The Truth About U.S. Manufacturing – Josh Mejia x Few Will Hunt - The Few Will Hunt Show

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's going on, Eagles? Welcome to the Fuel Hunt
Show. I'm Joey. Today, I amjoined by one of the few and one
of our trusted manufacturingpartners here at Fuel Hunt, Josh
Mihiha. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good, man.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Did I butchered or no? No. You got You

Speaker 2 (00:19):
got it? Okay. Good. You got

Speaker 1 (00:20):
it? Good. Should mention, that today you're stuck
with just me. Drew's holdingdown the fort, over there. So
it's, me and Josh, we're gonnakick it today.
It was great to have you, man.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Man, I appreciate you having me. Yeah. Definitely.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
This isn't your first visit to HQ

Speaker 2 (00:34):
today. Second. Second. Second. Second.
It's a little bit of a journeyfrom Vegas. Yeah. You know? Yep.
But now with with the newfacility out in Long Island, it
made it easier.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah. Next time maybe I'll cut the drive in half and
I'll meet you a little furtherup. It's a long drive. How long
did take you drive?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It wasn't bad. It's like two and a half hours.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
No. It's not too bad.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah. No. It's not terrible at all.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah. I feel like I have a couple friends that live
in Long Island, I feel like onceyou get out of Long Island, then
it's like the traffic's a littleeasier.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
It's usually the tip, right? It's like right there
when you have to go through thecity, like that tail end of the
city Yeah. To get on the bridge.Sure. That's really where you
get hit the I

Speaker 1 (01:12):
gotcha, I gotcha, I gotcha. Well, we're glad to have
you here today, man. Iappreciate it. You're the owner
of the sublimation house, right?Yes.
So one of our trustedmanufacturing partners here,
Fuel Hunt. Also, dad. Yes.Entrepreneur for a long time.
Not just No.
Not just sub house.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
No. For like a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah. Then you mentioned new facilities, so you
have a new facility out in LongIsland as well. Correct. So not
only have you been at it for awhile, but you're doing a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
So Yeah. So it it doesn't feel like a lot. It does
and it doesn't. Right? Yeah.
You know, my wife and I, we talkabout it, and especially with
this new facility, we she'slike, are you sure you wanna do
this? Mhmm. Right? Becauseobviously it's on the other side
of the country.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
And, you know, a lot of lot of thought went into it
before I pulled the trigger. Andthe main focus was, is it taking
me off the mission?

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Right? So as you guys kinda know a little bit, you
know, our mission is not only tobring back domestic apparel
manufacturing

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
But provide true value and partnership with
brands. Yep. You know, the thebrand space has been fucked for
quite some time. For sure. As Iknow you've experienced and
plenty of our customersexperience Yep.
Where they get sold a dream andthat's not what they get.
Exactly. You know? And so ourjourney started there as as how

(02:39):
we got into this space with usbeing a brand. Yep.
So we solved our own need bybecoming our own supplier.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
I do wanna get into that a little bit. One one of
the things that you mentioned,right, that's super interesting.
When it came to acquiring,opening this new facility, a lot
of thought, a lot of planningwent into it. I feel like
entrepreneurship is kind of adouble edged sword, right? Like,
there's times when that'srequired

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
And then there's times where it's like, it, we're
gonna try this and see how thishappens. It's like how this
works out. %. There's like,small and big moments, like,
throughout your journey justlike that.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
And it's experience, really. The only way you know
which direction to take. Right?Whether it's let's just fucking
jump into it, because I do thatall the time too. They'll be
like, hey, can you make this?
I'll look at it and be like,I've never made that shit
before. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
I got you. Got

Speaker 2 (03:25):
you. We'll make it, right? Yeah. And then there's
times where it's like this andit's like, no, let me take a
breath because this could makeor break the boat. Exactly.
You know, sink or sink or swim.Exactly. And so it's like, is
this aligned and taking thatextra thought process and
ensuring that it aligns with thevision and it's gonna help and
not hurt. Now granted, is therea setback in the beginning? Of

(03:47):
course.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Right? You know, this is a facility that's been
operating for quite some timesince 1976. Yeah. Wow. And they
have a great team and everythingin place,

Speaker 1 (03:57):
but Yes.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
They're also stuck in the twenty years ago. Exactly.
Right? There's no onlinepresence. There's no social
media.
There's no real website. There'sno real systems and processes in
place. So yeah. Is it a fewsteps back to get them caught up
and bring them into this new ageor per se the sub house culture?

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Right? Yes. So there's gonna be extra work, but
once we get over that hump, inmy estimation, hopefully the
next twelve months, then it'sgonna be a massive impact and
asset to our an organize ourorganization.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah. For sure. For sure. It's crazy how that works
because there's like positives.There's pluses and minuses.
You know, the world's positiveand negative, but I try not to
use the negative word, right?There's pluses and minuses,
right? Like, a facility that'sbeen operating that long, they
know what they're doing, thesystems are right, but it sounds
like maybe a little bit behindthe times, that, and you have a

(04:49):
different culture probably atSubHouse than they have. So you
have to kind of install thatculture.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
100%.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
From what I know of you, and this is why one of the
reasons I believe we work sowell together, is that you're
very family oriented even whenit comes to business. Like,
everybody likes to focus on theteam aspect of it. Like, you're
gonna you're gonna cut it oryou're out of here. And for some
reason or for some in someinstances, that's true in
business. Mhmm.
But, really, it's community andfamily driven. That's the way it

(05:17):
should be. You know?

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I believe in in the old school. Even though I'm
still younger myself, I I stillbelieve in the old way of
business, know. People lostsight that business is not about
making money.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know, if you go back, back, back thousands of
years, it was trade. I got cows,you got chickens, I'll give you
milk, you give me

Speaker 1 (05:41):
You got a problem, I got a problem, let's work
together to solve our problems.That's what it

Speaker 2 (05:46):
is. And so when you take it back to that root, which
is what we try ourselves to tohandle as best as possible, is
you're coming to me for aproblem Yep. And it's my job to
create that solution. And if Ican create it in house,
beautiful. But if I can't Yeah.
I refer people out all the time.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And you'd be surprised the amount of
referrals we get Yeah. Frompeople that have never done
business with us. Yeah. And it'sbecause they've called us,
they've emailed us, they textedus, and we told them, hey, we
don't do that, but here's thisperson or here's this company.
Yep.
Reach out to them, and thensomeone asked them about
something, they're like And

Speaker 1 (06:19):
then they bring it back.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
I got somebody.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
We we've like, that is literal and it's one of the
reasons Fuel Hunt exists. It'sliterally falling apart. Like,
that type of fabric, communityfabric is because that's what it
is. Right? Like, when you're ina bonded community with people,
whether it's family or peoplethat are like minded or have the
same vision, we want to helpeach other.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
We want each other to We wanna see each other win. You
know what I mean? That's one ofthe things that your first visit
here to HQ, that's one of thethings that, stood out to me. I
just could feel in your energythat you were a servant,
basically. And it kind of it itmatches my energy.
Like, I could see it and feel itfrom you that you were here to

(07:02):
serve.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
%.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
You know what I mean? And, again, I think that's one
of the reasons that

Speaker 2 (07:06):
we we work so well Yeah. Because it's it's weird
because it's selfless andselfish at the same time.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Because funny enough, oddly enough, I get purpose from
helping others.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
But I'm also helping at the same time, right? Yeah,
of course. But I'm being selfishbecause it makes also me feel
good.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah. It's about the the cycle though. Like, what
that's going to create or whatthat's going to make you do is
help more people. So the circlethat it's creating is one of
value. Yes.
You know what I mean? Not one ofextraction. You know what I
mean? One of addition, of value.So, yeah, I mean, that's this
is, like, all the stuff that wetalk literally why Fuel Hunt was

(07:47):
You were talking about brandsearlier, and, like, I've got
this thing, like, I don't I willuse the word brand because, you
know, that's what we are.
Like, you can talk nuts andbolts. Yeah. Like, it But I'm
always talking community. Like,that's how I refer to us. We're
bond.
Yeah. Like, I believe what we'vedone is we've transcended brand,
and we've moved into a bondbecause we're operating, like we

(08:09):
were talking before the show,back in that old school.
Exactly. We're like, look, we'reall here. We all got problems.
Everybody. We got problems, andwe're gonna help each other
solve them. Exactly. You know?

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Exactly. That's key. That's key is like community,
you know, and taking it back tothat foundation is what makes
everything better. Know? It'snot about me or you, it's about
us.
Yep. You know? It's hardobviously because you said, you
know, everybody has problems.Right? We all know that.
Everybody, everybody. Whetheryou have a dollar or you have a

(08:41):
hundred million dollars,everybody's got problems.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Everybody's got them.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
There are different types of problems. It could be
this, it could be that. And sous trying to be conscious or
selfish in the fact that myproblems are more important than
yours is the problem. Yeah. Andit's taking a step back and
being like, alright, you gotthat, I got this, how do we put
it together

Speaker 1 (08:59):
How do

Speaker 2 (08:59):
we work and fix it.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yep, exactly. We've lost sight of the fact that
we're all more similar than weare different. And at our cores,
I believe we all wanna help eachother. But what we've done is
we've, like, let some outsideinfluences come in, convince us
that we're not as alike as weare, and convince us that we

(09:23):
need other solutions other thaneach other.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
That's an interesting take. I mean, I could I could I
could understand it to a certainpoint because don't get me
wrong. There still are bad guysout there. Oh, yeah. For sure.
There really is. There reallyis, you know, a lot of people
out there that still know whatthey're doing and continue to
take advantage or continue to,you know, take take take and not
give. Yep. You know? But yes,the majority of people Yeah.

(09:49):
Have good in them. Yeah.Majority of people want to help
or want to be a part of theproblem. Excuse me, the solution
and not the problem.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
And not the problem. And even the even the bad guys,
right? Now there's just somestraight up evil people, like
we're talking about guys thatare borderline bad. I feel like
inherently inside of them, theyknow right from wrong, and they
just had poor examples growingup. They didn't have, like,
maybe they didn't have somebodythat stood on a pedestal or a
platform or somebody that wasinfluential in their life that

(10:18):
said, Hey, look, the way to dothis is to help others.
The way to do this is to givefirst, not take. You know what I
mean?

Speaker 2 (10:23):
It's possible. Again, we could probably go back and
forth multiple times with thedevil advocate, but there's a
story that I remember readingfrom a while ago on these two
brothers that grew up in thesame household. One became an
attorney, one became analcoholic. They asked them both
the same question. Why did youbecome an attorney?

(10:44):
They both gave the same answer.Because my father was an
alcoholic. The other one, Whydid you become an alcoholic?
It's because my father was analcoholic. So, you know, the
circumstances could be the same,but the outcome changes based on
the work you're willing to put.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, and the ownership.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
And the ownership.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Yeah, the ownership. Yeah, yeah. Do you believe that
you are a product of yourcircumstances or a product of
your work? You know what I mean?Exactly.
A little earlier you mentionedthat it's not just about
building things here. Like wehave that shared mission, right?
Yes. Where we want to restoreAmerican manufacturing. You

(11:22):
mentioned that, but you alsomentioned, you know, service to
community.
So, like, not just buildingproducts, but building people.
And that's the way, like, Ialways explain it. You know what
I mean? Yes, like, we're goingto build stuff here, but what
that does is builds people.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
The more people we can build, the more communities
we can build, the stronger ourcities, the stronger our And
it's just, it's a ripple effect.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
It is.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
You know? It's a

Speaker 2 (11:45):
ripple effect. Know? At at my core, I'm trying to
change my generational tree. Youknow? We I don't come from
nothing.
I come from a very, you know,difficult place in in in life
and family and all that badstuff, you know, and and my
mission is to change my familytree for for, you know, and Ed
Mylett's word, be the one in myfamily, you know. And and so

(12:08):
that's my mission, but withinthat mission, because I feel
that God has called me to ahigher purpose. Yep. It's not
just for me, but it's for peoplearound me. Yeah.
So the goal that I have soundscrazy because it's massive, but
it's massive, but it's because Iwant the people under me to be
able to fit their dreams withinmy goal as well. Yes. You know?
The only way to do that yes.It's an umbrella.

