Why Every Man Needs a Rite of Passage (Most Never Do) | Brad McDonnell #641

Message me your 'Takeaways'.

Brad McDonnell reveals how walking away from a comfortable life and facing extreme discomfort led him to build Manna Vitality, a global wellness movement.

We unpack:
• The truth behind modern comfort and why it kills purpose
• His unfiltered story of a modern-day rite of passage
• Vipassana, Uluru, and lessons from living like a nomad
• The mindset shift every man needs to break free from mediocrity

👉 Watch till the end to learn how pain can be your greatest teacher and how to reclaim meaning in your life.

🔗 Try Manna Vitality: https://mannavitality.com/

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Do Something Today To Be Better For Tomorrow

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess that brings me to why I wanted to have you
on the show.
We had an awesome pre-chat here, but I do want to introduce
today's guest.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
We went straight into it.
Yeah, I know it was awesome.
I reckon we'd be here for threeor four hours if we didn't do
it.
Joe Rogan special.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
But we've got Brad McDonald on the show today and
we connected through yourcompany.
We connected on Instagram,which is one of the great
reasons why I love social media.
You literally have access topretty much anyone on the planet
and I love what you're aboutand you've constantly you know,

(00:33):
I think it's been over two yearsyou've been checking in and
supporting and throwing, I guess, when I say, good vibes, like
you've always been encouragingand this is from a bloke who
technically doesn't know me froma bar of soap right, which is I
love and I think we need moreof, and I've watched your
journey as you've continued togrow and evolve.
And then we caught up for acoffee a couple of weeks ago
here and, as we just said, wecould have talked for hours and
I wanted to come on and talk toyou about what you're doing.

(00:54):
There's a number of reasons whyI'm very intrigued and inspired
by what you're doing.
One your ability to network issomething that just makes my jaw
drop.
I just want to continuedeveloping that skill, and I
think it's a skill that wouldtransform so many people's lives
.
It's almost like an AI in andof itself.
It's just so valuable to have agreat network.
The mission that you foundyourself on with your business,

(01:17):
what you guys are achieving andjust the growth that you're
having and the people that youhave backing what you do is
phenomenal and we'll dive intothat as well and your ability to
just get around and championpeople.
I know I've probably spokenabout it a lot on this podcast
that my experience in America ispeople are always championing

(01:38):
you and they want you to succeed, which feels kind of odd and I
know you might have that samefeeling and you come back home
and people want you to succeed,but as soon as you do, they're
like sitting there with thecricket bat ready to just hit
you in the shins and bring youback down, and you're like I
don't know what you want from me.
Do you want me to do well or doyou want me to sit down here
with you?
So the fact that you're inAustralia surrounded by that,

(02:01):
but you're still championingpeople is something that I
admire and I aspire to continuedoing.
But firstly, thanks for comingon the show.
Give me some of your time,especially during the Black
Friday.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Craziness, yeah, it is crazy but yeah, no, it's
great to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Mate, how are things going for you?
Give us a bit of a rundown.
I had a question that I wantedto dive into that I hope would
kick us off and and get getpeople.
Give people a bit of anoverview of but obviously your
journey spans continents, fromgrowing up in New Zealand to
playing rugby in the UK and nowbuilding a wellness empire.
If you had to pick one pivotalmoment that shaped your drive to

(02:35):
create man of Vitality, whatwould it be and why?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Oh, that's a big question, that is huge Way to go
on.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
there it was straight off.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
That is huge.
Where are you going there?
It was straight off.
Well, it all started with thequestion that nothing really
made sense to me, and I canelaborate on that because when I
was, I had the most incrediblejob and I've spoken about this
on podcasts before.
It's like I had it all set upliving in Brisbane, had the
condo, had copious amounts ofmoney, an amazing partner but I

(03:09):
just wasn't happy.
and it wasn't the fact that Iwasn't happy, I just wasn't
fulfilled yeah and there was asomething that was nagging in
the background that I just had adeeper question and uh, my, my,
uh business partner and bestmate of 30 years now he was out
doing all these amazing things.
He was in you know, he was inthe himalayas and he was in

(03:33):
egypt and I've gone.
Oh, there's something there.
Yeah, there's something therethat triggered that sort of
nomad style of me and I justwasn't settled in the way that I
felt I should have been at thatstage.
I was, you know, about to getengaged and have kids and all
that, and something inside of mesaid just a big no.
So the reason why Mana comeabout was the fact that David

(03:55):
and I basically renouncedeverything and just traveled
around the world and then wenton a journey and we just come up
with the idea of what would beone product that we would love
to sell that would representthose deeper questions and the
truth.
And that's what we call we nowcall like true science.
It's like it's the bridgebetween all of that ancient

(04:19):
technology and antiquity and allof those, you know, esoteric
and eastern philosophies with,like the data's, data-driven
science.
So, basically, your cellularhealth, like things like fulvic
acid and how does the cell work,um, and how does the body
function?
So, basically, I just gavemyself the gift of like

(04:42):
renouncing everything going on ajourney.
I wouldn't recommend it toeveryone.
That's got responsibility, it'stotally irresponsible yeah, and
my family thought I was mad andyou know I started walking
around with no shoes on all thestereotypical things that you
could imagine.
All my mates thought I wentcrazy.
You know, I was doing crossfitlike twice a day, was a crossfit
coach.

(05:02):
Yeah, I was running like anational construction supply
company, so I was doing allthese things.
And then I flipped the switchand just went completely the
opposite way because I couldn'tdrag myself.
The feeling was so wild that Icouldn't like function, like it
just did nothing.
It started making sense andthen I stopped and then went out

(05:22):
to.
I took a road trip with threemates out from Noosa all the way
out to Uluru.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Oh wow, that would have been incredible.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, it was like a peeling of the onion, like all
of these, because what washappening?
It was like when you peel theonion, like all the space
started happening and all theseemotions that I had never dealt
with in life started coming out,because there was nowhere to be
, nothing to do, but just likedriving a straight line and stop

(05:51):
where we felt.
So it was that feeling aspectthat I never actually got into
before.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
How did you manage, I guess, learning to accept that
and feel that it's somethingthat so many people are
uncomfortable with and we avoid?
So if we, if we are sort ofstarting to experience that,
we'll pull out our phone andscroll instagram or any other
distraction.
So for you going on, that wereyou what?
Firstly, were you aware thatthat was sort of going to be the

(06:18):
process and secondly, like howdid you just, I guess, surrender
to that?

Speaker 3 (06:21):
yeah, what happens, I feel in life, where you're
guided to those things and youalmost get in the flow of them
as they sort of drag you.
Well, it's like the mind or theego, whatever we like to call
it is sort of.
The resistance is there.
I hated every single moment ofit to start with, because

(06:42):
there's so much resistancebecause it wasn't natural, to
your point, I was there with thephone and I was just like
always, every single moment ofit.
To start with, because there'sso much resistance, because it
wasn't natural, like to yourpoint, I was there with the
phone and I was just like always.
You know, I had my laptop outalways and I had this thought
when I was out doing it.
It's like I was always checkingmy phone.
I wasn't working anymorebecause my phone used to ring
all the time and I was gettingemails all the time.
I was like, oh shit, and that'swhere the those incremental

(07:06):
space started to happen, whereasthat was replaced by feeling
and emotions.
So there's all this energy sortof moving around my body, which
I didn't understand what it was, and it was either like fear or
it was like anger or you knowall the emotions that come up
from then and I didn't know howto sort of deal with it.

