MagicMind: The Nootropic Shot Changing Entrepreneurial Minds | William Hicks DSH #643

No one ever thought about what causes procrastination.

It's anxiety, and basically, you can kind of relate to it.

Like, you've got that big looming deadline.

You're like playing video games or doing whatever you're doing to avoid that task.

It's not because you're a bad person or because you're tired, it's because you're just anxious.

Turning that volume down on the anxiety really helps you just flow through the day way better.

All right, guys, we got William Hicks here, co-founder of Magic Mind.

I just had a shot and I'm feeling good, man.

man.

You feeling the magic?

Yeah.

I like how it's simple.

It's not nothing like a huge drink or anything.

It's easy.

It's your easy pill for easy bottle rather for getting into the zone, just getting dialed in.

And glad you're feeling it.

I'm certainly in the zone as well.

Yeah, it's actually nuts because we just drank it and I definitely feel something in my head.

Yeah, so the whole point of the drink, it's a mental performance shot and it's supposed to kind of help get the most out of your brain and your body.

And it does that by sharpening your mind with nootropics, which are basically just nutrients that support cognition in your brain.

And it brings down your cortisol levels, importantly, your stress, with these adaptogens like ashwagandha and turmeric.

And that's important because, you know, things like procrastination are actually caused by low-grade anxiety.

It's not a lack of energy or motivation.

It's anxiety.

And so bringing down that anxiety just kind of helps you cruise through your day, cruise through your tasks a lot easier.

And then it's got a bunch of stuff for just calm, sustainable energy, not going to get you bouncing off the walls.

Just kind of half a cup of coffee's worth of caffeine and you're cruising.

That is interesting.

No one ever thought about what causes procrastination, right?

Yeah, I mean, they didn't until recently.

There's actually a lot of science on it now, and they've looked into it.

And yeah, it's anxiety.

And basically, you can kind of relate to it.

Like, you've got that big looming deadline.

You're like playing video games or doing whatever you're doing to avoid that task.

And it's not because you're a bad person or because you're tired.

It's because you're just anxious.

And like turning that volume down on the anxiety.

really helps you just flow through the day way better.

So that's a key part of what makes Magic Mind like magic.

It's that sharpening of the mind with the nootropics and energy from the caffeine and then the bringing down of the stress levels.

I love it.

And we were talking earlier how you had a super high GPA, 4-3 in high school.

And the thing I like about you though is you translated school book smart to business, to Street Smart, which is kind of rare, right?

Well, I appreciate that.

Yeah,

I guess I have in some ways.

I just feel like everyone is their own entrepreneur these days.

And so whether it's someone working a regular desk job, but who's navigating their career and really trying to take ownership of where they want to be in five years, or it's someone who's starting a business or someone who has a podcast, I think it's really incumbent on everyone in the modern workforce to really take that ownership and have that agency and sort of be their own entrepreneur.

And so, you know, regardless of GPA, I think it's just important and more fulfilling to go take that leap and really be your own entrepreneur in a way of like actually starting a company because

it's just way more fun to wake up on a Monday and not have any regret, just like be excited for the day ahead.

And I'm fortunate to be on that path, right?

Yeah.

And was that plan to go on the entrepreneur route or did you want to have a corporate job when you got out of college?

I wasn't totally sure.

I knew I wanted to have like an effect on, I wanted my efforts to lead to good things or bad things in the business.

And I started my career in finance.

I was in investment banking in New York, and it was great for getting a bunch of skills, but I worked my ass off and didn't really make a tangible impact on their business or the world, certainly.

and so I was like, Look, I just want to go somewhere where my mistakes result in pain for the business and my successes lead to us making more money or making a more positive impact on our customers.

And I really just wanted to have more skin in the game.

And so, I went to a snack company called Brahmi.

They make Italian food more healthy with this Lupini bean product.

And I was the co-founder there, ran operations literally in a factory like for the first year, like driving a forklift around.

And

it was a really good experience.

