Faith Starts the Journey and Resilience Finishes It with Mitch Jacobsen

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Let's do it to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hello, welcome to episode 358 of the Business Development Podcast.

And today it is my absolute pleasure to welcome back to the show Mitch Jacobson.

Mitch is the founder, CEO and self proclaimed janitor of Revita Inc.

The Calgary based company behind Revita Energy T, a natural energy energy beverage that is redefining how people fuel their days.

An engineer by trade and former men's physique competitor, Mitch combined his technical mind and passion for health, fitness and sustainability to create a clean, functional energy tea that delivers focus and clarity without the crash.

What began as a single idea born from exhaustion on Alberta's back roads, grew into a relentless pursuit of a healthier alternative to traditional energy drinks.

Mitch risked everything, including his student line of credit, to bring Rovita to life, spending two years perfecting the formula that would one day land on shelves across Canada.

From petroleum engineer to beverage trailblazer, Mitch's journey is a masterclass in perseverance and innovation and faith.

He's built a business where sustainability meets performance and passion meets purpose.

Proving that success isn't reserved for those who start in the right industry, but for those who refuse to quit.

Whether he's sweeping the floor or leading the company, Mitch Jacobson embodies the truth that real energy comes from within.

Mitch, what an honor and a privilege to have you back on our stage.

Wanted honor to be here and thank you for that incredible introduction.

I'm not sure I can live up to that, so I hope I'm not a letdown, but I sure appreciate the opportunity to be back.

Kelly, I told you before the show, the biggest tragedy of the Business Development Podcast, and I mean in our entire history to date, was the fact that the first episode we did together, the mic didn't come out right, and I released it, but at the same.

Because obviously, I wanted to.

I wanted.

The show was such a great show, but at the same time, I think, like, a quarter of the words you couldn't really hear properly.

And I swear, man, I did everything.

I reproduced that show, I want to say, like, six times, trying to get it to a point where we could, like, give it justice.

And, you know, the tools just weren't there yet.

It's.

It's amazing because AI has come so far in the past couple of years, but two years ago, it just wasn't there yet, and there was nothing that I could do to stop fix that audio, dude.

And so I'm so excited to have you back because it was, like, one of my favorite episodes.

I was looking forward to interviewing you the whole time, and for the audio to go bad, I just g. Like I said, the biggest tragedy.

So I'm excited to have you back.

Oh, well, it's great to be back.

And that's entrepreneurship.

Sometimes things just don't go your way, and you got to keep trucking forward, and sometimes you got to just try again.

Yeah.

And I know you're a huge advocate for that.

Like, at the end of the day, it's persistence and consistency that really keeps you in the game.

You know, there was a post you had up, literally, I want to say, earlier this week, just talking about the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur is the roller coaster.

Absolutely, Kelly.

I think when I first got into entrepreneurship, probably, like, a lot of people, I thought it was, you know, you have this brilliant idea, and you kind of figure it out, and all of a sudden, success just explodes from that and.

Or it's.

You know, success in entrepreneurship is reserved for, you know, really special, talented people.

And what I'm finding is that's not the case at all.

The most successful entrepreneurs or people just in general that I know, whether it be in athletics or business or what have you, tend to be the mentally toughest.

They go through really hard things, and they just refuse to quit.

So I'd say that's.

If I had to sum up everything I've learned about entrepreneurship.

It's.

Perseverance is the most important lesson I've learned.

Yeah.

And honestly, like, all you have to do is look at the track record for Ravita.

You guys have just been absolutely crushing it.

Like, these past two years, it's just been up and up and up, and I get, like, that's the perception from the outside.

You know, I totally get on the inside.

It's like, no, we went through a lot of crazy to get there, Kelly.

It's not just like rainbows and lollipops, but I can tell you, man, from the outside looking in, the trajectory of Ravita just looks like it's going to the moon.

Thank you.

I'm glad it appears that way.

Behind the scenes, there's.

There's a lot more.

A lot more going on.

I like to use, or someone told me the other day, the Flintstones analogy.

Did you watch the Flintstones when you were growing up?

Of course.

Of course.

Yeah.

When they're.

They're sitting in the living room and they have that TV, and the TV looks all nice, and then you go behind the TV and there's like 14 dudes on a treadmill and moving things around, making her work.

And I think running a business can oftentimes be a lot like that Flintstones tv.

You know, from the outside looking in, things look like we're crushing it.

But, you know, behind the scenes, there's so much going on and so much that you have to overcome.

But we truly have been extremely blessed, especially this year, seeing tremendous growth.

But it's like you said earlier, Kelly, it's been a roller coaster ride.

It's been a lot of ups, but also a lot of downs and a lot of scary drops on that ride as well.

Yeah, well, I can't wait to learn all about it.

You know, I was at.

I was at Costco the other day, and I saw a bunch of flats of Rivita.

Dude, that's new.

Thanks, Kelly.

Yeah, we got our first rotation with Costco this year, which was just, I mean, they are, you know, the gold standard of retailers.

Like, what an incredible blessing.

Not a lot of smaller beverage companies, especially like us, get that type of opportunity.

So we.

We launched in there in January, and we got a couple of extensions.

So we're.

We're current.

We just finished our first contract with Costco.

What we're looking like we're going to be back next year, but what an amazing experience that was and so good for the brand.

Wow.

Yeah, absolutely.

Like, mind you, nobody's surprised.

Nobody who knows you anyway.

Thank you.

Yeah, it was.

I was.

I was not surprised, but I was like, wow, that's so amazing.

It's so cool because, you know, at this point, there's not a whole lot of retailers in Canada you're not in.

We're in most of the big ones in the West.

We got a lot of.

Lot of work to do.

In the East.

But yeah, we've, we've made some real progress, especially this last year, getting into more and more doors across Canada.

Walk me through that.

Because like in.

I would think that if you were able to get into retailers in the west, it should be just as easy to get stuff into the east, is it not?

Yeah, it's.

There is definitely even some cultural differences between the west and the east that I didn't really understand until I got into business.

But I think just being a Calgary based brand, you know, all of our marketing from the very beginning has been very focused on local and we do a lot of local events.

So that's stretched out to B.C.

And Saskatchewan.

So we have a really good presence here in the western provinces.

But now that we're venturing over to the east, we're just like kind of three or four years behind on that marketing journey.

So we don't have as much awareness out there.

So we're definitely getting some traction with the retailers out there.

But it is, it's just a little bit behind our west business.

But that's okay because there's a tremendous opportunity out there and we haven't even scratched the surface of what we can accomplish where most of Canada's population is.

Yeah, absolutely.

And like from the outside looking in, I just say like, Ravita is awesome.

