Matt Williams Story: Resilience in a Snack Bar

Episode Transcript
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Voice Over (00:00):
This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and
curiosity meet style and design.
Curator of interiors,furnishings and lifestyles.
Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, aninterior designer and a style
enthusiast, along with herserial entrepreneur husband
Scott, idesign Lab is yourultimate design podcast where we
explore the rich and vibrantworld of design and its constant

(00:23):
evolution in style and trends.
Idesign Lab provides industryinsight, discussing the latest
trends, styles and everything inbetween to better help you
style your life, through advicefrom trendsetters, designers,
influencers, innovators,fabricators and manufacturers,
as well as personal stories thatinspire, motivate and excite.

(00:43):
And join us on this elevated,informative and lively journey
into the world of all thingsdesign.
Today, we're joined by MattWilliams, a true example of
resilience and reinvention.
After a wake-up call in 2010,matt embraced sobriety and
founded FroPro Snack Bar, acompany focused on healthy
living and supporting therecovery community.

(01:04):
Pro Snack Bar, a companyfocused on healthy living and
supporting the recoverycommunity.
Now, as a recovery coach, mattmentors men, empowering them to
overcome challenges and buildfulfilling lives.
With a background in teaching,personal training and behavioral
health, matt's journey inspiresus all to embrace purpose and
transformation.
Let's dive into his story.

Tiffany Woolley (01:24):
Today we'd like to welcome Matt Williams to the
iDesign Lab podcast, who is atrue testament to resilience and
reinvention, and we lookforward to diving into an
awesome conversation together.

Scott Woolley (01:38):
So I think the first thing I want to ask is
tell us a little about yourself.
You've got an amazing companythat we'd love to talk about.

Matt Williams (01:45):
You've designed.
Yeah, no, thank you for havingme on the show.
It's great to be sitting downwith you both, as we met years
ago through a mutual friend andit's crazy how time flies.
But my name is Matt Williams.
I'm the creator and founder ofFroPro Snack Bar, which is an
organic peanut butter snack barthat is sold in about 36 states,
which is a organic peanutbutter snack bar that is sold in

(02:06):
about 36 states.
Grocery stores, retail prettymuch, you name it gyms, juice
bars, doctor's offices andstarted from a little idea in a
kitchen, in my kitchen, with alittle kitchen maid and a
perfect tray brownie cutter.

One of those, one of those things.

My kids were obsessed with that thing.
Yeah, so, yeah, just somethingthat I started making for myself
, had a lot of people that weresuper supportive and gave me a
chance, our mutual friend thatintroduced us being one of them.
And yeah, it's crazy how muchas we were before the show was
starting, just talking about howmuch time has passed and what's
transpired and all the goodthings.

So what made you think of Snack, did you?

feel there was a need for it.
Well, it's funny, most of thebrands that are out there, it's
somebody that creates somethingwhere they think there's a need
for it, and I always share that.
I didn't create FroPro to be abusiness.
I was making it for myself.
I was bicycling around town asI had lost my driver's license
due to my poor decision-making.

(03:26):
Around town, as I had lost mydriver's license due to my poor
decision making, and in the andas a result of that, everywhere
I went, I had these littlepeanut butter snack bars and my
backpack with my change ofclothes and you know all that
stuff that I was, you know, outfor the day with right and would
share it with either my clients, the clients kids that I was
either, you know, training,training yeah, that I was either
training or tutoring in schooland it just kind of went from

(03:48):
sharing it with certain peopleto having the opportunity to
share it in a friend's gym thatI was training out of, and their
clients, which led to one ladythat happened to be there asking
what was in the product andthen giving me kind of some
coaching and the fact that theingredients I used were good but
they could be better.

And.

I took those suggestions and kind of
reformulated the product so itwould be plant-based, because a
lot of people have troubledigesting dairy, and brought it
to her and she said this isgreat, make me 100.
And I had never done that.
I had a tray.

So did you do that in your kitchen?
Or did you go to one of thosecooking?
Yeah, no, I was.

I literally was doing everything out of my
little kitchen at home inBoynton beach, where I was
living at the time, a little onebedroom with with my girlfriend
who's now my wife, chelsea and,uh, figured out very
rudimentary packaging,essentially glad press and seal
wrap right I would cut and wrapthe bars in.
I put a little sticker on itand did the?

did the product change in taste or consistency
when you changed the?

not not entirely um plant you were happy with the
second sort of yeah, I mean aslong as it tasted good and
tasted good, and I thinkeverybody says, well, why does
your bar stand out?
One of the main reasons ourbars stand out is because it's
good.

They do taste good yeah.

The actual product, what goes into it.
We know the ingredients.
We manufacture everythingin-house since we started to
today, we don't use a co-packerand some people have their
thoughts on that, thoughts onthat but we have an amazing
facility, an amazing team, butin starting the product, in
changing and listening to peoplethat were, I would say, more

(05:32):
well-versed in the industry, infood production and how people
are able to eat, andnutritionists and all of that, I
took suggestions and ran withit and the result was delivering
100 bars to this woman and herjuice bar before juice bars
exploded down here Right.

So she had a retail location that she was
selling them then Yep.

She asked for a hundred bars.
I gave her a hundred bars.
I didn't know what to expect.
I didn't know what to chargeher because I had again, I
didn't create it to be abusiness.
She basically said when I sellout of these, this is what I'll
pay you.
And cause he asked me she'slike, what did this cost to make
?
And I was like I have no idea.
You told me to do it, so I didit, right.

I love the look .
She told you to do it.
Yeah right, trial by error,exactly.

Yeah, I had no clue what I was doing and still
sometimes feel like I don't.
But, what was great about it?
Is I cool?
How long ago is this?
How many years ago?
This is in 2011.
2011, okay.
Yeah, so it was just.
I dropped those bars off, ranout of there.

(06:33):
Three days later she called me.
She goes.
Hey, I need 100 more.
I sold out and she'd put them atyou call point of sale.
She put them right by theregister because people were
going there for smoothies,juices and other healthy items
and mine was an add-on and atthe point of sale it's like hey,
would you like this healthysnack for later?
It's not a meal replacement.

(06:53):
It didn't take away from theirbusiness because they were
selling essentially a meal.

Right.

And mine was just a snack for later and I call
that an impulse item, correctImpulse item, point ofof-sale
item, whatever it is.
And it worked.
And she ordered 100 more andintroduced me to another person
who had a juice bar in Delray,which introduced me to another
person, which introduced me toanother person and that's how it
started.

So now you're making all these bars at home in
your cellophane, kind ofwrapping them, correct?
So at what point does a lightbulb go off going?

Yeah, what was my question?
It was like when did thatdesign decision become like
let's create a business or let'sdo this and take it more?

seriously Like we've got something here.
Did you make or think aboutthat, or did someone kind of
plant the seed?

or push you.
Well, the initial idea when Iwas taking it around, one of my
client's mothers was like Ithink you have something here,
and I was like I don't know whatyou're talking about, because I
didn't call it anything.

It was just like the bar, yeah, and I made
it and it was frozen protein fropro.

And she's the one that bought the first website
with my credit card.
I was like super nervousbecause I didn't really have any
money at the time.
I was just starting over at 28.
And that's kind of how itstarted.
So, with getting to that pointof like either taking it
seriously, what I did know isthat I didn't want to be making

(08:14):
the bar in my house Because inFlorida, with all the green
markets and all the pop-upthings, you could have a product
under the Cottage Act whichallows people to know that if
you purchase this product.
It's made in someone's home andsome people are cool with that
and others are not.
I wanted it to be a little bitmore legit, so I found
essentially a commissary kitchenRight, I've heard that where

(08:35):
they're all sanitized Rent spaceLocally, Locally.
this kitchen was out in WestBoca at essentially where the
old post office was off ofClintmore and 441.
It was tucked back as west asyou could go.

Were they doing similar type products or were
they a bakery?

It was actually a juice company at one time and I
knew the guy that owned it.
He had the space used forcertain like at certain times,
and then the times that hewasn't using it.
So I didn't get in the way.
I rented space from him and Iwas there for a couple years and
then I actually moved rightdown the road from here in
Boynton, right off Congress andthat industrial development.

