How a 17-Year-Old with Cerebral Palsy Defied All Odds to Create a Thriving Business with Drew Davis

What if you could turn your challenges into your biggest strengths? Today, I’m sitting down with Drew Davis, a young entrepreneur who took a high school project and transformed it into an extraordinary business success. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy and told his idea for Crippling Hot Sauce was “unrealistic,” Drew didn’t just overcome obstacles—he obliterated them. At 19, he’s sold over 250,000 bottles, built a thriving business from scratch, and is donating part of his profits to cerebral palsy research. This isn’t just about business; it’s about resilience, grit, and the power of believing in yourself when no one else does. Drew shares the fascinating story of how he started with nothing but $3,000 of birthday money and an idea. Despite having no business experience and being told by his teacher that the concept wouldn’t work, Drew’s determination to prove them wrong fueled his success. We talk about the early days—mixing sauces in his family’s kitchen, selling out his first batch in 30 minutes, and how a local newspaper story ignited the growth of Crippling Hot Sauce. In this conversation, we unpack the strategies Drew used to scale his company, from branding to leveraging organic and paid social media. His insight into building a brand with heart—donating 5% of profits to cerebral palsy research—shows how a powerful mission can elevate a business. Drew is proof that no matter your age or your challenges, you can achieve greatness when you’re willing to put in the work and believe in your vision. Drew’s humility and humor shine throughout the episode. He talks about how his parents always treated him like anyone else and how this mindset helped shape his confidence. He also explains how he uses humor as a tool to handle adversity and stay grounded. His journey is a masterclass in not letting circumstances define you but using them as fuel to rise above and inspire others. Key Takeaways: How Drew turned a school project into a quarter-million-dollar business. The importance of branding and storytelling in creating a memorable product. Why giving back can be a strategic move for building a brand. How to use failure as a stepping stone for growth. The value of resilience and believing in your vision, no matter the odds. This episode is more than just a success story—it’s a blueprint for overcoming adversity and building something meaningful. Drew Davis is a living example that nothing can stop you when you decide to push past your limitations. Prepare to walk away motivated and ready to chase your dreams with everything you’ve got. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. And the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth-based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down, growthday.com/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. He's got about $5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free, tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com/ed. That's growthday.com/ed. I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too.

• 1:31Ed Mylett?

  And you definitely can't afford to waste it waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason. Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 2:04Speaker 01

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• 2:38Speaker 02

  This is the Ed Mile show.

• 2:42Ed Mylett?

  All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. So get ready. Today is going to be one of those episodes that you never forget. I think for the rest of your life, you're going to hear one of the most remarkable stories you have ever heard. And it's one of these that you're going to be sharing. This is a story about overcoming adversity, about one of the most incredible entrepreneurial journeys you have ever heard in your life from one of the most incredible and remarkable young people in the world today. This young man right here has founded a company called crippling hot sauce. What makes it unique is I want you to picture this. He's a 16 year old young man and he's given a project that he's got to pitch a business. He's got to create a business. He's 16 years old. And so like most kids, he waits around to do it and he finally puts together the project

• 3:27Ed Mylett?

  and comes in and pitches this business that he's created in his mind as a project in high school for crippling hot sauce. What you don't know about him is that he has been diagnosed early in his life with cerebral palsy. He's in a wheelchair and so he thought it was a catchy name to create a hot sauce company called crippling hot sauce because he's in a wheelchair and he has cerebral palsy. He gives the presentation. Teacher says, ah, not very realistic. This thing's not going to work. You're crazy. And by the way, that actually really happened. It's not like some cute part of the story. He says, oh yeah, I'll show you. And at 17 years old, starts the company crippling hot sauce. Are you ready for this? He's now nineteen years old, two years later. You ready? Here we go.

• 4:10Ed Mylett?

  Two hundred and fifty thousand bottles of crippling hot sauce has been sold. Two hundred and fifty thousand bottles and he's donated tons of money to cerebral palsy research. He's nineteen. He started this business in his garage at seventeen from a project at sixteen in high school. You will have never heard anything like this in your life. The wisdom that's gonna flow from this young man, the story, the lessons you're going to learn. And by the way, we're going tactics today as well from one of the most incredible stories. By the way, he was nominated to the show by one of the fans of the show. And I found him and said, I gotta have this guy to the thousands of submissions. He's in the seat today and we're so grateful that he's here. Drew Davis of crippling hot sauce, nineteen years old. Welcome to the show.

• 4:55Speaker 03

  Thanks for having me, Ed.

• 4:57Ed Mylett?

  We gotta start. Take us all the way back. How's the project get assigned? How did you know what you were gonna come up with? How's all this start?

• 5:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, so it was just a normal day in my small town. And I had a business class. It was like fifth hour. And just like every other teenager, I used to be a procrastinator. And this project was assigned as like a Christmas midterm. And I was like, and I was like, man, what am I gonna do? Like this is a big grade. So at that time, I was like, I was always the class clown. And like, I'm like, what am I gonna come up with? And I gotta come up with a mock business. And I wanted to like come up with something that was like a real business idea.

