The Eric Metaxas Show - Pete & Seth Talbott

Episode Date: February 11, 2022

Pete and Seth Talbott, the father/son team behind several very successful businesses, pinpoint areas where business of any size can become more altruistic and profitable.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. To the Eric Metaxis show with your host, Eric Metaxis. Hey, folks, you know what time it is. It's that time of the week where we do an ask metaxus segment. Fortunately, I'm named Metaxus, and I've got plenty of answers for the questions people have written in. I'll tell you, I'm so excited. I want to do a spit take, but I can't. No, no, don't do a spit take. Now that's considered politically incorrect. Okay.

Okay, the first question is complicated. So I'm going to read this one. Somebody writes, the rest of them, you can read me the questions and all ends. But I'm going to read this question. This one says, Dear Eric, this is Blake from Chicago. He says, dear Eric, agonizing dilemma, hate to bother you, bro, because you are very important and very busy and you dwell in the unscailable, staggering heights of highest dignity, honor, and wisdom. I'm going to say true. But it's not a true or false question.

He goes on. He says, but I got this itching dilemma. You might want to try Talcum Powder. Usually that's the first place I'd go. He says, I have an itching dilemma. 7-Eleven has a deal where you get a delicious rotissory hot dog with all the trimmings, chips and a big gulp for $6.99. Or you can have a chili dog cheesy nachos and a supersized slurpy for just $7.59.

Which one should I choose? Which one would Bonhofer have chosen? What about Martin Luther? Augustine? Thanks. And, you know, I just want to say this kind of a, I guess, you know, deep philosophical question, I just want to say kudos to you, Blake, from Chicago. because a lot of people are unwilling to take on tough questions like this. Which one would Bonhofer have chosen?

I think we can say without any question he would have gone for the chili dog and the supersized slurpee. I wrote a big book on Bonhofer. I think I know what I'm talking about. I'm just going to leave it at that. I think Luther and Augustine could have gone either way. But I think Bonhofer was just pro-American and he spent some time here. I think he would have gone for the chili for the chili dog.

So thank you for that answer for that question. And Blake from Chicago, from the bottom of my heart, do not ever write us again. I will have you prosecuted. Okay, Albin, let's get to the other question. Okay, here we go for Ask Metaxis, part two. What is your favorite song? What is my favorite song other than Inagata Davita? Oh, I got to think.

You know, I don't have a favorite song. my my my uh you know often when i'm running in central park or up in harlem or something i'm i'm listening to 70s tunage basically uh and i think i mentioned this on the program before i found a song an elton john song last summer it's called skyline pigeon yeah i couldn't believe that i had never heard it before it was it's like finding a new beatles song that's like one of their best songs ever and you think it's not possible that i've never heard this before evidently it's big in in the southern hemisphere when he does concerts in South America.

It's huge. But you barely hear it. I don't think it's on any of his greatest hits albums, but Skyline Pigeon with lyrics by Bernie Taupin, it's just, you know, it just gets me, man. So for today, I'm going to go with skyline pigeon. I see a cover coming on from Eric.

Do you think humans are born with a moral compass? I think humans are born with a moral axe. and a moral pack of windproof matches. But I don't know what that question. Oh, a moral compass. Do I think are born with a moral compass? Yes, I don't think there's any question that we're born with a moral compass.

Now, the point is, I don't think we know how to use or read the moral compass until we're a little bit older, until we come of age. You know, the Puritans put that at, I don't know, seven or eight or something. So, but yes, we are fundamentally moral beings. We're created an image of God, so the answer would be yes. Yes, and be careful because the heart of a man is incredibly wicked, says the Bible.

But thoughts on Russia versus the Ukraine, what would it mean for the United States? Okay. Tomorrow, John's Mirac will be on this program in hour two, I think. And at the end of the program, I'm going to ask him about this. That's a big one. I'm not going to get into that right now. Okay. Okay. How did you start running?

