151. Guest: Cohen DeYoung - From Death Metal Drummer to Entrepreneur

What happens when a death metal drummer trades in his drumsticks for a squeegee and ink? Join us as we sit down with Cohen DeYoung, the mastermind behind Pulse Merch, who made an extraordinary leap from life on the road to owning a thriving screen printing enterprise. Cohen shares his unique path, from crafting band merch by hand to making a major investment in machinery, navigating the tumultuous shift from the chaos of band life to a stable business endeavor. His story is not just about the journey of entrepreneurship but also about finding balance and purpose beyond the stage.

As we navigate this vibrant conversation, we reflect on the trials of entrepreneurship, especially during challenging times like the COVID pandemic. I share my personal journey of venturing into full-time business ownership, driven by the need to escape a perilous environment and prioritize mental well-being. Relocating to a tranquil small town brought both financial hurdles and creative opportunities, underscoring the power of resilience and ingenuity. This episode is a testament to the courage it takes to bet on oneself and the enduring client relationships that emerge from those leaps of faith.

We also touch on the delicate balance of family and business, particularly when parenting children with osteogenesis imperfecta. Through personal anecdotes, we discuss the emotional and logistical hurdles of raising children with brittle bone disease and the relief found in supportive communities and medical advancements. Our exchange highlights the importance of positivity and perseverance in the face of adversity, reminding us all to stay committed to our goals. Join us in celebrating the power of love, hustle, and a positive mindset in shaping both our personal and professional journeys.

Chapters

• 0:00 Entrepreneurship Journey Into Screen Printing
• 5:48 Entrepreneurial Struggles and Family Balance
• 14:51 Entrepreneurial Challenges and Family Balancing
• 27:35 Parenting Challenges With Bone Disease
• 30:58 Bone Disease Treatment and Family Dynamics
• 39:29 Positive Vibes and Hustle Mindset

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe. We all about that mindset. Gotta stay focused, never settle for less. It's all in your head how you think you manifest. So get ready to rise, cause we about to be the best. Gotta switch it up. Gotta break the old habits. Get your mind right. Turn your dreams into habits. No negative vibes, no positive vibes. What is up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Mindset Cafe podcast. It's your boy, devin, and today we got one of my friends and actually we do business together. So you know we met through a business marketing, a business mastermind group, but you know we actually do business together. He actually makes all of the merch for Strive 11 Fitness, as well as some of our other friends and stuff. I want to welcome, you know, cohen DeYoung on the show. He's the owner of uh pulse merch and thank you for taking the time out. I know you got the machines behind you and you got a busy schedule too, so thank you for taking the time, brother, absolutely man.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Yeah, thanks for having me so I know me and you talk a lot and and everything. I know your story. But you know for the listeners, how did you get started? Right, like, how did, how did? How did you get into, you know, screen printing or merchandise printing? Um, how did that whole journey start for you?

Speaker 2: 1:10

Sure, so. Uh, in my world it's actually a pretty common story, but for everybody else outside of the screen printing world it's not. So any screen printers. I'm sorry, but I am the stereotypical screen printer. Uh, I was in a band. I was a death metal drummer, slept in a van with a bunch of smelly dudes touring across the country when we were buying merch. A t-shirt sale was the difference between getting a cheeseburger for the night or nothing at all sometimes. Or maybe you could scrounge up a buck and get a big top ramen or something. I made the fatal decision of well, how hard or not decision, but the fatal thought of well, how hard could it be? And here I am now with you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars of equipment later.

Speaker 1: 1:58

I was going to say the machines behind you are massive, right? I mean, I remember back in in high school like we had a screen printing um elective per se and it was like it wasn't with machines and stuff, like the guys that were doing it by hand yeah, with like the wood, and you know it was crazy, I did that for 10 years, so I.

Speaker 2: 2:19

I printed by hand for 10 years. If you, uh, if you go on my instagram, you can scroll back. You see me. I have videos of me, you know, pulling a squeegee and doing all that. I did that forever. It wasn't until I moved out here to utah that I was able to finally get some, some bigger equipment and have the space to do it.

Speaker 1: 2:33

So how much? How much is one of those big like that big machine behind you?

Speaker 2: 2:37

you know cost this one brand new, with the stuff that I got on it 200k dang that crazy. So I was you know, I'm not some money banks guy Like I had to get a loan for this thing.

Speaker 1: 2:50

And.

