Recovery and Connection through Kava with Ben McQueen

0:01John Lee Dumas:Light that spark fire nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today we'll be breaking down recovery and connection through Kava. To drop these value bombs, I brought to Ben McQueen and the EO Fire Studios. Ben is the CEO of Karuna Kava Bar, a Boise-based entrepreneur, father of three and advocate for recovery, helping others find community and freedom through Kava and non-alcoholic beverages. And today we talk about going from struggle to solution, the cultural shift, building Karuna, hard truths and lessons, and oh, so much more.

0:35John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Ben and our sponsors. Sleep impacts everything. Your energy, focus, and performance. FitNexus Somnipods 3 are ultra-comfortable sleep airbags that block distractions, track your sleep, and deliver personalized insights to help you rest and recover. If better sleep is a priority for you, visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFire10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:13John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. Ben, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Aloha, Fire Nation. Here's something I think most people disagree with about being successful is that first you have to define what is success. And right now there's this grind set ideology. There's, you know, people putting in a hundred hours a week. And if that's your thing, that's totally cool. But for me, I look at success as how much time did I get to spend with my kids this week?

2:04How much time did I get to help my wife out around the house? How much time was I here for a friend when they needed me. You know, my business exists to support my family. It is it's a means to an end for me. It's not the end itself. And so if I'm working, you know, a thousand hours a week and just trying to constantly grow and meanwhile, my family is neglected or my friends are neglected or my community isn't getting the kind of support that the community needs. I don't think that's success. So I think success has to be weighed against the benefits of all of the hard work that you're putting in.

2:50Because if you're putting in all the hard work and you're not getting to enjoy the things that are very valuable in your life, you got to find a balance. And that's where I think balance is really hard for entrepreneurs.

3:04John Lee Dumas:And I'll jump in here and say, with a two and a half year old in my life now, that balance has definitely shifted for me over the past couple of years. So I love that. I hear it. I believe it because at the end of the day, Fire Nation, when we look back on our life, it's the quality moments that matter. As we talk about recovery and connection through Kava. So I want to talk about your struggle to solution because you have a journey that went from alcohol use disorder to discovering Kava. So tell us that story. Tell us that journey and how that experience reshaped your life and direction. You know, alcohol and addiction has always played a role in my family.

3:41I saw it when I was growing up. And from a pretty young age, I picked up my drinking habit, I think partly because of the family trauma we had experienced when we were younger. My father passed away when I was 11. That was traumatic. And I turned to alcohol. And in the beginning, I felt like alcohol made me feel like I was a part of, like I was important, like I was cool. And that pretty quickly started to devolve into what I would call more destructive drinking. Into my college years, I wasn't drinking like other people. I was staying up later. I was waking up earlier and hitting it from sunup to sundown.

4:25And very quickly, my life started to spiral in a very destructive direction. And eventually, I found myself homeless. Because if you're drinking all the time and you're locked in that cycle of addiction, you can't really manage your life. And so when I became homeless, I was graciously admitted to a sober living home. And in this sober living home, some of these guys were drinking kava in the evenings. and and one day I was having a real a craving I was triggered by something that I can't even remember now it's not important but uh and instead of going and drinking alcohol I decided to try kava and I went to a kava bar uh Ohana kava bar in Colorado Springs great spot and I had a kava I felt relaxed.

5:17I made some friends that weren't drinking alcohol and I connected with others. And then I got back in bed later that night and realized that I didn't have the craving to drink alcohol anymore. And that was a really foreign experience for me because if I didn't drink and I had a craving, I was just going to think about it and think about it and think about it. And all that moment was really what reshaped what my life was going to look like because it gave me a path. All of a sudden I had something I could be passionate about, something I could put energy towards, something that I knew helped me and I figured could help other people.

6:02And that's what's brought me to where I am right now with Karuna Kava.

6:08John Lee Dumas:So I want to talk about the cultural shift because first off, I mean, what is Kava? Because I think a lot of people are going to kind of be scratched at our heads there. And why are kava bars and zero proof spaces gaining momentum right now in this world? And what deeper cultural need are they actually meeting? Kava is a 3000 year old tradition from the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Hawaii, they call it Ava. And essentially the roots of the kava plant are rich in compounds that act as natural anxiolytics, mood boosters, and muscle relaxants. They make you feel really calm, kind of happy and cheerful and chatty, very socially comfortable, but also physically relaxed.

6:52And they do this without creating the same inebriation or addiction and withdrawal cycles that you would see with alcohol because there is no physical withdrawal from kava. And so I think one of the reasons people are really drawn to this tradition, One, it's fun. Drinking Kaaba has a lot of benefits, a lot of health benefits, but for the most part, it's fun. And it's a conduit to connection. When you sit with somebody at a bar, if you don't know them and you have a Kaaba together, all of a sudden a conversation sprouts up. All of a sudden a connection is created. And it has done this for thousands of years.

