Find Profitable Business Ideas By Studying Weird Trends

You're good at doing this, which is you identify these lifestyle trends. You like pick up pretty quickly on like, there's a group of people that are deciding to like live under a different paradigm or different motto or creed. And actually that's always like one of the best ways to build a business around that lifestyle because you can speak to that audience and you can differentiate a product super easily to that crowd. Dude, have you ever been inside factories? You probably have, but I think most people haven't. Have you been inside like any kind of—

why do you think that I've been in a factory?

You're gonna be like, I don't know, like my fucking cousin Bubba has like a bubble gum factory.

You're gonna be like, I went fishing for— I went fishing recently with my father-in-law and he's like, hey, so how do I set this hook up? What do I do? I'm like, dude, I don't know, I've never gone fishing. He's like, why didn't you just assume that I know how to do it?

Oh dude, you look like a guy You just look like you seem for sure like a guy who's going fishing.

I mean, I've watched documentaries on it, so I know how to.

Do you or do you not have a favorite place to fish?

No, of course not. I don't have a fishing hole that I go to. But no, I've— I don't think I've been to a factory. Not really. Like, what type of factory?

It doesn't matter. Any factory, whatever factory you go into, it's fucking mind-blowing how, like, even to go to a warehouse, like, go to it. You ever been inside like an Amazon warehouse or like a, like a food warehouse? Like how the food gets to restaurants. It's insane in the same way that like going to a farm is like slightly crazy and you're like, whoa, I eat these, these, I eat these animals.

Like, oh wow.

You know, that doesn't seem right. But like basically a factory, it is kind of stunning. Like if you take any object on like, okay, I am holding this microphone. This is sitting on my, this is the foam. Cover of a microphone.

There's some like huge factory that like is churning them out.

If you just go back to trace the process of how this got to my desk. So, okay, I just go on Amazon, I just microphone, uh, I don't know, maybe this one. I click that, I buy it, right? So it goes from an Amazon warehouse onto a, like, Amazon warehouse packs it into a carrier, carrier brings it to my house, puts the package on my doorstep. Okay, great. How did it get to the Amazon warehouse? Well, first it was in probably like another warehouse before it even got sent to Amazon. Before that warehouse, it was in a factory being made by human beings. I don't know, so actually before that, before it got to the warehouse, it was on a boat in a container like sailing from fucking China on a boat with human beings just living on the boat as it sails for months, you know, 2 months to, to the coast. And then it gets like un— you know, like docked and separated out of a container ship and like Humans, beings are there in the factory. There's human beings, you know, I don't know how, how many, you know, small children died making this foam cover, but it's like the amount of work that goes into everything that's sitting in our house just arriving there is insane to me. Like just the materials. So where did the material for this foam come from? Right? There's like a, you know, if you have cotton, right? That starts in a field somewhere, gets plucked, it gets plucked and it gets pulled and it gets processed and it gets shipped and then it gets It gets manufactured, then it gets printed, then it gets manufactured again. It's like, that is insane.

Yeah, where's that energy from?

And to the point where I'm kind of like, we're kind of ruining the earth and also people's lives. Like, you know, like, to get a t-shirt—

well, I canceled my Amazon Prime membership. I was like, I mean, I feel guilty. I like, I order something and it's like so much energy behind the scenes went to ship this. Of course, I only see they ship a dongle to a computer, a small-ass thing with bubble wrap in a huge box. And I'm like, oh, this is horrible. And then I have to pay money to pay a truck to come pick it up because I— it's too much, you know, boxes for my— yeah.

Oh yeah. Then the truck, you know, burns gas and then takes it somewhere else and fucking dumps it somewhere. And then it's someone else's problem, right? Like, so it's just kind of like, on one hand, I'm amazed that the system even works. Like, the fact that the package gets from the factory in Vietnam to the warehouse. And then you go to the warehouse and there's like an unbelievable number of boxes, and then they get sort, you know, picked and packed into the package, and that gets shipped. And if you ever go to the post office, like, if you go to the post office and you, you should just ask them, be like, hey, can I see what it's like behind the door there? They'd be like, what? Why? Like, I just never seen a post office. They'll open the door. It is like Santa's, like, you know, elves factory, basically. It's like the most unbelievable number of packages and you're like, where's the system? Like, aren't there conveyor belts? And they're like, no, we just got these like trolleys and then we just kind of keep them like, you know, the ones going over there, they stay over in this area. Then we hope we don't lose them. It's like, wow, this is insane that this system even works.

