People, especially people in our community, they need to believe in themselves and start. Because if we never believed in what we were doing, we would have quit. Right? It would we would have never gotten to the place that we're at now. We would have just quit.

Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show. Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show. I'm Joey, cofounder of Fuel Hunt. And with me, I have another cofounder of Fuel Hunt and also my cousin, Drew.

Happy to be here, Joe. Finally made it.

How's it how's it feel?

Feels great, dude. Feels great.

I feel like in in the beginning of our journey, we turned down a lot of podcast, requests to be on podcasts, requests to be on shows, requests to be on to be interviewed about what we were doing with you on because we had such a focus on the community. I think that it's a testament to our growth that we're here now with our own show.

Yeah.

You know, we've seen the importance of it. Right?

We were, like, so laser focused on the work that any smidge of limelight came our way. We were just like, no. Like, that's tough for us. Let's just get back to work.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I agree.

I I too, I feel great, to be here. Physically, you know, I feel a little off as you can probably hear. I have a head cold. I asked Dane. Dane's here and with his team producing the show.

I asked him to actually edit my audio, to make me sound like Morgan Freeman instead. He said that that's probably possible.

I love that for a rating.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're listening to this and I don't sound like Morgan Freeman, please excuse any sniffle or sneeze during the show here. So this is episode 1.

Let's talk about the show for a little bit. So we'll have a few different formats, I think, for the show. Right? One format will be this year, where it's you and me. We're chopping it up.

Another format will be bringing on community members to tell their stories, the stories of the few. We'll do some community q and a. That'll be another format. And then we have another top secret format that we'll reveal later. So a couple different formats, to the show today.

You're stuck with us, but you'll enjoy it. Don't worry. Today, we're gonna talk about the origin story of fuel hunt. As you can see behind us, we're in fuel hunt HQ. This is a very special place to us for, a lot of reasons.

It's a historic building in a very gritty part of, Philadelphia, but the story of how we got here to to this HQ specifically probably could be a whole other episode. Right?

Yeah.

So we'll we'll save that. Instead, I wanna talk about 2 other places that were fundamental to the origins of fuel hunt. 1 being the streets of Philadelphia and 2 being your basement. Right? Mhmm.

A place that early on in the journey, I I was not all there that often. Sometimes, but not we'll we'll we'll get into that. We'll get into

that. So,

let's talk about the the the streets of Philly first as it relates to the origin story. Do you want to talk about what we used to do?

Yeah. Let's start. I mean, because I think the perspective I was talking to Morgan about this, but, like, the perspective of being side hustle entrepreneurs gives a lot of our community members and members of the few hope because I know a lot of them are on that same journey. So I think we should.

So what did we, so do you wanna you wanna kick it off with I I feel so here's here's my perspective on it. I feel that Fuel Hunt, the idea of Fuel Hunt and its community was born kind of on the streets of Philly because of the conversations we used to have Yeah. Every day driving home from the offices. So do you wanna you wanna pick it up there and start telling the story a little bit?

Yeah. So me, personally, I mean, I was, in sales, which is another great profession, but I just got tired of being a boss or being an employee and being told what to do, where to be, what time I had to be there, checking into an office. I was I had my first my son. And a lot of things changed, perspective wise for me. And I was like, you know, I wanna spend more time with him.

I wanna be at his baseball games. I wanna be, picking him up from school. And I realized that there was more to work and life than just being in a box from 8 to 5. And if you develop this work life mix, as Arfon Bader talks about a lot, then you don't have to subject yourself to being stuck in a box all day. So I got tired of having a boss, being told what to do, and I started businesses.

Now if you want, it was not my first business, and I would call you specifically to get advice. I'm like, Joe, I got this business idea because I knew you were the only successful entrepreneur I knew at the time. And I was like, because I got this business idea. What do you think? And you remember that?

