098 – A Passion for Peppers with Alex Ruesing of Lifegarden Farm

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You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 98.

It's covering my whole table.

I'm just like,

Oh man,

I've got some serious beverage here.

What am I going to do?

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Hi, there it's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped

podcast, whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online

or are just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

business. And today I have the pleasure of introducing you to

Alex. Alex is the owner and farmer of life garden.

peppers in the world,

right in the heart of Florida.

History has shown the health benefits of peppers.

And Alex wants to share them with all of us life,

garden farms,

team nurtures,

these peppers with love and good intentions and pay strict attention

to detail and the natural growth and feeding of their crops.

Today, just three years later,

they've created a variety of products,

including 10 specialty peppers,

pepper powder,

specialty salt,

and pepper tincture.

Alex lives in Lakeland,

Florida with his four children,

Isaac Alanya,

Iceland, and Amelia.

Welcome to the show,

Alex, thank you very much,

Sue. I'm so excited to be here.

Me too.

And I want to share with our listeners that I met

you somewhat haphazardly.

I was out in Florida at family celebration Weekend,

if you will.

And we went to a,

you know,

just community fair,

I guess is the way I should say it.

And I walked by your booth,

stopped in my tracks.

Backstopped looked again and said,

Oh my gosh,

I need to know the story behind this booth.

So that is how I happened upon you.

And it was because of how cool your booth looked with

all of these red peppers as if they're falling out of

buckets. But I mean,

I have no idea how many peppers you bring for the

display, but there had to be,

I don't know,

maybe even thousands,

I don't know,

but very impressive and eye catching.

Yeah. You know,

the colors of the peppers really display themselves and draw people

in and we can't help,

but see the beauty in what nature provides to us.

A lot of people haven't seen these peppers before they are

exotic and rare,

and sometimes people have seen them or haven't seen them in

years, but it's just so much fun sharing it with people

and having them see the beauty that nature provides us.

Absolutely. And it certainly caught my attention as I had said,

but before we get started with all of that,

it's become tradition on the show to get to know you

in a little bit of a different way.

And that is by learning about your motivational candles.

So if you were to create a candle that just totally

describes you,

what color would it be?

And what would be the quote on the candle To describe

me? I would say it'd be red.

I'm a fiery kind of guy.

I would say I'm outgoing.

I like to get my point across.

I like to share knowledge with people and I believe that

red kind of stands out and makes you want to stop

and take a look and see what's going on.

And that's always been something I don't hang out in the

shadows in anything I like to stand out and I like

to bring life and to bring vibrancy and energy.

And I feel like red just has this a foundation color

to where,

you know,

if you have that ad and you know that that's what

you are,

you can't really change.

It just kind of got to go with who you are

and what you are and goes really good with peppers too.

I was,

yeah, well,

I'm not surprised.

I thought for sure your color was going to be red.

And I think it's a good point because you have to

be authentic to yourself.

If you're really going to present purity to any type of

audience, if you're faking anything,

people can see right through it in a second.

And you know,

people are putting this product in their bodies and I take

that very seriously.

I studied wellness for a while and anytime you put something

in your body and that person on the other side of

the producer versus the consumer,

you have to think,

you know,

I really am,

am aware that if I'm going to put it in my

body, I wish the other person that's selling me a product

or offering me a product would have the same type of

integrity that I try to put into my product because I

want to make sure,

Hey, this stuff is pure.

This stuff is good.

This stuff is healthy and I can stand behind and know

that there's no questions asked about it.

History has shown what the peppers have been able to do

and how amazing they are.

And they're just a lot of fun in addition to being

good for you there.

All right.

So we've got that red candle and what's the quote on

the candle.

It would be from the living earth to your table.

My mission is to bring a very simple product that there's

no other added ingredients and just presented in a form that

people can feel comfortable putting it in their body and receiving

both flavor and the benefits.

So with the earth being living,

it's just springing up these plants and outcomes,

these beautiful jewels that we can all partake in and enjoy

and share and talk about.

And I would say from the living earth to your table.

Perfect. All right.

So now let's start talking about your journey specifically with lifeguard

and farm.

How did the whole thing start?

Where'd you get the idea in the very beginning?

