Andy Hnilo - Entrepreneurship & Alitura Naturals: #281

Bulletproof Radio A state of high performance.

Hey, it's Dave Asprey with Bulletproof Radio. Today's cool fact of the day. It's that you have the ability to produce 8 million different combinations of genes in your sperm or eggs. And that means that if you were with your partner and reproducing, that there are 64 trillion different combinations of genes your babies could have. So if you're looking to experiment with all those things, you better get to work. Today's guest is not a stranger to Bulletproof Radio. If you're watching on YouTube, you're going to see probably some strange biohacks in this show, but I promise it'll be interesting if you're driving listening to this audio only. And it's my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Andy Nilo from Alatura Naturals. Andy and I have known each other for a couple years since he first came on the show. And he's kind of a guy with multiple skills here. He's like a semi pro ballplayer. He's been in multiple big TV shows like Days of Our Lives and hello Girls. Hello, Ladies.

Hello Ladies.

Hello Ladies. He's a cover model for Oakley and he's been in ads for Coppertone and things like that. So he's like a model, athlete, celebrity and did I get all that right?

No, no. Well, I, yeah, I mean, I moved out to LA to rehab my shoulder and continue to play baseball professionally, but I had a movie fall into my lap. And so, I mean, I've done so many different things, like from, you know, maintaining paying rent, from bartending and doing little side catering jobs to, you know, just being, you know, a working model and actor was enough for me. But call me a celebrity or something like that, I don't know about that, but I'm just grateful to be here, man. Thank you for having me again. It's always a pleasure to be, you know, chatting with you on these podcasts. It's so much fun for me because, you know, like I told you earlier we were downstairs, I mean, I just, you know, I was a. I've been. And I'm still a huge fan of Bulletproof. Bulletproof has helped me and my family so much, just maintain optimal health. And, you know, I'm not just not just saying that, that's. We're a huge fan of the product. So to be working with you is huge, a lot of fun.

So thanks, Andy. You're welcome. People might not know it, but I'm one of the supporters of Al Toro. So when Andy first came on bulletproof radio. A couple years ago, he told a story that actually blew me away. I didn't know the details at all, but we actually posted a picture of Andy in the hospital because. Just tell, like, what happened. Like, it was kind of shocking.

Well, yeah. Four years ago. A little over four years ago, I was hit and run over by two cars on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. And I was hit by a westbound heading car and hit into the eastbound lane and then run over by another suv. I completely lost consciousness, woke up in the icu. My jaw was shattered from my chin to just beneath my ear. I had two titanium plates inserted, broke seven ribs, collapsed lung, really banged up. Just. You're on so much morphine at that time that I didn't feel too much pain. I thought everything was a joke. And I quickly found out it wasn't. And, you know, I had my friends there, and I'd never seen them that emotional and just rocked, you know, And I was just like, hey, what's going on? And like, they're like, no, no, don't talk. Because my bone was exposed to the bottom of my mouth. You know, it was just. It was really bad. You know, looking back on it, you know, the. I wouldn't take anything back besides just, you know, the kind of. It bums me out. When I picture my mom and dad getting that phone call that I was in the icu. That kind of brings me down a little bit. But like I said, it brought a lot of things to light as far as what my purpose is and what I'm here to do. And I really think that's just not only help people who are in a state of recovery, but people that. I created a skincare product that led to. It's now a line of just. With a whole approach of just holistic, all natural, pure, rich, nutrient dense ingredients that help regenerate the skin. I mean, I was so banged up, I had so many scars, abrasions from all around my body. And I just. I used your own biggest science experiment, and I just used my research. There's so much information out there, and I didn't want to leave my house, that's for sure. My job's out there.

You did something that was kind of a bit of a miracle, right? So you transformed what you were eating, you transformed what you were doing in your head, and you put together what became your signature clay mask, the Alitar mask. But you did that because you needed to be on the Runway in seven weeks.

Yeah, I mean, so, yeah, that's a good Point.

That's kind of an important detail.

Yeah, that's true. So I had a Northern California agent who I didn't tell about my accident. And I had a job. I want to say it was, like, mid May. I got to nail down that date because it was either mid May or the first week of June. But either way, my accident was March 20, so I had very little room to recover. So I just made it my goal. I didn't want to make that phone call to them going, look, I'm shattered. I'm not going to make the job. And I did. I ended up, you know, long story short, I got my wires out that Thursday. I got my teeth whitened that Friday, and then the job was that Saturday. And so I ended up walking in. Of course, I was only. You know, I had a big road rash. Road rash gash. Road rash gash on my right side. And I had to be shirtless for one of the scenes. And it just looked. It looked terrible, man. My mom was over there. Like, she was just stoked that I was working and just back to doing something that I loved. And truthfully, I was told that I never would do again, and that's understandable, but I kind of made it a goal of mine to prove that I could do it again, so I did that.

Yeah, so you went on the bulletproof diet, for sure. You went hardcore. But did you already have the basic ingredients for the skin stuff? And you're already a model. You have to take care of your skin. Did you tweak it?

I did tweak it.

Okay, so what did you do to make your face recover way faster? I mean, they were telling you you'd never do that kind of work again, right?

No, it was just established that I would never do it again. So it was like, you better get enough out of insurance because you're never gonna work again. It was laughable, like I said. So I didn't wanna go that route of lawsuits or anything. And I just wanted to. Like I said, there was a base. There's so much information out there, but there was a base set of chemicals or clays without chemicals that I knew that it was gonna help regenerate my skin and help remove those impurities from the heavy metals, you know, that I was absorbing from the CT scans and X rays and antibiotics that I was taking. I was just in a fog. Like, I lost my zest. I felt terrible. And this mask really helped me. I mean, I was doing it all over. I was, like I said, on my road rash and I was all over my face head. But it just conditioned that area and helped bring circulation to the surface of the skin. And it just, you know, slowly exfoliated it. And you know, things like the colostrum. I helped really helped, or I. I felt really helped with the regeneration of those skin cells in that area that was so banged up. I mean, it was bringing, you know, it was just removing those impurities. And not only did I see instant results of just, you know, a sense of stimulation from the circulation I was getting from the different ingredients, but also just an overall sense of well being from, you know, just a release of those toxins and pulling them out. Bentonite's huge, you know. Oh, yeah. And it's. I mean, people take it, you know, a lot of the ingredients.

I take it orally.

Yeah, so do I. And it just removes a lot of that, like I said, a lot of those impurities that cause that fog and cause that funk and that just slowing state that I was in. I just felt so. I didn't feel great immediately, but I was staying diligent with it and doing it every other day. And it was like my little thing. It made me feel good. I really feel like it helped accelerate the healing process as well for my scarring and abrasion.

So you did the high fat thing. The high right kinds of fat, which helps. And you did Altura, and you recovered dramatically fast. And when we talked about this on the first episode of Bulletproof Radio, I'm like, this is one of those things where no one else that I know of is doing things like colostrum, which is mother's milk, the stuff that comes out of a cow, right. At first, as growth factors in skin, you are your own best guinea pig. And after that first episode, you started getting a few emails from people saying, where do I get it?

