EP:50 - Entrepreneur Inspiration - Anthony Arnone's Path from Tech to Tranquility

Anthony Arnone, formerly a tech industry innovator, who made a dramatic pivot to pursue his passion in the world of crystals. As the proud owner of Ruby's Healing Crystals, Anthony has embraced his newfound calling, marrying his tech background with the mystical allure of crystals to create a business that stands at the intersection of technology, spirituality, and wellness. His story is not just about changing career paths; it's about following one's passion against all odds and finding success in uncharted territories.

In this enlightening episode, Anthony shares his fascinating transition from the forefront of artificial intelligence to the heart of holistic wellness through his crystal business, Ruby's Healing Crystals. He opens up about the challenges of leaving behind a promising career in tech to embark on a journey fueled by personal passion and a deep belief in the power of crystals. Listeners will get an insider's look at how Anthony leveraged his tech savvy to innovate in a completely different industry, the obstacles he faced in establishing his crystal store, and how his venture is helping bridge the gap between technology and spirituality.

Anthony Arenone's unique story offers invaluable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those contemplating a significant career shift. Key insights include the courage to pursue your passion, the importance of leveraging existing skills in new ways, and the potential of niche markets. Anthony's approach to combining technology with the traditional world of crystals provides a blueprint for innovation across disparate fields. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to make a profound change in their professional life or seeking to blend their interests in a meaningful, profitable way.

Connect with Anthony - https://www.instagram.com/rubyshealingcrystals/

Questions that this episode answers:
1. How can entrepreneurs successfully pivot from one industry to another while leveraging their existing skills?
2. What are the unique challenges and opportunities in starting a business in the crystal and holistic wellness industry?
3. How can integrating technology with traditional industries lead to innovative business solutions?

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Transcript

This week, we get to interview amazing people, influencers out there, and shakers that just get things done, so definitely tune in to all our past episodes. And I got my co-host back today, Elisantra. Last week, she was on vacation; Jonathan Palmer stepped in, and he got excited, right? He was like, "Maybe I could get in here more often," so you got to be careful; he wants to take that co-host seat. "How many Celsius's did he have?" I think three. He said he got excited. "Three, you know, I think we were out of Celsius that day. So he couldn't drink more than three, or I'm sure he would have got like six or seven. Yeah. So, I don't know, it depends on the vibe you want. If you want a chill vibe, you can have me. If you want the Celsius vibe." Absolutely. And some big announcements, what we're going to do with our community moving forward is every single month, we're gonna bring in a featured expert and actually do a Zoom meeting with them, share knowledge about certain platforms like tonight's about LinkedIn and how to leverage it to build more clients, but also OWL itself, where I show you the inside of the app, how people like Ellie, myself, use it to build rich relationships and really just grow your business. Because often, people fail in business because they can't find enough people to speak to, enough meetings, and often, people try to create shortcuts. But every person I ever interview, when you kind of, you know, bring it back to the early days, they find out that those relationships mattered to help them scale their business. And too often, people see these social media clips and think, "Oh, no, they're lucky because they figured out Facebook ads." Nope. They had somebody on my other podcast who did 21 million in revenue in four years, not through four years, but this current year, 21 million. But it all started with that original few relationships to help scale it. But let's get into our guest today. Ellie, why don't you tell us who's in the studio today?

Yeah, so today we have Anthony Arnone here. And we met a couple, maybe a month ago, at the Spirit Fest in West Palm. For those of you that don't know, I'm a musician. I'm also a meditation teacher. I love spirituality, crystals, all things spirituality. And I know we have a lot of people on the OWL app who are in the wellness industry, who are coaches, who are into spirituality. So I'm excited about our guest today. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you do?

Yeah, absolutely. First, I want to say thank you guys so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's very exciting, my first podcast. So everyone on the airwaves, I'm very excited. I've been jumping around all day. But yeah, my name is Anthony Arnone. I'm the owner of Ruby's Healing Crystals. It's the one-stop crystal shop in Boca Raton. We have one of the biggest stores in the area. We are on the street that we're on right now. I'm right down the block. We're at 1501 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Suite 3, in Boca Raton. And yeah, I've been the owner of this company for going on two years now. And I've been working to build up the company for the last four years. So it's been a really awesome journey so far. We're all about crystals. We're all about positive energy. We're all about just doing the right thing by our customers and making sure everybody has a good experience. I wore my crystals today. This one. I got my earrings on. My sister actually made these.

Oh, your sister made those?

Yeah. Wonderful. Wow, they're beautiful. She does these for gifts for people. I am curious, though, how the heck you got started. It's not like a normal career path. Tell us how you got started in this crystal business.