Speaker 2: 2:50

I got a sweetheart, you know, basically, and I got this thing used, but it was like it's only three years old, you know. It's like getting a car with like 10,000 miles on it. You know it's still practically new, but I got a used price for it. But it's still practically new, but I got. I got a used price for it. But yeah, if you're gonna go brand new.

Speaker 1: 3:08

You're a couple hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, if you guys are listening and you guys aren't watching the the episode on youtube, the machine I'm talking about behind him it looks like this mechanical octopus. You know that. It has all these different you know sections that you can put shirts or different. You know apparel into and print. You know basically at scale. So that's, you know to give you a visual representation. Um, so, I mean, so you started in a band, right, you know what happened with the band. Why didn't you know? Because I know obviously now you're not, you know doing that, you're doing screen printing. What happened with the band?

Speaker 2: 3:37

sure. So I, I mean, I was in quite a few bands, um, you know, band drama, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2: 3:44

At some point it was just like, okay, I, I should probably just grow up and uh, you know, you're not gonna make money doing death metal, so but, but it's uh, but let's you know I, I wanted to get married with, uh, my girlfriend, my wife now, um and I, I just wanted to keep moving forward, and so I I knew I could keep doing this, and it still connected me to the the band world, but at some point it was like okay, I should probably have a little more stability than just, you know, trying to sleep in a van with a bunch of smelly guys so was there with that like band drama and stuff, was that like, was there a certain moment that there was just a final straw?

Speaker 1: 4:19

or was it like that, that last band that you were with, that it was kind of falling out, you know with all of them and you're like I'm not going to find another band, like how, what was that turning point?

Speaker 2: 4:27

sure, so, um, the very last band that I was in, it was just a couple guys were quitting, and it got down to me and just a guitarist and it was just like, well, okay, here it is, we're just I'm just gonna call quits and uh, you know, I'll just start playing drums for fun and start, you know, trying to do some other things.

Speaker 1: 4:45

So no, that's. I mean, that's, hey, sometimes that you, sometimes we take the leap into entrepreneurship and sometimes we get a push that makes us take that leap right. I mean, same thing for me. You know, I was at a corporate gym and you know it was one of those things where me and the owner had gotten into a disagreement. He wanted to, you know, move me to a location where I wouldn't succeed. So I was like you know what? I'm just going to do this on my own Right. So sometimes it just happens that way. So, where you know, with what you're doing now, what was that first step?

Speaker 2: 5:16

Right, you know you, now you decided you're going to be an entrepreneur, you're going to start, you know, screen printing and stuff and merch like what was your first step into that so my first step really was I still had a day job during the time I was printing. At night, uh, I did pest control for 10 years on top of it. So I I was out killing bugs. You know, there's nothing more metal than killing a bunch of bugs.

Speaker 2: 5:38

And then, uh, you know, at night I'd be at home screen printing um eventually I just had a couple of things happen in life where I took a step back for a little bit. I had to take some time off. I had some mental issues going on that I really had to work through, and it kind of forced me just to get out of working and then working at night as well, and I just had to do a full jump in. That was about five years ago now where I went into this full time versus just working at night.

Speaker 1: 6:07

So no, and how? How has that been going? So I mean, you've been doing it for five years and I know. I know through conversations that we've had in you know some of the conversations in the group and stuff. Um, you know it's one of those things in business. You know you weather the storms, but how has your journey been, cause five years is a long time. You know a lot of entrepreneurs don't make it to that five year mark, right, you know their business. So how has that been? You know, thus far?

Speaker 2: 6:31

So I guess I'll I'll kind of have to go into the backstory of what made me, or what got me out to where I am now. Um, during the height of COVID, I was in California, actually up in the Stockton area, and I was still working in my garage. I was still printing by hand, like I was talking about.

Speaker 2: 6:55

And I had just jumped in to it full time, probably for about six months or so or about a year. I was about a year in and thenbe hit, which that was, you know, a fun time. And then the final straw was uh, there was a bunch of gang violence going on in my neighborhood and I literally had bullets flying past my head and I had to duck. And I had one daughter at the time and I just said forget this, we are leaving, I don't care where we're going and I I still get kind of choked up about it. So I'm trying to trying to control myself here.

