0:05 Welcome back to Careful Boys. Today we're talking about Joe's life after dance. Oh, ████ >> [laughter] >> Life after dance, man. Yeah. That's the series. That is the series. We've had this really fun conversation about everybody's transitions and stuff like that after dance. So So we got to go We got to go to Joe's from professional dancer Dude. >> Uh honestly, though, specifically the the idea that like there was once upon a time where like the majority of your brain space, your your your work and lifestyle was revolving around like like funny sketches, you know, like YouTube skits and stuff. And and now you're you're basically David So just cleaning up the the bathroom. >> But you're running this this matcha tea company out in Hawaii in like the ████ most popping district, you know. >> And it's the highest earning one out of
0:55 all the Jimbys. >> By far. >> Jimbys like And you're the happiest checkout guy I've ever seen. >> [laughter] >> Put in that picture. Pop it in. Like how how did you >> It's funny we're talking about life after JK on JK. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. No, it's life after dance. >> Life after dance. JK is still life. >> So the way it all started, it happened because I wanted to create a retirement system for everybody in JK and our friends. And so like I was thinking about how we're like in our 20s and I'm like, damn, man, um most companies have like a 401K or something. And then my kid brain was like, we got to invest in like real businesses with all this like digital unsafe YouTube money. I don't know what what's
1:45 going to happen in the future. So then my buddies were experimenting with different businesses. They basically retired in their 30s and they moved from New York and they're like, "I'm bored. Retirement sucks. I want to do a dessert shop." So, I was like, "You know what? I think um I want to create an investment pool with all of our friends here. And then maybe if all of them are influencers, we could just jump-start every single business that we invest into." And then so, you know, they were part of a franchise back in the day called Popbar. And then um you know, different other businesses we just all, you know, invested into. Me, Bart, David, everybody. So, while we were doing JK, that was like something that was brewing in the in the in the in the behind the scenes. And then it turned
2:36 into "Hey, we're going to try different things and try to be a franchise ourselves." So, they came up with other ideas. We invested into that. And then fast-forward, it was um kind of the opportunity to open up a store. So, first brick and mortar. Before that, they were just doing this thing called Smorgasburg. And like, everyone was coming to the like a It was like a farmers market kind of thing. At the row, yeah. Yeah, and then they were testing all their ████ and then all of their concepts were the top three concepts for like 3 4 years straight. Meaning >> say that, what does that mean? So, The longest line going out the door. highest sales. So, they were doing a good job and they're like, "I think we have enough proof to open up stores." So, at the time we're like, "Great. Okay, we'll have like five stores in LA and then we'll have all this like, you know,
3:26 investment money coming in. That's a start to our fund. That's cool." And then it got to the point where we're like, "Wait a minute. Instead of owning these stores on our own, why don't we turn this into a franchise?" And then it turned into that. During that whole time, peak JK, we didn't spend too much time on the business. We were like focused on JK. We're doing shows. We're trying to get TV shows made. We were ████ busy. Like I I think me and Bar were probably sleeping 3-4 hours a night. And like working 7 days a week. This was like Yeah, we spent a lot of time just full on JK. That was our our full-time lives. COVID hits. Boom. And then we're forced to kind of Well, before that we started ending channels, but before that we're like
4:16 let's meet every 2 weeks cuz of quarantine, right? So then I got the semi-retired life. And I think during that time everybody was so burnt out. Nobody wanted to do business anymore. And I thought that I didn't want to do business either. And I was like, "Yeah, man, I'm so tired of business. Like I just want to retire." So I just go off and ████ snowboard with all of my buddies, do whatever I wanted every single day. And something felt like empty cuz I was like, "Damn, like okay, I'm having a lot of fun, but like this is kind of boring, right?" So what ended up happening is um I did this like whole partnership with the mushroom farm. He He It was It was weird, but >> It was dope. He was one of our first franchisees of Junbi. So he bought a Junbi on the East Coast. And then we became friends. And he goes,
5:06 "Dude, like so I have this whole mushroom farm." And he's like, "I do wholesaling, but I want to now sell this to the public. Like what do you think?" And I was like, "Make me a partner of your e-commerce." And then I brought another buddy in. And I was like, "What we'll do is we're going to start selling these kits." So that It's like a Chia Pet, right? We had We were I was inspired by the Chia Pet. And I was like, "We'll do this grow-at-home mushroom kit. And once we do this, people will start to recognize your brand. We'll boost up your Instagram. Now you could go to Whole Foods. You could go to all these other places, be like, 'Look at my brand. My brand is like recognized. Not just mushrooms. Now you can up your s███.'" I did that project and I was like, I actually like business. I think I was like You reignited it. Yeah, and I was like, it's not that I didn't like business, it's just that I wasn't