Well, it goes back,

I've traveled extensively.

I was fortunate enough to have a family member in the

airline industry.

So growing up,

I got to travel all over the place and that really

opened my eyes to see what different cultures do with food

and how things are grown.

And I wanted to really do something that connected me to

the earth and connected me to people.

I studied wellness on my own for probably 10 years,

just wanting to be a healthy person and read everything I

could and absorb it all.

And peppers really just,

they found their way in there almost immediately because it was

something that I believe we're all linked to in history.

And then it just really was like,

who's doing it.

They had hobbies of growing peppers,

cause it's a lot of fun to see how they grow

and how they mature and change colors from green to yellow,

to red,

to Brown.

It's just an incredible what the pepper does.

So people just automatically take to it.

And I thought,

wow, let me do something that I love being in the

garden. Let me do something that's good for people.

And that really isn't available mainstream,

where they can get these exotic peppers that have such high

levels of the capsaicin in it.

So when you got this idea,

did you go through and say,

all right,

I liked,

I want to do something with the earth.

Did you go through,

okay, should it be tomatoes?

Should it be peppers?

Or should it be like,

did you go through different products and kind of analyze all

of that?

Or did you just land right on peppers?

Right from the start I saw a,

at another farmer's market,

I was walking along and I saw an exotic purple pepper

that was from Brazil and all the colors.

I mean,

just like when you walk past the farmer's market and saw

all of those colors,

the same thing grabbed my attention.

And I looked at this plant and I was like,

wow, it was an ornamental.

It was beautiful.

But yet it was a pepper and it was edible.

So I was like,

wow, you have two markets in one plant.

And then I started thinking further into it.

And I started saying to myself,

wow, when this plant now reaches maturity and you reap the

fruit off of it,

if it doesn't sell or you don't have a direct market

immediately for fresh peppers,

is there a way to preserve them so that you can

basically not have any loss on your,

on your farm because it's very tough to deal with loss.

So that's something that we're able to take those peppers in

their prime condition.

Peppers are a preservative in themselves.

So there's nothing that needs to be added to it or

nothing that needs to happen to allow those things,

to sit on a shelf for a year,

two, three 10.

It doesn't matter.

It's never going to be harmful.

You might lose over a couple of years,

a little bit of that flavor,

but you're never really losing.

It's never going to hurt you.

And then the health benefits,

Oh my gosh.

When I started researching some of these doctors that I've researched

in the past,

it really,

it just clicked.

It all kind of clicked at once from the purple pepper

to, Oh my gosh,

you know,

this is who's doing it.

Maybe I can do it.

Let me just follow my passion and what I love to

be, you know,

in the garden and growing something and also specialize in something

that everybody knows what pepper is.

They might not know the variety.

They might not know where they come from,

but everybody's had an experience with peppers.

Couple of things that I want to underline for our listeners

is, okay,

so you saw the passion,

it just kind of hit you.

And we continue to see this Alex over and over again,

that people who get into one line of business or another

it's because of some single experience,

something happens like you walking by and seeing the purple pepper

and all the colors and all that,

you know,

just something like that.

But the other thing that you did is you analyzed and

said, well,

wait, I'm not seeing a lot of people out here already

doing this.

So there was an opportunity,

a hole in the market,

if you will,

that you could then slip right into with the product and

maybe a variation,

like you're saying,

everybody knows peppers,

but a variation of something that everyone is already comfortable with.

So even in that analysis stage,

you were setting yourself up really well,

just by thinking through all those issues before you got started.

Now, did you already have a farm?

No. At the time I was just right out the back

door garden and,

and start growing.

And I was growing some mango trees and some avocados and

blackberries and tomatoes.

I always had a small little plot from traveling and being

out in different parts of the world and seeing farming.

I love collecting seeds and having,

you know,

just some exotic,

I grew up a few other exotic vegetables,

a horned melon,

which is a very interesting plant and a high biscuit,

which is very interesting that people are now drinking and it's

going more mainstream.

But the excitement of peppers really,

it was like,

the ghost chili.

Reaper. And it's just like,

I watched this,

I found myself in that position of saying,

Oh my gosh,

they keep coming out with hotter and more potent peppers.

Who's growing them is who's working with them.

