50:56

are our baby. And so our baby now eats, like, way better than when we were just, you know, let's make some mac and cheese. Let's warm something up. And,

51:05

And it makes it fun to feed her week, five days a week. So she

51:09

so right now she's coming three days a week. So she comes every other day, basically. And then on the weekends, we wanna eat out. So we'd like to restaurants or whatever. So we we said, don't don't come on the weekends. And, we may move it up to five days, at some point. But right now, it's good. Basically, and it's little things. Like, here's a green smoothie. She makes every, you know, so in between meals, instead of a snack, it's she's like, oh, you want your smoothie? I'm like, oh, yeah. I do want that smoothie. Thank you. Have you lost weight?

51:32

I think so. I don't I don't really weigh myself, but in the mirror, I look like you lost weight. I look better. And I don't know if my weight has changed. I don't I don't use the scale, but just use the mirror as the scale. And so Often had does your cleaner come?

51:45

Three days a week also. And how much do you pay for that?

51:49

Hundred sixty bucks per visit, I think.

51:52

Damn, dude. So you spend a lot of money on these things. I mean,

51:56

They may be extremely happy. You should do it, but

51:59

They may, like, the the feeling after the cleaners are here is like, you know, that's like a high for me. That's like I did I don't know what Molly is, but that's Molly for me. I feel so good in my own home. It's amazing. Having food, having fresh healthy food made, I think that's that's a a treat. That's an absolute treat for me.

52:17

I, I'm perfectly happy with well, we have a cleaner who comes every two weeks, and I think we spend a hundred and twenty or hundred I don't remember, but I'm also messy as fuck, and I have kids that they're messy as fuck. So, like, you know, the house gets destroyed.

52:31

You know, my sister cleans, I think, four times a day in her house. She's putting putting toys away every, you know, every four hours, basically. So it's crazy.

52:38

But I don't know if people care about this, but I guess my my my the point I'm trying to make is I think sampling I think sampling your lifestyle is super important. I'll give you one more story here that that

52:47

helps.

52:51

So,

52:52

you know that

52:53

I did a podcast from Vegas. I said, I was, is that somebody's home?

52:57

You know, fifteen thousand square feet? Yeah. I don't even know how how many it's, like, ten, ten to fifteen thousand square feet. It just unble it looks like a hotel, basically.

53:05

And, unbelievable. They they have a They have a Lambo and a Ferrari and a monster truck and, like, all this other cool shit. They have all the toys. There's a batting cage in the backyard.

53:13

There's a, you know, like, a infinity pool that looks over the city, you know, you can see strip. There's, like, everything you would want in a home. They got it. Elevator, all all the crazy shit.

53:23

And,

53:24

and so anyways, I was there, I had this feeling that I don't like, that I've thought I had slayed this feeling, but, no, it came back. And it was, like, kinda like jealousy. It was, like, I was and the way I knew it was because I was, like, kinda poo pooing, like, oh, I don't need all this. I I'm happy without all this. And I was kinda, like, in my head trying to, like, almost say why I didn't want these things because actually,

53:46

I felt bad that I didn't have all these things. It's like this weird psychology thing. But the simple way of explaining it was, like, I felt these, like, little hunger pangs of of envy of, like, oh, I want that.

53:56

And I was, like, oh, that's not a good feeling. And the shift I made was,

54:01

instead of feeling like, oh,

54:03

you know, these are things that I don't have, but they have. Right? Like, it's nothing wrong with them, but just I don't have these things and and other people have them.

54:10

Instead, I looked at it differently. I was like,

54:13

by the by the third day there, I I was like, I gotta shift my mindset. I'm not trying to have this messy feeling in my my day. It's not a cool feeling for me. So I was like, alright. What am I gonna shift it to? And I said, oh, how about I look at this like a like, I'm at I'm getting a a sample platter here. So these are things I can have. These are things I can have in the next few years that, you know, things go right in my business. I I can afford all these things. So why don't I feel like what it feels like to wake up in a in a mansion like this? Why don't I feel like what it's like to to have a basketball court in a batting cage, you know, built into the home? Why don't I feel what it's like to to drive this car? And

54:44

now I'm all of a sudden feeling excited. Oh, what do I get to try today? That's like, you know, I get to go try on something that I might have in the future. Did you did you drive his Ferrari? So I get to test drive the stuff and feel like what, like, you know, what does it feel like? Like, you like it? No. For me, cars are stressful.

