How I Created an 8 Figure business In 3 months.

#106 Ever wondered how something as simple as cold water can transform your life? Join us for an eye-opening conversation with AJ Williams, the visionary behind Revel Saunas and Ice Baths, as he recounts his extraordinary journey from being kicked out of house and home at age 14 to creating an 8 figure business in 3 months.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Your story is absolutely incredible.
From a young age, I knew that Iwas going to break the cycle.
It was a really, really toxicenvironment.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
You mulled the lawn or something in your bud you
smoke this.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's far out there.
You're the real deal.
I genuinely still pinch myself.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You tell it how it is .
You're putting yourself outthere.
G'day guys, welcome back toanother episode of Level Up.
We are back in the shed for abit of a chilly one this
afternoon.
It's a cold day here inBrisbane, but we have definitely
got a cracker for you today.
So today I've got AJ Williamswith me from Revel Saunas and

(00:36):
Ice Baths.
This story is incredible Builtan eight-figure business in
three or four months plays footy.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Uh, mate, you're an inspiration.
Thanks, mate.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm I'm super excited and privileged to be on your
podcast today mate, the reason Ireached out is because, like I
cold I don't know if I call ittherapy like I started doing the
cold showers and things, butjust the cold has really helped
me in what like, just I guess,learn to commit to things.
Yeah, like, why did you getinto the business of ice baths?

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, I suppose with ice baths and that I always
utilised ice baths in mysporting career and they weren't
like there was no real scienceor anything behind them.
Back then it was we'd getgarbage bins fill them up with
ice, jump in them after footy,with no concept of how long to

(01:32):
stay in, and most guys wouldjust jump in and jump out and
not knowing that, like theirbenefit of what the actual ice
bus could do for them Basicallydid that throughout my footy
journey could do for thembasically did that throughout my
footy journey.
And then over the recent, Isuppose six years, there's been
that big shift in movement inactually educating around why

(01:54):
people use saunas and ice orwell, ice baths in particular,
and sports teams still don'tknow how to use them exactly.
Right, um, but there's morebenefits to just recovery.
Um, for instance, back then,when we were using we're putting
ice in the actual garbage binsand as soon as you jump in and

(02:14):
that thermal layer that youbuild around your body was just
wiping out any um any sort ofimprovement that your body would
have had or any reduced uminflammation that your body
would have because your body'sheating up the water, yeah, um,
so knew the benefits of that umside of things, but then just
started seeing this like bigmovement and big push, with

(02:35):
people utilizing ice baths formore than just recovery, for,
like mental health.
Um, I grew up obviously havingmental health issues with
depression, anxiety and PTSD andstarting to see the shift in
regards to people using it forthat and building resilience and
tolerances and started doing abit of breath work and noticing

(02:58):
the impact that breath work andice bathing had on the life as
well.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's powerful stuff.
Hey, we'll just talk a littlebit off air.
There's a heap of stuff we'regoing to try and get through.
Today, aj's definitely got anincredible story and I think
that's going to be a bonus.
Like I said, the reason Ireached out was for the cold,
because a lot of people reachout to me now and ask what are
you doing?

(03:23):
How are you staying on top ofthings, how are you staying so
motivated all the time?
And for me in the early days,it did start with just that two
minute cold shower, like justhaving that commitment to stand
there cold or straight in coldwater.
Two minutes, three minutes, andjust something as simple as
that just started.
Yeah, growing my consistency,growing my commitment, my, I

(03:46):
felt I started the day better,felt more energized.
And then, um, like I was justtalking about, like we went to
everest and stuff swum in someglacial ponds and, um, like that
was just insane.
And then, yeah, then justseeing everybody starting to get
into the ice baths.
But it's I just recently.
I don't really want to talkabout it too much because we got
beaten last night, but I seeyou've done some work with the

(04:09):
Queensland Maroons, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
We supplied all their saunas and ice baths to the
camp and now pretty much everyone of their players has a sauna
and ice bath at their house.
Yeah, they love it.
They froth it.
There's been a big shift in theway that footy players recover
and stuff, so we can't blame theSaunas and Ice Bars for their
loss last night, mate, they willneed your Saunas and Ice Bars.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
That was one of the hardest games ever.
Last night it was crazy Toremain trialess until what?
Was it like 57 minutes orsomething Ridiculous?

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I just haven't seen that high impact people being
able to hold that threshold forthat long.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, the intensity was just off the charts.
It's crazy.
So you're still involved withfootball.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, I play AFL down at Southport for the Southport
Sharks.
I have a bit to do with theGold Coast Suns still, it's the
way that I sort of give back andsort of can help influence the
younger generation into beingbetter humans and having
somebody to connect with.
That isn't the typical sort ofperson that's just there to like

(05:15):
check boxes and stuff.
I suppose a fair bit of livedexperience for myself and
relatability to what they'regoing through and what they
might be trying to hide as wellyeah, I like.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
So we've been, um, so where my wife and I want to get
a sauna and ice bath at home.
So, yeah, I think that's whyyou popped up on my feed and
then I saw your, your um, saunasand stuff and then I like I
always like to look into theperson and see what's going on
with the business but, like,your personal page is pretty
unreal.
Like you, you do some prettyinspiring stuff on there.

(05:50):
Yeah, I feel like a lot ofpeople don't realize the power
of personal development.
Yeah, like everyone's lookingfor this magic answer, whether
it's to life or business.
Yeah, but it really can be someof the simplest things.
Hey, like, just committing tostanding in a shower, jumping in
an ice bath, jumping in a sauna, yeah, um, but I see, with a

(06:10):
lot of your stuff you're doinglike you're actually talking to
people about.
This is why it's beneficialwhich I haven't really seen done
too much on any other.
Um, like, there's ice bathseverywhere at the moment yeah,
for sure.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
So I feel like you've got a bit of an edge there
because you're very passionateabout it yeah, I think, um, just
based off like lived experienceand knowing how it's improved
my life, like dramatically, andbeing able to communicate that
in a way that is relatable, likethere's so much science and
data and people out there andpodcasts, and so I do a heap of

(06:44):
self-development.
I listen to so many podcastsand books Like I finish an audio
book every week.
I'm not a great reader.
I left school in year nine withpersonal circumstances and so I
find it easier to listen tobooks.
And sometimes I'll be drivingand I'm like, oh, far out
wherever I've driven to, becauseI'm so deep in the book.

(07:06):
Or I'm like I arrive to whereI'm at and I'm like, oh, how did
I even get here?
Like I can't remember if Ichanged lane or drifted off.
But I just love the personaldevelopment side of things.
But it's really hard tounderstand what, especially for
someone like myself or likeyourself, like you're a tradie,

(07:31):
some of the words thatscientists and stuff put out
there.
You're like what the what thefuck?
Can I swear on this?
What the fuck?

Speaker 2 (07:33):
did he just say like I?

Speaker 1 (07:34):
don't even know what that means, and being able to
break that down for um theaverage person, you go.
That's what that does.
Like that makes sense, like I'mglad it's not just me understand
that, like, like you asked me,like there's no way in my world
or on my Instagram I'm evergoing to try and pronounce one
of the scientific terms for icebaths or saunering, because I,

(07:57):
one, I can't pronounce it and,two, I don't even know what the
fuck it means.
So I'm just going to go, I'mgoing to work out what it means
and how that relates to thenormal person, and I'm going to
try and communicate through thatway.
But, for instance, with yourjourney and the way that you got
into ice um through the coldshowers, that that's like one of
the hardest things to do.
Like ice baths it's easybecause you, you jump in it and

(08:18):
you know what you're there for.
With showers, like we're superprogrammed to be like, this is
my hot safe space.
I'm going to get in the shower.
It's going to be nice, hot,relaxing.
When you turn it on to cold,you're forcing yourself to be in
a really uncomfortable, um,environment.
Yeah, that your brain's liketelling you you, you need to get
out of this.
This needs to be on hot.
Like you've done this since youwere born.

