This transcript is auto-generated and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (00:01.13)

Welcome out to business entrepreneur radio. I am your host Tyler Jorgensen. And today we have Jonny LaCarni coming to us to talk to us about a brand that he has created called magic cactus. And I’m really excited about this because every entrepreneur has a story of why they created something. and this is a really fascinating one. And over the last, man, if you’ve been listening to the show, the past five, six, seven episodes, a lot of them have been about alcohol brands.

 

And whenever I have these, this kind of series of alcohol brands come up, I, I ask myself the question like, what about for people who aren’t or what, how do we approach this topic of responsibility? And so I think we’re going to talk a little bit about that today, but Jonny, first of all, just welcome out to the show.

 

Jonny Locarni (00:48.234)

Thank you, Tyler. Appreciate it, man. Excited to chat. Thanks for having me.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (00:50.828)

Yeah. So we’re going to get into your story, but I want to zoom back even before that to begin. When was the moment where you first realized that you weren’t necessarily like other people and that you were an entrepreneur?

 

Jonny Locarni (01:05.802)

That’s funny this question keeps coming up it’s hilarious, you know, I It was always kind of putting together scrappy little projects as a kid before you know before even the word entrepreneurs was in my brain You know in in high school I worked at a sunglass hut at the mall and

 

Tyler Jorgenson (01:21.037)

Right.

 

Jonny Locarni (01:29.086)

You I tried to like, you got an employee discount. So I would try to like buy, you know, get my employee discount and then sell them on a eBay marketplace at full price. It’s just little things like that. In college, I was selling hats and shirts to fraternities and sororities. So I think at that point, kind of in college, I realized that I had this sort of itch to, you know, create things and kind of go out there and do things differently. But, you know, I never, I didn’t think that that meant I was going to be an entrepreneur.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (01:52.13)

Yeah.

 

Makes sense.

 

Jonny Locarni (01:59.21)

for a career, just kind of thought these were little fun projects at the time.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (02:03.32)

I think what I’ve found is that if you’re the kind of person that sees the employee discount as an opportunity to make more money, that is by its very most pure nature, the spirit of entrepreneurship, right? It’s like there’s an opportunity here and I’m gonna see what I can do. And sunglasses have insane margin. I don’t know how good the employee discount was, but yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (02:08.81)

you

 

Jonny Locarni (02:23.762)

Yeah, sunglasses have insane margin. The employee discount was super slam and it didn’t work out because everyone was sketched out by how they could possibly be.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (02:32.96)

I ironically, I have a, last remaining pair of a sunglass brand that I started with some friends at about a decade ago. And, and, and we sold off, but, the last pair that we started with all bamboo and then they, know, some bamboo and plastic, but anyway, just happened to be on my desk next to me. yeah. Well, I, yeah, I mean, I toured the Oakley where how, or like headquarters once and I realized.

 

Jonny Locarni (02:37.553)

Jonny Locarni (02:49.734)

Nice. That’s awesome. Yeah, so you know the game, sunglasses man. Yeah, the margins are ridiculous.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (03:02.862)

Yeah, they’re selling them for 120, 160 bucks, but it still costs them seven to nine to make. But they do spend a lot of money on R &D and overhead and marketing and branding. when you get down to the raw margin, it’s pretty impressive. So then you start selling t-shirts, doing that kind of stuff. But then Magic Cactus, this is a brand that, and a product that has a little bit more.

 

Jonny Locarni (03:13.682)

sure.

 

Jonny Locarni (03:17.3)

Yeah.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (03:30.358)

than just flipping some sunglasses and some more substance to it. So first explain what Magic Cactus is and then tell us why you created it.

