The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Why You Don't Own Anything Online, Censorship, Cryptocurrency, Web3, & The Future Of The Internet Ft. Justin Rezvani

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

#500: On today's episode we are joined by Justin Rezvani. Justin is a first generation American entrepreneur, triathlete, explorer, and founder of Zion, an open global community platform that facilita...testransparent and directflow of content and payments between creators and their audiences. Justin joins the show to discuss crypto, web3, future technology, and how we can actually own our online personas.  To connect with Justin Rezvani click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. This episode is brought to you by CLEARSTEM CLEARSTEM has made a clean, clinical skincare line that is equally effective against acne AND aging. Go to https://clearstemskincare.com/ and use code SKINNY2 for 20% off your first purchase. This episode is brought to you by Once Upon a Farm Once Upon a Farm is the leading baby food and kids snacks brand offering organic, cold-pressed fruit and veggie pouches, dairy free smoothies, overnight oats, plant rich meals and more. Go to onceuponafarmorganics.com and use code SKINNY at checkout to receive 35% off your first subscription order. and use code SKINNY at checkout to receive 35% off your first subscription order. This episode is brought to you by NextEvo NextEvo’s Sleep CBD solutions help you get more refreshing sleep, naturally. Get a better night’s rest with Sleep CBD solutions from NextEvo Naturals. Use code SKINNY at NextEvo.com up to 25% off subscription orders of $50 or more. This episode is brought to you by Simisilan When your family needs relief from Pink Eye or an Earache, choose Similasan. Made with natural active ingredients, not harsh chemicals, so you can Feel Good about Feeling Better™. Go to SimilasanUSA.com/win and mention The Skinny Confidential in your entry to enter a sweepstakes $500 Visa Gift Card and a Similasan “School Essentials” prize pack. This episode is brought to you by Nutrafol- Shed the Silence Naturally over half of women* will experience hair thinning in their lifetime. Join the conversation at shedthesilence.com/skinny Produced by Dear Media

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Before we get into this episode, I want to give a little shout out to Shed the Silence, okay? So just to give you some background, I started noticing that my hair was shedding postpartum with Zaza. I think that I was completely unprepared for postpartum, the whole experience. I thought, and maybe this was ignorant of me, that you just had the baby and you felt better two weeks after, and that is not what happened to me. I had the gnarliest postpartum experience. I felt depressed, anxious, and when it came to my hair, I didn't notice it falling out. I just noticed that it was shedding.
Starting point is 00:00:46 And I went on this journey to figure out how to get my hair thicker and longer and stronger and to figure out a way for it not to shed. And after talking to so many beauty experts and having access to these incredible guests that come on the show, I sort of put together my own plan for combating shedding. And I've talked about this a lot on the show, but I wanted to go a little bit deeper into it. So the first thing that I did was I started doing scalp massage. You can buy one online for like $10. It's like a scalp massager. Mine's pink. It's super cute. And basically every time I wash my hair or even when I go get a blowout, I'll have them either do scalp massage
Starting point is 00:01:32 or use my scalp massager to stimulate my scalp. And that has been a game changer. I also do microneedling on my hairline. That was a tip from my friend Ingrid, and I just noticed that it makes my hair grow so much thicker on the hairline specifically. Michael also does it, and if you've ever looked at his forehead, you can tell that he has a very thick, healthy hairline. And then sometimes I would use a scalp serum. And lastly, I figured out my supplementation. With Zaza, I was not serious about vitamins or minerals or supplementing. I just would wait a couple of days or I would forget. I wouldn't be militant about having my supplements. One of those supplements that I started taking that made such a big
Starting point is 00:02:16 difference, and we've talked about this, is Nutrafol. And I implemented it later on in my postpartum journey with Zaza and noticed a big difference. And we've talked about this. But anyway, a lot of you guys have reached out over DMs and you've told me about your hair journey. And it seems like there's like a common denominator when it comes to hair. There's so many people who experience not only hair shedding like me, but hair thinning. And that's been interesting to like interact with you guys over DM and hear about your experience. and that's been interesting to like interact with you guys over dm and hear about your experience
Starting point is 00:02:45 and so i did more digging on the subject and i found that naturally over half of women experience hair thinning in their lifetime which is so wild that it's not talked about more it's almost like a taboo and a lot of women and people don't know that a lot of people are suffering so they suffer in silence because it is a taboo thing. So Nutraful came to me and they told me that they want to open a larger conversation through real women who are sharing their stories about how their hair struggles have impacted them. And for some reason, we don't want to talk about it. And the good thing about this is, and what I've realized through this whole experience with my own hair shedding
Starting point is 00:03:23 and talking directly to Nutraful and talking to so many women is that you can change your hair. You don't have to be like, oh, this is my hair. It just falls out. Or, oh, this is my hair. It's thin. Or, oh, this is my hair. It's shedding everywhere all over my silk pillowcase. You can actually change the thickness and the length of your hair.
Starting point is 00:03:40 And I know this because I've done it myself. This like concoction recipe, whatever you call it, of these things put together has changed my entire hair experience, which is why I cannot shut up about it. So much so that I will not go to LA for three months and then I'll go to LA and I'll get my hair done by a stylist. And he literally said to me, Lauren, what are you doing? Your hair feels like a completely different head of hair. Like he couldn't believe how different my hair was. So that's why I want people to hear this from me.
Starting point is 00:04:11 If you're in a situation where your hair is thinning or it's falling out, you can change it. Nutraful is looking to support women through their own hair story. And they wanted to create a space to connect and share and bond with other people. So basically they started this conversation and they want to invite all of our audience to share the impact that you guys are going through if you're experiencing hair thinning, shedding, or poor hair quality. And their goal is to have a more personal conversation. So they've invited you guys to share your story, and you can share your personal stories, anything about your hair. You can be personal, vulnerable, and you can just talk about your hair struggle. Honestly, it has been a hush-hush
Starting point is 00:04:57 conversation. My friends will ask me over happy hour. No one really talks about it online that I've seen. And so it's awesome that a brand like Nutrafol wants to come out and talk about it. So if you're interested and you want to talk about it, then let's talk about it. Your hair story could help another woman who's going through this. Join the conversation at shedthesilence.com slash skinny. That's shedthesilence.com slash skinny. And with that, I hope this conversation will help you or someone you know feel more comfortable about talking about this subject. All right, now let's get into the show. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Starting point is 00:05:37 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. I'm in my lowest low. I'm having brain surgery. I'm going through all this stuff. But what I end up doing is within two years, writing a working with tony robbins building a company that's valued at 53 million dollars raised seven and a half million dollars building the best social network on bitcoin i turned that around in less than 18 months anybody can do anything it's not hard to do these things it's just that you have to have your mindset there and you can
Starting point is 00:06:17 execute but i could have been woe is me but i didn't it It drove me. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. That clip was from our guest of the show today, Justin Rezvani. And first of all, I got to acknowledge episode 500. I can't believe we've done 500 of these things. That is a lot of fucking podcasts, let me tell you. That's a lot of hours of sitting in a chair doing this kind of thing, interviewing people, and we're just getting warmed up. So who is Justin Rezvani? Justin Rezvani is a first-generation American entrepreneur, triathlete, explorer, and 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30. He is also the founder of Zion, which is an open global community platform that facilitates transparent and direct flow of content and payments between creators, which we're definitely
Starting point is 00:07:04 going to get into. And on this episode, we talk all about crypto, Web3. We haven't really touched on crypto and Web3 on this show, largely because we don't have the greatest understanding. And so bringing someone like Justin on was really interesting because we got to talk all things crypto. And I know there's a bunch of you that are really interested on the subject, how to invest, what it means, what the tech can do. It's really interesting stuff. We also talk about censorship online, what you actually own online and how you can own more. We definitely get into that. This conversation kind of goes all over the place. It's definitely different for us. It's interesting. And we really had a good time with Justin. With that, Justin, welcome to episode 500
Starting point is 00:07:38 of the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. How does one go about getting voice notes from Tony Robbins in the morning? How does that even transpire? He's an investor in my company and I ask him questions and I'm just very blessed that he gets to answer them. That's how it happens. We just happen to have each other's phone number and I ask him questions and he responds and he gives me some insight. So it's a blessing. I am so blessed to have him just in my little corner, I guess. What's the best piece of advice he's given you? You know, I have to ask that. Oh, I was going through some really challenges in April of this year and he gave me, there's like a three and a half minute story around if you go too fast, you might forget the things that you're building along the way. And you might forget the things that you're building along the