7:37This is one of the reasons why the ancient Polynesians, Melanations, and Micronesians used Kava as a way to make friendships, make treaties, have long-form discussions and political decisions were all made around Kava. And in our society right now, we have social media, which has sold us this kind of false narrative of connection. You know, you've got 3 ,000 friends on Facebook, but how many of those friends asked you how you're doing today? And here at the Kava Bar, we are getting people more connected with one another. we're helping people find a space in which they can actually be social and that space doesn't revolve around alcohol which many people are turning away from right now because they're recognizing the negative health impacts and in the negative social impacts and and so when people come to our bar they they come for the kava in the beginning but really they keep coming back because they're making friends here they're making connections here we've had people come in and say you know i was in the parking lot of the liquor store and i decided to come here instead because it's a safe spot for them to be.

9:11And very similarly, it's a safe spot for me to be because these people are helping me as well. This is my community as well. And I think that's a really beautiful thing. We've really seen people grow in amazing ways here. And I think it's because they're finding that connection that they've been seeking but haven't really found anywhere else.

9:36John Lee Dumas:So I will say that I have been very fortunate enough to be exposed to Kava. I actually spent a few weeks on the island of one of the islands of Fiji and really enjoyed that experience. And then, you know, the Airbnb that I was staying at, the actual hosts of that Airbnb lived pretty nearby, and they kind of brought us in for this really cool Kava experience. and I was at this Tony Robbins event on the island of Fiji. And so he was actually utilizing it on many of the days that we were there as well, which was super cool. And it was just a great experience, and I really did enjoy it. And, you know, I think many of us, myself included, do come from families where addiction is a problem.

10:16John Lee Dumas:And addiction can come in many ways, you know, addiction to alcohol, to drugs, to work, you know, to sports, to working out. I mean, it can be a lot of different things. gambling, of course. So I mean, there's a situation where it's like, okay, how do we bring a different energy and a different vibe and a different culture to what it means to kind of go to quote unquote, go out and blow off steam. So we're going to be talking about building Karuna, the hard truths and lessons and more when we get back from thinking our sponsors. One thing I've been dialing in for over a decade now is sleep. Not only am I in bed every night by 9pm, but I've really perfected my sleep environments.

10:55John Lee Dumas:And one thing that's helped me do that is Fitnexa. Fitnexa is a pair of comfortable sleep earbuds designed specifically for a great night's rest. They're built to minimize pressure on your ears, even if you're a side sleeper like me, and their active noise cancellation helps block out the distractions that can keep you from falling or staying asleep. But what really takes Fitnexa to the next level is everything built in. You can listen to calming ocean waves, rain sounds, and more completely offline with no streaming apps or subscriptions required. Fitnexa also tracks your movement and sleep patterns overnights, then gives you personalized recommendations to help improve not just how long you sleep, but how well you sleep.

11:30John Lee Dumas:You can even set a private alarm that wakes you without disturbing your partner, which my wife loves. If better sleep is a priority for you, Fitnexa helps you create the environment and routine to make it happen. Visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFIRE10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more.

12:05John Lee Dumas:Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business. And their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most. When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. So Ben, we're back, and I want to talk about the actual building of Karuna.

12:44John Lee Dumas:I mean, how did you go from personal transformation to launching and growing Karuna as a Kava bar and now beverage company? I've had people ask, how do you get started? I really feel like you've got to start where you are. And when I started Karuna Kava, I was broke. I didn't really know what I was doing yet. You know, I was very, very much so figuring out how to be an entrepreneur, how to be a business owner. and I would say we we got started because I worked in a restaurant and I was making kava and I was selling it on Facebook marketplace and I was selling it out of the back of my car and I was selling it at farmers markets and little concerts and I was sneaking it into the restaurant so I could sell it to the cooks in the back I was just trying to get it out there any way that I could and because i put that effort out there and just got started from the bottom that showed investors wow this guy is really doing it he's he's you know he's a man of action he's he's not just talking about some idea he's he's really actually doing it now and kind of building the proof of concept.

14:02And so once I got the investment, then we got the bar opened up and marketed the bar and got all the people who were just buying from me out of my garage to start coming into the bar. And the whole process has been very transformational for me because I'm learning. I try to make sure I keep a learning student mindset because whether it's graphic design, whether it's the actual administrative tasks of running a business, whether it's marketing, like these are all things that are always growing. And I have to make sure that I maintain a mindset that there's always something else to learn. Because if you shut yourself down and you say, I got this covered, then you can miss some major opportunities.

14:56And so that's really how we've grown is I've had to grow alongside the business because, you know, this wasn't my, I was not an entrepreneur before opening this, this bar and this beverage company. And really one of the, the biggest lessons that I've gotten is you got to start where you are and you've got to make sure you keep that mind open to keep taking in more information, more tactics, more knowledge so that you can expand your business.

15:34John Lee Dumas:Well, Ben, on that point, let's talk about the single biggest mistake that you made along the way. Be honest, be transparent, be genuine. What was the biggest mistake? I didn't stop drinking immediately when I opened the business. I had a couple of slip ups and I think that set us back because it's inauthentic. Yeah. And it's, it's not authentic too, right? For, for me to be drinking and showing off a bad side of my own addiction. But unfortunately that's where I was at the time. And thank God I have three and a half years sober. But honestly, the bar and the people in this place are what have really helped me stay sober.