(12:29):
It's to scale it to that level.Mhmm. You know? And and for me,
like, I forget the guy's name,but he's one of Apple's top
executives and, you know, he wasinterviewed a few years back and
they asked him like, what's yourgreatest accomplishment? And his
greatest accomplishment was thatthere's a zip code in Northern
California at the cheapest houseis $20,000,000.

(12:50):
It's a community of 100 homesMhmm. And 90 of those homes are
owned by Apple employees. Yeah.And that's his I'm like, and I'm
like, man.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
That is That's it right there.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Beat. I'm like, that is it, bro. Is It is. I'm like
to say that, like that speaksmore volumes than anything. You
could talk as much shit as youwant about Apple and Google and
all this, but the truth is is,man, they do make an impact.
Right? Now Of course. The if youput your dollars in the right
place, you know, granted, someof these people don't. But
building something big is thetrue, in my opinion, the true

(13:22):
way of impacting community

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
And really doing what you can do. Right? Not putting
it into a donate like, you know,we like to help out our local
teams. You know, we dosportswear and things of that
sort. Sure.
Sure. So we like to help outwith donating uniforms and
letting kids get active and makesure they're feeling good while
they're playing football orbasketball or things of that
sort. You know, small thingsright now, but as we grow, you
know, bigger things.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Well, that's one of the things, honestly, like,
that's one of the things that,you know, I struggled with too,
like, Labeling them as smallthings, but in reality they're
not. They're small compared tothe vision, but they're so
important to do now andimpactful. You know, you're
helping a team. Right? Yeah.
Like, it's it's 20 kids on the tball team or You're like, oh,

(14:08):
well, this is small. Want my ownzip code with homes in there.
Exactly. Everybody itself has

Speaker 2 (14:12):
to. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
But, like, one precedes the other.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
True.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
You know what I mean? Like, that needs to be done, you

Speaker 2 (14:18):
know, and so And I lose sight of that at time, at
at most times,

Speaker 1 (14:20):
to be But I'm saying, I I I do the same thing too. I'm
like, we'll do something, andwe're like, man, like, I wanna
do that at a hundred x.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Right? I feel like I'm not doing anything. Exactly.
You know? No.
Exactly. Same.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Even, you know, even some of our people, I'm like,
man, like, you know, I want to,you know, our athletes and
things like that, I'm like, man,like, I wanna do it big for
them.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Like, I wanna fly them here, fly them there. But
right now, this is what we cando. Exactly. And it frustrates
me sometimes. I feel you.
You know what I mean? Because Ihave that big vision too.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yep. You know

Speaker 1 (14:49):
what I mean? But they're important because, like,
one precedes the other.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Exactly. You know what mean? Yeah. Baby steps,
even though we don't wanna takethem, they're they're necessary.
You know that?
The mastering the mundane.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, it's important that boring stuff,
people forget, you know,especially when you're trying to
build something. That's thethat's the difference maker.
Mhmm. That's the differencemaker. It ain't

Speaker 1 (15:09):
it ain't all sexy. No.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
No. Most of it is not.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah. No. The bricks and the and the like, laying the
bricks, like, you know, slappingthe water on and laying the
brick like, the unsexy stuffover and over and over again.
Over. And you're like, man,like, I'm not even done one wall
yet.
I gotta do, like, three more.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
You know what

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I mean? Over and over again. I think that's that's
Honestly, I think that's why alot of entrepreneurs quit. We
were talking about, before theshow, you know, about, the the
mundane and, like, the unsexystuff. And I think a lot of
people get into entrepreneurshipand they're expecting that it's
gonna be like all flash and bangand like it's it's just gonna be

(15:51):
lovely.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
It's the

Speaker 1 (15:52):
new culture. Really.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah. It's I mean, it's the new culture that's been
trying to preach. I would sayprobably over the last fifteen,
twenty years, but more so hardover the last ten years. You
know that drop shipping Yep. Andwork from home and be your own
boss.
And the thing is is people don'trealize this. Being at the top
is the shittiest position youcould be in. Like it's it really

(16:14):
is, know?

Speaker 1 (16:14):
You're

Speaker 2 (16:15):
you're Like if you want success, you know, and and
all you're worried about ismoney, be an entrepreneur. Yeah.
You know, become a huge assetlike at Apple, like at Google,
like but there's millions ofthose companies that you could
be just a VP or high up manager,make your $23,000,000 a year
Yeah. But you get to go homeevery night and not have You

Speaker 1 (16:37):
get to yeah. You get to

Speaker 2 (16:38):
sleep. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Like, can sleep at You know?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
You know

Speaker 1 (16:41):
what I mean? Yeah. The I We did a show on
entrepreneurship. This is Danwill probably keep me honest,
man. Maybe, like I'm not puttingyou on the spot, Dan.
I was just saying that.Probably, like, maybe, like,
first twenty five episodes orsomething like that. And one of
the things I realized over theyears is everyone looks to
entrepreneurship as a solution.They don't like their boss, so

(17:01):
they want to be their own boss.They want more time.
But the reality of it isentrepreneurship is the biggest
problem that you will everintroduce into your life. So if
you're not doing it for theright reasons to really serve
others, serve many, like whenyou boil it all down, like we
say build community, this stuff,really what we're doing is we're
of service. I said earlier, Ipicked that energy up from you.

(17:21):
Yeah. If you're not doing it forthe right reasons, bro, you
ain't gonna last.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
You're not. You're gonna quit. You are.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Because it's

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Bro, it's it's the highest level of competitive
sport, quote unquote Yep. In theworld. There's no other sport
that matches entrepreneurship.Yep. Right?
Because there's so many unknownvariables that you have no
control over Mhmm. And you stillhave to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
And you still have to

Speaker 2 (17:46):
figure it out. Know, Tim Grover talks about that. One
of my favorite authors andpeople of all time. Yeah. You
know and he talks about thathe's like entrepreneur like NBA
NFL yes that's high.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
But the highest form of athleticism quote unquote or
or or competitive is business.Yeah. Like it cause it's just so
many variables. There's youdon't know who your enemy is.
You don't know how to don't.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
And you know what? The thing is like and you know,
it's to the same degree somewhatin sports too. Like, you know,
there's the weather and all thisother stuff that is unforeseen
sometimes. But inentrepreneurship, there are so
many variables, and so many ofthem are just unforeseen.
They're in your blind spots,

Speaker 2 (18:26):
bro. You don't know till you know.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
You don't know. And one of the biggest ways to get
hurt in life, but especially inbusiness, is to not know. Yeah.
So you've already you've quoteda couple stories, a couple
books, authors, things likethat. You're a reader.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
I'm a reader. I believe, like, you gotta find
out. Like, you wanna doanything, right, be the best at
anything, build something great,the first step is find out. It's
self education. You gotta read.
Yes. You gotta read. You don'tknow you will get hurt. %. Like,
that's just what it that's justwhat

Speaker 2 (19:00):
it always be learning. Like you'll never know
everything. Never. Yeah. That'sthe that's the key thing.
Know, people sometimes thinklike, oh, I'll read this book or
I'll watch this podcast or I'llbuy this course and then I'm
good. Like they they you look atit like college.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Right? But this world is not like college.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Too dynamic.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
It's too dynamic. It's evolving sometimes by the
minute, sometimes by the hour,sometimes by the week, depending
on your niche, how aggressive.You know, a great example I like
to use is, look at the stockmarket, right?

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Right in this second it could be here and then
literally the next second it'sthere. Yep. And the same thing
goes for business. Today thecity of Philadelphia could be
like you could have that signup. Tomorrow they dropped an
order in, they didn't emailnobody, that sign can't be up
$10,000 fine.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Woah. What do you mean? Hold up. I you gave me the
permit. Yeah.
It changed, but you didn't tellme. Oh, it's your job to look on

Speaker 1 (19:51):
the website. On the website. Yeah. And it's like And
I'm like, what? I'm trying tosolve 400 other problems an
hour.
Yes. Like, do you know? The cityordinances? No. That I'm
checking out a quarter per If

Speaker 2 (20:03):
if at all. If that. Yeah. And so it's crazy. It's
crazy.
But, yeah, man. We I love what Ido. Yeah. You know, I enjoy it.
Yes.
There's perks like the family.Yeah. You know, my kids come to
work practically every day. Yep.I get to take my kids, my son
mostly because my my wifehandles my oldest.
Yeah. My oldest, she's she'sseven. She does competitive
cheer. Uh-huh. And they she'salready travel and all that good

(20:25):
stuff.
But my son, I get to take him tofootball practice, his football
games. Now he's starting hockey.Yep. You know? And so it that
you know, that's growing up,that was my big thing.
I was like, I wanna be involvedin my kid's life. And
thankfully, we're blessedenough. We've never had a day of
baby of day care, you know, ofor anything. And and that's, you
know, they're always the plus.They're all the plus like that.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yep. Yeah. That was the other thing that stuck out
to me when you visited HQ thefirst time. Brought your family.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah. They were

Speaker 1 (20:53):
with You know, not just your wife, but you brought
your kids too.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
And I was like, this is this is a guy that I I'm I'm
probably gonna get the love. Ican tell it, like, right now
because I'm the same way. Like,you know, my girls are off
school. They're here with me.Yeah.
Like Tim, Tim said there's aNordicTrack, empty NordicTrack
box over there with a front cutout of it. Tim set that up as a
fort for them.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
For when they're here, we're, like, they'll help
carry, like, bag and tag and putlike stickers on Yeah. Know, bag
size stickers on bags and stuff.Like, I want them here with me.
I want to spend time with them.Yeah.
Like, I want that freedom of,know, what I call relationship.
But, you know, family. I was Idon't know if you know, but I
was in tech previously beforeFuel Hunt.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
No. So I

Speaker 1 (21:36):
was building software and

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Stuff like that. And I was doing really well, man.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
But, like, when 2020 came around, and my second
daughter was one, I was home.You know what I mean? So I was
home with my daughter at one,Cecilia, my youngest, and, like,
seeing all the things I missedwhen my oldest was one.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Because our kids were in daycare at two months. You
know what I mean? My wife's anattorney. You know, I was a tech
executive. Two months old, theywere in there.
And I started realizing, I'mlike fuck man. Like, I miss so
much, and like, this isn't whatI want.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
So, like, honestly, now I'm willing to bleed every
day to make sure that I can bethere with them, and they can
come here with me, and I wantedsomething different. Yeah. You
know? And that was a big driverfor Fuel Hunt was already going
at that point.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
But it was a big driver for me walking away from
my previous life, and just,like, literally walking into the
fire.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah. I was just saying to uncertainty.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Oh, a ton food. In a time where It's scary. Was very
un uncertain. You know what Imean? Like everything was That's

Speaker 2 (22:46):
mad respect too, man. Because once you have a family,
it's it makes it a hundred timesharder to do that. You know? Me,
I've been an entrepreneur myentire life, literally since I
was a kid, but even as an adult,like, I've I've I've always been
on my own. So Yeah.
My family started while I wasbuilding, you know. So I I I say

(23:06):
it's easier like that. Right?Because again, once you have
that family and you have toleave that stability of a job
Yeah. To jump into uncertainty

Speaker 1 (23:15):
No. It is.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Especially as a father Yes. I mean, no no shade
to the mom. Obviously, themother still has her part, but
as a father Yeah. You're like,you're the protector. Yeah.
I gotta take care of my girls.Gotta take care of my my family.
You know? And so not knowingwhether or not you can, like,
daddy, I I want that toy. Yep.
Or daddy, I wanna go to thisconcert. Or or I wanna buy those