Yeah, that was. Man, that was. That was. To this day, that was. I don't really remember it too much because it was just so overwhelming. I was on a. In flight back from Orlando. I got that little go go inflight and I was just. Every time I refreshed my Yahoo browser because on your podcast, I gave up my personal email address. I didn't have a website or anything. Alatura was not even born. It wasn't anything. It was just like, yeah, if you guys are interested in my product, contact me. I had enough for like, I had like, you know, dozens of pounds of each ingredient, but. And so I was just running around town. I mean, the orders were flying in, but also awesome email were flying in from people just saying how they responded to the story. So I was just going to my local Whole Foods to the bulk section, getting those bulk containers, filling them up, handshaking them, going to FedEx, printing out that label. It was just times new Roman font Alatura. And we finally got a website up. We had to go just like that. But people were reaching out to me and saying they liked the product. And people, you know, we're saying the same thing to you. And it kind of just went from there, you know, step by step, just building things like the packaging, the labeling, hiring, you know, doing it properly. We scaled up, got it on your site and things are kind of history.

So I want to chat with you about what's happened to you as an entrepreneur. So by now, people listening, you figured out. So Andy's been through a lot physically. He had a desperate need to make some stuff to find out what worked. He used his knowledge and came up with something. But then you're starting this company and you're running out of cash. So we entered a partnership and basically ordered a lot of it so you could get many pounds of all the ingredients you needed. And we've been working together as entrepreneurs ever since, where it's your company, you're doing what you're going to do. And I occasionally have the chance to offer you advice when there's an interesting situation and all. But I want to interview you specifically about the psychology of this. So you've already been pretty successful and not a lot of guys are on the COVID of Oakley Things and all that. And you've been in major TV shows. Those are marks of success that a lot of people are aiming for. Thank you. You've also been a pro ballplayer, which is like another whole set of things. So you're not a stranger to success. But this is a very different thing to be an entrepreneur than to be an actor. Yeah, right. So what's the hardest part of starting Alotura bin for you?

In calculating inventory? Because I have nine different ingredients on my mask and staying on top of that because I'm using different percentages and this was all out of my apartment. And so I moved everything out of my bedroom. That's my lab. I live in my living room. So having space in my apartment for those nine different ingredients and having hundreds of pounds of those ingredients and. And then my jars, you know, say if I have to order 2500 jars, you know, 2500 jars of those eight ounce black dome, I mean that takes up. I'm hopping over you know, boxes. But I'm, you know, it's just, it's. It's okay because the whole time I'm going, there's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

Is that rough on the dating life? Yeah. Come on in. Sit, sit on that palate of Alatoria.

Yeah, I got some. Yeah. But yeah, it's, that's, that's pretty much been non existent. I mean, this is, this is my dating life. You know, it's my baby. So, I mean, it's just. There's no. Nothing, like I said, else I'd rather be doing. So I kind of got the keys to this thing and I'm like, all right, so here we go. You allowed me the chance to just scale up of the best ingredients from the best source of each of those ingredients that I could. So I kind of going into that, I knew exactly what source I was going to go. And then just coming out down to finding out the different percentages of each of those ingredients. Scaling up, knowing that we needed 4,500 units or whatever, and then having all those ingredients come at a different time, it's not like I'm going to one manufacturer going, all right, yeah, I need enough. I need another 4,500. So that's gonna be 700 pounds of bentonite, 600 pounds of Russell. And no, it's like, I need this. I mean, there are different percentages. I'm doing it all from six different sources of those nine ingredients. That's six different calls I need to make to measure on, based on the measurements for those ingredients. So it's a lot, lot of work, but I love it.

So the operational complexity has been a problem, so.

Well, it's. Yeah, I mean, it's been, you know, it's something you really got to get right. It's been smooth, though. I've done it. I'm not like trying to pull my. It's gone smooth. It's gone.

Well, it's gone pretty smooth.

Yeah. Yeah, we had a couple sellouts, like, you know, you know, right around last year, you know, around Black Friday and Thanksgiving time, we had to fly home actually early because the bulletproof site was running out of stock.

Yeah, I remember that.

Yeah. And then we. You guys. Yeah, it was, it was a very. It was an awesome weekend. But I did, I did like 758 units overnight with the help of a couple people. But, yeah, we just got those out. I mean, stuff like that, you're. It's, it's. It's a. It's exhilarating. You run on pure adrenaline. Like, I don't really. When you're doing something that you absolutely love. I know it's like a total cliche, but it's like there's nothing else. I don't really need sleep. I wake up stoked to keep it going again.

You know being an entrepreneur is like that, right?

Yeah.

By the way, you mentioned something. So for the first, probably year and a half, two years, I don't know the exact amount of time, but I carried Alatura on the site just to keep your revenues high as you were growing your own business. And a couple months ago, you're big enough, you are your own company now, you've got your operations, you've got your website and all. So we transitioned over. So people order Alatura directly from you, which is just a sign that your company is there. And that also means that, like, they're buying directly from you, which supports your company more than having a wholesale distributor. But for people who know that it's been on the bulletproof site, you can order it straight from Andy, which is good for his business. Now, operational complexity and physical products for entrepreneurs, that knocks a lot of them down. There's this whole kind of perspective that people have around. I'm going to sell information products, I'll sell software. It costs nothing to make a new one. And that business is getting overcrowded. There's a whole number of people using the same recipe to kind of market themselves as gurus. And they're all selling relatively high priced information products, but there's a limited market for that. When I started Bulletproof, I'm like, you know what? I want to provide tangible value. I want to do something different where you can feel the difference, but something that's, that's real. Right. And knowledge is priceless. But knowledge is also becoming pretty close to free, which is why I give away a lot of knowledge. So you did the same thing. And what happens to those of us who go into physical products is pretty predictable. Like, you're like, oh my God, I just ran out of inventory. Because people don't think about this unless they're entrepreneurs or they're involved in operations. But, like, it's hard for you and me to know, like, someone's gonna mention this on the Today show.

Exactly. Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

And if that happens, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. Then all of a sudden, like, I thought I had two months worth and I had two days worth and it takes me three weeks to get it. So the good thing is people who buy from guys like, you and me, where we're just out there, they pretty much understand that at a certain point. And you can just say, look, I'm going to send this to you as soon as possible with a discount, with my apologies. And, you know, I didn't plan this, and I'm doing my best to bring something special to you. Yeah. So you ran into that, which is predictable and normal. So the answer to that is you raise funding and all. But what I want to know about, because this is a show about. This is a show about high performance and how people kick ass. And you've grown Altura pretty nicely in a short period of time.

Thank you.

But I want to know about the psychology of performance. So operations and all that stuff was there. But tell me about a time when you had, like, massive uncertainty in Altura. We're like, okay, like, I don't know how this is gonna work. I don't know how I'm gonna get this done. Like, was there a time like that?

Oh, no.

No, never. So you.

