Digital Social Hour - MagicMind: The Nootropic Shot Changing Entrepreneurial Minds | William Hicks DSH #643

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

Unleash your potential with MagicMind, the nootropic shot that's revolutionizing entrepreneurial minds! 🚀 Join Sean Kelly on Digital Social Hour as he dives deep with William Hicks, cofounder of MagicMind, to uncover the secret behind boosting productivity and conquering anxiety. 😲✨ Discover how this easy-to-take shot blends nootropics and adaptogens like ashwagandha to help you cruise through your day with calm, sustainable energy. 🌿💡   Tune in now for a journey packed with valuable insights on mental performance and entrepreneurial success. Don't miss out on learning how MagicMind is transforming lives and what sets it apart in the competitive beverage industry. 💫 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Join the conversation and step into a world of innovation and inspiration!   #BrainHealthSupplements #EnhancingMentalPerformance #MentalPerformance #EntrepreneurHealthTips #Nootropics   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Causes of Procrastination 00:25 - Overview of Magic Mind 02:06 - William's Journey from Student to Entrepreneur 04:59 - Babbel Language Learning 06:50 - Issues with Coffee Consumption 07:33 - Research on Magic Mind 08:51 - Health Benefits of Magic Mind 10:59 - Impact of Sports on Life 12:55 - Exploring the Meaning of Life 15:14 - Confronting the Fear of Death 18:47 - Suppressing Emotions 22:09 - The Power of Forgiveness 24:41 - Academic Pressure and Performance 25:27 - Experience in All-Boys School 26:44 - Insights on Relationships 27:33 - Role and Responsibilities as CEO 28:24 - Reasons for Beverage Failures 29:53 - Understanding Erewhon Margins 31:50 - Creating a Founder Community in Dallas 32:13 - Final Thoughts and Reflections 32:28 - Magic Mind’s Money-Back Guarantee   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: William Hicks https://twitter.com/w_c_hicks https://www.instagram.com/magicmind   SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No one ever thought about what causes procrastination. It's anxiety. And basically, you can kind of relate to it. Like, you've got that big looming deadline. You're like playing video games or doing whatever you're doing to avoid that task. It's not because you're a bad person or because you're tired. It's because you're just anxious. Turning that volume down on the anxiety really helps you just flow through the day way better.

All right, guys, we got William Hicks here, co-founder of Magic Mind. I just had a shot and I'm feeling good, man. You feel the magic? Yeah. I like how it's simple. It's not nothing like a huge drink or anything. It's easy. It's your easy pill for, easy bottle rather, for getting into the zone, just getting dialed in. And I'm glad you're feeling it. I'm certainly in the zone as well. Yeah, it's actually nuts because we just drank it and i definitely feel something in my head yeah so the whole point of the drink it's a mental performance shot and it's supposed to kind of help get the most out of your brain and your body and it does that by sharpening your mind with nootropics which are basically just nutrients that support cognition in your brain and it brings down

your cortisol levels importantly your stress with these adaptogens like ashwagandha and turmeric. And that's important because things like procrastination are actually caused by low-grade anxiety. It's not a lack of energy or motivation. It's anxiety. And so bringing down that anxiety just kind of helps you cruise through your day, cruise through your tasks a lot easier. And then it's got a bunch of stuff for just calm, sustainable energy,

not going to get you bouncing off the walls, just kind of half a cup of coffee's worth of caffeine and you're cruising that is interesting no one ever thought about what causes procrastination right yeah i mean they they didn't until recently there's actually a lot of science on it now and they've looked into it and yeah it's anxiety and basically you can kind of relate to it like you've got that big looming deadline you're like playing video games or doing whatever you're doing to avoid that task and it's it's not because you're a bad person or because you're tired it's because you're just anxious and like turning that volume down on the anxiety really helps you just flow through the day way better so that's a key part of what makes magic mind like magic like it's that sharpening of the mind with the nootropics and energy from the

caffeine and then the bringing down of the stress levels i love it and we were talking earlier how you had a super high gpa four three in high school and the thing i like about you though is you translated school book smart to to business to street smart which is kind of rare right well i appreciate that um yeah i guess i guess i have in some ways I just feel like everyone is their own entrepreneur these days. And so whether it's someone working a regular desk job who's navigating their career and really trying to take ownership of where they want to be in five years or someone who's starting a business or someone who has a podcast,

