 But what entrepreneurship is really about is building up systems and processes that don't require you and It's a funny story because It was through syndicate through Jason Calcana's and it was one of my first and smallest investment I've ever done and the reason I bring it up when That investment came through and I'm like okay, so meditation app. I'm like I like what they're doing I'm really into mindfulness was around the same time that intelligent change started 2013 I mean, there's no way this is like a venture-backed company. Yeah, you know, this is like I'm like it's I like what they're doing I like that idea. Yeah, you know, here's a thousand bucks. Yeah, and Announce over a billion dollars of valuation. Yep, they actually have revenues, you know, probably close to 200 million and That's small and that's probably how did my whole Angel investment portfolio if they exit whatever happens asymmetrical returns. Yeah, that's what happens. Yeah, but what Why bring it up to intelligent change because they're in a similar space. It just allowed me to I'm like, wow, there's so much potential in this market But beyond that I see a real need even we ourselves Here with intelligent change like we barely You know We weren't even trying to grow it and it's and it's done so well You know, we sold over a half a million five hundred journals to date Even the productivity planner, which doesn't get as much praise. It's done over 200,000 units so not very far from the five-minute journal and We're barely scratching the surface because we I know I guess my lesson was For what we do with flexi hair in regards to once you put actually start actually operating as a business Because the thing with a lifestyle business is that you like you don't try to create Too much organization too much structure. Sure. You try to keep a very lean Versus a real business you actually give what the business needs and what you need and that's a big separation I think a lot of people miss out on your own fucking dog shit. Yeah I think a lot of people missed out on that it's like including myself I've been that and I'm still currently doing it, but I think operating business from a perspective of What does a business need versus? What do I need? It just becomes a different beast and I really want to take the business in the direction of what is the business need and Because even in these few years we've had so many people who have who fed off are kind of Rising, you know, right? And that's what happened I remember my previous business is that when you once you start getting successful People will come and eat your food like they're like, oh, okay. There's food there No, just graduation man. You get competition. Yeah competition. You only have a delta of a time frame to do domination Yeah, and you don't have to be you know being first mover is nothing. Yeah, I can say we're probably one of the first journals Yeah, I was gonna say timing was perfect in regards to like doing the whole Kind of guided journaling practice where it's not blank where you actually give people a guide to kind of what to fill in How to do it or for sure one of the first But then the market there's so many now, you know one minute journal six minute journal six minute diaries all that stuff one minute journal Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna come out with a 30 second. Yeah, 30 second journal And I think so so now for myself and this is I guess what we had You know between you J and I was just really my desire to really want to take it to the next level and wanting to grow the business and try different stuff because I think when I once you do have The luxury of like we do a financial freedom sure I can do whatever I want and especially if I don't have investors But I like to be in a position where I can make the decisions to like sure pay this person 50,000, you know, because I'm very still Emotionally driven I'll go with my gut a lot versus like oh like what should this be and I like I'm So I the way I operate I tend to be like a little all over all over the place. Mm-hmm. That's my style, you know So what you think you're gonna expand into other products or like what's the vision with this because you got two products right now Yeah, so hold three three products. We have five minutes over kids. Oh cool as well Yeah, so, you know once people start having kids and I really believe that just early childhood education and Getting people young Because at the core of intelligence change what it's about is really a how do we help people? Create a certain mindset because the way I was able to shift my life is because I was able to shift my mindset and how I think So at the core of the mission of the company is how do we help people develop a positive mindset in their life? Mm-hmm. And so with that there's so many different for right now to be clearly honest with you we just need to Get basic fundamentals in place of the business. So you know, we've been operating out for more than six years We don't actually don't have the basic fundamentals of the business meaning Operations customer service marketing logistics actual teams actually, but this is a great example So I have one customer service staff right now. This is a great example The older I get the more business involved and I'm in the opposite spectrum I'm in like the blockchain crypto space or everything's VC funded hundreds of millions of dollars There's no lifestyle business. You eat your own dog food. It's like either do or die. Yeah And I've been you know me I've been many different industries I've come to the firm conclusion. Yeah, that timing is the most important thing when it comes to business I don't care how smart you are. I don't give a fuck how much fucking money you have timing everything. Yeah Coupled with product market fit so you can have if you have timing well Yeah, in a good product market fit You can have the worst operation the worst manager is a worst CEO the worst ever at least funded But those two keep you going. You know, definitely those are I think I agree who those are the key However, what I've also learned over the last few years Your operations execution will make or break you. Yeah, meaning like yes You can still be in the the right product market fit and everything But if you're not you still have to do some sort of execution course you do Yeah, you're gonna get some next guy comes around and puts you out of business. Yeah and so you that I have a lot of respect for Operations people especially with our last business. It's just you know Once I started, you know, because what happened that business learned intelligent change You know, it was like being at the right place at the right time doing the right thing and You know, we you know, we grew very quickly. We were lucky here I went from like a million to three your timing was impeccable In three years very smooth also very little staff and then I plateaued at five And then for the next two three years, it was about five mil revenue And I was comfortable because I'm like I have two staff and I'm you know, seven-figure profits Yeah, all life is great. I see you later I'm in my mid-twenties but then same thing started happening is where People started coming in and it would generate your 240 million. Yeah, and then as what I'm saying so Coming in and Executing properly because there's there's still a big difference in regards to Being an amateur versus a professional and I do recognize that difference and not stating I Still an amateur at this point. Yeah, but I have so much respect for Professionals in the game who come in and who can execute very well That's what I'm trying to learn. But I think with us as a business. I'm more for the long term You know what I mean by that is one of my favorite books of all time is Small Giants by Bo Wickman. Yeah, it's good. I've never heard about it already. Yeah, so in that book It's it's it's the opposite of what you hear now or even the past decade of it's the unsexy businesses Sure, meaning it's not fast-growing. It's not whatever just more his whole thesis is that Majority of businesses in economy that actually bring the jobs that bring the tax revenue and whatever For the economy there are these businesses that you've never heard about it's like Joe Montana who makes a hundred million dollars You never heard of him. You know, but Joe and his employees might be happy and they might be having a good business So really intelligent change right now and in a way, it's you know, it's an established business But we do have to I'm operating right now like a startup And but as I'm in that stage, I'm thinking about Okay, what are we're a truly our values? What are what is the vision? We're working towards and I'm in the stage. This is very early. You're catching me at a very early time right now It's like year zero You know because the transaction just closed about you know two months ago or so and then so I'm this new decade I'm just excited for it to just how I can mold how I can shape what I can do and for me at the core I'm a creative guy. I'm not an operations person. So that's why you're the visionary. Yeah, visionary Like I have I definitely have the vision in my head. I still keep it tight in regards to and then bringing on the operations people