The Bossticks - Flamingo Estate's Richard Christiansen On Building A Legacy Brand, Why Simplicity Sells, What Big Brands Are Getting Wrong
Episode Date: February 20, 2025#810: Join us as we sit down with Richard Christiansen – the creative visionary & curator of LA's finest, Flamingo Estate. Inspired by Mother Nature, the story of a lush orchard & pleasure garden ...on a California hillside overlooking Los Angeles transformed into Flamingo Estate, a thriving brand dedicated to nature-inspired living. In this episode, Richard shares his personal journey of transformation, the evolution of his breathtaking estate, & how it led to the creation of daily essentials designed for a well-lived life. Rooted in a deep connection to local farmers and community-based businesses, Flamingo Estate champions sustainable agriculture, while celebrating the harmony between the power of the human hand & Mother Nature. To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To connect with Richard Christiansen click HERE To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn's favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes. To learn more about Flamingo Estate visit flamingoestate.com and use code SKINNY15 for 15% off your purchase. This episode is sponsored by SmartMouth Never have bad breath again! Find SmartMouth at Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon or visit smartmouth.com/skinny to snag a special discount on your next SmartMouth purchase. This episode is sponsored by Vivrelle Go to vivrelle.com and apply for a membership today using code SKINNY for 30% off 4 months of membership - the code will also allow you to skip the Vivrelle waitlist. This episode is sponsored by YNAB TSC Him & Her Show listeners can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at YNAB.com/skinny. This episode is sponsored by LMNT Get yours at DrinkLMNT.com/SKINNY. This episode is sponsored by Purely Elizabeth Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code SKINNY at checkout for 20% off. Purely Elizabeth. Taste the Obsession. This episode is sponsored by Agent Nateur Visit AgentNateur.com and use code SKINNY for 20% off sitewide. Produced by Dear Media
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The following podcast is a dear media production.
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Fantastic.
And he's a serial entrepreneur.
A very smart cookie.
And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride.
Get ready for some major realness.
Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.
If you are on the pulse and you are a creative person, you know all about Flamingo,
state. You've probably seen it on Instagram. It's truly become a global lifestyle brand. Basically,
it started as a lush orchard and a pleasure garden on a California hillside overlooking Los Angeles,
and it transformed into Flamingo Estates. I have been a fan of this brand since it launched.
I actually started buying their farm boxes where I would get like fresh vegetables and fresh fruit
in the mail from them.
This is like years ago.
And then I tried their candles
and their soaps and their shampoos
and everything is just made
with such integrity and such care.
So I'm very excited to introduce you
to the man behind Flamingo Estate, Richard.
We are going kind of all over the place
in this episode.
On that note, Richard Christensen,
welcome to the show.
This is the skinny confidential, him and her.
So you, conceptually,
your content while you're in the shower. So where is the phone in the shower? Is it just sitting on
something and you're just voice noting? No, I built a, well, Flamingo Estate is my home, as you know,
and I built a shower with a big window outside so I could see the garden and sits on the ledge.
Or on my, I ride my bike. I don't have a car. I ride my bike everywhere. So also, if I'm just, like,
on my bicycle, I'll think. And I'll, I think it's important, people can sniff out if something's
overly marketed. So for me, everything's about sort of the, you know, why we made this and why I love
it. And so I'm always just dictating into my phone those things. And so the Instagram, the emails,
the website, it's largely just stuff that I've dictated to myself. I think why I'm personally
so inspired by you and your brand is it's, yes, it's beautiful, yes, the packaging is amazing,
your storytelling is amazing, but there's something an undertone that you have created your own life
on your own terms.
And it's attractive because not a lot of people do that.
Can you talk to us pre-Flamingo estates?
Tell us what the Richard was like before you were doing things the way you wanted to do.
So I grew up in a very rural Australia and my mom and dad are farmers.
And couldn't wait to get away from that.
just ran as fast as I could from Dirty Australia and lived in Europe and then moved to New York
and I opened my agency when I was 28 and then spent the next, you know, almost 20 years
just building a business, working every weekend, working every night to 11 o'clock, just working,
and I built a creative agency that was vast and by maybe normal metrics,
you know, how dare I complain because I was earning more money than my parents ever had
and I was, you know, working with brands I loved.
I was so exhausted and I was so out of alignment and I was so tired.
I was so overweight.
I was so like lonely to be honest and just was praying that my business would get sold
or that I would find a way out.
And ultimately, and I write about this in my book,
ultimately COVID demolished that business.
And I sort of had to start again.
And so Flamingo started as a way to bring myself back to life.
I was just sleepwalking.
And I was so lonely and I hadn't had sex.
And I hadn't had untasted things and smelled things
and enjoyed things. I had lost the thrill of life. So not that it wasn't great, there was some
amazing times, amazing times, but I felt like at some point in that process of working very
hard, I lost the spark and was just depleted. So how does one find this estate? Is this something
that someone sends you over Zillow? Like, how do you find Flamingosite? Maybe to take a step back
for people that are not familiar with the estate, like high level, how would you describe it to people
have never conceptualized it or seen it. It's my home. It's a weird property in Los Angeles. I found
it through a friend and came to put bees in this man's garden who lived there. This guy had lived there
65 years. And this funny little strange man. And I walked into the house, into the garden,
and I was like, oh my God. Holy shit. This place is, it was in terrible shape, but you could see
at one point someone really loved it. And you could see that when someone loved the garden and the
garden is my thing and I was like wow and so and I made it my screensaver I was like one day I will
live in that house and I looked at it every day and then you know some years went by and I ended up
buying it and it's you know sort of well documented now the I wasn't really allowed to see inside the
house before I had bought it was one of the conditions why I now know why it's because it was a
prolific porn studio for a number of years 60 60 years
and point level's films there
and you know it was
it's a very long story
and it's a whole show you to see that work going on
if he peeked in the window you might have seen me performing Michael
they might have seen me perform probably probably
probably more year than yeah
yeah I think he was
self-conscious about his house's history
and had lived was a man that was living in a different
maybe at a different era and was very private about it
And I skipped in and he's like, I think you won't be too shocked.
And so, you know, and then began what became years of planting hundreds of trees and bringing the house back to life.
But, you know, there was a bit of a Julia and Julia going on because I was also bringing myself back to life very much in that time.
You know, I was cooking and I was eating real food.
I worked in fashion marketing my whole life.
So I always thought I was too fat.
I never enjoyed meals and I ate and drank and had showers and just wanted desperately to wake myself up.
And a long time before that became a brand or a long time before we started selling that stuff,
I just wanted to wake myself up again.
