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

0:28So, hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. $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. 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.

0:53So go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.

1:26insurance company, and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

1:35When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone, all protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com.

2:06This is The Ed Myron Show. 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.

2:41What 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 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.

3:17He 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 19 years old, two years later. You ready? Here we go. 250 ,000 bottles of Crippling Hot Sauce has been sold. 250 000 bottles and he's donated tons of money to cerebral palsy research he's 19 He started this business in his garage At 17 from a project at 16 in high school.

3:56You will have never heard anything like this in your life The wisdom that's going to 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 got to 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, 19 years old. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Ed. We got to start. Take us all the way back. How's the project get assigned?

4:29How did you know what you're going to come up with? How's all this start? 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, man, what am I going to do? Like, this is a big grade. So at that time, I was always the class clown. And I'm like, what am I going to come up with? I'm like, I got to come up with a mock business. And I wanted to come up with something that was like a real business idea, not just like, you know, Jack's Lemonade.

5:19I wanted to come up with like a real robust business idea. So I look 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 100 % on this through extra credit but I'm sure I'm going to and come two weeks later 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 I'm looking at 82 % how? So I go up to my teacher at the time and I ask him why he goes I thought it was a really good idea just unrealistic and me I run completely off of spite so it was the kind of motivation I needed to lit a fire under me and I went home that night and started researching and built from there and tried 60, 70 recipes and launched with three SKUs.

6:34And just for the idea of, you know, selling a few bottles at a farmer's market, little did I know that with$3 ,000 that I saved up from all my birthdays, threw out my whole childhood and never spent a dime, I put this all into crippling. And 24 months later, there were compound injuries and not putting another dime into it. We filled over a quarter of a million bottles. This is mind blowing. By the way, educate me on something before we keep going. I research this show. You know, I always try to give the respect, especially somebody as successful as you are at 19. Everybody, by the way, think about what you were doing at 19, right?

7:16This 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 82. 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 going to work, et cetera, et cetera. You said it was spite. Is that really what happened inside of you? You're like, I'm just going to prove this dude wrong. Is that literally what it was? Or are you like, also, I know I got an idea here. That's a winner.

7:47So, so it was both of them. Like the, the spike kind of drove me to look more into it and then as I was looking into it and I saw like the gaps in the market and not not enough people you know supporting um like disabilities as like a mission and giving back to disabilities I'm like I have something here and and I was lucky that from everyone so my my cousin drew my logo and um I got some advice on on where to to get bottles from a 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 to no capital and and I I then grew to being able to um you know afford more things by doing you know my local festivals and then you launch and 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 you know it's interesting 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?

9:15And so they go well, but since I don't know all those steps in advance I'm just not gonna start but I assume You didn't know all those steps when you first began right? 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 learn 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 what you're doing and growing your craft because if it's working, why change it?

10:04But when you're failing, it kind of allows you to adapt. And yeah. 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 single time. So, okay, let's, I want to break this down. You had 3000 bucks from birthday money you it's safe is that what you said yep that's exactly what happened i'm i always from the age of one to 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 wasn't going to get me happiness.

10:58So 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 one of my 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 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 Entrance.

11:43And man, as a 16-year-old that's never really had a job or much money in his life before than I felt like a million bucks. And I just had a fire under me ever since then to keep on growing. Okay, so you have that drop and then friends and family. Are your parents entrepreneurs? Do you come from an entrepreneurial family? No. So 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 16 years old I got nothing to lose Here's my time to gamble I don't have any words 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 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.

13:16If 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, growthday.com forward slash ed. My friend Brendan Brouchard 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, horses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well.

13:45I 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's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.

14:09This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. potential savings will vary not available in all states or situations

14:49this episode is brought to you by marshall's where you never have to compromise between quality and price the buyers of marshall's hustle hard working to bring you great deals on brand name and designer pieces because marshall's believes everyone deserves access to the good stuff visit a marshall's store near you or shop online at marshall's.com

15:12Okay, 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? 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 and then after that second drop my first a local butcher shop came on board and after it 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 because 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 just kept on kept on reinvesting and and people were like don't you want to pick some of your money you made from this and buy something and i i remember i used the analogy like mom this isn't it this is an infant you need all the all the nutrients and stuff that you can get in order to correctly develop it um i always treated it like like it was my child and like once you get it mature enough and you hit the three to five year mark or you're doing super well then it's your time but there's I knew there was no reason for me to rush 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.