Who's providing them for the public.

And when I researched it,

maybe there's a couple of them in the country and that's

it Beautiful.

So you had this vision and that goes back to your

intro in terms of the hottest peppers,

understand how you drove into the idea of peppers.

How did you start turning this into a business?

Take us through a couple of concrete steps of how you

got started.

Just the whole business side of it.

I knew that,

you know,

abundance in nature,

you know,

it's there it's there,

it exists.

It's real.

And when you multiply a seed and each one of my

peppers that I sell at these markets contains anywhere from 15

to 35 40 seeds.

So one plant is capable of producing literally a few hundred,

300, 500 cousins.

I just saw that abundance.

And I thought,

my gosh,

I'm in Florida in one of the most beautiful parts of

the country for weather and for growing and for farming,

I almost have a year round growing season.

So I thought to myself,

I've got to get myself going.

So let me just start.

I started literally with just seeds and wanting to get them

in trays and wanted to get them growing.

And then I was just kind of in the very,

very beginning,

like, I didn't know where it was going to go.

I'd sold a piece of real estate and had a tiny,

tiny cushion to kind of give myself a six month window

of saying,

okay, is this really something I want to pursue?

And I went for it.

I just thought to myself,

look at the abundance in nature.

And if nature has that abundance and I can just be

partnered with nature and allow nature to provide that to me

after all,

when you go into a grocery store it's called produce,

you're producing something.

If you can produce produce,

then you're going to be all right.

And nature really does that for us.

If we open our mind and our hearts and our hands

to the work and the love and dedication that goes into

growing, that really just kind of happened.

Okay. But then,

so how did you know how to make the products like

the pepper powder and the specialty salts?

And I love your passion for the produce,

right? And,

and the abundance and all of that.

It's fabulous.

So you've got the product,

but then how do you learn how to put it into,

you know,

to, to create something from them that plant in that pepper,

that is something that you'd be selling at the fair It

started when I had all these fresh peppers now see,

it takes a very long time to grow some of the

hotter peppers,

you know,

they take,

yeah, they take a long time to germinate.

And some of these plants,

they take a lot longer than your typical jalapeno pepper.

So I had all these peppers coming up and then I'm

all of a sudden,

I'm pouring them out on my dining room table.

It's covering my whole table.

I've got some serious beverage here.

What am I going to do?

So I called the local farmer's market.

That's here in Lakeland and I spoke with the manager and

he says,

why don't you come on down and try out seeing if

people would be interested in what you have to offer,

because we want to support local farms.

And I was like,

I'd love to.

So I went down there with some baskets and a white

tablecloth and one table,

I had no tent.

I had no experience in this whatsoever.

So it was again a fly by the seat of your

pants, put it out there,

see what people think.

And then when I ended up bringing those things home,

I was like,

now what do I do?

Nobody. He really bought a whole bunch of fresh peppers.

They didn't know what to do with it.

And if they bought one,

they buy one.

So I was like,

Oh no,

what am I going to do?

Yeah, no,

I've got all these peppers now and the amazing health benefits.

And I want to share these with people,

but people don't know how to use them.

I wouldn't have known rarely do I deal with fresh peppers.

It's always in the powder form because it's so accessible.

So I wanted to make these peppers accessible to people,

to where they didn't have to worry about cutting them and

getting on their hands and in their eyes.

And, you know,

I've heard of every place that peppers have been on people.

So, yeah.

Keep going with the story.

This is interesting.

Yeah. And that's where the,

that's where the pepper powder up.

I'd seen in India,

a whole mountain of all these different curries and spices and

powders and,

and their drying methods were just literally laying them on the

ARD clay in the sun.

And so I thought,

wow, if I could just take these peppers and get them

to a state of preservation where they can be maintained for

a while,

I started with one jar at my table and I started

selling it at $3 a scoop.

And I thought to myself,

my gosh,

people went crazy over it because they get $3.

They take a little stoop.

They say,

my gosh,

I just have to add a little tiny bit.

And it changed my whole meal.

So then it was all the different varieties of peppers that

I was growing.

I found out my gosh,

they all have a uniqueness.

So from habanero to ghost chili,

to scorpion,

to yellow,

seven pot,

each one of them to when they're green,

they all taste different.