Like, I'm not even just pumping you up.

I do not get paid by Mitch.

He is not sponsoring the show.

I love.

I should be paying you.

Yeah, yeah, I love you.

You have an incredible product.

And I feel like when you have an incredible product, it should really just sell itself.

I feel like all you have to do is ship some boxes that way and be like, look, I know we're west.

Trust me, you'll like it.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah.

You know, and sometimes it, it is that easy, Especially given how unique our packaging is.

I think it's a real draw on the shelf because we use that flexible beverage pouch that hasn't been done before in the, you know, for people listening.

If you can imagine a Capri sun pouch with like a, a spout on it that drinks like a regular plastic bottle.

That's what our packaging is.

So we did something very unique in the beverage space and that certainly is a draw.

But what we're finding too is, you know, especially with the way that the economy is, people, consumers in general are a little bit more picky in stores right now.

So we're really having to now pair our distribution with strong marketing efforts.

So, you know, when we started, it was, we could just ship to a store and expect it to sell.

And that's still the case to some degree.

But we definitely have to support those stores with promotions.

We're investing far more now in advertising and marketing than we ever did and really starting to understand who our consumer is and how do we reach them.

Yeah.

So like has the focus primarily been on Canada?

Are we looking across the border yet?

Yes, certainly.

So we're planning on launching into the US Next year, Kelly.

That's the plan.

So it's, we were shipping a little bit to the US this year, but with the whole tariff and de minimis exception thing getting changed, that kind of put, put a wrench into that.

So we're not really shipping to the US Right now.

We actually pulled out of Amazon down there just because of all the challenges getting product across the border.

But we're going to have our US compliant packaging done up for next year and we're planning to do a push, a regional push into the United States, hopefully next summer.

Well, you know, that might be the reason that we still have tariffs, is that you haven't sent boxes to the White House yet.

Can you get on that and let him know that he needs to drop the terrace for Canada so we can get some Ravita.

There you go.

Yeah, he just needs to drink a few of these.

Yeah.

And I think he's gonna drop them all.

That's a good game.

Try once and the terrorists would be gone tomorrow.

Mitch.

Tariffs are gone.

I just want a subscription to this.

No.

That's so cool.

By the time this show comes out, you might be available in the United States actually, because we're, we're recording like I said, probably about nine months ahead at the moment.

So I think by the time this episode drops, you might be able to walk into a 711 in the States and buy yourself a packer of Vita.

I sure hope so.

That's, that's the goal.

So you know all the, the, the wheels are emotion to get us down there.

So there's, there's definitely some hoops you got to jump through.

But you know, as, as a beverage company, of course the Canadian market is incredible.

But if you really want to be up there with the big dogs and beverage, you know, the United States is a market that you have to penetrate at some point and being that are they're closest neighbor and you know, I believe a great country, you know, really excited to get the product down there.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, the reality is you've already completed the framework and like I said, we're going to have the opportunity because the people have not, probably not heard this prior conversation and if they did, they might not have listened to the whole thing.

So today my goal is to go back through this story because it's an amazing story and lead through those printed that production, you know, the creation of your packaging, which was very, very, very unique.

And you know what the future is for Rivita.

So let's do it.

Let's just go into it.

Mitch, take me back, Take me back.

Who is Mitch Jacobson?

For the people who are maybe hearing you for the first time, let's get real.

It was a couple years ago.

By the time people are hearing this, who is Mitch Jacobson?

And how in the world did you end up leading such a revolutionary company?

Well, thank you for saying that, Kelly.

And it's.

Yeah, so.

Mitch Jacobson, I born and raised Calgarian.

And the fact that I'm sitting here as a janitor and CEO of a beverage company is surreal to me because I never imagined I would be here.

No one in my family is in the consumer packaged goods industry.

You know, I'm like fourth generation oil and gas.

So this has been a crazy, wild ride.

So grew up in Calgary, Alberta.

My dad works in oil and gas.

His dad and his dad's dad worked in oil and gas.

And so it was when I grew, you know, when I was a kid, it was just inevitable that I was going to work in oil and gas as well.

Sure.

But I always had this kind of entrepreneurial bug to me.

You know, I was that kid that would go out in wintertime and, you know, go door to door and try to shovel people's driveways for money.

Kind of had that entrepreneurial itch.

You know, I didn't necessarily like following the rules or listening to instructions.

So I, I think I always knew deep down, Kelly, probably similar to yourself, that I wanted to do my own thing, but got out of high school, went to university, took petroleum engineering, of course, got into the oil and gas industry out of school, and I really did love it.

I loved the people that I worked with.

But deep down I kept feeling this kind of emptiness of I wasn't following my true passion, which was to own a business of my own.

And I thought of, you know, I'd always wanted to start like something in oil and gas, but the way that that industry works is it's just extremely capital intensive, generally speaking, just to start an oil company.

And so that was to some degree off the table.

And while all this was happening, Kelly, a good friend of Mine was an energy drink addict and so was I. Yeah.

And we were out.

I was out with him one night.

He'd had like four or five or six energy drinks.

And I look at him and all of a sudden I'll never forget this look on his face.

He goes ghost white.

He nearly stops breathing and he clutches his chest.

Terrifying.

I thought he was going to pass out.

I rushed him to the hospital and turns out that he had a minor heart attack.

He was 21 years old at the time, had a minor heart attack.

He was perfectly healthy.

Now.

We made a full recovery.

Happy ending to the story.

But that minor heart attack we ultimately attributed to energy drinks because there was just no other reason why he would have had this thing.

And so that was a bit of the light bulb moment for me, Kelly, of like, what in the world is in these energy drinks?

Like, how could this happen to a healthy 21 year old guy?

Fast forward a few years.

I'm in oil and gas, you're working long hours and you know, I'm crushing energy drinks on the road and stuff and I'm like getting heartburn for the first time in my life.

I'm not sleeping.

And yeah, cut energy drinks out for a little bit and all that stuff will go away.

But you know, it's 2 or 3pm in the afternoon, you got to get more work done and you've had three cups of coffee already.

Like it just felt kind of natural to reach for an energy drink.

Well, that led me down this journey of looking everywhere for a healthy alternative because I was on a real health kick at the time.

I shouldn't find anything with all natural ingredients.

I couldn't find anything with really natural caffeine.

Something that I didn't have to drink all in one sitting either.

I didn't want to drink a full 473 milliliter energy drink sometimes in one shot.

Sure.

You know, the carbonation and everything didn't feel good.

So that led me down this path of like, there's nothing that checks these boxes and hey, I want to be an entrepreneur and this is a big problem I think I could solve.

