Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais - Just Chill Founder Max Baumann on Millennial Entrepreneurship

Episode Date: November 2, 2016

Max Baumann is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of The Chill Group, Inc., makers of JUST CHILL® beverages as well as the Founder & President of BASEMAKERS, LLC, an outsourced sales management company in the food and beverage industry. In This Episode: - Philosophy behind his company Just Chill - Why he dropped out of college - The moment when he realized he needed to give up a dream - Growing up in the shadow of his father’s success - What heart means to him - Seeing everyone stressed out at the airport and realizing there was a problem - How he got into the Wharton Fellows Program - A relentless pursue to understand from other people and books - Creating mutually beneficial relationships_________________Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindsetFollow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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stay present and engaged with my thinking and writing. If you wanna slow down, if you wanna work smarter, I highly encourage you to check them out. Visit remarkable.com to learn more and grab your paper pro today. Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And the idea behind these conversations is to learn. It's to learn from people who are on the path of mastery, to understand what they're searching for, to understand their psychological framework, how they see the world and the skills, the psychological skills that support that, as well as the mental skills that they use to build and refine their craft. And the ultimate goal is to not do exactly what they do, but rather to learn and calibrate our

own framework and our own way to train the mental skills that they have used on their path. And it sounds kind of esoteric as an intro, but if you follow along, I think that there's some very clear and practical and sturdy ways to understand how they've trained their mind. Because as humans, there really is only a couple of things we can train. We can train our body, we can train our craft, and we can train our mind. And so this conversation is really about how to train the mind. And the craft, I think most of our crafts, if you will, is it's like this kind of temporary or made up context for us to have relationships. And it's the relationships with ourselves and relationships with nature and other people. And so I think I read a stat that somewhere near 80% or plus jobs, if there was a catastrophe, a global catastrophe, 80% or plus of those jobs

would not be necessary. And certainly a high performance psychologist would not be a necessary job. So it's like this made up world and universe that we get to explore potential and we get to explore ourselves in that pursuit. Finding Mastery is brought to you by LinkedIn Sales Solutions. In any high-performing environment that I've been part of, from elite teams to executive boardrooms, one thing holds true. Meaningful relationships are at the center of sustained success. And building those relationships, it takes more than effort. It takes a real caring about your people. It takes the right tools, the right information at the right time. And that's where LinkedIn Sales Navigator can come in.

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Finding Mastery is brought to you by David Protein. I'm pretty intentional about what I eat, and the majority of my nutrition comes from whole foods. And when I'm traveling or in between meals on a demanding day, certainly I need something quick that will support the way that I feel and think and perform. And that's why I've been leaning on David protein bars. And so has the team here at Finding Mastery. In fact, our GM, Stuart, he loves them so much. I just want to kind of quickly put them on the spot. Stuart, I know you're listening. I think you might be the reason that we're running out of these bars so quickly. They're incredible, Mike. I love them. One a day, one a day. What do you mean one a day? There's way more than that happening here. Don't tell. Okay. All right. Look, they're incredibly

simple. They're effective. 28 grams of protein, just 150 calories and zero grams of sugar. It's rare to find something that fits so conveniently into a performance-based lifestyle and actually tastes good. Dr. Peter Attia, someone who's been on the show, it's a great episode by the way, is also their chief science officer. So I know they've done their due diligence in that category. My favorite flavor right now is the chocolate chip cookie dough. And a few of our teammates here at Finding Mastery have been loving the fudge brownie and peanut butter. I know, Stuart, you're still listening here. So getting enough protein matters. And that can't be understated, not just for strength, but for energy and focus, recovery for longevity. And I love that David

is making that easier. So if you're trying to hit your daily protein goals with something seamless, I'd love for you to go check them out. Get a free variety pack, a $25 value and 10% off for life when you head to davidprotein.com slash finding mastery. That's David, D-A-V-I-D, protein, P-R-O-T-E-I-N.com slash finding mastery. So this conversation is different. This conversation is with somebody who is early on the path of mastery. And as a placeholder, just as a reminder, if you will, there's at least three types of folks that we're interested in learning from. There's the globally recognized masters of craft where everybody knows their name. Then there's the domain specific experts who are masterful at what they do and they're deep into the nuances of their own craft. But the world might not know about them.