It is pretty crazy.

It's like an incredible achievement.

It's crazy. You can mail something from California to New York for like $0.45 and it gets there in like 4 days.

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Pretty reliably. So I'm like, it is on one hand amazing and on the other hand it's horrifying the amount of like, I forget the environmental side, right? I'm not even that environmentally conscious. It's not like something that I think about all the time or I feel super guilty about. I actually feel more like the human energy and labor and just the amount of effort and resources it took to get this thing to me. It makes me think like, you know, we had that guy David Friedberg come on the pod. You weren't there for that one. But the thing he's doing, which is basically like, hey, he's doing the same thing in the drink industry, which is like instead of, you know, putting 20 liters of water to grow grapes, then crush the grapes, turn it into wine, add sugar, add alcohol, pack it up, put it to a, you know, send it to a bottling factory, then send it to a warehouse, then put it on a shelf in a store and then drive it home and then put it on a shelf in your home. Like he's like, why don't you just like manufacture it in your home? Using this little printer that'll print a drink for you. And, um, and it's like, oh yeah, that cuts out like 90% of like the, the, you know, this like energy and like kind of resources and, and time and effort that goes into, to bringing this drink to my, you know, you know, to be able to drink this drink. So I just feel like more than ever, that was like the, that was the big wake-up call. That was my going into space moment, was realizing for every single product, every shirt, every pair of boxers, every sock that I own, how much goddamn, like, effort, labor, travel, resources goes into it. And realizing that that's not going to be the way, that's not going to be the way forever. And like this kind of like 3D printing, you know, like sort of basically manufacturing just in time at the endpoint and cutting out a whole bunch of these like factories and warehouses and all that other stuff that needs to happen was my big wake-up call.

I want to ask you about then what else is there that you can do that for? But before that, Have you ever gotten into the Buy It For Life movement? Have I told you about that?

Um, no, but I think I understand it from that. What is it? It's like an eco-friendly way of like buying.

Yeah, well, I don't— it doesn't have to be rooted in eco-friendly. Uh, it's not for me, but it's a perk. There's a subreddit that I subscribe to, it's called Buy It For Life. And what you do is the, the idea is just how do you just consume less stuff and how do you just buy the best of something that hopefully can last forever? So an example, Yeah. Do you remember as a kid, did your mom ever have a KitchenAid mixer?

Yes.

Okay. So a KitchenAid mixer, KitchenAid's a brand and the mixer, like it's the thing with the bowl underneath it and like the arm that goes above it and spins. Those are like $600. They're really expensive, but they're famous for lasting like a lifetime. Like you can use an antique one and it works just as good. And another example is if you're gonna buy like, um, a coat, like there's like, um, you can maybe buy a really fancy leather coat and and you're willing to spend $2,000 as opposed to buying a $300 one because it could like last forever as long as you fit in it. Or Patagonia actually does that too. They'll fix your stuff forever. Or, um, there's like a bunch of furniture. There's a bunch of shoes, like different types of shoes. You can buy it instead of them whenever they wear down, instead of throwing, throwing them away, you can just get 'em fixed. And so it's the idea of like, how do you buy one thing forever? And it hopefully can last forever or buy one thing one time and it'll last forever.

I feel like you do stuff like this, Ben. Do you, do you have like objects that you, uh, stuff that you buy that's like meant to sort of last? I don't know why my hunch just tells me you do.

The funny thing is my dad does this, but not out of like, um, like environmental justice ideas, but just like because he's crazy that way of like he drove the same car for 22 years and just like couldn't bring himself to buy a new car and always shines his shoes because he's owned the same shoes for like 40 years. And so that like kind of got ingrained in me as like a good way to live. And so I do do this a little bit.

It's awesome. It's fun. And also like some of your shit as you wear it and it patinas, it actually looks cooler, right?

You're good at doing this, which is you identify these like lifestyle trends. It's like, do you know there's some people that are like, you know, not eating food anymore? They're just drinking whatever, uh, Soylent or, you know, like You know, there's people that just microdose LSD every day and these are kind of famous examples now, but I feel like you've told me about 30 of these in the time that we've been friends. And you're like, dude, have you seen this subreddit called FatFire or whatever? It's like you always have these, you pick up pretty quickly on there's this weird, not even weird, it's just like there's a group of people that are deciding to live under a different sort of paradigm or different motto or creed. And actually that, I think you just like, cuz it's interesting, but that also is like one of the best ways to build a business around that lifestyle because you can speak to that audience and you could differentiate, differentiate a product super easily to that crowd.