(08:40):
You've showered in hotconditions since you were born,
so it's like your brain istrying to overpower.
It's a real, it's a real hardthing to come over.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think that's why I got so much out of it, because
it was a battle like and whereaslike.
I'm at a point now where it'sjust natural, like I jump in
it's.
I don't even have it on the hot, it's straight on the coal, but
it's pretty good and you getout of the shower buzzing, but
it still doesn't give me thecold shower, definitely doesn't
give me the buzz that I get whenI have an ice bath no,
definitely not.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
I think on the cold showers at the start of it and
the ice bathing in general, italso forces you to breathe.
I think, um, everyone now likeis so on their phone all the
time and um, everything likeseems to agitate everybody a
fair bit or like it's reallyhard to take it in.
I find even now when I'mwriting an email, like hold my

(09:27):
breath a lot, but when you jumpinto the sauna, into the ice
bath or the cold shower, you'relike forcing you've got to
breathe, cause it's like yourresponse is like I'd breathe
through this.
I've got to calm down, like mynervous system.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
What's your technique when you first get in an ice
bath?

Speaker 1 (09:44):
um, now it's pretty good, like I.
I am such a sometimes, so stilllike, as soon as soon as I'm in
the water I'm good, like I'm,I'm sweet, but it's still like a
mental battle, I'm like, do youtake a breath, get in the ice
and then slowly let it out?
or no, I um jump in and I juststart taking, like breathing big
, deep breaths through the noseand like just working through it

(10:07):
.
That way, never close my eyes,because that's another thing.
Like, if you close your eyes,your natural responses are like
fight or flight mode.
It's like you're takingyourself to a place you don't
need to be.
So, excuse me, always keepingmy eyes open and just just
breathing really consistentbreaths in and out, and it just

(10:28):
becomes easy.
But at the moment I've beengoing on tiktok live when I'm in
the ice bath, um, as well, andthat makes it even easier
because, I'm so invested in whatpeople are saying, getting my
budgie smugglers and jump on thelive and people, people love it
.
It's random, as it could bepitch black out in my pool area,
cold as, like the wind gets me,but it doesn't feel like too

(10:51):
much.
But yeah, it's still prettypretty hard.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
I think breath is a massive thing for how, um, how's
the tiktok go, like where?

Speaker 1 (10:57):
it's something we haven't really branched into,
like what she does a little biton there but yeah, well, I've
posted a few videos um on mytiktok before and they've done
pretty well, but they're just,they were like during covid and
they were like random dad jokesthat were inappropriate.
And I was in my budgie smoke Ialways wear budgie smugglers,
but I was in them so I pulledthem down and I went the other

(11:18):
week I'm like I'm just going togo live in.
I did did the gold coast halfmarathon and I didn't train for
it and um, I was buggered, I wasso cooked after I jumped in the
sauna and I, um was like I'mjust going to go live.
So my title was like justfinished Gold Coast half
marathon, cooked um in the saunaand then I had a heap of people
jump into it, ask heaps ofquestions, and then just ran at

(11:41):
some random as people and Ithought, oh, I might be onto
something here.
And then I went into it againand more people come and like
I've been like a couple of weeksinto it and so many people just
jump on and ask questions andI'm like, if you get me to 20K
likes, I'll jump in the ice bathat four degrees in the middle
of the night, like at dark, andthey just love it.
I jump in, and it just love it.

(12:06):
I jump in, and it just makes itmore I know, more interactive.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's like being in this little environment, you
know, isolated.
Mate, do you mind if we share abit of your story?
Yeah, because one of the it'sbecome a real passion, like this
podcast has really, uh, beenbecome a bit of a platform to
share people's stories and yeah,um, I like to really show
people in the building industrythat it doesn't really matter
your background or what you'vecome from, anything's possible.
Your story is absolutelyincredible and I think Shane

(12:30):
might have reached out to you toget a bit of background
knowledge and stuff and he foundout you've recently been on the
podcast.
What was that podcast calledUnemployable and so, yeah, I
listened to that and I was likeholy shit, this guy really does
have an incredible story likeand it just goes to show you
like it does not matter your theway you've been brought up, the

(12:51):
school you went to like howsmart you are.
Yeah, like you've definitelyproved all that wrong.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that, um, any of my teachers
would have been like oh, he'sgone nowhere, like he, he's
gonna be in in trouble, but yeahso did that?

Speaker 2 (13:07):
did that play on your mental health, like because you
thought those people werethinking that of you?

Speaker 1 (13:11):
100% like the.
The fear of judgment was soreal up until sort of recently,
um sort of anything that you door the way things you go about
it.
I think I've only just likelearnt to detach from like I
don't care what people thinkanymore, but up until recently I
really struggled with like oneI'm not good enough to do this

(13:33):
or I'm going to be judged forjust putting myself out there,
and heaps of like impostersyndrome and self-sabotage when
things do go well would alwayslike my internal um brain would
try and fuck things up formyself in some capacity as well
it does it for all of us, Ithink, and that's why I like

(13:56):
sharing these stories, becausethe guys or girls that are out
there that have maybe had a shitday at work and they're
battling with their, their mind,telling them a shit story like
we all have those stories, forsure.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
It's just how you choose to deal with them, or
push them to the side, like Itell people on my socials, like
I deal with my demons every day.
It's just the decisions I makeget me to another position, or I
push them to the side, or Ithink about something else, or
whatever it is.
Yeah, so what?
Like can we go back to?
Like you said, you only went toyear nine.

(14:29):
Yeah, what's the story?

Speaker 1 (14:30):
there, yeah, I suppose.
Um, so I um, I'm one of sevenkids.
Um seven kids.
We grew up in a um housingcommission house that was three
bedrooms sort of I would Ireckon it would probably be
about the same like smaller thanthis shed, for sure.
Um, there I had a stepdad, mymum and my biological father

(14:55):
separated when I was nine monthsold.
Um, my, my real dad was analcoholic.
Um, like a functioningalcoholic um, not not abusive or
toxic, just really selfish um.

(15:16):
And then my stepdad moved inpretty pretty quickly after that
.
I think I was about one and hewas an abusive alcoholic.
Um.
So I grew up in in a householdwith seven, seven siblings or
seven kids.
Um, every Thursday night, likebeing a tradie, get paid.

(15:37):
He worked on the roads but godown to the local pub um, come
home, got full of piss, abusedmom I was a young kid, I'd try
and get it um in between mom totry and protect her, and it just
was really really toxicenvironment.
That cycle went on for years.
Like mom, we would end upstaying in the car we had like a

(15:59):
van, or we'd go to a motel andspend the night there, and
thursday nights was alwayshectic for us, like it was.
You knew it was coming.
Yeah, I knew it was coming andstill, like to this day, I have
trouble sleeping on a thursdaynight.
Yeah, right, um, and I've onlyjust been able to realize oh,
that's like, because that's,that was the night you spent so

(16:19):
many years just dealing withthat same thing every week yeah
and um, it wasn't just thursdaynight, but like that was the,
the main, the main one.
and then, um, I was 14 years old, um, so just coming into year
nine, um, and I just had enoughof him coming home pissed, um,

(16:40):
he'd get up in our face and onenight he was like, oh, come on,
then let's, let's fight.
Mum would always take the bruntof it.
I just one day went well, fuckthis.
And just punched him.
It was a pretty decent hit.
It knocked him out and Mum justsaid you've got to leave, told
me to leave.
I grabbed my sister and I wentand stayed with my friend and

(17:03):
she went and stayed with herboyfriend at the time.
And then we found a unit inPalm Beach real cheap.
It was cheap back then At 14?
I was probably about almost 15by then, yeah.
And then, yeah, we got aprivate rental in Palm Beach
right across from the beach, forlike it was like 250 bucks a

(17:24):
week.
It wouldn't be that now downthere.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
but so how did you like you're obviously very
resilient Like how did at 15,like to do that?