And and you were like, you gotta keep throwing shit at the wall and see what sticks. And I was like, alright. And then those conversations led to us getting closer and closer. And then it turned into us, like we always say, for lack of a better word, complaining about our current situation, our day jobs, and feeling alone in society, which led to the foundations, if you want. And you could tell that story.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, a lot of that commiseration or, you know, our connection, right, happened over the phone because we're both we're both

Yeah.

Very busy people at the time. Right? Fully employed, husband's fathers. Right? So those phone calls usually happened when you were on the way home from the office, and I was on the way home from the office, and we were both driving the mean streets

Mhmm.

Of of Philly. So when I say that the idea for Fuel Hunt was born, you know, on the streets of Philadelphia. That's why. Because it came up during one of the conversations that, that we were having. I completely understand everything you were saying about the things that led up to those calls.

You know, I had somewhat of the same feelings. My background's in technology so, you know, which some of the viewers may know, some some may not, a little different than than sales. I had been programming and in technology really since I was, like, 11 years old, and it's a passion of mine, still is. And I had purpose in it as well, but I did have, like, a gnawing feeling that there was something greater for me out there. And then I also had all of the other feelings that you described, specifically with my family.

You know, wanting more impact and freedom for my life. Right?

What's funny though is with the on the family topic is, like, you get the freedom and the time back, but you also sacrifice a lot. Yes. At the same time, it's like but you sacrifice the time you want to sacrifice, not as always the what what someone else is telling you to sacrifice.

It's not you know, a lot of entrepreneurs start out, they wanna be their own boss, and they think that it's an easier life. Yeah. The reality of it is it's not an easier life. It's just life that's more on your own terms.

On your terms. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. But a life that can be lost in an instant because the hard work really never ends, you know? Whereas, you know, as an entrepreneur, I think there's or, you know, an employee in an organization, there's a little bit more safety, and structure.

Is it is it safety, though? Like, that's the that was the one thing I tell all my friends that that make that argument is, like, they could come in tomorrow until your job is no longer in need.

Yeah. This is true. This is true. So we used to talk. What do you think?

We were talking for maybe a solid year on the phone. Right? Every day on the way home from the office, driving.

The time the time we would each leave the office to make them, like, I'm leaving at 5:30 their high.

Yeah. Yep. Driving through the main streets of Philly and, commiserating a little bit. I I I like to think of it nowadays over some reflection. I like to think of it as, like, we were analyzing.

Like, we were problem solving. We were thinking like, okay. Look. We know where we wanna be. Mhmm.

We know what our current circumstances and conditions look like. Let's keep analyzing them and preparing for the opportunity. And then one day the opportunity came. Right?

Yep.

And I don't recall the exact conversation. I do remember that it was around entitlement and feeling alone that we had such strong feelings against entitlement when everybody else was so entitled. You know? And that's where the mantra first popped up. Everybody wants to eat but fuel hunt.

That was something that we would say in my cabin. You know, I'm a bow hunter. I'm I'm a hunter. So it has a very literal meaning as well as the metaphorical meaning that it now it now holds. So saying that to you, it really struck a chord in you.

Right?

Yeah. And I was, like, being in screen printing at the time, I was, like, when you get that on a shirt just because I wanted to wear it personally. I was, like, I wanna wear that everywhere.

Yeah. And I

think that's what resonates with people now in the community is, like, they hear our mantras and our sayings and our brand name, and they're like, holy fuck. Like Yep. That hits. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a unique it's a very unique way to take a stance, against some of the ills in society as well as take a stance for yourself and the power that you have within you to change your circumstances. Right? Mhmm. So that's where the idea was born.

So that's why I credit, you know, the first place I wanted to talk about, the mean streets of Philly. That's why I credit the streets of Philly. If you know me, you know I'm a proud Philadelphia, and so I am absolutely gonna credit Philadelphia at some point in this art mystery. But, that's why I credit the streets of Philly, for the idea, because we were driving. Now from that moment, what do you think it may be another year?

