Josh Richards

I didn't eat. I was bad if I ate. I, you know, ate a handful of chips, and then I have to eat French fries and cake and destroy myself and I'm gonna be good tomorrow. You know. That was my whole book, Naturally Thin. It was about that mental torture, that inner lamb, screaming, that noise about food, and the

same thing goes on with exercise. I see people running around like crazy, obsessed about working out, then eating their weight in everything that whole day, and then they have to work out again because they ate so much because they worked out that morning. You also have to figure out what's good for your personality type like I'm thin, but I want to get tight, so I don't need to be running around jumping up and down doing jumping jack's and dancing and doing the Grapevine when I need

to sort of tighten and lift. So I did this free YouTube work out today. So I found my former yoga teacher online and there are free videos of her. So a lot of people are joining these online things, and I thought, I have to subscribe to something. And it's not that I'm not going to spend or the fifty dollars a day or I don't know what it costs, but it's that then it'll make me feel like I have this pressure about it. So today I just went on YouTube and I and I feel like I'm stealing?

Is that stealing? This guy Isaac that is my makeup artists X. His name is Isaac, and Christopher Buckle used to go out with him, So am I cheating on Christopher Buckle? I have to ask him if I'm allowed to work out with his ex boyfriend. This guy Isaac has this whole community apparently, and he donates to charity and he works out different rich people's houses and he shouts you out, which is why I don't want to go on and be part of the online thing because

I don't want to be shouted out. Now I'm hacking into someone else's Instagram account to work out on Isaac's thing and not get shouted out. So there's a fifth team in a workout for free. So I made Paul do with me today and it was great. And it's also the Jaine Fond of workout, just so you know, a lot of these current workouts are the Jain Fond

of workouts. I'm thinking about taking another post It note doubt and reviving some iteration and modern version of the Jaine fond to work out, because that was always manageable and I could do it and it was like the Curves of workouts. It's not like JC Anderson where you get yourself into a pretzel, your Vaginian it becomes your asshole and somehow you're doing these weird, complicated, convoluted moves that you don't you just don't know how your body

could you like a contortionist. You're in sirk to sola. That's a lot for me. It's overwhelming. I could do it once, cry and swept, but then I'm scared to go back. So Isaac's fift Sea minute thing was like a modern. I don't even know how modern it was. He's just cute and nice. He's got his dog there, and we did some fifty minutes and I felt like it worked, and it was her person who wants to get tone. So I feel like you could just google around and you could get a different private trainer every

day for free, just by youtubing. Is that stealing? Hashtag? Is that stealing? I think that you should find what works for you because some people need that like sweat and that craziness and that manic spinning type thing, that running, that jumping, that dancing, that jumping jack, that mania. Because maybe you're calmer in your life than I am. Maybe you're more you know, said Terry, or maybe just more

chill as a person. My friend Sarah is like really monotone and she's just chill, and so she needs that. Sarah here, you're very chill. Sarah works for me is also very chill. She doesn't get that flustered, so she likes big, major workouts. Two. So I think I've come to something here. I think that your personality type attracts

a different type of exercise that works for you. I'd like to do a little side thing about bicker and yoga, because forget the fact that the I think it was Baron Baptiste that he was like he had like crotch hugging male pant d's and was sweating on top of other people and like adjusting people with his dick in their face. That's a separate conversation. But when you do things like bickram yoga or these other things, these places give you like five free classes in a row and

then you are in the cult. Is just enough days to get you in the cult. And I'm not really a cult mentality, so I can break out. But I've seen people there be like I did a morning, I did a night, I did two and days. People get into this crazy cult like exercise mentality, and I don't think that's healthy. Like those people at the gym. I used to see these very very very very skinny, skinny, unhealthy looking women that would stay in the steam room for like an hour and a half, like you know,

something's wrong. I did not take crystal meth this morning. If anyone's wondering, So what do you guys think about workouts and your workouts for your own body type and what you're attracted to? I feel like we could really hijack the system by just every day doing some other online free workout. So Dranda and I were talking about this guy that is the type of guy that like