And really one thing led to another.

Started messing around in my kitchen.

And that process took two years harder than I ever could have imagined.

But it ultimately led to the formulation of a clean energy drink called Revita Energy Tea and a flexible beverage pouch too, which is a whole nother story.

And ended up quitting my engineering job.

Once we got it formulated and got our first production run done and haven't looked Back since.

And it has been a wild ride, Kelly.

Yeah, no, I bet.

And as a product of the 2000s, somebody who loved a good Red Bull and a monster energy drink.

Way too many of them.

Way too many of them.

I. I totally get it.

I totally get it.

There was a point in my life, dude, where I think I was having like two energy drinks every day for years.

For years.

I.

All of those symptoms I've experienced, all of them, except for the heart attack, thank goodness.

But almost all of those other symptoms I can totally relate with.

And I just look back to, like being a young BD guy traveling endlessly across the province felt like every week, hours and hours and hours in a vehicle, just drinking energy drinks to stay awake.

So, like, that is an Alberta story right there.

That just is.

It sure is.

I was having them at like breakfast with my cereal sometimes, like, it was nasty.

I know, I know, I know, man.

Like, totally relate to all of that, you know?

But it's one thing, Mitch.

It's one thing to be like, yeah, this is a problem.

We need to create something different.

And it's a whole nother thing to be like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that.

I'm just gonna make it like, yeah, walk me through that decision.

Because you're a petroleum engineer, dude, like, that's a little ways away from food scientists for sure, man.

I think more balls and brains, that's for sure.

But yeah, you know, I think, you know, going through that period of time in my life, Kelly too, and I tell people, when I tell this story, like, probably the number one thing you could take away from, you know, my story is like, I had zero CPG experience.

No one in my family had ever even, I think, worked at a grocery store, let alone, like started a food or beverage company.

So I had no idea what I was doing.

And my greatest asset, I think really was just my naivety.

Because if I know, knew then what I know now, I never would have started.

Like, if I knew how hard this industry was there, there's no way I would have started.

And I, I, like, how do you start?

I remember thinking this, like, how do you start a beverage company?

Like, that is so.

It was so overwhelming.

Like, what is even, like the first step?

And for me, what the first step was, Kelly.

It was like you said in your intro, you know, I was on the side of a dirt road and I kind of had this like life crisis moment where I was looking at myself, you know, after a 12 hour day driving, drinking all these energy drinks And I'm like, is this really what I want to do with my life?

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

I'm making excuses as to why I can't start something.

Like, why don't I just start?

Like, that was kind of my epiphany.

And I'm like, I don't know where to start, but I'm just going to do one thing a day that moves me like a little bit closer to that goal.

And the first thing I did, I kid you not, was Google.

How do you start a beverage company?

And then that led to the next Google search and the next Google search and that led to a cold call.

Then that led to me, you know, messing around with like ingredients in my kitchen.

And of course that didn't taste good, but then I messed around with other ingredients and then I made another cold and it was, you know, what I've learned is I think the greatest innovations and the greatest companies, they're not, they're oftentimes, I don't think started by the most intelligent people.

Like I, you know, I think as, as a culture, we like to think that, you know, that the Elon Musk type intelligence is what it takes to start something.

But the greatest entrepreneurs I've met are not necessarily the smartest people.

They just have a relentless drive to pursue this dream that they had.

And so I started to learn that, that if I was going to create this, it was just going to take perseverance, you know, and as long as I wasn't going to quit and I was willing to do this for a long time, I was going to figure it out eventually.

And so, you know, that's the big takeaway.

If you, if you really want to start a business or you really want to do something, your first step could be Googling how do I do this?

And then just doing one thing a day and doing that for, you know, extended period of time.

And it's amazing how that will compound and you'll make a lot of progress over that period of time.

Yeah, it really is just straight hard headedness.

I, I'm not sure that I would have started this podcast and I know how much, how much work I was going to put into the damn thing, but here we are, right?

But we're doing all right.

We're in the Signal Awards this year.

We're the only independent Canadian show.

I think that's pretty cool.

But you're absolutely right.

It's like when you, you can absolutely look back.

And I think a lot of entrepreneurs do, especially after about Five or six years, and they're like, was that a good idea?

Like, we've come a long way, but holy crap, has it been a lot of work?

Exactly.

Yeah.

I've taken a lot of beatings over the last five or six years, and it's made me a much better person.

But, you know, I think that's why, you know, a lot of the most successful people in food and beverage don't come from the food or beverage industry.

Because if you're in the industry, you kind of see what it takes to start one, and you just be like, no, I'll do it.

Pretty much anything else.

Ignorance is bliss.

Ignorance is bliss, my friend.

Absolutely.

But on the other hand.

On the other hand, when you do push through those barriers, when you do accomplish.

When you do land Costco, you might as well be on the moon, man.

I don't know.

I think the other side to it is success in entrepreneurship is so sweet.

So sweet, right?

Those wins are just so exceptionally good, rival any high I'm sure you can have in the world on a certain level.

I'm sure the day that you guys found out you landed Costco, man.

Yeah.

There's nothing that could have touched you.

You were a thousand feet high.

Oh, there's, you know, there's nothing that compares to it.

And I don't know if you can see behind me, I have the man in the arena, the famous speech.

I'd really recommend looking it up if.

You literally have that on my wall upstairs.

The man in the arena.

Shelby made it for me, I want to say, like, two Christmases ago, and it's a picture of me and her, and it's the man in the arena speech, and it literally lives in my living room.

I love that.

Yeah, you nailed it, Kelly.

And for those listening that, you know, haven't read it before, and I highly recommend you look it up.

It's an incredible.

It's like four sentences long, but it's very powerful.

And it's, you know, effectively, you know, us as a society, we're often just the spectators, and everyone likes to criticize, you know, the gladiator or the fighter, whoever it is, the entrepreneur in the arena.

But the glory really does, win or lose, belong to those that are courageous enough to get into the battlefield.

And I, you know, I really try to live by that because, yeah, there's.

There's a lot of really hard times.

But then when you get a win and your hand is raised and you get that Costco listing, it is a feeling that you just cannot.

I Think, replicate anywhere else.

And that makes it all worth it.

You know, we're seeing, you know, hiring someone that, you know, was maybe out of work and then seeing them six months in, and they're pumped to come and work every day, and their life has changed, and.

Or seeing a customer that's been really impacted by your business, like, you can't replicate that feeling of impact.

So you're so right about that, Kelly.

Yeah.

And actually, we have to go there, because without those people, without the customers, without the clients who are receiving a benefit, we wouldn't do it.

We wouldn't do it.