(09:17):
Oh, just right down the road, Iforget the side road and I
moved there and then in 20.

Were you still mixing the concoctions there?
Yep Still doing using using youknow tabletop mixers, right,
right, I know they have thoseindustrial sizes and yeah, not
like we hadn't graduated to thatuntil about a couple years ago
okay the hobart mixes.

Yeah, got the big hobarts, but we, you know, we
went from like a tabletop to aslightly bigger, as much as we
went to the biggest one that youcould keep on a stainless steel
table without it crushing underits weight.
Right, and I had went from theessentially the little cutters
and like the little metal traysor perfect brownie, the perfect
brownie mixer thing, to a foodmold company that I had

(09:58):
connected with from a food showout in Chicago that essentially
had imprints of our product in asilicone tray, right, and you'd
make the product, put it inthere and then we'd freeze it.
And you know, at one point wehad, I think, like 16 deep chest
freezers that you could stackthe product in.

So was it a frozen product.
It started out that way, yeah.

It started out that way and now we necessarily
didn't need to.
And everyone says, why wouldyou go into the cold space?
And, to my own ignorance, Idon't know why I did.
But what was great about being?

in there.
What was your reasoning for?

thinking behind that.
I'm just a dessert guy.

Right, he liked it chilled.

I like it chilled Because it limits you from a
retail standpoint?

Sure, I didn't know that, though you know, I
had no clue.
I just said I like my food cold, and you know, there are people
that you know, some mutualfriends of ours, that know that
kind of play devil's advocateand they're like, really, a cold
bar in Florida.
Isn't that a pretty stupidthing?
And I said maybe it is.
But what's great about it isthe category that we're in now.
The only other products thatare there are maybe five or six,

(10:59):
compared to if we're on the dryshelf there's dozens, you're
right.

Compared to if we're on the dry shelf, there's
300, 400 that you can choose.

And it sits.
You listen to any nutritionistor you listen to anybody that
back then the only one reallydoing it was Perfect Bar.
Rx Bar had just come out too.
But what was interesting isthat you go into the grocery
store and a lot of people saydon't go in those middle aisles,
don't shop where stuff issitting on the shelves for too

(11:32):
long.
You shop.
The peripheral staples are inthe middle, correct?
And they say, quote unquote,the fresher of the foods are in
the refrigerated or on theoutside.

That's so true, wow, so I didn't.
That's just another positive,then, on your so.

So I had no clue and that's how we started and I
had many people say make itshelf-stable.
I'm like it is shelf-stable.
And one thing we did run intothat was a problem was we
basically said it's best servedchilled, but it doesn't have to
be.
And when you tell a buyer thatand they hear that.
Oh, it doesn't have to be inthe refrigerator.
Oh, that's not my category.

You've got to get out of here.
You're confusing them.
She's the stuff you learn whenyou're out there, right?
And?

people still to this day.
Well, I accidentally left mybar in my gym bag, or I left it
in my golf bag, or it was in thecar.

Does it say on the bar that it has to be
refrigerated?
No, it just says best'rechilled, that's okay.

So there's nothing in the bar that can
spoil even the products that wedo put into it.
Freeze-dried anything, what'syour shelf life.
So in the refrigerator we saythree to six months, in the
freezer six to nine or longer.
In the refrigerator it can lastup to nine months.
That's a short shelf lifeCompared to our competitors.

(12:42):
It's seven to ten days, reallyyeah, so we can be in the
refrigerator for a period oftime.
So when we produce we put anine-month, essentially best
eaten by nine months ofproduction.
But there's no dairy in it,correct.
No dairy, yeah, no dairy.
No soy, no egg, yeah.

So what's the reason?
Just because you like it,chilled Selfishly, yes, okay.

But I love the idea because now that we are
more paying attention than saywe were in 2014 when you were
starting.
I mean, we are all aboutshopping the perimeter and we
are about wholesome ingredients.
Now we're all more mindful, Ifeel like, than ever.

Yeah, I want to say we were ahead of the trend
before it was a trend.
Yes, without a doubt, but, likeit wasn, wasn't intentional and
I don't want to say what pointdid you put packaging or did you
?
Have to create a logo anddesign a packaging and so forth
so it was interesting as my twoolder brothers my oldest brother
was in, he's a professor and hetaught marketing and he taught
kind of that thing so I actuallyhad exposure to people that

(13:41):
were essentially doing projectsfor free.
So one of the initials was likehe had one of his students.

He gave it to his class to do.

He basically said hey, create a logo for this
company.

I love it.

And that was our first logo.
There's been many iterationssince the packaging went from
obviously plastic wrap to Uline,which you're familiar with
essentially a package you couldopen and you could essentially
open and close which was ournext, but why we changed from
the open and a close to acompletely sealed was.

(14:11):
We were still relatively new.
We were in, I believe, one ofthe local stores we're probably
like 10 stores in and theDepartment of Health was at that
store and asked the owner whatis this product and why is this
missing on this product?
She says oh, that's Matt, he'sgreat, call Matt.
And I had the Department ofHealth.

(14:31):
This guy called me and he goesyour product is not suitable for
stores and I need you to pulloff all your products.

Oh geez.

What was the reason for that?
Because of the ability to openand close said product.
So what would-.

Well, I could tell you that there's a little
bit of what payola that takescare of that with.

Yeah, that was my first exposure, but what was
great about it is they were verykind.
They said we understand your.
This is a learning experienceand we understand that you're
learning this process as you goand we're gonna help you out
here.
Fortunately, at that time we'reonly on essentially in 10 stores
with in some shelves and weweren't doing a ton of volume
yet and I was able to pull offthe product um essentially

(15:12):
repackage it re essentially givethe, give the stores their
money back, but they're like wewant we want the product, which
is a great feeling right, and sowe then, um, were able to take
our packaging and do essentiallya heat seal which sealed the
package completely, and it was atearaway strip and, and since
then we've moved to a fullmachine, a flow wrapper that you

(15:35):
know it looks like, if youremember the I love lucy, it's
like a full conveyor belt bar,goes in, wraps it, dumps it and
we overcame an obstacle yeah,yeah.
All the things that you overcamean obstacle, yeah, yeah, all
the things that we overcame werelearning situations Like it
wasn't.
Hey, we should do this becausewe knew what we were doing.

You'd be surprised how many people would
just give up and say oh, theBoard of.
Health.
The Department of Health justcame down, had me pull the
product.
Oh yeah.

Scrap this idea, and I've heard that over the
years.
Product oh yeah, let's scrapthis idea, and I've heard that
over the years.
I'm sure you've talked topeople that are entrepreneurs,
oh, yeah, you guys have beensuccessful in a lot of things
that you've done, and a lot ofthe times it can be very
devastating and it can be verylike, oh, this is a stupid idea,
I failed.

No, you can never go.

Right, and there are days like that though.

Yeah, you know we have days where we're like
what are we doing?

This is ridiculous.
Like this is so expensive.

So time-consuming so do you have your own
facility now that you'repackaging?

Yeah, we're 1200 Clinton War Road, we tell people
to drop by.
You know, as long as we're notin active production, even
though we have the hairnets andpeople can like the Department
of Health can come any time andthey have in the middle of
anything they want.
But Health can come any timeand they have in the middle of
anything they want.
But, yeah, we tell people tocome by and see it.
You want to see the product,you want to see the raw
materials.

I love that.

Everything's right here.

We don't hide anything.