picks you up. You've been on a flight from London to come visit him, and he picks you up and wants to go on a fucking hike together, versus like going to get a glass of shardonnay and relax. So I was with polit a vacation and we ran We were in the Dominican Republic and we ran into someone that I know, who I'm friends with, who I like a lot, and we ran into her and her boyfriend and we said hi, and then You're like, oh god,

are we now on vacation with them? And we like, you know what I mean, You know how that goes, like we are, we really like them, but like that doesn't mean we're on vacation together. So we showed up, We saw them high, we did some meals and it was totally fun, hung on the beach, dip in and out. I'm a dip in and out kind of girl in every way. But in the morning, I guess we were just walking to go get like coffee, or get some

fruit for the room and we wake up early. Don't get it twisted, But we saw them and the like we just did a hake, smiling, all fucking happy and healthy and American, and I was like, I fucking hate you. We were just drinking coffee and I was just like, they're that couple and they're like, we booked a four hour time aside later and then we're gonn to go zip lining and we're gonna go do the paddleboarding through

the jungle adventure. And I am not that person. I did have Paul do that like fifteen minute workout just so he wouldn't leave the room and then get caught into something else. And I wanted to sort of capture him and having be like sort of like a prisoner, you know, like shackle him to myself. So that's the only reason why I was, you know, working out with him. And once in a while, same thing. If I'll have a yoga person come where I'm doing yoga, but do you want to do with me? Just because I feel

like it'll be good for his body. And I'm here, and you know, he's not competitive about exercise or anything, and he always says no anyway, But if he did, it would be nice because it's not like he's so into it. I don't like when someone gets super into something like now we're that couple that like every day we're doing this, and in fact we got into surfing it. It was not good for our relationship because it was

like almost competitive. And then he went in it was so excited by it, and I almost got like taken by a way. But he was so excited by like being Sean Penn infest times a Ridgemond high that like I was drowning, and I was like, I'm high, and he's supposed to enjoy his own experience. He's supposed to be excited when he rides that wave. But because I almost drowned, I was like, why weren't you watching me? Why were you only? You know he couldn't win. It

wasn't his fault at all. But anyway, I don't I feel like you should be an occasional workout with your partner person, Like a beach walk is lovely, would be great old people to go to get frozen yorgurts it on a bench and take beach walks. That's delightful because you could talk etcetera. But being that sort of overly competitive rock climbing, hiking, boot camp, mud runner, that kind of fucking CrossFit couple. I'm no. I don't want to be trained by my boyfriend and entering any kind of

sucking weightlifting competition with him cheering me on. I'm not interested in that. That's l A. That couple that it shows up in like those short water resistant shorts at the coffee line together because they've just worked out. That's you know what l A is, couples in neoprene shorts showing up to get a blended cafe mocha to show

everybody how much they worked out. I actually knew girls in their twenties that see their guys and be in workout pants even though they didn't work out, because they wanted them to think they worked out, And that's moronic. The other thing about these at home workouts, which is the same as in shop, really I just a door working out in my pajamas, like I it's just such a so efficient and cost effective. Like I wore these fuzzy drawstring pants that are sweats, not really pajamas, but

they're comfortable, so then I sleep in them. I have a tank top in them, and I wake up and I'm in like a little warm sweatshirt. And then if I do yoga I'll just put a brad top under sometimes, But the Isaac one is really about your button legs. You didn't even need it, and then do the workout and then you shower. But like, you've used that outfit so much, like you've lived in it, you've eaten in it,

you've worked out in it, you've slept in it. You put in the fucking hamper, and you're like, yes, you you worked out. The outfit worked out also, So this is unique and interesting to me. You are going to hear a calmversation with Josh Richards, who is a TikTok superstar with over twenty seven million followers, but he's also a nineteen year old entrepreneur who co founded talent X Entertainment. He's part of the viral collective sway l A, and

launched the popular energy drink Annie Energy. He is the youngest person I've talked to so far, but he is still a brilliant business person who is using media to expand his brand for the next generation. I have to say I was utterly surprised. He is young, he is focused, he is smart, he is a good person, he is thoughtful, he is romantic. I just thought this was really a good sign for for our future. I I have only ever done one other Zoom podcast and it was with