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, started bricklaying.
I was trying to go to school atthe same time as well, but it
just didn't work.
Like it was impossible.
I was doing bricklaying, I wasunloading containers, um, I was
trying to do as much stuff as Icould, just doing heaps of
labour and probably hanging outwith still toxic people because

(17:56):
I was so used to thatenvironment.
So it kept chipping away, um,until I was sort of 23 and
realised I need to do somethingbetter than this and then met my
current business partner backthen, who owned one of
Australia's biggest fitnessequipment companies and he
obviously seen something in me,offered me a job and just

(18:20):
started working in his warehousethere picking and packing
orders.
And then built a relationshipwith him and he really took me
under his wing and taught meproduct development.
So I learned all about that,Went to China a fair bit and
learned about like manufacturing, started learning about like
e-commerce and online sellingand marketing and stuff which

(18:43):
sort of led me to where I am nowyeah, and you um like used
sport, didn't you as well,through those times to get you
through, and that was a bit ofthat, was your hobby, that was
your safe spot yeah, I alwaysthought like that I was going to
be a professional AFL player.
Uh, while I got like prettyclose, um, there was just no

(19:03):
chance.
Like it's 0.3 percent.
Everything has to go right.
You have to be pretty, prettybloody good to do that.
Just that was just somethingthat I attached myself to.
I was like I'm going to makethis um, or make something out
of it at least, and, um, thereality of it's near impossible.
But the, the footy environment,um, was such a family to me,

(19:24):
like that was my safe haven.
I had all these older blokes tolook up to that didn't know
what I was truly going through,obviously knew that I was a bit
of.
You'd look at it like adelinquent child, but like
somebody that needed someguidance.
So I always had those type ofpeople to look up to and I think

(19:44):
that's what really taught melike my teamwork and building
like a really good culturewithin the company so that
everyone's like working togetherfor one outcome, I suppose, and
a lot of the stuff that I usein business.
Now I think, oh jeez, we usethat in footy or like that's

(20:04):
like a strategic part of thefooty.
But yeah, footy was a massiveoutlet for me and my, like,
mental health.
And when, when I sort of tried,I tried to give it up around
about 25 or so and I had amassive mental breakdown.
I couldn't work out why.
And then it just I was speakingto someone and they're like, oh
, you do realize, footy's, likeyour, your family and your, your

(20:27):
identity and something thatyou've built, um, and you're
trying to give that away.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
So really, you're like pushing away your family
and your ability to have a, yeah, outlet it's incredible way how
, like I'm a huge fan now of umone of the things that I work on
personally myself and I I feellike I just wish everyone in the
world could could realize itlike we all.
I believe a lot of people don'tand they're not actually the

(20:55):
person they could be.
Yeah, like they're just stuckin this world that was created
by the people that are aroundgrowing up, the family members
they have, the community they'rehanging around.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
And they're too scared to break out of that
mould because they might upsetsomeone or they might offend
someone or all these types ofthings, and so they never
actually truly get to realisehow successful that could be or
they might be able to have adifferent career.
There's so much that can comewhen you start to sort of break
out of your, your comfort zoneand your and what you're used to

(21:31):
for sure um, I think, um, a lotof people just hang on to.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Oh, this is what I was brought up in like.
From a young age, I knew that Iwas going to break the cycle.
I always thought it was goingto be through um, footy, um, but
I was always trying stuff tobreak the cycle.
I always thought it was goingto be through footy, but I was
always trying stuff to break thecycle, like I've never been a
massive drinker or whatever, butI've always known I'm out of

(21:56):
here.
And I think that there's stillpeople in my family that won't
admit to their truth thatthey've been through, just
because they feel like that'sthem and there's no way out for
them.
Yeah, there's a lot of peoplethat will just stay in that
cycle because they don't feeldeserving or they don't feel
like they would get theopportunity to break, break the

(22:16):
cycle or, um, yeah, they don'tfeel like they deserve it either
.
So all right?

Speaker 2 (22:22):
well, let's definitely set the scene to uh
like so then, how do you go fromthat to building a seven, eight
figure business in three orfour months?

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, yeah, quite interestingly, I started a few
different business, so I jumpedinto that fitness equipment
company.
During that time, I was alwayslooking for, like, oh, what's my
outlook?
What's this gym equipmentbusiness gonna be for me?
Like, where am I gonna find my,my exit?
Um, excuse me, I started aclothing company.

(22:54):
Um, I get real addicted tothings, right, Like so easy.
Not like not um drugs or umbooze, Cause I know the outcome,
what happens when that.
When that happens?
Um, but like, for instance, Igot really addicted to golf and
I just was that adamant that Iwas going to start this golf
brand clothing company.
And this was about in 2014, Ithink.

(23:15):
So about 10 years ago.
I started this golf clothingcompany and I sold a few things
of it, but it was just too early, the golf case hadn't started,
so I scrapped that.
Like never try and sell megaamounts of apparel because just
so you order all these thingsthat you think you're gonna go.
Well, that's the, what we spokeabout off air.

(23:36):
It's like validate the, theproduct before you um go through
it.
So that was a lesson in um, inthat, I suppose.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
And then just kept chipping away, kept kept
learning still got some of themin the in the closet probably
somewhere I think um, my, mybiological father he still wears
some play golf.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
He's probably got endless amounts, but um, yeah,
um, so I did that and then, um,just started a few, tried to
start a few different things.
Try to start like uh, I started, I got decent at like doing
Facebook ads and stuff.
Try to start like a ads agencyonce.
That was probably a bit tooearly.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
So how are you getting the skills to do this.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Oh, just trial and error, like.
So, for instance, when I waslike 16 or 17, there was this
online computer game, had alaptop in this exact unit.
I still remember the samesituation and one day I was like
I'm just going to build awebsite and build a radio on it,
and I just taught myself how tobuild, like how to completely
code a website.
I was never smart at school,obviously.

(24:40):
It went to year nine, but Ijust had this relentless like
ability to just keep tryingthings.
So I built this website andbuilt like a radio in it and I
could like host the radio.
I don't even know if anyonelistened to it, but I just did
it based off this computer game.
And then so I just like tinkerwith things and learn how to do

(25:04):
stuff.
My mum would always say that Iwas really good at taking things
apart and analyse them.
I was never good at puttingthem back together when I was a
kid, like push bikes and stuff,so I'd just learn all these new
sort of skill sets, tried thefacebook ads agency and that was
probably not going to work, andthen was doing heaps of product
development.

(25:24):
And then, um, just before covid, I mean, um, the guy that owns
the fitness equipment company,dan.
We're like, oh, let's create asunglass company.
And we designed thesesunglasses that had like an
adjustable earpiece and theywould go over your ears so like
when you're doing CrossFit orlike a workout, like they
wouldn't fall off your head.

(25:45):
They would have probably beengood for builders.
And we got a pattern on thesunglass and so I left working
for his business to start thisbusiness and we launched it and
it was when covered for likejust kicked off.
Um, and it went pretty well.
Obviously people had heaps ofdisposable income and they were

(26:06):
just buying stuff online.
We partnered with an influencerin the fitness industry to be
the face of that business and Ijust didn't love it.
Like I was in there.
I was in the grind.
I enjoyed launching it andbuilding this product and
building all of the assets andmarketing around it, launched it

(26:27):
, but I didn't enjoy runningthat business and it slowly just
broke me down and then therewas sort of some infighting with
the shareholders in thatbusiness and me and my best mate
, dan, started not seeing eye toeye because we didn't realise
there was this external factorgoing on.

(26:48):
I decided to exit the businessrather than keep trying and
Fighting it.
Yeah, fighting it really.
It was a really shit toxicenvironment to be a part of at
that stage, because the businessstarted going downhill and I
was blaming myself.
I'm like, oh, this is not good.