Starting point is 00:08:25 way. And you might forget some people along the way. And he was giving me this analogy story. And that was probably one of the most insightful stories that have stuck with me. Because there's something when he's directly talking to you and the power of that. And that's probably the most impactful story that he shared with me directly. And it was great. One thing I like about him and that he always does is he gives stories to help you create context around it. Analogies are amazing to drive the human experience. It's how we actually relate to things. And analogies are actually one of the languages I'm trying to use a lot more. But considering I do something very complex and weird, analogies always drive the
Starting point is 00:09:01 human experience kind of closer. So I completely agree. I want to go back to your childhood. Tell us the first moment that you knew that you were an entrepreneur. 13 years old. So I was living in a neighborhood. My parents moved there in the 1980s and the sides of the street, this is like pre Google maps and all that, that the numbers and letters on the side of these homes in the street were getting faded over time. So I wrote this letter and I would put it in people's mailboxes and say, hey, I can paint your curbs again. So in case emergency services are coming, they know which house to go to right away. And so one summer when I was 13, I painted my entire neighborhoods curbs on the sides. And that was the first moment where I understood that I needed to work for myself and nothing has changed since that
Starting point is 00:09:45 moment. So I guess I've been doing this for over 20 years, right? Really smart too, how you presented the problem that the emergency is, I couldn't see that was really smart. And I totally know what you're talking about. When I was little, I used to get so frustrated that the curb, cause I had the same thing on my curb. It was like painted with my address and it would fade. It was so annoying. Of course. And I remember being like that at five years old and being like, why is that faded? And I did it for two summers in a row because it only lasts one summer, right? We tried to make it last, but we built the reoccurring revenue business pretty quickly, which was nice. You know, it's interesting because we talk about entrepreneurship a lot
Starting point is 00:10:19 on this show and I think more and more people are talking about it, but I like people who do it in a way where it's very simple, right? It's like entrepreneurship really, if you drum it down, is taking a problem that most likely exists for yourself and then figuring out a better solve for it, right? And then realizing that if you do that for yourself, other people probably have that same problem and you can actually make money. I think it's that simple. I think people overthink the concept. Absolutely. And I've only done this. I don't know. I worked, I had one job in my career. I'm very unemployable. That's what I've realized over my time. I could never really work for someone and sovereignty is a big value of mine. So
Starting point is 00:10:54 I've only known how to do this. I don't know how to do it in any other way. It's just, I do it on my own and I figure things out. And that's been my career for over 20 years. So what was the moment that you started a company or did something where you can look back on and be like, that started off my journey in business? Well, I think the 13 thing was the beginning, but let's go a year after I graduated from Cal Poly, Instagram gets bought by Facebook for a billion dollars. So it's 2012. And I was lucky to live in LA and I grew up in LA and I had friends that ended up becoming actors. And this was right when Instagram had started picking up. Because remember when Instagram got bought for a billion dollars, there was still only like 20 to 50 million users. It still just
Starting point is 00:11:32 started. And I had friends that were on TV shows, Keegan Allen specifically, and he was on Pretty Little Liars. And he was like, hey, I was like, do you do ads with companies? And he's like, no, it's a pain in the ass because I have to contract with my agent, then I have to do this. And I was like, is there an app that someone can ping you a thing from a brand to say to do this post, and then you get paid instantly and post it on Instagram? This is circa 2013. Nothing had existed. So in 2013, I built the first app on the App Store that connected a brand to an influencer
Starting point is 00:12:01 inside of a system and systematize what is now influencer marketing at scale. And so that was my first company, the Amplify. And because we were so early, we were doing all the ads for movie studios for almost two years. This is pre-ads on Instagram. Before they knew how to do it. No, before there were any ads on Instagram, because they didn't come till 2015. So for two years, we kind of had this like block on the market that said, if you wanted to work with influencers at scale, you could come to us. And then I sold the business in 2016.
Starting point is 00:12:28 So I was like very early in this whole like kind of creator space. But that was basically the stake in the ground that said like, I've had an exit when I was 26. So that gives you context of how early I was when I started this whole thing. Okay. You got to be honest about this question I'm about to ask you. So a lot of Michael's friends or peers or people that we know have sold companies
Starting point is 00:12:49 at a young age. And I've talked to a lot of them and there's two things that happen. It makes them press on the gas harder after they sell the company or it makes them think that everything they're going to touch turns to be successful, which is not true.
Starting point is 00:13:04 So what happened to you? So I stayed on as CEO for two more years. And then actually, a year after I left, I got really sick. I ended up in health as part of this podcast sometimes. So almost three years ago now, I ended up having a seizure. They found a tumor in my right temporal lobe. And then six weeks later, I had brain surgery at the beginning of 2020. So I did take a year off to just reflect on my stuff. I ended up losing 70 pounds and did an Ironman. So I have like a bit of a health journey that we could kind
Starting point is 00:13:33 of go down in terms of a path. To answer your question directly, I do have fear that the next thing won't be perfect. And that's the thing I'm dealing with right now. But the thing is, I have a lot more data. I have a lot more insight. It's been almost seven years since I sold my first business, which means it's been 10 years since I started my first one. So I have a lot more insight and information. But I constantly think that I'm going to fuck this thing up. I think that's important to think about because I feel the same way even when I'm doing a launch.
Starting point is 00:14:00 I think that where you can get in trouble is when you get comfortable with where you are instead of constantly sort of disrupting yourself. Or when you think the next one's going to be the same as the first one and that you could just kind of coast, right? Like you see, I relate it to this. I have a lot of friends that'll exit a business. I'm like, okay, now I'm going to start a restaurant or I'm going to start a bar. I'm going to like go into this kind of, and they go outside of their core expertise, or it sounds like what you're doing here now really kind of touches into what you do well already. But you know what I mean? Like they go outside because they think, well, I did it in
Starting point is 00:14:29 this space. I can jump to every other space and they don't have any of the experience to do it. Next thing you know, it's like, that's a failing restaurant. That's a failing investment. That's a fail because they don't, they just think like I touch this thing. I have the Midas touch. I can apply that to anything now. Sometimes investors think that they're great investors, right? Right. Like, like they become, you're like, oh, I had an exit, so I'm a great investor. So now I'm going to invest in all these companies. But the fact is you're actually not. I don't think personally I'm a great investor. It took me four years of making bad investments to finally be like, listen, I'm going to just trust a money manager with my money and just keep executing and building in the
Starting point is 00:15:02 way I'm building. Because that side of it of like, oh, I'm going to invest this capital and do well, you're probably much better at your core competency of what made you money in the first place than deploying capital. Because there's a big difference. There's a massive difference. And I think that's the distinction that you're talking about. Yeah. I mean, we could probably, this is a whole offline, we could rant on that kind of stuff.
Starting point is 00:15:20 We could go into this for a while. Yeah. There was a period. But I think now when I think about investing and I think about the core competency, I look at everything we're doing here in this world, at least Lauren and I engage. And I'm like, okay, if we could write a check and then be helpful to that business in some kind of way, knowing that we're not going to step in and operate it, then maybe. But I'm not going into things anymore that I don't understand and that I can't help at
Starting point is 00:15:41 all because I've got my ass kicked too many times. And the truth is you'll make way more money doing this than anything else because you understand it, you get it. And so I always think of like time and cost of capital, like, cool, I can deploy all these checks, but what's my best return ultimately? And I didn't, it took me four to five years to figure that out. But I'm also of like, I didn't have money growing up. Like I was like, I I've had over my entire lifetime, I've lived a lot longer, not having money than having money. So I'm learning this whole process of like, well, what do you do? How do you deploy it? And how does it build out a strategy in that? So when you're riding high like that and you've exited a company and then your health takes a
Starting point is 00:16:15 toll as hard as it did, what does that do to your psyche? It was a very challenging experience. I mean, but let's like line it up, right? So 2016, I sell the business. I weigh 240 pounds. So I was working four years straight. I was not eating correctly. I was drinking. I was going out all the time. And then I, I, I sell the company. Is this 240 pounds of like muscle? Cause you're fat. I was fat. I was, I was a fatty. I mean, you could, there's a photo on Instagram that I did a side-by-side of the day. I did my full distance Ironman. And then like a couple years before that, like 500 days before that, I was a big boy. I mean, it wasn't like muscle. It wasn't, it wasn't. So I ended up going down this health path of like, look, I sold the business.
Starting point is 00:16:53 Now I got to get control of my health. I got to lose some weight. And I ended up doing that. And I get to the peak of this like physical shape, like to do a full distance Ironman is no joke. Oh no. You have to be able to run, bike. And it's not like, it's not short. It's biking almost two and a half. It's swimming two and a half miles, biking 112 miles, and then running a marathon all in the same day. So I'm really skinny doing this.