Hillary Clinton. So you're my se So tell me about your family, like who's in the house, now, what's the dynamic? Who runs the show in your house? Yeah, I'm super close with my family, and that's a percent why I've been able to stay I guess grounded or some people like I mean, like you said, like you said, come off nice, That's that's percent my mom and my dad. But they've always been really really supportive as well. So I've always been a kid trying to do like little

business ventures. Since I was probably twelve years old. I was always trying to find ways to make money. So they were used to they were used to me doing you know these like bizarre projects, or needing to go out to the stores and buying all these like waxes or dies, or getting a bunch of blank T shirts to go print, or emailing companies with them and then helping me write my emails like when I was younger. So They've always been really supportive but also making sure

that I keep get ahead of my shoulders. They would say that you've always been an entrepreneur. Did you always think that you had that it quality? Did you think you were destined for, you know, something great and to be successful? Did you even think about that? Because in your age, I wasn't even thinking about what I was gonna be doing with my life. I mean I didn't. Not until my thirties did I really think about what road I was gonna be. At late thirties too, did

I establish any sort of success. So that's why being so young is fascinating to me and how this whole thing is gonna go. It's a crazy story, and I feel like people might find it hard to believe when I tell them. But ever since, like as far back as I can remember, I'm gonna say seven years old, I was. I was raising like a Catholic household as well, um, so we were a little bit religious. It wasn't like super hard like every single Sunday, but I would always

pray every single night. So before I went to bed, I would always like pray to God that I would be like destined for greatness, like I knew there was something more. I knew there was something more to me than just like doing the normal college route and then getting a nine to five. You knew or you had a feeling knew that's okay. It's like I told my parents. It was like I was always doing business things. Okay,

that's big. Yeah. I just wanted to be seen. Like I knew my name Josh Richards would be know that's what That's what I always thought. If it was known by you know, ten thousand people were where we're at now, where it's it's like twenty five million, it didn't matter. I just knew that I would be in a place where which was you know, a little not so ordinary. Did you have an impact? You'd be you would not be living an average life. I didn't know a lot

about your whole world. And when I thought about quote unquote the TikTokers, the social media influencers, I thought, only game changers on this podcast, only mavericks. Only started from the bottom now here. The filter is very, very serious, and I don't put people on just because they're famous or because they're rich. They have to have really done something.

So in reading about us, said, let's have this guy on you know the whole show because it is it is a business story, and you're definitely changing a game, and that's sort of what we're talking about. So a couple of things come to mind. Listen, you're young, and there's all you have a have to learn, no matter what, and so you hopefully you know what you know and

know what you don't know. Yeah, I would say that's something that actually Michael and I've talked about a lot recently, is sticking to what you know, right, because you can be super super smart in one area, but then the second you step out, you can become a complete moron.

So that know what you know and know what you don't know is so important, especially in this business world, and especially when you're a founder, especially when you're investing, because you're you're either one dealing with other people's money that's invested in you, or you're dealing with your own capital that you're investing, or you have your company with and other people involved that you're affecting when you make decisions. Right. So for us, we really really focus on the things

we know. We bring in operators and they can do certain things in the company that we don't know. So we're really big on like the plug and play model.

Got it? Okay? And yeah, there have been many fashion designers that have lost tons of money, many chefs because you're creative types that have thought that their business people versus like Calvin Klein had a partner called Barry Schwartz and that was the business and Calvin Klein was a design not to say the Calvin clan isn't a genius and in his own right, but you know, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, like good partnerships are where one person is great at one thing and the others the other

and the twain don't necessarily meet. Doesn't mean that I'm not creative and a business person and a marketer and a business person, but I know what I don't know, and that's that's gonna be a big thing for you. So that given that the money you talk about investing, are you investing your own money or people are just giving you equity because you have a value and sweat equity. No, I'm investing my own capital. Interesting, wow, and does that

make you nervous? I mean, it's so cool to be on the other side of like running founding a company, right, like I have my own company, any Energy, which we founded and we built and we brought in an operator. Evan Burns is amazing. He helps out a lot with it. He did long drink as well. But to be the people that are actually giving the capital instead of going around trying to raise money, right and and to see those young founders or whatever age they are, and see

