When Desperation Becomes Inspiration | Interview with Alitura Naturals Founder Andy Hnilo

Four, five, six. Hey, what's up, Andy? How you doing?

Good. How are you doing?

Good, man. Excited. Excited for this.

Oh, man, me too. That was a long weekend.

Yeah, I know. But yeah, I think everyone on the call is really pumped too. I have just a ton of really, just great applicants, great copywriters and a bunch of people who are really fired up. So it's going to be awesome.

I don't doubt that at all, everybody. I just meant, let's see, how do I get this? There we go. Right on. Well, first off, my name is Andy. I'm the founder of Alatura Naturals. Man, where do I start? First off, thank you everybody for. I mean, we're now teammates. This is so cool. I've experienced how powerful copywriting is for our brand. Writing email copy writing descriptions, writing every. Everything for the brand. It was just. It is my baby. So, like, from the beginning, up until just mid April, as I was mentioning to Stefan, I'd been doing all of our copy, emails, descriptions. I'd run it by, I'd test it out to, you know, with my Facebook following and customers and just say, hey, guys, you know, because some of them are copywriters and they'd operate to help me. But I'm like, it's just man, something that I don't have a problem passing it on, but it's really fun to me. So I've always liked reading English, all that writing. So that's why I would do it. And I just know the intricacies of what is in our products. So that's. I feel like I have the best chance to explain it. But up until. Yeah, like I said, mid April, I started working with copywriters in a group that Steph and I are both a part of and wow, it's mind blowing. So you got. It's. It's an asset. And I'm just as excited to be here working with, I mean, just total pros like, as like yourself. So very grateful for that. And Steph, and this is just what I've always wanted to do is just shine light on something that means so much to me, my family and just my overall just mission to help people. I mean, this is so. Long story short. I see. I mean, I'll take it back. Stephan, did you want me to just kind of tell the story? Because it's really personal to me. This is very different maybe than from some brands that you've worked with. This is just sharing a piece of my heart. There's a big, big passion and interest of trial and Error. I mean, there's a long, long story that's hopefully going to give me a lot of content, but I'm going to tighten it up. I tend to get a little wordy. I'll try to pull that back if that starts to happen. But I'm. So, Stefan, did you kind of want me to just go? Because everything from why I'm interested in skincare and where that all started.

Yeah, the way I want to do this, Andy, is exactly that. I want to do kind of the origin story. Right. Like, what happened? What set you on this journey? What happened once you were set on this journey, as you were looking at creating your first product, which was the clay mask and the story of what you did there? I want to kind of. And then from there we'll cover the clay mask first and we'll talk about that. What's in it? Why does it help? Like, why, you know, everything that we can share. And from there we'll go on to the, like, the facial system and we'll talk about everything that that's in there as well. So that's kind of the structure. And I may interrupt you to ask questions. I'm going to mostly let you talk and then at the end I'll definitely ask questions. For sure.

Absolutely. So. Okay. Well, I was born in, well, Northern California and then moved to Palo Alto, where I've been an athlete my entire life. And I got a baseball scholarship to UC Berkeley and was really excited. And that's the reason why I bring that up is because that's when I became passionate about ingredients. I was very thin. I was six, two and a half, 168 pounds. Going to Cal and at the Pac 10 at the time. Now it's Pac 12, which is their conference, the athletic conference. It's just, you know, I wanted to put on weight and fill out my frame to be competing with other PAC 10 outfielders on the team for playing time. And so I wanted to put on weight. And so that's when I just got really passionate about things. Just taking it, reading labels, the grab and turn philosophy, protein, calories, fat, just in an attempt to put on weight, put on muscle, just like the other guys on the team. And so I did that and I saw results. But in doing and using things, I was just eating the wrong things. So I was. My. My back. I got really bad back acne. So it's simple. I mean, that's crippling. So that's my first experience with what it does to you. I mean, the first thing you see in the morning when you look in the mirror and you see something, I mean, it sets the tone for your day in a negative way. I've experienced that and it's just, it bugs me. Matter of fact, I had. I would get little cystic acne on my face. But the cystic are like sores don't turn into whiteheads and don't turn into infections that you can eventually remove and. But I mean the ones that are there for like a week or two weeks, I don't know if any of you can relate. They're frustrated. So I. And then also I had that on my back. And so like for my whole freshman year, I would change with my back to my, you know, my locker. And that's a long time. And it's, you know, when you're growing in your body at 18 and 19 years old, it's just, man, it can be like, like I said, crippling to some people. And so I just, man, I wanted to find out a way to beat that thing. So that's where. That's why I just really. That's my ingredient source. What I would do is, I mean I went from Clearasil to Neutrogena body Wash, just loaded in 30, 40 chemicals that are all, not all, but many government recognized carcinogens, synthetic toxic ingredients. I mean, luckily they have a list now list of just things to watch out for. They have ThinkDirty app where you can scan the UPC code and rate cleanliness 0 to 10 on the product. And they're getting better with it. It's actually, I mean, when I first started this, there were so many holes in God, this be so good. If it didn't have glycerin, phenox, ethanol, potassium sorbate, you name it, sodium benzoate, preservatives, fragrance fillers, emulsifying agents that don't serve the skin. I mean, but I didn't, I wasn't that passionate. So let me go back to freshman year. Cow. So that's when I went from Neutrogena to say Dove. Dove had five ingredients. One of them was coconut derived. And so. And then I found better results. I'm like, oh man, this natural route is kind of cool. And it became a creative outlet for me back then, even though I was. I didn't think that at the time that I was interested in you, but it made me feel good. And so it was just, it was something that I looked forward to doing because I was seeing results. So basically switching over from just a diluted ingredient Deck that smells great and foams up has foaming agents, sodium sulfate to just Dove soap on my face and my body. And it was a smaller ingredient. Deck. And so just year over year I became more passionate about, oh like my first apricot scrub and that facial scrub and just little things to just make me feel good. I mean, I really strongly believe that you feel good about yourself before you leave the door, before you leave the house in the morning or afternoon, whatever it is, you just create that ripple effect for everybody you meet. It's just you bring the best self in every personal, professional interaction. That's something I can control. So it became like my little routine and I kind of hid it obviously because around teammates they were really give me a hard time with that. But. And then so just year over year I became more passionate with that. And then so after baseball didn't work out, you know, had a great, had a great career. I mean there were some, just some things that, you know, I had a strong opinion. I was a little bit of a hothead off the field, but. Well, on the field too. I mean, but anyway, it humbled me so I had a draft party, wasn't drafted, didn't know what to do with my life. Moved down to Los Angeles because I had, I was working at Abercrombie during the summers. You remember Abercrombie?

Oh yeah.

And so they transferred me down to the LA store and I lived on a buddy, a friend's couch and just kind of started just being in la. I didn't know what I was going to do. A friend, a roommate of mine was an actor and so I would run lines with him. And so run lines means just, you know, I'd be a character opposite of him and I'd kind of just feed him lines. And he was auditioning for a lead in a baseball related film. And keep in mind, I just came out from baseball and I was, you know, I was just fresh in the game. So I was critiquing fresh from the game. So I was critiquing certain, you know, little nuances and tendencies. I mean, he hadn't played since literally. And you know, a lot of actors tend to, you know, flub a little bit on their experience. And so I just, yeah, I just, I was nailing his rules better than he was. I mean, her lines better than he was. Just because I, you know, you don't care sometimes just, you know, you're a little bit more receptive and carefree and you're not overthinking it. So you're nailing some things and this never happens. But he reached out to the director. I didn't have representation at the time. He got me read for that role. I ended up. Long story short, callback, callback, screen test. I ended up booking that and then got representation. All within. Yeah. Month of moving down to LA without. Yeah. I was a lead in a feature film we shot for a month and a half. And it was like I was back playing again. It was a trip. Matter of fact, right after that, in the fall, I was going. It got me hungry again to go back and play baseball. But also what that did is it got me back into my career. Well, I mean, that got me back in my career, but that led into 2006 to. I mean, I'm still technically in it, but I mean, five, six year career through that depression. Well, slight economic depression within the industry where the SAG strike after strike were. I mean, it was just. There was no work, but I was still working through that. So I had a good career going. I mean, I ran the Runway, walked the Runway for Calvin Klein, did shoots for campaigns, global campaigns for Coppertone, Levi's, Oakley, Michelob Ultra. I mean, so I worked a lot. I mean, it was my. How I paid my bills and my livelihood and it was exciting to me. And so the reason why I point that out is, I mean, when that accident happened, I mean, I was just crossing the street and I got hit by a westbound heading vehicle and then lost consciousness and then flipped as a pedestrian and flipped into the eastbound lane and then got run over by another Toyota Tundra. And you should see the report. So I actually still have the reports.