Right? Solid year Yeah. Before apparel came on the scene in a big way. Because initially, you said, hey. Let's get that on a shirt, and we did.

We we got 24 of them. We gave them out to our friends and family, and it was kinda like our battle flag while we were building. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

But probably another solid year of community building only, like, finding our people, finding the few, the people that believe and live the rules of the few, probably for another 12 to 18 months before apparel came on the scene. Right?

At least. And it's funny I was thinking about this the other day but like we always say we we ask the question whether we're gonna be a blog or a business but when we started we truly, like, only really had the blog and vision of connecting of connecting other hard workers with ourselves.

Like, we

were like, we need to find our people. Mhmm. And that's where it all came from. So when I think about it now, we didn't even set out to be like, how are we gonna build this amazing business? We're gonna make all this money.

Yeah.

It was really how are we gonna connect people that think like us.

Yeah. We were we were purpose and people first instead of product and profit first.

Which lot of good way to make money.

It is not. It is it is not. It is not a good way to earn. It is. It is not.

But I think in the long run, it's the right way to to build a business. I think nowadays you have many entrepreneurs out there and there's nothing wrong with making a shit ton of money, but that's how they come to the game. How can I make a shit ton of money? Right? What can I sell?

Who's gonna buy my shit? And then at the end, they're like, oh, and this is why I'm doing it. This is our purpose. We're the reverse. Yeah.

You know, we were purpose people. The product came around, then we focused on the profit. Did it make the business side, if you want, a little more difficult than it needed to be for us? Yes. But I still stand by if it was the right thing.

I wish we could say we set out with a plan to do it that way, but we did it the right way by half his stance, in my opinion, looking back.

Yeah. Abs absolutely. Absolutely. So, apparel comes on the scene. Right?

Mhmm. We are still fully employed. Mhmm. Right? We need a warehouse.

We need a fulfillment operation. You know, we need all the underpinnings of an e commerce business. Right? Now you have some background there. Obviously, I'm in technology, but ecomm as well.

I have a little bit of a background. In the beginning, our solution was a basement in Northeast Philly

Philadelphia. Yeah.

In Northeast Philly. And I wish we could say that we rented a basement or rented a small space, but we didn't. What we did was we used your basement.

Yes.

A basement that I did not visit often because I think we were staying in our zone of geniuses, I think, right, at the time. So I was doing a lot of creative work and writing, right, and you were doing a lot of operational ninja work, you know what I mean, on that side. So tell us, tell me, tell the few about the basement. How it started, right, the first couple SKUs, all the way to how the basement ended when we eventually moved out. Paint the picture.

Yeah. And one note on that, I think, thinking on to why we're in our silos is because I think we were both looking out for the best interest of each other. And I was like, you know, because you stay focused on design and creating our brand and I'll handle everything else and vice versa. I knew I got this. I think that if I'm giving a tip to anyone on how to be a good business partner, it's like make sure you got your partner 6.

You know what I mean? Like, that's why I think we were doing best, for each other.

But I would agree. You I think you recognized, the zone of genius concept. Right? And even you recognized the the zones of genius or the zone of genius that I have even before I did, and you did a great job of keeping me there so that we could build more momentum. Yeah.

So yeah. I have

to still do a great job of that for each other to to this day.

We do. So so tell us about the basement. From the first couple SKUs, oh, this is manageable

Yeah.

To to what it ended up being.

I remember being like, looking at, like, our warehouse now. It's like it just seems like I always envisioned it, but I remember being so proud when we set up our first I got we got our 1st rack from Amazon. We have 50 now or whatever, but, like, I was just so proud to set that up, and I had my little my little workstation and, like, my my laptop up there. I would fill, like, 3 orders a week maybe when we started. Like, that's literally what it was, and 3 orders turned to 20 orders, and then 20 orders turned to a 100 orders, and then I was like, holy fuck.

