The Cole Memo

In this episode, I speak with Dennis Walker about one of his latest satirical videos that sparked a small outcry on Twitter.

In case you didn’t know: Dennis Walker is a journalist & satirist that has had their work featured in Forbes, Rolling Stone, Psychedelic Alpha, and many other major publications. Tune in to learn about the nuance behind Dennis’s work and the topics that we discuss on this show.

• Watch the episode on Patreon here
• Watch the episode on Youtube here
• Stream the episode on Soundcloud here
• Stream the episode on Spotify here
• Stream the episode on Apple Podcast here
• Stream the episode on X here

Links mentioned during show

• Go to Dennis’s website here – Mycopreneur.com
• Go to Dennis’s LinkTree here
• Connect with Dennis on Twitter here
• Episode with anti-cannabis guest here

The auto-generated transcript is available below.

in this episode I’ll be sitting down with Dennis Walker from micropreneur decom if you’re looking to connect with Dennis we’ll have links in the episode description more on that in a moment in case you didn’t know Dennis has directly inspired some of the content that I’ve created to promote this show specifically three three reals that I’ve created I’ll show you the first one now I’m a cannabis industry billionaire and you know what things are going pretty godamn well for me I’ve established a firm regulatory foothold within several nasit cannabis markets across these United States I’ve worked to ensure that nobody even has a chance to compete with me you might be asking yourself how did I do this the answer is simple cash money [ __ ] no seriously me and my VC Bros Chad Brad and Thad P at least 00k into lobbying in one state alone I say at least because of course we weren’t forthright with all of our political giving this is a venture capitalist knee you see that [ __ ] knee [ __ ] do it the other way too transparency simply isn’t the goal the goal is complete domination yeah me and my buddies Kirk Aiden and mckenley are starting a rock band we’re calling it regulatory capture I’m quickly becoming the king of cannabis the next industry that I plan to colonize is the Psychedelic industry I’m relatively bullish about quarter 2 but quarter three let me tell you it’s looking beautiful yeah we should celebrate you want some what is that uh weed I don’t smoke but I’ll [Music] try tune in the chillino podcast it’s the next big thing [ __ ] cho. C I was able to recycle all of that footage to cover the recent crackdowns on the hemp Market I’m a cannabis industry billionaire and you know what I’m pretty [ __ ] pissed off about these hemp operators you see I’ve established a firm regulatory foothold within several nent cannabis markets across these United States and these [ __ ] think they can just come in and sell weed too I’m sorry but that’s not how pay to play works I’m focused on one thing and one thing only cash money [ __ ] we poured at least 600k into lobbying in one state alone in order to ensure we would have no competition and then progressives like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell want to come in and pull the rug out from under us we’re working alongside organizations like smart approaches to marijuana and the Drug Enforcement Administration to close what we’re calling a loophole what some are calling an opportunity here’s the thing we believe in limited opportunity in casee you haven’t figured it out yet the limitations are what bring in the cash money [ __ ] the best part of all of this we have the community’s full support on waging this new offensive we’ve learned that if we push stories in the media the community will do the leg work and secure our market for us we’ve successfully framed an opportunity as an attack on social Equity thank you for helping to increase the size of my regulatory Mo don’t let the Gators get you check out my work at the memo.com I interview drug policy experts licensed cannabis operators prostitutes people in the cocaine industry and more and I’ve even done silly things like this I’m Cowboy Cole and I’m the quickest drug Slinger on this side of the Mississippi I used to use this little gun when I was a prostitute I might be the roughest and the toughest but things can still get hard for us Cowboys while we’re out [ __ ] around on the Range that’s why I consume excessive amounts of psychedelic mushrooms cannabis and anything else that I can get my hands on we’re going to the Psychedelic Rodeo no matter how sacred or inconsiderate it might be to some cowboys live off the land that’s why I pick every peyote button I find who gives a [ __ ] if it takes 20 years to grow so before we get into the heat of the show I just wanted to thank Dennis for the inspiration and the laughs over the years folks if you haven’t checked out Dennis’s content I highly encourage you to do so it’s great enjoy this episode of the Cole memo [Music] well Dennis I just wanted to say before I get started thank you again for sitting down with me this evening my pleasure dude thanks for the invite yep and for folks that are just tuning in this is the Cole welcome I’m your host Cole Preston we release every episode an audio video and transcript format so to find the transcript audio or video version of any episode refer to the description of the episode that you’re listening to now within that description you’ll find a link that will take you to our website which will display the transcript for this episode in the platforms where you can find this episode in audio or video formats if you’re an able to locate the episode description on whichever platform you’re listening from I get it the platforms change all the time simply take note of the episode number and just visit the memo.com from there you can use our search functionality to find the corresponding episode and then you’ll be able to access the audio video and transcript version of the episode you might also find any links that we reference during today’s episode so that you can connect with awesome guests like Dennis if you’re not listening to this episode of the Cole memo on patreon then you’re listening to this episode a little bit later than our patrons to become a patron go to the memo.com patreon it’s a great way to support support our show another way to support our show is at the memo.com support shout out to our friend Tom G for making a contribution our show is uh funded by listeners like you it costs a lot Dennis I’m sure you know between equipment traveling all of the different things it all adds up and so if you’re able to support us uh financially that’s great but if you’re not another great way to support us is absolutely free just subscribe to or follow the show leave a thumbs up share it with your best friend uh you know everything helps today is May 10th 2024 wow we’re almost halfway through 2024 and like I said I am so pleased to be sitting down with Dennis Dennis this is our second time sitting down but your first time on the coal memo welcome thank you so much Cole and I have such great respect for your craftsmanship for your attention to detail and I’m a huge supporter and a fan so it’s an honor to be here and thanks for the invite yeah so absolutely thank you for hopping on in such short notice and you know I was getting on social media recently and I’d love to have you maybe back us up here but I just want to tell you how I Came Upon I mean I’m always looking at your content but recently in my what’s there’s two different feeds you get on Twitter there’s the one where you follow people and you get the stuff that you like at you know just the regular it’s called following and then there’s for you and in my For You tab it’s just blowing up about this horrible re that Dennis uh from micro printer made I couldn’t find the real it was so hard to find the real I had to like scroll back like what are people even talking about it’s funny all I was seeing was the outrage and I was like let’s see the real and I was like and don’t take this the wrong way it didn’t seem very much outside of the content that you usually made I was like expecting you to like do something crazy show your penis or something I don’t know like I was like what’s the controversy here and so I wasn’t I was like wow this is just another good re by uh Dennis and uh I gu gu before before you dive into that we should say that one of the main pieces of content besides your podcast that you produce is satirical reals um and I’ve mimicked you directly in the past um where can people find your content online I want to ask that before we go any further anything associated with micropreneur Myco PR neur and Instagram I’ve increasingly been building a x following Tik Tok I’m on Tik Tok I’ve been posting to LinkedIn although I typically don’t post the satirical reals it’s kind of a different audience but it was a very conscious decision to try to spread my eggs out in different baskets because of the censorship the Deep platforming which I’ve directly experienced on two of the aforementioned platforms and it’s quite ambiguous and