(27:08):
Anyway, we ended upcommunicating through that issue
and working out that obviouslyit wasn't me or wasn't the root
cause of it, because anyone elseI think any of the two mates
would have just been like you'redead to me, like with what was
genuinely happening and what Iwas getting blamed for and what

(27:29):
was coming out was, yeah, itcould have broke anyone.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
You've got to be tough, be tough.
Hey, to be business partners,100, you gotta be definitely
committed 100 it's hard work, itis for sure.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
And um, so I chose to exit that.
I lost any, anything that I putin it.
Um, all of the the couple ofyears that I put into it, um got
nothing out of it left it and Iwas thinking, fuck, what am I
gonna do?
I was like I don't want to gointo another business with um
like Dan just, I don't want tolose him as a friend.
He's been like a great mentorto me, taught me everything I

(28:03):
know.
And then, um, I started a, um acompany that went pretty well.
Um, I was like consulting uh toback to his company with like a
team and I just and it wasanother thing that I just didn't
love Like I didn't, I didn'tlove it at all.
I didn't like managing it, Ididn't like managing the people

(28:24):
in it and it wasn't fulfillinglike my bucket.
And I still didn't know what Iwanted to really do.
And then I met up with Dan andwe were like, okay, I didn't
know what I wanted to really do.
And then I met up with Dan andwe were like, okay, covid's been
really good for the fitnessequipment industry, but we need
something in the business that'sparallel to the business.
Still, in the health andfitness industry that can be

(28:46):
like can de-risk the corebusiness.
So let's build something out tomake sure that it doesn't risk
his main business, which is areally significant size business
.
And then so we did thisinnovation cycle where we chose
three areas we wanted to look in.
Actually, it was four.
We wanted to look into sleep,because we knew that people were

(29:08):
having issues with sleep.
I have issues with sleep.
Nutrition Nutrition's alreadybeen done by a lot of companies
so it's like it's such asaturated market so we scrapped
that pretty quick.
Mental health was on the rise,like during covid or post
pandemic, was massive issue andit was an area that we could, um

(29:30):
could, look into.
And then there was the saunaspace or like we called it, like
hot and cold therapy area.
We then um put out, put a bitof research out.
So we did like a research paper, got uh, over 5 000 clues that
we built up from differentpodcasts, different thought

(29:51):
leaders, different researchpapers.
Did our own research paper withthe consumers that we built up
from different podcasts,different thought leaders,
different research papers.
Did our own research paper withthe consumers that we had
access to, which was a couple ofthousand, and then we did
one-on-one consumer interviews.
So once we started seeing likesome clear indicators of
opportunities, we startedinterviewing.
We interviewed a thousandpeople to try and get some

(30:13):
consistency with what area weshould look into in those four,
four areas.
So we'd scrapped nutrition,scrapped sleep pretty quickly,
like we sleep was a massiveissue for all these people that
we interviewed but nobody waswilling to invest in it or they
would rather spend their moneyelsewhere so how did you know to
do all this stuff?

Speaker 2 (30:32):
or is it like it's?

Speaker 1 (30:32):
just a bit of like test, uh, testing iteration.
It's just like innovation isputting something out there,
getting some validation or someconsumer insights, and then
building like a product aroundthose consumer insights, um, and
then validating them, soputting it out into the market

(30:53):
and seeing if there's actuallyan opportunity.
So it's just something I'velearned over the years of that.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
I tell traders and builders they all think they
can't do this type of stuff.
But you can send aquestionnaire to every client
you've ever worked for and saywhy did you choose me?
What were you looking for?
What were you worried about?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Getting information back from people is so powerful
to a business.
Oh, 100% like goes back to likemarketing.
Like you can then create acommunication style for your
marketing, because I know what,to what people I need to market
to now and what they want tohear not, I'm just assuming they
want to hear I want this typeof house or whatever it might be
for that.
Um, you can also then buildproduct around what that
consumer insights is.

(31:39):
Um, yeah, it's just likeendless amounts of stuff.
But to get back to how welanded on saunas, um, we went
down the mental health route.
Like we seen, saunas was like amassive opportunity, but at the
same time we were like, oh,this has been done before,
because there's so many spascompanies out there and so we
sort of car parked that.

(31:59):
And because of my background, Iwas like I really want to do
something for mental health.
I want to create a product thatI can stand behind and that
would generally help myself andthere's an opportunity here.
So I created we called it theescapist.
I got a pattern on it, createda noise cancelling headphones,

(32:20):
so like a pretty much bothheadphones, but we put ecg
readers into the outside so theycould read the ecg in the back
of your temple and on yourearpiece, and then there was a
band that come down and it wenton the front of your head, um,
and it read you read your ecg uh, eeg, um, like brainwave
activity, yeah.

(32:40):
And then from that we createdan algorithm that would get
those data points and speak toeach other and then it would be
able to tell an app where yourbrainwave activity was when
you're meditating, so that whenyou're um, you're not in like a
meditative state that isactually productive for you.
It will, like the voiceguidance, will kick in and tell

(33:01):
you like guide you back intothat meditative state.
Um launched that in the us anda fair few people bought it, but
it was just costing so much toeducate the consumer.
So I was finding our cost ofacquisition was higher than the
product um itself, which is yeah, gonna kill your business like
yeah, yeah and like, even if yougot millions and millions of

(33:23):
dollars of investment, your costacquisition is going to chew
your business down um yeah, it'spretty, pretty straightforward,
um well, yeah that, orquadruple your sales price.
Oh, 100%, and that's not goingto happen for a pair of
noise-cancelling headphones.
And I was like, well, maybeit's too early.

(33:44):
We're trying to educate theconsumer on why they need to
have it.
They don't subconsciously knowthat they need to have that
product.
So I refunded all of thosecustomers their money and just
left the pattern there so thatthat product's sitting there and
then we'll like we've.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
then that's when my wife said to me no more
businesses because I I chewed Ichewed up a fair bit of money in
that business, so you wouldhave have had to spend some
money on the product oneverything.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
So on all the like, because it costs money to
research people, so like there'sprograms out there that we paid
to get access to people tointerview people.
Um the pattern that does likedesign of that, because I I
couldn't do the technical sideof the algorithms and stuff like
that um pattern wasn't cheap atall.
Um, all of the ad words, likeso we chewed up a fair bit of

(34:38):
mining, um dan's, my, dan'smoney there.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
And then, yeah, caitlin was like no more
businesses you're going to workfor someone like it's funny, but
because, uh, like this has comeup in another conversation this
week like people don't seewhat's going on behind the
scenes.
No, like, if that, if that, ifthose headphones had it gone
crazy, yeah, and made youmillions of dollars, yeah,
people wouldn't have consideredthe.

(35:03):
I'm sure it was years one, two,three years all those research,
all the money.
Yeah, like you probably had,like I don't know.
I can only imagine you'veprobably spent a few hundred
thousand or yeah, that's a fairbit, yeah it.
It takes a lot to get like, andI just I'm sitting here like
inspired as me, like because youjust keep going and going, like

(35:23):
all these businesses you'vejust kept pumping money into
yeah, like, so, yeah, and thenso I'm assuming the next one's
the big one.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah.
So I thought, fuck, we don'thave much money now, what am I
going to?

Speaker 2 (35:39):
do so.
Yeah, Sorry to cut you off.
Like, are you?
Yeah, Like I'm assuming you'rereally battling with the stories
you're telling yourself at thisstage.
Oh, 100%.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
You're bashing myself .

Speaker 2 (35:50):
You're like nothing works Like.
What am I going to do?

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Yeah, the imposter syndrome was real.
It's like like you are not you,you mustn't.
You've, like, you've donesomething bad, You've smashed a
million mirrors before you gotno good luck.
But I just you, just you justknow, like, even speaking to my
mate Dan, it's like we just knowthat when we land on something,
it's it's gonna pay off and it.
But also it's like hard to keeptaking risks.