This is, like, too much work. Like, it was a lot. And then one rack turned to 2 racks, and then 2 racks turned to 10 racks. And before I knew it, 1, I had way too many orders a pack than I could ever do myself and do the rest of the work that goes along with building a business. And my basement was completely covered in boxes and racks and shipping supplies, like literally you couldn't you couldn't walk in the back door.

Like we all we had room for in the basement was the laundry room. Like there was nothing else to be done down there. It was just it was a work zone. It was about a 500 to a 1000 square feet, I would say. Mhmm.

It completely filled to the ceiling, so it was definitely a fire hazard. I think you made you asked me about that a few times, and then luckily my sister Brianna who runs all operations to this day was also unhappy in her day job and had a lot of flexible a lot of freedom and came on board and she was like, you know, did the same thing for us. She's like, I got this. You gotta do what you have to do. Mhmm.

And she helped me out. I really helped us out at a very pivotal time in our entrepreneurial journey and still to this day completely owns the operations for us and Mhmm. The day to day if you want.

Yep. I remember I do remember coming over for a shoot because we also used to shoot in your garage. So when we had new gear, we would shoot in the garage. And

Or the backdrop in the basement.

Or the backdrop in the basement. I remember coming over and opening the door to the basement and, like, immediately being met with boxes floor to ceiling. And there was a a small walkway through the boxes Yeah. Into the main basement.

So you

had the laundry room there, which was clear because, you know, you had to do clothes, man. You can't walk around stinking. And then, you know, walked into, the main basement. And there was a a very small area in the center of the basement to move and maybe pack. And then literally around it, floor to ceiling boxes.

Yeah.

And seeing you used to send pictures and video of literally, like, Brianna climbing and Amanda climbing the boxes, climbing the boxes to get the boxes behind boxes.

There are a lot of friends that came over and helped when we needed, help fulfilling orders that I'm surprised are still my friends because it was cruel and unusual. It it was. Meant to do certain things.

It it was. Yeah. It would it would break somebody. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

It would break somebody.

I remember Brianna Brianna would always ask me, like, when are we in the warehouse? I'm like, oh, stop, Brianna. Like, you're being, like you entitled, like

It's fine. Find some more boxes.

Warehouse warehouse.

I do. I also do clearly remember the fire hazard conversation with you being, like, hey, look, like, your family's upstairs. Like, this is a legit, like, fire hazard. Are there any so that that's a good job painting the picture. Are there any key moments from the basement?

You know, one I can think of maybe Brianna packing in the snowstorm. Yeah. You know, another when we started creating banners and, like, amping the truck over and the the pickup truck being, like, overflowing with banners as you drove to USPS. It's Like, what are some other moments Yeah.

It's funny you have the 2, like, pivotal moments. But, I mean, it was just it was actually, like, so fun day to day because, like, I got my my son involved. Like, he was our UPS driver, like, knew our family by name and, like, our mailman knew our family by name and we would just literally would stop dinner to go take all of the orders after the day. Brianna had left early that day because that was her she was at my house from 8 to 5 almost like working full time So, yeah, the snowstorm, there were times when the, basement just got so, like, overflowed and just, like, a little bit in disarray, and, like, Brianna would know how that would make like, I I would I would not enjoy that as a as a leader. And, so, like, she was, like, always trying to, like, fix it right away.

So she, like, she came over in the snowstorm and literally, like, packed all the orders for the day and then drove them in, like, terrible conditions to to the the post office. I, like, to literally, like, just, like, do the right thing. I was, like, probably you didn't have to do that, but, that one. And then out of nowhere, we got during COVID, we got a, our banner order just sort of, like Yeah. Flying off the shelf.

We banner we couldn't keep banners in stock for the life of us, and we didn't have room in any of the trucks or anything. It was before the u USPS and UPS pickup because we figured that out, too late. But, so it had to come it was a pickup truck. I mean, literally, I had, like, 2 trips to the post office full of just banner boxes. Yeah.