So, yeah, I want to. Because of that, the accident, obviously, it's a crazy and dramatic moment in your life and from a copyright perspective and as like, you know, for us as storytellers and wanting to captivate the attention of the audience. I mean, I think that's where a lot of the writers will probably start, right? With the story of, like, what happened. Right. And then walk back because it's crazy. So I want to know two things. A, Was that Topo chico you were just drinking? Yeah, too carbonated for me. I'm more like, I, like, I need my Lacroix. But it's okay, you know, agree to disagree on that one.

It's got this little bite. I know, I hear you.

That's funny. I just got one the other day and I was like, yeah, it's too carbonated. But so, yeah. So like, when did the accident happen? And then. Yeah, let's really, like, set the frame for that. So you're modeling, you're acting like life is pretty good, and then suddenly everything kind of gets flipped upside down. Right. Like, I mean, everything changes. Right. So I want to kind of let you really go into that part because I think that's important.

Yeah. I mean, so it was, you know, there's already enough emotion going into that industry with the. You don't get any feedback. You know, you don't get any. You know, you lose a, you know, a role to a guy just because of your eye color, your height, hair color, things like that. And so, I mean, but they don't ever give you feedback on how to improve. And that was frustrating. So, like, there's a lot of emotional up and down. And so I was just kind of. That's how I was at the time. I didn't have anything under my control. And then, you know, I was little, I was approaching 30 years old, and I was underachieving. I felt in life and I mean, acting. I always believed that I was going to be, you know, you know, act for the rest of my life and be eventually one day be big, but who really knows? So there's that mentally upstairs of like, the unknown. And then that accident happened. So, I mean, I'm just waking up in a Cedars Sinai ICU bed after that. I mean, because I don't remember any of the ride over. It's. There are bits and pieces from the ride over, but, I mean, I had my jeans cut off me in the middle of Melrose on a Saturday night. I kept the jeans, by the way. They were bright orange. And I lost them in my move. I wanted to keep. I know it's kind of close, but I. But I just wanted. I mean, I keep subtle reminders of that all around my house. Obviously, I told you the report. I still have little insurer bottles from around. I have the sign that my sister made for people coming to visit me outside the door because we couldn't have guests anymore. So anyway, I'll go back. Just. Yeah, I mean, I remember just right there in the middle of the street, Melrose, and just, man, just, you know, you're out of it. You're finally. You wake up in a Cedarsina ICU bed with a morphine drip. And a couple of my friends were just, you know, Nick and Bobby were just, you know, and they heard like some. Some mumbling or some stirring around or whatever. And they look up and I'm like, you know, I thought everything was kind of A. You know, I was like. You know, when you're on a morphine trip, I don't know if anybody's ever has to be on one. But, yeah, it's just, you know, you think everything's a joke and everything's giddy and happy. Go Lucky. Because I didn't. I wasn't supposed to be talking because they wanted to piece together the fragments of my jaw back together. I had a compound fracture. So compound fracture means it's poking through the bottom of my mouth. It's all messed. I'm still dealing with it. It's okay. But from the middle of my chin to just beneath the left of my ear was just fragments, particles. I had a titanium plate up top, one on the bottom. But Dr. Rosenberg from Cedars Sinai ICU came in from Newport Beach. Obviously, it was in the middle of the night, and it was the worst mandible fracture he'd ever seen. He's a maxillofacial surgeon at Cedars Sinai Huge hospital. So we couldn't do it. He advised that we go. We wouldn't find a specialist to do the job. Luckily, my mom worked at Stanford Children's Hospital, so she had a little connection with Dr. Shindell, who had his understudy. He's like one of the mandible maxillofacial experts. And so one of his students at Stanford was actually practicing down in Beverly Hills. My mom had a cool little connection with Dr. Joseph Ruggieri, bless his heart, who put me back together. And it was. But it was a long, long road to recovery. I'm still. Yeah. I just deal with being uncomfortable. I deal with being, you know, not me. I don't. It's not about looking. It's not about feeling. I don't look the same. It's about feeling. It's about every. Constantly throughout your day dealing with something that is uncomfortable and I'm not. You know, you trick your mind a little bit, but it's always there. But I don't complain. I'm alive. Trust me. And the reason.

Go ahead and. Well, I don't want to cut you off. I'll let you finish what you're gonna say first.

Oh, no, it's okay. But what set the tone for that was, you know, leaving. Man, there was so much love.

Now that I think.

I mean, it's just. We had all my family together in one room for the first time. My sisters drove down from Arcadia, Humboldt County, California. They had to take off work. I mean, they didn't. You know, my brother had to take off Work drove down. My mom and dad drove down. I mean, can you imagine that six hour from the Bay Area and my mom just inches her way in carrying my little headshot of me acting. And it was just like, yeah, I'll never forget that. But it was just. It was tough. But then when people, when everybody's around and there's. We were never around each other in my little dingy 700 square foot North Hollywood apartment and we're all just there. So obviously I couldn't chew my teeth. My jaw was wired shut. All these teeth are fake. My front two and then one to the left was. I mean, they were nubs. So I mean, just getting your jaw wired shut and then I mean just not aside from the physical thing, physical appearance or whatever, you know, my jaw was way. I mean, out to here, about an inch. This was a railroad chop job. Meaning, like railroad track chop job, meaning there was a lot of. Joseph Brazierdi was really, you know, my surgeon had put me back together. He was disappointed with that because apparently it was just an emergency room job to stitch back my flesh together. And apparently it could have been better. I'm definitely not complaining, but it was, it just speaks to either the product or genetics or how I was eating or something, because it does. People are like, oh, well, you look fine. I'm like, you have no idea. The work that I put in did not look fine. And I don't know if anybody's seen the before and after. Luckily a friend of mine got one, but I mean, it's just the biggest shandy.

Let me ask you though, because I want to just. Because again, I want to be able to paint that for the writers. I want to paint that picture of like. So it's like late at night, it's 2am Were you leaving like a. Like a bar and you were just walking across Melrose? I know. I don't. I hope if it's too traumatic to like.

No.

Count it then. Okay. I just want to really paint. Like. So you're walking, one car hits you, you flip into another lane and get run over. And I want you to kind of. What was happening? Like, what were you just. Were. I know you don't remember kind of after you got, you know, hit, but like.

Yeah, it was just, it was something we would do. Long week. We just had some dinner at a restaurant across actually. At the house. Yeah, I was going to meet up with a friend at the place I'm at right now, ironically enough. And so we. Yeah, I was just going across the street it's one of those, like, dimly lit. It's kind of. People create their own crosswalks. It's not a full on crosswalk, but I just left this establishment on Melrose and then started to walk. And then I have a horrible habit. I'm just kind of adjusting to traffic. Kind of like everybody's been in New York, but it's from New York here. But I mean, it's just kind of, you know, people kind of jut out a little bit. But the thing is, where I messed up was I looked down and skipped and boom, I got rocked. Yeah, it's just. I had seven broken ribs, a collapsed lung. Forgot to mention that. Yeah, I mean, it was. It was ripped. That was really hard. Because when you sneeze with collapsed lungs, that's the worst pain I've ever felt, for sure. But, yeah, I mean, it was. Yeah, it was tough, but at the same time, it was. It was like this giddy excitement for still being alive. People don't survive those accidents, you know, it was, I mean, half inch, quarter inch here and there. I mean, you know, who knows? Who knows? I don't even. But yeah, it's just when, you know, my. One of my nurses was an ex Marine, and he was like, hey, any day you get to walk out of the. The hospital, it's a pretty good day, right? He's like, best of luck to you and your recovery. And I was damn. I mean, I really. I mean, because I didn't have any knee damage, any ankles, and I'd been pretty active at the time. Elbows were fine. So I started, you know, I mean, seeing if I could, you know, jog around my little place. Not jog around, but just seeing movement because I knew I wanted to hurry and get back on my feet. It was just. I mean, I'm one of those, like, I just got to keep going, going, going. So sitting around and just waiting to go back to bed and, you know, take your medicine and pass out. And then, you know, part of the recovery process was so hard for me to do.

Right.