• 5:47Speaker 03

  Not just like, you know, Jack's Lemonade. Well, I wanted to come up with like a real robust business idea. So I looked down and I look at myself, I'm like, I like making fun of myself and I like hot sauce. Let's do crippling hot sauce. And as I'm writing this and getting more and more into it, and I'm like, oh, man, I had a home run. You know, I was always a straight A student. So I'm like, I don't know if you can get above a hundred percent on this through extra credit. But I'm sure I'm going to. Come, come, two weeks later, uh, we all get the grade back and I'm like going and I'm going to my Google Classroom and I look and I'm like,

• 6:31Speaker 03

  I'm looking at eighty-two percent, how? So I go up to my teacher at the time and I asked him why, he goes, I thought it was a really good idea, just unrealistic and, and me, I run completely off of spite, so it was the, the kind of motivation I needed that, uh, lit a fire under me and, and I went home that night and started researching, built from there and tried sixty, seventy recipes and launched with three SKUs and just for the idea of, you know, selling a few bottles at a farmer's market.

• 7:11Speaker 03

  Little did I know that with three thousand dollars that I saved up from all my birthdays, throughout my whole childhood and never spent a dime, I put this all into crippling and twenty-four months later, through compound interest, um, and not putting another dime into it, we filled over a quarter of a million bottles.

• 7:33Ed Mylett?

  This is mind blowing. By the way, educate me on something before we keep going. I researched this show. You know, I always try to give the respect, especially somebody as successful as you are at nineteen. Everybody, by the way, think about what you were doing at nineteen, right? This guy's running a company now with tons of different people working for him. Two years ago, it was like a midterm, right? Okay, so, project happens, teacher gives you an eighty-two, it's not realistic. Think about all of the entrepreneurs out there in the world, by the way, Drew, who are being told by somebody at some point, your idea isn't realistic, it's not gonna work, et cetera, et cetera. You said it was spite. Is that really what happened inside of you? You're like, I'm just gonna prove this dude wrong.

• 8:14Ed Mylett?

  Is that literally what it was? Or are you like, also, I know I got an idea here that's a winner?

• 8:19Speaker 03

  So, so it was both of them, like the, the spike kinda drove me to look more into it and then as I was looking into it and I saw like the, the gaps in the market and not, not enough people, you know, supporting, um,

• 8:35Speaker 03

  Uh, like disabilities, I was like, uh, I mission in giving back to disabilities. I'm like, I have something here and, and I was lucky that, uh, from everyone. So my, my cousin drew my logo and, um, I got some advice on, on where to, to get bottles from the family friend and it was just a, just like a family thing at first. And that's how I was able to start with little, you know, capital and, and I, I then grew to being able to, um, you know, afford more things by doing, you know, my local festivals

• 9:14Speaker 03

  and then you launch in like your big local grocery store chain and then do tastings. And from there you, you gain velocity and then it's, once the fire's lit, it's up to you to keep it going and nurture it.

• 9:30Ed Mylett?

  You know, it's interesting, I, I want everyone to take a lot of lessons from you today, but I have to assume you didn't know about the process you just described. And one of the things I think stops a lot of people from doing anything in their life is like, well, I don't know the next step and I won't know the step after that. And what about three steps from there? And so they go, well, but since I don't know all those steps in advance, I'm just not going to start. But I assume you didn't know all those steps when you first began, right?

• 9:55Speaker 03

  I knew nothing. None of my family had CPG experience. I just threw myself in the fire and, and I knew when I fail, that's going to be a bigger learn, bigger learning lesson than when I succeed at things. And I just learned from my failures and every time built on that. And that, that's where we're at today. I honestly like when I fail more than when I succeed because it's, it kind of keeps you grounded, but you learn more. Uh, if you succeed, there's, there's no reason to keep growing as a, uh, uh, what you're doing and growing your craft, cause if it's working, why change it? But when your family kind of allows you to adapt and.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:41Ed Mylett?

  What a great lesson right there. I'm a big believer in it too. I really believe that you learn more from usually from failing. You can learn a lot from success too, but if you actually approach everything as if you're learning regardless, then it's a win every, every single time. So, okay, let's, I want to break this down. You had 3,000 bucks from birthday money you had saved. Is that what you said?

• 11:02Speaker 03

  Yep, that's exactly what happened. I, I always, from the age of one, two, to when I started at 17, all I would ask for, for Christmas, my birthdays and stuff is, uh, is money because I, I was never a materialistic person and I knew that more and more shinier things and fancier items, um, wasn't going to get me happiness. So instead I just asked for money and from a young age I was fascinated with investing and, you know, starting with the stock market at a young age through, uh, one of my

• 11:42Speaker 03

  parents like helped me like start a little investing account and just started with like 50 bucks at a time. And that's where I learned the power of compound interest. And when I had this idea, I'm like, I don't have anything else to do with this money. Let's, let's start with $3,000. A thousand of it was the trademark. So that means I was only left with 2,000 to get started. My first drop was 126 bottles. Sold that out in 30 minutes to family and friends. And man, as a, as a 16 year old that's never really had a job or much money in his life before then, I felt like a million bucks and I just had, had a

• 12:26Speaker 03

  fire under me ever since then to keep on growing.