 

Jonny Locarni (03:39.08)

Yeah, yeah for sure. you know, magic cactus is in short an alternative to alcohol with an approachable hemp infusion and functional ingredients. So the idea is that designed, they’re designed to together unlock sort of a clear-headed non-toxic drinking experience. you know, it’s kind of targeting those who are looking to drop alcohol as little as for the night and as much as for life and everywhere in between. So,

 

you know, kind of to backtrack on a little bit about that is, you know, this, you know, in our country, there’s no doubt about it that, you know, alcohol consumption is the norm. And it’s a problem really globally. there’s no shortage of non alcoholic beverages, that’s for sure. And while I’m a fan of a lot of those brands and think they’re delicious, it just didn’t seem like there was a true beverage product that could

 

that could stand in the place of alcohol, you know, when it comes to the cognitive effects that you get from alcohol. And so that’s kind of what led to the creation of Magic Gak, as we can get, I’m sure we’ll get further into the backstory soon, but in short, that’s kind of the gap we saw.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (04:51.318)

Yeah, and so when you go from having an idea or maybe making some craft mocktails at home to launching a brand, what was one of the biggest obstacles that you hit from idea to actually being in the market?

 

Jonny Locarni (05:06.428)

Yeah, I mean, for me personally, product is the hardest part. You know, I’m not I’m not by trade a food scientist. You know, you can take it. You can make a delicious beverage in the soda stream in your kitchen. But that doesn’t always translate to a commercially viable product. So, you know, I think we probably took longer on formulation than than most would better experienced in the product space. And I think, you know, we wanted to knock it out of the park, too. So we didn’t want to just kind of

 

Tyler Jorgenson (05:18.49)

Sure.

 

Jonny Locarni (05:35.914)

throw all these ingredients into a can and take it to market. We wanted to make sure the effects, the taste, the nutrition facts were all kind of where we wanted it to be.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (05:44.076)

Yeah. so, mean, going from an idea to launch is always hard. but in ready to drink beverages and in food products in general, you know, you’re not just making these in your kitchen, self-bottling and shipping out. You’re also adding in some regulation and some, you know, age restrictions and other challenges. How did you navigate all that as you went through that ideation to launch process?

 

Jonny Locarni (06:09.202)

Yeah, yeah, so are you talking just the regulatory side itself?

 

Tyler Jorgenson (06:13.708)

Just, yeah, how you got from idea to launch. I mean, you went through so many pieces. We’ll go through regulatory. How did you navigate that?

 

Jonny Locarni (06:18.942)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, think I had slightly an advantage on, kind of the formulation on the regulatory side because I came from the THC space prior. you know, so I started my career in finance, and then kind of accidentally fell into a consulting engagement on the finance side within the cannabis industry in California. So, you know, I was hoping a few groups kind of move their way into from the sort of gray area medical space in California to the

 

Tyler Jorgenson (06:29.515)

okay.

 

Jonny Locarni (06:48.564)

to the licensed recreational space. And so, next thing I knew on top of my full-time job at the time, had five or six of these cannabis clients. I had no, at the time I really didn’t know much about cannabis in general, mean, the industry itself. And so I learned a ton really quickly through that and really got interested in just the intricacies and complexities of that industry and the challenges and started to…

 

Tyler Jorgenson (07:00.034)

Gotcha.

 

Jonny Locarni (07:17.834)

started to of form my own opinion on different gaps that needed to be filled. I was always on the side of, this is going recreational, which means this cannabis curious consumer is gonna be walking their dispensaries. Why isn’t there a dispensary experience? At the time, is, keep in mind 2016, 2017, now there are plenty of great dispensary experiences. But at the time, was all bars on the windows, that green neon sign and armed security.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (07:38.379)

Sure.

 

Jonny Locarni (07:47.09)

And so it’s like, you know, the kind of curious consumer who maybe is visiting LA or just, you know, wants to kind of curious about Canvas in general, they’re walking into a very intimidating experience that isn’t really a retail environment where they can shop around. It’s a very kind of robust, scary shopping experience. So I was kind of that kind of is when the first light bulb went on for me where, you know, there is a whole

 

Tyler Jorgenson (07:47.159)

Right.

 

Jonny Locarni (08:14.792)

different world that’s kind of untapped, which is this newer consumer, you know, the non-regular cannabis consumer is kind of being underserved. So to rewind that, you know, after doing some consulting, we started a group that owned a few dispensary licenses. We were awarded one of the first on-premise consumption licenses. So those West Hollywood lounges you may have heard of back in 2019. And so I got to sink my teeth into a lot of the regulatory cases.