So it's like,

my gosh,

I want to share this.

Letting people know that a pepper,

isn't just a pepper.

One has maybe some citrus notes to it and has a

very slow building heat where another one is right off the

bat. Very,

very sharp and very hits the front of your palette.

Other ones,

you know,

kind of,

you don't taste a very earthy kind of taste.

And of course the difference between Verde and salsa,

that's red versus green.

You're getting a different vitamin content and a different sweetness.

So when you have green peppers,

they taste a certain way versus the red.

So I,

I was just able to,

you know,

right off the bat,

expand into doing nothing other than taking each strain of pepper

and just processing that by itself and having a 100% pure

product that allowed the pepper to showcase its own uniqueness.

Got it.

And I love how you speak with such passion about it.

I mean,

clearly you love your peppers.

You love all the varieties and the sensation when someone is

consuming the product.

I mean,

you gave an excellent example of this.

You should actually do a video and put it on YouTube

about all that.

If you haven't done that already,

because that would get people definitely attracted to the product.

I'm sure.

So give biz listeners think about the same thing when you're

talking about your product and the passion that you have,

because I didn't know,

half this stuff,

Alex, that you were just talking about is so much fun

and peppers are amazing.

And the story behind the different peppers and the different levels

of growth and all of that,

I would have never thought about any of that.

And I'm sure when you're around,

it becomes more commonplace to you probably a little bit,

but you got to tell the story,

you know,

everyone loves stories.

So that was awesome.

Excellent example.

I absolutely loved that.

Let's get over and talk a little bit about how you

sell your product.

Talk to us a little bit about the farmer's market and

your experience with it.

And any advice that you can give us,

It's such a community.

And when you end up shopping local and you end up

seeing the people or find some something local,

it doesn't matter what city you're in,

but you find somebody that is doing something that you're not

going to see.

You find these little niches and these little unique scenarios that

people have created in their mind.

It's a community.

It really is a community.

And the people that are involved from the market managers to,

you know,

the staff,

when you pull in and they help you in,

I mean,

everybody is there and we're all entrepreneurs for the most part.

It's not big business.

It's not corporate business.

It's more of a smaller farm to table.

Like I say,

it's a farm to table operation where I'm out there in

the field picking stuff.

And literally the very next day,

it's like you were there picking with me because I did

that work for you so that you don't have to.

Now here it is,

and you can enjoy it and share it and,

and see something that maybe you wouldn't see through the main

channels of receiving.

So how many markets are you doing a year?

Hey, Saturday is my busy day.

So I'm year round.

Saturday is my really busy day.

And then I'll do two Sundays a month.

Okay. And in Florida,

weather allows you to do that.

Obviously here,

I'm up in Chicago and we don't get farmer's markets except

for maybe four.

If we're lucky,

five months out of the year,

I used to know birds.

When you come down,

you know,

it makes for a great season,

but when you go home and we end up in that

90 degree weather,

that's hot and you're outside.

And that the market does slow down in the summertime.

For sure.

So we're in the peak of our season right now.

And a lot of tourism is in Florida,

especially the beautiful St Pete area,

where I do my market.

You've got the seagulls chirping and you've got the boats in

the Marina and you've got salt in the air and music

playing and the smell of all these different foods coming in.

And, and then you just got your community of people on

top of it.

And it's like to be able to share,

I feel like I'm at a trade show every Saturday And

you're sharing your own produce,

which is so fabulous.

Yes. And you know,

they have really supported that,

where I don't pay what normal people would pay.

They actually give a discount for farmers because they want to

encourage more people to bring their produce and to bring things

straight from the farm.

Interesting. They really do help us out the farmer.

They help the small guy out.

Tell us a little bit about working your table at the

farmer's market in terms of,

have you had any challenges with too many customers or how

do you work it so that you're able to give everybody

attention or presenting it or making sure that you're getting the

exposure at the farmer's market that you intended by being The

St. Pete downtown farmer's market is one of the best markets.

I believe a couple of years back it was voted.

The number one market in the country.

We have,

I think on average,

anywhere from seven to 10,000

people on a Saturday.

Oh wow.

So yeah,

they did a report on that and got back some really

strong numbers.