• 12:30Ed Mylett?

  Okay. So you have that drop and then friends and family buy, are your parents entrepreneurs? Do you come from an entrepreneurial family?

• 12:37Speaker 03

  No, so I'm, I come from a family that's as middle class as can be. My mom's a probation and parole officer and my dad's a truck driver. Um, so no, nobody ever had business experience. And when I started, everybody supported me, but my family is a risk off sort of, sort of family. So they're like, man, do you really want to risk all your money? But I said, I said, mom, I have nothing to lose. And worst case scenario, I learn a lot and, and like, sometimes the best way to learn is when you lose money. So like, I'm like, I want to learn. I'm, I'm 16 years old. I got nothing to lose. Here's my time to gamble.

• 13:22Speaker 03

  I don't have any, any worries about a roof over my head or where I'm going to get food. Let me use my money that I saved up as a teenager and see what I can do.

• 13:34Ed Mylett?

  Brother, this is just blowing my mind. So, hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow. And also taking a look at the future. If you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second. Growth day.com forward slash ed. My friend Brendon Burchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability, journaling, courses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well.

• 14:17Ed Mylett?

  I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute, as do a whole bunch of other influencers, like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan has made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.

• 14:38Ed Mylett?

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• 15:21Ed Mylett?

  Go to ro.co/milet to see if you qualify. That's R-O dot C-O slash my let to get started on Ro. For side effects of GLP-1 medications, including boxed warning, go to ro.co/safety. Ro dot C-O slash safety. So when I end up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating, and I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff. And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed, and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand-vetted by product specialists. They use a 10-point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time.

• 16:05Ed Mylett?

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• 16:38Speaker 04

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 16:42Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so that happens and then what? You're like, uh-oh, this is, no pun intended, this product's hot, like this is working. Now what do you do to scale it from there?

• 16:52Speaker 03

  So, as soon as, when I sold the 126 bottles, I, I took it the, the same night and reinvested and I knew I was gonna have to kind of garner the troops in a way. So I called everybody in my family and we had like, we had a day of making hot sauce. And my, and my, um, my family was like, man, this will last you, this next batch will last you for months. I think it was like 60 mason jars and each mason jar made four bottles. And I'm like, trust me, I'll sell it out by this, this time next week. And sure enough, I did. And I'm like, here we go.

• 17:34Speaker 03

  And then after that second drop, my first local butcher shop came on board. And after I got in the butcher shop, then my local newspaper picked it up. And in a town of less than 3,000 people, that is where I live and, and that's how a lot of people still get their news, cause we're running off of like dial-up internet still and, and good hopes. So farm town. So after that, after that kind of hit the newspaper, it was off and running from there. I think the first week I was in there, I sold 256 bottles. And I was like, man.

• 18:21Speaker 03

  Just kept on, kept on reinvesting and, and people were like, don't you wanna take some of your money you made from this and buy something? And I, I remember I used the analogy like, mom, this isn't a, this is an infant. You need all the, all the nutrients and stuff, um, that you can get in order to correctly develop it. Um, I always treated it like, like it was my child. And I'm like, once you get it mature enough and you hit that three to five year mark or you're doing super well, then, then it's your time. But there's, I knew there was no reason for me to rush.

• 19:01Ed Mylett?

  Brother, this is uh, everybody, you could go get a Harvard MBA and you wouldn't get advice that real, what this young man just told you. So many entrepreneurs early in their career can't resist the temptation to start pulling money out of their business. They pull it out too soon. And what you just said about it being a baby, by the way, I'm stealing that from you Drew, I'm gonna use that when I teach because that's a perfect example and analogy for what you're describing. Why don't you step back, everybody? Here we go. I don't know what your excuses are. This young man's got cerebral palsy, starts at 16, 17 years old, no entrepreneurs in his family, farm town in Missouri, no business experience, teacher tells him it's unrealistic, and here we go, quarter million bottles. By the way, and by the way, this time next year, million bottles will be out the door, million bottles sold.

• 19:44Ed Mylett?

  Couple of things I want to ask you, some business tactics. First, congratulations, number one, so far, but I, I'm gonna hold that to when you sell your 10 millionth bottle. I'm gonna be excited about that. But let me ask you a couple of specific things, if you don't mind me asking. Growing up with cerebral palsy, how'd that affect you? Did it give you more resiliency and toughness? Did it affect your self-esteem? If you don't mind me asking, I really want to know the real on that. And has that been a challenge in being an entrepreneur? I mean, um, any challenges because of any, any of that in your life? Or was it all part of God's plan for you to have this resiliency and this toughness, do you think, going forward? But, but give me the real answer on that Drew, not like the poster answer.