 

and kind of learn how the THC industry works before going into formulation on the hemp side.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (08:49.27)

Yeah, so you had a lot more experience than some people getting into this, right? Where you’d worked with other people, worked on their businesses, worked, given them, worked on the finance side and the operational side. So you got to see a lot of things. But what made you decide out of all of those things happening, you’ve seen all the regulations, you’ve seen the roadblocks and the challenges. You’re like, you know what? I’m gonna launch a brand, right? That’s a big leap from working for other people to doing your own. What was the…

 

Jonny Locarni (09:03.55)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (09:18.786)

catalysts that pushed you into that.

 

Jonny Locarni (09:21.16)

Yeah, yeah. you know, kind of shortly before working with Magic Cactus, I had worked with a couple different beverage brands in the THC space. And, you know, I had my own opinion, but it wasn’t my brand of how this should look. And, you know, a lot of these brands are, you know, at the time, this is kind of predating this sort of hemp opportunity. But on the cannabis side, you know, you’re selling to dispensaries, right? So you’re trying to please these dispensary buyers.

 

And so every brand is kind of guilty of, you know, launching these hundred milligram products, five, 10, 20 milligram products. And I just thought, you know, the whole point of beverage in my, you know, biased opinion is that, you know, if, you can drink a beverage in a sessionable way, you know, it should be low dose because otherwise if you, if I just want 20 milligrams, I’ll just go for a gummy and get immediate 20 milligram dosage of THC. Whereas beverage, you know, I didn’t understand the point of

 

100 milligram beverages when you just like have a few sips and then you’re you just wait an hour and a half or whatever it is for the effects. And so, you know, after kind of, you know, I helped out some brands. just kind of contract consultant type for the most part. And I just kind of, you know, at some point was like, well, if no one else is going to kind of take this this specific direction, then I think I to go do it on my own.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (10:26.829)

Right.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (10:44.942)

So you saw it as the products that were out there were basically liquid edibles, right? You had to consume it in a very specific way, but you wanted to build something that you could drink in a more relaxed state, not worrying as much about, but still have an experience. Much more of a social beverage than a functional, like social, almost like benefit first instead of function first. I don’t know if that makes sense or if I’m even right there.

 

Jonny Locarni (10:52.052)

Right, right.

 

Jonny Locarni (11:11.72)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Great way to put it. And honestly, it just goes back to this obsession of trying to mirror the drinking experience of alcohol without the negatives.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (11:21.102)

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause if you’re, you’re having, you know, a half a can of something and then putting it down for the rest of the night, that’s not the same thing as nursing, nursing a drink over, over the evening or having a couple. So that makes a lot of sense. And so you, how’d you come up with the name? I love the brand. I love the hat you’re wearing for those people watching or not watching. They’re just listening. Magic Cactus Country Club. I just love the kind of the fun vibes there. So how’d you come up with the branding and the name?

 

Jonny Locarni (11:29.386)

It’s right.

 

Jonny Locarni (11:46.676)

Yeah, Yeah, well, this hat was from, you know, we’re based in Arizona, so this is our event we did at Waste Management Open last year or this year, earlier this year. So we did the the golf tournament, kind of did an event there with a other brands and and the hats ended up kind of sticking. You we did a limited run of these hats and then people were like, I want that just in general, not just for the event. So we made a few more. But, you know, the brand Magic Cactus itself kind of followed the formulation, to be honest. So

 

Tyler Jorgenson (11:55.755)

cool.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (12:04.896)

yeah.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (12:09.144)

Yep.

 

Jonny Locarni (12:15.636)

when we were formulating at first, we had a few goals that I’ve kind of mentioned, which one being, let’s have a drinking experience that is like alcohol but doesn’t have the consequences. So we wanted to make sure it was hangover free, you don’t wake up with that brain fog, and it was fatigue free even during consumption. So it wasn’t that couch locked, cannabis effect that you get from lot of traditional products.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (12:43.116)

Right.