(23:36):
shoes. Yeah. And it's like,fuck. I can't right now.
Yeah. Or not knowing if I willbe able to. Yeah. You know? And
that uncertainty to leavecertainty to go into that's that
that's a whole another level.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
You know? They've been the hardest moments. And
I've I've tried to cause likeanother thing a lot of people
don't know is like in thebeginning, again, people look to
entrepreneurship for a solution.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
What they don't realize is the average
entrepreneur earns far less thanan entrepreneur. Yes. Or some or
even like a consultant orsomebody. Oh, everybody. Far
less.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Far less.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
So like, you know, making that move, you're hitting
hit me in my feels, Like, makingthat move from like, can have
whatever you want to like, hey,for a couple years now, the best
thing you're gonna get is mytime.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
If you're lucky. Yeah. If you're lucky, You know?
And thankfully in this day andage, technology has allowed you
to advance quicker than it wasbefore. Right?
For sure. But there's still atime, like Yeah. Because people
even think it's money and it'snot because you could be on day
one and I can give you a hundredmillion dollars and I promise
you you'll lose every singlepenny of it. There's a balance

(24:42):
between needing funding andneeding experience. On day one
you might need only 10 to maybe$15 no matter what niche you're
going into.
Yep. And that's gonna be enoughto get you started. Any more
than that, you're gonna end upthrown away because you don't
know what to do. Even me at thislevel, you hand me a hundred
million right now, bro, I won'tknow what the fuck to do. I'm

(25:03):
it's not I'm not at that levelyet.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
There's a famous there's a famous saying that if
you took all of the wealth inthe world, all of the money in
the world, and you divided itequally amongst everybody, in a
matter of months, all of themoney, all of the wealth would
be back in the same hands.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Oh, yeah. Oh, that too.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Because of what you just said, skill and experience.
Right? Like, it's not and look,we've we've paid, as I'm sure,
you know, Real Business Owners,Trevor from Real Business
Owners, shout out, he calls itthe dummy tax.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
We call it a tuition payment.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
I call it a tuition Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
We've we've paid our tuition payments, and we
continue to pay our tuitionpayments. You know what I mean?
Like, but that's what you needto do to get that experience.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
So that then you can is what you build is precious. I
don't like comparing it, youknow, the the the the common
comparison is like it's yourbaby, right? Yeah. I feel like
it's, like, a little different.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah. Know

Speaker 1 (25:58):
what mean? But what you build is is precious, and,
like, you need to know how tohold it and nurture it, much
like a child, right? Yeah. Andthe only way that you can do
that is with experience. Right?
You you mean you gotta, like,mess up a whole lot, until you
figure it out. Then when youfigure it out, then you're ready
for

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
You know, that next level. And you

Speaker 2 (26:17):
can buy experience, but it's you can't. Oh, you can.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
But it's by hiring that that executive, hiring that
person that's been there beforebecause now what they're doing
is bringing in that informationlike, hey, don't turn right
there. That's that's a dead end.We gotta go left. Yep. But no,
right looks good.
Go left.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Alright. You know, and and there is shortcuts like
that, but in the beginning, youif especially if you're gonna if
you want to be the leader ofyour team, of your ship, you
know, the captain of your ship,you have to learn it yourself.
Yeah. You have to learn ityourself.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah. I you know, the the whole coaching mentor space,
like, you know, that's it'scrazy now. Like, everybody's a
some kinda coach. Everybody'ssome kinda mentor. And it's it's
an it's it's unfortunate becauseit's kinda, like, bastardized
that space because there is somuch power in having the right
person as a mentor in yourcorner.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Hundred

Speaker 1 (27:12):
And, you know, we have that with Bee, with Bedros.
And, you know, even with him,like, he's showed us lessons and
he's spoken lessons into us, buthe's smart enough to know that
we gotta learn some damnlessons, You know? And, he has
so much of what he's given ushas been instrumental in us

(27:33):
getting to where we are, but hehas never stolen our problems.
And he's done it for a reason.Because he knows the more
problems he steals from us, themore success he he inevitably He

Speaker 2 (27:43):
cripples you. Yeah. From us. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
So, yeah, it's it's it's that, like, fine fine
balance. You you mentioned thatyou you've been an entrepreneur
since you were young. I don'tknow how much of, like, your
early days you wanna get into,but, like, I'm interested in it,
like, what life was like growingup, where

Speaker 2 (27:59):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
What first brought you what was your first hustle?
Because, like, when we wereyoung Yeah. Like, I got a candy
store hustle.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah. I've I've had it all. I had a candy store
hustle.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
But, like, you know, in the beginning, it's more of a
hustle than, than a thanentrepreneurship. It's, like, a
little less I mean,

Speaker 2 (28:13):
it it it it's it's so my yeah. My journey started so
young k. That, like I I know Iwas destined for this world,
right? And so it's for mine, itstarted in elementary school and
I had a friend of mine that satnext to me at lunch and my
grandma used to live with us onand off growing up and we I was

(28:34):
born in New York, but I movedeverywhere, lived in Chicago
where my brother was born, livedin Miami, lived in North
Carolina, but we primarily grewup in the Los Angeles area.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Gotcha.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
But in elementary school, I was in Florida, and my
grandma used to live with us onand off, and she she used to
make us lunches to to bring intoto school. Uh-huh. And so I
would bring my lunches, and mymy friend next to me used to buy
his lunch at school. Yeah. Buthe liked my lunch.
Yeah. And so I was like, well,give me your lunch money, and
I'll give you the lunch. He'slike, done. So I'd give it to

(29:04):
him, but I wouldn't eat. Yeah.
I'd keep the money. Yeah. I'dpocket it. And so I'd get home
starving. And so I'd get homeand this happened for like, I
wanna say it was like two weeks.
Yep. And one day my mom openedmy backpack and found like $15.
This is in the nineties.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Right? Yeah. Very she's like, what is money? No.
Was in love it.
She sees it. She's like, what isall this money? I I was like,
oh, I've been selling mylunches. She's like, what do you
mean? She's like, I sell my thekid next to me buys his lunch.
I would give him my lunch. He'dgive me the money.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
And I would just keep she's like, that's why you come
home so hungry? And I was like,yeah. I'm not spending the
money. I want the money. I'lleat when I get home.
And so that was literally thestart of of of my hustle. And
since then, it's evolved intoall kinds of things, candy bars.
Yep. There was a donut shop downthe street from my house that
would sell me a dozen donuts fora dollar 75. Yeah.

(29:56):
I'd sell them for 50¢ Yeah. Yep.I'd flip the donuts. Yeah. You
know, flip good things thatweren't supposed to be flipped,
know as well unfortunately, youknow.
I had my know, yeah growing upin, in the Los Angeles area, but
just always been with themindset of making my own way I

(30:16):
guess, you know, wanted thingsto this day as sad as it sounds.
I remember the first time we gotlike designer shoes, right? It
was we were in North Carolina. Ithink I was 10, nine or 10.
Yeah.
And he he my brother was a yearold. I mean, we went to the
mall. And back then, they weredesigner shoes, know, but Yeah.
We got a pair of and ones.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
When this is when and ones were and ones. Like, they
were they were considered theNikes and stuff during this
time. Yep. And obviously itstill wasn't Nike, but it was it
was and ones, you know, and thatwas the first time and I was
like, bro, I need more of thisin my life. Yeah.
I was like, this is what I want.Like, we we dip we did we
ditched the Payless and we gotthese M1s, and I was like, yeah,

(30:59):
buddy. What's up? And I lovethat feeling.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah. The Payless shoes, man. Like, dude, they're
uncomfortable. They smelledafter a lobber. Like, out of the
Payless products, man.
Like, you know?

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, man. We had those Shacks, man. We had the
you know? And so that feelingwas kind of ingrained in me.
Like, I was like, man, I I wantmore of that.
And if I can't get it from myhome, I'm gonna get it myself.
I'm gonna figure out how make itmyself.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean, what what you're describing is really like
ownership. Like, you're justlike, hey, look, like, this is
what I got now, and I wantdifferent, and I realize I'm the
vehicle that gets between thosetwo places. You know I mean?
Exactly. I put the gas in, Icontrol the steering wheel, I
mash on the gas, no matter whathas happened to me, no matter
who's in my life now saying Ican't do it, like it's just

(31:46):
total ownership.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
No, total ownership, total ownership. And so young,
like I said, always hustling.I'm a mechanic by trade. So I
started working on cars young inmy life.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
You saying that.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
I used to work on cars after high school after
high school. There was a gasstation on the corner down the
street from my high school thathad a shop. Yep. I'd go work on
cars there. And so and I Ithought that was gonna be my
world was the car world becauseI I love cars.
Love love cars. Still to thisday, I love cars, and I can't
wait to start building mycollection at some point. Yeah.
But but right now, we're justfocused on the build. Yeah.

(32:19):
You know? And, but I love cars.And so my first business

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Before like, you're passing over something that's
really important, man, and it'sdelayed gratification.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Oh, %.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Like, as an entrepreneur, it's one of those
things that, bro, like, you haveto be able to delay
gratification. If you listen, Idon't think Hormozi was the the
original source of it. Mhmm.I've I've meant to to dig deep
to find who it was, but he'ssaid it recently that people
that build great things,especially great things that
impact others, they have threethings in common. The first one

(32:51):
is they can delay gratification.
The second one is they thinkthey can do much more than the
average person could. And thenthe third one is they think that
they can do much less than theaverage person could. So they
actually have a piece of themthat thinks they're better than
others, and a piece of them thatthinks that they're much worse
than others, much less thanothers.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
And they can delay gratification. And as I've
looked around at people, I seethat. You know, I see that,
like, people in my circle nowthat are high achievers that I
aspire to be, I see that inthem. I see that they can delay
gratification. They love cars,but they're driving a hoopty
right now.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
It ain't a hoopty, bud. It's Yeah. It ain't the one
I want.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Ain't the one you want. They think that they're
better. Like, they they have aspecial gift that other people
don't have, but at the sametime, they have, like, a
crushing sense of, like, I amless than others.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
You know what mean?

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah. And that's funny or or or eye opening
because I I believe I feel thatthose three qualities are
ingrained in me at the same timebecause, like you said, since
growing up I've always knownlike I'm destined for more like
I've known it and there'scertain people that say it but
don't live to it but like I'vefelt it since I was a kid. I'm

(34:04):
like I am destined for somethingbig. Like I know it and and you
know and I know I know it's it'sbeen proven time and time again
you know. Unfortunately there'sbeen multiple times where I
should not be on this earth youknow but God's been like nope
not yet.
I got I got plans

Speaker 1 (34:20):
for Pulled back in.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Oh, pulled me back in multiple times. And the first
one was I was in a pretty badmotorcycle accident, where I've
had 14 reconstructive surgeries,should have definitely not been
here, but it was necessary. Andbelieve it or not, to this day,
I believe that it was the bestthing that happened to me,
because he stopped me in mytracks. He's like, you're going
down the wrong path. I was notlistening.

(34:42):
And he said, alright, fire. Andhe smacked me. He's like,
alright. Here you go.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
God send signs. They're always there. Right? If
you have the level of awarenessand you're listening, you will
see them and you will correctcourse. Correct.
Right? Sometimes, man. You knowwhat I mean? And I can I'm hard
headed like that sometimes,especially when I was younger.
You probably were too.
And sometimes, the signs aren'tenough, and the smacks gotta
come in. It has to. The smacksgotta come in. It has come in.

(35:08):
You know

Speaker 2 (35:09):
what is. And I'm glad it came in early because it it
did give me what I needed tokinda like wake up and kind of
tone back, you know. My brotherand I didn't have the best
relationship growing up, youknow, and now we have an amazing
relationship thankfully, youknow, and it's it's, you know,
it's it all things, I believe,happen for a reason, you know,
and sometimes we go down thewrong path thinking it's the

(35:29):
wrong path, but it's the rightpath to get you to where you
need to be. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's a course, It

Speaker 2 (35:34):
is. You know? Because, for example, the
accident happened and thentechnically in my opinion,
that's where my life started.Because I had to move in with my
parents in North Carolina atthat time. We were still living
in LA.
And that's where I started myfirst business. That's why my
phone number is a 919 number.Yeah. I haven't changed my
number since I started my firstbusiness because I've just met
so many people Yeah. Over theyears and they know they could

(35:56):
still reach me on that samenumber.
Sure. Sure. But I I used to workso I I I went in by working with
a partner in an auto repairshop. And so what we did was I
worked for about a year and ahalf straight about eighteen
nineteen hours a day saved up 60k. So I worked overnight on the
railroad as a mechanic.