with us Another saying man, you need a dream team. Yeah, I think there's another great book Is that helping my previous business a lot is traction By Gino Wickman, you have to start book. Yeah, and he has another book called I think it's I forget what it's called But he speaks about the importance of having a visionary and integrator in the business That's what I found out. It's like I'm more of a visionary type, you know, I like even this podcast You're like, oh my god, even though there was instructions here Where to park and where I wish I knew about these things. I just don't follow You know, I didn't do well in school. Yeah in that regards I just don't follow rules in that key see but with Certain operators there are you need people who are process Oriented and who can actually build up the vision What do you say is like some of your biggest lessons learner mistakes you made in the past with the businesses that you had Which ones you want to start with? Start with Luxie then go Oh, I'm saying I'm saying lessons or mistakes. I think they're the same to go to each other. Okay Hands down in my biggest lesson so far is Delegating to what you're not good at I think most entrepreneurs fails because they try to do everything. Yeah, and that's why even I Think at the core entrepreneurship is when you're when the business is not relying on you That's the biggest lesson. I've probably had in the last decade is that if you actually want to be an entrepreneur You know, it's very popular now in sexy But what entrepreneurship is really about is building up systems and processes that don't require you and The business depend on you. So for example for our Previous, you know exit that just happened No one would have bought that business if the business was reliant on me or my wife The reason we're able to step out of business don't have an earn out and do everything is because we have proper Processes and people in place that the business does not require us So that was it for sure hands down one of the biggest lessons for anybody including myself is you need to Get the right people on board and make sure that you have people who are filling in for your weakness and You know one of the greats of this and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with him person numerous times is Richard Branson because if you meet him he's like He's not the brightest guy It's not as a way to like I refer to myself in that way Yeah, not like this mastermind genius very ego-driven like take over the world. It's a very fairly laid-back guy But what he does well is He's he it's not all for himself. He's very comfortable sharing and And leading division and whatever and getting great operators on board. So as an entrepreneur You have to get a good at that and that's what I'm kind of looking after was really just looking after who's good at doing that So and then mistakes Being slow in hiring Same thing I think being lean can actually be a disadvantage Where it's good to be lean and have that mentality, but if you're not moving fast enough and you're if you're not bringing on people You're just you're slowing yourself down So there's this balance to play with you don't want to go too fast, but you also don't want to go too slow and but I do there is a dilemma, you know as You when you are a lifestyle entrepreneur as I am You do Question everything in regards like how's this gonna affect my life? You know, and I'm not we're not the ones both me my wife to sacrifice our well-being Mm-hmm for just a business and that's a big separation between a lot of people so but any rest mistakes Lessons contracts contracts, you know same thing. I'm more of a handshake guy. Yeah I'm like, hey, I'll look you in the eye. We shook hands. I'll deliver on my thing but this doesn't always work and people won't always honor unfortunately your Kind of what you thought was was a contract of how you miss you thought about it Or you know, everyone looks the world from their perspective So it's good to have things documented so that both parties agree to house or in terms should be laid out So some say same thing to any entrepreneur starting out or getting to partnerships or anything like that I think a lot of times I would just I wouldn't think about contracts where I think now is like, okay It's important even though I'm still like contracts lawyers Lawyers always win man. He didn't have to contract is there. Yeah, they have to unravel it You know, it's and deal with interpretation of the contract. Yeah, so So that I would say those are just some of the key ones for sure But unless it's like it's like school like unless you have to actually go through it Yeah, you don't learn those lessons. Sometimes you have to learn them hard way You you know, there's a saying a smart man learns from his mistakes a wise man learns from others Yeah, it's difficult though to learn from others because you don't feel the pain Yeah, you're only observer of the pain exactly. Yeah, that's not important. Exactly. Yeah, but it's interesting what you brought up is like it's in in vogue right now to be an entrepreneur very sexy and It's important for people to understand now all business are the same as many ways as skin a cat. Yeah You mentioned lifestyle Entrepreneurship is very different than if you need heavy-duty whether it's angel round VC funding or whether it's like bootstrap For example, what the Demski did with Unbound. Yeah, so there's many different ways to approach things. I think a lot of people have imposter syndrome or they're looking at different businesses like the reality is like You know, if you depending on your industry, you know, I mean like in the tech space Good luck bootstrapping. Mm-hmm. You got to raise Yeah, the amount of capital to hire engineers and developers The e-commerce you can bootstrap right you can get products from China Yeah, and that there's ways you can slowly build up and get some angel invest I think people they need to really pause and reflect on what they're trying to do and what they want Yeah, you know, I mean, it's like dude like if you need to raise money like and Build a business. That's hyper growth. You're gonna be working fucking 18 hours a day for the next couple of years Well, I think the the biggest thing for a lot of people to understand is the moment you get investors is a moment You get a boss and there's nothing wrong with it I think in fact, I can probably work and be way more successful if I had investors because I would just I I think most people do they operate better when they're there's somebody else They're responsible to somebody else, but when we have to be responsible for ourselves You know, yeah, whatever you slack mark, but when you're you have a boss all of a sudden, you know, okay I have to you know do stuff for that person and Deliver and I think maybe it's more of an evolutionary thing as well. We're like, okay, we're part of this tribe I'm now have to call it, you know answer this person Have to make sure I deliver and that's why one of the other great lessons that I've had is definitely hiring people I think hiring people is great because you become more responsible. Oh snap. There's somebody showing up I have to show up, you know, and it makes you want to deliver more So I think I think another thing that you brought up that is very important for a lot of people to consider as you said it is division and I think the most important thing that that I always recommend to people starting out to To think about is what is the vision of the life that you want to live? Yeah, all right and looking looking three five years even ten years ahead especially as we're entering new decade Really figuring out, you know, what's what's that perfect day for you? What does that look like? Because a lot of people do things for the wrong reasons and Then they end up where they have to deal with all this stuff. There I go. I didn't sign up for this Yeah, well, yeah, you signed up because you wanted to make this amount of money We thought you're gonna make this amount of money Well, when I hear people saying they go and start up land to make money I'll start laughing. I'm like is the worst choice possible worse. Yeah, you can be in private equity and Brokering deals sales commission. Yeah, like I can think of ten fucking ways. I can earn cash tomorrow. Yeah, it's liquid Yeah, that doesn't give me stress. Yeah running a business does. Yeah another thing I was speaking recently also somebody and and the thing that happens as you also people make more money in Professions. Yeah, let's say even certain managers CEOs or you being private who you make like 400,000 300,000 a half a million and salary. Yeah, and I'm like and you want to be entrepreneur I'm like, good luck. Good luck with that Because the actual opportunity cost for you to pay yourself a salary of three four hundred five hundred thousand You're gonna be yeah, you're gonna have to be making millions of dollars Your business has to be generated. Oh, yeah after you pay your employees tax all that Oh, yeah for you to take that home is gonna be some time, you know, unless you really I'll give you a real example We had a guy revising and he's in a super cushy job has two kids has benefits are getting paid north of like 220 salary Plus