how like, how driven there, what their passions are. What I can actually learn from those other founders when I'm going and investing. If I invest in, I mess up, then it's a it's a learning opportunity to see, Okay, what where did I go wrong? What did they say that I should have caught. If I miss an investment and they do well, then I can follow that investment as well and be like, all right, I should do

this with my company. Or you know, this is something that I thought wouldn't work out, turns out it did. What was I missing? So yeah, I would say I love investing. An elevator pictures you being able to tell me what your brand is in an elevator ride, So pitch your brand, all right. So I'm an entertainer, started when I was fourteen. I've been able to grow my following up to twenty five million on TikTok, seven point five on Instagram, and two point for on YouTube. I

enjoy spreading out my content on social media platforms. I have a podcast with bar Stool supports, and really want to keep heading into that Dave Portnoy and bar Stool entertaining category. That's something that really intrigues me. UH. With my social media, I've been able to, you know, step into the business world. I really want to focus on growing up my entrepreneurial portfolio. I founded talent X management company managers the top of hundred creators, then created Sway

within that management company. Within Sway, we're able to build out UM any energy company. Bryce Hall and I found it together. After that, I started focusing a lot on equity plays and investing my money. Teamed up with Trailer to become chief strategy officer over there. UM acquired a part of Ellen's company on High and UH and working with her as well with Snoop Dog with Dog for Dog, the dog food company, where we're giving back dog food

bag every time once bought to a shelter. There's about like seven hundred thousand dogs that are euthanized a year in the States, and I have a dog and there's about six in this ax. So that me, that's what I do. Okay, that's your resume what I want. And it's amazing and you're so smart. If you define exactly what your brand is, like it's about being an authentic, edgy,

modern entrepreneur, influencer something like that. If you have the statement that it is your mission statement what it means, you will only do deals that stick to that, It'll make it so good. Then every time someone comes to you and offers you something, because you're getting offered everything, you will only do things if they adhere to that brand, or you might adjust your brand a little bit. But I think you're so smart. This is so fascinating for me.

What do you think about fame so early, like you know, the Justin Bieber, the Michael Jackson having such enormous fame and things thrown at you so early. Yeah. Yeah, So what I found is it's a gift in a curse, right, Like not one kid that's in their senior year of school wouldn't say, you know what, peace out high school. I'll drop out, move to l a live in a mansion. Party it up with my friends and post social media content.

Not one senior like in high schoolould be like no, I don't want to do that, you know what I mean. When you look at it that way or you look at it from an outside perspective, it's like they have the best lives ever. But then when I do all those things, like the three and a half years of work that I was doing in social media to get to the point where I could go to l A at my senior year in high school and like drop

out of high school. I was getting made fun of for three and a half years, like every day going to school, it was like kind of shitty, and I knew lunch period be the worst every day because I'm going and sitting down, and it's like I had my friend group and I was kind of a like I was a popular kid before I did social media because I played all like hockey, I played soccer, I played basketball. I was like an athlete in a small town. So that's how you kind of get popular in a small town.

And then, um, I had my small friend group whatever, but I would always get made fun of it. And then when you come to l A, you think like, oh, well, now I'm around people that are like me right, Like now I have social media people, so you make a lot of friends really quickly. You get like a group of twenty friends. But then people start stabbing each other in the back. It's l A. So then so then everyone's you know, going down the road of like finding

that people are fake. And so that's the biggest lesson I learned, like being an eighteen year old in l A. And it sounds weird, but you need to find like a click, keep it tight, keep a circle tight, inner circles, stick with them and not just at your age. By the way, my circle is tight as fuck. Keep Yeah, that's that's my house. That's why I live with these people. It's like everyone in here I would take a bullet for. And it's like I don't need to go hang out

with anyone else. Yeah, by the way, yeah, I mean when you if you want to go find friends, you can find them later. And you can be friends with people in business. But it's not show friends. It's show business. So you've chosen this road dating. Is there a benefit to dating a woman in this world? Would it be nice to find some girl who didn't care? Do you care? Is it just fun? It doesn't matter what do you think?