But everybody in their world definitely does. And then there's people that we might not know. We might not be able to know what they do and how they do what they do because they're flying under the radar or society forgets to look at them or value what they do. And in this particular conversation, it's kind of a hybrid between domain specific and many people not knowing. And so I'm excited to learn because there's something embedded in this conversation that we're not going to escape, that he is a millennial. So this conversation is with Max Bowman and he represents, I think, the best of what the millennials have to offer. And so let's

do a quick little run of like, this is maybe just my understanding of the millennials is that they are in the workforce in a deep way. And the older generations are oftentimes frustrated about what motivates millennials. So if you're listening to this and you're a millennial, you're like, oh, okay, I can't wait to see what this is about. And if you're older and you're listening to this, hopefully your antenna are perking up saying, okay, I need to get some insights about how these young men and women work. And they want more than money. They want community. They want to know that they matter, but they want to know that they matter in ways that we didn't learn it. They grew up in Instagram and Twitter, and they grew up very familiar with the Insta feedback for self-efficacy,

for self-confidence, for self-worth, which is troubling, right? There's some challenges with that. And listen, the rest of us have challenges in unique ways as well, but that's a challenge for that, for this group. They're definitely free thinkers. They have a confidence about themselves that is sometimes they haven't earned it yet. I mean, remember, they all grew up in car seats.

They all grew up, you know, buckled in and nice and tucked in. So they lived in a, in a bubble different than some of the older generations who, you know, like we're lucky to have car seats, right? Okay. So they are also looking for this work play balance, which certainly is aspirational. I don't think anyone doesn't want it, but they are definitely hunting for that. They don't want a boss. They want a coach. They want to be better. And that's why one of the central at the core conversations I'm having with, I don't know, I think many people is let's not just try to be better for the sake of being better, but let's be better for a purpose or have a mission behind it.

And I think the mission is to help others be better. And then that rising tide floats all boats. And so a couple other characteristics is they seem to be, or they are not seem to be, they are very tech savvy. And it's not like they almost don't know what the free time to do with free time, because most of what we had to struggle with is now automated. And that thought is important, you know, that they don't know what to do. They don't want to waste their time on things that should be automated. And that drives many of the older generations absolutely flat out nuts because we grew up, you know, valuing doing the hard yards and doing the hard work that we didn't enjoy. But we knew that it was part of the

growth process on the pursuit of, you know, goals or achievements, and maybe even more aspirationally towards potential. All right. So there's some of the, that's at least my understanding of the millennials. I think that that, um, I'd love to hear what I missed or what I didn't miss. Max certainly, uh, in my mind represents, um, the best of, in my mind, represents the best of this generation. The spirit of this generation is really, he's really captured just a great way. So he's the founder and CEO of Just Chill, which is a beverage brand. And we talk about it inside of the conversation, but it's taking nutraceuticals and a company mission and blending them together. So we'll get into the weeds of that a little bit in the conversation. But

we talk about how he has a philosophy behind his company, why he dropped out of college to pursue this, as well as his first love, maybe, which was the love of surfing. And when he realized he needed to give that dream up, the surfing dream. And I think that that's an important thought is that we can have dreams, but we also need to know when to put them down and when to stay with it. And we do value grit. We value that concept. But sometimes we also need to know when to value stopping. And so we have, I think, a wonderful conversation about that. And his father was extremely successful.

And with his father's success, when we're around other people that are extremely successful, they can either cast a shadow or a spotlight. And sometimes for the young minds, that gets confusing. And so we talk about that as well. Okay, So I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback on this conversation. It's different than any of the ones we've had. It's a little bit shorter in length. And so correct me on the millennials, correct us on some guidance that we can both benefit from and ask as many questions as you want on the other

side. And I want to, I want to pause really quickly and I want to thank folks for writing reviews. And if you haven't had the chance and have enjoyed these conversations, please punch over to iTunes. It just means a lot to us. It helps grow the base. It helped rose exposure. And at some point we need to make some, you know, some decisions about sponsorship and stuff. So, so please help us out there so we can have a proper base. It's wonderful. And you can also find us on social media. Twitter is at Michael Gervais. Instagram is Finding Mastery. And then punch over to our website, findingmastery.net forward slash community.

And there's just a wonderful community that's building. I've been so surprised by it. It's rad. It is really good. So just for all of you that are building that community, I'm enjoying it as well. So let's jump right into this conversation with Max Bowman. Max, here we are. I've been looking forward to having this conversation with you because our relationship is unique.

It's not like anyone else's. And what I'm excited to do is to share with other people what you're working on, who you are, your arc in building a beverage company. And it's totally unique. And I'm excited to share to folks that are interested in what goes into building you and your process. Thanks for having me on, Mike. Thanks for all the listeners. And I'm very, very grateful to be on here. So we met a while ago and I reached out to you cold and I didn't think I was going to get a response. But I remember this.