It can get overwhelming where people end up selling my product.

For me,

I'll be standing back and somebody will come up and be

like, Oh,

I had it last week,

Alex, or I did this or that.

And you know,

it's so wonderful and this and that,

but with my customers,

I try to,

if I'm speaking with somebody,

I give them that attention.

And if other people are standing there and they want to

ask questions,

or there's plenty to look at,

there's plenty to read on the table.

You can always mosey around and come back because it's a

very relaxed feel,

you know,

moseying around the market and everything.

But I want to make sure that,

you know,

a lot of people talk to me about wellness and talk

to me about what do peppers do and what are the

benefits and what does your product do?

Because they haven't seen anything like it.

Once they have it,

it's going to their cousins,

their aunts,

their uncles,

their brother,

everybody knows,

you know,

a grandpa that loves it spicy or a son-in-law that loves

it spicy.

I mean,

they, they always look and try to challenge themselves with the

hottest. So why is that fun for me when they come

into It Never gets old.

I don't know why.

And I guess that's why YouTube has a million plus views.

Every time somebody eats one of these peppers,

but it's All right.

You're so right.

Well, listen,

give us a little bit of a health lesson.

Pretend like we're just coming up to your table right now.

And we're wondering what this is all about from the health

angle. I say that,

you know,

my peppers are produced within the most natural way.

I don't spray them with harmful pesticides.

So it starts at the farm.

When you stick a seed in the ground and you nurture

it with love and good intention,

and then you're able to bring that product to the market

and put it into people's bodies,

the pepper itself,

according to Dr.

Schultz, who was an amazing man who healed a lot of

people in California,

he wrote a book called the secrets of the last chance

clinic. And in that book,

one of my favorite quotes,

he says,

cayenne contains within it,

the life giving force of our son on which all life

depends. So cayenne,

just being pepper.

You know,

he was saying cayenne,

but it's pepper.

It's the capsaicin inside the pepper.

So peppers move blood and increase circulation and blood being the

most precious fluid in our bodies because it contains the life-giving

oxygen that all the other nutrients and body chemicals we depend

on. If we are consuming something,

that's moving the blood in our body and circulating it around,

which is why your face gets red when you eat it.

And there's an immediate reaction,

it hits your endorphins.

It's going into your brain and passing the blood-brain barrier to

release that endorphin because of its purity,

because a lot of things can't pass that barrier.

They can't go in and do the work that needs to

be done.

When you consume a pepper,

there's no hiding it.

I mean,

people, their faces going to get red,

especially the hotter ones.

I mean,

they're going to have a reaction.

And usually it's a good one because you know,

your face is getting red because you're circulating more.

Then you're dropping nutrients off in your body.

So the blood being the oil for our body,

and then the peppers come along,

all they're doing is they're,

they're, they're going to make sure that that engine is really

going so that the oil can move around in the blood

can flow to all the other parts of your body.

So if your legs bothering you too,

your head's bothering you to your elbow to this and that

the only way that your body is getting those nutrients is

by circulation.

It's by the blood,

bringing the nutrients to that area,

dropping off the nutrients,

and then flowing back through the body to go pick up

more nutrients to go drop off again.

So it's a beautiful cycle Benefit.

Only good for the time that you're consuming the peppers,

or is there any long lasting residual effect?

Oh yeah.

You know,

once you're getting it into your bloodstream,

this isn't something that you eat and then it just goes

away. So it's something that the longer you take it,

the more benefits actually appear because this isn't just something that's

a cure all,

or you take a pill and forget about it in the

morning. This is something that if you're consuming and adding this

into your diet and into the equation,

you're going to start seeing all of those other benefits.

Maybe you're what's ailing you is they're giving you a little

bit of discomfort.

Is your feet get cold or your,

you need a little circulation down there,

or maybe you have some arthritis or your little sore.

A lot of people think that,

you know,

when you get older,

your blood flow declines.

I mean,

that's just a fact,

if we're aging and blood flow is declining.

If we add a little bit of that cayenne in there

on a regular basis,

you're increasing your blood flow as you age.

And that really matters.

And interesting.

I would imagine that is youthful too.

Your whole system is working better.

You're moving nutrients around your body.