(36:17):
Yeah. And then I'd so I'd workfrom 8PM to 06:30 in the morning
At seven, I'd go home, sleep,I'd wake up at 11AM, and then go
into the shop and work from,like, 11:30 or twelve to 07:30
hustle, man. And then go back tothe to the to the to the train,
you know, and start working onthe trains at night. And, man,
it was hard, but during thatage, I mean, that's when you do

(36:37):
it. And so but I had the hunger.
I was like, I I'm going to buildsomething. And we built I mean,
we we built a decent shop. Like,we went from being one bay
inside of another shop. Yeah.Like subleasing.
Mhmm. To six bays and fourtechnicians in like two years.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
That's what I

Speaker 2 (36:53):
was talking A little, you know, and so it was like we
were hustling, right? And I sawyou and I was like, this is
great. Unfortunately, thingsdidn't work out well, so I had
to get out. Yeah. And I was inlimbo for a little bit and I was
helping a friend of mine withhis, he had a Time Warner
contracting company, Cox, TimeWarner, Spectrum, you know,
cable.
Yeah, cable. And so I was I wasdoing that and right before my

(37:17):
accident happened, my firstmentor, she's a doctor of
chiropractic. Mhmm. And she tookme on. She saw as a matter of
fact, we just recently had aconversation.
She just called me like Okay.Literally two weeks ago and we
were catching up and and becauseshe was coming to Vegas and I
was telling her and tellingabout the new facility. She's
like, man, I knew you were gonnado something big. Yeah. This and

(37:40):
the second.
Because she was pretty much oneof the first peep people to see
it in me. Yep. Because she sentme out to this chiropractic
business school. Yeah. Paid like$30,000 for me to go through all
this training and all thisstuff.
And two weeks later is when myaccident happened. And I was
four months in the hospital andall that. She and it was just
like I I felt so bad, and shewas like, don't worry about it.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
That says something that says something about her
too.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
She viewed me like another son. Yeah. She viewed me
like her son.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
An average an average person with just average
qualities would say, I can'tbelieve you did that to me,
Josh. Yeah. You know, you I we Ijust did this for you, and then
you went and think and she waslike, no. Don't worry about it.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
She was.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
She saw yeah. She saw what was inside. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
So she hit me up when I was during that limbo between
the shop, and she's like, hey.How far is Charlton, South
Carolina from? It's like a threehour drive. She's like, can you
meet me there in June? I'm goingdown for a convention.
I need your help with something.I'm like, yeah. Of course. I'm
there. What do you so she'slike, what do I was like, what
do you need?
She's like, just meet me there.I was like, god. I'll be there.
So June, I drove down there and,it was a medical convention.

(38:45):
Mhmm.
And in day one, we did 60,000 insales. And I'm like, is this
shit legal? Like, what what arewe like, woah.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
What are we doing here?

Speaker 2 (38:53):
What's what's what's the she's like, this is what I
got going on. And I'm like, sowe went to dinner last

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Like, tell me more.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yes. So we went to dinner last night. She told me
about it. Right? So it's in thed m a DME space, durable medical
equipment where we wereproducing orthopedic braces Yep.
That we sell to thesedistributors.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
In there. Yep.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Yep. And so stupid money. And she's like, I I know
the product, but you know me. Idon't know business. I don't
know sales.
I need you to come in and handlemy shit. I'll keep creating, you
handle operations and sales Yep.And let's do it. And I'm like,
done. Yeah.
Let's do it. So we startedgrowing that, and we were
killing it to this day. Thelargest p single PO I've ever

(39:33):
closed was through that company

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
To Cardinal Health. And so we kept doing that, boom
boom.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
You know what's interesting, man? Like, as I see
through your journey, and,again, it's something that lines
up with me, you I I see you as avisionary. Yeah. But you're also
an operator. Yes.
And that's kinda like how Ithat's kinda how I roll too.
Now, I'm most effective in thevisionary spot. Same. But I can
operate. Same.
Now, when I'm operating, myvisionary stuff gets in the way
sometimes. Yes. But, like, I cando both. And throughout my

(40:01):
career, even prior to Fuel Hunt,like, I was doing the same
thing. I was kinda, like,switching back and forth,
visionary operator visionaryoperator.
It's interesting to kinda hearthat from you too.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
You know

Speaker 1 (40:14):
what I mean? Because right now I would see, like, at
the sub house, definitely you'rein that visionary role. Like,
you're not behind the sewingmachine. No. You probably could
be.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Yeah. Oh, I know how to use every piece of equipment.
Yeah. Yeah. You could

Speaker 1 (40:24):
be, but you're in that visionary role now. Well,
like here, when you're talkingabout the medic you know, this
company, it's like, Well, I'mgonna switch back to the
operator role. Your friend, shewas in that visionary spot. I'm
gonna create what to do. You'regonna make it happen.
We're gonna do this. Yeah.Interesting, man. Very
interesting.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
And that's how I got to Vegas. So in in in 2014
between January and April, Iflew to Vegas Nine times from
North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Because all these medical conventions and shit and
all they're there. I mean,there's a convention there every
day. As a matter of I justlearned there was a pizza
convention in there last night.No. I'm dead serious.
It's literally for pizza shops,mom and pop pizza shops on the
latest doughs and the latestovens and the latest bricks and
the like

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Convention for everything.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Convention for everything and they all come to
That's spot. Right?

Speaker 1 (41:17):
That's the

Speaker 2 (41:17):
spot. So I I I told my brother and my mom one day,
I'm like, guys, I'm moving toVegas. What's up? You guys wanna
come? They said, fuck it.
Let's do it. Yeah. And so wepacked up, drove to Vegas Yeah.
And and settled down. Nowgranted, we had as I said, we
grew up in LA.
We had a cousin in Vegas that weused to visit back and forth

(41:37):
when we grew up in LA. So weknew a little bit, but we've
we've always been there like fora weekend or two or something
like nothing crazy, but still itwas like new territory. Right?
Straight cross country. We werelike, you know, we'll do it.
And so that's how I got toVegas. Got to Vegas, you know,
still with the medical and, youknow, things weren't going. I've

(41:58):
always been a minority at thatpoint throughout my whole
entrepreneur career. I wasalways the the minority, lower
percentage, lower things

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
But higher execution. Yeah. And I was like, you know
what? It's time for me to kindof figure out my shit. Like, I
wanna I wanna I wanna be theleader leader.
Right? Yeah. So things weren'tworking out. I said, you know
what? I'm gonna I'm gonna stepaway from this Yeah.
And I'm gonna do my own thing.And so I started my first solo
business, which was Vape SocietyDistro. Okay. Which was a we

(42:27):
were a vape distribution companyAlright. Where we made handmade
premium coils.
This was obviously in the wildwild west days of of vape and it
was

Speaker 1 (42:36):
No regulation.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
And we were killing it. Yeah. We were killing it. I
mean, we were traveling up anddown. We were having fun.
It was my brother. We had mybest friend from high school
there that moved out from CaliYeah. To live with us. My cousin
that was out there. We were justwe were having fun and making
money, and it was just it wasawesome.
It was freaking great. And then2016 came and big farm Big

(43:01):
Tobacco was not happy.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Because in 2015, the reports came out and the vape
industry had taken$54,000,000,000 from Big And Big
Tobacco goes, FDA bro, what'sup? Like, we pay you all this
money every year Yep. And theseguys don't do shit, go bust some
balls. Like, what's up? And sothey came out with these

(43:25):
outlandish regulations thatstarted that took place in
August of twenty sixteen Yep.
And pretty much crippled theentire vape world. At that
point, it was all mom and pop.All the vape world was mom and
pop. Usually, was, you know, aswhether it was stores or the
brands, it was all families. Itwas all families.
Yep. And most of it, again, wildwild west. Nobody knew business.

(43:48):
Nobody knew this. Everybody wasspending money.
So when they came in, now it'slike you need attorneys, you
need science reports, you needthis, you need that, you need to
submit paperwork to FDA. We hadthe know how thankfully from the
medical side on my end on how todo it and we submit it. As a
matter of fact, our licensesjust expired. Yeah. I think it
was like maybe two, three yearsago, they had they just expired

(44:10):
because you had to pay like $25Oh, yeah.
Per license, and if you had likemultiple products, you're
talking about tens of thousandsof dollars at a lot of so it It

Speaker 1 (44:19):
just chokes everybody.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Our business in like five It was like crazy and we
were scrambling. Was like, ohshit. So we started briefly our
marketing agency called CupStudios, which stands for
contents under pressure studios.Okay. Because we were under
fucking pressure.
I like that. We were underpressure, boy. We were like,

(44:41):
shit. We got a we went frommaking stupid money to like not
even a tenth of it.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
What are we gonna do next?

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Overnight and we were like, alright. I was like, shit.
What do we do? We have access tothese vendors on ordering
business cards, brochures,banners for really good pricing.
I was like, my brother knowsphotoshop and content and like
pictures and videos Yep.
And how to build websites. AndI'm like, alright. We'll start
selling marketing services. Igot this. Right?

(45:07):
We'll kill it. We'll we'll we'llwe'll revamp. Give me two
months. We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
We'll be back.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
We'll be back. Yeah. Boy. Bro, no bullshit. I went
door to door to almost everysingle business in Vegas.
Yep. Door to door. Door like,got out my car, was stopped at a
plaza, knocked, dropped offcards. Like, hey. I got the best
deals for you.
I was giving away product. Yep.Crickets. I may I mean,

(45:34):
crickets. And then here comesone of the major mistakes in
that time.
Again, we were just trying tomake rent, trying to figure shit
out.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Right? And there was one restaurant group, not group,
just a restaurant that I wasthat was like giving us a little
bit of like back and forth. I'mlike, alright. I'm a close this.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
They wanted menus, but they wanted these nice
unique menus that nobody had andeverything. And so I started
find hitting up suppliers,finding suppliers. I found the
supplier that does the menusfor, like, the restaurants on
the strip. Yep. And I went to govisit him, and it was crazy to
this day.
I mean, I was it was like athousand dollar a menu, and
these and they needed 200 menus.And I'm like, a thousand dollars

(46:14):
a menu for them, I'm like whatare we doing and this wholesale.
Yeah. Right and I'm like dude Ican't sell a thousand dollar
menu with the 200, I'm likeyou're tripping, I'm like this
is crazy, I'm like nah, soeverything was either the fold
up paper or the laminated, so II came up with this stupid crazy
idea. Alright.
I'm like, dude, look. They werea a Marisco spot. Right? So like

(46:35):
a seafood. I was like, look.
I'm gonna get you these menus.We're gonna make them custom
size.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Right? The custom paper, custom size, we're gonna
and we're gonna create a custombamboo spiral bound. Yeah. So
it's not gonna be normal. Right?
They were like, bro, this isgreat. Now guys do Now you guys
do Right? Bro, I undersold thefuck out of this job, bro. I
they all tell me about I I waslike, oh, yeah. I figured this

(47:01):
out.
This is gonna take fucking bro,I had myself, my wife, who was
my girlfriend at the time in thein the kitchen. I got sick.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Had How how do we make a bamboo binder?

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Bro, it was it was wow. We had to hand freaking
Yeah. Lace these shits, bro. Itwas I I think I sold the job for
like $3 because our rent waslike bro, we had to our rent was
like 1,700 or 2,000 and weneeded to pay it. And so I was
like, you know what, $3 for 200menus, that job should have
easily been 15.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
I was good

Speaker 2 (47:31):
at Easy.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
How'd you turn out that many menus then?

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Bro, we we did it. We did the work. Bro, we did the
work. Bro, I ordered in like 20laminators from Amazon. Yeah.
I ordered in these these sheetsand these special cutters. I
went to from Joann Fabrics andHobby Lobby to because the other
part was August. I couldn'tfigure out a way to custom make

(47:55):
the holes for this specialpaper. Yeah. Because it was
either for eight and a half byeleven or eleven by seventeen.
Yeah. There was no

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Yeah. Is a full craft

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Bro, on, custom. They probably still have the menus
because they

Speaker 1 (48:09):
were Did they love the menu?