I put a lot of time into the email. And luckily enough, you met me down at a coffee bar in Venice. And since then, you've joined the board of advisors, which is awesome for us. Yeah, that was it was I think this is a really cool. I don't know, just this doesn't happen very often. And so I get lots of emails like you do, and I'm sure a lot of people do about wanting to do some work or partner or, you know, pick your brain or intern or whatever the conversation is. And it's like, I don't know about you, but I'm running on all cylinders. And it feels as though the space to be able to choose some projects to work with is like, it's a really important space. And the email that you crafted was so rich and so purposeful that I just wanted to meet you. And you were interested in like the psychology of excellence and all that goes into that in building a culture for your brand.

Absolutely. And the culture internally with the team to get the most out of them and externally with how we go out with our perception of the brand that really encapsulates who we are and drives a lot of consumers, people into the brand. What made you think? How old are you? I'm 27. Okay. So you started this a while back. You were in your mid-20s when you had an idea, like, let me, let me see if I could crack or early twenties, I should say, let me see if I could crack this idea of creating a beverage company that fits my approach to life. And the name of the company is just show. And so the idea,

walk us through the philosophy, but then what I want to get to is it was the first time that somebody had wanted in, let me say this again. It's the first time that somebody had wanted in. Let me say this again. It's the first time that somebody was looking for an advisor on the board of advisors for the specialty of high performance psychology. So you had a vision early on that you couldn't or didn't want to try to write the book on culture that you wanted to have other points of view about it. So bring us through the philosophy of the organization and then talk about why you made that choice and we'll keep rolling from there. So the philosophy of the organization, which is just chill,

is that you're at your best when you're calm and focused, not when you're jacked up and jittery, which is really what a lot of the beverages, energy drinks and coffee on the shelf speak to. And a lot of people see those and they say, hey, I need to have a coffee to be on my A game. I need to have a Red Bull or Monster to be on my A game. But while when you're tired, that might be an approach you can take, there's a lot of times during the day when you might be over activated and you want to calm down to focus and get in your zone. And what I've come to learn from a lot of readings, a lot of great books is the best players in the world don't need as much help getting motivation energy.

But it's about controlling that energy and zoning it in, in big moments or small. And that's why I was so drawn to you and your philosophy on learning how to control energy and zone into the present moment. Yeah. So we had this tea at a tea bar down in Venice beach, and it felt like it was just, we were speaking a very similar language and a very similar interest and I was compelled. And so you offered me a board of advisors position. We took it from there. And, um, it's like a, almost like a full disclosure to people listening is that I want to see you and your team be really successful for lots of reasons. And one of them is because I believe in what you're doing. And the second is, you know, I, I want to make great financial and economic decisions as well.

Okay. With that being said, you're young, you dropped out of college. Correct. So don't have a bachelor's degree. Okay. And you right before that, you were hunting for a, to become a professional surfer. And so, so walk us through where this path started for you, where at 20 something, you thought that you could build a brand that could rival some, um, there'll be a disruptor in the, in the beverage industry, but so wind it way back. What was it like for you when you were young to paint that picture? And then let's move into some of the choices that you made, because the way I understand you is that you go for it. And I want to pull on that. I really want to get clear on

what that means. So why wind it back for us? So winding it back, I think my journey really started around 15 when I got into surfing and that's all I did. I literally woke up, went surfing, did a little schoolwork, went surfing again, and that's all I could focus on. And I wanted to figure out a way to make that my lifestyle. And going from 15 down to 18 and competing and starting to get better and better, I said, I want to go for it. I want to be a pro surfer. So I looked across. Looking back at the time, were you good enough or were you in that conversation, so to speak, being sponsored, you know, doing well in contests or were you looking back, were you too early or

I'm sorry, too late to the surf world? I was a little too late looking back, but that's part of what created a big pain point that ended up turning into massive motivation. And also it helped me. What does that mean? I got beat a lot. And they say that the biggest growth in life comes from pain. And that was painful. And I'd have my victories and smaller competitions. And I started gaining some momentum. But to make a profession out of something, you have to be very, very good. And what was it like for you? You say that now like it was painful, but there's like no feeling in that when you say it. But what was it like when you when you're something you cared about and it wasn't working out the way you wanted to? The one thing I was really good about, and I was in an environment which was very conducive for, was being forgetful and using that pain for motivation to work harder, to train harder, and consistently get better. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Momentus. When it comes to high performance, whether you're leading a team, raising a family, pushing physical limits, or