full like really prime benefits. Yeah, this business. Yeah, I was talking to him Like this is a cold hard truth. You will not pay yourself a penny for the next three years. Yeah Can you do that? Well, I actually I side on his side. I'm like dude man You have kids you have this benefit like the reality is man like I know you want to start this but like One does your wife, you know, does your wife support you 100% Do you at least have a runway to support your kids, you know, God forbid something happens Yeah, like this is a business is a complicated bit wasn't one of these like I'm gonna have a product and sell it Yeah, it's a fucking complicated tech play. Yeah, you know, like we're gonna go raise 10 million dollars complicated tech Yeah, I'm like dude man And he chose the latter. He's like he stayed at his place. Yeah, you have to This is why I'm really grateful for how I started my journey. Yeah, meaning it's so much easier I was living my mom with my future wife Unemployed. Yeah, and just but I think I think you also had a very like you had a very sim I want to say the product is simple, but the business is a simple in the nutshell. Yeah, right So you had you had something that's tangible Maybe a couple of skews which is important. You're not like having 20 fucking skews. It's a modern product Right. It's a modern product. There's a market base already, you know, you're going Mazelhiker needs people care about beauty People care about looks, you know There's a million weddings and events that they have to go to on a daily basis all around the world So the man is there the supply and van markets there and you can focus on like one skew one skew put on the store Yeah, we'll see how it sells. Yeah, you know that that was really wise of you Like this is a business that you can be running from your mom's house Controlling the whole ecosystem from your laptop. Oh, definitely. So when I said about mono product like not modern Mono product one. Yeah, so you think I didn't say luck to the hair was We were selling hair extensions, but it was just pretty much one skew. Yeah, 13 different colors Yeah, it was one product and one of my friends from London He has this whole thing called mono product manifesto He just really believes that the future of business is actually going towards like just do one thing really well sure and don't try to do everything because he's in the restaurant business and It's called burger and lobster Lobsters Really big business interesting and all the heat all he had at the beginning when he was starting out the the menu because His the analogy is you know, and you know, you go to a restaurant where there's so much choice Yeah, three pages. You have you have too many options your process my analysis man I grow but also how I think about how it is to actually manage that yeah I guess suppliers getting all that stuff in so a lot of people think they need to offer more in regards to options Yeah, but in reality people value less they'll actually if you're like they'll actually know you for something if you just do one thing really well and His whole thing is just like just do one thing do you're really well. That's what we did. So same thing with let's say Lexi hair back in the day right now with the journals just starting out slowly and another thing I would say to any, you know entrepreneurs or people starting out want to listen is that I Even made another mistake. I did we launched another business called love hair And we you know once you have money you start getting cocky and you're like you can take risks Yeah, you can take risks. So you're like hey, we're gonna launch a haircare line But let's launch all the skews at once and So we launched you know six skews still not a lot But when you wanted to say that business we actually developed everything So our own intellectual property in regards to formulation formulated each product We went to like, you know, one of the best the formulators You know made in California all that stuff and the lesson there is like, you know, it's okay I can lose what you know a half a million dollars But anybody starting out and when we started lucky here, we risked 20,000 dollars when we started intelligent change We risked me and you jade together probably like $5,000. Yeah, you started off for credit cards with the Move lucky here. Yeah, line of credits credit cards the whole night. Yeah But same thing when you're young and you lose that it's fine Like you go bankrupt if you're in your early 20s you go back to work. You don't have kids. It's fine Yeah, you're good, but I can I can so I can definitely emphasize with a lot of people Who may want to start a business and there are in their 30s or 40s and they have family And they have you know mortgages and things like that. That's a that's a bigger opportunity cost Yeah, so my recommendation overall less than start earlier Yeah, earlier the better as you get more experience But interesting thing though if you look at the bell curve of a successful entrepreneur It's a male who's in its mid 40s is claimed bankruptcy once ready That's the norm. Yeah, I can still see that as well. I'm excited even you know And the most performing if you look at like total startups and businesses It's mid 40s is the most successful. Yeah, I'm so pumped. I'm so pumped to to get to that stage and I can see how Even now I'm I'm so like young in regards to my journey. Totally man. I'm so green. Yeah, and I can see how I think probably by that age You you do get more of that experience. Yeah, even though the same thing I was Just meeting somebody for lunch another founder here He used to work in investment banking and private equity and he did like 30 Merging acquisitions or deals and I was like and actually going through that ourselves With lucky hair like going through an exit And I was looking through private equity guys I'm like They have they have in regards to if they may not see it But they actually get to go under the hood of the company and ask Really like important questions like how to okay. How did you start? How did you operate? Where does this come from where the cost expense you really get to learn about the business? Way more than in university or anything like that And study and see what works was successful. How do they operate? How do they acquire customers? What sort of customer acquisition all that stuff? What's their unique ability in reverse of growth? And you can like this guy in regards to reverse engineer it take the best of and then improve So in a way, I'm like, hey, if I even I always want to be a banker, right? But you got fired from a bank But if I even had that experience of being a banking maybe for a few years Hey, who knows what kind of Business I could have built because I would have more of that experience as you said to To do something else but I just said timing is great So if you have a certain idea like we had and you just jump on it, you just you like, hey, I have a I really Have a feeling that's how I operate. I really have a feeling that this will take off Going back to love here to finish off that Excuse. Yeah Yeah, so just to wrap that up is that my lesson there is that don't invest Just start I'm if I look back. I'm like what I should have done is just we should have done is just do one skew one skew You know and then you roll out you let Let's see how it works. Yeah, and that and once again going back to that idea of mono product People do however like wow these guys are just doing one thing. It must be good. That's the only thing they're doing And they don't realize that oh you just don't have a budget. There's like This is whatever this product is and that's what they do and they do it well And you put a story around and I think as you when you're starting out It's way easier Then trying to handle all these skews and all these product and make all these investments and kind of go all out As you said it depends on industry But we're speaking about people that you're starting out who might want to just have a lifestyle business Yeah, consumer products consumer products. I think one Product to start with is a great thing and then you roll out then you expand once you have some cash coming in Do you see any trends on the consumer product space right now? Oh Let's see Oh huge I think In regards to We see it, you know Time person of the year Greta Greta. Yeah And if you think about the younger generation a lot more people that we're becoming With not everything but you slowly see it where people are becoming more aware And I think You know, I always have this thing I have a lot of the reason I'm laughing a lot of Art image of how people may represent us how we actually operate is very different So I'm saying a lot of people think like Oh, you guys like luxury they're very materialistic all that stuff. Actually, we're very minimalistic We don't actually like you know the way many people think like yeah, you're pretty minimalistic Yeah, like, you know, I don't have a car. I don't have a house And In regards, we we may have this image of like pop in regards to preppy all that stuff But we actually Don't operate in in the way that maybe are the perception of us maybe but the reason I bring it up Uh is a lot of I have friends who are who are into these like whole