selectively enforced like I’ve made some reels where I’m like really pushing the boundaries and there’s no issue and then other ones where I’m like oh this is so tamed it’s like it gets a community guideline line violations I know you’ve experienced this I’m on YouTube as well I’ll probably pick up some more momentum there and yeah this is kind of the modern conundrum it’s a blessing and occasionally a curse of having to create for you know 12 different platforms and audiences and I’m embracing it I enjoy creating I enjoy building Rapport and I made a conscious decision this year to build my following on X and I look at it as like solving a riddle like each platform has their own audience their own Niche demographics their own algorithmic predilections and uh so we can get into this whole Feud or situation that bubbled up but I’ll agree with you I think it was very surprising and that’s also why I took a stand which I rarely do you know I’ve occasionally gotten vitrio and gotten rebuked people often ask me like you make this edgy content you know you’re pushing the envelope do you get a lot of criticism and the honest answer is very very little and I got what I’d call a vocal minority of pretty intense and harsh criticism about this particular piece and I felt it was within my right and almost a moral obligation to take a stand and to defend myself on it so you won’t catch me very often replying to these comments but as you noted I blew up the whole for you page responding uh tit fortat to a bunch of the comments and then it ran its course and I felt like I said my piece and I have no interest in continuing any kind of a feud although who knows maybe a couple weeks or a couple months from now another one will boil over you never know that’s what the internet drives it does seem like that’s what the the common similarity between all the platforms is it seems like outrage is encouraged um you know and it really bubbles up to the tops to to to the tops of everybody’s feeds so um yeah thank you for giving that background and and one of the things that I was trying to lay out just in case people aren’t familiar I know a lot of people are huge fans of you but just in case people aren’t familiar I feel like you really pioneered this format again that I’ve mimicked uh several times at this point some of your fans have even called me out for it they’re like I feel like he’s stealing some of your things the tongue flicking I’m like oh absolutely I am yeah no it’s like it’s a compliment I’m honored honestly because you do it so well that’s something I’ve had conversations recently and before about it’s like a lot of people just aren’t funny they try to be funny they want to be funny that’s okay I’m never going to knock them for trying but you’re genuinely funny and you nailed it so I look at it as a great honor and a compliment please steal more time yeah and and I want to just be clear they were saying I was stealing one of your moves I was like this it’s like a compliment it’s like the tongue out with MJ yeah I’m I’m you know you know anyways though um why don’t we watch The Reel before we talk about it does that sound good totally let’s go cool all right let me I’ve got it pulled up here let’s watch it and for folks that know Dennis I again I just have to say this didn’t seem out of the realm for me but uh let’s watch it have you guys heard of HP PPD it’s like the more pedantic I am the more fake Internet clout points I award myself I mean all this Topline data coming out of rigorous clinical trials doesn’t really do it for me you should hear what a friend of a friend said anecdotally it used to be edgy to advocate for psychedelics as medicine but now that the Overton window has shifted it’s edgy to criticize psychedelics as medicine I’m just super worried about the epistemological bias I don’t know what that means but it’s concerning how can you truly blind an RC T you can’t you can’t I’ve got like six burner accounts on X and I just roast people who have different worldviews than mine the voyerism of this whole Anonymous vigilante internet stuff really works for me it’s called rage baiting I just find the most incendiary and alarming stories pick them out of a sea of good news and then put a pay wall up in front of them being critical of corporate psychedelia is my entire personality if I wasn’t virtue signaling about how concerned I am of all these potential risks that these incredibly safe and efficacious substances pose to one 1,000th of the population I’d have no personality left at all micropreneur podcast okay so again I I I can say that I can see why you know some people might like uh be like oh you called me out just like people have called me out on the podcast they’re like Cole if we get homerow for all what are you going to [ __ ] about I’m like touche I will find another thing to [ __ ] about I promise you I will um but I’m just curious from your perspective like what what what was the big fuss about with this that’s the the same question I have honestly and I was very surprised to receive a couple of pretty direct and pointed rebukes which is fine people are entitled to their perspective but I was also very surpris it was continuing like I’ve I’ve experienced especially with a Poe vocal minority I would say that also have a common denominator and that this particular group seems to have dragged so many people through the mud it’s what they do and they’ve kind of built up a reputation for that and I’m not interested in like naming names I never very very rarely name a name when I’m doing satire I’ll occasionally pick out like a powerful company or a powerful person and that’s fair game but like I believe it or not I look at the world as like a hodgepodge of experiences and memories and like some of these things they’re directly informed from other people that have nothing to do with this uh Core group that is so concerned I’m like calling them out if you will and skewing the power dynamics but actually it was a comment that Hamilton Morris made on stage people are probably familiar with Hamilton Morris who hosted a vice documentary series and has done a lot of interesting work and he mentioned about how like a few years ago you know there weren’t really anybody that wasn’t anybody criticizing psychedelics and now psychedelics have become popular and that pendulum has swung to the other side and lots and lots of people are critical of it and then at some point it’ll probably you know slide back to the middle and people’s perspectives are are valid right not necessarily like pound-for-pound I think that’s the whole point of debate and logic Etc um but I find some issue with being targeted uh vly and more so than anything with people trying to interpret this as being this is punching down this is bully-ish behavior and I had someone say you you you had personal attacks in there and I said there’s not one name there’s not one company and they go well you’re clear about this person I’m like that’s an incredible projection it’s giving yourself a lot of credit considering that I’m the one who often is making fun of myself like I’ve been so openly publicly critical of medicalized psychedelics of the whole clinical system of the for-profit system etc etc to a point where I’ve received backlash from many of those folks like people who don’t even talk to me anymore because we were cool and then I wrote an article for this magazine or that magazine and then I get an email from them like a couple hours later like almost immediately I’m pretty convinced I have like people monitoring just like watching you know to be like oh this guy this we need to keep an eye on this guy because it’s uncanny sometimes like I’ll make a piece and then I’ll hear about it almost immediately after you know uh so that being said it’s like you can’t keep all the people happy all the time I spent three years and will continue to critique publicly what I perceive as these imbalanced power dynamics the corpor delic culture Etc but I also recognize that these are humans like there’s this sense of binary polarity US versus them and I’ve never really been into that I’ve never been into this bandwagoning and I see it now with even with the underground or with these you know supposedly like social justice Warriors Etc like they’ll eat their own very quick and look how long it took for people to put their crosshairs on me and the irony of it to me is that so few of those people criticizing me have ever supported me in all the great work that people are appreciating that I’ve done like in all of the call outs or all of the A stand on this issue or that I’ve received so little recognition and I’m not like thirsting for it I don’t need their approval but I think it’s funny you know one of the comments one of these individuals who was openly attacking me and criticizing me that’s fine that’s his right it’s also my right to go that and to stand up for it if I so choose but he mentioned it’s there publicly visible for the record I’ve been laughing at your headlines you know I get a good laugh and I