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Oh, bro. They loved them. They loved them. They
loved which was great. But bro,it was crazy.
Yeah. So, yeah, contents underpressure did not work. Yeah. It
did not work, bro. We it was welearned some things.
Well, we learned some things.Learned some things. It was
great. And then from there, so Iwent back to my roots. I went to
the dealership world to kind offigure out my life while we were

(48:32):
you know, what we were gonna doMy wife and I ended up getting
pregnant with our oldest at thattime Mhmm.
And so she's like, you gottalike, we gotta do something
like,

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Time to figure

Speaker 2 (48:43):
it out. Time to figure out. Was like, Let me go
get a job. Yep. While I figureout my next move.
Like, I don't know what it'sgonna be. And, unfortunately,
that time, family crisis cameinto play with, my
mother-in-law.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
And they had a children's clothing brand. Yep.
It's been around since 02/2008.And the business was like in
limbo. At that time, it wasdoing decent.
It was doing like 607 hundredthousand a year, but we couldn't
like she was completely out ofthe picture kind of like she
couldn't handle it. Yep. And mywife called me one day, she's
like, babe, you you gotta cometake over. Yeah. You got I'm

(49:17):
like I'm like, well, take overwhat?

Speaker 1 (49:19):
It's, like, almost everything up until that point,
like, kinda built you for that.Yes. Not necessarily maybe that
you had, like, the exact skillsnecessary. No. But you had the
skill that you knew you weregonna figure it the fuck out.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
%.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
You know

Speaker 2 (49:32):
what mean? Bro, before I took over, I didn't
even know how to open Photoshop.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
And even going back, like, even when you were like,
alright, look, let me take abreak. I'm gonna go back to the
dealership. I'm gonna, you know,get some income coming in so I
can figure things out. Like,you're going back through your
Rolodex of skills. And you'relike, okay, look, like, I was
hustling my lunches.
You know what I mean? Thenmechanic, then this and that.
Devices, like, you can now youhave a Rolodex of skill. Yeah.

(49:55):
You know?
And that's the thing. Like, Ithink people wish for less
problems, but really what theyshould be doing is they should
be working for more skills.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (50:06):
%.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
So so your wife says, look, gotta you gotta step

Speaker 2 (50:10):
in here. Gotta step in You gotta and it's funny you
mentioned that because I'm gonnatie back to what you just
mentioned on the Rolodexa skillin a in a minute on this
journey. But yeah. So she tellsme, you gotta come take over.
Like, we can't afford to losethe family business.
Like, this is all my mom and dadhave. Like, do you Mhmm. You
gotta come in. And I was like,fuck it. I'm like, I know
business.

(50:31):
I don't know shit about clothes.I don't know shit about little
girls clothes at that. Right?Didn't grow It's

Speaker 1 (50:37):
pajamas.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Right? Yeah. It's pajamas. I didn't we didn't grow
up with the girls or anything,and we grew up in Los Angeles.
Our brand Target brand at atstill to this day is upper class
New Yorkers.
Right? And and and camp andsleep away camp. I'm like, know
nothing about it, but I'm like,you know what? I know business.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
So the, like, the avatar like, the the customer
The customer avatar. Like, thisperson that you've never you've
never dealt with. I've nevereven met one. Where's the
sleepaway camp coming now?

Speaker 2 (51:04):
So sleepaway camp, we're a big sleepaway camp
brand. So our brand is heavy inthe sleepaway camp. We are

Speaker 1 (51:13):
So custom custom clothing for the

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Not just custom clothing, but mostly the brand.
So they buy they first, theylove our fabric, they love our
fit, and they love thelongevity. I mean, we have we
get emails from from parentsthat are like, I need to order
another three pairs because Ican't get these off of them and
I need to wash them because they

Speaker 1 (51:32):
stink. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So please set, you know, and so
they're like, what size do Ineed to get this and that. They
we got parents that their pants,they've had them so long that
the size washes out of the tagYep.
And the pant is still brandYeah.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I don't know what size is Yes.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
But but they love and they grew out of

Speaker 1 (51:49):
shout out the the brand? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
I mean, the brand's Penelope Wildberry. We have a
few stores here in the Phillyarea that carry our product.
Been And

Speaker 1 (51:58):
do DTC online too? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah. Okay. We've a website where we do DTC.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
So we a little bit of a jump there. So you step in,
you're like, don't know shitabout any of

Speaker 2 (52:07):
No, no,

Speaker 1 (52:07):
And you don't even So it's one thing to not know the
what I'll call the the tech thethe abilities of or the
technical skills. Right? Ithink. But you also don't even
know who you're selling to.Like, you don't even know that
person.
No. So it's not like you cancome in and be effective with
the marketing on day one andmove the needle. Bro. And it's

(52:28):
not like you can go in and belike, well, me sit behind the
sewing machine.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
At the like, even have

Speaker 2 (52:32):
that yet. So at that so we didn't even have that yet.
So not not back to the avatar.Bro, before this, I thought that
all that sleep away camp wasjust in the movies.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
Bro, it wasn't a real thing.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Bro, when she's when they started explaining it to
me, I'm like, wait a minute.This is real? Like, I remember
parent trap, and I remember campthis and camp that movie.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Dude, I'll be honest with you, man. Like, growing up,
there was a I think a show on,Nickelodeon or something, man. I
don't know because I didn't havecable Yeah. Growing up. Like, we
didn't have cable.
We just had the antenna. Ididn't get cable till I was in
college. Right? So, like, I sawthe stuff in my friend's houses.
Yeah.
But there was, like, a camp likethat, where, like, basically,
your kids would go away for thesummer, and, like, that's it.
Like, you send your kid away.Yeah. And I I remember thinking

(53:16):
to myself, I'm like, dude, thiscan't be real. Like, what
parents would send their kidsaway?
The only kids I knew that gotsent away when I was growing up

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Were the bad ones.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Were the bad ones.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah. You went to Juvie or some kind of, you know
Where you went to? Boardingschool.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Boarding school or something. Like, I'm like, these
kids seem like well adjusted.They're having fun. They're in
canoes. Jet

Speaker 2 (53:32):
skiing, canoes. Right? So, like Like,

Speaker 1 (53:35):
this can't be real.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
I same, bro. Before that, I was like I'm like, this
is only in movies. Like, I wouldlove that, but I'm like, this
can't exist in real life. I'mlike, it's just movie based.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
So you find out that that's

Speaker 2 (53:45):
I find out that it's a real thing. And I'm like, what
the fuck? I'm like, this iscrazy. And I'm learning this and
I'm learning that. I'm learningbro, some of these camps for
tuition for six weeks is $14.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah. Massage.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
That's not including the clothes, the bunks, the
nothing.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
That's more than the tuition for my entire elementary
school Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I'm like I'm like what is going on right? So I'm
like, yes, so I know nothing.Okay. I know nothing right? But
the second I get in here, I findand I see our biggest gap or
biggest hole, our biggest shipsinker

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Is our production, right?

Speaker 1 (54:22):
So where is that? So at that time the production was
Outsourced. All outsourced.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Pretty much.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
Not on

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Pretty not domestic? Well, some Some a few domestic
partners

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
But some most of the the fabrics and stuff from
overseas

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Gotcha.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Gotcha. And stuff. And so it was

Speaker 1 (54:38):
like Some mixed bag.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Yeah. Mixed bag. Of the printing we would do in
house. Some of it we wouldn't.What was the

Speaker 1 (54:45):
so what was the why was production an issue? Was it
unreliable turns?

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Unreliable turns, unreliable fabric, unreliable
timelines as far Quality andtimeline. Quality and times. Our
stores wanted the product and wecouldn't get it to them. Yeah.
Like it was sometimes six, eightweeks Yeah.
To get them an order and at thistime we're not doing crazy
volume either. Yep. Excuse me.Which is also why it was part of

(55:11):
the problem is we couldn't findit. And my last straw was we got
a shipment of fabric in that was$30,000 and it was cut upside
down.
And they go, order again, we'llgive you a discount. Like, order
again and you'll give me adiscount. Fix this Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
No.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I said fuck this. Was that I'm figuring it out. Is
that, offshore? Yes.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Bro, it's wild, actually. It's wild. It's wild.
Mean, you know, the communityknows that, like, when we first
started Fuel Hunt we're new tothis, right?

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
When we first started Fuel Hunt, we weren't a %
American made, right? So we weredoing some stuff overseas.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
We stayed out of China, pretty much.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
But we were in The Middle East. You know what I
mean? And I will never forget,like, our first couple forays
into making product in TheMiddle East. Bro, it was wild.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
It was wild. I I don't know what I really
expected, but, like, I had todownload WhatsApp fine.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Like Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
You know, oh, we keep what's apps? I download
WhatsApp, whatever. And, like, Iget on, like, video chat

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Yeah. On the

Speaker 1 (56:23):
WhatsApp with this dude over there. And I'm like,
what is going on here? I'm like,something

Speaker 2 (56:28):
ain't out.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
I'm like, something ain't right. Like, I'm about to
wire this dude, like, $5. Right,which is

Speaker 2 (56:37):
And it looks like he's in a cave.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
A massive amount of money for us at that point, And
I'm like, this ain't this ain'tthis ain't right. Like, there's,
like, shit all over the place,like, it's not cleanly, like,
this dude does not look like heknows what he's doing. I'm like,
something's wrong here. Like,dude, it's the Wild West. And
then, like, as we got deeperinto it, we always wanted to be

(57:00):
American made for, you know,reasons that our community

Speaker 2 (57:03):
knows, right?

Speaker 1 (57:04):
In the beginning, we did what we had to do to cut our
teeth. Yeah. You know what Imean? But what it made like, I
started to quickly realize that,like, the money we were spending
had ripple effects over there,and I didn't like the ripple
effects from what I was seeing.Right?
Then I started to go deeper intoit. And me, like, one thing
about me is I'm super curious.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Like, that's, like, one of my superpowers, like,
curiosity. So then I started togo down the rabbit hole, and I'm
like, like, I can actually beworking with people in certain
regions in other countries wherethat region is known for forced
labor, like, basically slavery.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Not basically, actual slavery.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Sex trafficking. Like, you know Child labor.
Child labor. Drugs.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
There are child labor that help around, like, job.
Like, real Yes. Like, real.Real. And

Speaker 1 (57:57):
I started going down there, and I was down that
rabbit hole, and I was like,this has to stop. And that's
when we started making, like, aa plan to get back to The
States. You know what I mean?Because I was like, this this
cannot be, man. Yeah.
This cannot be. So so Iunderstand.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
So when you're telling me $30,000 comes in,
it's cut wrong, and they'relike, oh, order again and we'll
give you a discount. I get it.Yeah. We've been there.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Unfortunately, most brands most brands understand
it. And, you know, I was toldthat can't be done. You can't do
it. I'm like, bro, bullshit.I'll figure this shit Now don't
get me wrong.
At that time, I did not know Iwas building a factory. I was
just solving

Speaker 1 (58:36):
a You're just

Speaker 2 (58:37):
trying to do it. I was just literally trying to get
our clothes to our stores. Yep.Right? That's it.
I didn't know I was buildingthis factory. I didn't have a
vision of bringing back apparelmanufacturing, stay side, none
of that. And so that startedlate twenty eighteen, early '20
'19, and we started blah blahblah, and I just looked up and
I'm like, wow. Like, look atthis equipment. We were still

(58:59):
tiny as shit at that time, butstill, was like, we got this How
did happen?

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Like, you you say, okay, look, we need to take more
control of this. Yeah. Not justthe experience, but the quality.
And that was a big thing for ustoo. So it was our the ripple
effect that we were having inthe world.
Yep. Like that impact, right?Because Drew and I swore to
ourselves. We were like, look,if we're going to start this
business, we're gonna make surethis business aligns with the
impact that we wanna have in theworld. Right?