I put one. foot in front of the other. How did I start running? Well, actually, the, in the 1976 Olympics, when Bruce Jenner was competing as a decathlete, I remember watching Frank Shorter run in the marathon, and I was really inspired by that. I actually write about this in my book Fish Out of Water. And so that fall, or was it the fall? No, it was the

following year, I went out for cross-country. I was 14 years old. I went out for cross-country. So I ran at age 14, because I skipped a grade as a sophomore, at Danbury High School, I ran cross-country. And it was really painful. I didn't enjoy it. But it kind of got me going. And so over the years, I've run on and off. But it wasn't until about maybe 2008. I was going through a really low point. It was before Bonhoeffer. It was just a tough time. And I forced myself to start running again. I'd run over the years, but then I would kind of get sick. I'd chronic fatigue and Lyme and stuff and all kinds of issues.

But I started running in earnest. And the way you start is simple. You walk and run and walk and run and just do it. Make sure you do it every day or every other day at least. But you walk and run. You could do two miles or three miles. Walk, run. You don't have to run the whole thing.

You just walk when you're tired and then run and then what or day. And if you keep at it, Eventually, you are running the whole distance. Anyone can do that. If I could do it, you could do it. I was 700 pounds, and look at me now. No, but in all seriousness, you can't go by what I can do today. If you can walk two miles or a mile, walk it, walk it again, walk it again, do a little running.

Just the key is to, you have to stick to it. You cannot give up. You can't say, I mean, I did it for three weeks and I gave it up for three weeks. You have to keep doing it. Well, what I find interesting is that you were inspired by Bruce Jenner. Now, you haven't been inspired by him to do anything else, have you? I'm not saying I don't wear lipstick at home, but on the air, I am who I am. Do you think the mandates in NYC will end, seeing as they are in other parts of the country?

Look, they have to end. I declare, with my third heaven authority, they will end by the grace of God. people know this is madness and so the question is only when but the answer to this question is yes I do yep one of these days okay here's a question do you need any writers or any help

isn't it obvious that I need a ton of help do we need writers or help well we do we're launching this late night program on the Salem News channel you can go to the Salem News channel right now but we're launching a program we're going to need comedy writers and stuff but we can't afford to hire comedy writers.

So we are going to be raising money because we need all kinds. We're going to need all kinds of help. If anybody wants to just support us, they can go to my give, send, go page because we are ramping up right now. But we don't have the budget to hire other staff, but we will need to get that budget

because we're going to be doing a lot of things. We haven't really announced it on this program, but we're going to be doing a lot of fun stuff. And yeah, we're going to need writers and all kinds of help. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things happening here in 2022. I mean, it's not just another election year. Things are going to happen in November big time, right? But there's a lot of things happening for SalemNow.com. And then there's the Salem News Channel.com.

The Salem News Channel is a big deal. They're ramping it up very slowly. slowly, but we're going to have an hour on there, and it's going to be really a late-night show. It's not going to be a show like this. It's going to be a late-night show, more like Johnny Carson or Letterman or something along those lines. And we're going to need a lot of help. And it's so exciting, I could practically burst. I have to say, I'm so excited.

Hey, before we forget, people often ask us what can we do to help with the program. I do want to say this. Neutremetics and MyStore.com, go there and use the code. Eric, a lot of great stuff. The Bonhofer posters, I warn you, folks, when you get that poster, it's like the Mugsy books, you're going to be like, oh, I didn't realize how this is gorgeous. But you go to mystore.com, Mypillow.com, Neutrametics.com. Tremendix.com. That is one way you can help us on this program.