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Personally, I'm anchored by what they call the Momentus 3. Protein, creatine, and omega-3. And together, these foundational nutrients support muscle recovery, brain function, and long-term energy. They're part of my daily routine. And if you're ready to fuel your brain and body with the best, Momentous has a great new offer just for our community right here. Use the code FINDINGMASTERY for 35%O-U-S, livemomentous.com, and use the code FindingMastery for 35% off your first subscription order. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Felix Gray. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can create the conditions for high performance. How do we protect our ability to

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boost melatonin, help you fall asleep faster, and hit deeper stages of rest. When I'm on the road and bouncing around between time zones, slipping on my Felix Grey's in the evening, it's a simple way to cue my body just to wind down. And when I'm locked into deep work, they also help me stay focused for longer without digital fatigue creeping in. Plus, they look great. Clean, clear, no funky color distortion.

Just good design, great science. And if you're ready to feel the difference for yourself, Felix Gray is offering all Finding Mastery listeners 20% off. Just head to FelixGray.com and use the code FINDINGMASTERY20 at checkout. Again, that's Felix gray. You spell it F E L I X G R a y.com and use the code finding mastery 20 at Felix gray.com for 20% off. So you would take the pain of not getting the result or the outcome that you were training for, and then you turn it into motivation. It. Was it that simple? Yeah, it was. I mean, it was, it was

really painful, but that's one thing you can ask anyone in my life. There was a, I had a best friend who's, who's now very good pro surfer when I was growing up and we'd surf together every day. And a lot of my friends used to tell me like, Max, he's way better than you, but you know what? You have heart. You have more heart than I've seen in a lot of different people. And I think that's still a theme in my life. I love the word and I have no idea what it means. Like anyone that brings it up, I want to learn from. And I don't know if there's a right and a wrong. And I was first introduced to the word heart in heavyweight boxing. And I was fortunate enough to spend some time with some really talented people in that

world. And they would talk about the importance of having heart. I mean, I get it, but what is, I get it, but I can't describe it. What does it mean to you? Heart, having heart. Having heart is the ability to tap into your emotions in whatever you're doing and use that as a driving force. So no matter how many times you get, for your instance, for boxing, no matter how many times you get knocked out, you get back up. No matter how many fights you lose, you get back in the ring. And that's what you did in surfing. And that's what I did in surfing. And that was something that was

one of the biggest lessons of my life. Where'd you get that from? That drive, that hunger, that heart? Where'd you learn that that is a great coping skill or management process? Well, I would say the biggest drive in my life is a separate story, which we can go into, um, a little more painful story, but, uh, do you want to go there? Yeah, let's go there. I mean, that's, that's the purpose of this podcast, being open and honest and people learning from people. So I'd love to.

So one of the biggest things in my life was always looking at my dad and seeing that he was very successful. He always likes to put it in my face that he never worked a day in his life because he was doing what he loved. And that's also kind of what got me into surfing. I was like, I want to do what I love, get paid for it. That'd be awesome. Was that a message in the house early on? Yeah. To find something that you love doing so it feels like you never work a day in your life? Absolutely. And you weren't finding that thing until you found surfing? Exactly. So I found surfing. I started surfing at nine,

but I really started getting into it. I would say around 13. Okay. Okay. All right. So you've got this large, successful presence in your life, your dad, and it is sending this message about find what you love and what's the painful part. The painful part is more of an internal drive. I don't know if it's DNA, but when I look at him, I have an urge to match his success. And he was massively successful doing, doing, he was a musician using the second band signed by Virgin records called Tangerine Dream. Tangerine Dream. Yeah. That's pops. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if everyone remembers it, but I definitely remember it. So that was your dad.

Yep. They started one of the genres now known as electronic music. Yeah. My God. Okay. So what was that like growing up with your dad in being like a rock star? It was at their early ages. I didn't really know how to comprehend it. You know, I think a lot of kids, they're just doing what's fun. They're hanging out with their

peers. But as I grew up, especially in my early twenties, it started having an impact on me. I looked at him, I looked at where he was when he was in his early twenties. And I said, I want to get there and I want to get there as soon as possible. So that was what kind of shifted from that surfing to business. And I wanted to use business as the outlet to drive success, not only personally, but I think to prove to my dad that I could keep up with him and I could fit his shoes or surpass his shoes. So what was it like when you were surfing and you weren't getting the success that your dad, like you couldn't get the success at age 17 that your dad had when he was 40 something,

right? He was having global success, you know, and awareness of what he was doing. And you were barely struggling to get out of the, the, the, the early rounds in surfing contests or quarterfinals. I don't know where you were. But what was that like for you if you go back to, let's say, 19? Just out of high school. So at 19, that's when the big shift came. So I went out to Australia on a surf trip. And I was looking around at the pros there.