Like, entrepreneurship is too hard to have no reward, to have nobody getting benefit from what you're doing.

If nobody's getting benefit, you will quit.

You will.

Because, you know, I even look at the podcast, man, there's been plenty of times along the way where I'm like, my God, like, this is a slog.

Like, our download numbers are up and down and up and down, and it's like, yeah, the only thing that's consistent is inconsistency.

Let's just call it that much.

But at the same time, you get all of that reach out.

And when I saw, like, the impact, like, I, for instance, I just spoke with a guy in Germany this week.

He's coming on the show, and he's like, kelly, your podcast absolutely changed my life.

He's like, I was.

He was very similar to you.

He was a bio biomedical guy, and now he's leading the revolutionary charge in business development, helping an automotive company in Germany switch over to MedTech.

And he's like, I used everything I learned on the business development podcast to business develop myself to change my future, to reach out to all these companies and let them know that I could do something completely different than I was trained to do.

And now he's like, I landed, like, the best job in my life.

Like, I couldn't have anything better than this.

And it's because of your show.

It's so cool.

I'm so excited to have that conversation with him on the show.

But it's that.

That.

That's what's made this worth it.

You know, Taylor, you're so right.

Like, when I wasn't an entrepreneur, I think I associated entrepreneurship with, like, Ferraris and Lamborghinis and make lots of money.

And that's a very small sub segment of entrepreneurship.

What the real paycheck from it is, is what you just said is that customer that reaches out and was like, you know, you've changed my life.

Or it's a team member employee that's like, this is the best job that I've ever had.

It's about your real reward from this isn't financial.

It's the impact that you're having.

I think that is the true reward of entrepreneurship.

And one could make the argument that by switching to Rita Energy Tea from any other energy drink that you guys are having right now, you could literally be saving lives.

Literally hundreds of thousands of lives across Canada, across North America, hopefully by the time people are hearing this show.

And it sucks because on a certain level, you'll never know whether or not that is what happened.

But I think you can make the argument that if you're a lifelong energy drinker of the standard energy drinks packed full of sugar, packed full of ingredients you can't pronounce, it's got to have a negative impact on your longevity long term.

And so the argument could really be made that even though what you're doing is creating a beverage, you might be helping hundreds of thousands of people switch to a beverage that is healthier for them, that adds years to their lives.

Thank you for saying that, Kelly.

I appreciate it.

And, you know, we do have.

We actually have a folder in our shared drive at work here called when youn're Having a Bad Day.

And it's all the customer testimonials we've got that are really touching.

And there's some ones in there that are like, bring me to tears.

You know, people that are in the hospital with cancer telling us how this is the one thing that's really helped them feel better and, you know, nothing else.

You know, this was making.

Giving them energy, but, you know, this helped them through a tough time.

And you're so right.

You know, even something like a beverage that you wouldn't think could be life changing and you can, not just through the beverage, but also in the way that you treat your customers and what the brand stands for.

You can have a real positive impact on someone's life, you know, through your business.

And I think that's really what we're striving to do with the brand, too, is be more than just, you know, better for you energy drink, but also be a brand that really stands for something and stands for doing the right thing and helping people.

Well.

And actually, that leads us into the next question because, you know, you started off with the simple idea of making a healthier energy drink.

Right?

You know, how has the mission changed since that very start?

And how might it have stayed the same?

Yeah, that's a really great Question, Kelly.

So I think the foundation of the mission has largely stayed the same.

I had a great entrepreneurial mentor who really taught me.

He thought the fundamentals of business is entrepreneurship at its core is about solving problems and helping people.

And so if your business helps enough people, you are going to be financially successful.

And so the core values that we built the business on, faith, family, fitness and freedom have always remained the same.

And we've always push to really help people.

Customer service has been a top priority of ours from day one.

We really try to go above and beyond with customer service.

Every online order that we, we ship out as a handwritten thank you card if there's ever an issue.

And I've personally driven orders to people's houses when things get screwed up.

So I think that core foundation of wanting to help people and doing the right thing, you know, has stayed the same and will always be the foundation of, of how we build the business.

What's evolved over time is I think we've gotten a lot smarter and we've understood our customer better, we've understood what they want from the brand.

We've understood what resonates and what doesn't resonate, what ingredients people like, what ingredients people maybe are a little bit confused about.

So our core formula has more or less stayed the same, but it's improved dramatically over time.

You know, like if you were to taste Revita five years ago versus today, like I would say it tastes far better.

We make everything here in Calgary, whereas when we started, we made third party made the product for us.

We've increased the quality of the ingredients, we've increased the quality of the formula.

We're constantly asking our customers what we can do better, we're constantly innovating, we're making the packaging better.

So I think it's just that constant and never ending improvement and understanding that your brand is kind of like a child that needs to grow up and it needs to mature.

And I think we're, you know, we're far from a mature brand, but we're getting into those early adolescent years where we're really starting to make some, some progress and develop as a brand and understand what people really want from us and how we can serve them better.

Walk me through that.

And first off, I've been calling it Rivita forever and now you've corrected me.

It is Revita.

Most people call it Ravita.

I was going to say, I think, yeah, I wonder how many people are making that same mistake.

Mitch, you call it whatever you want, Kelly.

As long as you're drinking it.

So, yeah, as long as drink it, we're good.

Yeah.

Walk me through, you know, the flavor profile, because I know for me, one of the appeals to me with the drinks I loved have always been, I love the flavor.

You talked about how the flavor itself has actually changed over the past five years.

How do you do that and not alienate the customers who liked the original flavor?

Or is it so subtle that almost nobody would notice?

Kind of a tough, tough angle.

Like, how do you do that?

Because it's like, I feel like on a certain level, if they change the flavor, did they not change the drink?

Great question.

I'm going to answer that in.

In reverse.

I don't know if this is a true story, but it's like a business anecdote that I've heard before.

And it's a famous chocolate company and a new CEO takes over, and he's trying to cut costs, and he goes into the ingredient deck, and he.

He pulls out an ingredient, and he gets R D to make it.

And then he tastes, and he says, oh, I think it tastes the same, and we just save 5 cents a bar or whatever.

So he does that, then he does it with another ingredient, then he does it with another ingredient, and sales seem to be the same.

And then all of a sudden, they just drop off a cliff.

But in the taste test, that they didn't notice anything.

And the point of the story was it's those little incremental changes that you don't necessarily notice up front, but they compound when you make a bunch of them, and they can make your product, in that case, far worse.

Now, we just did that in reverse.

So we didn't.

When I say we changed the formula, the taste is we didn't make any dramatic changes, but we found, you know, we tweaked the ratio of how much honey we were using to how much juice.