(36:16):
Yeah, it's hard to really takerisks, but the more we were
doing it, the more we were umtaking calculated risks um as
well.
So, like they were reallystrategic and I think that was
evident with when we launched umrevel um, I sort of I pitched
it to him and his exact team ingym and fitness and um and they

(36:40):
were like, yeah, well, let's um,let's give it a crack.
We're not spending any money onthis um, so we're, we're
partners in in in the businessum I built.
I went after they said yes, Ithink.
So I think it was like it'sactually a funny story when I
was pitching it, my wife waspregnant at the time, so that's
another reason why she did notwant me to start a business and

(37:03):
she's she's a civil engineer,like senior project engineer.
Yeah, so she's very structured,like she has this methodology,
like stage gates.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
And I'm structured like she has this methodology,
like stage gates, and I'm like amillion miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Let's risk everything .
Um, so she's, she's pregnant.
It's always gonna be one risktaking relationship, 100 percent
.
Um, dealing with like morningsickness and stuff.
I go into my office at home,pitch, pitch this idea that we
wanted.
This is um, because, because Istill had to do like a fair bit
of back background work to sortof go.
This is what what I think likeit's going to look like on a

(37:38):
financial perspective Like thisis the indications that I have.
This is, if we spend bareminimum, this is what return
we'll have so that we can investthat into here.
And this is what the range willlook like, what it would cost
all of that.
Do all the discussions with thefactory in the background on my
own time, pitched it to them.

(37:58):
Come out happy as and I'm likewhat's for dinner, darling,
she's like I haven't cookedanything.
I put like and I'm clean aseither.
Because she was so sick shedidn't want to eat anything,
hated the smell of meat, putlike two meat pies in the um
oven for me and I was so hungryby that time, like super excited
, I went.
I went to eat one.

(38:19):
It was frozen inside.
It's sort of like the nightjust was like perfect, and that
that was just so laughable.
So you remember the night youlaunched this business by a
frozen pie yeah, and then I wentback in there and I went fuck,
I'm getting balls deep into this.
Um, I um jumped on, startedbuilding a shopify website,

(38:40):
built out the framework.
Um was gonna launch it withlike a blue color, sort of like
that.
That blue color that's there,um, as a brand color.
Uh, because I was thinking, oh,recovery like Revel, recovery
from my background.
But then I'm thinking, oh, I'vegot to think about like the
whole market, like there's somany people thinking about like
longevity, wellness, all thisthing, like there's a massive

(39:05):
holistic approach in regards towhat saunas and ice baths can be
used for.
So we changed it to the greensthat you'll see now, which is
more like a neutral color.
It's like green means yes, witheverything in your subconscious
mind.
It also is like earth colorrelates back to the product a
lot more than just a blue.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Your marketing is fantastic, yeah, your socials
and your website and stuff it'sall great.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yeah, I legit built that in one night.
Um, obviously, when I was doingthe product um design side of
things, I'd got some rendersbuilt up of what the product was
going to look like, um so thatI could pitch it to um dan and
his business I'm still amazed atwho, who, how did you do this?

Speaker 2 (39:53):
because, like, all I hear is excuses from people all
the time.
Like I can't build a website,like you, you tell people.
Like people say, oh, I'mstruggling, I can't get jobs,
how to, like, I need moreclients, I need inquiries, or
like, work on your marketing, Idon't know what to do.
Like you fucking build awebsite.
Who taught you to build awebsite?

Speaker 1 (40:08):
I taught myself to be honest, like I was like there
are some things that you need toget developers to do um, but it
was bare minimum.
It was just like I wanted tocreate um because we didn't have
any product inventory.
In the back end it was comingup with um out of stock and I
just needed somebody to createlike a pre-order button for my

(40:29):
website and I didn't know how tocode um a pre-order button, so
I just got him to do.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
It cost like a thousand bucks um the reason I
like pulling you up on stufflike this is because I want
people to see that there is,there's always a way 100 like if
you get stuck on something,don't let that pull you up.
No, if you got to pay a fewbucks, pay a few bucks.
If you got to get on google andresearch it like research it
there's so much on youtube nowas well.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Like you, there's like I'm not.
I'm not hands-on like for abuilder.
Um, if I need to do somethingat home, I'm going to google it,
like I'm going to.
I'm going to, like um, look itup on youtube and go, oh, is
this worth?
I'm never going to try it, but,like, if it's something small
that I need to do at home, I'mgoing to look it up on YouTube
and I'll work out how to do it.

(41:14):
But yeah, like I'm not supersmart, I can use a computer and
I know.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
You need to change that story, mate.
Yeah, from what I'm hearing,you're a pretty smart bloke.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah well, I think everyone's got this in them
right, like everybody has thisin them.
It's just about willing to likebe okay with, like testing
things and if it doesn't work,like just keep going, like keep
trying or looking into things,and yeah, just, I think the best
thing is to not look at atextbook and go this is how it

(41:44):
has to happen.
I think you put the textbookdown.
Same with I don't know ifyou've built something from Ikea
, right, you're not going tolook at the instructions, I'm
going to put them down first,I'm going to build it and if
it's not right, I'm going to tryand like see how many parts I
got left over?

Speaker 2 (42:00):
yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
It's like you need to like, put, put it out there,
test it.
Just try and do it, because themore you're doing something,
the more you're like learningwhat not to do.
I think, um, yeah, build it offthe back of renders and went
live with it.
Um, what that?
Like that next week?
I think like within a couple ofdays, because I got the

(42:22):
developers to do a few things.
Um, sent the website through tothe team, obviously to go, is
this all right?
Like, do you think this is cooland everyone's like that's so,
like that's awesome.
I'm like I, I think it's stillshit.
Like even when I look at, I'mlike there's so much we could
change on it.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
And now, the website that I would would have been
seen in the last couple of weeksis still the same website.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, I haven't changed anything.
Put some stuff about likequeensland state of origin.
Um, we just partnered withrange rover, which was pretty
cool.
We're doing some stuff, sowe're putting some stuff on
there to like to say that we'repartnering with them guys as
well.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
So how does that happen?
Like I don't want, like there'sso much to talk about here,
like how, how does that happen?
How do you?
Have you reached out to them?

Speaker 1 (43:04):
or no, it's, it's insane the amount of reach outs
that we we're getting like on adaily basis, like pretty much
everyone in the state of originside on both teams has our
product.
It's crazy.
Like I got a random phone callthe other week.
I don't normally pick up randomnumbers.
I'll like let them text me orwhatever.
And it rang me on WhatsApp andI thought, oh, this is like an

(43:25):
Indian marketer Cause, like whocalls on WhatsApp.
And then it called like fiveminutes later and I just walked
into my sauna.
I'm like I'm just going toanswer this.
And called um like five minuteslater and I just walked into my
sauna.
I'm like I'm just going toanswer this and he's like hey,
mate, it's james, how you going?
And I'm like, yeah, I'm good.
I'm thinking who do?
I know that's james.
I'm like racking my brain.
He's like teddy and I'm like,and I was like tedesco.

(43:45):
And he's like, yeah, yeah, andhe goes.
I got your number from um, uh,such and such, and I just want
to go to sauna and ice bath.
And I was like what the actualfuck's happening here?
Like James Sadesco calls me andthen Latrell Mitchell go
message me the other day.
Like it's just insane theamount of people connections
that are happening from thisbusiness.
It's just one of those thingswhere, um, all the stars sort of

(44:08):
aligned.
But yeah, range Rover reachedout in an email and I just
called him straight away and Idon't think it's the stars
aligning mate.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I think, like like I said, from following you
personally on social media, likeyou, you're the real deal yeah
you tell it how it is.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
You're putting yourself out there and, like
people, connect with that yeah,I think, um, a lot of people can
see through when people arefaking it, um, and that's one
big thing like it's.
Like I'm just going to bealways authentic, but even like
I posted a video the other dayand someone in the team said, oh
, it was the you know thathocter girl.
That went viral.
Actually, there's a tur andspit on that thing anyway, yeah,

(44:48):
yeah.
So, um, it's a, it's a videothat went viral, but I made like
a spin on it in regards to theice bath, and actually it was
Dan.
He's like, oh, that could becontroversial.
And I was like, oh well, I'mjust, I'm leaving it there and
if somebody doesn't like it, one, if a lot of people don't like

