How I Raised $700 Million: Charity: Water Founder: Scott Harrison | E153

i'm emotionally bankrupt i'm morally. bankrupt and this is not how i'd want it. to end. the founder and ceo of charity water. making a difference all over the world a. new york times bestseller he's a. certifiable badass and his name is scott. harrison the lifestyle of a promoter is. one where you get lots of attention the. fun i had for 10 years in nightlife was. a lot of cocaine mdma 40 to 60. cigarettes a day fun i realized what if. i did die. what would i have to show for life so.

that started a process. 10. of the world is drinking dirty water. and i realized so many of my friends. didn't trust charities where does the. money really go so i had a very simple. idea promised the public that a hundred. percent of anything they would ever give. to charity water would go directly to. help people get clean water you know. nobody thought this business model was a. good idea and i was hitting a point. where i realized maybe they're right we. about to go out and build a hundred. wells and we're about to miss payroll.

there's no miracle that can save us. so without further ado. i'm stephen bartlett and this is the. dire river ceo usa edition i hope. nobody's listening but if you are. then please keep this to yourself. [Music]. scott. four years. old do you still remember. the day your mother collapsed.

i don't. you don't i don't. when i read through your story that was. a pretty significant um sort of. catalystic 1980 right new year's day 19. 1980. tell me about that day that week. we had just moved into a new house. my dad wanted to get closer to his job. we moved into this house in the dead of. winter and. we all started experiencing some health. symptoms. headaches and.

you know fatigue. and you know nobody really knew what was. going on i think my dad you know had a. couple people come and just check to. make sure that the house was fine he. probably checked the radon or. you know maybe asbestos i'm not sure. and then on 19 uh new year's day 1980 my. mom. according to her and my father walked. across the master bedroom and then. collapsed unconscious both of them uh. she did. and so she was the canary in the coal. mine you know that then led to.

uh eventually. a discovery of a carbon monoxide gas. leak in the house there was a faulty. heat exchanger that had been leaking. carbon monoxide. she had been 24 7 in the house unpacking. boxes from the move you know putting. pictures up on the wall my dad had been. working i'd been at school. so we were you know we were spending the. evenings in the house but not 24 7. and. blood tests revealed these massive.

amounts of carbon monoxide in her. bloodstream. and that was really the day that. everything changed for for our family. uh mom never recovered from that you. know my dad and i both did but her life. was irreparably damaged from that point. on. her immune system. just kind of fully shut down. in its ability to process any chemicals. so anything that was unnatural. to give you an example. perfume would make her violently ill if.

she smelled perfume. soap. would make her sick car fumes like. kryptonite. would make her sick. so over the next you know. period of years we would. come up with hacks for all this stuff. um the hack for her living space. eventually was a bedroom upstairs in the. house sorry it was a bathroom upstairs. in the house near the bed the bedroom. and the bathroom was washed down with a. special soap that didn't smell it was.

completely hypoallergenic. the uh door. the wooden door that had a stain on it. was then covered in sheets of aluminum. foil to keep that stain smelling she. would sleep on an army cot that my dad. had found somewhere that was washed in. baking soda more than 10 times. so there'd be no odor. and then my mom wore a mask her whole. life. so. i. you know rarely saw my mother's face. because she was wearing a an n95 or or.

similar version. now. i see your face there are some people. that are like i think this one was just. crazy. right i mean there was an element. growing up of. wondering. of some level of doubt. you know. is this real. um. you know the massive amounts of carbon. monoxide were certainly real and. discovered by the doctors in her body. but. where all of these symptoms hypertension. um.

headaches you know a lot of the stuff. you couldn't really see there were. things where she would break out in. terrible rashes and that was very real. but i do remember growing up with that. you know that that edge of. a little bit of doubt sometimes come. from that town from others i think i. mean nobody knew how to process someone. who's allergic to the world. and so among the things that made mom. sick also radio waves telephones. and. tv.

so as a young teenager you know i'm. thinking mom is just trying to rain on. my parade we can't have a tv. but i just didn't believe that invisible. electromagnetic waves. were gonna make her that sick. so i remember one night when she had you. know gone to bed i snuck up to the. hallway and i took a boom box and i. turned the radio on with the sound all. the way down and i aimed it through the. door. which it did follow on the inside right.

and. you know effectively trying an. experiment to say well if she doesn't. know the radio is on. well she's going to be fine. and she woke up the next morning very. sick. really. so i remember as a kid. for me that was. a big defining moment of you know mom's. telling the truth. and. unfortunately radio waves. affect her and give her symptoms.

how can you develop a relationship with. your mother when she's trapped in a room. alone behind tinfoil and. wearing gloves how do you have affection. and. yeah well there wasn't a lot of touch. um. because i wasn't you know i wasn't. really allowed to touch her i would. always be. smelling of something from the outside. world it was a weird childhood i was an. only child because family planning. stopped after the accident. and i just remember. a lot of caregiving helping my mom doing.

cooking doing cleaning. uh helping my dad out. with her and trying to be a cheerful. companion i would try to cheer her up i. would play piano outside her. you know like play a keyboard outside. her her door. i had a gentleman sit here the other day. that used to coach kobe bryant and he. talked about this concept of having a. dark side. and he his dark side is quite graphic. but he refers to the dark side as a. concept where things that happen in our. early years end up being both. destructive and constructive.

so and they when i sit here with people. that are anomalies you tend to find. these stories because so they had some. kind of anomalous upbringing which led. to them being an anomaly in their early. years for better or for worse when you. reflect on your shall i call it dark. side yeah. i think it's anger. and i've been able to make that anger. useful. by you know for the last. what 17 years you know fighting against. people suffering in needless poverty or.

you know specifically people without. access to clean water but. that's probably the darkest side that i. have is. you know i can lose my temper. you know i can. i can get angry. quick. i've i've gotten really. good over the years at. trying to harness that in in a really. constructive way. the the you know the angst maybe you. know maybe it's not even as much anger.