hugely appreciated. God bless you. We'll be right back. Hey folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son, owners, Pete and Seth Talbot have never made a big deal about, but I think it is a big deal. I really do. They sell the three-week quick start pack for just 1995 to anyone struggling from pain like neck, shoulder, back, hip, or knee pain, 1995, about a dollar a day. But what they haven't broadcasted much is that every time they sell a three-week quick start, they lose money. In fact, they don't even break even until about four to five months after if you keep ordering it. Friends, that's huge. People don't keep

ordering Relief Factor month after month if it doesn't work. So yes, Pete and Seth are literally on a mission to help as many people as possible deal with their pain. They really do put their money where their mouths are. So if you're in pain from exercise or even just getting older, or to the three-week quick start for 1995. Let's see if we can get you at a pain too. Go torelieffactor.com. Relieffactor.com or call 800-500-584-800-584. Relieffactor.com. I use it. It works. Hey there, folks. Have you ever looked for a business podcast? You're into business, but you also like to be entertained. So maybe you're looking for a funny business podcast. Well, obviously some of them try to be funny. They're just not actually funny, which is a problem. But I think we have the answer for you. If you like business news and current events with the side of actual comedy, I think you want to listen to. Okay, Albin, I can't say this with a straight face. I'm going to try. Ready? Okay, here it is. It's called IP. frequently. The hosts are David and Brad, and IP frequently is solid business advice that tends to

lean right, kind of conservatism with 80s music and current events. They're calling it the unicorn of business podcasts. I don't know if that's a good thing. If it's funny, it's probably a good thing. They're also calling it the Holy Grail of Business Podcasts. So subscribe to IP frequently and stay up to date on their weekly stream of episodes wherever you get podcast, go to IP Frequently.com. That's the letter I, the letter Pfrequently.com. Hey, folks, welcome back. Did I warn you that I'm going to do something different during this segment? As you know, I'm always talking about relief factor. I take relief factor. Why do I take it? Well, actually it works. Otherwise, I wouldn't take it. But what's interesting is I got to know

the gentleman behind relief factor. Pete and Seth Talbot, maybe you, You know them. You've seen them on the program. But when you get to know people, you get to know all kinds of stuff about them. For example, I just found out that they're doing other stuff. They don't just do Relief Factor. In fact, I don't even know if they're doing Relief Factor. And I thought, wouldn't it be great to get them in the studio, to lure them into New York City,

to ask them and you get to listen in? So, shh, here they are. Pete and Seth Talbot. Welcome to New York. Welcome to the program. Hey, it's fun to be back. Well, it's fun to get to know people, you know, beyond the initial. Actually, in some cases, it's not fun at all.

But in your case, it is a lot of fun because the more I get to know you, the more I get to know you, the more I like you. And when you were telling me sort of what you are doing now and what you have planned where, I thought, you know what? I think my audience will find it interesting. So let's start there. What are you doing right now? Well, for the last eight years, actually starting about nine years ago, we were co-founders of Relief Factor. And God was good. And business.

For one time, folks. Yes. Just this one time, God was good. God is good. He always has been. Okay, good. And we were able to be blessed with the success of Relief Factor. Right.

This last June, we stepped down from the... The day-to-day management, Seth, of course, was the CEO from day one. I was the director of marketing, and together we got to the point where we had as many as 20,000 people a day coming to our website, for example, to check out. Okay, that's called success. Are you allowed to use that word on this program? No, seriously, people don't realize. I remember when we started with Relief Factor, and I, and I, and, I, you know, I just realized that it really grew and grew and grew and grew until now you've got ads everywhere with friends of mine like Papoon and Phyllis Diller. Actually, no, she's not in there. But Papoon.

Papoon really is it. But you've got Charlie Kirk and Sebastian Gork. Well, Hugh Hughes. A lot of people that I know. And I'm not in the ads, folks. I'm not in the ads. But I want to tell you I use this stuff. But I actually was amazed to see that the company, I guess the term you'd use is it,

exploded. It became very successful because I'm not here to sell relief factor. I'm just here to be honest. It does work. When I don't take it, if I go on vacation, I forget it. I realize, oh yeah, now I know why I take it. It does. Yeah, we rode the lightning for a while, and that was an amazing ride, eight-year journey that we never imagined would kind of turn out the way that it did. But when we stepped down in June, we started focusing on the Talbot group, which my dad, dad's had for 30 plus years. And I've been a part of it for that. Is this a coincidence that you're both named Talbot?

Or is the Talbot group an outgrowth of the name? No, you can always know the Telba group. I started back in the 80s and had some successes there. And with what? With marketing? What do you mean when you say this? Telba group is an advertising and production company. Okay.

