Multimillion Dollar "Conspiracy Theorist" Tells All

Multimillion Dollar "Conspiracy Theorist" Tells All Speaker 1: You're very controversial. Speaker 2: Usually the ones they can't control, they label. Speaker 1: Your company helps people deprescribe from medications. Are you helping people get healthier or just creating more distrust in medicine? Speaker 2: There's $127 billion of money sitting there. Speaker 1: Are you trying to create a monopoly for conservatives? Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs that are just like total flakes and frauds. Speaker 1: When you look at some of those hit pieces that did get written out about you. Speaker 2: Well, so, all right, you want to open up that can of worms? Speaker 1: I do. Welcome back to another episode of Chew on This. Today's a really, really special episode where we get to bring on someone that you haven't heard of. And even if you have, you definitely haven't seen him on Twitter, lurking on LinkedIn. And it's because he's been quietly building one of the most epic businesses and one of the most epic business empires that we're about to break down. He's built brands like The Wellness Company, 1775 Coffee. He's had an incredible family business that he's actually parted and chosen to create his own legacy after that. We're going to be breaking down a lot of what he's learned and without further ado, Foster, thank you so much for gracing Chew on This. With your presence, with your learnings, and I'm so, so grateful that our audience gets to learn from you, gets to understand your story, who you are. Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on today, Ron. I appreciate it. Of course, thanks for coming. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Speaker 2: My story. So I'm an entrepreneur, I think by heart. I love businesses. I've been involved in many businesses. I've had some that have been extremely successful and I've had some that have been spectacular failures like any entrepreneur probably has. And I think you always learn the most from the failures. And yeah, excited to unpack it on the show today. And again, thank you for having me on. Speaker 1: Absolutely. I think one of the most exciting parts of today's show is going to be sharing stuff like what that family business looked like, sharing some of the learnings from your failures, sharing the fact that you've built multi nine figure businesses, and sharing the fact that you're on your way to build a billion dollar business too and the vision for that. So I hope we get to unpack all of this. Otherwise, we're definitely going to be doing multiple parts on this. But let's start. You had your grandfather who's been in building a family heirloom business, who's passed it on to your father. And from there, you know, you went on and made a decision of getting to get, you know, a little bit of that work and get a taste of it, but then choosing and figuring out like, hey, I want to do something and build something on my own. And, you know, I think a lot of people would say, like, were you not able to handle the pressure? Are you doing this because you're trying to prove something? Are you doing this because something went wrong? Tell us. You walked away from a multi nine-figure business that was pretty much ready to be handed to you as a silver platter. Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean my grandfather fought in World War II and came back. He drove a tank. And he came back and started a road building company that then my father stepped into at an early age and took it from a road building company into logging and lumber manufacturing and aviation and has just been an incredible entrepreneur in his own right and has created a lot of really great amazing companies. It was something that I was extremely privileged to be a part of. It's learning, right? You're in a family business and throughout the years you're sitting at the dinner table and you're hearing about problem after problem after problem and you get it ingrained in you. Being in that environment and growing up in that environment gave me an incredible advantage. When I graduated school, I decided to go to the school of hard knocks and instead of going to university, and so I actually started in the logging industry. Speaker 1: Wow. Speaker 2: And philosophy of the family, you start from ground zero, you work way up. So I started in road building and engineering and I was in a landing sort bucking logs and falling trees. And that was like my start of getting into this, being surrounded by a lot of, you know, really tough professionals in the logging industry and it sure toughens you up awfully quickly and that's a tough business. So I started there and then got into and moved into the lumber manufacturing business to continue to learn the business and every aspect again from the ground up. So I started in working in the sort where they used to take the logs out of the water or off the logging trucks and And they would go and they would cut them up into pieces before you put them in the sawmill. And that was me running the chainsaw there for a while. And yeah, and then pulled lumber on the green chain. And then eventually I was able to graduate that to, you know, start my own business, which I didn't think would be as tough as it was. But I probably, I was probably 21 at the time and newly married. And Steph was pregnant with our son at that time and that's when I decided... Speaker 1: Married with a kid at 21. That's right. Wow. