MFM Goes to Jail - Plus Startup Cities, Prospera, Julian Shapiro Building a Ranch, Testing Out Big Purchases, and More

And he's like he's like, You're afraid of me, huh? And I was like I was like, Yeah, I'm afraid. And he goes That's your truth, huh? Feel like I can rule the world, I know I can be what I want to

I put my law in it like my day song On the road less travel never looking at the black. Wednesday. Uh it was good, man. Ramon was on So no, you know Ramon. Ramon is the best. So Ramon came on and did his thing. He was the best. Good. I'm uh I'm happy for him. He he's getting a bunch of wins right now, and that makes me happy for him.

Yeah. Uh you where were you? So you were doing something interesting. That's why we tell you Come back and tell us the story. Yeah, let me tell you what I did. So I volunteer with this program called The Last Mile. It was started by my friend Chris Redlitz. Chris started uh He did a bunch of stuff. He was ear at Rebok. So he's sixty five years old. He was an early employee at Rebok, which he probably became very financially successful there.

Then he started a company that he took public and then he started a V C fund that I I believe was quite successful. They were in on which Dot com and a few other things. And He started this charity or nonprofit called The Last Mile, and the whole vision behind this thing is basically. Um

So I I'm not supposed to use the word inmates. They've asked me not to use the word inmates, but sometimes I'm still gonna use that word because that's what most people know what it means. But basically Prison inmates. They are gonna get out. What do they want you to say? Well, the it and it's a good it's a good terminology and good way of thinking, but basically they're like, Well, look, we're trying to get them out of prison and into the mindset of they're gonna be working and having a job. We don't wanna refer to them as offenders as inmates, but students. But um but that would be confusing in this context. Okay. Yeah. In this context, yes. And so I'm gonna kinda go against his rules in this context. So y there's uh something like a million

People in prison, right? And A lot of guys are there for ten, twenty, thirty years for manslaughter, for doing whatever Um they're gonna get out. And whether you like the whether you forgive them for their crime or not, the fact is is that you they're gonna get out.

And so the last mile is teaching them how to code for about two or three years through a program. And then helping them get jobs at like Slack. I believe eBay, things like that. And They've graduated, I think, eight hundred people out of prison who have went through their program.

And none of them have gone back to prison. And I believe the average prison the the average person who goes to prison, I think it's like a sixty five percent chance that they go back to prison. Right. So the fact is that these guys

Like for example, I was with this one guy Who Uh, basically he caught his wife cheating. And they got into an argument. According to the news, I Googled it.

he she like went to fight him with a hammer. He grabbed the hammer And killed her. And he was in prison for twenty years. And I was hanging out with this guy. Which is weird. That's weird. You know, that's like a mind fuck.

And he was like, Yeah, I'm gonna get out in three years. Uh prior to this, I was an engineer or sorry, I was a sales person at a pharmaceutical company. I had a great job. And the I'm learning how to do JavaScript and MongoDB so I can get a job at a tech company, hopefully, because no one's gonna hire me. Unless I go through this program. And that's crazy, right? Isn't that weird? Like I'm hanging out and I was with my wife, Sarah.

We're walking around this prison. Just hanging out with these guys and I get to know them and I'm like I I would hang I mean, you you're nice enough. You're we we would get along fine. I've n I had no idea you'd ever done this. And they start opening up and telling me what they did. And it's pretty amazing. And it's amazing for a couple of reasons. The first uh reason is That um when you're in this like when you're so some guys are just like habitual criminals. Like I talked to this one guy, I was like, What was your job before this? He was like, Oh, I was a meth dealer.

I stole Nath and I and I killed a guy. We we went to rob this house and I killed someone. And Um And I and but and he was like, besides killing them, I was just a criminal. I just did all types of crazy shit. But once I learned how to do coding, I actually got more. logical where I realized that if I do this, then this other thing is going to happen. And so I started learning a lot about impulse control.

And I started learning about myself. And so it's like learning how to code, but also learning about yourself type of thing. Like a if then statement for your life. Yes. And so that's quite fascinating. The second thing is, you know, there's not a lot of black coders. But unfortunately there's a lot of Black folks in prison. And so uh these guys are learning how to code. We are with we're in Indiana, it was mostly white people, but I've done this in San Quentin.

But um like for Someone who graduates and leaves jail and they go back to an all black neighborhood, a lot of times it's these these kids, these young kids, it's the first time they're gonna meet a programmer who's black and who looks like them. And so not only are we helping these folks stay out of prison, but it's kinda cool that like, you know, you're actually like helping the diversity issue in tech. And so So how how the heck did this guy Chris Redletz start this? That seems so random from like, you know, you're employee at a D a Rebok and then you start a V C fund and Wh where did this come from?

I I believe the story is ten years ago he was uh dating a woman. And she volunteered at a prison. And she was teaching I think math. Like she just got pulled into it at San Quiton. She lived in San Francisco and someone was like, Hey, we need like or no, sorry, uh someone was like, Chris, can you come and talk about entrepreneurship to these inmates? And he was like, I guess I'll go. And he goes and they're like, Can you come again? Can you come again? And he's like, Uh, I guess and then eventually he was like, Wow, you know, this is a major problem. uh that I'm passionate and I care about. And so him and his wife they started a thing

Where they go, Hey, um They went to uh Sacramento, the the capital of California, and they basically lobbied for this program. They go, Hey, everyone, we'll put up the hundred thousand dollars Uh you know, they're talking to the politicians. Well it would be okay if we did a cohort for entrepreneurship in San Quintin. And they like through friends of friends, they got in front of the right people and it approved. And then they're like, Well, you know, entrepreneurship is okay, but teaching them how to code is way better. Right. And so he starts doing that and then he goes and convinces

Apple. The I believe the Trump the Trump administration, uh the Koch brothers. Uh rich people to donate money and now they have this like huge program. That's kind of amazing. They've trained some a huge number of people, right? Like there are a lot of people in this program. Is is that right?

Yeah, they've got I believe th they only allow like twenty or thirty people per Like cohort. And they have like fifteen prisons doing it. By the way, if you're listening to this Well, they graduated I think a thousand people and I was gonna say, by the way, if you're listening to this, I'm getting some of these numbers wrong. Um I didn't like write all this down. So uh whatever I'm saying, divide by two and multiply by two. So I think they have like a thousand people. But let me tell you something that's interesting. So I was in this prison

And you wanna know what's crazy, dude? Most everyone was really fat and out of shape. And yet As a fitness influencer, you just you couldn't couldn't help yourself. Well, here's why this is interesting to me. So I was talking to Chris and I was like, you know, everyone was like Fat and like The food that they give these folks

It's horrible. It was like white bread and baloney and like generic like Oreo cookies. And you can buy stuff, but He was like, Yeah, well, you know, at some of the longer maximum Mm. Maximum security prisons are a little bit more fit.

But yeah, it's a huge problem and in China I was like, Chris, like if we gave these guys like Look, there I understand like the idea of like You committed a crime, you sacrificed privileges, whatever. But I think if we just gave them like some better meat and vegetables for every meal and forced them to exercise, like you've got to get up at 7 a.m. and as a prison, we're gonna do jumping jacks, pushups, calisthenics.

And like you know, it's like a the military. I think they would behave better and ultimately like if your body works better, you're gonna maybe behave and act a little bit better. And he was like, Yeah, uh you know, I I think I agree, but even in American prisons, you can't force the people to do anything. It's like against the law or it's against the rules. But I started thinking about this and and I and I and I think that's kind of interesting and they do this in China. And he was like, Yeah, we uh we like got some We like saw Chinese prisons and everyone shredded.