Starting point is 00:17:13 And then two months later, I'm sitting in a dentist chair and I pass out and I have a seizure. And this is out of nowhere. This is not, I had just climbed Haleakala 24 hours before, which is the fastest road to 2000 feet on a bike in four hours. So I'm in the peak physical shape and I have this seizure. And then I get rushed to the ICU and they're like, sir, your brain is bleeding and we don't know what to do. So we need to move you to another hospital. So imagine that moment, like you're sitting there and the doctors and this nurse and I, this nurse, I mean, I want to find her at some point and give her a hug.
Starting point is 00:17:46 She just holds me. I mean, I was, there's no one around me at this time. She's like, you're going to be okay. And we're here for you. And they moved me to another hospital, Ronald Reagan ICU from Santa Monica ICU. And I'm there for three days. And you're, and prior to this, you're feeling like you're in the best shape of your life. I am in the best shape of my life.
Starting point is 00:18:02 Right. And this is where like, you have this conflict in yourself where you're're eight, 9% body fat. You had just done an Ironman. I had placed fourth overall in my age group at the Malibu triathlon. So I'm now at a peak phase, even in racing, even in triathlon racing. And then this happens and I'm like, holy shit. I don't know anything about my life. Doctor comes in the third day. He's like, okay. They did an angiogram to figure out it was an AVN. It was a cavernoma, cavernous malformation in my right temporal lobe, which is a series of blood vessels that had exploded in my brain and created this bleed.
Starting point is 00:18:33 What caught, do they know what causes this? It's natural. Wow. People have it, but mostly they never bleed. A lot of people have these, they don't even know it. And they never bleed in the way they did to cause a seizure. And they're like, look, we have to take this out in four to five weeks, or you'll have seizures for the rest of your life, or you'll have a hemorrhagic stroke. So January 8th, 2020,
Starting point is 00:18:54 like pre-COVID, my COVID pre-COVID was having brain surgery. And sitting there, I'm like 31, and I'm like, holy shit, I got to do this. And that was like a real conflict in myself, because I just sold this business. And I did, I will say this, I was to do this. And that was like a real conflict in myself because I just sold this business. And I did, I will say this, I was getting a little lazy. I was like 30, I was riding high at all this money. I could do everything I want. I was like, man, like you got to do more. Like I have these skills. I have a particular set of skills to be able to build businesses. And what I'm going to stop at 30. So six months. I thought you were going to go into the Liam Neeson thing there for a second. I might've stolen that line from that movie, but six months later I started Zion.
Starting point is 00:19:29 So like six months after brain surgery, I started this company. So definitely was a kickstart, but what happened during that process was amazing for myself. I think people who are type A push, push, push, push, push perfectionist got to be better. They don't really express sometimes how much pressure there is to always do more yeah i feel it all the time i feel like i always should be doing more it's never enough how did you learn how to turn that off when you went through everything you went through it it wasn't turned off i don't think it's ever been turned off even when you went through everything with your brain even when i went through everything with your brain. Even when I went through everything with my brain, I got out of the hospital in under 48 hours.
Starting point is 00:20:08 People stay for a week. I was running within three weeks with my mom a mile on the beach. Mind you, this is like when you do a craniotomy. I mean, I was on another podcast a couple months ago and they showed the surgery in my brain. When they open it up, because it wasn't just that. They cut the hole, they had to retract the brain by two inches because the cavernoma was behind my right eye inside of the brain, on the inside. People chill for two months. I was running within three weeks.
Starting point is 00:20:34 I started this company in six months. I started remodeling a house within two months. I didn't want it to slow me down because I didn't want it to get into that mindset like, woe is me and oh shit, I got this fucking thing in my brain and I, I'm not as whatever as before. It was just like, keep fucking going. So looking back, do you feel like you handled it in the way that you wanted to handle it? A hundred percent. Yeah. That's interesting. You know, you know who you kind of remind me of David Goggins, like with that, like, it's like, keep going, like put your head down, do the work. You have to, because I could have been complacent. I could have been like, whoa, is me.
Starting point is 00:21:07 I had a brain. My brain started bleeding at 31. Now this has stopped me from doing all the things. And I could have gone down that path. Fuck that. Really easy. So easily. Cause I have the story.
Starting point is 00:21:18 I'm like, oh, cause we tell ourselves these stories because our body wants to be weak. It wants to be quiet. It wants to sit on a couch. It wants to eat donuts. It wants to just be all those things. I didn't let it do that. I didn't even like one of the things they give you like 60 days worth of pain meds because they want to suppress the pain.
Starting point is 00:21:32 I took it for three days. I was like, I don't want to take this shit anymore. I'm not, I want to feel what I'm going through. That does seem like an absurd amount. It is an absurd amount because they, because they're like, oh, we just want to make sure that like you are okay. And you never feel pain there. That's what they're prescribing is to dull the pain also it's so frustrating after
Starting point is 00:21:48 surgery when they prescribe you they over prescribe you pain pills and you can't go to the bathroom because it constipates you so you're literally full of toxic shit yeah it's gross and they don't give you like a stool softener they don't talk about how to wean off of it it's just like here's the pills and then i have a girlfriend she just called me and she's like, I'm so depressed after surgery. And I'm like, have you gone to the bathroom? And she's like, oh no, I haven't. It's because the fucking pills stock you up. So you're just sitting there full of all the fucking, like, it's just so fucked. Yeah. It's a fucked up system. And then there's two refills. What the fuck are these refills for? What are you talking about? You mean 120 days I need this stuff? They're like, yeah, that's how they get you addicted. That's a whole other rabbit
Starting point is 00:22:27 hole that you want to go down. But I went through the system and I saw it. They're trying to suppress pain, but this comes to the, like, I think society has these levels of weaknesses. They're like, oh, I don't want to feel that. I don't want to feel what I'm going through. I don't want to run 10 miles. I don't want to go do an Ironman because it's hard. We've worked too hard as a society to find comfort, right? Everybody's always looking for comfort, but you're going to seek discomfort. That's the story of my life. I get the most nervous in life when things are going well. I feel like someone's going to come back and hit me on the back of the head with the chair, like WWF. But you have that experience.
Starting point is 00:22:59 You have that understanding that when things are going too well, it's like, oh. Well, that's when they're going to come and just take your legs out. If someone is going through something and has created a narrative and is saying to themselves, woe is me, what would you say to them if they were your friend?
Starting point is 00:23:15 Be really honest too. Wake the fuck up. You have one chance at this. And everyone has stories that, oh, they get reincarnated or they go to heaven or whatever. Like this is not a conversation about religion. I believe that you have one chance at this.
Starting point is 00:23:28 You have one chance to be 30. You have one chance to be 31. You have one chance to be 28. Live that life as fast as you can and do as much as you can to make the world a better place and stop waiting. People are waiting to feel better. People are waiting to go build that next thing or they're waiting for the next job or they're waiting for the best partner.
Starting point is 00:23:44 Just go find it. Execute. Why do you think so many people don't execute i think because they're lazy i think that it's easy not to i think that they potentially put themselves with people around them that don't drive them to be better sometimes and maybe they just don't believe in themselves what's the reel that you were listening to? It reminds me of what he's saying, Brian Tracy today. I don't remember it exactly, but it's, yeah, it was along the lines of the stories we tell ourselves are one of the reasons most people don't find success, right? So like a story could be like, well, I didn't grow up with this, or I didn't have this opportunity, or, you know, I'm not a certain height, or I'm not a certain weight, or I don't look a certain way. And you
Starting point is 00:24:24 just tell yourself all these stories about why you essentially can't do something or get what you want or get what you feel you deserve. And it's basically saying like, this is a self-inflicted punishment to yourself to essentially never find what you're looking for. Look, I mean, one example is I'm in my lowest low. I'm in my, I'm having brain surgery. I'm going through all this stuff. But what I end up doing is within two years, I end up writing a book, working with Tony Robbins, building a company that's valued at $53 million, raised $7.5 million, building the best social network on Bitcoin. I turned that around in less than 18 months. Anybody can do anything. It's not hard
Starting point is 00:25:01 to do these things. It's just that you have to have your mindset there and you can execute. But I could have been woe is me. I could have been like, oh, I'm going to sit back and do anything. It's not hard to do these things. It's just that you have to have your mindset there and you can execute. But I could have been, woe is me. I could have been like, oh, I'm going to sit back and do this. And I actually had a legitimate excuse to do that, but I didn't. It drove me. I want to go. What are your tools that you use in your toolbox when you're having a bad day? I think this is interesting because there's a, I think Elon said this once. It's like, if you need some motivation to be an entrepreneur, don't be a fucking entrepreneur. So there's a, I think Elon said this once. It's like, if you need some motivation to be an entrepreneur, don't be a fucking entrepreneur. So there's no, like, if, if, if I'm being really honest, I am down. Sometimes I'm out for the count. I'm tired, but I just keep going. There's no, there's nothing to motivate me to pick me up. I just keep going. I'm like, fuck, I'm, you know, this is a fucked up situation. I just keep going. There's. I wish I had a tool. I wish I had something insightful to tell you, but it's really just go and do it.