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Wow. Incredible. Speaker 2: I was hyper-focused on what I wanted to do and wanted to follow in my family's footsteps of being an entrepreneur. And so I started in the lumber industry and was able to create a business that created engineered wood products. And I thought, like every founder probably does at the start, this is amazing. I'm going to build it. And a whole bunch of people are going to come and everybody's going to knock down my door to try and buy it, right? That's like the thing, right? And you get so caught up in, you know, it's so amazing to me that I'm just going down and I'm not going to second guess it. And so I launch. And I didn't get an order. And you know, I'm sitting there at 21 years old. Of course, the philosophy of our family is figured out. And that's what we have to do. And so I'm sitting there like, oh, this is a problem I have, you know, it was a multimillion dollar investment. That was a gamble that was made on me. I launched this company and I had a lot of employees in manufacturing and I had a really cool product but nobody's ever heard of it and no one had ever bought it and no one ever made it and I thought that I'd go down the traditional route of you build it, they come, I'm going to go distributors. But like everything, the distributor's never hearing it before, didn't actually want it. So then I was like, oh, this is a problem. You know, mild panic sets in. I'm going to go to the retailers. I'm going to ask the retailers now, hey, like Home Depot, Lowe's, do you want to buy this? Like, this is really great. And they say, well, no customers are asking for it. And I'm like, well, that's a problem. So I'm like, oh great, now it's extra pressure. So I ended up having to go to the architects and I found out that there's building permits issued in every single city in every state in the U.S. and I did samples and I sent little samples to every single architect on a building permit over $500,000. Thousands and thousands and thousands of samples I sent out. It was the only way I knew I was going to survive. And then architects started to spec it on projects. And so it went spec'd and then the architect drawing went to the building store and then the building store called the distributor and then I ended up doing, you know, Home Depot, Rona, Lowe's, all the big box stores, Menards and it ended up that that's actually what sold off the entire manufacturing division based on its success. So that was my intro to the world of it's not going to be handed to you, you need to Try and figure it out. Speaker 1: When you start to build something like this and obviously you go down from needing to learn to then having to make mistakes and then scale, along that journey, right, some may say, well, Foster, you were spoiled. I mean, at home, you had your dad and you had the family business, like your propensity to make mistakes. Could make you feel a little bit more comfortable to make those mistakes because you're protected. Speaker 2: I think when you grow up in an environment where you are allowed to fail and you're encouraged to fail and you're encouraged to break things, that just isn't even something that really enters your mind. Like even today with what I do and you know the constant You know bets that I take on different companies and investments that I'm doing. I don't really ever wonder if it's gonna fail or what happens if it fails. I look at it like if it doesn't work then I've learned so much and that's an investment in my education to be better and smarter and not make the same mistake again. Speaker 1: There was probably a point in time though which came and you said hey I'm under this family umbrella. It's time to walk away and do my own thing. And I like to call this like the departure part because I think this is the piece where I'm so curious about what was that conversation like? Were you at a dinner table or what was that first point? And did your parents think you're crazy? Like how did this go? Because you don't get to see too many cases where the silver platter is ready to go and someone says, I'm going to take a plastic plate and start all over. Speaker 2: There's definitely a fork in the road and there's definitely, you know, a more difficult path and probably, you know, a path that has less difficulty but, you know, its own challenges and I think for me, It was really amazing what our family business does today because we help people. We help people because we're the largest aerial firefighting special mission company in the world. And our aircraft and our teams go in when bad things are happening and everybody's leaving. And it's incredibly proud to have that a part of my family history and something that I could have been a part of. But for my own journey, I wanted to make a different type of impact and I needed to do it in my own way on my own terms. And you know, it takes a lot of courage to do that, right? And you have to really be able to look at yourself in the mirror, I think, and have that conversation. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was in 2020 and the pandemic was happening. And I knew I wanted to help in a different type of way because there were a lot of people that were stuck in the shadows, they were being shamed, they were being harassed because of decisions that they were going to make because of their body. And I knew that I wanted to be a force for good to try and help those people. And so I knew, I looked in the mirror and I remember like it was yesterday, I had to ask myself, am I full of shit? Right that was like the moment and I remember and it was the defining moment, right? It was I'm about to make a decision that's going to change my life. ...with something that, you know, I've only ever usually acknowledged when it's dark, you know, in the depths of darkness, right, when no one else is around. And am I really prepared to do that? Am I really prepared to take the step out of comfort into the unknown and all of the risks that are associated with that? Speaker 1: You talk a lot about the family history and the values starting at this point of helping people, helping others, right? I think sometimes people look at that message because it sometimes is commonly said, like, oh, I started this health and wellness business because I want to help others. I want to change people's lives, right? And I think, you know, oftentimes it gets bucketed as like, oh, well, people have this messiah complex where it's like, it's easy to say I want to help, Because it's also the most common way to feel good about starting something that's going to obviously help, right? Tell me about like, when you look at the inner roots of what you started, right, which is your family business is helping people in a completely different way. And what you went and started with, you know, now the wellness company and beyond, right, is helping people in a totally different way. But at the root, it's still help. And so I'm curious, as you start to think about what you're going to go do, how do you even come across the idea of wellness, health, As it's rooted, it is still helping, but it's in a totally different route. Speaker 2: Messiah Complex. I do know a lot of people that actually do have a Messiah Complex. Speaker 1: I know. Speaker 2: I think you know a bunch of them too. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: I don't think that's what it is. I think there are a group of people that want to make a positive impact on the world. And for me, you know, right or wrong or indifferent, I believe you're only going to be in this world once. In this body, in this form and I don't want to have regrets and I want to leave it all out there and I want to be a force for good and a change and I want to help people. Speaker 1: That's awesome. Speaker 2: And that's really, really important for me. I know that's easy to say when you have the success and at least what other people define as success and goals and everything and you know the cars and the house and the family and right? But at some point that starts to those those material components of life. Matter a lot less and you really need to look again. It's that looking yourself in the mirror and saying, am I the person that I want to be, that I talk about being? Am I trying to have the impact that I actually am telling myself in the world that I want to have? And just really leaning into that. I think it's just really important. Speaker 1: It almost sounds like when you have a lot of resources, when you have access to a lot of things, Becoming true to yourself is more important than ever. And I think like a lot of times, you know, for maybe some of us, others are like, hey, you know, I can kind of be not true to myself because, you know, I need to kind of go things, I need to go about things differently because I need to get this resource and I have to go about this. But I think what's really cool about your story is you didn't have to go after certain resources or, or try a certain way. You have to go out and say, do I want to look at myself in the mirror? Do I feel good about it? Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, when I took a step out of the world I had with my family's group of companies and into my own, And that specific journey that I went down, I mean, there were a lot of negative articles and there was a lot of people that really disliked what I was doing. And I think you just need to stay true to what your guiding light is and what your principles are. And in this case, if your principles are helping people and if your principles are trying to make that impact through your companies, Then regardless of what comes at you, regardless of what people try and you know get in your way to stop that and it's just something you just have to put your head down and fight through. Speaker 1: I want to go into now this awakening phase, the introduction as well as the deep dive into the interest in medical, the medical space as well as how things started off with the COVID vaccines, Dr. Zelenko, doctors in general. I think this is especially important for our viewers because we have so many health and wellness brands, right, that have started their brands based on creating a product, That has a solution to something that is a problem. When it came to you starting your businesses and brands, especially in the health and wellness space, you almost took like a whole different approach, which is, I'm going to go and get experts, I'm going to go and create, I'm even going to maybe tell you about a problem you didn't even know that existed, and then I'm going to give you the solution. Take me back to, you know, this was the, again, the vaccine days, you got to meet a doctor like Dr. Zelenko. Speaker 2: Yeah, Dr. Zelenko was, he was one of those Rare types of people in the world that was so focused on helping humanity that nothing else even made it within his peripheral. He was laser focused on how he could be that driving force. He helped so many people find light in the darkness. I witnessed it every single day and it was one of the most I think for me inspiring things to watch somebody who the media absolutely destroyed and because of because of what he was saying and what he stood up for in the truth that he believed was the truth with every fiber of his being. And for the last six months of his life, while he was fighting cancer, going through treatments, he continued the fight on like 15 interviews a day with IVs in them. And he just, he was just one of those magnetic figures, I think. And for me, that was really inspiring to see that and watch him. And I think what a lot of brands don't realize Is early on in a company's life, in a company's history, the biggest thing a brand struggles with is credibility. And so the one thing that I've been able to, I think, find some really great success with is I always, whether it was when it was in my family's company or now, surround myself with credibility because credibility breeds credibility. And I think in the health and wellness space, the credibility of our physicians, of our doctors, just like in the wellness company, we have Dr. McCullough and Dr. Drew and right there there are these like top of their of their industries that they operate in. Dr. McCullough is the most published physician cardiologist in US history. Having those individuals be a part of your brand and Right, that's what moves the needle in a very significant way. Speaker 1: This medical establishment space, you know, I think there is a lot of problems with it. There is a lot of things that are corrupt. There are elements where, you know, things are broken. What made you feel like this is where you wanted to etch your name? Speaker 2: I think everybody has an event that's happened to either someone they're close to or somebody they know or to themselves where they were misdiagnosed, mistreated, weren't given proper care. And that had further negative impacts. And for me, I looked at that, especially in 2020, I was watching what was happening in the world and in the United States. And I saw