I really hope that doesn't come off. I just. I'm a firm believer, and just. Because if I can control it, then I really hope this. Then we're good. You know, it's just like. It's a belief that I just know, you know, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure this thing works. And also, with that said, I keep it relatively simple, get the orders out that day, maintain perfect customer service. With that, you know, if anybody has any type of issue, there's a way to diffuse that issue and just make sure it's perfect. Whatever it is, make sure they're happy. Okay. Okay. And then as far as the products, you know, it's pretty straightforward. You know, I've been doing this for years now.

You're deflecting from a question. When did you, right here in your heart, feel uncertainty or fear? And you're talking about customer service? I don't believe you. Because no entrepreneur that I've ever met is able to execute the way that you've executed or the way I've executed without some time being up late at night going, I really don't know what I should do next. You've called me on these things, man. Should I take money from this investor?

Okay, that's a good point.

As far as an international distribution dealer, what if I make the wrong decision? Will my company fail? Will I put food on the table? You have to have had those thoughts because you're human.

No, no.

Yeah.

You're absolutely right. But it's all been so exciting for me. It never raised like anxiety the whole time. I've embraced it and just been like, this is what I've always wanted to have some type of business that I created. It's like, sure, this is a tough decision but what else would I rather be doing?

So the sense of mission is what's overwhelming any sort of doubt or uncertainty or anxiety that's there.

Yeah, it's like it's all going to work out. I have unbelievable network as far as like you, my dad, awesome business partners who are going to help me through whatever tough decision of running a business. You know like this is. Sure it's really tough. And the, you know, there are, you know, there are decisions that you know that just rock you and they're never easy but it's never raised any like, you know, cortisol response as far as like stressed me out. I've been like, okay. I've always just felt like I was gonna be led towards the right decision. But there are, the decisions are never easy. Cause I added certain preservative into my night cream.

An all natural preservative I'm hoping.

Yeah. Oh no, no. Oh absolutely. An all natural. I mean I wouldn't. But that's the thing though. It's like I've had no preservatives in my moisturizer for my night cream. Now that we're digging in with fingers, there's a chance for microbial growth.

We were just talking about like the formulation options there.

Crepeseed extra stuff. So it's extremely tough. That's a decision. An example of what you were talking about that really kind of. It doesn't stress me out but it really, I just weigh back and forth. It'll take me a week, but I really feel like I'm gonna make the right decision. It may take me a little longer. It's kind of like when I'm out at a restaurant, I may take a long time to order the right. But I always pretty much get the right thing that I like. But I mean it's just, it takes a while to get it right. Yeah. And then as far as ingredients, those have been the tough ones. Certain partnerships, money wise investors, distributors from across the world. But those are all good things. These are people that want to spread. So I embrace it and I just go, man, that's awesome that people want to share my product with their network in Hong Kong, in New Zealand and Australia, uk, Canada. It's just like. But like, you know, it is difficult but at the same Time. I don't let it like, you know, I have people like yourself and a great network of business advisors to help me out through that.

But do people treat you differently now that you're an entrepreneur?

Yes. Certain people that I've, you know, in the past had relationships with and kind of didn't really. It's okay. I totally get it. I was like this bartender, model, actor, athlete or whatever, and I didn't really have a whole lot of, you know, things going for me. You know, maybe I was underachieving or whatever, and that's fine. I mean. But yeah, the conversations have definitely changed. And that's great because I've always wanted to be taken serious. You know, I think we all want to be taken seriously and be thought of and be, you know, respected. You know, that's all I want to do is just be respected and trusted and liked. I mean, that's. That's what it's all about.

And sometimes if you're an entrepreneur and you want to be respected and trusted and liked, but you're like, okay, I needed to make a decision. I fired that guy because he was putting the wrong amount of ingredient in my stuff or because, you know, I hired someone who maybe was a friend who. And I have no idea if you've had to, like, let any friends go, but oftentimes this happens with entrepreneurs.

Yes.

And these are the things that, like, create a cortisol response. These are the things that the average entrepreneur you talk to. I don't know about average, but at least half of entrepreneurs, they don't sleep well. They're not even that happy because they love their business. Like I said, it's their baby. But they also worry about their business. And then you get this added pressure of people like, oh, hey, can I have a job with you? Can I take advantage of you? They're not gonna ask you in those way, but they're thinking, like, what's my angle?

So. That's a good point. That's a good point. I have hired friends and friends of friends, and there's a difficult situation that ensues as far as, like, money. And this is a lot of. It's manual labor and, you know, important stuff, but really stuff that should not cost 25, $30 an hour.

Right.

And there's a lot of, you know, it's my worst, but I don't know, some people would say best quality or whatever, but, like, I take this stuff really personally. I'd rather it's people expect. I've. I've seen. Expect a lot, you know, they see the money coming in because when you allow your back end ops, they see the, you know, the numbers coming in and they expect a certain. I've seen, I've had a couple situations where, you know, expect a certain amount, which is just kind of seemed unreasonable to me. So I've, like you said, had to let you know it happens. It's part of running a business. You have to let people go if you don't see eye to eye. And I think I'm really fair. Just sometimes it doesn't, it doesn't work out. It can't be all, you know, rainbows and sunshine, but it's okay, you know, I mean, I'm very. Like I said, I just do my best to be respectful and forthright with what I want and what I expect. But yeah, there have been some hiccups with employment, employee situation especially. Cause I just love going forward with people that I like and that I want to work with and I want to go forward with. But like I said, sometimes there's a difference of opinions, but it's not, you know, sometimes you got to deal with uncomfortable situations, but that's part of it when that happens.

So you have a sense of mission. You're passionate. One of the reasons I wanted to support you, one of the reasons I do support you, is that you have a lot of passion for this and that sense of mission, which I think is essential for a modern entrepreneur just to stay energized. And you already talked about how you can overcome adversity because you know why you're doing what you're doing. Oh, yeah. But how do you maintain motivation? Like, how do you stay motivated when you're like, you know what? Like, I just had to tell, like, someone I trusted just came in and made an incredibly unreasonable demand. And then, and I'm just making this up, I'm guessing this must have happened by now. And then you're like, well, I'm actually not going to do that because it's not right for my company or for my customers or whatever else. And then you get that, you know, you're a total jerk, Andy. And that whole, you know, sort of just unreasonableness. How do you keep that from, you know, taking a little bit of wind out of your sails?

It's just impossible. I'm telling you. First off, I, like, I live a lot of my life through. I'm very lucky to be here. There's a perspective that I just, I really can't.

Getting run over a couple times does that right.