(07:28):
But I was so fortunate andguided that the guys I was with,
the brothers I was with, theywere super versed in that Yep.
And there was a secret on theway out that we did is one of
the guys and it's the book byRobert Law, Voices of the First
Day.
So it was an incredible bookthat he'd written studying

(07:48):
Aboriginal Indigenous cultures,like basically initiation
processes, and before we knew itI was on my own initiation
process going out to Uluru andthat was like so profound in the
way where it just cracked meopen and I was actually having
like these physical reactions,where I was actually having
these blisters coming out allover my body.

(08:08):
It was the weirdest experience.
Never had them again, but itwas just almost like I was
purging some sense of life.
Yep.
And that whole experience wasprofound all the way out.
And then we got out and webasically didn't know what we
were staying in all the way.
We had a tent.
It was freezing, it was like inthe middle of May or something
like that and it was crazy.

(08:31):
So we'd leave the tent duringthe day in like between the
industrial area of Uluru andwhere all the hotels and stuff
are, and you weren't allowed tocamp there.
But we did anyway, and thenwe'd go around and explore
during the day and come back andwe had this note on the on the
tent saying if you don't movethe tent by the rangers, you'd
be get kicked out.

(08:51):
So we sort of we.
Luckily, one of the guys I waswith actually knew one of the um
elders who's passed now I won'tsay his name, just out of due
respect um, and we actuallystayed at his place.
Yep, um, and he was like thetraditional owner of that whole
area um, wow, what was that like?

Speaker 1 (09:09):
getting to spend time with the traditional?

Speaker 3 (09:11):
oh, it was crazy.
It was crazy because it was amix of like deeply seeing what
western culture had done toindigenous.
It was brutal.
Yeah, it was brutal in a lot ofways, but beautiful in others.
And the experience I had withthis gentleman was I had, like
I'm not too sure if you'refamiliar with Uluru, but you've

(09:32):
got Uluru on the left and you'vegot Kutujuta, which is like all
the other ranges just beside it, and it was on dusk and I was
out there by myself at hisproperty, at his house, and
there was a fire going andeveryone was inside or just out
the front and I was juststanding there for like 20
minutes just going, oh, how likeamazing is this?

(09:54):
And it was the first sort ofinkling of what gratitude felt
like I actually had.
You know how everyone talksabout gratitude.
It was the actual first time Icould actually feel like
viscerally feeling gratitude andjust going, oh, just relaxing
into that gratitude.
And then, out of nowhere, thisgentleman just sort of popped up
beside me.

(10:14):
It was like a ghost had sort ofcome up beside me.
And I was standing there and hewas just like just talking in
his language and he justbasically I could understand the
fact that he was pointing to.
That tree is me, that's myancestor in this, and it was
just like, oh, now, all of thisis related, but he was so

(10:36):
heavily invested in Jesus andreligion and that element as
well, so there was a lot ofWestern culture tied up in
religion and stuff like that,but that experience had taught
me, oh, everything's connectedand that was a lasting
experience, that nature, in theessence, or in my eyes, is the

(10:59):
most incredible thing that God'screated or is God, and that's
what I talk about with faith.
It's like faith is all of theencompassing parts of nature.
Yep, because without it it's animperfect design.
So, yeah, those inspirationskept coming back and why I've
mentioned nature and God, asthose two things have been the

(11:20):
cornerstone of what Amana'sabout, and the most incredible
ingredients that we've got haveall come from the most pristine
places on the planet, butthere's such a beautiful
creation of what God is and whatwith mana, it's mana's more of
a movement in that sort ofhealth and beauty space.
Yep.

(11:40):
But what it is it's we're morein servitude and in service and
just like caretakers for that.
So that's why it's become sucha movement in itself and that's
why it's been such an incredibleexperience.
And from that experience I wentinto Vipassana.
I'm not too sure.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Yeah, vipassana for sure.
So one thing that's been on mybucket list one of my closest
mates, etienne, who I playedrugby with in France.
He's done a number of them, didone in India.
He came to Australia, did theone up the Sunshine Coast and
other ways.
Just hearing his stories it'ssomething that I've wanted to do
but I've never committed to.
I guess.
What was your experience like?

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, that's another experience that sort of shaped
the roots and all of thesethings are really good points,
because it's interesting talkingabout them now.
It's like they were like thecornerstones or the pillars of
building sort of mana, andthat's what the momentum, and
that's what we always keepcoming back to, is like.
There's an element of all ofthese experiences is built up to

(12:45):
what mana is now, and they'renot from us.
We were just experiencing themor in the flow of them, and
that's one thing we've got asone of our core values is like
everything comes from that whichis nature and which is God.
So that's almost our number onevalue is that we're just

(13:07):
stewards of what's been providedon an infinite level.
And that's quite deep.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
No, I think to some degree we all are, whether we
choose to accept that or not.
One thing I've learned from mymum she grew up on a farm and
obviously I went to a.
You know a farm and obviously Iyou know, not obviously, but I
went to a school where a lot ofthe boys were country lads, and
so you grow up and you're like,yeah, I want to go shooting, I
want to kill stuff and forwhatever reason, and it was fun

(13:35):
for a while.
And now that I'm older I don'tso much want to kill stuff
because I've started toappreciate how everything is
connected and I've gone intomore.
You know, I've gone down therabbit hole of watching just
like YouTube's on, likeecological hunting, where it's
like if you're going to huntsomething, you're going to use
every piece of that, or like,bleed it back into the soil,
which will help the soil qualityto provide and grow more stuff,

(13:58):
and so my whole mindset aroundthat shift.
My mom's been telling me thatfor as long as I can remember
because she loves her animals.
So to now, then start hearingyou talk about that.
I do believe we're all just aproduct of what's in front of us
.
It's just whether we'rechoosing to see that and take

(14:18):
responsibility for the thingsthat are in front of us and how
we choose to utilize those tomake the place better.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, it's a great analogy and it's almost like
coming back to the passionate,because that's one of the
cornerstones of that is.
You know, it's almost avegetarian vegan diet for that
whole process, yep.
So yeah, you can't eat meat,you can't.
I think you can drink coffeesand teas.
Now, I think we're one of ourguys, everyone in our team have

(14:46):
done it, at least once Did youdo a three-day, seven or ten.
I did ten.
The ten was brutal because itwas straight after I got from,
so I really it was almost like Ilove pain, like pain has been
my greatest teacher and alwayswill be the greatest teacher,
and I think it's imperative formen to always embrace pain.