But other than that, just the people that came over and and I just wanna express my gratitude for the people that helped us get to where we are today. But they're just, like, key people that really came through and, like, helped us pack orders and and move things around and move our warehouses that I just wanna thank on this first episode. So thank you to all those and that you know who you are.

Yeah. But So before we get into, 2020 and and that year, because that was a pivotal year for us, What do you think, aside from the, the the stick that you carry or the whip? Right? Well, why do you think that, everyone that helped us, many of them are still with us today. Right?

Yeah. Why do you think they endured that during the beginning when when people literally were laughing at us?

I think

Because that's something we didn't touch on. Yeah. Like, it's easy to think that everybody was like, look at these hustlers.

Yeah.

Out of a Northeast Philly basement, they're doing they're doing great things for the world like they like they

do now. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Back then, it was laughs and jeers is what it was.

I think 2 things, and then we'll talk we'll touch on this, rule of the few in a future pockets, but to get give. So I think you and I both built a lot of built up a lot of goodwill with people throughout our journeys that they felt it was their time to give back to us, or me, because they're like some of my friends. Mhmm. And also, I think people believed in what we were doing. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like, and believe that we were gonna take this to where we say we are going to and never give up relentlessly. So I think belief in our mission and belief in us as entrepreneurs was what drove them to be so willing to help out. And a lot of time they didn't wanna be paid. I would just have to buy them lunch or something like that.

But

I do agree. I think it was belief, you know, belief in us and, you know, more so belief in our mission. Like, our mission to restore the dignity of hard work. We we didn't, fail to mention that earlier, but, you know, the mission that we're on to to restore hard work to the rank and respect it deserves in society. Right?

We we felt so alone in a society of entitlement and comfort and shortcut seeking and victim mentalities. Like, we're like, where's all the power, all the hard work, who we used to be as a society? So I think that, you know, your friends, our friends now at the time, they believed in that. And the the cream kinda rose to the the top. Like, the few made themselves known in our circle and they they stood up to help.

You know? They stood up to to help us in those those moments. So 2020, a a pivotal year for for us. World's kinda going to shit, you know, in early 2020. There's a lot of uncertainty.

People don't know what's going on.

Oh, it's there.

Yeah. There's a, you know, a a outbreak of a viral outbreak of some of some sort and the world is shutting down. Everybody's pulling back. Companies, people, literally everybody is hiding or being forced to hide in their homes. How did we react to that?

What did we what did we do?

We went all in. I mean and this came from having day jobs. We were we were able to risk our hands a little bit more because we had our salaries or incomes to fall back on, but we were like, fuck it. Like, let's just, like, let's buy our we knew we get better pricing to increase our margins, which we our our weight are always a challenge for us because we buy the highest quality product and sell for the lowest possible price. But Mhmm.

We were like, let's let's go on. I want a couple of runs of our best sellers for these ads. We wanted our, to spread our mission and grow our community through our paid our advertising.

Mhmm.

And we invested pretty much every dollar we had at the time. I basically cleared our account to buy our biggest run of shirts to the to date. Mhmm. And I remember getting this shipment and it I didn't have room in the basement at the time, so it filled my garage with my with my gym at the time, so I was very upset that I would have to go to Global Gym or stuff like that. So and I remember I still have a picture of, one of our old friends that would help out, and we had, like, tables in my driveway and all the boxes laid out.

And my partner was there really helping, but we were counting, checking in each shirt.

Yep.

But, yeah, we bought, like, I forget how many it was, a couple 1,000 shirts. And, I remember being scared that we just literally cleared our account and risked every dollar we had, but it ended up being a very good decision.

Yeah. We I think we we saw it as an opportunity. We saw the chaos. We saw the opportunity in the chaos that was that was happening. So we saw the opportunity for better margins.