(45:12):
it and think it's controversial,I'll own up and apologise.
But if I don't put that outthere, I'm not being like my
true self and I'm gonna go andcheck it out yeah.
Yeah, it's pretty funny, like ifyou see the original version
you'll know why, like the wholebackstory of it.
But it's yeah, it's, yeah, it'squite funny, but, um, yeah, I
think, just putting yourself outthere and being okay with um

(45:35):
being well, like, I don't thinkanyone judges.
I think they genuinely connectwith it because it's like this
guy's normal, as like um I'm onthe same page as you, mate.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
I believe people see through the bullshit pretty
quickly yeah, for sure yeah, ifyou're the real deal, like you,
your videos, like I assume it'syour backyard at home like, yeah
, in your pool area, I thinkI've seen one video where you
you mow the lawn or something inyour bud.
Do you smoke this?
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Far out.
That's something out there.
Yeah, yeah, look, it's just.
There's a funny story.
That is when the business firstkicked off.
So we launched.
It went pretty well and it wasjust me Because we're still
testing this right we're liketrying to validate.
Like we put there um on withpre-order to see if we had the

(46:21):
validation, um, and like we'dvalidated it.
That was in september, theproduct.
We received the product on um,I think it was like the 31st of
december, like it was new year'seve.
So the container got here, meand dan went up to the warehouse
um, unpacked it, uh, checkedout the products and stuff and,

(46:44):
um, during that time, like lawnsgoing real quick and I really I
love my lawn, I'm just obsessedwith it.
Well, I was until the businesswent too crazy.
Um, now it's going to shit.
But, um, I was mowing my lawnand this number kept calling up
the sales phone and I'm the onlyone in the team and I answer it
and he's like hey, I'm tryingto install my sauna.

(47:04):
It was a traditional sauna, soit needs to be wired up by an
electrician.
And he's like I think it'swired up wrong, the light's not
working, or when it turns off,the light clicks off and I'm
like I know what's going on here.
I'm like I know what's going onhere.
I'm like just let me FaceTimehim.
He's like, are you mowing yourlawn?
And I'm like, yeah, mowing mylawn.
It's a Saturday afternoon atlike three o'clock, but I think

(47:27):
that's just yeah, that's just me.
I'm always I was in my budgiestoo.
yeah, that's where I was gettingwith that story.
It's pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
So yeah, so after all that, you basically launched a
business and within three orfour months you had a
seven-figure business.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, I think the first month we launched on
September 13th, so middle of themonth, and we did like 500K.
So if it was a full month weprobably would have done Cracked
at Mule in our first month,which was insane, and then it
just grew super rapid from then.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yeah, so what's your plan?
I I see recently you'reexpanding the range.
Yeah, so is that?
Um?
Is the plan just to be theleader in that space?
The ice baths and the saunasyeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
So we, we want to have the most, um, diverse range
, like everyone has you, you seethis, everyone has a different
look and feel of how they wanttheir house or like how they see
things.
So, um, we don't want torestrict our range so that this
is what people have to have.
We want to give them a bit ofchoice and I think, um from our
like design background, like thefirst, the version one products

(48:32):
, which is something I knockedup together quite quickly, um in
regards to the design.
But it's like now, how do weiterate on these products and
make these products the best inthe market, um, that people
actually connect with as well,like you don't want to create a
product and no one connects withit.
Have a really extensive rangeso that people have options.
Um, we've scaled into newzealand, so we're seven months

(48:56):
in.
Scaled into new zealand.
Have a distributor there.
Have a distributor um coming onboard in france and europe and
then?
um, we're going direct toconsumer in in the us as well no
, that's freaking unreal.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Like you must pinch yourself, like what the hell?
Like is this awesome or what?

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I think I said it to somebody yesterday I still, I
genuinely still pinch myself on,so like it was the Range Rover
thing because I, um, when I wasgoing through that like business
breakup era like I'm not onethat like flashes anything but
um, I convinced my partner tolet us buy like a real high,

(49:36):
high-end Range Rover.
Um, stupid idea um.
But I was like I own thisreally nice Range Rover.
She drives it now.
I just drive her um car around,um.
But when Range Rover called me,I was like I'm pinching myself
like they, they.
So what they're doing isthey're launching their new um,

(49:56):
one of their new cars like topend hate, I think it's the range
rover hv.
It's like an electric suv, um,and they've got a house down in
threadbow that they hire for theweek and they set it up with
like range rover branding andthey um set up like a whole
experience.
So they've got a breath workperson there.
They've got ice but like ourice bath sauna, um, and then

(50:17):
they fly their top hundredclients down to the house and
take them like they can drivethe cars through Threadbow and
then come back and experiencelike a wellness retreat.
Yeah, just to help launch theproduct to build all the content
for their product.
And they invite all theinfluences.
And they called us and they'relike we love your product aligns
with our brand, which is insane, because Range Rover brands's

(50:40):
like top end.
Can you send down a couple ofsaunas and ice baths, like we'll
put them together and whatever?
And I'm like oh, I'll justbring them down and put them on
one of your customers, I'll comedown as long as you let me do
some content as well.
And they're like yeah, we lovethat.
So yeah, I was like man, I'mpinching myself that these
opportunities happen.

(51:00):
And, um, a guy called me thismorning.
He's like oh, the today show isfilming a thing at cali beach
club on um sunday.
Have you got a few ice baths wecan just put on the set because
we're doing a thing for motorneuron disease?
And I'm like totally aligned,let's do it like.
Now we're on the today show.
So just like awesome, but itjust shows you what you put out

(51:21):
there, you get back.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Hey, like for sure the um yeah, I think social
media is an incredibly powerfultool, like you um 100 if you, uh
, yeah, like we've been talkingabout you, just be yourself, you
put yourself out there, youconnect with like-minded people
and, before you know it, thingsare just ticking along like it's
crazy.
The um, like all my businessespretty much just tick along and

(51:42):
grow off the back of me doingthis podcast and putting the
like, the random bits and piecesI do on my social media.
So, yeah, obviously connect witha fair few people um, from that
, like they, yes, obviously seevalue and actually connect and
believe what you're doing, yeahbut just just being real, like,
exactly like we said, likeeveryone can see through the

(52:04):
bullshit, like I, like you seeso many people on social media
now.
Like they uh like anyone can goand buy like go and get financed
by lamborghini and stand infront of it like it amazed me
how many young people arepromoting their life coaches and
they've been successful andthey might have had one win or

(52:24):
something.
You've got to have some runs onthe board.
You've been through all thisstuff.
You've got the runs on theboard.
You've tried and tested.
Still won't buy a Lambo Mate.
I'm not a Lambo person either.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
But I get what you mean.
Like it's I legitimately hadthis conversation on the car on
the way up here with my businesspartner, dan um, about like
lambos and stuff and um, theperception and the programming
that we have based off.
Like social media is a greattool, right, we can like you

(53:00):
could post something andsomebody in the us that isn't
inspired by you might like reachout to you and say something
and and you, just you just getso much enjoyment out of that.
But, on the other hand, it'slike it's a demon for um kids
that.
Or like younger people thatthink that everything, like they
see this guy on Instagram andhe's got a Lamborghini and don't

(53:24):
realize that he's financed itand they think that he's just
got it from overnight success orhe's built a business without
having to do hard work.
Yeah, a big movement now forpeople to be more humble, um, in
regards to their business andgive back and offer actual value
rather than going oh I, I havethis like flashy car.

(53:47):
I watched this cool um video onsocial media the other day and
I've I actually loved it so much.
It was.
They interviewed 10 kids in theus um 10 primary school kids,
and they said if you could haveanything today, what would it be
?
And the first one was likeiPhone.
The second one was like I'd buya private jet.