(15:07):
I agree and find it becausesociety now is built so heavily
on comfort and there's so muchabundance in between those two
things.
If you put your attention ondoing hard things as a man, I
really think that's reallybecause we can go into a lot of
concepts about God and flow andall those, and they're really

(15:30):
like a real feminine aspect of,but I'm really focused on like
training every day, jujitsuevery day, and doing the hard
things is really important.
I know that's something thatyou champion too and it's really
really important.
And it's like work.
I just want to work, train andbe the best partner I can to my

(15:50):
partner, and that's it.
And that's really the onlythings that I really put all my
attention on and that comes fromdoing things like Vipassana,
and Vipassana is such a funnyone.
When it's your time, it'llappear yeah like and it'll be
really loud.
And that's what happened.
I got back and I said I've gotto do for passion, and then a

(16:10):
seat come available and it waslike, okay, yeah, I've got to go
.
So I went there and it was themost so.
So being to Uluru, it was sucha cool experience with my three
brothers, that was awesome.
And then going to Vipassanaalmost like a week after that,
it was brutal.
Man, I've never cried so muchabout just anything, like

(16:35):
anything and everything come up.
And there's this one thing theytalk about often is like they
call them sankaras, and myinterpretation of what the
sankaras is is um, is littletrauma, or little like crystals
that have caught, been caught inthe body, or trauma that I hate
using the word trauma, butthey've been caught in the body
over years and years of buildupand when you've given yourself

(16:59):
that time and space, thosethings percolate and come to the
surface and need to get out insome way through, like it's a
physiological reaction ofburping, super uncomfortable,
like you're sitting in the samespot, sometimes for two hours.
The pain of my knees and my hipswas, you know, I feel that pain

(17:24):
in the hips and like seeingpast the pain and actually not
being the pain.
I know it sounds a bit wanky,but it's like you actually burst
through the pain and I had anabscess.
I felt like it was an abscess,but it was just this massive
ulcer that come out of my mouthas well.
So all these physical thingswere, it's like all of those
things from uluru.

(17:44):
So it was like this great bigpurge for months and months.
It was brutal.
It just never stopped like Iwas, just because I would.
I'd been in so much painemotionally and held so much
down and was into drugs, youknow, into all the stuff, right?

Speaker 1 (18:02):
All the stuff, yeah, all the stuff.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
And to drop those stories and then to go the
complete opposite, extreme way.
And that's how I realized theonly way for myself has to be
experiential.
Someone could tell me all thesestories, but it has to be
experiential.
Someone could tell me all thesestories, but it has to be
experiential, and all thecornerstones of these events are
all being experiential and Ifeel like, fundamentally, for

(18:27):
men, that's really important.
It's like talk therapy yeah,it's great, but you've got to
actually experience the hurt andpain, because that's how I feel
.
Like God's designed us is like.
To withstand the pain and tobreak through the pain is where
all the beautiful magic is.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I couldn't agree more .
And you talk about thephysiological, I guess release
of whether it's stress, anger,resentment, guilt, whatever it
is like, your body can bury thatdown.
The fact that your body canmake you so unconsciously aware
that you've still got that muchtrauma in you just shows the
power of the mind for one.

(19:03):
And when you talk about havingthis release, when I do a lot of
breath work and I rememberhaving a guided experience and I
just remember shaking and Ifelt this pain.
My ankles, my knees felt likethey were just going to explode.
And then the guides startedputting his fingers on my

(19:24):
sternum, trying to calm my bodydown.
But I was just like the mostinsane amount of gratitude to
want to tell all my familybecause, like all the guys there
were six of us next to him I'mlike as soon as I come out of
this I'm going to tell them all.
I love them and I'm reallyappreciative.
And then when I came back I waslike no, I'm all good, but you
go through all this.
It's just like watching yourlife from above, like all the

(19:48):
things that you've done, and yousee people in your life through
their eyes as well and it helpsyou shift the meaning of maybe
resentment that you have towardspeople, because you can then
have gratitude and empathy forthem, for potentially why
they've treated you in a certainway, and it just helps you
release all this shit thatdoesn't actually matter.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
The veil of the mind, between the chemistry of the
body and the physical aspect inthe mind.
It's just profound.
The breathwork side of thingsas well.
I just I've had some incredibleexperience with breathwork and
we talk about it often where youmean the team at Mana is like
the greatest intelligence or thegreatest technology that's ever

(20:34):
been created is the body, isthe human, the human, like God,
has created this perfect vesseland it it's just so much,
there's so much in it and allthe like.
Thousands and thousands ofhours.
I've put attention on like alot of ancient texts and you
know a lot of like this stuffthat you shouldn't be reading

(20:56):
but you're reading and it's.
It all points back to the humanbody is like, and the Bible is
a perfect map of the human body.
Yep.
It's like, if you look reallydeeply, everything in the
physiology of the body maps outto everything in the body in the

(21:17):
Bible.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'm yet to read the Bible, but since I've been in
America, I'm like I should readit to understand it, because
everyone in America has read it.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, it's a journey to go on to and I've talked
about this often as well.
There's a book called theSecret Teachers of All Ages and
I think I read that within aweek or 72 hours or something
like that, by taking theproducts that we're playing
around with.
That was another experience,yeah, and it was just clear as
day to me and I could see that.
I could see that and that'swhere, like, championing other

(21:51):
people and just making everyonewin, because I just want
everyone to win, like I guessthat's the upside to me and the
downside Like sometimes I wanteveryone to win when potentially
they don't want to winthemselves.
So I've been really clear onalways backing people and having
an eye for people that arewilling to go to that next level

(22:13):
and to support that.
And I think that's what we'rehere to do as well is like once
we can see something, and thenyou know, realise what our own
gifts are, support that and Ithink that's what we're here to
do as well is like once we cansee something, and then, you
know, realize what our own giftsare, and just to like, go all
in on those gifts and navarraravikant talks about that right
like, find out what you're superpassionate about and it's the
opposite to what we're doing ona nine to five, and that's what

(22:35):
was my direct experience.
I had a nine to five that wasjust so noisy that didn't give
me the ability to have the spaceto go into what I was actually
really good at.
There was glimpses, but I wasprobably in roles that I wasn't
you know, yeah, and you'rewaiting for that.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
You're at the effect of other people giving you
permission to do it.
When you work for yourself.
You can just do it.
Yeah, mission to do it when youwork for yourself, you can just
do it yeah, which is which is oreven giving yourself the space.
I find being in the city backand I love brisbane, however,
when I was over in nashville Ihave a lot more space to think,
to focus on relationships that Ireally want to invest in and

(23:15):
make decisions, because I feellike a lot of the decisions I'm
making in Brisbane is saying noto people or saying no to things
, because I'm very fortunate tohave a lot of opportunity and
just the fact of taking time tosay no to those things is
draining me mentally.
So, having the freedom to thinkand explore new things, I feel

(23:35):
like I've grown more in the last12 months than I have in
probably the last five years,just like when I moved from
Toowoomba to Brisbane.
It was that same experience andthat's why I'm a big believer
in changing locations also freesup space or doing what you.
It's why I'm very interested inVipassana, because I'm like, if
I can just sit and think, andit's terrifying when you were
talking about it before, I hadthis feeling in my chest where

(23:57):
I'm like I really want to do it.
It excites me, but it scaresthe shit out of me, and I feel
like it would just take my lifeto a whole new level and give it
a whole new sense of meaning.
But it hasn't been the time yet.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
maybe I don't think that the time is never right to
do that.
And that's where the beautifulthing about the, the mind it's
such a trickster because it'llbe clear on one aspect.
There'll be like a felt feeling, and I think that's the
intuition.
Let's call it intuition, to usesome appropriate language.