Then I, you know, was able to commercialize to better facilities and was able to do start freeing my time up to do sales and kind of became like a food and beverage guy.

And then

that kind of led itself to when I moved to LA during March of 2020 during the lockdown in New York.

I got out of that tiny New York apartment and linked up with my co-founder and the creator of Magic Mind, James, who had brought this, kind of unearthed this amazing formulation that he'd been perfecting over seven years.

Just launched the brand.

And together we've grown it to over 15,000 subscribers.

We're in sprouts nationwide, 500 doors doors in general and we're we'll be in three or four times that many grocery stores in about a year.

That's impressive.

And yeah, we're just excited to be able to bring this kind of feeling that you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast to more and more people.

Yeah, when I was on your site, I was impressed because you had so many doctors on there, and I feel like very few drink companies take the time to have that much medical research done on their drinks.

Yeah, man, I mean, it's a supplement shot, but like, we're not a fly-by-night supplement company that was launched to capitalize on some trend.

Like, James has been working on this since 2012.

He had that heart condition that we're...

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We were talking about earlier, basically drinking way too much caffeine, way too stressed out, had to find a new way to get the most out of his mind.

Came up with this formulation through years of research and writing a book on nootropics.

Kind of was like the nootropics dude in Silicon Valley.

And

people were just taking this formulation that he had sent out on a spreadsheet, like, hey, this is James's magic potion.

If you want to try it, take it.

And a co-op actually formed at a commercial kitchen to like pre-mix it because it was such a pain in the butt to make.

Wow.

And that co-op grew from like three people all the way to like 57 people were taking it every day.

And he's like, holy shit, I think I need to make a brand around this.

And so that's how Magic Mind was born.

I love the name.

So what's the problem you think with coffee?

You think there's too much caffeine?

We actually have no problem with coffee.

I just think too much coffee or too much caffeine in general is counterproductive to how you really want to feel.

So whether it's an energy drink that has 300 milligrams of coffee or of caffeine, excuse me, or if it's your third or second or even third cup of coffee, you know, that extra caffeine is not going to help you really achieve what you want to unless you're really trying to like deadlift or like stay awake just purely on like a long-haul truck drive.

But if you're trying to really do your deepest thinking, do your best work, get into flow, be creative,

and just be like the best version of yourself, you actually want to feel kind of more dialed in, more relaxed, more calmly alert.

And that's the feeling that Magic Mind is kind of designed to provide.

Interesting.

Have you done studies on Magic Mind and seeing any results on paper?

Yes, we're actually in the middle of our first study right now.

I don't have the results that I can share yet, but like the ingredients that are in the product have over 200 studies backing them in James's book.

And I can talk about my favorite.

I mean, my favorite ingredient is Bacopa Munieri.

It tastes gnarly.

We've done an amazing job to make the drink taste great, as you just saw before the show.

But it's a very powerful, very powerful herb from India, and it has two amazing studies.

One,

it showed in kids it reduced ADHD symptoms by 85%

in a study that I can send you, and you can link in the show notes if you'd like.

That's super high.

And

yeah, and it's totally a natural herb.

And then another study, Bacopa, was shown to improve, in a randomized clinical control trial, improve verbal learning and memory in people 55 and older.

So helping prevent cognitive decline.

Like my parents are in their 70s.

I have them taking actually two magic minds a day.

I'm like, this stuff's actually really good for your brain.

I'd love for you to be taking this because I want you to stay sharp as long as you can.

Yeah, that's cool, man.

My family has Alzheimer's genes, so I might have to start taking this.

We do too.

Oh, yeah.

It's actually a good way to, I mean, I can't say that medically, but for me personally, I choose to take it to get the most out of my day, but also for long-term brain health.

And that's on my mind, too.

Yeah.

Are you big into biohacking and stuff?

I'd say I'm like a brown belt.

I'm not like a total black belt.

Yeah, I'm like, I love it.