Definitely not normal. I guess it was my path and fate. It was my fate, but I was working at a tech company, which was across the hall from our friends at Celsius. And they were great across the hall. So I was working at a tech company. I was managing the marketing department for that company. We did, I'm trying to think of how to describe this. So we did data verification and validation services. And we had a lot of the major upper education colleges on lock. Anytime you entered any information, whether it was for staff or for students, it would automatically verify it against the USPS database and make sure all the numbers were correct and all the, everything was good. So you don't lose numbers, lose emails. So I was doing that for a while. Didn't work out. I stepped away and the CEO of that company was a close family friend of mine. And he kind of felt bad that he gave me this opportunity and then jumped ship when things didn't work out. So he helped me make ads on LinkedIn, ads on Upwork, ads on all the other kinds of like work platforms for mobile marketing because I got my degree from FAU, a marketing major. And so I offered email services. I offered Instagram, building websites, just anything marketing. I was offering that. And a woman named Ruby hit me up. She had a house full of crystals. She was forced to shut her shop down. And we took it from there. We started out of her house, just bringing people to her house to buy crystals on Facebook Marketplace. And it snowballed. Wow. And now you have a space.

Yeah, now we have a space. So I didn't know at first if she wanted to just offload the inventory and then I'm on to the next job, or if she wanted to build something. But she saw the traffic that I started to get to come to the house, and I remember when she first got like a new shipment of crystals for the first time, and that's when I put it all together that okay, we're gonna start something. So from there, I built the Instagram, I built the website, the Facebook, um, we had a bunch of other platforms that came and went, and here we are today. Is Ruby still in the business with you?

No, Ruby's completely out. She sold me the business, like I said, almost two years ago, right when we moved into this new space that I told you about. And what made you get a storefront? Because often, businesses like this could, of course, you know, run out of a garage and, you know, you go crazy with Facebook ads, you go on Pinterest, and, you know, you could outsource everything. You could hand off your product to someone else to package it, ship it out. We've seen a lot of businesses do that. And then they don't have to deal with a lease. They don't have to deal with employees.

Right. So what made you go to the storefront? So it wasn't my decision. It was Ruby's decision. Originally, I was her manager. You know, I was running, once we did move into brick and mortar, I was running the shop.

 I was running all the social medias. I was handling customers every day. And it was her decision to pop up shop. And I thought it was a good idea. We started out in a very small space. It was very cheap. Even the space that we were at after that, which was in the same location, but a different space, was still small, and the rent was very cheap for that spot. Ruby was a hustler, so she wasn't going to do anything unless it made financial sense to her. And that's, you know, she trained me in a lot of what I know now about business. So shout out to Ruby for that.

Nice. And do you guys offer, I don't know how big your space is, I haven't yet to go there, but I will go there after this. But do you offer other services other than the crystals? I know sometimes shops do like healing classes. Are you looking into that or doing that now?

Yeah, absolutely. So we're starting into that. At first, it was a little slow. I've had events here and there. I've had a book signing there. I've had a few psychic events. We are doing a crystal class this Monday at 7:30 p.m., so if anybody's interested in the Boca area, definitely let us know. But yeah, so I'm looking into that now. I want to get different. I kind of want to build something where I can have different healers and different services offered by different people on standby that people can come to Ruby's and book a certain person, almost kind of like the OWL app with the calls and how you want to call different people, book different people to come to our space. A community, in a nutshell.

Yeah. Not just a product, not just a transaction, not just to come in here and be like, okay, I'll buy this 300 bucks, I don't know what this costs, but then just leave the store and never come back. Just like a sense of community, which is what... More people want to be involved in today. No one wants to just be another number, another transaction. That's how I see it. I'm sure you've heard of the Cocoa Market, I'm guessing.

We've been doing the Cocoa Market since it started. We had Corion a while back when it was first starting. Even just meeting people there, there are so many practitioners and people that I'm sure would love to come to your store and do events.

Absolutely. Yeah. We always have a blast at Cocoa Market. Shout out to Corey. Yeah. Good friend of Ruby's Healing Crystals. Good friend of mine. Yeah. That's cool. What is the percentage of online sales versus in person?

So it went like the scales tipped. So when we first started the business, it was mainly online. Keep in mind that about a little over a year after we started the business, COVID hit, so everyone was locked in. We started doing the live sales, we built up the website, and everyone was kind of locked in their homes. They were looking for ways to relieve stress, to find different ways to deal with everything that was going on, and a lot of people turned to crystals. So at first, we were booming online. We had decent walk-ins, but since then, I've noticed a shift. The market online for crystals is extremely saturated now. So we have a lot of competition and, you know, us being in Boca Raton, there are not a lot of stores that are like mine. So we thrive off of, you know, being the one-stop crystal shop, one of the largest spaces in this area. And, you know, that's what's keeping us alive right now. I'm working, I'm building up the online. We got 15,000 on Instagram, you know, we're about to hit 10k on TikTok. So everything's there, but right now, walk-ins are trumping on. There's nothing like, like seeing the stuff, like I'm going to grab this and like, this thing is heavy. Oh God, I shouldn't have grabbed this and didn't know what I was going to do here. But like Ellie's wearing, you know, stuff today, you know, in honor of your episode, but like, It's so different, like seeing a picture of this online and then you're in a store and then you're like, holy crap, like look at all these crystals. And this is a good piece, you know, to put on my, my, my desk or my entrance of my office when people walk in. And of course, you have hundreds of these. You know, I took a view of your Instagram account. I saw I saw your store and same thing with, you know, what Ellie's wearing. Right, Ellie? Like the items that you purchase, you know, I'm sure it were a split decision when you went in.