Maybe just 5 or 10%.

Gotcha.

That made it 5% better.

And so what we started.

And then when we brought our production in house, you know, this third.

We had a third party making it, and they were.

They were okay, but they're never going to have as much love and care and passion for your product as you have.

So just bringing it in house and having better processes, better handling, better control over everything, like it was re.

It was small changes that didn't change the core flavor, if that makes sense, Kelly.

But there's.

There are these little 1, 2, 3% improvements over, you know, five ingredients and five processes that make the product taste the same.

Quote unquote.

But it's a 10 or 15% improvement over what it used to be.

And so that's really what we've done.

And then with new flavors, for instance, that's where we can really.

That's where you have the freedom.

I don't want to.

Yeah, yeah, that's where we have the freedom, where we're.

We're like, okay, we get feedback from a lot of customers.

You know, I wish.

I really love Revita, but I wish it was a little bit sweeter or I wish, you know, I don't love tea, so, you know, could you make one without tea or something?

So that's where we.

With our new flavors and our new innovation, we're really able to collect that feedback and innovate on it.

But in general, I would say what we've done is make those little 1, 2, 3, 4% improvements over better ingredient suppliers, better processes, better controls on our production line.

And those little improvements have actually added up to a product that's tastes fresher, more consistent, sweeter.

It's the same flavor profile, but it's just that much more enhanced, if that makes sense.

Yeah, no, that does make sense.

You know, one of the questions that I kind of had was, is there really a ton of benefit to continuing to add flavors?

And hear me out on this, because, like, if I look back at the drinks that I.

That I love, right?

I love Coca Cola.

I've loved Coca Cola since I was a little kid.

I love Sprite.

I've loved Sprite since I was a little kid.

If they screwed with my Coca Cola or my Sprite, I'd be like, what the heck?

Like, what are you guys doing?

And it's like, Coke knows that they've made the same flavor for, what, 150 years at least at this point, Is there really a ton of value in constantly adding new flavors?

Because when I look at, like, new flavors of things when I'm at the store, it's like, oh, that's cool.

I'll try that.

But I know in my heart, I'm never going to just be like, I want that all the time, all because that's just not me.

Walk me through that thought.

I'm sure you guys have gone through that.

I'm sure you've done lots and lots of customer surveys and surveys in general.

Talk to me about releasing anything new in the food product space.

How do you create something that becomes a Coca Cola for 150 years?

Kelly, you're.

That's a really astute observation.

And it's something I've thought a lot about, too.

And back to what I was just saying before, it's a big part of the reason why, you know, our core lineup of flavors that we have, you know, we have a couple subscribers on our website that have ordered like our peach flavor, for instance, have 150 orders on that over the last four years.

So there's no way I'm messing with that formula.

And I don't like when brands do that.

We have our core lineup.

We're not going to.

We're going to improve it.

We're going to make it incrementally better, but we're not going to mess with the core formula.

And I think, you know, like when Coke changed its formula, I think it was back in 80s or 90s and there was like a revolt, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

I think that's something that's, you know, really important to us.

But on the flip side is how do you continue to make your brand relevant?

How do you create excitement?

How do you drive more sales in store?

And in the same way that Coke will always keep its original formula, but it will come out with a limited edition cherry Coke, limited edition vanilla.

Yeah.

And it'll, it'll try things and it'll see what sticks.

We really, Coke is the, the Michael Jordan of our industry.

So why would we, you know, at least follow in some of the footsteps of what they're doing?

And we've really found the same thing is you start to hear, you know, our first three, four years of business, all the time we would hear, can you make a mango flavor?

Can you make a mango flavor?

Eventually we drop a mango flavor.

Sure enough, all of a sudden it becomes, you know, at the time, our top seller, you know, and now we don't always necessarily 100% listen to the customer.

Like, we launched an apple pear flavor this year, which I wouldn't say it was the most requested, but it was something in our lab that we just like came up with and it tasted phenomenal.

Yeah.

And when we did taste tests, people loved it.

And we knew that Apple's like a beloved flavor kind of.

Of all time.

And it's also now become.

It's actually our number one skew.

So I think to answer your question, you want to keep your core lineup.

That's the core of your business.

But you can actually lift the sales and awareness of your core offering by adding these incremental offerings to drive more excitement to the brand.

And retailers love it.

You can use it strategically to Kelly, like, if there's a retailer that maybe we have a great relationship with or one that we really want to get into.

We can say, hey, we got this new flavor.

We'll give you a three month exclusivity on it.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

List us so it can become strategic piece of your business in addition to just lifting your core.

Your core offerings by just bringing more awareness and hype to the brand.

It kind of leads me to wonder as well, you know, if you know that somebody has tried one flavor, do you know how often they will try all of the different flavors of Ravita?

Like, is there any statistics on that?

Like, is it, like, if they try one, pretty confident they'll try them all?

We don't have direct statistics.

It'd be more anecdotal from like customer surveys and, and feedback.

But generally what we find is when someone tries it for the first time and they really like it, they will at some point try.

Maybe not the whole lineup of seven flavors, but they'll try like four or five.

Sure.

And then they tend to come back to like two flavors.

Okay.

Like every.

Most of our customers pick a favorite and it's actually quite interesting.

Like, it's quite evenly spread across all the flavors.

Like, okay, subscribe to.

We have a couple that stand out a little bit, but I'd.

It's in.

More often than not, people pick a couple one or two flavors that they really enjoy and they stick with those just like you were saying.

But, you know, they ultimately go back to Coke, Original Coke.

Right.

And for us, people go back to their original flavor that they really like.

Were you ever surprised at what flavors became very popular?

Like, were you ever, like, looking at me, like, really that one?

Or was it pretty obvious which ones were going to do?

Well?

Yeah, that's a great question, Kelly.

And I'd say it can be quite surprising.

Like, you know, one of our flavors, Royal elderberry flavor, Elderberry is a little bit more obscure, especially in North America.

But for some of our customers, that's the only one that they'll drink.

But then for other customers, it's probably their least favorite.

So I think one of the things I've learned is, is taste is so subjective, and you have to keep that in mind.

And the more that you can collect customer feedback on what people want, there is going to be some flavor suggestions that just continually rise to the top.

We're working on a lemonade flavor right now.

I mean, when we did a large survey, it was the number one most requested.

So, yes, the answer to your question is yes, absolutely.

There's.

There's definitely some flavors that have really surprised me.

But I would say, in general, if you follow kind of the trends of the market and you even look at what the big beverage companies are putting out there, like, what flavor is doing really well for the big energy drink company, that's probably going to do well, you know, for you.

So it's a little bit of both.