And I go, there is no way. And actually, my buddy told me, he's like, Max, if you're trying to be a pro surfer, you better find another line of work because you are not going to make it. And I kind of took that as a challenge at first, but then after doing my first professional contest and losing out early, I started to click click and I started to say, Hey, life is short. And I want to, I want to jump into something that I can really thrive at. And I know I have a lot of skills. You know, people talk about all the time about

when other people tell you you can't do it, that's when you need to stick with it. And what I just heard you talk about is that you were. You know how to work hard. You facilitate pain to enhance motivation to keep going. So pain doesn't keep you stuck. It actually fuels you. And then somebody had said to you, a friend of yours said, you're not going to make it here. Your first impulse was, okay, well, let me use that too. But then you made a decision to stop. Can you teach others? Because you've, I think you found something that's really cool, which is just chill. Right. And I think I'm saying that, like, it feels like it's a great fit for you and there's lots of momentum around it, but can you, can you teach us about how you made that decision to stop the thing that you love at one time, you thought that this was going to be how you were going to match your dad's philosophy to find this wonderful, meaningful success in life. How did you make the decision to stop? They say many of the most successful companies pivot. But you didn't know that at the time. I didn't know that at the time,

but looking back in hindsight, how did you do it at the time? So at the time there was one moment where I was traveling on an airport and I'm looking around and I see what people are drinking and it's these massive Starbucks, big energy drinks. And I look at the look at their faces and these, there's mile long security lines. People are frustrated. There's nervous first time travelers and there's LAPD writing tickets left and right outside. And this all created this hectic wave of overstimulation. I said, you don't want to be drinking caffeine when you're all jacked up already. You want something to help calm you down, but keep you focused in a healthy way. Okay. So it was like, it wasn't like you made this decision. I'm going to stop and then go look for next. You were still surfing at the time and then it hit you like, oh my gosh, if I could feel this, if I could find a product or solution that would help people be more calm, then, then I could, I, that would be a great transition. Is that close yeah it's it's almost like when you come up with a business idea it pulls you

so strongly like you have the magnet and there's almost no other choice is that what it felt like for you that was what my second business felt like when my first business felt like there was there was a pulse there and it grew over time okay all right so okay this is cool that you've got two businesses now now you've just you're now we're now in the phase where you're dropping out of the first love of surfing and the thing that you thought you're going to set your career path on. And then what were you doing with college at that time? So at college, I was the co-captain at UCSB.

So I, I actually found some good success in surfing there, but the level's a lot lower than a professional surfing. So my highest accolades, I got sixth in California and I helped lead the team to found some good success in surfing there, but the level's a lot lower than a professional surfing. So my highest accolades, I got sixth in California and I helped lead the team to a national championship. Oh, that's pretty. Yeah. Which is awesome. And I ended up dropping out and pursuing just chill at this point. So you dropped out of college. Yeah. So dropped out and just went for it. And that was one of the themes that has been consistent in my life is when something really, really feels strong, I'm going to go for it. Whether that's a positive thing or a negative thing. I, I'm usually not shy around that.

Okay. So I love this concept that you've been able to be really crisp and clear since I've known you that you do go for it. How, how, how do you do this? Cause I'll, I'll have an idea and then I'll sometimes overthink the idea. And I think it took me like two years to fire up the podcast. So I thought about it. I was like, oh, that could be good, but you know what? I don't have time. And then, oh, that would be really fun for me. And I'd learn a lot. And I think people would enjoy it. Oh, but I, you know, I don't have the equipment. And so like, I, I, I'm going to overthink a little bit. And can you teach us how you, how you just have an idea and go? I mean, how I do it is

I use passion as the magnet. It pulls me so hard that I turn off the blinders, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. It's who I am. It's how I'm built up. So sometimes it gets me into trouble. And sometimes I've found a lot of success in that. Okay. So passion is the barometer, if you will. And when something feels passion, when you're passionate about something, you said you, what do you say to yourself?