 

Jonny Locarni (12:44.03)

You know, we read a medical paper super early on that basically in summary said, you know, the main reasons that, you know, both THC and alcohol lead to fatigue are there the tendency to deplete a few key electrolytes from the body being salt, potassium and magnesium being the main three. So we were looking for a base of the product that had those ingredients.

 

that could kind of replenish your, replenish those electrolyte levels while you’re drinking without, of course, being like a THC Gatorade. So, know, doing it, doing it in a way, doing it in a way that’s like, you know, it’s not like a super salty electrolyte heavy beverage, but it has those elements to replenish, to kind of offset that fatigue. So we started out actually with coconut water, ironically. And so we, you know, we were formerly coconut water. We had an early focus group on like a first sample of like,

 

Tyler Jorgenson (13:15.832)

Sure. Right.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (13:22.829)

Yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (13:38.602)

Hey, do you like this basically, know, a list of very simple questions like this is a good formula. And we, I couldn’t believe it. I love coconut water, but 40%, like 45 % or almost half of the people we asked were like, I just don’t like coconut water. And I was like, wow, glad we asked. We were kind of blown away. And also, you know, back to that nutrition facts conversation, know, coconut water is naturally heavy in, in sugar and carbs. So if you are ditching that

 

Tyler Jorgenson (13:53.675)

wow.

 

Jonny Locarni (14:07.806)

that margarita and trying to go alcohol free for calorie reasons, it doesn’t, you we want to make sure you have that benefit clearly and you’re not just drinking a different sugary beverage that doesn’t have alcohol. And so, you know, being in Arizona, I was kind of aware of this, you know, cactus water concept, which is very similar to coconut water, except none of the, none of the sugar and carbs. So that’s kind of when the light bulb went on. We were like, okay, let’s, let’s move forward with coconut water or with cactus water.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (14:18.72)

Right.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (14:32.675)

Right.

 

Jonny Locarni (14:37.674)

you know, especially being an Arizona brand, it’s kind of a fit. We can work with local farms and that kind of whole story. So we moved forward to cactus water. It tasted, it even tasted way better, and didn’t have that, that kind of sugar and carb load. So, once we had the product finalized, you know, a couple of partners of ours were just, you know, kind of we’re, brainstorming and thought magic cactus, you know, it’s got that, it’s got that infusion.

 

for those psychoactive elements and it’s a cactus water base. 10 % of the product is cactus water. So that’s kind how came to be.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (15:14.614)

I love it, yeah, it’s got that kind of, I don’t know what the right term for that. Like where the magic and the cactus, they roll together, they flow, the brand is very, yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (15:22.954)

It does. The only downfall is I get asked a lot if there’s peyote in it, like the true psychoactive cactus. Because it’s like a slang word for… It’s a hybrid between the two. For now it’s no, because I don’t get in trouble.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (15:31.138)

Yeah. And you do. So is, is the answer no or not yet? Yeah. Yes. That’s right. Yeah. That’s not, that’s not, that’s not available at this moment.

 

Jonny Locarni (15:45.226)

Yeah, no, we’re not selling illegal drugs at this time.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (15:49.1)

Right, you need a magic cactus shaman for that one. So you guys, you’re what, couple of years in now from when you launched, is that right?

 

Jonny Locarni (15:53.03)

Right,

 

Jonny Locarni (16:01.48)

We’re about to be one year in. So we launched last October. Yeah, so October 20th last year. We’re basically a year in. So about to celebrate that one year anniversary.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (16:04.58)

man, we’re still early.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (16:12.258)

Very cool. in that coming up on that one year, what was the most significant moment in that year where you’re like, okay, I think this brand is going to do something. I think we’re going to be able to have some legs with this.