Speaker 2: 7:29

I don't care where we're going, but we're just going to make it work. So I took a leap of faith. We started looking for a place. I ended up in this tiny little town of 800 people, like no joke. We don't even have a stoplight or anything out here. Um, but I have some land. I have a shop that's actually, you know, 100 square feet bigger than my house was in california, and I just moved out here and I just started trying to make connections and make it work. Um, it was until this year, like really probably within the last year or so. It was some of the hardest challenges I've gone through in my life. I had times where I didn't have money to make a mortgage. I was grinding, and you know it's been a lot of long hours, long days. And I'm here now, and you know I'm here now. I'm doing better. I'm not rich by any means, but I can at least afford a loan to get equipment and I'm growing.

Speaker 2: 8:33

It's going well, but it's been a tough journey to get here, for sure.

Speaker 1: 8:48

I think that those journeys are so crucial. I mean, believe me, I completely get the. You know the times where you don't have enough money to. You know, let's say you said make a mortgage, or you know I've done it where. You know, when I first started my personal training and stuff, it was like there was you know days where or weeks where, all of a sudden, I overspent. I didn't really understand. You know finances. You know when I was first starting out and and I was like, well, shit, I'm eating Top Ramen and drinking protein shakes for the next week until I get some payments. So I think those storms and those tough times, overcoming them, is what leads to those skills and that fortitude to allow you to grow to this year. Whether it takes four years to five years, whether it takes a year, everyone's path is different, but you have to be able to bet on yourself.

Speaker 2: 9:30

Essentially, Absolutely, Absolutely. Yeah. There was a time and if there's any entrepreneurs listening, there was a time where I literally had $500 in my name, Not enough to pay the mortgage, not enough to pay the utility bills. Nothing If I just sat there and held on to the $, I wouldn't be here today. You know, trying to make this work now, um, I literally spent all that money. Uh, made some t-shirts, like some sample t-shirts, and just gave them out to customers I thought would do business with me you know you got to bet on yourself.

Speaker 2: 10:02

You gotta, you gotta double down on yourself when nobody else will. And it worked. I was able to, you know, scrape by that month. Basically, I was able to get some business from that, and it's a return client now too. I've actually made some really good connections with them.

Speaker 1: 10:15

So it's. I mean it's, it's those kinds of things Like, I think, when someone, when someone, starts a business and they think that they have to, you know, have boatloads of money to start business and you don't start off with just being resourceful, you know it's. It's one of those things where you almost handicap yourself, right, like you, you don't, you don't have to, you don't force yourself to get creative, like you'd said, you made those shirts, you handed them out with the idea of essentially, getting at least a client, and now it's a return client, and that return client gives, you know, refers people and so forth. You know, and it's, it's, it's those things. Right, when you just have endless money, you, yes, you could build a business, but you're not building the skills of being a business owner, right, like that's what, that's what comes from.

Speaker 1: 10:59

You know having to figure things out, and not just that, I'll just throw some more money at it. You know, hopefully it works, I'll just throw some more money, hopefully it works. Right, like those, those people, yeah, those, yeah, those skills will, will catch up to you because you'll limit your growth potential at some point, you know. So, with that, now you started your t-shirt shop. You know, I know you when you decided the movie said you had, you know, your first daughter. I know when you decided to move you said you had your first daughter.

Speaker 2: 11:28

Now how many children do you have? I have three kids now a five-year-old and then two one-year-old twins. That was a good surprise in itself, too, when I first hopped on the other podcast with our mastermind. If you guys shout, out shout out to Trevor and Kale, and you know they, they were just on their way right now. And yeah, that's in itself is adding. Adding not only another kid, but two at the same time. I don't wish that on anybody.

Speaker 1: 12:01

I know, I know that's crazy and I mean I want to dive into that a little bit too, because that's one thing that I love talking to. You know business owners that are parents, about you know, being a dad. I mean I have a almost three-year-old in two months and so I'm right in between you know, my daughter's, right in between your daughter's ages, and so I get it right. And for my daughter, she we found out my wife was pregnant the week I signed the lease for my gym and I was like, oh man.

Speaker 2: 12:28

I have a similar story and I was like oh awesome.

Speaker 1: 12:31

I'm so happy and at the same time now I'm scared.

Speaker 2: 12:36

Yeah, the first month when I finally made the jump to printing full-time by hand, we knew things were going to be tough. A month in, we found out my wife was pregnant.

Speaker 1: 12:52

So that was I totally understand, no, and it's not like we weren't trying and stuff. So that's it's. I don't want to say it was a surprise, but it was a surprise in the exact timing of it. And so my daughter was born six months into my gym being open.