16:18and I would say one of the other biggest challenges that we faced is in terms of finding funding or credit card processing, Kava is kind of in this fringe arena and for some reason a lot of the large banks and credit card processors don't really like to work with Kava businesses but we have been able to overcome those issues and figure out a path forward and make sure that we're still providing a great experience for our customers.

16:49John Lee Dumas:And let me just jump in with a business lesson here, Fire Nation. I actually like when I come up against those kind of hurdles, because guess what? That means other people are as well that are my quote unquote competitors, and they're going to maybe quit. They're going to maybe stop trying. And so I like when the barrier is high, because that means the competition is low. So when you actually come against something that's really, really tough, instead of getting frustrated, be like, this is great because I'm going to figure this out. And a lot of people who otherwise would have been a competitor of mine are not going to figure this out.

17:20John Lee Dumas:And so I'm going to have a larger reward as a result. Now, I want to move on to mission and impact. I mean, how are you specifically using Karuna to build community and to also help others find freedom from alcohol, which you congratulations have now for three and a half years. We use Karuna as kind of like a community incubator. So one of the things I've noticed with people that are struggling with addiction. And this is one of the things I really struggled with was finding a community that was supportive and understanding and not judgmental because that goes a huge way. And so we host Cava Circle twice a week here at the bar and we'll have one at our new bar that's opening in Meridian, Idaho on Saturday.

18:10But that's a time where we all get together. We sit in a circle. We drink kava. People ask questions. Everybody can see everyone's face because we're in a circle. So that creates a lot of stimulus for conversation. And we have a recovery meeting here on Saturday mornings at 10 o 'clock. And that is, you know, it's not a traditional 12-step meeting, but it is a sobriety support group. We celebrate people when they when they reach milestones, we're here for them if they have a slip. We really are trying to be a very judgment-free but very supportive space for people that are trying to find freedom from alcohol and other drugs and other.

18:56We've had people come in with gambling issues and for some reason, because Kaba just takes that stress down, sometimes that's all you need to let that craving pass away is just a little less stress, a little less anxiety. Of course, we can't sell CABA as an anxiety relief because it's not a pharmaceutical, but you understand what I'm saying. And I think, but the biggest thing that's helping people find freedom is that they're finding other people. They're finding true connection. And that's really the key.

19:29John Lee Dumas:So Ben, let's end with a piece of entrepreneurial advice. I mean, what would you say is a practical step that you want to give to entrepreneurs who want to both start and scale something in this space? I mean, not Kava specifically, but just in this space, this vertical that you've had some success in. The first practical step is define your goal. You know, you've got to have an idea of what you're trying to accomplish and make sure that whatever idea you're working on is going to be valuable to your customer, to your client, and do a little market research. But also, if you've had success with something in your own life and that's not on the market yet, or maybe it's an unmet need for your market, because, I mean, in the United States, there's less than 300 kava bars so there's a whole big cities that have no kava bar at all and it doesn't have to be a kava bar it could be a non-alcoholic tea house it could be any kind of therapy used to to help people that are struggling um but you've got to start somewhere and and if you're waiting for someone to give you a million dollar loan so that you can get started that's going to be hard.

20:53You know, if my car breaks down on the side of the road, it's really hard to get somebody to stop and help me push the car. But if I'm, if, if I'm pushing the car already, somebody will stop and help because people like to, to help other people when they see that they're already putting a good effort forward. And so if you're thinking about starting something up, think about maybe starting small and then scaling up once you've got your feet on the ground. And in terms of scaling something like Karuna Kava Bar, we've scaled it kind of slowly. We opened the first bar, got it good. We have the beverage company.

21:35We sell in all 50 states. That's all great. But we just opened our second bar because the last thing you want to do is expand too quickly And then all of a sudden you don't have any control over quality or customer service.

21:51John Lee Dumas:So Ben, if Fire Nation wants to learn more about you, about what you have going on, maybe, hey, even visit a Kava bar or two. What is your call to action for our listeners today? See if you've got a Kava bar in your area. If you do, go check it out. Listen and learn. and if you don't have a kava bar in your area you can order kava online and try it online or if you're not interested in kava at all my message would be to find one area of your life where you know you need to improve we all have these areas that live in the back of our mind we need to live more we need to hit the sauna more we need to spend more time with the kids We need to do the lawn, whatever it is.

22:37Pick something and make sure that you make some progress on it because progress is a snowball that you roll. As long as you get it rolling down the hill, it'll turn into a nice big ball of progress.

22:51John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with Ben and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Ben in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up with everything we talked about, links to what Ben has going on, social media, etc. And Ben, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Ben for sponsoring today's episode.

23:21John Lee Dumas:And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world? If yes, we're now accepting applications for EO Fire. So to learn more about becoming a guest, visit eofire.com slash guest, and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Sleep impacts everything. Your energy, focus, and performance. FitNexus Somnipods 3 are ultra-comfortable sleep airbags that block distractions, track your sleep, and deliver personalized insights to help you rest and recover. If better sleep is a priority for you, visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFIRE10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today.

23:56John Lee Dumas:If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support. Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com.