Oh, yeah, clearly. I mean, I just. This is such a bonus to be able. I mean, I don't take any of that for granted. Being able to run workout shoots. Like I post pictures where I'm stoked to be here, you know, to have a product, to have a business that those email, the emails that I get from people that have been, have their acne, you know, counteracted their acne and just overall sense of well being before when they wake up in the morning, that you cannot put a price on that and that it's like any other wind out of my sales that's impossible to do. I don't want to. I mean, I'm human. I'm a human, believe me, I understand that it can happen. I do get down sometimes. I mean, I have emotions. But as far as taking my window of my sales of this product, I am incredibly motivated and driven to. I love the success that it's having, but it's nowhere near where I want it to be. And it's just constantly, every day I have a plan to do something to continue to grow my company and to make sure that every single part of the business is perfect. I mean, it's flat out obsession of mine. And with that said, it's like any noise that comes in there, it really can't. There's an obsessive amount of tunnel vision that I have towards what's the next step. It's always what's the next step. It's just, it's tough. I mean, if certain situations come in where difficult situations or difficult decisions have to be made, like I said, it's one of those things, maybe it's athletic background or what, but you find a way to handle it and you get it done and you execute and move forward. Like earlier when I said I do my best to keep it simple, that's what I'm truly trying to do. We are only 15 months into this, so maybe next year or something it could be a little different. But right now I have a set of products I need to get out that same day. I need to stay on top of fulfillment. I need to make sure that I continue. I mean, my moisturizer took 22 tweaks. We've processed one return off that since December. And I didn't even know how to do it because it was through PayPal and I couldn't do it through Shopify. And so I had to like PayPal personally. It was crazy, but it was kind of, kind of funny that way. But like, yeah, so it's like you Spend your time to make a perfect product. You let the customers speak for themselves, and then you just stay on top of fulfillment and then bring others on who are going to help expand your brand that I know nothing about. As far as, like, digital marketing, search engine optimization, things that I need help in. Like you said, if you're not, you know, if it's something that I'm not good at, I am extremely aware of, you know, my strengths and weaknesses and, like, let's bring them on board. Let's grow this thing. Because I really think the mission behind it is it's something people are responding to. And like you said, the story of how it truly was created.

Well, you said something else in there too, like what it does to your motivation when you get, like those emails from customers. And I mean, when you listen to this, if you think it doesn't matter if you leave a positive review or a negative review, I tell you, Andy and I, we read those reviews, every one of them. And as you get bigger, it's harder to do that. But I still do it. And when you send those emails, you take the time to be like, hey, this changed my life. You're actually directly helping an entrepreneur when you do that. And if you're like, oh, I'm having a bad day, so I'm gonna go out and crap all over some entrepreneur's product or something like that, you gotta look in the mirror and ask yourself why you're doing that, because you put everything into it when you start a company like that. And I guarantee you that if you emailed Andy with his address that he put up before, or it's customer service stuff, and said, you know what, I have a problem. You're going to get an answer to it. You can go to a public forum and be like, this stuff did, blah, blah, blah. But there's probably a reason for it. And the average entrepreneur, we're here to help. And so you can help as someone listening when. If you really like something, if you take 10 seconds to say you like it, it actually, it motivates, Makes my day. Yeah, it really does.

Validates everything that we do.

You know, it's the antidote to all the haters. Because do you get haters? I mean, you probably had a few people just for random.

You know, I had a couple recently and I just, I can never figure it out because early on in my life, I figured out through a mentor how, like, the mind works with jealousy and stuff like that.

Oh, yeah.

So luckily I was like 15 years old and I figured out that listen, it's on them. The person that wants to bring you down is truly. It comes from there within on them.

It's not about you.

Yeah, it's not. And so, but believe me, I'm human. And you want, you know, knee jerk reactions like, why would you take the time to bring someone else's product down? Why don't you take that energy and create your own that is better? You know, if you really pick apart my ingredient deck, which really I seriously, I find impossible to do. It's like, why don't you take that time and attention and create your own? Why bring down. It's not even in me to bring down someone else's product ever. Because anybody who knows that knows. It's just a direct reflection of how you think, of how you view yourself. It's just such a trip to me. I never understand, I never will. But it's okay. Like, it's just, you know, the best response. If I was a hater, I wouldn't say a thing because it's just, it just makes you look really bad, you know, it's just, it's, it's like takes you back to those, like, you know, grade school days.

It's like seventh grade. Like. Yeah, yeah. It really is that level of mentality.

Yeah.

But it's interesting because when I talked, I've asked a bunch of entrepreneurs, including like Tim Ferriss and Peter Sage. I just had an interview with him. We posted a couple, a couple episodes ago that was really, really popular. And same sort of thing like, okay, what happens? And as you get more successful, just random jealous people come out and start saying stuff like that. And a lot of entrepreneurs, when it first happens, it's kind of like, what's the deal with that? And it sort of shakes you. You're like, but I'm here to do a good thing. And it's not recognized, but so far you've had a couple weird people. No big deal. But it hasn't really taken you out of your game.

No, definitely not. Definitely doesn't take me out of my game. Like I said, I'm human. It does bother me because this is. I put everything into this, all right? And I know the intention behind it. It's just to help people. You know what I mean? And it's like, how could you ever say something, you know, negatively when someone will do like I would do, like if I just broke even. Whatever. You probably don't want to hear this as a business partner, but like, I'm, I'm like, it's just a victory for me that someone wants to buy something that I made, you know.

Yeah.

And then that's. And I'm slowly taking it to, you know, to turning into other, you know, you know, stages of the business, which is great and it's so much fun for me, but like to bring someone down with the intentions who, seriously, I just started this to help others and to help myself and just found it like, interesting that someone else would find a product that I created beneficial to their own skin care, their health, their overall sense of well being. And to have a hater come forward and bring it down, it really just goes, it just, it's like, it's, you know, it does rock me for a little bit because I put so much into this and I really, really does matter.

Yeah. It feels personal, even though it's not right. And so I found that as Bulletproof became better known that like more and more people did that and there's some professional jealousy and just random people. And yeah, it was definitely for a while I'm like, what's going on? But then when I talk to enough other entrepreneurs, they're like, yeah, that means you win.

Yeah, you're starting to hear something. It's a good thing. Once people stop talking about you, then you know you're doing something wrong. But yeah, yeah, so it's gonna, it's gonna come and it'll probably keep happening.

But it's not that big of a deal. And it's like part of the game. And it's an unpleasant part of the game though. And the reason I'm asking about it is because with entrepreneurs in early stages like you, sometimes it's like, it's kind of bewildering, but you've got a pretty good attitude on that. And this is something we haven't talked about in our, like our coaching sessions or anything like that. How do you approach, like really tough business decisions like say an international distribution deal or something where you have no idea what to do with it? And if you make the wrong decision, you could, you could be putting your company at risk or you could, you could be maybe missing out on millions of dollars in sales or something. What does your thought process look like there? Like, how do you do that?

Well, with exclusivity, you've helped out a lot with that. Southeast Asia, Australia, uk. I mean, I've had a lot of people reach out for exclusive agreements and just doing the math on, you know, average, you know, orders per month on those various areas has helped me out. It's hard Just to go, wow, these people are offering minimum requirements or minimum orders of different products. And it sounds great, but after talking to you, it's like, listen, you never know how certain areas are going to grow. And it's like giving up that exclusivity for that certain broad area that Australia is my biggest country, Canada's number two, Southeast Asia, it's growing big time. So exclusive agreements are, you got to watch out for that. I would say be very careful. Luckily I have someone like yourself who's been in it and can convey to the, you know, politely, like you said to the distributor, just that, you know, look, you know, it's just as we grow, you know, exclusivity, you're going to have to, you know, reach a certain amount.