I love, you know, I love ice baths.

i love saunas i just did my first cryotherapy yesterday yeah i'm into all that stuff i'm also you know love the supplements obviously yeah have you always been pretty health conscious growing up i have you know i was actually kind of i went through like a awkward chubby middle school phase and i like hadn't thought about food until then and then since then i've been just very conscious um of what i put in my body and i also realized over time like i just feel better and like you know my goal is to just be present and feel great all the time and do meaningful impactful things and like part of feeling great is doing these, these health rituals, these wellness practices, these biohacking tools to get the most out of how you feel every day.

So I was just into that for sure.

Yeah, and you were the captain of the rugby team.

I mean, that's no joke.

I was.

Yeah.

I mean, that was a great place to learn about leadership and like and toughness, I think.

My whole management leadership philosophy really stems from that time.

And there's this saying on the New Zealand all-blacks are the best rugby team in the world.

And they're like legendary.

And their kind of leadership mentality is that the leaders, the captains sweep the sheds.

So the captains are the ones that clean up in the locker room after the game is over.

Wow.

So it's like a real like lead from the front sort of lead by example mentality that I really got into as part of rugby and it's really helped like how I've run this business today.

That is interesting because that's a small country.

So the fact they're the best in the world,

they're doing something different.

For sure.

You got to check out the Hakka.

They do this awesome war dance before every game.

It's like.

That's scary if you're watching that as the opponent.

Exactly.

You got to stand there and just watch it.

It's hilarious.

Wow.

How good were you guys at Princeton?

We were decent, I'd say.

We weren't setting any records, but we won a lot of games.

Dartmouth was kind of the perennial beast.

They would go to like the national tournaments and compete.

They had like a U.S.

Olympic coach.

Oh, wow.

We never beat them.

Okay.

But we'd beat up on the rest of the Ivy League here.

Yeah.

Whenever I see Princeton in the NCAA March Manos, they seem to do decent, actually.

Yeah, I just bet on Princeton in the first round.

It's usually a good bet.

They get a 12-seed, but they seem to always win when they're playing.

Yeah, I went to the Sweet 16 last year.

It was a great time.

Wow.

Yeah, I enjoyed it.

I love that.

Were you big into sports growing up, like as a fan?

Oh, yeah.

I'm a big hockey guy.

I mean, we're here in Vegas, and the Golden Knights have been an awesome addition to the city.

I was actually here last year for the Western Conference Finals in June.

The Dallas Stars were playing them.

Okay.

And

I'm obsessed with hockey.

It's probably my favorite sport to watch.

Interesting.

That's a rare take for an American.

Yeah, especially a Texan.

But I grew up, you know, I was eight years old when the Stars won the cup cup and fell in love.

And I just get a lot out of it.

Yeah.

And now you're back in Dallas.

We were just talking about that.

You missed home.

Yeah, I had to get back to the Stars, I guess.

Yeah.

New York City was too much for you, right?

New York was great.

I was there for five years out of school, perfect for my early 20s, but you know, I wanted to settle down a little bit more.

I moved to LA for three years, really

enjoyed LA, enjoyed all the nature it had to offer.

And then my wife and I are actually having our first kid in a couple weeks here.

And so I thought it was time to go back to Dallas, be around around family and settle what's going on about it.

That's a big step, right?

It is.

It is, yeah.

I hear congrats are in order for you as well.

Thank you.

Are you guys going to think about kids anytime, soon?

Yeah, she's making me wait till after we get married.

Yeah.

But yeah, I definitely want them.

And it's interesting to see how my opinion has changed over the years about kids.

Because growing up, a lot of guys don't really want them.

That's like a thing people talk about in the locker room.

But like, now I definitely want them.

I mean, it's, it goes back to like something we were talking about before the show of like meaning of life type stuff.

I mean, it just imbues your day with more meaning.

I'm told.

I guess I'll find out soon.

But, you know, I want to I want to maximize the present moment at all times.

And I think the amount of love that just gets added in your heart and in your life and in your daily, your daily efforts and kind of the meaning that it creates for your ambition

just makes life that much more special.