Let's get after it. Is it really? Let's go. Is that how you wrote the letter to, for us to meet? Is that how I felt? Exactly. I felt such a deep urge that the knowledge that you had and the collaboration that we could do together would be mutually beneficial and we would both have a great time doing

it, which is cool because that that's how it showed up. Like when we met is that it wasn't just about you. It was about what could be together. And I'm wondering if you do that with a lot of, in many different areas of your life. It's not just about you, but it's about what we could be together, whether it's you and the brand and a manufacturer or a retailer or an employee or a, uh, what are they called? A venture capitalist or whomever. Is that a theme that you work from? Absolutely. I think the biggest thing that would be one of my strengths, I have a lot of weaknesses, but the biggest thing that would be one of my strengths. I have a lot of weaknesses, but the biggest thing that would be one of my strengths is my ability to paint the picture and the vision so strong and present it with passion that really enrolls people into it. Okay. So tell us, walk us through a couple

challenges. And what I want to, what I'm hopeful that we can do is we can celebrate your passion for going for it, your ability to, you know, take a shot at something, knowing that that comes with bangs and bruises and breaks and, you know, all the stuff that we don't want to talk about. And then maybe we can have a, maybe, maybe we can do this. Maybe we can have a semi-regular conversation, um, keep them nice and crisp and tight. And, uh, I don't know if you'd be willing, but to allow other people to be part of your startup, your journey of going for it to see if this brand can take a lift. Like, would you be open to that?

I'd love to. I love the feedback, you know, just anyone getting in and participating is always fun. So I'm 100% open to that. Okay. All right. So then teach us some challenges. What, what is one or two challenges that you've been facing, uh, in, in, in the last year or since you start up? The biggest challenge when I started up was not really having the foundation

and knowledge to run a company. So it was like the blind leading the blind because I started it with the co-founders also were right out of college. So what I wanted to do was align myself with an institution that was known to being one of the best. And that was Wharton. So Wharton Business School out of UPenn. OK, so I found they have an executive education program, but normally you need eight years management experience and there's a big admissions process to get in. And lucky at the time we had just gotten a lot of press. So I knew how to leverage that.

So I sent the press over and I found out who was the person on the board, which I'm not going to name right now, uh, that I could start building a relationship with. So we started to have a relationship back and forth. And pretty much first, she said, no way. She said, sorry, Max, your profile doesn't fit. And then I looked through Wharton's values and I saw diversity as a value. So I said, there's something there. And I said, what about age diversity? And I said, you have a lot of executives in the room, but the biggest challenge that these executives are trying to solve is how to a pathway through. And so you saw diversity and inclusion, some of that language. And you said, well, what about the young whippersnapper, the millennials being part of the conversation? Absolutely. over the next two years. And they ended up using me in an advertisement for the European. And from that, I kind of leveraged that to get into the next step, which is called the Wharton

Fellows. And there's only three ways to get alumni status from Wharton. It's undergrad, MBA, or Wharton Fellows. And the Wharton Fellows is normally reserved for senior executives with over 15 years experience that are usually at VP level or above. And I was able to get into that using similar methods. Yeah, go ahead. Keep going. That's really good. So they sent me a list of questions and I approached it in a similar way that I approached getting into the initial executive education program. And that was finding out what Wharton as a school stood for, what the program requirements

were, and how I could link in unique value that no one else could through my age and through the experience of growing up in a different era, the digital era. And that was a big part of the program is about disruptive innovation. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Cozy Earth. Over the years, I've learned that recovery doesn't just happen when we sleep. It starts with how we transition and wind down. And that's why I've built intentional routines into the way that I close my day. And Cozy Earth has become a new part of that. Their bedding, it's incredibly soft, like next level soft. And what surprised me the most is how much it actually helps regulate

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our community. Again, the code is FINDINGMASTERY for 40% off at CozyEarth.com. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Caldera Lab. I believe that the way we do small things in life is how we do all things. And for me, that includes how I take care of my body. I've been using Caldera Lab for years now. And what keeps me coming back, it's really simple. Their products are simple and they reflect the kind of intentional living that I want to build into every part of my day. And they make my morning routine really easy. They've got some great new products I think you'll be interested in. A shampoo, conditioner, and a hair serum. With Caldera Lab, it's not about adding more. It's about choosing better. And when your day demands clarity and energy and presence,

the way you prepare for it matters. If you're looking for high quality personal care products that elevate your routine without complicating it, I'd love for you to check them out. Head to calderalab.com slash finding mastery and use the code finding mastery at checkout for 20% off your first order. That's calderalab, C-A-L-D-E-R-L-A-B.com slash finding mastery. Okay. So you drop out of college and instead of saying like, oh, I'm just a dropout, you know, a young entrepreneur that's trying to figure it out. I don't know if I can be around these other people that are sophisticated in their education path. You said, well, I want to be around the best. I want to be around people that really understand something.

