#54 Building the Quest Bars and Legendary Foods Empires | Bruce Cardenas

How did you make that flip from, because it sounds like the military was super helpful in your personal and professional development, but your leadership style is not a military leadership style. You're absolutely right. Yeah, the Marine Corps, you're told what to do. Four years active and another eight in the reserves, but I learned so much. I tell people this. I went in a boy and came out a man. I just learned so much responsibility. And there's three words I learned that to this day, it affects me in every conversation I have with people, is honor, courage, and commitment. Imagine having direct access to someone who's navigated life's toughest terrains and come out stronger. Someone who's been there, done that, and can guide you with empathy, experience, and honesty. This isn't just advice. It's a lifeline, a strategy session, a chance to learn from my journey so you can accelerate yours. Without the ability to be self-aware and introspective, the ability for you to get to where you want to go, nearly impossible. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the David Gutman podcast. If you find this content useful, like, subscribe, and share. Really interesting guest today, Bruce Cardenas. Am I pronouncing that right? Yeah, Bruce Cardenas, yeah. So, spent a little bit of time prepping for this conversation, and it seems like you've reinvented yourself. a number of times over the years, ex-Marine, ex-police officer. And this one got me, brand champion and protector. So I want to understand what that even means. But maybe what I'd love to understand is just, you know, real quick background, like growing up, what did your folks do? I say it best. I grew up lower than middle class, five. I was a middle child of five. My father, our hometown was a thousand people in a town called High Bridge, New Jersey, a little steel mill town. My father was an electrical contractor. my mother my mother worked in a school board handling the buses for you know kids and she was a functioning alcoholic I um a turning point in my life was I was hit by a taxi at seven years old me and my friend crossing the crosswalk to go to school and uh broken legs some internal injury and my friend passed away in that accident but it caused me to be held back a year in school because you know you're missing class and yeah and immediately when I was held back I I thought I was dumb, right? I wasn't labeled it, but I knew, okay, well, my friends moved on. So that caused a subsequent cycle of me failing every class, every school. I didn't pay. I was just a daydreamer. I was a good athlete, but I daydreamed all through school. So that laid the pattern. The only saving grace was my father. It's funny. I looking back on who he was, I didn't realize how valuable he was in my life. He was a modern day Jocko, former Vietnam vet, but I learned all these perishable skills. He was our scout leader. we did canoe trips and we'd hike in the Appalachian mountains all the way from Maine. So I learned all these perishable skills and I always wondered why, why do all my friends want to hang out around my dad? He's not that cool. You know, when you're, you start getting, I know that your parents are cool. Yeah. And, uh, but he taught me things cause I went in the Marine Corps, which isn't, I'll tell you to get that story. I had things in my head. I already knew how to shoot. I didn't know how to climb. I did things that got me a little ahead, you know? So sure. Yeah. I didn't have a easy upbringing. We were, we, we didn't have a lot of money, five kids and uh and but the only thing my dad taught me was work ethic i think out of everything he said listen nothing's free and i started work i had a paper out at 12 and worked at the local italian market where these two immigrants owned and i stock shelves so i've always worked that's not even been an option in my life not to work and the first again no no i was gonna say um so you said you were a pretty good athlete going on what were the sports that you played did you have any coaches you know that really were really instrumental in your development i mean certain people like i i got our wrestling's big back east and got involved with wrestling or i was a college division one college wrestler it's funny not as early now like my little brother started wrestling at five i'm like i don't think i had that opportunity at five either i said seventh grade was kind of the first kind of it but it was it that laid the foundation because now obviously bjj it's the thing but i tell one thing i tell parents and it's a it's a determining factor by the way there's a survey all the branches of the military do people that get to the elite units and i was an elite unit. One of the determining factors is what sport people played statistically as high wrestling in high school. Statistically, I mean, there's football, but I wrestled, I played football and I did track, but the heavy, you know, throwing. Um, but yeah, that was, uh, that was my childhood basically. Did you have a favorite sport? A favorite sport? Yeah. I liked football, but I wasn't good. Okay. I mean, I was just, I I'm not one of those guys say, Oh yeah, I did all these great things. I was just an average player. Yeah. I always felt like I had a headache getting hit in the head and all, but. Yeah. Well, then I do think you learn some different things from team sports like football or soccer. Camaraderie. You know, than you do in an individual sport like wrestling. But my biggest takeaway, I mean, as I was a child, I never gave up the dream. I wanted to be a police officer. And I remember very clearly, High Bridge and Jersey, they may have an eight-man department now. I think it was a five-man department with the chief. And they, I literally lived 100 yards from a police station. So they knew me, the local kid, and they liked me, and they let me do ride-alongs through high school. and subsequently my brother was the other troublemaker he was always getting busted for weed or trespass and uh and uh they literally even gave me a uniform i mean i was like you probably would like a groupie looking back now i did these ride-alongs and they loved me and i got out of high school what treat it like that's not like the average thing that the average you know seven eight nine year olds like hey i want to be a police officer my uncle was a philadelphia police officer he was still in the line of duty our neighbor was a colonel with the state police And my sister subsequently dated and married a guy who was a cop. So I was around these people I looked up to, mentors. And that's kind of how I just, I was like, wow, these are great men. And I really want to follow in her footsteps. So about a year out of high school, I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. I started working like meaningless jobs, like just labor stuff. And I was like, wait, I want to be this cop. But so I went to the chief one day and candidly, I was very, and by the way, back then I was very nervous. I couldn't make eye contact with adults. I was very shy to like look down. And I remember dad said, hey, just make eye contact with people when you talk. I stumbled through a conversation and said, chief, I really want to join the police department. What do I need to do? And of course, everyone knows your business in a small town. So he said, listen, Bruce, this is my takeaway. You're young, dumb, and immature. I don't think he called me dumb, but he said, I know you failed because I had to go to summer school to get my diploma. He said, I tell you what I'll do. I will hire you the day you get out, but I need you to go in the United States Marine Corps. and i left thinking that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard i'm gonna leave this security this little town that i know to go in the marine corps he obviously knew something i didn't know sure i went down to the a&a market that albert and arnold started these italian immigrants and i knew arnold was a former marine vietnam vet and i said hey uh the chief says you know i need to go in the marine corps he goes absolutely that's the only path you can take he goes you need to get out of this town and i still was not convinced because i'm like i'm scared right you're a kid right of course you're like what 19 19 yeah and i was still we you know we grew up very catholic every sunday so i went to i went to church one sunday morning by myself and i remember i waited till the end of service and i father father hewing i think his name was and i and and he said bruce what i owe the pleasure because i owe my brothers and i we would hightail out of the second