So I know it's going to be tough, but I'm really excited.

Yeah, same.

Do you question the meaning of life often?

I I like to reflect on the meaning of life quite a bit, but

I think it's pretty simple.

I mean, I'm of the belief,

I got into philosophy really, you know, like stoic philosophy really helped me get through kind of difficult formational times in my early mid-20s.

And then I got into sort of very novice, but like into

Vedanta Hindu scholarship and sort of the belief that

we're all one, including ourselves.

Like there's no difference between you and the perceived, like you perceiving the universe is just the universe perceiving itself.

There's no gap between what you perceive as yourself and what, and you, like me and you, are like, we're actually come from the same conscious energy and whatever you want to call it, consciousness, God.

Like, I think we're all one.

And so, I think the meaning of life is just to, to play and to enjoy the fact that we have this body to explore this, this universe and to hopefully help others.

make an impact and feel good too and explore and like have a good time.

And

I think it's really liberating and

it makes me excited to wake up every day.

I have a similar viewpoint.

I think we are all connected because you can feel energy fields.

Totally.

Like as soon as someone walks in the room, you can kind of feel the vibe.

Yeah, that's why mindset's so important.

I mean, I talk about this with other founders.

Like you really cannot let the, I mean, because starting any business is hard and you cannot let it get you down and then you can't let the successful moments get you up.

I mean, you've probably experienced this.

You have a video go viral and you're like, oh my God, like we've made it.

And then the next one might flop and you're like, if you ride that roller coaster every day, you're going to burn out.

There's no way you make it.

So you got to kind of keep that positive mentality, that good vibe, really, and just keep pushing.

That's what it's all about.

Yeah, it's easy to get sucked into the view game.

Oh, this didn't get this amount of views.

Like, I'm upset now.

But you kind of got to change that mentality.

No, and it's like anything else.

Like, focus on the process and the results will come.

Yeah.

So perfect

everything

that you want to change externally really starts internally.

So no matter whether it's wanting to get more views on your podcast,

wanting to

find a better, hotter partner,

just like focus on yourself first.

That's the best way to effectuate change that you are looking to do.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, it's interesting, man.

I used to fear death a lot.

And I'm talking about that.

I'm talking at a young age, man.

I'm talking elementary school.

I used to think about it.

Me too.

Isn't that crazy?

Yeah, I actually remember having like a, I don't know if it was a dream or a thought, but just kind of like a terrifying realization that you know

that we're in this vast universe and this like speck on a rock and like really freaked me out and started like really dwelling on death right um but i think now like the same memento mori like thinking about death imbues life with more purpose and like i think it's a mistake to run away from it

and um

you know i think realizing that Your parents are likely gonna die before you.

I mean, that's just how it works and a lot sooner than we'd all want to have happen.

But like that realization then leads to you maybe being more intentional about how you spend your time with them, be more present with them, make sure they know how much they mean to you.

And I've sort of in this dealing with death sort of exploration I've been through has led to me like being just amazingly close with my parents who are much older and like in their in their late 70s.

And so it's been a beautiful thing, but I'd love to hear about yours, your kind of

used to fear it,

didn't believe or no, so I was Christian at the time, so I would go to church a a lot, so I did believe in heaven and hell.

So I think that kind of instilled some fear about how I was acting in the real world.

Yeah, of course.

Do the wrong thing, go to hell.

But then I stopped going to church and started exploring other spiritualities.

And I do believe in an afterlife.

And I do believe that there is a greater purpose than just this life.

I think there's many more lives in the past and the future.

So you think it's more like the afterlife is another chance of life?

Yeah.

So do you believe in karma of like...

I believe in karma and reincarnation.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pretty crazy.

I mean, it makes some sense, too.

I also think like it could all be a simulation at the end of the day.

I was just in Dallas on last week for the solar eclipse, and we were in the path of totality, which if I could recommend anything more to anyone, I would just certainly say go see a total solar eclipse.

