The Optimised Health Show

Ep. 16 | From Party Boy to Health Nut - The Complete History of Ben

• Ben & Sarah Law • Episode 16

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In this episode we thought we would do something a little different and give the complete backstory of Ben; from where he grew up, his school days, uni life, work life, party boy life, DJ life, how he started Love Life Supplements, the journey of the company, his health journey and where he is today and plans for the future. It really does cover the lot!

We had some fun doing this one and really hope you enjoy it! If you do don't forget to leave a review and if you have any questions make sure to comment below!

With Love,
Sarah & Ben x

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Ben IG: https://www.instagram.com/benlawprimal
Love Life Supplements: https://www.lovelifesupplements.co.uk/

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SPEAKER_00:

this is healthy living with the laws top tips on how to optimize your health from what you eat and drink to how you live and think with your hosts ben and sarah law welcome we're back again we're back

SPEAKER_01:

we're back again

SPEAKER_00:

we're back back in town Yes, who's back? Benjamin Law.

SPEAKER_01:

We've been away again.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we have recorded one that we haven't actually released yet. Why haven't we released that?

SPEAKER_01:

Because we're lazy.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's been sorted, so we should have released it. But I think we were deciding we wanted to re-record it, so maybe that's why. Anyway, that's irrelevant. We're here, and today we thought we'd do something fun. So, kind of health-focused, but kind of not. Don't shove me.

SPEAKER_01:

Not really health-focused.

SPEAKER_00:

No, you're right, maybe not. It's more to do with mindset, inspiration, kind of. Not

SPEAKER_01:

really. Well, it is. It's just about my life. Yeah, that's inspiring. I just thought we'd give about... bit about our background, starting with me. Basically,

SPEAKER_00:

I'm going to interview Benjamin Law.

SPEAKER_01:

Get to know us a bit more. He's going to tell you all his

SPEAKER_00:

dirty secrets, because I'm going to ask. I want you guys to know the real Ben Law, because I feel like people don't get to see what I see. So... I'm going to try and get some goss out of him so you get to see what he's really like. Because not many people get to see that.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not really getting to know about what I'm really like. It's just about my history and where I've come from.

SPEAKER_00:

Your face looks very smooth.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Why? What have you been doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Just take care of it. Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Eat well.

SPEAKER_00:

He eats well. He uses really good skincare.

UNKNOWN:

Exercise.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, anyway, you're glowing, Benjamin. You're glowing.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

So we're in Ibiza. We just got caught in a hailstorm, which was interesting. Crazy hailstorm. It picked up Chico the flamingo and took him over the fence.

SPEAKER_01:

Every now and again, Ibiza goes storm crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. When it rains in Ibiza, it does it properly. It's not like the UK. It

SPEAKER_01:

builds up and builds up for months, doesn't it? And then it goes for it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. In the UK, you just get that like... like drizzly drizzle, but in Ibiza, it's like full on. That reminds me of when I was little and we went on holiday to Greece. And there was a big storm and my dad was speaking to one of the locals afterwards and he was like, last night storm, big bang. In Mickey language of trying to speak. Yeah, good old Mickey. Mickey Tubbs. This is birthday today. Happy birthday, Mickey. Not that he'll be listening to us, but happy birthday, Mickey. So where do we begin? I would like you firstly, Benjamin Law, to tell everyone... What have we been doing? Oh, I was going to start interviewing you, but what have we been doing? We have been... Well, I mean... Don't really know,

SPEAKER_01:

we went away.

SPEAKER_00:

We went to... Not that

SPEAKER_01:

anybody cares, but...

SPEAKER_00:

Vegas.

SPEAKER_01:

It's your annual conference. Yeah, my annual conference in Vegas. Oh, we had the Health Optimization Summit before that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so Benjamin Law and Love Life Supplements were exhibiting at the Health Optimization Summit, and I was one of your bitches. Which

SPEAKER_02:

is fun.

SPEAKER_00:

And whilst you were doing... So I had a really busy weekend that weekend too, because I was speaking at Wellnergy Festival, which was basically supposed to happen during lockdown... So obviously it got canceled. So we did an online version. And then the real deal happened that weekend. So it was a big wellness festival in London. Lots of fun. The weather was good, which is always good. And I spoke for 45 minutes. 45 whole minutes. That's a long time. I know. But

SPEAKER_01:

you're a good talker.

SPEAKER_00:

I am a really good talker, as you can tell from this. Actually, someone did come up to me at the end and said I should write a book. So I take that as a compliment. I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know about that. It's gone a bit

SPEAKER_00:

far. But it went well anyway. So, and then the Health Optimization Summit was a huge success for you, wasn't it? Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was good. You looked quite traumatized afterwards because you had to do a lot of peopling. Yeah. It's not my thing. Not really your thing. I did

SPEAKER_01:

it. It always takes it out of you.

SPEAKER_00:

It does. But then the next day we flew to Vegas. Yeah. We had a week in Vegas for my annual conference with the brand that I work with, Arbonne. That was fun, wasn't it? I mean, you just were like a hermit. You didn't really see anyone or do anything.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't leave the room much.

SPEAKER_00:

I just go to the gym. You went to the gym and then we went to a gym. We went to Fit Club, which is so cool, isn't

SPEAKER_01:

it? Yeah, great gyms.

SPEAKER_00:

Great gym. We saw Jay Cutler. I mean, if you're not into bodybuilding, you'll have no idea who Jay Cutler is, but. We fanned him a little bit.

SPEAKER_01:

Then we went to Florida.

SPEAKER_00:

Went to Florida. We went to Sarasota, which was amazing. I would love to live there, basically.

SPEAKER_01:

I wouldn't go that far. It was nice.

SPEAKER_00:

I liked it a lot. It was hot.

SPEAKER_01:

It was very hot. Beautiful beaches. Even hotter than

SPEAKER_00:

here. But are we going to talk about your experience in Sarasota or are we going to do that for another? I

SPEAKER_01:

went to get my ear sorted. Because I had tinnitus in my left ear from an ear infection I got back in 2021.

SPEAKER_00:

How did you get the ear infection?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't really know. You picked your ear. I had like a scab in my ear that I kept picking.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so you do know. You're lying.

SPEAKER_01:

Even that's like, you get an ear infection from picking your ear.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, if you keep picking it, then yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But it was really bad and it perforated my eardrum and it was the most painful thing ever I've ever had. And Since then, I've had tinnitus like ringing in my left ear. So we went to Sarasota to see Dr. John Laurence to get a very unique treatment. Stem cells and luma, luna, luna ve, like laser.

SPEAKER_00:

And a balloon up your nose.

SPEAKER_01:

That was a bonus. Yeah, a balloon up your nose. That wasn't from my ear, that was from my nose. It was in your nose where you're at. It was like five days intensive treatment. It's...

SPEAKER_00:

But it takes a while, doesn't it, to know the stem cells?

SPEAKER_01:

It's still ringing, but it can take months and months for the stem cells to do their thing.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like we need to do a whole podcast just on that. I think we talk about that every single time we do a podcast. We're like, we'll do a whole podcast on that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, it's very unique. And then we just don't really do many podcasts. There's not a lot of treatments in the world for tinnitus.

SPEAKER_00:

His clinic is awesome as well. It's like being in Hawaii, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's amazing. I went in for a day and had some IVs. I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, if we do release the South Africa one, it was similar stuff to South Africa, but just in a cooler environment.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It was really cool. And yeah, I loved Sarasota. I thought it was amazing. Beautiful place.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was

SPEAKER_00:

nice. So that's where we've been. And then we came back. And here we are. I

SPEAKER_01:

started prep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so Benjamin is doing his first bodybuilding competition.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, in October, which I think we'll talk about more on another podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that on another podcast too. And I started working with someone called Vince Pitstick, who is the owner of Nutrition Dynamic and...

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds like Prittstick.

SPEAKER_00:

Does sound like Prittstick, but isn't. Who, again, this has got to be a whole other podcast because we could talk about this for days, but... He has basically helped thousands of women like me. So finally, I feel like we've found the solution to my problems over the last three years and it's all down to an overactive immune system. Overactive immune disorder basically where the immune system goes mental, And then you can't clear out senescent cells properly. Well, you can't clear out the senescent cells, which then tips the immune system out of balance. And it all goes a bit mental. So we are doing a lot of work at the moment, which is very interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

Hopefully we've cracked the code.