can’t remember the exact phrasing but essentially saying you’ve done good work well it’s very ironic and interesting to me I don’t ever recall this individual supporting that work he’s never engaged never uh shared the work you never commented on it and I have a steel trap memory to the point where it’s almost a fault like I remember conversations that we’ve had you know in Denver like when we met once or whatever I just that’s how my memory works and it’s like okay this is my core issue with these types of groups that just want to do like call out journalism and drag people through the mud it’s like how come you can’t give any credit any positive feedback and then as soon as it’s time to pile on and go tribal and uh you know call out or whatever then it’s all Hands-On deck and funny enough like this particular group and maybe they’re not a monolith maybe it’s just you know a core group and there’s a few other people Hangers On or whatever I’ve got so many messages like at least a dozen to two dozen somewhere in that range of other people who have told me like yeah they did that to me too yeah like you handled that well so at the end of the day like you can’t keep all the people happy all the time but I think if you’re going to criticize and and call out people well there needs to be a counterbalance there where you recognize the legitimacy of their work you recognize the good things there’s the sense of throwing the baby out with the bath water and that’s direct expression I’ve heard from some of the recipients of this criticism and it it’s amazing to me uh how you can criticize and throw vitriol and say like someone needs to apologize youve caused harm Etc but you just never ever hear it when they’re calling out like okay this is something you did well or like we appreciate this and uh that’s something I try to do very well is like I I don’t think I take any criticism towards an entity or myself legitimately if that’s all you get if it’s pure criticism and it’s like a to a person with a hammer everything looks like a nail and you know I’ve had people come on my podcast who mention this when we start talking just in generalities about the evolution of the Psychedelic space you say oh I’m going to get dragged on Twitter you know I’m going to get called out for this and like that’s really sad that that’s the culture that we’re fomenting and establishing right now which is one of you know watch dogs trying to point out and like post screenshots dude like to me that’s the bottom of the barrel that’s scraping crap out of the prison toilet right there is to just like post private screenshots and unfortunately it’s something that just happens all the time uh so yeah I could rant about this indefinitely and I just don’t see a lot of legitimacy to the criticism when that’s the only thing or the primary thing you do yeah and I I mean I don’t know you super well Dennis but from our conversations and just from the content that you make I feel that I know your your heart is in a good place and so it’s like if we were truly C calling you out on something if you like came out and said and I know you don’t talk about cannabis a lot but let’s just use a recent cannab cannabis example he came out and said seriously which that’s the other thing you never really say anything seriously because it’s always satirical it’s always tongue and cheek so it’s like you have to take it for what it’s worth which is satire right um but if you were to come out and say something like cannabis should be schedule three it should not be descheduled like tobacco and alcohol which would be a very controversial statement as you just said the people on Twitter would call you out and you’d get run through the ringer I would say in that instance though rightfully so and maybe if you like heard the case you you’d be like oh yeah no uh the logic of uh cannabis being descheduled just like tobacco and alcohol makes sense to me I was wrong but I guess I guess what I’m saying is like I don’t see I haven’t heard a direct criticism of like you did something wrong like you said it seems like it seems like a case of like the circular firing squad cuz like I know where your art is I guess is what I’m saying and so like to jump to like oh you it’s almost like you’ve switched sides it’s like what do you even talking about yeah that’s it the and I’ve heard that directly from some of these people criticizing me literally saying we’re not sure which side you’re on as if it’s like capture the flag and like maybe you do have to choose a side but I’ve never been interested in that dude like I am a oneperson show I’ve built you know all the connections and networking myself that’s what’s afforded me a lot of opportunities I didn’t come into this quotequote space psychedelic industry if you will with any connections whatsoever it’s simply I’ve been a psychonaut for a long time you know I’ve tried to treat people well I show up to birthday parties when people invite me I keep in touch with people and then so this idea of like especially on the internet like random people who have never met me or maybe have met me once coming out and trying to paint this image of me it’s like I’ll go tit fortat pound-for-pound with you I’m ready for smoke and they may not know this but like I’ve been into psychedelics since 2005 2006 like heavily so and I also have a degree in media studies on the first wave of social media like I was there in San Francisco right when Twitter was being launched right when Facebook was being launched Twitter was launched in 2006 Facebook was right around there then YouTube and I was on the first wave of studying that so like not to say that it entitles me to like have some more grandiose perspective but I have a sense of like how media Theory Works how soci media works and especially with this intersection with psychedelics and social media so like to have people call me out like that and again I want to emphasize this is a vocal minority like if you go through and you count it’s probably like six to eight people and the common denominator is this same six to eight people seems to have arguments and issues with myad different actors in the space and they’ve unfortunately carved out a pretty bad reputation for themselves but also that’s what Twitter once you know the more uh antagonistic the more critical the more vitriolic like that draws engagement and therein is where when I had posted about us during this podcast I mentioned the book 10 Arguments for deleting your social media right now by Jon laner who you know I’m ambivalent about Jon’s body of work I think he’s done some interesting stuff but I think that book is brilliant and it talks about how social media can unravel the social fabric because it incentivizes and prioritizes extreme negative feuding content so you have people who take advantage of that and they say you know it’s to me it’s like this is the common denominator I know a lot of these other actors in this quote Corp pelic space and I extend them the courtesy of Hosting them on the podcast of hearing their point of view and I’ve extended the same courtesy to a number of these individuals like they might want to frame it a different way but several of them including the most like vocal critics have [ __ ] DM me cold and said like hey what love to meet you hey and I go great I know your reputation I’ll still talk to you even during that conversation while being completely diplomatic and friendly I’m just aware inherently okay if these people have dragged a dozen or two dozen other people through the mud like the the court of public opinion in this Echo chamber is going to turn on you and then my pitch which I’ll happily have this conversation with them is like how do you expect to fend off these incredibly well financed organized connected Corp pelic actors when it takes almost nothing it takes a perceived microaggression or a hair pin trigger to turn on people who have literally been lifting you up saying the same thing and the Cannabis space did the exact same thing it’s like okay the underground all wants to come together and form this like self-regulating space it’s happening with psychedelics too right now oh and then you start eating your own and you start making it you know this like me versus you thing and in the meantime you realize that these corporate delc actors and these well-funded individuals they’re not even on social media they’re not even reading what you have to say so it’s this thing of like you’re a convenient Target uh we need something to do so we’ll go after you and unfortunately they picked the wrong target and I think in doing so like with them trying to put me on blast or whatever they want to do it’s actually endeared me to a lot more people like I mentioned I’ve gained a 100 Twitter followers which you know took a while to build up to a thousand posting regularly I GED a hundred in a Day based on this I gained a whole bunch of researchers doctors people texting me people on other platforms saying thank you for saying that thank you for standing up and you