um as just the the discontent. with. the way things are. and the the willingness to fight to make. them the way they should be. is that it just con content with the. external world and the and your internal. world so like your life and the what the. situation you find the world in i am not. naturally reflective uh it was it was a. really difficult journey for me to go. back into childhood to write the book.

and kind of go back into you know some. really dark years. um of of addiction and. and uh you know well just kind of. decadent advice. it wasn't really fun growing up. and. you know i think now i'm a parent of of. two kids and i'm 46 years old and as i. think about. the childhood i want to give my kids i. actually think i'm over compensating for. fun my wife and i were just talking. about this the other day. you know it is all experience you know.

it's let's go. do roller coasters 50 times you know. it's let's jump on a plane and you know. go to niagara falls why let's have all. of these experiences because i think i'm. making up for my lost childhood. you know i i want to. i think i i also want to have fun i want. to do the things kind of vicariously. through. my kids. at that age at these young ages that i. never got to do. one of my fears when i come to have kids.

is. my dark side will manifest in both ways. it will mean that for example in your. case that because i was deprived of that. childhood i will make sure we did go to. the the theme park all the time but. there's got to be other ways where that. dark side in us dark side is a bit of a. loaded term but that side of us that. formed our greatness or forms our desire. to overcompensate as a parents also has. a adverse impact which might be. overworking or it could be well it could. be too much fun it could be. you know i could wind up with kids who. don't know the value of work.

see i learned the value of work growing. up. i was doing yard work i was washing. windows i was cleaning a four bedroom. house i was. you know washing mom's sheets in special. you know baking soda concoctions so one. of the one of the best things i got from. my childhood was. i was needed i was i was performing a. role that was essential to the family. and that's you know that gave me a lot. of confidence. the lifestyle of a promoter which you.

went on to become is one where you get. lots of attention from lots of people. you get it from women you also have a. ton of power you also have a ton of. control my brother my oldest brother. actually. his early story sounds has shades. of of the experience you had in terms of. school. and he went on to be a promoter he. actually was a bouncer and a promoter. even though he is maybe this month the. smartest academic person i've ever met. in my life he was a bouncer and a. promoter in a nightclub and works in. nightclubs and i when i fit reflected on.

that i think i think much of the reason. is because he was seeking attention and. the way he felt psychologically in those. scenarios was filling some kind of void. he had in his childhood and this is an. assumption i'm making but i i don't know. how far off i am. i mean if you asked me at 19 what i. wanted to do it was open up for you too. i mean our band was gonna be. instantly rich and famous uh and i was. the band's manager and i was booking us. out and so i'm sure if i played that out. it would be look at me.

on stage look at this band. a way of feeling validated when did the. band dream. end. very quick very very soon after uh. the. the piece the the connective tissue. there. which eventually led to a ten-year. career in nightclubs in nightlife. was that. when our band would play gigs. it was the promoters that were making. the money. we would bring a lot of people.

our. people our friends would pay the cover. to see us. and then the promoter would throw us a. hundred bucks at the end of the night. and say split this five ways right i. wouldn't even pay for gas. let alone a guitar cable you know that. broke or you know an amp that broke. so. i befriended one of the promoters. that had booked the band in the. immediate aftermath of us breaking up. and said take me under your wing and. teach me the ropes. teach me how to be on the other side of.

the velvet rope. you know the other side of booking bands. and i jumped into that business at 19. years old now the funny thing is i. wasn't even allowed to be in clubs. and you were by all accounts really. successfully yeah yeah there were there. were probably eight or ten of us that. were at the highest echelon in new york. city what was it about your character. and about you that made you successful. at that. because that is a very specific i was i. was curating fun.

i was creating and curating fun my first. experience in new york city was. with with somebody who was courting our. band and he took me to a club called. club usa i had never been inside a. nightclub in my life and here i am with. you know 3 000 people. and this club had a slide and i remember. he took me up to the balcony and. he's like go in the slide. and i remember just you know you go in. this long kind of like tunnel slide and.

it dropped you in the dance floor. and i loved it i mean there was just. something so electric something so. illegal. about it coming from my. christian kind of rule-based. worldview and childhood i mean if my. parents had seen me at that club my gosh. it's really interesting through line. between you saying i said why are you. really good at why were you really good. at the nightlife scene and you said. because i'm good at curating fun and. then like five minutes before we were.

talking about the fact that you create. fun for your kids are you over indexed. there. you're a superstar and charity water is. you know. we've been called externally i mean it's. a really fun brand. um and you know this is a little bit of. a joke but what are the first three. letters in fundraising. oh yeah okay a lot of charities would. say shame raising oh yeah guilt-raising. let's me make people feel terrible that. they have too much you know let's show.

pictures of kids with flies. in africa you know on their face in slow. motion locking sad eyes with the camera. so we we've. very intentionally taken the opposite. view of building the charity water brand. over 15 years and fun is a word in our. culture. do you think fun has such a big. importance for you and your work because. it was something you were deprived of. i think so and i also think now. the kind of fun really matters so the. fun i had for 10 years in nightlife was. a lot of cocaine fun a lot of ecstasy.

mdma fun. you know 40 to 60 cigarettes a day fun. uh gambling fun pornography fun strip. club fun. well i'm i'm using fun loosely so it was. a really unhealthy. search. for. fun in those places. which were highly destructive for me. give me the symptoms of highly. destructive.

psychologically physically. it all started with smoking. you know it was like the first cigarette. i did everything to such an extreme. like everything kind of with reckless. abandon you know there's really this all. in i mean if i'm not gonna be an. occasional smoker. i'm gonna smoke two to three packs a day. you know i'm not going to be. occasionally sleeping around i'm going. to go and try and sleep with you know. every beautiful girl in new york city so. i was brought up to save myself for.

