00:00
You're good at doing this, which is you identify these lifestyle trends. You, like, pick up pretty quickly on, like, there's a group of people that are deciding to, like, live under a different paradigm or different motto or creed.
00:12
And, actually, that's always, like, one of the best ways to build a business around that lifestyle because you can speak to that audience, and you could differentiate a product super easily to that crowd.
00:28
Dude, have you ever been inside factories? You probably have, but I think most people haven't. Have you been inside, like, any kind of Why do you think that I've been in the factory?
00:37
You're gonna be like, I don't know, like, my my cousin Bubba has, like, a bubble gum factory. You're gonna be like,
00:42
I went fishing for I went fishing recently with my father-in-law. He's like, hey, so how do I set this hook up? What do I do? I'm like, dude, I don't know. I've never got fishing. He's like, why did why did you just assume that wanna do this. Oh, dude. You seem like a guy. You just look like Yeah. You seem for sure like a guy who's goes fishing.
00:57
I've watched documentaries
00:59
on it. So I know how to
01:02
do you or do you not have a favorite place to fish?
01:04
No. Of course, no. I don't have a fishing hole that I go to.
01:09
But no. I've I've I don't think I've been to a factory. Not really. Like, what type of factory?
01:14
Doesn't matter. Any factory. Whatever factory you go into, it's fucking mind blowing how, like, even to go to a warehouse. Like, go to have you ever been inside, like, an Amazon warehouse or like a -- Yeah. -- like a food warehouse? Like, how the food gets to restaurants?
01:26
It's insane. And the same way that, like, going to a farm is, like, slightly crazy. And you're, like, whoa.
01:31
I eat these. These I eat these animals. Like, oh, wow.
01:35
You know, that doesn't seem right.
01:37
But, like, basically, a factory
01:39
it is kinda stunning.
01:42
Like, if you take any object on, like, okay. I am holding this microphone. This is sitting on my this is the foam
01:49
cover of a microphone.
01:51
There's some, like, huge factory that, like, is churning them out. If you just go back trace the process of how this got to my desk. So, okay, I just go on Amazon. I just microphone. I don't know. Maybe this one. I clicked out. I buy it. Right? So it goes from an Amazon warehouse onto a like Amazon warehouse packs it into a carrier, carrier brings it to my house, puts the package on my doorstep. Okay. Great. Well, how did I get to the Amazon warehouse? Well, first, it was in probably, like, another warehouse
02:17
before it even got sent to Amazon. Before that warehouse, it was in a factory being made by human beings. I don't know. Actually, before that, before it got to the warehouse, it was on a boat in a container,
02:29
like, sailing from fucking China.
02:32
On a boat with human beings just living on the boat as it sails for months, you know, two months to to the coast.
02:39
And then it gets, like, un you know, like, docked and separated out of a container ship and, like, humans beings are there. In the factory, there's human beings, you know, I don't know How how many, you know, small children died making this foam cover, but it's like the amount of work that goes into
02:55
everything that's sitting in our house,
02:57
just arriving there is insane to me. Like, just the material. So where did the material for this foam come from? Right? There's like
03:03
you know, if you're caught and right, that starts in a field somewhere. It's puck it gets plucked and it gets pulled and it gets processed then it gets shipped and then it gets then it gets manufactured, then it gets printed, then it gets manufactured again. It's like, that is insane.
03:16
Yeah. A lot of energy.
03:18
And to the point where I'm kinda, like, we're kind of ruining the earth and also people's lives. Like, you know, like,
03:24
to keep I can't leave my t shirt. I I canceled my Amazon Prime membership. I was like, man, I feel guilty. Like, I I order something and it's like so much energy behind the scenes went to ship this Of course, I only see they ship a dongle to a computer, a small ass thing with bubble wrap in a huge box. And I'm like, oh, this is horrible. It's and then I have to pay money to pay a truck to come pick it up because I it's too much, you know, buy covers for my
03:50
Oh, yeah. Then they could the truck, you know, burns gas and then takes it somewhere else and fucking dumps it somewhere and then someone else's problem. Right? Like, so it's just kind of for, like, on one hand, I'm amazed that the system even works. Like, the fact that the package
04:03
gets from the factory in Vietnam,
04:07
to the warehouse, and then you go to the warehouse, and there's, like, an unbelievable number of boxes. And then they get sort you know, picked and packed into package and that gets shipped. And if you ever go to the post office, Like, if you go to the post office and you you should just ask them, be like, hey, can I see what it's like behind the the door there? They'd be like, what? Well, I'd be like, I just never seen a post office. They'll open the door. It is, like,
04:28
Santa's, like, you know, elves Factory, basically. It's, like, the most unbelievable number of packages, and you're, like, where is the them. Like, aren't there conveyor belts? And they're like, no. We just got these, like, trolleys, and then we just kinda keep them, like, you know, the ones going over there. They stay over in this area. Then we'd we'd hope we don't lose them. It's
04:45
Wow. This is insane that this system even works. It is pretty crazy. It's like an incredible achievement.