(24:31):
If we trust the.
Intuition's always right andthat's usually some, a message
from some like outside ofourselves, versus oh okay, I've
got this booking, I've got thisto do, I've got that to do.
Oh no, we've got to travel anddo this.
It's like the, the moment Ifinish for passionate and on the
last day, you, the last day,you get to like go down and talk

(24:56):
to everyone, like after nottalking to anyone for 10 days,
or looking at everyone.
And I remember everyone rusheddown to the shared area and I
rushed out to like in the bush,where I'd sat the same time
every day, and I just sat thereand I just burst out crying
because it was the first time Icould actually remember I did
something for myself and that Iwas proud of myself, and that

(25:18):
was like a profound moment.
It was like, oh, how long haveI been living a life that's for
other people?
And it's like that was the truemeaning for me of actually like
selflessly doing something formyself.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
What changes did you make after that?
Oh, everything, yep.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, that was a moment where I just I cut
everyone out, like there wasjust like a handful of people I
think.
We went to Tasmania after that,and when I say we, it was
always David and I for years,yep, and that's why the project,
you know, took off so quickly.
Yeah, we took off to Tassie.

(26:01):
We just jumped on the road andwe had a Prius two bearded
long-headed men my beard wasdown here, long hair and we just
jumped in the car and went toTassie and just met all these
incredible people in Tassie andlived down there for like four
months, wow, and just reallyfell in love with like the

(26:24):
isolation of Tassie and the purewildness.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Where does the courage come from to do that,
though?
To just so.
You have this essential rite ofpassage, and I'd love to come
back and explore that more,because I believe every bloke
should be doing that.
There's a lot of adult boys,not men.
The second thing you then havethe next experience in the

(26:48):
Vipassana, and then you're justout of here.
So where does the courage tocome?
Because even people listen tothe podcasts and maybe have a
coffee with you and they feel sofucking inspired, right, and
then they don't do anything.
Why did you have the courage tochange that, to do something
about it?

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Oh, two things.
It was a huge level ofirresponsibility.
And the second thing, it wasjust always pain, like that pain
that I felt.
I just knew that if I didn't dothat, that, I had to accept
that melancholy or that pain wasgoing to be something I had to

(27:28):
live with.
So that was something else thatI feel like we can either run
and some people would havethought what I was doing was
running away or not facing thedemons that I need to face.
But to what you were sayingearlier, that sometimes getting
out of that geolocation of whereyou are shifts your own

(27:51):
consciousness.
And it's really important to seenew things.
I think it's really importantfor the mind to see that, like,
let's see new things, toappreciate beauty and nature and
art, and all of those thingsreally change and shift your
psyche.
Um, and I just was, I was justcompelled and I just, it was
just a yes and that's what Ilived by, like it, unless it was

(28:14):
a clear yes and everythingopened up, like it was just
really smooth and flowy and thatwas the number one thing.
It was like I didn't see it ascourage, I just thought that I'd
never want to live like thatagain and and so I just chose a
certain path and that was, youknow, eating honey sandwiches

(28:35):
and living off like 20 bucks aday, yep, but it was a thing.
I sold off a lot of things andhad some cash, but I just had
this thing where I'm going tolive like basically off nothing
and be resourceful, and it wasjust such an adventure and it
was like that inner child orthat little boy was coming out
and living, yep, and justmeeting some really cool people

(28:59):
without, you know, without justin that pure.
I know it sounds a little bitweird, but it was just some of
those people down in Tassie wemet were just like, so beautiful
, and there was no.
There was nothing that theywanted from us and we wanted for
them.
It was just all we had to offer.
People was just sitting withpeople in presence and they'd

(29:22):
ask us what are you doing?
And we go, we don't know, andit's just so random, right, and
everyone's going like, well,you've got to be doing something
.
We said, well, no, we've gotthese things we're working on,
and that's where we're, in thedeep southwest of Tasmania,
we're going on this 15K walk.
Two weeks before I left Tassie,I had a surfing accident down at

(29:42):
Crumbin Alley on the Gold Coast.
Nearly drowned, I got stuckunderneath the rocks and
punctured my heel.
Jesus, yeah, yeah, it waspretty bad.
I took the back exit to go outor the back entry to go out, and
then I just mistimed it and Igot stuck on the rocks.
And it was a moment where Ithought, oh, you know, I'm done.
I almost like I gave up.

(30:04):
I gave up, I just relaxed, thebody went, I'm fighting this,
and I was trapped under thisrock and the next minute I just
got picked up and then I gotlanded straight on this rock and
just like there was bloodeverywhere.
It's like, oh, I've got scarsall down the side of my legs
from it.
Um, yeah, that was anexperience.
And then we left to go to tassieand I just went.
Oh, I just, I just want deeprest and nurture, um, and there

(30:27):
was a lot of that popping up forme and we went on this massive
walk and we've been tinkering,and, and david, my business
partner, he's the alchemist, um,and he's discovered a lot of
these products, um, and thenwe've just gone all in on them
and I just had this burningdesire when we're away, I just
said we've got to lock.
I was like seven Ks in thiswalk, in pain again because I

(30:51):
had this shoe on and my foot wasbleeding and I was just brutal
because I had stitches in myfeet.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Just continuing to trudge on.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was just like but but through
that, from learning about it ofa passion or I just went, oh
yeah, there's something, yeah,we've got to do this, and we
just went all in on it and wejust followed up, followed a
path that it was just anexperience after experience, and
then we went to the us becausewe had a mutual friend in the US
that was part of likemetaphysics and quantum physics

(31:25):
and stuff like that that we'dhad relationships with, dave,
had a friendship with this guythat was just a world leader in
quantum physics.
And then one thing led to theother guy that was raising money
for this guy who was makingthese bloody time warp machines.
It was crazy, these machinesthat were basically like making

(31:47):
free technology devices, right,yeah, like cutting edge
technologies.
And we met David, met this guyyears before and he was raising
money for investors and stufflike that.
So that's how we got connectedto this gentleman called Mark
and then Mark basically said youguys have got a great idea with
the products, which is, youknow, this Fulvic acid, shilajit

(32:08):
product.
We had the marine mineralsproduct, which was Ormus, and
his partner at the time was alady called Dr Beth who's a
business partner of ours now andshe's a leading functional
medical doctor and in cellularbiology.
So it was just a perfect mix,right?
if we didn't follow all theselike steps essentially like yeah

(32:30):
, if it was more me thinkingabout it from a logical step, it
wouldn't have worked.
That's why it's sort of just ifit was all yeses and green
lights.
We just kept going and yeah, wegot.
Um mark just said here you go,here's some play money going to
do whatever you want to do.
And I remember standing out thefront of this place in mill
valley, which is a suburb northof san francisco, 20 minutes

(32:53):
north of san francisco.
It was just like that's all Iever wanted, because I was from
like the body and the physicaland movement was such a like,
such an obsession for me.
And then we basically gotinvestment in a supplement
company.
I just went like all my dreamshad come to reality.