movements against like, you know extinction rebellion against the Businesses are bad and oil and whatever like green peas goddamn commies. Yeah So I have like I have a lot of people in my circle. Actually, uh, I'm friends with them as well And I'm definitely all for that But I'm from, you know, I live in london now We have these massive protests where they shut down streets and they're like they're camping out their extension Rebellion business is bad I'm like guys you you guys are really big hypocrites Yeah, and what I'm saying is like all you guys are consumers well These guys these guys are protests. I always ask the question like what the fuck do they do for a living? These guys have the luxury Yeah of camping. Yeah massive luxury. I'm like, what the fuck Well, who knows what they're doing my point that I'm trying to say is instead of uh of us as people Being like, hey, uh All business is bad capitalism all that stuff Like the reason like you said the reason you're able to protest right now is because of the system that we're part of And instead of us saying business is bad We shouldn't really be focusing and this is where the opportunity is what I'm trying to kind of plug The opportunity really is for those people make options Right, you are you're saying these businesses are bad. This is an incredible opportunity. This is where I see the trends going Incredible opportunity to create alternative solutions for people that are more equal conscious Or that do require less resources or do treat their staff better, whatever that is That is the opportunity Because these people obviously are angry and they are upset. It's too much work, bro No, but I think too much work for them to come up all the time. Yeah, I think I think they will kind of there are people that are Coming in but that's the opportunity. That's the trend. Yeah be able to I think even as you know, once you start dipping your toes and it's like, you know At first you're like, oh, we think Whole Foods is healthy and you realize no most of the stuff in Whole Foods is actually crap What's the next level that we can do in regards to Whether the packaging or foods are good for you and you can see a lot of companies now succeeding who are Coming out with solutions They're our next level, you know, just like there's a lot of greenwashing and all that stuff at marketing But what about actually providing people with that next option? Whether it be for the clothes they wear or the food they eat or The experience they do really be able to provide those options for this Greta kind of generation or anybody else really Who want to live in a better world and the beauty and one of my favorite quotes of all time is I remember Steve Jobs with somebody else. But like Yeah, I think it was Steve Jobs. He said everything that you see around you was created by somebody exactly like you And as an individual, this is the this is the beauty. This is why I love Kind of being in business and entrepreneur You get to create You know, to me the most I love physical products as well I get a high literally off seeing people Interact and use our products in real life You know, whether it be with our previous business if they Use it as for their wedding, you know, or with the current business where it's on their Coffee table or their bedside table and they Write in every day you get to be part of people's lives The same thing how these people who made these microphones or these cameras or this building that we're in It's all built by people. So if you I think especially if you're upset or angry That's a perfect opportunity for you to actually create a solution for people So you're thinking I'm like more in the eco direction of like trends of product. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think in regards to There's a whole lot of talk. Yeah, and that's why I mentioned Greta and You know her being named time person of the year has been getting Trump all upset. Um, I think if that is the The kind of conversations that are going on right now University people and and I just come back from LA I was there for the last two months and now, you know, this is a big thing to say but I think Uh, there's a lot of talk. There's not still not as much action I think Europe does way more for the environment than they do even like in california and la just through like actual just Stuff and what I'm trying to say connected to business is there's going to be There's a lot of opportunity to be able to disrupt these other businesses in the way they operate Especially in all these basic areas of life Clothing Drinks plastic bottles right provide solutions How do we actually make it easy and accessible for other people? To get the same product they they currently consume now But now consuming a way that's going to have less impact on the planet because as we do have more luxury Reverse through our thinking then people can protest then people who can do other stuff because they have that time They have that mind space. Yeah to think about Oh, this is wrong. What's wrong with society? Great provide the solution And my only rebuttal for the green movement is uh, good luck with india and china Yeah, but I think I think even china's Like they're trying to change bro. They're opening up coal plants But I know but I think from what I've seen I think they're also there were some Um, articles that I read is that china as well. They they have also understand that The world in a certain degree have used their country and their population to Here's another mind fuck that people understand the seven biggest Super freighters the ships. Yeah that transport all the goods that we use around the world Produce more pollution than all the cars combined. Yeah See the problem is a lot of people get cognitive dissidents, right? It's a egotistical Right when I don't care about ego. I care about raw data. Yeah Show me the lever that actually fix something that's sustainable But that lever is not the accepted answer because you're looking for cherry pick data the that that supports your political belief system Yeah, no, totally. So I think like you said, I think even with those kind of Knowledge and data to understand. Okay, what actually moves the needle. Yeah, right and um planting more trees works Yeah, maybe by us. Yeah, but I think maybe even uh, actually protecting them totally like the amazon Let's plant more. Yeah, I could say like it's like there's still new trees versus like old trees. Yeah, it's not like uh also Kind of like hey, let's yeah, we can cut these ones But these are like these ecosystems and rainforests have been there like forever. I think I think the trend for the future It's going to be more sustainable. Um Free trade is great. I think the global trade has shifted too much Where you have trade policies that's cheaper for you to buy food coming in that is cheap than buying food locally Yeah, like Chickens from china are cheaper than chickens locally That's because of the trade agreement that they have right the tariffs um And so for me, it's like A lot of the pollution is from from transportation A lot of it. Yeah point eight point b and I mean everything being transported every single good you can think about How do we eliminate the trend? Why do I need food transport transported here? Why can't we be so self-sufficient like especially in ontario, you know the size of ontario massive too much food we can grow People it's a mind-fuck canada actually it's a massive mind-fuck We have the second biggest land mass on the planet for a nation's day and we have 35 million people. That's amazing That's why today it's like Yeah, today I posted on my story just holding on my Canadian passport. Yeah got one today I think it's literally my my buddy. Uh, yeah, uh, he does that's amazing. I'll I'll just I'll just say how I think to I'm really grateful for Canada. Canada's great. I think long term. Yeah Canada is like one of the best places to be at or or have Like that connection. Yeah. Yeah, Canada's good. Like my buddy has a medical company where it's crazy. Um They provide Organ they provide Biological material from pigs to be transplanted to humans. So like valves and heart like that type because our zna probably closely matches, right? Yeah, and so they can make structures whether it's like you need a new valve or a new artery you get it from the pigs Okay, and uh, he was telling me about it. Uh, he has a device where they're doing some research He's like there's places in Canada that air is so clean that you can do open heart surgery. Oh, wow. How good the air Uh, that how how clean the air is really That's amazing. But then I go to China Bro, I wear a mask every time I go there. Yeah, but I think it's it is changing. Yeah, right all that is changing But I think I really agree with you on that These are, you know, my wife actually Mimi is the one that pushes a lot of these sustainability initiatives within our companies So you can say right now with intelligent change it's just like You know most of our Customers are in us. Okay. So why are we? Ocean fraying these products into the country. I just have a shipping place in there Or just have manufacturing shipping right directly from the country here for Europe have it differently And just do it and just by that