04:51
It's crazy. You can mail something from California and New York for, like, forty five cents.
04:55
And it gets there in, like, four days.
04:58
Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Pretty reliably. So I'm, like, it it is on one hand, raising. And on the other hand, it's horrifying
05:04
the amount of, like I forget the environmental side. Right? I'm not even that environmentally conscious. It's not like something that I think about all the time or feel super guilty about.
05:12
I actually feel more like the human energy and labor and just the amount of effort and resources it took to get this thing to me. It makes me think, like, you know, we had that guy, David Freper come on the pod. You you weren't there for that one. But the thing he's doing, which is basically like, hey,
05:27
He's doing the same thing in the drink industry, which is, like, instead of,
05:31
you know,
05:33
putting twenty liters of water to grow grapes then crush the grapes, turn it into wine, add sugar, add alcohol, pack it up, put her to it, you know, send it to a, bottling factory, then send it to a warehouse, then put it on a shelf in a store, then drive it home, and then put it on a shelf into your home. Like, he's like, why don't you just, like, manufacture it in your home? Using this little printer that'll print a drink for you. And,
05:55
and it's like, oh, yeah. That cuts out, like, ninety percent of, like, the the you know, this like energy and like kind of resources and and time and effort that goes into to bringing this drink to my, you know, you know, to be able to drink this drink. So I just feel like more than ever there was, like, the that was the big wake up call. That was my going into space moment
06:12
was
06:13
realizing
06:14
for every single product, every shirt, every pair of boxers, every stock that I own,
06:19
how much goddamn, like, effort, labor, travel,
06:23
resources goes into it? And realizing that that's not gonna be the way.
06:27
That's not gonna be the way forever. And, like, this kinda like three d printing,
06:32
you know, like, sort of basically
06:34
manufacturing just in time at the endpoint and cutting out a whole bunch of these, like, factories and warehouses and all that other stuff, that needs to happen was my big wake up call. I wanna ask you about then what else is there that you can do that for. But before that, have you ever gotten into the buy it for life movement? You have I told you about that?
06:53
No. But I think I understand it from that. What is it? It's like a eco friendly way of like buying Yeah. Well, I don't It doesn't have to be rooted in eco friendly.
07:02
It's not for me, but it's a perk. There's a subreddit that I subscribe to. It's called buy it for life. And
07:08
what you do is the the idea is just how do you just consume less stuff and how do you just buy the best of something that hopefully can last forever. So an example,
07:18
do you remember as a kid, did your mom ever have a kitchenaid mixer?
07:22
Yes.
07:23
Okay. So a kitchenaid mixer, kitchenaid's a brand, the or, like, it's the thing with the bowl underneath it and, like, the arm that goes above it and spins, those are, like, six hundred dollars. They're really expensive,
07:32
but they're famous for lasting like a lifetime. Like, you can use an antique one and it works just as good. And then another example is if you're gonna buy, like, a coat, like, there's, like,
07:43
You can maybe buy a really fancy leather coat and you're willing to spend two thousand dollars as opposed to buying a three hundred dollar one because it could like last forever as long as you fit in it or Patagonia actually does that too. They'll fix your stuff forever. Or, there's like a bunch of furniture. There's a bunch of shoes like different type of shoes, you can buy it instead of them whenever they wear down instead of throwing throwing them away, you can just get them fixed. And so it's the idea of, like, how do you buy one thing forever and it hopefully can last forever
08:10
or buy one thing one time and it lasts forever. I feel like you do stuff like this, Ben. Do do you have, like, objects that you,
08:16
stuff that you buy that's, like, meant to to sort of last? I don't know why. My hunch just tells me you do. The funny thing is my dad does this, but not out of, like,
08:26
like, environmental
08:27
justice ideas, but just, like, because he's crazy that way of, like, he drove the same car for twenty two years and just, like, couldn't bring himself to buy a new car.
08:37
And always shines his shoes because he's owned the same shoes for, like, forty years. And so that, like, kinda got ingrained in me as, like, a good way to live. And so I do do this a little it.
08:49
It's awesome. It's fun. And also, like, some of your shit as you wear it in in patinas, it actually looks cooler.
08:56
Right.
08:57
You're good at doing this, which is you identify these, like, lifestyle trends. It's like, do you know there's some people that are, like, you know, not eating food anymore. They're just drinking whatever,
09:07
soylent or, you know, like, you know, you know, there's people that just micro dose LSD every day. And, like, these are kinda famous examples now, but I feel like you've told me about, like, thirty of these in the time that we've been friends. And they're like, dude, have you seen this, like, you know, subreddit called, you know, Fatfire or whatever? It's like you always have these, like,
09:23
you you, like, pick up pretty quickly on, like, there's this weird
09:27
not even weird. It's just, like, there's a group of people that are deciding to, like, live under a different sort of, like, paradigm or different motto or creed.