And some people might say,

well, Oh,

I can't take peppers or I can't eat peppers.

It really bothers my stomach.

And it sure can.

It'll bother my stomach.

If I go right now and eat one of my crazy

hot peppers,

you better believe I'm not immune to it.

And I've been on this thing for a couple of years,

but I still it's going to bother me.

You know,

I'm not this,

this pepper guy that can eat all these peppers now because

I'm growing them and I'm surrounded by them.

Your tolerance can go up a little bit.

But if you start with small amounts and especially the powder,

it goes directly,

it can go right into the blood stream.

You're using a very small amount.

It's not having to go down into the digestive system to

break down,

into breaking down the water and breaking down.

A lot of the acid that's contained inside the pepper,

or a lot of people confuse.

I can't eat hot because I had hot sauce and I

pour a half a thing of crystals,

hot sauce on my food to get hot.

But then they just added,

who knows how much acid and vinegar and salt.

And you know,

all these things that are kind of counter reacted to the

pepper. So if they really had pure cayenne,

you wouldn't believe it.

If I said that with ulcers and people with stomach problems

and people with acid reflux have come to my booth and

said, I have acid reflux.

I can't,

I can't have peppers.

I said,

well, you know what,

why don't you just give it a shot?

You know,

I'm not here to give you medical advice,

but I know that peppers have never been known historically to

kill anybody.

I mean,

it's this,

isn't a drug here.

It's, it's like saying an orange killed somebody today or eating

an Apple.

We're definitely dealing with a natural product.

And when people have taken it,

I've had people come back with amazing results.

One lady,

I mean,

Oh my gosh,

it, it broke my heart.

She was losing her teeth in the back of her mouth

because of the amount of excess acid she had from acid

reflux. And she had tried this and been on that and

doctor this and doctor that.

And then she came to me and she's like,

I'm willing to try anything.

But my doctor always told me to stay away from peppers

because it could irritate.

And I said,

well, you know what?

I can't tell you what to do or not to do.

But here is my product.

I've had people come with some amazing results.

And if you were to give it a shot,

I'd love to hear back from you.

She came,

came back a month later and bought six bottles from me

and said,

Alex, I have no more acid problems.

And I thought,

Hmm, Oh my gosh.

If I could do that a million times and really help

people. That's one story.

I mean,

the amount of people that have had ailments from one poor

man was losing his toes and they had taken off two

of his toes.

And, you know,

he had really bad circulation.

And so his sister-in-law came and picked up a thing of

the, and she goes,

I'm not even going to tell them,

I'm just going to start putting it in his food.

And you know what I mean?

You wouldn't believe it.

She said to me,

Alex, they were going to take off his leg.

They started with his toes and they took off two toes

and then they were going to go to his foot.

And, you know,

I mean,

it's it,

my heart just absolutely sinks because it's like,

Oh my gosh,

this poor man is really going through something.

And here's something that's provided by nature could give him some

relief. And,

you know,

she came back to me and she goes,

Alex, his foot was swollen.

So big that to put a sock on was uncomfortable.

His foot is normal size.

That's crazy.

It's crazy.

It's, it's unbelievable.

It really is.

And they keep coming to me and coming to me and

coming to me,

all these stories and,

you know,

I just keep giving.

Thanks. You know,

I'm just so grateful that I'm doing doing it.

And it drives me that much further to say,

you know what?

I got to do this more.

I got to get this in more people's hands.

We got to not only enjoy the flavor and how it

makes us feel when we eat something with a little warmth

and our palette loves it,

but our body is going to love it too.

And the things that it's doing internally is really nice.

All the people that come back to you and then all

of these stories,

it brings back into you exactly why you started this passion,

you know,

the mission and the passion in the first place.

Yeah. You know,

I can read a book and it can tell me a

hundred times it stops heart blockages and capsaicin is,

is known to,

to clear the arteries and to assist in aiding in so

many different things.

And I can read that.

But if somebody is actually coming to me and saying,

Alex, it really did it.

You know,

it's like a,

in my face testimonial to where I don't have to trust

an author.

I don't have to trust a scientific report.

This is the community coming to me.

I'm sharing something with them.

They're coming back to me with Results that I'm not paying

them for those Results.