(59:25):
So there was that. We had totake control of that. But then
we were taking control of, thequality and then the experience
our community members wouldhave. Right? Where did that
shift happen?
Were you like you looked aroundfor vendors and you were just
like, look, I'm fucking I'm justbuying a sewing machine.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Yeah. No. So it it it started so in Vegas to begin
with, it's not a huge apparelzone. Right? There's not there's
really not much.
Like, you're

Speaker 1 (59:50):
You're not far from it, though.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
LA. I mean, it's still four hours. You know? And
but there's there's yeah. Yougot your print shops, screen
print, your embroidery, shitlike that, your vinyl.
Cut and sew. Right? But cut andsew and sublimation doesn't
really exist.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Right? Especially sublimation.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Especially sublimation. So I'm like, I was
trying to work things, workthings with LA, with the
transit, the shipping, the this,and then minimums, right?

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
At this time, so our the we had our I guess problem
slash not problem is one of ourthe popularity of our product is
that we come up with crazydesigns and we have a wide
catalog. So every every threemonths, we drop a new catalog.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
And it's usually 20 to 30 brand new designs of just
and they're all hand drawn,crazy, graphics, this, fun,
wild, Penelope Wildberry, youknow.

Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
All over seamless prints.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Yes, all over seamless prints but the thing is
is we didn't know what wouldsell so we were always a made to
order brand type deal.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
So it's not like we can go in there and order 50
pieces of each style each designbecause now we're bringing in a
hundred thousand dollars worthof merchandise that we don't
even know if it's gonna sell.Yeah. Yeah. So the problem we
would run into with withsuppliers and vendors we were
trying to find is they alwaysrequired a high minimum Yep. Of

(01:01:13):
one design or one size.
And it was just like, bro, it'snot possible. Like, I can't I
could take the orders and I'llgive it to you, but sometimes
that style is gonna have 10pieces. Yeah. Or that design is
gonna have 50 pieces. Or hey, ifthis design really hits, you'll
get 300 pieces of that style,but I still need these other 15
of this other one.
They'll be like, we'll do that,but we won't do this. Right? So

(01:01:36):
I'm like, alright. Fuck it. And,man, to be honest, I can't give
you the exact details because itall happens so fast.
Yeah. And it besides the onlything I could tell you is is on
my side, really. Like, really.It all happened so fast and all
the pieces started to fall inline so quickly that it was like
I said, it's almost meant to bethat this was my niche. Right?

(01:01:58):
Well, backtracking a little bit,my wife and I's first date that
we went on was I told her I toldher two big things. Right? I
told her, one, I want three kidsYeah. Which have we have our
three kids

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
on

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
our first date, and two, that I'm gonna build a
massive empire. Yeah. And she'slike, okay. And what? And I was
like, I don't know but I'm gonnabuild it.
She's like alright. She thoughtit was gonna be cars and I
thought it might have been carstoo but when this happened, bro
I fell in love with thisindustry so quick and it kind of
connected all of my attributesand beams kind of into one, that

(01:02:35):
when I built when I looked upand I saw what I built factory
wise, I'm like, this is it. Thisis what I plan on being in for
the rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Yeah. It's it's so crazy because you can, I feel
like as hard chargingentrepreneurs, we rarely step
back? Because there's problemsof the day to solve, right? So
you rarely step back. Even as avisionary, right?
Yeah. Like, your job as avisionary is to look is to look
up and out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
Right? Not down and in. No. But, like, even as a
visionary, you're not lookingback. No.
Right? So we rarely do it. Butwhen you step back, and I have
the same thing here, when I stepback, I can see, like, pieces of
all of my life's experienceshere. Yes. And it's wild.
It's wild. It's it is

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
so It just it just connects. Just like it could
becomes like a little puzzlethat just boom. I know. And it
comes together, I'm gonna talk alittle bit more on that puzzle.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
That's why, like, for me, like, that that that was,
you know, one of the momentswhere, you know, I you know,
grew up Catholic and

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
You know, all that stuff, but that was one of the
moments where I, like,surrendered. Was like, this
ain't my plan. No. Like, I knowwhat I need to do in this
moment. Like, I know the planfor the day.
I know, you know, as avisionary, I know the plan for
the year, you know, like, five,ten, whatever. But, like, in the
grand scheme of things, thisain't my plan. Like, I just need
to do the work, and then thepuzzle pieces will start to

(01:04:02):
connect. Hundred because there'ssomething bigger than me. You
know what I mean?
It's shaping them and pullingthem together. %.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
You know what mean?

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
It's it's wild.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
It is. When you have that epiphany, it's like It is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Holy shit.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
It is. It's crazy. And I've had them a few times,
and we're gonna get close to theand so I so I said I can't
pinpoint how it happened, but Iput up an ad in the Spanish
newspaper for sewers. I put upbecause I could I was like, how
do I find these? Like, how do Ifind sewers?
What machines do I need? I don'teven know what the machines are
called. I'm like, look. Well, Igot blessed with Andres, which
is my production manager stillwith me to this day.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
He I I found him. He found me Through the ad? Through
the ad. Found him, he came alongwith two of his people that,
again, Abelino and Pedro,another our our our trio of, of
just foundational sub house, youknow, And I still we got videos
and content still of them fromback then and there in that day

(01:04:55):
in that little corner with threelittle machines and stuff. And
well, I got blessed.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
Did you at that point, did you know how to sew
at that point? No. Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Yeah. Yeah. No.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
So you're so that's another thing. Like, we're
talking about surrender. I wastalking about, like surrendering
to my high power. Right. Butlike, this is another type of
another type.
You bring these dudes in andyou're like, okay, you've you've
been through enough where youcan read people, you can
understand people. So you'relike, okay, like, can probably
trust these dude.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
I don't even know what

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
to You're just you're just like, okay, look, you
you're gonna be in your corner,you're gonna be running these
machines, and I'm just gonnasurrender and trust you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Literally, it's like you trying to go in the
Operating Room and knowing ifthat heart surgeon is doing what
he's supposed to. Yeah. Thatlooks right? I don't know. He
might come out with two livers.
Look. But just look. Yeah. Say,I'm like, look. I don't know
what this is supposed to looklike.
It looks right. Look. Just bringme the final product. Let me let
me, you know, let me see. And,well, I said, got blessed, man.

(01:05:48):
I got blessed with Andres andAbelino and Pedro earlier feel

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
the same way about you at this point?

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do. Andres has
expressed it multiple times. Youknow, he's he's said it that for
sure, you know, I've been thebest leader that he's had in his
life, and I feel the same way.You know, I'm I'm very blessed
and fortunate with our team, ourculture, you know.
But, yeah, I brought him in. Igot lucky, you know, and then
for a quick stint, like, I gotunlucky because he ended up

(01:06:14):
having to move to Florida Mhmm.With his wife to go be with
family. He's like, I'm leaving.I'm like, what do you mean
you're leaving?
What's up? How far

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
how far

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
in To Miami. From Vegas to Miami.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
Saying how far into

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Oh, was early. It was like pretty much after year one.
Oh. Like early. Right?

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
And I'm like So you're just settling in and
you're like, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Stop Yeah. We're like, we're yeah. And I'm like,
oh. I'm like, alright, bro. Imean, I you gotta do what you
gotta do.
I get it. Blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
And thankfully The other two guys from the power
trio are still

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
with Okay. Yep. We're still there. And thankfully,
didn't last long, but I toldhim, I was like, look, bro. If
you come back

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
You have a place here. Yeah. So if you ever come
back and he calls me a fewmonths later, hey. I'm coming
back. Dude, when do you wannastart?

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Come on, when do you want to start? Right. I was like
come on, come on home, come on.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Yeah. And

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
so this was late twenty nineteen and again from
when we started our factory tothen we doubled our sales. Yeah.
Doubled. Because we were able tojust produce, get it out.
Produce, get it out.
Check quality, make sure wasYou're able

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
to do smaller runs, experiment.

Speaker 2 (01:07:19):
You're able to

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
do things. You're basically the things that, the
problems that you solved foryourself at that time, you are
now helping people like us solvethose same problems.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Correct. And that's kinda how the vision came into
play, So I'm like looking up in2019, and I'm like, bro, we're
running three days a week, we'rerunning half shifts.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
Mhmm.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
Like our bandwidth is wide and I'm like, this shit's
just sitting here. Yeah. Like,why don't we start helping
others? Yeah. Right?
So I started reaching out

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
all the way back to the beginning of the show. So I

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
started reaching out Instagram DMs, this and that,
but at the

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
same Same thing, like you were knocking on doors, man.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
But I'm reaching out as the brand.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Yeah. Oh, it's been helpful a

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
So people are like, wait a minute, are you a
factory? Because I'd gettraction, they'd be like, oh
yes, you're domestic and youYes. Oh, me look cute.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
We don't need pajamas. Yeah, they're

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
like, you're a little girl's brand, what do you what
do you mean? I'm like, well,technically we're both.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
And they're like, and so kinda they kinda like, it
kinda turned them off. Yep. Andthen finally one day it clicked
on me, I'm like

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
You hear you you're going through the Rolodex Yes.
Skill and you go back to the cupstays, dude. Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Content's under pressure. I'm like, I'm like, it
clicks, I'm like, I gottaseparate the two. Yeah. Right?
And so that's where thesublimation house was born.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
Ah, I got you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Late twenty nineteen, early '20 '20, sublimation house
was born and I'm like, I gottaseparate the two Yep. Because
this is the only way I couldreach out as a factory and not
as a brand.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Right? And so I started reaching out early
twenty nineteen late twentynineteen, early '20 '20 Yeah.
Pandemic hits. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Oh, yeah. I'm like, fuck.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
I'm like like literally Mhmm. Crying into so
at that time besides the brand,we also ran a pretty successful
trade show in New York threetimes a year Mhmm. Because we
for the children's space. So wefor retail buyers. Not only just
our brand, but we'd have SteveMadden, Flowers by Zoe, all the

(01:09:20):
major kids But you were mad.
But we ran the trade show. Ah,okay. We put on the trade show.
It was called the NYC kidsThat's pretty smart, man. Yeah.
That's very smart. So becausethere used to be a show. Is
that?

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
So your mother-in-law was doing that previously before
you stepped oh, okay. So thisthis was a new.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
This was new. This was always new. This was all
new. She had an idea of it.She's the one that because there
were there used to be a tradeshow.
Yep. But they took it away. Andso the stores and the buyers
were had a need Yeah. To findall these brands together to go
over their collections. So we'relike, fuck it.
I'll figure it out. I've neverran a trade show before, but I

(01:09:56):
was like, we'll figure this shitout. Was

Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
And sure enough, I mean, it was great. Great money,
fun. Yeah. Our booth was free.What was better than Yeah.
Know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Have to pay 5 figures down

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
to get there. You know? And so it was great. And
so we had the trade show, thebrand Putting on

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
a trade show is a lot of work. It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
A lot

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
of work. My buddy Kenny puts on Strong New York in
New York. Largest fitness expo.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Right? And dude, see the work behind it, it is a ton.
A ton,

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
bro, because you got all these people, I want this
section, and I can't be next tothat guy because he's my
competitor, he's gonna see my,and I wanna be They

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
have high expectations, right? They're
paying for that booth, they wantthey wanna be seen, they wanna
move units, you know what Imean? They wanna leave there
with connections.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
Good experience, like, is a big

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
It's a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
I have so much, you know, every and Kenny's is
coming up soon. I go every year,and I have so much respect. I I
have a ton of respect for him,but after every event, I have so
much more respect for himbecause and he has a team, like,
and everything that helps himout with it, and, you know, they
do a great job, but I have somuch more respect for him
because I'm like, man, bitingoff something real big to chew,
man. Doing this? Yeah.
Right? It is. So that's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
It is. So yeah. So we were doing those. And so COVID
hits. Right?
COVID beginning of COVID, we gothit early because most of our
stores are up here. Right? AndCOVID started super early up
here. Right? And so we had justhad our January trade show.
Mhmm. Right? Which is Januaryand and April trade shows. Those
are, our two biggest of the