(33:14):
It was, it was the mostprofound experience.
And I just stood there and justwent like Dave and I were
hugging each other and justgoing.
Let's just go for it.
Little did I know that that'sjust the start and all the hard
work has to start and there wasa lot of stopping and starting
with the business in differentforms to what it is now.
It was called Mana Energy backthen.

(33:35):
Then basically we ran out ofmoney same sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Talk to us about that .
I've got it imprinted in mymind to talk about the rite of
passage.
I know we'll come back to that,but while we're here I'd love
to talk into the business stuffbecause I find it fascinating
what you've created and I'd loveto hear some more of those
challenges like running out ofmoney and what that's been like,
because quite often peopledon't hear the shitstorm behind

(34:04):
the scenes of what it actuallytakes to get to where you've
gotten to.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Yeah, I feel like you've got to fail so many times
and potentially some otherpeople don't fail and they make
it first go, but I just don'tthink there's enough lessons in
that.
Yeah, and I feel like sooner orlater you'll trip up on
something and it'll be at such astage where it'll just be like

(34:32):
it'll be a full deck justgetting washed out.
We've learned a lot of reallyhard, valuable lessons early to
really set us up at this stageof the business, and a lot of
them early were just audience.
We didn't build an audience.
We built an incredible productthat had no one to sell to, and

(34:55):
the reason why that failed nowin hindsight was the fact that
I'd been so heavily involved insales and marketing in a
traditional sense and then thatwhole digital marketing space
was so foreign to both David andI.
And he was in the medical space.
He was a sales rep for one ofthe biggest medical businesses

(35:16):
in the world Stryker and Olympusbusinesses in the world Striker
and Olympus and he was buildinglike medical device rooms and
stuff in a lot of theatres andstuff.
It's awesome, yeah, yeah, it'scrazy.
So he's seen the directopposite side.
And then we got this wholedigital space.
So we had all these productsand it was like, oh, now we've

(35:36):
got to sell and I could barelyopen a laptop.
Yep, because I totally justlike tapped out of that and that
was.
It was almost that re-entry andlife happened, you know, and we
both basically so we would putit on hold for a while while we
actually survived, because wecouldn't survive, yep, um, so
basically that just got shelved.

(35:58):
We always had attention onputting it on there.
And then, yeah, a few yearsback, we just went, yeah, we've
got to really put attention onit.
And then, you know, sort ofCOVID happened and a few of
those things happened as well.
But just learning the aspect ofa different discipline of
attention and digital marketingand those sort of currencies

(36:21):
were just profound, yeah, andthe business element of that was
very, very brutal.
And basically we realized thatspecifically, the Shilajit
product was too early inAustraliaralia about four years
ago.
So we made an attention becausewe had support in the us and we

(36:46):
had a network already built upthrough dr beth and in um the us
and with mark in the us and wehad access to some incredible
people as well.
Um, that was the, thecornerstone of saying we're not
going to put all of our energyand attention into Australia.
We're really going to make sureto give the US a go.
And we didn't know what we weredoing and we had a fairly

(37:09):
reasonable sort of contractingteam working for us and no one
could crack the code ofattention.
And that was in that paidmarketing space and Facebook.
I feel like it's a lot easiernow and there's a lot more
information, but we didn't knowwhat we're doing.
So, basically, I just one day Ijust went and then russell
bronson um, uh, for clickfunnels, um, he's pretty famous

(37:33):
in that digital marketing space.
I just started devouring hisstuff.
I said, no, I'm gonna, I'mgonna, I'm to make this work and
I put hundreds and hundreds ofhours of attention on.
Okay, that is our problem.
We cannot sell.
We had like $1.5 million of astock sitting.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Just sitting there.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Sitting there.
That's a big problem to have notbeing able to move it on, and I
think we were only doing like$10,000 a month, and then I went
well, this is not sustainable,right?
So the whole thing has to besustainable because we've got
commitments.
We have, you know, like ourteam, and stuff like that.
So I just I got obsessed, andthat's one thing that David and
I talk about often is, yeah,finding people that are obsessed

(38:14):
and geniuses at what they do iscrucial to the success of
anything, and that's what wesort of harbored was like okay,
we've got to find the rightpeople.
And that Russell Bronson saidyou know, you've got to be on
Instagram.
I spent so much time onInstagram championing people.
Yeah, but it was at the reasonwhy what I did is I made a list

(38:36):
of 100 people, so it was alwayslike, you know, you Joe Rogan's
human wasn't around then youknow, you, tim Ferriss.
So I just started with all.
He started writing down allthese names and just said and
then there was a guy called JoshTrent on this list of the top
hundred and he had wellness andwisdom was his podcast, and I

(38:56):
thought the guy was great, I hada lot of respect for him.
And then we had this one of thecontractors in our team.
She was out reaching podcasts.
I didn't even know what thatmeant.
I didn't understand it.
This is so good.
It was just we just sort ofwere faking it before we make it
, and then we're basicallybefore, like influencer

(39:16):
marketing was around, we werejust sending products out to
willy-nilly.
I was just reaching out topeople on Instagram, yep, and
that's what I did.
I basically sent this box tothis lady called Erin, and Erin
was basically our influencermarketer.
She goes oh, I've got to sendit to this Josh Trent.
I went oh, he's on my list, soI was sharing.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
She said what's your list?
Yeah, she's going what's thislist?

Speaker 3 (39:37):
So I sent her this list and I said if you can get
us on any of these podcasts?
I didn't even know what thatmeant, like I hadn't done
anything.
So why would I want to be?
Why would this dude who's doingreally, really well be on this
podcast?
And we sent the product to himand he sent me a message like
almost the next day once we gotit to him and he goes oh, this

(40:00):
product.
He said this product's going tocrush.
And then Aaron was going oh,this product's going to crush.
And we're going what do youmean?