• 20:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, so, yeah, growing up with cerebral palsy, of course it gave me more resilience, but as far as, you know, what it did for me, it never hurt my self-esteem or anything because my whole family treated me as if I was a normal human being, just like, you know, you or anybody else. So like, going in, it's all about like, um, kind of building that mindset from a young age. So my parents were always like, you're going to be successful, you will get good grades in school. Like, they, they looked past the wheelchair, and that was huge for me because, because, you know, I'm, I don't know where I would be if, you know, they treated me as if, you

• 21:12Speaker 03

  know, I, I, they didn't know what they were gonna do with me, and it's okay, just sit there and do nothing because, you know... Because, you know, you don't have to do anything because look at you, you know, they were like, you will, you will be successful. You will get good grades. I did get grounded when I didn't, but then, but that's, but that's what I like. I like being treated like a normal individual and to be quite frank, when I first started crippling, it was a challenge, right? Because not only am I a, my kid, but then you have, you know, the way that it was taught for so many years.

• 21:55Speaker 03

  That disabled people don't have like the same intelligence or, or how the media paints being disabled like this. So at first there was what I would call an adoption phase and to this day, people still think that my parents are running it for me and just using me as a, as a, um, as a, like a poster child and that's why I always make jokes about it. That's my whole goal. If I don't get, if I, people don't learn anything or they don't like hot sauce, I don't care. Just learn that no matter your situation, treat everybody the same and no matter your situation, anything's possible.

• 22:36Ed Mylett?

  You also use humor a lot, brother. Is that part of something you built up as like a, I don't know, a defense or offensive mechanism? And I actually think like even, I'll just use it across the board. Like I think if you're going to do something really difficult in your life, you better bring a sense of humor to it and not take it too seriously because there's so much rejection in business, right? There's so much, so many setbacks, so many days you're like, oh my gosh, this is the last day, we're going to close doors today. How much is like your humor, not taking yourself quite so seriously? You said you were a class clown, like teach us a lesson about that. Is that true?

• 23:13Speaker 03

  My my humor is everything to me because um girl, once again, ha- having a disability, you only have two options, lean into what God has given you, or feel bad about yourself and and make everybody else um feel bad for you as well because um because that's the vibe you give off. I knew that my that as long as I try, um good things will be given my way and to be boyfriend without a sense of humor, I probably would be in a depressive state and and not the same as I am, but like

• 23:56Speaker 03

  it's very a coping mechanism because I've been through so much from, you know, uh back surgery to um, you know, selective dorsal dazotamine, stuff like that. So I've been through a lot, so it really just helps my anxiety and it's like, basically it's kind of wearing my personality on my sleeve. So many people think they have to change for people and and that's just not the case. I remember when I testified in front of the Small Business Committee at Congress and told my story, everybody was sweating bullets, but I came in there with a

• 24:39Speaker 03

  with a T-shirt and a sport jacket and and some and some shorts and I I would and I just answered the questions honestly and was my trony self and what um I hope people learn from me is yeah, you you can you can fake it to some extent, but you can only fake it uh for so long until people see your true colors anyway. So it's easier to just be yourself and whoever likes you, likes you and whoever doesn't doesn't is a great way to to weed out people really fast.

• 25:19Ed Mylett?

  I I'm trying to process you, brother. Like, obviously, you know, the cerebral palsy, you started business, the story's just, it's one of the best I've ever heard in my life. But I gotta be honest with you, what I'm struck by is you're just a nineteen-year-old young man, this level of wisdom. Out of a 19 year old, it's like, what the heck is happening right now? I just, I'm blown away. I mean, brother, I've had 45 year old entrepreneurs on here that are on Shark Tank that aren't as articulate or wise about business as you are. I'm, no offense to anybody else, but I'm, I just, I'm reaching here for like, oh my gosh. Let me ask you this, what's been the biggest challenges?

• 25:59Ed Mylett?

  You didn't go from, you know, the swap meet or the local farmer's market to a quarter million bottles sold very easily. So take your time on this, but you've built a company. You've got a lot of people working for you, describe that, that you've hired. And what were some of the biggest roadblocks to scaling this crippling hot sauce?

• 26:19Speaker 03

  So to be quite frank, the biggest roadblock has been my age. Um, starting at 17, a lot of this growth happened, you know, before my 18th birthday. And being, even being 18, you're not old enough to like, to like have a long enough credit history. So when you go and sign a, for a warehouse, I had to kind of go to people in my, my family and like pitch them of, you know, I basically sat down and was like, um, we're doing this in the garage. This is our customer acquisition cost. This is how many pallets we're doing per month.