know again I’m an open book and I try to speak as freely as possible and unfortunately we’re creating this ecosystem at least a few vocal minority are doing this where they will come through a podcast I can guarantee you some of them will listen to this podcast they will go through a two-hour podcast and pull out a 5-second sound clip that they don’t like and then put it on blast and I’m like if that’s the precedent you’re setting there is no path forward you’ve made yourself irrelevant I’ve already seen that completely irrelevant and then in you know posting what I’m doing they get ratioed on their own posts you have other people saying you know like where’s the issue here so again like uh to a person with a hammer everything’s going to look like a nail and I’m not here to keep everybody happy all the time but I’ve worked my ass off to get in the position I am haven’t taken any favors haven’t taken any handouts and then the ultimate irony I don’t draw a salary I’ve never asked my audience for a scent and then you go and you know these individuals are like please fund our journalism quotequote please do this and and I’m like hey I’ve been doing this for three and a half years 100% self-funded 100% saying up late I’m not blaming anyone you know if so I feel some type of way about it but really it ultimately comes down to making a stand and protecting Free Speech because I think there’s a group of people who want nobody to have any sense of humor have a any sense of and my last bit on this Park you know not for everyone I love South Park dude I grew up on South Park it’s such an important show and my personal creative journey and there’s a bit where they had Isaac Hayes who played the character Chef he’s a Scientologist in real life and as soon as South Park made fun of Scientology Chef became very vocal and he quit the show and Matt Parker and Trey Stone said oh it’s interesting he didn’t have a problem when we made fun of Jews Muslims Christians you know it was only when we made fun of his group that he took a big stand on it and I think the same thing as happening like I spent so much time in bandwidth and like trying to Ring the Alarm bells and have also I think been successful in my critiques because they’re more balanced like when you’re not just like constantly trying to call out and cancel and be angry and rage mob or whatever like people are going to take your criticism more seriously and legitimately and unfortunately I think in my own view like this group who before I had publicly defended and remained diplomatic with they’ve just completely sealed themselves off no interest in having any kind of Rel relationship with anyone in that group they completely drove their point into the ground and in doing so have elevated me and have endeared me to a broader audience so I welcome the user generated content come through this podcast find the clips you don’t like post it get me some more views please B in bonitos yeah I was gonna say it gets me more views too I was thinking about that though as I started this I was like oh if these are the type of people to come after people I guess they’ll have fun going through my stuff too so I yeah I hope you would I do put out a lot of content so if you are going through it I hope you enjoy it um but I have to agree with you on something I I I feel like this is something where that I didn’t realize that we were kind of similar on it’s like like you say you got to call out what’s what you see is maybe not going in the right direction but tactfully so for example like I get a lot of criticism because I’ve had a lot of what people call I don’t know how familiar familiar of you are with the Cannabis space but a lot of people call uh the big can AB operators the msos it’s like a scary buzzword the msos The multi-state Operators and I’ve had a lot on my show like I just had the CEO of CCO Labs which is a pretty large cannabis company in this country and uh you know of course they’re they’re on different business associations which have taken stances against things like homow and you know limiting licenses which people like myself say basically perpetuates the continued criminalization a of cannabis but like you say just because of that that doesn’t stop me from bringing them on this show and having that on this conversation and am I going to attack them the whole time no but am I going to ask them the honest questions that I think they need to ponder you know like like are you I literally asked him for example can you put money you’ve put money behind legalization in the past can you put money behind things like homow you know like can we find a middle ground here and you know like I I’m sorry but I don’t hear journalists and I’ve never claimed to be a journalist I want to say that like I don’t have any credentials you know I’m trying to actually I’m going to take like a little class on journalism just to try to learn a little bit more of the formal techniques if you will but but again I don’t see people asking people like this these questions and I think the same can be said about your content and like I don’t know there’s this Purity that you talked about where it’s like if you stray a little bit away from Purity by by giving somebody a plat form it’s like but hold on I’m still asking the right questions yeah I think it’s vital to have those open conversations and I like I want to commend you for some of the work I’ve seen you do I think it’s with a young representative of smart approaches to marijuana that might be or but I’ve seen you debate this guy which is you know someone who’s a staunch prohibitionist and I see both of you being friendly and diplomatic and me that’s such a more interesting conversation I think we went through a period uh of trying to cancel people and then it became attractive to like we’re going to look for reasons to cancel you because you don’t uh reify our agenda whatever it is again this comes down to this tribalism this us and I think one of the opportunities that came along when I first started micropreneur is like within a year I started getting invited to these corporate conferences and then you know at first as press and I was clowning them to the point where they were like concerned about having me in parties and After parties because I made a a real skewering one of these corporel After parties that was like Ultra exclusive and they’re like how did you even get in here like you weren’t even on the list and so it’s like I’ve been doing this for a while and again I’ve never taken the opportunity I’ve never tried to work for one of these companies I’ve never tried to like publicly represent them or anything but I’ve collaborated with them absolutely and in the same regard like I do one for us one for them this is a well-known tactic for creators and for people trying to make a living it’s like Michael Kane the actor when asked why he did the awful Jaws two or Jaws three he said I actually haven’t seen the movie but I saw the house it bought for me we can’t always make art and I think it’s ridiculous to me to have and you know it comes down to ideological worldviews and and it becomes like okay we’re anti- capitalist we’re anti- corporatocracy we’re anti- this we’re anti- that and you know I just had a good conversation with one of my best friends who’s a tenure professor at a very prestigious University for many years and he’s like oh yeah like I opted into this one thing you know to support this one thing and then they started pushing me to support eight other movements he’s like no no no like I agreed to support this thing you know there’s this sense of like you’re you gotta be on this side and then you have to support these eight different initiatives and again I don’t buy that for a second and I think like I was raised in the Diplomatic Community like I’ve been hosting foreign exchange students since I was six like I had a student from Venezuela you know who had to escape because the whole country clapped I collapsed I had student from Ghana who had whip marks on his back and this is what I grew up with hearing these Divergent worldviews different experiences many close friends in the former Soviet Union and countries most people have never heard of I’ve traveled to about 75 of these countries often times staying with these local families not going in as like a you know tourist staying in a hotel but like going in sitting on the ground meeting people’s families getting invited to weddings so I think there is a common denominator there when I see these people are like you you guys are Bad actors the way that you’re approaching this you’re you’re creating this unnecessary false binary and go for it if that’s what you want but then it becomes this like clout thirsty keyboard Warrior trying to cling on for relevance and I I often think like I it’s funny I don’t see these critics anywhere like I you know maybe a handful of them and I’m willing to have the conversations face to face but it’s so odd you know just to get vitriol from the same camp of keyboard Warriors that’s what it is