and he goes i said listen i i'm faced with this dilemma and he said yeah you need to go in the marine corps he goes everyone's on the same page with you he goes but the good news is you you're i already know things about you he goes you're a servant leader he goes everyone likes you in this town you're a likable kid he goes but you're not coming back here i said no i'm gonna come back and be a cop he goes i promise you you won't he was you're gonna discover some great things so i it was enough for me to grab my best friend and we went we ended up in paris island well so um what about you know sounds like you you know your dad was a super hard-working guy what was your dad's opinion about you going into the Marine Corps? Um, I told, so on his side, he was armed. Everyone was army. I didn't, I knew no one, my uncles and they were all army or Navy. And my dad said, do you know any Marines? I said, no, he goes, I haven't really heard much about Marines. Okay. And I got a little nervous because, you know, they're kind of known as an elite, you know, right. But I, I, we, we went down and saw the recruiter and I was sold within two minutes. I was, you know, crisp dress blues. And, uh, the only thing that was not misgiving, I remember, once again, I failed every test I ever took in my life. You had to take, it's called an ASVAB test, like a basic aptitude test. And I don't know if you remember when you were in school, remember you do the ABCD, like a Christmas tree. I took the test that way. I don't think I read, and I got done really quick and my friend got done quick, except he was very smart. And the recruiter, I remember looked at the test. He put like a template over it. And he said, what do you want to do in the Marine Corps? I said, well, I want to be a military police officer because I want to be a police officer, cops when I get out. And he said, well, his words were, he could have, he should have been a salesman on qvc he said let's not worry about the tests right now let's just get you in boot camp so in other words you failed the test but let's still get you in my friend and i'm getting a great job in aviation so i and i was a grunt but i didn't i didn't pass the test i failed okay but but so i went in as a basic grunt right and so uh how long you're in the marine corps for uh four years active in another eight in the reserves but i learned so much i tell people this i went in a boy and came out of man you know in boot camp alone i lost 30 pounds. I just learned how to just, I mean, everything was regimented and controlled and it's what I needed. You know, everything from making your bed, you know, people say famously, make your bed every morning. I just learned so much responsibility. And there's three words I learned that to this day, it affects me in every conversation I have with people is honor, courage, and commitment. And I remember I went, I figured, okay, I'm in the Marine Corps. I don't really, I don't like God. I'm not sure why am I here still, but I said, I'm going to, I'm going to do the best I can. I'm going to show up early, stay late at my unit. And one day my first sergeant called me and said, Hey Cardenas, I've been, I've been watching you. There's something about you. Why, you know, you're here all the time. You show up early most because you know, you have a roll call per se at the flag in the morning and some guy straggling and I, and I didn't drink and he ended up putting me in for a temporary assigned duty. And I thought I was in trouble. I went down and saw this Colonel and that being like a privilege. I was, I was assigned to this security detail, but because of me showing up early, staying late, you know, being around, doing what I needed to do. So it proven, but one thing I took away from all that was that, you know, the Marine Corps honor, courage, and commitment. And I remember when I was talking to this Colonel, I said, uh, I fumbled through it. Cause once again, here at the highest ranking person I've ever seen in my life, but I mentioned, Hey, I have, you know, an honor to be here. I have the courage to see it through the end and I'm committed to do anything the Marine Corps needs. I ran. I just I probably stepped on my tongue five times saying that. But that was my message to him. So, yeah. So now were they right? Did you ever go back to your town? Because I know you became a police officer, but did you go back to your hometown or did you go elsewhere? No, I so, you know, I ironically I met my kid's mom when I was in Japan, but she's American. But she was there in the Navy and I was in the Marine Corps and she was from here. So we came back here and had two young kids. And at what age did you have your kids? I was 25 and 26. Okay, okay. So pretty young. So I wanted to be a police officer. My mom was like, well, come back to High Bridge. I said, well, I'm in California. And really what the turning point was, I had done a powerlifting meet when I was in the Marine Corps in Camp Pendleton down in San Diego. And I wasn't going to go. We were assigned back east. And my training partner said, no, let's go. And all right, I'll go. I'd never been to California. And I went to California. This is before I even had my wife and kids come. community is powerlifting me and there was a career day on base and this was back long before internet everything was paper applications there's these trucking companies and ibm and police departments and i said wow beautiful people beautiful weather and at the time whatever it was 50 000 like yeah i'll be rich so i stayed and i applied at like 10 different departments and lapd picked me up first nice and so and how long were you a police officer at the lapd so i did 12 years full-time but ironically enough i early on i realized that fifty thousand dollars was not a lot of money when you live in california you have kids and i a lot of police officer firemen have a side hustle if you will and i met a guy who was a retired beverly hills police officer who had a security company protection business and uh we we met on i actually did a call for him a burglary call and he said bruce you know you're a very likable guy i have this business maybe you want to work at nights or weekends and i started doing that and after about a year, I was like, this is my calling. I'm a protector. I'm a servant leader. And I started my own business. And the reason I left being a cop full-time was because I just couldn't manage it. It became bigger than I ever thought it would be. And I always remind myself, I'm a dumb kid from New Jersey, and I was all of a sudden making a multi-million dollar business. And I'm protecting some of the biggest names in the world. But it all goes back to customer service, relationships, and so that's kind of how I carved out my niche. Now, I'm still a reserve with the LA County Sheriff's. It's just more of like, you know. Now, did, were you an actual, you know, officer or, you know, police officer for L.A. during any of the L.A. riots? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was that like? I mean, I did my probation, which is your first year in Foothill Division, which is out in the Valley. I left Foothill Division and the Rodney King incident happened. I worked with three of those guys. Wow. I got to Hollywood. There was the earthquake, went through that, the L.A. riots for sure. I remember as clear as day, I was, I was downtown and I left the office and I remember everyone was watching the news for the verdicts. Right. And I had to get on the road. I was going to go home and I got home. And this is really weird when you think about it, almost kind of get chills because we didn't have cell phones. Like I had a pager, right? I got home. And for those of you remember an answering machine, I had the answering machine and said, Hey Cardenas, you need to come back to work there's a little unrest going on in the city and i turn on the tv and already things were already going and i didn't come home for seven days what yeah because i went to the station it was 12 hour shifts and then you know we had a cot room and and then it became more than 12 hour shifts because it never ended so right wow there's a period of like it was like it was probably 10 full days of like mayhem where you could literally there was not a car on the road if you weren't a cop or a fireman there was no cars in the road so right so we lived through that yeah and then and then the oj trial i was part of that yeah i remember that yeah so we had some pretty historic times while i was a cop now did you did you ever have to like draw your weapon did you ever have to you know um yes yes um you know it interesting i i am a public relations cop first i built