• 27:04Speaker 03

  And like with the, with the warehouse in six months, um, uh, projecting this will be our run rate. And, and just like, I basically did a Shark Tank pitch on my family to get them to sign on a lease. And, and I'm just thankful they took their bet on me and, and yeah, now I'm doing great.

• 27:29Ed Mylett?

  So when we were off camera, guy said, you got a warehouse for this now? He's like, oh yeah, of course I do. And I've hired people. What are, who do you look for when you hire? What are you looking for? You hired a lot of young people, you told me, right?

• 27:39Speaker 03

  Our, um, our oldest guy, um, he's 30 years old. Um, so I look for young, ambitious people. I don't.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  Here's the thing that's different for me. I don't look at college degrees. I don't, I don't care as much about that. I look for the, the willingness and readiness to learn and be able to adapt on the go and, and not be too serious about yourself. Cause at the end of the day, um, college, while it's great for some people, it doesn't paint the full story. Cause maybe they're not good at articulating themselves on a 10-page paper in advanced, um, you know, writing or whatever, but they could be really good at something. So it's all about giving

• 28:31Speaker 03

  them a chance. And just because they can't articulate themselves on a, on a paper in English class, doesn't mean they can't be the smartest person in the room.

• 28:44Ed Mylett?

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• 29:26Ed Mylett?

  podcast and when I speak. So find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash ed. So you know, I've been trying to take my health and my morning routine to the next level and I used to do a whole bunch of different stuff, tons of different supplements. And then I found all-in-one in a drink with IM8. IM8 is the way to simplify your supplement routine finally, once and for all. 16 supplements replaced 90 ingredients across nine major organ systems in one drink. You can have all these supplements for $2.61 a day.

• 30:08Ed Mylett?

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• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  You made another really strategic, smart decision and that's done good, which by the way, you guys, he's really donated a lot of money to cerebral palsy research. And so with every bottle sold, you give 5% of the proceeds away to, I assume, some organization for cerebral palsy. Tell us about that. By the way, everyone, before he answers this, it blows my mind that more entrepreneurs don't take a page out of Drew's book on this and take some percentage of profit to a do good organization, because then people aren't just doing business with you, you inherit the goodwill of the organization that you're attached to and you're doing good with your business. And so you say, how do I build a big brand?

• 31:29Ed Mylett?

  Well, sometimes you can attach yourself to another brand by being contributory to them. And at the same time, you're making a big difference. So tell us about that decision and was that, I guess it's out of your heart because you have the disease, but at the same time, it was strategic in nature as well, I got to imagine.

• 31:48Speaker 03

  So while it was strategic, my, when I first started the brand and I gave the concept, I, I kind of didn't really think about, you know, the strategic piece of it. I just knew I wanted to give back what I could and, and being a 16 year old kid at first, I wasn't really thinking about gross margin, net margin, how that would affect me and the numbers that I would be giving out. It's just the first thing I thought of when I wanted to start a brand is that I wanted to do, wanted to be a feel-good, like do-good brand.

• 32:28Speaker 03

  Because you don't need 100% of everything, you know, donating 5% is getting out of with scale as you are seeing, but but it's not. But you're still giving back without hurting the bit like it doesn't really hurt the business. But donating to cerebral palsy research could in five, 10 years when we keep scaling kind of solve a much bigger is our much bigger problem, which is which is kind of this um, kind of disability and that affects millions of people.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  So why would I, why would I hoard the, it'd be selfish of me to hoard the 5% when the the the impact could be much bigger than just me.

• 33:18Ed Mylett?

  Hmm. Yeah, boy. Um, can you tell us a little bit? I want to go back to business in a minute, but you know, you probably don't realize this, but you already are. And then after today, oh, here we go. You're going to be a hero to millions of people. Not only, you know, I could tell you, everybody listening to this right now is you're you're becoming a hero for them. But let's just be real, somebody who has a disability that they've been living with for a while, they're really looking up to you, brother. Have you thought about that? Is that something that you you embrace? Because that's going to become of the part of the package of being you the next 10 years of your life.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  I do. I I really, I do embrace that, but it's like, but it's like, but it's appreciation and acknowledgement without getting a big ego, right? I can't be like, I can't be like, look at me, like, look at how good I'm doing in in your now. I'm trying to build people up and it's just kind of the the kind of the fruits of my labor and and while I do appreciate it. It's the, it's the entire reason I did it. So, um, to have people look up to me, I love that.

• 34:35Speaker 03

  But looking up to me and also following my footsteps are two different things. So I got people to look up to me. Now it's time to inspire people to go for their dreams. Because when I was talking to Congress the entire time, I was like, the unemployment rate in the disabled community is eighty-eight percent. Um, and they don't, and they, a lot of people don't do anything to help them out. They kind of just throw them to, to the curb and, and, um, give them a, a small little nine hundred dollar check every month. So I'm seeing myself, since nobody else will, as kind of a movement to get behind and inspire people that even if you don't

• 35:20Speaker 03

  have a large sum of money, if you have a dream or you want to go to that college or you want to be on the Paralympic Olympic team, go for it. Because at the end of the day, the only one that's going to be looking back in a hundred years with regret is going to be you. And when you leave this world, you don't want to have any regrets. You only have like one chance. And I think the statistical probability of being here is like one in four hundred trillion. Um, so that's a very powerful statistic that the, the DNA combination of you even being here

• 36:02Speaker 03

  is statistically improbable. So during this time that you're on earth, make the best of it.