5:56 involved >> business guy. Huh? You didn't like how stale business got. >> Yeah, and like entertainment was also like it was just this weird place of like we were mixing friendship and business and like so there was a lot of personal dynamics and like just how we built it. And when I got to do a fresh new start with different people, I was like, oh, it's not business that I didn't like. I wasn't burnt out. I was just like I needed something fresh and like creative or like in that way. Unnecessary anecdote on that. I remember that you sent me one of those logs so I can grow mushrooms and stuff like that and then right like right before I got that delivered to me, like I went on a trip for like work and stuff and then I came back and then I remember asking Nina. She was like, oh yeah, you got this box from Joe. I was like, like what is it? I don't know. I was like, oh, I think it's the mushroom thing. But like little did I think like, oh wait, there's something live and it's supposed
6:46 to grow in there and be like heart like, you know, taken care of a certain way. I opened it up and it was just ████ fungus mold everywhere. It was just like destroyed. So like Joe sent you dog ████ Yeah, [laughter] low-key I didn't have the heart to just be like, yo dude, I messed this cuz I didn't know where he was at with the business, you know, it's like a a thing of that like somebody's like passionately starting up or whatever you like sends you a ████ thing you're like, you know, treat it with respect and all, you know? And instead I The package just says refrigerate immediately. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, it was sitting out. It was sitting out for like 2 weeks. But that was um dude, I think we made like 150k in the first week of launch and like we just we did really good money. It was unfortunate because what ended up happening is, you know, during COVID the the shipments, a lot of the shipments were getting ████ up, right? So they had a shortage and if you ████ up an
7:37 account with like Whole Foods or whatever, they don't work with you no more. So he goes, sorry man, we can't we got to stop this side of the business so I could supply like the big dogs." So after that, it just never really recovered. But that was cool though cuz it ignited this like feeling of like, "Dude, I want to do more ████ right?" Fast forward to how Jūbi came to play. Me and David were in Hawaii. We kept thinking, "You know it'd be cool like if we do something in Hawaii so like we could always be here and then we could just work on a project together." And then he was like, "Yeah, let's do Spam musubis." And then I was like, "Oh, Spam musubi, that sounds fun. I love Spam musubi, whatever." And then he goes, "Wait a minute. We're invested into all these restaurants. Why the hell Why don't we just bring one of those here?" So I was like, "Okay." And that's kind of how it all started. And it's always It's It's always been driven by a lifestyle decision, never a business decision,
8:29 which was really ████ stupid looking back. Because I could have totally just lived in Hawaii without the ████ I could have just lived there and enjoyed just still working on internet ████ Still created vlogs from my house. And then flew here like whatever. Like I could have done that. But for some odd reason in my mind, you know, I had this romanticization of like like, "Oh, I'm getting up. I'm surfing." And then I'm coming into the shop and I'm like, "Good job, guys." And then I high five fans and I'm like making a coffee and ████ And I'm like, "All right, guys. See you later." Isn't that exactly what you do? Nope. >> [laughter] >> No we're ████ stupid. >> Refer to the photo of Joe at the check stand. On hands and knees cleaning the bathroom, dude. Oh, dude. Back to back 7 days a week, 12, 13 hours
9:20 straight. >> ████ dude. >> Like I was like, "F███. I used to work like this before I made it on the internet." >> [laughter] >> Like But owning it is is actually sick though and It sucks. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Perception wise, it's sick looking, right? >> Let me tell you this. I'm down for ████ perception and just regular happiness. Okay, so it's [snorts] probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. And it's and it's and it's and it's so funny because it's a stupid little tea shop and it's ████ cute. So it's not like a construction yard you're full of guys with like, you know, like you're not in a coal mine and you're like, "Oh my god." But I'm like, "Okay, it's actually physically ████ demanding, dude." Cuz you're standing for 12 hours straight when there's no one there, right? And then they're like there's like customers ████ talking ████ all
10:11 day. And then like I'm not painting a good picture. This is really good marketing this business. What's matcha? Oh. >> [laughter] >> Oh, not only that dude. No, there's people that come in and scream. There's people that come in ████ steal ████ and run. There's like a lot of like really bad ████ that goes down in the restaurant world that I have amnesia for. Cuz I worked in restaurants. I was a waiter. I did all that and I was like, "Oh, ████ I forgot. I romanticized it. I forgot." But there's on the flip side the rewarding ████ right? Where you like battle something and then you're just like, "I don't know what I'm going to do." And you not only come up on top, but you beat everybody in the game. And then you see other people around you kind of like not surviving, but you're still hanging on and you're still going and you're just like, "Okay, I'm not I'm not sucky at this." And I think it's been the biggest confirmation of like
