From Rock Bottom to Millions: Khalil Rafati’s Journey | Khalil Rafati DSH #1318

Summary

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Digital Social Hour – "From Rock Bottom to Millions: Khalil Rafati’s Journey"

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Khalil Rafati
Episode: DSH #1318 | April 12, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this raw and inspirational conversation, host Sean Kelly sits down with Khalil Rafati, founder of SunLife Organics, to explore Khalil's astounding journey from addiction, abuse, and homelessness to building a multi-million-dollar wellness brand. They delve deep into adversity, accountability, entrepreneurship, the power of gratitude, and the importance of pursuing both personal and collective growth. Khalil shares unfiltered insights on hitting rock bottom, his spiritual awakening, and the slow, persistent grind that fueled his success—packed with humor, humility, and memorable stories.

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Key Topics and Discussion Points

Khalil's Search for Meaning and Success

• Early Hustle and Downfall

  • Left rural Ohio for California hungry for fame and fortune.
  • Acted, played in a band, and joined the Hollywood scene but slid into severe addiction (heroin, cocaine, crack).
  • Lost everything; lived on the streets, sold his body to survive.
  • Underlying pain: Bullying, not fitting in (“very long torso, short legs, large skull... Called me names, called me Charlie Brown or Pumpkinhead” — Khalil, [08:12]), immigrant parents, abuse, and family trauma.

• Understanding Root Causes

  • Acknowledges how childhood trauma, shame, and not fitting in set the stage for his addiction. Talks candidly about abuse and how it distorted his self-worth.

• Hollywood and the Victim Cycle

  • Sought validation through external success but found nothing but emptiness.
  • “Running to Hollywood to become famous because that’s going to fix me... but if you think about how many people actually do become famous, they kill themselves or become drug addicts or both.” — Khalil, [11:11]

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Spiritual Awakening & Radical Accountability

• Hitting Rock Bottom

  • At 33, penniless and in rehab, Khalil turned to prayer ("I got on my knees and asked God for help... There was a spark of levity to my spirit." — [15:15]).
  • Despite not being religious or spiritual, he emphasizes the power of surrender and gratitude.

• The Moment of Clarity

  • Realized he was responsible for his life outcomes:
    • “Going through trauma as a child is not an excuse as an adult to continue putting poison in your body… I did this.” — Khalil, [16:43]
  • Describes accountability as an “underrated superpower,” a lesson reinforced by influences like Andrew Tate ([17:28]).

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The Journey to SunLife Organics

• Matcha Story: Seizing Opportunity and Respecting Tradition

  • Initially skeptical of matcha; learned of its potential from celebrities like Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers).
  • Flew to Japan to source the highest quality matcha; recounts a breakthrough meeting with a tea master through humor ([01:49]–[02:57]).
  • Insights into Japanese philosophy: “Every job you have... you do everything to perfection. People are present.” — Khalil, [03:54]

• Building the Business from Scratch

  • SunLife's early days were rocky: little customer interest, poor location, nearly no sales ($200/day).
  • Relentless grassroots marketing (handing out gift cards at gyms and yoga studios), steep learning curves, and community networking fueled eventual word-of-mouth explosion ([21:36]–[24:00]).

• The Slow Climb to Profit and Impact

  • "We lost money for 10 years... last year of losses was 2019; lost $1.6 million. Now we'll do 23 million in sales." — Khalil, [27:58]–[28:16]
  • Stresses that consistent persistence, not shortcuts, is the real success factor:
    • “If you’re willing to put a decade into something and keep going, I really believe that.” — Khalil, [28:49]

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Mindset and Philosophies

• Happiness ≠ Success

  • Describes a crushing depression after major financial success; shares advice from Rick Rubin:
    • “‘Success doesn’t equal happiness. Money is going to amplify who you are.’” — Rick Rubin (paraphrased), [13:40]
  • Explains how chasing only external goals often leads to disappointment and existential pain.

• Gratitude, Generosity, and Staying Open

  • Outlines morning routines steeped in gratitude: “Start out with the basic stuff... begin to develop an attitude of gratitude.” — Khalil, [19:58]
  • Believes helping others breaks scarcity and victim mindsets: “That money, that abundance, that prosperity comes from that source… since you have found a way to tap into that source and now you’ve got some of that, share it, it feels good.” — Khalil, [25:24]
  • Champions putting energy into acts large and small—“Pick up trash, put your cart back, share your abundance.”

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Social Commentary & Deeper Reflections

• Maslow's Hierarchy and Self-Actualization

  • Urges listeners to escape subsistence cycles, embrace discipline, invest wisely, and build real wealth (“Even if you worked a minimum wage job... crazy statistic, you could retire a millionaire.” — [31:24])

• The Matrix, Plato’s Cave, and Media Control

  • Khalil likens mass media to Plato’s allegory of the cave:
    • “We are all controlled by the images on the cave... this phone or that screen or that television, that's the cave wall.” — Khalil, [38:35]
  • Argues that true freedom comes from stepping outside these projections and patterns (“Most people out there can’t sleep without a pill, can’t go to work without a pill...” — [39:30]).

• Health, Modern Society, and Responsibility

  • Observes the rise of obesity, mental health struggles, and dependency as signs of societal misalignment ([40:14]–[41:12]).
  • Calls for a new movement to reclaim health and meaning—and for influencers, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders to “rise up” and change the world for the better ([54:24]–[57:13]).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the Spark of Change:
  • “Do anything. That little spark, that thing that, you know, when I got on my knees and I prayed to God... If we reach towards that light... we're going to grow and prosper.” — Khalil, [00:00]
• On Accountability:
  • “Having sovereignty over yourself and taking responsibility over yourself... is one of the most underrated superpowers there is.” — Khalil, [17:13]
• On Success and Money:
  • “Success doesn’t equal happiness. Money is going to amplify who you are.” — Rick Rubin via Khalil, [13:40]
• On Generosity:
  • “If you have some cash in your pocket and you see somebody that’s less fortunate... share that with them.” — Khalil, [25:24]
• On Perseverance:
  • “If you’re willing to put a decade into something, and you just keep going... you’re going to get there.” — Khalil, [28:49]
• On Escaping “the Matrix”:
  • “It’s a documentary, pretty much at this point.” — Khalil, [37:09]
• On Owning Your Story:
  • “If that guy can do it, anybody can do it. And that’s the truth.” — Khalil, [31:08]
• On Cancel Culture and Humor:
  • “Humor... saved my life. Gallows humor, inappropriate humor—it's the type of shit that you get canceled over... We need to fucking laugh. We need to stop with this cancel culture bullshit. All of us are flawed.” — Khalil, [58:21]–[60:09]

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Notable Segment Timestamps

• Opening thoughts on divinity/light vs. darkness: [00:00]–[00:22]
• The journey to sourcing the world's best matcha (Kagoshima story): [00:40]–[03:02]
• Childhood trauma, abuse, and self-worth challenges: [08:00]–[10:44]
• The failure of money/fame as a cure; road to rock bottom: [11:35]–[15:15]
• Spiritual turning point in rehab & personal accountability: [15:15]–[17:09]
• Parallels to Andrew Tate and the value of self-responsibility: [17:28]–[18:50]
• Grassroots marketing and struggle in SunLife’s early days: [21:30]–[24:00]
• Breakthrough: from $200/day to $11,000 Saturdays: [24:00]
• Ten years of grind before profit: [27:51]–[28:49]
• Compound interest and living below your means: [31:16]
• Commentary on society, health, and media manipulation (“Plato’s Cave”): [37:16]–[39:30]
• Health transformation and vision for SunLife: [42:41]–[44:06]
• Political digressions (Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, voter ID, mixed company at election night): [45:19]–[54:24]
• On humor, humility, and getting 1% better daily (Kaizen): [58:21]–[62:19]

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Closing Wisdom

Khalil Rafati’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of radical accountability, gratitude, and persistent hard work. He urges listeners to let go of victimhood, walk toward their own light, and remember that enduring success—internal and external—only comes from small daily improvements, kindness, and a willingness to "run through walls" for what matters.