relationships i did some cool things with even gang members but yeah i was involved with three shootings total wow okay one with a righteous murder suspect in hollywood that was wanted for trying to kill a highway patrolman and that was pretty pretty like that was pretty crazy right there's five of us involved with that so now you have a um a private protection company right yeah um maybe talk about that journey because you brought it up a couple times you've used the term servant leader i'm actually finishing a book on servant leadership um myself so i it's something near and dear to my heart so i'd love to hear your thoughts about servant leadership and maybe how that how that played out through uh you know through your through your business yeah i think because i i i didn't have a title for that servant leader when i was in the marine court protecting other people it was just great being the background being behind the scenes. And I realized it was a certain high or euphoria for me to be like, hey, I'm keeping other people safe and I'm not the front guy. I don't need to be in the glamour. And the same thing when I started doing the protection, I realized I was very concerned with their safety, but in a very logical, methodical way. And I realized I'm happy serving other people. And I became a very conscious protector. I wasn't overbearing. I fit in. And I think the reason I did so well, because people would say to me and I picked up artists like urban artists would pick. I have the managers would call me and say, Bruce, you know, you did great on a video shoot. Can you come back again? And I'd be like, why? Because we fired everyone because they just want to hang out. Right. And I was just there. I wasn't ever friends with these people. I just provided a service and I'd go home and and but I'm I there's a certain high for me. I guess that's the right word. High feeling of fulfillment is being able to serve other people. and it's rolled over my entire life whether it's the products food products or protecting other people i don't need to be in the limelight i'm just like i'm cool i feel good i did something i accomplished something they feel safe and they count on you you know i get people write me hey we have the situation and you know yeah have you ever had any like real run-ins with people you were protecting yeah yeah there was occasionally i mean y'all for sure there's people that have shown up uh you know obviously because of social media now it's even more magnified people i say You have to be careful about posting where you're going to be or where you are. But not only that, people live vicariously. They see, oh, oh, my God, I want to be with him or her because I see that lifestyle. And they fantasize. I've had, I got involved with the restraining order game and intervening and stopping people because I had a kid one time, he took a bus trip from Alabama, one-way ticket, and showed up at one of the most high-profile people with luggage saying, hey, I'm here to marry you and have children. So then that's next level kooky. But that happens. it happens and people you know have different how they process the world you know yeah and then it was just overzealous fans and i appreciate that but i've always been very conscious that like making sure no one's getting hurt people overzealous fans would throw in their pen at them to sign something and you know being cautious of what we accept as far as gifts because back we did a lot of they don't do them anymore cd release parties when you want an artist would release a cd you have a you'd have a release party and i remember we did want ricky martin right here in Beverly Hills, the Beverly Center. We weren't sure how many people were going to show. We thought maybe 500, 5,000 people showed up and became mayhem. But my point is it can, we, we, it was a lot of great times, but a lot of learnings that people are over the top when they're obsessed with an artist or an actor. So I'm thinking like, you know, Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, and the bodyguard, you know? So I will tell you this, I'll have to find a picture and send it to you at the end of the bodyguard. When it was already wrapped up, we started, I did like we did the premieres. We did three city tour with them. So I was with them. Yeah. So you were a bodyguard for the bodyguard. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. Yeah, 20 was one of my favorite movies. A little, you know. Of course. Different twist, but. Yeah. Yeah, and I've just always been known as that guy. Like I maintain clients. I still have clients. I still have the business. I have a couple of clients to this day because I just do not get in their business. Right. But they know I'm there. Yeah. And that's why they keep calling me. Got it. Oh, that's so cool. I can see that being a lot of fun. And, you know, it can't help but who doesn't want to be useful to other people, right? Yeah. It's like being a protector. Like that's kind of a man's role anyway. Yeah, it's taken me over. I've been over 25 Super Bowls in that capacity. Oh, wow. Just every year someone's calling me, whether it's a network or a talent. So it's don't get me wrong. The kid from New Jersey still like this kind of cool. You know, I'm able to do cool things in my life. What's the coolest thing? I mean, going to the Super Bowl 25 times is pretty darn cool. But like, is there one event that just stands out to you? Like, man, of all the things I've ever, you know, done in that capacity that was like really cool. um i probably the soup i mean listen there's been a lot of cool ones but i mean even the super bowl right after 9 11 was in new orleans and we stayed at a hotel where sting was there bono was there bono that youtube performed right and to be in that it was just a very surreal because america was like we're back like it was almost tear jerking like the whole sure yeah so that was probably the most memorable weekend that's the most memorable i mean i've done a lot i've protect a lot of people and been to some place where I'm like, like I've been to the White House five times. Each time I each time I get an email from an assistant saying, hey, can you provide your driver's license, photo and Social Security for the Secret Service? I'm like, they're going to figure out I don't belong there. You know what I mean? But every time I'm like, I've been standing next to Bill Clinton and I'm like, this is kind of crazy. And Mariah Carey performed on the, you know, White House lawn. Nice. Her famous song. Is it Hero? It's called, I think. Right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I've been in places where I'm always just kind of like a little surreal. But that's pretty cool. Well, so we did sort of maybe skip over the whole servant leadership aspect. Oh, sorry. No, no, you're totally fine. So maybe talk about kind of where your leadership style came from. Because when I think about the military, I would argue that it's the opposite of a servant leadership. It's you do what you're told, right? And I would argue that a servant leader is more the opposite. They remove obstacles, make sure you have the right resources. They're willing to roll up their sleeves and do whatever the lowest level task is. You know, how did you make that flip from, because it sounds like the military was super helpful in your personal and professional development, but your leadership style is not a military leadership style. You're absolutely right. Yeah, the Marine Corps, you're told what to do. Right. Now, I had slight latitude, but you're regulated, you're controlled, here's your mission, here's what you're doing. So I think early on when I was a police officer, it was actually a defining moment, and I forgot to mention this. My first training officer, his name was Bob, an old crotchety guy who already had almost 30 years on with the first day I got in the car with him as a brand new recruit. and i remember he and i don't want to get too sidetracked i want to because it is important um i got in the car in the passenger seat and back then i think they saw him but it was a notepad that would be so in case you had to make a note real quick like hey we're looking for somebody but he drew this picture it was a big round face with two big eyes and two big ears and no mouth and he and he said you know who that is because that's you right i need a lot of looking and listening are we clear and i'm like yes sir like i'm right out of the marine corps like i'm actually petrified that he could he can control my destiny yeah as we got to know each other he found out i was a marine he was a former marine and he loosened up but he said hey i need you to understand