marriage that's like medication isn't it. in a strange way well or playing things. out to their end would be another way. of you know you can't have this thing. okay so i was brought up you can't have. sex. you can't have smoking you can't have. drinking you can't have drugs. i think a part of me really wanted to. make sure that there wasn't happiness at. the end of it. and to really play it through to the end. so.

i actually never felt like an addict to. any of these things maybe smoking aside. but i would do cocaine for two or three. years. and then kind of get bored with it and i. would do marijuana like i'm just gonna. smoke and get stoned every single day. and then. no i didn't find what i was looking for. there. okay let me try and gamble let me go to. vegas let me go to atlantic city let me. you know learn craps and blackjack and. poker and. okay i didn't find it there i just got a. lot broker.

so i think it was this exploration of. you know i didn't know what i was. looking for. i was trying to fill a hole. and. i needed to make sure that i left no. stone unturned down that path. are there days when you look back and go. that was one of my lowest days then i. know there's probably a sequence of them. i think about my own life there's a. sequence of days i think that was a but. what was the first day where you think. this something's got to change.

yeah this is towards the end so maybe. i'm 26 couple years before i got out of. the business and. a typical night would look like a fancy. dinner at 10 o'clock we would then go to. the club that we were promoting at. around 11 45. we'd stay at the club until three. we'd leave with a group of 20 people. maybe and we'd go to an after hours. and that might last till 11 a.m. after hours is gross. i mean it's only drugs at after hours.

and i just remember this one day coming. back from after hours. and i remember looking out the window on. houston street. and people were on their lunch break. you know the people gotten up in the. morning done yoga gone to the gym had a. full like morning at work and now. they're on their lunch breaks and here i. am taking ambien. to come down i remember needing to block. out the light. and taking a comforter that i would duct.

tape on the window. so that i could simulate darkness and. then i would sleep till seven o'clock or. eight o'clock and then wake up and do it. all over again. you know it's not like i'm a doctor. who works the er shift right i worked. the night shift i stitched up a bunch of. patients i was really useful. and you know i'm going to bed at noon. because i've i've been a contributing. member to society like i had just gotten. i don't know a thousand people wasted. the night before. and then gotten wasted with my 20. friends. it was a real it was a real darkness in.

that. and the thoughts start to creep in right. at some point that i mean the feeling. probably comes first in that case where. you start feeling something. psychologically or emotionally yes. sadness i think it's a sadness i think. it's a an emptiness. and then you mentioned the health. problems so about a year later. half my body goes numb. and i just remember i couldn't feel. my hand i was running it under hot water. and i couldn't feel the hot water.

and i'm like kind of tapping it was this. kind of weird paresthesia and numbness. and tingling. so i'm now seeing doctors. and i'm getting mris and ct scans i'm. convinced i have a. fatal disease i have a brain tumor. you know there's just something when you. the loss of feeling was really scary. i'm connected to ekgs none of the tests. reveal anything. and. that was such a that was a really clear.

moment for me. where i realized. what if i did die. in the next month. and what if i did have an inoperable. brain tumor. would i be happy. with the life that i lived. hadn't done anything for others hadn't. mentored others hadn't given charitably. um hadn't been a good friend. particularly hadn't been a particularly. good boyfriend. and.

i just realized wow uh i've i've really. gotten to the end i'm. emotionally bankrupt i'm spiritually. bankrupt i'm certainly morally bankrupt. and this is not. how i'd want it to end. so that started a process. when you when people face face you know. that feeling in their life and sometimes. it's just it's exactly that it's a. feeling that their job or the path. they're on is not fulfilling them deeply. and they almost arrive at this a. crossroads where they realize they've. got to make a decision they don't know.

what's down there but they do know that. if they go down there they're going to. have to shed a lot of things one of them. is their identity one and everything. that comes with their identity did you. feel a fear of having to shed. pretty much everything you'd built for a. decade friends and. all of that i don't know i didn't even. know how to do that i mean at this point. i just know things need to change. i start reading the bible again i start. reading this book that my father had. given me which it's interesting i've. tried to read it you know years since.

and i it doesn't hit me the same way. that it did. then. um. the book was about finding god and. living a pure life. and returning to the innocence of a. child. here is. a man's pursuit of. righteousness honor integrity. peacemaking. innocence. uh virtue.

and. i am none of these things. in fact. i am leading people to the opposite of. those things. so i think just what was happening here. was these extremes. like worlds were colliding and i. realized. i didn't need a pivot in my life. a small course correction was not going. to be the answer i was somehow going to. have to. find the 180 degree opposite of. everything i said.

thought and did and that's what i didn't. know how to do. what was the first step in doing that i. came back and i tried to sleep with my. girlfriend less. uh. smoke less figure out how to you know. forget how to get out of that. relationship because she didn't love me. and i didn't love her. smoke less drink less. and knock it off with the drugs and then. i was miserable with my failure in all. those things i'd quit smoking for a week. and then i was back at it you know i. wouldn't do coke for a couple weeks and. then i was out at the party and like. some celebrity was there and offered it. to me it's like well you know i mean i'm.

doing coke with so and so like you know. can't pass up this opportunity so for me. it was a little bit of a process the. process took um about. seven or eight months. from the beginning of the health issues. to eventually. the change. and that the first significant step that. didn't feel like a pivot then was that. when you. applied started applying to humanitarian. causes and charities and organizations. yeah well there was an event at a.

nightclub uh where i had fired somebody. you know interestingly i was actually. offered a business interest in a new. restaurant. so there was this kind of path that. might be a little bit of a pivot out of. nightlife into a more reputable. restaurant owner world where we'd be. promoting a restaurant which also had a. little club upstairs but anyway what. happens i'm i'm at a club. that was there was not one that we. worked at but i knew the owner very well. and i was with the new business partner. of the restaurant.