Speaker 1: 13:02

So my gym's a baby and it's and it's infancy stage and you know I'm trying to, I'm having my first kid and all of a sudden it was, I remember, for for me I was trying to be the best dad, best husband that I could, but still like we didn't have a ton of employees and stuff. So it's like I would work my 16 hour day at the gym in you know, being there, and then get home and try to put on my dad hat and be like, don't worry, I'll take care of her at night, so forth. And three days into it, like my vision was blurred, like I had, I was running on like two hours of sleep for three days. I was literally standing in my gym and my business partner was like, dude, are you good? And I was like, honestly, I can't even see you right now.

Speaker 1: 13:41

And he was like and so I got home, told my wife I was like, look, I physically can't do this. Like I'm I, I I can't see right now, like I'm I'm dying. And then she was like, why didn't you tell me? I was like I was trying to step up. You know I was trying to just man up and do what I needed to do. I was like, but honestly, like that being a business owner and being a father or being a parent in general is definitely tough. One question I want to ask you you know diving into it is how, how is your relationship or how's your family's relationship with you and like the business per se, like cause? Being a business owner, you're gone for a decent amount of time and you know orders come in and you know all these things happen and we can get wrapped up in our business and we got to make sure that we're not putting our family on the back burner. So how has that journey been for you? What's that relationship like with your wife in the business?

Speaker 2: 14:35

Sure, so my situation is a little bit interesting. I guess you could say my shop is in the back of my property, so I'm actually home all the time oh wow, this helps keep my overhead low, which really helped me out when I was really struggling and going.

Speaker 2: 14:51

But the cool thing is, if I need a quick break or something, if I need to get away because I am working those 16, hour days, sometimes I'm working, you know, literally all night. It is still just me. I did have an employee for a little while, um, but you know, trying to find people out in a 10 to 800 people is pretty hard, um. So you know I I do get to see my kids on a pretty regular basis. You know I come in side for lunch. I'm lucky enough that my wife actually stays home with the kids, so you know my kids are home.

Speaker 2: 15:24

And so I get to play with them throughout the day, I get to go see them for bath time and then, you know, eat dinner with them and all that stuff. So my situation is a little bit different than a lot of people. But, that being said, at the same time it's still really hard because, being home, you still have the dad responsibilities that come up throughout the day and I'm in the middle of a rush order that I have like an hour left. I'm like, oh, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. And then all of a sudden a kid trips and falls and gets hurt and I figured you can kind of jump into this too. But two out of my three kids actually have a brittle bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, oi for short. Just because nobody's ever going to remember that whole thing, if you were to look it up online, it's a really terrible disease. People you can shake their hands and you'll break them. Versus my kids, it's a pretty mild case. My oldest has it.

Speaker 2: 16:25

and then one of my twins has it too, and she recently broke her leg just from falling on a bottle. But she's out of the cast now and she seems to be doing well. So there's some different challenges that come along with having children with a disability and then also trying to work at the same time. So it's not all gumdrops and rainbows by working at home, for sure.

Speaker 1: 16:49

No, definitely, and I definitely do want to dive into that as well in a second. But before you know, I do want to say like so, when you got your property because I know you moved you said from Stockton to to Utah, like why, why did you choose Utah? Do you have family out there? And then also like the, I mean the, the facility that you're in right being on your property, I mean it looks really nice, right. So did you, did you build that? Was that already there? Like how did that come about?

Speaker 2: 17:17

Yeah, was that already there? Like, how did that come about? Yeah, so it was one of those things where, you know, for those faith people, it felt like this was meant to happen for me, in a sense Like this was part of God's plan for me to get out here. In a sense, my mom lived about 45 minutes away from here. I was a military brat growing up and I actually lived in Utah at one point. I didn't want to move out to Utah again. I wanted to live somewhere else and do something different.

Speaker 2: 17:46

But my mom lives 45 minutes away and she happened to find this place. It's a half acre, had the shop already built in the back. It didn't have all this stuff, it was just the bare bones metal. Basically, I've done a lot to this place since I moved in, but it had everything that we were looking for, wanted. It was a quiet, tiny town, didn't have to worry about shootings or anything like that. You know, good, safe place for our kids to grow up. A bigger house, some land and a shop in the back, and I was like that's perfect, I can make this work, I will, I will figure it out from here. So it she, my mom, just found this place and we came out and visited, took a look and it was exactly what we were looking for, so we just made the jump and did it.

Speaker 1: 18:29

No, that's awesome. And what is the? What is the culture or societal like difference between where you're at in Stockton and you know and now in Utah? Like I mean, how has an adoption for?