And we specialize in developing and implementing strategic marketing. strategic marketing plans for small to mid-sized businesses, including non-profits. And so about two years ago to finish really the story, yes, we have been so proud of Relief Factor. It is an incredible product. It works for the majority of people. Believe me, it really works. But we felt a couple of years ago we just developed a desire to help other businesses

that were struggling. Maybe with just mediocrity, hey, they're doing fine, but they just couldn't figure out how to really grow, to really find success to scale. And this is why I'm so proud of my son because... Not this son, though. This guy? My other sons is a missionary in some difficult parts of the world doing just incredible things. I'm proud of both my sons, believe me. but Seth has a real gift.

We learned a number of years ago that you need to do the science of marketing first. And when you do the science of marketing, we can talk about that. This is why we're so honored that you've invited us on a weekly basis to come and be on your show. Well, I've gotten to know you, and I realize you actually have something to say. Like, you're not just talking. You've got, you have decades of experience. And I kind of thought, I'm only guessing, but there are a lot of people listening. who are involved in some business in one way or the other.

And it would be fun for them to get your perspective because you have applied your theories, and they do work. I mean, what happened to relief factor was not a coincidence. And I know that. Maybe you get to talk about that. But, you know, it's one thing of a product that works, because a lot of people have great products. Yeah. But I think you guys were saying this to me.

Like, that doesn't guarantee that they will be able to market it successfully or get it out there and stuff. So I'm just interested in this, maybe just because I watched too much shark tank. But suddenly I care about this stuff. Yeah, I think the thing that we felt, we started gathering thoughts on things that we wish we would have known before we started. And that was kind of the framing for a lot of my thinking early on was, man, I wish someone would have told me about this or that. And so we actually had companies that had approached us that we had said no to because we were busy day-to-day growing that company. and so a big part of it is we wanted to step out and be able to do this full time. Plus, as you know, we have a whole bunch of other curiosity interest and stuff and growing other businesses.

And so we wanted to be able to bring this kind of value to other companies. And so what we do is that we come in with a company and we start diving in to figure out what's keeping them from growing. What is the margin? What is the operations? where's the strategy. We kind of deconstruct it. The way I describe it as you, a lot of companies have built a Lego structure,

but they didn't do it with a strategic plan. And the truth is, and this isn't anything to be embarrassed about, but a lot of companies start finding success, and it's a combination of hard work, timing, grit, strategy, and luck. But it's a little bit wobbly. And so we have a company, for instance,

that just signed with us that is eight-figure. business doing really well, but needed that deconstruction and needed help with their business model. So we're working with them on their business model. It's not just marketing. They actually came to us because they wanted to go national and do more advertising, but they needed their business model helped. Okay, so for people who don't know what you mean by that, when you say business model, what do you mean? It wasn't profitable enough. It didn't have enough retention with their customers. Is anything ever profitable enough? That's very subjective.

What does that even mean? How much profit would you like to make? Ah, just about 40 grand a year. That's it. Well, nobody's going to say that. No, it's true. You want to maximize profits. Well, it's true. And when you're starting a company, you're just hoping to pay your bills. You don't state it that way, but a lot of times, because trying to survive as hard enough as it is, you're so focused on just survival that you don't realize that without healthy margins, you don't know what they are, and you don't know how important they are, for instance. And so you kind of construct your business a lot of times around a really, lean model so that when some advertising starts to work, just barely once or twice, you think

like, there it is. But it actually doesn't scale. But I have to interpret for people like me to ask you the question. So is it that people say, like let's say I'm charging, you know, whatever, $29 for something? And you're saying that you probably should charge 39 or 49, but they're probably afraid to do that, aren't they? Because they're always terrified. If I charge that, then nobody's going to buy it. That's why you need to do the science of marketing first. You do the testing, the testing. There's a lot of testing.