Like it's so different from just seeing

through the glasses, like, oh, it's kind of covering the sun.

Like in the path of totality, you're in the moon's shadow.

It's truly mesmerizing.

And like when you really think about it, the fact that we as conscious beings get to see a total solar eclipse, the odds of that are so slim because we just happen to live on a planet that has the same exact size moon and sun in the sky because the diameters are proportional exactly to their distances from the earth.

And so we may be the only conscious beings in the world who get to experience, in the universe, excuse me, that get to experience the true total solar eclipse with the...

corona of the sun just peeking around it.

That is crazy to think about.

I think we might be the only ones.

So it's truly miraculous and mesmerizing.

But also makes you think this is maybe a simulation.

I know people used to make fun of it when we were growing up, like, oh, we're in a video game, but now it seems like it's more and more plausible.

Yeah.

You've got guys like Elon Musk saying we might be in ones to sit like mathematically.

Right.

You know, it's, I don't know how that really changes the day-to-day.

Like, I sort of, um,

you know, I worry that like people think, oh, it's simulation doesn't matter.

This sort of thing, you know.

Yeah.

But I think like the feelings that you feel are real.

The connections you make on a daily basis are real.

The joy, the sadness, the emotion of it all, it's all real stuff that you're experiencing.

So you might as well try to maximize it.

And if it is a game, if it is a simulation, like get to the highest level you can.

And like, I think that highest level is really through the impact you make on others and the amount of kind of contentment and joy you create for yourself.

Absolutely.

In your pursuit of excellence, did you find yourself pushing emotions to the side?

I think that was a phase I went through for sure.

I think I thought I could like

block out sadness and still be happy.

I think that's a trap a lot of young adults adults run into is like, I don't want to be sad, so I'm not going to, I'm not going to feel sad.

But that's a trick.

You can't just block the down.

You end up blocking your emotions completely.

You go numb.

And then it takes a few years to sort of wake up from that.

Right.

And

I think I welcome all emotions.

And like, I think there's beauty in sadness.

There's beauty in grief.

There's, there's a real, like, a realness to it all.

And so I, you know, I'm not perfect at this by any means, but like I try to sort of lean in a bit, acknowledge it, and then move on in a healthy way, just put it aside if it's not serving me.

I love that.

That happened to me.

So I would block sadness because being as a guy, you don't want to be seen crying, right?

That's like the stigma on social media or whatever.

So yeah, it took me years to get that back.

I just started crying again last year, honestly.

Yeah, I think a lot of guys haven't cried in like years.

Yeah.

For me, it was, yeah, like seven years probably.

Wow.

Crazy.

And can I ask like what sort of broke down that barrier for you?

My dad passed away, honestly.

And even then, I was still trying to be a cool guy and not show emotion when my own dad died.

That's how crazy the subconscious programming was, I guess.

I'm so sorry to hear that.

But I

hope he knew how much he meant to you.

Yeah.

Well, that's why I asked you about death because dealing with that made me so much closer with my mother now.

Yeah.

Because you only got two parents.

So.

Enjoy the time.

All you can do is enjoy that time and be present with them when you're together and try to not pull out your phone after dinner when

they're starting to ramble about some older person stuff.

I think it's just about spending that amazing time and making sure they know how much they mean to you.

Yeah, and I was fortunate.

I did get some closure.

He sent me some texts like a month prior, like saying his goodbyes and stuff, pretty much.

But other people don't get that chance, and that's when it really hurts, I think, too.

For sure.

Actually, so I'm so sorry about your father.

My father also, like two years ago, we thought it was sort of the end.

He's sort of made a recovery and is

alive and well.

But, you know, we all sort of thought it was the end and said our goodbyes in a way and in in some ways it like it made me realize all this that like there's no use sort of hanging on and being sort of nostalgic for the present when you are like kind of fearing for that eventual parting it's like the only thing you can do is be together and like make sure that he knows how much he means to you and so i actually wrote him this like letter and sort of like thanking him for everything he's done and wow um and like kind of just putting into words exactly how much he means to me.