I think it's really incumbent on everyone in the modern workforce to really take that ownership and have that agency and sort of be their own entrepreneur. And so regardless of GPA, I think it's just important and more fulfilling to go take that leap and really be your own entrepreneur in a way of actually starting a company because it's just way more fun to wake up on a Monday and not have any regret, just be excited for the day ahead. And I'm fortunate to be on that path right now.

And was that planned to go on the entrepreneur route or did you want to have a corporate job when you got out of college? I wasn't totally sure. I knew I wanted to have like an effect on, I wanted my efforts to lead to good things or bad things in the business. And I started my career in finance. I was in investment banking in New York and it was great for getting a bunch of skills, but you know, I worked my ass off and didn't really make a tangible impact on their business or the world, certainly. And so I was like, look, I just want to go somewhere where my mistakes result in pain for the business and my successes lead to us making more money or making a more positive impact on our customers. And I really just wanted to have more skin in the game.

And so I went to a snack company called Brami. They make Italian food more healthy with this lupini bean product. And I was the co-founder there, ran operations literally in a factory for the first year, driving a forklift around. And it was a really good experience. Then I was able to commercialize to better facilities and was able to start bringing my time up to do sales and kind of became like a food and beverage guy. And then that kind of led itself to when I moved to LA during March of 2020, during the lockdown

in New York, I got out of that tiny New York apartment and linked up with my co-founder and the creator of Magic Mind, James, who had brought this kind of unearthed this amazing formulation that he'd been perfecting over seven years and just launched the brand. And together, we've grown it to over 15,000 subscribers. We're in Sprouts nationwide, 500 doors in general, and we'll be in three or four times that many grocery stores in about a year. That's impressive. And yeah, we're just excited to be able to bring this kind of feeling that you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast to more and more people.

Yeah. When I was on your site, I was impressed because you had so many doctors on there. And I feel like very few drink companies take the time to have that much medical research done on their drinks. Yeah, man. I mean, it's a supplement shot, but like we're not a fly by night supplement company that was launched to capitalize on some trend. Like James has been working on this since 2012. He had that heart condition that were... Are you tired of ordering on a menu in a different country only to be served snails? Why not actually speak the language and order what you want? That's where Babbel comes in.

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clutch. I now know how to order food and ask where the restroom is when I travel. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners. Right now, get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash social hour. That's 60% off at babbel.com slash social hour spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com slash social hour. Rules and restrictions may apply. We were talking about earlier, basically drinking way too much caffeine, way too stressed out, had to find a new way to get the most out of his mind, came up with this formulation through years of research and writing a book on nootropics kind of was like the nootropics dude in silicon valley and um people were just taking this formulation that he had sent out on a spreadsheet like hey this is james's magic potion you want to

try it take it and a co-op actually formed at a commercial kitchen to like pre-mix it because such a pain in the butt to make wow and that co-op grew from like three people all the way to like 57 people were taking it every day and he's like holy shit i think i need to make a brand around this and so that's how magic mind was born i love the name so what's the problem you think with coffee you think there's too much caffeine we actually have no problem with coffee i just think too much coffee or too much caffeine in general is counterproductive to how you really want to feel so whether it's a energy drink that has 300 milligrams of coffee or of caffeine excuse me or if it's your third or second or even third cup of coffee, you know, that extra caffeine is not going to help you really achieve what you want to, unless you're really trying to like deadlift or like stay awake,