“Get 1% better every day… My life is like 17,000% better because I got 1% better every day for the last 21 years.” — Khalil, [62:19]

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Find Khalil:

• sunlifeorganics.com
• Instagram: @khalilrafati

Closing thought:
If you’re struggling, Khalil hopes his journey gives you hope and motivation to push forward—knowing that even from the lowest lows, you can still build a life filled with meaning, abundance, and contribution.

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Transcript

[Khalil Rafati]

Do anything. That little spark, that thing that, you know, when I got on my knees and I prayed to God and I. I reached towards my divinity, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, there's darkness, which is the absence of God, and then there's. And there's. And there's light. And if we reach towards that light and we tried to align ourselves with that light, we're going to grow and we're going to prosper.

[Sean]

That'd be amazing.

All right, guys, Got Khalil here with our sun life drinks, my man. Cheers. Cheers, man. These are so good.

[Khalil Rafati]

Thank you, buddy.

[Sean]

I'm a big matcha guy. It's grown on me the past couple years.

[Khalil Rafati]

I love matcha.

[Sean]

I used to be coffee, but I love matcha now.

[Khalil Rafati]

When I first tried it, I hated it. I didn't get it. The guy from the Chili Peppers, when. The Red Hot Chili Peppers when we first opened, he was like, you have to have matcha. And I'm like, macho, what? Like, what is that? I didn't even know what it was.

Ordered a couple kilos of it, put it on the menu, created a smoothie. Nobody wanted it. Literally. This is 13 years ago, 14 years ago. And then I was in New York eight years ago, right when the matcha craze started to happen. And I saw Cha Cha matcha and Matcha bar, and I flew back home and then flew my crew out. And I was like, guys, this is going to be a huge trend. We need to study this. We need to find the best of the best of the best. We need to capitalize on this opportunity. And so they went home. I went to Japan twice in search of, like, this mythical, like, the best matcha on the planet. And I was in this region called Kagoshima, and nobody spoke English, and it wasn't like you can just roll up and, like, buy shit. You have to win over the tea master before you can even go to the factory. Yes.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

And it's very formal, and they had to train me to, like, when he goes to hand me his business cards, because people still use business cards there. You have to take it with both hands and you have to grab both corners like that. You can't go like that. You can't go like. It was so weird. And the interview was going terrible, and my outfit was, I think, a bit obnoxious, and he wasn't liking me. And at a certain point, I'm just like, fuck it, I'm going to throw a Hail Mary. And I'm like, what? Does he like better the. Because he kept talking about the matcha bushes, the. The. You know, the leaves and all that. And I was like, what does he like better the.

[Sean]

The.

[Khalil Rafati]

The macho bushes or his. Or his. Or his wife? Which was like, you know, the. The interpreter is like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm like, ask him.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

And he asked him. And there was like a pregnant pause. And the guy just busts out laughing, gets up, puts his arm around me, literally walks me over to his home, which I didn't even realize we were at his home. Introduces me to his family, keeps talk. I have no idea what's going on. And the interpreter is just like. Like, nodding his head. He's like, you're in.

[Sean]

Oh, my God. That's legendary.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. So we got this matcha. It's from Kagoshima, Japan. It's the region where the last samurai ruled.

[Sean]

Wow. Yeah. That's historic. Why is Japan known for macho? What's so special about their environment?

[Khalil Rafati]

I think it's just the growing conditions, certain elevation and the humidity, and it just rains a lot. When I was there, it pretty much rained every day.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

Um, there were waterfalls everywhere in Kagoshima, which was bizarre because, like, you know, here you'd go and there'd be 500 people lined up to take a selfie in front of a waterfall there. Like, every time you turn a corner, there's a waterfall. No one cares. So I was, like, swimming in these waterfalls and, like, hot springs coming up out of the ground. There's an active volcano in Kagoshima. But the thing that was the most fascinating was, was the samurai and the fact that that was where the last samurai actually ruled.

[Sean]

Yeah. I love samurais, man.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Something so exciting about just watching them fight.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yes.

[Sean]

Yeah. I actually want to start collecting samurai swords.

[Khalil Rafati]

I. I don't blame you. They crack the code of life. They did everything in their culture. They did everything to perfection. Like, everything. Every movement. They did every. Every job you have. And that's. And that's kind of like a Japanese thing also, because when I was there, I remember going. I had horrible jet lag. And I remember going down to the lobby to get coffee and then having to use the bathroom. And when I went into the bathroom, there was a. Like, underneath the sink, like, cleaning, which was weird. Never seen a guy in a bathroom on the ground cleaning. And when I walked in, he looked up and he was happy and he was smiling, and it was like 3 o' clock in the morning. And I was like, wow, there is Intention here.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

People are present. Pretty. Pretty cool.

[Sean]

They're so at peace. Yeah. You don't see much of that in America, huh?

[Khalil Rafati]

No, no, we're so scattered and fragmented.

[Sean]

Yeah. Because you look at the correlation between wealth and happiness, and it's not. It doesn't add up. Right. The more you make doesn't mean the happier you are.

[Khalil Rafati]

No, it does not. And.

You know, I left Ohio.

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[Khalil Rafati]

As a young man in search of fortune and fame and went to California and did a pretty good job initially, you know, got my SAG card, got into a rock and roll band, blah, blah, blah.

But unfortunately, you know, took a left turn and, and, and wound up, you know, just losing everything and, and. And wound up on the streets, addicted to heroin, addicted to cocaine, crack, and lost everything in the process of trying to find that happiness through money, fame, success, whatever. Wow. Yeah, it was horrible.

[Sean]

That sounds crazy.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, it.

[Sean]

Was it a gradual buildup or was it all it was?

[Khalil Rafati]

I mean, it. You know, drug addiction is.

It's like there's a honeymoon period where you're just partying and you're dating models and actresses and you're hanging out at clubs and, and you're doing drugs and everything seems great and, and there's definitely a honeymoon period. There's about a three year honeymoon period. And then. And then as the drugs got heavier and more consistent and the Darkness began to enter. And then all of a sudden it's just like having a rug pulled out from under you. Like, like addiction will rob you of your soul without your consent. And that's what happened. So I went from a young ambitious man, you know, super insecure.

Embarrassed of who I was. Parents were immigrants, both from different countries, different languages, different religions. If that wasn't bad enough, having immigrant parents in rural Ohio where everyone was fucking blonde hair, blue eyes, good looking.

[Sean]

And you got bullied a lot growing up.

[Khalil Rafati]

I, I did, yeah, I did. I just didn't fit in. I didn't have any, I didn't have any skills. Like, I didn't have any. Like, I was terrible at sports. Terrible.