And that happened from drinking and eating and smelling and touching and just like,
I think now my definition of success is life with all of your.
senses fully engaged. And that's something that's harder than ever today. We're living
our lives through a little telephone screen. We're not engaging in the world. We're not breathing
it and feeling it in a way that maybe people did. Our grandparents did or people fool that. So,
you know, that was the start of this whole adventure. Was I? I'm so interested in the process of
taking what it was to what it is. And maybe you could really talk to us about the beginning
stages. You mentioned planting trees, but there's obviously a lot of work that went into it. Did you
have a, you mentioned you have a small team, but did you have help around you every day? Did you
start alone? What's been the evolution of what it is to now? I think the main,
maybe the main contribution came from a duo called Studio Co, who are French Alcoctex, who
who designed Chilton Firehouse in London,
Yves Saint Laurent's Marrakesh Museum and a bunch of iconic video.
That museum's amazing.
Yeah, they're remarkable guys.
I met them, I said I have just bought this crazy porn palace
and their eyes sort of lit up and they were like,
oh, we're in Los Angeles working on a project.
Could we work on it with you?
And I, you know, I couldn't really afford them to be honest
and we sort of worked it out.
One of the agreements was we didn't put anything in the house,
not even a teaspoon that they didn't, we didn't talk about.
And we traveled.
My dream.
No, it was amazing.
And I really, really edited.
And we got down to, we went to India, we went to Japan, we went to Morocco.
We traveled everywhere.
And we gathered up just the most wonderful collection stuff.
And the New York Times said that the house feels a bit like Epcot Center
in the sense that it's best places of the world kind of crushed together in one.
And I think that's very true.
We really, we tried hard to make this really special.
I don't think this sort of house could exist anywhere except Los Angeles.
And it, it's just a really beautiful, it's a beautiful place.
It's not large, but it's beautiful.
Let me ask you this.
When you approached this house, was there a business undertone?
No.
No, no.
So you weren't content marketing to launch products.
Oh my God.
It was quite the opposite.
I really wanted, I really had spent my whole life in the first.
four walls of my office in New York. I had not left that building. I wanted to do the
complete opposite. I really did. It was a very selfish moment on my part. I really wanted to just
focus. I also spent years sucking up to people and kissing the ass of people. I was the head
creative director and I was the owner and I was always out networking. Services businesses are hard.
It's hard. It's the hard as it's a real hustle and I was the quarterback in that business.
And so I was like, God, that's tough. And it's weird because you own your own.
thing but you're also having to work for so many other people consistently so it's
almost like you're an entrepreneur and you set out to kind of control your own destiny
but at the same time you are contracted to work under other people yeah and really
enjoyed it and built a big business but also my because of that my whole self-esteem
was tied to that business my entire identity was that job and so when that stopped
very suddenly when COVID hit it was my worst
nightmare. My worst nightmare was not being able to pay the rent on our beautiful penthouse in New York
of the office. And that happened in two weeks. The business just sort of started to buckle under the
weight of a big payroll. How many people did you have at the full? At the height of it, we probably
had like somewhere near a hundred. Wow. And it's still going now. I'm not involved anymore,
but the team that was there took it. And they're doing really well. But the, but the, but the, but the,
It was a long, long, so you know, so to answer your question directly, finding this house in this giant garden, it was the complete opposite energy, it's all I wanted.
And we just started making things that we wanted to use.
And then, you know, the real start of the business, let's call it, happened when a farmer walked into, I also owned a bookshop in Los Angeles, a farmer walked into my bookshop.
And she was going to lose her farm because her vegetables went to.
restaurants and the restaurants had closed. You remember that during COVID. And I had said,
no, no, don't. My parents had lost their farm when I was a kid. So I was like, no, fuck that.
We won't let that happen. We'll sell your vegetables. And I know how to sell things. And so
that first Friday of COVID, you know, I think she thought we could sell a dozen boxes. We sold, I don't
know, 300 and then 600 the next Friday. Well, 200 of them were mine to my house because I remember
those boxes and I was just going to say what is the first product I bought. It was one of your boxes.
I forgot about that. And really no real knowledge. I mean, isn't that the wonderful thing? No knowledge
of where this would end up. We just started helping her out. Harvey, my partner, designed the big out
of box, which people Instagramed at a time when no one had anything to Instagram. We're very
lucky that that became a bit of a viral hit. Yep. And then, you know, we had to get a warehouse
in Glendale and a warehouse in Burbank and the operations got bigger and bigger. At the height
of it we had to pick and pack vegetables out of Universal Studios because it was the only place
big enough for all these farms to drop off their vegetables so we could sort them and put them into
boxes. But you remember at a time when no one was shopping when this was like a really
different time and it was such a funny boomering moment because I used to work at Universal
when I was filming TV commercials and now here I am sorting vegetables and so um so,
funny and wonderful. And then just all these people came out of the woodwork who were not working.
And we built such a fast, amazing, wonderful community. And one farm became two, became five,
became ten. Now we're a hundred and twenty-eight farms. And I just met these amazing people.
And so before I even had this sense to think this is a business, it had become a really big business.
And then in the most chaotic way. And then, but also under the
sort of protective bubble of COVID where we had, I think, the ability to take some risks to work
in non-traditional ways. Most importantly, I wasn't looking left or right up or down over my
shoulder to see who else was doing something or how I was keeping up with them or was I doing
something better or was I doing something worse. I just put my head down and went to work.
And I think that piece of information was the thing that kept us growing.
I often say comparison is a thief of joy. I really under.
stood that in that moment that the thing I couldn't do was try to emulate someone else's
business to do something else.
It was just like we were just running too fast.
And then this wonderful guy came in about halfway through this journey and he said, I hear
you're helping farmers out, would you sell my olive oil?
And I said I'd love to but I already have a couple of olive oil farms.
We don't need any more.
And he was walking out and I thought, oh wait, maybe we can make soap.
from his olive oil.
And that's how we got into the beauty industry.
And now we're 90% beauty in terms of revenue.
And, you know, started to think, well, and also before that,
the bathwater from the house ran into the garden.
And my roses were dying from the very expensive body wash
I was using from a brand we all know.
And I thought, and my roses are turning brown.
And I was like, wait, oh, maybe it's all that body wash.
And I thought, why would I use it on my skin?
If I can't use it on my skin if I can't use it on my plants.
And so before we thought of selling it, we sort of learned how to make soap.
And then some of my colleagues made it better and better.
And so by the time that farmer had walked in, I was like, okay, how hard can that be?
And then maybe we can take the sage from the farmers or the lavender from the farmers.
These regenerative farmers we met who were growing sort of food-grade ingredients.
I thought, why don't we make products from them?
And so then, you know, skip forward today and people are like, oh my God, why aren't you using palm oil or why aren't you using this or why aren't you using that?
