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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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 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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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,
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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,
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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,
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.
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
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.
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?
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
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
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
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.
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
feel more comfortable about talking about this subject.