We're very transparent, like that's what I
think one of the cool thingsabout our product is is not only
can we have people and we feelconfident in what we do and how
we operate in our team, but wetell people come by you want to
see the one line that kind of.
So we have a giant Hobart mixerand we mix, you know, a very.
It becomes very heavy, which isso funny when you think about

(17:11):
where we started.
But you know we mix this hugeproduct.
It goes on to one machine thatwe invested in two years ago,
which essentially it's called aslab machine, and it you dump
this what looks like cookiedough, right, essentially say
like the dough or the barmaterial.
It flattens it.
One thing we customized that wealways thought we, we thought
was cool is our bar says ourname our name on it, yeah and

(17:34):
from the molds.
It was like well, how do we dothat?
And the machine companybasically said well, we can
create a stamp.
Yeah, that stamps the product.
So it literally gets rolledtwice, stamped carbon fiber cuts
it into sections and then itgoes through another cutter
which you can make the bar asbig, as small as you want
Dimensions are really cool andthen it drops onto a cookie tray

(17:56):
.
Cookie tray goes into therolling rack, sits in the
chiller for a little while andthen it goes right on the
machine, gets packaged and theninto the boxes and out to the
customer so what's the wholetime like frame go to like from
the time it's in the mixing, oreven just the ingredients, yeah,
so what?
we like to do is we like toproduce on one day, so make as

(18:17):
many as we can on one day, andthe next day run the machine.
So could we do it in the sameday?
Absolutely.
But what it's nice is it givesit a little break and we have
the capability of running 24-7.
As of right now, we don't do itbecause we're at a certain
level where we're at thatplateau of we're ready to punch
through, we're ready for moreterritories, we're ready for

(18:38):
more retail opportunities.
We have the full capability torun 24-7.
We just haven't done it yet.

So do you have a staff now that just handles that
, or do you do it yourself?

Absolutely amazing team.
There are days that I do jumpin because I miss it.
I bet I do.
My wife, chelsea, is the CEO.
She runs the show.
I think it was two years ago.
We made it a women-ownedbusiness because she what we do
really well is she sits at thecontrol panel.
She runs everything from theoffice.
She loves that.
I don't want to say behind thescenes, because she very much

(19:10):
runs the show.
We have an amazing director ofoperations that started.
We've known her since middleschool.
She lost her job in COVID andstarted with us part-time and
stuck around and now she is thedirector of operations right
underneath Chelsea, and we'vehired a lot of people that have
come through South Florida foryou know different reasons
substance abuse, that get soberand need a job.

(19:32):
That's.

Give them a fresh start.

Essentially a fresh start in a place Because
you're giving back to thatcommunity, Like you know, like
our mutual friend did for me.
Correct you know, gave me thechance and I think it's really
important.
We've had people come and go ina week.
We've had people come and stayfor a couple months, but it
gives people a safe place, agood job where they can show up.
It's a good environment.
We have a great team.

(19:55):
We hate to see people leave andwe hate when they want to do
other things, but we alsounderstand you've got to do what
you've got to do it's life 100%.

Life's a revolving door.
People are that's right.

So do you plan on ever branching out and adding
to the line?
I know you have multipleflavors.

So how many SKUs do you have?

Man, we've had so many SKUs.

Oh really, yeah, so you're changing SKUs.

Yeah, so again, we base everything either off a
cacao base, which is ourchocolate we don't use milk
products, so it's a cacao basewhich is our chocolate and or
vanilla, and then we kind of gofrom there.
So everything would be calledkind of a sweet snack bar, and
it's a variation on either ofthose two.
We know which.

SKUs do better and have done better.
What is the best-selling?

one Toasted marshmallow.

Toasted marshmallow.
Followed Toasted Marshmallow.

Followed by Birthday Cake, vanilla Chocolate
Chip and the regular, so howmany different SKUs?
Or flavors do you have?
So we expanded, so we had.
When we launched in Whole Foods, we launched with just four,
which was Chocolate, vanilla,mint and Coffee, which are the
only flavors we had.

And in the refrigerated section.

In the refrigerated section, right at
the checkout.
Yep At the checkout.

So it's in a little.
It's in the middle, one ofthose open-ended coolers, like
in between the two.

Yep and sometimes we have multiple locations
depending Like.
Whole Foods here has beenreally good to us.
The Boca location.
We did a special bar for theDel.
I'm going to share this becauseit's a cool, fun fact.
We did more sales the firstweek of Delray Beach Whole Foods
opening.
We beat water, water, bottledwater.

(21:31):
We beat water, which wasoutrageous At that time.
Beyond Meat.
Those things were like the rage.
We did more than them and itcaused a little like wave where
National was like what is going?
on with this product and they'relike it's their hometown.
Right and you're like that'sgreat, but these numbers are
ridiculous.

That's so exciting.

Very exciting.

Well, I know myself.
When I first went to that WholeFoods when it opened, I thought
it was so cool.
I hadn't seen that many flavorsever together.
So I was like, oh, I get tograb a few additional flavors.

And it like, oh, I get to grab a few.
Yeah, we additional flavors andit's like not common, right?
So, as as we expandednationally with them into new
territories, we are now justdoing the top three flavors.
We started with nine and wholefoods and then we went down to
six, the top six, and as weexpand out of florida, we're
doing the top three flavors,which is toasted, mallow,
chocolate chip and birthday cake.
Yeah, so, it's yeah.
So, to answer the initialquestion, how many SKUs?

(22:28):
I think over the years we'vehad up to 20.
Okay, but we focus on the topfive and then we have the other
ones and we have fun.
We just launched our firstsavory bar.
Which people were very curiousabout Savory, so it's like the
it has a cheesy, or herby?
yeah, like people like you thinkof like a cajun turmeric, right

(22:51):
, okay, those kind of things,but we didn't everything.
So who's designing thesedifferent flavors?
We've tried so many differentflavors.
So when people do offer, I'msure like people are you like,
oh hey, should do this and theyoffered unsolicited opinions to
you.
You can take it with a smileand say thank you, but we try it
, we've tried it all.

(23:11):
We've tried different citrusones.
It hasn't worked.
That was the initial flavor.
They wanted a pineapple flavorfor Del Rey because, like beech,
and pineapple, but they allhave a peanut butter base to it
All, a peanut butter base.
We'd had an almond butter line,that was great and it just
wasn't.
Essentially, we weren't I don'twant to say making money on it,
because that sounds terrible,but at the end of the day, it

(23:33):
wasn't selling.
It was selling, but the priceof almonds went up.
Oh, okay, so your margin wasn'tthere, and when you sell a bar,
that's the same size peanutbutter versus almond butter.
Now, if you go buy a jar ofalmond butter, it's more than
peanut butter, and people arelike well, why is that?
And it's kind of you can'tcharge more for an almond butter
bar because people don't get itand that that they have to get

(23:56):
it.

So are all your bars the same size.
Same size, same, yeah, are theyall the same price?

Same price, same price, same price, same price.
Yeah, same thing.
And what is?

the price?
I mean God, I don't ever lookat the price of like protein
bars.
She doesn't look at the priceof anything.

No, that's phenomenal.

You're our best customer, yeah, so it'll retail
as low as $2.99.
And then some of the morehigh-end boutiques, like, if you
look, I'll just say like themost I ever saw and it hurt my
heart was $8.
Oh jeez but it's like the samething, like you can get a bottle
of water for $0.50 and then youcan go to a hotel in Miami and
the same bottle of water will be$10.

It's so true.

Are you in any hotels or spas We've got?

a couple hotels that we've just through knowing
people, we've gotten in, acouple like Ritz's and Hilton's,
and golf courses are a big dealfor us.
So if there are any golf courselisteners out there that want
to up their game and the snackbar game let me know.
Healthy snacks, yeah, and thereis that initiative.
There are people looking forbetter ingredients and we're

(24:56):
going up against some heavyhitters right.
There are a lot of people, andyou know influencers and people
that have clout whether I'mgoing to say this in the nicest
way, whether they deserve it ornot and then they create a
product and the product might befull of crap.

Yeah, you're right.

But they have a following and the following will
go out there and buy it andthat's great and we've tried to
channel into that.

It works.

You have a lot of competitors that you kind of
focus on or think about.

I want to say this in the nicest way that we
don't focus on them.
Good, I can't You've beensuccessful.

staying in your own lane, I feel like, and it's
tough.