that at this point, you know, you have a lot of physicians that were talking about kind of one area and there weren't a lot hearing on the other side. And so again, wanting to try and help bring that and voice that to the front. I myself have had people close to me that I think the pharmacy companies have put profits over patients. And I think we've all had those health stories. And for me, that was a driving factor to want to be that, again, force for good that wants to try and put health and wellness Before profits and I think that there is a way to do that. I think that you can and you should as a company be able to be profitable off a company that focuses on being well and focuses on longevity and not just about only profiting when somebody is sick. Speaker 1: You look at the mainstream doctors today, I think some would label them cowards, some would layer them criminals, some would say they're lifesavers. Some call them clueless. What's your true stance? Can you generalize? How do you really go out into the market and educate people on saying, what should you be looking for? Because I think there's a part to this where sometimes you don't even know that there's something to look for. Because you start into your doctor searches like, that's my doctor. Anything they say, I'm going to trust, right? I'm curious, where did your desire to even ask more questions, you know, poke the bear a little bit more? Speaker 2: I think you always need to question everything you're hearing from everybody and, you know, just because somebody is a doctor or a nurse or a lawyer or an accountant doesn't mean what they say is always factually 100% accurate and you take it at face value. And I think that we need to use technology around us. We need to use, you know, multiple inputs from really great professionals. And we need to be able to find these ways to digest all of this information in order to find out how do you best treat yourself based on your own unique body. And the things that you're trying to heal from or trying to better in yourself. And I think finding ways to bring that together is what's going to be key. And that's what we're very focused on right now, that individualized medicine. Speaker 1: Taking that stance though. It does have some of its quote-unquote cons, which is you can be labeled as you're very controversial, or you can be labeled as someone who can piss off the media, or you can be labeled as someone who's this guy's too dangerous, like I don't know about trusting him. And then not only are you taking those labels, you're saying, hey, I'm also going to go and start companies. Where I'm gonna supply products and incredible solutions and whatnot no matter what people are saying about me here. Speaker 2: Usually the ones they can't control they label. And I think labeling somebody as dangerous it's just they're nervous and you know that's kind of a fear-based approach because you can't control that individual and what I have great pride and great joy in is that all of my companies are profitable. All of my companies create free cash flow, they're growing, they're profitable and it's not because we outspend our competition. It goes back to what my grandfather used to say, we're going to outwork, we're going to outthink, and we're going to outsmart everybody around us. It's going to be sheer work ethic as to why we're going to be the best at what we do. Speaker 1: When you, when you look at some of those hit pieces that did get written out about you, those controversial takes, was there a time that you did get hurt? Speaker 2: Ron, you never forget your first time. So, you know, for, for me, right, I just, I, you do, you, you approach something in a way that I do think is pure. Speaker 1: Yep. Speaker 2: And I do think a lot of entrepreneurs, by the way, approach things in a pure way. And I think part of the problem when that happens is that You have these events that happen and one of them for me, I remember some of the first negative articles that came out. People disagreed with my stance on life and what I was doing and they questioned that and they can put their spin on it whatever way they want. You grow thick skin and you move on and you realize that your companies talk for you. And that the more successful your companies are, the more they're going to come. And the more they're going to try and hit and hammer and scratch and you just kind of grow through it. Speaker 1: The fact that you came from an incredible family business, chose to forge your own path, right? That path clearly had elements that required controversial standpoints. Really believing in yourself, you've now turned that into multiple businesses, multiple ones that have accumulated to over nine figures in revenue. At this point, most people, they're off to buying some yachts. They start playing golf three to four times a week instead of just one to two times a week. They're usually taking six months off in a year. Yet, you know, I'm sitting here with you and I still know till this day, you still look at your day one fight as today's fight. And whether that's looking at it, we're going to take on the pharmaceutical industry, or you're going to bring wellness to become more accessible to people, or you're going to make sure that Dr. Zelenko's legend stays on. It's incredible with what you started with is what you're still carrying through when you don't necessarily need to in a lot of people's eyes. What drives you? Speaker 2: I will just always be the hardest worker in the room. It's just the way you're wired. There's no life balance thing that people use today that trying to escape from hard work. That's all it is. This is about just sheer grind and I love it. I love every second of it. I wake up and enjoy it and it's exciting and it's thrilling and I love to compete at every single level. And that's just, I think, the way some people are wired. I've never played golf. I have no intention to play golf. I just love to compete and I do it through my companies. And that's the culture, by the way, that's set. You set the culture at the top. Right? A-team players want to work with A-team players. If you want to grind and you want to achieve a high level of success because