[Sean]

And as a man, that's. Yeah, you'll get ridiculed for that.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I was shaped weird, like very like long torso, short legs, large skull. So kids mercilessly made fun of me, called me names, called me Charlie Brown or Pumpkinhead or. Yeah, it was brutal. I mean, it's funny now, but like, at the time, like, it was, it was brutal. Like I, I, I hated myself. I developed such immense body dysmorphia.

And I was terrible at school.

I wasn't tough, but I fought a lot and I just didn't fit in anywhere.

So that was sort of like the, you know, the beginnings of what I think set me up for that addiction was that the pain, the, the immigrant parents. There was also, there was unfortunately some bad happened to me. There was some abuse, neglect, sexual abuse.

I had a older sibling that was eight years older than me that started doing stuff to me that I didn't want him to do, but he was much older, much bigger, and.

That made me feel dirty, that made me feel shame. And then that, that became sort of a, a self fulfilling prophecy because then I learned that if, oh, if you want attention, you have to let people like take advantage of you.

[Sean]

Right.

[Khalil Rafati]

And so especially in Hollywood, that's kind.

[Sean]

Of the, the mindset. Right. With acting.

[Khalil Rafati]

So true. So, yeah, I never even thought about the correlation, like as a child learning that that's how you, maybe you were.

[Sean]

Subconsciously attracted to that. Right.

[Khalil Rafati]

Interesting.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

Well, I'm just thinking about like when I eventually did become a drug addict and was living on the streets, that, that was my go to was just sell my body for sex. Because it, it, you know, it, it's easy.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

And I don't have to hurt anybody.

But. Yeah. So brutal, brutal upbringing, very awkward. Khalil. You know, people didn't even know how to say my Name.

And father was a Muslim, mother was born a Jew, but raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school.

[Sean]

That's interesting.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, yeah, I went to Catholic school because the only private schools at that time were Jesuit Catholic schools, which. Jesuit is like the strictest form of Catholicism. So again, another level of shame and weirdness and not fitting in. I was just a fucking mess. I was a mess.

[Sean]

Yeah, I could see why you were insecure now because you were just getting judged from so many different angles. Your own family, your friends, your brother.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, damn. Yeah, it was, it was a lot. It was, it was. There was a lot of pain there and a lot of confusion and I didn't understand, like, other people, like, seem to have these good families and they play catch in the yard or they would like, you know, Boy Scouts or camping or whatever. Like, nothing could be further from the reality that I was living the violence and the, and the neglect and the abuse. And I just felt like a real piece of. So running to Hollywood to become famous because that's going to fix me and I'm going to become rich and famous and that's going to fix me. Which is interesting because if you think about how many people we hear about that actually do become famous, they kill themselves or they become drug addicts or. Or both.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

And when I was.

I'll jump forward for, for, for a moment, but when I was. I think I was 45 years old. Do you know who Rick Rubin is?

[Sean]

Yes.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, producer.

[Sean]

I know him as a podcaster.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, he's a music producer. And he was a customer and a friend and a bit of a mentor. And I had just sold a piece of my company for. Of Sunlight. Yeah, for me, for a.

Like, I was rich, you know, for. For me, it was a multi million dollar amount. And I was like.

So, like blown away that I didn't even want to deposit the check because I wanted to just like hold it and keep looking at it. It, like, symbolized something and I kept taking pictures of it and eventually I deposited it, deposited the check. And then a couple days later, I sunk into one of the worst depressions I've ever had.

[Sean]

Wow, that fast?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. Yeah. And I was in Pasadena with Rick and we were going to Dave Asbury's conference or whatever. We were, we were with Wim Hof, and we were going to introduce Wim Hof to Dave Asprey. And I was walking behind Rick and I said, rick, I'm. I'm really depressed. And he, he just, He's a man. A few words. And I Said like, I'm like, really depressed, like, suicidally depressed. And he stops and he looks at me and he goes, you just got a lot of money, right? I go, yeah, those. Are you newly single? I go, yeah. And he said, so you got to experience and realize what very few people will ever realize. And I'm like, which is. And he said, success doesn't equal happiness.

And he just kept walking.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

And I'm like, it doesn't. And he didn't even respond back. He just kept walking. And we went and we had some burgers and, and whatever. But, yeah, success doesn't equal happiness. Money doesn't equal happiness. Money is going to amplify who you are. Money is going to make whatever you got going on become bigger. That's why when you see people win the lottery, it. It. It often ends so tragically. That's why when you see people become very famous very quickly and become very wealthy very quickly, or both, you see it end very tragically because it's just an amplification. And.

Yeah, I'm. I'm. By the grace of God, I was able to get past.

The childhood, get past the addiction, which most people don't. I was 33 years old when I finally just literally got on my knees and asked God for help. And I don't even know what that means. Like, I didn't. I didn't even know who I was praying to or what I was praying to. But at 33 years old, I asked God for help and. And I was high school dropout, convicted felon.

[Sean]

Was that for drugs?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, yeah. 95. I picked up a felony. And actually here in the state of Texas, high school dropout, convicted felon, no talent, no skills. Life had passed me by.

And I was fucked. But I got on my knees just because that's what they told us to do when we were in school. So I got on my knees and I folded my hands and I asked God for help. And I will tell you, there was something there. Something happened in that moment. There. There was like. There was no burning bush or anything like that. The cravings didn't go away, the withdrawal didn't go away. I was in rehab at the time. Time. But there was something there. There was like a levity to my spirit. Like I knew that I somehow knew that I was going to be okay. It was just a little spark and. And I grabbed on to that spark and, you know, I stayed in rehab, then went to a halfway house, etc. Etc. At that time, things were very grim. I mean, again, Life had passed me by. I thought I was old at that point. You know, like, what am I going to do? Like, everybody has this, everybody has that. People had good parents, people went to college.

I had to start over. And in the midst of losing everything and in the midst of being in so much pain, there was a clarity that came with that. And the clarity was, wait a second, you did this to yourself. A lot of people get molested. A lot of people experience violence in their childhood. A lot of people go through bad. Oprah went through bad. How come she wasn't shooting dope?

[Sean]

No.

[Khalil Rafati]

She ended up helping a bunch of people. Going through trauma as a, as a child is not an excuse as an adult, decades later to continue putting poison into your body. And that clarity came to me. I was like, oh, I did this.

I did this. I, I, I was the one that my life up and, and that, that was a harsh realization.

[Sean]

Wow. Not a lot of people will ever get to that realization, though. They won't take accountability.

[Khalil Rafati]

Most people don't have having, having sovereignty over yourself and taking responsibility over yourself. I think that paradigm shift is one of the most underrated superpowers there is.

[Sean]

Yeah. And hate him or love him. I actually learned that shift partially from Andrew Tate.

[Khalil Rafati]

Did you really?

[Sean]

Yeah. Because he always talks about taking accountability for your own actions.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And he's very open about all the attacks on him. You know, he's somewhat accountable for that.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Because of what he's doing on social media.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I don't know him well. I've seen clips here and there. Some of them I actually do find quite inspiring. Um, but I will say if, number one, if he wasn't successful and he wasn't really good looking and really fit, because he is, nobody would be talking shit about him.

[Sean]

Facts.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

So Andrew Tate, love him or hate him, is a very, very intelligent, very, very attractive, very fit man. Not really my cup of tea. But if I think there's something wrong with him, then there's something wrong with me.