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Like we didn't even know.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the lingo and we talk
about it often.
It's like everyone in the USjust wants you to win, and
that's what's been contagiousfor me.
That's what I want now.
I actually want everyone to win.
I think it's, and we don't lookat anyone in our businesses or
any other competitors ascompetitors, because they're not
.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
It's funny.
You say that, right, and I knowyou asked me outside like who's
your sponsor for this?
And some of the sponsors thatI've got have been brilliant.
But then there's been othercompanies that have just been
like nah, you've already gotthis.
They're competition and I'mthinking to myself I can.
If we all elevate each other andgrow that specific sector of
the industry, the pie becomesbigger and some people may

(40:48):
resonate more with your businessthan they do the other business
anyway.
So you're just exposingyourself to a larger audience.
I think that's what you doreally well and I've taken that
on from you.
I even now will spend 30minutes a day, which seems like
a lot, but a lot of my businessis on Instagram, just going
through and supporting people'scontent, because I know how

(41:09):
fucking good I feel when someonecomments on my post, so for me
to actually watch it or read itand then not just thumbs up,
it's like write somethingmeaningful.
I hope that it feels as goodfor them as it does when people
do that to me, because it's thego-giver right.
If you've ever read that book byBob Berg, the Law of
Circulation, like treat othershow you want to be treated, or

(41:29):
give to others as you would lovein return, and that's what I
believe in.
I lost my way for a number ofyears because I was so focused
on me and my business that Istopped championing other people
and you reminded me of that.
So thank you for that.
But it's now cool to be back inthat space because I'm like,
yeah, maybe they are competition, but I don't care if they win,
we all win.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Like it's going to grow yeah, it's a really
valuable point and thank you,because that's um, it's a
currency or an energy, andthat's what's behind mana and
that's like and, for example,like dave and I in our instagram
, like our business Instagram,talking to people like

(42:10):
potentially all day, like forfive minutes a year, so it would
probably be half an hour, anhour a day.
Yeah, we're in there likereally communicating people just
sitting there and even now,like people are blown away
because a lot of people getsocial media managers and it's
like customer service teams andwe've got customer service teams
that handle a lot of stuff thatare the function of the
business.

(42:30):
But we really, we're really andDave as the visionary of the
business and myself as the youknow the COO, and Dave's the CEO
we're basically in there allthe time, leading that way, yep,
because we believe that that'sa definite currency and it's
interesting you say that as wellbecause we do that with our

(42:51):
contractors.
They love working with us,because we treat them like
family and we're not actuallytelling them what to do and
we're saying, hey, we've got youguys, because you guys are
geniuses at what you do Likejust have the freedom.
We've had some beautiful chatswith the with our contractors
and our paid media team and ourretention team and they just say

(43:14):
thank you for letting us havethe space to create our magic,
and that's like that will be thething for me.
It's not the money, it's notthe status or you know how big
the brand gets.
That's not important to us.
It's a byproduct of that otherside of you know, putting
attention on the relationshipside, and we've been really

(43:35):
careful with our team as well,like if we feel and we can sense
in the meetings, like I knowevery meeting that happens
within our business, like all ofour meetings, are all done by
that Firefly as an AI, so I scanevery meeting that happens
every day.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and what I do, if I cansee an energy shift and we're

(43:56):
straight onto it and it's likeno, like can't like give them
the space, like don't tell themwhat to do, because that's not
the energy that we want in thismovement and that's not the
energy that we want in thismovement and that's, I guess
that's a value that we keepwithin the business and that's
really really important for us,Um, and that's something we act
on as well, and I just lovegetting on, like I just love

(44:18):
getting on and just supportingother people, and I feel like
what Marna has done for me isbrought more of that.
What makes me feel good too, andI feel like that's a natural
aspect of me.
I'm not like in there.
Oh, it's a chore.
Like to your point, put in a 30, 40 minutes a day.
No, I'm like I can't wait toget out of bed, put my feet on

(44:39):
the ground and just the firstthing I say to myself is like oh
, just, I'm so grateful forwhere I'm at right now.
Yep, that's like I don't dogratitude journals or sit there
and write the top thing.
It's not the space I'm in,right, now.
It's a season I'm in where I putmy feet on the ground and go
yep, I'm blessed to be here.
Get to that coffee shop down.
Shout out to the boys at Salt,the people at.

(45:01):
Salt how good are they?
That's their best coffee.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
They put the best chocolate on my cappuccinos.
It's like shaved Cadbury.
It's awesome.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yeah, and I basically get there when they open and I
just go.
I'm just in my phone, justgoing, okay, what's coming at me
?
Because we've got fivefull-time staff and 26
contractors, gee whiz, so all ofthat's coming in.
And with customers and knowmaintaining relationships not
maintaining is like giving valueto those relationship, and

(45:30):
that's what I love is justgiving more value to those
relationships and that's theleverage point that I feel like
networking's missed.
It's like I know people talkabout give out, give, give, give
, but like actually true valueinstead of just being like you
know it's loaded value For sure.
There's a difference there aswell, and that's what I find

(45:52):
that works really really wellfor us, because it becomes
really natural and it'sauthentic Yep, and that's why a
lot of Australians do well inthe US, because there's a level
of authenticity that happens.
And what the really successfulpeople from Australia because
there's a level of authenticitythat happens without and what
the really successful peoplefrom Australia to the US do is

(46:13):
they drop the small poppysyndrome Yep, and they replace
that by like I just wanteveryone to win as well, and
then you slot into that currencyYep, and that energy and that
flow.
And that's where I think it'sreally valuable and that's why
we've been supported andperceived as being successful in

(46:33):
that way there as well.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Definitely.
What would you say your zone ofgenius is I know you said
you're the COO and there's somany things happening in your
business, but is there like onearea or one thing that you just
just I know?
You said you get lit up by themessages and all that, but is
there anything that stands outto you that you're like I could
just do this all day, every day,and that's where you add the
most value to the business yeah,operations like being an

(46:58):
operator and like being thatcentral place where everything
comes to yep, um.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
For me it's like understanding human nature as
well, like I can actually.
So the way we look at Dave cansee numbers and I can see the
psychology.
Emotions, yeah, I can see thepsychology and the human nature
of everything.
So that's the, that's the twogreat cornerstones for the, for
the brand as well, and then bein the weeds from an operational

(47:28):
sense, like if we've gotcustomer service issues or we've
got a manufacturing issue, soall across all the 10 divisions
that we've got, I can be soobsessed and be in those and not
worry about the other ones, butthen zoom out and do that
10,000 feet view of the wholebusiness and realize that if I'm

(47:50):
so obsessed there, okay, andthen intuitively see that if I
make this choice is it going toimpact the whole system, and I'm
a very systems-orientatedthinker as well.
So it's almost like I look atthings in like almost three
buckets.
Yep.
So I'm not doing in eachdivision.