SPEAKER_00:

We have cracked the code. After three years of shit. Yeah, three years of fun and not being able to lose a single pound of weight when I've never had an issue losing weight before. And finally, so far, the scales have moved down rather than up, which has been a revelation. Five pounds, six pounds down. A lot more to go. Feeling

SPEAKER_01:

better?

SPEAKER_00:

Getting there. Definitely ups and downs, but it's an intense process. So I'm going to have waves. Anyway. It's not about you. No, it's not about me. I'm going to do another podcast about me. It's about you today, Benjamin Law. So tell us. Tell us what you were like as a child, firstly.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not going to tell you what I was like as a child.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you said start at the very beginning. No, go

SPEAKER_01:

start the story. What do you mean start the story? Where did it all begin?

SPEAKER_00:

Where did it all begin? In your mummy's tummy? I mean, do you want to go that far?

SPEAKER_01:

I just, you know, the story of my life. There's a song

SPEAKER_00:

in there. Story of my life. I

SPEAKER_01:

thought I was born.

SPEAKER_00:

You were born? Where were you born? Tell us where you were born.

SPEAKER_01:

Little Port.

SPEAKER_00:

You weren't born in, there's not a hospital in Little Port.

SPEAKER_01:

Actually, I was born in

SPEAKER_00:

Ely. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Ely, Cambridgeshire.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't go, it's boring.

SPEAKER_01:

Lived in Little Port. Which is down the road. You

SPEAKER_00:

were a little portion.

SPEAKER_01:

Little portion. Which is a tiny little village in the Fens, which is very Fenny. Weird. Not weird, but it's just a very small town. Yeah, very small. Yeah. I went to school, primary school, as you do.

SPEAKER_00:

And you had a, tell us about the chickens in the

SPEAKER_01:

darkness. Bloody hell, we're going straight there

SPEAKER_00:

to the chickens. Yeah. Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We had

SPEAKER_01:

chickens. We kept chickens and ducks.

SPEAKER_00:

Benjamin loved the chickens, didn't you? Yeah. I

SPEAKER_01:

used to stroke the chickens in the coop. And the ducks. I was friendly with the ducks until they flew away.

SPEAKER_00:

They obviously weren't that friendly with you. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

no. But no, we had an amazing upbringing, childhood in Australia. Very nice house, big bungalow.

SPEAKER_00:

And you had two, you got a brother and a sister.

SPEAKER_01:

Brother Danny, sister Sarah, who's coming tomorrow to here.

SPEAKER_00:

Sarah Louise Law I.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Basically, my sister-in-law has exactly the same name as me, which is a

SPEAKER_01:

little bit weird. But yeah, you... Yeah, got a mum and a dad.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, really? That's good to know. Still around. Yeah, still around. Okay, so childhood, all good. But what were you like as a child?

SPEAKER_01:

What was I like as a child? Very shy.

SPEAKER_00:

How

SPEAKER_01:

much

SPEAKER_00:

has changed? Used to hide behind your mum. Very

SPEAKER_01:

quiet, very introvert, shy little boy.

SPEAKER_00:

But did you smile lots? I think

SPEAKER_01:

so, in

SPEAKER_00:

the pictures. Yeah, from the pictures I see you were quite smiley.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was a happy boy, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Just a shy, happy boy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, shy. I hid behind my mum and

SPEAKER_00:

my dad. And then tell us, so what happened after school? You went to secondary school. Tell us more about that.

SPEAKER_01:

Her primary school in Littleport. Then secondary school in Ely.

SPEAKER_00:

City of Ely. Community college. A wonderful community college. We both went to the same college. I was a year... Were you two years above me? Or a year above me? A year above you. A year above me. But we actually didn't... Didn't know you. No, we didn't know each other at school. Didn't want to know you. Yeah, so school. What were you like at school? Were you good? Were you naughty?

SPEAKER_01:

Not really naughty. Just... I don't know. It was quite good. Classes, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, actually, what was it that we found? Loads of sports. Your national record of achievement. I mean, this is going back. If you go to school, and not many people who go to school now will be listening to this, but if you're from the 80s, you'll remember that you had a national record of achievement that was like the teachers used to write about you and you had to write about yourself. And we found Ben's and I was absolutely crying with laughter because what did you say about yourself? It was brilliant. Something about, like, you take great pride in making sure that you look good and that your tie is always straight and all this

SPEAKER_01:

stuff. Yeah, a load of bullshit, basically. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

basically lying

SPEAKER_01:

about it. But, yeah, school was school, I guess. Met a load of friends from Ely who became still friends with me now, a lot of them.

SPEAKER_00:

Anything dramatic happen at school or was it quite boring land?

SPEAKER_01:

Not really. Just school, innit? Just, like...

SPEAKER_00:

School.

SPEAKER_01:

School. Did loads of sports. I was really into sports. Played a lot of football.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you get good

SPEAKER_01:

grades? Then got into basketball.

SPEAKER_00:

You're a bit short for a basketballer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but UK basketball. Okay. It's fine. Got four A's, four B's and a C.

SPEAKER_00:

Well done you. What did you get the A's in?

SPEAKER_01:

I was complete docile. You just...

SPEAKER_00:

Basically blanked

SPEAKER_01:

it. That's what I've been doing the rest of my life. Just blanking it. What did I get four A's in?

SPEAKER_00:

P.E. I'm going to say P.E.

SPEAKER_01:

P.E.

SPEAKER_00:

Art?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh, God.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't remember the other

SPEAKER_01:

one. Geography. Geography.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not sure of the other one.

SPEAKER_01:

One of that. One of that. I don't know. I can't think now. English. Maybe English. I don't know. No way. Let's get English.

SPEAKER_00:

You're in the English language. I'm not sure I believe that. Anyway, then what? Sixth Form? You went on to Sixth Form.

SPEAKER_01:

Sixth Form at Ely. Same place. Sixth Form Centre.

SPEAKER_00:

Horrible place.

SPEAKER_01:

It was all right.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a bit skanky.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but I... Yeah. That's kind of when I started losing... Not losing, but... I lost it. Just wasn't into education, like, anymore. I... I think I started with three A levels, one of them being art, PE, and geography. And then I dropped art, I think, because I hated it. It was just two A levels. And that was it. Geography and PE, which I didn't enjoy at all. Like, yeah, I wasn't really into it. What grades did you get? C and a D. But I didn't really do any of the work. I wasn't really interested. Hardly went into... I didn't go into sixth form that much.

SPEAKER_00:

I saw you, so you did go.

SPEAKER_01:

I did go because I went out with your mate.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Ben used to go out with one of my friends from school and I remember him sitting in our little clan and he just didn't speak to anyone. I was like, wow, he's moody. He did. He didn't, he just sat there.

SPEAKER_01:

In the common room.

SPEAKER_00:

In the common room, yeah. It was

SPEAKER_01:

quite... It was okay, wasn't it? It had like... People?

SPEAKER_00:

People.

SPEAKER_01:

The discos.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, the Cutter Discos. Cutter Discos. Yeah, they were. The

SPEAKER_01:

local pub.

SPEAKER_00:

They were classic. Good old Cutter Discos.

SPEAKER_01:

Just when we were starting to get into drinking heavily.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Falling down flights of stairs and

SPEAKER_01:

stuff. I guess I started going into drinking when I was like 15, 16. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

me too. That's not ideal really, is it?

SPEAKER_01:

Like going out in Ely on a Friday night. Underage. Just trying to get drink from anywhere. Yeah. Fake IDs. Yeah. Trying to get in the pub, in the Minster, the townhouse.

SPEAKER_00:

All of these naughtinesses.

SPEAKER_01:

Drinking before I went out, like a bottle of wine before I'd go out. Then I'd put like double vodkas in my beers.

SPEAKER_03:

That

SPEAKER_01:

tasted nice. I had like six beers, doubles in each of them. It's just...

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Did you ever go to the Arkham stall?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, several times.