And what are these girls? Can't you tell right away if their thirsty and want to be in that house and you know, want to get a night in the house, Like what's the deal with all that? So yeah, for sure, I mean from my experiences, And it's funny that you bring that up because that's my mom's number one worry. It's like you'll never find someone that does is for you,

just for you, like you'll never know, right. So for me, when I when I had my first girlfriend, my first serious girlfriend, um, I didn't become public with her for three months. So it's like I did it for three months and uh, I made sure that like we didn't tell anyone, we didn't post because I wanted to make sure that like we were having a real relationship, right, And then after that we slowly started, you know, posting

together blah blah blah. And I've I've only been with that one girl since I've done social media, so like for the last year and a half. But yeah, there's definitely creators like that focus utilizing the relationship. For So, do you think you're overextending and how do you navigate that? Yeah? No, Um, so that's that's a like a daily conversation. I mean we get pitched probably like thirty companies a day. Like it's crazy, like the amount of companies that are like

in emails or pitch to Michael that come back to us. Like, so we're not saying yes to everything. If we were, we would be actually drowning. It's looking at which opportunities are almost too good to give up, and also what we want to do. Like when we are doing a lot of things that are passion projects, right or they're there in the category where it's it's a home run and we're also passionate about it, it's like we're going to carve out that time. We'll find that time because

we just love doing it naturally. Right. So there's a couple of things that we do that is just it doesn't it loses that feeling of work because it's fun. So, Um, you said that you talked to your parents about business and they nurtured you in all these ideas. Did they teach you about business so you would just you were just born that way? It was definitely more of born

that way. Um, my parents aren't business people. My dad's more of just like a hard worker and like he will put in hours and hours to understand something until he gets it right. He's a math teacher as well, like he's the head of the math department and teaches calculus at high school. So he's like he's really smart with numbers. And I think that's what helped me um in business a little bit, because I'm very analytical and

I'm always like studying data. So like there were little I think things they gave me that helped me a lot with my business. And then my mom's also just like she's a speech pathologist, so she has to be really good at, you know, speaking to people. She's a people pleaser. So I think me getting both those you know, skills helped me a lot in the business world because I'm able to turn on charm when I'm going to like business dinners or talking to people that we need

to please. And then I'm also able to you know, when I was growing on social media, it was all studying numbers. Like I was going to the leaderboards on UH musically at the time, and I would go through and I would get my sister to go and follow and unfollowed. I think it was two fifty people every single day. There was literally a leaderboard that showed who spent the most money on the musically app right as

fans who donated the most money. So what I was doing is why wouldn't I go and target that customer and you know, get that customer acquisition when it's like right there. So that's how I was thinking. At like fourteen, I hired my sister on a fifteen percent commission based salary and like all these things, I wouldn't have known if my dad didn't like help me with the math and like we were doing crazy math problems that were actually in the business world. So it was like my

dad would almost target it to that on purpose. But yeah, my sister would go through follow unfollowed, I'd be live. We were targeting the exact customer I wanted. I was an account with d followers that was beating the seven and ten million forward accounts in gifts because I knew which customer I wanted to acquire. Didn't need the ten million followers that weren't going to donate at that point, it was just a business, So I needed the followers

that we're going to donate. So what is your favorite thing that what's your favorite thing that you're doing. I mean, let's let's let's talk business and then personally, what's your favorite thing to do in your personal life and what's your favorite thing that you're doing your professional life? Alright, personal life literally, any like boys trip I'm in will do if it's like going golfing, if it's a down the ice, Like I'm a hockey player. I love hockey.

So if it's it's hockey. Literally, anything with the sports or like the boys day, like surfing, beach whatever, in love it. I'm all about it. Camping trip, ice fishing, Let's go. It's like you gotta vibe with the boys. I mean, it's like girls going their girls trips. Y're great. I love it. And then for like the business side, I would say there's actually two things right now that I'm like. I think it's because they're maybe a little bit.