and. i actually still remember this this is. so many years ago but i came out of the. bathroom i remember i was high that. night. and. i sit down back in a banquette with him. and he says hey this bouncer just tried. to shake me down. for money he's like you know the owner. here. right you know that's not cool bro you. brought me to this club and this guy's. trying to hustle me for money and like. you know pay pay me to stay in here i'm. gonna throw you out or he didn't i was. in the bathroom so apparently didn't. know he was with me.

so i remember you know going outside and. getting in this bouncer's face. and saying like you know you picked on. the wrong guy this is my new partner so. there's like a there's an element of. loyalty and honor you know here for me. and uh i remember stepping on the street. it was on 27th street between 10th and. 11th and i called the owner to who. wasn't there that night i left a message. um about what happened. and left the club and then the next. morning she woke up got the message then. she fired this guy the bouncer.

the next night i met the club. that i was working at and i remember. leaving about 15 minutes early and then. on my way home i get a text from our. doorman saying hey bro there's like a. bouncer that just turned up. and he said you know you cost him his. job and he says he's going to kill you. now you have to understand in nightlife. like we get threatened all the time. and this would be like death threat. number 17. you don't let people in your party. they're embarrassed you know they're. there's a there's a lot of animosity.

towards people working at the high end. of nightlife. um but this felt. not trivial. you know to be quite honest and. i remember just saying well um. i'm just gonna i remember going to my. girlfriend's house that night not going. home and. woke up the next day and said i'm just. gonna get out of town for a couple weeks. and called my partner and said i need a. break anyway you know you handled the. clubs for a couple weeks i'm gonna i'm. just gonna get out of town for a little.

bit. i wound up renting a cobalt blue ford. mustang. and i think i did a month-long rental. because it felt cheap and. wound up just. driving north you know i was also like. kind of just excited to get out of the. city and the idea of being alone. away from this relationship that wasn't. really healthy as well and i wound up. calling this guy on the phone the next. day and saying hey man i'm really sorry. like you know i was a little out of it.

what you did wasn't cool. but i'll try and get you another job you. know here's a couple places that are. hiring and feel free to use me as a. reference. and. you know he seemed like he accepted the. apology on the phone so maybe that maybe. there was never any danger you know um. i'm not sure. but i was heading north and i was gonna. you know get out of town for a while and. i remember bringing a bible and a bottle. of doers and a carton of marble reds. so i start like reading the bible while.

i'm drinking and smoking. and i i wind up going through. connecticut and through vermont. and i wind up in maine. and. you know an inner transformation is. really happening the farther i get away. from new york city. like the farther north i go the farther. into kind of you know deserted beauty. the less i wanted to go back. to new york.

and. it just kind of hits me. i don't ever need to go back. what if i never went back what would i. do. and. you know. call this a god-given idea or or. whatever i got this idea to. that i said when i when i grew up in the. church this there was this idea of a. biblical tithe where like 10 of your. money goes to the church or to the poor. and then you get to keep 90. well i got this idea to tithe my time.

what if i gave one year of the 10 years. that i've selfishly wasted. back in service to god and and. the poor uh or people who who needed. help. could i be useful that was really the. question. and. putting action to that i remember being. in a dial-up internet cafe with a bunch. of old dell computers in greenville. maine on moosehead lake i'm staying in a. little. motel. and i started to fill out the. applications. for the famous humanitarian aid.

organizations i'd heard of. save the children. doctors without borders red cross. world vision. and i commit in my mind that i'm not. going to go back to new york. and i'm going to actually change my life. and i'm going to give a year back. i don't go back to new york. while i'm wait go ahead i was going to. say it's just so i find it really. interesting that the further away you. got from new york the more. because people can relate to that in. their lives in so many ways if you've.

ever taken a month off from a job yes. and you can finally feel it once you've. stepped away from the thing and said. another way the further i got away from. this destructive environment. for me. you know the. the more clarity i think i got. um so i wound up going. bypassing new york i went to the south. of france a buddy had a house in the. mountains in the remote. pyrenees mountains. and i go there there was no internet so. i had to come down there was no phone.

and no internet so i had to come down. into the town on a bike. just to you know check messages. but i go there and it's it's time alone. it's solace it's time for prayer it's. time for reading. you know it's this kind of this. cleansing reset you know there's no. drugs. um i was probably smoking a little bit. but. you know. no no gambling no point like just it's. kind of a reset moment. and. what happens is one by one the denials. from all these organizations come in so.

ten organizations reject. my volunteer application. which makes sense because they're not. looking for nightclub promoters. in the same way that uh you know maybe. uh. this is not uh hey we're you know. doctors without borders looking for a. reformed. high-end nightclub promoter to go to. sudan maybe they should have been. in hindsight well so one day i remember. i'm driving my bike. it's probably you know five miles you.

know down from this house through the. little town. and there's a small patch of cell phone. reception where i would stop and check. messages. and as i'm actually on the bike riding. through this area the phone rings. and it's a group that hadn't rejected me. and they said hey. we're called mercy ships we saw your. application. our ship right now our hospital ship is. in bremerhaven germany. we haven't agreed to accept you but we. will meet you. so can you be in germany and meet us and.

i'm like while i'm in france. i'll get right there. and. i got there maybe 18 hours later. and convinced these people these doctors. that i was not going to throw any wild. parties on their hospital ship i was not. going to corrupt any of the young nurses. that i really was. reformed. uh and wanted to change my life and. the the position i had applied for was.

photojournalist. on the ship now i hadn't mentioned this. but i'd gone to new york university. part-time when i was working at the. clubs just to get a degree from my dad. right terrible student c-minus. didn't even see the degree for 10 years. they just mailed it directly to him. because he'd saved up for his only child. to go to college and i felt like i owed. that to him but i had gotten a. communications degree there because it. was the easiest thing you know i was a. pretty good writer and i was a hobby. photographer. so i dust off this degree that i've. never used with nightlife and i say i.