Well, I've had my experience in different crystal stores. I typically what they tell you, I don't know if you do this at your store is, that when you walk in, it's sort of like, what do you gravitate towards? And that's sort of like what you should pick. Like there are millions of crystals in there and it's just kind of walking around and picking things up and like seeing what feels good in your hands, right? What makes you feel more grounded? That's like typically what I've been told.

That's exactly what to do no matter what. Yeah. Whether you are a crystal expert and a crystal junkie or you know nothing, that's the way to do it. okay, I'm a rookie. So what does this mean? Like you guys know a lot about this stuff, right? So I come in a store, like, what do you like? Why am I gravitated towards one versus another? And what is the meaning behind it?

So that's the whole point. So you, you, you would be coming in there, not really knowing much about what's what, but you, you take a couple of laps and eventually you find something that your eye just diverts back to multiple times. And you're like, you know what? That's sick. I would love, you know, exactly where you're going to put it, or, You know exactly what you want to do with it. Or maybe someone else came to mind and you're like, I need to get that for this person. Whatever the case, once you ask me what it means and I read to you the meaning or I know off the top of my head one or the other, it resonates.

Yeah, it's really crazy. Most likely I would be like, I don't know why I really like this one. And then they're like, Oh, this is specifically for like, if you're going through a breakup, like they know nothing about you. And then I'm like, I am going through a breakup or whatever it is. It's like an intuitive feeling, knowing deeper inner knowing. So it's fun. It's definitely fun.

It is fun. And, and the, and the mysticism to it is very fun too, because, you know, a lot of people approach me and they're like, dude, there's no way you really believe in this stuff. Like, like it's

, they're rocks. Like that's, that's all there is to it. And I'm like, I just, don't have a choice based on what I've seen based on the experiences I've had working with stones and just like the way that my life changed when they came into my life I I'm a full believer you know I see I mean you're wearing it too oh yeah oh yeah this is my trifecta I wear this every day you got owls what you got any crystal I mean obviously things are shaped like owls all the time yeah you do okay I think you know which one I'm purchasing Oh yeah. I have a few left. They're actually, the owls are actually very populous. I don't know if it's just because we're in Boca and go FAU, but everyone loves the owls.

Well, there's owls are wisdom, intelligence, you know, there's, you know, more than you thought.

There you go. I think we need one for prosperity right now. Prosperity. Financial prosperity. Yeah. It's, it's funny that you say that because I remember, I'll never forget. I was at a, it was, it was the first spirit fest we ever did in West Palm and, This guy came up to me and I was like, oh, you know, this one's for this. This one's for prosperity. He goes, that one's for prosperity. You have a million of those. You must be rich already. Let's dive into relationships and why they matter. I think I'm muted. I'm muted. Talk. Talk. What? Check, check. Are you muted? No. I'm muted. Just talk. Check, check. Anyway, okay. So back to the... I don't know. I can't read Jason's mind right now, but I think he was talking about relationships and why they matter. I mean, obviously, for me, every job I've gotten has been because of someone I knew at a networking event. I've never... I had applied to those online random jobs where hundreds of people are applying and I didn't know anyone, never got any job. But when it was, oh, a friend from my acapella group in college or friend of a friend of a friend or met this person at a networking event, it's so much easier to network and get connections just by knowing someone. I don't know exactly where you were going with this, but

Yes. My mute got on mic by accident. So we just had to replug in a wire, but yes, just relationships in general. During the beginning of this episode, I mentioned another guest where he really said, look, even though I'm an expert on online sales and Google ads and Facebook ads, it still started with those meaningful relationships in the beginning. And look what happened with yours. You met Ruby and then all of a sudden now you're owning a business. So I just wanted to touch base on that because often when it comes to platforms like owl, you know, immediately people say I can make money and tell people what to do this and that and charge them a fee. And I'm like, Nope, you're missing the point. Owl is about building meaningful relationships, connect with people, open as many doors as possible. And of course the ones that close, let them close, but blossom the ones that open and you'll find good people. And I just sense like that's what you're all about. Like you're opening up your doors and you say, come on in, let's build a community. And I just want you to talk a little bit about how relationship relationships in general matter in your life on the personal side, but also in business.

So, I mean, the classic saying, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Right. I mean, my, my whole life has been that, you know, you, you said it perfectly. Um, it, it's not what you know, it's who you know. So, you know, I, when I was growing up, Any job that I had was through friends or through family or through somebody that I knew, any of the jobs that mattered anyway, the ones that I did well in. And relationships are definitely everything. On the personal side, I'm an only child, so I don't have any siblings. My friends are my siblings, and they hold me down no matter what. I have a beautiful girlfriend of seven years. She holds me down no matter what. I have such a solid circle around me, and I truly believe that that's the only reason why I'm sitting here right now. You know, I can give myself credit for what I've done, but I would not be anywhere near where I am now without all of the people around me, my family, my parents. Amazing. I just I'm surrounded by so many amazing people and I'm truly blessed. And it's it is the only reason I'm here right now, for sure. So relationships are definitely everything. And on the business side, yeah, I met Ruby. The only reason I met Ruby was because my. uncle pretty much told me to make Craigslist ads too. And don't sleep on those. You know, he told me don't sleep on Craigslist. We know, we know. Yeah. We met through Craigslist or something. One of our other employees. Didn't you find her through Craigslist?