Speaker 2: 18:42

you night and day difference, man, it's. Uh, I suggest this to anybody if you're living in a city, get out, go to a small town. Um, you know, with 800 people, news travels fast out here. So, like, when we moved in, people were super welcoming, they were happy to see us. Um, when they found out that we were having twins, like people were bringing over meals all the time, like it's a totally different world.

Speaker 2: 19:05

Versus, you know, in California people don't even smile at you or look at you. Versus everybody here they're saying hi, people. You know you're driving down the street, you have to wave to everybody, otherwise you're rude. So you know, it's just a totally different vibe and feel and I I'm here for it. I love it. It's. If you're looking for let me let me backtrack a little bit the amount of pressure that you have. Living in like these big cities, you don't notice it, um, or just being in a place where there's just a ton of people, you don't notice it until you get out and then you feel like this weight just kind of lifts off of you a little bit now it has its challenges for sure.

Speaker 2: 19:43

Like we don't have a Walmart, you know we don't have any. Like Home Depot is 45 minutes away, like it is, you know it's not easy at all times, but it's the you lose out on the day to day anxieties and stuff of like road rage and things like that you know I, there's no traffic jams like it's, it's awesome no, that's cool.

Speaker 1: 20:06

So you know, going back to like the family life and everything, right, I mean I can speak from experience. You know to a degree because like my, the franchise side, like my office is at home and stuff, um, and that decision was actually my business partner kind of made me do it because you know he's he's managing the gym and stuff. And every time I was in the gym, in the back office trying to do these phone calls and stuff and and everyone's coming back to ask me questions, he's asked me questions. And so he was like dude, like you're not getting anything done because you're still dealing with everything here. Just go try working at home, like just just do it, get out of here.

Speaker 1: 20:44

And then all of a sudden what we realized was I was the, I was the bottleneck, also kind of like holding back people.

Speaker 1: 20:53

I don't micromanage, but everyone would just kind of use me as a crutch, so stepping away, all of a sudden my business partner, who was never really an entrepreneur before, really had to grow into the entrepreneurial role himself and now it has allowed him to tenfold grow personally and as a manager, as a business owner, and then all of our employees too. But the flip side for me is now that I'm home, just like you. It's like, yes, I get to see my daughter and do these things that I wouldn't have if, like, let's say, if you were still in the band or like when I was doing personal training, like I was the business right. You're trying to give, you know, kids time, wife time and all that kind of stuff. How do you deal with telling your wife like, look, I need to also do this business, Like I get that you need help right now, but also like I'm so behind because I'm trying to, you know, overly give on the family side. What are those conversations like at home?

Speaker 2: 21:56

Sure. So my wife has been my rock I mean, as any wife should be, but she, she's been incredible. She takes on as much as she absolutely can she's. She's actually disabled as well. She has migraines like no other. I don't know how she does it, but she is a trooper and she, she takes on a lot and she does a lot. There's plenty of times, though, where she's calling me and needing me to do things, and I just have to make it happen. You know, there's a little insider trading tip. Just invest in Monster, because I've been, you know I'm sure I've brought up their stocks a couple of points for sure, just to keep it going.

Speaker 2: 22:42

But yeah, what I'm doing right now, I wouldn't suggest it to anybody. It's not sustainable. Um, I'm just working, and then I go in and help, and then I'm coming back out and I'm working until you know midnight, two o'clock in the morning, all the time. Um, I'm at a point right now where, because I was finally having a good year, I'm able to invest a little bit more. I'm getting some better technologies put into place, some shop management software, some things that will help me where I'm lacking, and I'm looking into automating as well.

Speaker 2: 23:12

I'm looking into literally buying robots to help me out here and getting machines that will speed up the processes, something that will catch shirts for me, something that will clean screens for me. So I'm looking for, I'm trying to upgrade so I can be more efficient in the work, but then also I have the time to be home. But right now it's literally just making it work. You just have to grind through it. There's times, at 2 o'clock in the morning, where I'm sitting there crying because I can't keep going. I just have to keep going, because I don't have another choice. I've made that decision that this is what I'm doing and this is how I'm going to do it and it's going to happen.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Believe me, I've had that same realization. I get where you're at Like don't, and believe me that that realization, at every level, will still come back. You know of, am I doing the right thing? Like I, you know, is everything going to work out? You know, you have that self doubt and then all of a sudden, you tell yourself, like you tell your bitch voice in your head to shut up. Like we're doing this, like you can sit here and cry on the floor. We can get up and get to work because we're behind, right. But I think that I think that's awesome. I mean that you, you are having that vision of like okay, that I understand. I can't really you're getting employees is tough for me right now, but there are some things that I can work towards to get some automation, you know, some robots, essentially, and you, you made a comment right, and I want to touch on this before going back to your daughters.