Starting point is 00:25:48 That's it. Just keep going. What you learn at doing an Ironman, and I think this is mile 18 of the Ironman from then forward, mile 18 to 26, really fucking hard. Really fucking hard. And all you can do is take one more step and then take one more step and take one more step. That's all you can do.
Starting point is 00:26:04 You can cry. You can sit there. You can drink a Coca-Cola. If you sit there though, you're a lot farther away from getting your goal. But even if you take one small step, you get closer to that finish line. And that's my mental state all the time. At least I can keep going until something shuts me down to stop me. Yeah. I look at it. I mean, this is maybe an extreme perspective and again, it doesn't relate to everybody. I don't think everybody should go be an entrepreneur. But I think about everything as like, I don't have a choice.
Starting point is 00:26:28 I mean, like if I'm starting something, like the only choice is to keep going forward. Or if you're in a tough situation, the only choice is to go. I don't give myself an out, right? It's like, you know, everyone knows that story of like Cortez burning the boats. It's like that. It's like there is only the decision to move forward. Like Lauren and I were talking about this the other day. And I was like, we're raising kids right now. And like, say we're on a flight or in something that's like there is only the decision to move forward like lauren and i were talking about this the other day and i was like we're raising kids right now and like say we're
Starting point is 00:26:47 on a flight or in something that's just hellish i'm like there's no point in whining complaining you just got to fucking get it done or like say we have a crazy work week because we're taking time off like there's no point in complaining just do it right but so many people they give themselves an out right like oh well i could take a break or maybe i shouldn't push as hard or i don't have to or it's okay it's like no it's not okay you have to keep going yeah there's no choice if you want to win there's it's very it's very okay also if you don't want to win well because a lot of people don't and that's fine but the problem is you have to compete against people like me and i want to win that's what i was going to say like when i think about it i just i think about guys don't be sorry i think about guys like you and
Starting point is 00:27:22 here's the funny thing i want you to win I really honestly want everybody to win in everything they do. But I also think about it like I'm also competing with guys like you all the time. And if I'm complacent, then you're just going to eat my lunch. That's just how it is. All right. So if you follow me on Instagram story, you know, recently I got a peel, which was amazing, but I had to keep reapplying a sunscreen and I would not have been able to reapply so easily without my brush on sunscreen. So I have this mineral sunscreen. It's by clear stem. I've told you guys about it. If you're looking for something that is a legit all day protection that doesn't melt or clog your pores, this is for you. What I like about it though, is it's not like
Starting point is 00:28:05 a cream. So when I'm on the go, I can just pull it out of my handbag and almost reapply it like a powder. It has like a brush, which is amazing. And it's filled with zinc, green tea, and vitamin E. But most importantly, it does not clog pores. There's so many sunscreens on the market that clogs pores. And then I hear all the time that people are struggling with acne and they haven't changed their sunscreen. You want to make sure that you're using a sunscreen that does not clog your pores, especially if you're acne prone. The sunscreen I like does not make me break out at all, like even like little bumps, but
Starting point is 00:28:38 also it's just like convenient to pull out and use. And little side note, if you are prone to acne, you just have to check out all of Clear Stem's products. We actually got to interview the founders and one of them is a published nutritionist and the other is the CEO who owns San Diego Acne Clinic. And she's literally known as the acne guru. So they know what they're talking about. Their formulas are award winning and the hype is real. You need to try this line if you're into anti-aging and you want something that will not break you out. Their non-toxic line targets acne and wrinkles simultaneously at once. So if you're looking for something that's a clean clinical skincare line that's
Starting point is 00:29:15 equally effective against acne and aging, check out ClearStem. Of course, we have a code for you and it's a code that I've actually used to buy the brush on mineral sunscreen. You can use code SKINNY2 for 20% off your first order. Again, that's SKINNY2 for 20% off your first order. And I'm going to try to interview the founders again. Again, SKINNY2 for 20% off first purchases at clearstemskincare.com. All right. I have the hack of a lifetime if you have a toddler or even a baby, and that is Once Upon a Farm's Organic and Dairy-Free Overnight Oats. Okay. So they come in this
Starting point is 00:29:54 little packet. It has four grams of plant protein. Zaza loves them. It's a pouch that I can just carry super easy in my diaper bag or even my purse. The ingredients are amazing. It has like apple, oatmeal. It has little pumpkin seed, vanilla extract. And it's cold pressed, dairy-free, organic, and non-GMO. They have the best snacks for on the go or even for back to school. Zaza just started school. It's so cute.
Starting point is 00:30:21 And to be able to just pack this and know that she'll eat it is amazing. If you're not into oats, they have all different kinds of things on their website. So they have like immunity blends that are made from nutrition pack superfoods like elderberry and dragon fruit. As you can tell, they very much pay attention to ingredients. They also have blends like green kale and apples, strawberry, banana swirl, and wild avocado. So there's something for everybody. I personally am a big fan of the overnight oats. She's been really loving those. She kind of goes through phases on things. And right now we're on the oats. And what I like about this brand is I don't have to worry about preservatives or artificial ingredients. It's a nutrient dense
Starting point is 00:30:59 food that I would give my kids. And I love how it's nutritionist recommended. So if you're packing lunches and you need something nutritious, delicious, the kids will like that's convenient. Convenient is very important when it comes to being a parent. You can check out their site. It's onceuponafarmorganics.com. It's found at retailers nationwide and online. Get started today and enjoy an additional 35% off your first subscription order. You're going to use code skinny at onceuponafarmorganics.com. That's onceuponafarmorganics.com. When I wrote my first book, someone gave me the best advice. It was an author, Ryan Holiday. He's like, start the next one. And I'm like, what do you mean? I just finished this.
Starting point is 00:31:42 He's like, start the next one. And if you look at his track record on his books I think he has like there's a beast when it comes amazing and he told me when he stops when he turns his manuscript in he starts another one amazing tell me how many people that are authors do that I would say it's point zero zero zero one percent I mean people turn it in they go celebrate they go party no one starts to write another book right when they turn their manuscript in so so that's that's interesting anyway i want you to explain to me the difference what bitcoin is because and i want you to i want you to explain it to me like i am a kindergartner do not try to get high level with me. I don't understand this. Just for everyone who's listening, do it in the most easy, simple way you can. Yeah, this is a challenging question. And I try to always simplify Bitcoin as much as possible. But
Starting point is 00:32:37 to understand Bitcoin, I think you have to understand money. And the way that the current monetary system works is that there's a central bank. This central bank is the authority that gives money and won money to other banks. And then the other banks get to loan it to people to go do stuff. Bitcoin is a decentralized version of that. But the difference is there's a fixed supply. There's a fixed supply of 21 million Bitcoin that will ever be in existence. So you have a fixed supply. Who made that number? So Lauren, so the central bank, which is why we're going through a shitload of inflation,
Starting point is 00:33:16 which is not a hard concept. No, no, no, Michael, don't take me down the rabbit hole. When we start to get short on supply, they print more and more money. Okay. Over-inflating the value or under-inflating the value of money. With Bitcoin, you cannot do this, correct? Yeah, because there's a fixed supply that can only be created. And to think about Bitcoin, it's actually a public database that tells you how much every person owns. It's an immutable database in the sense that
Starting point is 00:33:43 when you write a new block and what they call it a block, the other one is on top of it. So in order to change something, you have to change all the blocks before it. So it makes it an immutable database. That's a blockchain, for example. Isn't that dangerous though, if someone is on the top of the blocks and people know how much they have, or can you not steal it from somebody? You can't steal it in the sense because there's very complex encryption. So in order to have access to a Bitcoin, you have a public key and a private key. And these have these complex levels of cryptography of who gets to own it. But what people forget is that actually owning a Bitcoin is not a physical thing. What you have with a private key is the right to send it to somebody else that's actually what a bitcoin is it's an address that allows you to give it to something else what's brilliant about the
Starting point is 00:34:29 system though this is like the caveat here is that you can actually retain control yourself which is unique because you can't really retain other than cash your own value in exchange for example like coinbase they retain this is a rabbit hole we can go down. And I'm trying to make it simple. How do people spend it? Can you spend it? You can spend it on things. So here's where it's been, and correct me if I'm wrong, and we're not obviously so into Bitcoin, but there has been, and what I keep saying is this type of technology is going to be the future at some point and it's going to be adopted in a mass way. It's already started. But right now there's a lot of players that are speculatively engaging
Starting point is 00:35:11 in the space, which I think creates risks for people that are taking it seriously because there's a lot of speculative players that are driving prices up or driving prices down. And they haven't really figured a way yet to start tangibly buying this bottle. I mean, maybe on a small scale. Because it's coming. It's just the beginning beginning but i truly believe that if bitcoin can credibly enforce a fixed supply of 21 million it will become the world's reserve currency this is what i don't get i'm i'm totally fine to look stupid if you're saying it's a fixed amount of money how can everyone get involved if there's only a fixed amount because what happens is the value of those fixed amounts will go up over time and also a
Starting point is 00:35:51 single bitcoin okay is actually made up of a hundred and million satoshis so a hundred million satoshis make up one bitcoin what the fuck is a shatoshi a satoshi sounds like tomogachi that used to have when i was 10. Exactly. It's a certain number of decimal points that you can get on a particular Bitcoin. So usually like the things that we use in our app, we use SATs as the currency. But 100 million of these SATs equal one Bitcoin. Okay, but if I want to go to the store. It can be devised into many different. Like you're not trading.