Yeah. I think seven years ago. Yeah, it is. Right. There it is. Don't ever sleep on Craigslist. They got a bad rap back in the day, but there's a lot of good stuff. I don't know any more of I would use Craigslist. Yeah. Maybe not today. I mean, seven years ago, like it was an opportunity to do a job posting, um, or part-time situations. And then, you know, pretty much, you know, it worked out really well. Uh, I used to do it all the time in New York city. Nowadays, you got to use more the indeeds of the world or LinkedIn for job postings. That's what I thought. Craigslist kind of took a little curve ball for a while. I don't use it as often. Um, That's what I thought I was going to find. That's where I thought I was going to find my next job. I mean, I did Indeed, I did Upwork, and I was doing LinkedIn ads. I thought for sure one of those three was going to land me something.

Yep. And I sure as hell didn't think it was going to be running a crystal operation.

Yeah, who's going to say? That was the last thing. And, you know, I always say I've always been open-minded, and I've always had little rocks in my room, but not for the spiritual benefits or any of that, just because kids love rocks, you know? You never know. My father, which I talk a lot during prior episodes, used to run a store in New York City called Captain Oaks. And it was very similar. You know, he started, you know, in the construction world, he was building banks. You know, he's really good with his hands back in the day. We're talking, you know, 60s and 70s. Yeah. Right. And, you know, he started collecting antiques back then

. There was no eBay. Right. You go garage sale hunting and it was fun. It was a little hobby. And then he met someone who's like, you want to start a store? And it was very similar to your story. And it was in Port Washington, New York. And it was part-time. It was low-ranked. And he's like, sure, I'll open up a store with some of these goods. And before you know it, he lived next door to someone who was, at the time, the developer of the South Street Seaport in New York City. Oh, wow. Which became one of the largest tourist attractions in the entire world.

Yes. And my dad ended up picking a storefront that was right in the main section. And then he created a whole brand around it. It's called Captain Hooks. And then he just started buying shit at flea markets, like crystals like this, but more like stuff you'd see on the Titanic. Right. Anchors, buoys, ship helmets, you know, just telescopes like anything under the sun. But it was very similar to your story. It just started with one or two relationships and it blossomed and the passion behind it. Right. You never. I'm sure if I asked him, you know, not live today, but I'm sure if I ask him, like, how the hell did you start this thing? And he's like, and would you think you would be selling antiques? You know, you know, the answer would be no. You know, it just kind of like happened. And then he just the passion grew over time and became the character. Literally, that's that's it. You know, I had to know my product from a sales standpoint. You know, I have to be the expert on it if I'm going to be selling it to someone else. And through that, I just got sucked into the entire community and the whole lifestyle around it. You know, that's how that's how it is. I'm sure that many people would want to call you an owl and be like, hey, what crystal should I buy? Oh, yeah. What do these crystals mean? And, you know, there is so much knowledge behind it all.

There is. Everyone calls me the walking encyclopedia. Would you be able to know? Like, I show you this right now, like what this is. Stalactite amethyst. See, I didn't even know what it was. So now I know. What does it mean? So it's a regular amethyst. Amethyst is, you know, it's relaxation. There's also an element of protection there. Right. For the crown chakra. Okay. There's a lot of different, you know, attributes of it, but that specific one. So that originally, you ever seen like the, the kind of like tube shaped crystals that have the crystals all around. Yeah. Yeah. That was a stalactite amethyst. So originally that was like a whole thing. And then they made slices out of it. That's impressive that you can just look at anything and be like, got it.

Appreciate it. Okay. Well, this part of the segment, we're going to start calling people on the owl app and patch them into the podcast. Hello. Is this Wendy? It sure is. Wendy, are you okay being recorded? You are live on the owl podcast right now with our featured guest, Anthony. Hi, Wendy. Hi, Anthony. Oh, fantastic. Yeah. I ran out a Jason. I ran out to get a Starbucks. Oh, nice. Our favorite. It kicked in on my end. You could hear my voice. When I was speaking to Wendy about two hours ago, I was like falling asleep. I was like, I just finished the podcast. I need to go get a Starbucks to wake up because I got another show with Anthony later today. Well, Wendy, welcome to the shrimp, not the shrimp, the owl podcast. I'm doing too many podcasts in one day. I think I need some more. More Starbucks. You didn't do the job, Wendy. But could you tell our audience in under 30 seconds a little bit about who you are and what you do? And then what we're going to do is we're going to have Anthony ask you a question live on air.

Okay, fantastic. Yeah, what I'm most passionate about is helping authors and, well, become authors, speakers, coaches, entrepreneurs, passion-driven business owners become best-selling authors. Very cool. And within that model within doing so also giving them a platform to speak on. So I also hosted create events. Oh, that's, that's wonderful. You know, my, my mother was an English teacher, so I'm going to have fun with this question. It's. This question is dedicated to my mom because this is something that she's always dreamed of. Oh, I love that. So my mother has always wanted to write a children's book. She was an ESL teacher for elementary school for close to 30 years. What would your advice be for breaking into the children's sector of being an author?