(48:11):
I've got no more than threeprojects going on at the time.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
It's cool that you can do that, because a lot of
the pushback that I would getfrom blokes that I work with is
I'm too analytical to be able toget emotional.
But you've just shared probablythe first 15 minutes.
We were talking about how youlearn to lean into your emotions
, that rite of passageexperience.
But then from when you'remanaging your business and
probably other areas of yourlife, there is systems, there is

(48:38):
processes that allow you to dothat.
So for anyone who sits thereand says I'm too analytical to
tune in or to allow myself tofeel, or I have to have a
process of understanding, it'slike it is okay and there is a
possibility for you to just letgo and be and there's value that
will come into your life as aresult of that.
But there is also value thatcomes through systems and data

(49:01):
and processes as well.
It's like learning to, I guess,dance with them when you need
them within your life.
Because for me, if I wanted tosimplify life for anyone, we all
have this idea of living agreat life, living a fulfilling
life.
You may understand whatfulfills you.
You may not.
The only way you're going tofigure it out is by trying new

(49:23):
things and just understandingthat less is more in a lot of
things that you're doing, and Ithink the reason why a lot of
men in particular aren't doingthat is because they are still
boys.
They react to everything,they're emotionally not aware,
they're emotionally immature,and because of that they turn to

(49:43):
vices like drugs, alcohol,pornography, and they may see
success in career, becausethat's where most people spend a
minimum of eight hours a day.
Of course you're going tosucceed or make some kind of
progress in an area where youspend the most time, but as a
byproduct, the dominoes arefalling in other areas in a
negative way.
Your relationships are fallingdown, you don't understand who
you are or you don't have anyhobbies, your friendship circle

(50:07):
sucks and your self-esteem isdone.
So the rite of passage issomething that I wanted to go
back to, because I think that iswhen a boy becomes a man, and I
think a lot of women out there,or just people in general, who
are dating men, are wantingstrong men, people who can
provide, who bring certainty andsecurity into their life.

(50:27):
So for you, talking about youressentially a rite of passage
with your group of brothers,what would be some things from
that moment?
I know we loosely touched on it, but if there were things that
would jump out at you from thatthat made that such a powerful
event or experience, what wouldthat be that potentially
listeners could look to?
I guess create their own riteof passage.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Yeah, brilliant question.
I think the disclaimer thatI'll start with is, like I have
been all of those things thatyou just discussed, Solve I yeah
.
Yeah.
I think I'm not going to sithere and say that I'm a perfect
human and I think what I come towith that is I think Young

(51:10):
talks about it.
Carl Young is like we can't seeour own shadow, and I think,
fundamentally, understandingthat statement is really, really
important.
Just because the ability to seeothers in a light that's their
shadow like projecting at you,it's insane that then I can't

(51:33):
see mine, and I think that hasbeen a really valuable lesson
through even this project in thesense of like I can understand
human nature.
But there's other things thatcome up for me that are the same
consistent things, and I thinkfrom initiation process is the

(51:55):
ability to self-reflect.
I think that's the biggest giftbehind initiation and I think
it's one of those things thathaving the ability to
self-reflect doesn't mean thatyou're not going to have the
same issues or problems.
You're actually going to havethem constantly over.
I just see, like I call it, thevortex of mirrors, and each

(52:18):
mirror has the same problem thatyou've had for the last, for
however long you've been alive,because that's what you've been
programmed with throughexperiences and nature, nurture
or whatever.
So I feel like mine.
When they come up, I'm quickerto jump on them and to give them
love or nurture and look at whythey're popping up.

(52:39):
Yeah, and it's my reaction toit, and it's all to do with the
reflection in partnerships andrelationships.
So, whatever relationship be itwith David in the sense of
working in a brotherhood to myfriends, and if I had to
self-reflect and reflect overevery relationship that's failed
, it's always been the samethings for me and it's almost

(53:01):
like those are the little cluesthat I need to go and look at.
Those are the little clues thatI need to go and look at.
But that self-reflection hasonly come from giving myself the
time and space to actually havethe opportunity to understand
that.
And that's through reading,that's through experiences, it's

(53:23):
through obsession of humannature and understanding that
we've got a physiology thatreacts in a certain way to
certain experiences.
And I think initiation andthat's why I love the Indigenous
cultures they did the precipiceof moving a boy to a man and

(53:46):
there was a delineation reallyclearly.
Yep, I feel like I never hadthat experience and I think
initiation can come in so manydifferent forms and I know
you've played rugby and I've hadso many different initiations
through that period.
I don't think a lot of themwere healthy.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Yeah, yeah, I'm just laughing to myself about some of
the initiations I had.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
And I know that those initiations wouldn't cut it
these days.
They would just be brutal.
Yeah, they'd be brutal, but Ifeel like, as a man, to be able
to embrace that opportunity toself-reflect, and I even look at
it.
That's why I do jiu-jitsu everyday, or five or six days a week
, because I know that the samethings are going to come up in

(54:32):
that experience when I'm underpressure, I'm fatigued and you
know like I've got some.
you know 17-year-old kid that's60 kilos chime me up like a
pretzel year old kid that's 60kilos, chime me up like a
pretzel and it's my, but it'sthe same, the same reactions I
have in like that in that deepwater.
Yeah, and I guess what I'velearned from jiu-jitsu is when

(54:55):
you're in that deep water, you,the mats show you who you are,
and that's the same thing.
In self-reflecting it's like Idon't want to know.
And that's why, getting into anincredible relationship and
marriage, it's actually theperson accepting the worst of
you which is the most importantpart and it's like can you

(55:16):
accept who you are in thoseworst moments?
You know, because your partnerwill always want the best for
you, but are you willing toaccept those parts of you that
aren't the best at that time?
And I think that's whatinitiation and self-reflection
has shown me and I think we canget really, really tied up into

(55:38):
the ability of, like,over-traumatizing and
over-therapizing.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (55:46):
It is, I understood it yeah it's my lisp, yeah, I
think, and just not takingyourself so seriously.
I got tied up massively intothat breath, working and a few
other things and was just alwaysanalyzing my emotions.
Dude, 100%.
And it's a shout out to the menthat listen to this is just be

(56:07):
very mindful that as a man,we're programmed to do hard shit
often and no one cares aboutyour emotions.
And be really careful that,like, have a really tight.
I'm super blessed and lucky thatI've got some really really
tight friends and brothers.

(56:27):
I call them that.
It doesn't matter.
You know, if something wentwrong I'd have to text or ring
and it would be no questionsasked and that's.
I think that's really reallyimportant.
And as the older I get, Irealized that the you know I've
got such a huge network but it'ssuper tight in respect as well

(56:49):
and I'm blessed in that way andthat's how I want to keep
showing up is.
You know, self-reflecting oftenand you know if there's
confrontation, you know look atwhat my response, what 100 my
responsibility is in that moment.
And sometimes we can, you know,sometimes we can blame others

(57:10):
for where we are in our life.
But I think the initiationprocess and being part of this
project is showing me that beingreally resourceful is really
important, as a man.
And I feel like a lot of issuesin relationship start with the
lack of resources that a man hasand I know the difference in my

(57:32):
relationship now is beingresourceful is just so impactful
.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
I couldn't agree more .
Yeah, it's everything that yousaid then.
I was like tick.
I hope people are writing thisdown because there are so many
men that are struggling and Ithink the data is like 73% of
men won't put their hand up toask for help.
So for me, when I look at arite of passage, it's like you,
especially if you look atindigenous cultures.