so you know uh but I have had literally like other prominent journalists reach out to me and other you know actors in the space who say wow like thank you for doing this they did it to me are you okay I think there’s this sense of like we’ve been bullied so now like we need to band together against the perceived bullies and then again like this this even the subjectivity of like what is punching down I have you know people that I formerly respected and like want to have a relationship with I’ve done podcasts with some of these people and they’re like this isn’t satire this is punching down and like really angry about it that’s fine you know that’s okay but it’s again it’s like don’t force your values and interpretations on to me because there’s if you look at the actual number like every single one of those people who were concerned about this very modest mild post that I made uh they’re getting ratioed they’re getting ratioed on their own post you know like it’s getting re-shared and that’s fine like uh I guess I like being buzzing and trending and all that and happy to do that but again it’s just like it feels like fighting off little banshees with arrows they’re just like coming out of the bushes and trying to shoot arrows anonymously out of you and and it’s funny it’s only X dude I’m on like eight platforms and I have no issues I have a super robust International Community you know I’ve spent the last 10 years living overseas traveling overseas you know I’ve been invited to um officiate weddings for people in other countries I have these close friendships and then I have this like small band of people online who don’t even necessarily hang hang out or spend time together in real life who have decided to paint me in this very inaccurate way and that’s what the internet is it’s like it’s about narrative control you know who who who uh frames The Narrative or whatever and again like they unfortunately picked the wrong target by coming after me and I’m gonna let them know that and I’m not going anywhere yeah I just want to say that like what I view as the the real problem with this and I think you’re on the same pages is me with this is like I brought up the circular firing squad earlier and it’s I was trying to think of where I’d heard that from and it’s actually a quote from I’m just going to say a former president for now and then I’ll tell you who the actual president was one of the things I do worry about sometimes uh among people in the United States maybe it’s true here as well is a certain kind of rigidity where we say oh I’m sorry this is how it’s going to be and then we start creating what’s called a circular firing squad where you start shooting your allies because one of them is St is straying from Purity on these issues the former president President Barack Obama said he believes this approach weakens movements that’s my concern with this is this binary this infighting because I know your your heart is in the right place like I I like I actually have like concern about that group they’re like trying to they’re like shooting like their our own I was about to say their own it’s our own it is yeah again like I I don’t hold grudges and I think it’s different I like wish them well you know what I’m saying there I have this sense that I’m just going to have like these little dogs nipping at my heels now trying to like look for faults like I you know I’ve been made but in the false inverted sense of the mafia where it’s like now I have a mafia of thought police and and internet police who are going to be nipping out my heels I’m like bring it on dude if that’s what you want to do like you you I I’m ready for smoke you know I pass that [ __ ] homie I see you just lit up right you know no I mean I’m trying to be diplomatic I’m trying to build I’m trying to be logical and you know as logical as you can be with psychedelics it’s a fairly illogical experience and I I like the whole opportunity that I’ve gotten being thrust into what some could call the Limelight is really like I’m navigating this [ __ ] too bro I don’t have a playbook out here to be like you know what I’m going to do I’m going to go get an internet Feud today like I could do that very well and it would drive traction and so often I intentionally don’t do that like there’s so much content that if you make a certain style of content it’s going to get traction Twitter is a cesspool for that dude look at like Ian miles cha I think is his name uh you know I think there’s Colin rug or something like that a number of them their whole stick on Twitter is just to post rage bait videos where it’s like can you believe this you know 12year old beat up this seven-year old and then they get thousands of comments and then they get you know fake clout points which turns into money I could do that like it’s not hard but it’s not interesting to me uh so yeah I’m moving forward though with these crowds though the Cannabis crowd and the Psychedelic crowd it’s a Sim it’s a like I started in the Cannabis crowd I didn’t even really know the Psychedelic crowd was a thing and then I got you know you saw me at one of my first conferences and I’m like whoa this is a whole community and one of the things I’ve noticed that is similarity between both of these communities is like this idea of Purity and like you can’t talk to them like like you say it’s this binary and I just I wonder do you have an idea of how we can get over that like how how yeah just beat them at their own game man like I mean again I’m not you won’t see me coming out to people like I often uh speaking extreme vague cryptic generalities by Design that’s what satire is like a lot of the stuff I’ve done is directly from like a quote that somebody gives me so again like you know when when I think about and is like this particular group certainly they fall into that category but I’m not making it in spite of them I’m making it as like this is what I see as an archetype like this type of person including myself dude like I have gotten so much heat over the last couple years to the point where like people who have very very high lofty ties to government and Industry have like told me like you shouldn’t say that like you should be careful what you say so like I have put my neck out on the line my truth and then I decided like you know what would be funny because I’ve made a name for myself as this vocal critic of medicalization and of corporatism Etc be funny if I made you know give myself a dose of my own medicine and then there’s this expression hit dog hollering a hit dog hollering as far as I understand it is like when people say I can’t believe you made this about me they’re just projecting they’re coming out being like yeah this is me that you made it about that’s giving yourself a lot of credit dud again the other thing people don’t necessarily appreciate I make a skit almost every day you know the amount of pressure that brings to like remain on point to remain building to and especially after getting deplatformed for basically no reason I got deplatformed and they wrote about it in Rolling Stone like that’s pretty cool that made me want to start over it’s like people are actually listening people actually appreciate me and just to like you know be in this position now where I’m doing it I’m working uh and and I’ve run a foul of other folks before but oftentimes you know they don’t want to make a big public issue about it like they’ll call me some of these people have my phone number they have DMS they want to make a public stand about it like uh again and you know this is fresh this is like today and last night so you can tell I’m saying my two cents about it I’m giving my peace and I anticipate these people dragging this out as long as it’s convenient for them and I have no interest in responding I’ve said my piece you know uh it it doesn’t you don’t you don’t win internet arguments you know it’s just like it’s not a it’s just a race to the bottom so I said my piece I’ll keep doing my podcast you know they can do whatever they want to try to bring me down and then the other irony is dude I’ve already made another completely unrelated sketch since then I’ve already transferred money to a nonprofit of indigenous Collective that I work with you know like I do a bunch of this [ __ ] with without trying to take credit for it dude cuz to me that’s weak if you’re only trying to make moves in public that’s virtue signaling you know like you get to where you are based on how people talk about you behind your back and the you know this the way people talk about this group behind their back I don’t think any of them wants to hear it and maybe that’s what they want maybe they crave the attention but like they do not have a good reputation they’ve earned that for themselves um go for it if you want to try to cancel everyone and like uh critique everyone and that maybe some legitimate critique to it but think that in particular uh that is a misread and that is a hit dog hollering and that’s people like asking me to apologize for harm and to do this and