Why aren't you doing it?
We were never making it in the lab, but we were never using contract manufacturers because we never knew how to do that.
We just naively did it the old-fashioned way.
And so which sort of saved us.
No, no, totally.
And now it's such a point of differentiation.
and you know we're in Australia, we're here, we're about to go to Japan, we're in Europe, it's just sort of, it was shocking to me when, as with fresh eyes, how much shit is in the beauty industry and how much of it is not made very well and how, you know, I say to people now that want to work with this, please do not come here if you're looking for innovation. There is nothing innovative going on here, which is doing stuff the old-fashioned way. And maybe now that is the most important.
innovative thing to do. A perfect advertisement for your products is my husband, who has the best
hair line I've ever seen in my life. He does have good hair. He uses your shampoo, your conditioner,
your body wash, uses all your products, we use your peppermint soap. Oh, the best. Do you know someone
tried to, we make a hundred bars of that peppermint soap at a time? And I made it because I'm not
a morning person. I like a good slap on the face in the morning. Yeah, it does. And it's a big,
big brick. And this woman, someone bought all hundred in one go. I put it on it. I put it on
Instagram, someone said, oh, she wrote all of them.
So I got her number of, people have been reselling that soap on eBay.
So I got her number from Shopify, and I called her.
I said, hey, my name is Richard.
I know you don't know me, but I own Flamingo State, and I want to buy them back from you.
I know you're reselling them, and I'm happy for you to make money, but I want a controlled experience.
So, you know, I'll give you some extra cash, but I want them back.
What did she say?
She said in her funny Texas action, she's like, honey, I'm not selling your soap.
And I was like, what?
Oh my god, you're, oh, hold on, wait, you got to keep on, keep going.
That was a good accent.
And I was like, you're not.
And she said, no, honey, I smell so good.
I'm using them as door stops.
And I'm like, door stops, you have 100 doors in your house?
She's like, yeah, honey, I'm from Texas.
And I was like, God bless America.
This is everything we need.
There's some big estates out there.
Yeah, yeah.
This is what is also so intriguing to me from a business standpoint is,
How will you continue and how are you continuing to keep the integrity of Flamingo Estates while also strategically scaling?
It's because it's a seesaw.
How do you do it?
It's the number one thing.
It's hard.
Yeah.
And I think that, you know, people used to come to the agency all the time.
All these big businesses would come to us and they'd all have different briefs.
They'd all have a different ask.
But the one thing that they were all us.
me was help us act small again.
They were too big to take risks.
They were too big to be vulnerable.
They were too big to be personal.
They were too big to be fast.
And I think the same thing happens with people,
as it does with businesses.
And so for me, it's about acting small,
not being small, but acting small.
Business has been doubling year on year every year.
We're getting to a point now where we are getting big,
which I'm very grateful for,
but we're very small, acting small.
You know, I write to a point out of it.
the copy, Harvey does all the design work with a very small team. So I think it's keeping that stuff
close. I think that's the answer. And it's my home and we don't make anything we don't use
in my home. Everything we make I use. You might be the perfect person to talk about this. Because
you know, we we talk to a lot of entrepreneurs in the show and in our private life. And I think
there's this idea that everyone just wants to scale, scale, big, big, big. And I always like get down with
home like, why? Why? It's why, why, why, why? Also, like, I think, and we, this is a whole other
episode, once you take someone else's money, once you get investment, the pressure to grow is
obviously just a very real thing. And that becomes a question about margins. It becomes how cheap
is cheap. I have said this before. I went to a meeting with someone for investment and
they said, you know, what's your margin on your hands open? I gave them the number. It's a totally
respectable number. And she said, she kind of laughed and said, don't come back here until it's 90%.
It can never be 90% on hand soap because we'd fuck the farmers we work with.
We have to pay people.
It would just be what all those other products are.
It'll be made in not somewhere that's not here and not with regenerative ingredients.
I think there has to be a big sea change with the way we shop.
And I talk about this a lot in the book, this race to the bottom.
You know, what gets me so angry, angry, angry, angry is the amount of people that complain about the price of things, of our things.
and, you know, that a big box of regenerative vegetables is $120.
And then the markup when making on that is minuscule.
It's tiny.
It's a shaving up the top.
And yet the markup on a Tom Ford fragrance or on your Chanel bag is 500%.
And no one complains about that.
We don't complain about the cost of luxury goods.
We don't complain that there's a $1 million bag at Louis Vuitton.
and there is one.
We don't think about the markup on that,
but yet we would raise our fists up and get angry
because there's a 15% markup on a box of vegetables
that your family eats.
So there's this real interesting double standard
with the way we prioritize,
the things you put in our bodies
and the way we grow them.
And I think vegetables and food in this country
have to get more expensive, not less expensive.
I think that we have to stop flying stuff
in from the other side of the world.
We have to eat locally, we have to grow locally.
There's a great interview in the book with Alice Waters, the chef, who says the things that, what you put in your mouth is what you put into the world.
And what she means by that is in the 50s when processed food and cheap, so fast food became readily available.
We digested the values of that food, cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, faster, foster, more for less in the rest of our lives as well.
And so I think they have words to live by, which is sort of trickles down to everything else that we make that's not food related, that's beauty related or anything else.
We had a dentist on recently that told us all about smart mouths.
Smartmouth is the only mouthwash that's scientifically proven to eliminate and prevent bad breath for 24 hours.
All you need is just two rinses a day.
So basically they designed this product to prevent bad breath 12 times longer than the leading brand.
It's essentially confidence in a body.
bottle, which is great. You'll feel very minty fresh and you won't have to worry about bad breath.
So they use this certain technology. It's a zinc ion activation and it's the key to eliminating
and preventing sulfur gas, which is actually known also as bad breath. This is the secret to all day
fresh breath. A dentist told me this. So it shouldn't surprise you that Smartmouth was developed by a
dentist and is dentist recommended. The one that I tried is the original. They also have other ones.
I just like it because it's mint. I'm a simple kind of gal when it comes to flavor and I like mint.
So you guys have to check out SmartMouth if you're looking for a mouthwash. Never have bad breath again.
Find SmartMouth at Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon, or visit SmartMouth.com slash skinny. And you can snag a special
discount on your next SmartMouth purchase. That's www.com.
S-M-A-R-T-M-O-U-T-H-com slash skinny.
Don't miss out on 24-hour fresh breath.
Your mouth will thank you.
I am telling you, I'm going on vacation, and I went on this site and screenshoted the
shakest handbags.
I was like, I need this, I need this.
So the one that I got for my trip is like a sparkly upside-down triangle.
It's by Prada.
It's baby blue, and it's so vacation-esque.