[Sean]

Projection, right?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I mean, I, I, I was the classic as a, as a kid growing up, if a guy was better looking than me, oh, he's gay. If a guy's in better shape than me, he's on steroids.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

You know, I, I, I had to create a story as to why somebody else had something that I didn't have.

I played victim and engaged in learned helplessness my, my entire life, up until I was 33, 34 years old, when.

[Sean]

I, yeah, I did it to about 25 yeah, yeah. It's not a good, good strategy for growth.

[Khalil Rafati]

No. And what's amazing, and you're more proof of it than I am, is that we can literally do anything. We can fucking do anything. That little spark, that thing that, you know, when I got on my knees and I prayed to God and I, I, I reached towards my divinity, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, there's darkness, which is the absence of God, and then there's. And there's, and there's light. And if we reach towards that light and we tried to align ourselves with that light, we're going to grow and we're going to prosper, and we're going to. And we're going to do good, whatever that is. I don't even know what that means. And I don't. I don't consider myself a religious man. I don't consider myself a spiritual man, but I pray a lot and I ask God for help. And I start out each day with gratitude. I literally just walk. I get up in the morning, it's 5am and I just go outside and I say, God, thank you. Thank you for the roof over my head. Thank you for the clean water that I get to bathe in. Thank you for my amazing friends. Thank you. You know, I start out with the basic stuff, and I begin to develop an attitude of gratitude, and then thank you for my cats and thank you for my girlfriend. And then eventually I get to the point where I will finish with.

Thank you for this perfect health, perfect wealth, and perfect love.

And when I speak life onto myself like that, I'm opening myself up. I'm becoming expansive and I'm. And I'm welcoming things in. If I'm hating on Andrew Tate, oh, that guy's a piece of shit. Oh, that guy did that. That guy. That guy heard this, I heard that. Making myself small, and I'm shutting myself off from that light, from that source. 100 agree, I'm gonna call it God, but we can call it source, we can call it whatever. When I'm judging other people and hating on other people, I'm shutting down my ability to bring in abundance and prosperity. When I open myself up and I stay out of judgment and I get into an attitude of gratitude, doors begin to open and things happen that. I mean, I was just outside waiting for you to finish your previous podcast, and there's a kid out there who's standing, he's watching, I think his boss. You were interviewing his boss, and we were talking about sun life, and he was Talking about, oh, yeah, man, I go there all the time. It's great. Whatever. I'm like, yeah, you know, when we first opened, it was the biggest failure we've ever had. Is like, it was. I'm like, yeah, like the worst. It's that. That location sucks.

[Sean]

Was this in Austin?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. There's no parking. If you don't have parking, you don't have a business.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

People that pay 25 bucks for a smoothie, they want to pull up in their fancy car with their aloe leggings on or their Lululemon or whatever, and they want to go in and they want to get their. And they want to get in their car and they want to leave. You don't have that. You don't have a business. There is no parking. So we were fucked. And. Okay, well, I don't have talent, I don't have skills, but I do have the ability to run through walls. We were doing $200 a day at that store. And I explained that to this kid that was watching his boss.

[Sean]

You're only selling like eight a day.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yes, it was an abysmal failure. Even if people would walk in, they would walk in and go, $18 for a smoothie. Fuck this place. And walk out, not. Not knowing that I was the owner sitting there going, fuck, man, I'm just trying people and do some good for the world.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

And.

We moved into the Line Hotel and we joined on it. Lifetime Fitness, Equinox Collective, Stretch Lab, every yoga studio, every. We made up gift cards, we printed up menus, and we went to every single place in town and we just kept going and going. And for. For about three months, there was no roi. There was nothing. I mean, I'm walking up to strangers at Lifetime Fitness going, hey, man, here's a $25 gift card to Sunlight Forget, you know, and these people were like this dude talking to me, who's this weird old guy? You know, like. And I felt it. I could feel that that was their. That was their, you know, feeling. And then after about three months, people started to show up. And then when people started to show up, I eventually got invited to like a, like a, an event, like a daytime event at the Sky's house. Cal Callahan and I went there and it was all these founders and all these entrepreneurs and all these people like myself who were self made, who came from nothing. Yeah, I met John Durant there. I met Kyle Kingsbury there. I met a bunch of just really, Kyle's a MMA fighter, but I met a bunch of really amazing People there. And I brought smoothies with me. Those people took two sips and they were like, this is the best shit ever. You got a shop? I'm like, yeah, it's on South Congress. They started coming. Then they went and told 10 people. Then they went and told 10 people. They went and told 10 people. Saturday, we did over $11,000 in business.

[Sean]

Holy crap.

[Khalil Rafati]

In one day. That's insane. Yeah. One location at one location.

[Sean]

We'll.

[Khalil Rafati]

We'll do close to $2 million a year in sales there. And again, it's a terrible location.

[Sean]

No parking.

[Khalil Rafati]

No parking. But if you are willing to do the work, if you are willing to stay out of judgment, if you are willing to.

When you walk into my stores, you'll see Psalm 103, 1:5. I'm not a Christian. I just saw that in the Bible and I read it. I loved it. And it said, if you seek God with all your heart, he will crown your head with love. He will make you new again.

[Sean]

Love it.

[Khalil Rafati]

I'm like, that's amazing. Yes, that's true. That's my truth. Like, so I don't want to falsely represent any religion here because I don't belong to any religion, but that is the truth. Like, I got up every morning. I developed an attitude of gratitude. I went out, I handed out my gift cards. I did, you know, did my. I kept myself, you know, in decent shape. I was kind to people. If I saw trash on the street, I picked it up, I put it away. If I went to Whole Foods and it was raining outside and I finish putting the shit in my car. I was taught in 12 step programs like, put that cart back. Don't look around, see if anybody's watching. Don't. Don't have that attitude of like, oh, you're taking away someone's job because it's someone's job to collect all the car. No, shut the up. When you finish with your cart, regardless of what's going on with the weather, put your cart back at the thing. When you see trash on the ground, pick it up. If you got some dough in your pocket, which I. I always do, I always carry a lot of cash with me. But if you have some cash in your pocket and you see somebody that's less fortunate than you, share that with them. Share that. Don't worry about, oh, what if they go do drugs? If they good for them, Drugs are awesome. Drugs feel great. Why wouldn't you want them to go have some relief and some comfort? I mean, I'm not promoting drugs here. I, I'm. But I'm just saying, like, if some poor bastard is living on the street and he wants to go buy some booze or he wants to go buy some drugs to alleviate some of the, the pain that, that he's going through, it's none of your business. That money, that abundance, that prosperity comes from that source. And since you have found a way to tap into that source and now you've got some of that, share it, it feels good. Don't worry about if they get high with it. Don't worry, you know, it's none of your business.

[Sean]

And I know that hits deep for you because you spent some time homeless, right?

[Khalil Rafati]

I did, yeah. I did, yeah.

[Sean]

I at least try to get food or water, but I know some people are fans of feeling money, but I, I at least think you should give some food. Water, you know, I think you should.

[Khalil Rafati]

Give to whatever your comfort level is. Yeah, right. If, if, if you think food or water. Well, I mean, God, in Vegas, definitely water. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. But I just think in general, getting out of the victim mentality, getting out of the self righteous indignation and just putting your nose to the grindstone and working hard is going to bring you anything and everything you've ever wanted.