So I just. Yeah, I mean, it was just, you know, my sisters and family had to go back to work, and brother. Yeah, mom, dad, everybody had to go back to work. And so it was just me there, and I just. It was okay, though, man. I wasn't, like, wallowing at all. I was trying to figure out a way to just, you know, stay active. Didn't really want to leave and leave the house. I mean, Tony, it was just. It was really, you know, uncomfortable thing to get to talk to people with. Who had just seen you a week before and then now your jaws wired shut and, you know, you just completely look deformed and you're a little banged up. So I didn't, you know, held back a little bit on my trips to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to the checkers that are trying so hard not to look down at your jaw from your eye contact. It's kind of like one of those things where it's, you know, it was definitely an eyesore, but it's just, it's something, you know, extremely humbling. And not that I wasn't before, but it was the biggest thing that I would say from that is when you're like a moment where you want to laugh or smile or you're happy or just elated and you're like mitigating it because you don't want to smile because you don't have teeth. And I severed a nerve right here, the mental nerve, which communicates muscle function to the side of my face from my brain. And they reattached it, but I still don't. I mean, you can, you can go, you can. But I mean, I don't feel this area. Side of my face, and I don't really think about it that much anymore. But at the time when it was fresh, I'd smile and only this face. Side of my face would show up right here. And, you know, it's just, it's, it's, it's. It's very tough. Aside from my. What I'd done for work, it was just, you know, it was, it was frustrating. So I wanted, I use, you know, that as fuel to get back on my feet and get in. Really a big part of it was just getting my family to see their, you know, their brother again, their son again, you know, just the same way they were before. I'm serious. I'm very close to my family. And that really broke my heart right there to have my mom, like, kind of just. I could tell that she was, she was very sad and. Yeah, yeah, so. So, I mean, it was, I would just. It was, you know, it was tough. But I mean, seriously, I didn't. I just went, you know, I started to put write down ideas. I had been into skincare, obviously, as I mentioned before, which leads to just overall interest. And now there's a sense of urgency, obviously, you know, the whole necessity is the mother of invention. I had used a one ingredient clay mask before, just calcium bentonite clay. It was ancient. What is it? It's that desert shoot. What is it? It's just one ingredient. Calcium bentonite. Clay. I can't believe I'm not thinking of it right now. But anyway, so what I did off that is I would isolate and find that ingredient and I would test it out particle size wise, just activity. I would spot treat different parts, different areas, different parts of my face, different areas of my body. Seriously, it may sound obsessive but it was something that I loved. I still love to do as far as finding ingredients and finding new clays that aren't so commonly used like that you see out there, aside from bentonite. So that's where on one basically what I did is I started buying bulk from a very good website or a very good source called Green Desert Clay. Jason Eaton, he was, he kind of took me under his wing because he could tell I was so interested in this stuff because I now told about my accent. So he gave me different. I just picked his brain. I mean he's obviously very passionate about the stuff. He's written books on it, the electromagnetic properties of clay, detox protocols, military detox protocols for moving heavy metals and just overall health, skin health. I mean it's just an added bonus to that. But. And then also he would tell me about other ingredients like kaolin clay. I like clay. And then obviously I bentonite to begin with. And so it was, I mean I had nothing but time. I wasn't going to sit around and like I said, when I do say I was spot treating certain areas, I was because I wanted to be able to notice or just test and see a noticeable difference. It's very tough with the same ingredient. But I know, I just know, I like, I just have a feeling it's kind of, it's just, it's a total field thing with me as far as sensing activity for skin ever since I can remember.

So Andy, let me ask you a question there. So like when you, because you've always been interested in skincare and ingredients and you know, things like that and then post accident when you're kind of getting the bent night clay is what's going through your head? Is it like just, you know, is there scarring and you're like hoping the scarring is going to go away? Is it just like that you're like, you know, bored and have time? Is it like, you know what, what is your hope as you're getting the bet in a clay? Like what's going through your head that's making you so, you know, kind of excited to be and motivated and Driven.

I would only do that mask the Sunday night before the accident. Sunday night I would do this mask of the calcium bentonite clip. And then after the accident it was like it would set the tone for the week. It sticks around for at least a day or two. And so say if I had an audition Monday or Tuesday, I just knew what I was going to bring to the table. You want to look like your pictures and so you really want to be your best self to every audition. And so I knew I had that in my back pocket. So I knew that I was going to just. I mean the circulation it brings to the surface of the skin is absolutely unbelievable. So bentonite, I mean it's just the blood flow and also subtly exfoliates and then reintroduces minerals that are lost as we age. And so. And that's just one clay. And so over time adding rasul. I like kaolin, which has like a mild just. They all work very well together. As far as like, it's just like a mild, mild like skin, skin bleaching effect to it, as does pearl. As far as just creating that even smooth skin tone. That was something that I became very just aware of by studying spa treatments, by just trial and error, sourcing ingredients and then ordering certain 5, 6 ounces. A lot of things are so cheap, clays especially that I could afford to do that. But then again, when I started to turn up the formula and add experiment with certain things like pearl powder, grass fed colostrum, those were things, those were just because it was very expensive and I didn't want to waste it, but I was taking them internally. And then your skin being your largest organ, I just felt like it would help. Luckily, obviously I had to experiment with the amounts. And that was just the fun part of it for me because I never had an intention to ever make this a product. This was just purely trying to accelerate the healing as quickly as I could. And it was really fun for me because I was seeing results very quickly. I mean, within a couple of weeks I was. The abrasions were gone, the swelling had gone down a little bit. Obviously the scarring wasn't gone. But the same people saw me in the icu. Christina Rodriguez, that I remember, she dropped her off, I picked her up at the airport and she was blown away. So that was pretty cool just to get like a legitimate double take. And she was the first person that I started testing with and going forward with as my little. She's like, what are you doing? No, no, no, what are you doing? Like one of those type of pills. And so who, who, what guy wants to admit they're making a little clay mask out of their apartment? I just, but I was like all right, here we go. And I became like this the mask guy. So friends. She's at the answer. She would introduce me to friends and friends of friends. So I'd be driving around Los Angeles, little backpack to houses in apartments I didn't even know. And I just introduced myself with a little bottle of apple cider vinegar, lavender, clary sage, seabuckthorn, sweet orange oil. And then explaining the ingredients and how like the essential oils kind of mitigate the aroma and the scent of the mask. But then all I would ask for is feedback and then maybe for them to take a picture. This was 2000, probably 12, 11, 12 ish where I started to feel comfortable with doing that and driving around with an actual product. But I mean long time I'm kind of skipping over a part source of ingredients. But yeah, that's. So I'll go back to that as far as with the pearl powder, the American ginseng, the vitamin C and then the first six hour milk and grass fed colostrum. Those were all my, I mean it was all my formula based on research. But those were the ones, those four right there were my. I had never seen used in skincare vitamin C. I had pearl powder, I had American ginseng definitely not. And grass fed colostrum for sure not. And so these were just, I just felt that the activity, the whole process of bringing circulation and blood flow to the surface of the skin while lightly exfoliating that area and then feeding and reintroducing really good minerals, nutrients and compounds of collagen like with the, with the vitamin C. And then Also the first 6 hour milky grass fed colostrum which is loaded in IGF1 growth factor content especially when you get it collected within the first six hours it's still roots in enzymes and live. I just felt that it was going to create the best chance to win for that skin and recover quickest. And it definitely did. The propowder loaded, loaded, I mean in superoxide dismutase which I just found out loaded in calcium has a mild bleaching effect as well to the point where there are studies or not stories, excuse me, of geishas using it to just create a nice smooth, almost ivory like pale skin tone to signify that they haven't been out in the fields collecting rice and things of that nature. And so it was like a hierarchy feel, had a hierarchy appeal to My culture for just having like a mild skin tone. So I was just, you know, it was helping with not only fading up, just discoloration on my skin, but just, I mean it was just reintroducing really good antioxidant capacity too. And this is just pearl powder. That's one ingredient. American. I mean it was just, it was like a superfood meal. For my skin being our largest organ, we have to feed it and treat it just like it's another mouth. And I mean just. I've always been that way. Well, not always, but I mean I'm just trying to remove some of the, anything in there that I didn't know what that ingredient was and whether that's the harsh preservatives, foaming agents, fragrance is a huge culprit. Alcohols. And then we get into things like parabens, stearates. I mean that's, it's just, it's shocking what people feel okay with putting in their products. That's, it's just, it really is shocking to me. And so that's where we go, we really do go to a different level to the point where I've had CEOs of other physical product companies coming up to me at conferences and going it's a water based product. Like how, how do you preserve it? I didn't really appreciate that. But I mean I just want to eat fresh food. I want fresh live enzymes in my product. These bees are collecting the propolis, the pollen, the honey beeswax world jelly that is not cooked. I've been there twice. These are, they're like family to me. But as far as my just putting on the bee suit and just collecting, scraping off the honey from the comb, it's the most beautiful enzyme rich. It's still just, I mean scientists are finding out more and more and more what bee products are capable of. And I really felt like I was going to heal quickest through things like manuka honey and then just creating little paste post mask because I wanted to moisturize and really hit that area that was just flush with circulation. Now you want to reintroduce really good ingredients through the moisture to repair and heal the skin after such an intense experience with the mask. And so that's where we went to work on that second product which is our night cream. But that came out of a cast iron pan. But yeah, I mean everything in with the mask I didn't have much space and so I moved everything out of my bedroom into my living room and then just started to. When we started I wouldn't say scale up, but I mean I would make batches of it and I would. That's where I stored everything. And it was just my little lab. I have some. So much content, by the way, like just from videos, pictures if anybody want needs those for their. For the research or for their.