And was that the thinking that like, so there was no real internal dialogue about you didn't have what it would take and you're going to embarrass yourself or, you know, like you didn't belong? No, I think that's, again, one of my biggest faults or my biggest strengths and biggest weaknesses, again, is I'm bold in that regard of really putting myself in situations that challenge myself. And sometimes I'm uncomfortable like anyone else. But over time, I learned how to relate to people who have kids and they're further along in their path and their career than I am. And they look at me because they want to find out what are the young guys doing? What's the world like for younger guys growing up

and starting businesses? So there's a mutual exchange there of knowledge and of connection. Okay. So the first challenge you had is that you didn't know what you're doing. You had some passion around it. And then you said, well, let me go get around some people that do and let me get educated. And you figured out your way to get into, um, what was the actual title Wharton? So it was, uh, Wharton's executive education program. I got my CPD and now it's Wharton fellows. And then what, what's another challenge that you faced on this early arc of startup? Was it financial? Was it marketing? Was it having a right product? What was the, it was getting into retailers and it was getting distributors to pick us up. And the biggest thing there is figuring out how do you break down big

goals into smaller chunks that you can build success and then use that success as leverage to build credibility for whoever you're trying to pitch. And that would be the distributor. So the biggest lesson there was grit. It's staying with it. No matter how many no's you get, a yes is around the corner or it can be. And where'd you learn that from? I learned that from reading. One of the biggest things, even though I dropped out of college, was I continued to read two books per month on either business or wellness or some sort of way where I can improve myself. Oh, there you go. Okay. So relentless pursuit to understand both from other people and books or whatever path of education that you're creating for yourself

to stay progressive. Absolutely. So you just blended to grit and optimism. So the grit is the staying with it, that dogged perseverance over time. And with this optimistic belief that I got to play the game to get a yes, and I'm going to keep playing the game to get the yeses that I want. Does that sound right? Absolutely. That was, that was the biggest thing is it's either going to work or it's not. And if I look back on it, I want to know that I went for it and I gave it my all. And that's why I take the bold risks. I just use common sense and saying, what don't I have that I need? And how do I just reach out to the people that have that so I can connect and where can I provide value back? Love it. And where did you, has there been a story or a point in time that comes to the top of your mind that you didn't know if this thing was going to be successful and you had spent other people's money, other people's life efforts, you'd sold them on the idea. And does a story come to mind when you

didn't know if it was going to end up working out or not? I don't know as much of a story as just different moments where sometimes I'll wake up and I'll be like, I don't want to go to work today. And it's people are like, it's your own company, man. I would die to be in that position. And it's hard to describe, but sometimes you get burnt out. Is it, is it fatigue or is it fear? Is it both? I think it's, it's fatigue. Fear hasn't really paralyzed me in terms of not, you know, morale. I think it's more of just being really burnt out and not seeing the results that should equate to the amount of effort I'm putting in. Okay. Right. So similar to surfing is that I'm training, I'm doing my stuff and I want to get the winning outcomes

every day and they're not always coming. Right. And so, so that amount of work and not necessarily getting the exact outcome that you wanted, but the cool, I said cool, like 15 times this conversation, I'm mindful of that, but I think the important, let me change the word. The important thing that I'm picking up is that you've got a lot of experience from surfing to know what it feels like to not get exactly what you want, but how to play the long game. Exactly. So how do you get up in the morning when you're fatigued, when you're overwhelmed? What do you do to get out of bed? I, the biggest thing that I do is I make for sure that I stick to a regimented routine. So 5 30 AM, the alarm goes off and Tuesdays and Thursdays I do boxing to

get the blood flowing. And what exercise does is it gets the endorphins going. And when I get those endorphins, that's where I can go into work and I feel like I'm ready for it. Okay. Last, last little thought here, because I respect your time and I'm hopeful that we can spend more condensed time with a higher frequency and watch your arc, both from the business and the entrepreneur, the young entrepreneur frame to watch you go for it. And so the last kind of thought that I have a question for you is what would you give? Let me tell a quick little story is that my first job right out of college that wasn't even out of college. I think I got an opportunity to teach a class,

no sports psychology class, and I'd never taught before. And so it was, it was a master's degree program and I hadn't taught yet. And I figured out that I just needed to be one chapter ahead of the people that I was teaching. And so I would read a couple of chapters obviously. And I knew more than I thought, but I just needed to be one chapter ahead and I'd be okay.