Really step up.

Yeah, you're going to have to really step up if you're going to, you know, and then it's on them to market it to that area. But the only thing, it's a tough decision, but if, you know, distributors are great. But exclusive is the only decision that you really got to worry about because that's, that's a big, big word to use, especially when agreements and contracts are involved.

So when, when you talk about worrying about it, that's what I'm trying to get to. Like you're pretty much, I mean, you have some employees now. How many employees do you have, by the way?

Why, I just total by 8 to 10.

8 to 10. And some of them are part time and contractors. That's how it always is at startups. Right. So you're still pretty small, but at the end of the day, you're the guy who makes the call. Call. There isn't like an executive team who gets together and rubs their hands and decides what they're going to do. When you get one of those things that comes in, you're like, you know, I haven't made this decision before and I could make it right, I can make it wrong. Let's not talk about the specific one, but what's the thought process you go through? Like, all right, I have a new problem. It's one I haven't solved before. How do you go about solving a new problem like that?

Well, having an advisor like you.

Well, I mean, I'm not your only advisor, right? Well, you're saying you go to advisors?

Yeah, I would go to an advisor and definitely get help. You know, you gotta expand, you gotta reach out to your network and find out if anybody has a physical product background. Check out your backgrounds from your network. If anybody's been there before and done the same thing. But geez, you know, I've been fortunate to have a great team that's helped me out through those decisions because everything sounds great. I truly do. You know, your network has a lot of healthy people that has like a good mind. So like a lot of people, you know, with that healthy mentality, they, you know, I don't want to say everybody out there has like the best intentions. That'd be really, you know, would be smart of me. But yeah, for the most part, the people that I work with, distributors from all around the world, have been like, look, it's pretty straightforward. You know, it's like I haven't, I've moved forward with a lot of them and it's just, you know, look, you buy it at a certain price. Here are the marketing materials. Now it's on them. You know, there are some bad things you really got to worry about as far as like copyright, patent, trademark issues. So there isn't like an alotura, you know, somebody just takes my brand and turns it into their own out of Australia. So you got to watch that. I have a great legal team that is on top of things and just helps me out. You know, I have a great team that helps me through this.

How do you get a great team? I mean, you didn't start out as an entrepreneur. You started out, you know, as a cover model, which is maybe the opposite of an entrepreneur. Well, how did you build a team? Because there's a lot of people listening and this is part of the high performance mindset that we're talking about. By the way, how old are you now?

I'm 33.

33, okay, so you're essentially mid-30s. And your answer will be probably different than someone who's starting out in their mid-20s. But how did you go about building a team? How did you have people you could trust?

So the great thing about, well, I went to four different colleges and had great relationships at all those different schools. And I maintained my relationships, you know, like they're there and they didn't really, you know, the people. I was a model and actor, ball player. So as far as when business, social media has been huge. Just to kind of post here and there about what you're doing, keep people updated. I've had people reach out and go, wow, what's this skincare thing that you talk about? You know, I really like your health related post. This is years ago. And those same people are, hey, what are you doing here? So those people would probably never would have known. What am I gonna do? Call them? Hey, I just want to fill you in what I'm doing. Social media has been huge. Facebook specifically. Instagram's picking up Twitter. I don't really see too much. You have so little space to write. But yeah, Facebook's been huge. So the people that you never would have thought, I mean, just be tasteful about it, but just keep people posted, keep people informed on what you're doing. And year after year, I mean Facebook has this thing now, like 2012, 2013, you can look back, you can see how far you've grown just post wise. So just post tasteful content on what you're doing.

Keep people posted so your network will know and then they reach out to you so your network will know.

Exactly. And if it works, you know it'll work. I've been very, you know, if it, if it works and it sounds great, people will reach out to you. And if it's something you know or you can reach out to them, it goes both ways. Just be tasteful about it. If they're your friend friends, they'll be there for you. Like I said, I have a great network of people that I would do anything for. And it sounds like the people that reach out to me, the people that I've always wanted to work with, that's the most rewarding thing, have reached out to me and then wanted to come forward. And here we are on the same team. That's how it's worked out with me. And it's just going from like you said, from the modeling and entertainment industry stuff to hey, look, I'm also really passionate about health, nutrition, skin care because that's what that was one of my strengths. You know, it's like that's one thing that you can control is going into that audition room is looking like your pictures, right? And so I would, this mask, I mean you would, I would look identical to it. A lot of guys have to put on makeup or they don't eat right or they don't take care of their skin so they don't look like they're pictures when they go into that audition room. And you go into that audition room, it separates yourself from the other guys or women in the casting director's room because you look like you're picture, you look healthy. And the mass was one thing that I would do religiously to maintain that. So I just took that and people go, well, what's this mass you do? Just post by post, turned into order by order, turned into where it is now. So people started to gain knowledge that it wasn't just in the entertainment industry, but I was also really passionate about health, nutrition, overall well being. And then the accident really helped. The accident really helped because a lot of people, bless their hearts, really cared about my health and just how I got back. And that means a lot to me. So it was just my responsibility to kind of just give knowledge, whatever knowledge may be on what helped me recover skincare wise health. I'm just here, that's my bonus.

You have a pretty good amount of energy, right? You're actually at the sweet spot. There's a lot of people who start their first really successful company in their mid-30s and you can do it when you're 20 or 25. It's just that life has some lessons that it usually has to teach you. And certainly I was very successful in my mid-20s, but I didn't start the company. I started an inner part of the company kind of thing and was influential and all. But I think I probably would have made a lot of really bad decisions had I not sort of been through the meat grinder quite a few times in corporate America. And you don't have the corporate America background in what you've done before. So when do you think you're going to decide? Or will you decide to bring in people who've been grizzled, veteran business people kind of things to Alatura to help them grow?

Soon. Absolutely soon. As I was talking to you, you gotta be very aware of your strengths and weaknesses, product R and D and then the story behind the brand. I'm pretty confident with what, what my knowledge from that aspect and what my intentions are to grow the company and just who I surround myself with. I've been really fortunate to be around people that are successful, have a good heart behind them and are honest. That's how, geez, look at the track record of these people. And that's usually how it's gonna work out. But I'm also not just blind to the fact that I'm very aware of, of certain situations, but as far as moving forward with a grizzled veteran and getting someone who's been there and knows that side of things, I'm absolutely open to it and I want this to grow. I see so many holes in other companies and other products and it's just, it's a competitive side of me that really wants to turn that up to another level and I'm hungry for that.

So aside from the initial stuff that got Alator going, our business relationship, you recently took on some more investors, which is, it's a huge thing as an entrepreneur. It's kind of like having sex with someone because you're giving them part of your baby. Interesting analogy, but I mean, it's a personal thing. Like, okay, I'm going to give some of this stuff like, do I trust this person? You know, how did you go through the decision process in your mind of saying I'm going to give up some of my baby?