actually have a comms degree. from a decent university. and i can do this job i also said to. them i have 15 000 people on my club. email list so i have a built-in audience. to be able to share the stories. of the amazing redemptive humanitarian. work i'm sure you're doing. so maybe maybe to set it another way let. me promote something different. let me promote you. and the unbelievable medical work that. you're going to be doing.

and i have a bunch of people that i. could already promote to. tell me about the emotional journey you. went on from there so you get on this. ship it goes off to liberia yeah goes to. benin west africa and then liberia well. this happens very quickly so i go back. to france i pack up and three weeks. later i'm on this hospital ship. and the night before i joined the ship. i had this this moment of clear so this. is a 522 foot ocean liner. so a huge cruise liner that had been.

gutted and turned into a. state-of-the-art hospital and this. organization for 25 years had sailed up. and down the coast of africa. bringing volunteer doctors surgeons and. nurses on their vacation time. to provide free medical services. so the the ship would pull into a port. and then you know. work there for a year and then sail off. to the next place. so i have this moment of clarity that. i really am going to need to quit all. the vices before i join this group of.

christian doctors and humanitarian on a. ship. and there was something you know. symbolic about the gangway. right like i'm gonna walk up the gangway. of this ship. they're gonna lift the gangway. i'm kind of trapped on it with 350 other. volunteers and then i'm gonna sail away. to a new continent and a new life. i better not bring any of that stuff. with me. so very intentionally the night before i. got on the ship i remember smoking 60.

cigarettes smoke three packs my last. three packs of cigarettes. i remember getting hammered. drinking eight or nine beers. and. just. knowing that i would have to go you know. cold turkey or all in. to allow this new life. to. develop. and. you know that was a clarifying moment i. i drink a little bit now years later but. i've never had another cigarette i've. never had a drag or you know 17 years.

now um. never touch coke or any of those things. haven't looked at a pornographic image. in 17 years. never gambled again. and actually. didn't sleep with anyone for the next. five years until. uh my wedding night with my wife. so i really went like full circle you. know back home. in the most extreme way. to allow this new. life to unfold. quick one we bring in eight people a.

month to watch these conversations live. here in the studio when we're here in. the uk and when we're in la if you want. to be one of those people all you've got. to do is hit subscribe. i was reading through the book about. what you saw when you arrived yeah oh my. gosh the horrific things there's. actually a photo in here i believe. so let me set the scene so. the ship is pulling into the port. a small advanced team. for the previous three months had posted.

flyers. throughout the country advertising the. coming of the hospital ship and we have. 1500. available surgery slots to hand out so. we're gonna make 1500 sick people. healthy. those are the surgery slots we have so. i'm so excited right this is like my new. life i've got two nikon d1x cameras. uh and. i learned that. the name for what the first event is. the patient screening it's the big.

triage moment. and. the veterans on the ship called it the. screaming oh we're headed to the patient. screaming you know which should have. sounded ominous. so i remember thinking you know looking. at these flyers which are advertising. facial tumors. cleft lips cleft palates cleft faces. flesh eating disease like people with. parts of their face completely missing. with holes that you can look through to. the back of their throats. burns. many people had been burned during the.

war by rebel soldiers who would pour oil. on their bodies. to disfigure them. i remember thinking like are there 1500. people that are going to turn up with. these conditions like. really. so get in a land rover a convoy of land. rovers at 5 30 in the morning this is my. third day in africa so like the ship. comes in everybody gets ready let's go. i learned the government has given us. the football stadium in the center of. the city to.

do the the screening inside the football. arena put on my hospital scrubs jump in. a convoy of land rovers we snake through. the city we get to the stadium. and there's more than 5 000 sick people. standing in the parking lot. waiting for us to open the doors. i'll never forget that moment. uh realizing. wow. we're going to send 3 000 sick people. home. with no.

help. with no hope. and i later learned many of those people. had walked for more than a month from. neighboring countries. the word had spread to sierra leone to. guinea to cote d'ivoire many of them had. brought their children. on a month-long journey. just in the hopes of their child seeing. a doctor. but we didn't have enough doctors. we didn't have enough available slots. so then the door is open. and you know everybody tries to.

there's a whole crew that's trying to. put everybody into this line that just. kind of snakes back and forth and back. and forth. and the first child that. so my job is going to be to photograph. all 1500. people. up close for the medical library. and the first child i see is this 14. year old boy. and he's suffocating to death with a. volleyball sized tumor. this pink red tumor. that is occupying his entire mouth and. he's having a hard time breathing.

he's terrified. you know i just remember the fear in his. eyes. i'm terrified. you know i remember just weeping i'd. never seen. suffering like this before. and. i remember kind of just shutting down. and going in the corner of the stadium. and one of the doctors came over and. said you know hey you're the. photojournalist guy right like. he said. you gotta get back in there like. basically do your job.

you're gonna see way worse than this. so. kind of toughen up kid. and then he said focus on the hope. you know focus on the 1500 people like. this child that we're gonna be able to. help. and that. was two days of really grueling. every single person you see is sick. leprosy clap you know some of the. conditions that i that i mentioned sick. and scared. and couple days later i got to scrub up.

again and. document this eight and a half hour. surgery when alfred. the first child that i'd met had his. tumor removed by this remarkable man. named dr gary parker. and a couple weeks later i got to see. alfred. go back to his village i asked whether i. could drive him home in my mind i knew. there was going to be a party. i knew that when the village had.

sent this. they'd written this boy off they had. sent him to the witch doctor who. you know. cast spells and spread chicken blood on. his tumor i mean none of this worked so. he had literally been written off for. dead. and i wanted to see what it was like. like when. he came back to the village without his. tumor healthy. so i remember driving him uh. it was a few hours and just the whole. community kind of coming out.