Because they make you do this. Wow. Uh Okay. Did you know I've done a very similar thing? So I got a couple of Uh like when you said you were doing this, I've I like

remembered back when I did this. So there's a group in the Bay Area that does this called the inside inside circle, I think it's called. And um nonprofit, they basically go into it's like Uh a men's group. So For people who listen to this that don't know what a men's group is, uh it's a k idea that's been around for a long time. There's many different flavors of this. There's some that are like kind of business oriented. There's some that are uh oriented around just sort of changing her life. I forgot, what's the what's the famous one on the barrier that people think is a cult that's like a men's group? Uh

I don't know if you know the name of it. It's like a weekend. It's like a weekend thing you do. Uh but there's a whole bunch of. Yeah, something like that. Uh not not that, but there's something like that. So anyways, a men's group is where a a bunch of men get together, they sit in a circle and they talk about their feelings. And they talk about what's going on and they they and they have like a whole process that's like basically helps people unpack what's going on inside so that they When you unpack what's going on inside, you're not carrying all this baggage around and then you

you will act more like the way you want to act because you don't have this sort of suppressed and pent up stuff inside. That's my like layman's version of it. I'm sure there's a much fancier, better way of explaining it. So I went to Folsom prison, did the same same sort of thing. Two day program. You go in, I met this guy, Gino, he was kind of like, you know, you get a pen pal buddy basically. So you meet your buddy and he was in there, he's been in there since he was 18. And he had murdered somebody when he was eighteen and he's like been in there for twenty years now, so he's thirty eight. And he was like you know, Yeah, I did this horrible thing when I was eighteen and like I'm in here for life, basically. Like my whole life is basically in prison. And uh he had a great Great attitude about him, funny guy, and he was you know, he was just It was kind of unreal. Um

Because I had been, you know, kind of I I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had been kind of uh You know, in my head I just sort of wrote this off. Like I just wrote off people in prison. Like I think society writes them off and I had sort of just thought like, Yeah, I'm not not super interested in going in and meeting people who have murdered people before. Um But you know, it's really not that simple once you meet them. It's really not that simple. Um to to sort of like bucket people like that as good and bad. And so, you know, kind of Uh you know, it's kind of embarrassing to even say it out loud. It sounds obvious, but

Yeah, it was kind of a I don't know, it was kind of an awakening moment. And then we we did these exercises where you're like You know, you sit in your little group and you talk about what's going on. And it's so funny'cause it was basically half.

Successful tech guys. And then half people from Folsom Prison. And uh and they w it'd be like you know, the tech guy's like, Oh, you know Yeah I you know, just a stereotype for a second. Like my kids try to get into this private school and the admissions process, my wife is really blah blah blah, and then like the next guy who's like, you know Um, I haven't seen my daughter in twenty five years, and I just hope she's okay. And I heard something heard something happen to her and I'm not able to help, and it's just gutting me. And then the tech guy's like, you know, my company, we we raised our A, we're just trying to raise our B. So it was like so funny, like real problems, fake problems, real problems, fake problems. And uh but like this is sort of like no judgment, right? That's the idea, is like

Um, actually it's funny, the guys who lead you in there, they're very like sort of wise people. Th the there's one guy, BJ, who runs the program and then Uh, I forgot the name of the other guy. He's awesome guy and he's like He's like recognized as a shaman in like seven different civilizations in Africa. Like this guy is just a beast in all ways. They in fact they call his nickname is Beastmaster,'cause he sort of is able to tame the beasts in the prison. Um and he's got this like presence about him that you wouldn't believe. Like imagine Ray Lewis he's does volunteering work. He was in prison, but he was in prison. He got out and then he you know, devoted his life to this work. Um

And he's like sort of one of the most wise guys ever. And he said this early on, he's like Uh you know Let's set some ground rules before we go in here, man. Like, okay, what what are we and one guy was like, you know, no judgment. I wanna be going here, I don't wanna judge the guys in there. He goes. Okay, so we're gonna lie to ourselves?

He's like what? What do you mean? He's like He's like you're going to make a judgment. Uh the j when somebody says something or does something The brain is instantaneously going to make a judgment. And you can sit there and say, No, no, no, I'm not doing it. I don't wanna do it. I you can try to resist it, but you're gonna fail. He goes, Instead, let's just agree to this.

You'll make the judgment, but then just agree to this. The judgment says more about you than it does about them. He's like, so just use that that reaction to teach you about yourself. Don't use it to define the other people in there. That's something that I still use to this day, kind of like in every every walk of life, uh, because it's it's so true. Um So anyways, I had this like crazy experience in there. So I was uh I was talking I guess like I don't know if I should even tell the story, but basically I

When I went in there was one guy in there That just looked like the baddest dude in the prison. He was wearing his sunglasses. Nobody else was wearing sunglasses. He had like a cane. He wasn't the strongest or the biggest, but you could tell he had the respect of everybody in there and almost like the fear, like a fear version of respect, or at least that's what I perceived. Cause you know, you go into the situation, you sort of quickly scope it out, and you're trying to like understand the lay of the land. And so instantaneously my brain's judgment was, that's the baddest dude in here. Like don't piss that guy off. Don't say the wrong thing in front of that person. Uh he kind of scares me. And of course, as fate would have it, we get into a group of four, we get matched up, and he's my buddy in the group of four. And this guy basically I was you know, so then you're supposed to like talk again, talk about your problems. And I was kinda conscious to be like, Okay, I'm not gonna talk about these like first world problems. So I tried to say some shit that was like deeper than that, but he saw straight through it'cause

These people have a very good, you know, bullshit. And uh he was like He's like, Man, you just say what we want to hear. He just cut me off like two minutes in. Oh, that's bad. And I was in the middle of my big kind of like heartfelt thing. And I'm a good talker. I'm a good storyteller. I'm a good liar, frankly. Um, and he immediately was like, Man, don't come in here and just say what we want to hear. And I was like oh shit. And then I'm like my the guy I was already afraid of is now calling me out specifically for basically one of the worst things you could do in these situations, which is be inauthentic and be fake. And it's like you didn't really you really didn't have to do anything. That was the one thing. Just don't be fake. Uh and I was I was being fake and this guy called me out on it.

He's like, what you really thinking? And I was like And I just said what was on my mind, I go Um I go, I really just don't want to sound like an idiot in front of you.

And he starts laughing and he goes, he goes, You afraid of me? I was like, Yeah, I'm afraid. He goes, So if I get closer, you'll be afraid. He gets closer, closer. It gets right up to my face, like one inch from my face. And he's like he's like, You afraid of me, huh? And I was like I was like, Yeah, I'm afraid. And he goes That's your truth, huh?

I go, yeah. He goes, he I go, yeah, I'm like in my head, I'm like, Oh, okay, good. I think I did it right. I just said what I was thinking, and I I think you know, and so then the brain in the voice in my head that was like judging every word I was saying kind of like relaxed for a second because this guy put him at ease. And he was like He's like he's like I can respect that. And he's like uh And he's he starts telling a story about a time like his life when he was afraid and like, you know, I'm off the hook, I go sit down now. And uh and at the end the guy like, you know, basically gave me a hug on the way out and he was like, you know, uh he's like, I hope I see you again sometime. And I was like, wow, that was a just a like a little life moment that It doesn't like I I don't know, I'm telling the story now. I don't think this even means anything to anybody. But I remember this like it like it happened yesterday. There's very few moments in my life that I can remember so vividly, but this was one of them. And I think it was because it was like a primal moment where I didn't know what was gonna happen. There was real fear. You talk about this a lot. Like

We're very rarely in real danger situations And even though this wasn't actual danger, this guy wasn't gonna do anything to me. It definitely felt that way and I remember it. And the crazy part and we can move on after this, but the crazy part is like I think what separates you and me or anyone listening to this podcast, which by the way, I learned well, I'll talk about that in a second. What separates us from someone like these folks, like there I I I met a bunch of people who are like habitual criminals. They were like, Yeah, you know, I just like I was a drug addict or I was just

I hated authority and and I've changed, but I was young and mean, and I met a bunch of other people who worked I met a guy who worked at Abbott. I met a guy who worked at Ford. I met a guy who as engineers like You know, they're probably making six figures. And they go, My marriage went horrible. One of us cheated.

And I got into a fist fight and I killed someone or I hurt someone really badly. And I was like, I don't think I'm ever gonna like hurt someone. But I could like it's not like in a in a m in a thing of rage, like you could flip out or I could get drunk and kill someone and driving. You know, like you could And it's not that c we're not that different, some of these guys. And so that was really crazy.