[Sean]

Man, I love that story. 200 a day to 11K. And that's in two years.

[Khalil Rafati]

You said four years.

[Sean]

Oh, four years.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Still insane. All from good old word of mouth, too.

[Khalil Rafati]

Word of mouth, yeah. Networking. Just. Yeah, just get, getting up every day and you just keep going. You get up every day. I think the thing with, I see so many people that are taller than me, smarter than me, you know, more educated than me, and like sort of stuck in life because they come up to a problem and they just accept no as an answer. They don't keep going.

[Sean]

Right.

[Khalil Rafati]

You got to keep going, you know, I mean, when you were starting your thing, did you ever imagine that it was going to be like this?

[Sean]

Not this quickly. Yeah, yeah. And it was tough at first. I lost money for six months and was almost, almost quit a few times, you know.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

But I didn't.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, we lost money for 10 years. She's 10 years.

[Sean]

Here I am complaining about six months.

[Khalil Rafati]

10 years.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

The last, the last year of losses was 20, 2019. Ironically enough, right before COVID we lost $1.6 million.

[Sean]

Holy crap.

[Khalil Rafati]

If you want to start a food business and you want to do 100% certified organic and only have the best of the best of the best ingredients.

You'Re not going to make a lot of money. You might not make any money at all. I mean, we operated an 8% profit margin. Wow. Now we'll do 23 million in sales. So 8% of 23 million. I can't do math, but it's pretty good. Right? And the company has been profitable since 2021. Nice. Yeah. But for, for 10 years I just kept going and I think if, if, if you, if you're willing to put a decade into something and you just keep going, I, I think you're going to.

I really believe that.

[Sean]

I agree.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

10,000 hours. It's so cliche, but I think it's true.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, I know he got some shit for saying that and I love it. I think if the Beatles never would have went to that club in Germany and played, you know, I think they were playing 14 hours a day or whatever it was seven days a week. And I don't think they would have become the Beatles. I think they became the Beatles in the midst of that chaos. And even though it probably sucked and they didn't sleep much and they were dirty and they kept going. I mean, I think about the early days of SunLife Organics when I was living on the Halversons property in a 400 square foot basically shed, you know, with, with no air conditioning and no heat. Just grinding it out, grinding it out, grinding it out. Every single day I'd be at the shop and people would come in like, oh man, just catch any of those waves. See that swell that came in and I'm like, like, no man working.

[Sean]

You're grinding.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, I'm grinding. But that grinding got. Got me to where I am now, to where my friend called me yesterday. He's like, what are you doing end of this month? Like, I don't know, not a whole lot. Opening some new stores. Do you want to come to Abu Dhabi, go surf Kelly's wave pool? I'm like, yeah, cool. I have a, you know, jet come pick us up lax if you can be there on the whatever, 22nd or 24th.

So I get to surf now. I love that I get to surf now and I get to surf at one of the coolest, probably the best wave in the world. It's a thousand yard ride.

[Sean]

Holy crap.

[Khalil Rafati]

Thousand yard in the middle of Abu Dhabi, in the middle of the desert and it's just fucking magnificent. I was there two months ago and it's magnificent. And the life I get to live today.

[Sean]

Where.

[Khalil Rafati]

I do all these incredible things. I mean.

It makes me sad for the Little boy. But it makes me encouraged to the people out there. It makes me sad for the little boy, the little boy version of me, but it makes me excited for the people out there. Hopefully somebody's listening to this and they're going through a tough time or they feel awkward. They feel like they don't fit in. And it makes me excited for them because hopefully they can look at me and go, fuck, man. If that guy can do it, I can do it.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

If that guy can do it, anybody can do it. And that's the truth.

[Sean]

Yeah. And I love that there's. There's really no shortcuts. It's a matter of when you want to put in the work, Right?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Like, do you want to put it in? When you're younger, you could take more risks. Like, some people wait a little too long. I think they got kids to worry about. They got other people.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I. I mean, my whole thing is, like, I tell anybody that works for me, just. Just grind and spend less than you make. Invest your money, keep putting it away. Even if you worked a minimum wage job and you. And you just consistently put money, there's some crazy statistic. You might even know it.

[Sean]

I've seen it. Yeah, the compound.

[Khalil Rafati]

The compounding thing.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

It's fucking insane, right?

[Sean]

You can retire a millionaire if you save. Right.

[Khalil Rafati]

But how about. There's that. How about the statistic of what if you. Instead of buying a new iPhone every time it came out, what if you took the same amount of money and you bought Apple stock?

[Sean]

I've seen that one too, dude.

[Khalil Rafati]

It doesn't even seem real. It's fucking insane how much money you would have if you simply invested your money. Like when we first opened, I would tell people, like, stop buying Lululemon pants and start buying Lululemon stock. Lululemon stock was $40 a share. It's $400.

[Sean]

Damn. 10x.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I've had quite a few young employees come to work for me that were making. They were making minimum wage plus tips that ended up taking my advice, and 10 years went by, and now they do whatever they want to do.

[Sean]

That's awesome.

[Khalil Rafati]

It's pretty amazing.

[Sean]

That's super cool.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean]

You must have had a tough challenge, because mentally, people were accustomed to paying 5, 10 bucks for smoothies, right?

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

But that was obviously poor quality ingredients.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I mean, there's like a smoothie and then there's like a meal in a cup. I mean, like the Holy cow smoothie, which has the Noble protein powder. In it. It's got 50 grams of protein. So now that protein is like the thing we're all trying to get like, you know, one pound per body weight. Like getting a smoothie that's got 50 grams of protein in it and it's organic and it's amazing. And it's, it, it, it's, it's a meal in a cup and it's already chewed up. So imagine if you and I, we just worked out and we had to go get 50 grams of protein at a typical place. It's a lot of chewing. That's a lot of shoveling into our, into our mouth, right? A lot of money, A lot of money and a lot of stress on the system to break that stuff down, to be able to digest it. When you're, when you're getting it in a cup, it's pre masticated, right? It's already blended up. So it's already chewed up. And you're able to absorb all of that into your body. Much, much better.

[Sean]

Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, that is good to know because, yeah, I gotta up my protein intake so maybe I should start looking into liquid forms.

[Khalil Rafati]

For sure. I mean, I, I mean I, I'm there every day. Like I can eat wherever I want, I can go to whatever restaurant I want done, I've done well, but I go there every day. I go there every single day. And I, I will typically get a smoothie or I'll get an acai bowl.

I, I love the holy cow. I substitute the noble protein, which is a beef based protein. And I want all the organs and all that stuff in it because I, I, I can't stand taking vitamins. I do take vitamins a couple of days a week just to make sure I'm not missing out on any like vitamin D or magnesium or whatever. But yeah, it was a challenge in the beginning. People definitely were horrified by the prices and people still talk shit about the prices. But having said that, you know, I was working out this morning and I'm looking at the kid who's cleaning the gym that I'm working out in. He's, I know he's making minimum wage, right? And he's wearing a Chrome hearts T shirt. So this kid's gonna go spend, I don't know what a chrome hearts T shirt costs, but I'm gonna imagine 150 bucks.

[Sean]

Not cheap.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, it's not cheap. So you see people wearing these stupid golden goose tennis shoes, you know, and, and, and buying these chrome heart T shirts or these girls Walking around in these three with these $3,000.