• 36:10Ed Mylett?

  You're nineteen, are you, really? Like, this isn't even making s-

• 36:15Speaker 03

  I, I can, I can show you my birth certificate, brother.

• 36:19Ed Mylett?

  Okay, I love you, bro. I love you. Are you competitive? Like, I'm listening to you and I'm like, this dude's intense, though. Like, I think another element of a great entrepreneur is you, you gotta want to compete, man. You, you gotta want it bad. And like, I'm just listening to you, even how you described the teacher giving you the eighty-two and all that. I'm like, oh, this dude's got that little thing. You know what I mean? That like- I'll call it like that dog. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Do you have that?

• 36:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, for sure. What was it? Who was it? Was it Ricky Bobby that said if you ain't first or last?

• 36:55Speaker 03

  I'm in the hot sauce space, but I'm not in the hot sauce space to just be one of the thousands of players. I'm in the hot sauce space to compete and show who's business. And it's different than just the, you know, the Special Olympics gold medal that I used to be handing out. I want to to show the big guys that through organic and paid social, authentic, real people are going to beat the the corrupt corporations every day. Because the people have just gotten, the the the guys at the top have just gotten way too detached.

• 37:36Speaker 03

  And it's time for for for somebody who that's an underdog that kind of that can throw that. And that's the mentality I go in there with of I will, I'm playing against, you know, the big dogs, not just your local mom and pop brands. Like, I would look, I would look Mr. Frank in his face and tell him to bring it like.

• 38:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, this isn't cute. This isn't cute. This is like, we're going for it here. What's made it work? So Drew, let's get to brass tacks business-wise, okay? By the way, I love your mentality. But is it working because you came up with a cool name that matches your disability? Crippling Hot Sauce, which is maybe the all-time coolest name in hot sauce history? Is it B, that the product is that incredible? Is it C, your marketing, what you just said, underdog, paid social, organic social? Is it all three? Like, give us a blueprint a little bit for somebody who's got another business or wants to start a business or has an idea of some of the benchmarks that's made this thing work?

• 38:43Speaker 03

  So, so yeah, a hundred percent, it's all three and you can have an incredible product, but if the branding and eye catchiness isn't there, then then it's just gonna be another product on the shelf. So if I called it Drew's Hot Sauce, of course, it doesn't have as much as a a remembrance to it as as crippling and and what I've always told people is I went for crippling because while I could have went on the safer side and named it Drew's Hot Sauce, when you're paying for like, when you're competing in organic and paid social and you know, on the streets at Farming Marcus, you want, you only, you wanna pay as less, the least amount as you can for

• 39:27Speaker 03

  the most remembrance possible. The chances of somebody forgetting something like a crippling hot sauce, or like, for instance, not just me, but like, a liquid death, or is little to none. So, so it's all about the the marketing and the name and the and the the story. It's kind of the the trifecta and and I want people to know that, even if you don't like, have like a, have like a killer, you know, started from a school project, um, story like I do, and you're like, well, I can't go that route. Everybody has a unique story that's unique to them. So,

• 40:08Speaker 03

  start selling that. And I always say with with paid social or with organic social, don't, don't make every video about about selling like just like a hard pitch. Let people know who you are and maybe, maybe like, maybe like you don't even mention it. And when people go to your bio, they see you have a hot sauce. I promise you that's gonna have a higher conversion rate than just you shoving a product down their throat. You're actually going to get more sales because people don't wanna hear hard pitches all the time.

• 40:43Ed Mylett?

  So are you saying that you make your social entertaining or informative and then you've brought some kind of value? Not always, sometimes it's a direct pitch, right? But you're saying if everything's a direct pitch, no. So what you're saying is if someone's trying to create a brand, make it entertaining or valuable and the pitch is sort of in the bio sometimes, it's not direct. Cause if someone sees you every time pitching, they just scroll through, right?

• 41:05Speaker 03

  Yep. And, and it doesn't even have to be not mention your brand at all. If you mention your brand in a creative way, that's like, man, that was a creative sales pitch or something like that. Um, then that works as well. But what I always say don't do is, hey, my name's Drew and I own crippling hot sauce. Buy it now. Like, what's the value prop? Like, all you prop could be more than just donating to cerebral palsy. It could be more than just, you know, a cool story. It could be, how entertaining are you? Are you really funny and you give people joy? That's a value prop. Are you really informative? That's a value prop.

• 41:51Speaker 01

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• 42:21Ed Mylett?