And while there So Let's get we'll talk about business. There's this there's the these guys have like iPads. They're not Apple, but they're like a different brand of like i i iPad type of like tablet. Okay. And um You can be an approved podcast. And so if we go through this the process of getting approved, we can go in there and there's about a and there's about a million incarcerated folks in America

And there's not that many podcasts on this on this thing. So I was like, Oh, I was like, dude, let's boost our numbers. And so I've I've I'm working um with the right people. There's like a company that makes these like iPads. Amazing. And And we're gonna be able to do it. Managers is in shambles, as you keep calling it, an iPad. Dude, I looked it up on on Wikipedia. It's this company and they were they sold to a PE company for two billion dollars. And they basically make things that the prison gives to incarcerate folks and they can buy

They could like buy movies and shit. And uh you basically if you have enough money on your accounts, you can watch movies your entire stay. And so uh Anyway, it was kinda cool. So that's my story. I I have a related thing. Do you know the guy Mike Posner? Of course. I know who he is, yeah. So he he's like kinda like rapper, singer type dude. I I I took a pill in a biza, that's like a pill in a biza, cooler than me. He's got a couple big

Big, big, big songs. The dupe, right? He went to Duke. So he was there while I was there. We were in the same year. And uh And I remember meeting him or seeing him and he said he was white kid he said he was gonna be a white kid from Detroit who said he was gonna be a rapper. I was like, all right, like eminent. Like, you know, that's a Duke. Yeah, like you went to Duke. Yeah, that's not really the path, my friend. Um, but he killed it. He did amazing. And I actually like one of the things I remember from that was He released his song. On iTunes U.

Um, because he was in school. So he could only somebody, only a student or professor could put content on iTunes U, which was like the subsection of iTunes. And because most of the things that go up there are like extremely academic, right? This is like a lecture from this random biology class in at Duke. So now all of a sudden you get this like rap song that goes on iTunes iTunes U, and he hit the top of the charts on IT too and he he would tell the so he put out there like Yo, I'm number one on iTunes. You know, like parentheses. Yeah. And so that's how I think he got booked on at first that's how we got a lot of college it's like a growth act. Like a lot of college students heard his song because iTunes U had like a Like there was like the rankings that like show the top ten iTunes songs which is super competitive. You gotta be like mega famous to do that. And then right below it was top ten iTunes U downloads. And he's his was number one. And so I think he got a lot of fans that way. And then he booked a bunch of early gigs when he had no name to say it by saying

Yeah, I'm number one on college campuses on iTunes. And they were like, Well, okay, sounds decent. All right, we'll we'll give you a shot. And that's and then he went on a college tour and that's how he built his following. So he did a very similar thing to what you're talking about. That's badass. I I like him a lot. So that's a good that that's a good story. It's like it's like Bjork getting famous in Iceland or something. Like it's better to be like have like a local maximum, like to be famous on a local on a local level and then you leverage that. I'll tell I'll tell one more. So um So my buddy did my buddy, my best friend Trevor did this thing called a bookstorm, which I think is a great idea in general, which is he wanted to write a book.

And so he's like all right, books normally take a long time. What if I did it differently? He's like, So let me um He did like a quick not a draft, but like just a quick like kind of concept of the book. And then he flew out the five most badass people he knew. And put us all up in a hotel and he said I want you here for basically a day and a half to just help me think through this book.

And he's like we'll brainstorm it together and he's like, I think if I just do this with deep intensity, I can make way more progress than if I just kinda like lightly touch this book every day. Like two years. Yeah, for two years. And it totally worked. Reagan. Uh R A G A N. So he uh so he and now he has the book. It's coming out. It did like an aud uh I forgot what he called, like a podio book. It's like a podcast of the audio of the book or something like that. So um Anyways, he was he flew up. It was me,'cause I was like his best friend from college, and then it was like This

Person who was like the um the the Olympic coach for the women's volleyball team. And so the US US women's volleyball has just kicked ass internationally, which is not expected because volleyball is a much bigger sport in other countries. But this guy like turned the program around and like so he was amazing. He was there. And this one guy was there. And he had been in prison for twenty years and he had gotten out. And he uh Trevor does a lot of uh pro bonos like talking in prisons. And so he had met this guy in in the process and he was like, Wow, this is this guy's amazing. And this guy shared two things. I was like, he came out and I was like, Man, this guy's like He is so wise, he is so articulate. I feel like he's read every fucking book'cause he keeps referencing really insightful pieces from all these different books. And so I was like, What's your story, man? He's like, actually I was in prison for twenty years. I was like, Whoa, no shit. And he goes, you know, uh I said, so you read all these books while you're there? He goes

He goes, Yeah, he goes, My first year when I was there He's like I was twenty years old or something like that. He's like he's like I decided Uh I'm gonna see what I wanna see. He goes, so I I I decided like you said they're calling they're calling them students there. He that's what he's it that's it that's what he did for himself in his brain. He goes, I told myself I'm not in prison, I'm in university. He's like every day I woke up and I said I have a I'm getting a twenty year PhD in life. And he's every day I woke up and I just I would tell everybody around me in the line, we're getting food. I would this is the this is the student union. I'm at the student union. I'm getting food from the from the from the meal hall. I'm going to the library. I I am in university right now. I am not in prison. And he just literally like worked himself up into a frenzy where his mind only saw that and he saw everything as

as university. So he read all these different books and then similarly he said, you know, I would look around on the on the yard and on the yard you'd see all kinds of bad shit going on, you know, the black guys fighting the white guys and the Mexican guys and all that. And you'd see broken you know, just broken down, you know, our basketball hoop was half crooked, all that. And he's like, I just played a game every day. And my mind I would change what I saw. So I would see a beautiful green field. I would see he's like every day. He's like, if I saw broken glass, I would see roses. And this guy's mindset impressed me so much. It's another one that stuck with me, which was like create your own reality and like how many times if this guy could do that in prison, then when I'm waiting in line at Starbucks, I'm not waiting in line bored. I change it. In my head, just like the guy changed his university things. That was another one that was like

That's amazing. A huge life thing that I took away from that guy. Yeah, I love this present talk. We we should I gotta we gotta I think we should do like an entire episode on this. There's like all these guys who are blowing up on YouTube who like are it's all about crime and and and prison talk and and whatnot. And I learned so much from those folks. Do you watch these videos that's basically like a guy these are not insightful and and wo and wo deep, but they're just entertaining to me. Have you seen these ones where guys will go, they'll film around a police station.

And then the cop comes out and he's like, Hey, why are you filming, man? What do you what do you what are you doing here? Let me see your license. Let me see your ID. He's like, Nope, I'm not gonna show you my idea. And he's like, What? He's like, Let me see your idea. And he's like, No, but I know my rights. I'm in a public place, I'm allowed to film. He's like, yeah, but what w what are you doing here? He's like, do you not know the rights? And they just like talk back to cops. And there's something about this about just talking back to cops and it's called justice porn and it's exactly. It's just this porn, that's what I call it. It's like and the comments are super polarized. Half the people are like, What an asshole, dude. The c you're just making you're just being annoying to the cops. They're like you're provoking them. And then they take the bait and then you like jump on them with because you you why did you spend your day doing this? And then the other half people are sort of like me and they're like

God, I don't know why I find this so entertaining. I just love when somebody like it's like it's just like most of the share accident. Yeah, there's something to it, man, but I can't I can't resist. That's my joke. That's my new reality TV. Yeah, go to uh Reddit. Docum Slash

Justice porn and there's a whole subreddit. for that and there's like a million subscribers, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, it's it's nuts. Like there'll be a guy gets pulled over and he's like, Let me see your ID and he shows him a password from another country and he's like Uh no, I need your ID. He's like, No, you don't. There's a treaty that says if I show you this passport, blah, blah, blah, and you cannot r arrest me. He's like, No some random ass like loophole and he's just driving around fast, hoping to get pulled over just so he can do this thing on camera and get a bunch of views. It's kinda sick, but I like it. Speaking about the countries.

Let me tell you about something. Interesting. Have you heard of Prospera? Have you heard of Prospera? Para that sounds very familiar. What is it? Okay, so I almost or I'm in the process and I hope I can make it happen of investing in this company called uh mini circle.