09:36
And, actually, that I think you just like, because it's interesting, but that also is, like, one of the best ways to build a business around that lifestyle because you can speak to that audience, and you could differentiate a product
09:47
super easily to that crowd. And I I seek the I seek those things
09:51
out. So there's a bunch of things that I I don't agree with or I don't I don't wanna live my life that way. But I love just like seeing it. I like seeing how Basically, I love freaks. I like weirdos. I consider myself a weirdo, and I and I I love a good freak show. I just love I'll see it, like, I remember I have the first time like, three years ago, I went to my friend's house, and he didn't have a microwave. I'm like, what? You want a microwave? He's like, well, it's bad for this reasons. And I was like, You're a freak. Like,
10:16
we all have bikeways. Well, you're the weirdo. And then I start thinking about it. I'm like, well, okay. Tell me, why why do you think you might be right? And I'm like, okay. There maybe there's a point there. Or, like,
10:25
my friends, a lot of my friends now refuse to use plastic tupperware or plastic anything that you eat with. And I'm like, well, why? I just put my thing in microwave. Who cares? And so, like, there's a bunch of little things like that that I love learning about.
10:39
Yeah. I remember when Justin Myers came on, you hit, you were like, let me guess. You don't have a microwave in your house. He's like, yep. And I was like, that's a fucking weird spot on question to ask. Somebody that I don't think you knew the answer to ahead of time. And then that got me thinking about
10:53
that this this exact lifestyle you're talking about. In fact, Moi's
10:57
so Moiz started native deodorant, which was around one of these trends, which was people wanted an all natural, paraben free, aluminum free deodorant.
11:06
And he saw that on Etsy, that was, like, a really high selling item, but it was, like, in the Etsy kind of handmade artist artisan goods like bubble.
11:15
And his bet was that people once you kinda speak to that value system of, like, not having x, they might be willing to pay more and be because like, switch deodorant brands if you, like, built a brand around it. He recently tweeted something out. He goes, billion dollar idea.
11:29
Water that has not touched plastic. So it's a water brand that has only been, like, in glass containers or, like, you know, basically, like, from the whatever, like, the mountain that this was, it was gotten. It hasn't touched plastic until it's reached your lips. And,
11:44
and I just thought that was funny. It's like this this plastic thing is is,
11:48
real. A lot of people are anti
11:50
plastics.
11:52
But so that that means, like, for every product where plastic is core, there's gonna be a alter alt product where plastic is not not, like, not used. So whether it's tupperware or, like, for me, I drink water out of, you know, we get those big five gallon chokes or whatever delivered to the house that I'm a dispenser. That that's a plastic container. It's sitting in the whole time until I drink it. Right? So it's just a giant water bottle. And so there's, like,
12:18
there's there's these trends where you can just look at, okay, where is there? Like, if there's a anti plastic trend, where is there plastic, can can I create an alternative? If there's a plant based
12:27
vegan trend.
12:28
How do I make alt milks, alt, meats, alt, whatever. Right? That becomes like a a blueprint to building a great business. So there's a few companies out right now. You might know their names. I'm gonna try and look them up, but basically,
12:43
there's this trend amongst
12:46
products that you use daily that you run out of. So like toothpaste,
12:51
laundry detergent,
12:53
advil bottles,
12:55
things where
12:56
the bottle isn't is just like a way to get it to you, but it's kind of bullshit that you have to throw it away. And so they're making all these products where they send to you one package.
13:08
And then they send you, like, whenever you need it, just a something to refill it, like, lit or, like, like, literally something you pour into it. Do you know what they're called? You don't talk about But I've seen this for toothpaste.
13:20
And I think it's a great idea. I think this is a great business idea.
13:25
And I at first, I thought it was small. I think Moiz was the one who told me. I'm pretty you said it's like killing it. You don't know what I'm talking about? I forget what it is.
13:35
No. I don't have a name. I'll have to look up what it is, but it it they're crushing it. I know there's, like,
13:41
four cleaners. I think there's one called Blueland. I think doesn't Blueland do this? Is it blue? Yeah. I know you're talking about. Yeah. And it it's like chemical free com containers, and then they send you one container, and then they
13:54
You you order something and they I I don't know exactly how they send it to you, but you just, like, pour it into the thing. Right. Send you a plastic pouch they throw in. Yeah.
14:02
Yeah. I think it's like less less bad.