What's that?

[Sean]

Working bags?

[Khalil Rafati]

No, no, no. Those are, those are the price of a house. That's like next level, Goyard.

[Sean]

Goyard. Goyard.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. You see, every basic girl that drives a white jet is walking around the Goyard tote that costs, you know, three grand, but she can barely pay her rent. How much sense does that make? Like they, they've got us by the balls where we think we need to have all this fancy shit to feel complete and to feel whole. Nothing, nothing will ever make you more feel more whole and complete than a relationship with God, your creator.

A person who you get to share your life with a mate. And escaping Maslov's hierarchy, you cannot. I shouldn't say you cannot. It will be very difficult for someone to self actualize, to become the highest version of themselves. I'm not talking about the girl on Instagram that's living her best life. I'm talking about the person who literally becomes the hero in their own journey.

[Sean]

Yeah, right.

[Khalil Rafati]

You're experiencing that now?

[Sean]

I am, yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

When we get to take care of our parents, when we get to take care of our friends, when we get to become the hero in our own journey, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to self actualize until you can escape Maslov's hierarchy. So, you know, most people are down here in Maslov's hierarchy, right? And then some people are lucky enough to get here on that pyramid, but to get up to the top, to escape, to get to the point where, let's say you got a couple rental properties and now you have no debt, and now the income coming in is yours, you're free.

[Sean]

You escape the Matrix.

[Khalil Rafati]

You escape the Matrix.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

[Khalil Rafati]

I love, I love that you use that terminology.

[Sean]

That's one of my favorite movies.

[Khalil Rafati]

It, it, it's, it's a documentary pretty.

[Sean]

Much at this point.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, it really is. It's. It's a documentary. And, and do you know about the allegory of the cave?

[Sean]

No.

[Khalil Rafati]

Okay, so Plato thousands of years ago basically said that life is like this. You got a bunch of people huddled in a cave, and these people are, are, are sitting in this cave huddled up, and they're looking at these images on the wall and they're being controlled by these images on the wall. Well, the images on the wall are actually coming from the fire. And the people behind the fire, the people that run shit, Vanguard, State street, blackrock, governments, Catholic church, the people behind the fire are projecting these images onto the wall and Most of what they're projecting is fear, right? Fear controls the people that are huddled in the cave.

But in Plato's allegory of the cave, one of the people escapes. And he climbs up out of the cave and he goes up top, and there's a sun, and there's forests and there's rivers and there's streams and there's waterfalls. And he's like, oh, my God. Wait, this is really life. Oh, my God, this is amazing. And he goes back down to tell the people, and they attack him.

[Sean]

Whoa. Yeah. History repeats itself, huh? They attack him because this is going on right now.

[Khalil Rafati]

And what's going on right now?

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

It's going on right now.

[Sean]

I did not know that.

[Khalil Rafati]

We are all controlled by the images, the images on the cave, Right. This phone or that screen or that television, that's the cave wall. And the people that control people that own. They're projecting images on there. And most people, more than half of this country for sure, just watches whatever they see on those screens, on those screens, and they believe it to be real. And they think that that's real life because they're struggling to pay the rent. I think the statistics is 70% of the people living in this country have less than a thousand dollars in savings.

[Sean]

I've seen that. Yeah. And a large percent live paycheck to paycheck.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yes. And 70% of the people live in this country are overweight or obese. Right. How many people are on psychiatric meds? Half the country. So we have become a society of domesticated animals bred for taxation. Most people out there can't without a pill, can't sleep without a pill, can't go to work without a pill, can't digest their food without a pill, can't make it through the day. Now. Now they're fucking injecting themselves with shit to stop them from gorging on food. Like, what the fuck happened to us?

What happened to us? If you look at images of people at the beach in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, even, everybody's skinny.

[Sean]

Yep.

[Khalil Rafati]

Everybody.

[Sean]

I've seen them.

[Khalil Rafati]

And then you go to the beach now, and what you see is just.

It's horrifying. So, but you guys with your power, tapping into that source, which I'm going to call God, you don't have to, but tapping into that power, you guys are going to make the people that are huddled in the cave realize that that's not real life.

Sitting around talking about whether Leo got a facelift or not, or, why is he dating. Why Is Anthony Kiedis dating a, a tw. A 20 year old girl? He's 62 years old. And why did. Did Kim Kardashian get another nose job? Like, what the. Does that have to do with your ability to create a life that is so wonderful that you don't feel compelled to escape from?

Has nothing to do with that. The reason sports are so prevalent and so successful is to keep people distracted. The reason that religion, which is not so prevalent anymore, was the great opiate of the masses. Right. Religion used to be the opiate of the masses. But the other day I was scrolling through my television, I was trying to get onto Apple TV and I was scrolling through, I don't know what TV it was. And I'm, and I'm just looking at show after show after show of just GROSS People, hoarders, 600 pound people, murders, all of this gross stuff. It's like Hollywood just continues to pump out this darkness, this sickness, and everybody's just lapping it up and consuming it and staying glued to their little parasitic devices. And the moment they, they stop and they start putting some good stuff into their body and they start, their ears start to perk up because they're listening to Sean's podcast or listening to Rogan's podcasts or listening to whatever, which, thank God, is beginning to, to wake people up, they start to understand that maybe what they've been told and what they've been taught is not reality.

[Sean]

You're starting to see that movement for sure. Especially in the health scene.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yes.

[Sean]

You know, I know you've had your health battles, which is a big reason why you started this company. Right? And I could see, see when you talk, this means a lot to you.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah, well, because I went from 109 pound walking corpse with my fucking teeth falling out of my head to 173 pound athlete at 55 years old. I'm in the greatest fucking shape of my life. Wow. I feel amazing and I have boundless energy and I'm at the point in my life where I realize, like, fuck, man, I can, I can do anything. I'm just barely scratching the surface. I can literally do anything, Sean. I'm going to build a global billion dollar brand. I'm going to take this little mom and pop juice bar that I started in Point Doom, Malibu, California in 2011, and I'm going to open all over the country and all over the world. And if I can do that, anybody can do anything. Anybody can do anything.

[Sean]

I love that. How many locations do you have now?

[Khalil Rafati]

We have 18, 18 locations. We operate in eight different states. We have three more coming. Another one in Nashville, a new one in Boulder, Colorado. And finally New York City is coming in April, end of.

[Sean]

And Aria right in Vegas.

[Khalil Rafati]

Aria, Vegas. That's coming this summer. Talking to some people about licensing deals in South Africa. Talking to some people about licensing deals in the Middle East. Wow. I'm going to build a billion dollar brand.

I'm going to make a bunch of dough and I'm going to do a lot of good with it and I'm going to help a lot of people because it's fucking fun and because it's, it's, it's, it's the right thing to do.

[Sean]

I love that.

[Khalil Rafati]

I want to, I want to inspire people. I want to get people healthy. I want to get people off their phones and jumping into a river or, or, or a lake or an ocean, climbing a mountain, building a business or just attracting a mate into their life who they love so they can experience real true intimacy. Not what they see in pornography, but like real true intimacy. And, and that, that's my purpose, that's my passion, that's my mission.

[Sean]

That's beautiful, man. I know you said you weren't spiritual earlier, but I do believe in energy.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And I think you're just putting out so much good energy with your products. Like this stuff is super healthy, all organic.

[Khalil Rafati]

Thank you.