And I, I seek the, I seek those things out. So there's a bunch of things that I, I don't agree with or I don't, I don't wanna live my life that way, but I love just like seeing it. I like seeing how basically I love freaks. I like weirdos. I consider myself a weirdo and I, and I, I love a good freak show. I just love, I'll see it like, I remember the first time, like 3 years ago, I went to my friend's house and he didn't have a microwave. I'm like, what? You don't have a microwave? He's like, well, it's bad for this reasons. And I was like, you're a freak. Like, we all have microwaves. You're the weirdo. And then you start thinking about it. I'm like, well, okay, tell me why, why do you think you might be right? And I'm like, okay, maybe there's a point there. Or like, uh, my friends, a lot of my friends now refuse to use plastic Tupperware or plastic anything that you eat with. And I'm like, well, why? I just put my thing in microwave. Who cares? And so like there's a bunch of little things like that that I love learning about.

Yeah. I remember when Justin Mares came on, you were like, let me guess, you don't have a microwave in your house. He's like, yep. And I was like, that's a fucking weird spot on question to ask somebody that I don't think you knew the answer to ahead of time. And then that got me thinking about that, this, this exact lifestyle you're talking about. In fact, Moise, um, so Moise started Native Deodorant, which was around one of these trends. Which was people wanted an all-natural, paraben-free, aluminum-free deodorant. And he saw that on Etsy, that was like a really high-selling item, but it was like in the Etsy kind of handmade artisan goods like bubble. And his bet was that people, once you kind of speak to that value system of like not having X, they might be willing to pay more and be, become a like switch deodorant brands if you like built a brand around it. He recently tweeted something out, he goes, billion-dollar idea. Water that has not touched plastic. So it's a water brand that has only been like in glass containers or like, you know, basically like from the whatever, the mountain that this was gotten. It hasn't touched plastic until it's reached your lips. And I just thought that was funny. It's like this, this plastic thing is, is real. A lot of people are anti-plastics. Yeah. So that means like for every product where plastic is core, there's going to be an alt product where plastic is not, not like, not used. So whether it's Tupperware or like, for me, I drink water out of, you know, we get those big 5-gallon jugs or whatever delivered to the house out of a dispenser. That's, that's a plastic container. It's sitting in the whole time until I drink it, right? So it's just a giant water bottle. And so there's like, there's these trends where you can look at, okay, where is there— like, if there's anti-plastic trend, where is there plastic? And can I create an alternative? If there's a plant-based vegan trend. How do I make alt milks, alt meats, alt whatever, right? That becomes like a, a blueprint to building a great business.

So there's a few companies out right now, you might know their names. I'm gonna try and look them up. But basically, uh, there's this trend amongst products that you use daily that you run out of. So like toothpaste, laundry detergent, uh, Advil bottles, things where the bottle isn't— is just like a way to get it to you, but it's kind of bullshit that you have to throw it away. And so they're making all these products where they send you one package and then they send you like whenever you need it, just a ref— something to refill it, like lit— or like, like literally something you pour into it. Um, do you know what they're called? Do you know what I'm talking about?

But I've seen this for toothpaste, um, and I think it's a great idea. I think this is a great—

I love it—

business idea.

Um, and I, at first I thought it was small. I think Moyes was the one who told me. I'm pretty sure he said it's like killing it. Um, you don't know what I'm talking about? I forget what it is.

Uh, no, I don't have a name.

Uh, I'll have to look up what it is, but it, it— they're crushing it.

I know there's like, um, for cleaners, I think there's one called Blueland. I think Doesn't Blue Land do this? Is it blue?

Yeah, I know you're talking about— yeah, and it's like chemical-free containers, and then they send you one container, and then they— you, you order something, and they— I don't know exactly how they send it to you, but you just like pour it into the thing, right?

Send you a plastic pouch that you throw away.

Yeah, yeah, I think it's like less, less bad.

Um, by the way, speaking of these kind of like niche crazy people, I got two for you. So one is we talked, I think about, um, anti-work, the r/antiwork. Did we talk about that on the podcast?