SPEAKER_00:

That was another... Disco. Can you call it a disco? What was it? I guess it's a disco. In another little local town that we lived in. A little disco. Hadnam Disco. Called the Arkenstall. We probably crossed paths many times like even knowing

SPEAKER_01:

it. Yes, we did.

SPEAKER_00:

So sixth form.

SPEAKER_01:

Sixth form. And then I got, yeah, I ended up with the C&D because I didn't really do any work at all.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So then I... Didn't really know what I wanted to do after sixth form. Didn't know whether I wanted to go to university. So I ended up not going to university straight after uni. I mean, straight after sixth form. And then working for my dad. Dad's builder.

SPEAKER_00:

How long did you work for him for?

SPEAKER_01:

For a year. Building. Absolutely hated it. I mean, I've worked for him on and off. for years like in summer holidays and stuff like manual labor and then I had a kind of full year after uni by doing it I mean I got super strong and fit but that was like

SPEAKER_00:

in the winter

SPEAKER_01:

yeah it's not fun it's really not fun horrible hard like yes as you can imagine yeah and that kind of like drove me to Think, decide that I really want to go to uni now and, you know, get some proper education and get a proper job.

SPEAKER_00:

Saying that your dad didn't have a proper job. It was a very successful business.

SPEAKER_01:

He did, but not for me. Absolutely not. No. I solidified that. But then I only had a C and a D, obviously. There's only 10 points or something, which is not really enough to go and start a degree anywhere else. because you need a minimum of 12 or 14 points back then than what it's like now. So, and also had to go to look at like lower down the food chain, so we say universities. So ended up at Derby because that was actually also, because it was near where Nerys, your friend.

SPEAKER_00:

Your ex-girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01:

Ex-girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00:

My friend, ex-girlfriend. She

SPEAKER_01:

went to Nottingham University, which is near to Derby. So that was another reason I kind of looked there. I couldn't get into a degree, so I started an HND in IT, like computer science or computer studies. Because I was kind of into computers. I've always been a bit of a technical geek. I thought that's a good thing to pick because you can get a good job from it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you were right, but didn't you, when you first went, not like it and you went home a lot?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So that was the kind of first time I moved away from home, really. Well, it was the first time moving away from home.

SPEAKER_00:

Always been a little home boy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. A little shy, little boy.

SPEAKER_00:

Little

SPEAKER_01:

portion. So the first kind of month, six weeks, I absolutely hated it. It's like, I didn't like the course because it was I don't know, got more advanced and I've been, I thought, I thought I knew like more than I did, I think. And I started speaking to people like, wow, they know a lot more than me. I started freaking out about that. And then just being there, like being away from home, just being with like loads of new people. For a

SPEAKER_00:

little shy boy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It was just a lot to take in at once. Like, you know, loads of new people. You obviously have to share. Not tried like that. Halls of residence, like five of the people. But luckily, they're all really cool.

SPEAKER_00:

All still your friends?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, not now. They are, aren't they? Not really now. I don't really speak to them. Okay. I thought they were. Not Ash and that. You're thinking of Ash. No, no, no. There's the first lot. But they were really cool, like four other lads I live with. But I nearly left Ash. that was the first four weeks it got close because like oh perhaps I can leave perhaps I can go and work with dad again and it got to that stage but then I just stuck it out

SPEAKER_00:

thank goodness you did because where would you be now eh

SPEAKER_01:

but then literally after like four or five weeks I started to enjoy it started to like enjoy made a load of friends started going out I mean

SPEAKER_03:

going

SPEAKER_01:

out a lot going out a lot at uni first year it's just nuts but Really started to like it. Stuck with it. Just went out five, six nights a week. Smashed.

SPEAKER_00:

How did you survive? I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know. It's just really not unhealthy. But went out probably so much that I actually failed my first year at uni. Well done. Well done you. You do like eight modules and I pass five and you just pass six or something to pass the year. So yet again. I failed. So the second year, I kind of knuckled down.

SPEAKER_00:

How many nights a week did you go out in the second year?

SPEAKER_01:

Still quite a lot, but not really as much. I don't know, three, four. The second year, I knuckled down and actually passed 10 modules in my second year. Really caught up with all the ones I've failed, basically.

SPEAKER_03:

Well done.

SPEAKER_01:

So I passed the second year and completed the stuff from the first year.

SPEAKER_00:

What was your diet like at uni?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I didn't really know how to cook at all, obviously, because I hadn't really cooked. Ever? Ever.

SPEAKER_00:

Because your mum had cooked.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And made you cakes.

SPEAKER_01:

So I remember, like, first trying to make pasta. They, like, boiled the pasta and put the sauce in. In with the water and the pasta.

SPEAKER_00:

So this is like watery slop.

SPEAKER_01:

Watery, tomatoey, sloppy pasta thing. I didn't even know how to bake a potato. I

SPEAKER_00:

was probably about the same, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, it was just lots of pasta and...

SPEAKER_00:

Mackerel. Tinned

SPEAKER_01:

mackerel. Mackerel, yeah. Tinned mackerel pasta. That was my signature dish. Pasta mackerel. Domio sauce.

SPEAKER_00:

At least you got some oily fish in there. Loads of cheese. Sweet corn. I mean, I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, freeze.

SPEAKER_00:

Bit of veg maybe. I don't know if you can class sweet corn as veg.

SPEAKER_01:

And then stir fries, but like the most basic stir fries. A

SPEAKER_00:

packet with some black bean sauce.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Packet of veg. Just chopped up chicken breast. Cheap chicken breast.

SPEAKER_00:

I lived on that as a dancer.

SPEAKER_01:

And then some noodles. A domino sauce

SPEAKER_00:

or something. An egg noodle.

SPEAKER_01:

Loads of beans on toast. Loads of jack potatoes.

SPEAKER_00:

Standard. So you finally learned how to cook a jacket potato. I learned

SPEAKER_01:

quick. I learned quick. You have

SPEAKER_00:

to. You've got no choice. Otherwise you eat cereal. Yeah. Probably did eat quite a bit of cereal as well, didn't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Loads of cereal. Loads of carbs.

SPEAKER_00:

And when did you start getting... Dear, yawned.

SPEAKER_01:

Stop it.

SPEAKER_00:

When did you start getting into fitness?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I played loads of football. That was my sport. like from when I was like 11, 12, like every week, played in a team, like loads and loads of football, football, football, then got into basketball, like I said. But then I was kind of doing both basketball and football. And then I kind of started getting into weights first at like 18, maybe 16, 17, 18. I started going to the Paradise Centre. After... build after working with dad, building. I remember going to the gym and lifting weights.

SPEAKER_00:

Ouch. That's

SPEAKER_01:

quite intense, isn't it? Yeah. So, and then, yeah, I was got a very good shape. Like I could run for days and then started getting strong. But then I went to uni and it all went out the window. I did join the football team at uni, but Didn't really go to the gym and lift weights until like the second year of uni maybe. And then it was the third year. I'm just trying to think what happened. It was the first, second year of HND. Then I did, I did, I kind of passed that and then converted it into a degree. So I had to do another year. That'd be the second year of the degree. I think this is my actual third year of uni. So then I had to like, really knuckle down again. Still living with the same lads that we got together. Look, I stayed in the halls of residence in the first year. So we sort of stayed together again for the third year. And then did that year. And then I had to do a work placement in Tunbridge Wells. So I had a year down there with my girlfriend at the time, Nicola, who I met at uni in my first year.

SPEAKER_00:

How long were you with Nicola for?

SPEAKER_01:

For four years, five years. Wow. My entire uni career. Uni career. Whatever you call it. Uni time. Uni time career. Uni time. Yeah, went down to Summery Wells, then that kind of, they worked at Fidelity Investments, doing like web stuff, redid their kind of internal website. But then me and Nicola broke up. when I was down there she like moved down there with me like moved away from home

SPEAKER_03:

and

SPEAKER_01:

then it all went tits up and we kind of broke up and she moved out of our flat down there into a friend's house yeah it was awkward and bad oh dear sounds quite bad I had a good time down there like nice place just outside London and then came back to Derby for my final year My fifth year at uni. Fifth and final

SPEAKER_00:

year.