So Prospera is this new like private charter city. We've talked about private charter cities a bunch. Right. Okay. And so it was set up. In part by Peter Thiel, who's a very controversial weirdo type of guy. I like him, but a lot of people don't.

Um, and so he basically set up this country. or the city in Honduras and they have their own rules and their own laws and weird things like that. So do you know what gene therapy is? Have you heard of gene therapy? Yeah, is it basically uh like is cr would CRISPR be part of gene therapy? So it's basically the modification of your DNA in order to like fight disease? Is that is that a good description? Yeah, so

It's this very experimental kind of technique, kind of like medical procedure where basically you insert and modify genes in order to uh In in order to replace surgeries or drugs. So for example, there's this kid in Syria. He had some weird disorder where like all his skin started deteriorat deteriorating. He was about to die. And they did this gene editing stuff. And he was able to regrow back his skin. And a lot of people but it's very controversial because you're doing a couple things. You're kinda like playing God, which

Uh I don't buy in, but that's an argument. Yeah, and people don't like it. And also it's Experimental. And so the FDA like very closely monitors the stuff. And they'll say like yeah, and so there's and there's a lot of like weird like biohacker fringe types who are interested in this stuff. And so it's all like

controversial kinda, but nonetheless, it's cool. So I'm trying to invest in this company called Mini Circle, and they're making this new gene therapy that like increases muscle mass, bone density, helps you uh with insulin sensitivity and does all this like crazy shit to you. But In order to get it done in America, you gotta go to the FDA, and it's like this big process. And so they've moved their company to Prospera. This Peter Thiel.

City. In order to make all this shit happen and they're doing their testing people. Or is this the more Honduras? Latin America. Okay, yeah, Honduras. It's in Honduras. And so they're doing it like so basically they're like we're working with fully informed and trusted I'm reading off something. We're working with fully informed and trusted study participants who are choosing to do this. Right.

It we couldn't get this done in America. It would take forty years to do this. We're gonna do this on this land uh on this weird city type of thing. Yep. And I'm trying to invest in this company. I think it's ridiculous. I think it's crazy. But Kinda cool. It is very cool. I invested in one charter city called uh Praxis. And they're what they did was pretty smart. They were like they first created just a bunch of like um like a like a group here in America. So they they invited a bunch of cool people from New York, LA, San Francisco. And they're just like host events. So they're throw dope parties. So these people that they're like in a community, they get to meet each other at these events. And there's like an online component. And uh they keep doing this, they keep doing this, and what meanwhile, they're searching, they're going around to like all around the world and they're basically

negotiating with governments and they're saying, hey Give us some free land. And let us have our own rule of law and rule of financial law. Um in the like our own financial regulations and our own rule of law in this zone. We're gonna create a new city and we're gonna bring all these pe like Cool people plus like development dollars to your place, right? So

In the in the US, you could never say, Hey, US government, go give us, you know, a little piece of Wyoming. They're not really gonna give you that. But um, you know, you go to whatever, you know, you go just in the Mediterranean and the Balkans, and you find some random piece of land, and you say, Oh, this is beautiful. It's right on the ocean, it's undeveloped, and you go to the government, you say, look What if I could get a bunch of uh people from America, you know, successful people who want to kind of live in a new a new charter city. And uh and so it's this like really wild moonshot idea. I ex totally fully expect this investment to go to zero. Uh I put in a very small check, but I had to participate because The founder was so convinced that like, yeah, of course people will do this. And uh and that if you did it, it would be very large. It'd be like owning the raw land, you know. You know, the land under Manhattan where all the buildings are gonna get built. And you can either do development yourself or you could sell off the pads and make a ton of money. So the business is great if you can kick off a new charter city. And one of the ways you attract people is this, like if you own if you have your own rule of law, you can say, Hey, biohackers come here because you're allowed to do, you know, you're allowed to run your experiments here because we have our own kind of like z free zone where we can do our own shit. And so uh I think it's really cool what's happening. Bology is pretty convinced that

In the next ten years we're gonna see charter cities uh in a pop up startup cities. Yeah, and on one hand, to say to explain why this like why the haters exist on this Um and why I I definitely hate on him a little bit. Or you know, there's like some negativity which is like it's most likely like

fringe libertarian types, kinda like how the all the bitcoin rich folks are going to Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. You know, you could say like the FDA exists for a good reason. Rules exist for a good reason. You guys are freaks just trying to like avoid the reality. Um, and there's definitely a truth to that and there are like probably s that's a solid argument Yeah some parts of that. And then on the other side you can say

Well, like that's like what the fucking uh America started, right? Yeah. You know we we bailed on the We were the free experimentation zone, right? Yeah, like we rode a ship across like uh, you know, three thousand miles not knowing what to expect and we just landed and we figured it out. So I think even the people who like startup cities would say, Yeah, great. There should be the FDA, there should be all the stuff for most people in most places. But if it covers all All land and all people within a country, then you stamp out the experiment wild experimentation. So I know the Google guys have been talking about this before, which is that they need a

There should be a free space. Where if you opt in You can go and you can do some of the experimental things that you can't do here. And the learnings from that, let's say nine out of the ten things don't work out or they have bad consequences. Okay, fine. But if one breakthrough innovation or um or or discovery is made, Then that can be exported back to the mainland and we can say, look, let's go let's take this true proper testing and let's roll it out to everybody. So like, you know, people go to Germany to go get, you know, stem cell treatments and things like that, because it's not legal here, but in other countries they're more liberal about it. So like, you know, I started a company once, a biotech company

And the technology was made in the US. The government US government had sp had funded forty million dollars of R and D for this technology. But you couldn't go use it in anywhere in the US because the like you would never get the permits. The people would say, Why would we will not let you put these microbes into the ground. It was basically these little microbe bugs that could eat coal underground. So you don't have to mine it. And they would basically just like fart or breathe out natural gas. And so they will just mine the coal themselves and you just collect the natural gas. You don't have to frack the earth and you don't have to mine the coal. But the US would never let us pump these microbes into the ground because they're like, We don't have to. We're life is pretty good here. We don't have to do that.

So we went to Indonesia and we went to India where they were like Yeah. Hey, here's a huge plot of land. How much money do you need to go do this? We love this, right? We want economic activity. We want innovation. And if this works, then we want to capture some of the upside of being able to like sell this technology to others. And so we got quick permits in Indonesia and India where we couldn't we you know, the companies trying to do the same thing in the US, they were bogged down for years and never got approvals. Have you ever heard of medical tourism? Yeah, I've always been curious about like how the how people have the guts to do this, but it makes sense. You go to Mexico, get your teeth fixed, or whatever. You know, have you ever done anything like this?

No, so for those who don't know what this is, I learned about this because me and Sean's buddy, John Howard. You're friends with John Howard. Yeah, yeah, he's great. We I shared an office with him at this place called Founders Dojo, and they created a company, I forget the name of it, but it was basically medical tourism. So basically um I I think a a uh a use case is typically like dentists or like veneers and teeth stuff. Although uh then there's other stuff like breast implants and uh plastic surgery. Yeah where their premise was basically it's cheaper to get it done in Bali or Mexico or India, somewhere like that, where like There I have no idea if this is true.

They're like The doctors are just as good, but it's a fraction of the cost. To fly out there. Get the surgery done and chill there for a week and recover and fly back.