They analyze. So you don't just throw it out there. You don't just throw a half a million bucks out. Most people do. What they'll do is they'll pick a price, they'll pick a range, and then they do advertising, and they can't track and compare it against a different price point. So they end up getting some sort of validation, some number of customers buy it, and they think, okay, well, that's the most we can charge.

So one of the things that we're doing with this client is we just feeding. figuring out how to test what the price sensitivity is for the consumer. Because this company has made a moderately profitable company, even though they're a decently sized company. It's not that profitable, but it doesn't scale very well. And there's a whole bunch of advertising they can't do because their margin is not good enough. And they haven't figured out retention. They haven't figured out their conversion.

If you can move your conversion by one or two or three percent, that just is a game changer. bottom line is 65% of businesses that start shut down in 10 years. They lose them in 10 years. Half within five. And that means during those five years for the 50% they're struggling. They haven't figured out. We want to help them. And so that's what the Talbot group does.

So you're offering yourselves to businesses. We end up partnering with companies where we come alongside and we act like it's our company, even though it's their company, and we come in and we work with them. We're the partner that you can't buy. Okay. Well, then, okay, so then we're going to do this if it all works out as a weekly feature where you'll share some of this stuff. Thank you for that. If people want to find you now, they can go to talbot group.com.

Talbot group.com. 866 Talbot. T-A-L. With three T-A-L-B-O-T-T-L-T-A-L-B-O-T-T-B-T-B-E. Talbot.com, 866-T-B. All right. Great to see you. Thank you.

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Oh boy. Albin, this is a really crazy full day. It is. We've been speaking to our friends, Pete and Seth Talbot. Now, as everybody knows, they're the folks behind Relief Factor, one of the sponsors of this program. After this segment, we'll have them back to continue the conversation because they are business.

I don't really want to say this in front of them. Right. They're business geniuses. they took relief factor from almost nothing into a, I think it's like a $100 million valuation. Like I can't, you can't quote me on that, but they're business geniuses, and they are helping other people with their businesses.

And I just thought it's going to be interesting to hear more from them as the weeks go by. But we'll do another segment with them when we come back. Yeah, and honor-bound coffee too. Great coffee. Oh, my goodness. Right. They're behind honor-bound coffee,

which I drink every morning. and but this kind of leads me to say a larger, a larger thing here. And again, I don't want to say this in front of them, but I believe part of what's happening in America today is as we've seen where we stand, right, the people that we used to trust, whether it's the media to some extent, whether it's the conservative media, whether it's the doctors, whether it's Dr. Francis Collins, whatever. There are a lot of people that I think we're realizing, well, I don't trust them anymore.

I don't trust that my vote is being counted. You know, it's a time that's been very difficult. But I want to say this, because I think this is very important, we're not led to despair. We are all supposed to do what we can. And one of the things that we can do is make sure we choose those people, those voices, those organizations, those companies, that we do trust, that we choose them. So when you have somebody like the crowdfunding source, Go Fund Me, when they behave woke, when they behave anti-freedom,

when they take a stand against the Canadian truckers, I want to say, folks, ladies and gentlemen, if you do not take a stand against Go Send Me, is that what they called? Yeah. Why do I? Go fund me. Go fund me. Right. If you don't take a stand against go fund me, you are part of the problem. You should not give to anything that is funded by go fund me.

Give, send, go is an alternative. We are on give, send go. Why? Because we knew that if we wanted to raise funds for Metaxus media, for the different projects, we're doing, whatever. and you go to a place like GoFund me. They might just say, you know, we don't like you. The money that your people gave, it's gone. We may not even give it back. We're going to do what we want.

I mean, it's really sick. So give, send, go. I want to put them on your radar. They are somebody that you want to do business with. I say the same thing about there are a lot of corporate entities in America. We need to keep our eyes on this. And as the weeks and months go ahead, we're going to try to have sponsors on this program that we believe are the kind of people you want to get behind.

We want to get behind them. We believe in their values and what they're doing. You know, kind of dovetailing off of all that. I'm holding in my hand an official bulletin from the U.S. government that says summary of the terrorism threat to the United States. This came out on February 7th, and it lists acts of citizens that are not allowed anymore. You're not allowed to question the integrity of the 2020 election. You're not allowed to question whether COVID facts coming out from the government are true or false. And if you do, you're a problem. As Bugs Bunny once said, as you know, this means war. And I don't mean war with guns.