So that's a great question. My first. Outside of yourself, my first partner that I brought on was, I entertained a couple offers that I ran by him going, hey, what do you think, man? Should I like, you know, I brought up this because he's in the finance industry, extremely successful. That's what he does.

That's the kind of advisor you want.

He analyzes investments to his company and he pulls the trigger or he says no. So that's what he does. He's in investments. So it's kind of flattering. When he came forward after our discussion about these people coming forward to me and he was like, well, what if I matched their offer? I was like, what? He's my best friend.

Nice.

Yeah. And so there's nobody I trust more than that. I just never. It was kind of uncomfortable, but, but since he said, I was like, well, there's nothing else more I'd like than to go forward with you. It was kind of awkward for a little bit there. And then I was like, let's just take this and take this thing to the moon, you know, and then we did. And God, it's been so nice. You know, every day we're on the phone just kind of hammering out details. We work very well together. And like I said, he's in that industry and he's got a network. So that's the thing as you bring people on their network based on who they are, adds to the company, especially if they have an investment and interest to growing the company, which he definitely does. And so it went from him to another best friend of mine who's a 14 year major leaguer, has that network. Just one of the most respected human beings and most intelligent human. He's a bulletproof ambassador as well. John Baker.

Oh, John. Yeah, I love John.

Oh, he's awesome.

He's great.

4.0 at UC Berkeley. The year he got drafted. 4.0 at UC berkeley. I mean, he's just brilliant. He's a roommate of mine. His story is amazing. But we'll get into that some other time. But anyway, it's Just like, you know, having a team that excites you like that really, that you just, this is just my philosophy, having a team that excites you and that really that you want to win for and that holds you like holds personally holds me accountable every day.

There you go.

To like to prove them right for spending their hard work money that they worked hard for. And to my baby, it's now ours. It's like I just like that's how I really, I really want to move forward. I mean obviously I'm open to bringing other people on board that just want to, you know, grow the company. But having that base of people that I love and respect and have for a large part of my life, like John, it's just like, it's so exciting. I've looked up to that guy since I was a freshman in college and it's just, it really means a lot to that he would want to be a part of something that I created. So it's just a, it just adds to the adrenaline. That's what I operate on is excitement, you know, and it's just, it's, it's. And it's just bringing that excitement to future products and building, building the, the brand and, and just it's. That's how I do it. I get really excited when something, you know, new triggers, whether it's in the like ingredient wise or you know, to building new. You know, like right now I'm working on my toner, my night cream, cleanser and scrub. And so I want to do all these little differentiators. I don't want to like follow another ingredient, ingredient deck from another company. You know, it's all I have. It's like, it's like creating your own. It's my creative outlet. I order oils and extracts from all around the world and blend them up myself and I use myself as. Because I have the most sensitive skin ever. Like a little redness. It'll be there for a week.

Okay.

It just. So I base it off of mine and then, and then I go from there and test on my friends and their friends and that's how I do it. But yeah, I got a little off track there. Sorry. But yeah, so that's.

Sorry.

That's how I move forward with the business. I have a very good team that I trust and we, you know, we usually hold meetings with the person that is potentially coming on board. If they like them and if I have a good feeling about it and the numbers are right, then you know, we'll take it to the Next step. But I just, I really. You can tell a lot by the energy that you're around a lot through eye contact, through opinions of the people that you love, and through the own. The owner, like, the energy that I've brought through my relationships that my friends know I'll do anything for them. And just a lot of those are the people that are on board my team right now. And so I think you just got to bring. There's. There is. You can win by being honest and trustworthy in business. You know, you can. You don't have to be like this, you know, shark. Like, I just. I feel like I, you know, I'm. I'm not like, blind or, you know, like, in that sense, I really. It's going well. So far, so good.

Do you ever get advice to, you know, be a shark? That doesn't work out for you?

Yeah, I get that advice all the time. Oh. As you grow, you know, you gotta just. Numbers, numbers. Watch out for the sharks. I'm like, I just, I understand that. I'm not, I'm not. I'm, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not done. So they're gonna be out there, but that's why I have a team that's gonna help me out with that. You know, some people do come in and they. They see a successful product or whatever and they want to, you know, possibly take advantage of. That's okay. I'm well versed in situations like that. And that's, you know, people like yourself to help me through that, and it's okay. I welcome it all, you know, I welcome everything. This whole business is extremely important to me. And it really excites me. This whole process of just having a physical product business, it's just. It's great. I mean, just a year and a half ago, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life.

It's pretty rapid growth.

Yeah, a year and a half.

So a year and a half ago, you were kind of a madman when you're on here. One of the reasons I like you, like.

Oh, yeah.

Every morning I hang upside down on my inversion thing and I've got my mask on and you were doing some other stuff. I do a lot of the same things. I'm also a little bit crazy. In fact, people who are watching will probably have noticed that you're sitting here in the studio on Vancouver island at Bulletproof Lab. So we're going to do some video after this on the YouTube channel. We're gonna go down and do some biohacking and we're gonna like run current through you and see if we can make you cry like a girl and stuff like that.

Oh, no.

But aside from that, I want to know what changed in your personal routine between pre being an entrepreneur and post being an entrepreneur. Because you have less time now. You're working, you're working harder. So when you're basically kind of modeling and you have a lot of flexibility, you can spend a lot of energy and time on performance hacking. But now you have this tension between should I send another order or should I hang upside down for another two minutes or whatever. Okay, so what do you do different or what do you do in the morning? Like walk me through the morning routine, what you do, you know, at breakfast, lunch, dinner, assuming you're even eating all three of those, like just walk me through a normal day. Just give me two minutes. In the life.

The routine has been tweaked a little bit. I get up earlier. I used to get up 7, 7:30. Now I'm 6:30, 6:15. I still bang out the push ups. I'm about 60 to 70 now. I used to be 80. I don't know. Time getting older, man, I don't know. But yeah, so I do that and it's kind of hard not to like, you know, the music's going. Like I said, I work a lot on adrenaline and excitement.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I love country. A lot of people.

Sorry, we gotta kill the podcast.

I love country and I also like, you know, trance, cascade, deadmau. So I'm really big into electronic music.

You do both, by the way. Like I, I'm also, I'm very eclectic, but I'm just giving a hard time.

Yeah, no, I love it.

I didn't think you were gonna say country, but no, I just, it takes.

Me back to like.

So you wake up, you're banging up push ups and there's some guy singing about his pickup truck and his third wife usually is.

That's a lot of what the stories involved, believe it or not, it's crazy breakup heartbreak. Anyway, so I'll go into the kitchen and that's when I make my morning tonic. That has been adjusted a little bit. It's a lot of different Chinese herbs, amino acids, anti inflammatory herbs, supplements. And I'll take that down and then I'll hang upside down in my inversion table, which is just straight upside down and let all the nice like blood flow start to go to my head and I'll get up from There, you know, about five, 10 minutes.