just purely on like a long haul truck drive. But if you're trying to really do your deepest thinking, do your best work, get into flow, be creative, um, and just be like the best version of yourself, you actually want to feel kind of more dialed in, more relaxed, more calmly alert. And that's the feeling that Magic Mind is kind of designed to provide. Interesting. Have you done studies on Magic Mind and seen any results on paper? Yes, we're actually in the middle of our first study right now. I don't have the results that I can share yet. But like, the ingredients that are in the product have over 200 studies backing them

in James's book. And I can talk about my favorite. I mean, my favorite ingredient is Bacopa Manieri tastes gnarly. We've done an amazing job to make the drink taste great as you just saw before the show, but it's a, it's a very powerful, very powerful herb from India. And it has two amazing studies. One, um, it showed in kids, it reduced ADHD symptoms by 85%, uh, and a study that, uh, I can send you and you can link in the show notes if you'd like. That's super high. And, uh, yeah. And it's totally a natural herb. And then another study, Bacopa was shown to improve in a randomized clinical control trial, improve verbal learning and memory and people at 55 and older. So, you know,

helping prevent cognitive decline. Like my parents are in their seventies. I have them taking actually two magic minds a day. I'm like, this stuff's actually really good for your brain. I'd love for you to be taking this because I want you to stay sharp as long as you can. Yeah, that's cool, man. My, uh, my family has Alzheimer's genes, so I might have to start taking this. We do too. It's actually a good way to, I mean, I can't say that medically, but for me personally, I choose to take it to get the most out of my day,

but also for long-term brain health and that's on my mind too. Yeah. Are you big into biohacking and stuff? I'd say I'm like a brown belt. I'm not like a total black belt. Yeah, I love it. I love ice baths.

I love saunas. I just did my first cryotherapy yesterday. Yeah, I'm into all that stuff. I'm also, you know, love the supplements, obviously. Yeah. Have you always been pretty health conscious growing up? I have. You know, I was actually kind of, I went through like an awkward, chubby middle school phase.

And I like hadn't thought about food until then. And then since then, I've been just very conscious of what I put in my body. And I also realized over time, like I just feel better. And like, you know, my goal is to just be present and feel great all the time and do meaningful, impactful things. And part of feeling great is doing these health rituals, these wellness practices, these biohacking tools to get the most out of how you feel every day.

So I'm just into that for sure. Yeah, and you were the captain of the rugby team. I mean, that's no joke. I was, yeah. I mean, that was a great place to learn about like leadership and like and toughness i think like my whole management leadership philosophy really stems from that time and there's a saying on the uh the new zealand all blacks are the best rugby team in the world and they're like legendary and their kind of leadership mentality is that the leaders the captains sweep the sheds so the captains are

the ones that clean up in the locker room after the game is over. So it's like a real lead from the front, lead by example mentality that I really got into as part of rugby, and it's really helped how I've run this business today. That is interesting because that's a small country, so the fact they're the best in the world means they're doing something different. For sure.

You've got to check out the Haka. They do this awesome war dance before every game it's like that's scary if you're watching that as the opponent exactly you got to stand there and just watch it it's nice wow how good were you guys at princeton um we were decent i'd say you know we weren't we weren't setting any records but we won a lot of games dartmouth was kind of the perennial beast they would go to like the national tournaments and compete they had like a u.S. Olympic coach and oh wow um we never beat them okay but we beat we'd have beat up on the rest of the Ivy League here yeah whenever I see Princeton in the NCAA March Madness they seem to do decent actually yeah just bet on Princeton in the first round it's a it's usually a good bet they get a 12 seed but they seem to always win when they're yeah I went

to the sweet 16 last year it was a great time wow yeah enjoyed it i love that were you big into sports growing up like as a fan oh yeah i'm a big hockey guy i mean we're here in vegas and the golden knights have been an awesome addition to the city i was actually here last year for the uh western conference finals in june the dallas stars were playing them okay and uh i just i'm obsessed with hockey it's probably my favorite sport to watch interesting that's a rare take for an american yeah especially a texan but i grew up you know i was i was eight years old when the stars won the cup and fell in love and uh i just get a lot out of it yeah and now you're back in dallas we were just talking about that you missed home yeah i had to get back to the stars i guess yeah new york city was too much for you right new york was great uh i was