something i know you think i'm an asshole but listening to people with the intent to understand them is going to keep us alive he was not to listen to reply and not the worst of all kind of person to not even listen and just override people and i found myself he'd be on these calls domestic violence bad stuff murders and you're like just listen to what people say Don't even talk. Just listen to them. Let the husband and wife take it all in. And he taught me literally the most valuable lesson in the world. But he also taught me empathy in a backwards way. He was a little bit rough on people, not not if you saw him and actually, you know, he's like an old school guy. You have people out of collar. And I remember it was a defining moment. We were taking a guy into the station who was wanted for a warrant. big biker dude tatted up white dude and i because i it was emulating what i saw with bob i'm pulling this guy by the handcuffs into the station a little rougher than i needed to be honest he was just a grown man young lieutenant saw me and called me and said bruce what's that guy here for i said oh he's got a three thousand dollar warrant he goes that's it he goes you're pulling him like he just he's like he's charlie manson right and he goes oh wait you're working with bob and he goes you know what, Bruce? He goes, Bob needs to retire. Bob's a little cynical and jaded. He goes, you're still a young, outgoing, personable person. He goes, I already see that servant leader in you. You're helping other people. People at the station already know you're always willing to help. You're always willing to volunteer your time. He goes, you need to decide what path you're going to go. You could be Bob. He goes, or you could be empathetic Bruce who sees the good in people. And he goes, and he left me. It was actually very emotional. He said, that guy you pulled in here, picture him he's someone's father uncle brother he goes there might be a seven-year-old son that looks up to him when he comes home and you're treating him like less than so it really resonated with me and also i've reflected on my older brother who'd been out of prison for drugs and alcohol right and i realized most people you encounter are a paycheck away from a crisis there's bad people in the world murderers rapists but then there's just people that life happens and i started had to look at people like life happened yeah he made a bad decision so it really caused me to be more empathetic and also realize I'm serving people. I'm, I'm serving you. I'm not here to inflict harm or, or, you know, judgment on you. You know, I have a, so my, my wife, second wife, second and last wife, she, her older sister was actually for, I think for maybe three or four years was a police officer for the Oakland police department. And, and then my wife's comment about her was when she was a police officer, um, she, you know, became a lot less empathetic. She took, kind of took the position. Everyone's a liar. It became very jaded and cynical, kind of like Bob. Um, how did you, you know, she's not that way now, her old decision is not the way now, but she's not a police officer anymore. Um, it was hard for her to, cause she is all those things now, empathetic and all that. How did you not become that way? other than other than one conversation with that other guy. Well, the lieutenant kind of scared me straight, too, because he's like, you know, you realize you get trouble. Like you can't treat people like this. And I realized, oh, wow, I'm seeing what other people are doing. But you're right. Most cops are cynical and jaded. Most people are like they're all bad people. Everyone's bad. If we're stopping them, they must have broken the crime. But it resonated so much with me when I started working with other officers and they would be the same route. And when I worked South Central L.A., which is in the hood, everyone's a gang member. everyone's, you know, if you're working class here, you're going to work and coming home. But if you're sitting on the stoop in front of a liquor store, you're out on parole, you're doing drugs. And I would work with guys, same age as me, same time on the job we pull over. And the first thing, Hey, let me see your effing hands. Let me see your effing ID. And a very aggressive approach. And I remember I was at a circle. There's like three or four guys were stopping. There's maybe three or four cops. And at the time I was pretty big. I was jacked. I was working all the time. And and there was a guy and I wasn't saying I'm just watching I'm thinking man like how do I intervene here they're kind of being not being the coolest with these guys they're just they're out of prison right they're not doing anything wrong but they have no they don't you can't get a job right they're sitting on the stoop as you call it right and the one big dude he I remember he had a wife beater on he looks over me he goes hey man how much can you bench to me that was the biggest out of all and then he said I said I don't know I don't know maybe 300 I'm just making up a number I don't think so. And I'm like, what do you want? Is there a gym around here? We ended up doing a push-up contest in the street. Okay. And I was in full uniform. I think we might have tied. I think we might have both done 50. He might have actually, he might have beat me by one. It doesn't matter. But he got up and he said, dude, much respect. He goes, I can't believe you did that. And now my partners were like, what's that about, Bruce? What are you, an idiot? Are you trying to be friends with these guys? And I said, as we left, we went and had lunch. And I said, here's the deal, guys. And it resonates with me. If you ever saw the movie Training Day with Denzel Washington. And I said, yeah, and they all wanted to kill him, right? Because he was never nice to the guys in the hood. I said, I'll tell you this. If we ever have a problem in this area, they're not going to mess with me. They'll be like, he was always respectful. I never say F to them. I never shut your mouth. And it became my reputation. Like I'd see these guys. We didn't have lunch together, but they'd wave to me. And I started, it started working with my partners because I said, why do we need to be an asshole to these people? They're trying to get by just like all of us. So it's something I don't, I really can't, I wish I could pinpoint how and why it happened to me. Maybe the conversation with the lieutenant. I don't know one specific thing. Maybe I thought about my brother often because he was, he was, he was got his ass kicked all the time by the police. Yeah. And I'm thinking that would have been me. So maybe all those things combined, I'm just like, once again, people are hard times. I have friends of mine now, acquaintances that have done six, seven years in prison, but they're the nicest, hardworking entrepreneurs I've ever met. Anyway, I don't know where I can't. I don't know. I actually need to pinpoint it because I need to put it in my book. You're working on a book now? You're working on a book? I have a book, yeah, called Lead with Value. Okay. But I need to understand where this came from because it's not like I don't know where this came from in my DNA. Huh, Lead with Value. It's already out? No, it's going to be out soon. I wish it was out. I'd be talking about it. Tell you what, I'm writing a book myself on servant leadership. Maybe we'll do a book swap. I'd love to know because it's interesting. I think I need to talk more about leadership in my book. Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about Legendary and what you're doing now. And I've just got all your products right here. You know, you're repping the merch and I'll blame you. So let's talk a little bit about what you're doing and why you're excited about it. Yeah, and I'll fast track so how I got here, right? Can I tell you how I got here? Because, you know, the bodyguard business is going well. I'm living the best life ever, and I'm in the gym one day, and I, you know, gym acquaintances. I meet a woman, Shannon Penna. She goes by Quest Creator. I'd always see her and say hi, you know, friendly conversation. That wasn't the same Quest company as Tom Bilyeu, right? That's a different Quest? No, no. Okay. Yeah. So Shannon's a regular in the gym and her husband, Ron. And a month later, I go to the Los Angeles Fitness Expo just as a consumer with my girlfriend. And we're walking around and there's this little table, same woman from the gym. And it says Quest Nutrition, Quest Protein Bars. And she's over the husband. They have like two flavors of bars. And, oh, there's a guy from the gym. And, oh, there's her. And gives me a couple of bars. And I remember seeing her a week later in the gym and said, those bars are phenomenal. the taste the texture the ingredients oh my god she talked for and shannon loves to talk she must talk for an hour straight i'm making in my kitchen my husband ron has figured out how to commercialize them we just started this business she was so passionate once again something resonated in me and i said you know i don know if i could offer this to you but I doing protection at a celebrity golf tournament next week at Riviera Country Club up here in Brentwood My friend is doing the PR. Maybe if you have some bars, I can get them in her hands. She's like, oh my God. She personally dropped off some boxes of bars at my house the next day. I get them to Cheryl, who's doing the PR. I say, my friend owns this company. They just seem like cool people. I started getting product in people's hands. I'm still just for fun. I mean, they're cool people. Like I loved her energy. Not so much Ron. Ron was not a friendly guy. He was that guy in the gym with earbuds in like, you're annoyed if you talk to me. And after about nine months, I have it on the set of Extra Mario Lopez, the early days of the Kardashians because their clients. And I would never talk directly with the client. I'd be like, hey, my friend owns his company to like the publicist or the agents or whoever. And it just started working. Ron called me out to their office one day, said, do you mind visiting us? And it was in the ghetto. And we had a conversation. He said, listen, man, we're stealing from you. You're bringing us all this value where a product is getting people's hands. And I said, well, I get free protein bars. And he laughed. And he subsequently said, we're going to put you on the payroll. And that next Friday, Tom, his partner, called me and said, hey, we want to put you on the payroll. I said, no, I don't want your money. I do quite well. He goes, well, you can give it to charity or whatever you want to do, but we're going to put you on the payroll. Immediately when I got my first paycheck, something clicked to me being 12 years old on that paper route collecting money saying how valuable money is. And it was like it was a nominal salary, right? But something inside clicked. Oh, my God. Now I really got to prove myself. My dad would be so disappointed if I'm not really working hard. Right. And I went in. I've never shared this to them personally other than hearing me talk about podcasts. I went into mental overdrive. I'm getting paid. Where can I get this product? Where can I get it placed? I will just say this, and what was kind of cool about Ron, because he said, Ron's the chairman, the founder. He said, listen, Bruce, we don't know. We're just, we're tech guys. It's uncharted, just where we're going. You know, Ron was in charge of R&D. Tom was in charge of sales and marketing. And Mike was in charge of production and finance. I became an intrapreneur with an I inside of an organization because they said, you can do anything you want. Like, I built out the ambassador program, the athlete program. The irony is, and I think part of it, the stars lined up. We started getting really great trajectory at Quest. The sales guys never wanted to. They just took orders. Right. And all of a sudden I'm traveling, playing golf with the chairman of a vitamin shop. Right. I'm doing a charity golf tournament, GNC founders, and I'm at all these events. I traveled 40 weekends a year for five years straight. I became obsessed with what we were doing. and once again i i didn't use this word earlier but i've had like four why and purposes of my life and that was one of my whys and purpose also i'm like wait i'm a bodyguard but like they are doing some cool stuff please tell me you had some equity at least a little bit yeah we yeah we had yeah so that didn't come though that didn't there was no promise all i one of the things i talk about in my book i let i brought them value and i had no expectations like when i'm getting prodding people's hands i'm like they're cool people yeah it wasn't until they're like we need you on our team and I became well intentionally full-time but I still had the bodyguard business but I would just start 40 weekends a year yeah you know for four or five years it was over the top but I kept my mind even today my mind does not shut down I could work and we get this product so fortunately enough and it's crazy a private equity firm Kate got involved which I was friends with the founder of the equity firm I was always tied to something with them and Atkins that remember the Atkins of Of course, yeah. They bought us. They were a public company. They bought us for a billion dollars cash almost five years ago now. And I was then – I was part of the equity pool, I mean, with a lot of other people. But it was still cool. I mean – and my dad would say this. I didn't bring anything to – I didn't write a check, right? So it's all sweat equity. But I share that with a lot of people because a lot of people, oh, you lucked out. I said, no, anyone could – you got to show up. You created your luck. Yeah, I created my destiny. I could have just worked money through Friday and done nothing, but all of a sudden, like, Jesus, Bruce, slow down. and they they would say i'd come back from new york city from an event and i'd be in the office monday morning and people like weren't you just in new york i said that was yesterday but most people's mindset and i'm not saying whatever age i'm not aging us like oh back when we were kids but most people if they came back from new york city they would take three days off i just went right back to the grind right and i never stopped so and uh we sold everyone parted ways ron the original founder said he had already secured the name legendary foods because he knew he was going to start another company. And he called about six of us together and say, guys, I need you to have this mindset. We don't have any money. We're starting over. We worked out of his house. Hold on. Do any money? You just sold the company for a billion dollars. My point is, he was like kind of the mindset, like, I'm funding this, but we need to start over again. We don't know if this may not be a success. So we ground it out. And it's interesting out of all the people that started, he, it was an interesting thing I share with people. he said i need you guys to tell me how much money you need to make privately i mean email me text me and um i had already had a payday right and by the way i was still getting paid from quest because they paid me for a year after we sold just to be a good a good shepherd for the company they want to make sure good relationships so i wrote him and said hey listen i think i've seen this movie before i don't need any money i know i know how this i know how this movie ends now i didn't the other guys one guy had two kids i need to make yeah twenty thousand dollars a month because he was one a lot yeah none of them are currently none of them lasted right let's just say that because i think after a period of time they're like wow they're really sucking the blood out of us and another learning lesson for me i figured okay i have money i'm okay i could either pay me now or pay me later so but legendary we're going to be on track to be bigger than quest one day well it's kind of a it's it's called a unicorn right because quest quest was a unicorn a billion dollars cash which is unheard of so we're doing the same thing I just want to say this. I think legendary is more relatable foods. Everyone's had a Pop-Tart in their life. We can't use the word Pop-Tart, but they're called protein pastries. Everyone's had a Cinnabon. Donuts, for sure. We just launched these a couple months ago and everyone's like fanatic. There's zero sugar. So we're kind of making more relatable foods. You grew up in New York. These remind me of the little sleeve of donuts you got when you were a kid, like the five donuts. To me, it's just, it's like, it's the best. So we've got macaroni and cheese coming out in about two months. So it's, uh, I've never been so excited about food. It's really weird because it's not like, it's not my thing. I never was in a nutrition space. And I do tell people this, I was the least qualified person in my forties. If I came in with my resume, they'd be like Marine LAPD bodyguard. No, we don't have a job for you. So I created my own destiny. So, but I, you know, I need to go. So, so yeah. So, um, only cause I'm, so I came across Tom Bilyeu when he launched Impact Theory. And I would say if there's two people who I've sort of emulated my style from, it's probably Tom Bilyeu and Joe Rogan, because I think they're both super