Starting point is 00:36:23 What is it? The last price, like what? 30,000 or something like that or 20 20 so like i'm not giving you one bitcoin you can take fractional pieces of bitcoins and transfer them so like okay but if i want to go shopping let's let's just keep this like low level if i want to go shopping and i want to spend 500 can i spend that at nordstrom's not today today. Not today. Not today because the current, generally the way you would spend that is you'd probably use an Amex card, right? Right. And what's happening is that you're actually not paying for it. You're getting a debit on your account and credit is being sent to the bank against your Amex card. That's how you're buying it. Yeah, but what if you have a
Starting point is 00:37:01 debit card? Debit card, it's doing it straight from the bank, but there's still an inefficiency there because there's another arbiter in the middle of that transaction between you and the relationship with the retailer. So it takes the middle personnel. Bitcoin can take out these seven middle layers of individuals. I'll give an example. Why did I build Zion on Bitcoin? There's this question, why don't you build it on Ethereum and all these other layers? I took the proxy of Patreon because Patreon is something that creators understand. People don't realize that there's seven layers between the creator and the fan using Patreon. And I'll give an example. There's the credit card. There's a credit card processor. There's the web hosting of the credit card processor. Then there's a bank. There's the hosting provider
Starting point is 00:37:42 for the bank. And then at the end is the creator. But if I'm on an application where I can send a Bitcoin lightning transaction through a series of a decentralized open ledger to another person and provide instant settlement, then the system gets more efficient over time. And that's what the internet provides is efficiencies. Why doesn't anyone explain it like that? Now I understand it. Why does everyone have to? Every time I ask someone about it, it's so high level. Well, this is the first time we've talked. We need to create a kindergartner guide to Bitcoin.
Starting point is 00:38:12 This is the problem with this technology at scale is first, most people don't understand just the basic concepts of money. Most people don't even know what the central bank- They don't know what money is. Money's confusing. Money's hard. Most people have no idea even how to even account for what to do with money. They don't know centralized bank. They don't know about inflation. They don't know about any of this stuff. M1, M2 money. They don't know these things.
Starting point is 00:38:30 Yes. They have no idea how this is backed, how the value comes, all of these things. So now on top of that, you're going to layer in a new conversation. This is the problem with the modern school system. Nobody teaches people this stuff. And so now you have a technology that could be very useful,
Starting point is 00:38:44 but nobody understands it. And so it's going to take a long time to adopt. But to his point, if you can accomplish all of these things, as you're saying, this could be a very big contender for a future currency. I hope the audience understood that as well as I did, because I did understand it. I'm sure the audience is laughing right now. They probably know what it means. I needed an explanation. I want to get into what you're building. But before, when people think about investing in Bitcoin, because this is obviously a big topic and you hear all these stories of people making all this money or losing. And I know you got to be careful here, but if you were to say to somebody that's, hey, I'm thinking about getting into Bitcoin, I'm interested in potentially investing,
Starting point is 00:39:20 what layman's terms, best way, easiest way, best way to learn? I think the best way to learn about it is try to understand what is happening with the current system and potentially use this as this other thing. None of this is investment advice. I'm not some person that could say that. I don't have any. I'm not a licensed anything. But Bitcoin is this opportunity to exit the system.
Starting point is 00:39:42 There's a lot of amazing centralized exchanges where you can buy Bitcoin. But my advice to anybody, I was talking to someone at Burning Man about this, like, should I sell my Bitcoin? I feel weird about it. I was like, look, buy as much as you wouldn't feel bad if it went away tomorrow. Just buy as much as that. You got to feel comfortable within yourself. Like gold.
Starting point is 00:39:59 Feel safe. Like, yeah, be comfortable within yourself to what you want to do and just go learn about this alternative money, this alternative money system. But there has to be a distinguish between Bitcoin, the asset and Bitcoin, the network. The technology. What I'm talking about when I talk about these efficiencies in the world is that it's Bitcoin, the network. It's much more efficient than a system like Visa, a system like American Express, because
Starting point is 00:40:20 that's actually how you're making your purchase. And they're taking two and a half percent across that transaction to the retailer. You don't really see that. So there's a bunch of inefficiencies built in these credit-based systems. Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, that can solve for some of these things down the road. But we're very early. Imagine these systems were built in the 1950s and being used in 2020, 70 years old. We're talking about a system that just started less than 10 years ago. And now the Lightning Network is only five years old. So it's an opportunity for a new payment network. Your book says how Bitcoin defeats censorship. What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:40:54 I think censorship generally is one of the largest problems we're dealing with as a society, mostly because people haven't been able to really share what they really believe on social media. And ultimately, the final layer of censorship is financial censorship. Why do you think the internet has gotten so into censorship? And do you think we're going to swing? I think control matters to a lot of people, right? And I think that we've gotten to a really interesting place with censorship. The problem is we've built this proxy that offending a person is now worthy of you being deplatformed. And the world is actually, the proxies have changed in the world. So if we're talking the three of us, the likelihood that I'll offend one of you, probably pretty low. There's 20 people in the room, one in 20, probably pretty low.
Starting point is 00:41:33 But what's the likelihood that if you send a message and 100,000 people see it, you would offend one person? I think the likelihood of that is very, very high. And we've kind of removed the capacity to have discussions around contentious issues on the web. And now censorship is the after effect of that conversation. Because even in this podcast, even touching on light subjects like entrepreneurship and trying to make yourself better and all those, like I guarantee there are people that are listening to this that are rubbed the wrong way by that message and are offended by it. Instead of saying, you know, why am I upset about this thing? And what work do I need to do on my,
Starting point is 00:42:05 and this is probably even offending somebody. What work do I need to do on myself to get right in my head so that things I hear externally don't bother me? An easier answer is I don't want to hear that anymore. So I want that person off the internet. So I never have to see or hear from them again. Personal responsibility has gone away. We've now said that, oh, you know what? Like you can't say that to me. You're not allowed to say I'm triggered. Go fuck yourself. I'm sorry. I completely agree. And if I'm ever triggered by something, I always examine why I'm triggered. What, what is it? What's, why is that triggering? Yeah. It's a, it's personal accountability. Like you said, it's so important, but we've lost it. People are, I mean, look, I have compassion for people, but I think this is
Starting point is 00:42:44 like some of the weaknesses in society that we're seeing and we're, we're accepting to it. People are, I mean, look, I have compassion for people, but I think this is like some of the weaknesses in society that we're seeing and we're accepting to it. We're bowing down to it. Like all the people are like, yeah, he's not allowed to say that. He shouldn't say that. He's inciting this. He's like, no, I believe he should have the right to say
Starting point is 00:42:57 because I think there's some people that find it very supportive. Well, also who's the judge and jury, right? Exactly. And that's the problem with systems. Yeah, you have these systems that are built highly centralized with arbiters. At the end of the day, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, they are the arbiters of truth because they decide what gets to go on their platform.
Starting point is 00:43:18 They decide what needs to be said. So we need a Bitcoin social media. I think we do. That's an idea. No, I'm saying like, what is lightning speed to the consumer without all these seven layers in between? You're right. Like we are being served what the platform wants to serve us.
Starting point is 00:43:35 So it's essentially very similar to a credit card. Well, it's also, it's not that. It's that people, humans are arbitrarily making decisions, what is safe and what is not safe for other individuals. Right. And so it becomes, it becomes arbitrary. I want to be able to make these decisions for myself individually without somebody else telling me how I should feel about something. Right. So the fact that people feel that we all need to be coddled as individuals, that's the scariest thing, right? It's like there's a certain group of people saying, we don't believe this group of people is smart enough, savvy enough, responsible enough to hear things because it might hurt them.