55:00

Like, I I don't like fancy cars. They're very stressful and they're kind of, like, uncomfortable. Like, I don't really get off on it. There's probably, like, a version of a car that I like, but not the, like, super cars, basically, super cars are not something I want. And so I got to figure out what do I not want? And then, oh, actually, this feels really good. It feels really good to have, you know, this home gym built into my home. So, okay. You know, why don't I do that? You know, why don't I why don't I go for that then? So I think that sampling is not only just an effective way to figure out what you want, It's also a cure for jealousy because when you're in those situations where you're jealous, switch it to thinking of it, like, I'm just getting to

55:34

try before I buy. Before I have all these things, I get to sample them and figure out what exact flavor of this I'm gonna want. And then it becomes yours instead of feeling like it's theirs and you don't have it.

55:44

I have that feeling with, so we had this guy in the podcast a while ago. We should have him back on again. His name's Nick Bear, b a r e, Nick Bear. He runs,

55:54

bear, performance nutrition or some VPN. And a big YouTube channel. Right? And a huge YouTube channel. This guy came out with us. He came out with this, his content production is so freaking good. So he's got this supplement business that does like twenty or thirty million in revenue a lot. But when we had him on, it was like,

56:12

six million in revenue or or something like that. It wasn't like it was good, but it wasn't significant.

56:17

And he created this YouTube channel. He's like good looking like yoke. Like, he's a massive dude, but he so he lifts weights and he's this muscle head, but he's really cool. And now he's into endurance sports.

56:29

And so on his YouTube channel, which now when we had him on, I think it had like two hundred thousand subscribers. Now it's getting close to a million. Seven eight hundred thousand He did this thing. He's got this whole team behind his his YouTube channel. He's got like three or four guys working full time on it. He released a forty five minute documentary about him running the Leadville one hundred. The Leadville one hundred is a hundred mile race to the mountains of Leadville, Colorado.

56:53

And you basically I it looked like it was like laps or something of like fifteen or twenty miles, and he had these guys at checkpoints to film him. And I was watching this guy It was the most inspirational shit I've ever seen. I'm gonna go and buy, like, I don't even know what bear nutrition sells because I whenever I have my whey protein, I just go to whole foods and I just buy, like, you know, like,

57:13

or in Amazon. I'm purposely gonna go out of my way to buy this stuff. Have you been paying attention to Nick Bear? I don't he doesn't show up on my YouTube feed. I need to subscribe starts to show up in my feed. Dude, you gotta watch this guy. It is the crate. So he's ex military. You're the only famous influencer I watch.

57:28

Morgan, we could talk about that in a second, but he this he's inspired me to, like, take it to the world.

57:35

He is so crazy. This guy is nuts. Like, he he has a video of him, like, dead lifting five hundred and fifty pounds, which is a shit ton of weight. And then he goes and he runs a marathon in, like, two hours and fifty five minutes, which is very, very fast. And he's the biggest guy doing it. It's very interesting. So I've been watching this guy and I had this like pretty big sense of jealousy where I'm like, I wanna be doing that. And, so that's why I'm doing this little fitness influencer shit now. And it's kind of a joke, but not really a joke. And to be honest, it's so fun, dude. You totally have to do this. It one hundred percent makes you accountable and makes you exercise harder.

58:10

Yeah. I love it. I have to so I sampled your gym. So I went to your house. I sampled your gym. I was like, wow. Amazing. And then I called you the other day. I was like, yo, are you using for the flooring? What are you doing for this? What are you doing for that? Give me the give me this the the the blueprint because

58:23

I'm turning my garage into your garage. I I'm like, that is a great that was such an amazing feeling to work out there. I wanna have that feeling on a daily basis. So Dude, it's way cheaper than you think. I know. I I didn't even take a it's not even a lot of money, but it's more like, it's more of having the clear vision of what you want. And seeing yours was like, oh, now I know what I like. And I'm I just have some additions, some modifications. I'm like, oh, my daughter who's two, she loves to come out when I'm working out, and she loves to work out with me side by side, which is just like she just wants to be to she wants to do little things next to me. So we're creating a little workout playpen

58:55

where she can go in there with a little foam weights and do her thing while I'm doing mine. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna craft this lifestyle to be what I want. And, and so, like, you know, that there's something to this sampling, and I really encourage people to find a way to sample it. If you wanna know what kind of home you want, go Airbnb and be something. Before I did this chef thing, I hired a chef for one meal to cook, like, a kind of a dinner for, like, I had some friends in town. It's like, oh, let me hire somebody off Craigslist just to make one meal. Like, I don't wanna deal. We can go out to eat But wouldn't it be cool if a chef came to our house and did it? And, like, the cost is about the same of, you know, taking my friends out to a restaurant. So let me just do that at home. And it was amazing. And so, having that chef at the at the home was, like, a good way to test these things. And so that's my kinda challenge to anybody who's who has made it through this random episode, which is, like, think about the shit that you have been telling yourself you want and figure out a way to go sample it, like, in the next week. Go rent the car,

59:48

59:49

hang out at someone's house, go shadow a CEO, go, you know, hire the chef for the day, do do, like, the sample of it and figure out, does it make you want it ten times more or ten times less? Because usually that's the reaction I have when I when I feel it for the first time real is I want it way more or way less.