and looking at him and touching his face. and. and seeing you know celebrating you know. a child that they thought was lost who. who was found who was healed. and then over the next. year i was able to witness 1500 of those. transformations wow. now i'm blasting my club list. all right the whole time. so that was fun because. in a very short turn. people were getting emails from me. inviting them to the opening of the.

prada mega store. or cosmopolitan. you know fashion week party. and now they're getting pictures of 14. year olds with facial tumors. and pictures of. the operating. procedure and then pictures of of. post-op and what are you asking them for. i'm just sharing my experience oh really. okay and i'm promoting the work of the. doctors like guys this is amazing these. doctors are here we're changing people's. lives. so when you drive that kid home and you. see the reaction or even when you see.

the before and after how did that can. feel in comparison to the best club. night you ever threw. so much better. so much better. and and and healthy and redemptive and. positive and life-giving. uh it was. joy. what i didn't realize until later was my. invite for me to kind of step into this. new life or into this new calling or to. find the 180. my environment also needed to. drastically change i was never going to.

be able. to change my life working at the clubs. four nights a week. surrounded by. sex and drugs and alcohol. but my environment changed and here i am. with a bunch of like you know christian. humanitarian doctors. who are the most sacrificial people that. i've ever met in my lives you know. smoking is not cool on a hospital ship. right. drinking is not cool there's no casino. nobody's playing you know blackjack i.

mean this is this is so missional and so. purposeful. and i. i loved the new environment. i couldn't get enough of it i never. wanted to leave. it was home it felt like coming back. home. this leads you ultimately to discovering. that there's a real issue out in africa. with water yeah. and i but that quote. you've got to be kidding me they drink. this feels like quite um a powerful. quote in hindsight when i look at the. work you've done from then on.

tell me about that moment where you said. those words. maybe first just the doctor through line. um when i was a kid. i wanted to be a doctor. right to cure mom and sick people like. hers i didn't do anything doctor-like. for. 10 years in clubs. doctors don't come to nightclubs and buy. bottles of crystal so i didn't know many. doctors. but now i'm with a bunch of doctors and. there was one doctor this guy dr gary. parker who had been there 21 years and i.

made him a mentor. i wanted to spend as much time as. possible. he was one of the reasons why i went. back for the second year. because he had dedicated 21 years of his. life to this work and i'm like well i. have at least another year right let me. let me just not end with this year-long. tithe when the year was finished let me. go back for a second tour. in the second tour. i felt like i really understood the. medical world and i still had to take. all the pictures of the surgeries and. the before and afters but i wanted to. get off of the ship.

and understand more of the context of. how people were living in liberia this. was a post-war country. 14 years of brutal civil war led by. charles taylor had torn torn apart the. country. there was no electricity no running. water. no sewage system and no mail system so. just imagine like. shambles. like everything broke down in a decade. and a half of war. i mean look how much destruction is. happening just in a short time you know. the what we're seeing now in.

um in the ukraine. 15 years of war tour the partner so that. was the backdrop of which our doctors. came in. at the time there was one physician. for every 50 000 liberians. okay our ratio here in america is one. for 300. so every 300 americans is a doctor. one for 50 000. there were two surgeons apparently in. the country but nowhere for them to. operate.

no hospitals they were working. as i got into the rural areas. i saw the water that people were. drinking and. there were swamps. or ponds. you know or sometimes like a muddy river. you know running near these villages or. in the center of these villages. and. i remember seeing kids come. and filling up their buckets and. drinking. unthinkable water. and i was like wait.

people drink this. to contrast that. and i think why this resonated so deeply. i used to sell voss water. for ten dollars a bottle in the clubs to. people who would just order a hundred. dollars of water to let it sit there. just in case anybody needed to hydrate. but really they were drinking champagne. or vodka instead. you know as i started to explore this. the water. issue in the country i learned two. things half the country. was drinking dirty contaminated water.

every day. and half the disease in the country. was because people were drinking dirty. contaminated water and didn't have. access to sanitation or hygiene so i go. back to dr gary and i'm showing him my. photos like on the back of my camera. like you should see what people are. drinking. and he says i know. and. you know i make this quick link i'm like. well i wonder how many of the 5 000. people. needed to stand in the parking lot of a. stadium to see doctors.

if they just had the most basic health. need. you know learned there were 28 different. diseases you could directly. track back to dirty water. so it was really dr gary who took that. information you know he sees this young. kid like. on fire with this aha eureka realization. and he says why don't you go do that. why don't you go make sure everybody in. the world has clean water before you die. and he gave me the challenge.

and i remember you know he said. something to the effect of you'd be the. greatest doctor the world had ever seen. if you just gave people the most basic. need for health. if you gave them clean water. you would touch more people than i have. ever operated on by an order of. magnitude. and there was something so simple about. that i'm like well okay my second year. ended i was 30 years old i went back to. new york city and i tried to put action. to that very simple you know commission.

very simple commission well it was. simple i mean i mean simple missions. bring clean water to everybody on the. planet it's a few words but it's a big i. mean it's an impossible challenge right. it's a tremendous tremendous challenge. and. you know you said it simple but. i'm sure there's lots of people who have. been given similar kind of flippant. mandates from people in their lives go. and fix that why don't you go and fix. that and 99.9 of them will never attempt. to to fix that which makes me answer ask. the question why did you believe that. you could do that. so i saw the small impact that i had.

made promoting the work of mercy ships. in between the two missions there was a. little gap in between year one and year. two and i came back to new york city. with my photos i got a gallery donated. in chelsea i printed 108 of my photos. and i invited all my nightclub friends. to come in. and see. the work that these doctors were doing. and i raised about a hundred thousand. dollars for their work through that show. i remember people callous people.