Well, you know, a lot of it is if she's passionate enough to really want to do that. So I would say just start because when you start, then you are starting to open up all those other channels, how you can connect with the right people. So then you think about what groups can I connect with? That would be teachers, mom groups. But I always say, just start, just do it for yourself, do it for your grandchildren or do it for the neighborhood children. Like think small to just get started and then start to think about building out a wider net.

Okay. That's your mom's dream. Yeah. Well, it's one of her, it's one of her dreams for sure. One of her dreams. What about you? What about you?

Me in terms of. Just writing a book, writing a book. I mean, I'd love to. I think I I don't know if it would be an autobiography or something fictional, but either way or even something that I can base off of my personal experiences, but then put little twists on it and make it more exciting. I mean, I'd I'd definitely be open to it. It's it sounds awesome. I've always been a great writer. That's always been one of my strong suits growing up. So. Definitely. And I have, I've always wanted to start, I need to start journaling. I need to start writing stuff down. I write all my dreams down. So I forget all my dreams. That's my biggest issue. I wake up, I wake up, I'm like, Oh my God, that's crazy dream. And then like 30 minutes later, I'm like, wait, I can't even explain. It makes no sense. I'm like, I knew it all. Like right when I woke up and then just like, it's gone. You ever see something later on in the day and it just, Oh yeah. I have flashbacks. Absolutely. I'm like, I've been here. I'm like, I went to Starbucks. I was, I was with my team. I'm like, I feel like I'm like this happened. I'm like, I've seen

 this vision. Maybe it's because I've been to Starbucks too many times. You're dreaming about Starbucks. Do you want to share? I was dreaming about Starbucks earlier. So it actually took me to Starbucks. Yeah. See that? Do you want to share with Wendy what you do?

Oh, absolutely. So I am the owner of Ruby's Healing Crystals. We are a local crystal shop in Boca Raton, Florida. We have anything from jewelry and small stones to showcase pieces, giant crystals, anything rock and mineral and crystal related. And we also carry metaphysical supplies like incense and candles and sage and Palo Santo and stuff like that. So I'm big in the metaphysical world.

Oh, I love that. I love going into crystal shops and I have crystals. I have them actually in our kitchen, in our entryway when you walk in. So you're talking my language. I love that. Okay. What kind of crystals do you have?

I have an amethyst. That's a great one. I have a rose quartz. Those are like my two main, the amethyst I love that I have is a big heart. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, Love it. Yeah. I just, I just got some of those in actually. Um, I have a few big amethyst hearts. I have the, um, aura amethyst hearts as well. Yeah. They're, they're super popular and amethyst is the number one recommendation I make for anybody who like doesn't know anything about crystals or is getting a first crystal or especially for the home amethyst is great. And you said you have it by the door, which is perfect. That's that's you're doing, you're doing it right. I love that. Well, I have to know more about your store, where you're located. And actually, I was with a client the other day, and she created this walking group. She has a sister community online. And then she met with many of them in person to go for a walk. And then after the walk, we did a circle, and she gave everybody a little... Rose quartz heart. Oh, that's wonderful. Ladies were always so good. Well, Anthony does, he's starting to do events in his store too. So it would be really cool to maybe have like a net. You know, I know that when do you do your circles and, um, your networking events? Maybe there could be one at the crystal store.

Absolutely. Yeah. We're, we're doing a class this Monday. And just to let you know, I know you asked about the location where, uh, we're right on Northwest second Avenue. We're at 1501 Northwest second Avenue suite three. In Boca Raton. We're next door to Augie's Pizzeria and 4S Liquors. It's a very well-known little plaza right before Glades on Northwest 2nd. So definitely come check us out whenever you have time. I'd love to meet you in person.

I absolutely will be there and recommend because I don't even know where there are any crystal stores. Nothing comes to mind.

Yeah, we are one of the only shops dedicated to crystals in the area. So, you know, whenever I tell people, it's always a positive response because like, oh, my God, I didn't even know you were here. I've been looking. So, yeah, absolutely. I have a question for you.

Yes. I have a question for you. What? So have you thought about writing a book about the crystals?

Not yet. I mean, now I am. I wasn't before, but now I am now that I'm talking to you.

Yeah, there you go. I mean, that's a natural fit because people really, they don't know what the meanings are or how to select a crystal. And then if someone comes in, yeah, I think all day long, a book for you would be perfect. Yeah. Even if it even if it could be something like a guide as well. You know, there are a lot of popular crystal guides and everybody, you know, likes likes the one by a specific author with a specific viewpoint. So even something like that would would be would be cool. I mean, Anthony is quite the expert. I was asking him. I didn't even know the jewelry I was wearing. I just whipped it out and was like, what's this? And he was able to tell me exactly what it was and the meaning behind it. So he's definitely an expert.

I love it. And also your story, like how you got involved in that. I think everybody has a book inside of them, more than one book. And to actually, you love to write, right? So to be able to share your personal story, how you got in this line of work, because I'm sure people that come into your store would be really super curious about that so not only having you know an explanation about the crystals but also sharing your story yeah absolutely any anybody who I because people always ask me they're like how did you know how does a italian dude from long island end up owning a crystal shop out here and you know yeah I think I think it would be great that would be a great story to tell Oh, super cool. Let's make this happen.

Yeah, you see the power of owl right there.