I think we can share this. I do have like a. Is it like a Dropbox or Google Drive or do you have any. Anywhere kind of unified or somewhere where people can go view some of that content?

Sure, absolutely.

Okay. That'd be great.

Yeah. And then. But so. And that was fine. It was my. It was my little thing. You. The whole idea was to get back into the entertainment industry and just get back on my feet again and do something that people told me I wouldn't do. There's. I don't know if you want to go in a motivational factor or in this, but I'll just tell you guys that I don't like. I'm sure you guys don't like it either when people tell you that assume that you're not going to be able to do something or because of limitations that they may, you know, have in their head for me. So I just, you know, I heard that a lot. Hey, were you going to sue the city? Hey, are you going to. You're gonna get any money out of this? You're never gonna act a model again. I just kept that to myself and use that as motivational to absolutely prove them wrong. So, yeah, didn't sue the city and it was my fault. And so that'd be the wrong thing to do. I can't stand it when people ask if I got money for that. But so. But it was just very motivating to me just to get back. And I felt. Felt good again. And so if anybody was my own little kind of secret, but I really was. I started drinking coffee for the first time and it was Bulletproof coffee during it. You guys ever heard of Dave Asprey from Bulletproof? It's like the butter coffee. Okay. And so it. Talk about rocket fuel. Like, that really helped me in my recovery. Getting out of bed, drinking coffee for the first time because I was a health freak. I thought it was, you know, bad for you. But I definitely got, you know, that that proved me. Proved that that theory wrong. Because it was just. It was something I look forward to. Even the night before. I was like, man, I get to wake up tomorrow and I build. And so I just. You're not gonna believe it, but I wanted to work for Bulletproof I mean, and so I was like, all right, well, if you, if you send something to their back, then it was Bulletproof Exec on the contact form. Contact for the website. So it's like info of Bulletproof Exec. And so, you know, Dave Asprey, I copy pasted the same email. The before picture me in the ICU and then an after picture of like some modeling gigs. I did like Men's Health and it was. I did like D Dot Asprey at Bulletproof exec. David@Bulletproofexec Asprey, Dave. I mean, probably 10 different combinations and one of them went through. He got back to me. He cc'd his ambassador manager at the time, I think it was Jackie. And they brought me on board as a belt, as a Bulletproof Ambassador. I really wanted to. Yeah, I was just trying to get a job there, but so they just, they gave me product and told me to take pictures monthly. And I was already doing that as it is. So it was pretty cool, that free product. So it was like a little victory for me, you know what I mean? Like About a year year, a little over a year later and. Or a couple years later to have that and be like just an ambassador.

Wow.

Like, this is, you know, you know, those little things I needed at that time just because, you know, it gives you that sense that you're back, you know, back, you know, and so a few months after that. Yeah, man. Yeah. Mid. It was probably like September 2013, Jackie reaches out and goes, hey, Dave would like to have you on Bulletproof Radio. And I, at that time, luckily, I didn't know how big it was. I was like, what's that? And he was just like, she told me, oh, it's his podcast. Yeah, no, it's great, Great, Yeah, you know, can't wait to share your story. And it was just mostly, I mean, it was, man, I was like a complete blackout moment. Just across from someone I idolized. I mean, I really still to this day, he's the only reason why we're here. I'm very aware of that. But yeah, I mean, he's an incredible person. He really is. He cares. And. But so sitting across from Alibu, I was just so nervous. But yeah, it's just we hit it off and start going back and forth and like, just little remedies I would use internally to heal from supplements and obviously bulletproof products because the focus was going to be on what bulletproof products I was using to, to in my recovery. And then the last five, ten minutes I said, to you in the email, we just kind of talked about skin. And I was like, oh, no. Going into that, I kind of got an idea that there was going to be, like a large. You know, it's going to go out to a lot of people. And so luckily, I shared my little secret about, you know, creating this mask. I really didn't want it, but it was kind of on the spot. And then I just kind of started flowing on the ingredients and why I use what I used. And you can even hear him say. He's like, wow, you didn't even mention this. I didn't. Is it commercial? You didn't even know anything or. I didn't know that this product was commercially available. And I'm like, oh, it's definitely. I didn't have anything set up. Website was under construction. Definitely wasn't. And so, I mean, I was just at that point when that aired, February 1, 2014, that was one of the best, most exhilarating moments of my life. I mean, because once that aired, it was like a whole fresh. You know, because I gave up my personal email address because I didn't have it. So people were contacting. I still. I have to go back and just respond to. Because people were saying really nice things, but also they wanted to know where they could try or buy the product. And so I just obviously place another big order and packaging. Packaging. What do I do for packaging? So, I mean, I went over to dollar stores and, you know, the little mason jars, I'm like, wow, six. You know, because it's like six bucks a dollar each or whatever that was. I'm like, that's not going to. You know, that's not the best. Plus the glass, too. So I couldn't figure out packaging. And my label had to come up with a name. At first it was Golden Glow, and it sounded like a bronzer. So we just kind of went back over. Over time. Over a few months, we came up with alatur, which is Latin for feeding and nourishing. Your skin being your largest organ, you want to treat it like another mouth. And so we rolled with that. At first it was alturafstyle.com and then we tightened it up and went to Alotura Naturalist. But the interesting part was just me driving around town to Whole Foods. I would get these little. The pints for peanut butter, honey, almond butter with the snapshot containers. And same manager every time would always give me a hard time going, hey, man, come on, we don't even sell those. I'm like, that, Come on, please. Just come up with a price. 15 cents for the bottom, 15 for the top. So I had 30 cent packaging walk away. I get in my car and just, you know, drive home. And then I was like, all right, then, you know, FedEx or FedEx can code. I would go just get my labels there. Times new Roman font. And I still have. Luckily I still have some of those. My. My instructions were, I mean, single space, you know, just full on page. And I just really get into like I'm having a conversation with the person rather than a sentence or two. But I didn't know what I was just learning. I was just excited that somebody wanted to try something that I created. I mean, it was just my little thing and it was just so exhilarating to me that I wasn't left. And yeah, it's just. It was cool. And then the thing that I was telling Stefan about on our first initial call is just I didn't know my raw goods cost. And so I had to come up with a cost and price to people. You know, $35 free shipping to Sweden. And it was like $23 to ship. And I was getting those pints. Our products are 8 ounces now or, well, 7.1 and then. But those pints, obviously you fill it up, it's got. It's got to be 12 to 14 ounces or something. And our products are very expensive to make. I mean, everything in there, pearl, colostrum, everything. And so I had to be taking a hit because, yeah, 23, I'll never forget that one, especially because then it would break. Sometimes it would break in the shipment and so you have to send another one. So. But I mean, who cares? You're in the moment. People want something that you created. I'm sure you guys all, you know, I mean, just to pay something for your. Someone pay you for your work and just being a pro and that, like somebody like really, like, it's just so validating, really is. And so I just, you know, stayed on with that. But Dave contacted me and he said that he's like, man, I'm really getting a large response from this. He's like, what's your week? Looks like, looked like next week. And he flew down and we got initial stages of negotiations with a friend of mine was with a law firm. So he kind of helped me through that, but it was just so. It's kind of nerve wracking negotiating with someone you idolize. But yeah. So long story short, we partnered up and June 26, he released. Actually, I don't Want to speed through that at all? No. So. But he gave me a deadline to hit for 5,000 yen. So the clay mask and I don't know if we want to include this or not, but I mean, with the process of just. I mean, I bought horse troughs. I was like, how am I going to mix this? So I was like, I'm going to need something just totally guesstimating because I looked through co packers, but they were just charging so much and I was selling to David at certain prices. Just didn't make sense. And I had deadlines to hit and they, you know, and then California radiates their clays and so all that. And I did find one. And so. But after all that, there's. I think it's. I don't know if it's because of Prop 65 or what, but they radiate, they zap the formula, so they zap the electromagnetic activity. I'm like, I just went against it. And so that's what I did. I mean, so we found a manufacturer in Nevada, luckily after. But I didn't have time to look around because we went through all of that process negotiating to find the co packer and then did it again. And so finally I said screwed and did the math and ordered all the ingredients. 20 foot u haul. Luckily, a friend of mine just moved out of a well, a friend of mine had an open room where I went up there. Oh, man. And it was in the busiest time for modeling for Oakley at that time because, yeah, I mean, down in Santa Ana I would have to work during the day and come back and work throughout the night, just blending. But there's nothing more exciting. I don't know if you guys get the same feeling with your writing, but I mean, it's just. It's not work for. It's. It's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable that even. How this is. We're even doing this. Like, Dave agreed to this. What. Except. And so I, So I ordered. There's video, there's pictures, there's a ton of document. Because I just. Yeah, it was just sharing it with the Facebook following, not Instagram at the time. But just because they were so encouraging. It was just like. It was like my little family of support. And they, you know, a lot of them were from. Because I ended up doing four podcasts on Bulletproof. And so a lot, A lot of people, you know, had been following the story and I'm interested in just progress and things like that. So I just, I would share images and kind of Things. Hey, just going to work today guys. But a couple people reached out and wanted to help so they would drive up, man. Yeah, that was really cool, Frank Dan. I mean just because when I was modeling at Oakley they would go be going up there and just helping me bottle the jars and yeah, so we got it off just in time. They loaded into the fulfillment center and then June 26th we had a podcast air that we had recorded mid. Oh man. Yeah, mid bottling. We had about 10 of my closest friends in like an assembly line type format. It was the coolest thing ever. I have that on video. Excuse me. And man, I'm getting chills right now thinking about it. It's just so generous that nobody would accept money. They just wanted, you know, maybe a jar or two of the product. And because it's so effective. I'm such serious.