Don't get scared. Don't get scared. It's not guns. Get really, really scared. It's people on their knees praying against this despicable, justice, an abrogation of freedom for which patriots have died. When I read this, I said to myself, the people behind this, I don't know if they know how wicked they are, if they know how ignorant they are. It's hard to understand. We know Joe Biden doesn't know anything, but I got to tell you,

this is as un-American as it gets. Now, if Americans don't stand against this and do everything they can to fight this, then we have ceased to be America. I wrote about it in my book, if you can keep it. If we the people don't keep the republic, if we don't behave freely and take action against this kind of thing and speak out against it, we cease to be free. Is there any more un-American statement than this one when they say key factors that are contributing to this heightened alert? It says that proliferation of false and misleading narratives which so discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions. We're supposed to question the government when the government gets out of line. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just telling you, first of all,

feel free to stick with us because we're never going to shut up about this. If anybody dares to suggest that I shouldn't speak about something, I will scream about it. People have died. People have suffered and died so that we could be free in America. And the very idea that anyone would try to shut us up is despicable, it's dishonorable, it is evil, and we're going to speak against it. I cannot tell you how sickened I am to think that people in our so-called government would dare to say things like this. I really do believe that God's hand continues to be on this nation. I think a lot of the people who have been pushing the false narrative, that we are pushing a false narrative, that these people will be held to account. And if I were any of those people, I would repent,

You're going to face God. God doesn't shade the truth. Speak the truth. Be genuinely free. Don't do something for self-interest. Do it because it's the right thing to do. Okay, when we come back, we're going to talk to the Talbot some more. And then at the end of the hour, we've got some kooky stuff to share. Don't go away. Hey, folks, if you listen to this program, of course, you've heard me talk at infinitum about my pillow. and my friend Mike Lindell. Well, Mike has just announced that you will receive one of his books, and the book is next level insane. It is called What Are the Odds from Crack Addict to CEO? It's his story. You will receive it absolutely free with any purchase using the promo code, Eric. Did you hear that? It would be a great time, by the way, to buy his warm and wonderful my slippers.

for a limited time. He's offering 50% off my slippers. We all wear them in my extended family, my slippers, check it out. 50% off. Go to mypillar.com, click on the radio listener's square and use promo code Eric. You'll also get deep discounts on all my pillow products, including some overstock products, such as individual towels, blankets, comforters, and much more. Or call 800, 978, 3097.

That's 800, 978-3057. To use the promo code, Eric. Make like a Mr. Milton. You'll get shut out. Hey there, folks. Do you remember a week ago that I said that every week I would have a segment with my friends Pete and Seth Talbot? Because I have no recollection of that. But they're sitting here and they claim that I said that.

So I thought, all right, I trust them. They're friends. We did, I think we said that because you guys have stepped away officially from Relief Factor and you are now focusing on helping other businesses. So now you're officially called the Talbot Group. Tellbut Group. Right? We've actually had the Talbot Group. I started the Talbot Group back in the 80s.

I'm not going to take your word for it. I need to see some paperwork. I got to see. Come on. Well, he's old enough that I think that you could trust and clarify. I trust but verify. There's a few 30-year windows contained in this body here. And just the Talbot Group is an advertising and production company.

And we specialize in developing and implementing strategic marketing programs for companies. And that's our new 100% focus because, as we talked about last time, we've stepped down from Relief Factor. We love Relief Factor. It's an amazing product. Go to Relieffactor.com if you're in pain, folks, and I'm serious. But this is, we felt we wanted to help other businesses, other people that have their own businesses, small, mid-sized businesses, that just aren't cutting it. Maybe they're failing or maybe even mediocre. Before we talk about other businesses, I know, because I know you, that you have also not just, you know, ran relief factor into the stratosphere, but you also have a company, because I drink the coffee every morning, I'm addicted to it, and I resent you.