curious. Like what I've noticed is like if Tom is interviewing someone and they've written three books, he's literally read all three books. He doesn't have an assistant do it. And he's asking really smart, insightful, deep questions as opposed to just sort of the surface bullshit. Is he as nice a guy as he seems? or we can edit this part out how much is going to be edited so here's the trick up tom was initially my boss he was in charge of sales and marketing he was phenomenal the first three years at some point he decided i use these where he wanted to become famous okay we started a show called inside quest which was inside and we started doing some really dumb marketing things at quest and i say this because i say uh brand should say consistent brand consistency is far more important than brand creativity. And at Quest, we got to a certain threshold of money where I think people started thinking, I'll give an example. We created a music video to launch a flavor of a bar that was under Tom's umbrella. We did a virtual reality booth at an expo, which reduced the number of people that we experienced because they had to put on these goggles and, you know, the oldest nonsense. We had billboards, we did food trucks and looking back, all of it was just a waste of time and money because if we just stuck with what, you know, getting food in people's hands, as simple as that, boring as it sounds, So part of it is we lost sight of what we were doing. And so it was great. But Tom left three years before we sold, actually. He departed and started a show. Okay. And so did a lot of other people depart because we had a separating of the team per se where, hey, we need to keep getting product in people's hands. And then people are like, no, but let's do music videos and Super Bowl ads. I don't begrudge brands to do that because I know people like Coke have to do that. But when you're a small food company, it's all it doesn't matter. So I always say this to whether it's a product or a service. If you're in the construction business, you stick with what you know. Don't start trying to make concrete ads. It's funny you say that. So I worked for a crypto ATM company. So basically it's a way for most people buy what people buy crypto. So you basically pump cash into it and you could send money to a hardware or software wallet, Bitcoin mostly. And, you know, we were big like, you know, when I left, we're doing 150 million in revenue. I think we were the largest by volume in the world and the third largest by number of locations. And they decided, you know, the leadership team decided that they wanted to. So we hired Neil Patrick Harris to be our spokesperson. And we meet me, too. Dugie Hauser. That's what I was just thinking. How I met your mother. Yeah. So I like him. But like, I mean, it was just a vanity thing. Right. So ultimately we pissed away. I don't know. Six, eight, ten million dollars. And it was funny because we actually measured our brand awareness. We ran the TV campaigns. in three markets. And so we, and we tested our brand awareness in five markets that three were in plus two others. Our brand awareness went down in two of the three markets that we were doing advertising in. I'm kind of curious, but why him? He doesn't strike me as a guy. Exactly. So Kevin O'Leary was someone who's on the table. We couldn't afford him. Oh, got it. It would have been a better one probably. Yeah. Savage. Stoichi Nakamoto wasn't available either, apparently, But anyway, so it was off brand. And not only that, but the reality was we – it wasn't the right move. It wouldn't matter who we had, right? It's like we were acting like a brand that was much bigger than we were, and it was a mistake. And most people do, by the way. Listen, part of it's ego, right? I mean I get it. Totally. Vanity and ego, yeah. And even Ron and I are so in sync. Like we talk about these things and say, listen, we have a food company. We can be sexy. We can have huge Instagram. but if people don't, here's the thing you need to know. If people try your product, they're going to buy it. Or if you have a heart, you can't out market bad product, by the way. And I think people try and do that. I got my, my product or my service is subpar, but let me market the shit out of it and try and impress you. Right. One thing I learned is a really important business takeaway. And I say this time and time again, again, if you, if you have a brand or a service, you need a thousand screaming fans, 1000. And I say it like this, if they like you, they're going to listen to you first of all, but if they trust you, they're going to buy. but if you transform their lives they're going to go to the highest mountaintop scream your name and what that's what happened at quest and now legendary so people would write us these blogs saying hey i've lost 30 pounds over the last four months because it's my go-to snack i've got diabetes my blood sugar doesn't spike i've got celiac disease which i didn't know what that word meant when i first met that and i and i have no issues i had gastric bypass surgery and i'm able to eat your bars and there was a light bulb moment for me anyway personally where i realized we were We're going, we went from a protein bar company to really a mission based company. But here's the thing. If you have food, people have to eat it and try it. And if they don't like it, you can't lie to them. Yeah. And kids are our best test market, by the way. So yeah, kids don't lie. Like mom sent me pictures of their two year old eating our donuts now. And it's like, oh, thank God. How long did the brand launch? So officially, even though Quest sold five years ago, we actually launched it six years ago. Okay. We had, we had investors, but we went to them and said, hey, we're going to start. we started out just with nut butters because there was no conflict with protein because we had to non-compete for protein so six years about okay but we just started getting traction the last 36 months okay we're now on the radar you know yeah so like what if you if you're able to disclose or what kind of top line are you guys doing now um i don't know i don't want investors calling us that's okay we're we're we're over that threshold where oh okay we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna make some things happen in the world right and by the way just a side note because i always forget this and it's really important we are a collective group of mostly guys we have some women but mostly guys we sit around in the office like this and just at times we're all going to be affected by cancer and heart disease every single person that we talked to right and we decided years ago we need to do something about it so if you come we have a new headquarters in santa monica we're spending about six million dollars of our own money in-house with our own lab techs and physicians doing exactly that, trying to find answers in cancer and heart disease. And I say that because now we're kind of, we're selling donuts to cure cancer. Even though we're not advertising it, there's no white paper. We're really doing some aggressive, aggressive things to keep our friends alive longer. That's really our goal now. Yeah, I spend a, so I have two podcasts, this one, and I also do one that's the business of wellness, a lot of wellness and biohacking stuff. Big interest, keen interest of my own is all the biohacking stuff. You come by the office sometime. We literally you'd be blown away. We have our own like the medical team takes up half the building. Really? We have a retired orthopedic guy who is Ron's brother in law. He runs that. We've got techs. We've got it's incredible things we're doing that you almost can't really explain to a layperson because, yeah, it's all bullshit. But if you came, you'd be like, oh, my God, they're like a free carotid scan to to most guys over 50 start having some calcification. That's just no matter you could be as clean as possible. Are you familiar with the clearly test? 100 percent i'm actually they're trying to determine if i can qualify because i have a stint whether it would actually accurate read but yeah clearly is the greatest thing on earth for heart issues i recommend it to everybody yeah the clearly testing getting making sure you have your genetic testing done to figure out you know so yeah you should definitely come by because we're like i said i'd love to food is like uh a means to pay for cool stuff to help people stay live long that's really the reality of our life yeah for us anyway yeah not like that but we're having to overcome, uh, just a trashed food supply. We're having to overcome, you know, less nutritional content in our, even in the food