But you do have to throw things at the wall and see what sticks sometimes as well.

Yeah.

Just out of curiosity, what is your most popular flavor?

Because I'm sure everyone listening to this is going to go out and buy it.

Yes.

Yeah.

So I would say our apple pear flavor that we just released is.

Is our most popular flavor.

And I think a part of the reason of that is this was a formula that we did improve on, our base formula.

So we had that because it's new and nobody knew what it was going to taste like.

I had that flexibility to make improvements.

So I listened to all that feedback and made it taste.

And we formulated it in house.

Took a lot of trial, trial runs.

In my opinion, it is by far the best tasting of our lineup.

But actually, our original flavor, which is strawberry, is still generally number one or two.

Yeah.

So it's funny that that original one that took two years to develop and all those.

Those trials is still top of the list.

But apple, pear, strawberry, and then usually our mango or black cherry tends to be number three and four.

Well, there you go.

Now you got your buy list.

Get out there and buy some Rivita.

There you go.

The first time that I talked to you, I think the thing that maybe shocked me the most, because we're in Canada, if you take out student loan debt, you're going to die with that student loan debt.

There is no way to get rid of that thing.

And you took that student loan money and you invested it to start Rivita.

And I remember just looking at you and be like, are you freaking kidding me?

Like, there was no way out of that.

All that money had to be paid back.

But you've just had so much success with it.

But I think for the people listening right now, people from the outside, they can look in and just see, wow.

Like, Ravita, it's everywhere.

Like, everybody.

You don't have to, like, look all that far to know that you're very successful with it.

But talk to me about that beginning, because you took a massive risk.

Obviously, it paid off in your favor.

But talk to me about the risk reward of an entrepreneur.

There's a lot of people who Are very afraid to take that risk.

Talk to them.

What was going through your head at that moment?

Yeah, so I'll back up a little bit, you know, back to that side of the road.

So I get the idea I'm doing the, you know, the one thing a day.

And about, I don't know, four or five months kind of after that, it led me down the road of discovering that I wasn't going to be able to formulate this thing on my own.

I just didn't have the expertise.

So I started cold calling this profession called a food scientist, which I didn't even know what that was until I found it on a Google search.

And a lot of them more or less laughed at me.

But I did find one that was willing to work with me.

But it was $10,000 to get started, like, just to do the initial formulations.

And I was like, you know, a few years out of school at the time.

Like, I still had this big, massive student line of credit with.

And when I had some room on it, so I didn't have like $10,000 liquid, I, I, I took that money out and used that as.

Put it on black.

Yeah.

And I remember being, like, sick about it because, you know, I was quite frugal with my money.

Like, at this time, this was, you know, outside of my mortgage, which is more an investment.

Like, I didn't spend ten grand on like, anything ever.

Sure.

And, but I just, I felt this calling and I'm like, hey, you know, at worst, I'm going to have a good story, you know.

And so I put the 10 grand in and then I, you know, I start spending more money and probably call it $20,000 into this thing.

And I get home from work one day and there's this beautiful FedEx box on my front porch.

Kelly.

And it's the samples from this food scientist of this drink that's going to change the world.

Right.

So I don't even try it right away.

I had read in one of my Google searches you're supposed to do, like, blind taste testing.

That's what the professionals do.

So I invite all my friends and family over that weekend.

Anyone that meant something to me came to this.

And I had the Red Party cups, and I had Red Bull in one cup and vitamin water and another one, they were labeled A through F. And I had people fill out these sheets and I'm collecting these sheets at the end, reading through the feedback, expecting my drink to be number one.

Of course.

This is going to be awesome.

And I spent 20 grand on it.

So it's got to be good, right?

And, you know, A is like, I can read sample A feedback, and it's like, this tastes great.

Sample B.

This is awesome.

You know, think I've had this before.

C, a little too sweet, but I like it.

I get to sample D, and it's like, there's an out of 10 rating, and it's like 1 out of 10, 2 out of 10.

You know, my business partner at the time, right.

Tastes like battery acid.

I wonder what sample D is.

Like, what do I put in that cup?

And I look at my sheet, and I'm like, it was my drink, Kelly.

So here I am.

Put.

Took student line of credit money out to hire this food scientist, do a blind taste test.

And we were dead last in that first blind taste test.

So to circle back to your question, you know, obviously we didn't go with that formula, and we did.

It took another, you know, year and a half of iterations until we were winning that blind taste test in the end.

But, you know, I felt a calling to do this, and I think you have to accept the.

That when you're going to take a risk like that.

The most important thing is I did make a contract with myself at some point that I was like, I am not going to quit, like, no matter what happens, like, outside of, you know, an act of God, like, I'm going to see this through.

And that con.

That contract I made with myself is the reason that we're.

For a large part of the reason, you know, that I made it through that.

That period of time because I just.

I wouldn't let myself quit because I made that contract with myself that I was going to keep going.

And so I think if.

If you're going to step over that line and you're going to take the risk, like, you have to understand that, like, failure, it's only failure if you quit.

Yeah, like, that you could.

I easily could have quit at that point.

And I really, really thought about it.

It took me, like, weeks after that to kind of recover from the, you know, the aftermath and the depression of, you know, spending all this money and, like, accepting the fact that this might just be.

This might never work.

But that was kind of the realization that it's only failure if you quit and you're going to fail along the way.

Like, these small failures are inevitable.

Like, that's one of, like, that's not even that bad of a story.

I could tell you a hundred other ones that are, you know, way worse.

When we were building the production line or ordered our first packaging and there was a spelling mistake and barcodes didn't.

For work and stuff.

So I think if you're really thinking about taking that risk, like, you have to prepare yourself mentally.

Like, it's not going to be rainbows and roses and butterflies.

Like, you are going to get punched in the face over and over again.

And the only way that you're going to succeed is if you do not quit.

Like, you.

You know, as long as your idea is good and you have good intentions, you want to help people.

I truly believe that those who win long term are just the ones that are willing to.

To go wade through the mud and push through the really hard times.

And that's, you know, being in Costco, having this amazing team of, you know, 11 people, our own production line that all dates back to a blind taste test, you know, that cost $20,000.

That was dead last.

Like, that's our origin story.

But we just, you know, we just, by the grace of God, we did not quit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, it's so true, right?

And you made the point kind of early on.

It's not like the brilliant ones who necessarily make it.

It's the stubborn ones, right.

Maybe the brilliant ones are smart enough to quit.

Smart enough.

Smart enough to not do this.

But it's.

It's so true.

Like, I look at.

I've had the pleasure now of meeting so many successful people, and all of them have, like, yeah, I went through, like, I should have quit, but I didn't.

And that's it.