Starting point is 00:44:10 They don't have the ability to contextualize these things. We have to protect them. It's our duty. We're above, you're below. And whatever happened, though, to being exposed to everything and making your own decision? We've decided to remove agency from society. And I think that's dangerous. Yeah, it is. I personally want to think that the pendulum is going to swing and people are
Starting point is 00:44:31 going to stop playing laser tag and walking around on eggshells on the internet. I think people are going to get so fed up and I hope I can do my little part on the internet with the podcast. Listen, you also create really shitty, boring, performative content. I mean, doing what I do now with your media, having these conversations, obviously there's like close to a hundred shows now outside of ours, right? And I'll tell you the ones that don't work or that haven't lasted. It's the ones that are too afraid to talk about what they actually want to talk about, say what they actually want to say, are constantly worried about what brands think, are constantly worried about getting
Starting point is 00:45:03 canceled. So you have these really boring middle of the road shows that nobody cares about. And eventually, they just get washed away with shows with people that are actually saying something. That's just the fact. So even from a business perspective, if you were working with a platform like this one, playing it safe like that is boring. Nobody cares. For me, it's an easy decision to go down the list like, eh, cut, cut, cut. I compare my social media to a dinner party. Do you want to go to a dinner party. Do you want to go to a dinner party where everyone agrees and where everyone shakes their head yes? Or do you want to go to a dinner party with colorful people that have different opinions? Of course. Do you
Starting point is 00:45:34 want reality TV? What do you want to watch? You want to watch... People are going to get sick of this, I think. I think they're starting to, but the way that you actually combat it in the future is you have to build a new system. The problem is the current systems don't allow for the things that we're truly talking about. Because even creators that I know that have millions of followers that we would say are outspoken, they are self-censoring all the time because they know they can't push the edges of what they actually want to say because then everything that they know is their livelihood will disappear overnight because they don't own anything, right? They don't own anything. You have an incredible, what, over 1 million followers on Instagram, right? You don't own a single one of those people. At any moment, you don't own that relationship. It's their relationship with Instagram and they just allow you to have a viewer and have these followers. There's no relationship there really. They believe in you, but you can be turned off at any time. So who's really in control? The platforms are in control. They're in control of the voice. They're in control of the message. They're in control of when you say what you say and how you say it. So the way you have to build
Starting point is 00:46:36 the future is you have to build a system where those layers are not even able to be censored by a human being. You have to build a truly free society so people actually have true agency. That's the way the future should work. So before we talk about what you're building, I want to play devil's advocate here. I'm on the other side and I say, hey, I disagree with everything you're saying. I think there should be censorship. What is your rebuttal? That's great. You should stay on Facebook, right? You should do that because there's a great system for that right now. If you believe in that lifestyle, there are going to be places for you there.
Starting point is 00:47:05 But I think society is dividing in this idea of freedom and sovereignty and someone that wants them to be told everything they should do. I want to trust everything the government tells me. I want to follow the standard American diet. Yet you're fat as hell, right? Like all these things are possible. You are free. You can do what you want and how you want.
Starting point is 00:47:23 But it doesn't mean that I'm forcing everyone to be in that system. It's just an option. But what I'm saying is for these people that say, well, that's not enough. I want you to be forced to live by the same rules that I live. I want- Go fuck yourself. That's my answer. That's the thing. I'm a free motherfucker. I was able to do really well early on and I'm financially sovereign. I'm a sovereign individual. I get heated up when I say this and that's my answer to you. Sorry. If you want to shut me off, find a way to do it. But see, this is the problem is like they, I have a similar attitude, right? So does Lauren. But the other side of this that wants what we're talking about, this censorship and wants everything to be policed. That's what they're trying to do, right? They're trying to
Starting point is 00:48:01 figure out, well, we don't want you to tell us to go fuck off, right? We want to be like, everybody has to play by the same rules, right? Like that's the way they think about it. But that's not how humans work. What I would point out to those people though, is that this is going on right now. And how's that going for everybody? How's that going for the country? It's not bringing people closer together. It's not making us more united.
Starting point is 00:48:22 It's not making people- And look, a problem with this as well, I'll layer this on, is the algorithms are also designed to keep you in these echo chambers and make you go down these paths, right? It's confirmation bias. It's confirmation bias. You see the same stuff from the same people all the time. And it's like, well, is that how society should actually work? Should systems be driven by AI or should content actually freely come up naturally on how humans work? I got these two guys in my life and they're best friends.
Starting point is 00:48:49 And one of them has always leaned for a little more conservative. One of them a little bit more liberal. And both of them sit incessantly all week long in front of CNN and Fox News, both of them. And they both come to me individually because they can't get along right now anymore. And they both complain about each other. You two are sitting in massive echo chambers that keep getting further and further and further apart. And I don't like CNN and I don't like Fox News.
Starting point is 00:49:11 I think they're both on the extreme ends of everything. But if you're sitting there and you're watching these things every day, getting further and further and further away from the middle, and then one day you look around and you're mad at other people that have kind of stayed in the same place. That's a problem. Yeah, of course. Right? And it's like to your point, it's these massive echo chambers of extreme things that get ratings and get views and get people tuned in and keep them watching.
Starting point is 00:49:31 Creative polarity. There's an easy way also to solve this too. If you don't like what someone's saying, don't watch. Yeah. I mean, that's been my approach in the entire system. Because I actually, I also disagree in how some of these social networks have been designed as a product feature where it's like you send something out and anyone can see it at any time without, and you could be pointed at it.
Starting point is 00:49:54 I don't think that's how the real world works. And that's what was a very particular product strategy that I took. Because that's what I spent all my time. I was thinking about product and design is I wanted to also build something that you can join something that you want to be a part of, but you don't just get sent information outside of the thing that you don't want. You don't get pushed ideas that you don't actually believe in. I don't, I don't like that approach. I also think for me, I want to see both ideas. I want to see everyone. I'm happy to see other people's perspectives. I think it's kind of like that friend that always
Starting point is 00:50:24 agrees with everything that you're saying and tells you how great you are all the time. There's no challenge in that friendship. Because I need to be able to judge what's crazy and what's not. And if I only see one side, then I'm going to think that's not crazy at all. I have to see the other side to be like,
Starting point is 00:50:36 okay, which side, is there somebody in the middle ground? Is that person crazy? If you only see one side, you're just going to always think, okay, well, that's the normal right side. And why can't we be pragmatic and logical instead of so emotional like why can't we look at something and be like okay that's not for me i don't agree with that and move on like i don't understand this like like it's just so emotional it's emotionally charged because they'll use
Starting point is 00:50:58 things like you're dangerous you're causing you're not it's not safe for everybody you're inciting this or it's like look what what happened with COVID. Like how many people were grandma killers. Right. And all that. I mean, what a bunch of horseshit this whole thing was. I agree. And I think also the, I mean, you don't hear those people anymore. The problem also is just the functions and how communication lies, right? Most people are not doing this. I get to look in your eyes. I get to see what you're saying to me. I get to hear you. I get to feel your energy. Most people are sitting behind one of these thousands of miles away and just spewing disgusting hate at all the time. And the problem I'll add is that these systems have no consequences, right? There are no consequences on centralized social media for you to be a bad person.
Starting point is 00:51:42 In real life, if you're a bad person, people are going to know, be like, dude, that's a bad person. Like you don't want to be around that person or they're in prison or they're in jail because they've been put there on social media. You could be a horrific individual and you have zero consequences. Systems should be built with, I think, financial consequences. And there's some things that we've worked on to build that if you're a bad actor in these systems, and I mean bad actor, you're actually fine financially for that. I am so serious about my sleep now that I'm a mother of two. I will take any sleep I can get. So when it's time to wind down and Zaz is in bed and Towns is in bed, I want to get right to business. So I have like a whole
Starting point is 00:52:25 routine, but just some points that I always hit are a weighted blanket. I like red light in the bedroom. I don't like any light bulbs on. I'll do like a salt rock nightlight. I like five to eight Hertz. I also love CBD. I mean, CBD is all the rage. It's everywhere. But when you find a CBD, you want to make sure it's one that actually one works, but it also absorbs the best. And there's this gummy that is by this brand of this company that is so good. It's the Sleep Support CBD Complex Gummy. First of all, it tastes good. But also, this gummy is four times better absorption than normal CBD. And trust me, I have tried them all. I am not a fan of a bunch of vitamins at night. I feel like it hurts my stomach. So to have a gummy is absolutely perfect. And this one's formulated with slow release and fast
Starting point is 00:53:20 acting melatonin. And it's clinically shown to support quality rest and relaxation. So I'll just take a gummy. It's like a strawberry flavor, the one that I like, and it helps you just fall asleep so quick. Anyway, you can go on NextEvo's site, and you can see all their formulations. Everything's backed by scientific studies. I've actually talked to a lot of scientists about this brand, and it was developed by scientists. Also, these gummies are vegan, non-GMO, and they're THC-free. So it's just 100% US-grown hemp, which is nice. Get a better night's rest with Sleep CBD Solutions from NextEvo's Naturals. You get 25% off subscription orders of $50 or more. All you have to do is use promo code SKINNY at NextEvo.com. That's N-E-X-T-E-V-O.com, promo code skinny.