01:00:06

I'm curious if people are gonna like this rambling.

01:00:09

I like this stuff, but I don't know. I wonder what what people will enjoy. Because I I could talk about this shit all day. I like this this fitness crap, this building the life that you want crap. I love this stuff.

01:00:20

Ben, Ben,

01:00:21

chime in here. What do you what do you think, Ben?

01:00:27

I can only speak from, like, my perspective, which is

01:00:30

I'm really into the Chartard City stuff, so that, like, I really liked that. And the prison stuff, I think it's gonna be interesting to anyone. So it it worked for and Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, come on. You knew that would be a man. So Are you gonna do, dude, Teddy Roosevelt is the most prolific person I have ever read about. I've read hunt maybe over a hundred biographies.

01:00:51

He is

01:00:53

likely the most active person I've ever read.

01:00:56

He has done so much amazing stuff. This guy's a freak.

01:01:00

Teddy Roosevelt's a freak. Where is where is the how to take over the world episode on Teddy Roosevelt?

01:01:07

Of, I would say of the people that that people bring up that they want me to do, Teddy Rosell is probably number two.

01:01:13

Gang is calling probably number one that people mentioned, and Teddy dollar too. So it'll it'll do. Roosevelt is, like, he's different than Napoleon, like, Napoleon did a lot, but Roosevelt is far more eclectic. He, like, before he was even in politics when he was twenty one. He wrote a book on the Spanish American War, and it was considered a textbook for decades.

01:01:30

And then he wrote a couple more books. He,

01:01:33

became,

01:01:35

president, obviously. That's amazing. He,

01:01:38

was like this avid hunter and this zoo, zoo, what is it when you collect animals and like, describe like the the where they come from and things like that, like Darwin shit. He did that type of crap before he was like in his thirties. Very prolific. Very interesting person. You gotta read about, Teddy Roosevelt. Very intriguing.

01:01:55

What book are you reading? The rise of ten of Teddy Roosevelt?

01:01:59

I think there's, like, three of them.

01:02:02

There's one that came out,

01:02:04

fairly recently that's really popular now about his trip to the Amazon,

01:02:09

which I'm You know what I mean? That was amazing. The guy was ridiculous. He also has this book that I'm thinking about reading. This title's beautiful. It's called Astrangious

01:02:18

Life. And so he had this phrase where he was like, so Roosevelt would, like, at even when he was president,

01:02:23

every morning, he would box, like, fight box, like spar. He loved and he was like, it's our, like, we have to live the strenuous life where we put in effort, physical effort, and we get hurt sometimes, and we struggle. He's like, we have to do that. Otherwise, you're never gonna feel like a man or or a human being. And so I've been very inspired by Teddy Roosevelt. He very interesting person.

01:02:44

That's funny. You know, I'm I'm listening, Ben, I'm listening to the Vladimir Putin episodes that you did on the on how to take over the world. And, I'm I'm only I'm I'm on part one.

01:02:54

And,

01:02:55

I love that he was, like, the opposite of what you described because when Sam describes these people, it's, like, holy shit. These are just, like, another species. It's, like, a guy who's done this and this and this and this and this and this and all before the age of thirty. And the best part about the Putin thing was you were, like, up until thirty, he basically had a very sort of, like, average average life. There's nothing remarkable that would tell you that this guy's about to become what Putin ended up becoming. There was like little hints, little signs, a couple moments, but

01:03:18

you know, by and large, it was, like, you know, mediocre mediocre student,

01:03:23

you know, it kinda like low level, low level, you know, spy,

01:03:28

not not, you know, put in this, like, random random office, not in the high highest level. And then that was all until thirty. And then I'm guessing it because I haven't listened to part two yet, but I'm guessing obviously, it's gonna turn up and he's gonna end up, you know, becoming the leader leader of the country, but it was so crazy to me that he was unremarkable, essentially, till thirty. Was that surprising to you?

01:03:49

Yeah. And the the the moment that you're talking about is, like, he was kind of, like, a mid level operative in Saint Petersburg

01:03:56

And I think the guy that he worked for lost an election, so he's, like, out of a job, and he was gonna go just, like, start a judo gym in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He's, like, pretty good. He sounded like just, like, he's interested in the office. He's, like, in Scranton.

01:04:08

He's just a mid level. He's assistant to the regional manager. And then somehow becomes, you know, it's like if Dwight became Elon Musk, that's sort of, like, what happened with Putin, mid level officer to, like, you know, president.