 

Jonny Locarni (16:25.31)

Yeah, I think, I, so, you know, we started out just doing direct consumer for the first three months. think when we kind of realized there’s something here is when we kind of tested out retail, you know, we, we honestly, you know, we aren’t full of capital and we were kind of bootstrapping our way to this point. And so we didn’t have the resources to have like, you know, ambassadors at every store doing in-person tasting and a lot of, you know, a lot of that traditional.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (16:49.666)

Right.

 

Jonny Locarni (16:51.272)

retail marketing. so when we receive feedback from that, those first retailers that was like, this is the first time I’ve seen a, you know, a brand fly off the shelves from day one with no, you know, with no boots on the ground or involvement, I was kind of like, okay, so that, you know, we, we can get their attention, the customer’s attention on first impression. And then I think they come back after they’re, after they enjoy the product. So that’s kind of gave us some assurance that the product does some, does some work on its own, and kind of incentivize us to step on the gas a little bit to

 

to boost that up even more.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (17:22.446)

Yeah, you’re in such a fascinating time where there’s really a strong trend building of people going sober or at least going kind of that soberish, you know, just mindfulness in their drinking, but also a heightened awareness and increased acceptance to hemp and cannabis and things like that. So fascinating timing to be doing what you’re doing in the marketplace. What are some big goals, you know, for year two?

 

Jonny Locarni (17:52.104)

Yeah, so it’s an interesting question because there’s goals that we can control, right? And there’s goals that have just because we’re in this kind of odd regulatory time and the hemp space, there are goals that are completely out of my control. You know, one of the kind of the main goal that includes both, you know, our control and with, you know, out of our control is this just regulatory movement. So we’re hoping that within the next year, hopefully sooner that

 

Tyler Jorgenson (18:01.293)

Mm-hmm.

 

Jonny Locarni (18:19.134)

there’s enough clear infrastructure in the HempDrived THC space so that a Whole Foods or a Costco or a national grocer can feel comfortable moving forward with these products without kind of guessing on the regulatory side.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (18:35.274)

Okay, yeah, so with all those things in mind, right, you still gotta build, you still gotta shoot for some things. You know, do you have specific retailers you’re trying to hit? Do you have, you know, some big, hairy, audacious goals that you’re like, okay, let’s assume we can control it all, what are we gonna do?

 

Jonny Locarni (18:53.48)

Yeah, I think the big hairy audacious goal for us is to be in a Whole Foods within the next year. They have not brought on any THC brands, so it is an audacious goal, but we hope to be one of the first to kind of break that pattern.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (19:11.106)

Well, and I think the style that you’re going after is so different, Where you’re not one of those ones that’s really just a liquid edible and where people really shouldn’t be drinking more than one or two, right? Like, it’s a big, difference. So that’s cool, man. I hope that works out. I’m sure you’re putting all the right moves into play and into motion with it.

 

Jonny Locarni (19:34.398)

Well, thank you, man.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (19:35.628)

When you look out to other brands that you find inspiration from or you find inspiring, what are some brands that just really get you?

 

Jonny Locarni (19:44.97)

Yeah, you know, it’s hard not it’s hard to skip over the liquid death conversation. I know it’s kind of a basic response, but I just I have a lot of respect for the brand side. You know, brands that do well on both the content side and just building a community that’s kind of a cold following. I they’ve done all those things and to be able to do that in water is just like kind of mind blowing and kind of proves, you know, to those who are, you know, there’s a lot of conversation going.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (19:49.582)

you

 

Tyler Jorgenson (20:01.806)

Mm-hmm. Yep.

 

Jonny Locarni (20:12.008)

around right now on the digital marketing side is is brand dead? We’re all just so short attention span, we’re kind of looking for the best deal. And I’m always like, no, brand will never be dead. is brand. And so I think that liquid death case study, if you will, is proof of that.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (20:28.796)

yeah.

 

I think dead brands are dead, right? Brands, you’ve got more than ever your brand has to have life and culture and a story and not everyone will buy into it, but those that do will buy in deeply, right? I mean, you see people getting liquid death tattoos. You see people like they, it’s become part of their identity. And that’s where, I mean,

 

Jonny Locarni (20:33.978)

Yeah, exactly.