dude you know how much I get asked to like take a stand on this about this and I’m like you don’t know what it’s like to navigate what I’m doing a lot of these people they have whole teams they have whole advisory boards they have PR teams etc etc okay and I’m speaking in generalities here it’s just me bro like I don’t you know I don’t have bounce ideas on and you know I mean I do I have a lot of that but like part of the beauty of being able to grow quickly and have your own autonomy is like I’m not beholden to any of these you know like group forces like and maybe at some point I will be I have very close collaborators but again I think people they’ll see it and they’ll be like judging from the perspective of like you have a whole team you have funding in a lot of cases you know like you you have a nonprofit status or whatever and you’re literally going after little old me who has an Instagram profile and a social media presence and you know handful of people that believe in me so wow okay if that’s the fight you want to pick dude like I’m not interested in dragging this out but like I’m prepared to just be uh Public Enemy Number One just because I’m winning this quarrel if you want to call it that and I have definitively sealed the deal and that’s that I’m moving on like in my eyes I took a big W again dude I gained like a hundred followers and a bunch of them are [ __ ] phds bro these are not just like random Anonymous accounts and I see the other we could talk about is like there’s this uh phenomenon on Twitter specifically of like Anonymous accounts you know of people like digante justice Warriors and I just had a few of them you know coming at me right now fine dude if that’s the world you want to create like I will own that space I’m not going anywhere all you did was accelerate me and then you made a lot of people interested in what I have to say so they’re actually doing me a service I just wish that they would not do that and subject other people to that because quite frankly it’s bullying it’s uh it’s bad actor situation and and it’s ironic to me when everyone else is always the bad actor but the one common denominator is it’s this same group against a revolving door of different people some of them are probably legitimate and they have good points and then they throw that [ __ ] away coming after someone like me yeah can I ask it was interesting when I um when I posted a picture I had you brought up Hamilton Morris I had I was lucky to go to a lunch with him and a lot of other people it’s not like I was like sitting down with Hamilton Morris I’ll be honest I mean I was able to talk to him and stuff and that was cool but I guess what I wanted to say was I posted a picture of that and I had people approach me at psychedelic science and um even on my Instagram saying like oh not a good look and I’m like what are you talking about I love Hamilton I loved Hamilton’s show and I know uh I’m not totally ignorant I it’s like uh Hamilton is now what does he do Consulting at some company now and so they’re saying oh he’s evil now or something like that I but again it’s it’s uh I was just giving another example where it seems like there’s like Purity tests you know well and nobody can even get on the same page you know like if you were to sit people down in a room they would give wildly different answers about different things and like where’s this line that you cross and like I’ve met Hamilton a number of times I briefly interviewed him and that’s footage that I hope to get my hands on one day I had a camera crew and I saw him and we did a little interview and there’s this phrasing of like only boss have haters so like the more you try to tear someone down like I don’t understand uh why you don’t just build your own thing like build a better mouse trap right that’s literally I don’t get it like the whole point of and that’s the premise of micropreneur and I’m sure you get this I often get this where someone comes in with like a super hot take I’m like have you ever listened to a micropreneur podcast have you ever read a single article they’re like no just saw this video you know what and then people coming out like what’s your goal like what is your what is your point with all this and I go dude I am like extremely public facing with a wealth of links and many different Outlets you know it’s so easy if you wanted to actually do that but they don’t people want a bandwagon they want to jump on they want to shoot arrows they want to project their you know sense of unfulfillment on you like I’m extremely fulfilled dude like even after this thing where I’m like I probably didn’t need to respond dude like so many things have gone well today like so many things just today where I’m like I should take a stand occas occasionally you know like uh if anything I just earned myself a lot more opportunities uh literally within the last 24 hours I think people are happy to see someone with teeth you know and I often hear this too where people say you’re unaffiliated you’re your own organization you can say things we can’t like these bigger organizations might want to respond they just don’t you know they just because it’s a bad look dude like so yeah I guess my whole point with this is like build a better mouse trap the whole point of micropreneur is literally a blueprint for how you can overcome and supersede the corporatocracy and the the corpor delic space like that space is going to exist they’re going to do what they’re going to do micropreneur ISM entails building up local community transparent groups building up Mutual Aid and like ironically this group that is you know throwing arrows at me now I don’t see them in any of these spaces bro like in the last year I’ve been in Oakland Austin Los Angeles New York City Denver Paris New Deli I could go on and on and on I’ve been in South Paulo every single one of these places I’ve been connected to local community in person building so like I’m not afraid of taking a few bumps on the chin by some random internet people and then when push comes to shove you don’t see them anywhere you could give them a mic on stage they have nothing to say unfortunately Twitter Etc has become the uh soapbox for The Village Idiot and all opinions are given accordance there so like if that’s your only Soap Box you can have it and you can drag me through the mud all you want but you have no idea about the wonderful time that I had in Kerala India at the Mushroom Festival and the lifelong friendships I built at their invitation may I add or about you know the calls I get today of people saying thank you so much for this or for that dude build in real life build a better Mouse trrap let the haters say what they want to say come at me bro oh yeah and I yeah you know I I was actually wrote that down uh I’m glad you brought that up I was going to say you know I see people sometimes and look I’m not saying that I don’t accept feedback I do accept feedback um but I’m just saying like if you have I have people exactly like you say come in with a hot take and it’s like yeah have you ever even listened to the show like for example you brought up the sex work series I got criticized for doing that because I was glorifying women it’s like well have you listen to it because I definitely wasn’t like yeah let’s suck dick and [ __ ] it like I was not doing I wasn’t you know being that way I was like why did you choose this line of work are you treated like a human in this line of work what’s bad about this line of work what’s good about this line of work you know like just honest questions that I feel not a lot of people are asking and uh my thing when people come in with those hot takes obviously like I say out of context I always also want to encourage them like you can do it too like there’s really nothing special about at least what I’ve done like I bought this little thing off of Amazon that plugs into this microphone here I plugged it into my computer I got Zoom I’m putting this on YouTube Twitter all that stuff like it’s free you know I mean I guess I got to buy the internet I’m not trying to like neglect the different prices and like I said the equipment that I got costs money but you can do this basic you can start your own podcast so if you don’t thinks somebody’s doing something well enough I’ve always like wondered like why don’t you go do it seems like you got a head on your shoulders like you know yeah I gotta make a point of like a few of these people who when I first started out and started getting invited to these conferences or whatever and I’ve always been connected with the underground and I’ve been doing it and connected there for years and years and years right that was like my circle and my spaces is the artistic creative weirdo Community where psychedelics and cannabis were a huge part of that and as soon as I kind of got thrust into this circle to me off the bat I was like what is everyone’s issue here like what’s the why you know are these Waring camps happening like who cares that much like build a better mouse trap do your