you're really amazing at what you do, then you want to be a part of that culture. Speaker 1: Obviously our audience is heavy DTC, right? They're building DTC businesses, seven, eight, nine figure businesses. I want to dive into now a little bit about The Wellness Company. I've had the privilege to be able to see you build this brand and especially in the last few months from my viewpoint. And it's one of the most phenomenal things I've seen, right? I feel like you guys have like ignored platforms like Meta, TikTok and all that stuff. You know, you could care less if they even exist almost to a point. You've taken a business, it's doing nine figures in revenue, you're running ads on TV, you're selling products like emergency kits, you have an audience that is so, some would say niche, but yet so broad, right? And when it comes to America, what the hell is the wellness company? Speaker 2: You know, one of my proudest things about The Wellness Company is every single customer acquisition is profitable on initial acquisition. Speaker 1: It's insane. Speaker 2: And one of the things that we've looked at Metta and we've looked at Google and TikTok and all those other places and you know, honestly, when I actually learned about how they track a conversion, And like, it's like seven day trail on seeing an ad. I'm like, is this legal? Like, can they, is this even, can they legally advertise this? And like, people actually see that as a legitimate way of doing business. And like you have no hope of being successful if you're relying on these platforms that are designed by algorithm to suck every penny out of you to give you just enough to continue. Speaker 1: That's right. Speaker 2: Right? And so I think when you realize that, it forces you to think at a different level in a different way to try and do this and crack this of how do you Get in front of your customer in the most cost-effective way. I don't believe it's on Meta or Google or any of these other programmatic advertising platforms today. It's not. So you just have to be really intensely focused. On where's your audience, where are the best channels, right? Every day we look at our stats on how are we doing from a return point of view on every single advertising deal that we have. And it's just you find it and you crack it and then you scale it. Speaker 1: You know, you remind me of someone who had mentioned this about another business and I forget, but you guys truly advertise, you don't market. And I think like Something like that really sticks with me because when you go back to when really big brands were built, back in the day, I'm talking Mad Men days, right? Those were advertising agencies, those were advertising businesses, right? They were figuring out print, media, TV, radio, etc. And there's a part of TWC and the brands you've built that are truly still advertising. Right, versus you see DTC brands today, right? We've kind of gotten used to like, all right, I started, I'm starting a brand. I'm going to turn on the Facebook engine. I'm going to market this product, right? And I think advertising takes a lot more purpose and intent. Marketing is a little bit more of a function of creative funnel. Did it work or not? Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to make a picture. And I'm gonna try five different colors of that picture on Meta, and I'm hoping that one of those colors, with maybe that slight tweak in that picture, is gonna create the sale. Seven-day trailing off of you, of course. But just, you know, that's just a detail, right? Speaker 1: It's amazing to see, because I think a lot of marketers today They've chalked up the excuse of, oh, we don't know if TV works. We don't know if print works anymore. We don't know if these niche podcast channels work. The truth is, they actually don't have exposure to want to learn how to advertise because they're too busy marketing. Speaker 2: Well, and because they're lazy. Because the easy way is upload five variations of your picture and put that on Netta and Google and watch it not be successful and then just continue to try and iterate that. It's thinking outside the box. It's not an easy thing or else everybody would do it, of course, right? Trying these different, more cumbersome marketing verticals, like TV. If it was easy, everybody would do it. And I think that's where people are getting it wrong. We live in a world where everybody wants instant gratification, right? Think you guys know what I'm talking about. Everybody wants instant gratification. And what does programmatic advertising give you? Instant gratification. You can upload a picture and in 30 seconds you can turn it on and you can spend a dollar and you can watch your money get burnt. Speaker 1: Literally. Speaker 2: And you can watch impressions and people come to your website. That is instant gratification. These other marketing channels, you're like direct mail. Great channel. We're a major spender on TV now. Great, great marketing vertical for us. But it's hard. Right, it's hard. You have to film commercials and you book your spots and then measure from there. It's very difficult, much more difficult to measure success from an ad. But there are a lot of great ways to do it and technologies to do it. But again, like the old saying, if it was easy, everyone would do it. And that's the difference, right? Everybody uses the programmatic platforms because they're easy. And now all of like the original traditional marketing angles are all underutilized. Speaker 1: It's actually incredible. You're like, not only are you at the right place, right time, but you're willing to put in the time to figure the harder pieces out. Speaker 2: Is it not where the best return is though? Speaker 1: It is. I think some of the core things you talk about come from the foundational learnings you need of true business building, which I think a lot of DTC brand owners and founders, they kind of don't even get the ability to even have to think about that because the barrier to entry to start a business today is nothing, right? You can turn on a website in a couple of days, you can go create AI content, you can drop ship your product, and you can start an ad account on Meta in 12 minutes. Speaker 2: Well, that's why failure is so high. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: That's why the failure is so high. Speaker 1: When I had mentioned on my Twitter that I'm coming to Vancouver and I got a question that was interesting. Your company helps people de-prescribe from medications. Are you helping people get healthier or just creating more distrust in medicine? Speaker 2: I think what we're doing is actually trying to build trust back in medicine because I think for a large population of the country, there was a lot of trust lost between the doctor-patient relationship during COVID. And I think our group of doctors that we have are some of the most amazing people I've met both on our chief medical board and our physical doctors providing the actual service to our patients. And I think it just comes down to having those voices and those people putting forth what's best for the customer, not what's best for the bottom line. Speaker 1: Right? Speaker 2: That's why it's not always about prescribing drugs. Drugs aren't always the answer. There are a tremendous amount of natural products that can also create such a large impact in somebody's life. Speaker 1: Then take me to now that long-term vision, right? Where does this end? Are you going IPO one day? Or do you just want to destroy the current medical system? Or do you want to just profit from the people who also equally hate parts of it? Speaker 2: Where does IPO stand for? I'm just kidding. Sellout? No. No, look. I don't know where it goes. I don't know where the finish line is. I don't approach things to try and have a finish line in sight. That's just not the way I operate. I have a bunch of really great businesses that are all doing great things and they're scaling at, I think, a very aggressive rate profitably, which is very important. And it's just about continuing to do that because it's so enjoyable, right? I just enjoy it. If I didn't have my companies, I don't know what I would do. Like for me, it's my hobby, it's my passion, and it's the world that I love to be in and that I've created. Speaker 1: Some would say, you know, you're building multiple companies, health, media, food. Are you trying to create a monopoly for conservatives? Speaker 2: I mean, I wonder if that's possible. What is a conservative, even? I don't even know what a conservative is! Speaker 1: Are you the closest to it? Unknown Speaker: I don't know. I believe in free speech, so I don't know. No, look, I think there are... There's a large audience out there and a large swath of the population that want companies that are authentic. And they want companies that will not be swayed by popular opinion and rainbow colors and, you know, like Jaguar, right? And Bud Light and, you know, throwing, you know, whatever they threw on their can. Speaker 2: I don't even know what that is. Right? Like, they're swayed by politics. And that's not genuine. And so for me, I've never changed my approach. I've never changed my stance on things. I'm, you know, proudly, I guess, if you believe in, you know, free speech and, you know, it's your body, your choice and, you know, you shouldn't be forced what you want to do to your body, right? Like, if that, if those make me conservative, then I guess I am. And that's what my companies are going to fight for. Speaker 1: If you succeed completely, What does the world really look like? Is everyone drinking your coffee? Is everyone taking your supplements? Speaker 2: It's a good question because it's how you define success. To me, I'm accomplishing everything that I've set out to accomplish. And I am completely happy with where I am. I'm also happy where I'm going. And I don't feel the need to have that world domination complex, right? Where you want to own it all. If I can help a lot of people, then I've done my job. And I have helped a lot of people already. Speaker 1: Do you have a number in mind? What's the lot? Speaker 2: There's no number in anything. There's no number in what I want my companies to achieve, in, you know, how many people I want to help. I just, I'm not driven by those types of metrics. I'm just driven by I love it. It's my world and I want to continue to do it the best of my ability. Speaker 1: So some would say that complex and wanting more and more and more because you don't have a certain goal would say you're driven by greed. Speaker 2: I reinvest every penny back into my companies. I could have a yacht. It'd be great. It'd be a nice one. Could have, you know, probably a golf course. I hate it, so I don't know why I'd buy a golf course. But every penny goes back into my companies because that's what's going to make the biggest difference and the biggest impact. Speaker 1: So many of us as DTC founders forget that that's a core principle that defines whether you're doing this for greed or whether you're doing this for true passion. Speaker 2: I do have cars though. I mean, I just got to say. You do have cars. I've seen some of those. I can't pretend like I don't have cars. I like four wheels. Speaker 1: I think the principles you shared today, I could probably talk to you for hours on this and I definitely am going to on multiple parts of this, but I think the principles you shared today are so important for many of us founders that are building today, because the reason we started to build is because we wanted to make money. And then we've defined that there is a purpose we can bring along while making money, so that just making money doesn't make us look greedy. Whereas I think you started with the purpose and along the way you're making money. And I think... Speaker 2: You can't achieve your purpose without making money though. They actually go hand in hand. Speaker 1: It is. Speaker 2: Right? Speaker 1: Right. But I think that the part that makes it trickier for some founders like us, right, is how do you make sure one doesn't get compromised, right? Because sometimes when you're chasing the money You start to forget the purpose, right? Or if you chase the purpose too hard, right? You forget that you also need to make money, right? And that's why sometimes you end up saying, hey, well, let's overspend to acquire customers