there for five years out of school. Perfect for my early twenties, but you know, I wanted to settle down a little bit more. I moved to LA for three years, really enjoy, enjoyed LA, enjoyed all the nature it had to offer. And then my wife and I are actually having our first kid in a couple of weeks here. And so I thought it was time to go back to Dallas, be around family and settle down a bit. That's a big step, right? It is. It is. Yeah. I hear a congrats for an order for you as well thank you um are you guys gonna think about kids anytime soon yeah she's making me wait till after we get married yeah but yeah i definitely want them and it's interesting to

see how my opinion has changed over the years about kids because growing up you a lot of guys don't really want them that's like a thing people talk about in the locker room but like now i definitely want them i mean it's it goes back to like something we were talking about before the show of like meaning of life type stuff i mean it just imbues your day with more meaning i'm told i guess i'll find out soon but you know i want to i want to maximize the present moment at all times and i think the amount of love that just gets added in your heart and in your life and in your daily, your daily efforts and kind of the meaning that it creates for your ambition, um, just makes life that much more special. So I know it's going to be tough, but I'm really

excited. Yeah. Same. Do you question the meaning of life often? I like to reflect on, on the meaning of life quite a bit, but I think it's pretty simple. I mean, I'm of the belief – I got into philosophy really – like stoic philosophy really helped me get through kind of difficult formational times in my early mid-20s. And then I got into sort of very novice but like into Vedanta Hindu scholarship and sort of the belief that there, we're all one, including ourselves. Like there's no difference between you and the perceived, like you perceiving the universe is just the universe perceiving itself. There's no gap between what you perceive as yourself and what, and you like me and you, like we're actually come from the same conscious energy and we're going to call it consciousness God. Like I think we're're all one and so i think the meaning of life is just to to play and to enjoy the fact that we have this body to explore this

this universe and um to hopefully help others make an impact and feel good too and explore and like have a good time and yeah um i think it's really liberating and um it makes me excited to to wake up every day i have a similar viewpoint. I think we are all connected because you can feel energy fields. Totally. Yeah. Like as soon as someone walks in the room, you can kind of feel the vibe. Yeah. That's why mindset is so important. I mean, I talk about this with other founders, like you really cannot let the, I mean, because starting any business is hard and you cannot let it get you down and then you can't let the successful moments get you up. I mean, you've probably experienced this.

You have a video go viral and you're like, oh my God, like we've made it. And then the next one might flop. And you're like, oh, and if you ride that roller coaster every day, you're going to burn out. There's no way you make it. So you got to keep that positive mentality, that good vibe really. And, uh, and just keep pushing. That's what it's all about. Yeah.

It's easy to get sucked into the view game. Oh, this didn't get this amount of views. Like I'm upset now, but you kind of got to change that mentality. No, it's, it's like, it's like about yeah it's easy to get sucked into the view game oh this didn't get this amount of views like i'm upset now but you kind of gotta change that mentality no it's it's like it's like anything else like focus on the process and the results will come yeah so perfect everything that you want to change externally really starts internally um so no matter whether it's wanting to get more views on your podcast um you know wanting to to you know find a better, hotter partner and just focus on yourself first, that's the best way to effectuate change that you are looking to do. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, it's interesting, man. I used to fear death a lot.

And I'm talking about that. I'm talking at a young age, man. I'm talking elementary school. I used to think about it. Me too. Isn't isn't that crazy yeah i actually remember having like a i don't know if it's a dream or a thought but just kind of like a terrifying realization that you know that we were in this vast universe and this like speck on a rock and like really freaked me out and started like really dwelling on death right um but i think now like the same mementoi, like thinking about death imbues life with more purpose. And like I think it's a mistake to run away from it. And, you know, I think realizing that your parents are likely going to die before you. I mean, that's just how it works and a lot sooner than we'd all want to have happen. But like that realization then leads to you maybe being more intentional about how you spend your time with them, be more present with them, make sure they know how much they mean to you maybe being more intentional about how you spend your time with them be more present with them make sure they know how much they mean to you and i've sort of in this dealing with death

sort of exploration i've been through has led to me like being just amazingly close with my parents who are much older and like and they're in their late 70s um and so it's been a beautiful thing but i'd love to hear about yours your your kind of evolution. Yeah, similar story. I used to fear it. Didn't believe. Or no. So I was Christian at the time. So I would go to church a lot. So I did believe in heaven and hell.