I mean I want some of the profit. I'm going to hit you with my address later. But what this is sounds so good. I mean it's just like, it's incredible, right? What year was this then? Was this 2012? 13? Or is this like later 2014?

Okay, yeah.

So.

June 26, 2014 is when we officially launched on the bulletproof website. And luckily people, you know, they responded. I mean the reviews are great and so that kind of catapulted me and I took everything from that and started just tinkering away because everybody wanted to know how to follow up, what to follow up with. And so I started going to work with B product based moisturizer. And like I mentioned earlier, I had already had the initial building blocks of my night cream from I was melting down cacao butter, beeswax, manuka honey, putting in little drops of sea buckle all out of. I still have that one. The original first chunky night cream, which now is our first much different looking appearing night cream to follow up. My clay mask is like a conditioning moisturizer to heal the skin. So I mean it's. Yeah, this is, it's so. So my night cream actually came after the moisturizer because it didn't really make sense to follow clay mask with a night cream even though. And I didn't even really have think that would be a night cream, but it would. I started going to work on that and adding things like plant derived stem cells and really putting in a lot of effort towards that after I had my base that I was, that I built out of the pan like I had mentioned. But yeah, so that's, that's, you know, just following that up with another product with the same intention and just the same, you know, mission of bringing food grade ingredients to our products. And I just, we don't, we didn't use any preservatives. This is a, you know, this is a, it's a powder, so it's not a water based product or anything. I didn't have to add any fragrance. You can, you can customize it yourself with the clay mask, just four clays. And then superfood rich ingredients that just condition your skin to get that nice blood. Blood vessel constriction, poppiness, dark circles, wrinkles. I'm just very, I don't want anything to mess up the effort that I put into this. So I just let our customers talk. I know what it does and I know you say, especially in cosmetic industry, mitigating wrinkles, crow's feet. I just want to, I'll let the customers talk. Even with dermal and regrown hair, everything it does.

Yeah, let's talk about that. That's really, because that's really important, right? So, because I mean, I've done skincare and I've learned a bit from like ftc, you know, what you can and can't say, right? And obviously you can't say like eliminate wrinkles or things like that, right? But you can say like stuff about helping to, you know, help to fade away the appearance of wrinkles. Things like that. Which we do want to talk about, you know, benefits in the copy, especially for long form. But I want to make sure that the writers are using language and sort of statements that you're comfortable with, right? Because if we give you a sales letter that you're like, oh my God, I would never say these things. And that's a problem. So what are the kinds of things that you are comfortable with, the writers kind of saying from a claims perspective? And I guess I'll start with the face mask and then let's also do the at home facial. And I do want to then get into the at home facial a bit and what's in there and kind of that as well. But start with, yeah, just sort of what you're. Because we can use all the testimonials to leverage that. But we have to say something, right? Like you can get radiant skin, like beautiful glow, like, you know, like dewy, like, you know, dewy freshness, like so we can say that kind of stuff. But like, can we say, you know, can we mention wrinkles? Can we mention dark spots? If we're careful with the language and it's compliant. I mean, I'M curious where your head's at with that. Absolutely.

Yes, it is the only. And if you obviously know how to word that based on being compliant is huge. Yeah, I, that's, yeah, it does so much but it's one, it's, I swear, as I mentioned to you, it's the most effective skincare product that I've ever used and I really hear that almost daily. I mean we really.it's a lot of reviews. But I'll try to, you know, now what we do is people, when they come in with like chunks, like big paragraphs, I'll follow up with them and start getting little testimonials and give them a free for that because it's, it's, it's just man, I mean that's really the coolest thing to me is just how much, how effective it is right Collectively, I mean for all skin types and we really. That's a perfect product right there. And I really mean that. I'll send it to you guys and so you can try for yourself. But I mean the thing is, it's just from, I mean I used, I know personally with, obviously I use, I use it a lot, probably like three, four, sometimes even five times a week. But I say one to three just because we want it, we don't want people to overdo it. But I mean they're, you know, Here are these 30 day mass challenges and people trying out different products. I mean it's. The more I use it as far as from a congestion release and then also creating blood flow to mitigate the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. I mean and the bentonite and the clay pulling out infections naturally. I mean the pulling action, it's just, it is like magic bug bites. I put it in my scalp. I mean, I swear I've had my hairline, but I mean that's one thing. It's like nobody would believe me, but I didn't. It's probably with diet and things and other things like that and the different things I've been doing, but it's, it's nothing surprises me anymore. I mean with it. I mean med spas are using it all around the world and then, you know, it's gold standard complexion perfection facial, you name it. I mean it's just, it's a back bar treatment that is used professionally in med spas and in combination with other products. Microneedling and finishing up with the gold serum which is loaded in active ingredients. I mean it's just one of those things that is extremely effective. Just you know, in creating your own spa experience from the comfort of your own home. And as far as. But yes, I mean, I'm definitely open to using the true. I mean, claims are before and after. I don't know if you all have had a chance to check out some of the testimonials before and afters that we've had.

Yeah, it's great. The ones I've looked at, which are excellent.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's. It's awesome. I mean, you have a chance to do that. It's just that. That's really my. Why we work with Smile Train. So that's. As I was touching on earlier with you all that just how, like, you know, that was one of my things where part of my smile would show up and then the other one wouldn't. So we work with smile training. We're getting close to 100 smiles that we've repaired. Sure. I think Kylie Jenner's probably has a million smiles, but either way, it's pretty cool just to be giving back and having something, having purpose. I mean, I eat, breathing, sleepless. This is all I first thought was morning period. Last thought before I go to bed. I don't have a girlfriend. I mean, I talk to my family and stuff. But, I mean, I just. It's always, what's. What's next. It's not frustrating, maybe a little obsessed, but I love this business because of the impact we have and also the way, I mean, I sleep well, I mean, I know what's in these products and I know the reason why. I mean, I try to do things that other brands aren't doing, and a lot of the times it's costly. I mean, 93 cents of essential oils is in our pro cleanser. 90% of our cost is organic Australian sandalwood, chamomile, jasmine. I mean, that should be a lot less than. I just, I don't. I mean, I don't have the big overhead. I'd rather create a home run. I'd rather create. I'd rather be known. You know, it's like this guy is obsessed. He will not do certain because I know Dave Asprey was that way and it was. It drew me, you know?

Yeah.