And I know that meant a lot to him.

And so, I mean, I would encourage anyone listening who hasn't sort of expressed those feelings to their parents to do so.

And even if you don't have a great relationship, I think like at the end of the day, your parents are your parents and like expressing a respect for, hey, you changed my diapers, you got me fed through the first X years of my life.

Like, there's nothing, there's no,

that's not easy.

And there's love in that.

So I would encourage everyone to sort of

let their parents know how they feel.

I agree.

No, that's powerful.

Something about writing it down, too, is super powerful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they can read it multiple times.

Yep.

Yeah, it's always there.

Do you believe in forgiving everyone that has wronged you in the past?

Yeah, I mean, I guess in the sense of like

I believe in not holding grudges.

And I think like if you are holding on to anger for someone, then really they're in control of you.

And it's actually victory to let that shit go.

and to like really get that revenge or to really feel like you've

You've kind of surpassed that moment in your life then you actually have to let it go.

So yeah, I totally I could see that.

Yeah, people can't control their anger.

That's the one emotion I feel like people just can't control it does happen and it's like you know someone cuts you off and you're like motherfucker.

Like, gotta like pause a few seconds, let it like wash over you and then try to react.

That's what I try to do.

Sometimes you get an email that really pisses you off.

You just gotta step away.

Yeah.

I'm pretty good with the Road Rage because I watch Road Rage compilation videos on YouTube.

So I live vicariously.

There you go.

That also helps.

Yeah.

Put myself in their shoes and then get it out.

Totally.

Yeah.

But

my dad would have these fits of anger because he was bipolar.

So

anger always scared me.

I'm pretty good with controlling anger.

I mean, you can understand why.

I mean, and I could also understand how that would lead you to feel like emotions are sort of things that are dangerous.

Yeah.

And like maybe led to you not wanting to feel sad in some ways, too.

It's like, you know, you're

for more seat to someone going through like really difficult like swings of emotion that would make anyone for real fear those.

I even suppressed happiness without knowing it.

I didn't laugh for probably like at least a year.

Well, if you're not crying, you're probably not laughing because like, as I said, you can't, you can't just prevent one direction.

You're just, it's all or nothing.

Yeah.

No, it was crazy.

I used to have to force myself to laugh during those years.

Oh my gosh.

It's terrible.

Bro, I'm glad you've come through the other side.

I know, right?

Yeah.

I think we all go on these journeys.

And you know, it's crazy.

A lot of successful people come on the show and a lot of them seem to have traumatic childhood traumas.

I don't know if that's related.

I think so.

And for me, I certainly didn't.

I mean, I had a, I was very lucky and fortunate to have a nice childhood.

I think everyone has their own traumas, but like, I think the reason that probably is, is that those who can overcome it are then so well equipped to deal with anything life throws at them.

And so it's a filter.

Like, there's a lot of people who experience trauma who don't make it through, but the ones who do become successful, you're interviewing them, yeah, that's that becomes a superpower because they've overcome it, they've climbed that mountain, right?

And so, that makes a lot of sense.

I could see that.

Did you feel like you had a lot of pressure from your parents to do well in school growing up?

Actually, no, I was sort of the one putting the pressure on myself for some reason.

I'm like the fifth of six kids, and like I think I just always wanted to go my own way and like prove to myself, you know, that I was capable.

And so, it's always been like a deep internal thing for me.

So no, my parents were kind of chill, actually.

I did not expect that answer, honestly.

Yeah.

I feel like for a majority of students that are doing well in school, there's some parental influence.

Yeah, I mean, they certainly weren't like, you know,

they're like, yeah, do your homework a little bit.

But like, I was wanting to do it too.

I don't know.

I was just like very,

very internally motivated at a young age.

I'm not sure exactly why.

I think maybe it's because they didn't push.

Wow.

Yeah.

But you went to private school, right?

Your whole life?

I did.

I did.