Speaker 1: 24:43

The comment was you know you don't recommend this for anyone. What, what, what do you mean by that?

Speaker 2: 24:49

Um, well, just entrepreneurship in general. Um, it is not for everybody.

Speaker 2: 24:54

It is stressful, you are, it is all up to you and for some people, they and you're jumping with, there's a like, another word but, basically, people have said entrepreneurship is like skydiving while trying to build a plane in the air, like you're trying to make it work all without a safety net kind of thing. Some people, they just don't want that. They want the security of a job and a 401K and things like that. If you're not willing to put in the work and put in the long hours and the stress and everything else, it's not for everybody. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not for everybody.

Speaker 1: 25:37

Yeah, no, I agree with that and that's what I wanted to kind of touch back on. It was like I think that especially with social media, there's this light that gets shed on entrepreneurship that it's so great, so easy everyone can do it.

Speaker 2: 25:50

You can take whatever time you want. You can go three times in the world to go do whatever you want. No, Right, it's like you know, it's like the whole.

Speaker 1: 25:58

You know, four hour work week and all this kind of stuff. It's like you have to realize that entrepreneurship it's not that, it's not that you can't do it or that anyone can't do it, it's not meant for everyone because it's not for the faint of heart. Like, there are stresses and there are there will be struggles, there are pains, there's worries, and that is inevitable in any business, right? And so if you're not willing to go through that, then it's not for you. If you think it's all going to be sunshine and rainbows, believe me, I promise you it's not. There's more cloudy days and rainy days than there are sunshine and beach days, right? So I think that's.

Speaker 2: 26:36

It's so good though.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Exactly, and that's what I know no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Or you do get that. You know value flash it's worth every rainy day before it. And then you know you do it for those little moments, those little nuggets of you know success or pride that you get within yourself for achieving that next level.

Speaker 2: 27:11

Exactly. Yeah it's the. It's like finding gold. Basically, you have to work so hard for just this tiny little nugget. You said nuggets and so it made me think of gold, but yeah, it's, it's just like that you find one little piece of gold and it's worth everything for, for all the struggles that you were doing the entire week, exactly exactly, exactly, and so let's you know.

Speaker 1: 27:35

I want to rewind back to your, to your daughters, um, because, again, being a, being a dad, and already knowing how difficult it is, like you have this additional you know worry, stress, and you know obstacle. Essentially if I lack for a better word, right, like when your daughter broke, broke her hip or leg, I mean when you broke a leg and she was casted up. If that's an obstacle that's now placed in your path of you, know just your business, your, your regular life. So how, how has that been? And like what was that? When, the, when it, when she first broke the first bone? Like how, what goes through your head? Cause I can only imagine.

Speaker 2: 28:13

So my wife has the same brittle bone disease as well, and so we were kind of prepared for it already. My first daughter had it and she's broken oh, I can't even remember now over 10 bones already. And then my littlest one, within her first month we broke seven of her bones. It wasn't that extreme with our oldest. We're thinking because she was a twin and this is just a theory, I can't prove it or, uh, we're thinking because she was a twin and this is just a theory, I can't prove it, or anything, but we're thinking because she was a twin and my wife is so little.

Speaker 2: 28:44

she didn't really have a whole lot of room to stretch and strengthen the muscles or anything. Uh, because we changed her or we broke her leg both of her legs actually um, just from changing her diaper Like it was, it wasn't um, we, um, we weren't being rough with her by any means, you know, and it's so that that was a a real struggle, for sure, because grandma, uh, just went like this with her leg just to push her leg in.

Speaker 2: 29:09

She was holding her like this and just push her leg in and that's what broke her leg one time too wow so it.

Speaker 2: 29:15

Yeah, and so it was. It was madness for a little while. There I have pictures of me previously when, right after the twins were born, and twins themselves. I don't wish that on anybody, just there's something called the twin curse, where one will go to sleep and then the other wakes up. You cannot get them on the same schedule you need if you were to have twins, or if anybody has twins you need at least one more person in there to help you for six months Just because it's hard.

Speaker 2: 29:44

Luckily for her and for my oldest, there's infusions now that do help strengthen the bones there is no cure or anything but that seemed to have really helped out my oldest, for sure, and my youngest.