The company did not work out. And frankly, in my opinion, it sounds like a fucking pain in the ass. I would never do that. I'd rather pay twenty thousand dollars in America for veneers, but be able to get it done like three bucks for my house than I would want to go to Mexico. But Well yeah, it's not for it's not for you, right? It's for somebody who can't afford it here. It's uh it's not if I could do this or that. It's I can't do this and my teeth fucking hurt, or I can't do this and I need this surgery done. Uh okay, if I can't afford it here, even with insurance. Then okay, I'll go to Mexico and I'll do it because I have no no no real other option. Or I it it's so prohibitively expensive, it would cripple me financially. And I don't want to save my health and cripple my finances. So I'm gonna do this. There's I think it's a hundred billion dollars a year.

is paid off the i no way. It's a hundred billion of medical tourism per year globally. That amazes me. I never would have thought that. I just think it's a pain in the ass. It seems wild, right? But I think that's the Yeah, when people are pushed into a corner, they will find a way, you know, that that is sort of the the innovation of people. Um and yeah, I'm actually surprised this thing didn't work. What he was doing was he was selling leads. So he would find customers who are interested in it. He would educate them and he would sell those leads to the off medical offices. you know, in Mexico or wherever and say, Hey, this person is interested They want to do a phone call with you. Would you pay us a hundred dollars for that lead? And they were like, Yeah, sure. You know, and I I I honestly think that business should have worked and would have worked had he stuck with it. It was like a pivot and maybe he didn't have enough time to to figure it out. Yeah, I don't I don't know the particulars, but I know that it's it's when he told me about it, I was like, There's no way this would work. But

I say that about a lot of stuff. Yeah, exactly. Uh all right, what else we want to talk about? I don't know. What do you want to do? Uh let me look at your list here. Okay, so there's uh Julian building a ranch. I think that's pretty cool. We should talk about that. Uh let's do Ju Julian building a ranch and then let's do uh Let's do that.

Okay. I have a I have a good deep dive. I'm gonna save it for the next episode. That's a good one about the diamond industry. Alright, lay the background of this so You know Julian better than I do. Yeah. Yeah. So Julian Shapiro, he's just at Julian on Twitter. P a lot of people follow him there. I think he's got like, you know Two hundred thousand or maybe more followers. He's a weirdo.

Total weirdo. In the best way possible. Um He called me the other day and I said I go hello and he goes The love of my life. Like check my phone who the fuck is calling me and then he's like I have this deal, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he you know just goes straight into it. Doesn't even acknowledge the love of my life part. Uh it was just hilarious. He's just a hilarious character. He sends us like the funniest memes. Like on Twitter, he's like this really thoughtful intellectual like guy who'll teach you how to write and teach you about all this other stuff, teach you how to think, frameworks, blah, blah, blah.

And then in our group chat, he's sending, you know, the the goofiest memes, which is uh like that's my favorite type of person who's got both of those sides to him, the silly side and the smart side. So he tweeted out that he's basically he's been talking about this for a while, so it's not just like a Bullshit thing. But he's like He really, really wants to build a ranch. Actually, by the way, I should share the most interesting thing about'em.

For the last eight months. All he has eaten. Is wag you steak. And boiled eggs. Which I don't believe. I believe it because he's crazy and he he kinda needed to. I think he had some like his his gut health wasn't right and he just like like took control. He's like, I'm gonna ch I'm gonna figure out how to fix this. The doctor's not helping me, I'm gonna fix this myself. He had read about the carnivore diet. I think Jordan Peterson had a very similar

Like kind of like issue and he famously came out, I did carnivore if it healed me basically. And so he started doing it. He started feeling a little better. Then he committed to it. And he's like, Okay. So he literally orders wagyu steak. from these like farm, from this one farm actually in particular. And he orders like three thousand dollars a month of steak. And he shows me his freezer. His freezer is just full of bricks of steak. Like Imagine like you know when you see in a movie c piles of cash, like just bound up piles of cash, it's that, but with waggy stakes. And so we had like He said it was miserable for like six or eight weeks. He was like, I craved carbs, I craved sugar, and then he got six, eight weeks into it, and he's like

I can't even imagine eating sugar carbs again. I I don't crave'em at all. It sounds horrible. By the way, that's a real thing from what I understand that there's at there's basically in your microbiome, in your gut. There's all these uh, you know, basically it's bacteria that live there. And the bacteria feed uh the different yeast and bacteria feed off of uh different like substrate, different, different food. And so the more you eat carbs, so imagine if what you're putting in is carbs. The bacteria that thrived off of let's call it meat are gonna sort of die out and the bacteria that thrive on carbs are gonna like proliferate. They're gonna spread, they're gonna multiply, and they're gonna um they're they're gonna make up the majority of your gut. And then if you decide to switch and go low carb, all of a sudden those bacteria are gonna say, Where the hell's our food? And the in the craving you feel, those carb cravings, is not just like your mind being weak. It's literally the gut bacteria.

That are signaling to your body, we need our fix. We need our shit or we're gonna die. Dude, what are you are you reading about body stuff now? How do you know all this? Uh no, I w I heard this once, I was fascinated by it. And somebody had told me this and I looked into it because I was like, Is that bullshit? And like I'll just say Half the shit I read five years later turns out to be bullshit. So like with health, I feel like nobody knows anything. But In hearing this, I was like, Oh, that makes total sense. And that's how you get, you know, just like you get withdrawal pangs if you stop caffeine, the same exact thing happens with carbs. And when you know that that's what's happening, you're like, oh, okay, I just need to ride you motherfuckers out. Like I just need to keep I just need to hold you guys, I'll starve you guys out. And in seven days

You'll be dead and the only bacteria left will be the ones that feed that like the stuff I I want to be eating. So it's a total thing. Well, okay, so and back to Julian. And and by the way, that's always why I wanted to start my startup called Hostage, where we just like take you and uh throw you in this like Like land and uh keep you in a cabin for like three weeks and just like monitor exactly. Yes. Would you be interested in a 10 day program that would guarantee results? I will I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars if you don't lose weight.

Yeah, sounds good. We just give you fourteen hundred calories a day and it's Yeah, like would you like a glass of water? Uh like that's all we that's all you get. One of your top ten ideas. Um anyway, so Julian basically yeah, he buys and and by the way, the the ranch thought he was a restaurant because he was ordering so much fucking steak. They're like, Well C certainly you're a restaurant. Here's your like wholesale price break. And it just turns out he's just a dude. Anyway, so he really wants to build this ranch in the middle of nowhere because he's thinking about where do I want to live? And then he s he tweeted out this thread that I love. It's just Just

Search his name Julian and I'm building a ranch in the middle of nature. And basically he's like, you know, why am I doing this? I wanna leave San Francisco I um you know, I I just think it would be amazing. And he he basically tweets out his plans. He's like, Here's where I'm looking, here's the land, here's how much it costs. I'm gonna build this like these like prefab homes. I'm gonna build this podcast studio, I'm gonna have like blank blank blank. You like this. I know this is like right up your alley. So what did you think about this? Okay, so

Yeah. This is, in my opinion, very romanticized, incredibly not practical, and it won't work in most cases. Have you ever been Uh you know, you live in you lived in a city for a long time, you now live in the burbs, but it's still populated with people. Have you ever been by yourself for a while? Like in in uh rural area? Shoot me. Yeah, no, horrible.

It's fun for a minute. It's great. I was just in Hawaii and it was like this is relaxing. This is great. I can't I think that's you basically you want to do it to the point where you're like Ah, I felt the benefits, and now I want to run back into society and tell everyone how awesome I am for doing this retreat from society. Yes. And so like I'm reading the the Teddy Roosevelt biography and he did the same thing. So basically um his wife and mother died on the same day and it was tragic.

It's horrible. And while she the wife died, Allison, while giving birth to his daughter. So like the most complicated day ever. And he was like, The light of my life is gone. I I cannot live anymore. Uh just n life is done for me. And so he went and he bailed and he lived in the Badlands, which is in the Dakotas. And he said, I feel replenished. I feel wonderful.

But you still gotta get he went eventually back to D C and or New York and became a politician. And I think that I think what a lot of people re uh overestimate is or rather underestimate is community. So in order to make this work, I think a few people can make this work. But from nine out of ten folks You nід piers, you need family, you need френс.

Life is I don't give a fuck if I live in the most beautiful place on earth. If I don't have people that I can see on a regular basis who I love. It's stupid. I'd rather live poor and in a shack with people I love than in a mansion on a fifty plot fifty acre, hundred acre plot of land. That's beautiful. A hundred percent agree. I think Um Part of his plan is to basically have a bunch of basically guest houses, make it an awesome ranch where he'll just have this rotation of kind of friends and cool people that want to come stay. And I think that will I think that will happen.