So I just, you know, integrity is everything to me. And it's. It's. A lot of people are dollar signs. I just. And I'm okay with that. And teach their own. I just. I have something that I'm alive and I have something that's actually really, really good. You get, you know, a chance to impact people. Making my parents proud. Like, like I said, I was 30. With baseball, you picked the two hardest. And then acting, it's like you picked the two hardest, most competitive jobs. I'm like, dad, I just, I don't know, I kind of believe I'm gonna do this. And so now I have something where, you know, respect and he's proud of me. I'm just gonna stay the course. I mean, I don't really. I mean, I'm here and have something. It's beautiful. I love what I do.

No, it's amazing. And I think with the new, the sales copy for your like offers here, right. As part of the brand, I think the exciting thing is the opportunity to impact a lot more people. Because I think with, with the right sales letters and you know, as you get eyeballs to that and it will drive sales. And I know it's not about like the dollar signs, but it is about if you have more money coming in, you can reinvest that into more product, you can do more outreach, you can, you know, you get more people, you can prepare more smiles. Right? And so I think that's what's so exciting and cool. I think this is gonna be a big, you know, I'm looking forward to you taking another really big leap here. You know, I mean, you've already done incredible things, but just. I just. It's exciting to see it continue to go on, you know.

Thank you. Now you're right. That's a good point. That's a good point.

Absolutely.

You know, it's exciting.

It is exciting. Go ahead.

I really wanted to do this. I'm just saying like it. In the past it would have, you know, people. I just. This is the leap I wanted to take. I mean, I just. It's not really a leap. This is, this is fun, this is exciting and it's just. There's nothing. I feel this is my life. That. The life really is that. That clay mask, it spurred so many awesome feelings and reactions and purpose. I just. It's time to. And it's, it's the product really. I mean, you know, when you see those best masks of 2020. I'm sure that's a lot of PR based stuff and meetings with, you know, direct meetings with it, with the publications. But I mean, wait till people find out about this thing. It will be. I mean, Stefan, we talked about it and it really means, I mean, I think it is up there with like one of those cult following products as far as like one of the best products ever made. Best skincare products ever made. And it's all natural, food grade. You can pour water in it and drink it.

Yeah, that's awesome. What about. So let's talk about the at home facial. Like that obviously that's like a system. There's like three products in it. Right. But will you walk us through the three products that are in that and kind of like the. An overview of like, you know, who's it for? Like, why are they. What are some of the benefits they can expect to experience from using it? Everything there. And then real quick, before you do that, for all the writers on the call here. And by the way, I love that you guys are on here and hopefully you're getting as many gems out of this conversation with Andy as I am. Because I'm just sitting here like, Andy, you've dropped so many lines where I'm like, oh my God, you're writing the copy for everybody in a bunch of places. And if you guys can type. Yeah. Into the chat. If you guys are getting value from this and you know, if you're kind of like, if this is. Your ideas are percolating. Yeah, there we go. Well, I hope. Yeah. You can see it coming through here. Yeah. Hell yeah. Definitely. I've got like eight pages of notes. Hell yeah. So valuable. Definitely. Hell yeah. Too many notes.

I mean, this is now. It's awesome. Yeah.

It's a waterfall of gold, says Jazz Courtney. Yeah, that's awesome. But cool. Yeah. So everyone on this call because like obviously we talked about more about the clay mask, but everything up to that, it's like the story, like the origin story. Right. Like how who is Andy and what was he driven by and what changed his life and why is he passionate? Like that's all applicable to both sides. And we've talked about the mask, but that's where now I think we'll move over to like that home facial and you can walk through that. And I think from there we have a pretty complete picture for everybody for them to be able to get started on the project.

Sure. So we talked about doing this in the fall and then with our just making a bundle of our pearl cleanser. So the whole idea is to cleanse and then rinse and then follow with our instrument, which is a titanium micro needle derma roller. And so it's becoming popular now to open up the epidermis, epidermal layer of the skin to just as a pathway for optimal absorption of the clay mask. Not only that, but also say if you wanted to follow with a gold serum or night cream. But it's an instrument that's really, it's blowing up. And because it's effective as long as you're using really good pharmaceutical grade titanium, not plastic, steel's okay, I guess, but it's a little, a little thicker but yet. So as long as you're using really good pharmaceutical grade titanium micro needles, it's a flat out game changer from a skincare perspective as far as just creating these small little micro tears. If you hear about these vampire facials that are becoming so popular, it's because you're creating little micro wounds to signal to your body to create a thicker collagen layer. But also you're getting maximum absorption of the products you put on after it. I had used one that was given to me in that area right where I had a lot of scarring, scar tissue just to help with absorption, to get a lot of blood flow and also that spot treat that target area. But it never occurred to me to get this on the store because I couldn't really find a good source. And luckily we did for our derma rollers. So the whole idea to cleanse Dermaroll and then follow with our clay mask, let it completely dry, rinse it off and then follow with our award winning gold serum. That right there, that treatment, it's insane. It's unbelievable. We were going to go forward with that is just an at home make smaller amounts of it and just get people to try their most popular products and then so hopefully they would come back and buy the full size or maybe now we have the full size as a package and we may depending if we want to do our mini facial or full size, I'm sure we can use similar copy for that. But that's the exact protocol that I mean I'm giving to estheticians who are using our products in the back bars and who carry our products retail. A lot of them are using them in the back bars as well, especially the mask. But it's especially after with everything that happened with COVID a lot of people were missing their spot treatments and unfortunately we only got it out just. I think we got a few landing pages made and we had a couple sends, but it's going very well. People are missing their beauty treatments for sure. But I mean it's one of those things where you're using our pearl powder based cleanser. It has a colloidal silver to eat up the bacteria. We're not using any harsh foaming agents. I mean this, it could not be better. I mean in My eyes a little Tremella mushroom, which is a high source of hyaluronic acid to create a little moisture. So you're not overly drying it out. No. Sodium lauryl sulfate, as I mentioned, colloidal silver is a big bacteria agent right there. It creates this clarity. That's unreal. And so then follow that with the derma roller. As I mentioned. There is, I mean there are. Yeah, I mean that's one of those things. I mean the PubMed studies, I mean it's just your first flat out, you're creating an area for optimum pathways but also from a wrinkle standpoint, from releasing congestion. It's just, it's one of those things that, that's an instrument that is flat out effective because you're getting past that initial layer and so and then the clay mask, that's, that's, that's, that's the third part, third, third step of the, of the facial. And then finishing with the gold serum. That is. Oh man. So this gold serum is 95% certified organic. But it has, so it's like the thing that makes it different is it's, it's a combination. It's the best of both worlds. So it has cutting edge science with all the active ingredients. CoQ10, astaxanthin, marine collagen, copper peptide and plant derived vitamin A which is a retinol alternative that you source from France, which is or made from organic alfalfa, a high source of vitamin A. And it's just one of those. And then also it's in a base of organic Frankincense, organic sandalwood, 95% bottled in maroon glass. I mean maroon glass is one. I don't know if anybody is familiar with maroon glass, but it blocks out all artificial light. I'll send out an article, a blog that we did on it. It's just, we source it from the Netherlands. It's this nice. It looks black and that's why I want. I couldn't find packaging pulling me towards this and I didn't want to use plastic for my liquid products. So luckily I found this cool bottle and then I found out about the benefits. I got to be honest, that's how it, that's how it worked. But the benefits were, I mean just, just incredible. And I still have products from that I kept from 2015 that are still solid. I mean I still use because of their ability to protect the bioactivity of the live cold pressed ingredients, the live enzyme rich products, ingredients that are in my products. So that's very important because you know you don't want any light to get through. Especially with plastic too. I didn't want anything to taint you put so much into your ingredients. Last thing you want to do is have bad packaging. So there's. Does that make sense as far as just the basics of the really good organic botanicals and essential oils and then following that up in combination with. With science based active ingredients? More not. And I wouldn't say like on the synthetic size, synthetic side. I mean as far as like marine collagen and copper peptide and that's just one of those things. It's. It's becoming popular now. Matter of fact there was a cream, ghk. CU is the chemical acronym for it. But it's. Yeah. A lot of people are starting to become aware so we gotta keep thing at least get it out because yeah, I've been using copper peptide for a couple years. Yeah A little over two years now. So it's. Yeah. I mean there's. It comes through a lot of research. So these products take. You know, I don't. A lot of people just do a full rollout, right? They have everything made rollouts. You have everything. I do one by one because it's just. It's all me. I do my formulation, I come up with my ingredient decks. But I work with chemists and so I work with them, you know. But it's based on my research and I'm working on my meteorite script right now and that is.

I know that's gonna be the next one for. I know I can't go too deep down that right now because I do want to be time conscious because I want to put my daughter down for a nap in a few. But yeah, okay. I will talk about more too. We'll talk about more later.