Folgers? No. No. Folgers, crystals. Speaking of not cutting it. I decided to switch. I think it was 1978 that I made that decision. But honor bound coffee, which we've advertised on this program, that is a company that you,

I mean, you're also in the coffee business. So you want to talk about that? Yeah, we started about three years ago, and we give 100% of the profit to military families. You know, it's interesting. I went to Seth for years, two, three years, saying, we need to start a coffee company. Why? We can make a, well, we drink a lot of coffee. We love coffee.

Coffee's great. From a health perspective, three to five cups a day, we won't get into it. It's good for you, unless you damage it with too much cream and sugar, of course. Anyway, but it's good for you. The bottom line, though, is I figured we could make a lot of money, and I'm not embarrassed saying that. We believe in free enterprise and capitalism. So here's the deal. He kept saying, well, okay, maybe.

And then one day I walk into his office, and we start talking about. about coffee and he said, Dad, I got an idea. What do you think? I think we ought to start a coffee company and I go, okay. And he says, let's give 100% of the profits to support military families.

They're hurting. They need help and we can help them. We'll give away 100% of the profits. It was one of those moments that I will never forget because it was this instant connection and for me, I just knew it was kind of like a God thing. Yes.

And so that happened, what, about two and a half years ago? And about three years ago. Three years. Well, most people would want to know why 100%, why not 50%. I mean, if you're starting a business. In for a penny and for a pound? No. Okay, that's a cliche, but I'll go.

No, that doesn't work. There's a lot that we take for granted in this country. And it was, was very, very important to us to figure out what we could do. Our original thought was maybe start a business that would employ veterans. In fact, that was, I was trying to figure out how to do something along those lines. The trick was that I was so focused on trying to have companies that were lean and efficient that I tended to find companies that don't need a ton of employees.

So the idea of employing just a few veterans didn't make a ton of sense, frankly. It was like, okay, well, if I have a couple people that are doing it. film in or whatever. It didn't seem like it would have the same sort of impact. So I was trying to figure out how to merge the idea of a scalable business that had good margin, but what do you do? And the thing in parallel is that we had a local coffee maker in the Seattle area that was making the best coffee I had ever had. And so we were trying to figure out maybe we do something with them, and this is what we came up with. And so we actually partnered with them to provide this coffee. I don't have like a roaster in my backyard. We actually partners with a

company that does this. There's a lot of roasteries. And there is. So we're using a very, very good one. People are not, the masses, masses are not accustomed to a premium coffee, a coffee that is grown in the shade, for example, that's grown in high altitude. Organic. For example, that's organic. They don't understand. And so they try honor-bound coffee. And for people who maybe can only handle a few cups a day, because they're turns a little less, those kind of things. You don't have that problem with a true premium coffee. And so we just decided, hey, we offer 50% off the first order so you can just try it for really cheap for premium coffee.

Most people don't know that the coffee can taste that good. One of the consistent things we hear from people is. And I hate you because you spoiled me. It does genuinely ruin you for other coffee. But it's kind of true. And look, it's not cheap, it's premium coffee. But when you drink coffee every day, you know. Among premium coffees, we're very competitive.

We decided, we always want to be competitive, but among premium coffees. And you give 100% to military families. Now, what kind of a tip is that for somebody trying to start a business? It's like you're telling them, no profit for you. This isn't a template for how to start a new business. a passion project for us for sure. And we'll eventually be able to grow. It's not an enormous business. We've been focusing so much in relief action. Frankly, we've kind of neglected focusing on it. But this is a big priority to us because we want to be able to move those dollars

into really, really, really good nonprofit agencies that work with military families. Right now, the main one we work with has been Semper Five Fund with Hugh Hewitt. Quite frankly, if we can help other businesses do better, succeed, we want to encourage them to be generous, to pay it forward, whatever you want to call. Well, that's, I was going to say, if there's a principle, because every time we do one of these Talbot group segments, you know, you want there to be a principal. But the principle that I get out of this is that you really have a passion to do good,

and you want to use business to do good. A lot of people don't think of it that way. That's right. Yeah, that's right. kind of, it's kind of key. We've created a two-minute video on our website, talbot group.com, that people can go to to get sort of a feel for what we do. Okay.