(54:10):
The other one was like I'll geta mansion, and the other one, I
think, may have said like aLambo or something.
It was something ridiculous.
And then it pans to these kidsin like the desert in iraq or
somewhere, and it's like um, ifyou could have one thing, what
would it be today?
And the kid the first kid waslike um, I would want to live

(54:32):
till tomorrow, like I know thatI could live till tomorrow.
The next one was like I wouldwant to see my dad again.
And the next one was like Ijust want to play soccer with my
mates in the field.
And it's like they don't seesocial media, so they don't have
these unrealistic expectations.
Um, and what they, what theycan, can achieve.
I actually hate like don't hateanything, but I really dislike

(54:54):
seeing people um go off the backof like Aussies that are like
working hard and trying to findtheir break, like you see, the
Adrian Portellis and that, yeah,they've done really well with
their brand and their personalbrand and stuff like that, but
realistically, they're makingtheir billions off giving people

(55:18):
that are hardworkingAustralians like um an easy way
out, like by buying theirlottery tickets or whatever.
I just don't think, like itjust doesn't sit right with me
and seeing people post likeLamborghinis online and you're
like I just don't, that doesn'tinspire me like well.
I want to be inspired by like agenuine story where this guy's

(55:39):
like I made millions of dollarsand then I helped this person.
Yeah, I don't, I don't care ifyou got like a Lambo.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Yeah, Adrian, I actually like I'd, I'd love to
know.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
No disrespect to him, like he's done really well, but
it's just, it doesn't, itdoesn't sit like too well with
me.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Yeah, me, yeah yeah, he's probably one of the ones
like that I actually I do likeI'd love to uh meet him, like,
yeah, and he's, from what I seeand hear, like he does give a
hell of a lot back but I getwhat you're saying.
Yeah they're making a badexample.
No, but I get 100 what you'resaying, like there, and and
there's so many mentors, coaches, whatever out there at the
moment and and yeah, my spin onwhat you're, what you're saying,

(56:21):
I think, I think we're on thesame page.
Like they're, they've only gotthe lamborghini because
someone's paying them a monthly,or hundreds of people, or
thousands of people are payingthem a monthly fee.
Yeah, to hear what they'resaying, yeah, for sure, and I
like that shits me in mind, atlike at the construction
industry, because there's umwell, no different to yours,

(56:41):
like yours, I guess, like you tome, with everything you've got
to have runs on the board yeah,for sure like it's so easy, like
the ones that really shit me onsocial media.
Are these ones that, um, get onthere about these I don't even
know how it works or what thereal name for it is.
Like they, they sell shitonline.
Like they just they purchasesomething from china and they
sell it, yeah, and they do allthese posts about oh, I've been

(57:02):
going for 11 months and I'vemade 3.3 million dollars oh,
when they show their shopifyaccount.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like.
Yeah, I don't like them as welllook, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Good on you.
You've obviously put in thehard yards.
You've made it work.
Yeah, but come back and see mein three years time and see
where you're at.
Yeah, yeah, like, is thatgrowth going to continue for
that long?
No, it's not that sustainable.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Like, in 10 years' time, they'll probably look back
and go.
That was the worst decision ofmy life.
Yeah, I could have reinvestedthat money.
It's good to celebrate smallthings, like for sure.
Like, I think you should alwayscelebrate small things.
But I think the feeling likeyou need the, it's the hedonic

(57:46):
treadmill right.
It's like you don't need tohave the next best thing,
because when you get that nextbest thing, you're going to want
the next best thing and you'regoing to want this.
And it's just superunsustainable when you're just
filling a void, whereas if youcan get some sort of fulfillment
elsewhere by helping peoplelike, yeah, if you're selling a
program that actually genuinelyhelps people, that's like and

(58:09):
then you're seeing their results.
Like, for instance, youmentioned that you wanted to do
you're looking at a business to.
Well, your business is coachingpeople, right?
One of them yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what you're doing is you'reactually facilitating somebody
else's growth and giving them anopportunity to break their
cycle, to earn money, to live agood life, yeah, whereas people

(58:30):
other people are just like theseovernight success people that
drive around land, but oh, theones that annoy me are the uh,
the crypto traders.
That's the.
Yeah, that's the ones.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Yeah, yeah, that's the reference I should have used
, not for the board.
I went to this bloody seminaronly a couple of months ago and
one of the speakers there was acrypto guy.
Oh, wow.
And he's telling us about allthe success and everything he's
had and then like, obviouslyit's a sales thing and at the
end of it it's like you had.
And then like, obviously it's asales thing at the end of it,

(59:01):
so you can have all this as wellfor bloody 24 990 dollars like
mate, the amount of people inthe room that got up and and
went and purchased it, Icouldn't believe it.
But like he's made his moneyfrom you paying him for this
shit system, that um, that has asmall chance of thing.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
That's what you need to hold up a sign like that says
you can find this info onYouTube for free.
Somebody will tell you.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
I'm glad we're talking about this because this
is something that I'm reallypassionate about now, because
for me I get a lot of peoplethat they book calls now and
they can book a schedule in mycalendar and give me a call and
talk to me about a coachingbusiness, see if it's a fit for
them.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
And one thing that Miele and my business partner
are very proud about like whenwe hold our conferences, they're
just like us, yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Like it's no la-di-da .

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Like we turn up people walk around in pluggers
and like everyone's just havinga good time and chilled out,
there's no, there's just nowankers there.
Yeah, that's so good.
And like I tell people straightup, like if you want the
lamborghinis and the mansionsand stuff, yeah, we're not the
the community for you.
Like that's pretty cool.
But if you want, if you want tolearn how to run a successful

(01:00:15):
building business with all thesystems and processes that gives
you freedom, yeah to go.
And if you, if you get thefreedom and you want to go and
buy a flash car, all good foryou.
But, um, most of our membersare they want to earn good money
so they can have nice thingsyeah, but it's more about they
want to be able to haveexperiences with their family,
with their kids going onholidays, like um, and to me

(01:00:37):
that's freedom for sure.
Freedom's not having a milliondollars worth of cars not at all
.
Freedom's having money to, uh,like my thing's always been, I
want.
I want to be in a positionwhere I can.
It's all about experiences, ohyeah if I want to do something,
I can do it.
If my kids want to do somethinglike I don't want my kids to be

(01:00:57):
sport brats, but like if we'reon a holiday and we see
something awesome, yeah, I wantto be able to go shit yeah,
let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
I know we go oh look, we actually.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
We can't afford that right now.
Like we'll have to do that nexttime.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
I love that.
Like experiences everything hey.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
Yeah, like I live.
I think that was a big turningpoint for me, like because the
way that I was brought up, Inever learned about money, yeah,
so I was always chasing themoney, yeah, and I actually I
never had a problem making money, yeah, but I couldn't keep it
yeah okay.
So I'd just I'd make money andthen I'd think I'd buy, like I

(01:01:32):
would buy flash.
You know, I bought boats andcars and things or invested in
properties, but then I didn'tknow how to maintain that and
then I'd be struggling again.
So I I think I'm not sure whatyou think.
I think we need to learn moreabout money.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
I think so too, and I think it comes back to like
trying to figure out whatactually makes you tick.
I think the best way to do it,the best exercise, is to go.
It's pretty powerful.
I was on a podcast earlier inthe week and the girl that was

(01:02:07):
interviewing me, her sister, hadjust gone, like the day before
went to a woman's retreat thingand there was a lady there that
had been diagnosed withincurable breast cancer and the
doctor said you've got 365 daysto live.
And when she got asked thatquestion uh, when she got put
that, she was like okay, what amI doing these next 365 days?

(01:02:30):
I think the the way that I lookat it now.
And, um, and I think the bestway for somebody to look at it
is, if you got told you've got365 days to live left, what
would you?
What would you do I?
I can tell you now I'm notgoing to buy a house because you
didn't.
You're not going to be livingin it for much longer, like or a

(01:02:51):
lambo you're going to go.
Okay, what experiences can I donow that will be within my
memories for the next 365 days?
I would be like, okay, I'mgonna go experience everything
like I'm.
I'm massive on experiences.
I love experiences and food.
You'll find if you went throughmy bank account, you'd go

(01:03:12):
experiences of food experience.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
No, there's nothing else like, it's just can I ask
you um one of your stories?
You're it looks like you're ona private jet yeah, yeah what's
the deal with that?