Mhmm. And more more earning more money, right, means more impact and more growth for for the movement. Right? So we saw all the opportunity for better margins. We saw the opportunity for more time because we were now forced to be home.

Mhmm.

So that's, you know, an hour or more for each of us each day because we're saving a commute now, so there's more time. And then also around that time, we started to figure out that if we were really going to grow the community, in the way that we knew we could, we had to pay to play. Mhmm. And we needed to start advertising. So that's also when we first brought on Adam to help us with some of our paid advertising to get our message out there.

And even at that time, I remember, like, struggling with Adam because he was like, hey, guys. Like, let's talk about your shirts and, like, how great they are and the quality. And I'm like, bro, you're missing the point. Like, we need community members. Like, join the few.

Like Yeah. And it was Still to

this day, we don't ever even market like that. Like, when people look at our shirts, like, oh my god. They're the softest shirts I've ever felt.

I know. So so that year was pivotal for us because in the chaos, we chose to see the opportunity. We took a lot of risks. And, that was the year 2020 was the year that we cracked 7 figures.

Mhmm.

And then I feel like that put us on the map a bit, that we started to get some attention. The community started to grow in a big way. Our community members started to become more vocal about our our countermovement. You know, we say mission and movement a lot. What it really is is countermovement.

About our countermovement, they started to feel proud of the work that they were doing as, the few, which was like gasoline Yeah. On the on the fire.

Remember we did that, picture where some a lot of our OGs were doing that bicep curl. Like, that's, like, right in the thick of COVID. Yeah.

Yep.

But it's, like, 20 or 50 of us maybe in that picture. But that was when really our our brand and our movement and our company took a a turn Yep. For the better.

Yep. I would agree. I think that, you know, the the community was born out of feelings of being alone. Right? And during that time, those feelings of alone were very real and being very magnified because people were in their homes.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Being forced to stay in their homes. So again, that poured a lot of fuel on the fire, on the fuel on fire, you know, and the community, began to grow. So that was a great year.

We learned a lot. 2021 also, you know, another great year for a few reasons. I believe 2021 was the year that we both left our full time gigs. Right?

Mhmm.

And it's also the year that we hooked up with Bedros. Right?

Mhmm.

So each year you can see, you know, major milestones that were not the result of of luck at all. You know? They were the result of risk and hard work and the pain of the basement. You know what I mean? And the discomfort of working 2 jobs and all the things we talk about in, you know, the rules of the few.

So let's touch on 2021 a little bit. Do you remember the day that you gave your notice at your full time, gig? And do you remember the day after when you were full time fuel hunt for the first time?

Vaguely. It was all that the past few years, my wife, I mean, I've been a blur, dude. Like, I'm like, I can't even recall, like, all the great things that have happened that, like, everything's been moving so fast. But Yeah. I remember telling you like I remember the exact I remember being very hard because I loved all the people in my company I grew a lot there as a person so it was very hard for me to to send my, notice, but I remember being, like, I felt it I remember telling you this to my cousin, like, there's just, like, this, like, feeling inside my chest that we were we were finally, like, doing something, and we were we were finally we finally made it.

Right? Like, we were finally building this community. Like, we're we had so much energy and positive, like, positivity, like, flowing our way. I was like, it just feels right, dude. Like, I I have complete control to do whatever I wanna do, and it's, like, for this company and, like, I felt liberated, I would say, like, the next day or week.

That that that high kinda rode out for a little while, and then there was a time I was like, holy fuck. This is hard.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I do, it wasn't so it was very hard for me too to give, my notice. I had been at my company for in one capacity or another for, I would say, almost 15 years. So, you know, Fuel Hunt is my first rodeo. Right? I had business before.

That business was absorbed by the company that I worked for at the time. I went inside, there for, like, another, like, 7 or 8 years

Yeah.

With them. I like and we had such a low turnover rate in my department. We had such a high tenure, you know, 8, 9, 10 plus years.