 

Jonny Locarni (20:46.111)

Yeah.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (20:55.66)

I don’t know if I ever would have thought a water brand would have been able to pull that off. Like you’re saying, right? I, I get it. People get Nike tattoos or, know, and we’ll only wear Jordan ones, stuff like that. But, I don’t think I ever thought, you know, the replacement to crystal geyser is going to be, is going to be a brand people want to tattoo on themselves. So, but yeah, but you look at just unapologetically what their brand and their alt and their edge. great.

 

Jonny Locarni (21:06.452)

Yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (21:13.542)

Right, right.

 

Yeah. Insane.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (21:25.422)

I think it’s a great brand to look at. even if it’s, I’m sure in your community, it’s talked about a lot, right? But in the general public, most people don’t, they see it, they don’t understand why it’s so amazing, right? So compelling, so.

 

Jonny Locarni (21:25.566)

It is.

 

Jonny Locarni (21:37.298)

Right, exactly, Yeah, and I think that just the fact, mean, what they did in 12 months is just based on, I mean, obviously they had a lot of resources behind them, but it’s just crazy that branding can go that far. If you can really step out of the box and provide something different, even if the product isn’t that innovative, just content creative and brand purely can boost you above. So that was kind of the most inspiring.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (22:01.708)

Yeah, it’s, yeah. That’s what’s fascinating. I’ve seen some brands that the brand themselves, like the product itself isn’t as edgy, like the branding isn’t as crazy, but what they’ve done in their marketing and how they connect and just they’re willing to not like stay vanilla. I mean, even looking at like Duolingo’s social media and things like that where they’re just willing to be a little bit human and playful. So that’s cool. If you were, yeah. yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (22:18.046)

Yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (22:24.426)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, the human element’s huge. The human element’s huge in the state of AI. You can feel it when there’s a person behind the messaging.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (22:34.412)

Yeah, more than ever for sure. I think you were mentioning when we were emailing that you listen to a few shows, so you hadn’t seen them. So you might have a little bit of a heads up on some of the questions I’m asking, but I’m still gonna ask them. What, your brand’s coming up on a year old. For your one year birthday, if you could have,

 

one celebrity reach out to you and say they want to endorse the brand. Who would it be?

 

Jonny Locarni (23:09.682)

man, this is good.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (23:11.864)

celebrity, athlete, someone, know, influencer or whatever, some big name.

 

Jonny Locarni (23:17.256)

Yeah, yeah, one celebrity that I didn’t see this one coming. I’d have to go in on the music. I think we’re going to go on the music side. You know, I’m going to go. Can I give two? I’d give one. OK, I would think.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (23:21.592)

Okay.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (23:33.068)

Yeah, of course. Yeah, we don’t hold really tight rules on the show. You could have given three and I would have been okay. So two, you’re in, Jonny, go for it.

 

Jonny Locarni (23:42.218)

Yeah, yeah, I would say like a like a John Mayer or like a or like a chain smokers type so anybody who’s been kind of affiliated with the with alcohol in the past and To get involved into a non-alcoholic brand. That’s pretty different like this in this new space. I think that would be the dream come true

 

Tyler Jorgenson (23:49.122)

Okay.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (23:55.021)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (24:01.656)

See, that’s fascinating to me because I love that angle. I think a lot of people naturally would have said, look for someone who’s really like has a bandwagon or a platform of sobriety. I think the market, yeah, I think the market is bigger of just the people saying, you know, a friend of mine, he’s got a big name in the marketing space these days, Alex Formosy. He said, he’s like, he doesn’t drink as much, but.

 

Jonny Locarni (24:15.338)

See, I’m always opposite on that. I’m so opposite on that.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (24:30.136)

people often say think he gave up drinking. He’s like, no, just, I just don’t drink as much. He’s like, cause drinking too much doesn’t cost you, it costs you two days. It costs you that night and the next day. And so he’s like, I still drink. I just drink less, you know? And so, and I think that model, that mindset of just mindfulness and awareness is a bigger market, right? And it, yeah. Yeah.