Starting point is 00:54:07 And remember, get the strawberry-flavored sleep support CBD complex gummies. They are so good. Similison. This brand is dedicated to helping families feel good about feeling better. So they have gentle homeopathic remedies that give you temporary relief for eye or ear symptoms. Especially when it comes to your eyes and ears, you don't want to use something that's not natural and that's not high quality. So what I do in our house is I have three white boxes. One goes in my room and one goes in Towns' room and one goes in Zaza's room. And in it, I just
Starting point is 00:54:45 stock it with all the products that I need in case they get sick. So what I have on hand for pink eye relief and for earache relief is semilison. Okay, so the pink eye relief helps soothe pink eye symptoms. And it has a combination of natural active ingredients like Eyebrite. And the ingredients basically support your body's natural ability to find relief from pink eye symptoms. This one has no harsh chemicals. This one has no side effects, okay? There's no drug interactions. It's gluten and dairy free.
Starting point is 00:55:17 And it's Children's Pink Eye Relief designed for ages 2 plus. And then Earache Relief. This one's important. I know that a lot of kids get earaches for all different kinds of reasons. And this is like a no brainer for me. Again, their earache relief helps soothe earache symptoms and it has no potentially irritating ingredients, which is so important because you're putting it in your ear. So there's no harsh chemicals, peroxide, and there's no known side effects. It's gluten and dairy free. So if you're like me and you want to stock up on the kids' medicine boxes and medicine cabinet,
Starting point is 00:55:47 you want to be stocked in case something happens. When your family needs relief from pink eye or an earache, choose Similison. Made with natural active ingredients, not harsh chemicals, so you can feel good about feeling better. Similison is sold at a store near you in the eye care and ear care aisle.
Starting point is 00:56:01 And the Similison team wants you to be prepared for the school year. So they're offering a sweepstakes of $500 Visa gift card and Similisan's School Essentials prize package. You're going to go to similisanusa.com to win. That's S-I-M-I-L-A-S-A-N-U-S-A.com slash win and include the Skinny Confidential in your entry. Okay, so let's talk about what you're building. Okay. Where do we begin here? Look, the way I talk about it is I think there's three things broken on the web. Identity is broken.
Starting point is 00:56:42 The way messages and data is stored is broken and the money is broken. And I'll describe those three and that kind of leads to like, what is the product, right? So why is identity broken? Because 2 billion people around the world use a Gmail account to log into everything they do on the web, probably use it to log into their bank information. And remember at the base layer, if you don't own your digital identity, like you log into Instagram with some email address, probably not your own email address, probably some other email server that you've used to log into that system. That base layer identity now goes to your Instagram, your Facebook, your bank, everything. Centralized identity is broken. So who you are on the web, you don't actually own. Someone else owns that. And at any time they can decide that this identity is off and imagine everything downstream that disappears from that.
Starting point is 00:57:24 Messaging and data storage. How does a message go from one person to another on the web? Typically, you're on Instagram sharing that. You're going through Instagram servers to go to somebody else and they're deciding who gets to see it. So what we did is we built a social app, right? It was a social app that was designed to give people back these three things. Give them an identity that they own for the first time.
Starting point is 00:57:46 Give them a messaging relay system where they own where the servers of everything message is stored and how it disseminates to everyone. And then finally fix it with the money, which is Bitcoin. I want to build a system, imagine this, where you could leave Facebook and take all of your followers with you. That's the kind of system that I'm trying to build. So how do we do it on the first layer? Number one is we use decentralized IDs as the base layer of your followers with you. That's the kind of system that I'm trying to build. So how do we do it on the first layer? Number one is we use decentralized IDs as the base layer of your identifier. So we create this hash for you on our app. It's the same thing like any other app. You can go in, log in. This is coming out at the beginning of November. And then we take that ID and we write that to the Bitcoin blockchain as a transaction. So now your ID that you created
Starting point is 00:58:26 on our phone, everyone can go check that you invented that idea. Now, every message you send out, you just sign it with that and say, you know what? I am this person and I'm signing every one of these messages and it's me and I own it because no one's going to take the Bitcoin blockchain down. It's the most immutable ledger ever created. So we're solving for identity there. You know what this reminds me of just really quick tell me it reminds me of like my grandma when she was 16 and someone trying to describe instagram tour huh do you know what i mean like it's so evolved that like it's hard to even imagine but it's not if you think no but it's genius but it's you know what i mean it's simple simple. If you look at it as the analogy is, it's basically a system that gives full ownership to you.
Starting point is 00:59:09 You don't have to use a Gmail. You don't have to use nothing. It's almost like it's so crazy and it's so wild you can't imagine it. There's no way to remove it because you're the one that owns it. There's not- You own the private key. We don't even have access to the private key. There's not a platform that makes a decision that says, okay, well, it's impossible for
Starting point is 00:59:23 them to remove it. And by the way, no one's doing this in this way, right? There's people that are building these alternatives, like log in with your email address and password. Yeah, even like Coinbase or whatever. I thought we were going to do this like you own something. It's like, oh, there's a difference between we won't censor you and we can't censor you. Big difference. Second layer is data storage and messaging. So we're approaching this using this Web5 platform that's being done by Block.
Starting point is 00:59:46 Block is the company owned by Jack Dorsey. And it's called a decentralized web node. This system allows messages to be shared by the signer of the phone. So now data can be stored and given to your followers from your server. And as a company, we have no access to that. And the final piece is the money. And that's why we use Bitcoin and Lightning. So imagine Instagram, but every one of the posts
Starting point is 01:00:09 and every one of the comments, you're able to send a transaction to. So someone says in your first comment, they say something really bright and then help somebody. Anyone around the world can instantly tip them for that comment. So now we're opening up a whole new layer of the creator economy.
Starting point is 01:00:24 That is cool. Yeah. So now we're opening up a whole new layer of the creator economy. That is cool. Yeah. So now we're opening a whole new layer where nobody else can remove that payment, right? No, it's a lightning transaction. It's an uncensorable transaction, but anyone can pay anyone. This is a new proxy. OnlyFans created the model where you post a photo and someone pays you in a single direction. Now we're unlocking omnidirectional payments. Anyone can pay anyone at any time for anything. And Bitcoin unlocks this. Bitcoin and Lightning unlocks this power feature. So that's the vision of what we've been trying to do. And we launched the first version of the app late last year. And now we've spent six months. And we're not live today with the new version.
Starting point is 01:01:04 But in November, December, we're going to launch V2. And that's where we're not live today with the new version, but in November, December, we're going to launch V2 and that's where we're going to take it out to mass market. So let me ask you this. How do I frame this right? I'm not individuals, but there's probably a lot of entities. This is not a conspiracy. There's probably a lot of entities that do not want something like this to succeed. Of course not. Because like you said, it removes a lot of layers. Of course. Have you had to deal with any of that pushback?
Starting point is 01:01:25 Nobody knows who we are right now. Okay. Right? Like we're having this conversation, but no one knows who I am. Like I'm a nobody as far as I'm, Zion's a nobody company yet. We haven't been able to really achieve that like breakout status, but I, we know that and we're trying to build systems that in the event this happens, we're there and prepared. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:43 It's like. In the event that people come in and try to shut this thing down or stop it. Of course. Can everyone join? Does it matter who you are, what your politics are, whatever? We're not even trying, like I'm not,
Starting point is 01:01:54 I sit in the middle, mostly like my whatever beliefs, anyone should be open to own their own identity online. And I believe everyone should. This is not a right or a left conversation. This is not like, we're not the place for like, I think people like a lot of these platforms have built their marketing. We're the place for free speech.
Starting point is 01:02:10 And it's turned into this righty echo chamber of like Trump posting stuff. We're not that. We're not trying to be that. We just want you to own your identity for the first time. We want you as a creator to build a sovereign community that you own. And we want you to own the money. That's all we're trying to say. We're not trying to follow a political belief
Starting point is 01:02:26 because I actually don't follow that as a person. I don't follow some of the righty crazy stuff. I also don't follow some of the lefty crazy stuff. I'm more in the middle. I think most people are like me. They're like, oh, I don't agree with this stuff. I don't agree with this stuff, but I want a place that I can be open and free.
Starting point is 01:02:39 And this is a problem I've been trying to solve for 10 years. Remember, I built one of the first influencer marketing companies and I learned how a creator would post a piece of content on Instagram, but maybe it didn't get to all the people that they thought were their followers because they ratcheted down. And that's what's next, right?