Speaker 1: 29:59

It definitely made a big difference, like we had a good step before she broke her leg again.

Speaker 2: 30:03

Uh, versus like her first month, she broke seven bones and then we had a good you know 10, 11 months before she broke her her femur. So it, it does help. Uh, it was just one of those things where she's learning to stand now. And then she fell on a bottle and the bottle landed underneath her leg and that's that's what they did.

Speaker 1: 30:22

And I mean and this next question, I know it's like a weird topic with all this you know, sure, you know this trans and you know parents changing. You know you know gender kids. That that's not where this question is going but like but no, no, no, no I want to.

Speaker 1: 30:39

I want to preface that because, like I'm like, talk about steroids for a second, sure, right and I. That's not where the question is going, right. But is there not a and again, this is my question because I'm you know, I don't know much about it Is there not a steroid, or like a peptide or something that you know can, or almost like what is it called? Uh hgh? Or something that can help with her disease?

Speaker 2: 31:02

like again, so I I'm not a doctor either, so I I, as far as I know, um, the best things for them are these bone infusions, because it's a collagen deficiency, so it doesn't matter how much strength you have or anything like that. It's, it's very similar to osteoporosis in a sense. Um, and actually these infusions I'm talking about it used to just be a osteoporosis treatment, but they found out that it works with children as they're growing. It coats their bones and then it helps prevent that collagen loss. So it's it's not going to, you know, cure them, it's not going to make their bones stronger, but it's going to help prevent the collagen loss which is what that fertile bone disease is attacking.

Speaker 1: 31:47

Basically, I get it okay, so it's, it's the collagen. The reason I was asking too is because I mean one, I know that there's collagen supplements and all that kind of stuff, but but the reason I was asking is that, from, like the fitness side, like I know that as we get older, you know in general, like why do old people start to have brittle bones? And it's because they start to have muscle atrophy, right, they start to lose their muscle because they're not as active steroids, in a sense, or or human growth hormone, hgh, right, that can help strengthen the muscle, the, the strain that the muscle puts on the bone helps strengthen the bone and that's the what. That's why I was thinking of it, or asking about it, you know. But if it's like you see that you know, so that if, maybe, if you know I don't know if that's something that you know you want to bring up to the doctors, you know, I again, I don't know, but it's just's, I know that's how you strengthen a bone is essentially in a normal person, you know that doesn't have that disease. You would essentially work on building the muscle. The strain, the stress of the muscle on the bone strengthens the bone, and so forth. That, in combination with, you know, a collagen supplement or the infusions, or or all three. You know, like, if, like, if that would be something that would be beneficial.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Because, again, like I could only imagine, like it would break my heart, even though you know every knowing how you know brittle, or how tender you have to be with her, like it would still break my heart every single time that that happened if I was in your shoes. So I can only imagine, and you know so, how has that been with, like you know, twins? Right, and I know, because I have twin cousins and one's a boy, one's a girl, but they were rough with each other growing up. How was that? I know they're only one, but still, how was that? Like, trying to explain or trying to not have one do something daredevil-ish if the other one is?

Speaker 2: 33:31

doing it and so forth. Sure, so I mean they're one right now. It's just kind of those things where you just have to keep an eye on them, basically.

Speaker 1: 33:46

My oldest.

Speaker 2: 33:46

I love her to death but she's a wild child. But those bone infusions made a huge difference with them. And I'm going to kind of circle back to the activity as well and that kind of goes along with my theory where she wasn't able to strengthen her muscles or anything and so her bones were probably weaker. So I'm sure there is something to it. But we go up and we see specialists about three hours away every few months to go have them take a look at them. So my oldest we keep her active. She's advanced With those bone infusions. She's tried to do a cartwheel off of the couch which we've seen her fall and we're like, oh, she broke something. And she gets up and she seems to be doing okay.

Speaker 1: 34:27

Wow.

Speaker 2: 34:28

Which those bone infusions are massive. They have a very mild case of this disease, versus like if you were to look it up online online, most of these people are stuck in wheelchairs. They're deformed, um, you know, it's. It's a very sad thing to see a witness, and so, with this, with this mild case, we've done genetic testing and, as far as we know, they are the only ones with this specific type that has this one so it's uh, you know, as far as trying the, the oldest loves these two little ones.

Speaker 2: 34:58

We still have to tell her to just be careful, watch out, because, uh, charlotte, my youngest one is, is very brittle.