Yeah. And on call. And we had no idea that you guys had this in common.

Yeah. Right. And then, boom, you just talk and you have impact. Well, when Ellie was showing me the app, I was blown away. I mean, I didn't. It was way more. It was way more than I expected. And it's really awesome. I saw the vision immediately when she called it. So it's really cool. Well, Wendy, thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Wendy. It was a pleasure. We're going to connect you two after the show, of course.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for having me on.

Later, Wendy. Bye. Okay. There you all saw the power of the owl app. call someone for one thing, you just read their bio, but the bio doesn't tell everyone the entire story. Yeah. But you got to dive deeper and have a conversation too often. We're, we're looking up somebody on their social media, looking at their follower count, looking at their metrics. I mean, it's not worth calling them. Like, what are you talking about? Get to know an individual. Like, there's so much more depth. Like, you just said you're from Long Island, right? My father's store's in New York City, so there's a chance you were in his city, right? And then, you know, we might be from the same town. I don't know where you're from, but the point is, like, you just got to dive deeper into having a conversation with someone. Right, Ellie?

It's a small, small world. It's a very small world. Okay, we're going to do one more quick owl call. We're going to look who's available while I'm doing that. You and Ellie chat for a second.

I was checking, too. I don't think my... Is the person that you. She's not on, but I see some,

 maybe Augustina.

Oh, that was her. No, no, that wasn't her. Oh, wow, that's so funny. Augustina could be cool. She hasn't been on the show yet. She's a new brand ambassador. She's an intimacy coach. Very cool. Sexpert. Maybe we could talk to her about love crystals.

Deal. Yeah, I'm sure she's got some knowledge on that. You have a heartbreak. Got to stay somewhat PG here on the show. Not too rated R.

That's all good. That's, that's how we keep, that's how I keep my business too. We try to keep it pretty PG. Okay. Well, we're ringing her right now, but you two keep chatting to the app. So we'll see if she answers.

Okay. Okay. She is answering. So give us a little bit of time for it to connect. Did you show everyone your shirt?

I don't know if you can see it. Hey, Hey, Augustina, you are live on the owl podcast. Are you okay being recorded?

Okay. You're here with Anthony and Ellie and get things going. Can you tell our audience in 30 seconds or less a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Yes, I can. I'm Augustina Rush and I am a intimacy coach and a sexpert, sensual massage therapist and work with individuals and couples on all levels that are looking to really kind of expand anything under the intimacy umbrella. So that can be talking to their couples, learning new techniques or tricks, and just making each other feel comfortable and having a place to come and explore and learn new things all under that intimacy umbrella.

Wow. It's very interesting. Very interesting. Yeah. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get into that field?

Well, I got my massage degree in 2012 and studied Eastern Chinese medicine. And I have worked with couples and I just kind of fell into it. I am a self-learner for 20 years. I had my own company and I had schools and 30 staff before COVID happened. And so when happened I decided to just shift my career into a new career and align myself with grow from worse and so it's been a really fun wow that's incredible that's that's really great that the adaptation are you there did I lose

Yeah, you are going in and out. I'm assuming you're driving.

Yeah. You're driving an owl in.

I am driving an owl in, yes. I do it all the time. I owl out. I know. I completely understand. I'm doing that. It's one of the best benefits of the app, but unfortunately, you hit some dead spots, and then all of a sudden, you go in and out, of course. But we heard everything. So, Anthony.

Yeah, absolutely. That's also a good TikTok idea, driving an owl in. Yeah. A little joke TikTok on that. Yeah. But yeah, so I'll tell you a little bit about me. I own a crystal shop here in Boca Raton called Ruby's Healing Crystals. We are the one stop crystal shop. We have everything from jewelry and little stones and tumbles to large showcase pieces, rare collectors items and everything in between. And I also want to ask you, now that I told you what I do, is there any influx of crystals with your work? Do you utilize them at all? Do you have them in your massage space? What's your relationship with them?

Yes. I studied Eastern Chinese medicine and have worked with a shaman who was incredible. Learned a lot from her. And I definitely believe in energy work through the crystals.

Wonderful. That's awesome because it's definitely – goes hand in hand with what you're doing. I'm going to just... There we go. I need some good energy. I'm taking this big... I'm going to hug it the rest of the episode. Give me good energy. Give me good energy. Yeah. If you have your protective stones too.

Give me energy. Do you have any favorites that you like to use?

Me? Yeah. Well, I like Obsidian. I like Amethyst. I have a... can't remember the name of it I found it when I was in Hawaii and it just called to me it just speak to me and that's usually how I've always picked out my crystals so gotta have a rose quartz yeah I was gonna say rose quartz gotta have a rose quartz in your field that's yeah I have rose quartz too and I have a huge rose quartz rock as you enter my house and then I have abalone on both sides of my porch too oh I love the abalone shells those are beautiful There was a I was just in Mexico. There was a lot of abalone art and stuff out there. Mother of Pearl and abalone. Yes, it's so beautiful. And it helps ward off evil spirits.

Yep. We don't need any of those around here.