Uh, but he's I think he's single, so I don't like you know, if I went out there with my my wife, my kids, then I think I could last a lot longer than uh than if I went out there literally by myself. Um, even just hoping kind of friends would come to visit. So I think that is one thing. And I think this is a great example of you want to have this dream. But then I think you need to test it. I think you need to go live I think he needs he should stop right now. He should go somewhere for one week and just say, Okay, let me go test or two weeks. Let me go spend two weeks by myself in this Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. And let me just see how I feel after two weeks. And then let me try that again. And I know he's got the discipline,'cause if you can eat steak only for you know, steak and eggs only for for eight pine props. But like you don't want it to feel like an endurance contest. If you're trying to choose your lifestyle, you want it to be one that feels effortlessly awesome, not

Like uh uh uh Test of your mental fortitude, I think. So I think it's amazing. I would love to go visit, but I would not want to do this myself. So I've actually like done this a bunch of times. So there's a bunch of stuff that I wanted in my life. And I was able to test it on a very small scale.

And I'll give you a few examples. So for example, um I wanted to retire. And so I had the opportunity a couple years ago, I took six weeks off. And I just took it off completely. And by the fifth week I was like I can't retire. I have to be around I have to have something to do.

Another example is buy a fancy car. You can go and test these cars for Right. It's a lot of money, it's a thousand dollars a day. But you could testing a two hundred thousand dollar car for two days is my you you get into it and you're like this Ferrari is so small, I cannot drive this up and down like a driveway, it's just gonna smack the ground and it's not fun or yeah, I'm stressed about this and the fun of having it versus the stress of having it is actually not a good trade. Now that I feel it, I know it. Another example is having a five thousand square foot home.

For the longest time I was like, I want a five thousand square foot house. So I went and rented a five thousand square foot house. I sp I spent a lot of money. Maybe I think I I did it in New York. I I rented a fifty five hundred square foot house. And it was like thirteen thousand dollars for a month. A lot of money, no doubt about that. But the house was way more expensive than that. And I got in this house and I was like

I I cannot imagine having to fix all this crap all the time. This is exhausting. I can't do this. I don't want this. Or I'm I'm only using the living room, the bedroom, and this huge kitchen. Which I like. I don't need these six other bedrooms. And um

Anyway, I think that you could actually test a lot of stuff. And more people should do that. They should they you can Dude, I so I I I okay, I'm gonna rant for a second. Think about like in college, right? So I think there's this w crazy thing in society, which is like Over commitment. And over specialization without

dabbling. So like you're a freshman in college. I remember at the end of my freshman year in college, I had to commit to a major. Like dude, I had just figured out like where the hell the bathroom is. I don't know what a major is. I don't know what the other majors could be. I know that if I don't commit, I'm gonna be falling behind and off track. And I'm not gonna have my credits on time and I'm not gonna know what co courses to take. And I'm basically picking my career without ever even knowing what my career should be. So forget what classes I'm gonna like. These c the my major sort of dictates what job I'm eligible for at the end. And I think it's crazy. And the same thing with people's you know, like first job. They just have to sort of pick a career track. without dabbling in figuring out what they actually might like to do. The like the idea of dating is a so is amazing. Like my parents were arranged marriage. So they, you know, they literally my mom read an ad in the newspaper for my dad, which said like, you know, six feet tall, which is a slight lie, you know, he's five ten, uh, you know. Uh i Indian, um what else? Engineer degree and good family. That was basically the ad. And she was like, describe like every Indian American. Good enough. Good enough to marry. Uh let's let's let's meet. And then they the parents met and they're like, Okay.

In this one tea we're having together, this one coffee meeting we're having. All right, cool. We're done deal. Uh see you the next time I see you, we'll be at the wedding. Um, and that's how they got married. And like, you know sh sh shocker that you know, the these marriages aren't always the best. And so that But are they happy? Uh no. And most so I would say like Indian marriages have like a very low divorce rate because like societally it's like there's like a taboo against getting divorced. So they just like even worse, stay together unhappy is what most people do. And then of obviously some get divorced. But like this arranged marriage idea is it's not great. Now The counterpoint would be You know, I think in New York there's a fifty three percent divorce rate also. So, you know, maybe the whole dating thing doesn't work as well. So that that's the that's a fair counterpoint. But

I would say um this idea of dating of basically try before you buy is um is really important in life. And like these these tests that you've done for yourself are super important and I'm shocked more people don't do them. I started doing them And I'm like wow, that's way better than This like I'll just have this idea in my head and it'll get so real in my head. And then when I finally do it, I'm like oh shit, that was underwhelming it's like couldn't I have just sampled this beforehand and known that and not had this idea? Like um

Uh what's an example? Uh, like okay, I'll give you an example on the plus side. So the example on the plus side. So I hired a chef. So I have a personal chef. I wanted a personal chef for a really long time. Uh how much does that cost a month? So Um, how much does it cost me a month? It's about Three thousand four hundred dollars a month. Uh three thousand five hundred dollars maybe.

Uh thirty five hundred. That does not include the food. No, the food's on top. Uh, that's just like the service the service of having a private chef in my house. And um By the way. Worth it. Amazing. Like you know, uh fortunate to be able to afford it, but like

To me, I I don't have a fancy car. I don't even have a fancy home. But I got a housekeeper who comes, you know, th th three days a week and I got a pr private chef, and to me that's like That's my version of luxury. That's like I you know That's my version of a Lambo. It's like a lifestyle. So does this person tell me everything. Does this so I have a chef as well for a minute, but it was a little bit different. It was more like meal prep. Does this person come and and I paid way less, a fraction of that. Right. Um I'm in the Bay Area too, so you know it's uh Yeah. But my guy came two days a week and they would meal prep for me.

And I didn't like it. I ended up just not using them and I I made my own food. So when to to do the sample idea. I uh I first even got the idea because I got to sample it. So my previous company, Monkey Inferno, you've you've been there before for lunch, I think, probably. Uh the the the investors behind us, they were kind of like a a billionaire family, the the Birch family, they had a private chef in their home. But you know, they were out and about all day working or they'd be at the office. So their chef would just come to the office and cook for all of us. And so we were, you know, a company of like 20 people and he would cook this amazing spread. And all of a sudden healthy food tasted good. So immediately I was like, holy shit, this is kind of amazing. I don't have to like go out, figure out what to eat every day. This guy just decides. So that's one decision I don't make.

He cooks healthy food and it tastes like junk food. All right, that's like, you know, wow, that's amazing. If I just ate this for all my meals, I'd be way healthier than just my lunch. And so um so I got to sample it. That told me I want this. Um and there's other things that I got to try, you know, when I was at their house, or the fancy parties that they throw or fancy cars that they have. That you know, I got to try and I was like I d I don't care about this. Good. I can scratch that off the list. It's one less thing I want. It's one less thing I care about. And so that's just hanging out with them got me got me to try some things that I thought I was working for and figure out what I like and don't like. So then I tried some meal prep people, but what I figured out, what I really like is somebody who comes, I don't decide what to eat. They know my they know my life they know what food I like, they know what uh what health uh what level of healthiness I I care about.

And they just come make it fresh on the spot. Cause I think fresh food tastes way better than meal prep food. And so she comes and she and then I also thought I also realized, oh, this is not just about my health. Like one of the most time consuming parts of being a parent is constantly trying to feed your kid. I like my kid's like a picky eater. And so she uh You know, like I'm making f the three dishes for her every meal just trying to get her to eat something that she likes. And uh that just takes up more time than even cooking for myself did. So the chef cooks for me, my wife who's vegan, and uh our our baby. And so our baby now eats like way better than when we were just you know, let's make some mac and cheese, let's warm something up. And um

And it makes it fun to feed her week. So I was tired. So she g so right now she's coming three days a week. Uh, so she comes every other day, basically. And then on the weekends we wanna eat out. So we like to go to restaurants or whatever. So we we said don't don't come on the weekends. And uh we may move it up to five days uh at some point. But but right now it's good. Basically she and it's little things like uh here's a green smoothie she makes every you know. So in between meals instead of a snack, it's she's like, Oh, you want your smoothie? I'm like, Oh yeah, I do want that smoothie. Thank you. Wait. Uh, I think so. I don't I don't really weigh myself, but in the mirror I looked at it. You look like you lost weight. I look better. And I don't know if my weight has changed. I don't I don't use the scale, but I just use the mirror as the scale. And so often had does your cleaner come? Three days a week also.