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
to buy.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Right? And so January had just happened. So we had POs
left and right. Mhmm. We weregearing up for like the best
year ever.
I think we had already beat ourq one sales goals in the first
thirty days. I was like, we'rekilling. I'm like, this is
awesome. Yep. And COVID hits.
POs getting canceled left andright.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
Trade shows, alright, we're canceling the trade show.
Hotel doesn't wanna give us ourmoney back that we put deposits.
Everybody everybody's free toeverybody. Vendors are like,
need our refund. I'm like, bro,they're holding the money.
Yep. Chargebacks. Yep. I'm justlike, we're the hole's the
hole's digging. Yep.
I'm like, I we were losing work.I ended up having to lay

(01:12:10):
everybody off except for Andres.Yeah. I laid had to lay
everybody off. We were still avery small team.
At that time, I think we weresix or seven. Yep. I I Still? We
still. Yeah.
It killed me to my soul. Andhere comes the culmination of
the the skills.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
Right? So a friend of mine in town has another
factory. He focuses strictly onsportswear for teams and stuff
like that. Sure. And he came upwith a mask pattern.
Yeah. Right? He's like, comethrough. I was like, We can't
he's like, here's here's this.He's like, this is a mask
pattern.
This is coming in hot. Go figureit out. I'm like, mask? I'm

(01:12:49):
like, what do you mean, bro?He's like, people gonna I was
like, why would people want a Iwas like, people gonna buy cloth
mask?
He's like, just take it, runwith it, baba. I'm like,
alright, bro. I'm like becauseI'm like dead. I'm like, bro,
I'm like stressing the fuck out.I'm like, what are we doing?
And so sure enough took it back,me and Andres working it

(01:13:10):
together trying to figure outhow to sew these things, how to
cut these things, and, I'm like,alright. And then we start
seeing little by little the maskthing. And this is keep in mind,
this is February still.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Yeah. It's so early.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
Still very early. Still very early. And we start
seeing it. Start seeing it. I'mlike, okay.
So I hit up my best friend. Atthat time, he wasn't my best
friend, but he's now become mybest friend. His name is DC.
Yeah. And I I hit him up, andhe's in the dealer world, car
world, and, I'm like, bro, I gotthis thing.
We're gonna fucking figure thisshit out, but I need your

(01:13:43):
network. He knew he had he'she's had a he had a deep
network. Yep. And I'm like, Ican make it. I need your
network.
I'll run the ads. I could do thesocial and the ads and the
thing. I was like, I need yourhelp to come, like, push this
shit out. Like, we need content.We need pictures.
We need this. He's like, fuckit. I'm there. So he came down
and, bro, we went to town.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
We made and shipped over 2,000,000 masks in that
area.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
Oh my gosh. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Bro, we made masks for JB Hunt, the FBI, freaking
the Port Of Los Angeles

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
Every mom and pop. Bro, we were making masks by the
time that April mandate hitwhere it was, like, mandatory,
you know? Yeah. Yeah. Werealready full up and running.
We had everything down, and wewere the only ones that can turn
them quick enough. I'm tellingpeople were I need 30,000. I
need 10,000. I need 5,000.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
So when and so you bring everybody back.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Bro, I brought everybody back and then some,
bro. We had a little 3,000square foot warehouse.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
40 people working out of

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
it. Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
Bro, we were I was running almost twenty four
seven. Listen. Bro, was, dude,it not only saved our life and
business, but it gave us thefoundation of what Sub House is
today. Yeah. With the equipmentwe were able to buy, cash, with
the people we were able to bringin, the connections we made
Yeah.

(01:15:06):
Because we were you're talkingabout J. B. Hunt, the FBI
hitting us up Yeah. Bro, theywould have never even looked at
us had there been No. No.
But nobody in that time, nobodyof their regular supply chain
could Yeah. Yeah. They couldn'tfulfill because everybody was
doing it in China and that shitwas shut down. Yeah. Yeah.
And so we got in, granted itsucks because I don't I didn't

(01:15:29):
believe in the mass things

Speaker 1 (01:15:31):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:15:31):
At that time, and I I never wore one. Yep. You know?
And it's just but it did saveour business.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
Yeah. It did I mean, what what irony there. So I was
gonna touch on that because,like, I I was the same way.
Right? Like, so I never I didn'twear them.
I didn't believe in it. I whatirony. Yes. You know, such
irony.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Such,

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
When you talk about, like first of all, when you talk
about turning an obstacle intoan opportunity, like, there it
is, right? Because you'rebasically on your last legs
Literally. When you come backfrom dead. Right? Bro.
And then it sets you up for, youknow, your future. You know what
I mean? And you're really it itwithout that, there's no you

(01:16:11):
now.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
So you

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
kinda have to take it for what it is. And they do.
Yeah. There was a demand and

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
There was, bro. Like I said, as shitty as I felt, you
know, not in the beginningbecause in the beginning I
thought I was helping.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
Right? Because they were showing people dropping
dead and I'm like, alright. Theyneed these. But then when I
started learning the bullshitand I'm like, alright. This is
but we did cut it early too.
Yeah. Right? We stoppedproducing it earlier than we
than than most people did justbecause by the time start things
started to little by littlenormalize, I was like, alright.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
This is it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
This is it. Yeah. We're not doing this. And we
still had people hit us up, hey,I ordered Mastery. I was like,
we don't do it no more.
They're like, why? I'm like, wedon't do that. Was like, we
don't do it anymore. I was like,we did it. But again, it was
that necessity.
And yes, it was beyond thenecessity at a certain point but
we were feeding bro everyrestaurant we bought I bought

(01:17:03):
food for everybody almost everyday and every time every dollar
I spent was with mom and pop onthe left mom and pop on the
right Mom and pop here. I wasbecause you know the restaurants
lost all their freaking Philly

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
Philly got gutted. Gutted. Now

Speaker 2 (01:17:19):
not Every city almost.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
Restaurants, like, generally retail.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
Yes. But

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
Philly restaurants got gutted. It was Devastating.
We're literally just reboundingnow.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
Yeah. If that

Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
Gutted.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
Bro, there's businesses from people that I
know that their family had beenaround since nineteen forties

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
That didn't make it through COVID. Yep. I'm like,
they made it through the war.Yeah. They made it through the
collapse.
They made it through sevenrecessions, but COVID took them
out.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
I know, man.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
Because that dead stop of traffic of people being
out in the streets

Speaker 1 (01:17:52):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Bro, that halts anything. Yeah. You know what
I'm saying? Like, it justthere's there's Yeah. Hard, you
know?
And so I I did my best to putevery dollar back into the
community as much as I

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
that, man.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
You don't say

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
early. Yeah. No. I I respect that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
Cut it. It just it did. So that was a culminating
event.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
That bay that basic basically, like, solidified that
infrastructure, broughteverybody back to work, like,
everything. Yeah. Wild,

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
dude. Yeah. Wild. And that was the start of kinda sub
house, and then we started ourreal journey, you know, 2021
Yep. And here come the lessonsagain.
Yeah. Because at that time, allwe produced really were pajamas.
Mhmm. Right? We didn't makeshirts.
We didn't make shorts. We didn'tmake pants.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
So you weren't

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
We didn't make jackets.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
Sublimating. Were were you sublimating or

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
We were sublimating, but we weren't making the wide
catalog that we have now. See. Igotcha. Right? We only niched
down on our pants Yep.
Our accessories I gotcha. Andthat was it. Yeah. But our
product was very niche. Yep.
So now here comes learning,developing new patterns,
learning how to sew them Yeah.Learning new machines that we
needed

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
New equipment, new this, new that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
Plus, like, you know, you're sublimating, it's very
different than screen printing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:04):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:19:04):
Like, Extremely different.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
Know

Speaker 1 (01:19:06):
what I So, like, you know, that's its own special
Yes. Seal and, you know what Imean, Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
It is. Yeah. You know, a lot of people tell me,
man, you're crazy for startingin there. Because most people
start with either screen printor embroidery. Yeah.
Right? Because that's the lowhanging fruit. And I started on
the opposite spectrum. Yeah. NowI'm doing the screen print and
embroidery and I'm like, yeah,this is cake.
It is its own beast, don't getme wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Course.
But

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
But it's not sublimation.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
It's not cut and sew sublimation. You know? I mean,

Speaker 1 (01:19:35):
that's that's how we that's how we started working
together. Like, that's how wefound you. We were looking for,
you know, domestic, Americanmade manufacturing that we could
trust and partner with, and, youknow, we were crawling, and,
like, dude, bro, we couldn'tfind we we couldn't find
anybody. Know? It's hard.
We found a couple people, andthe quality just wasn't there.
You know, a couple other thingstoo, they just weren't there,

(01:19:56):
just didn't feel like the rightfit. But shout out to your cups
experience. And brand name.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:20:04):
Because and your Google work.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
And my Google work. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
Because I went to Drew one day, I was like, yo,
bro. I was like, look. I knowthere's someone in Philly that's
sublimating. I spoke to him alittle while ago. I just can't
remember the name.
Yep. And Drew was like, oh,sublimation. You're like
sublimation, blah blah, andthere you were.

Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
There I was.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
Pop up right now. Like, what's this?

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
Okay. You know what

Speaker 1 (01:20:26):
I mean? So then, you know, that's how we

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
Yeah. Target everywhere. Remember because
he's, are you in Philly? I'mlike, no, I'm in Vegas. He's
like, I googled sublimation inPhilly.
Why'd you pop up? I'm like, bro,I target everywhere. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm like, look.
We shit. Shit. Look. I got you.Don't worry.
Yeah. And so Yep. He's like,alright. So, yeah, we started
chopping it up and same likeyou, same like others, you know,
our that story and our story andour history is what makes us

(01:20:49):
thankfully successful in thisspace because we understand your
side. Yeah.
Right? We're not just a factory,we're not just a supplier and we
truly are your partner andextension because we are here on
the other side with you. So weunderstand the pains, we
understand the struggles, we'llsee things and call them out
ahead of time be like, thatmight not look right or that

(01:21:12):
might not I get where you'regoing and we'll tell you, hey at
the end of the day it is yourdecision as the brand but we
help guide you because Mhmm. Notonly because it's the right
thing to do, but at the end ofthe day, back to that selfless,
unselfish Yeah. Is your successis my success.

Speaker 1 (01:21:27):
Yeah. Of course.

Speaker 2 (01:21:28):
So the more you grow and the more you put out, the
more I grow. Yeah. And so I'mgonna I'm not if I know that's
not gonna sell, I'm gonna belike, bro, don't put it out
because then you're not gonnacome back or you're not gonna be
able to sell it and re So I'mgonna be like, hey.

Speaker 1 (01:21:42):
Or even my Generally, with the patterns, like, yeah,
it's a little too big, it's alittle too small,

Speaker 2 (01:21:46):
like Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
Know what mean? Like, you understand. Exactly. You do
not you know, talking aboutbuilding products and building
people here, like, you do notget that when you put the
message in the bottle and takeit

Speaker 2 (01:21:58):
overseas. No.

Speaker 1 (01:21:59):
You just don't get that. No. You know what I mean?
It's it's there's a completelack of community. You know what
I mean?
When when you do that. And worseoff, you know, the dollars that
you're spending, who knows whatthey're going to? Exactly. You
know what I mean? Destroyingenvironment, destroying people,
destroying lives, like, notinterested in

Speaker 2 (01:22:17):
that. Not it's not it's not the right way to
things. Yeah. But, yeah, man,that's that's kind of the story
in a nutshell. That's a

Speaker 1 (01:22:23):
journey in a nutshell.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
A journey in a nutshell, you know, but we, as
far as the future, you know,we're probably on a low end, one
one hundredth of the size thatwe plan on growing to. I hear
you. On the low end, you know,we have big visions, which is
part of the reason for this, youknow, Long Island expansion in
New York, you know, he was acustomer of mine, and

(01:22:44):
technically a brand as well inthe race world, and a lot of
things aligned, like I said, wehave tons of stores on the Long
Island front and all that goodAnd so, I still tell my team and
they think I'm crazy and I'mlike, we're on day zero still.