Yeah. Yeah. That's like this. We, we, I brought a big amethyst cave that is sitting up on the table and that's, that's another, you know, thing that they say like amethyst is for protection. So you keep it by your door and whoever walks in, they get, they get cleansed. They get hit with that. That's a question for, I'm sure people are wondering how do you cleanse a crystal? Like, you know, people probably come in and many people touch the same one that picks up on their energy. So what do you recommend for people out there to cleanse?

sage, sage, sage, sage, sage smoke. I've heard the ocean also cleanses it.

There's a few different ways. So you can go to the ocean, but from the, if you go to the ocean, do your research on what type of crystal you're cleansing, make sure you're not, um, putting anything in the water. That's not water safe because you will be very disappointed with the outcome, especially with the salt water. Um, but yeah, I, I always burn sage and I know that certain people are Sensitive to it. I know certain people don't like the smell, but everybody who comes to my store, they always compliment how the energy is very neutral. It's very calming. A lot of people are affected by these things immensely. So they feel the frequencies and everyone always tells me how calm and chill like the energy is in my shop and how clean it is. And I would attest that to burning sage. I do that almost every day.

Nice. So, yeah, that's my number one way. But you could do water. You can rest it on a bed of salt. You can charge it in the moon.

Yeah, I burn sage a lot, too.

Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely good for your field as well.

Yeah, and cold water. You know, you can give a cold water bath, too.

Yeah, absolutely. As long as it's water safe, water is great. I've done the cold water bath.

Yeah, and, you know, I speak the intentions into it. You know, I'll clear the old intentions and speak the new intentions into it.

Oh, wow, yeah. And then I have that wand, like that cleansing wand.

Selenite. I use that.

Yeah. Is that

 clear? Is that like a white clear?

Oh, I have that. I actually have that and I didn't know what it was for.

It's for cleansing and charging your stones. So you can rest your little stones on top of it or wave it around.

I'm learning a lot today. I feel like I'm such a rookie in this space. And when she said that she...

Yeah, you can cleanse them, wash them just before full moon and then put them out under the full moon and recharge them.

She's doing it right. That's going to be my next album. Shh, don't tell anyone. We called two people on this app that I know well, and I had no idea that they had this background.

I know. It's so wonderful, the two people we called. And that whispering your intentions into it, that's a really big key because I don't know if you've ever seen the video of, like, when they froze the water and they, they said good things to one cup of water and then they like screamed and cursed at the other one.

Yeah. The ice crystals were different.

Oh, like the one that they screamed at. The one that they screamed at was like sharp and looked like very like treacherous. And then the one that they whispered sweet nothings to was like nice and round.

Wow. Yeah. So check that out. We did that in our classroom. I did. I did it with rice. And I put rice in two different jars, like two different mason jars. And we labeled one love and we labeled one hate. And then we would play different music with them. And we would express different emotions to them that were, you know, according to their label. And then after 30 days, the one that was labeled love, and we kept them both in the cabinet, two different cabinets. The one labeled love came out. You could eat the rice. There was nothing wrong with the rice. It was actually not molded or anything. And then the one that was labeled hate was molded and rotting from the inside out.

Wow. Yeah, it's real. It's real.

Yeah, that's the thing. It's the stuff. You can't make that up. You can't make it up. And it really is. It goes back to like whatever you put out, you will receive.

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, whatever you're emanating throughout the day.

Yeah. Put them under your pillow too at night before you go to bed.

I've done that before. I snuck my girlfriend one. I, my girlfriend was really sick and I snuck one under her pillow and she didn't know. And she woke up the next day. She was a lot better than I thought she was going to be. It's just little things like that. That's, that's things you can't explain, you know?

Yeah. I have a feeling you're going to meet a lot of friends on the owl.

I think so. We have a lot of crystal lovers on here. So, yeah.

Well, if you're into wellness and you're into making people feel good and you're into, you know, the energy of it all, it's, it, it always goes hand in hand. So.

Yep, that's right. That's exactly correct. And when you work with that and you learn how to be open to that energy and learning what those different energies are within the stones to utilize them correctly, you can really feel the, like you were saying with your girlfriend, where you stuck that under her pillow and her not even knowing that it was because she was open and didn't have any preconceived notions of it not working.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. And she's, she's, she's not into it as much as I am, but she's definitely into it now, you know, and she's, she's one of my biggest supporters. So shout out to, shout out to Jasmine. Love you. Augustina. Thank you for joining us on the Alapara guest today. We're going to connect you too, of course, afterwards. So he could call you one-on-one.

That's great. You guys. Thanks so much for having me. You guys have a wonderful evening.

You too. Take care. It was a pleasure. Okay. That is the power of the owl platform. Now our final segment of the show brought to you by Ellie.

Yeah. So we always at the end do a little wager. Okay. A little bet. I'm all down. So we ask you to do something. If you fulfill your duty, then you get something from us. If you don't do it, we get something from you. So we, I'm going to propose, so it's going to be, hmm. I know what I want. I actually think I know what I want, too. We could have two sever vets. I want some owl crystals.

Yeah, well, I know what I want. I want crystals too. Okay. But I think that what I want to recommend... So usually we just say take calls on the Owl app, but because he has a business and a storefront...

Oh. I'm thinking maybe we do something where he has to get some downloads. So because you're always interacting with people, right? Maybe...

Oh, downloads on the app. Yeah.