[Sean]

You're helping so many people. I think that's going to come back to you, man.

[Khalil Rafati]

I, I mean, I, I, I appreciate that. I think in many ways that it has to go from where I was to whether it's surfing a thousand yard wave in the middle of the desert or being in the Oval Office last month, which was a surreal experience.

[Sean]

Was that a Maha event?

[Khalil Rafati]

No, my friend Tulsi was getting sworn in.

[Sean]

Oh, nice. She's been on the show.

[Khalil Rafati]

Really?

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

Oh, amazing.

[Sean]

Small world.

[Khalil Rafati]

Small world. Yeah. She's, she's one of my, one of my dearest friends. I love everything. She's, she's absolutely incredible. She's absolutely like all the women in my life. She's even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside, which is, which is, that's an awesome quality to have. But be being there in the White House, watching her get sworn in, I mean, I just stood there like frozen going like, this is crazy. I could actually reach out and touch him. Like he was in there like, you know, doing his thing, like being Donald Trump. And I liked him, I liked him in 2016. Like, I liked Big Time wrestling when I was a kid.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

You know, I didn't, you know, didn't think like, oh, God, this is a really moral good man. But I. I liked him. I liked how he decimated everybody on stage. I hated Republicans. I always hated Republicans. I always consider myself a liberal and a Democrat, and I hated Republicans. So I loved how he got up there and he just fucking assassinated every one of them, Came up with nicknames for them and just destroyed fucking Clinton, that cackling cow. And destroyed. Destroyed everybody. And so I liked him for that. But then he became president, and. And I won. I bet five grand, three to one odds. I won. So I was happy about that, but it still wasn't like, oh, I love the guy. I'm a maga. But then he did a pretty good job. I mean, you know, he. He definitely made some mistakes, and he definitely said some really stupid. And, you know, January six was certainly an embarrassment for this country. Was it an insurrection? I don't know. I mean, I thought so when I first saw the footage. But then a year later, when all of the footage was released and I saw them, literally the Capitol Police letting people in. Letting. Letting the fucking shaman bro with the weird hat, like, letting that guy in and escorting him through the Capitol, like, I'm like, wait, that doesn't look like an insurrection. Why do they keep saying insurrection? And. And then he lost. And I thought, God, that's weird. Doesn't seem like that many people actually voted. Maybe there is some legitimacy to cheating, because cheating has always gone on in. In elections. I mean, I remember when. When Bush stole the election from Al Gore. I mean, straight up stole it. Florida was the state, and they. They just fucking stole it from him. Everybody knows that. Yeah, so cheating happens in every election. So I started to wonder, like, God, did they. Did they really cheat? I mean, it was Covid. There was a lot of mail in ballots. You know, they're.

[Sean]

They're.

[Khalil Rafati]

They're starting to say that people shouldn't have to have ID to vote because that's racist. Wait, wait, wait. What the fuck did you just say? Like, you already had me baffled with all the pronoun stuff, Right?

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

But now you're saying that people shouldn't have to have an ID to vote. No, you have to have a fucking ID to vote. And no, that's not racist. And. And people of color and. And minorities and. And impoverished people have the ability to get a id. I. I had to do it. I had to go from living on the streets to eventually resurfacing and eventually, you know, building myself back up again without, without any, any type of, you know, real help. I did it. So that freaked me out. And then when he said he was going to run again after he lost, at that point I was like, man, he should, he should pick Tulsi. That would be amazing if she was his vice president. I don't talk politics with her, just out of respect. Kind of like in the same way I don't talk surfing with Kelly Slater. I don't talk music. Well, I talk music with Anthony Kiedis, but I don't talk Red Hot Chili Peppers with him. I don't talk science with Andrew Huberman. Andrew came over last night for dinner. We ate some steaks, we played with my cats, we took a long walk. We teased each other a lot.

I didn't ask him one question about science.

[Sean]

Must be so refreshing for him.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. I mean, and I think that that's probably why these people allow me into their lives, because I really just want to feed people and, and like, inspire people. I'm pretty self centered and self engrossed, so they probably like being around someone that's not asking them a million questions about themselves.

Yeah, I.

Yeah, I, I did. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't talk science with him. But back to the Trump thing. He didn't end up picking Tulsi, but.

He picked Vance, which at first I was like, man, that guy, that, that dude would have beat me up in high school, you know, 100. Yeah, like, that guy, like, he. I didn't like him. He scared me. And then somebody said, have you watched Hillbilly Eulogy or whatever? I'm like, no. And they're like, you should watch it. So I watched it. I'm like, oh, he's from Ohio. And then like, his mom and me got a lot in common. We were shooting heroin.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Khalil Rafati]

Yeah. And me and him have a lot in common because he had a up childhood. I had a up childhood that I alluded to a little bit earlier.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

And I'm like, oh, man, wait, this went through that. And then he somehow made it into. I don't know, it was Yale or whatever he made it into. Like, that's some impressive. So all of a sudden I'm like, okay, maybe he's not such a bad guy. Right. I was threatened by him because he really did look like the guys that wanted to beat me up at school. And then I saw him on Rogan and I was like, holy shit. He is articulate. He is brilliant. He's passionate. He cares about this fucking country. I think they're going to win. I think they're going to fucking win. And then Tulsi and I were hanging out whenever this was. This is before the. The election night. And she said, are you going to come down. Are you going to come down to Palm beach for the. You know, for the election night? I was. I don't know, wasn't planning on it. She's like, well, come. It'll be fun. I'm like, okay. And so I flew down there and it was amazing, you know, to spend time with her, as always. But we were. We were sitting all together and I'm sitting there going, I don't know if they cheated before. They're gonna cheat again.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

You know, I was skeptical, too. Yeah. Like, this is feeling pretty weird. And at a certain point, she just goes, I gotta go upstairs and freshen up. I'll be right back. Don't move. Stay here. They're gonna shut down all the streets. His motorcade is coming. I'm like, what do you mean? At this point, nothing's announced. Yeah, at this point, like, they still hadn't announced Pennsylvania. And I'm just like, what. What's happening? And she just looks at me and she goes, it's happening. I'm like, it is. She says, I'll be right back.

[Sean]

I love it.

[Khalil Rafati]

She went upstairs, she came down and her outfit. We walked into the room. She, like, had some section where I was gonna stand. And we're sitting there watching CNN on the giant jumbo screen. And everyone's nervous. Everyone's like. And it was weird. There was, like, Mexican bikers and Hasidic Jews and Muslims. And I'm thinking, where are all the white supremacists at? Like, there's a lot of minorities here. To be fair. There were definitely some. Some, you know, shit kicker Republicans and cowboy boots and whatever. But there was a lot of minorities there. There was a lot of different types of people there. And all of a sudden, on the jumbo screen, they announced Pennsylvania. And I fucking look and you see Arabs and hugging. You see bikers and businessmen. The fucking. My pillow guy was right there. Tucker Carlson goes walking by. It was insane. Everybody's crying. Everyone. People started singing, like, gospel hymns, whatever. Yeah, it was. It was so surreal. So what an incredible moment. Sorry, I went off on a tangent, but what an incredible. And I'm not supposed to talk politics. I'm going to get canceled. What an incredible moment it was to experience that. And, you know, that and the trips around the world and all the exciting things I get to do, that all came from me getting on my knees and asking God for help. And that all came from me realizing that everything going on in my life, it's on me. It's got nothing to do with someone touched by naughty spot or, oh, my parents didn't speak English good or whatever. Like, do you know Wild Wonder?