11:03 cuz I've always worked in partnerships. And I Yeah, I got a partnership with Junbi and stuff like that, but they're more like an investor where I have to do everything. And I scrub [snorts] the toilets and everything. >> [laughter] >> It's so good. There's not even a bathroom at Junbi Hawaii. That's the joke. But there is a partner that's more like an investor who doesn't do anything. >> [laughter] >> Sick. But I think it's um it was like one of those things where it's such a different industry from what we're doing. Like I was so into entertainment that you apply ████ that's a standard for us and you forget what it was like when you worked in a certain industry. Totally. And I was just like I was in shock. And there's a cultural There's a huge cultural difference between working in LA and working in Hawaii. That I was just like what the ████ All
11:54 right, when in Rome, bro. Cuz you got full-grown adults there that act like children. That will pretend that they're sick, they don't show up. Like Hey, we got a meeting. Oh, I forgot, bro. >> [laughter] >> AND I'M LIKE, WHAT THE ████ ALL RIGHT, HEY, that's how they roll. But on the flip side, they're very forgiving. Very like No I no one's ever yelled at me. Like You know how many ████ in LA do raise their voice and like they get ████ gets intense and whatever, but it's like it doesn't work like that. Like there's no tension, everyone's chill, and I'm like, okay. So, I think there's like a lot of things that I was like, damn, I think I bit off more than I could chew, especially when the economy went to ████ and we had [snorts] hella money. I had to pull out loans to get the construction done and I had no ████ income coming in for like at least 6 months. And I was like, I don't know if this is going to work and I don't know where the ████ the money's going to come. I don't know how we're
12:45 going to pay back anything. And not only that, my bank account's going down and I got to keep pouring in money to the business to keep it alive. And then the thing what that hurt the most is it was the economy and the lack of tourism. So, I felt helpless there cuz it wasn't like I'm doing a bad job and my business sucks. And then like then I could turn it around. But I think the the hardest part is like you see your You see Apple ████ leaving cuz cuz they couldn't survive. And I'm like, Apple couldn't ████ survive? They're in my building. >> you telling me that. >> Yeah. What about all And my friend who's in the same building, he just left. He was like, I was making a quarter mill a month. I can't pay rent anymore. And I was like, what the ████ Okay, well, at least I'm I'm hanging on a little bit. So, I think these like personal battles that I ████ hate cuz
13:36 I was in the fight, when I got out of it, the relief of it, and then the confidence that I got from like >> Yeah, and then like actually making a good amount, and then becoming the number one Junbi, and all that. And I was like, ████ okay, I figured it out. And then now like when other Junbis are like going through stuff, I could walk them through it. And then now I feel like, okay, like I can kind of empower them when they're in s█████ situations. Cuz it it is rough. It is hard holding a business, but I think there's so many things that I didn't realize would become a um reward until I went through it. Like working with ████ teenagers, I hate them. I ████ hate >> [laughter] >> They're all watching, [clears throat] by the way. >> Do they watch? Probably, and they know it. But then later I realized like okay, there's probably ████ that I've
14:27 said that no one's ever told them in a good way. Yeah, no, that's some of the best lessons. >> And then like now that we've been open for 4 years, I've seen some of our team members become adults. And I was like, bro, like okay, and they actually took they took some of the stuff that me and Hannah said. And I was like, well, that's probably worth more than money is impacting someone's life. And in some of these, you know, they go through some ████ Like after you get to know them, you're like, yo, you went through teen pregnancy, you went through a this, you went through ████ abuse, your ████ parents are in jail. Well, we had a you know, times where we're like, all right, well, I'm going to be in here. She's a teen, her mom has a she has a restraining order on her mom. Her ████ mom just broke out of prison and ████ she's looking for her. We're at the store like, dude, like, all right,
15:18 well, yeah, just stay here for safety. If you need you to the office, just go to the office, you know? And then like I'm just hanging out, making sure she's not coming in her with her ████ abusive boyfriend. So I So this is just ████ ████ right? That's like I feel like well maybe there's a more reason than just money and success here where like, "Oh, I get to impact certain lives." And maybe if we weren't a safe working environment, they probably would have been working at the strip club or something else. Like who knows? There's just a lot of human kind of like development stuff that I didn't realize would be a reward from opening up the business. Yeah. Sick, man. But yeah. Congrat- dude, I There's stuff we can't talk about on camera. The fact that you have made this thing happen for as long as you have is insane. Like you're the man. For real. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. One day maybe he'll write a book
16:09 on it, but holy ████ deserves one. Yeah. And um But at the end of the day it's hella rewarding if you want to do it yourself. >> [laughter]
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