that we're, that's grown. Um, yeah, it's really, uh, it's hard. It's, it's hard to, it's genuinely hard to stay healthy and fit. My, my dad's 83. Um, and, uh he in his about as good health as you could be at 83 And uh yeah it but it you know but I still seeing like you know he shrunk four or five inches and tough to keep your bone density tough to keep your muscle mass Protein Unless you really focused on it Yeah. It's really challenging. Well, so do you have kids? Married? I do. No, not married. I tried that. I don't know how much is going on here. Yeah. I mean, you haven't edited out anything when I edited out. No, I tried that. No, no, I have three. I have three. I say this is kind of a joke. I have three kids from two different mamas. Okay. But I didn't play in the NFL. So no, no, I have my daughter is it's crazy. My two kids grew up in Glendale, as we talk about in Arizona, and they didn't grow up with me. I mean, it was it was a strange relationship. But now we're best friends. My daughter's a nurse locally in L.A. She lives with me. Oh, nice. My son's old. Thirty five. OK, my son's a local contractor. He lives on my property in a guest unit. And then my youngest daughter is in the tech space. She actually teaches people how to sell, which is crazy. And she lives in San Francisco. but I'm really trying to get her to come back. I mean, San Francisco, it's not what it was. It's a beautiful city, but it used to be really beautiful. She has to climb over like homeless people and drug needles to get out of her building. But I will say this, and it has no reflection on me. It's not like I, but they're like three amazing human beings. You can't, you know what I mean? Sometimes you don't know how your DNA is going to come out. I mean, it's obviously, I think, more contributing to their mom, but now that we're hanging out together, it's really cool to see them like flourish in life, you know? That's really nice. I know my second mother-in-law, My first mother-in-law didn't like me at all. My second one loves me. But she has four kids, my wife obviously being one of them. And she's like, you're only as happy as your least happy kid. Right, right. So do you find the same thing? You're only as happy as your least happy kid? Oh, for sure, for sure. Yeah, yeah. And essentially my daughter, who's a nurse, she works in nursing. She works to travel. She travels solo by herself. She's got this independent spirit. It's kind of cool. Yeah. Well, so is there an exit plan? Is there like, hey, we're going to get to a certain size and then look for someone to exit? I can't tell you. It's definitely not a conversation. There might be people in the company think that way. But Ron is like, hey, we need to spend a lot of money to find answers in these things. And we can only do that by selling donuts. Right. I mean, as simple as that. I mean, it'd be kind of cool. Like, him and I are attached. Like, you know, like I'm hooked on the wagon. Like, if we do another food company, I'd be part of it. Whether it's a metal company, I'd be part of it. Because mine is really not about the product. It's the relationships that I build. Right. And I always say this early on. Thank God we're not selling canned corn because I have no desire to sell canned corn. But it's been cool things. Right. Yeah. And even now with the cancer, I'm very comfortable talking about it, you know, because my dad died of colon cancer at 60 years old, sadly. But so I reflect on all my brother died of brain cancer. And I think, OK, how many people I know that have been affected. So I feel like I want to be part of that giving back if we can make if we could keep more people alive, you know. So, yeah. So maybe talk a little bit about, you know, your your journey, if you don't mind your journey as a father. It's something I spend a lot of time thinking. I just have my one daughter and and, you know, it's like. It's one she she changed the trajectory of my life. I remember when I was when I was very young, in my early early to mid 20s, if you had asked me if I was happy, I would not have even understood the question. it wasn't until I had a daughter looking up at me expecting right you know guidance you know even even if it was just the expectation in her eyes and realizing that in order for me to be able to teach her how to be happy and successful in life I had to figure it out for myself what's your journey been like as a dad it sounds like maybe and by which by way background I got divorced when my daughter was one so so I you know I was I've been involved in her life obviously the whole time but it was, it wasn't always an easy journey to say the least. Um, maybe talk a little bit about your journey if you don't mind. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I, I, I'm pretty transparent about it. I wouldn't say I was a stellar father for the first period of time because, you know, they lived in Arizona and, and I was a cop and I think I always found reasons why we couldn't make it. She got married and it was like a Brady Bunch. He has his own kids. So the weekends became months. And so I'm not proud of that, but I feel like I made up for it as the kids were older and we connected more and had more things to relatable to talk about and stuff. And what age were you able to kind of reconnect and really sort of enhance that relationship? Teenage. Okay. Yeah. And even when my son, actually, it was a really guilt trip for me. Honestly, I remember my son called me one time. I don't think I've ever talked about this in public. He was getting ready to be deployed to Iraq and he called me. He did two tours of combat and he said, Hey, um, what did I, what did I, did I ever do anything to you did i ever do anything that you never wanted to see me and that really bothered me like like he was like hey you know i'm going to combat so i don't i don't want to cry on this but um so it made me feel really horrible about the time i did not spend with them so i had a mildly similar situation um so like i said we split when my daughter was one and um my now ex-wife moved to chicago without my agreeing to it um so i was basically having to fly back and forth to see my daughter. And what I would do is every third ship, I'd buy, I'd have to buy three plane tickets. I'd have to fly there, pick her up, fly back so she could spend time with my family, then fly back again and then fly back. To return her, yeah. Yeah. So I remember I was living in New York City at the time and I still remember this so vividly where we're walking in Central Park. She's three, three and a half, holding hands, walking through the park. It's a beautiful sunny day. and she was like, she's like, Daddy, do you not live in Chicago? Because you don't love me. It just broke my heart. And I remember I told everyone I knew the next day, because I had actually just been given a really killer job offer to become president of a company I had done some consulting work for, huge piece of equity in the company, great salary, bonus structure, everything. Just finished negotiating it. and uh went back to to marvin and told him that i changed my mind um that i was gonna have to move to chicago and i told everyone i knew i got lucky um the the guy who was the interim cfo of the company i was at at the time um he had a brother that worked that owned the random venture capital firm in chicago they had just made an investment in an internet company i went to go work for that company um that was an eight-figure exit the same ceo he had a second company that was a nine-figure exit. So it ended up being a blessing in disguise. But yeah, that was totally turned my life upside down. And sometimes your child will say something to you and it just stops you in your tracks. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, those days are hard. Yeah. So, you know, I think fast forward, I've had some redemption. I mean, they're pretty tight with me now. And yeah. Yeah. Well, they say I think they say, you know, the journey most kids go on is first they idolize, then they demonize and they humanize. Exactly. I just talked about that the other day. And I think we all go through that, right? Yeah. It's funny as an adult, I wish my dad, you know, I wish I had more time with my dad because he saw some of my success, but like, that's crazy. Like I would call him often about stuff. But once I was an adult, you know? Yeah. But when he, when he was, when I was a teenager, I'm like, he's not that cool. Yeah. It's funny. Um, you know, honestly, uh, I was somewhere between the demonize and humanize phase with my daughter at the moment. Um, but, uh, you know, that, That's the journey. Look, at the end of the day, I feel like as a parent, my daughter is the only person I feel that I owe something to. I chose to bring her into the world. Therefore, my job is to make sure she can be happy and successful in life. It'd be nice if she liked me. It'd be nice if she appreciated me. Those aren't requirements. Those are more nice to haves as opposed to have to haves. Yeah, for sure. How old is your daughter? 