It's like, it's that consistency.

You need enough road behind you to win.

You have to have enough stuff in the rear view mirror to get to the finish line, right?

And everybody wants that, like, quick fix.

Everyone wants to start that podcast that's suddenly super successful.

Dude, like, we're like 350 episodes.

I still think we have a long way to go.

Kelly, you nailed it, man.

That's just what it takes.

You have to put in the time.

Like, there's no.

There's no replacement for the time.

There's no replacement for the time.

And it's funny because I talked to a lot of people who are like.

And I'm one of them who is like, I never achieve what I set out to in a year because I think I'm just too overambitious.

And I always set these, like, crazy wild goals for a year.

But yet I look back over the last five years, and I can't believe what we've accomplished.

And I know you're the same.

I know you're the same.

We have a very similar entrepreneurial journey so far.

I think you're, I'm at five years this year.

You're going, oh, you're past six now.

But like, yeah, it's amazing how much has happened in that five years for me.

And yet if I look at like my annual goals, it's like, what was I thinking?

There's no way I could have done all that.

Oh, Kelly, you nailed it, man.

Yeah, I look back at my initial annual goals and it's laughable.

My, you know, my dad, who's a, my mentor and amazing entrepreneur, but he tells me all the time, like, you're gonna far overestimate what you can do in a year and underestimate what you can do in a decade.

Like, and I think it's important to, to understand how you're, it's.

I don't think I've ever hit my annual goal, but like, you know, when I look back at the last six years, you could look back and be like, holy cow, that's, you know, that's maybe it's not where I thought I was going to be, but it's pretty cool what we did.

And you know, same with you, Kelly.

Like, to be 300 plus episodes in like, how many podcasts get to that?

Like, basically very, very few.

Like, that takes incredible resilience and perseverance.

And you're so right.

You know, it's, it's having that long term vision.

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Harold and he was my podcast hero, actually, which is super cool.

He's our Halloween special this year.

He hosts one of the oldest, if not the oldest paranormal podcast there is.

So it was super cool to have him on the show.

We were talking about his 20 year podcasting journey, 2000 plus episodes.

Mitch, he's had, he's has like, I want to say like 80 to 100 million downloads.

I think he's somewhere in that, that area.

And yet when you talk to him about it, he's like, yeah, like we weren't even successful for the first five years.

He's like, we didn't make a dime for the first five years and then we barely made any money.

It's like, man, like just listening to those stories, right?

It's just like, it's sheer hard headedness.

It's just showing up and refusing to quit.

The more willing you are to just be non negotiable and say, you know what, I'm not going to look at that as a quitting sign, I'm going to look at that as what not to do again.

And I'm going to keep going in a different direction or try something new.

You're right.

Like that first sample, that first taste test, you could have quit, but instead you've created something now that has become people's favorite drinks, you know, across Canada.

Kelly, you know, you're right.

And it's, it's something that I'm passionate about, changing the narrative because I feel like, you know, Canada and America, probably North America as a whole, part of our culture is this 10 minute abs, diet, pill, get rich quick, you know, start a business in two hours, dropship, whatever, you know, like everybody wants it today, you know, and that was, and I had that same mentality getting into this and it was really damaging because I felt so behind in the first couple of years and felt really down on my myself when in reality it was just like the normal trajectory of a business.

And I think we got to get that message out more that there is no 10 minute abs and entrepreneurship.

Like it just doesn't exist.

You know, you gotta show up day in and day out and you gotta put your time in.

You're more than likely not going to be a millionaire in the first three years or five years, possibly even 10 years.

Like this is a decade plus journey.

And like we said before, your, your payout is more of the impact and the money will come when you help enough people.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think maybe one of the things, and maybe it's because I know you, like there's a lot of people who drink ravita and don't know you.

So there's, there's that.

But I just feel like you have such a great story.

It's a family business, really.

You're in this with your sister even, you know, doing incredible things.

There's so much heart in Ravita.

And I guess one of the questions I have for you is as you scale this business across North America, let's get real.

In 10 years you're going to be around the world.

People be able to drink Ravita in like Egypt or Japan.

Right?

That'd be pretty cool.

If, if we look at that 10 year trajectory, I think this year you'll be in the States and the next year after that you'll be somewhere else around the world, for real.

That's where you're going.

How do you keep the heart of Rivita as you expand around the world?

Do you think it's possible?

That's a really insightful Question, Kelly.

It's something that Carly, my sister, business partner and I think about a lot.

And what we try to anchor everything back to is core values.

So we have a sheet that every new employee gets with a list of our core values.

And I think as we scale, if we can try to anchor everything back to that foundation, of course it's not going to be perfect and there's going to be road bumps.

But I really do believe that and some other companies have done this successfully.

You can scale with those same, with that same heart and the same intentions, as long as you build everything off of those core values.

I think it's when you try to scale too fast or, you know, you're seeing dollar signs in your eyes and you're making decisions that isn't necess, you're not necessarily doing the right thing, but you're doing the most financially motivated thing.

We're really, really doing our best to anchor everything back to that.

And even every big decision we make, we try to say, okay, does this align with our core values?

And there's been times where even though it's going to cost us a lot of money or we're going to pass up on a big opportunity, we will do it because it does not align with our core values.

And I think that's the way, Kelly, probably, in my opinion, that the best chance we have at scaling with that same type of heart that we currently have.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, like I said, maybe I have a skewed view of it because I know you, right.

But I feel like, you know, on LinkedIn and stuff, we have such a tight knit entrepreneurial community in Canada that you kind of tend to see what's going on around this country as long as you're there and paying attention.

Right.

I see the friendship that you have with Jake, Carl's of Midday Squares.

And honestly, I just, I love you guys.

You guys are just exceptional.

I love seeing what Jake's up to.

I love keeping track and what you're doing.

I'm just never not impressed with, with the state of Canadian entrepreneurship.

I'm just so proud of our generation.

I think we're doing a lot of cool stuff.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, we got some really amazing Canadian entrepreneurs now.

And I think, you know, the tides are turning.

Like more people are sharing their story.

It's not just a highlight reel all the time, especially on LinkedIn.

Like, it's nice to see some more authentic stuff because I think it isn't, you know, it's important for that next generation of entrepreneurs or you know, your listeners that are thinking of starting their own business, for them to understand that this is not a linear journey, this is a roller coaster ride.

And I think I was not prepared for the roller coaster ride.

Like, I didn't, I expected it to be more linear.

And I think if you can go into this understanding you are, it's going to be challenging, like prepare yourself, you know, for those winter seasons.

You're going to have a much higher chance of success.

And that's what I really commend.