17:48I'm going to 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. And by the way, this time next year, a million bottles will be out the door, a million bottles sold. A couple of things I want to ask you some business tactics. First, congratulations, number one, so far.

18:20But I'm going to hold that to when you sell your 10 millionth bottle. I'm going to 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, any challenges because of 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?

18:54But give me the real answer on that, Drew, not like the poster answer. yeah so yeah growing up with cerebral palsy of course it gave me more resilience but as far as you know uh 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 look past the wheelchair. And that was huge for me because, because, you know, I, I don't know where I would be if, you know, they treated me as if, you know, I, I, they didn't know what they were going to do with me.

19:46And 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. They were like, you will be successful. You will get good grades. I did get grounded when I didn't. But that's what I like. I like being treated like a normal individual. And to me, my friend, when I first started crippling, it was a challenge, right? Because not only am I a kid, But then you have, you know, the way that it was taught for so many years that disabled people don't have like the same intelligence or how their media paints being disabled, like this sob story.

20:35So 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 poster child. And that's why I always make jokes about it. That's my whole goal. If 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 situation, anything's possible. 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 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?

21:27There's 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? My, my humor is everything to me because, um, girl, once again, 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, feel bad for you as well because that's the vibe you give off. I knew that as long as I try, good things will be given my way and to be quite frank, without a sense of humor I probably would be in a depressive state and not the same as I am.

22:26But it's a very coping mechanism because I've been through so much from, you know, back surgery to, you know, selective dorsal thysiotomy and 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 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 with a t-shirt and a sport jacket and and some and some shorts and i And I just answered the questions honestly and was my trotty self.

23:23And what I hope people learn from me is, yeah, you can fake it to some extent, but you can only fake it 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. doesn't is a great way to weed out people really fast. I'm trying to process you, brother. Like, obviously, you know, the cerebral palsy, you start a business. The story's just, it's one of the best I've ever heard in my life. But I got to be honest with you, what I'm struck by is you're just a 19-year-old young man. This level of wisdom out of a 19-year-old is like, what the heck is happening right now?

24:11I just, I'm blown away. 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. No offense to anybody else, but I'm reaching here for like, oh, my gosh. Let me ask you this. What's been the biggest challenges? You didn't go from 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?

24:49So to be quite frank, the biggest roadblock has been my age. Starting at 17, a lot of this growth happened, you know, before my 18th birthday. And even being 18, you're not old enough to like to like have a long enough credit history. So when you go inside for a warehouse, I had to kind of go to people in my family and like pitch them of, you know, I basically sat down and was like, we're doing this in the garage. this is our customer acquisition cost this is how many pallets we're doing per month 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 short tank pitch on my family to get them to sign on a lease and and So I'm just thankful they took their bet on me, and yeah, now I'm doing great.

25:59So when we were off-camera, guys said, you got a warehouse for this now? He's like, oh, yeah, of course I do. And I've hired people. Who do you look for when you hire? What are you looking for? You've hired a lot of young people, you told me, right? Our oldest guy, he's 30 years old. So I look for young, ambitious people. I don't, 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 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, college, while it's great for some people, it doesn't paint the full story because 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.

27:00So it's all about giving 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. This episode is brought to you by Indeed. When your computer breaks, you don't wait for it to magically start working again. You fix the problem. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed's sponsored jobs to hire top talent fast. And even better, you only pay for results. There's no need to wait. Speed up your hiring with a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

28:12Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts. 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.

28:50You 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? 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've got to imagine. So while it was strategic, when I first started at Brennan and gave the concept, I kind of didn't really think about the strategic piece of it.

29:32I just knew I wanted to give back where I could, 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 be a feel-good, do-good brand because you don't need 100 % of everything. You know, donating 5 % is an adequate scale, as you are seeing, but you're still giving back without hurting. Like, it doesn't really hurt the business, but donating to cerebral palsy research could, in 5, 10 years when we keep scaling, kind of solve a much bigger issue or a much bigger problem, which is kind of this kind of disability that affects millions of people.

30:37So why would I hoard that? It would be selfish of me to hoard that 5 % when the impact could be much bigger than just me.

30:51Can you tell us a little bit? I want to go back to business in a minute, but you probably don't realize this, but you already are. And then after today, here we go, you're going to be a hero to millions of people. Not only, I can tell you everybody listening to this right now, 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 embrace? because that's going to become part of the package of being you the next 10 years of your life.

31:27I do. 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 and you're not. I'm trying to build people up and it's just kind of a, 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 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.