Family.

Exactly. So it was very difficult. But I do remember so I've had that feeling, before where I've quit my job because I quit it in 2008 during that economic downturn to start my first business. So I I there's feelings of liberation, I'm familiar with. But this felt different because it didn't just feel liberating.

I felt like I'd finally found, like, my purpose. Yeah. You know, like like, I could actually I was in control to actually help others in a way that I had never helped them before. So that's the the one defining thing that I remember about, you know, the the first day being few few full time fuel hunt. You know?

So a little bit later in that in that year in 2021, and then they will cap barge it off around, around this point. And, and then we'll get to to some takeaways. But a little later in 2021, we found out that there was somebody in our community who's an absolute savage and servant, salt of the earth human. Yeah. Bedros.

Yeah. Yep. Best guy I ever met.

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So how did that happen? Do you do you remember?

I remember pretty well that he a picture post, got posted by him of giving a keynote at one of his events wearing the enemy tee that we have since resurfaced with him. But I remember, actually, I recall that a friend of ours, front of one of the few was going to his gym to deliver a flag. Noah. Noah. From Stars and Stripes company.

Shout out to Noah.

Guys flag Hagen over there.

We had did a a giveaway with him, and him and I have connected and you as well like just a great another great guy, and he was for no reason at all. He said I'm about to go to Bader's, Bader's gym. I do know him. And I was like, yeah, I know Bader's, like, big fan. And, he's like, I'm gonna deliver this flag.

Do you wanna send me some gear? I'll give it to him. And I was like, like, for what? Like, we didn't, like, do anything for you. And he was, like, said, yeah.

Just because. And Mhmm. He gave him that gear, and the enemy tee was not one of the shirts that I had given. I'd given him other Yep. Shirts.

And nothing ever I never heard anything from him. I just we had just given I had given a box for Noah and a box for Beters. And, next thing you know, the picture gets posted of him being, on his account, giving a keynote in the enemy team. I was like, holy like, what? Like and I said, I remember sending it to you, and we were like, dude, this is, like, crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's when we found out that, you know, he was a customer

Yeah.

Which which Bea openly talks about all the time. Like, you know, I was a customer before I was a partner or investor. So that was cool. You know, it was a high moment for us to to see someone of his caliber. Right?

In not only the entrepreneurship game, but also in the personal development game. Someone of his caliber that believed in what we were doing. That believed in our mission. So even then I feel like we did reach out and we just kept them laced up. We never asked him for anything.

No. You know? We never asked him for anything. And I think that's what led to a moment months later in 2021 where, you know, I was I remember vividly. I was in my basement.

I was designing a shirt for Shane, shadow hurricane hurricane Shane, Burgos. I was designing a fight shirt for him, and, b sent me a DM. And he was like, hey. You know, I really fuck with what you guys are doing. If there's any way that I could ever be involved in it, I'd be open to that.

Yeah. Which was amazing.

Wow. My heaviest my heaviest spending.

Right. Wild. So, fast forward, you know, a week, we got on the phone. Fast forward another 2 weeks. We're out in in Chino at his HQ, meeting the team, meeting Di, meeting Bryce, and, handshake agreement that he would join us on this mission as a partner.

Yeah. So that was another, you know, aside from becoming full time fuel hunt in 2021, another shining moment of 21 of 2021. And from there, it's been the same the same grind, if if not harder.

Yeah. I would say it's harder.

I think it's gotten exponentially harder for for every and that that's the the cycle. Right? For, like, every way that we've gotten smarter with our work, the type of people we are, we always set bigger goals that we have to work harder than to get smarter again. You know?

And I remember when I was saying, I'm like, oh, if we could just get here, like, and then we we get there. If we just get here, though, then then it'll all be it'll be good. It'll be good. And then we get there.

Yeah. We still

New levels. New devils.