[Sean]

No.

[Khalil Rafati]

Rosalie the Wild Wonder drinks. Rosalie.

[Sean]

I haven't seen that one.

[Khalil Rafati]

Immigrated here from China when she was 12. Didn't speak the language. English is actually her third language. She learned English from 12 on. She managed to get a scholarship to Stanford. She graduated Stanford and, like, sold her first business at 23. This is a little Chinese immigrant girl with a Mexican name, Rosalie. I don't know why her name is Rosalie. I should ask her.

And then sold that business and started this incredible brand called Wild Wonder, where she took her Chinese grandmother's recipe and created these prebiotic probiotic drinks that only have, like, 8 grams of sugar but tastes fucking amazing. I saw her on Instagram. I basically stalked her, and one day she hit me back, and she's like, hey, I'm in Austin. Would love to meet up with you. And ended up meeting her. We ended up becoming friends. But forget about my sad, stupid little Cinderella story. What about girls like Rosalie? Right? What about, like, all the people out there that have built something amazing against all odds, like yourself included? Like, this is the time now. This is the time where your generation is going to learn from our generation, and we're all going to come together and we're going to change the world, Sean. We have to change the world. There can't be war anymore. The fact that there's war going on right now, the fact that children are being trafficked for sex slaves, the fact that there are people lying in the streets, many of them veterans who fought for this country, that shit's got to end. You guys are going to change that. I will do whatever the fuck I can. I'll use my connections, I'll use my voice. I'll use my, you know, silly little story. I'll. I'll fuel people with the products that I create. But, like, we have to change the world. And by we, I mean you, because we're getting older, but you guys are young and you're vibrant, and you've tapped into that source. And so now is the time for celebrities to come together, influencers to come together, podcasters to come together, where we've got to stop whatever evil fucking forces have taken over this planet and we have to just push them aside. We don't have to throw them in prison, don't have to kill them. Doesn't have to be violent. Doesn't have to be an insurrection. Yeah, but you guys need to rise up. Women need to rise up and reclaim their power. God needs to not be a dirty word anymore. We've gotten so far away from God, We've got to go back to God. And through the power and grace of a living, loving God and the power that you've tapped into and so many others like you have tapped into and I've tapped into in a small way as well, we have to come together and change the world for the better.

[Sean]

I love it. I'm with you on that mission, man. I'll be right by your side.

[Khalil Rafati]

I. I'm. I'm ready. I'm ready to go. I don't know how a smoothie maker is gonna push that forward, but it seems like I'm exposed to a lot of incredible people, and I've become friends with a lot of incredible people like yourself. And.

Listen, I. I love fancy. I love shiny things. Clearly, I'm still insecure. I'm still shallow. I still want people to like me. That little boy is still inside there somewhere that wants to be noticed.

I say a lot of stupid shit. I don't have a filter. I don't mean that in a proud way. I mean, I literally don't have a filter. Like, I don't have Asperger's. But, like, I will say the most inappropriate shit, the most inappropriate moment. I cannot fucking help myself. Humor. Because I suffered with suicidal ideation much of my life. Gallows humor, AKA inappropriate humor, AKA the type of shit that you get canceled over.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Khalil Rafati]

It saved my life. Wow. It saved my life when I was in that fucking halfway house and it was 117 degrees outside. And I'm looking at my life and the fucking mess that I've created, and I'm like, wait, I'm on welfare. I'm in a fucking halfway house. I'm about to turn 34 years old. I'm a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt from all the hospital bills and ambulance rides I had from overdosing and flatlining and all that. My credit's. I don't even have a high school diploma. Like, what the fuck am I gonna do?

I'd crack a joke. I feel a little better. And then somebody else would crack a joke. Somebody would make fun of me. It was a bunch of minorities in this place called New Perceptions. It was black Owned black operated halfway house in the Valley on Roscoe and White Oak. There was, like, a couple Mexican dudes, guy Palestinian guy, Palestinian, Polish guy, white guy, black guy. And we would all just make the most wildly inappropriate, what people would consider racist jokes. But we did it for fun. Some. Sometimes we'd go too far, and then we'd have to go, hey, you know what? Let's pump the brakes a little bit. But, like, you know, stereotypes are stereotypes. There. There. There's some. There's some funny shit in there. Oh, yeah, right. There's nothing funnier. Like, watching Sarah Silverman make fun of people is one of the funniest you've ever seen in your life, right? Because there's some truths to those stereotypes. Watching Chris Rock make fun of black people is some of the funniest shit we've ever seen in our lives. We need to fucking laugh. We need to stop with this cancel culture bullshit. We need to stop. All of us are flawed.

[Sean]

All of us.

[Khalil Rafati]

All of us have made mistakes. I live the first 33 years of my life without a moral compass, and I'm not proud to say that I don't have a filter. I'm not bragging. It's just like, God forgot to put a filter in there. So you don't say, like, I'm. I'm thinking of, like. I became friends with this guy Charles. He's a lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs and.

Went to the super bowl twice. Amazing guy. And I met him at the gym. He liked my shoes. I invited him over for a smoothie. He tried to order a strawberry banana smoothie. And I was like, this isn't Jamba Juice, dude. I'm like, you're gonna get a billion dollar bowl. He said, what's that? I'm like, don't worry about it. Gotta have a billion dollar bowl. And he's eating the bowl he loves. He goes, man, this shit's good. Can I get another one? I go, yeah. I go, but we're friends now, right? He goes, yeah, man, we cool. We're friends. I go, okay, so I can use the N word, right? He laughed so hard, and it was beautiful because in that moment, I used humor to break the ice. Yeah, I don't want to call black people a derogatory term. Right. I don't want to call Italians a derogatory term. But when a comic does it, or we're using humor, it's okay.

[Sean]

Absolutely.

[Khalil Rafati]

People need to lighten the fuck up.

[Sean]

I agree. Khalil. It's been so fun, man. I Can't wait to film with you again. Where could people find you? And where could people find sun life.

[Khalil Rafati]

Sunlife organics.com? there's a bunch of them in LA. One opening in New York, two in Nashville, Miami, South Beach, Chicago, in Fulton Market, Vegas, Aria. Coming soon this summer. I'm just at Khalil Rafati. I'm just on Instagram. I. I tried the Tick tock. I'm not sophisticated enough to maneuver it. It's too confusing for me and I don't want to get fucking. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

But yeah, just Khalil Rafati on Instagram and.

I hope. I know I babbled a lot. That's what I do.

But I sincerely hope there's somebody out there that is in pain and suffering that sees me and sees my story and derives some sort of hope for it and makes a necessary change in their life where they can begin walking towards their dreams. I get 1% better every day. I didn't come up with that shit. I was introduced to it by Tim Ferriss in his book Four Hour Work Week. Kaizen just get a little bit better every day. No matter what. Every day a little bit better. I've been doing that for 21 and a half years. My life is like 17,000% better because I got 1% better every day for the last 21 years. Yeah, so. So that's my message and I. I hope it helps somebody at 6:00am Guys, message me.

[Sean]

We're here for you. Thanks for coming on, man.

[Khalil Rafati]

Thank you, brother.

[Sean]

Beautiful. Check them out, guys. See you next time.