I mean, there's companies that have come out
after me that have already soldfor hundreds of millions of
dollars and, you know, I'vetalked with people in the
industry that have given me mytime and, like the beverage or
food industry, that are like,you know, you think, oh my God.
And you know, I had one guy,you know, sit me down and he's
like we spent X amount ofdollars on marketing and it was
a number that I was blown awayby and he said, at the end of

(25:59):
the day, we created this awesomebrand, he's like.
However, I own five percentright and I said well, five
percent of and to grow it he hadto do that, yeah, but at the
same time, they're a nationallyglobal recognized brand, right,
and when they do get acquiredregardless if they do or not

(26:19):
he'll do fine and he did fine toget to where he is today, right
, right.
But you know, you learn theprocess and it's nice because
the industry you can encountersome really I hate to say it
shitty people like any business,right, any business, yeah, and
you can meet some really coolpeople.
And you know a recentconversation with a buddy of
mine in the beverage industry hegoes, everything looks really
good on social media, he's like,but behind the curtain, curtain

(26:46):
, he goes, it's, it's.
You know, you got to rememberand I and I appreciated him
saying that because he's donevery well for himself.
But you know he too feels thesame pains that my wife chelsea
and I feel with trying to grow abrand oh, yeah, the same year.

So is the two of you the owners.
Do you have partners?
Yeah, no, we we.

We had a uh.
We had somebody come when wewere going to do a safe round
and and and have family andfriends and people in the
community that have alwaysoffered.
We looked at doing that.
And then we had somebody thatcame in that was essentially a
unicorn.
He's one of the greatest humansI've ever met and we knew him
for a while and he was alwaysjust like silently rooting for

(27:19):
us and when we ran it by himbecause we value his opinion.
He's incredibly smart and verysuccessful.
He basically was like yeah,rather than do a bunch of people
, why don't you just have oneinvestor?

Wow, and he was like me, here I am.
We were like oh, I love that.

And I ran that by obviously my team and legal and
everything and they were likeyes, Did he bring anything else
to the table besides oh yeah?
Yeah, connections and fun yeahvery strategic, very strategic.

That's the right type and we're super grateful
for him.

He's been very generous, he's been very
understanding and and knows whatit takes to grow a business in
this, in this industry, and ittakes a lot of money, a lot of
time, a lot of time and a lot ofpatience.

Voice Over (28:06):
And we're here for it.

So what does the day-to-day look like for
promoting the product, like withsocial media?
I know you're, like in myopinion, a local influencer.
I mean, you're pretty out there.

Yeah, I want to say it's a very curated look
that is run by a lot of reallysmart women, not me.
And I have no problem sayingthat because they're really good
at making it look good as it is.
We've, over the years, hadpeople come and go.
As mentioned, we have a greatteam that are really good at PR.

(28:40):
We have a great team that'sreally good at the channels like
the Instagrams, the Facebooks,the TikToks and all of the
things.

Are they?

internal or are you using companies?
Yeah, we tried the companyroute.
We had some success creatively,performance-wise, let's just
say it wasn't the best.

That would make sense.

And it's fine.
You know, some things work,some things don't, and I guess,
as they say, it's like hireMakes sense and it's fine.
Some things work, some thingsdon't, and I guess, as they say,
it's like hire, hire, what isit?
What's the saying?
It's hire this and fire fast.

Voice Over (29:09):
Yeah, hire quick and fire fast.

Sometimes you're locked into these contracts
where you're just kind of youcan't really do much until the
time is up, and that's been increative companies, that's been
in brokerage houses and I thinkat the end of the day no one's
going to sell the product like Iam.

Right, it is true, and even somebody with the
in-house passion, people, ifthey hire you, they want you.

You have a team and sure.
But, you can't be everywhere.

Right.

But I think it's really important at the core of
it is we're authentically us.
We don't come off in a certainway, we just are who we are are
and we share when it's hard, weshare when it's good, and
sometimes people would say weovershare, but that's just our

(29:55):
journey and that's what we loveto be about and be real about it
.
Like we don't post every daybehind the scenes because, like,
not that it's boring, but it'sa business and it's running.
You know we have a lot of fun inour team, Like we really love
our culture, we really love.
You know, people are excited tocome to work and I've heard
countless stories of people thathate their job and hate showing
up to what they do and workingfor other people, and we
strongly encourage the peoplethat work with us Anytime you

(30:17):
want to leave or do somethingyourself, like we get the
entrepreneurial spirit.
We love it.

We want you to do it, however we can support you.

Let us support you even people that have gone
on to start their own snack barsreally, which has happened?

wow, yeah, that's so crazy.
It's tough, but you know.

If people want to do it, go for it yeah you could
.
You could call a place incalifornia and have your own
snack bar tomorrow, if youwanted to.

So true, but it wouldn't be from the same
passionate heart.

I've experienced that in so many different
scenarios and businesses.

Well, as you juggle pro-pro, you also have a
podcast.
You're in that space too, whichI love.
I feel like your niche is kindof wake up the sun, which I feel
like it's a lot of successfulpeople's morning routine.

Yep, yeah.

And you know part of when I started I design
lab.
My passion was I loveeverybody's stories.
I feel like everybody has somuch to tell and we have so much
to learn from people and I feellike it's fun to hear that
little niche of what the morningroutine is, because it's so
important to our successful dayyeah, I think you, I think you

(31:31):
learn a lot from successfulpeople right, and I've had
business owners, moms, doctors,athletes, entertainers, um every
walk of life, people that havehad, you know, overcome
tragedies.

I've had somebody on the show that was at one
point pronounced dead, that isliving and making the most out
of life and I'm open tointerview anybody.
I mean you need to come on myshow.
It's not as nice as the studiobut it's quaint.
But it's really great to askpeople and to just drive those
same questions.
Some of the questions, themajority of the questions, are

(32:05):
the same for everyone.
Some have gone on Some stories.
I've interviewed people.

Multiple times.

Multiple times and we've gone off topic and
talked about returning yourshopping cart, which I think is
very important.
It is Returning what?

The shopping cart when you're done with it.
Yeah, yeah, what.

The shopping cart when you're done with it.
Yeah, yeah, but it's reallygood to understand what drives
people and makes them successful, and everybody is successful in
their own right whatever theyare.

So Tiffany told me earlier that you had a
podcast.
The first thing that I think isthe podcast must be about Pro
pro, must be about your product,because the other thing that
I've also realized is that,knowing you and hearing about
you today, I'm learning.
It really seems like your wifeis.
She should be sitting here.

(32:50):
Yeah, let's talk about it.

Well, you designed it, though she's taking
your baby and grown it.

Yeah, I will say that she is forever way smarter
than me and way better atrunning the company in the
day-to-day.
When it comes to being afounder, doing this and doing
FaceTime and doing the speakingengagements and doing the demos
and standing and.

And dancing in front of hundreds of people.

Dancing in front of people and slinging snack
bars.
She's great at it.
But that's like the give andtake of the relationship.
It is I could not.
Could I sit at a desk and dowhat she does?
Sure, she's great at it, butthat's like the give and take of
the the relationship.
Like you know, I I could not.
Could I sit at a desk and dowhat she does?
Sure, would it necessarily bethe best place for me to serve?

probably not and recognizing that is such a
blessing and a gift at the sametime.
I mean as scott kind of gotpushed into my world of the
design world, it's kind of heknows where I need help and
where I struggle.
So I'm good at one thing and Ifeel like there's such a gift
and a blessing in knowing ourroles and where we're served

(33:50):
best.

Of course.

Right.

Yeah, it's truly.
It's like when you have a, youknow you guys work together.

You've been together for a long time?
Well, for only in the lastthree, four years, right it's
covet well, yeah, kind of.
Maybe during covert I kind ofgot involved, but for 15 years
or 16 years that we were marriedI never got involved we never
even spoke all day long abouther business.

It's crazy and and and it's.
It's interesting to be, youknow, in the same essentially
office doing things and going todo your own thing and and doing
what you do outside of here,and that's what I think works
like.
I see my wife all the time, butthere are days where we see
each other at a time.
But you know, one of our biggestthings that we do for
connection is at the end ofevery day we eat a meal and then

(34:41):
we go for a walk and I lovethat we might have talked about
something or it needs to bebrought up again, or sometimes
like it's rare, but they'rethose walks where we're just
quiet and just being outside andjust being together I get a
charge working with my.

I'm sure she's a very dynamic woman well, I've
I've said this number a numberof times on this podcast to
other people.
I've worked with probably someof the most talented people on
the planet, from Paul McCartneyand Billy Joel and so many
different names but no one ismore creative than what my wife
does.

That's a little biased.

No but I'm amazed by what she does every day.

Yeah.