Oh, I like this. I like this because people are going to come in. If I need more knowledge about the subject, how do I contact you or other people? And you can just say, hey, what's really cool is after hours when I'm not store, You know, I go live to make myself available, take calls on the weekends after work hours, just follow me, get a notification, call me. Yeah. I list my price at like a dollar or so. And yeah, you know, it's just me sharing knowledge with the world. So I like that. That's good. I'm trying to think how many downloads. So we typically do it in the week. Seven days from right now. Seven days. Are you going to be in the store? I know that you're like, you hop around a lot.

weekends I'm not around but during the week I am I i flip-flop but you just you just gotta yeah as long as you have friday monday tuesday wednesday yeah that's five full days so how many downloads should we say thinking like five five's fair yeah that's what I was in a week you have to show the app to them and then of course you have a referral code you get ten dollars on top of this so okay You're helping yourself out because $10, you know, I was going to use your referral code. There's a, there's, we'll show you after the show, but pretty much when they download, they get $10, you get $10 of credit, right? Not a real withdrawal amount to make calls. But I like that bet. That's something different. We haven't done this before. It's a little more of a challenge, but I feel like you're always in contact with new people at the store. You could also use your employee, get your employees to use it, you know, and then they could share it with, With customers. So, yeah, no, absolutely. I think I think my employees would would definitely benefit

 from it.

OK, so he's got to get to five downloads. And now I got to ask what's in it for me. Okay, so it's a bet. So if you don't get the five downloads, I personally want a crystal that is an owl, of course. That way we can showcase it in the studio. We could put the crystal on the table, and that's obviously worth something. I have no idea what crystals are worth, to be honest. I don't know, that thing's like $10, $100, $1,000?

I sell little owls like this. It depends on the size. I sell them between 15 and 25.

Okay. Okay. And then if you win and you get those five downloads, you get something from us. So that could be, you know, having... You said you wanted to start a podcast. So that could be having our studio for free for an episode and getting to, you know, launch your first episode here or just doing your own thing here. It could be... What else? I don't know. I mean, I like that. I definitely like that. It could be anything. You have to give it some thought. Obviously, you know a lot of people in your space on the app. You know, you just spoke to two of them, but sometimes you don't know who's on the app, but we specifically know certain people that you should connect with. Of course, I do something with FAU every week.

Right. Of course. Yep. You know, our other show is ran in collaboration with FAU. I get you in front of a classroom setting with our, my co-host to just tell them about your entrepreneurial journey and, and, That could be just giving back to the, the students. Cause sometimes it's hard for a lot of alumni. Like they want to get back in front of a classroom, but they don't know where to start to get in front. So I have a, obviously tied to the university locally here, you know, and just, you know, your way of giving back to other students and,

I love that. Anything you want to do. I'm an alumni at FAU. We pop up there on the breezeways twice a week. I love FAU, so that would be wonderful. Whatever you want, really. Just think about it. What we want is a crystal. She wants a crystal. That can be done either way. I'm confident I can complete this bet. We should exclude staff. You don't have to pick right now. We should exclude staff. I feel like this might not be fair if he goes, you have to download this app.

No, no, I would give them the choice to, I don't, my staff knows I'm not, I'm not that type of person. I wouldn't force it.

So, cause like, I think it's good if the staff has it. Cause then they're, well, one of my employees, um, he, he does his own thing and he does like website design and stuff like that. So like, he's the person that I really would be pitching it to. And then, okay. you know, my other employees have their own stuff that they like to do. So I'm not going to force it on them at all.

Okay. So what would you like if you win? We do have to announce on the show. So that way we're going to have to announce it on the show. Shake on it. Okay. Which concludes our episode today. You want an introduction to get you inside an FU classroom. So you could speak in front of students, tell them about your entrepreneurial journey. That's one option. Option two could be to use a studio where if you launch a podcast, we'll let you use it for an episode and, Option three could be a lot of Celsius.

Yeah, no, I'm good on the Celsius. It could be something that we're not thinking of. We're just concepts. It's hard when you're on the spot. Oh, it could be something like you could get featured in, you know, like I don't know on the owl app where you get like your own category or something for like a day or we could, you know, all right. Spirituality up on the owl app or something where you get more calls. If we do that, of course, but you got to take advantage of it and make yourself available that week more frequently. But of course we cater to everyone throughout the United States, not just Boca. So, you know what? I, I keep going back to, if I can get the five downloads, I'm going to, I will, I will throw a podcast together in here.

OK, to use this studio. I think it would be so much fun. I've always wanted to kind of like do my own thing with it.

OK, I think that's and it could be a call in thing, too, because we have that ability. So you had like people calling you even a call and show where they're just like asking you about crystals or something.

Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to.

OK, there it is. It's it's a bet. We got a bet going. Yes. All right. Okay. Well, that concludes today's episode. Thanks for joining us, Anthony, on today's show.

Thank you guys so much for having us. Everybody listening, we'll be back next Wednesday right around 5 p.m. We do these shows live. Occasionally, we'll switch the show times around, but we'll always announce it on our Instagram account, at Owl Lab. So follow us there. Of course, download Owl and connect with Anthony one-on-one. See you later, everybody.

Bye, guys.