thing I bought a microphone I have no editor I don’t even use like the AI show notes or anything like I come in have a conversation edit it put out people resonate with the perspectives and going to these different events and whatnot I remember you know hearing oh this person’s such a bad actor and this person and that and then you talk to them and you’re like wow this is a really empathetic sharp intelligent individual I may not agree with all of their perspectives but what good is going to come from trying to bash them anonymously online and like if you go in the same spaces the same is true bro like the other iron to me is a lot of these like kind of what I would say entitled privilege think think the world owes them that you know every everybody’s a threat and this and that dude they have not traveled they have not like I’ve lived in Saudi Arabia in the regular neighborhoods not in a compound I’ve been to Baghdad and I’ve been to Hebron I’ve been etc etc I was extremely vocal about that to a fault and now you know people want you to take a stance on this that and the other it’s like it’s an incredibly complex diplomatic situation and no matter what you say you’re going to have a hard time right so um this is getting a little bit long in the tooth on that particular point but like I I did enough where I like I was kind of Under tabs at a certain point like had people kind of monitoring I know for a fact they were because I was making some pretty provocative content that’s just what I do and like the time comes to play your cards at the right time and so many people have opinions and perspectives on when you should play your hand and how you should play it I’m like why don’t you play your hand homie like let me do my thing like I’ve I’ve built my bit I’m making my connections I’m moving offline like I don’t have to document every single maneuver and thing I support or what I do or where I do it becomes this like bait and switch situation where people are like wired to react they want you to react they want you to do this and like sorry I’ve been playing this game too long to like uh let random people tell me what to do and when to do it so all that being said like have spent a lot of time in these places and a lot of them even if asked you they’ll be like what’s up with these people in New York City or in the US who are just like complaining about [ __ ] all the time like you know I grew up in the Soviet Union and then it collapsed and then there was a coup in the country that I lived in after that and my parents’ business got burned down and there’s no insurance and we’ve been working for you know 30 years to get over to the US and then we made it and there’s like all these people who are just like constantly angry about stuff on the internet like uh so whatever dude there are you know a million different ways to prioritize your time and your energy and I just don’t understand you know not withstanding this podcast where we directly wanted to unpack this topic as ex fresh and relevant why you can’t just build a better Mouse starp dude like do your thing it’s the barriers to entry are so low if people like it and resonate with you that’s great and if they don’t then why are you dragging other people down and like a great example of this a positive you know huge fan of the organization is Oakland High and Reggie Harris and the documentary film a table of our own where they said you know these corporate actors the people the whiteness in the space they’re not going to give us anything and we don’t want to take anything we’re going to do our own thing like amen bro Do Your Own Thing not everybody has to you know be your cup of tea all the time do Your Own Thing build your own networks and like you’re gonna be fine dude because as my friend Travis says Babylon gonna Babylon this idea that you can stop Babylon from Babylon is giving yourself a lot of credit and it’s setting yourself for a up for a heartbreak CU often times they don’t even know the strategy the connection like you know these people aren’t moving in Twitter they’re not documenting their actions necessarily like you got to if you’re not at the table with them you’re not going to be even remotely aware of the actual Long play you’re just kind of like a bull seeing red and charging at the red it’s like so yeah lots of thoughts on this but uh you know I try to be as transparent and accountable and honest as possible and that’s worked for me so far hell yeah well any anything else on this particular topic I just want to you know I have an idea of how to close out the show I think will be fun but I wanted to give you the space because of course like you just kind of closed with that’s the whole point of this particular episode is just to unpack this little microcosm and then onward and upward but I wanted to give you the space yeah I super appreciate it I guess my rallying cry from here on out is like believe in yourself invest in yourself and build up your networks where you can like do random acts of kindness for people that’s something I love is like you know you don’t have to go out looking for a reciprocal relationship all the time just like hook people up dude the best advertising is Word of Mouth you know I mean I do the online smoking mirrors clown show it’s fun I enjoy it I’m a content creator but like the real opportunity comes when you’re in the room face to face with people and you’re building that’s where all of my opportunities have come from very few have come from like a random online connection it’s always like hey we’ve hung out a bunch of times we got this thing going on you know what we like hanging out with you so like if you want to build in this space like don’t let the smoking mirrors fool you you know there’s a lot of people who are going to flex a lot of fake numbers a lot of fake Internet friends a lot of fake Internet love but when the rubber meets the road it’s those in-person connections it’s those texts and just to round this last bit out like as I was told by one of my mentors they’re like you know if you’re trying to get through to a company or a publication or this or that they get so many emails they’ll open the email if they know you they’ll open the email if it’s a friend of a friend who recommended it you know makes an intro so like do that and again like feel free whoever wants to critique micropreneurs work like that’s great if you have an idea how to run a more resonant more impactful organization well I wish you luck in doing that and like if we can support each other and be mutually beneficial right great but I have a very very low threshold for the fake love and the what about isms and that he did this and he did that so like once you’re out I have a Ste trap memory dude I have no interest in helping you guys at any point and that’s fine but I also have no interest in trying to drag you down so you know notice I’m not dropping names and you know doing stuff like this I’m speaking in generalities there could be lots of people that this applies to and uh I I at the end of the day like I’m going to take care of my circle and I’m gonna give what’s asked of me and that seems to be working pretty well so if people want to try to tear down my circle or tear me down like your work is really really cut out for you on that end my friends yeah well well said Dennis and I want to thank you for coming on to talk about this topic because yeah I know that [ __ ] like this can just be like you know one of the you said I know I said I was going to wrap it up but it’s like I can tell a lot of times when people are coming at me like if they’re trying to help me or if they’re trying to hurt me right if you’re trying to help me it’s great I like take that and I’m like like you could do this better oh if you shot this this way that would have been really cool like thank you that’s a [ __ ] awesome idea but like if you’re coming at me just trying to hurt me it’s like hurt people hurt people so it’s like you say it can be interesting to deal with uh online but onward and upward right yeah dude I think the future is looking bright I think if you look at your timeline and you spend all your time on the internet you’re going to think that the sky is falling inly do mean that there’s not like legitimate concerns in the world but when has there not been so like you know go outside build some friends in real life establish some mutual Aid networks smoke some weed hopefully homegrown weed uh grow some mushrooms and like you know the world’s not out to get you the world doesn’t owe you anything like the other last bit is like dude I’ve been hitting the chin so many times I’ve been stabbed in the back you know I’ve had you know M who doesn’t have trauma bro look at the world we live in but I’ve chosen to deal with it I’ve chosen not to project it on other people and you know people can say you’re privileged and you’re this and they often do and I just have to take it and that’s fine like I am extremely privileged doesn’t mean I haven’t figured out how to deal with the Bad episodes that