Okay.

What do you think the major difference is there between that and public school?

Well, the biggest one was we didn't have girls.

Oh.

Yeah.

So you know how to talk to girls growing up.

No, but my best friend growing up was actually, luckily,

a girl and is now a woman.

And we had a good friend group of both, but it just led to a little more rowdy lunch hours and

probably more high contact football games at recess and stuff like that.

Testosterone was up.

Testosterone was always very high.

Damn.

I I don't know if I could do that, man.

Girls in school were.

You'd fit right in.

You'd fit right in.

How many kids?

Was it a tight school?

Yeah, it was about 90 per grade.

Wow.

Yeah.

My grade had 820.

Yeah.

So I'd rather much be in that environment, though.

It was nice when you kind of knew everyone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Power and community.

Community is something I really want for like wherever I plan on living long term.

Yeah, I think it's key.

And that's kind of why I'm back in Dallas, actually.

Yeah, it's powerful to be around just like-minded energy.

And just to have people you can count on, right?

Like, shit's not always going to go well.

Yeah.

And to be able to lean on a support network is so important.

Yeah.

You got a good group of guys in Dallas.

Yeah, I mean, three of my older brothers are there.

My parents are there.

My high school, a lot of my high school friends are there.

Nice.

And so my wife and I have a great group.

So you ended up marrying that girl you were mentioning?

Yes.

Yeah.

I got married about a year and a half ago.

And her name is Paige, and she's the best.

High school sweethearts?

No, we actually met.

No, not that girl.

Oh, yeah, no.

Paige and I met in New York City.

Got it.

East Coast girls those are the best baby well she's actually a west coast who was there and we went back to california together oh okay yeah but i i think getting both is good it is good i think anyone in general you want someone who's like gone out of their comfort zone and like kind of explored the world and yeah i really valued that personally that's super important to me yeah because just a mindset thing people get consumed yeah if someone's gonna you know go through high school, stay in the same town, like that is one way to go through life.

I just, I personally wanted to kind of adventure and I think I wanted that in a partner too.

Absolutely.

So is Magic Mind the main focus with your time right now?

100%.

Yeah.

We're like full systems go.

I mean, we're

up to like 15 employees now.

And

so as a manager, like a lot of my time is just spent making sure that the goals are very clear, making sure that we're hiring great people who can be super entrepreneurial in their role to achieve the goals that we set for them and

just providing resources to them.

So I'm not like a micromanager.

I get in the weeds myself a lot and I like to kind of know how the function works to be able to manage it.

But like my philosophy is like hire great people, make sure the KPIs are super clear and make sure they have the resources to do it and then say, go.

And if they can't hack it, then they can't hack it.

But the best people love that sort of environment because they don't want someone over their shoulder telling them how to do their job and

do their expertise.

I wonder what percentage of drinks fail because it seems pretty monopolized in the stores.

Beverages, yeah, I mean, food and beverage in general is pretty brutal.

Like a lot, as soon as we're going in, someone's getting kicked out.

It's a zero-sum game out there on the retail shelf.

So us getting into all these stores, like someone's losing that shelf space.

Right.

And so I think the mistake a lot of food and beverage brands make early on is they're tempted.

They start seeing success and they're tempted to expand their distribution, expand their footprint way more quickly than they should.

And then all of a sudden they've got.

2,000 stores.

They don't have the money to do promotions in all those stores.

They certainly don't have the money to hire sales reps to visit all those stores.

Sales start sliding.

There's nothing you can do.

You get kicked out of the store.

Once you get kicked out, they're not going to bring you back in.

Wow.

And so it's like this kind of peak and

bust cycle that happens for some brands.

But fortunately, like been in the industry now eight, nine years, and we're going very intentional.

That's why we're only in 500 stores.

We've said no to a lot along the way.

And we're just really building out our Southern California market and focusing on the Sprouts partnership where we're nationwide with them.

But it's been working out.

We're the top selling shot at Sprouts nationwide.

Wow.