Speaker 1 (01:22:57):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
We're on day zero. And my wife and I talk about it
as well at times and she's like,but babe you've done so much and
I'm like, I get it. She's like,why don't you wanna like look
back and it's like I said that Idon't, I tell it's it's there's
there's I feel likesubconsciously it's two things,
right? One, I wanna make sure Istay humble.

Speaker 1 (01:23:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
Right? You know, I wanna make sure that I I stay
humble and that I don't let itget to my head, right? I don't
ever wanna be that person thatit comes up and it's like, this
is me. This because it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
Yeah. There

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
you go. It's a team. Yeah. I can't do this. Bro, I'm
not sowing right now, but we'reshipping out product.
Like, you can't forget thatbusinesses are built on a team
effort. Right? And so I don'tever wanna get to that point or
and I hope I I I I tryeverything to not, and I plan on
never being at that point. Andtwo, I don't wanna lose my
hunger. K.

(01:23:49):
I don't wanna lose my hunger andfeel like you're there.

Speaker 1 (01:23:53):
No. We have what we say is humble, hungry, hunting.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
That's what we say here.

Speaker 1 (01:23:58):
You know I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:23:59):
Like, it's

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
the it's the same type same type of thing, man.
It's, for for a while, we hadthis thing Drew and I called
the, your son started to playhockey, said,

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
right?

Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
Yeah. So Selly. Okay. Like a Selly. Yeah.
Was like a celebration after agoal or whatever. So Drew and I
had this thing because we'relike hockey guys too. Drew
played much more hockey than me,but I love, you know, loved
hockey. I say loves because Idon't watch it much anymore, but
that's the season I'm in. I'llbe back at some point.
But we had this thing we callthe sixty second sally. Okay. So
like when something happened, wewould take a minute, like

(01:24:29):
something good happened, like awin, we would take a minute and
we'd be like, hey look, let'sjust pat ourselves on the back
for a moment, we did this, let'scelebrate for a moment for sixty
seconds. But we always had thatsixty seconds on it, so that we
could just, you know. So the egodidn't grow, the hunger didn't
diminish, you know what I mean?
It was like sixty second cap.Now I will say, in full

(01:24:50):
transparency, as we've, youknow, seven, eight years into
this journey now, we should'vesmelled the roses, or or had the
selli maybe for like a hundredand twenty seconds. Yeah.
Instead of just sixty, becauseas you, and you can attest to
this, as you get further along,it gets way harder. It does.

(01:25:11):
It gets way harder, And if youlose the ability to reflect back
and say, hey, look, like, we'vecome this far. We've got a %
survival rate. We've done somegreat things. The the the the
future seems to look a littledark. Know what I Like, you you

(01:25:32):
have to have that I

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
personally still struggle with that part. Yeah. I
do. I truly do. Still It's hard.
It's hard. It's hard. It's hard.You know? I personally still
struggle with taking that stepback and just, like, looking.
Because I I just the mountain isso big and I feel like I'm still
at the base, right? So I'm justlike there's no time, like I
still I'm I'm I'm in the thickof it, so like Yep. I'll I'll

(01:25:55):
let me get halfway and thenmaybe I could step back, know?
But you're right, There's timeswhere my brother tells me this
too where it's like, bro, taketake a sec, bro. Step back.
Okay. Take a sec. Look at whereyou're at now. Look at where you
came from.

Speaker 1 (01:26:07):
Is is And then get back to wise advice, man. Sage
wise and, like, you know, we werun on EOS. I don't know if you
know about EOS, entrepreneurialoperating system. It's like a a
framework for for running Okay.Your business.
Geno Wickman, Trac Chin, shoutout. He created it. But, you
know, during one of ourquarterlies, like, Brianna and

(01:26:28):
Bedros and Drew had, like, a sitdown with me, and they were
like, bro, you gotta you gottasmell the roses. And, like, we
had to write what we were goingto, like, be better at Yeah.
Like, year, and, like, theydidn't let me choose anything
else than smell the roses.
Because, like, I will literally,man, I will get so target
focused. Like, I will leavedestruction behind me. Like,

(01:26:50):
that's how target focused I get.Yeah. Like, I will just scorch
earth behind me.
And they're like, look, yougotta you gotta smell the roses
a little bit. You know whatmean? So I've been working on
that. And if you ask Drew andBrianna and Bedros, they will
tell you that, you know, I'mdoing alright. Alright.
I took

Speaker 2 (01:27:04):
out ways to get rid those those lessons out of your
book, man. Because, yeah, I'mI'm still I'm still gonna say,
yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (01:27:11):
Plus, like, gotta rewind time. I I know we're
talking about not looking back,but, like, for a second, like,
like, think back. Like, from thelunch days, right, you've been
solving problems. You've beenlooking forward and you've been
solving problems. Whatever'scome to you, you found a way
over it, under it, around it,through it.
Like, that's how you're wired.That's how I'm wired. That's how
Drew's wired. So, like, it'sjust not in our nature. No.

(01:27:34):
You know, you talk they talkabout, oh, you know, do
something for twenty days sevendays straight, it becomes a
habit. Alright. Try doingsomething twenty seven years
straight. What is it then?

Speaker 2 (01:27:43):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
Yeah. Yeah. And if my habit is looking up, out,
solving problems, movingforward, how hard is it for me
to look back and It's hard.Yeah, it's difficult, man.

Speaker 2 (01:27:53):
It's hard. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (01:27:54):
yeah. Yeah, feel like all entrepreneurs struggle with
that, but Drew has helped me.What I've realized is it's the
practice of, for me at least,it's the practice of faith and
gratitude. And those are the twothings that I was shorting
sometimes on my journey. Sothat's what I've been trying to
dial back into, and it's been ahelp.

(01:28:17):
It's been a you know? But I gotthat, I'm the same as you, man.
Like, you know, I wasn't Iwasn't selling my lunch, but I
was selling candy. Yeah. We hada candy shop, like, school.
We had a Vogue's candy store,around the corner from Saint
Cecilia's. Old school candyshop. Yeah. I don't know if
you've ever been in some ofthose, like, old school candy

(01:28:39):
shops in the city, but you'dwalk in, it was a small place,
and there was it was like ajeweler. Yeah.
There was counters runningaround the place, but it was
glass, And she had the candy inthere. Yep. And you just you
know, she had little pushpins inthe thing with the price, and he
would just go around, and itwas, like, you know, 5¢, 10 cent
candy, whatever, penny candy. SoI used to walk to school. Like,
my parents had me walk in schoolmad early, dude.

(01:29:01):
I was, like, eight, seven, eightyears old. I was walking, like

Speaker 2 (01:29:03):
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
Nine tenths of a mile to school. And I was up early.
They had me out of the houseearly

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
too, right?

Speaker 1 (01:29:08):
Yeah. Because they had to get to work. Yeah. You
know, my parents had to get towork. So I had time to go to the
candy shop before the before thebell.

Speaker 2 (01:29:15):
Before school.

Speaker 1 (01:29:16):
Before the bell. Yeah. So I would go. And, of
course, they didn't know I wasgoing. I had my quarter.
I pick up everything. I come in.Missus, Vogt would give me,
like, a little brown bag. I comein at my candy. And then my
friends were kinda like, yo,like, you're going before
school?
School, I'm like, yeah. Andthey're like, they'd break me
off like a dime.

Speaker 2 (01:29:34):
Hell, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:35):
So I'd be like, okay, cool. Like, I'm gonna take 2
pennies out of that dime. I'llget eight pieces. I'm gonna get
two bazookas for me. And that'skinda like where it started for
me, where I learned to likeprovide like be of service.

Speaker 2 (01:29:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:45):
Like provide a service. Yeah. And you can
actually get paid for it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:48):
Correct. You

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
can solve their problem That's the reward. Help
them out, and then actually youcan earn.

Speaker 2 (01:29:53):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:29:54):
So I was like, this makes sense to me.

Speaker 2 (01:29:55):
%.

Speaker 1 (01:29:56):
So, like, you're talking about the wiring of you
selling the lunch, me hustlingthe candy, and now you're
decades of that shit. Like, it'shard to say, okay. Well, now
today, I'm just gonna, dosomething different and

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
look back at everything. And journal or some
shit. And I'm just like, Ican't. Like, I I track my days
by my power list, right, that Ifollow on my tasks that I gotta
execute. Yep.
But I don't, like, go back and,like, review it or anything like
that as I should. You know, incertain areas I should, but I'm
just like, I'm just focused onattacking.

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
Yes. Of course. Yeah. We have I mean, we have which I
don't know if you know, but wehave a product here that I built
called Daily Attack Plan.

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:30:34):
Right? So it's basically a power list. Okay.
It's a power list with a visionboard and gratitude built into

Speaker 2 (01:30:39):
it. Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:30:40):
Right? So it's a, you know, it's a app. Yeah. So
that's kinda like our version ofthe power list.

Speaker 2 (01:30:45):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (01:30:45):
So that's what we do. We do like the attack a day It's
needle movers and and all that.He needs a little bit of a face
lift

Speaker 2 (01:30:51):
right now.

Speaker 1 (01:30:52):
We're working on that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:53):
I'm using my notes app, so I'm sure it's better

Speaker 1 (01:30:55):
than that. Yeah. Yeah. But notes app gets it
done, dude. Notes app gets itdone.

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
But, yeah, I'm I think that's that's a testament
to something we can underscorefor, you know, our community
listening is, like, we don'thave it all figured out. Like,
there's stuff that we should bedoing more on a daily basis that
we're still learning andgrowing.

Speaker 2 (01:31:13):
Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 (01:31:14):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:31:15):
If you you'll always be learning. Yeah. Always be
learning. No matter what. Justalways, whether it's a hobby
that you're trying to master,whether it's a skill for work,
you know, always be learning isthe key to being productive in
life.

Speaker 1 (01:31:30):
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Forever
student. Now that I practicejujitsu, I say white white belt
mentality.
Like, forever white belt. Youknow what I mean? But that's
what was saying earlier. Like, II really do believe that, like,
God instilled curiosity into mefor a reason. Like, that's my
superpower because I I will justwhen I'm faced with problems,
I'm more curious about how Icould solve them Sure.

(01:31:51):
Than being being, for lack of abetter word, crippled by them.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying?So, mentally, you know, by them.
So %.
Yeah, man. What else? What whatelse? We we didn't we touched a
little bit on everything.

Speaker 2 (01:32:06):
Yeah. I think so.

Speaker 1 (01:32:08):
Yeah. We touched a little bit on any on everything.
Usually, Drew has, a lightninground. I didn't prepare a
lightning round for you today.

Speaker 2 (01:32:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:14):
But, we can bring it in for a landing. Yeah. Let our
community know where they canfind you.

Speaker 2 (01:32:18):
Yeah. At the sublimation house, literally
everywhere, like you said. YouGoogle us, we'll pop right up.
You'll find us, you know. Idon't really post much on my
personal socials.
So at the sub houses whereyou'll see us, you'll see
content of myself, the team, theproducts we put out, the
quality. Feel free to reach out,ask any questions. We're here to

(01:32:39):
help. Help educate. Mhmm.
And then if we have the rightsolution for you, we'll pair you
with that. But if not, we have acommunity Yeah. That we could
refer you to.

Speaker 1 (01:32:48):
Excellent, man. Excellent. I loved having you
here. You said that you're at,like, one one hundredth, right,
of where you were On the lowend. On the low end.
I kinda feel like, especiallyafter today and spending some
more time with you, that ourworking relationship, our
partnership is kind of like onthat low end to it, like one one
hundredth of what it's gonna be.I'm excited to see what like the

(01:33:09):
next ten years brings.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Oh, Me too.

Speaker 1 (01:33:11):
I'm excited to

Speaker 2 (01:33:12):
see. Me too.

Speaker 1 (01:33:13):
Alright, brother. I'm gonna leave the few with a
reminder. Always choose hardwork over handouts. Always
choose effort over entitlement.Remember, no one owns you.
No one owes you. You're one ofthe few. Now that's on.

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The Truth About U.S. Manufacturing – Josh Mejia x Few Will Hunt

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Truth About U.S. Manufacturing – Josh Mejia x Few Will Hunt