And how much do you pay for that? Hundred sixty bucks per visit, I think. Damn dude, so you spend a lot of money on these things. I mean a lot of money on the They may be extremely happy.

They make like the feeling after the cleaners are here is like, you know, that's like a high for me. That's like I did it. Well, I don't know what Molly is, but that's Molly for me. I feel so good in my own home. It's amazing. Having food, having fresh, healthy food made, I think that's that's a a treat. That's an absolute treat for me. I uh I'm perfectly happy with Well we have a cleaner who comes every two weeks and I think we spend a hundred and twenty or hundred and fi I don't remember, but

I'm also messy as fuck and I have kids and they're messy as fuck. So like you know the house gets destroyed. Uh you know, my sister cleans I think four times a day in her house, just putting putting toys away every you know, every four hours, basically. So it's crazy. Uh but I don't know if people care about this, but I guess my my my the point I was trying to make is I think sample. I'm gonna go with it. I think sampling your lifestyle is super important. I'll give you one more story here that that helps. So um you know that uh I did a podcast from Vegas. I said I was I was at somebody's home uh you know, fifteen thousand square feet. Yeah, uh I don't even know how how many it's like ten, ten to fifteen thousand square feet. Just unbel it looks like a hotel, basically. And uh unbelievable. They they have a they have a Lambo and a Ferrari and a monster truck and like all this other cool shit. They have all the toys. There's a batting cage in the backyard. There's a you know, like a infinity pool that looks over the city, you know, you can see the strip. There's like

Everything you would want in a home, they got it. Elevator, all the crazy shit. Um And uh and so anyways I g when I was there, I had this feeling That I don't like that I've thought I had slayed this feeling, but nope, it came back and it was like Kinda like jealousy. It was like I was

And the way I knew it was'cause I was like kinda poo-pooing, like, oh, I don't need all this. I I'm I'm happy without all this. And I was kinda like In my head trying to like almost say why I didn't want these things,'cause actually I felt bad that I didn't have all these things. Like this weird psychology thing. But it the simple way of explaining it was like I felt these like little hunger pangs of of envy of like, oh, I want that. Um And I was like, Oh, that's not a good feeling. And the shi was Uh instead of

Oh. You know, these are things that I don't have, but they have, right? Like it's n nothing wrong with them, but just I don't have these things and and other people have them. Um instead I looked at it differently. I was like I uh the by the the third day there I I was like, I gotta shift my mindset. I'm not trying to have this jealousy feeling in my my day. It's not a cool feeling for me. So I was like, All right, what am I gonna shift it to? And I said, Oh, how about I look at this like a s like I'm at I'm getting a a sample platter here. So these are things I can have. These are things I can have in the next few years. You know, things go right in my business. I I can afford all these things. So why don't I feel like what it feels like to wake up in a in a mansion like this? Why don't I feel like what it's like to to have a basketball court in a batting cage, you know, built into the home. Why don't I feel what it's like to to drive this car and oh now I'm all of a sudden feeling excited. Ooh, what do I get to try today that's like

Uh you know, I get to go try on m something that I might have in the future. Did you did you drive Ferrari? Yeah, so I got to test drive the stuff and feel like what like you know, what does it feel like? Did you like it? No, I uh for me, cars are stressful. Uh like I I I don't like fancy cars, they're very stressful to me. And they're kind of like uncomfortable. Like I I don't really get off on it. There's probably like a version of a car that I like, but not the like supercars, basically. Supercars are not something I want. And so I got to figure out what do I not want and then ooh actually this feels really good. It feels really good to have, you know, th this home gym built into my home. So okay. You know, why don't I do that? And you know, why don't I why don't I go for that then?

So I think that sampling is not only just an effective way to figure out what you want, it's also a cure for jealousy. Cause when you're in those situations where you're jealous, switch it to thinking of it like I'm just getting to try before I buy, before I have all these things, I get to sample them and figure out what exact flavor of this I'm gonna want. And then it becomes yours instead of feeling like it's theirs and you don't have it. I have that feeling with um so we had this guy on the podcast uh a while ago. We should have him back on again. His name is Nick Bear. B A R E Nick Bear. He runs um Bair Performance Nutrition or something, V PN and a big YouTube channel, right?

And a huge YouTube channel. This guy came out with us he came out With this his content production is so freaking good. So he's got this supplement business that does like twenty or thirty million in revenue, a lot. But when we had him on, it was like six million revenue or or something like that. It wasn't like

It was good, but it wasn't significant. And he created this YouTube channel. He's like good looking, like Yoke. Like he's a massive dude. But he l so he lifts weights and he's this muscle head. But he's really cool and now he's into endurance sports. And so on his YouTube channel, which now when we had him on, I think it had like two hundred thousand subscribers, now it's getting close to a million, seven, eight hundred thousand.

He did this thing. He's got this whole team behind his his YouTube channel. He's got like three or four guys working full time on it. He released a forty-five minute documentary about him running the Leadville One Hundred. The Leadville One Hundred is a hundred mile race through the mountains of Leadville, Colorado. And you basically I it looked like it was like laps or something of like fifteen or twenty miles. And he had these guys at checkpoints to film him. And I was watching this guy. It was the most inspirational shit I've ever seen. I'm gonna go and buy like I don't even know what bear nutrition sells, because I whenever I buy whey protein, I just go to Whole Foods and I just buy like

You know, like uh or an Amazon. I'm purposely gonna go out of my way to buy his stuff. H have you been paying attention to Nick Bear? I don't he doesn't show up on my YouTube feed. I need to subscribe so it starts to show up on my feed. Dude, you gotta watch this guy. It is the cra so he's ex military. You're the only fitness influencer I watch. Well we can talk about that in a second, but he this it he's inspired me. To like take it to the limit.

He is so crazy. This guy is nuts. Like They he has a video of him like deadlifting five hundred and fifty pounds, which is a shit ton of weight. And then he goes and he runs a marathon in like two hours and fifty five minutes, which is very, very fast. And he's the biggest guy doing it. It's very interesting. So I've been watching this guy and I had this like pretty big sense of jealousy where I'm like

I wanna be doing that. And uh so that's why I'm doing this little fitness influencer shit now. And it's kind of a joke, but not really a joke. And to be honest, it's so fun, dude. You totally have to do this. It one hundred percent makes you accountable and makes you exercise harder. Yeah, I love it. I have to so I sampled your gym, so I went to your house. sample germ. I was like, wow, amazing. And then I called you the other day. I was like, yo

What are you using for the flooring? What are you doing for this? What are you doing for that? Give me the give me the s the the the blueprint because I'm turning my garage into your garage. I I I'm like, that is a great That was such an amazing feeling to work out there. I wanna have that feeling on a daily basis. So Dude, it's way cheaper than you think. I know. I g I I didn't even take a it's not even a lot of money, but it's more like It's more of having the clear vision of what you want and seeing yours was like Oh, now I know what I like. And I'm I just have some additions and modifications. So I'm like, oh, my daughter who's two, she loves to come out when I'm working out and she loves to work out with me side by side, which is just like she just wants to be the

She wants to do little things next to me. So we're creating a little workout play pen. Where she can go in there with little foam weights and do her thing while I'm doing mine. So I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna craft this lifestyle to be what I want. And um and so like, you know That's there's something to this sampling, and I really encourage people to find a way to sample it. If you want to know what kind of home you want, go Airbnb something. Before I did this chef thing, I hired a chef for one meal to cook like a kind of a dinner for like I had some friends in town. It was like, oh let me hire somebody off Craigslist just to make one meal. Like I don't want to deal with we can go out to eat, but wouldn't it be cool if a chef came to our house and did it and like The cost is about the same of

you know, taking my friends out to a restaurant. So let me just do that at home. And it was amazing. And so uh having that chef at the at the home was like a good way to test these things. And so that's my kind of challenge to anybody who's who has made it through this random episode, which is like Think about the shit that you have been telling yourself you want and figure out a way to go sample it. Like in the next week. Go rent the car. Go hang out at someone's house, go shadow a CEO, go, you know, hire the chef for the day. Do do like the sample of it and figure out does it make you want it 10 times more?