So I think that kind of instilled some fear about how I was acting in the real world. Yeah, of course. Do the wrong thing, go to hell. But then I stopped going to church and started exploring other spiritualities. And I do believe in an afterlife. And I do believe that there is a greater purpose than just this life. I think there's many more lives in the past and the future.

So you think it's more like the afterlife is another chance at life? Yeah. So do you believe in karma of like? I believe in karma and reincarnation, yeah. Yeah. Pretty crazy. I mean, it makes some sense too.

I also think like it could all be a simulation at the end of the day. I was just in Dallas on last week for the solar eclipse and we were in the path of totality, which if the moon's shadow it's truly mesmerizing and like when you really think about it the fact that we as conscious beings get to see a total solar eclipse the odds of that are so slim because we just happen to live on a planet that has the same exact size moon and sun in the sky because the diameters are proportional exactly to their distances from the earth and so we may be the only conscious beings in the world you get to experience in the universe excuse me they get to experience the true total solar eclipse with the corona of the sun just peeking around it that is like crazy to think about i think we might be the only ones it's so it's it's truly miraculous and mesmerizing

but also makes you think like this is maybe a simulation i've i know people used to make fun of it when we were growing up like oh we're in a video game but now it seems like it's more and more plausible yeah you got guys like elon musk saying we might be in ones to sit like mathematically right you know it's i don't know how that really changes the day-to-day like i sort of um yeah i worry that like people think oh it's simulation doesn't matter it's the other thing you know but i think like the feelings that you feel are real. The connections you make on a daily basis are real. The joy,

the sadness, the emotion of it all. It's all real stuff that you're experiencing. So you might as well try to maximize it. And if it is a game, if it is a simulation, like get to the highest level you can. And like,

I think that highest level is really through the impact you make on others and the amount of contentment and joy you create for yourself absolutely in your pursuit of excellence did you find yourself pushing emotions to the side i think that was a phase i went through for sure i think i thought i could like block out sadness and still be happy i think that's a trap a lot of young adults run into is like i don't want to be sad so i'm not gonna i'm not gonna feel sad but that's a trick you can't just block the down. You end up blocking your emotions completely. You go numb. And then it takes a few years to sort of wake up from that. Right. And, um, I think I, I welcome all emotions and like, I think there's beauty in sadness, there's beauty in grief. Um,

there's, there's a real, like a realness to it all yeah and so i you know i'm not perfect at this by any means but like i try to sort of lean in a bit acknowledge it and then move on in a healthy way just put it aside if it's not serving me i love that that happened to me so i i would block sadness because being as a guy you don't want to be seen crying right that's like the stigma on social media or whatever um so yeah it took me years to get that back i just started crying again last year honestly yeah i think a lot of guys like haven't cried in like years yeah for me it was yeah like seven years probably wow crazy and can i ask like what sort of broke down that barrier for you my dad passed away honestly yeah even then i was still trying to be a cool guy and not show emotion when my own dad died. That's how crazy the subconscious programming was, I guess.