One's a little new and exciting. I'm really intrigued by it. Um and that sports cards. I love trade like sports trading cards. Really we're getting really into that. I saw you actually had Gary v on the podcast, so yeah, I've been talking with him lately and it's like, I am so such a believer. I think they're gonna absolutely skyrocket. I've been in a few days. I've I want to start focusing actually some of my social media career and like the content type post on sports cards and trading,

it's just like such a cool field. I love it. I think it's cool. So it's like art. I think it's gonna be the modern day art where you can actually invest in these art pieces and they're going to be like a hundred xing a thousand exit fascinating. My father was a major, major, big baseball card collector, Like he left his baseball card collection to Joe tore Right, So like baseball is ridiculous, there's cards that go for

like millions. That's a really serious collection. Now that Joe Tori has it well, as you've been talking, I think that whatever your mission statement is or whatever your brand statement is should include sports, business, media, and venture capital. So it's not just social media. It's media. So you're taking yourself it's more serious. It's just social media. But as I talked to you, this is the things that

are jumping off the page, not in that order. And then the last thing is, so if you like a girl or you want to talk to them, do you pick up the phone and call or do you face time or do you only text? Um, definitely not only text. I suck at texting. I'm going to be worst texters like ever. But it's like the imperson thing in the podcast.

I just like being in personal people. So if I like a girl, I gotta go like talk to her in person, Like I'm gonna call her and be like, Yo, let's go hang out at the beach or let's go on a date like your renaissance man. This is what every girl wants to hear. Number one, Okay, that's an excellent, excellent answer. It's beyond what I imagine. I thought you were a person who's gonna like get into a relationship and then break up on text. So that's number one surprise.

Number two, are you romantic? You know what romances? Do you send girls flowers? Okay, so I know what it is. Obviously I would say that I'm a little bit of hopeless romanting, but not in a good way. It's like I just suck at it. Sometimes you started to see if they call it you wear your heart and you slave a little. No, It's like I'm just like I get so like trapped up in like day to day stuff that sometimes I forget, like, oh, maybe I should

plan like a big thing. But every once in a while I will like, I'll be like, like, let's say, like with withnessa like when we would have like something coming up it was like a you know, we're dating for a year or a birthday or something, and be like I'd surprised them with like her with like a trip to Malibu. So we'd get like an Airbnb and it'd be like to two nights in Malbu. So I

do things like that. So the answer is, yes, you're romantic, and flowers will always be appreciated, just letting you know, but good flowers. Um, I think you're wonderful. I'm so glad that I had to on. This is even longer than I usually talk to anyone. You're wonderful. I wish you all the success and the luck in the world. And if there's anything you need for me or you want to do anything together, tell Michael. He seems great. But you have an amazing head on your shoulders and

I can't wait to hear your homework. What that what that brand statement? Is that? Today? All right? Thank you so much, Josh, Thank you I thought that that was so interesting. I just loved thinking about the influence that

Josh's parents have had on his life. And it's kind of not only about who he is, but you see that he's so young, that his parents and how they've raised him being such a massive star right now in this next generation that many of us don't even understand but sort of need to to understand our kids and to understand the future, and to understand commerce and entertainment and social media and all that. So I thought that

that was really fascinating. I'm still waiting to hear exactly what Josh's brand is and if he's going to give me his elevator pitch. I've given him homework, so I I'm wait to see if he does his homework. And I find it fascinating that an eighteen year old is making serious business decisions. It's amazing. You can't underestimate our youth. I just love the different types of people and businesses we keep talking about on the show because they're just

broadening our horizons together. And every time I read about one of these people, I'm just floored by what people can accomplish, starting from the bottom ending up here and just with sheer, will, determination, passion, drive and quality. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to Just Be with Bethany. We love hearing from you, and we love getting your ratings and reviews because it's good feedback and we pour it right back into the show for you. Thank you.

Just Be is hosted by me Bethany frank All. Our managing producer is Fiona Smith, and our producer is Stephanie Stender. Our cat Nec is our assistant producer, and our Development Executive is Nayantar. Awarding Just Be as a production of the real productions and endeavor content. This episode was mixed by Sam Bear. To catch more moments from the show, follow us on Instagram at Just Be with Bethany.