  So you said something though there that I want to kind of dive into just for a second about like your background and I hope I can ask you this directly, like what are the limitations? You told us where cerebral palsy affects you in the brain and what it does. What's the day-to-day life like of someone at your stage? You're in a wheelchair. What is the day-to-day existence like in the, um, if you want to call them the difficulties that come along with, with having, um, cerebral palsy?

• 42:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, so a hundred percent while I am as independent as I possibly can be and kind of running my own business and stuff, there's some things you just physically can't do as a disabled person and that's okay. There's two things that able-bodied people can't do. I guarantee you go after most people and tell them, can they do the splits? They'll probably say no. And that's how I see it. It's not like, it's not like, oh, so sorry that you, you can't do that. It's no, I can't do stuff just like you can't do stuff. And that's how we gotta look at it. Not, not, oh, I can't even do the, you know, daily

• 43:33Speaker 03

  necessities that you need to make it through life. Because while I can't do the daily necessities, I can get really good at something that somebody else might not be. And that's the whole, that's the whole thing about how we might not be, that we might not be born on different levels, but through hard work, we can be near the same stage at something. Like, so while, while I can't, while I can't put myself to bed or, or use the bathroom sometimes without assistance, I can run a business. I can talk just like anybody else. I can, I can eat, I can do all these things. So while there's a few things I can't do, it's important for

• 44:18Speaker 03

  me and other people not to focus on that. Just like how, you know, some people, um, some people, some people like prefer the nine to five lifestyle and that's okay. Like, I've never understood why, why people make fun of people for certain things, like they are perfect. Because I guarantee that that person, even if they're, you know, have less money than you, have less skill than you, they're better than you at something. And that's what you always got to approach a person with when trying to pull, you know, when trying to pull, you know, knowledge from them. I, I approach every person as

• 45:03Speaker 03

  there's something I can learn from this person, let's hear them intently and give them the time of day.

• 45:09Ed Mylett?

  Unbelievable. You uh, you used terms like customer acquisition cost and you said, you know, gross margin and net margin and you know, for a lot of people listening to this, I think just becoming an entrepreneur or the next level of entrepreneurship, it's just intimidating. They got doubts and fears. Two things. My assumption is those weren't terms you were familiar with at sixteen, seventeen, when you wrote the paper and started the business. And B, what would your advice be to somebody right now, they're listening, they're like, "I wanna write a book. I wanna start to learn to speak on stage. I want to start learning to speak Spanish or this hobby and start in a business.

• 45:48Ed Mylett?

  And the reason I'm not doing it is I just don't know enough and I'm afraid. What would you say to them?"

• 45:53Speaker 03

  The great thing about being in this time and age is, is you, you've got millions of people that come together and, and, and have a collaborative, collaborative effort and they're experts and it's all in this thing called the internet. And get, sir, search it up, watch videos. There's plenty of people that have done this before that you can learn from. And I always say, learn from people, don't steal from them. So maybe you, you take, you know, inspiration from, you know, Ed or, or me or somebody else, but you put your own twist on it. It never works out well if you just copy somebody word for word

• 46:34Speaker 03

  because that's not authentically you. So, learn from the internet, tweak it to make it yourself. And it's like you never even learn from the internet because you, you, you learn the basics, but then you tweaked it and learned from what you did wrong and so on and so forth.

• 46:50Ed Mylett?

  Do you think, I'm asking you a hard question. I got two questions left, by the way. And everybody stick around because they're both, they're doozies. Probably this is the most intense one I've asked you and it's personal and I just like, you're just such an honest, open book. I believe somebody without a dream in their life or something they're trying to pursue. can often be a person who's feels alone and sad.

• 47:14Ed Mylett?

  I also have have to believe though Drew, somebody who's had a difficulty in their life. I mean, let's just be honest. I mean, you've said it several times yourself, but you know, th- this diagnosis isn't easy, right? There's things that come with it that are difficult for you. Do you think your life, your mindset, your emotions, your mental state? Would be different without crippling hot sauce, meaning something to pursue and dream about in your life? A future to look forwards towards as opposed to just focusing on your day to day difficulties? Now, I imagine that before this, as a young man, you weren't every day focusing on the difficulties.

• 47:55Ed Mylett?

  But I also have to imagine to some extent, I think a dream in life is like almost a great distraction from current circumstance. I've said that in my own life in different circumstances. Where do you think you would be without this? And do you think there's some validity to what I'm saying?

• 48:11Speaker 03

  I would, I wouldn't be um

• 48:16Speaker 03

  anywhere near where I am in terms of personal and professional growth without crippling. And the reason why is crippling hot sauce was the, the first time that I had a dream that wasn't influenced or associated with something my parents have taught me. So it's like you, you get taught, you know, go to college, get that good degree, get that good job. But like this was something that was completely my own doing, my own mindset. It was formed by my own beliefs and I think that's important as you know, um what, what I'm gonna do if, if I ever have kids is guide them, but not force them.