Yeah. We still play that. We still play that game sometimes. But, I mean, it's just the type of people we are. There's always going to be a bigger vision, I think.

You know what I mean? As we as our our our sphere of influence or our, like, cone of impact, like, widens, we set bigger goals and bigger bigger visions for for ourselves. So let's bring it let's bring it around. Right? Let's let's bring it around here.

2 things. 2 things that I really wanna ask. So the show here, the Fuel Hunt Show, we went over some of the formats earlier. We know that this show is for the few, not just the Eagles that are in our community now, but the Eagles that we want to bring into our community. It's a way for us to get our rules of the few out there, our counter movement out there so we can attract more people, right, to the community and grow it.

It furthers our countermovement and our mission of restoring the dignity of hard work. Inside of that mission, restoring the dignity of hard work, right, our big vision, Inside of that, is there a a personal goal that you have, for the show?

Yeah. For me personally, I hope with this show we inspire members of the few and and people to just chase their dreams because I one thing I've learned realistically too late in life is that we only get one shot here, and it could be gone tomorrow. So just do what makes you happy. Yep. And that's what I hope to to do.

Great. Great. I I I love that. The from my side, you know, I feel like I agree with you. Life is life is sure and life is sacred.

Right? And I think that, you know, if I look at my purpose, why I was put here, I think I have the ability to see potential in people. Right? And excuse me. And my if I had a personal goal for the show, it would be to help the members of the few see and seize their full potential, the full potential that's inside of them.

Because in the world we're living in, they're distracted. They're they're put down. They're segregated. They're alone. They no longer believe in the power that's inside them, and it them from chasing their dreams.

Yeah.

You know? So I really want to, you know, personally, through the show, help people see and seize their full human potential, that power, that's inside of them. So there are some personal goals that we have nestled under our our big banner of restoring the dignity of hard work. 2nd question, and then we'll we'll tie it up. A piece of wisdom that you want to leave the few with that you learned throughout this origin story, throughout this journey, from 2017 when we first birthed the idea on the Mean Streets of Philly all the way till 2021 when we quit our full time jobs at Metbee.

And is there a piece of wisdom in there that you wanna share?

My my wisdom to impart on the few is that it's going to take longer than you think. It's going to be harder than you think, and nobody cares, so you just keep working.

Solid. Solid advice. Yeah. Solid advice. Let me let me leave them with a piece of wisdom too.

I think that a lot of people really fail to start today because they're afraid of, you know, the risk. They fear the risk. They fear failing. They fear the opinions of others being judged maybe, and they don't start. They never chase their dream.

Right? They never have the opportunity to work hard because they never start. So, if I'm going to leave the few with a piece of wisdom, I think I'll I'll take it from I have a a wooden sign that hangs in Everly's room by my, oldest daughter. And it, it says this. It says, you're braver than you seem, you're stronger than you believe, and you're smarter than you think.

Those three things. I think that people, especially people in our community, they need to believe in themselves and start. Because if we never believed in what we were doing, we would have quit. Right? We would have never gotten to the place that we're at now.

We would have just quit. So those three things, that's a mantra that I think that everybody, especially those in the few, should revisit every day to change their mental wiring to get them to keep growing and keep going? No. So anything else that you wanna mention about the origin story here?

Yeah. I think we covered it all. How how long was that?

I don't know. I think we we should have been setting a timer. I was glancing at the clock here. Like, we're amateurs with this. We're just figuring this out.

Telling

stories for a lot.

I know. I know. We can't. So, yeah. So we'll we'll tie this up.

We'll be back, with another special episode coming up where we start to cover, the rules of the few. If I could leave, again, the few with a little sign off, I think I would say but take some wisdom from maybe the rules of the few. Right? And I would say always choose effort over entitlement. Right?

Always choose hard work over handouts. Right? No one owns you. No one owes you. You're one of the few.

I'd rather First of many.

Yeah. Let's go.