I also renewed the bag that I have, which is a striped little Celine drawstring bag.
It's perfect for vacation.
It's perfect for travel.
I'm very excited about these two bags.
If you're unfamiliar with Virol, it's the first of its kind luxury accessories, members-only club,
providing members access to borrow designer handbags, jewelry watches and diamonds.
I love this site, especially when I go on vacation, because I can go on as a member and
treat my closet like my own. I can borrow anything within my tier and there's no return dates.
You can go on. You can get the handbag of your dreams and members can then swap items out once a
month or you can keep your item for as long as you like. The membership starts at $45. There are so many
good handbags. You guys have to go check it out. Go to vrel.com and apply for membership today using
code skinny. You get 30% off four months of membership. The code will also allow you to skip the VVRA wait
list. That's V-I-V-R-E-L-E dot com. Use code skinny. You get 30% off four months of membership.
V-R-R-R-R-L dot com. One of the things that upsets me so much is when people are not able to keep their
hard-earned money. Everybody works so hard to generate an income. It's so stressful.
Managing money can be such a point of stress for couples and individuals. I know personally that
before I had financial literacy, I was stressed all the time about money. This is why I love talking about
YNAB so much on this show.
Wineab spelled YNAB is a life-changing app that helps you do what you want with the money you
have.
You'll create flexible plans for your money through a simple practice of giving every dollar
a job, keeping you focus on the life that you want.
So whether you want to cover your mortgage or your rent or fund your 401k without sacrificing
dinners with friends or that long-away to trip abroad, Wynab will help you stop wondering where
your money goes and help you start deciding where it'll take you instead.
Like I said earlier, so many people are stressed about money.
92% of users report feeling less money stressed since using YNAB.
The average YNAB users save $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year.
Imagine what else you could do with an extra $6,000 in your pocket right now.
Life is short, spend it with YNAB.
Of course, we have an incredible offer for our listeners and viewers.
TSC, him and her show listeners can claim an exclusive three-month free trial with no credit card required at www.
YNAB.com slash skinny. Again, that's YNAB.com slash skinny. TSC, him and her show listeners can claim an
exclusive three-month free trial with no credit card required at www.w.YNAB.com slash skinny.
Again, that's YNAB.com slash skinny. Check it out. But I think people are starting to wrap their heads
around the idea of getting a better quality product, the safer ingredients that are more
organic in order to protect the most important thing, which is your health and longevity and your
time on this planet. And they're willing, I think the people that learn this and are starting to
take a greater interest in this topic are starting to make that investment. Also, who cares
what handbag you're wearing if your whole entire house is filled with chemicals and you lay your
head down on the pillow and you're breathing in something that rhymes with Schmeid nine hours a night
and you're eating like shit. We say that here in comfortable Los Angeles, but there's a lot of people
who don't agree with that and vote with their wallets and we'll happily pick up the poorly made thing
at Walmart.
And I so understand that and we're very privileged and we're sitting here on high saying this stuff.
I just think there needs to be a real sea change in the way that we buy products.
We need to buy less stuff and we need to buy better stuff.
We all know that.
And I think there has to be a sea change in the way that brands have funded because the headwinds
on making stuff the right way get very strong once you take on someone's money and you need to
make your margins. I know that with my full heart.
We say that all the time. I said for founders that listen to this show and they're thinking
about taking on capital, just know that there's someone with a completely different incentive
than you. Maybe there's an aligned incentive, but that exercise is an exercise in numbers
and margins and multiples. Yeah. And I will build a billion dollar brand. I know that. I'm
very sure of it. But not because I'm greedy because I want to source and make things the right
way in the beauty industry because no one else has really done that. And then turn around
to L'Oreal or whoever else and say, look, someone else can do it too. And no one else has.
And so let's build a very profitable, big business with really high standards. And let's do that
properly. And that excites me. And that's sort of now that I'm happy with you, sort of the porn talk
in the house, talk of all this stuff. Because really my focus now is on how do we achieve that?
And how do we build and scale in a different way?
What is the Richard Flamingo Estate experience?
And maybe you could talk about, is it the same as it was four years ago when someone comes to Flamingo Estate?
Because you can't just go, right?
No, no, you can't.
Okay, so can you ask?
It's my home.
Yeah, it's your home.
So, yeah, can I show up at the door?
You can't just go.
People do.
They do?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, wow.
You got some stalkers, Richard?
A lot of people come to just get their Instagram photo and we get that a lot.
Uh-oh.
But what's your question, sorry?
My question is, what is like, what's the curated experience for a friend of yours that's coming to stay for the weekend?
What can they expect?
I mean, honestly, that's the stuff that we do for ourselves.
A hot bath always.
I always love cooking a meal for someone.
I do it myself as much as I can.
What are you cooking?
Oh, whatever's in season.
I mean, we're so spoiled.
We've got all these farms that have finger tips.
I also have a beautiful vegetable garden.
I have a great team that runs the vegetable, the orchard and the vegetable garden now.
So we've got no shortage of fresh stuff there.
It's always nice.
But yeah, I think the thing is, again, about acting small,
we try to keep it very simple.
We really are not very fancy at home.
But it's a very true place.
What's your drink of choice?
If Martha Stewart's over, what's your drink of choice?
Are you guys having wine?
Martha likes a tequila.
So she's been over a few times.
We've always done a tequila.
Blood oranges, if we've got them.
Sounds delicious.
Maybe some, we've got a great chili farm in, one of those farms we, I mentioned, is a chili farm in Mexico.
The Gabino family has this farm in the highlands of Mexico and they grow the most amazing chilies and they smoke them at the applewood smoker.
And we make spicy olive oil and salsa much and stuff of that from that stuff.
But also, I love putting those in a margarita.
What's the seasonal dish that you're making right now for like the Christmas season?
Well, what was I making this weekend?
You know, it's cold here and it's not cold often in Los Angeles.
I do love a chicken pot pie.
I've been making that this week.
It's so good.
And you're in the kitchen cooking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's incredible.
If someone's listening and they're like, I want to leave my job, I'm done with it, I'm done with corporate America.
I want to go open up a farm.
Or maybe they just want to go buy a farm and do what you've done.
Yeah.
What would you caution?
Like, what are the pros and the cons?
and the tips. I mean, I don't know
it's different for everyone and I don't want to give everyone advice.
I know that if we, I know how hard
it is to be a farmer.
My parents are farmers. I know how
hard that hustle is. I'm not a farmer.
I'm lucky that we've fallen into
all sorts of verticals because of my
property. But
I think that would be
my first thing is like what,
how do you monetize that business?
Is there other ways outside
just selling the produce or what are you doing?
I know it's tough for people. It's tough
that it ever has been to be a farmer in this country.