Amazed.
I mean, like what she does topeople's homes.
I mean I can tell you a quicklittle story.
When I first started with her,she was doing a house.
The people were spending like$400,000 on wallpaper and I was
like I said to her one nightafter dinner.
I said are you sure you'redoing the right thing by picking
?
Because I looked at all thewallpaper she had picked.

(35:40):
I was like these people aregoing to this wallpaper is going
to go up.
People are going to freak out.
They're going to want their400,000 back because I didn't
understand how it all wenttogether because it was wild
stuff but when the house was andyou know what she said to me
she says don't question me andwhat I do.
And I stood back and go, okay,and I, for the next two months I

(36:05):
was expecting these people tocall the office saying you
screwed up our house, we wantour $400,000.
Totally the opposite.
People were over the moon whenit was done and when I walked
into the house I was like holycrap, this is the most
unbelievable place I've everseen.

I think the best advice that you've probably
heard is just get out of the waywhen you're doing your thing
yeah, exactly, and that's kindof the approach.

Well, there is such success in that.

Yeah.

I mean, I definitely have my strong suits,
but I definitely have things Ineed help on.

Yeah, I joke around a lot where, like someone
will ask me something, I'm likethat's a question for the boss.

Right right.

Because, like I don't want to give you the wrong
answer.

Well, I say that all the time too.

I say that probably three, four times a day
when people ask me you've gotto talk to Tiffany about that.

Talk to the boss.

So getting back to the podcast what is the
podcast about.

So it's a podcast based off like rituals routines
and consistency and noteverybody has to be a morning
person.
Rituals, routines andconsistency, like what.
Like what do you do every dayto make you successful in
whatever it is that you do,whether you have a business,
whether you're an athlete,whether you're an entertainer,
whether you're a mom, and you'rerunning the shit out of

(37:15):
everyone else's life, which istypically what moms do and it's
and it's cool to just heareverybody's story, right and and
everyone's like are youmonetizing this?
Are you doing this?
I'm like, yeah, I've gottensome cool things, I'm not
getting paid for it.
I just like sitting down withpeople and hearing their stories
and what they came from andwhat they have done.
And one of the best podcastswas from a good friend of mine

(37:36):
that I've known for years.
She had a rough go and she cameon the show to talk about what
I wanted to ask her and wedidn't talk about one of the
things, not one question.
I I didn't get to answer or askany of my questions and she
talked about the two years ofstruggle that she had and it was
one of the most downloadedepisodes to date.

Wow, and that people because people knew her
and didn't probably know she waseven knew that there was some,
some didn't know she wasstruggling.

Some did.
But it gave so many people hopebecause she talked about, like
we're talking about, to thepoint of not wanting to be on
the planet anymore, type ofstruggle when she was like I
don't want to be here To whatshe's doing now and she's a
successful woman, and so manypeople reached out and were like
thank you.
Wow, I needed that and like I'mnot, and it was truly like it

(38:27):
was really good for me to hearthat, because I played it for my
kid or I played it for myfamily member and said like
everybody has their stuff.

Everybody, everybody, everybody, and it
doesn't matter.

So that sounds like a very personal and
rewarding podcast for yourselfto do Again.

I hate saying it, but like making the peanut
butter snack bars selfishly.
I like peanut butter and I likedessert, so I share it with
everybody Selfishly.
I like talking to people andspending time with people.

So it was a good fit.

If I can, share and do it, and people are like
you know what's the point ofdoing it?
Now, yes, is it good to makemoney?
Sure?
Now, yes, is it good to makemoney?
Sure.
But I think there's so much inputting out other people's as
our friend would say tragedies,turning them into triumph.

Triumph yeah.

It's so important it is, and it's not all the
time.
But you know, I go throughthese phases where I'll have
five or six people on the show.
I'll let the episodes go and Idon't force it.
It's like we have to do one aweek.
We have to do this, we have todo that, and then it becomes not
really fun.
Right, and like I want to havefun, like I'm having fun here,

(39:31):
I'm sitting down.
I was looking forward to this,because you guys have busy
schedules and I was like, man, Idon't want to wait.
You know, but everybody's busyand it truly is.
It's really great to get toknow people and it's really good
to also understand that youknow you might be struggling
with something and feel like theonly one struggling with it,

(39:53):
and then hearing that you're notis incredible.

I agree, Considering we didn't touch much
on it in this story yet, butyou're somebody who's overcome a
lot and you've used thattransformation as quite a launch
.

Voice Over (40:08):
Thank you.

And how do you still give that attention each
day?

Well, I was given a lot of suggestions when I got
sober in 2010, from the verybasics and kind of built off
those.
It's like you had to build afoundation first.
As I'm sure you've heard andit's been, I mean, in May will
be 15 years of sobriety, whichis just wild.
But taking those little thingsand like those little principles

(40:36):
that I learned along the wayintegrity being one of the most
important and just really tryingto practice those in all of my
daily activities.
Right and and I fall shortoften Um, I don't always, you
know, speak the most eloquently.
Um, I, I, you know, I can, Ican have human moments, which

(40:58):
you know I've talked about onthe podcast, which is tough
because sometimes, when you're,I don't want to say in this ego,
egotistical way, but whenyou're the go-to guy or you're
always the positive guy, andthen you have a human moment and
everyone's like, hey man,what's wrong with you?
And I'm like I'm having a momentand I'm not handling this
accordingly, but I'm aware of itand I have people in my life
that hold me accountable, evenChelsea.

(41:21):
I had a rough patch about amonth ago and I opened to
sharing about it, when the factthat we were sitting there and
like everything is good- rightbusiness is good.
Yeah, training is good, myhealth is good every family's
health, like all the good thingsare good, yeah, but I was just
stuck in this like shitty spacein my head.
Did something bring it on?

(41:43):
No, because we had just gottenback from like an amazing trip
and work and family andeverything and I just I wasn't
celebrating and grateful for it.
I was focusing Like I say, ifthere's like 10 things to do and
I do 9 out of 10 right, I don'tfocus on the 90 percent I did
right, I focus on the one, 10percent, that I might have kind
of like, yeah, and I sit in itme too and and she, you know

(42:07):
she's very, very loving, butlike knows when to turn it on.
And she's like, and shebasically said, I don't know if
I, I don't want to kind oflanguage wise, but she basically
at dinner, she's like I don'tknow who the fuck is sitting
across from me because it's notyou, and I was like, oh and then
and she goes, I love you.
I don't really who the fuck issitting across from me because
it's not you, and I was like, oh, and she goes.
I love you.
I don't really know what'sgoing on with you because all

(42:27):
this stuff is great and I waslike you're right and I just I
was sitting in some things thatI wasn't.
I was trying to put it off andblame and it was just my own
stuff that I had to kind of workthrough.

So how long does that process take to work
through?
Like when you finally recognizeit, I feel like I could get
there too.

Yeah, it's a lot.
It's a lot shorter, um than itused to be, um, you know, I, I,
if I'm sitting in it longer thanlike two days, it's a problem.
Um, but you know, I normallyrealize when I'm not 100% or I'm
a little drained and I still,on my own, try to figure it out
without talking about it, andtry to be like the hero and

(43:10):
realize that that's not theplace to be.

But I think most people who are very driven go
through that every so often andmost people think that people
who are very driven or you lookat someone who's a person, I'll
say an athlete you know, at thehighest pinnacle they don't
think.
Most people think well, those,they don't have any problems,
they're perfectly fine,everything is great, yeah.

Yeah, you know it's interesting.
I was at this really cool eventand this gentleman spoke who's
a professional baseball playerand he tried to kill himself and
he didn't succeed in that, andis permanently scarred but talks
about how he was.
The probability of him being aprofessional athlete is in the

(43:57):
single digits To make it to theleague that he, to make it to
the level that he made it singledigits to succeed in that even
less.
And he did.
He had done that, yet he wasstill in pain and still I'm not
enough and that's the biggestthing that I struggle with,
which I can share about, becauseI've done like Tony Robbins and

(44:19):
all these, like I've read thebooks and I've gone to seminars
and it was a lot more intensewhen I was starting over, and
then I just recently went to oneand I still had that I'm never
going to be enough, right, andI'm a loser.
I still can tell myself thatstuff and no one's telling me

(44:40):
that except me.
I know, and that's the wildestthing because, like I wasn't
raised that way, my parents wereloving my brother, everybody.
But like you get to a placewhere you're like, why am I
talking to myself that way?
I know because the, the, if youlook on paper, it's all like
you said.
I've overcome a lot, yeah butthere are times where it's like

(45:01):
I don't know if you guys do likea major project or you work on
something and rather than belike so happy that the $400,000
wallpaper worked and the peopleare like here's another check
for being awesome, you're likewhat's next?