They don't have to come tell me anything,

but they're doing it out of their sheer excitement for the

amount of improvement in their life that they have received from

the benefits of peppers.

So interesting.

And now we all know because you've given us a great

demonstration in terms of what it can do.

I want to circle now Alex,

into our reflection section.

And these are just really kind of succinct answers to things

that have helped you to be successful as you are right

now. What is one natural trait that you think you call

upon to keep pushing forward and be successful?

Determination. I am very determined.

I have four children and I look at them and I

know that they depend on me.

I'm a single father and it's something that they're looking to

me. And I felt that if I go out and I

was a mortgage broker,

I was a pilot.

I've done some things at a young age to where I

got to experience the hotel industry.

And I'm just an entrepreneur.

And in my spirit,

in my soul,

in what,

you know,

however, want to say the universe has given me this confidence

and this ability to say I can.

And it's that attitude of I can do this.

I'm going to be determined and not stop.

And if somebody says no,

then I'm going to find a way for it to be

yes, especially when you stand behind something as powerful as nature.

And this little Juul called the pepper.

It's really given me the confidence to be able to say,

wow, I can stand behind a product.

That's helping people.

And that's really unique.

And not everybody knows about it,

even though everybody knows about peppers.

So it's really just the drive to help people and to

be determined for my family and for just being built with

an entrepreneurial spirit and not stifling that,

you know,

it's very easy to get into the cans and shouldn'ts,

and couldn't,

but when you just really follow your heart and follow what

you love and pursue it and be determined and not listen

to those nos and keep marching forward,

I keep planting seeds.

So the more seeds I plant,

the more peppers I have,

the more people I can help,

the more Absolutely.

Yeah. Determination and passion and belief in your product,

because it does produce such good for people Know that trifecta

right there.

You know,

it's those three things that have really,

you know,

Okay. And is there a tool or something you use in

your day because you do have four children you're working the

farm, you're selling the product,

all of that.

Is there something that helps you just keep grounded to stay

balanced and stay in control of your time?

Every morning,

take a 15 minutes,

10, 15 minutes.

I'm always up early as a farmer.

I'm up before the sun,

but I feel like it's that centering of your time.

Everybody should have that 10,

15 minutes where you get up and love yourself and love

what you're doing and love your day and give thanks.

And that time right there sets my whole day up.

So what is it like reflection or is it real like,

is it meditation or is it just reflecting and gratitude?

It's the same thing every day when it comes to the

gratitude and giving things kind of in my own little mantra,

you know,

thank you for life and for being alive and forgiving me,

these beautiful children and this opportunity to walk in light today.

And there's no method.

It's not like I follow this thing where I drink my

cup of coffee.

And then I go sit down here and then I go

read this thing.

It's very free flow,

but I make sure that the gratitude is in there.

First thing,

and that the love is in their first thing.

I love my children.

I love myself.

I love what I'm doing.

I love the planet and my people on the planet.

We're all human beings.

My heart goes out to them.

I think about all the people that might be suffering with

this or that.

And if I just plant another pepper and I just keep

the thing moving,

I'm going to be able to give back.

That's what feels the best for me to be able to

give back and to be able to share.

But it's really just a 10 minute in the morning,

quiet time.

It's spending that time in love.

We can so easily get so muddled down in the day-to-day

tasks, but you're saying you lift yourself up from all of

that and look at the higher level reasons of why you're

doing what you're doing with your product and its effect on

people and all that.

And taking the time,

first thing in the morning to kind of setting your mind

straight on there,

I can imagine is so beneficial as you're going through the

day, moving on.

Is there a book that you think our listeners would find

value in?

Oh wow.

There's one I'm into right now.

And I wish I could comment on the whole thing,

He wrote a book called how to keep well and live

long, pretty simple.

Now, is he still alive?

Nah, he's probably not with us anymore,

but wow.

Is it?

It was something that the very first chapter,

he went over the basics of living and he says,

what do you need to live?

And it was like,

everybody's like,

well, we need food.

We need shelter.

We need this.

And that.

And myself included.

I was like,

well, we need,

we need food.

We need shelter.

My head is going.

Yeah. He starts out.

And he says,

well, well,

let's start with the foundation.