SPEAKER_01:

And then, yeah, I got a flat by myself in the middle of Derby. That was a really, really tough year. The final year at uni is just head down, tough. You just do your dissertation, like 11,000 word thing. Sounds horrible. Had to like build this website, build a thing. And yeah, loads of work. But still went out, partied. As much as possible. Still kind of played football for a local team, like uni and then a local team. Still eating.

SPEAKER_00:

Pasta mackerel.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a lot of high carb.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Lowish fat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was a standard back then. Yeah. So you finished uni.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Finished uni, got my 2.1 degree, which is quite shocked about.

SPEAKER_00:

And then

SPEAKER_01:

what? And then out into the big wide world. Oh

SPEAKER_00:

my goodness. The big wide world. So stayed

SPEAKER_01:

in Derby.

SPEAKER_00:

Derby.

SPEAKER_01:

Derby. Lived with Liam for a bit, my friend and his girlfriend at the time. I'm still his wife now. They're not broken up. And then got a job at a company called Thompson Prometric doing health and safety tests for builders.

SPEAKER_00:

That sounds fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like mobile test centers. Had to go around the country setting up these mobile test centers.

SPEAKER_00:

What did that have to do with your degree?

SPEAKER_01:

It didn't. It was just Gibney, my friend, Andy Gibney.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

I got a random call after I finished uni saying, do you want to come and work for this company doing these testing things? We paid like 20 grand, which was amazing at the time.

SPEAKER_00:

That's crazy to think about now. 20 grand a year?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Holy moly. It was like 21 grand. I was like, wow, that's good. Straight out of uni. It said it's like, it'd be quite easy. So I said, yeah, okay. Kind of, so I did that and it has, but it was only like three hours, three or four hours a day. Only like three, three days a week or something. So it gave me time to look at other stuff. So then I applied for other jobs, like in web development and got another job doing web development in Nottingham, a company called Senior Internet. So I lived in Derby doing this health and safety testing thing and then had this web development job as well in Nottingham that I do like two or three days a week. At the time I wasn't doing this. Other things, I was driving from Derby to Nottingham doing this web stuff and then other days I was doing driving around the country doing this. There's a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

A lot of driving.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of stuff. Did that for about a year maybe. Maybe not that long. Maybe it was. And then... Then what?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. You tell me. Then what?

SPEAKER_01:

Still in Derby. And then I think the testing thing may have come to an end. I then carried on doing the internet thing in Nottingham. And then maybe, I think, did that come to an end? They weren't... I don't know. They offered me full-time there, but the pay was really low, like 15 grand a year or something. Yeah. I was like, no, I can't do that. So then I applied for another web job in Newark. That's where Lucy Superfox lives.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh. There you

SPEAKER_01:

go.

SPEAKER_00:

How random.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a company called NSK, which manufactured ball bearings.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. It's varied, isn't it? It's a career of yours.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. It was, yeah. But it was a good job. Absolutely bricked it when I started because it was a bit of a step up.

SPEAKER_00:

Manufacturing ball bearings.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You don't... Ball bearings are like massive machinery ball bearings, not like little...

SPEAKER_03:

Ones.

SPEAKER_01:

So they had to drive from, still live in Derby, so drive from Derby to Newark to do this web job at like an industrial estate, like properly, like the office, you know, like grey, really old school. How long was the commute? About an hour and 15. Wow. So I had to get up at six... quarter to six, leave at quarter past six, maybe, or half six, to a horrible commute to this industrial

SPEAKER_00:

estate. Takes you longer than that to have a shower every day, so I'm surprised you managed it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I drove there to this industrial estate, did this job, which is actually a really good job, and I learnt loads, and it was really good for my career, and I did some good work there, and But then I started, and then I was still living with like a lady uni lot who was still going out and getting smashed. And I was trying to work all these hours. I was just shattered basically. I'd get back, but that's when I started going to the gym again and lifting weights. So I'd go to Virgin Active after work at like six o'clock or 6.30. I'd drive back from Newark, go straight to the gym. I remember a slight parking in the car park for the gym and Actually falling asleep in the car park before I'd go in the gym because I was that tired. But I still made myself go into the gym, do a session. But I was quite cardio focused actually still. I'd just go and run or something or go in the rower. Didn't

SPEAKER_00:

you freak out?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that was it. My final year at uni, I got into bodybuilding like big time again with my friend Liam. And we'd go like five days a week, this local gym, like a bro split, do like back and bys, and then next one would be chest and tris, and then back, and then shoulders, and then another one would be abs. But we were like, you know, we were really going for it.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you ever do legs?

SPEAKER_01:

I think, yeah. Not much. Typical. Skip leg day. But we, you know, it was like 20s, like could build muscle so easy.

SPEAKER_00:

Newbie gains.

SPEAKER_01:

So we did that for like six or 12 months. I remember like going back home first.

SPEAKER_00:

To little old Ely.

SPEAKER_01:

Summer or something or, I don't know. Anyway, went back and, you know, you're like, you look in the mirrors that you're used to looking at yourself in. Yeah. Like my parents' mirrors in the bathroom. I remember, like, looking at myself for the first time in ages after doing all these workouts, thinking, wow, I look really bulky and weird. Like, my arms are, like, huge. But, like, I always felt, like, out of proportion. It was like, I didn't like it. It was weird. It was like, oh, God, I'm too big. I'm too bulky and kind of freaked out. And then from that point on, I stopped lifting weights.

SPEAKER_00:

Just imagine how big you'd be now if you'd carried

SPEAKER_01:

on. I don't know why I freaked out so much. But I just stopped. I was like, I've got to stop. I've got to do cardio again. So I just did cardio for like...

SPEAKER_00:

And you did body pump.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I did cardio for years after that, like four or five years and kind of lost a load of most of that muscle. And did things like body pump and...

SPEAKER_00:

I always remember when we first got together when you lived in Chiswick and you used to go and do body pump. That was in the days when I didn't even go to a gym. It progressed to body

SPEAKER_01:

pump though. I'd just go to the running machine before that. I'd just go and run for half an hour and that'd be it. And then I'd sort of get into body pump where it's a bit more weights and one called total body condition. But this is later. So... It's

SPEAKER_00:

the wind.

SPEAKER_01:

So, after NSK, doing this web job, I got a really good experience. That was about two years there. I was like, I need to move on. I need to get out of this small town. I want to go to London. I want to move to London. I want to see

SPEAKER_02:

the

SPEAKER_01:

city. The big lights. I knew there was more, man.

SPEAKER_00:

More than Derby.

SPEAKER_01:

So, I quit that job, moved back with the parents briefly while I applied for jobs in London. Got a few interviews in London. And it was actually the first interview I had, I got that job. And it was at Universal Music in Hammersmith.

SPEAKER_00:

It was the most cushy job.

SPEAKER_01:

And it was, yeah, it was amazing, really.

SPEAKER_00:

You were a contractor, weren't you? So you

SPEAKER_01:

weren't like... It's almost like a full-time employee, though. You just don't get holiday pay and that, but you get paid loads more. So I'd like tripled my salary from my last job. And I moved into a shared house, but it was quite a cool...

SPEAKER_00:

It was a really nice place.

SPEAKER_01:

Cool shared house in Chiswick. Chiswick was lovely. Yeah. And then the job was quite cushy. You live like no... You have to wear a formal dress. You wear a casual dress. And the whole floor was like Aussies.

SPEAKER_00:

You used to go in at like 10?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, start work at 10. Like, gosh, just loads of Aussies. It was just, it was like, oh God, this is like, this is the dream. Living in London, like.

SPEAKER_00:

Having fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Having loads of money at the time. It was like, this is.

SPEAKER_00:

You used to shop in Marks and Spencers a lot. I remember. Your dinner was always an M&S meal.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, I was like living in London, loving it. And that's when I started going, yeah, well, going to the gym again, Virgin Active, my lunch break for like two hours. Probably wasn't supposed to. I then got into, yeah, the body pumps and the total body conditioning and all these classes. I

SPEAKER_00:

can't even imagine you in a class now.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, me neither. But then it kind of transitioned again to like, Oh, perhaps I'll go in the weights room again. And I just started going and just doing weights again. Stopped the classes and then started really getting into the weights again. Loved doing just weights.

SPEAKER_00:

And this was the time that we got together. Yes. Tell everyone about the best day of your life.