I don't know. I don't think we talked about it, but it pisses me off.

So there's r/antiwork, which you should explain that. And then I have another one that's the counter to it. So first explain r/antiwork.

I don't even entirely know how to explain it, but it was, I'll tell you the background from what, if I remember correctly, it was started 8 years ago, but uh, like in the last 3 years since the pandemic is when it really got popular. It was made up of a lot of people who were waiters and waitresses, and they were pissed off at how they were being treated. And it started out as like a labor movement thing, like we need higher wages, we need this. Now it's like got 8 million, 10 million subscribers on, on the subreddit, and it's people complaining about like, you know, my manager said that like they fired me because I told them I was busy when I needed to come in, and they just basically shit on anything where it's like demanding of of workers.

And so I think— so, so here's their— here's, I think, their stated thing. Ben, you tell me if I'm being too harsh on it, if you find a more generous explanation. But here's what it says: it is a subreddit for those who want to end work, are curious about ending work, and want to get the most out of a work-free life. The subreddit has cracked over 1.4 million members by the end of 2019, which has got to be a lot more than that by now.

It's 8 million now.

And it went It's like 1.8 million. Oh my god, I think one went viral after a warehouse worker posted a screenshot of a text that they sent their boss, and then that basically made other workers— the other workers like kind of like saw that, were inspired, did the same. And it was part of this like, you know, the Great Resignation that people were talking about. And there was like this funny clip where they put— they took a mod from r/antiwork and they went on Fox News. I don't know if you have—

you see? Yeah, and this— the person got destroyed. It was embarrassing.

That it's like anti-work person gets destroyed by, you know, Fox anchor is like the video, which I didn't like. I didn't like—

I mean, it's like, I hate when they do that. This person clearly like is not that smart, I think. And like, they— it's very easy to set them up to look silly in that— in those cases.

The subreddit also didn't like it because they were like, dude, horrible representation of us on TV, um, did not articulate our points, and, um, you know, why did you go on there? Like, this movement is not about you getting your personal fame, you know, to like do this. Um, we kind of— I think they had some rules around like, we're not going to do appearances or speak to the media unless we kind of agree on what the message is. Um, and so this person went rogue, I guess, and did that. But they basically embarrassed themselves where they were like, yeah, I just don't want to work. And then guys like, okay, cool. So like, you know, do you don't want to work at all? Or like, no, like, I want to be able to do what I want to do. It's like, all right, what do you want to do? It's like I want to teach people. I want to be a teacher. And he's like, you want to be a— you want to be a teacher? Yeah. You know, should we let you teach? Basically was kind of like the, the end point that they were kind of making. But anyway, so this— there's Antiwork, which went viral. Then there's— have you seen r/overworked?

No, what's that?

It's the exact opposite. It's people who are using the pandemic, the kind of remote work lifestyle, to be like— they call it having the multiple jobs at once. So, um, like they'll, their lingo is like, oh yeah, my J1, which is like my job one. It's like J1 has great benefits. And so I'm just picking up my J2 and J2, I'm just gonna do 10 hours a week with this, this, and this. And I'm gonna use that to invest in these things. Right. And so it's people scheming together about how to work multiple jobs at once in, as remote workers. Oftentimes it seems like without the employers knowing that there are other jobs. So they're like being simultaneously employed without being super about. I think that's the message. I could be wrong on that. And, um, it's, it's people who are trying to get to financial freedom faster by saying like, yeah, like actually I have the capacity to do like multiple jobs. Um, you know, instead of sort of spending 40 hours a week on one job, it's like I can actually do a good job in 20 hours a week on 2 jobs and get paid double.

That's the optimistic way to look at it. The probably realistic way, like I'm looking at the top title and it says J— my J3 job forgot about me today. And they say, I started my J3 yesterday, and by started I mean I was giving an orientation on Zoom and no one showed up, so now I'm just sitting here on the payroll, right?

Yeah, yeah, there's other people who are like, yeah, let's beat the system. Um, and so there's like a— basically a counter movement, but that kind of always happens. There's like a— there's like the movement and then there's the counter movement that comes shortly after, and like It kind of polarizes. And then there's mainstream, which just does things the way they've been doing them, and they don't really pay too much attention to this stuff. And so, um, you know, that, that's kind of common for, for many, many, uh, many, many of these movements. I think subreddits are a great place to look for that.