And so I have my full hand on my heart,
like my hat off to all those people
who are making stuff in the land and growing stuff, it's tough.
In your book, you have interviewed some incredible people.
What are the ones that really resonated for you?
What are the little tips and hacks and tricks
that you were like, wow, this is really incredible and different?
Okay, so I wrote the book.
I wanted, the publisher wanted another cookbook,
and then I wanted a gardening book.
And we, I was just trying to figure out how to firstly write about plants.
That's what I really wanted to do.
And, but also at the same time, I was really self-conscious that maybe Flamingo Estate was a COVID baby.
Maybe it was a shot.
Maybe it was a lucky strike.
Maybe I just got lucky.
Maybe it's all going to disappear.
But like all those other brands that I saw in COVID that have now lost.
I lost, I was, I had such anxiety around that.
So for me, the book started.
as how do I find people who have built a world
and then built a wall around it
and told everyone to fuck off?
And how do I meet and talk to my heroes
who are operating at such a high vibrational energy?
You know you meet those people who you hang around
and you're like, shit, I feel so much better,
healthier, moral life because I spend an hour with you.
You know, we all have met those people.
How do I squeeze that juice, you know?
So I made a list of people, and like this several in Jane Fonder and Kelly Wersler and
Martha and those people that are in here who every time I meet them, I'm like, God, I want more
of that, you know.
So some of it was that.
How do I get that with some of it?
So I didn't know.
I started writing and I sat in the goat shed.
I've got goats at the house.
I said the goat shed and I write, I started writing about first about wisteria, which is, you
know, the vine that grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and you can put it
anywhere in it grows. It's such a good metaphor for work ethic. It just does not stop. And I was
writing about wisteria and then I thought, who do I know that is like wisteria? And then I was like,
oh, it's Martha. And so that sort of set up the construct for the book where I was like,
plant and person, plant and person. And so started just to go through my favorite plants and then
build that bridge. And so Jane Goodall obviously is like iconic. She was, she's in the first
chapter and Kelly Worst is maybe one of the really interesting ones because Kelly is a good friend
and her family. Kelly is so disciplined. She goes to the gym twice a day. She is there for her friends
but she does never waste any time. She will never hang around people she doesn't like. She's
just really good at saying no and very, very kind at saying yes. And she's a wonderful person.
And her chapter is called prune your roses.
And that's, you know, anyone that has a garden knows that if you want your roses to come back strong, you have to prune them.
You have to get the scissors out and you have to chop them really, really hard.
And so the metaphor there is you've got, in our lives, we need to keep scissors in our back pockets, metaphorically speaking.
And we have to chop, chop, chop, chop all the time.
The shitty person, the shitty friend, the shitty colleague, the shitty thing, the habit, the Weber thing is that drag.
you down, you've got to take the scissors to it. Kelly does that so well. And so that's one of the
things I, after writing the book, I was like, oh, I need to get, I'm pretty good at that already,
but I was like, I need to get my scissors out and really chop. And so that was one of the more
interesting lessons in the book. There's so many at 600 pages. It sounds like the book in a way is also
you extracting lessons that you wanted selfishly for yourself from the highest performers
in your life. A hundred percent. I mean, the whole brand was also me selfishly making the stuff I wanted
to use every day. So also this is me selfishly now trying to like figure out how to not just
live a good life, but how do I live a great, great life? Well, I think it's refreshing to hear
because sometimes people are nervous to admit that they do things selfishly, but in your case,
you're doing it selfishly, but then sharing this with other people. No, no, I'm all for, uh,
you know, we say flamingo's the house of radical pleasure because I, and I think it is, because
it's a radical act to stand up for your own happiness. I know that sounds a little Bené Brownie,
but I was like, it really is the hardest thing in the world to stand up for your own pleasure,
what you want to do every day from the second you get out of bed.
And so the book is sort of an exploration of that in some ways.
Yeah.
Is there any other tips from these incredible people?
Like, give us, like, Chrissy Teigen's in it, John Legend.
There's so many amazing people.
Is there a little takeaway that you've maybe applied to your own life that you're doing daily now based on writing it?
The one thing that everyone sort of said, and I never asked the question, but the one thing that came out in every interview was put your phone down.
This promise of technology would leave us more time to do the things that we wanted to do.
Instead, what it has done has given us more time to scroll.
And so there's great power in just the doing, the planting, the making, the baking, the walking, the walking, they're doing something.
I got that from everyone was just
Just put your phone down and go and make, bake, do, plant, do something
And everything else will fall into place
It will deliver it on your feet when you make that promise to the world
For anyone that wants to make their home
More of a peaceful, inspiring place
What do you think some of the things they can do?
I mean, when I designed Flamingo with the guys we
You know, I wanted a house that was
I'm not a fan of eight.
HGTV, Open Plan, Bayes Homes.
So there's a lot of color.
I really tried my home to tickle all the senses.
You run your fingers across the textures are different.
It's wood.
It's marble.
It's stone.
It's rough.
It's smooth.
It's cold.
The smells are amazing.
Every room has a window that opens up to the garden.
And even if you don't, even if you don't have that,
I do think, go outside and pick some rosemary or jasmine or whatever
and stick it in your shower and let it steam.
You know, I think there's a...
Bring nature in. I guess that's the main thing.
It's spring nature and all of the lessons we need to learn about life are in the garden.
They're already there.
You know, one of the chapters is called Drop Your Leaves like a Plum because it can't always be,
it cannot always be summer.
It has, you all have, we all have to go through a winter.
John and Chrissy talk about that after they talk about her, you know, her miscarriage.
And then, you know, she got canceled.
And, like, they've had a winter and they got through it.
And we all have winters.
And we can all get through them.
And we also have to drop our leaves and rest.
You know, stone fruit can't bloom and fruit unless it gets cold enough in winter.
They have to rest for them to come back stronger in spring.
And so they need the cold.
And so we need that too.
We need a minute just to, like, drop our leaves.
It's interesting.
Richard, what's been the most surprising,
thing to you with Flamingo Estate? What are things that have surprised you with your journey?
Well, maybe that I was, I'm annoyed at myself for spending 20 years chasing hungry ghosts.
What's most surprising is how much joy I've got from just the simple things.
But don't you think that you had to have that winter to see the other side?
Oh, for sure. I'm so grateful for COVID. If COVID had not have happened, I don't know where I would be now.
So if you could like put your thumb on the things you wish you didn't chase specifically, like what are those?
His green thumb.
I think there was a point in my, inside my soul, where I could feel that this, it was time to do something else.
But I didn't because I was, I needed the money or I was doing something.
I think that if I had really sat and listened to myself, I probably would have left that job 10 years earlier and done something else.