Speaker 2: 35:04

And then the other one does not have, uh, the brittle bone disease. So she's running around going crazy. Um, charlotte's uh just barely got out of the cast a few weeks ago and now she, she's army crawling again. Basically she was just learning to stand before it broke. So we, we kind of took a couple of steps back. So I'm sure that challenge is going to be coming up a little bit more as she gets older, but right now it's just more so like just making sure nobody like the other twin isn't going to be falling on her or anything like that no, yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1: 35:34

Well, I mean, that's honestly, I, I, I commend your patience and, and you know, your fortitude for not only having a business and having a young family as well. You know, with three daughters at you know the age of my, my one daughter, my one daughter.

Speaker 1: 35:49

I tell, I tell, I tell my wife, I was like I think we got a second child for our first child, like you see all those social media posts about, like you know, the second child is dude, that's our daughter. If the second one comes out crazier than this, like I don't know what we're going to do. And then she was like, and she was like, honestly I was thinking the same thing. She was like I don't like my cousin and you know, my nephew and my godson, all them, they're like these little, you know, sweet little kids that don't move. My godson, all them, they're like these little, you know, sweet little kids that don't move. They'd smile and you know, they're really just chill.

Speaker 1: 36:19

And then my, my daughter is on climbing on top of the couch, jumping on top of me when I'm not even looking, and she's like barely, and I'm like catching her because she barely even like lands on me, and then she'll, she'll be like whoa, let's do that again. And I was like, no, don't do that again. I was tying my shoe. I didn't even know you were jumping. That's my five-year-old, yeah. So it's crazy.

Speaker 2: 36:42

Oh man, luckily for the twins, the one that does not have the brittle bone disease is more of the wild one. She's running around doing all sorts of crazy stuff. She's fun, she's so fun. And then the one with the brittle bone. She's a little more calm. She loves cuddles and she loves doing all this stuff. So we got lucky there. We got a quote. First and second child at the same time with those two.

Speaker 1: 37:05

That's funny. So before we wrap up, I want to ask you what would be and so I always like to preface this it's not a tombstone, right? This is a legacy wall, right? So on this legacy wall, you know, has your name and it has one message that you would like to leave for either young fathers, young entrepreneurs you know anyone basically, that you've learned over your journey right From again entrepreneurship, fatherhood, anything in life. What would be that one message that you would leave for the world?

Speaker 2: 37:35

Sure, so I, if it's happened, it's probably happened to me. I I've been there, I've been in the trenches, I have been in some really dark times.

Speaker 2: 37:48

Um, you just and I I've said this before Um, you just have to tell yourself just not today. I'm not going to give up today. You just have to keep going. If you break it down because it's that saying of how do you eat an elephant One bite at a time, it's that same thing it may seem overwhelming, you may seem like there's no way out for certain scenarios. You are stronger than you think, even when you're at your weakest and you feel like you're at your weakest. Let yourself have a cry, it's fine. Go cry in a corner somewhere for a minute, let those feelings out. It's good to feel those feelings sometimes too and then just get back into it. Just keep telling yourself just don't give up today. Keep grinding, you'll make it. That's telling yourself just don't give up today, keep grinding.

Speaker 1: 38:39

You'll make it. That's awesome. And where can people connect with you? You know if they want to order merch. You know get screen, you know hats, all that kind of stuff. I know you do pretty much everything. Where can people connect with you and everything.

Speaker 2: 38:50

Sure, so my company is called Pulse Merch, so Pulse like your heart rate, merch like merchandise. Um, a lot of people go, that's kind of a weird name. Well, I used to do bad merch, so that that's where it makes a little more sense. Um, so, any of the socials really, instagram is a big one because you can see my work there uh, pulsemerchcom and uh, you can follow the quote request and I can get you going no, that's awesome and I'll.

Speaker 1: 39:12

And if you guys listening, the link to his website will be in the show notes. So you know, check it out. And I mean I like the name. I never thought it was a weird name. I always thought it was, like you know, merchandise that speaks to the heart or merchandise that gets the pulse rising, right.

Speaker 2: 39:26

So I thought it was always cool.

Speaker 1: 39:29

No man. Thank you so much for taking the time out. Guys, make sure you guys leave a review, share this episode with a friend and, like always, we appreciate y'all, we love y'all. See you guys on the next one. Thank you, cone, for coming on. Thank you, I appreciate it. No negative vibes, only positive thoughts. Just in the game of life, my set calls the shots, got my mind on the prize. I can't be distracted. I stay on my grind. No time to be slack. I hustle harder. I.