SPEAKER_01:

And then we got together.

SPEAKER_00:

We did. We became friends on Facebook.

SPEAKER_01:

You stalked me on Facebook. That's good, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, maybe a little.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. What was it? I went back on Christmas to Eli. Yeah. And then you messaged me on Facebook randomly.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, no. So basically what happened, I'll tell it because I can tell it better. We became friends on Facebook and I was living in Germany because I was dancing out there and you were living in London and I came home for Christmas to Eli and you went home to Eli for Christmas. And I went out for dinner with all my old school friends. And I said to them, has anyone seen Ben? Because he's quite fit. And one of my friends was going out with Ben's best friend. So she was like, I'm going to find out if he's single. So she messaged her boyfriend to ask Ben if he was single. And Ben said, yes, I'm single. However... He wasn't single. He was lying. But we both met in the pub on Christmas Eve because everyone used to go to the same pub, didn't they? This cool pub. Well, it's not a cool pub, but it was a cool Christmas Eve because everyone would be back there. Yeah. But I'd had a bad stomach, so I wasn't drinking. So I didn't dare talk to you. You didn't dare talk to me. So we basically didn't talk to each other and left. So when I got home, I was like, shit, this is it. So I messaged him on Facebook. And you actually read the message out at the wedding, didn't you? Because that's the thing with Facebook messages. They don't go anywhere. You can still see them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So then I asked you to go out for a drink. Oh, no. Sarah and Rich, our friends, got engaged. So I said, we'll probably go out for a drink with them to celebrate. And then I think you said, oh, I can't. I'm doing something with family. But then they had... Drinks the day afterwards and we were both there and that was how it began, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

The rest is history. The rest is history. We started seeing each other. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

long distance. I

SPEAKER_01:

would go to Germany because you still live in Germany, I'd go like every other weekend, well not every other weekend but... A lot. A lot. You loved your little bockham trips. Loved my little Germany trips.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And then you moved to London.

SPEAKER_00:

With you and your best mate. One of your best mates. That was a bit weird, but cool. All in one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So after a year, two years in Chiswick, two years, probably two years in Chiswick, then you were on the scene. I

SPEAKER_00:

was.

SPEAKER_01:

You came back to London. Then we moved in, me, you and my friend Smithy.

SPEAKER_00:

To City Road.

SPEAKER_01:

City Road in

SPEAKER_00:

Old Street. In a real boy pad. A lad pad. I didn't really get to pick it. They went to pick it and it was a real lad pad. Not a real lad pad. It was a lad pad, come on. City pad. There was one that you said I would have liked a lot more.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, maybe the first one was probably a lot better actually looking back in hindsight. But it was fun-ish. It was opposite a really cool pub as well. Yeah, the Eagle.

SPEAKER_00:

Eagle.

SPEAKER_01:

But we only lived there for a year,

SPEAKER_00:

did we? I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Or two years. I

SPEAKER_00:

can't even remember now.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a lot to tell here, isn't it? I didn't realise. You went away on tour that year too. We were still living there, hated it. I was still at Universal Music, so kind of moved away from Hammersmith. So then I had to travel like 45 minutes an hour on the tube back to Hammersmith. The first two years at Universal were really good, loved it. And then The last year, third year, I hated it because I had a new boss, an absolute prick. I hope you're listening. I just hated it and everything changed, like a lot of the Aussies left. So I decided I didn't want to work there anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

You got made redundant, didn't you? Not that

SPEAKER_01:

one. I didn't think of that one. I was like, it's time for a change. But I didn't really know if I wanted to do another contracting job

SPEAKER_00:

in IT. You wanted to become a DJ. This was when the DJing career began. I

SPEAKER_01:

forgot all about that. Then I started getting into DJing at University of Music. I started getting into techno. And I mean, I spent most of my time at work listening to techno tracks on Beatport. Not actually work. And talking to my mate Don about DJing and techno. And then... started doing a few gigs in London like loved it really like really got into it like massively started recording mixes and putting them out on the internet on my own website and SoundCloud

SPEAKER_00:

you can still find him on the internet what is your site where would people find

SPEAKER_01:

you the actual Ben Law djbenlaw.com I took down I wish I'd have kept it up

SPEAKER_00:

why did you take it down

SPEAKER_01:

huh

SPEAKER_00:

why did you do that I

SPEAKER_01:

don't really know it was costing it was a different technical shit a different server that I had to get rid of so yeah so I really because I was well I haven't even talked about the club my clubbing life I was big into clubbing like loved it clubbing clubbing clubbing when I first went to Ibiza in the like when I was 18

SPEAKER_00:

so basically what you're learning from this is Benjamin Law is a big party animal I

SPEAKER_01:

was massively yeah like go clubbing every weekend had like had to go clubbing every weekend did all sorts of naughty things

SPEAKER_00:

Friday to Saturday Monday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Friday to Monday and just feel like death on a Monday. And then by Wednesday, I'd feel kind of all right again. And start all again on a Friday. And that kind of carried on into London. Obviously, I had like loads of clubs in London. But then got into DJing.

SPEAKER_00:

Then you met me and I was boring.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you were really into it, but it was quite nice to have someone calm.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, if it had been 80s music, it would have been a different story. But techno was not my thing.

SPEAKER_01:

So, yeah, at that point I was still drinking loads, taking drugs.

UNKNOWN:

Oh, my God.

SPEAKER_00:

I drank a lot as well. We drank a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We drank loads in the

SPEAKER_01:

20s. geez I drink it this was like drinking at home just on a Friday night I'd have like six or seven beers just sat in the house and stay up until two in the morning just watching just because just because yeah that's what you did yeah so where are we then I kind of

SPEAKER_00:

in that period what did you do

SPEAKER_01:

for money and dream worked no

SPEAKER_00:

you'd finished working you weren't working at Universal anymore

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so then ended the job at Universal, still living in City Road. And then I was like, oh, perhaps I can become a DJ, which is ridiculous to try and make money as a DJ. And then kind of got into the stock market. So that was the plan then. I was going to... be a trader and a dj

SPEAKER_00:

yeah trader by day dj by night

SPEAKER_01:

so i really got into the kind of trading stock market stuff for a while i actually made a little bit of money i thought wow i can do this and then like lost a lot of money and i was like oh no i can't do this and then yeah the dj was like really hard to make any kind of money unless you really, really go for it and hustle and network and blah, blah,

SPEAKER_00:

blah. Mr. Network over here.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was like six months of trying that or maybe even a bit longer. I was like, shit, I've got no money. I need to get another contracting job. But because I've been out of work for quite a while, it was really, really hard.

SPEAKER_00:

What happened? Tell everyone about the mobile phone thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah. That was

SPEAKER_00:

one of your other.

SPEAKER_01:

Other ventures was like to try and buy mobile phones cheap from China or somewhere in America and sell them.

SPEAKER_00:

Bought some. How many phones did you buy?

SPEAKER_01:

Loads, like hundreds of what I thought I did. Hundreds of phones, like paid like£3,000 maybe.

SPEAKER_02:

For

SPEAKER_01:

nothing. Yeah, they never turned up. It was a complete scam.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, the stock market thing didn't really work. And then the DJ thing couldn't make money. So then I had to apply for more jobs. Well, that was really hard though. That was like a very low point because I...

SPEAKER_00:

Didn't want to.

SPEAKER_01:

Didn't want to. And I couldn't actually get a job for like months. Like, God, good three or four months of applying and interviewing and not getting anything. I was like, shit, I've got this place in London. I started to start borrowing money off mum and dad again, which is never fun. No. Yeah, it was a very low point. I was like, what am I going to do? I can't actually get a job. And then I had an interview at Barclays Capital in Canary Wharf that went really, really well. And that's a really massive job. But then I still didn't hear anything for like, three or four weeks maybe oh damn it like i thought that was the one and then randomly got a phone call from the agent i remember i was on the loo standard like one morning the phone rang he's like oh yeah bar cap for short i want to offer you the job and he's like it's 450 a day all right i was like Yes. Yeah, yeah, that'll do, yeah. So all of a sudden, I got this job, like paying a lot of money in Canary Wharf.