There will be.

And that's the cool thing for the again for the writers on here, you know and whoever. If we can hit a home run for this. There's going to be lots of additional opportunities to work with Andy on more stuff including that reader at Scrub which is. Sounds so sick but two questions I had and then I'm going to open it up for other questions from the writers. So for the one, the clay mask and those who are writing something for specifically the clay mask. As far as like quantities go like packages, Right. Is that something where people can buy one, three or six type thing? Right. You can get six of the clay masks and does it make sense for them to do that or how do you normally like sell that? I have The. I don't think I went to the checkout page and actually looked at the quantity selection. I went to the page you sent me. So for that one and then also for the at home facial, like the kind of. Because it's a multi step process, right? Is it just. I'm guessing that's just one single bundle, like by the bundle. And it doesn't make sense to sell like, because sometimes with a supplement, right, If I'm selling turmeric, I'm like, hey, get six bottles and save money. And it makes sense, right? Like, okay, well like. And I do that myself when I buy my supplements. Because then if something happens, like even during COVID I have my own regimen I take, right? And I'm like. I was like, totally good. Because I've stocked up on all the stuff that I love and then a bunch of that stuff became hard to find because of, you know, when the shutdown happened. So I think that's valuable. But generally with a kit with at home facial, I'm guessing it's like get this kit and that's it. Sorry. And then. But yeah, with the clay mask, I'm curious about the quantities and everything too, right?

So with the clay mask we come, we have a two ounce clay mask and we have the eight ounce jar which is 7.1 ounce product. So that the two ounces is to get people to get, you know, maybe try it a couple times, a few times and then get an idea and then maybe come back and order the larger size that has. It has around 13 to 15 facials. It just comes down to I use a tablespoon or I recommend using a tablespoon for that. There are about 14 tablespoons in there. But sometimes people use less amount. So that's one thing that maybe we. Rather than ounces, I mean, I think we come down to facials or servings. We come down to say if it's. We come down to 10 to 15, we give them that idea. There's 15 facials, get this package for $175. But maybe we bring it down a little bit and spa level quality facial out of the comfort of your own home for 10 bucks. I mean, who wouldn't do that? It's the exact same thing that I could point out a dozen med supplies in California that are doing the exact same thing. So I mean just pointing out that and then really showing the difference of an average facial and then what we're giving them there here with better ingredients, they don't have to leave the House and it's an absolute fraction of the cost. And then backing it up with the testimonials and then the reviews and then the story behind it. I mean, I'm really. That's. Yeah, this is gonna do.

No, that's awesome. And then for the clay mask, are you doing. Sorry, that one's the two or the eight. Right. And then that home set is. That's just the one set. Right, sorry. Make sure I got it right.

Yeah, so there's. We have a. We have like, I don't want to say many. You have a larger. Of all the sizes of Derma roller large size, 100 milliliters.

Okay. So for the whole package. Okay, got it. Yeah, yeah.

So full size of. So basically it comes down to what we want to say is you're getting 15 facials here. Maybe 12 to 15, something like that maybe we should do. And then for, you know, with everything full size, you're getting this to. And then we go through the whole process. Maybe throw in a night cream to seal in the results, you know, on an older bump or something like that. But that's something. Something else that we can do. But I mean that's. Yeah, you're gonna get 12 to 15 from the large jar. And then, you know, we just need to come up with. I mean, we say three to five on the smaller two ounce jar, which it can be. I mean, some people just do a couple teaspoons. But then the. The whole idea is using it like you said. I mean, that would. Especially with our shelf life stuffing. I mean, that would work. I mean, if you're going to stock up and you're going to fall in love with this thing, I mean, to save money. Yeah, that would make sense because the shelf life is 18 months. You can. Yeah, I mean, that would be one of those things where, you know, you get on a routine. The more you use it, the more effective it is, period.

Right.

If you're using it two to three times a week, you know, you can get on that. That's one of those things that I just didn't know anything about. Subscription, model or. Yep. At the time when I was coming up, I just wanted to give people value. I mean, I was packing a pint. Sixteen ounces, 12 to 14. I was like, here guys. Yeah. So I mean, I didn't know anything. So I cut it in half and I still. That's huge. I mean, nobody uses that much, so. So that's why we made the two ounce size. And I could. I just want to give people you know, as much as I can.

No 100%. And for the. For the writers on the call, I would say for you guys, I would. If it were me, I would generally be trying to sell people on the larger package, but they'll be able to see both options right on, like, the page, and you can select the small one or the big one, but I would typically, I like to focus on the larger order values and then to be able to get people more of the product. And I mean, such a good product that I think anyone who uses it is going to want to get more of it anyway. So if you're trying to sell, because, like a trick from copywriting that I use, and I've shared this with other people before, is anything I'm selling, I take whatever the price is and I add another zero to it. Right. So I'm selling, like a $97 product. I pretend it's $970, because if I do that, I'm gonna just sell it harder when I'm writing coffee and talking. Right. I've just, you know, it puts a bar higher, and it makes you try to sell it harder. So going back to, like, having the small kind of like sample size and the full size, just the writers ever on the call, I would just recommend you guys focus on the larger packages, and they'll still have the option. The consumer can see both. But I'd rather have in the consumer's head, and I'd rather you focus on that because I think that, you know, that that's the bigger win. So just wanted to share that too.

Cool.

So at this point here, I'm gonna open it up to. Yeah. To questions. If you guys have questions for now, let's say let's pop them in the chat, and then I'll kind of read them out to Andy. And then if you want to, you know, if you need. Want to interface with people or have actual back and forth, we can do that. But let's start off just maybe in the chat. If anybody has questions at all, we'll give maybe like five to ten more minutes.

Okay.

Yeah.

On demos of target customer. Yes. And then so we have an avatar of our customer that I can send out to everyone here. 35, 55, 65, 35, 70, 30 of women to men. So we're not exactly right down the middle, but definitely unisex. So just with that kind of goes to Equinox Active shops at Air1. Whole Foods likes the finer things, but also is very aware of what they put into and onto their Body. It's an expensive product. I know, but a lot of people are realizing that just the damage that can happen commonly that you're doing to yourself from just the Neutrogena, the cheaper products, there's a reason they're so cheap. You don't want to damage, you're just going to be in a larger storage. You don't want to damage your vital endocrine system, your hormones. These are things down the road that it can lead to inflammation, disease and just horrible things. So, you know, it's just that hopefully that answers the question on the target customer.

Yeah. If you send, if you could send out what you guys have too for that avatar thing, that'd be great.

Okay. What age group do you see using? Oh, man. Hey, Rachel. Let's see. I would say, I mean we have, I really want it. I mean because my brother was a big proactive guy and it's just, I don't believe in those. I feel like this can get, you know, when you're growing into your body at that just impressionable age, I feel I really want to get on the teen market. I mean, obviously I can't control what they're eating and hormones play a big part of that. But I would love to get more involved on the team market. But I mean we have, as far as age, we're. Yeah, 35, 55 is our target. But we have, we have 80 year olds and 7 year olds. People are getting into it. I feel like we can definitely turn that up because it's such a social media friendly thing. You see families doing it together, couples doing it together. I mean, it could be one of those things where people are getting excited to do it. I know I am if I can. And another side note, especially being an athlete, I or next baseball player, I would demo at spring training facilities in Arizona, Florida and just a lot of these guys, you know, we can get athletes, UFC fighters who are interested, believe me, they want to look good, they want to feel good. You're going to feel, you know, better about, you know, you know, just going to go into work and just, you know, your post game interviews, they may, you know, they're a little hesitant, but they always come back and walk by and check out the skincare booths and it's just fun because. So if we can, basically what I'm saying is if we can, you know, just, you know, convince people to athletes and stuff like that, I'm sure there's just no limit. Everybody would use it. Let me see, is getting rid of acne Scars big target market. Absolutely. I mean, yes, yes, absolutely. How much product sold estimated when first launched on bulletproof? What is the sales volume of the company since then to now? Very. I mean trying to think what I can say for that. So yeah, I mean we did 2.2 million last year. My goal is 5 for this year. But I mean if we get. It's just too. We're a very small staff company. I, I'm looking to hire more people but I mean there's no limit to what we can do. I really want to take this thing as far as we can go. So hopefully John, that answers your question as far as how much products sold on estimate on bulletproof, I think we did $100,000 just from bulletproof. That and then we launched in June. So from June with one product to that year. So it was halfway through that year. I think we did 110, 120. 120,000 bulletproof. And that was 2014. So Gene, are there any comparable competitors with all natural clays? No, not with four clays. That's another thing that nobody uses. Nobody uses four. They'll split it up. They'll make four different products out of that, but they won't make one home run. Especially with the different, the different ingredients that I have. Pearl not mean Pearl colostrum vitamin C 10% non GMO elder score vitamin C. I mean there's yeah, everything in there has an absolute purpose. That's why I bring up like the U2 or Coldplay album. Like the ones that didn't make the list. They're still pretty good but I mean the ones that made those are the home runs. So everything is serving a purpose in there for sure. And it's really. I mean I haven't. That's the goal here is to get started making or you know, you know, reaching a lot of people because I mean there's nobody will go to the extent that we do or they haven't yet or I haven't seen them. See, I spoke to my sister when I was doing the application. She's 17 and uses anti wrinkle products.