And I feel like now I think, you know, also there's a chapter about shadows in the book.
Embrace your shadows like a tree fern.
How I think I dealt with that was I drank like a fish.
I drank, I was, you know, we talk about drug use and addiction in the book.
I really was self-medicating and I think kind of maybe trying to quieten the voice in my head that like I needed to shake things up.
And I was just too scared maybe to take that jump.
You know, had COVID not have come and crushed my business,
I probably would still be there drinking right now.
And so I don't know, there's a, so maybe that.
Maybe I would have just been a bit more brave than I was.
Yeah, we had, um.
Because I would say, like, I was brave in many ways.
Like starting a business is scary and managing a team is scary.
And I think in many ways I was strong and brave.
But where it really counted, like in the silent moments and in my dark shadow,
I was a coward.
and I wish I had acted more boldly in those private times.
Yeah.
We had Mel Robbins on the,
do you know about Mel Robbins?
And she was talking about sometimes we get,
I forget it was like sunk in cost or whatever
where you've put a certain amount of time in anything
or into something.
Yeah.
And then even if you know it's not the right thing,
like we can't let go of it
because of the time that we've allocated to it.
Yes, yes, yes.
I think that can be applicable to not only careers,
but relationships or friendships or whatever.
It's like we can't quit things even if we know
they're not great for us.
Yeah, it's true. It's so true. And I think maybe what this business has taught me is that the joy in seasonality, like not just like accepting change, but really racing after it.
Like racing after the close of a season and something new coming up. I love it now. I love change. I get very bored very quickly and try very hard not to stay in one place too long now.
I'm sort of actively seeking change all the time and not just trying really hard not to get even, not even to think about it just to keep running towards it.
both in product development, but also my private life and the way I treat people and the way I sort of move through the world.
Do you have to travel consistently to stay?
More so, I mean, I spent my life on a plane.
I was the number one frequent flyer on JetBlue when I had my agency, the number one.
They had a party for me.
And I was.
Oh, my gosh.
I'm so ashamed of that now.
I was always somewhere else, you know.
I was always running.
And so I tried for the longest time not to even get on a plane again.
I hate going out. I really go out. I tried really, really, really hard not to travel.
I love, love, love being home now. And so, but now that we're selling overseas,
I'm traveling a bit more than I would probably like to. But when I do, I'm really mindful of it.
It sounds like now there's more purpose behind it.
Yeah, I mean, it's a very different energy. I'm doing the thing I really love. And so I'm very happy for that.
How do you work with your partner? I work with my husband.
Oh, God, isn't it hard?
It's hard, but, but, no, it is hard.
It's, uh, it's the most rewarding.
Yeah.
And challenging thing.
I would not, we would not be sitting here today if it wasn't for Harvey.
He is, uh, amazing.
He's designed everything.
He's pushed me hard.
He's like, we together have built this business and we live at home together.
Um, but you know, there's some days when I'm just like, ugh.
Um, and he is too.
There's an interesting, um, interview.
with Joe Horgan, who's the founder of Mecca.
Mecca is a huge billion-dollar business in Australia.
It's a big beauty retailer.
Brilliant business.
She and Pete, her husband, work in it together.
And I was in the interview, I was like, how do you guys do it?
Like, they are both in it.
They're so energized.
And she's like, sit at different ends of the office.
And so that you don't see each other all day long.
You have different little work friends.
and then what they have done is they don't drive home together.
She bought a car so that they didn't need to drive home together
so that she could have a minute, not take their problems home.
Now talk about work on the way home,
because then you're just going to talk about it when you walk in the door.
We've not done that. That's a good one.
You would not know. You'd call me.
So that's sad.
But you know also like it's also on the flip side,
it's nice to do a business together.
It's very, very, very rewarding. I will say that.
This is for anyone that feels like they're low,
has that midday slump, get headaches, just feel like you're kind of having brain fog.
It's likely because you are not properly hydrated.
This is why Lorne and I love talking about Element and have been Element partners for such
a long time on this show.
Element helps anyone stay hydrated without the sugar and other dodgy ingredients found in popular
electrolyte sports drinks.
An Element is a zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix with sparkling electrolyte water born from the
growing body of research revealing that optimal health outcomes occur at sodium levels
two to three times government recommendations.
They come in these individualized sticks that you can take on the go.
You can take them when you travel.
You can bring them to work.
You can bring them to the gym.
The way that I take them is every single time I start to feel a little bit of a slump or
feel like I'm not hydrated properly.
I just dump a little bit into my water, swish it around, and then drink it down.
I immediately feel better.
My headaches have gone away.
I have very few of them today and I used to get them all the time.
This is going to give you more effective workouts, better recovery, so many things.
Also, if you're one of those people that gets that midday slump at work,
instead of grabbing the coffee, it's likely a better option to hydrate with a little bit of
element so that your body is properly functioning.
What I love about working with Element is you can try it totally risk-free if you don't like
it, they'll refund your order.
No questions ask.
And right now, Element is offering a free sample pack with any purchase.
That's eight single serving packets free with any Element order.
This is a great way to try all eight flavors or share Element with a friend.
Get yours at DrinkElement.com slash Skinny.
This deal is only available through our link.
You must go to D-R-I-N-K-L-M-N-T.com slash skinny.
Again, it's drinkelement.com slash skinny.
One of the hottest things in my house, truly one of the hottest things is my cookie granola.
Let me tell you about this cookie granola.
It is by Purely Elizabeth.
She came on the show and she was like, Lauren, you have to try this.
Your kids are going to freak out.
it is the best hack for parents.
The one that my kids like the best is the chocolate chip cookie granola,
but don't sleep on the oatmeal raisin.
It's so good.
This is delicious granola with crunchy clusters and ancient grains and superfoods.
So basically it helps you to make good choices easier.
So when I'm giving my kids this cookie granola, I feel great about it.
From the ancient grains to the superfood seeds,
everything contains no artificial flavors.
Everything's certified gluten-free.
They have plenty of non-GMO, vegan, keto-friendly options.
If you're looking for a plain granola, I'm a big, like, cereal fan right now.
I do raw milk with granola, and their granola is, like, my favorite.
They have a chocolate sea salt.
They have a blueberry hemp.
Last night, I had the original ancient grain granola, and I added a little bit of raw honey to it.
It was delicious.
I love her products.
Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code skinny at checkout.
You get 20% off.
that's purely elizabeth.com, use code skinny. Purely Elizabeth, taste the obsession.
And trust me when I say to get the cookie granola.
A lot of questions about my pregnancy skincare routine and a brand that I trust, and I've trusted
throughout all three of my pregnancies that I always go to is Agent Nautour.