SPEAKER_00:

Where you had to wear a suit and everything.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a proper job. Had to wear a suit, work at Canary Wharf, getting like rammed on a tube every morning. But, it paid really well so did it and actually bricking it because it's like a like a proper job

SPEAKER_00:

a real job

SPEAKER_01:

a proper proper job but then I actually got in there and the people were like really nice and the work wasn't that that scary it was like stuff I'd kind of done before just different stuff ish

SPEAKER_00:

we moved to that point to Wapping

SPEAKER_01:

Wapping living with my friend we got a apartment just the two of us in Wapping which is quite a strange place but

SPEAKER_00:

cool but weird all in one opposite another really good pub though

SPEAKER_01:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

we all seem to land near the pubs Captain Kidd

SPEAKER_01:

well there's so many nice pubs in London

SPEAKER_00:

yeah on the Thames wasn't

SPEAKER_01:

it yeah and it was close it was close it was really close to Canary Wharf yeah not super close it was quite close but the commute was much better The pad was nearly nice, but freezing cold.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely Baltic. Really old.

SPEAKER_01:

Electric heaters. Really old place, isn't it? Yeah. Grade two listed building

SPEAKER_00:

type. But electric radiators that we didn't realize how to use properly. So when we left, we got a bill for how

SPEAKER_01:

much? Thousands.

SPEAKER_00:

Thousands of pounds. And we were like, oh my God.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, I did the job at Canary Wharf. It was like five months in. Didn't really like it. At all. It was quite a lot of pressure, like intense. But stuck it out. Wasn't intending to leave, but after five months, they got rid of like half the floor or something of contractors in one day. Because that's how cutthroat it is in that kind of industry in banking. And I was one of the people they got rid of. It was like...

SPEAKER_00:

Damn. And that was just after we'd moved as well. And we were like, oh. And I wasn't earning a huge amount at that point either. So it was like, oh dear.

SPEAKER_01:

Just after we signed the contract in this expensive apartment in London.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01:

I was like, oh shit. Shit, this is not good.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

So then I was like, fuck this. I don't want to get another contract ever again. I don't enjoy it.

SPEAKER_03:

What can I do?

SPEAKER_01:

What can I do? Luckily, because the job paid so well, I'd actually saved like 20 or 30 grand maybe. So we could kind of stick it out there for a little bit, not for too long. But I was like, damn it, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And then I started doing like how to make money online or even searching that. I think that was the time of the mobile phones maybe.

SPEAKER_00:

Was it? Buy some mobile phones. But like, what can

SPEAKER_01:

I do? What can I do? Then read about like affiliate marketing and like creating these websites. I was also like into health and fitness. So I started making like health websites, like how to get six pack abs and stuff like that. So you actually call the website howtogetsixpackabs.com. Then you try and rank that website in Google and then you put your affiliate links there. to like these digital products, like how to get six-pack abs.

SPEAKER_00:

Who did the digital product? Where did they come

SPEAKER_01:

from? There's a site called ClickBank. I think it's still going now. Well, there's loads of affiliate sites.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

It's still going now. You can get like digital products. You can promote loads of stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Seems to be a good market. You get like 70%

SPEAKER_01:

commission because it's a digital product. It doesn't cost anything. So you make a load quite a lot from each sale.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you make the website and then put links, obviously these affiliate links to these products. It's quite easy-ish to rank. I was making loads of these websites. I think I made about 10 websites, different products, but got hardly any sales. It's like, oh shit, this is not working.

SPEAKER_00:

Life of an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_01:

yeah it wasn't really bringing in much at all but in doing this one of the products i was promoting was amazon money machine or something amazon i think it was amazon money machine like how to make money on amazon so then i ended up actually doing the course myself because I was like oh this is interesting why not try and actually just do this course that I was trying to sell so I did it and the guy in it was selling supplements on Amazon and like teaching you how to sell but it just teaches you how to sell on Amazon but you so as so happened to be selling supplements on Amazon I was like oh there's this thing called like private labelling where you can just buy products and I'm a company, put your own label on and sell them on Amazon. And he was like, I was like, ah, this is interesting. Perhaps I could actually sell supplements, like proper products. And, you know, he said, I've always taken supplements. I was taking supplements for years prior to that. Like I've been into health and fitness, like

SPEAKER_00:

since my teens probably. Apart from the pasta mackerel and the beans. I mean,

SPEAKER_01:

I wasn't eating rubbish. I wasn't eating crap.

SPEAKER_00:

Apart from your mum's homemade cake. Huh? Well, when I

SPEAKER_01:

was little, yeah. So I was like, yeah, maybe I can do this myself, this supplement thing. And then, so I started looking for suppliers, like, trolling the internet for suppliers. Like, there's so many dodgy companies out there. and like you just don't know what's good or bad obviously I wanted to try and get the best possible and then I found one that I thought was good I think I put in an order for 100 5HTP well then I found another one and then They were saying, like, oh, don't go with these. They're terrible. Like, this is, like, a complete scam. I was like... And then these, like, seemed more legit, but they only did, like, they did 250 minimum order. I was like, no, that's too many. I can't afford 250 units, so I'm going to have to go with these other guys. So 100. But then he was like, oh, no, no, I want you to go with them, so I'll drop my minimum order to 100 so I can order 100 with these other guys. They're called Hellspark. They bought 100 5HTP, put my own, designed my own label, and they turned up in the whopping. Remember they're turning

SPEAKER_00:

up? I do remember. They were the little flat pack ones.

SPEAKER_01:

Little flat pack.

SPEAKER_00:

They could go through the letterbox. Go through the

SPEAKER_01:

letterbox. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We need to show people the original packaging. Yeah. And Love Life Supplements was born. And

SPEAKER_01:

that was it. And I think the name come from speaking to my mate Don. Good old Don. You like Don. Yeah. He said, yeah, that's all right. It's a good name. Sounds good. I wish there was a better story for the name. Yeah, but there isn't. Yeah, he got the box of 100 virus to be. He sent them to the Amazon warehouse. Well, before that, I had to set up my Amazon account, which was not easy because they didn't. It's hard to set up a new supplement brand on there if you're not established. I had to battle with Amazon just to get it set up, which I did in the end. In that category, in health and wellness, whatever, health and beauty. Sent the products in and then didn't sell anything for ages. Like just looking at the sales report every day, just like zero, zero, zero, zero, zero. Because I had to get reviews. I had no reviews. So I started asking all my friends to review it. I had to buy it and review it or I'd send it to them and review it. So I got started getting a few reviews and all of a sudden started getting like sales, like one sale a day, two sales a day, maybe three, three sales a day. But then you still needed to get like more and more reviews. So I'd like handwrite postcards to all the customers.

SPEAKER_03:

I remember.

SPEAKER_01:

Ask them if they would review the product and they started reviewing the product. And back then it was a different world, like Amazon. It took them like 11, 12 years ago. It's easy, a lot easier to rank at the top. So I started like getting to the top of the search results for 5HTP after three or four months, maybe.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

So then it started selling and then I was still using my own money from this contracting job. like bootstrap it but that was coming to an end I think even though I was getting a little bit of cash back from this 5HTP I think I had to borrow a little bit from dad maybe good

SPEAKER_00:

old dad

SPEAKER_01:

yeah to launch two new products like raspberry ketones and african mango I was going to say african mango I think it was the hot products at the time for like fat loss

SPEAKER_00:

african mango

SPEAKER_01:

and then did the same process again This is probably after like six months, eight months. And then they started selling. And then more money started coming in. I think I probably just had about enough coming in to add products myself. But in that time period, we moved out of London, didn't we?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we moved to Hitchin.

SPEAKER_01:

Because I was like, but I didn't want to move. Because I loved London so much, but I wanted to stay in London. But it was just not practical, was it?

SPEAKER_00:

And there was no need. We didn't need to live

SPEAKER_01:

in London. You didn't need to be there, really. Too expensive.