Starting point is 01:02:54 Or there was 18 other people in the mix with their handout taking a piece. Of course, 2020, 2020, 2020 percent across the board. Who gets what? Agent, lawyer, manager. What's the difference between agent and manager? Oh, this one does the deal. This one helps you do it. This is how it works, right? But how about if there's an opportunity for the audience to pay you two cents? One of the things we're doing with podcasting
Starting point is 01:03:12 and I'm so excited about the podcasting feature is that you can listen to a podcast in the app through an RSS feed and you can tip in real time as you listen to the podcast. So if at one hour and 10 minutes or something interesting, you can stream a payment directly from your wallet to the podcast wallet or the podcaster's wallet in real time. And that's like a value for value model. And to me, that's super exciting as a feature. But additionally, what I think is so cool is the creator of the podcast can also tip the audience too. I love that it's like an ecosystem. Yeah. It's like there'll be a mass payment button eventually where you can send all the people that are part of your community 10 sats
Starting point is 01:03:49 and it goes into their wallet. There's all these creative features that you can build out and create a relationship with your fans. And that doesn't exist right now. Really? It's all one way. Yeah, and that's when you build a social product with a native wallet, this is what happens, right? So there's a native wallet inherently. When you start your DID, you build a social product with a native wallet, this is what happens, right? So
Starting point is 01:04:05 there's a native wallet inherently. When you start your DID, you have a wallet and then you can go create a community. There's all these steps that we're building. That's why it's taken so long to build this thing. How long have you been working on this now? Two years is now kind of building. And the way I built, like the beginning of it was bootstrap it and do it on my own capital. Then when we saw traction, we're like, okay, we should probably go raise some money. And that's where I share a little bit about the valuation, the size of the business. Now, it was really about how do we get something in market that people want? They do. They a lot of people, 51,000 people are on a wait list wanting this app.
Starting point is 01:04:35 Wow. Well, I think again, I've been saying this now for two years. When you have extreme things go left, right, whatever way, it's going to get answered with extremes, right? And like this, not that this is an extreme, but when you push, push, push on people, like they're going to, people are, you know, they're savvy. They're going to find solutions. That's why the more, the more you try to control people, the more you try to push people down, the more they're going to resist that and find other alternatives. And I think that's how you lead to things like this, future groundbreaking ideas and platforms and whatever, because people aren't just going to be complacent
Starting point is 01:05:08 and say, okay, fine, this is good. I mean, you see how that's working in other places in the world. I think innovation is derived by frustration. That's a big kind of core that I say all the time. And I truly believe that. And I think people, I was frustrated for a while. I was like, I want to build something new,
Starting point is 01:05:21 something different, something exciting. I think what you're doing is incredible. I think this is're doing is incredible. I think this is going to blow the fuck up. Put us on the wait list. Yeah, put me on the wait list. Oh, of course. We'll talk more of this.
Starting point is 01:05:33 Like, we'd love to hear your support and love for you to be a part of it. That interview was incredible. Justin, where can everyone find you? How can they get on the wait list? Give us all the things. Well, just find me on all social media, Justin Razvani. I will never DM you about crypto advice. I'm verified only of one verified account. So that's what often happens.
Starting point is 01:05:48 But Justin Razvani online and then zion.fyi is our website. And you'll be able to put your email in and we'll send that off when we're ready. And where can they find the book? It's on Amazon, Unapologetic Freedom. If you just search Unapologetic Freedom, it's there. It's also on my website, justinrazvani.com. Yeah. Forward by JP Spears and testimonial from Tony Robbins and Aubrey Marcus.
Starting point is 01:06:09 Yeah, my boys, my investors actually. So they're part of the company. Justin, I can't wait to see what's next for you. You have to come on when you launch and tell us all about it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. This is great. Thanks, Justin. Appreciate it. The Skinny Confidential Times dough, cookie dough has launched. It is so damn good. You're going to be obsessed and it's pink and the taste is pink frosting. It's everything. It hits all your senses. If you want to win a jar of this cookie dough, all you have to do is tell us your favorite part
Starting point is 01:06:36 of this episode on my latest post at Lauren Bostic. And if you want to just buy it right now and get it, get your hands on it. Use code skinny dough, S-K-I-N-N-Y D-E-U-X for a discount. Thank you guys so much for listening. And with that, we'll see you next time. I want to give a little shout out to shed the silence. Okay. So just to give you some background, I started noticing that my hair was shedding postpartum with Zaza. I think that I was completely unprepared for postpartum, the whole experience. I thought, and maybe this was ignorant of me, that you just had the baby and you felt better two weeks after. And that is not what happened to me. I had the gnarliest postpartum experience. I felt depressed, anxious. And when it came to my hair, I didn't
Starting point is 01:07:33 notice it falling out. I just noticed that it was shedding. And I went on this journey to figure out how to get my hair thicker and longer and stronger and to figure out a way for it not to shed. And after talking to so many beauty experts and having access to these incredible guests that come on the show, I sort of put together my own plan for combating shedding. And I've talked about this a lot on the show, but I wanted to go a little bit deeper into it So the first thing that I did Was I started doing scalp massage? You can buy one online for like ten dollars. It's like a scalp massager. Mine's pink. It's super cute And basically every time I wash my hair
Starting point is 01:08:18 Or even when I go get a blowout i'll have them either do scalp massage or use my scalp massager To stimulate my scalp. And that has been a game changer. I also do microneedling on my hairline. That was a tip from my friend Ingrid. And I just noticed that it makes my hair grow so much thicker on the hairline specifically. Michael also does it. And if you've ever looked at his forehead, you can tell that he has a very thick, healthy hairline. And then sometimes I would use a scalp serum. And lastly, I figured out my supplementation. With Zaza, I was not serious about vitamins or minerals or supplementing. I just would wait a couple of days or I would forget. I wouldn't be
Starting point is 01:09:01 militant about having my supplements. One of those supplements that I started taking that made such a big difference, and we've talked about this, is Nutrafol. And I implemented it later on in my postpartum journey with Zaza and noticed a big difference. And we've talked about this. But anyway, a lot of you guys have reached out over DMs and you've told me about your hair journey. And it seems like there's a common denominator when it comes to hair. There's so many people who experience not only hair shedding like me, but hair thinning. And that's been interesting to like interact with you guys over DM and hear about your experience. And so I did more digging on the subject and I found that naturally over half of women experience hair thinning in their lifetime, which is so wild that it's not talked
Starting point is 01:09:45 about more. It's almost like a taboo. And a lot of women and people don't know that a lot of people are suffering, so they suffer in silence because it is a taboo thing. So Nutraful came to me and they told me that they want to open a larger conversation through real women who are sharing their stories about how their hair struggles have impacted them. And for some reason, we don't want to talk about it. And the good thing about this is, and what I've realized through this whole experience with my own hair shedding and talking directly to Nutrafol and talking to so many women, is that you can change your hair. You don't have to be like, oh, this is my hair. It just falls out. Or, oh, this is my hair. It's thin. Or, oh, this is my hair. It just falls out or oh, this is my hair It's thin or oh, this is my hair. It's shedding everywhere all over my silk pillowcase
Starting point is 01:10:27 You can actually change the thickness and the length of your hair and I know this because i've done it myself This like concoction recipe whatever you call it of these things put together Has changed my entire hair experience, which is why I cannot shut up about it So much so that I will not go to LA for three months and then I'll go to LA and I'll get my hair done by a stylist. And he literally said to me, Lauren, what are you doing? Your hair feels like a completely different head of hair. Like he couldn't believe how different my hair was. So that's why I want people to hear this from me. If you're in a situation where your hair is thinning or it's
Starting point is 01:11:05 falling out, you can change it. Nutraful is looking to support women through their own hair story. And they wanted to create a space to connect and share and bond with other people. So basically, they started this conversation. And they want to invite all of our audience to share the impact that you guys are going through if you're experiencing hair thinning, shedding, or poor hair quality. And their goal is to have a more personal conversation. So they've invited you guys to share your story. And you can share your personal stories, anything about your hair.
Starting point is 01:11:41 You can be personal, vulnerable vulnerable and you can just talk about your hair struggle honestly it has been a hush hush conversation my friends will ask me over happy hour no one really talks about it online that i've seen and so it's awesome that a brand like neutrophil wants to come out and talk about it so if you're interested and you want to talk about it then let's talk about it your hair story could help another woman who's going through this. Join the conversation at shedthesilence.com slash skinny. That's shedthesilence.com slash skinny. And with that, I hope this conversation will help you or someone you know
Starting point is 01:12:18 feel more comfortable about talking about this subject.

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