01:04:20

Do you think Ben that he is actually the richest person in the world?

01:04:29

No.

01:04:30

I don't insofar as, like, do I actually think he has, like,

01:04:35

whatever,

01:04:36

a hundred billion dollars in secret accounts, probably not. But it's like it kinda doesn't matter because he had access to as much money as he wants whenever he wants. So he probably just doesn't have to. He, like, doesn't have to move all that money to his account. Yeah. He scares me, man. So richie doesn't need him in his account.

01:04:51

He freaks me out, man. Putin scares the shit out of me. Sam, have you listened to this out to the Putin one? There's a there's a No. I I dude, I I I fear him and so I've been nervous to listen to it. There's a line at the beginning that I love that was, like, it's, like, this little little anecdote. It's, like, he was kinda, like, not a great student in school.

01:05:09

And just, like, wasn't very interested. He's, like, he's, the teacher's, like, he's smart, but he's not that interested in school. And so the teacher tells his dad, like, you know, he's not living up to he's not living up to his potential.

01:05:20

And then the dad, like, as just, like, as a Russian dad would is, like, most most Russian shit ever. He goes,

01:05:26

So what do I kill him? Or what do I do?

01:05:29

Like, that was the response.

01:05:32

So what should I do? Kill him?

01:05:34

I was like, wow. Oh my god. Those Russian thing ever.

01:05:38

Dude, he freaks me out, man. A lot of the Russians scare me. That's like why I like Khabib and the UFC because the Russians, like, freak me out. They they just like They're on another level.

01:05:47

They're on another level. There's levels to it. Let's just put it this way. One level. I've never seen a Russian doing a podcast.

01:05:53

Where Russians don't do podcasts. Right? They live a harder life than us. They're

01:05:57

they're doing more in more tough shit than than sitting in front of a microphone. Dude, I've never even seen a Russian smile. Like, they don't. I was like, they

01:06:06

don't I think I've almost had a big, like, jump smiling in Russia's weakness. If you saw a Russian and he winked at you, what would what would happen to anybody?

01:06:13

There's this comedian who, like, talks about, like, he's like, you know, like, one time I was going to this bad neighborhood and,

01:06:19

I was nervous and I re and he was this guy's a white guy and I was nervous and and he goes, someone came up to me and talked to me and asked me, like, a question that I thought that they're just, like, trying to, like, trick me into, like,

01:06:30

you know, testing me to see where, you know, if they're gonna rob me or not he goes, immediately, I just spoke in a Russian accent, and immediately they were afraid for afraid of me, walked away. And he's like, this is my defense mechanism. He just says, do, of course, I know. Like, are you in this, like, horrible rush act? Like, do I know where I am? Of course, do you? Like, you're, like, so this is, like, scary thing to this guy. He, like, walks away from him entirely, and that's the defense mechanism from now on. It's just speaking in a Russian accent.

01:06:55

That's amazing. If I do that in a Indian accent, I just get beat up on the spot. So it doesn't work the same.

01:07:01

Alright. We should wrap it up. I was just I was gonna say something I was gonna stick up for the Russians a little bit. I visited Russia with, with my wife. Speaks a little bit of Russian.

01:07:10

And,

01:07:11

my experience was, like, they're they are very much like that. Like, they're kinda gruff and, like, a little scary, whatever. But there were a couple times where, like,

01:07:20

like my phone wasn't working and, like, we needed to get to the train station in an hour or else, like, we were gonna miss our flight and everything was gonna go wrong. And, like,

01:07:29

people were more willing to go out of their way and like literally walk with us for like five blocks and make sure we found the exact right spot. Than anywhere else I've ever been. So it's like they have this very tough exterior, but once you get past it, they're like very And obviously, we're joking. If you are a Russian, we have love for you. But we're I thought we were complimenting the whole time. I was saying Don't poison Sam. Don't feel sad. I was saying how bad ass they are. My everything I said I stand behind as a compliment

01:07:54

you know, e even just the cities, dude, Saint Petersburg, do we have anything on the level of the word Moscow,

01:08:00

Saint Peters? These just sound tougher than American cities. Right? Like, whenever I hear the word the Kremlin or Kremlin, I'm like, I freak out. Yeah. Exactly. Kremlin.

01:08:10

Scary word. Bro. We have the Tampa Bay. It's, like, this is not comparable. What we have, you know, it's just they're on another another level of toughness.

01:08:20

Like, Denver?

01:08:21

Can you imagine? It's just putting just put Denver up against Moscow.

01:08:28

America America's just not where it's at. Alright. I gotta go. I'm just before I get canceled for for for praising the Russians.