SPEAKER_00:

And hitching, we could get somewhere way bigger for our money and still commute into London in 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_01:

Easiest commute into London. So I went kicking and screaming into our detached house.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I remember, what was it you said? Half the price. You said, I remember you wheeling in on your little wheelie chair into the kitchen one day. because you used to have your office near the lounge near the kitchen in Wapping and you wheeled into the kitchen I swear you were in your dressing gown and you were like I'll move to Hitchin but only because it's got a good gym yeah that was the criteria they

SPEAKER_01:

had a really good gym yeah which I never

SPEAKER_00:

actually no you never went to it but yeah that was we forced you we

SPEAKER_01:

actually loved it didn't we we loved it in Hitchin still love it now

SPEAKER_00:

yeah if we lived in the UK we'd live in Hitchin so how did how did love life progress from that moment

SPEAKER_01:

so then we moved to Hitchin and then just rinse and repeat really like I'd upped my postcard game to like get in a company oh no I found I worked out to like mass print them at home I think so I'd buy the postcards online like especially printed for me but then print the text on the back

SPEAKER_00:

I remember you doing that

SPEAKER_01:

yeah and stamping them

SPEAKER_00:

You had a franking machine.

SPEAKER_01:

Initially, I just put stamps on them. And then I got a franking machine. And Frank could churn out loads, like thousands of postcards. So every month I was sending out thousands of postcards. I don't actually know how I... I was just thinking how I posted them. I don't know. Did you go to... I actually posted... Did I post them myself? I think I... I did. But I ripped the... which is not what you're supposed to do now all the addresses I had to get all the addresses this is where my programming skills helped I'd download all everyone's addresses from Amazon which is bad but I had to like format them using like code to like put them in a file so I could churn them out print them out print out the envelopes everyone's address on like thousands of addresses on the envelope but then I had to put them all in the the postcards into the envelopes stamp them take them down to the post office post them did that for a long time and then I found a company who do everything so you just send them all the addresses

SPEAKER_00:

and they did it all for you they did that that was a revelation

SPEAKER_01:

the company in Hitchin Yeah, it was Revelation. So I just had to send them the data, the whole thing. So, yeah, I just kept adding products.

SPEAKER_00:

And when did it progress to you actually formulating them rather than white labeling? So

SPEAKER_01:

then, it was quite early on, I think. I think, yeah, I wanted to like start doing my own stuff, make it, unique to me and better than my supplier could provide. So then started doing more custom formulas, like probably after the first couple of years, two or three years. And then we moved supplier to some more local, you know. Yeah, and we started doing more custom stuff, and then started really getting into making it as clean as possible. I

SPEAKER_00:

was going to say, when did that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it started like getting rid of all the fillers and excipients. I never really had any bulking agents, or maybe we did to begin with, but then I started having battles with the suppliers to, you know, getting cleaner and cleaner.

SPEAKER_00:

Why was that important to you?

SPEAKER_01:

Because I just didn't like, I just didn't think it was necessary to have these bulking agents in there. It was like you're just filling up the capsule just to fill up a capsule. I didn't see the point. You might as well put something else in there or put more of what's in there in there.

SPEAKER_00:

Or have a smaller capsule. Or have a

SPEAKER_01:

smaller capsule. And I didn't. want other like unnecessary fillers or nastier fillers for like lubricating agents and anti-caking agents

SPEAKER_00:

so tell people more about that and why they should look for things like that in their supplements

SPEAKER_01:

because they can you know they can have side effects like Some of these excipients are synthetic, chemical-based. We don't know for sure what they can do in the body. So if they cannot be there...

SPEAKER_00:

And can they affect the absorption of the actual...

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they can.

SPEAKER_00:

...nutrients within the

SPEAKER_01:

capsule? Yeah, that's another thing. And, you know, if you push manufacturers, often they can do it without, or you just find manufacturers that can. Because they just... It's just an easy... way out for them i mean i do get it you know it makes them run through the machines easier that's what they do they can do produce capsules quicker but we found people to do it without

SPEAKER_03:

yeah

SPEAKER_01:

and then it was the the actual quality of the ingredients themselves we really started to hone in on and trying to get the best quality raw ingredients out there because some very low quality raw ingredients on the market cheap that's why people can sell products so cheap and like tested you know by our suppliers thoroughly to make sure they live hit the active levels

SPEAKER_00:

so tell us more about that with regards to like what what is on a label but actually what is in a capsule

SPEAKER_01:

so

SPEAKER_00:

What you discovered through testing?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we haven't actually tested other people's products.

SPEAKER_00:

No, but what you've learned through...

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, it's very... There's a lot of products on the market that don't have in them what they say they have in them. That's for sure. Like... Even some of the stuff, our own stuff that we've tested... Because we will now third-party test most stuff to make sure our manufacturer is, you know...

SPEAKER_00:

Providing what they say.

SPEAKER_01:

Providing what they say. And sometimes it's not, so we will reject it. So, for a fact, 99% of companies are not doing that.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's important, peeps, to look at what you're buying when you buy supplements, isn't it? Because what you may buy... may not be what you think it is.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I mean, there are companies that will buy, like, randomly buy products on Amazon and test them independently and find that they don't even have, either don't have the ingredient there at all.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Or it's at such a low level. It's hardly detected. Hardly detected. That's

SPEAKER_03:

crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

D3, K2, like, are... Kappa Bioscience. We provide our K2 tested hundreds of products. A lot of them didn't even have K2 in them.

SPEAKER_00:

That is unbelievable. Crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and it's rife.

SPEAKER_00:

It is. That's bonkers. So that's how you got to where you are today with Love Life Supplements.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I jumped some big steps there.

SPEAKER_00:

This is going to be a really long podcast. I

SPEAKER_01:

know, it's already very long. So where were we? Hitching, building the business. We were there for like three years. Yes.

UNKNOWN:

Three years in Hitching. I did it. That's when I like my first home gym. Yeah. In the garage. Loved that home gym.

SPEAKER_03:

I

SPEAKER_00:

used to do Insanity in there. Just doing like stupid shit in the gym, weren't I? Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Like random.

SPEAKER_00:

Jumping over chairs and round tables. Yeah, we both started in the Insanity workout then.

UNKNOWN:

Like high intensity.

SPEAKER_00:

That was the beginning of the end for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. High intensity beasting. And then I started spying weights and stuff again, didn't I? Yeah. And I'd do random... Not really bodybuilding as such, but a bit of bodybuilding and then just mixed with like just random shit. Like looking back at my videos at this, it's like,

SPEAKER_00:

wow, what was I doing? Some of the earlier Instagram videos are

SPEAKER_01:

classic. I was like watching YouTube videos and like trying to emulate like Olympic lifting. But like looking back now, like the form is so bad. There's some videos on YouTube still.

SPEAKER_00:

Go and check him out, Ben

SPEAKER_01:

Law. Even my squat was like, what the hell is that? That's not a squat. That's bad. But I was enjoying myself.

SPEAKER_00:

You were. Luckily you didn't hurt yourself too much.

SPEAKER_01:

I'd just go and do a random workout, didn't I? Or go to the park and do sprints. That's when I started getting into... Marks and systems. That's when I started getting into like... paleo and low carb and Mark Sisson. When I read Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Body, it sort of really started getting me into the down the paleo route and the low carb, keto.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you did the Primal Blueprint.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the Primal Blueprint qualification, like Mark Sisson's course. That's where kind of Brendan Law Primal came from because he was the whole Primal movement. This type of stuff. So I started doing like the sprints down the park, which were killer. Started wearing the barefoot shoes, started doing...

SPEAKER_00:

You started the biohacking journey, really?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like this is before biohacking was a thing. Way before biohacking was a thing. You were the original biohacker. I am the original biohacker. Without even knowing it. No, it seriously was like before... Even like keto was cool or paleo was cool or anything was cool. So I started doing the bulletproof coffees.

SPEAKER_00:

Long time ago. The wonder shakes. The wonder shakes. There's a great video on YouTube of the wonder shake. No, it's not great. It's hilarious. It's great if you want to laugh.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, cut out all the pastas and the bread and the grains really and then carbs. All

SPEAKER_00:

carbs for a long time. Even like potatoes and rice. You were like, Mr. Hate carbs, carbs are the devil.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, lost loads of weight.