happen because especially as an entrepreneur especially as a Creator whatever that is the path the obstacle is the path the trauma is the path you know trying to create defense mechanisms and ignore it or whatever like you’re just going to project that out on other people so like take care of your own house get your own house in order have fun the world’s a beautiful place people are inherently good A friend of mine said he thinks humanity is 51% good and 49% bad and I kind of like to think the same you know and uh hopefully good and bad are relatively subjective but have fun you know don’t go out there trying to tear people down if you make your point make your point move on you don’t need to beat a dead horse so thanks again Cole I really appreciate this man yeah and before we go dude speaking of it I wanted to I wanted to just close out the show by saying like when I saw you in uh Denver it was first of all I just ran into you and that was cool of course to be able to just meet you and chat with you but when I saw your I don’t know what what would you call it you’re you hosted you you and another Creator uh do you mind name dropping at least yeah Adam aronovich from healing from healing a good friend I was just hanging out with a couple weeks ago he was both of you were hilarious and the presentation was packed I’m glad glad I [ __ ] arrived early cuz I wouldn’t have been able to fit in there bro um so uh I just wanted to say that you both killed it um and honestly do you know did they did they record that because like that would be a great thing to release I’ve got a recording yeah I’ve got that and I’ve got South by Southwest and I uh have a few more so I hope to at some point archive those somewhere but yeah I felt really fortunate really grateful on I just want to make one last Point like Maps is this super controversial apparently also incredibly influ flal no one can deny their influence and I’ve like directly criticized them you know and I’ve directly said difficult things that I know that they weren’t happy about they’ve treated me with Grace they’ve treated me with empathy they took it in stride you know I didn’t have anyone saying can’t believe you did this or you did that like maybe there was an initial reaction of like bro I don’t know how we feel about this but like the way and you know to me that speaks volumes versus other organizations who I didn’t even name or criticize directly coming at me with a with a mob a rage mob like which side of those is going to win in the long run okay so feel free yeah sorry I didn’t mean to cut you off I was just gonna say I didn’t bring I didn’t mean to bring that up to to I know there are people that are I’m glad you address that because I know that there are charged emotions about that like I didn’t even know that I was like excited to go to psychedelic science and they’re like you should feel bad about that I’m like but I’m going to meet a lot of cool people anyways um yeah I had no idea again I was new new to the world and then I learned you know what some people feel about certain people and you know um yeah it’s it’s all interesting so but but yeah I was just asking you because like that was the last time I saw you and I I was just curious you know like we haven’t chatted really how things been and you know because we talked about this obviously but how you been and how’s the future looking man I’m sure you got big plans as always yeah thanks I appreciate it dude it’s going about as well as it could go right now I feel like I have earned these opportunities over the last 10 to 15 years of consistently having doors shut in my face and you know being criticized for being a stoner hippie and now it’s the invogue thing now it’s like a legitimate professional career path so that’s really exciting and I actually had to pull out of a few things I’ve been G get given some really cool opportunities and like I’m supposed to be in Vegas right now and I had a keynote slot this weekend and I pulled out because I’m married dude I have a family you know I’ve been traveling I’m trying to save to buy a house like I’m not super well off you know I’m literally like bootstrapping and like cook at home most of the time I might have some fun you know opportunity you see stuff online I get whined and dined a lot dude like that comes with the territory I get you know people want to hang out with me I’m not like I remember just going to San Francisco for a a conference very recently which was a really good one Discovery sessions and I flat out told them I was like I can’t come unless you guys cover my airfare I’m not going to come and then after I said that you know a couple days later they’re like we really want you here book your ticket we’ll pay for it and then I go stay with a friend you know and he takes me out and we go to like a $500 dinner and I’m like I’m not paying for this I told him my friend I was like I don’t have that money and they’re like no dude we want to hang out with you so again I just want to reiterate like I’m not rolling and dough I’m Savvy I know how to hack things I have a good Network etc etc so I’m super super excited about the future about what’s going on I’ve got a lot of good news that I can’t even release yet you know as things start to come up I will trickle them out but uh I’m happy for the opportunity to be here and I’ve really just found fulfillment and simple things bro like it’s Friday night right now I’m like hell yeah let’s do a podcast I don’t want to go out and like go to the bar and spend money like I want to do a podcast with Cole I want to watch the Padres because I paid 60 bucks for a season MLB subscription I’m going to cook at home with my wife my dog like that’s the stuff that infinitely fulfills me and all the other stuff I just see as like it’s a you know passing opportunity like if some of them work out great if not not you know whatever it’s not for me I strongly believe there’s something there to be like if it’s not meant for you like it you don’t have to uh stress and you know push yourself too hard like you have to if it’s meant for you like it’s G to work you know you’re not going to have to go searching everywhere for it it’s going to be there and then that other bit of like when the student is ready the master will appear so like you know I’ve been writing as often as possible I’ve been consistent with the podcast I should had should have had an episode out today but I one of my friends who’s you know a public figure uh wanted to scrutinize the podcast and go through it and I totally respect that that’s the right I always offer that right long story short dude like being consistent finding fulfillment and simple things not needing a lot of external validation like these have set me up in a a pretty clear way for some awesome opportunity and the day it’s all about like uh can you you know uh build a legacy that you’re proud of have some friends like how many people are going to come attend your funeral and are going to come be a part of that like I’m thinking in that term you know like in terms of what kind of legacy and impact I can make and I’m I’m very proud of what I’ve done so far doesn’t mean there’s not going to be stumbling blocks around the way but as Larry June says um uh I don’t take L’s I learn lessons and I feel like I learned a lesson with this kind of Twitter back and forth like I’ve learned not to take the bait I’ve learned to you know take my stand when I have to and move on when it’s time to move on yep well and that in that end um I was just going to say real quick to your point of like trying to bootstrap things like folks yeah I before we close I just want to say that you know I do appreciate your support but yeah I totally am bootstrapping this Dennis you know what I did to stay in Denver and ultimately go to Nevada um I lived out of a van for two weeks isn’t that some hippie [ __ ] that’s the only way to do it bro I don’t I think only once in Denver because I was speaking I got a hotel I’ve slept on so many couches and art galleries just hack it dude like I mean I think yeah people always want to make it out to be like the world’s against them but like dude I had a friend who figure it out yeah I had a friend who made a pass for one of these conferences he couldn’t afford the ticket he could you know it was like kind of hard to get in so he literally went and bought like a lanyard and made a pass and it close enough I’m like dude just hack it man just like just do the micropreneur [ __ ] Bro hell yeah hell yeah well on that note folks I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did Dennis I’d like to have you back on the Cole memo anytime you’d like but um just know that I’ll definitely reach out to you if I don’t hear from you um anytime bro I’m a huge fan of your work you’ve done such thorough comprehensive dedicated n work so I do consider you a journalist I know you say you’re not but like you’re doing the Lord’s work right now so thank you it’s an honor to be here yep well folks we’ll see you on the next episode take care