(57:59):
It's like you go out, you'vegot a job to do and you're going
to come back to be able to addmore value to the community
again.
And that's what it should be inlife.
You know we go to university orget a trade, but we don't have
that same mindset of I need tocome back to add more value to
the community, and that's notjust in a monetary value, it's
emotionally, it's physically.

(58:20):
You know to protect and provideand your situations.
I think you would probably saywith jujitsu, knowing that you
could handle yourself, even if a17 year old chokes you out, you
can probably choke a couple ofother people out that there's a
sense of self-esteem andconfidence that comes along with
that, and so for me it goesback to doing those hard things,
because if you seek outcontrolled adversity like being

(58:44):
on the mats with someone orrunning your first 5k, whatever
it looks like for the individualyou go through that whole
process of I'm excited to dosomething new, I'm going off to
this new experience.
Then the reality kicks in.
The reality is like shit.
This is hard work, it may notgo to plan.
I have to learn to beresourceful, I have to learn to
solve problems and I have topersevere.
And then at the end you getyour reward.

(59:05):
But you realize the rewardwasn't what you were craving, it
was the process.
And then you go again, andthat's this thing that a lot of
people don't ever snap out of,and that's why I was so
fascinated that you had thoseexperiences from your rite of
passage to the Vipassana to thengo on to Tassie and you'd left
behind your career and justflipped it.

(59:26):
There's a lot of people whohave little pushes in the back
but they don't change anything.
Then they wake up in their 60sgoing man, my life has passed me
by.
I wish I could have a redo.
And the thing that has stood outthis whole conversation is the
time and space, anyone listeningwho if you're sitting there and
you don't feel that fulfillmentthat maybe you hear in Brad's

(59:49):
voice or in my voice, giveyourself time.
If you're in a position, bookone or two, three days away, or
go to a Vipassana and experiencethat You're going to have some
very uncomfortable thoughts.
It's going to be crazy, you'regoing to feel unproductive but
it could transform your life.
Crazy, you're going to feelunproductive but it could

(01:00:09):
transform your life and I hopepeople take that away from this
conversation and we could talkfor bloody hours.
But what I'd love to quicklydive into before we wrap it up
is more about Mano.
Can you give people a bit of arundown of the product and Black
Friday sales?
No, this won't be out by BlackFriday sales, but how it works,
where people can find it andeverything like that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Yeah, well, we've basically created what we like
to call the bridge between thetrue science and modern day
science, which is a lotempirical, data-driven.
Mana, in essence, is amineral-based product with all
your 90 nutrients that sciencerecognises, and we've built that
off a 10-based product with allyour 90 nutrients that science
recognises, and we've built thatoff a 10-year journey, and then

(01:00:51):
we put it in this incrediblepackaging that's a single serve.
So basically, we're saying thatall your minerals, your mineral
complexes, are done in onesachet.
So like Easy, yeah, 3.6.
And it's super easy, right?
And it's a subscription-basedbusiness, and it does really
really.
And it's a subscription-basedbusiness, and it does really
really well, I lovesubscription-based businesses
yeah, it's the, it's the secretsauce and we're super blessed

(01:01:13):
with that and I feel like we'vegot we've got four products in
the market and we we've sourcedthese products from the highest
places on the earth, like thehimalayas, um, which is the full
of aggressive, and we can cango into another podcast
specifically about the product,but it's giving your body all of
the electrical charge it needsand we call it like the body

(01:01:34):
electric.
Right, we see the body as anelectrical system and the
cellular health is like apositive charge and negative
charge, but it's reallyimportant for your DNA to have
that negative charge to getthrough the cell membrane, to
actually change the.
DNA.
And that we've penned a termcalled genetic liberation.

(01:01:55):
Okay, genetic liberation.
Genetic liberation.
It's about the genetics of thehuman body to be liberated, to
be in this cycle of what we callthe golden age.
Trumpy talks about it right.
America's about to go into thisgolden age.
There's so much light cominginto the planet.

(01:02:16):
It's almost like those lightcodes are full of neutrons, yep,
and it's just so perfect forthe time that we're in.
And it's like there's a villainin there as well, and every
marketing story has a greatvillain.
It's like the lack of nutrientsin the soil right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Massive one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
Monocropped soils, and that's what we've found that
the human vessel just needs somuch minerals, and it's actually
not the fats and proteins andthe macro minerals, it's more
the, the trace minerals that weneed as well.
Um so yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
So where can people buy?
And the reason when I said Ilove subscription business is
one part of my business issubscription from a business
model.
I enjoy it, but also as aconsumer.
I like the fact that when Ifind something I like I don't
have to think about it becauseless decisions I have to make, I
can use that energy on bigdecisions.
So if I find something I like,subscribe.
It comes every month or howeverit works.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Yeah, mana.
Vitalitycom yeah, everyone canjust go there.
We ship to Australia from theUS, that's so crazy, considering
you live in Australia?
Yeah, we cop a little bit aboutthat, but it's just, the US
market is like 98% of ourbusiness.
Yeah, fair enough.
So we'll be changing thateventually not in the short term

(01:03:39):
, but definitely something.
We want to support our loyalcustomers here in Australia and
people that have followed usalong the journey and we've got
some super loyal people that Ijust, you know, started with the
journey.
We've got gold nanoparticles inone of our products now, which
is something else we can go intoon another podcast, but yeah,
that's sort of the cutting edgeof, you know, getting past the

(01:04:02):
blood-brain barrier and all thatsort of stuff as well too.
So we've got some really coolthings to talk about.
But I feel like this, thisone's more about, um, almost
like the rites of passage andthe and the founding story of
what we're about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
I loved it.
I've really enjoyed it, man,and it's been so cool to get to
spend more time with you inperson as well, cause we do
message a bit.
But Brad McDonald, everyone.
I highly recommend followingthis guy, purely because you've
inspired me to get back intowhat's really important in
business.
I wouldn't say I've lost my way,but I've lost my focus.
I feel like you get to aposition where you're

(01:04:36):
comfortable and you said we'rereally not here to just be
comfortable.
We're always pushing to do hardshit, and that's what you've
reminded me of, and part of thefun in that is going back to
championing other people.
I definitely found myselflooking at people as competition
, which makes it waking up everyday and doing work a bit more
challenging than when you'relike, fuck it, let's just ride

(01:04:57):
this wave together with people.
So I've really enjoyed that.
Make sure you go check out theproduct and the supplement.
But also I'll link a couplemore episodes that you've done,
because I've listened to anumber of them and I find them
fascinating, probably similar topodcasts that you've spoken on
or you've listened to.
There's so much information outthere and I believe that we're
living in this beautiful timewhere so many people aren't

(01:05:20):
aware of the solutions out therefor their problems, that if you
can get on a potty and justhear things, that it's going to
change your life.
So thank you for coming on theshow.

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Thank you, brother.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
And if you guys got value from the episode, make
sure you share it like it,subscribe it on all the
platforms.
Do those things and, as always,my name is Lachlan Stewart.
Do something today to be betterfor tomorrow.