14:07
By the way, speaking of these kind of like niche crazy people,
14:11
I got two for you. So one is
14:14
we talked to think about,
14:16
anti the r slash anti work. Do we talk about that on the podcast? I don't think we talked about it, but it pisses me off.
14:22
So there's r slash anti work, which you should explain that. And then I have another one that's the the counter to it. So first explain our slash anti work. I don't even entirely know how to explain it. It it was I'll tell you the background from what if I remember correctly. It was started eight years ago, but,
14:39
like, in the last three years since the pandemic is when it really got popular. It was made up of a lot of people who were waiters and waitresses and they were pissed off at how they're being treated.
14:49
And it started out as like a labor mo movement thing. Like, when we need higher wages, we need this. Now it's like got eight million ten million subscribers on on the subreddit and it's people complaining about like, you know, My manager said that, like, they fired me because I told them I was busy when I needed to come in, and they just basically shit on anything where it's, like, demanding of of workers.
15:12
And so I think so so here's their here's what I think their stated thing. Ben, you tell me if if I'm being too harsh on it. If you find a more generous explanation,
15:21
But here's what it says. It is a subreddit for those who want to end work or curious about ending work and wanna get the most out of a work free life. The suburb has cracked over one point four million members by the end of twenty nineteen, which has gotta be a lot more than that by now. It's eight million now. And it went
15:37
Sorry. One point. Yeah. Oh my god. I'm sorry. I think one point
15:41
viral after a warehouse worker posted a screenshot of a text that they sent their boss, And then that basically made other
15:48
workers the other workers, like, kind of, like, saw that or inspired did the same. And it was part of this, like, you know, the great resignation that people were talking about And there was like this funny clip where they put they took a mod from r slash anti work and they went on Fox News. I don't know if you have seen this clip. And this the person got destroyed. It was embarrassing.
16:04
That it it's like anti work person gets destroyed by, you know, Fox Anchors, like, the video. Which I didn't like. I didn't like. I mean,
16:11
I hate when they do that. This person clearly, like, is the not that smart, I think. And, like, they it's very easy to set them up to look silly in that in those cases.
16:20
The subreddit also didn't like it because they were like, dude, horrible representation of us
16:25
on TV,
16:26
did not articulate our points
16:28
And,
16:30
you know, why did you go on there? Like, this movement is not about you getting your personal fame, you know, to, like, do this.
16:36
We kind I think they had some rules around, like, we're not gonna do appearances or speak to the media unless we kind of agree on what the message is.
16:43
And so this person went rogue, I guess. And did that, but it but they basically embarrassed themselves where they were like, yeah, I just don't wanna work. And then guys, like, okay. Cool. So, like, you know, do you you don't wanna work at all? Or, like, not I wanna be able to do what I wanna do. It's like, alright, what do you wanna do? It's like, I wanna teach people. And he's like, I wanna be a teacher.
16:58
And he's like, you wanna be you wanna be a teacher? Like, yeah, you know, should we let you teach? Basically, it was kinda like the the end point that they were kinda making. But, anyway, so this there's anti work, which made viral. Then there's have you seen r slash overworked?
17:12
No. What's that? It's the exact opposite. It's people who are using the pandemic that kind of remote work lifestyle to be like, They call it having the multiple jobs at once. So,
17:22
like, they'll their lingo is like, oh, yeah. My j one, which is like my job one. It's like j one has great benefits. And so I'm just picking up my j two and j two, I'm just gonna do ten hours a week with this, this, and this. And I'm gonna use that to invest in these things. Right? It says people scheming together about how to work multiple jobs at once
17:42
in as remote workers,
17:44
oftentimes,
17:45
it seems like without the employers knowing that there are other jobs. So they're, like, being simultaneously employed without being super overt about. I think that's the message. I could be wrong on that.
17:56
And,
17:57
it's it's people who are trying to get to financial freedom faster. By saying, like, yeah. Like, actually,
18:03
I have the capacity to do, like, multiple jobs.
18:07
You know, instead of sort of spending forty hours a week on one job, it's like, I can actually do a good job in twenty hours a week on two jobs and get paid double.
18:15
That that's the optimistic way to look at it. The probably realistic way like, I'm looking at the top title and it says, j my jave three job forgot about me today. They say, I started my j three yesterday. If I started, I mean, I was giving an orientation on zoom and no one showed up. So now I'm just sitting here on the payroll. Right. Yeah. Yeah. There's tons of people who are like, yeah, let's beat the system.
18:38
And so there's, like, basically, a counter movement. But that kind of always happens. There's, like, There's, like, the movement and then there's the counter movement that comes shortly after. And, like, it kinda polarizes and then there's mainstream which just does things the way they've been doing them and they don't really pay too much attention to this stuff. And so, you know, that that's kinda common for
18:57
for many, many,
18:58
many many of these movements. I think subreddits are a great place to look for
00:00 19:14