action as you said, yeah, you actually minimize your carbon footprint so much more Then just like hey, it's it's cheaper here. I mean you might especially, you know, you can make a deal Man, I'll go to some state and be like, yo, listen, I'm gonna bring manufacturing to state Yeah, this is the tax fucking incentive that I want and I'm gonna hire this many people and this is what I'm gonna build here. Yeah What's happening? I think just yeah, it's just That's why I do have so much respect for once people get into a more Bigger business. It's so much work. Like you really have to be committed. Of course you do to the next level Yeah, but I'm saying a lot of I think a lot of our generation including myself We're just like we see on instagram. We see people follow us or whatever and then like No one actually wants to do the hard work that is required So you actually move the needle and I'm saying especially even these people who are protesting things like that I um I have so much respect that you're going out of your way to do this But the next thing you can do is actually the hard part and the real part is actually by making a difference by creating Like actual solutions my favorite guy. I don't know why they put credit They should have put boy on I think his name is boy on he had the water project where he's cleaning the ocean Fucking build something as opposed to just Build something they've identified he was just on Joe Rogan. So I'm super happy for him Yeah, and I was been following his project since like 15. I remember that in 2015 And they identified the top eight rivers that put majority of the plastics and pollutants within the oceans So originally they wanted to be like, okay, we're gonna clean this up clean the oceans But they realized this is never ending Keeps going like where's it coming from? Well, let's do the r&d, right? So they figured out there's out of all the rivers. There's these eight I think it's eight or seven to eight primary rivers primarily southeastern asia And these rivers are the ones who are producing all the trash in the oceans So they created these automated solar power systems to go within the river That's 24 seven sucking out the plastics and trash like there is a kid And who dedicated his time in addition to actually build a product as opposed to like, uh, you need to change You need to change my dude. Yo the dude is changing. Yeah, he's doing it. Yeah, I I'm with you 100% I think I really have so much respect For somebody like that who's and he doesn't get press It's like what the fuck but here's the thing I think that's why maybe Greta and that guy have to team up Yeah And this is the thing that I've learned the same thing from, you know Being in the states for the last two months just Based out of LA it's just Everything's storytelling, man Like I think at the core of you know, we're both fans of sapiens and you all know horari like humans are just storytelling creatures Like that's that's our unique ability And that's what we like to utilize the most the thing is we it just gets hacked You know, we just get hacked by these Sensational news and that's why we have trump for president all that stuff It's just these people who are able to hack our minds and to get our attention Uh, but in reality these this boyan, right? Yeah, who's actually making difference I've seen him get some press and he you know some stuff, but in reality of of how do we shift Towards Um and getting people to realize hey, you can actually I'm breaking down what he's doing and getting people other people on board and getting these people who are protesting to actually be volunteering For for boyan to be clinic clearing up these river rivers. That'll be amazing. But there's a bunch of stuff like even in canada like Um, canada would is probably the prime candidate for this tech prime. It would make every canadian's life Easier Uh cost of living with cheaper and quality of life would increase with this one technology. What is it? Uh fast super cheap transportation So whether it's a hyper hyper loop would make sense because canada is really fucked up where we have It cost me more to fly to british columbia than to fly to the uk Yeah On average is like 700 bucks give or take so if you look at all the different like months If you average it out for me to fly to bankouver colonna, it's about 700 bucks I can fly to the uk cheaper or germany. Yeah 700 bucks And i'm going through international waters and a different border. So canada has very expensive flights. Yeah You look at real estate, right? So you look at how do we make quality of living better? um, the reality is And i'm just speaking based on the 2000 and 16 consensus for toronto is the average house in toronto was like $740,000 so much more now the average household medium income was about 62 64 thousand. How they they don't That's it. Uh, the there's some new stash saying that uh, canadian families about 200 dollars, uh There are ways they're 200 dollars away from being insolvent like We're we're in we're in debt crisis Uh, cost of living is too high Now if we can so if you look at real estate, so we're talking about let's say whether it's it's purchasing a property or it's renting It's a bell curve, right? It's supply demand economics Majority of the high value. It's concentrated within toronto ever. This is this applies to every major city Yeah, whether it's whether it's new york or whether it's london san francisco applies to everybody And because people want to be their proximity But what happens if I can create a hyper loop or it doesn't have to be hyper loop some form of fast cheap technology or transportation Where we'll use toronto in this case where? I can be living in burlington So people who are listening are watching from burlington toronto With your car on the highway on a regular day would take you about Two hours of traffic give or take. Yeah, that's each ways. That's four hours every let's half the day Oh, yeah, no, there's a lot of people a lot of people go from barrier every fucking day So four hours of your day gone Um burlington is a city on the lake. It's actually nice. I love it, right? What happens if we can have some form of a hyper loop or whether it's like quad, you know Helicopters which they have now coming out, but the hyper loop is the best Where I can go from burlington the hyper loop can go 650 kilometers an hour and I can be downtown toronto within 18 minutes What nobody in their right mind was would do rent for $2,800 downtown toronto for one A one one one bedroom bachelor pad when I can be in burlington for a thousand bucks Yeah, so the hyper loop Or some form of fast cheap A public transportation is a technology that helps everybody. Yeah, well everybody but even I think What you're speaking about is still A lot has to Be done to get there But a simple example of even hacking This way of thinking. Yeah So there's a book alchemy Oh a poll of um We're blanking both Yeah, you met the guy too. Yeah, what's Koleo call? Is a pity. I'm gonna have a little podcast as well I know I know who you're talking about. Yeah, we're both blank. Anyways, uh Post lunch. Yeah conversation What he speaks about there is like instead of a lot of people especially in europe, they'll say in london want Uh housing on the tube stops But he's like if you actually got a house on the train line It's actually way cheaper because people don't think about it and you can be a little further But you can actually get through the city faster than even in the tube. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of just what you're saying is exactly that I'm saying you're we already have those kind of solutions where people don't think about it Um, because the unique thing about even living in london that I that I realized that In churano, the house prices are expensive everywhere everywhere, man It's like you I know i'm commuting from richmond hill today Also took me a long time for my cottage went up in value 85 in the last decade I believe that it's i'm it's a mind-fuck for me. I'm like this Like what the fuck I should have bought the whole fucking neighborhood. Yeah I'm I want to buy some property and out in somewhere in ontario and but what I was just trying to say is that um the The commute like in in Toronto In richmond hill the houses will cost a million and in the city that'll cost a million in london Once you go outside the prime core like everyone thinks london is so expensive. It is like in my neighborhood is nuts However, if you go like richmond hill equivalent of Of london they cost the same as houses here So i'm like how come In the city like it's you know the the houses cost a lot everywhere So there's just some things like but I think I think we're all just trying to talk about And from what the quarter i'm saying their opportunity in the next second and that gets to come is as always been Is how do we provide solutions and opportunities? I think for anybody, you know starting out You know thinking about business and what to do I'm like just you know go through your own frustrations where you're upset at and then create it You know I used to be pissed with customer service and the way you get treated as a customer So when we create our companies I want to like make sure that we treat our customers right and do what's right for them You don't need approval my approval. So our customer service people would have Authority yeah to do whatever you can send flowers you can give them refunds. It's it's your call You know so but so it's about you as a business person be able to provide those solutions for people uh since you have like uh like a global audience and Do you see like going back to the trend things like everything we talked about with the eco stuff That's a global trend. Yeah. Well in the more developed parts of the world Like you said in china should be focused more though in those countries. Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah Do you see yourself going into any other countries as opposed to like just united states or europe Like do you see yourself expanding and like focusing areas or do you Is there any areas of the world that kind of fancy your interest right now like this spot is growing? I think here's the thing My specialty is like I said it's still more lifestyle driven meaning There's a difference between the elons of the world sure who are like it's only one elon bro Fuck No, there are more there's just I think they're different. Maybe they're not as you know, they don't public publicize themselves as much But they're doing incredible things um, I think I operate a more like The principle going back to the lessons over the last say that gate for me is the 80 20 principle You know, it's like how do I get to 80 percent with 20 percent of our effort because by nature Uh, I think as all of us humans are you know, we're slackers You know, there's only a small percentage of people are really hard working And I've also recognized that like when you start hiring people it's not like it's a very small I'm a quarter education system Even these people who are graduating uh from these universities. What where are we pumping out here? You know, I'm on the other side of hiring. I'm like, that's a whoa Yeah, but even you know, I We're in a privileged position where we have an audience that follows us and things like that But the good people aren't sitting at home looking for jobs. You got to head hunt them You got to convince them to leave and we do it all the time. Yeah, so definitely that That's the the next direction I should get at and that's what I'm kind of doing now Uh, and I understand that yeah from that idea What I'm trying to say is that for um For myself, I just find And I knew this being in canadian um and starting our business here Where most people You know get it twisted in europe or anywhere else. They focus on their local market. Yeah And 10 years ago, it was almost 10 years ago, right when we started our first business I knew right away. Where's the biggest consumer in the world? And literally you go I was as I referenced before I was just in LA and taking anybody from u.s. listening But the culture there is consumerism california bro. That's where you I'm saying but all of us if you just think about as or north americans spreading everywhere around the world But this is the the mecca culture of u.s. Is consumption it's You know it's keeping up to jones's, you know bigger house more cars like more stuff They probably are the leading self-storage solutions of the world Like what in the world do we have that you're you're renting space to keep your stuff that you bought and accumulate over the years um, so In a way to in a way exploit that to a degree um, you just understand that Even growing up in canada. I knew that The consumer is more conservative here And they're more conservative in europe too In u.s. They don't think as much in regards to when it comes to trying stuff out or buying something new They're really into it. Mm-hmm And I just knew right away that this is the market that we we got to be in In regards to getting that best, you know 80 to 20. Yeah, where we can get the most Leverage and results is definitely in that market. Yeah, and I think So by going even to these ideas that we're talked about in regards to eco and solutions and these trends It's also in u.s. Um, there's just more Uh gone through all those cycles They're more open to these ideas and I remember speaking to my also other restaurant to her friend that I mentioned before is that I said, how come we don't have as many cool restaurants as new york does and he said Culturally yeah in london and the uk People are not as open to new As they are stateside, especially in a city like new york. Gotcha So I think to to test a lot of new ideas and concepts. You still have to go to a culture that's more open to it Like yeah, cool. We'll try out this new stuff. We'll give you like even, you know, raising money It's way easier in us I push back it's getting easier in in canada for sure because it's much easier. It's changing probably but i'll say Even coming from london people think London like the wealthiest city in the world um, I've also uh invest in that ecosystem in regards to angel investing things like that valuations are way lower Than us or even canada. That's not a starter place. Yeah, but no, we do have, you know fintech We have some kind of startups, but i'm saying from and it It does translate to other areas, but at the core it's that cultural thing of Cool, let's try it. Let's do it. And I think when it comes to investing in us or consuming us They're just down. They're like, cool. Let's do this. Mm-hmm. They're like, why not? Where we're more sensitive conservative You need to this is a complete segue, but you need to talk to you. Uh, your restaurant friend Misha Misha and asking one I have one. Yeah. What's the question? Bro? Why is it no michelin restaurants in all of canada? Oh, they're just a license So the way it works is it's not that the restaurants don't Uh, don't get michelin You as a country or as a city can have to actually like invite them in and pay them a license To operate in that country. So canada has to pay the michelin organization So they just have to all they have to do is they just have to say like, hey michelin We like you to be sure about that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'm fairly confident If they pay them like if but who's they like the government michelin guide Like who's paying michelin like so michelin is like a company. Oh, I know but like the government the ontario premier It's it's the same thing think about like tourism. Yeah, you have like the canadian tourism board or the California tourism board I remember seeing somewhere like it wasn't available in some cities and then the city would just like Pay them bro. I'm right. So I need to create a competitor to michelin Yeah, no, I think it's it's good Definitely I See opportunity, you know see something that's missing go into it and actually had a business idea of my brother Yeah, a couple of days ago. I had to go help him because he moved to a new condo He had to return some stuff to Ikea. I'm like Fucking returning shit. Yeah. I'm like, I just might as well lose the money. I don't give a fuck Times more valuable. I'm like, okay, whatever. I'm gonna spend my time with my brother. Yeah So right there. I'm like and I'm I'm just googling I'm like, is your service to return ship for me Yeah, I invested in one. I lost my money There's nothing in canada. Yeah, there was uh, we're in canada. No in u.s. There was but they didn't So I was one of the angel message on to ship ship s. H. Y. P. How did they do it though? I think it was incredible concept. That's why I invested so same problem Yeah, you like I think like yourself or myself. We hate returning all you had an app All you have to do is you don't have to package stuff. Yeah, so you have these headphones and you want to return them You take a picture with their app. Yeah, they come in they come pick it up They'll package it for you. Yeah, and they'll charge you like five bucks plus the shipping cost. So why did it fail? I think the way they just uh, they realized actually as well the consumer market They realized the actual Business was not in the consumer was actually in b2b. Exactly. That was my whole that's my that was my fucking approach Fuck the consumers. It's a b2b So I wish they worked out, but they raised a lot of money. Yeah, and they failed I thought, you know, I was like I was very wealthy on paper. Yeah Paper wealth. Yeah, you know, that's another thing people don't get We need to get it. It's like a mind fuck is like I'm ten million dollars rich. There's a lot of those. I'm like, no, you're not I should heard There's a I don't know if you heard of this term. I think it's called a henry. No a henry it was a henry it's like uh or it's like It was kind of like High earner Not really rich yet. High earner not really rich. Yeah. So a high earner not really rich yet So it just speaks about these people who are working in these startups. Yeah Who are maybe making, you know, two three hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, and then their paper equity They're worth, you know, like potentially millions sure and then the whole we work thing happens By the we work is No, you can see the fucking right on the wall from day one, man. Well, I remember when we were came out I'm like, oh the mcdonald's model. That's what I thought right away. Yeah real estate like owning. No Well, fuckers