It's the way he put the book together.

He says,

air number one,

you need air.

If you don't have air,

then you can't eat.

You can't sleep.

You're not going to be here.

So he really discusses things.

The air quality that you're breathing and the environment that you

put yourself in.

So when you start with that and it kind of goes

in order,

definitely water is next and then sleep and then food.

And if you look at it,

we can go the shortest time without oxygen.

Then you're going to have to drink something.

Eventually you have to get dehydrated and you don't make it.

Then you need sleep because you can stay up for so

long before your body's just going to break down.

It has to repair itself and go back to sleep.

People have gone weeks without food,

but they can't go weeks without sleep.

They can't go weeks without water.

And they can't definitely go weeks without air.

Just getting into the first chapter.

I thought to myself,

my gosh,

I never looked at it that way.

And how amazing is that?

That it's right in front of my face,

but yet I wasn't giving consideration to my air quality,

even in my own home.

So for the last couple of weeks,

I've been sleeping with the windows open and you know,

he discusses,

even if you live in a cold environment,

just to get that exchange of air flowing through an environment

is crucial,

really, really important.

Wow. I'm going to have to stop you here because I

think we all need to consider reading in the book.

It sounds so interesting.

Gift biz listeners.

I just want to remind you that just like you're listening

the podcast today,

you can also listen to audio books.

I am thinking that this one probably isn't in an audio

book at this point,

but that doesn't mean that you can't get it hard copy,

but I want to remind you that I've teamed up with

audible. And if you're interested in getting an audio book,

you can do so for free on me.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection.

That's gift biz book.com.

Okay. Alex,

we've reached the point where I want to invite you to

dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

Wow. That's such a fun question.

It's so wonderful.

You know,

I thought about that.

That is wow.

I would take a trip with my family and I would

travel the world to see all the different spices and do

like a world of peppers or a journey through the pepper

world. Take a three month documentary filming,

maybe with a chef at some places and maybe with a

farmer at some places.

But with my children being able to be with me and

experience the culture and the history,

the variety of peppers from Thailand to India,

to South America and parts of Guyana and Brazil,

and right here in America,

where they grew the world's hottest pepper,

the Carolina Reaper go to the chili pepper Institute in New

Mexico and see all the different research and benefits.

And, you know,

I think that traveling with family and experiencing life that's,

that would be my dream.

That sounds fabulous.

Will you need someone to care your suitcases?

I'm raising my hand.

There you go.

Well, I have family in St.

Pete, so you will be seeing me again.

Is there a single location that you would tell people to

go to to learn more about your peppers?

Now, if they're not in St.

Pete, if they can't end up coming to the farmer's market,

would you send them to a Facebook page or website or,

yeah, I'd love to send them to a Facebook page to

get, to see pictures.

And I'm working on getting that.

I've been spending a lot of time in the farm.

So during the busy times a year,

you'll notice that my Facebook page isn't really too active.

There's always a picture a couple of times a month,

but during the slow times during the summer and during,

you know,

when people are BBQ in and out doing their thing,

wanting to put some spice on their food,

you know,

that's where I would go.

It would be my Facebook page at lifeguard and farm.

Perfect. And give biz listeners,

you know,

there's also a show notes page.

So if you're out and you're not able to go and

check all that out right now,

maybe you're working out at the club,

maybe you're in your own garden,

who knows,

but remember,

there's a show notes page.

I'll have all that information there.

So you'll be able to get in touch with Alex as

you wish.

I'm so sorry to say,

we've reached the end of the interview.

It's been so interesting almost for a little bit of a

different perspective.

You know,

we've talked about the business and how your business journey went,

but we also got a great lesson into the value of

peppers, what they can do for us health wise and so

many fabulous tidbits along the way here.

So for that,

Alex, I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for taking your time today and look

forward to seeing you again,

sometime at the farmer's market and may your candle always burn

bright? Well,

thank you so much.

So, and like I always say,

Stay well and keep it hot.

Where are you in your business building journey,

whether you're just starting out or already running a business and

you want to know your setup for success.

Find out my taking the gift biz quiz,

access the quiz from your computer at MIT dot L Y

slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift

biz quiz to four four two,

two, two.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

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