It used to be hang for five or 10.

Okay, about 10. And then music's still going. Wake up, it's before 7, 7am and then I'm about to make my morning coffee bulletproof. I do. I've been doing that. Geez. Every day for I don't know, three. Three years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what's made you fat?

Well, yeah, I kind of let myself go. It's okay, it's okay. I'll get it back one day. One day. This entrepreneur life's just taking a toll.

By the way, for people driving like Andy's like basically a slab of muscle.

No, no. But yeah. So I'll go in and do my morning tonic and then the coffee. So I do the whole intermittent fasting.

Okay.

And so that just gets me going. The herbs. My coffee's a little different. I'll do chocolate powder, maca cayenne, a little turmeric.

A lot of people tweak it. Yeah.

The collagelatin and then butter, octane oil. And then I'm just, I'm locked in. Good to go till like 2pm and say I won't eat the night before, you know, 8, 8:30. So 2, 16, 16 to 17 hour fast and. Or 17, 18 hour fast. So. So after that what I'll do is I'll just, you know, go straight into customer service, wrapping the orders. I have a set of boxes, small boxes for single orders, bigger boxes for like, you know, flat, flat day for the moisturizer. The bigger moisturizers just based on family packs. Bigger. I'll go in. I know where everything is. It doesn't look that if you walked in my place. It's a little unorganized, but I know where everything is. Tape wise or banging out orders. I usually get everything done before noon. It's. It's a lot of work, you know. You know, different emails, talking to different distributors, wholesalers from all around the country. Different med spas are running out of program product. It's a lot, but like I said.

So your total time on self prep before it's about an hour. It sounds like tonic hanging upside down. Bulletproof coffee.

Hour to hour and a half.

Hour to hour and a half.

Hour, hour and a half.

You meditate during that when you're upside down.

I consider that meditation in the inversion table. Yeah. And then. So I'm good. You know, it's just so lunchtime comes.

Around noon comes, you're done by noon. What do you do then?

I usually go to the post office. If I can. But if I'm hungry, if I'm starving, then I'll get my big meal in, rest a little bit. I'll take like a five or ten, what you guys call it, caffeine naps. So I'm still technically going like from the coffee or whatever. But that little five or ten minute nap is great. It just regenerates my energy.

And for lunch you're eating bulletproof diet style food.

Oh, absolutely.

Lots of fat and some protein.

Oh yeah. I'm a big lamb leg steak fan.

Love lamb.

It's just. And I love it when they keep the marrow intact and the bone. Sometimes Trader Joe's is starting to cut the bone out now. I don't know why. It's like the best part. Loaded with those like nice little stem cells and stuff. So I'll just. Yeah, the leg, the leg steak from Trader Joe's. Or you can get it at Whole Foods or wherever you can get it. Grass fed lamb is my go to broccoli, sweet potatoes, beets, fermented vegetables, Himalayan salt. So I love to stay mineralized, nourished through all the micronutrients. And then also I'm getting that good fat and obviously some protein from the grass fed lamb. And a good amount, yeah, a good amount of fat from things like avocado, guacamole. And then I'm just, you know, I'll take a little bit of a nap. But I'm just, it's like you get a whole new fresh day after that. I'm so locked in, ready to go. And so either if I didn't take the orders out before that, then I'll take the orders out and, and then I'll sometimes get a work in, a workout in. Excuse me.

And then it's a workout high intensity.

Oh, high intensity. I don't, I superset everything.

Okay.

So I don't, I don't rest. My workouts are 20 minutes, 20, 30 minutes. And then I'll go hit the sauna, kind of let out that lactic acid, get the circulation going. No, no, at LA Fitness they have them.

Okay, cool.

And just, just to really release, kind of, you know, tone the skin as well. And then I actually, I got this new thing that I do. I use my moisturizer. But any good, all natural moisturizer will work. But when you open the pores, I read this centenarian talk about this. When you open up the pores from the sauna and then you escort essential oils that your body no longer is able to create, it's really rejuvenating for the skin and extremely moisturizing.

So you put the moisturizer on before or after the sauna?

Well, the first five minutes. No, first five minutes you come out, and then you. Then you apply.

Okay. So you go back in the sweat. Put it on.

Yeah. And then you go back in. This is what I do. And I've noticed from friends that it's extremely effective and just leaving you with a nice, like, radiant glow, but also moisture. Extremely moisturizing as well. So I use. I use my moisturizer for that. That was just an added little thing that I do. So I'll go to the, you know, workout two to three times a week, and then I'll wrap that up, eat another meal I'll usually do after working out. I like to do a shake because I just had that flesh protein meal of the lamb. And so I'll keep something softer. Either a shake or eggs.

Right.

And then usually if it's a shake, I'll go. Now, my new one is a half a can of cold coconut milk.

Nice.

So I'll add the collagelatin, a scoop of that. A scoop of the collagen protein, and then I'll add a scoop of the upgraded whey, a little bit of stevia to taste it. I'll add a half bag of wild blueberries. You can go to Trader Joe's and find all this stuff almost. Besides the bulletproof stuff and Whole Foods.

Though, by the way, what's.

Oh, the bulletproof stuff is bulletproofs at Whole Foods. All that collagen, too.

Yep.

Jeez. Congratulations.

Yeah, thanks. It depends on which market. I think we've got Southern California now.

Nice.

Just came out, like, this week.

Geez, that's huge.

109 of all their stores we're in right now.

Man, that's awesome.

I didn't mean to interrupt. No, going to the store.

Yeah. So I'll just do. You know, I think, you know, a lot of people don't do fruit. I like a little wild blueberries. There's something about them. You know, I think that they're nutrient dense. They're loaded with antioxidants.

There's a good argument for them.

Yeah. So. And also, so they're frozen, so they add a little texture, coldness to the shake. Blend it up. It's unbelievable. It's better than any milkshake that I've ever had. I know. My sister laughs because I don't have sweets that often. So, like, everything a little bit sweet, you know, she thinks is like, oh, it's only because you don't eat sweets. And so anyway, that shake, make sure the cold. The coconut milk is cold. Keep them. Keep them in the fridge and then all those above. And it just satiates me.

Yeah.

And it's just. It just, you know, it's like everything just, you know, gets sucked into what I. What I need for my workout. I like to do that within 30 minutes of working out. And, you know, it's just. It's just what I do.

And then what do you do before bed?

Before bed, I'll do a nighttime tonic, and it's a little different. I'll do calming herbs, like pearl gaba. Same thing. Arginine, glutamine, collagen, protein. Again, depending if I worked out that day. If I worked out that day, I really think, you know, because I think it's important to repair, obviously, skin health, skin care health as well. But it's just, you know, it's just extremely mineralizing. You know, bone tissue, skin connective tissue. I think that's something that we really need to take care of. You know, it's just as we age, you know, my knees, my elbows, I mean, I'm good right now, and I want to maintain that. And so the gelatin and collagen are things that I've noticed really counteract that. And things like serrapeptase, nattokinase. I heard you talking about that. So I started loading up on both of those.