And like, whatever, there's a longer story there of why I didn't love doing that. But can you teach somebody who might be, you might just be one chapter ahead, somebody who wants to start something up, somebody who's midlife and would like to start up a millennial who wants to start up a, a seasoned vet in said industry, but is wanting to make a leap to do something new. Can you, can you like give us some sort of insight about how, how to start that? Absolutely. The biggest thing for me has been surrounding myself with people that are very talented, such as yourself. Oh, thank you. Such as, uh, our other board of advisors member is the former CFO of Red Bull and beats and just a network of

really talented people who've been there where I want to be and just going out to coffee and meeting with them. And the one thing that I've really learned is successful people, they want to give back. They want to share their insights. They want to tell their story and they want to help out. There's a genuine urge to see someone that's where you were when you were younger and help them along their journey. So that's one of the things that I do is I reach out to a lot of people who are in certain areas that I want to be. And sometimes they respond, sometimes they don't. But with persistence and with the right angle and finding out the right people to contact, a lot of value can be gained. Yeah. So the step is, or the action step is to get around people that are bright and smart and know more about the industry or

particular industry that you're interested in. Does that sound any field of knowledge that you want to gain your level to up your level in that beautiful and then figure out a way that it's a mutual win. That's what you did for us, like a mutual win. Okay, I love it. So let's keep this crisp. I know we got you've got lots to do today and to get going with. So I'm hopeful that we, maybe we can, we can fire this up, whether it's a phone call in a car or somewhere. Cause I know you're ripping and running is maybe in, in, um, in two weeks or three weeks time, we'll get another little quick update on the things you're working on and see if we can take it from there. Awesome. Sounds great. Okay. So where can we find out where can we go find just chill? Sorry. Yeah. Where can we do that? Yeah. So in Southern California, we're in whole foods. We're

in Ralph's we're in Albertsons and you can actually go onto our website, drink, just chill.com and type in your area code and you'll find all the stores around you. Is it, have you, are you staying on the West coast or have you moved to the East Coast? No, we're out in the Rockies and Colorado. We just landed HEB in Texas. So we're going to be in 144 outlets out there. We're in the Pacific Northwest. We're in a chain called the Fresh Market. So there's a lot of places to get it, vitamin shop.

And really quickly, let me see if I could take a good pass at this. Just Chill has two main ingredients. There's a couple ingredients. It meets all the standards to be in whole foods. So there's no additives and, and, um, I'm blank. I don't know the right word about any artificial preservatives, none of that. And the two main ingredients are magnesium for a little hit of calm. And then the second is L-theanine, right? And so the, it's the L-theanine that is the amino acid in tea that helps with focus. Exactly. It helps, it helps with calm, focus and clarity. There you go. And so, okay. Um, thank you. Thank you for this conversation. Thank you for writing that email. I'm, um, I'm loving watching you grow. I'm loving being part of it. And you're teaching me a lot about

entrepreneurship as well. So, um, let's use this platform to be able to share with other people and see if there's a little travel community of, of support and challenge that we can get on. I love it. Thanks for having me on. Where do we find you online? What's the handle at just chill. And if you want to reach out to me personally go to linkedin slash really what how do you have the bandwidth to have like personal conversations i'm tapped out like i don't know what to do how are you really hey you know what i when i talk to i do a lot of talks at colleges and when i do, it just gives me so much drive and motivation to help other people that are in the position that I wasn't. I love it. Bring it on. So, so if they want to do

linkedin.com slash in slash max Bauman, find me there. Okay. Spell your last name for everyone should be on the podcast. Yeah. Okay. So B-A-U-M-A-N-N. Okay. Love it. Okay, everyone. Thank you, Max. Thank you. And if you enjoyed the conversation, two things that you can do, hit us up on social at Michael Gervais, go to facebook.com. You can find us there as well, which is forward slash finding mastery. We've also got Instagram, which is at finding mastery. And if you could go over to iTunes and write a review, it's been great. And it, I think that that's part of the magic sauce to propel and to drive awareness and interest in what we're doing. So I want to thank everyone for that. I want to thank you, Max, for coming on and, um, yeah, I'm looking forward to this journey with you.

Me too. Okay. Let's rock and roll take care all right thank you so much for diving into another episode of finding mastery with us our team loves creating this podcast and sharing these conversations with you we really appreciate you being part of this community. And if you're enjoying the show, the easiest no cost way to support is to hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you're listening. Also, if you haven't already,

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The door here at Finding Mastery is always open to those looking to explore the edges and the reaches of their potential so that they can help others do the same. So join our community, share your favorite episode with a friend, and let us know how we can continue to show up for you lastly as a quick reminder information in this podcast and from any material on the finding mastery website and social channels is for information purposes only if you're looking for meaningful support which we all need one of the best things you can do is to talk to a licensed professional. So seek assistance from your healthcare providers. Again, a sincere thank you for listening. Until next episode, be well, think well, keep exploring.