So I use their products throughout my entire day. I used their scalp miss today when I got my
hair washed. I think it helps with hair growth and thinning. And then I use their serum every single day.
This is such a good one. I recommend it to everybody. I always recommend this serum. It's the perfect
consistency. It lays under makeup and it's so glowing and pretty. It's going to give you that glass
skin. I got asked in my solo episode what I was wearing on my skin and that serum was on my face
underneath my concealer. It's a really good one. I feel like it boosted the plumpness of my skin. I
and I love the ingredients in it.
And then I also use Agent Nautors Calm Beauty.
So this is this little packet that I take.
There's tart cherry in it.
It's so delicious.
And everything just supports sleep.
So I'll take it at night.
It's a non-drazi formula.
It calms anxiety and promotes relaxation.
I use a lot of Asian Nitor's products.
Like you really can't go wrong with any of the products.
But those are the top three that are sort of like in my routine.
I love this brand so much.
I'm having Jenna.
the founder on the podcast.
I just think they get it when it comes to powerful research-driven ingredients
and everything feels so clean to me.
Elevate your skincare and wellness routine with Agent Nautour.
Visit Agent Nautor.com and use code Skinny.
You get 20% off site-wide.
Experience clean beauty that actually works, luxury, science, and results.
The first thing when people ask me, should I work with my, I always say no.
I like, that's my first, like, no, and then I go into it and less.
and if you feel it. But I think
what I also don't like is when couples
say like, okay, there's a certain time when
I'm not allowed to talk about this
It doesn't work. It doesn't work. And I'm like, you can't have
these parameters around what's going on in your life
and what's important. Like when the wife or the husband
says, we're at dinner now and we don't talk about that. I'm like,
well, if that's what's important and what they're passionate about.
No, no, I also don't, I'm very much,
this is one thing. I do not believe in
work life and
it doesn't exist. Non-work life. It's all one thing.
And I like it that it's one thing. I like it
that is very integrated for me now.
But I also like I do like telling Hoppy to go sit in the other end of the office
He can have his own work friends
We ask this a lot to people on this show
And you are such a good one to ask this to you what's your morning routine
When you're when you wake up on a regular old Tuesday? It's very very
Disciplined and it's the same every day I wake up I wake up very early
Very early what's very early? I'm always up by 6.15 at the
the latest, but early, normally before that, I go make coffee and then I get on my bicycle
and I ride to the gym because I don't have a car, I told you that.
And so I cycle for an hour and then I get to the gym, I work out, and then I cycle to work.
And that's been my routine for Monday to Friday for a while.
If on the weekend the first thing I do is get up and I feed the goats.
Okay, I was going to say what about the goats and then also when you say you cycle to work,
doesn't work at your house?
No, so we have an office not far away now.
Okay.
And hold, I have to ask you a couple questions.
Are you, like, lighting your tomato candle and then heading to the kitchen to squeeze the
goat's nipple to get the milk for the coffee?
It's utter.
Or not, whatever.
Is it called the utter?
Like, I need to know, like, are we, like, are we, like, in the shower with the
rosemary?
Yeah.
Okay.
You got to tell us, like, the details.
No, no.
The candle's on.
Okay.
The coffee is the coffee I make and sell.
We roast our coffee every Tuesday.
It's great coffee.
I have not tried your coffee.
The coffee is fucking great.
I'm a real coffee stop.
Is it like mold free, all the checking boxes?
Yeah, but you should also drink coffee within like three months at the very maximum.
But you should drink coffee when it's freshly.
I'm getting your coffee tomorrow.
That shit that sits on the shelf for six months.
Like, it's already terrible.
Okay.
You need to have freshly ground coffee, freshly made coffee, rather, roasted coffee.
Our average order value with your company is just going up on.
Is there goat milk in it?
No, we don't use goat milk.
but everything else in the kitchen is stuff that we grow or make.
What do the goats do at your property?
Are they just as friends?
So the goats, the first goat was sort of a gift from a farmer that we helped at.
And I was like, oh my God, what are we going to do?
And then obviously he needed a friend, and then they had two more friends.
And so now their goats have...
They're just pets.
Kind of.
But I do love them very, very much.
They're beautiful.
But actually, they're just like going, I go sit with them.
And on the weekends, I spend time with them more.
there's a real simple joy in having some livestock on your property.
It's grounding.
Yeah.
Sometimes I actually said sometimes like last night it was so cold and I said,
I mean, I could just get a sleeping bag and go down and sleep with the goats.
Yeah.
You can get whatever animals you want if you participate.
Because she does this thing where she says she'll help and then it's literally just me with the animals.
It's not.
I'll help with the goat.
Are you eating something from the garden in the morning or do you not, do you wait until later?
What are the foods that you're reaching for in the morning?
In the morning, I have a cup of coffee and I normally want my bike.
I normally don't eat.
And then I'm out the door.
Lauren has built a whole fantasy of what you're doing in the morning.
If you could see in my brain what I think you're doing, you would be like,
that bit is crazy.
And then I'm running a really hot baths because we have a big bathhouse.
I sit in the bathhouse and I sit in the bath for an hour.
It's my favorite place in the whole property.
And every night I try to take a long bath as well.
And so that's like lots of soap, lots, lots, lots of soap.
The Jasmine and the Damas Grove soap is my favorite one for that.
Go watch a Disney princess wake up.
That's how you think I wake up.
I imagine like the birds, the birds ploughing your pillow and the clock like chiming in the background and like the cup of tea on the tray.
It's really crazy.
Okay.
I like to make heavy breakfast in bed on the weekends.
I do that a lot.
Okay, see, I know there's stuff.
Yeah, yeah, I do.
I like that. I think that my mom and dad used to bring my brother and I a cup of tea in the mornings when we were little kids on the phone. And I think making, even just making a cup of coffee for someone is the greatest act of service to get their day started. I make a cup of coffee every day. You don't even drink it. Hold on though. To get him to do this has been like, he does it now. I do it? And he's every morning he'll be like, do you want a cup of coffee? I want a cup of coffee even if I don't touch the coffee. It's the act of having you make the coffee that I like. I don't. I don't.
care about the coffee. I'll make that the coffee that you don't drink, we're not going to use.
We're going to use the shitty stuff that's going on the counter.
Before you go, you also have to tell us, is there anything that you do at night that's special, ritualistic, routine, any kind of like romantic things that you do?
I mean, I take a hot, and often we take a bath together, but I'll take a hot bath for an hour together.
This bath, you're using Flamingo estate.
Yeah.
No, that's where we started. Remember, the soap was killing my roses, so it's where we started.
Yeah, lots of body wash.
The sage one that I think you have, the Sage and Rossin one,
or the Rose and Jasmine one.