A lot of Canadian entrepreneurs, like, you know, Jake Carls and Austin from Sweet Nutrition and you know, Erica Rankin.

Like a lot of these, you know, amazing local entrepreneurs are really telling their story and they're not, it's not just a highlight reel.

They're talking about the mistakes and the screw ups and the hard times.

And I think that's really, really important to our overall entrepreneurial culture.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's interesting because it never ceases to amaze me how often like burnout is coming up on this show.

Because it does to me at this point it's not even like, oh, avoid burnout.

It's like people are like hitting the wall before they're even like thinking about it.

Like, we're just living in this scenario, especially as like young entrepreneurs living in the age of AI.

I'm not sure I love AI.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of AI But I think what AI has done is it hasn't put more time back into our pockets.

It's given us the ability to do more, faster.

And so now we just try to do as much as humanly possible.

So I think we're working harder, leveraging AI than we ever were before AI and instead of it putting time back in our pockets, we're just hitting the wall at 120 miles an hour.

Agreed, man.

Yeah, I've had quite the burnout journey myself, so I would agree with that definitely.

Like, it's something you need to be very aware of because, yeah, when you hit that wall, she, she takes a toll.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, you told me earlier on that the roller coaster ride is just that.

And you know, I mean, like I said, I see you post about it pretty regularly that it's not always sunshine and rainbows.

How do you get through the harder times?

Right?

Like, and I get it, like, you've had a lot of success, so it's like, obviously you know that if you continue at it, you're gonna get through and, and maybe that timeline, maybe that.

That having that life, that life lesson of being like, okay, I've been through this before.

I'm gonna get through it again.

I don't have to quit today.

But talk to me about those hard moments.

What do you do to bring yourself back?

What do you do to reset when things get tough?

You know, it's easy to say that resilience is the.

Is the key, but it's a lot harder in practice when you've just been taking a big blow and things aren't looking good.

And I've.

The darkest moments of my life, for sure, have been building, building this business.

Like, there's just.

There's been times where, you know, you have a death in the family and then something really bad happens at the office and, oh, you got two months of cash left and your biggest investor just pulled out and this retailer just dropped you.

And, you know, sitting in my office at 11pm you know, holding tears back, like, how am I going to get through this?

And, you know, I think the answer to that question comes back to a few things.

You know, I think the foundation for me is my Christian faith.

Like, that is the foundation of everything that gets me through it all.

Two is like, remembering why you're doing this goes back to our conversation from earlier.

We have that folder in our shared drive about when you're having a bad day.

I think about these cancer patients that have reached out or people that have whatever health issue and provider really helped them.

Or I think about, you know, one of our young guys on the production line who's been with us a couple years and, like, seeing him grow and develop, like, thinking about the impact that you're having.

And then third, and this is more of a practical advice that I don't know if it's good advice, but I. I like to say I took a piss on my plan B.

Like, I signed personal guarantees on everything.

I've taken money from people that I would rather die than disappointment as investors.

So, like, when I'm having a bad day, I don't have a choice.

Like, yeah, like, quitting is I.

And I genuinely to fail and have to look these people in the eye, eyes and.

And tell them I lost their money.

Like, I would rather die than do that.

So it doesn't matter how bad it is.

Like, I'm gonna go down swinging and, you know, go, that man in the arena.

Like, I, you know, I'm okay losing in the arena.

Like, I can live with that, but I'm gonna go down swinging.

Like, I'm Gonna be that gladiator that never quits, you know?

And I think if you can anchor yourself to that, like, if you can really tell yourself that, like, no matter what happens, like, I am going to go down swinging.

I think that's what's ultimately combined with my faith in God gets me through those times, because it's so much easier said than done, because there's times that are so, you know, I had a business partner leave.

I had, you know, a big investment firm that pulled out.

I've had big retailers, you know, drop you.

Like, times where we've had, like, two months of cash and we're trying to raise money and you can't get bank loans, and, you know, you're scared about making payroll.

Like, I've been through all those seasons, and it really comes back to that.

Like, I will not quit.

I will find a way.

And it's amazing when you have that mentality.

You will find a way.

I don't doubt it.

I don't doubt it, man.

Like, it's that just straight refusal.

I will not look that person in the eye and let them know I failed.

That's what it takes.

I think that's genuinely the level of, like, I will not quit.

That it takes.

And I'm sure there's people right now who are listening are like, well, yeah, but for the right scenario.

And it's like, yeah, maybe under the right scenario, you might change your views, But I think most of the time, it's that level of dedication, that level of persistence, that level of, I am not going to quit that simply makes business successful.

I agree completely, Kelly.

And, yeah, yeah, you're right.

I mean, if I did everything I absolutely could, like, I did every.

Like, I exhausted every scenario, and we.

And we fail at that point, like, then you can look somebody in the.

Eye and be like, look, I did everything I could.

I did everything I could.

But usually, you know, when you're in those situations, you're not there yet.

There's always something you can do.

I've never exhausted every possible avenue that, you know, that hasn't happened to me yet.

So I truly believe there's always, always a way.

And I, you know, I. I'm a big.

I don't know if you're a UFC fan, Kelly, but I'm a pretty big MMA fan.

And part of the reason is, I think there's so many parallels to entrepreneurship.

And, you know, a lot of these great fighters, you could see them backed into a corner and they're beat up, and it seems like there's no way they could possibly win.

You know, they're down two rounds and they're in the third and their eyes swollen shut and they just will not quit.

And then all of a sudden they find win the fight.

And, you know, I, I think it's that same mentality, like, you're going to take some bruises, you're going to take some bumps, you're going to get hit.

It's part of the game.

And.

And you just have to have that inner fortitude that no matter what happens, I got that dog in me and I ain't quitting.

And I think that's the true essence of the successful entrepreneurship, a lot of times is just that inner dog.

And I can't think of a better way to end our show than.

Don't be afraid to let loose that inner dog, man.

That's amazing.

My gosh, you are an inspiration to Canadians, to Americans, to the world.

You really are.

I think to anybody who sees what you're doing, you're just such a good person.

The company you're building is just such a good company.

I can't wait to see what comes next.

And I can guarantee you your dad is completely right.

The shit you are going to do in 10 years is going to change the world, literally worldwide.

You know what, Kelly, coming from you, man, because I really look up to you and what you've built and the platform that you're creating, you know, to even give someone like me to tell my story.

Thank you so much, Kelly.

You're doing something really spectacular and the feeling is mutual.

Amazing, brother.

All right.

I can't wait till next time, Mitch.

We'll chat soon.

Chat soon.

Until next time.

You've been listening to the business development podcast and we'll catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly K. Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

See you next time on the business development podcast.