I'm so sorry to hear that, but I hope he knew how much he meant to you. Yeah. Well, that's why I asked you about death because dealing with that made me so much closer to my mother now. Yeah. Because you only got two parents, so enjoy the time. All you can do is enjoy that time and be present with them when you're together and try to not pull out your phone after dinner when you know they're starting to ramble about some older person stuff right i think it's just about yeah like spending that amazing that time and making sure they know how much they mean to you yeah and i was fortunate i did get some closure

he sent me some texts like a month prior like saying his goodbyes and stuff pretty much but like other people don't get that chance and that that's when it really hurts. I think too, for sure. I actually, so I'm so sorry about your father. My father also like two years ago, we thought it was sort of the end. He's, he's sort of made a recovery and is, uh, is alive and well, but you know, I, we all sort of thought it was the end and set our goodbyes in a way. And, and in some ways it like like it made me realize all this that like there's no use sort of hanging on and being sort of nostalgic for the present when you are like kind of fearing for that eventual parting it's like the only thing you can

do is be together and like make sure that he knows how much he means to you and so i actually wrote him this like letter and sort of like thanking him for everything he's done. And, um, and like kind of just putting into words exactly how much he means to me. And, um, I know that meant a lot to him. And so, I mean, I would encourage anyone listening who hasn't sort of expressed those feelings to their parents to do so. And even if you don't have a great relationship, I think like the end of the day, your parents are your parents and like expressing a respect for

how you changed my diapers. You got me fed through the first X years of my life. Like there's not, there's no, um, that's not easy and there's love in that. So I would encourage everyone to sort of, you know, let their parents know how they feel. No, that's powerful. Something about writing it down too is super powerful. Yeah. Yeah. And they can read it multiple times. Yep.

Yeah. It's always there. Do you believe in forgiving everyone that has wronged you in the past? Yeah. I mean, I guess in the sense of like, I believe in not holding grudges. And I think like if you are holding on to anger for someone, then really they're in control of you and it's actually victory to let that shit go right and to like really get that revenge or to really feel like

you've um you've kind of surpassed that moment in your life then you actually have to let it go so yeah totally i could see that. People can't control their anger. That's the one emotion I feel like people just can't control. It does happen. And it's like, you know, someone cuts you off and you're like, motherfucker. Like, you gotta like pause a few seconds, let it like wash over you and then try to react. That's what I try to do.

Sometimes you get an email that really pisses you off. You just got to step away for a second. I'm pretty good with the road rage because I watch road rage compilation videos on YouTube. So I live vicariously. There you go. That also helps. Yeah. Put myself in their shoes and then get it out. Totally.

Yeah. But my dad would have these fits of anger because he was bipolar. So that anger always scared me. I'm pretty good with controlling anger. I mean, you can understand why i mean and i could also understand how that would lead you to feel like emotions are sort of things that are dangerous yeah and like maybe led to you not wanting to feel sad in some ways too it's like you know you're you're for a seat to someone going through like really difficult like swings of emotion that would make

anyone for real i even suppressed happiness without knowing it i didn't laugh for probably like at least a year well if you're not crying you're probably not laughing because like as i said you can't you can't just prevent one direction you're just it's all or nothing yeah no it was crazy i used to have to force myself to laugh during those those years oh my gosh it's terrible well i'm glad you've come through the other side i know right yeah i think we all go on these journeys and you know it's crazy a lot of successful people come on the show and a lot of them seem to have traumatic childhood traumas i don't know if that's related i think so for me i certainly didn't i mean i had a i was very lucky and fortunate to have a nice child i think everyone has their own traumas but like i think the reason that probably

is is that those who can overcome it are then so well equipped to deal with anything life throws at them. And so it's a filter. There's a lot of people who experience trauma who don't make it through. But the ones who do become successful, you're interviewing them. Yeah, that becomes a superpower because they've overcome it. They've climbed that mountain. And so that makes a lot of sense. I could see that.

Did you feel like you had a lot of pressure from your parents to do well in school growing up? Actually, no. I was sort of the one putting the pressure on myself for some reason. I'm like the fifth of six kids. And like, I think I just always wanted to, to go my own way and like prove to myself, you know, that I was capable. And so it's always been like a deep internal thing. Um, so now my parents were kind of chill actually. I did not expect that answer. Honestly. Yeah. I feel like for a majority of students that are doing well in school, there's some parental influence. Yeah. I mean, there certainly weren't like, you know, they're like, yeah, I do your homework a little bit, but like I was wanting to do it too. I don't know. I was just like very, very internally motivated, uh, at a young age. I'm not sure

exactly why. I think maybe it's because they didn't push. Wow. Yeah. But you went to private school, right? Your whole life? I did. I did. Okay.