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
oh that.
So this is a relationship thing.
Um, so I didn't.
I didn't pay for the privatejet, um, so I needed to.
I got a random phone call.
Another relationship one, umthe guy that owns appliances
online and winnings.
So that's like winnings is likea big actually you're not yeah,

(01:03:46):
they were like, oh, we want toum, do this range.
We've got this opportunity withthis other sauna and ice bath
company and I was like winningsaligns with my brand so much.
I'm like I want thisopportunity.
And, um, the guy that owns it'sa young, eccentric billionaire.
Um, uh, john winning.
He's also like a dj, has heapsof cool connections and stuff.

(01:04:07):
And they were like, oh, he'sgoing to be at the camera store,
um, on, on like wednesday.
He'll be there in between thesetimes.
And I'm like, oh shit, I'llhave a look at flights.
And I was like, oh shit, Ican't get a flight into Canberra
to land that time.
And my brother-in-law, um, he's,he's a young guy as well.
He owns a?

(01:04:27):
Um civil and mining company, um, that does like pile rigs, like
rigs.
So he, he um rents a privatejet from time to time to get to
remote areas with his team if heneeds to get there quickly, and
he just gets paid by the miningcompanies.

(01:04:49):
So I was like, mate, I need afavor, that private jet, how
much does it cost?
And he's like, don't worryabout it, give me a sauna and
I'll get it for you for the day.
And I was like, done and I gotit and I was like this is pretty
cool, but you wouldn't, youknow, wouldn't see me um going

(01:05:09):
going on the private jet yeahthat's cool, but like, yeah,
well, that's an experience,isn't it?
yeah, well, the the thing aboutit is, if I didn't take that
opportunity, we wouldn't be inwinnings and appliances online
and I wouldn't have met himbecause, um, that day ended up
being like shit weather, so thethe plane that I would have

(01:05:29):
caught would have been umcancelled and he would have been
gone gone by the time I wasthere.
And then when I went there, Imet him and we just like
connected.
He grew up in super differenthousehold, I did, and we just
connected pretty well and heinvited us down to um.
He's got a restaurant in Sydneylike two days later and we just

(01:05:50):
signed a deal there, flewcommercial two days later.
It didn't feel great, but uh,yeah, it felt like a rock star.
Pulled into the um, the hangarparked, the car was wheels up
like within five minutes.
Yeah, yeah, pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Yeah, no, it is cool, but that's the experience.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah, that's yeah, that was the experience.
I took Um.
So we at that same time, um, wehad, like my general manager
started that week Um, and then Itook a videographer.
That hasn't experienced muchlike that.
I took my business partner.
I was like you're coming withme because we've got to enjoy
this together, and um, the onthe way back, uh, flying back,

(01:06:30):
my general manager that juststarted sat in their um, their
passenger seat, like in thecockpit, and learned how to fly
home.
And then we've got like contentof that, which is pretty cool,
like he actually learned umpretty much how to fly a plane
on the way home, which is like agreat experience for him to go
back and tell his family like,oh, this is what we've done, but

(01:06:51):
don't, please, don't tellanyone about this, because
they're going to expect it now.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Yeah, no, that's unreal.
So, mate, um, before we wrap itup for all people out there
listening mainly traders andbuilders and stuff, because I
want them all to reach out toyou.
I want them all to have someoneas an ice bath.
What benefits are you going toget out of it?

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
So, obviously, because you're heavily into ice
bathing, I suppose the biggestthing is it reduces inflammation
.
That's a massive thing.
If you're on the tools all day,um, or on your feet all day,
you need to recover um.
One, uh, that's a big thing.
The resilience, the breathing,um, just getting you in the
right headspace to deal with,like you, if you, if you put

(01:07:36):
yourself in an ice bath in themorning, um, you can take on the
world that day like you.
Just have the resilience toknow, oh shit, I've put myself
through this trauma.
Yeah, I can, I can get throughum, whatever it might be, um,
and then obviously, umincreasing your brown brown fat.
So what, what that does it likefat sounds bad, right, but you

(01:07:58):
need good fat, like which isyour brown fat, to help with
things like metabolism.
Um, and all of those differentthings like it can help speed up
your metabolism.
Um, there's a few other thingsthat um brown fat.
I don't know the technical termof them, but um, essentially it
helps fight illness and allsorts of stuff yeah, it helps

(01:08:19):
fight illness, keeps off likethe cold and flu as much as
possible, um, but it can likewith tradies, like it's hard to
get like good, sustainable foodin all the time, right, so, um,
it just helps with metabolizingthose, those bad, bad foods.
And with the saunas, um, thethe biggest thing is like it

(01:08:40):
increases your circulation,which then also impacts your
heart, so a lot of tradies wouldhave like heart conditions from
like back in the day eatinglike meat pies and I know I've
spoken about meat pies beforechocolate milks, cokes, sugar,
like just to get them through,like taking in all of those
calories.

(01:09:00):
Saunering like three to fourthem through, like taking in all
of those calories, um, soaringlike three to four times a week?
Um, there's actual like scienceand data out there that's
saying soaring three times aweek for 20 minutes at a time
can reduce your chance of dyingfrom heart, um, or like all
cause heart mortality by 40,which is insane.
So, like, the chance of dyingfrom a heart condition is
reduced by 40 percent and that'sthat's a big, big figure as

(01:09:23):
well.
So obviously helps with, likemuscle soreness and stuff like
that as well.
Helps with sleep.
Sleep's a big thing.
Obviously I suffer with shittysleep, but um, saunering before
you go to bed can really helpyou get a really good, efficient
night um sleep because itraises your core body
temperature and then when youget into bed, your core

(01:09:44):
temperature drops, so it'seasier to get into a deep sleep
um faster.
Yeah, um, uh, what else does itdo?
There's there's a couple.
Obviously, whip saunas and icebaths can really help um, like
improve your mood and mentalhealth as well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
So boost your, boost your um endorphins and stuff
like that yeah, I can'trecommend it highly enough, like
for everyone that's listening.
Um, so where can people reachout how they get in contact?

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
yeah, so on socials, my instagram handle is I am the
aj williams, or you can justlook at revel saunas on
instagram.
Um facebook, all those socialplatforms.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
Sweet Shay will put all your tags and all that sort
of stuff on there.
Look, guys, make sure you reachout If you're thinking about
getting a sauna or an ice bath.
These guys are the real deal.
And, yeah, follow AJ and hisstories because most of them are
quite funny to watch and youlearn something from.
And, as we've talked about, hea real deal.
So, um, yeah, hopefully thispodcast today has inspired you.

(01:10:44):
Um, like I said, the coldshower, ice bath thing has been
I'm not right into the saunasI've only had a few but, yeah,
it's just for my consistency, mycommitment like it's just
really and my mental health.
So, um, yeah, yeah, I can'trecommend it highly enough but,
mate, really appreciate youcoming on today sharing your
story.
I definitely think you'veinspired some people and I can't

(01:11:07):
wait to keep watching yourgrowth, mate, and to see where
you are in the future.
It's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:11:11):
Appreciate it.
Hopefully there's someone outthere that's listening that this
inspires them to take the nextstep in their journey or to help
somebody along in their ownjourney and get through break
that cycle.
I suppose that's why I putmyself out here and really
appreciate you having me on andletting me engage with your

(01:11:31):
audience.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
It's all good, mate.
It's all good Guys, as usual.
Make sure you like comment,share all those things so we can
continue to make thisAustralia's number one
construction podcast.
Look if you've got anyquestions.
If there's any guests thatyou'd love us to get on here,
then make sure you let us know.
We look forward to seeing youon the next one.
Are you ready to build smarter,live better and enjoy life?

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Then head over to livelikebuildcom.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Forward slash elevate to get started everything
discussed during the level uppodcast with me, duane pierce,
is based solely on my ownpersonal experiences and those
experiences of my guests.

(01:12:15):
The information, opinions andrecommendations presented in
this podcast are for generalinformation only, and any
reliance on the informationprovided in this podcast is done
at your own risk.
We recommend that you obtainyour own professional advice in
respect to the topics discussedduring this podcast.