25. Oh, yeah. They're beyond all that nonsense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they come back to the nest. Yeah, yeah. What's funny? I have a, so when my daughter was five, we were in a Chuck E. Cheese. We got both got temporary tattoos on our biceps, right? I have an adorable picture of it somewhere. Anyway, you know, she was like, I was like, oh, I said, you think when you're older, you'll ever get a tattoo? And she's like, no, daddy, she'd never get a tattoo. I said, why do you say that? She's like, my favorite color used to be pink, but now it's purple. So if I got a tattoo and it was pink, I'd be sad. That's pretty smart. Okay. I'm real version. But anyway, so we both had a conversation that she was never going to get a tattoo. I would never get a tattoo. So when my daughter was graduating from high school, I had, I actually got this idea from my wife because her sister had given her a boomerang. And the whole idea of boomerang, when you throw a boomerang, it comes back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had a boomerang necklace made for her when she graduated from high school. And then the other thing I did was I had the one and only tattoo I'll ever get. So I have a tattoo right here in the crease and it has my daughter's name in it, but it's in reverse. So you can only read it when you're looking in the mirror. Oh. Oh, wow. So basically, you know, I gave the necklace and I also showed her a picture of the tattoo. Like you can always come home to me. And anyway, so but yeah, being a being a parent is. So she lived on her own or. Yeah, she just moved from Denver to Austin recently. I like Austin. Really. And Austin's a better she went to see you Boulder. So that's why she was in Denver. But Austin's a much better fit for her. So I think we're definitely happy that she's that she's found a place she's happier in. So I love it. But, well, hey, you know, Bruce, I can't thank you enough that I really want to, you know, where can people find you? Where can they find Legendary? I mean, what can they, is it in the stores? Where can they get this stuff? Yeah, like I could say it's everywhere. Target, Walmart, GMT, Vitamin Shoppe, Amazon. It's literally everywhere. It's crazy because people send me pictures of some random gas stations across the country. I'm like, I never heard of that place. We're doing quite well. We're actually now just breaching into international. But we just wanted to really figure out the states for a second. One thing, another thing we, we went too fast internationally at Quest, but yeah, we're everywhere now. So we're pretty fortunate. Yeah. And where can people find you? I think primarily Instagram, Bruce E. Cardenas. Okay. I have my own website, BruceCardenas.com, but it's built out. Like I said, the book's almost done. A course is almost done, but now I'm fast tracking. Like I tell my guys, hey, can we get this done? Can we get this done? You know? Yeah. So. Well, they say we'll have to do the, the, the, the leadership book swap. I'd love to, I'd love to know more about it because I don't talk to many people that even use that term. They don't even know what it is. Yeah, it's funny because the way I've always thought about it is my experience has been that if I focus on the person first and the company second, that's what's best for the company. Yeah. Because we've all had that boss that really cares about you. Sure. That you'd do anything for. Yeah. Like probably sounds like how you feel about Ron. Yeah, 100%. Right? It's like there's nothing you wouldn't do for that guy because he clearly cares about you as an individual. and the same thing happens when you when you take care of other people they care of you and take care of you in return and so even if you were a selfish prick which hopefully you wouldn't be you'd still get a better outcome if you didn't act like one right right that's cool so your book is almost done or it's almost done so it'll be out before the end of the year for sure um so i i don't know if you ever heard there's a pretty well-known book by mark manson called the subtle art of not giving a fuck yeah of course i have it someone gave it to me it's a great book it's a really good I think it's got an orange cover, I think. It does. It's either he has an orange one and one that's blue. But what's interesting is first-time author has sold 14 million copies of that book. You know, not in small part. It is a really good book, but the title definitely helps. Yeah, for sure. So I was originally going to call my book The Servant, but then my wife's going to take credit for this, probably rightfully so. I changed the name to Lead Like You Give a Shit. But it's all about servant leadership. Yeah. Really? And you had enough to write about for a book, huh? Oh, my God, yes. I'd love to talk about it because I need to add more about that my editor actually said hey can you elaborate a little more on this whole I have a whole I'll give you the book is it out already? no no but it's mostly done the manuscript will be completed 30 days at the most you know one thing I found with writing a book because I never thought I was even qualified to write a book it was all self-doubt but I didn't I'm not recreating the wheel. I mean, everyone's done this before me, you know, but I just have my own words about doing it. But what was my point? I think everyone should write a book. One of my good friends, Bedros Coulian said, I spent the day with him. He started a, he's an immigrant, but he started a thing called Fit Body Bootcamp, a chain. Very successful. But I spent the day with him and he said, Bruce, you know, everyone on earth has a book in them. Even if your mom's going to buy it, no one else wants it. Right. But he said, you might have six or seven books. And I realized I've had some light bulb moments where I've done a lot of things and learned a lot of things. I'm just not a writer. Yeah. I just need help in putting it to paper and what it sounds like. The good news is that, you know, and again, by the way, happy to share that. Yeah. If you're interested, I'll share this information with you. I'm actually doing a writers where a three-day writers workshop at the end of the month. Um, there's only a, I think there's only gonna be a dozen people in there, like one or two spots open if you wanted. But part of the reason I'm going is the guy who's running it's published seven books. He's also a pretty well-known, you know, professional speaker. Um, and so it's like, these are the kinds of things that just help because I really want to get guidance, not necessarily in finishing the book, but I know how to market the book too and all that kind of things. So it's in Denver. It's going to be in Denver. So I'll share it with you. If you'd like to come out. Yeah. I'll bring the donuts. Yeah. There you go. I figured out somewhere along this journey, when I'm doing this food thing, I'm going to all these events and I don't remember who, but someone invited me to a mastermind, which I was like, what's a mastermind? Yeah. Sounds like a lot of smart people. And I went, oh, was that? No, it was my first experience. Tony Robbins team was obsessed with Quest Bars. Okay. His wife's, someone in his family. And I went and met with them, not Tony, but the team. And they said, Hey, we love Quest Bars. Um, if can you provide product, we're going to be in LA like three. I said, yeah. And he goes, and you can come as our VIP. I'm like, what's that mean? Right. I'm sitting in the front row at a Tony Robbins event and I'm connected and I'm like front row, which is, you know, whatever. And, but everyone's got a Quest Bar on their seat. And I, and I had a light bulb moment. I go, these are our people. Yeah. So then now I do add my let's, any of these people that are talking yeah tim grover's i'm like hey can i bring product you know yeah bring product i provide product the next thing i'm backstage with these so it's kind of worked out like yeah i've met some cool people and it's also the right kind of people there are people that are thinking much further than your average bear right and they're doing cool things in life dude you're an outside the box thinker which i love yeah yeah it's cool crowd not enough of that going around bruce yeah thanks again for your time thank you very much Thank you.