What do you think the major differences there between that and public school? Well, the biggest one was we didn't have girls. Oh. Yeah. So you didn't know how to talk to girls growing up. No, but my best friend growing up was actually, luckily, a girl and is now a woman.

We had a good friend group of both, but it just led to a little more rowdy lunch hours and probably more high-contact football games at recess and stuff like that. Testosterone was up? Testosterone was always very high. Damn. I don't know if I could do that, man. Girls in school. You'd fit right in.

You'd fit right in. How many kids? Was it a tight school? Yeah, it was about 90 per grade. Wow. Yeah, man. Girls in school. You'd fit right in. You'd fit right in. How many kids? Was it a tight school? Yeah, it was about 90 per grade. Wow. Yeah, my grade had 820. Yeah. So I'd rather much be in that environment, though.

It was nice when you kind of knew everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Power and community. Community is something I really want for wherever I plan on living long term. Yeah, I think it's key. And that's kind of why I'm back in Dallas, actually. Yeah, it's powerful to

be around just like-minded energy and just to have people you can count on right like shit's not always going to go well yeah and to be able to lean on a support network is so important yeah you got a good group of guys in dallas yeah i mean my three of my older brothers are there my parents are there my high school a lot of my high school friends are there nice and uh so my wife and i have a great group so you ended up marrying that girl you were mentioning yes uh yeah i got married about a year and a half ago and her name is page and she's the best high school sweethearts no we actually met no not that girl oh yeah no we page and i met in new york city got it east coast girls those are the best baby well she's actually a west coast who was there and we went back to california oh okay yeah but i think getting both is good it is good i think anyone in general you

want someone who's like gone out of their comfort zone and like kind of explored the world and yeah i really valued that personally that's super important to me because just a mindset thing people get consumed yeah if someone's gonna you, go through high school, stay in the same town, like that is one way to go through life. I just, I personally wanted to kind of adventure. And, um, I think I wanted that in a partner too. Absolutely. So it was magic mind, the main focus with your time right now? A hundred percent. Yeah. We're, we're like full systems go. I mean, we're, um, we're up to like 15 employees now. And, um, so as a manager, like a lot of my time is just spent making sure that the goals are very clear, making sure that we're

hiring great people who can be super entrepreneurial in their role to achieve the goals that we set for them and, um, and just providing resources to them. So I'm not like a micromanager. Uh, I get in the weeds myself a lot and I like to kind of know how the function works to be able to manage it. But like my philosophy is like hire great people, make sure the KPIs are super clear and make sure they have the resources to do it and then say go. And if they can't hack it, then they can't hack it. But the best people love that sort of environment because they don't want someone over their shoulder telling them how to do their job and do their expertise. So I wonder what percentage of drinks fail because it seems pretty monopolized in the stores

beverages yeah i mean food and beverage in general is pretty brutal um like a lot as soon as we're going in someone's getting kicked out it's a zero-sum game out there on the retail shelf so us getting into all these stores like someone's losing that shelf space right and so i think the mistake a lot of food and beverage brands make early on is they're tempted, they start seeing success and they're tempted to expand their distribution, expand their footprint,

wake more quickly than they should. And then all of a sudden they've got 2000 stores. They don't have the money to do promotions in all those stores. They certainly don't have the money to hire sales reps to visit all those stores. Sales start sliding. There's nothing you can do.

You get kicked out of the store. Once you get kicked out, they're not going to bring you back in. and so it's like this kind of peak and and and bust cycle that happens for some brands but yeah unfortunately like been in the industry now eight nine years and uh we're going very intentional that's why we're only in 500 stores we've said no to a lot along the way and we're just really building out our southern california market and focusing on the sprouts partnership where we're nationwide with them. But it's been working out

over the top selling shot at Sprouts nationwide. Top selling shot at Air One. Damn. About to launch three or four more grocery stores in Southern California and then start expanding around the country kind of really in a measured way. That's awesome, man.