Or ten times less. Cause usually that's the reaction I have when I when I feel it for the first time real is I want it way more or way less. I'm curious if people are gonna like this rambling. Um I like this stuff, but I don't know, I wonder what what people will enjoy. 'Cause I I could talk about this shit all day. I like this this fitness crap, this

Building the life that you want, crap. I love this stuff. Chime in here. What do you what do you think, Ben? Um I can only speak from like my perspective, which is Uh, I'm really into the charter city stuff, so that like

I really liked that. And the prison stuff I think is gonna be interesting to anyone, so it it worked for me. And Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, come on. You knew that would be a math, so Are you gonna do dude Teddy Roosevelt is The most prolific person I have ever read about. I've read

Hun maybe over a hundred biographies. He is Likely the most active person I have ever read. Uh he has done so much amazing stuff. This guy's a freak. Teddy Roosevelt's a fan. Where's the where is the how to take over the world episode on Teddy Roosevelt?

Yeah, of uh I would say of the people that That people bring up that they want me to do, Teddy Roseell is probably number two. Uh Genghis Khan's probably number one that people mention and Teddy Roosevelt number two. So it'll it'll do. Roosevelt is like he's different than Napoleon like Napoleon did a lot, but Roosevelt is far more eclectic. He like before he was even in politics, when he was twenty one, he wrote a book on the Spanish Americar, and it was considered a textbook. For decades.

Um and then he wrote a couple more books. He uh uh became um Uh president obviously, that's amazing. He um was like this avid hunter and this zoolog uh zoo what is it when you collect animals and like uh describe like the the where they come from and things like that, like Darwin shit. He did that type of crap before he was like in his thirties. Very prolific, very interesting person. You gotta read about uh Teddy Roosevelt. Very intriguing.

What book are you reading? The Rise of Teddy uh Teddy Roosevelt. I think there's like three of Because I know. There's one that came out uh Fairly recently is really popular now about

His trip to the Amazon. Um later in life. And Matt was amazing. The guy was ridiculous. He also has this book that I'm thinking about reading. This title's beautiful. It's called A strenuous life. And so he had this phrase where he was like so Roosevelt would like a even when he was president

Every morning he would box, like fight. He loved it and he was like It's our like we have to live the strenuous life where we put in effort, physical effort, and we get hurt sometimes and we struggle. He's like you we have to do that. Otherwise you're never gonna feel like a man or or a human being. And so I've been very inspired by Teddy Roosevelt. He very interesting person.

That's funny. You know, I'm I'm listening Ben, I'm listening to the Vladimir Putin episodes that you did on the on how to take over the world. And uh I'm I'm only I'm I'm on part one. And uh I love that he was like the opposite of what you're described because when Sam describes these people, it's like, Holy shit, these are just like another species. It's like a guy who's done this and this and this and this all before the age of thirty. And the best part about the Putin thing was you were like Up until thirty, he basically had a very sort of like average.

Average life. There's nothing remarkable that would tell you that this guy's about to become what Putin ended up becoming. There's like little hints, little signs, a couple of moments, but You know, by and large it was like, you know, mediocre mediocre student, um you know kind of like low level low level uh you know spy, not not you know, put in this like random random office, not in the high le highest level. And then that was all until thirty. And then I'm guessing'cause I haven't listened to part two yet, but I'm guessing that Obviously it's gonna turn up and he's gonna end up, you know, becoming The leader leader of the country, but it was so uh crazy to me that he was unremarkable essentially till thirty. Was that surprising to you?

Yeah, and the the the moment that you're talking about is like He was kind of Like a mid level operative in Saint Petersburg. And I think the guy that he worked for lost an election, so he's like out of a job. And he was gonna go just like start a judo gym.

In St. Petersburg, Russia. Yeah. 'Cause he's like pretty good. He sounded like just like he's Dwight from the office. He's like in Scranton. He's just a mid level he's assistant to the regional manager, and then somehow becomes, you know, it's like if Dwight became Elon Musk. That's sort of like what happened with Putin. Mid level officer to like, you know President. Do you think then that he is actually the richest person in the world? Um

No. I Don't insofar as like do I actually think he has like Whatever a a hundred billion dollars in secret accounts? Probably not. But it's like it kinda doesn't matter because he has access to as much money as he wants whenever he wants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he probably just ha doesn't have to. He like doesn't have to move all that money to his account. Does that make sense? He scares me, man. So rich he doesn't need it in his account.

He freaks me out, man. Putin scares the shit out of me. Sam, have you listened to this episode of the Putin one? There's a there's Oh, I I dude, I I I fear him and so I've been nervous to listen to it. Th there's a line at the beginning that I love that is like it's like this little little anecdote. It's like he was kind of like um not a great student in school. Um And just like wasn't very interested. He's like he's the teacher's like he's smart, but he's not that interested in school. And so the teacher tells his dad, like, you know, he's not living up to he's not living up to his potential. And then the dad like as just like as a Russian would, is like most r most Russian shit ever, he goes So what, do I kill him or what do I do?

So what should I do? Kill him? I was like wow. Most Russian thing ever. Yeah. Dude, he freaks me out, man. A lot of the Russians scare me. That's kinda like why I like Khib in the UFCs, because the Russians like freak me out. They they're on another level. They're on another level. There's levels to it and the rest of them are on one level.

Never seen a Russian doing a podcast. Thank you. We' Russians don't do podcasts, right? They live a harder life than us. They're doing more and more tough shit than than sitting in front of a microphone. Dude, I've never even seen a Russian smile.

Like they don't like they don't I think I'm almost positive they like start smiling in Russia's weakness. If you saw a Russian and he winked at you, what would you what would happen to your body? There's this comedian who like talks about like he's like You know, like one time I was going to this bad neighborhood and um I was nervous and I ri and he was a this guy's a white guy and I was nervous and I and and he goes someone came up to me, talk to me and ask me like A question that I thought that they're just like trying to like

trick me into like uh you know, testing me to see where you know, if they're gonna rob me or not. And he goes, immediately I just spoke in a Russian accent and immediately they were afraid for afraid of me and walked away. And he's like, This is my defense mechanism. He just says, uh Yeah. Of course I know. Like I in this like horrible rush act. Like, do I know where I am? Of course, do you?

Like he like says this like scary thing to this guy and he like walks away from him entirely and that's his defense mechanism from now on, is just speaking in a Russian accent. That's amazing. If I do that in an Indian accent, I'd just get beat up on the spot. So it doesn't work the same. Um, all right, we should wrap it up. I was just m I was gonna say something, I was gonna stick up for the Russians a little bit. I visited Russia with uh with my wife. She speaks a little bit of Russian. And um My experience was like they're they are very much like that. Like they're kinda gruff and like a little scary, whatever. But there were a couple times where like

Um Like my phone wasn't working and like we needed to get to the train station in an hour or else like we were gonna miss our flight and everything was gonna go wrong and like People were more willing to go out of their way and like literally walk with us for like five blocks, make sure we found the exact right spot. than anywhere else I've ever been. So it's like they have this very tough exterior, but once you get past it, they're like very And obviously we're joking, if you are Russian, we have love for you. But we're I thought we were complimenting the whole time. I was saying it's don't poison Sam, don't feel sad I was saying how badass they are my everything I said I stand behind as a compliment Uh you know, e even just the cities.

Dude, Saint Petersburg, do we have anything on the level of the word Moscow? Saint Peters these just sound tougher than American cities, right? Like Whenever I hear the word the Kremlin or Kremlin, I'm like I freak out. Yeah. Exactly. We have like Tampa Bay. It's like it's just not comparable what we have. Yeah, it's just they're on another another level of toughness. Like Denver? Can you imagine just putting just putting Denver up against Moscow

What you see above is a preview of the first minutes. One unlock costs 3 credits and covers this episode forever: full segment and word-level timestamps on this page, plus .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like.