If I were to pick a couple products.
We just did actually just did a new,
oh my God, this amazing marigold soap that we made.
That's incredible.
I think of the one for a limited period.
We did that, which is so good in the bath.
And I'm very spoiled because I can throw, you know,
so much of these big soap bricks into the belt, and it's fine.
That's my favorite.
That soap is remarkable.
We're working on one now.
I've got this idea.
Before I came here today, it was just smelling samples.
When you harvest honey, you put dried lavender in the smoker, and it calms the bees down.
That smell of smoky, dry lavender is incredible.
It doesn't smell like, you know, terrible like Mrs. Myers lavender.
It's like a real deep smoke and a little lavender sweetness and maybe some sage.
And so I really want to do a candle and a soap that smells like that for,
for next, you know, next spring.
So that's my next soap.
We've been working all night.
You've got a lot to do.
If I were to pick my favorite curated products, you guys, the peppermint soap bar, any of his
soaps, there's a texture to it that's unlike anything else.
And the smell is gorgeous.
And you're right.
You can put it in your shower.
It smells the whole shower up.
I use shampoo, your body wash.
I have your tomato candle.
Tomato's the big, everyone's favor.
Yeah.
Hand soap in every single.
one of my rooms, my kids use it, I love your hand soap. I have your book. I think you really can't go
wrong on the site, but those are some of my standout favorites. You know the soap that you speak of,
the base oil is Babasi oil? Do you know what that is? No. It comes from the Amazon. It is in Brazil.
I mean, it grows in other places too, but it's this, rather than using palm oil, which is so bad for
the world, Babassi oil grows in the space between, like the forest and the grassy oil. The grassy oil,
And so in a way, if you think about it wrapping around the Amazon, it's sort of as invisible
electric fence, if you will.
If we can build value in those trees, they won't tear them down.
And so I'm trying to encourage everyone to use Babasu because we can, and the local communities
are harvesting and then they're making the oil.
And so you can imagine if everyone was doing that, then there would be the inability to push
the Amazon down because we would be protecting these trees that are safeguarding it right now.
And so Bavisu's an amazing whale.
Dial soap.
If you're listening, Dial Soap, take note.
The guy that there's a wonderful interview with this guy in the book, Gonzalo, who, oh my God.
And this is a thing, actually.
It's easy to talk about the celebrities in the book.
There's other people in there who are really, who moved me greatly, who are not rich or famous.
But Gonzalo and his wife bought 900 acres in Mexico.
and in the Yucatan Peninsula and they, in the middle of this giant Disney forest,
there's like 20 acres that are flat, naturally cleared.
And he's growing rare or extinct vegetables and produce there
because most of the produce that we eat today,
it's only here because it's got thick skin.
A lot of produce that we used to have has disappeared
because the skin was not thick enough to put in boxes and transport places.
So thin-skinned fruit.
I'm a big, now a big fan of thin-skinned everything, people and vegetables.
But thin-skinned fruit.
What's a thin-skinned?
Is kiwi-skinned?
No, no.
But there's like different types of like tomatoes that are very brittle.
Okay.
And wonderful stuff, like these weird colored, different colors that we've never seen before,
that Gonzalo's growing.
This is amazing stuff.
And he's been on contract, he's been growing some from the guys from Noma, the restaurant that we all know of.
and some other places.
And he's been experimenting with very rare
or near-extinct produce, and he's growing up there.
He's such a nice guy.
And one of the people I've met who impressed me the most.
And again, like, living purpose is this word
that we throw around that's so scary for people
and we get so hung up on it.
Like, am I living my purpose?
But Jane Goodall, him, like everyone in the book,
I think are living their purpose.
But they're just like doing it.
that makes them happy.
And that's great.
If that's,
and that's all it needs to be.
Yeah,
and I think one of the biggest lessons
is all these people
that are living their purpose
have also found massive success
without necessarily, like,
putting that as the first thing.
But their success is different for everyone.
You know,
Gonzalo's success is just bringing back
a rest, B.C. versus...
Sure, I didn't mean financial.
I just mean, like, you know,
we know of these people
and we know about their lives
because they've kind of chosen
these maybe unconventional paths
to attack that purpose,
but they've, like,
in their own life,
now they're happy and successful
But it's hard.
I think there's another conversation with this wonderful guy, David Leon, who's one of my most biggest role models.
David started Pharma's footprint, co-founder of that, and has worked with the Center for Food Safety,
he lives in Hawaii now, to get glyphosate round up out of our food system.
These campaigns so hard for it, they found traces of glyphosate in school drinking fountains in Hawaii.
And then they realized that Monsanto was using the spread.
not telling people. And so he's been, now it's still not illegal, but at least they have to tell people.
And actually on that note, in a couple of weeks, we're going to do an olive oil that's very special
with Laura Dern. And Laura Dern's mother also got sick from glyphosate, from pesticide use.
And so all the proceeds from that are going to the Center for Food Safety, which I'm very excited about.
And a lot of what we haven't even talked about, there's a lot of the stuff that we do, we try as much.
as we can to give those proceeds back to people who are fighting for climate or or that sort of stuff.
And the celebrity honey, which you probably seen and that sort of stuff, all that stuff is all going
towards those people.
The guide to Be Coming Alive, everyone go get it.
It's a beautiful book.
It's in my kitchen.
You guys, it's such a good one to have, like, on display.
And I also like your other book, too.
That's a good one, too.
You can't go wrong.
Richard, thank you for coming on the show.
Where can everyone shop?
I know we have a code.
Oh, great.
Your team gave us a code, you guys.
Go get the soap.
All the soaps.
What do you think your favorite products for them to start with?
Yeah, do the Richard Kitt.
They've never had a flamingo stage product.
Tomato candle, the peppermint soap, which you love, the soap bar.
Olive oil.
The olive oil, the season is so good.
Michael likes it because it makes his balls tingle.
How do you know?
I just know.
I know.
I know him so well.
I want to say something so bad.
Go say it.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
I'm glad your balls are tingling.
This is great.
I hope you feel really alive.
My senses are, all my senses are activated.
Flamingoestate.com.
Skinny 15 for 15% off.
I will be using my own code to get the coffee.
Go shop, you guys.
It is one of my favorite websites to go on.
I'm telling you, I'm such a fan.
Richard, thank you for coming on the show.
Come back anytime.
I feel like we could have gone in a hundred directions.
Yeah, thank you.
So nice.
meet you both. Thank you so much. Thank you, Richard. Thank you, Richard. Yeah.
Appreciate you. I left in the show notes for you.
His book link, I left the Flamingo Estate link.
Go get their shampoo and conditioner and their hand soap. Trust me. Enjoy.