Yeah. That's how I found out about you guys at Sprouts because every week I try a new drink at Sprouts. Oh, nice. I love their drinks. I didn't know you were in Air One too. Yeah, shout out to Sprouts. Yeah, Air's how I found out about you guys at Sprouts because every week I try a new drink at Sprouts. I love their drinks. I didn't know you were in Erewhon too. Yeah, shout out to Sprouts. Yeah, Erewhon too.

And that's also a fun beverage experience. You ever been in one of those in LA? Yeah, so guess how much this is at Erewhon? Oh, bro. 18 bucks. 25. There you go. This is water, just water.

That's 15, I think. All right, well, now I'm going to definitely drink this. It's a wallet drainer. It's kind of like a, it's just like an entertaining experience to go shop there. Yeah, it is. I got a gallon of milk for like 20 bucks. I was like, this is absurd. Yeah, I got some raw milk there.

I want to try raw milk. It was like 30 bucks for a gallon. Crazy. But it was good though. Yeah. Can't knock the quality. That's for sure. Yeah.

I'd love to know their margins there because Can't knock the quality. That's for sure. Yeah. I'd love to know their margins there because they got to be printing. It's solid. I mean, it varies from 40 to probably 60% on every item sold. Wow. But that's not totally out of the realm. Most grocery stores are at about 40%. Really? Yeah. That's way higher than I thought. Yeah. And they still, I mean, that's their gross margin, but like they've got so many expenses, they got to deal with expiring products. Grocery stores are actually a tough business. At the end of the day, their net profit margin is usually only about 2%, 1% to 3%. Yeah.

Holy crap. And so they're driving profitability through a ton of volume. Wow. There's different stores with different structures. Like Walmart's got lower prices because they don't upcharge as much. They usually take about 25% to 35% margin on their product as opposed to the 40% of normal stores. Then Costco famously only takes 12% profit. And they're basically just doing that to break even on all their expenses of running the stores. They're making all their money on the

memberships. Wow. That's their model. So that's probably better than a grocery store model then. It is because especially they get paid sort of upfront at the beginning of the year by their members. And so they're not having to go out of pocket to buy inventory. They also have really good terms on how they purchase inventory from their suppliers like us. And we're not in Costco, but I hope to be in the next couple of years. That'd be cool. If I see you guys there, I'll definitely buy.

My favorite hot sauce just got in there, Truff. Have you tried Truff? Yeah. Yeah. One of the founders is a Dallas dallas guy as well oh nice and we're hoping to link up soon represent dallas man shout out trough yeah so there's a good scene out there that's cool well we're trying to build it i mean obviously i'm coming from new york and la um there's not as much of a founder community in dallas i really want to change that that's

one of my sort of side passions is like creating a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and founders in dallas so if anyone listening to this is interested in that stuff or has a company like lives in the Metroplex, hit me up. Yeah, let's do it. I've had a few guests on. I'll definitely connect you guys. Appreciate that. Absolutely.

Anything else you want to close off with, Matt? No, just thanks for the conversation. I love that we went a little deep there. Those were my favorite conversations. That was cool, Matt. Thanks for letting me talk a bit about Magic Mind. I hope your audience can try it. It's, you know, for about 87% of people, they can really feel it as you and I just did there. And for the other 10, 13% of people, we have a full 90 day, actually a hundred day money back guarantee. Don't ever return the

product. We just give you your money back. Wow. On a drink? Yeah. Just if you say you don't like it, we'll send you your money back. Holy crap. Yeah. And you don't even have to prove it. Like we don't have any questions. So there's no risk to try it out. That's unheard of. That's awesome, man. Well, thanks for coming on.

That was super fun. We'll link the site below if you guys want to try it. And I'll see you guys tomorrow. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

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