Yes, yes, right , and you're not like wow, that
was really.

you know how long we worked on that, I know, but
that's the mark of somebodythat's constantly going forward.

I have a lot of friends that are former or
professional athletes and I'vehad a lot of conversations with
friends just about this.
Yeah, you know differentaspects and you'd think, okay,
you're making nine milliondollars a year, you're on,
everyone knows your name andyou're going through this little

(45:48):
situation.
Yeah, I mean human we're havinga human experience, we really
are having a yeah, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things with
a lot of buddies is when theyretire.
I'm sure that you know thecareer ends.
It's a real shock for theaverage person.

That's another thing in general.
Just yeah, life changes.

I went through it for many years in running a
company, and what I did and itonly came about by accident is
that I used to ride motorcyclesa lot, but I started going on
these trips.
I'd go across Australia Beforekids.
I was just saying this isbefore kids, but I'd go from one
end of South America all theway to the very tip with two

(46:31):
other buddies, but it would take30 days to do.
Some of these Went across Russiaon a motorcycle, but I enjoyed
doing it because I was running abusiness that was so intense
with so many employees that that25 or 30 days on a motorcycle I
was able to clear my head andthink about life.

(46:52):
I mean, just imagine.

You went on Walkabout.

I've talked about this.

We need those moments.

But I would be on a motorcycle and for days I
would think about why are wehere, why are we here on this
planet, like who am I and why amI here and why is this planet
and why are?
How did this all happen?
And you start thinking about,like you can't tell anyone
you're talking about somethinglike this because it's so deep.

Well, you could probably talk to the right
people about it yeah.
I love that question, I do too.

Back then I wouldn't tell people.
That's what I was thinkingabout.

Yeah, like what is it all about?

Yeah, yeah, and when you really start thinking
about it.

Well, and we're so big in our own heads too, I
mean, and we're such smallmorsels you know of a big
picture.

Like there's a comedian that talks about I
won't say his language, but he'slike you know, we're spinning
on a ball in the middle ofexpanding nothingness, Correct.
And then he follows it up withsome intense language.
I know, it's true.
Who's the comedian?
I forget it.
I literally Neil deGrasse Tysonis the scientist that was
listening to him talk about hisbit and was like Well, listening

(48:01):
to about his bit and was likewe're literally like we're like
so insignificantly significant,correct.

I know.

And it's sad to think is you work at a company
or you sell a company or you doall this stuff and then it's
over and it's like even intoday's world like you could be
the hottest thing in whateveryou're doing, and then something
else will come out.
Or you'll stop doing it oryou'll retire yourself, and it's
great.
Hopefully, you make a lot ofmoney and you're good with that.
Well, look at it from adifferent perspective, right?

Sitting on a motorcycle, thinking about one
of the trips my grandfather hadjust passed away.

Right, oh right.

And I'm thinking about my grandfather, who I had
the greatest times as a kid withwas born in the early 1900s.
But every single person,millions of people are gone and
have been forgotten about, right.
So there's going to be a pointwhere I'm going to be gone and
forgotten about.
And forgotten about, right?
So what does that all mean inthe scheme of things?

Right, we're just like Even the people that are
very well-to-do, that have theirnames on buildings.

Right Once they're gone.
Yeah.

There's going to be another person with probably,
if not more, that will havetheir name on the building that
you had your name on.
Yeah, I know you will be longforgotten and and you will be
long forgotten and that's thewhole thing is, you can look at
it in a negative way, which is,in 100 years, no one's going to
remember any of us sitting here.

That's correct.

Right, correct.
We'll probably have made animpact on the people that we
know and passed down from yourkids to their kids to their kids
, sure so.

I was recently having a conversation with my
three girls about can they nameall the presidents of the United
States?

Yeah, there's maybe four or five, me neither
but think of a person who was apresident of the United States.

There's so many of them that people today never
even heard of before, but he wasthe president of the United
States, yeah.

The most important position yeah.

Yeah, but all of this thinking for me has made me
realize is that we're all onthis planet for such a short,
fairly period of time.
You got to make the most of it,you got to enjoy every moment
of it.
You got to overcome all yoursituations and problems that you
because we're here for a reasontoo.

Yeah, yeah and you're, and, and I think, if
you're creating a change oryou're doing something that you
love and it impacts thecommunity, like that's the
biggest thing, like thiscommunity helped save my life.
You know, the people in thiscommunity, the parents in this
community, the certainbusinesses that were like let's
give this guy a chance, likeI'll never forget that.

No, and you've given back to this community so
beautifully.
I mean you really have.
I appreciate that and it'salways a champion of positivity
and you know creativity andgrace.

You've got a great reputation in this town.
I mean you're very well liked.

There was a period of time where that was
not the case.

But isn't that?
I mean years?

ago.
You turned it aroundmiraculously and wonderfully.
Thank you, I appreciate that.

And the only one who probably says that now
is yourself.
Yeah, accurately andwonderfully.
Thank you, I appreciate that,and the only one who probably
says that now is yourself, yeah.

No, there are times where it's like, you know,
I definitely damaged a lot ofrelationships in my addiction
and my use and, you know, ranover people that were just
trying to be helpful and kindand caring and I wasn't able to
receive it.
And you know, I'm reallygrateful for that now because it
is everything to me Right, youknow.

(51:25):
And there are days don't get mewrong where I'm like man.
I just, you know, chelsea and Iare like let's just move to a
mountain where there's a lake.

Voice Over (51:31):
I think we all say that and no one's around.

That's normal too , and she'll respond.
She's like yeah, that would becool until you wanted to hang
out and play pickleball or golfwith someone or hike with
someone, and then you'd go nuts.

Correct.
Want to have a conversation.
Probably right, I know, I saythat to my kids Unless you want
to go to the mall and you wantto go to, like you know buy
something Sure.
Stuck in the middle.
Go to a nice restaurant youknow, absolutely.

I think that's where balance is, the beautiful
balance that we all strive forevery day.
Well, it's podcast.
We're all redesigning our lifeconstantly.
Yeah, I love, I love that rightthere.

Well, I was one of my morning routines I
started this year was doingcatechism in a day I'm catholic
and I do it and I was.
I'm like I listen to podcastsall day long like the least I
can do is give you know a littlebit back, and one of the very
first ones on day three was howwherever there is design is a

(52:24):
designer.
So god designed the planet, thechief designer, right, the
chief designer.
I was like that just made melike more into this journey of
podcasting, because we all areconstantly wherever there is a
thing, an item, a feeling, aroutine it's been designed.

Yeah, I love that .
I know that's a great gift.

So that was my little morning tidbit.

She listens.
She's a podcast junkie.
It's been the last month she'sbeen listening to what did you
just call it?

It's like church listening to yeah, but
they're positive.

Yeah, no, I mean, I listen to, like I said, some
of the motivational stuff andpodcasts and like little blurbs
that I can find online andthings that connect, where
you're like, oh man, this isgreat and it's little tidbits
and that's how we digesteverything right.
Nowadays, for sure Are you, youknow if I'm going to walk or my
long drive, I can listen to apodcast, you know.
But for the most part I'm notsitting.

(53:26):
I'm always doing something elseright, wow.

Movement, yes, which is also a big part of who
you are training, personaltraining, health and wellness
lifestyle yeah, it's important,I, you know it's got to listen
to your body and train a certainway.

And so are you still training people now?
Yes, I am really.
I, you know, and it's important, you know you've got to listen
to your body and train a certainway.

So are you still training people now?

Yes, I am Really, you know, and it's interesting.
I thought when I was young Iwas like Frobo's going to do
this and then I'm going to stoptraining.
And my older brother, he's likewell, you're going to stop
training?
I said, well, yeah, yeah, Iguess you're right.
He's like yeah, you're good atit, you're helping people.