that you know would come to the. nightclub you know who were just kind of. it didn't seem like they would care. about anything standing in front of some. of my images weeping. as they read the caption as they learned. you know hey this is someone just my age. born in a different environment. you know with with a terrible affliction. with no doctor to go to. so i had a little bit of like wow that. you know success and and you know while. my email list shrunk a little bit with. some unsubscribes.

at the beginning it actually began to. grow as people would forward it to their. friends and like oh my gosh there's like. this guy that he's like i used to do. coke with this guy and he's like on this. hospital ship in liberia i've never even. heard of liberia and like look at these. photos i mean look at these doctors like. blind people are are seeing and. you know. faces are being fixed and yeah we would. find a 65 year old woman in a village. with a cleft lip food and water had. spilled out of her. mouth her entire life. and we provided a 280 surgery.

and she could speak. and she could eat. and had her dignity in her life back so. you know this stuff was like. it was it was um. it was inspiring people the work of the. doctors and i was the promoter so. instead of promoting the dj and the. thousand dollar bottles of cristal and. the you know celebrities that were going. to be in the club that night the special. guests i was promoting something very. different and i saw that that was. working and that that skill. that i had you know potentially learned.

over 10 years or misused for 10 years. promoting something. you know certainly. less redemptive yeah or purposeful could. actually be translated and used. to promote. the work of mercy ships the next step. was. i thought it'd be possible to promote. clean water for humans. so and and in effect in an even more. simple way i mean it's it's. what do you do. we bring clean water to people around.

the world everybody should have clean. water to drink i thought it was a really. promotable cause and what is what was. your business model though in terms of. the model so how are you gonna bring. water to all of these people well at. this moment i'm broke uh i. am back from africa i have no savings. i've given everything that i had to. mercy ships and the people i'd met. so i crashed with my old club partner. who lets me sleep on his closet floor. for free rent. and i had the idea bring clean water to. everybody on the planet and i had the. benefit of not having any institutional.

charitable knowledge outside of my. experience with mercy ships. and i just was talking to people that. worked at mtv or at fashion magazines or. at sephora. and or or the local bank. and i realized so many of my friends. didn't trust charities they did not. trust the system. almost all of their problems had to do. with money. where does the money really go. how much of the money actually gets to. the people who need it you know how much. of the money actually goes to the cause.

and. you know the term social entrepreneur. wasn't even around back then but. you know i just took a very. entrepreneurial approach to this and. said well i wonder if through a new. business model. i could. speak. to those objections i could reach out to. these cynical skeptical disenchanted. people. and get them excited about giving. in a new way so i had a very simple idea. separate the overhead. from the money that people would give to.

the organization so open up two bank. accounts. promise the public that a hundred. percent of anything they would ever give. to charity water. would go directly to help people get. clean water. and then in the other bank account. go and find a small group of business. leaders and entrepreneurs. to pay for those unsexy overhead costs. the staff salaries the office rent the. flights the insurance the you know epson. toner for the copy machine. so church and state two differently. audited bank accounts.

and i wasn't sure how i would fund the. overhead but boy was it clean and i. thought it was a really compelling story. that. beyond just promoting clean water an. inarguable common good for the world. that i thought everybody could get. behind we would now have this hyper. transparent business model that would. speak to the most common objection. people have. to giving to charity which is where does. the money go. so i tried this out my only idea on day. one was to get a club donated. it was september 7th it was my birthday.

i was turning 31 and i got a club in the. meatpacking district donated during. fashion week i got open bar donated for. an hour and then i invited everybody to. come. to celebrate my 31st birthday but to get. inside the club. they had to put 20 in this big plexi box. and we were going to take 100 of. whatever was in that box at the end of. the night. and we're going to go. help our first person get access to. clean water and i printed up my photos.

so in the club you know it's kind of. juxtaposed with people drinking dirty. water and and wells being drilled and. people drinking clean water i'd also. seen that when i was in africa i'd seen. the solution to the problem of wells. being drilled and communities going from. dirty to clean. so i put those photos up and 700 people. came that night and i'll never forget a. drug dealer came that night he was a. pretty high-end weed dealer. and he put 500 in the box. and he looked at me and he said this is. the first charitable gift i've ever made.

in my life really wow but i know where. this money is going and i trust you. we raised fifteen thousand dollars i. remember we counted it and double. counted and like we're taking pictures. of the money and the stacks like you. know because this is your first this is. day one of the organization. and we took that money immediately to a. refugee camp in northern uganda we built. our first water well and then we fixed a. couple other broken wells. and then the most important thing was we. sent the photo proof.

video of clean water flowing and then. the satellite images. of where every single water project was. and i emailed the 700 people that came. and said you did this here's where 100. of your 20 went and because you came and. gave. people are drinking clean water and. here's the proof. thank you for vodafone for sponsoring. this podcast one of the greatest tips i. can give any small business owner. listening right now is to take risks in. fact the biggest risk to your business. will be taking two fewer risks.

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find out more about my energy then head. to myenergy.com and if you've tried the. zappy let me know how you got on with it. in the comments section below. was there a time in that early startup. phase where you genuinely considered. that you might fail. every day really absolutely every day. especially with this business model if i. couldn't raise the overhead. it didn't matter how successful we were. with the the public funding. so every day.

and in terms of difficulties with. business with people with you know. everything else what was what was the. most painful. time of that early years the most. painful day. event that you went through. yeah. well the charity started off very. quickly and people loved the 100 model. um it just began to build a lot of. momentum we raised two million dollars. in the first year. through a flurry of activities gallery. shows and events and people doing. concerts for us and people giving online.

and we were selling a 20 bottle of water. you know just as a symbolic gesture. where all 20 would go and people would. buy cases of the water so it was just it. was a year of a lot of success and then. in the second year. we were on track to raise six million. dollars. but always a struggle for the overhead. always a struggle to you know find a. donor to pay for employee number two or. to pay for next month's office rent i. mean we were in a really crappy office. like covered in grease floors it was an.