Top-selling shot at Erewhon.

Damn.

About to launch three or four more grocery stores in Southern California and then start expanding around the country kind of really in a measured way.

That's awesome, man.

Yeah.

That's how I found out about you guys at Sprouts because every week I try a new drink at Sprouts.

I love their drinks.

I didn't know you were in Erewhon too.

Yeah, shout out to Sprouts.

Yeah, Erewhan too.

And that's also a fun beverage experience.

You ever been in one of those in LA?

Yeah, so guess how much this is at Erewhon?

Oh, bro.

18 bucks.

25.

There you go.

This is water.

Just water.

Well, that's.

That's 15, I think.

All right.

Well, now I'm going to definitely drink this.

It's a wallet drainer.

It's kind of like a, it's just like an entertaining experience to go shop there.

Yeah, it is.

I got a gallon of milk for like 20 bucks.

And I was like, this is absurd.

Yeah, I got some raw milk there.

I want to try raw milk.

It was like 30 bucks for a gallon.

Crazy.

That is good, though.

Yeah.

Can't knock the quality, that's for sure.

Yeah.

I'd love to know their margins there because they got to be printing.

It's solid.

I mean, it varies from 40 to probably 60% on every item sold.

Wow.

But that's not totally out of the realm.

Most grocery stores are at about 40%.

Really?

It's way higher than I thought.

Yeah.

And they still, I mean, that's their gross margin, but like they've got so many expenses.

They got to deal with expiring products.

Grocery stores are actually a tough business.

At the end of the day, their net profit margin is usually only about 2%,

1% to 3%.

Yeah.

Holy crap.

And so they're driving profitability just through a ton of volume.

Wow.

There's different stores at different structures.

Like Walmart's got lower prices because they don't upsell as much, upcharge as much.

They usually take about 25% to 35% margin on their product as opposed to the 40%

normal stores.

Then Costco famously only takes 12% profit, and they're basically just doing that to break even on all their expenses of running the stores.

And they're making all their money on the memberships.

Wow.

That's their model.

So that's probably better than a grocery store model then.

It is because especially they get paid sort of upfront at the beginning of the year by their members.

And so they're not having to go out of pocket to buy inventory.

They also have really good terms on how they purchase inventory from their

suppliers like us.

And we're not in Costco, but I hope to be in the next couple of years.

That'd be cool.

If I see you guys, they all definitely buy.

My favorite host sauce just got in there, Trough.

Have you tried Trough?

Yeah, yeah.

One of the founders is a Dallas guy as well.

Oh, nice.

And we're hoping to link up soon.

I present in Dallas, man.

Shout out Trough.

Yeah.

So there's a good scene out there.

That's cool.

Well, I'm trying to build it.

I mean, obviously, I'm coming from New York and L.A.

There's not as much of a founder community in Dallas, and I really want to change that.

That's one of my sort of side passions is like creating a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and founders in Dallas.

So, if anyone listening to this is interested in that stuff or has a company like lives in the Metroplex, hit me up.

Yeah, let's do it.

I've had a few guests on.

I'll definitely connect you guys.

Appreciate that.

Absolutely.

Anything else you want to close off with, man?

Uh, no, just thanks for the conversation.

I love that we went a little deep there.

That was those are my favorite conversations.

That was cool, man.

Thanks for letting me talk a bit about Magic Mind.

I hope your audience can try it.

It's, you know, for about 87% of people, they can really feel it as you and I just did there.

And for the other 10-13% of people, we have a full 90-day, actually, 100-day money-back guarantee.

Don't ever return the product, we just give you your money back.

So, wow, on a drink?

Yeah, just if you say you don't like it, we'll send you your money back.

Holy crap!

Yeah, and you don't even have to prove it.

Like, we don't have any questions.

So, damn, there's no risk to try it out.

That's unheard of.

That's awesome, man.

Well, thanks for coming on.

That was super fun.

I'll link the site below if you guys want to try it.

And I'll see you guys tomorrow.