(54:09):
Am I training as much as I didwhen I restarted?

No, no, but there's the balance Like you get
to still have that.

And I love it, like it truly is, when someone
comes to you right and they wantto do a project or whatever an
overhaul in the house or justlike a minor thing.

Yeah.

They're coming to you for a reason because you're
the professional, you're theone they trust you.
Yeah, you're the one right andthey know your history, they
know who you are, they knowother people that have worked
with you and they're like well,we want to work with you and you
can't help everyone no but youknow, when you do it you're not
just half-assing it, right?
And?
and there are days I'm surewe're like I don't do this and I

(54:52):
have those days too, eventhough I love it right, but at
the end of the day, you'rehelping someone, you're creating
, you're creating an experienceand you're designing something
that's going to hopefullyimprove some portion of their
life.
And it's true Right, and youknow and I've worked with, it's
crazy.
I've worked with, I've workedwith families, huge families
every every kid, adult, aunts,uncles, you know, and you touch

(55:16):
it.
You become part of a family,right, and you become part of
like the the story a little bitand yeah, I think that's pretty
cool.
And the other thing that I gotreally into was like the
coaching and the mental health,substance abuse space, working
with private practitioners thatare like intensive therapists
that I can kind of assist whatthey meet with these people on

(55:38):
in the day to day.
Wow in the day-to-day, whetherit's just kind of like
performance coaching, right whenyou're helping them achieve the
things that they're talkingabout and trying to, either
whether it's business and liferelationships.
The only thing I can't reallyspeak to is being a parent.
Even though I've worked withkids forever, I don't have kids.
So, like when someone's like oh, I don't want to give you

(55:58):
advice on that because I mightbe a little bit harsh in a
little bit harsh in certainareas.
how I operate, I know they sayyeah, I just I can speak to the
experience that I have andhopefully shed some light on it,
but if I don't, I'm very clearlike I wouldn't be able to help
you with that, I don't have theanswers for that.

So do you go to people's homes or do you go to
our People meet you at afacility?
Yeah, they come to our.

So right next to our production facility we do
have a fitness facility, sopeople train there.
It's private training.
You have to work with thetrainer.
Three of my friends run theirclients out of there.
It's a nice little small familyof you know people that get
along, work really hard and thenCommitted people, yeah, and
then Committed people yeah.
And then with the other coaching, like I said, work with private

(56:42):
practice, Like I've had peoplereach out and I've been in, you
know sober for 15 years andworked with different
organizations and done run clubsand done different things.

I love that too .

So when people are like, hey, I got this guy
that could use a little MaddieWilliams in his life, and I'm
like, oh, that's very nice ofyou to say how do you think I
could possibly help this personand kind of work with them?
And there's people that I'vebeen very clear on Like I don't
know if I can help them.
It might be something out of mybandwidth, but you know, this

(57:14):
person might be able to helpthem better, and I think that's
what a community is rightWithout a doubt you have to find
the go-to, without a doubt.
You have to find the go-to,without a doubt and you have to
hopefully be able to say youknow, if I can't do it, this
person or this person would begood for that person.

I know, and there's wealth of information in
letting that go so that persondoes get to the right one.

A hundred, percent, a hundred percent.

So what do you see in the future for yourself?

Well, Do you think far out?
Yeah, no, I mean like the grand, like three to five to ten-year
plan.
Yeah, Well, like you, have agoal with you know FroPro, yeah,
I mean our goal is to benationally sold in all the Whole
Foods, so that would be everyWhole Foods in I would say in
the galaxy yeah, there might beone on Mars in the next 20 years
.

Yeah, who knows who?

knows?
Yeah, who knows who knows?
Yeah.
I would love to just keepexpanding ProPro.
I think, in addition to itbeing an excellent snack bar,
the story behind it and what youknow we share with.
That is super important, Ithink will help change and help
people along the way.
Personally, yeah, just continueto work out and enjoy, you know
, the walks with my wife andtraveling and doing really fun

(58:21):
things that you know we can dowithin reason.
That you know.
Allow us to, yeah, do a littlebit more.
Yeah, I think you know withyeah for Oprah.
Personally, yeah, I mean, Ilove it here.
I don't want to go anywhere.

I know we love our home.

Yeah, we love the things about South Florida.
I would love to eventuallymaybe have, like I said, a house
somewhere on a mountain by alake where I could hike a couple
months out of the year.

Are you from Florida?

I'm from New.

Voice Over (58:51):
York, originally when in New.

York, right outside of New York City,
westchester County.
Yeah, I grew up there and yeah,I just love what I'm doing and
I look at.
You know, my mom is 84.
She's just starting to thinkabout not working.

Oh, my God, God bless.

Wild right Like she's starting to be like.

Voice Over (59:12):
But working is so good for your brain.

I'm the youngest of three boys and we're all like
mom.
You could have stopped workingyears ago, like when dad died.
You do what you want, but Ilook at dad as like maximizing
and enjoying as much as you canwhile you can, because, again,
am I going to be here tomorrow?
Am I going to be here 50 yearsfrom now?
I don't know.

None of us do.

Right.

That's why you've got to live every moment and
enjoy it.

And not every moment is positive and everybody
is like oh you're so positiveall the time, not every moment's
positive and everybody's like,oh, you're so positive all the
time, like not every moment.
I have my human moments, I know, but like while here I feel
like I wasted a good 12 to 13years being a selfish asshole
Really in my addiction.
You know, still doing thingsthat I love, but for the wrong
reasons.
Right right that, that, comingup on 15 years and being able to

(01:00:01):
just watch other cool thingshappen and, as my sponsor would
say, be a lighthouse and justwatch the sunrise, watch the
sunset, help people, guidepeople when you can and just do
it that's kind of like it's agood place to be.
Yeah, it feels good.
I feel good today.
That's good, it's a goodfeeling, that's good.

(01:00:23):
Yeah, how about you guys?
What are you guys going to like?

Tiffany Woolley (01:00:25):
I mean, we're going to.

Matt Williams (01:00:28):
How old is your youngest now?

Well, we have twins who are 15.

Scott Woolley (01:00:31):
Yeah, okay, they're the youngest.
They're the youngest we have an18.
They're freshmen in high schoolright now.

And I like I mean I say I'm in denial a
little bit because it's going sofast.

Yeah, the whole.
You know Tiffany's all workedup that we have four more years.

Now we're down to three and a half.

We've got to pack it all in Travel the world
before they want to venture outinto the world.

So we've been doing that Family time is
important.

I know as being a working parent and a
perfectionist in my own way.
I know way I live.
It's very hard because I dolove what I do and I can't
imagine what I would do everyday if I wasn't doing what I do.
But then it's so hard to findthat balance.

She loves what she does yeah you're very good
at it.

It's interesting.
The only reason I ask that isI'm going to visit my mom this
weekend.
She's 84.
And I heard you know JesseItzler, no, married to Sarah
Blakely Spanx.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
So he started and sold severaldifferent companies.
They were both wildlysuccessful.
I follow both of them.
But he shared something once.
He's like, as we grow up andthis is probably not going to

(01:01:44):
help your thinking that yourkids are old at this point, but
he said if you don't live nearyour parents or your family and
you see them twice a year, and Iwas like, well, that's about
accurate, I see them twice ayear and you look at like the
median age of how long women ormen live, and I was like, okay,
yeah, so like women 88, so fouryears he goes.

(01:02:06):
If you only visit your he wassaying his family, if you only
see them twice a year, and theyhave X and you compare it to the
median average.
So I did the math and like thisis a while ago, but let's just
say, well, my mom was 80.
Most women lived to 88.
I was like.

The lowest of any country Right In the United
States 88.

And my mom's a healthy lady.
But it's interesting because hesaid if you see your loved ones
, twice a year and you haveeight years left.
That means you have 16 visitsand I was like I literally yeah,
I literally sat there and I waslike that's really sad I know
and and not that, like me,living next to my mom would be
any.
You know what I'm saying.

Well, sometimes , I've often said, with family
who doesn't live nearby,sometimes it's a blessing to not
live by, because when you do gosee each other depending on the
dynamics, of course, it's acelebration, it's a holiday.
People aren't just working,where if you're in your everyday
routines, your visits justbecome pass off.
They're not truly like timespent.