• 49:01Speaker 03

  Like allow them to have their own beliefs, whether that be, whether that be business related or anything else because um the most growth comes when you're forming your own ideas and.

• 49:17Speaker 03

  You form your own ideas and practice your own ways and it's uh you take inspiration from your parents, but I but I think too many people rely on exactly what their parents tell them to do. And ninety-nine percent of the time, the truth is, if you if you don't do it exactly, they're they're still gonna love you like you're their kid. So it's like you're not breaking anybody's heart, but it might make your life miserable. And the thing I always tell people, like, whether you're at a low at a low time in life, or even if you have something to do, if you don't have a goal, if you don't have

• 50:01Speaker 03

  a goal, goals are stepping stones. Don't shoot for the stars right away, but start from step one. Do a small goal, get bigger and bigger and bigger. If you are if you are huge and worth five hundred million dollars, and you're like, man, I completed all my goals, you're not dreaming big enough. There should always be something you're going towards, whether that's owning your favorite NFL team, NHL team, basketball team, something. There's no reason in this world of two billion people that there shouldn't be a dream out there that has already been achieved or hasn't been achieved by you.

• 50:43Speaker 03

  The world is your own destiny. And at the end of the day, if you fail, it's okay. But if you don't, it's a legend. You're a legend. And let me tell you, even if you fail thirty times, that one time you succeed, everybody's gonna forget the thirty other times you failed. So it doesn't really matter.

• 50:59Speaker 02

  What in the world is happening today on this show, brother? Like, what? This is great. I don't know, man. I told everybody at the beginning, they're gonna remember this show. We're like, you're gonna remember this show. Sixteen years old gives a presentation. Seventeen starts a company. Cerebral palsy, teacher tells him it's a dumb idea, sells a few to his family, goes to a farmer's market, sells a few more.

• 51:22Ed Mylett?

  Quarter million bottles sold, tons of money to cerebral palsy research, and now he's got all this wisdom that's insane about how to scale a business and life. He's 19. What the heck is happening here? I don't, I don't know, man. Like, I, you need some investors, brother. Let me know. Really, let me know.

• 51:44Ed Mylett?

  Let's the masses last. What do you want to do with crippling hot sauce now? What are we going to see over the next two, three, four, five years? What's happening with this company?

• 51:52Speaker 03

  Slowly and methodically, keep building my team and slowly build, build the brand up, both slow but methodical and also fast at the same time. What I mean by that is you want to grow fast enough where you still have the fire lit. However, you don't want to grow to the moon overnight because there, even though you're doing well, there, there, for instance, for me, there's 300 million people in the world. Now, everybody knows about crippling hot sauce. And I know even though I got a strong market penetration, not everybody knows me.

• 52:34Speaker 03

  So if I'm launching one more, Target, Kroger, every major region, our national, national, worldwide overnight, I know that even though we're really good at what we're doing now, I don't have the market penetration to support that velocity.

• 52:51Ed Mylett?

  Right, yep. Yeah, scaling correctly matters. And I don't know how in the world a 19-year-old knows that. That blows my doors off. So you're awesome. And I'd like to tell you that I'm rooting for you, et cetera, et cetera. But that's almost like minimizes what you've already done. I mean, I'm learning from you. I'm sitting here today and I'm learning from you. And I've actually stolen a couple of your terms from you that are now mine. So just know that when you see them on Instagram, that on my podcast, you know where I got them from. I just want to thank you for today. I told everybody they won't forget this. I don't know what your excuses are, everybody, but this young man takes them away. He also didn't just tell you an inspirational story. He took you through the keys and the tactics and the strategies and the mindset of doing it correctly.

• 53:37Ed Mylett?

  And it was awesome. And Drew, you're a treasure, man. Really, really proud of you. I can't wait to watch you do this. I have a funny feeling you have a future doing what I do, which is inspiring and motivating people. I think you're going to be on a lot of stages. I think that's the next thing that's coming for you. And if I can ever do anything to help support Crippling Hot Sauce, or just Drew Davis in general, just know that I'm here for you, brother.

• 54:02Speaker 03

  Thank you so much, Ed, and I look forward to the same for you. I found your podcast and let me say I'm a listener now for life. And I learned from everybody, not just myself or my parents. So you've also given me some valuable insight that I will also take.

• 54:26Ed Mylett?

  God bless you, brother. When I'm in St. Louis visiting Andy, we're going to have to get together. I'd love to meet you in person.

• 54:31Speaker 03

  Let's do it.

• 54:33Ed Mylett?

  Cripplinghot sauce.com. Where's the website?

• 54:36Speaker 03

  The cripplingcompany.com.

• 54:38Ed Mylett?

  Okay, the cripplingcompany.com. Go get yourself some hot sauce, everybody. All right. God bless you. Share this episode with someone young, someone old, someone who wants to be an entrepreneur, someone who wants to change their life, someone who needs a perspective shift, somebody with a disability, somebody with a dream. God bless you, everybody. Max out.