And if they want to talk to us, they can make an appointment. I'd be happy to talk to them or they can call us to free. We're going to leave it there. Talbot group.com. You're fun to talk to. Let's keep going. Oh, hello. Yeah.

All right, we're at the end of the hour. I want to remind everybody, ladies and gentlemen, if you're not signed up for the newsletter, we can't help you. Do you understand? We're trying to help you. You go to ericmataxis.com, sign up for the newsletter in your email box. Whenever we have an exciting interview or anything to share, we send it out that way. You can just delete it. You don't have to read it.

But it's there for you. If you don't do that, you're missing some really valuable stuff. We have a number of friends that are. writing brilliant essays. Sometimes it's Albin Seder himself writing a brilliant essay. Every week we know that our friend John Zmirich is writing at stream.org. Our friend Larry Taunton, Larry Aleks Taunton.com. And my oldest friend of all, Keith Junta, he's writing at winepatch.org. His stuff is spectacular. And he's so humble, he's going to like, are you sure? Are you sure?

It's like, hey, Keith, shut up. I couldn't be more sure. Your stuff is spectacular. Stop it. Actually, it is. It's amazing. He's so humble. He's like, well, I don't know.

Let me tell you, whinepatch.org. We need to get Keith on the program to talk here. He was on before, but we have to get them back. Winepatch.org. You've got to go over in the upper left-hand side and click there. But I want, we want in these emails that we sent out at ericotaxis.com, just to share with you this information so that you can share it. We're trying to get the word out. And as we know, there are fewer and fewer places that we can trust, that I trust, that are getting the word out.

We have, listen, the Wall Street Journal published a grotesque editorial the other day, praising Mike Pence's preposterous speech. Now, I always liked Mike Pence, but, But what he did on January 6th, it's debatable, but here's what's not debatable, what he said the other day in a speech. He implied that Donald Trump said that Pence had the power single-handedly to overturn the American election, the will of the American people. Trump never said any such thing. It is offensive that Pence pushed that narrative forward. It is totally offensive and wrong, and he should apologize. He should.

If he wants any political career, he needs to apologize. for that. But then the Wall Street Journal, which, you know, I used to trust the editorial page, the Wall Street Journal. They publish a thing praising Mike Pence's speech for standing up for constitutionality. And you think, are you crazy? Like, you're implying that everybody that voted for Trump or Trump himself in wanting things to be sent back to the states for 10 days, that that was unconstitutional and so on and so. They speak with the authority of the Oh, boy. So I have to tell you, we're living in weird times.

So I just want to encourage you, you know, we know, of course, we've been canceled from YouTube, so it's harder to find us. So I want to encourage you again, go to ericmetaxis.com, please. And we're sharing a lot of stuff with you there that you can't find other places. Yeah, and you know what, I've got to say, before we wrap up, it's always been an honor to sit next year, Eric, here at the desk. I feel like I'm the seals to your croft. Wait a minute.

Yeah. The seals to my craft? the diamond to your silk. You know something. You see the tears in my eyes. They're not there yet, but if you look long enough, someday, you'll see tears in my eyes. I'm the medicine show to your doctor hook. Actually,

now that's funny. Okay. The medicine, nobody's getting these references. I love it. But the seals to my craft, that almost sounds obscene. Summer breeze makes you feel fine. Going through the plant chasmine of my mind.

Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Yeah, man, that's so awesome. Yeah. Well, folks, in our one today, we had Phil Robertson on the program. You don't want to miss that one. Back it up. And we've got Ken Fish coming up. Oh, yeah.

We've got a lot of crazy stuff coming up. Brandon Strzok and next week. Brandon Struck. But please, I will say it again, please go to Eric Mataxis.com. Sign up all your friends for the newsletter because there's no other way for us to get this information to you. Thank you very much. Oh,