I talked to my mom just before we walked into
the studio.
I love that.

No, I say, talking to them is one thing,
and it just made me think Spendtime with those that you love,
if it's possible, becauseeverybody has things going on
and kids running around andtravels and this and that
happening.

It's so true.
And then?

all of a sudden, like they're not there.

I know.

Yeah, so it's.
I mean, I guess that's done bydesign.

Yes.

It is.
I know.
Well, you got to design to getyourself started.
Our business is.
We were so into you know, thesocial life and charity things
and building on, you know, toour careers that way too, and
the minute we had children, like, yeah, it just all that went

(01:03:59):
away, all went away.

It's focused was on kids, of course, as it should
be right.
That's the deal right.

So it's kind of all we know right now and it's
like they're getting older andthey're getting their own little
social world.

Not fun hanging out with mom and dad anymore.

I mean they still like to hang out.
Yeah, I'm sure I have a hardtime saying no to them when they
want to go grow up a little bit, because I feel like it's
healthy.

We try to design and create everything that we do
around with them.
That's great.
So you know concerts and music.

They're big into concerts lately.
That's like their thing Allright.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Like, you got to make that apriority.
Wow, it's a priority to themuntil they're on to the next
thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we like to wrap out the podcast by asking a
couple of design questions.
Go for it.
You've mentioned a few timesthat you like when you've been
traveling.
You like traveling, so let mechange a little bit.
Go on where we're going here.
So, in your travels, are thereany hotels that you would say

(01:05:02):
were really cool from a designstandpoint, that stick out, oh
man, or that you thought werelike wow, that was a really cool
hotel, or really designed, oryeah, we love hearing what
people's thoughts are.

This is a chelsea question.
Um, because I'm gonna justbutcher this.
I mean, we've been.
When we go places, we like tostay like what we can and in the
like I've traveled.
We've traveled separately,we've traveled separately.
I've traveled and lived abroad.
So I've been to a lot of reallycool places, like in terms of
design.

But design doesn't necessarily mean to be
expensive.
Oh yeah, no worries.

It could be just.
One of my favorite places Iever visited was the Alhambra,
which is just a wild.
I forget the city that it's in.
I went three times because Ilived in Mexico.

Wow.

And we went there a bunch and it was just like a
cool city.
It was like a cool historicalbuilding, so like that the first
thing I thought of was, like,design-wise, it's like visiting
the Taj Mahal.
You know what I'm saying.

Yeah, yeah yeah.

Voice Over (01:06:08):
Just the design aspect of it.

In terms of feeling man, I mean in terms of
feeling like I'm not.

Where were you?

living in Mexico.
I was living in Cuernavaca,which is right outside of like
Were you teaching there.
I was a student, so I wasliving in immersive, in an
immersive experience withspanish I hate saying yes, but
um, I understand it way betterbecause I don't practice it, but
yeah it's what airport do youfly into on the?

(01:06:41):
You fly into mexico city, okay,and then you're about an hour
and a half.
It's called like the city ofeternal spring.
I want to say I haven't beenthere in years, but it always
made an impression because itwas such a cool place to be.

Oh, you guys should go back together.
I need to go back.
Have you been with Chelsea?
No, oh, that would be so funyeah.

And I lived abroad in Spain as well, and you
know Madrid was really cool.
I want to say like one of myfavorite places I ever went was
like Portugal, for my 21st.
I don't remember a lot of thatday or those couple days, but
like just the life there waspretty laid back.
They lived in homes, you knowright by the beach.

There was everything you needed Right by
the sea.
All the food is like decadent.
The food is incredible.

Like the experiences, I loved it.
But in terms of like the states, I, there's certain parts of
cal like encinitas, california.
I know people, some peopledon't like california no, how
can you not like california?

yeah?

I just you know that that's such a cool little
beachy kind of good vibe town.
Um, you know, growing up rightoutside of new york city like
being back in the city.
It's nice.
I'm not a city guy.
My wife loves the city.
I'm just like fortunately, wehave friends that allow us to
stay there because they havehomes there.

(01:07:58):
Um, yeah, you know, like thosefeelings, like, like, like when
the seasons are different.

Obviously, we're in hot weather all the
time down here, but there issomething about being, like I
said, in a mountain in thecarolinas like grow like you
know, like in ashville growthpark in yeah, oh sure, it's such
a cool place that's really nicelike anything up there is
really enjoyable, so you lovethat.

My parents had a a home in lynnville ridge and
then grandfather mountain.
They had a number ofdifferentville Ridge and
Grandfather Mountain.

They had a number of different.

they moved around a little bit, I love that it
was like a second or a thirdhome for them.

Yeah, and I love that there's a bunch of places
on my list.
I haven't been in Scotland andIreland, Australia.
I'd like to go to.
I'd love to go to a certainpart of Asia and see.
You know, like some of thosemajor cities that you know, just
look incredible.

They do look incredible, Wild right.

I know, but yeah, no, I mean I think you can get
a good feeling where, anywhereyou go, if you're with the right
people, if that makes sense.
As corny as that sounds, butlike, yeah, design-wise, like my
wife and Chelsea and I have alot of places we'd love to visit
at some point.
We know that you just have togo do those things.

Yeah, you have to make the time.

You have to make it a priority and you have to
invest in it.
We're not very good about thatwe're okay.

No, we're not very good about that.

Well, I mean, in another four years, you guys do
whatever you want Every triparound a work thing.

It makes him feel better.

I feel like I totally relate to that, though
For years we traveled a lot butwork somehow always A day here.

I would disappear or whatever, and it's because I
had a litany of differentretail products that I've taken
to market.
So, depending on where we were,if it was going into a Petco or
a PetSmart or a Target in adifferent city, I was doing that
.

Listen, I totally get it.
I would say, the last majortrip we went on for my 40th, we
went to Palm Springs.

Ooh, I've never been there, yeah and it's the
drive there.

It's a little creepy interesting yeah, you're
like in like that movie.

Like the hills have eyes, like yeah, so you
drove, you drove from la yep,drove from la and we got there
and we were ending.

We were going to end in la per my wife at the, at
the one, of course, um, but wewent out there and it was really
nice.
It was hiking, biking, golf,there was no work and it was
just like eating heaven qualitytime, like it is heaven even
though I'd wake up early and domy morning routine, like there
were days, like it was a lot ofsitting around and just kind of,

(01:10:45):
like you said, like the, theclearing yeah and then you know,
we were there and palm springsis unique.

It's different did you get to go tour around a
little yeah we.

We bopped around a little bit, then we said you
know what like this has been fun, let's drive to encinitas okay
and go visit some friends, yeah,and then make our way to santa
monica, and we just did likeunprompted which is rare for for
us.

Yeah, you just let it flow.

Right, and that was like the last, like vacation
vacation other than like a work, like we were just in Nashville
to see family, but also demo atWhole Foods.
Like we're going to Ashevillefor a wedding, we're going early
to demo at all the.
Whole Foods and staying afterto demo at the.
Whole Foods.
Does it make sense?
You're there, I've been to.

Palm Springs a few times for parties.
Yeah.
And I went one time and John,who's in the studio with us.
I took him and a bunch ofpeople.
I won the Ernst YoungEntrepreneur of the Year and
then they had a big thing inPalm Springs where I was
inducted into the Ernst YoungEntrepreneur of the Year Hall of
Fame.
That's awesome.

(01:11:47):
Congrats, Ernst.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of
Fame.
That's awesome, congrats.

That's a big deal.
That is a big deal.
Back then it was.

Still pretty cool , isn't?

it, yeah, it is.

That's a big deal .
It is Love, that Nice yeah.

Nice.
Well, thank you so much foryour time today.

Of course, and your story.

Voice Over (01:12:16):
Yeah, I love it.
Thank you for having meAppreciate it.
Yeah, it's always great to seeyou both and keep crushing you
too.
The iDesign Lab iDesign Lab'spodcast is an SW Group
production in association withthe Five Star and TW Interiors.
To learn more about iDesign Labor TW Interiors, please visit
twinteriorscom.

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