SPEAKER_00:

To the point where my mum thought he was ill. She was like, Penn looks very cool. But just like,

SPEAKER_01:

felt great. Felt amazing. Felt lost. But mainly body fat and a bit muscle. Yeah, so then I really got into that movement and then it kind of influenced the products I started producing, kind of more paleo type stuff. Did a whole primal range of Of products. And then we left Hitchin. For some reason, we went to Bishop's Stortford.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's because we wanted a bigger house and we kept looking in Hitchin and there was nothing coming up, so we extended the search.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we'd outgrown our little house in Portman Close and wanted a bigger house. Couldn't find anything in Hitchin, really, could we? No. We thought, oh, Bishop's Stortford looks all right.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Went there and then realised I didn't really like it.

SPEAKER_01:

Loved the house. House was great. Didn't really like it. Although, that's when I...

SPEAKER_00:

Began the CrossFit world.

SPEAKER_01:

Began the CrossFit journey and really, really got into CrossFit. Shout out to Liftoff CrossFit. Liftoff. And Tom McPartland and the other coaches. And, like, fell in love with CrossFit, like, beyond belief. Like...

SPEAKER_00:

I've never seen Benjamin Law so much in love.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. And

SPEAKER_00:

so social.

SPEAKER_01:

I know. I have like friends.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. We used to go to like Christmas parties and things for you rather than me, which is like a revelation. I know.

SPEAKER_01:

But we're still friends with people from Liftoff now. But yeah, really got into it for like years. So we were in Bish for how long?

SPEAKER_00:

Two years? I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Just under two years, maybe. At the same time, we got married.

SPEAKER_00:

We did. In Ibiza. In the world of FIFA. And realised we wanted to live there, basically. And we were like, I don't want to live in the UK anymore. Didn't want

SPEAKER_01:

to live in the UK anymore. So then we got moved to Ibiza. And Hitchin'.

SPEAKER_00:

We had a little apartment in

SPEAKER_01:

Hitchin'.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I think we moved out and moved back to Hitchin in a little apartment in town and moved to Ibiza at the same time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So we had a place in Hitchin, a little apartment and a place in Ibiza.

SPEAKER_00:

Life was good.

SPEAKER_01:

And we enjoyed that, didn't we? 2017, 2018. Loved it. Still code on. Obviously the business just ran it from there.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Did go through a bit of a sticky time. Kind of back and forth from Aretha Titching for like two years. I think the business has just started to struggle a bit and parents weren't very well. So end of 2018, we thought we'd come back and move closer to my parents.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, your brother convinced us it was a good idea. He told us that it'd be great.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and yeah, I thought it was a good idea as well. Changed my mind quite soon, I would say. Bought a house in Ely.

SPEAKER_00:

A little granny house.

SPEAKER_01:

A little granny house. Did it up. Had a pandemic.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Decided we didn't want to live in the UK. Left.

SPEAKER_01:

Made an epic home gym, though. That was part of the reason we bought the house. Yeah, the gym was awesome. Had a double garage, which I'd converted into an epic home gym. Fly.

SPEAKER_02:

On the ceiling.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but then we realized, well, the first year was all right because we were traveling so much, 2019. But then the pandemic struck, as everybody knows. So we were literally stuck in Ely in a little house and we didn't enjoy it. We had a great office. Great office. We did wonders to the house, didn't we? Yeah. Like completely revamped everything. It

SPEAKER_00:

looked awesome when we

SPEAKER_01:

left. But we just knew this is not it, did we? Yeah. So we had a... In lockdown, we had a six-week break in Ibiza. Not planning to move there. And we thought, oh, let's start. Let's have a look at some places.

SPEAKER_00:

Just see what's about. Just for fun.

SPEAKER_01:

And then we found a really amazing pad. We were like, right, that's it. Let's move.

SPEAKER_02:

And we moved.

SPEAKER_01:

We were like... Moved.

SPEAKER_02:

We moved.

SPEAKER_01:

The following year, that was 2020, so 21, when it was still COVID times, big time, but we managed to escape somehow.

SPEAKER_00:

I think we had to have a letter. Because we were

SPEAKER_01:

applying for residency, so that was enough to get us into Spain. But we still had the house in the UK. And then...

SPEAKER_00:

And here we are.

SPEAKER_01:

We've like three times since then in Ibiza. Now we're in a place we love. And then we sold our house in Ely last year.

SPEAKER_00:

Was it last year? Yes. Last year. And

SPEAKER_01:

here we are.

SPEAKER_00:

Here we are. And so tell everyone like, so with Love Life now. to give people some inspiration because people are probably listening to this and they're inspired by what you did and how you've created what you created. What does it turn over on average now? I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know if I can reveal that.

SPEAKER_00:

Why? Why? People want to know. Two million. What's the goal? What's the goal?

SPEAKER_01:

What's the goal?

SPEAKER_00:

World domination.

SPEAKER_01:

I want to grow it.

SPEAKER_00:

You had a goal. You had them written down for a while. You had them on your wall for a while.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the goal is to create the best supplement company in the UK and then in the world. And in doing that, it will probably grow to, who knows, 100 million. I just want to keep creating the best products I can.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And help the most people possible.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. When you help lots of people, you help yourself in the long run. Yeah. It's about giving.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I truly want to make the best products possible, like the most efficacious, like the cleanest, the stuff that I want to take, like stuff I know can really help.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And you get amazing testimonials from lots of your customers too, to show that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But yeah, it's been a very interesting journey, really, from where I came from, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

From little port. From little boy who's shy from little port to the Benjamin Law you see now.

SPEAKER_01:

I guess I always had a little bit of an entrepreneurial streak. I've always wanted, I don't know. I'm not very good at working for people.

SPEAKER_00:

You're not very good at taking instructions. Not very

SPEAKER_01:

good at taking orders. Working for other people just didn't really work. It's a law thing. We're all the same. Very stubborn. Strong-minded. People telling me what to do. No, tell me about it. But then I guess I'm super ambitious. I just want more and more and more.

SPEAKER_00:

But why do you want more? Not just for the sake of having more.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no. I just want to be successful, I guess. and grow something amazing, like leave a legacy, something I can look back on and be proud of.

SPEAKER_00:

Tell people about the charity that you support through Love Life.

SPEAKER_01:

Vitamin Angels. Yes. We donate, yeah, 20p from every product sold to Vitamin Angels, which goes to providing life-saving vitamins to people, Kids, children in third world countries and now the UK as well.

SPEAKER_00:

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

There's something like 20p can provide vitamins for a whole year. Wow. I don't know how they do that.

SPEAKER_00:

They're using those ones which haven't got it

SPEAKER_01:

in. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, amazing. And that's it. Have you got anything else you'd like to share? Or do you think that's enough for today? I don't think I've heard you speak that much in your entire life. I've

SPEAKER_01:

not spoken that much in my entire life.

SPEAKER_00:

Well done you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've done quite a lot actually. I'm very proud of you. When you like talk about it. I'm very proud of

SPEAKER_00:

you and what you've created and watching it from... Tough times.

SPEAKER_01:

There's been some tough... Like business-wise, there's been some really tough times. It hasn't been plain sailing.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no. And I've watched it and witnessed it, but also witnessed you not ever give up and have... A very strong mindset that everything will always work out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I'm a very optimistic person. I'm like, yeah, never give up, never quit. It will always be all right. Have that mindset always.

SPEAKER_00:

And here you are because of it. So we hope that that's given you all a window into the law life. The Ben law life.

SPEAKER_01:

The Ben law life. The next time is the Sarah law life.

SPEAKER_00:

That'll be fun. There's a story there, my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

Is there?

SPEAKER_00:

Quite a few, I think. Wow, a cliffhanger. My crazy brain.

SPEAKER_01:

Your crazy brain?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, there you go, people. So just you wait. Stay tuned for the next instalment, Sarah Law Life.

SPEAKER_00:

Sarah Law, the second life.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's an hour and 24 minutes. Whoa. This is the longest one yet. This is your life. This is the most I've ever spoken. It is, so now he needs to go to bed because it's been a really small step.

SPEAKER_00:

oh dear I've got to speak to my dad because it's his birthday okay so that's it thanks guys great to be back and we'll be back again maybe in six months no we will be back again in maybe two weeks

SPEAKER_01:

yes we've got in two weeks not maybe I'm not going to say we're going to be more consistent than we are but hopefully we'll be even more consistent

SPEAKER_00:

we are going to be this is it now thanks bye bye bye