selling bath salt to help Catholics in Pakistan

[00:00:00]Two years ago, today, right now, I was somewhere in between Rome and Assisi, running 100 miles through the backwoods, on highways, through farms. It was an incredible experience. I did that to raise money for this clinic in Malawi. You can watch the whole documentary in the link in the description. At the end of that documentary, I talk about starting a company in Pakistan.

[00:00:28]And today, that project takes a big step forward after many different kinds of experiences in getting to this point.

[00:00:39]I'm trying to sell this stuff.

[00:00:42]Pink salt, okay? I'm trying to take this stuff, put it in a jar to make bath salt.

[00:00:51]This is a very ghetto, bootstrapped operation, okay?

[00:00:56]I'm filming our big advertisement from my laptop, okay? That gives you an idea.

[00:01:01]I don't have a million-dollar ad budget.

[00:01:03]I don't have 30 people on staff doing social media marketing. I don't have 20 years of experience in the cosmetics industry.

[00:01:13]I just have a crazy dream and a little bit of hustle and just a tiny bit of cash on hand to try to move a product from a co-packer to a third-party logistics warehouse to you, to your front door.

[00:01:29]And you're going to splish and splash with this stuff. We're calling it Laponto bath salt. Laponto fitness bath salt. That's our first product. It's for the guys, mostly. It's for the bros who are working out in the gym, who want to kind of push back on, you know, let's say, aggressive things that happen in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to support Catholics in Pakistan. That's the idea.

[00:01:54]Rather than just throwing money at stuff and at people, why not work with them to create wealth, to create jobs. Over time, we hope to be, you know, really employing people.

[00:02:07]And then give a a little piece to some charitable, and in this case, ecclesiastical project. I was in Pakistan in January. I met with a bunch of bishops. I met with the government. I met with a bank.

[00:02:20]I also went to the mine, where the pink salt comes from.

[00:02:24]There's Catholics working at the mine. I I hung out with them. They showed me around. It was amazing.

[00:02:30]I went around. I got a feel for what's going on in the the Christian slums.

[00:02:36]Uh it's rough, you know. Um and we're not going to fix the entire country of Pakistan. That's not the point. We're not going to be building new cathedrals. We're not going to be doing that. We want to make a small difference in the lives of a few people who we know and trust. And we're starting that with the Dominicans at the House of Studies in Karachi, where I visited. My friend is the superior, and he has graciously accepted the offer to accept a small part of our profits.

[00:03:05]This isn't endorsed by the Dominicans or anything like this.

[00:03:09]We're not at that stage yet. I just have the intention to share profits with them for their general needs. There's some maintenance costs that they have, this kind of thing. And over time, hopefully, we can help support priestly vocations in the Dominican order in Pakistan in a meaningful way. Eventually, we can hopefully do more than that, but that's the starting point is the Dominican House of Studies in Karachi. We're going to give I can't put a number on it. And I'm telling you, there's so much that I don't know at this point. Uh I can't put a number on it, but we're going to give something.

[00:03:43]Something of our profits that is meaningful, not, you know, 20 cents a week or so. Like it's it's going to be meaningful. Whatever it is, it's going to be meaningful. And I want you to come along for the journey as I figure out how to do this, as we figure out how to do this, as we embark on the project that many Popes have talked about.

[00:04:04]Haven't seen Leo's new encyclical coming out what? Today? Maybe an hour and a half ago.

[00:04:10]It's philanthrocapitalism.

[00:04:12]This is what all the Popes have been talking about. They don't put it in those terms, but this is it. You go to a place that's not well connected with the global market or at least with a population that's not well connected with a global market. You work with them to create sustainable revenue, sustainable revenue creating wealth, creating jobs that give people dignity, gives them a way to support themselves rather than just dumping money on them and hoping that it works out. And we know that long-term that doesn't really work out, generally speaking. It creates all kinds of perverse incentives and problems, some of which are, you know, able to be predicted and some maybe not.

[00:04:53]So, that's the pitch. We're starting pre-orders today.

[00:04:57]Uh I don't know what's going to happen.

[00:04:59]I just know that it's taken a lot to get here.

[00:05:04]It has not been easy.

[00:05:06]And yeah, it's been 2 years since I did this crazy run.

[00:05:11]You know, I'm a I'm an athlete. I wish I had a bath. I wish I had enough money to actually, you know, use the product that I'm trying to sell to you.

[00:05:20]I don't I don't I don't have an apartment with a bath.

[00:05:24]Hopefully, eventually I'll be able to test my own product and guarantee that it works and that it's good, but like the idea is if you do a lot of exercise, it's very good for your muscles to relax them to to help with recovery. That's kind of the idea, right? And so, you can splish and splash in your bath pretending you're Don Juan while you're helping Catholics in a highly unfriendly environment live their lives in hopefully a better, more dignified, more prosperous way.

[00:05:52]Pre-orders are open.

[00:05:55]It's only for Americans, USA customers.

[00:05:58]We just got to go one step at a time.

[00:06:00]Sorry to all my international friends.

[00:06:02]I'll leave the link to the pre-order page in the description. It's a Shopify page. It's nothing fancy.

[00:06:08]And it is a little bit expensive.

[00:06:10]It's a little bit expensive. I hope that that's okay. We're trying to figure it out and we're trying to give a little bit back. If you just want bath salt, this isn't for you. Go to the store. You can make this stuff yourself. You take salt, you take Epsom salt, you know, magnesium sulfate or whatever. You mix it together and you pretty much have the product that we're going to be selling.

[00:06:33]But that takes a little bit of effort.

[00:06:35]Wouldn't it be better to just click, click, click?

[00:06:38]And then a dollar or two dollars going to help support priestly vocations with the Dominicans in Pakistan.

[00:06:45]And you're helping my business partner in Pakistan feed his family.

[00:06:49]Isn't that better than just going to the grocery store and trying to do it yourself?

[00:06:54]That's the pitch. If you want to join the company mailing list, I'll leave a link in the description for that.

[00:07:01]Happy bath time.