 

Jonny Locarni (24:45.407)

Yep.

 

Jonny Locarni (24:52.872)

Exactly. 100%. You’re speaking my language there. Yeah, I think that is kind of the number one thing that I’ve seen as a mistake that a lot of brands have made. Like I’ve seen these kind of non-alcoholic block parties where there’s no alcohol allowed. I would say, you we don’t have the exact data because we haven’t gotten a response from everybody, but I would say like 95 % of our customers, even though we preach alcohol-free, drink, you know, drink sometimes. think the…

 

Tyler Jorgenson (25:19.202)

Sure.

 

Jonny Locarni (25:19.636)

The amount of people who are fully alcohol free for an extended period of time right now is just such a small sliver. so when you kind of block out everybody who is an occasional drinker, you become not as relatable as a brand. So I think it’s more powerful to see someone who’s been affiliated with alcohol. I said the chain smokers because they have that tequila brand and their DJs, that’s kind of an easy one. I think them coming over versus someone who’s 10 years sober getting involved.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (25:44.653)

I love it.

 

Jonny Locarni (25:48.65)

I think would be a lot more powerful.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (25:48.844)

Yeah. So I didn’t drink for most of my adult life. but I never had a problem like being with my friends or like being out drinking, like if they were out drinking and I never, I from a brand perspective and even just as an individual perspective, I never understood the T total mentality of like, no, we are now, like you said, sober only it’s like, Hey, we can be sober supportive.

 

Jonny Locarni (26:01.162)

Mm-hmm.

 

Jonny Locarni (26:14.632)

Yes, that’s exactly how we think of it.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (26:14.796)

We can be sober safe, why all of a sudden become an exclusive mentality? Just not my style. So I think it’s really cool the angles that you’re taking with this.

 

Jonny Locarni (26:26.218)

Thank you, man. Yeah, it’s not black and white. Not everything has to be an end all be all to your lifestyle. You can also do an ice bath. You can also do an ice bath once a month. don’t have to be, you it’s like, feel like if you pick a lifestyle, doesn’t have to be all in on that, but that’s a whole different rant.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (26:30.572)

Yeah, yeah, life is way more nuanced than that.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (26:40.918)

Yeah. And that’s, I, yeah, that’s what’s so fascinating is most people naturally are more nuanced, but they don’t know how to communicate nuance, right? They only know how to communicate in black and white sometimes. And so I like where you guys are going with this. I like the direction. I like the angle. I think I really hope in this year too, is just everything for you. Jonny, for me, the, create businesses, we take these risks, we do all this stuff because

 

Jonny Locarni (27:01.236)

Thank you, Matt.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (27:10.21)

But it’s just a part of our life, Business isn’t everything. So I always ask, what is one item on Jonny’s personal, not business, but your personal bucket list that you’re gonna accomplish in the next 12 months?

 

Jonny Locarni (27:24.218)

I want to spend as much time outdoors as possible. So hopefully get some days snowboarding this winter.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (27:32.18)

Dream, you got a dream park or a dream place you want to go?

 

Jonny Locarni (27:35.676)

I really want to try those mountains in Utah, as well as Jackson Hole. I’ve spent the last seven years in California before getting to Arizona, and so most of my experience was California and Colorado, so I definitely want to try some new ones.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (27:38.785)

Okay.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (27:50.35)

Killer, that’s great. Very reasonably attained. So I’m looking forward to the update of when you hit some of those resorts and get out there. Really appreciate you coming on the show. Please everyone go check out what they’re doing over at magiccactus.com. And if you’re on Instagram, it’s drinkmagic cactus. Really cool, they do where 10 % of the profits go to organizations that are treating substance abuse.

 

Jonny Locarni (27:59.38)

Definitely will.

 

Tyler Jorgenson (28:17.048)

So again, very mindful company and what they’re doing. reach out and support them. Appreciate you coming out, Jonny. To all my business ninjas, wherever you’re listening, watching, tuning in or streaming, it’s your turn to go out and do something.

 

Jonny Locarni (28:31.53)

Thanks,