because I want to get the product to everybody and change lives. Well, you can't afford to acquire more customers, right? So you have to understand. So thank you for sharing everything you have. It is going to be an invaluable episode for people to learn. But I don't want to end on that note. I want to end on Some rapid fire questions because I think there is a personality that people will get to see with some of the other content we've done with you, which is incredible and I want to bring that out. So I want to move with some rapid fire here with number one being, what's a story you haven't told anyone? Tell us something that maybe some of your employees, maybe even your wife, maybe even your father doesn't know. Speaker 2: It's hard because I think the people that really do it understand the loneliness that it creates. Speaker 1: Do you feel lonely at different times of building no matter at what size the company is? Speaker 2: No, I just think that it is when you're immersed in building something that can create a very large impact and has scale. It's just it's a lonely place. There's not a lot of people that can understand what you're carrying and the weight of that. Speaker 1: It's powerful. Speaker 2: And the people that rely on you to make good decisions. And that keeps you up at night. Most nights. Speaker 1: What's the biggest mistake you made leaving the family business, if you made any? Speaker 2: You always want it to be, I think, cleaner than it is. You know, I think You know, when you're in something, right, and you're basically, you're born into eat, sleep, and breathing something with your family, and your family has their own dynamics, right? Of course, as everybody knows, and I think everybody can relate to that. I think when you look back on the way things happen, I try not to look back and have regrets, but at the same time, I think it's always a learning curve that you could do it differently. And to me, I probably, you know, I would have approached it maybe in a bit of a different way, but, you know, that's life and life is messy sometimes and, you know, you just kind of roll with the punches. Speaker 1: Do you still ever get FOMO? Speaker 2: I love what they do. And I'm so proud of what they've accomplished. And I'm so proud of how fast they're still growing. And it was a really great, fun, exciting environment to be a part of, especially when it's with your family. Speaker 1: Incredible. Different topic now. Which government agency pisses you off the most? Unknown Speaker: Holy shit, you switched fast. Speaker 1: Yeah, I switched fast. Speaker 2: Man, we were going deep and like you switched to the government again. Speaker 1: We were right there, but I had to reel you back out. Speaker 2: Holy smokes. Well, well, so, all right, you want to open up that can of worms. Speaker 1: I do. Speaker 2: So one of the reasons why I recently founded WellnessPay is because one of the things I realized is there's $127 billion of money sitting there of people that have HSA, FSA accounts. And so I wanted, so every business I've gotten into and jumped into, it was first, is the market f***ed up? Right? And it's like, yeah, it is because $127 billion sitting there. And is there anybody doing it? It's like, well, no, there's nobody actually really doing it. So I jumped in and started Wellness Pay, which is helping customers reclaim those funds in a very easy, simple way. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: And for brands to reclaim those for their customers. And it's probably the IRS. Unknown Speaker: Needless to say. Speaker 1: I love it. Speaker 2: You know, the FDA is up there too. But. Speaker 1: Close second. Speaker 2: Probably right now. Speaker 1: Close second. Speaker 2: Close second is the FDA. Speaker 1: I love it. One mainstream media outlet. That you would buy just to shut it down the next day. Speaker 2: Well, if the Canadian government would sell me their self-funded CBC, I could probably buy that. I'd tear it apart, inch by inch. It should be wonderful. Maybe I'd turn it conservative. Maybe the conservative broadcast corporation. Speaker 1: That'd probably even be better than shutting it down. Speaker 2: Probably. I don't think Canada would ever sell it though. It's kind of like their weapon to attack Canadians that pay taxes in Canada too. Speaker 1: So the answer for this next one can't be the IRS, but the biggest check you've ever written that wasn't for your business. Speaker 2: I mean, I write a lot of large checks to the government for tax. I mean, like, you know, it hurts every time. You know, there's seven-figure checks. Speaker 1: Let me rephrase this. Speaker 2: It's not fun. Speaker 1: What's been one of your favorite investments? Speaker 2: So I have this thing, and I always invest in myself. So it's investing in me. That way, well think about it, just think about it. If I start a company and it's a loser, and let's be honest, like probably, you know, 50% and 60% of the companies are losers, right? To me, it's still experience because I'm learning. Because every day I'm learning. Right? I'm the hardest worker in the room. I'm never going to be the smartest guy in the room. Right? I want to learn from everybody every second of every day. And every failure is not a failure. It's investing in me learning more to be the best version of myself. Speaker 1: Most overrated entrepreneur. Speaker 2: That's a tough one. I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs that are just like total flakes and frauds. You're like, I won't live forever. Or, you know, like, like, you know, the, the guys that, you know, are the kings of liver and, you know, then they're on like roids and stuff. And it's like, how about this? How about we just be authentic and genuine and not use it as a way to sell more stuff? Let's try that. Speaker 1: Industry you want to disrupt next. Speaker 2: I think just because wellness pay specifically in a payment processing space is new, is kind of the next big thing that I'm working on. I think obviously I'm very passionate about The payment space and the payment industry and how do you merge payments with health and wellness and I think wellness pay brings the both together and you know working with you know Jillian Michaels who's a part of it, Dr. Peter McCullough who's a part of it. I mean even on our board we have Dave who's the CEO of ShipBob who's another just really amazing guy. You know bringing together this group of really amazing people and To try and figure out how to solve this like complex puzzle that makes it really stupid simple for people to go save a tremendous amount of money. To me that's incredibly exciting. Speaker 1: Politician who sold out the hardest. Speaker 2: Probably most people refer to him as like abbreviated three letters who's in the government right now. Speaker 1: Biggest lie the medical establishment tells. Speaker 2: I think I'm learning so much about it right now. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: My mind gets blown all the time. It's amazing the more you learn and the more data that's coming out. Just about the corruption and the sheer evilness. The guy James O'Keefe just interviewed, the Johnson & Johnson guy, he knew dangerous chemicals are in baby powder. What are we doing? How could you ever do that as a human being? Right? I don't understand. How about, you know, sensitive topic, right? All the data coming out on the vaccines right now, right? Guess what? Not a lot of data. Social distancing, right? It was never even a thing. Like, there was no science behind it. They literally made it up. It's crazy. Speaker 1: It is. It is. And you see it more and more every day. Speaker 2: More and more every day. Speaker 1: Last two questions are going to be about you, Foster. One is, when did you realize you were ungovernable? Speaker 2: It lends back to part of the reason probably why I needed to go down my own path. I'm okay to make mistakes. I want to move fast and I want to break things and then I'll fix them. But I have this need to just be my authentic self who I am and I can't have anybody beside me, over top of me, trying to control me over it, trying to hold money over it, right? And so I think over the last few years it's become more apparent to me that it's very important that I'm able to just be who I want to be because I'm not always going to make the best decisions for the bottom line and I don't. There's lots of decisions I make that are not in the best interest of the bottom line. And I'm never gonna want to have to ask somebody if that's okay or not. And a key example, right, when the East Palestine-Ohio train derailment happened. We gave free care to everybody. We didn't really go and talk about it. We didn't go out and get a bunch of PR for it. No. We went and everybody that was affected by that we offered free care to. The Hawaii fires happened. We bought hundreds and hundreds of pallets of water and we were helping people on the ground. With hydration because they were running out of water, clean water. The government wasn't there. Where was FEMA? FEMA wasn't at East Palestine. FEMA wasn't in Ohio. FEMA wasn't in, you know, the recent... Speaker 1: You mean the LA fires, yeah. Speaker 2: Right. So for me, that's the thing why. Because I'm not always going to make the best decision. That's not. I'm okay to lose money for the right thing. Speaker 1: I love that. So you as a as a founder, you know, I've had the privilege be able to spend last couple days with you And I think you know from an awareness standpoint, right? I've been Able to see your equal parts discipline as you are, you know, a free soul, right? You find time even while you're eating dinner if you have to go and say goodnight to your kids, you get up and you go do that. You know, you don't indulge in some of the things like drinking and maybe some of the things that people do after a tough day, right? You have this always-on mentality of Being able to talk about work at any point, but also ask questions about things you don't know. Tell me a little bit about your routine, how you keep learning, how you stay humble, how you keep so much time for family and preserve so much time for your team. Speaker 2: I think approaching and just always trying to be humble. You know, I think people find success and they get this complex where they think they're better than everybody else or they like know everything over everybody else. I mean, that's just like, that's just not me, right? I mean, I think you know me well enough by now. I don't really have an ego, right? Like I try not to, I like on purpose because I can learn from everybody and I think the smartest, most successful people Learn from everybody all the time. I can learn from my kids. I learn a lot from you. You're a pretty smart guy. I learn a lot from everybody around me and that's why I think I can see the landscape and I can see it shifting very quickly too and that's why I can react and pivot and I think that's part of the reason why my companies are so successful because I have that ability. Always learn, always be focused on being humble, being grounded, being kind to people, not people we're competing with or anything, but everybody else. You'll compete hard, but I think that's the key. Very important. Money does not change who you are. Money is just a tool to create good in the world. And most people, I don't think, look at it like that. Speaker 1: That's right. That's really, really well said. As I said earlier, you know, I wish I could have hours talking to you about this, but in typical Chew on This tradition, one thing we like to do is at the end, for our viewers and our listeners, if there's one thing you can share for everyone to take back, to chew on, to think about, to apply to their business, what's that one piece of advice you have? Speaker 2: So the one thing That I think is the most overlooked piece of advice that I could give that I literally say probably like a hundred times a day. So my team's watching this. They're probably like, Oh my God, he's going to say it again. You can only scale to the size of your infrastructure. Just think about that. You can only scale to the size of your infrastructure. Speaker 1: Chew on that. Unknown Speaker: Chew on that. If you want more from us, follow us on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, follow us on TikTok, and check out the website chewonthis.io.