are leasing. I mean, what is this? This is a fucking Ponzi scheme. Yeah You're just leasing. You have no assets. You have nothing. I'm like, you can't run this man Yeah, I was surprised by that too. But what I was trying to say is a lot of people in that company Yeah, we've been just recently got fired I'm sure we're like Living the life and so these Henry's you can't blame the man Like listen, imagine you're in like a month or two months away from an IPO and you're looking at your equity You might be worth like three million dollars. That's like life changing money. Yeah life fucking change bro Getting 300k cash liquid for people. That's life changing. Yeah. So even these people who are making two to three thousand That's the thing is that what this people that was discussing this term is the Henry's There's a lot of Henry's out there and it can be men or female, right and and they're spending like they're rich But they're not rich yet And there's a big difference between, you know, I think we know as well even in the city reading an article With a Toronto life or something like that How there are so many people who are like living here in rosedale, which is one of the best neighborhoods You know, I have their kids in private school to have a cottage. They're making even let's say You know, half a million two million an income, but they're like Insolvent because they're just spending too much. Well, here's my thing to them. They're just fucking idiots Yeah, I mean she's a violin right here Yeah, well, like, you know, it's like I think a lot of a lot of people with Same thing going back to what I said before we're keeping up the jones is yeah Um, we get caught up and I can see it. I it's it's tempting, but it's important to to stop yourself from doing that, you know, because it's You know, I have you know, I live in a neighborhood where a lot of my neighbors have Ferraris and all sorts of fancy cars But I'm just like I like my bicycle. Yeah, and I like to bike to work. Yeah, and I don't need a Ferrari my Being parked there. That's what they're just parked most of the day Just so I can have an ego boost. Yeah of like, hey, I have a Ferrari that I drive on the weekends so I'm saying it's a lot of Self-discipline that we have to do to like do I really want that? Do I really need that house? Do I really need to like it's even people Now moving out to the suburbs and things like that's like Okay, you want a bigger house for yourself. Do you're like, do you really need that extra 1000 square foot of space? Yeah, or will you be more happy you're actually being closer to your family in that smaller house? You know, I think that's why certain living in europe or the last You know seven years or being close to it because now we're brexit, so we're not part of europe What i'm trying to say is there's a lot of Cultural sensibilities there that I really have learned that I really respect And then it comes to just you know, it's okay to be like in a Small flat in the city, but you're close to proximity to what you want. Yeah And you maybe I can have a bigger house in the suburbs But that's my choice to I because I feel like I get more out of what I get around the area You know, well, you're the king at like experiences. I think that's the most important thing in life Totally. I think I I I always kind of joke or people joke about me like I live like a billionaire Yeah, and what I'm saying is like is that you because the most important asset You really have once you realize is your time. Yeah Like time is money like the more the money it's it's it's the You know, and if you configure your life in that way um Where you can get more of that time and freedom for yourself to do what you want Things how you want you really don't need much. I think most people Try to do too much in regards to okay I'm I need to build this huge giant company in order so for me to have more time And then they get it and they get scared and they want to build another company This is a whole vicious cycle So I you always I you know, I have my wife and we me and we do our best to try to keep ourselves in check Like all the time. Like do I really need that? Do I really want that? Mm-hmm Even when you have money to actually be more disciplined with yourself Yeah, listen, I think it all depends on your situation how you're hardwired, you know what you want out of life You know, like Everyone's different man. Like if I have a crazy exit and I get like 50 million I'm gonna be like yeah, I'm dumping that into our next business. That's how I'm fucking mentally wired Like I have to be working. Yeah, like if I'm not I it's like I'll commit suicide I'm like what the fuck am I doing nothing's going on is like Oh my god Was a good time to also self-reflect them. Yeah, I think like where is that coming from right or like how do I Actually work with those forces and think kind of long term for like out of that I think that I get bored easily. That's it. Oh, we all get bored. Yeah I totally understand where you are. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are very like ADHD like I don't have ADHD Like I do and I don't if once I'm narrowing on something. It's the opposite of ADHD It's like OCD. It's like I have to be doing it 24 seven Yeah, I would say most people and this is going back to the education system Is that we just haven't been properly educated or trained to actually that's our nature as humans I believe is to be more like that Meaning once something that peaks your interest you get deep into it So for example, my our daughter, you know, she goes through like a more of a Montessori type of school Yeah You know Jeff Bezos is investing a lot I think he's committed like a few billion to develop early childhood Montessori type schools in the u.s And the reason for that is what how is different from traditional education and as you know as being parents are now looking into it A Montessori type of schools if they're done properly a lot of them are marketing. They're not real Montessori schools Is they're actually a child led So meaning if my daughter is in a classroom I'll say in her nursery and she's really into something they're not going to interrupt her Right, but how do most schools operate like, okay, it's time to gather around the circle Hey, Alexa come here and you know, they like I don't care what you're doing here and being like deeply into Focus into it. Yeah It's part of you have to be part of the classroom collection. I'm going to tell you what to do It's time to read whatever the story But instead of letting us as humans develop our interests and peak our interests That's the thing you we create the best things best art is when we're really into something You know think about all the people even from the elan now or Steve jobs and the organization she's built or teslas and or previous, you know Inventors and things like that they're deeply into what they're doing. Um, and I think that's the secret Yeah, it's to really be focused in and not be kind of jack of all trades of everything Yeah, listen it I say this a lot. I know people push back, but I think you You know, you know, Steven's sister, right? Yeah, of course. That's him and I talk a bunch. Yeah I need another test. Yeah. Well, he just updated. It's good. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, sweet I think it really goes back to understanding how you're genetically And epigenetically for software wired, everybody's different. So we try to like put ourselves in So we have imposter syndrome where we see like, oh, alex is this way. So I gotta follow alex Yeah, or people say a mirror's this way. I'm like, no, don't follow me You know, I mean like you need to figure out how you're wired Totally And based on how you're wired, you have superpowers. Yeah, then you have weaknesses Like figure out what your superpowers are. Yeah, you know, you mentioned something Integrated for business. Yeah, I'm not a fucking. Yeah, I gotta hire them. That's the first person Yeah, your integrator your coo. Yeah, your logistics come on board. Yeah. I'm the bulldozer I'll go break down the whole thing and you need to clean up after me Right. I can sit here all day and look at all the courses and sit down with the top coaches about integration Yeah, you just don't the same thing when I've you know, when I work with Lulu or gel manager are kind of, you know, now who's the CEO of the business And working with her was just such an enlightening moment for me It was the same thing like when I got when I got out of my way and saying like I don't have to be this person who like Does everything and it has my like hands on everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah And actually like go and let somebody else who's who has different wiring And I'm like, oh my god. You're actually excited about excel sheets and and operations and no, no, but like I I didn't believe that. Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, oh people are just pretending to be you know, but she generally was Yeah, it was hard. It's hard for anybody challenging. But It's way easier for her to operate and in that way For me and you to try to like be that I can try I can kind of be okay at it But I'll never be as good as she is At actually figuring that out and saying they will say with with means her, you know, just visionary Kind of there's just stuff that pops into our head That's like, this is how it's going to be like we just have this internal compass and feeling of Of consumer trends and and how people interact or how the way things will look and this is how I want to look and deliver Right, those are like my strengths and for me right now the same thing is like, how do I put myself in that position? To be operating from my strength and I think, you know, Ray Dally was big on that right just in principles and In a really understanding Yourself and how you operate and then your team around you. I think it's huge and something that You mentioned Stephen Sissler as I'm hiring out people now I'm definitely gonna do that because a lot of people are we we market ourselves or present ourselves in a certain way But how do we actually are So I'm curious how how does he update his I started putting this new like mathematical thing called axology. Oh, wow And what's that? You'll tell you But uh, yeah, it's It's good, man. Like it's really really good. I really believe that I think it's so important for anybody especially in business That can be your fault is another thing is like hiring somebody who are similar like you of course, man You know, I was recently listening to you also Toby From Shopify Yeah, Denmark tells podcast and he was just speaking about How one of his early investors told them like Everyone on your team are like you You're very similar. You need somebody who's different, you know, that's how I was able then to bring other people Who think differently And bring a different perspective Than than how you operate and how you think So I suppose just get out of your way, you know, that's right. Cool, man Um, anything else you want to touch raise our cover? Um, I'm good. I'm just excited I guess so even what what are some trends you thinking that are for the next decade Because as we wrap up this probably be your last podcast of the year. Yes, um So I'll break it down a couple of things. I think There'll be more political turmoil between north america and china I think keep an eye out on that Um, I think you're gonna see more and more separation within political groups I think we're headed for another recession much worse in 2008. How's that gonna play out? Why do you think that just based on quantitative easing negative interest rates happening in europe united states might do negative interest rates in the future Um, then you look at the student loan crisis, which is north of two trillion dollars north america Which you cannot claim bankruptcy on you can claim bankruptcy on everything else So if people don't know this Let's say you have 50k in student loans both for united states and canada united states has social security canada has The canadian pension plan They will they'll take away your old age Pension if you don't pay back your student loans. It's it's slavery at the end of the day Oh, well, yeah, so the question is no one has that money pay back It doesn't exist Who's gonna pay back who owns who owns the paper for the two trillion dollars, right? Who's gayer? Who's a guaranteeer of that? Then for like business, I think It's interesting like the there's certain verticals that I'm following. I'm following Farmland farmland is the the farmland has been the best performing asset in north america in the last like decade And so it's like we are going to be more and more relying on domesticated food production How do we focus on creating biodiversity type of farming as opposed to monocrop farming? Kind of similar to how joe salatin has his poly face farming. That's going to be a massive trend. Yeah, like massive trend Luckily, you know, guelph has a great fund. I think they have a 20 million dollar fund that they're focusing on agriculture Yeah, so that's a huge trend. It's focusing on agriculture The biotech trend it's going to be more and more into crisper and gene editing stuff. That's interesting to pay attention to Um, and I think more and more people come into realization with the china stuff It's like logistic supply chain and what's happening in china. How how can I now? I don't want to be at the mercy of that. I don't want to deal business with that anymore How do I bring manufacturing back? How do I how do I control my supply chain as opposed to being at the mercy of their supply chain? Yeah, I know what's happening. Like I said, even on the micro level of our business, that's what we're doing We're currently looking to bring back manufacturing to to the us or to wherever our customers are Yeah, to be more closer to them. But I think for growing profitable businesses, uh, I think we're we're we're we're finally seeing the the illusion of How people perceive silicon valley like the uber's and the we works You know me for me. I'm not I'm not against that but I'm against the evaluations and how they do business like these are like privately inflated valuations that are their burn rate is in the millions per month They don't have any Yeah, they don't have any profit whatsoever. They dumped out on the public markets Obviously, this is how investors make money. Yeah, and then that company's running on negative ebita for the next decade, right? I think this type of business model. It's going to be evaporating soon I think more and more is me focusing on real profitable business from day one. None of this like hyper accelerated I need to have x y and z. I want profits profits profits Which is healthy. Yeah And I think we will be heading into a very sticky recession I don't know what's going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back on that Yeah, because it's been in the party's been going on for a long time Oh man, just look at it. All you got to look at is quantitative easing inflation and interest rates Well, I've been following it, but it seems like the party's still going. I think one of the The interesting bits on that is how the u.s. Started lowering rates again They're hiring them and they should be if they are saying the economy is robust and everything Yeah, why did they start lowering them? They have to what do you mean? Why do they have to to propagate the the market man? for the look for you listen like the Earning per individual earnings per capita or the wage that people make has been stagnant since the 70s stagnant Same job stagnant You look at costs of living in cities People can't do it anymore. No Yeah Americans have four hundred dollars in savings on average. Yeah, Canadians aren't that far off We are a debt nation and I group Canada the United States together. We're a debt nation people are in debt Yeah, like heavy heavy debt and their wages aren't going up taxes go up costs of living goes up There's only one direction. This is gonna head. Mm-hmm a collapse. Yeah That's it Cool, we'll see what happens. I almost say like it's it seems like the Poor european has negative interest rates places where if I keep money in the bank, they take my fucking money. Yeah I don't know what I would do and capital flight man. You just leave you take your money else So you put in some assets whether it's real estate gold silver some commodities. Yeah Wow, yeah, so I think what else what are you excited for the next decade for yourself? No, you know what I'm family next year too. Yeah, that's how it was cool. Um Besides business like I don't know I don't know I've been a lot I've been paying a lot of attention and focusing on the farming stuff That's kind of like my side I like that side hustle my side kind of like where I spend a lot of time studying and analyzing We really we actually would meet me and I talk about that. Yeah, we want to buy what jason has a farm now Yeah, 50 acres like 52 acres. Yeah, we were interested in that with its own We want to have our own spring. Yeah be off the grid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Uh, so yeah, my cottage like that's off the grid hustle and spring everything. Uh, but yeah, like just for me it's like One from an investment aspect. It's really good. Like you're investing in an asset. It's a appreciating asset. You can use that as collateral Uh, good LTV for collateral as well as you're really focusing on the trend of like, how do we create very highly profitable? Or you can call them like Biodynamic organic farms or polyphase farming where we can support local economy. We can have a very profitable piece of land Um, and it's really good as investor like I I was interviewing this guy and it's not there, but Curtis stone. He's in Kelowna where I used to live Uh, he specializes in organic urban farming where you can create a profitable business Make a hundred thousand dollars a year on like a quarter acre. Wow That's amazing. It's amazing man So think about a quarter acre you can make 100k a year planting like certain herbs and crops So you can sell to like the stores and the restaurants around the area. It's like, yeah local So stuff like that's interesting. I'm more like and for me then focusing on politics would be like pushing more in like city-states and decentralized governments Yeah, bunch of shit, bro. I'm all over the place. Exciting. Yeah, cool man. Alex. Always a pleasure, man. Yeah, you too. Thank you, man. Thank you for having me