Let me. I'm going to answer the second half of that question about the, the 195 question because actually I'm looking through the cart stuff again so I want to confirm. But I'll let you answer our. Did you have a question? Yeah, it was more of a statement right on that first part.

Yeah.

Okay. So yeah, here's what I think we should do on the, on the clay mask because I know I look at the one ClickFunnels page you shared and it's like you can buy one or you can buy two. I'd love to do if you're okay with it for the clay mask. Because that one I think it's the you know, 15 spa quality things and then for two you say 30 spa things. Spa quality treatments. I think we maybe do like if you're okay with like a 1, 3, 6. So it'll just be like, like I mentioned before. So it's like you can get you know, 15, 45 or 90. Right. Spa quality treatments. So I think we can, we can create a package like that for the, for those who are just selling the clay mask and then for the at home facial which I have back up here, you know, for that one because you've got the gold serum clay mask is one option. You guys can still hear me. Okay. Right. My audio is being a little weird. You guys can hear me. Okay. Okay. And you've got the, you know the kit with the pearl cleanser and the derma roller and free shipping for you know, $10 more which is, I think you're really good. And then you've got the, you know, and that one's got the two ounce clay mask and you've got the version with the seven ounce for 195. So if it were me writing the copy for this I would focus on, I'm trying to think of how I would do this. Let me think about it here. I would probably focus on the middle package, actually the $99 package. But then I would talk about. But you know, if you want to like upgrade and like the clay mask is the most popular thing, you know and like it's, it's like an incredible story. Everything we've learned about today's call, you know you can do that and you know you're getting a great deal. Here's what the math works out to. I think that's the way I would do it. We can still have those three options like you have on the current page. We're talking about the at home facial one. I'll pop it in here.

And subscription model too is something we would like to get, you know because we may, we want to increase our subscriber list and then it's possible. I'm just throwing this out there but if we, you know, if we just encouraged, you know, free shipping because we may add shipping on the site. We as far as I'll switch over to Shopify for my WordPress. So like we may Add that. So just guaranteeing maybe giving them a 50% coupon or 50% off the 59 and then also free shipping and then just getting them auto ship maybe 1, 1, 2, 3 months, something like that, where they could customize it in and add certain things in. Because we're going to add software to our site where you can kind of customize your subscription, add certain things in there. Does that make sense?

It does. I would focus on, I would do that mostly on the checkout page. I wouldn't talk about it too much in the copy, but I think on the checkout page you could have. We have your offer bump now where it's like subscribe and save. Yes. Want to get like a, you know, replenished every month or whatever it is and like, you know, cancel any time. Nothing shady. So I would do it there. So I think for the copy, they don't. I wouldn't have them talk too much about the subscription. Awesome. So I know. Yeah. Let's do one or two more questions and I gotta go to put my daughter down for her nap and be.

Is there hero ingredient to focus on? Oh, man. Yeah. So with, so with the clay mask, I would go pearl powder. I would go pearl powder for that. Maybe the vitamin C, maybe the green desert clay. It's tough. But yeah, pearl powder, that's, that's, that's probably the most attractive one. Pearl. You know, the geisha has been using it for century. You know, you could probably hone in on that. But man, it's tough because they're all very helping. Organic kelp powder as well. Or okay for that on facial kit is possible it. Yes. So we, that's. So the 2000 is for. Yeah, we don't have 2000 reviews on that exact same facial. Now that's, that's one of those things where we should probably iron out beforehand. There are 2,000 five star reviews on our total products, but not on that exact package. So if that makes sense. So we should, we should tighten that up. And I can definitely get, get the reviews and testimonials to you, Abby and Rachel. Yes. Yep. Store. Okay. Landing page for the clay mask. Okay. Can you share the favorite client story? How did you. Okay. Yeah, of course.

Hey, Andy. Andy. Before you start, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna mute myself in front of my camera to do my dad stuff. I'm letting you share this story and then guys, I want you to be respectful of Andy's time. So after that, you know, you can, you can just Kind of wrap up the call and. Cause I don't want to. I want everyone to get as much as needed. I know you love to talk about this, but I do. I also don't want to take up too much of your time. So. That's okay with you. I'll let you kind of answer this one and then you can kind of say, you know, wrap it up. And then. Yep, she just ran through the door, so. And I'll let you guys can all, you know, kind of end the call for that. Is that okay?

Sure. Yeah, no, I'm. Yeah, I'm trying to find this photo right now. So basically.

Okay.

Did. Oh, did you want me to wait for you?

No, no, you go. You just go ahead and do it. I'm just. I'm gonna leave. So after you're done, you can just sort of. With this question, I mean, if you want to answer any others, you can. But then you can just sort. You guys can all sort of wrap it up. I'm gonna let you guys, you know, kind of after I say one, you can. Everyone can just kind of. The zoom call, basically. So.

Yes. Who asked that? Let me see here. John. Yeah. So 2017, I made upgrade Labs, which is Bulletproof's. Kind of like their little anti aging work health spot where they have a lot of the latest and greatest technology in the anti aging space and they carry our products. It started through Dave Asprey, but then he turned it went from Bulletproof Labs to Upgrade Labs and they sold off. So I did this Meet the Hacker night where I went and spoke to. I got that on tape, actually. So I spoke to about 30 or 40 people in the biohacking space. And then this girl comes over to me afterwards in just workout shorts, no makeup, worst skin I've ever seen. But. But so confident though. But like it was just, you know, but which is really so cool. She was just like, I need help. What. What do I do? Like, I need to use your products. What would you do? What should I do? Like, I need help. Like, her name's Olivier Rousseau, and wait till you see her transformation. I mean, she's just.

It.

It's like she went. It's like I said, the worst case I've ever seen to just an absolute energetic ball of just positivity. She's just. I want her. She's working for Alatur. I'm getting chills right now. See that? But yeah, she's gonna be working for Alatura. I'm hiring her this week. She's the only reason she hasn't is just because I'm trying to figure out where to. Where to use it. But someone like that, a sounding board for your company, regardless of the before and after. But I mean, she. I'll let her do the talking on that one. I've seen that result. I mean, it was just the most beautiful thing that I've seen. But that's just one. Oh man. I'm sure we have so many, so many more that they're gonna come to me. I know. And I'm gonna probably be emailing you guys in the middle of the night. But. Yeah, it's just then, I mean, it's. I'm glad you brought that up, John. I mean, it's. That truly is my. Why. I mean, it's just I really. I mean that's like, that's such a big piece of me that I hope you guys get to know on our conversations that I really, I'm just a very sensitive individual and I really want to, you know, if somebody's going through something like that, it just breaks my heart to think of someone, you know, down and out. And I just really, really want to do everything I can to help people get away from that. It's the most beautiful thing ever when they, when the. Because it's just, you know, especially nowadays, you never really know if people care, you know. I don't know. But I mean, it's just. It's so beautiful when you show people that you do and then you give them a profound result to their life that is just. You can't. They'll never forget. It's just. That's why I do that. Truly is what I do this. And that's why I love this industry because we have a chance to do that pretty often, you know. So. Yeah. Any other questions guys, or you see here? Sounds amazing. Thank youk, Rachel. Man, I'm just really excited and I really appreciate you all, you know, wanting to work with me. This is my life. Whatever. Eat, breathe and sleep. And it's a. You know, I'm very excited to work with all of you. So again, my name is Andy and if you have any questions, I believe you have my email address. And I am pretty busy, but this is, this is like, this is very important to me. So I'll do my best to get you, get everybody everything that they need. And this is. Thank you. Yeah. And yeah, this is going to be great because I really feel like we have something a lot different than other brands are willing to do. We go to different lengths and I know what I do and why I do it. All right, guys, I'll let you get to it. And it was really nice to meet you. And have a good rest of your day. See you.