It's pretty amazing, huh?

It's great. K2, vitamin K2. I do a nice vitamin C, leucine, proline, and just a branched chain amino acid that just really replenishes. I'm all about just replenishing nutrients that are lost and minerals that are lost as we age through the toxins that we're breathing in and through just general wear and tear that we put our body through. So that's what I'll do. And then I'll do the. I don't want this to be like a bullet. Bullet, but I do use the bulletproof mat.

Oh, the super induction mat.

Yeah. I mean, that's effective.

I love that.

I mean, everything. It's just effective. And then I'll do like three magnesium tablets and just. It's just the same thing, you know, it's just as, like you said, as an entrepreneur and as an athlete, I just. It's all about being consistent with the routine. Okay, I've noticed. And just, you know, you're gonna, you know, you're gonna be consistent with your results. If you're putting in a consistent diligent routine. That works for me. You know, I mean, I've just. I've noticed that. And I do the same. It's like Groundhog Day, but to some. But I love him, you know, and then. But the results are there because it's. I'm just putting in this constant thing that's just, you know, I saw you. You post something about wearing the same thing every day. It's just like. It's like a uniform, you know? You know. You know, I kind of. I'm starting to wear this shirt a lot, so. So that's. That's what I do. And, you know, I'll switch it up every now and then, but, you know, maybe try to see the beach or something or maybe go watch a movie. But really, this. This is my life.

It takes a lot.

It's my life. And I read an article recently. You know, your social life is going to. Going to kind of intertwine with your business life. My business. I mean, my business life is my life. You know, it's like I was given a chance to have a successful company, and it's on me now. And it's. I like that extremely. That's what excites me so.

Awesome.

Thanks.

Normally I ask people top three things. You've already been on enough times. You've answered that question three times. So I'm going to switch things up a little bit. Your top three recommendations for a new entrepreneur who wants to kick ass.

I would say, number one, this is my personal. It may not be. Some may not agree, but at all personal costs, create the best product, whatever it is, and it, you know, people respond to that attention to detail in that regardless of cost, that attention to detail, purity of ingredients. I can only, you know, that's what I do as far as I'm in a physical product. So I, without regard to my cost, I want to put the best product out there.

You have to do the best.

Yes. So that's number one. Number two, man, your customers are everything. So maintain perfection with that. That is something we can't. I mean, at this, you know, I have thousands of customers, but, you know, hopefully I get down the road where it's like tens of thousands like you and it's not going to be. But I really always do your best, always do your best of perfecting customer service. And then as a customer myself, I love the fact that I get a product within a few days and then they reach out and see how I like it. Everything matters like that, as Far as customer service, as far as the third one. Search your network and your friends. Just keep it to yourself. You don't want to be too neat, needy about it and hey, I need this. But really search your nerch, your network of friends because it's larger than you think you can imagine. Really put together. If you need help in a certain area, put together a heartfelt email or information and going, look, this is what I need. This is what I'm doing. So far I've noticed if you need help in any certain area that you feel I've noticed people respond to like I need help in the digital marketing, search engine optimization. I definitely still do.

Now that you said that, you're going to get like 50,000 people who don't have skills emailing you saying it's hard to find good ones. We'll talk offline about that.

Yeah, it's just really set down and expand your network for things that you may be lacking because they're there. And you know, a lot of the times people, you know, it's, it will be more economical that way working with people that you know and that and they'll have more invested because it's a friend that they're working for. And I've, I've had that really, you know, with my website. I had a really good friend of mine help me out with that and that's, that's how it worked. You know, it was kind of fun working with a childhood friend that, you know, going forward and it's just so expanding, you know, your business, you know, expand your. Take a look at your network and see who can help you out.

Awesome. Andy, what's your URL? Where can people learn more about Alatura?

Alaturanaturals.com a l I t u r a naturals n a t u r a l s dot com and I'm on Facebook Andy at Andy Nilo. Twitter at Andy Nylo Instagram at Andy Nilo.

And then Nilo is H N I L. Yeah, Andy.

Last name H N I L O and then Alatura Naturals on Instagram and Facebook.

Sweet. Now we're going to do something different. If you're watching the video on YouTube, you can hang out and we're going to have a series. We'll edit this down a bit but Andy and I are going to go basically tear up the bulletproof labs here. We're going to do all sorts of crazy biohacking. I'm pretty sure that you're going to cry a bit little least once.

Oh.

But like we'll push you on the electricity and you're going to just like be even more veiny than you are now. But it's going to be fun and we're going to record the whole thing so you can just check it out for fun. If you're listening in your car, you want to check it out later, just hit the Bulletproof Executive YouTube channel and you'll get sort of this special extra content just because it's fun. Have an awesome day. Thanks for listening. If you like the podcast, head on over to Andy's website, check out what he's got. He's building some really amazing skin care things you. Thanks, Andy.

Thank you. Right on. It. Sam. Sa. Oh.

You are fit. You're 120 over 66. After this gnarly workout, we just put you through like you're dripping in sweat. Your heart rate's elevated. You'd expect that. Let's get you in the cryo. It's going to cool. It's going to cool you down.

It can recover a lot faster.

Feeling it.

Oh, yeah. Hey, how's it going? Andy Nilo here, founder and creator of Aloe Syra Clay mask and sitting here with Dave, applying the mask after a long day podcast. Dave has an infrared sauna here at the bulletproof facility. So we're going to throw this on and hop on in. Really helps seep the micronutrients and ingredients into your pores once they're opened up. So we're just going to apply it right now and hop on in.

So this stuff, I've used it for quite a while now and I'm a backer of Andy's company because you can feel the difference. First time you use it, the microcirculation is much bigger on your skin, so you just kind of smear it on. And I do this. I don't do it every night, Andy, no offense. I do it a couple times a week, though, because you feel a real noticeable difference, especially when I travel and sometimes I'll travel with it. Like, if I need to look really good on camera the next morning, I'll totally do this. So this is just part of keeping your face looking young. Plus, like, I mean, I can be like hulk on because it's kind of a greenish color. Now talk about what's in here because it kind of smells like seaweed.

So, yeah, there's organic kelp powder, 10% ascorbica L ascorbic ac acid, which is a high quality form of vitamin C that crosses the epidermis and really provides that stimulation. That redness you see is that stimulation of the blood vessels and capillaries being circulated.

Am I supposed to get on my ears?

Well, you know, I mean, wherever. Hey, you have some nice self. I throw it everywhere. As you can see, I have it in my hair as well. Now, I don't want to get yelled at by the women out there with beautiful hair, but as guy who I care about keeping my hair young. And for vitalization of the scalp, I think it's important to really hit those follicles with the minerals from the clays. Power phylate, 70% silica, which is a building block not only in collagen, but also it's what our hair is made of, right?

Yep. So we're going to put this on, let it dry, and just sit in the sauna. Let it basically pull the toxins out of the skin.

Skin. Yep. Let's do it.

Beautiful.

All right.

I'm still wearing my pants.

All right.