old printing press. so i was doing all that work trying to. convince people to help me. build the actual organization because. the 100 model was so resonant. we got to a point uh about a year and a. half in where we had almost a million. dollars. in the. water bank account about to go out and. build a hundred wells. and we were about to miss payroll. and we had nine people at the time. and i remember just thinking and and by.

the way people had been warning me that. this model would fail. you know nobody thought this business. model was a good idea i mean effectively. you can't use any of the money you. raised from the public to actually run. the company to run the organization but. i just had such faith in it. and. i had tapped out all the people that i. knew for the overheads. and i was hitting a point where i. realized maybe they're right. you know maybe this is a really dumb. business model so i start calling. lawyers about shutting down the charity.

it's a year and a half in even though. we've raised you know millions of. dollars. i remember praying you know with very. little faith and you know and i didn't. start a religious charity so i was still. kind of animated by my personal faith. and. um. you know a belief in in prayer but i. remember like praying for a miracle but. i'm like. there's no miracle that can save us. at this moment. and. the advice i was getting. was to borrow. from the million dollars in the water.

account to make payroll so that was the. kind of conventional wisdom hey write. yourself an iou. you know you're not bankrupt if you have. a million dollars. but for me. if we borrowed one penny. one dollar one pound. from that bank account and we used it. on anything overhead related. our integrity would be forever. compromised. you know in such an extreme way i'm like. there's a crack at the foundation i. would never even want to build on top of. that i'd much rather shut it down and.

have my integrity. and at that moment. uh. i'd written a cold email to. a british internet entrepreneur um. actually about something completely. different not even about funding. about uh trying to get exposure on his. social media network. it was called bebo at the time and uh. everyone knows bibo that listens to this. so he writes me back and says man i love. this idea like what a what a cool idea. getting everybody clean water checked.

out your website you know really good. design and branding but it's a bad time. for me to help. so i don't think anything of it i was. just happy that you know somebody. responded to a cold email. well around this time of near insolvency. or bankruptcy at least on the overhead. account. um. he writes me he says hey i'm going to be. in town. um i'd love to meet you and learn a. little more about what you're doing. he comes in. i remember i pull out my laptop i take. him through a hundred photos and my. whole story he's working in this we're.

in this crappy office there's nine other. people there's a couple volunteers. around. and. i remember just thinking boy this is the. worst pitch i've done he is not. into it he's not really laughing at the. jokes he's just. doesn't seem very compelled by this. he leaves. and. you know says well you know give me your. bank account details and you know i'll. see how i can help. and uh. two days later it's around midnight.

again i'm i'm. almost at this point just relinquished. the fact that i'm over. i'm gonna shut down the charity maybe. i'll try with a different business model. or maybe i'll just try with the. traditional business model. and i get an email from him and he says. hey it was great meeting you. um i just wired a million dollars into. your overhead account. and we went from bankrupt to 13 months. of funding. he said i believe in your idea you just.

need more time. and that was 700 million dollars ago. and this year we'll raise over 130. million dollars. and that entrepreneur was michael birch. that was michael burch he's a mutual. friend of us he was a mutual friend and. and an amazing guy um and really you. know saved the organization. um and i think even more you know. michael and i have been. become really good friends over the. years and.

even more than the money. was that somebody believed in me. he believed that i could do it with the. right amount of time we never look back. uh today there are 131 unbelievably. um accomplished entrepreneurs and. business leaders who pay all the. overhead 20 of them in the uk. um. you know it's the founders of. spotify and shopify and wordpress and. linkedin and. you know an. unbelievable group of.

of. really a lot of tech entrepreneurs who. love. paying for the software engineers and. the ui ux designers and the actual core. organization of charity water so that. now millions and millions of people. around the world are donating and have. the purest way to give knowing that 100. of the money goes but that was really a. key moment. of. it was almost all over. but. you know if i were to go back and the. money was not going to come in i still.

would shut down the charity i wouldn't. have borrowed. really it was that important for you to. is that important to keep good on that. promise. it's funny because that defining promise. is definitely really one of the. fundamental things that has made charity. water so successful in a landscape of. charities where trust as you you. identified very early on is a central. issue with people giving their money. and. hindsight's a wonderful thing but it's. definitely proven you right to hold your. integrity there. yeah.

how many people have you now reached i. read it was like 15 million people yeah. we just crossed 15 million people. uh in the last few weeks of the year. in december. in our 15th year so we closed our 15th. year we got to the 15 million. person milestone. um. you know. it's 1 50th of the 771 million people. who need our help. so as we record this. ten percent of the world is drinking. dirty water. it's crazy ten percent of the world.

one out of ten people. 771 million humans. and we've helped 15 million of them. so we're at the very beginning of this. journey so we're in year 16. and. you know it really to quote my my friend. daniel at spotify who uses this a lot. like it really feels like we are in the. second inning. of impact the second inning of the. movement the second inning of raising. the capital we need to go faster and. accelerate last year we helped two.

million people get water so it's over. 5000 people every day. so we're at kind of peak velocity over. the 15-year journey. and. in a time where i think we can really. exponentially scale. as an entrepreneur. would you describe yourself as obsessed. because you you said earlier but you. have no you. now driven. committed. not obsessed what's your work-life. balance like if that's even a thing you.

you sort of espouse you sign up to yeah. yeah i don't love the balance idea i. think there are seasons when there's an. emphasis um the year before cobit i did. 90 flights and 100 speeches. um. then i dropped to you know very little. and you know what the zooms with the. rest of the world and i spent an. extraordinarily. more time with my kids. you know during covet so i think there. there are different seasons of life when. something different is required of me to. move the mission forward.

i mean in some ways i feel really lucky. to have. put in the hundred hour weeks because. there really were 100 hour weeks at the. beginning and everybody knows that. you are just when you're trying to birth. something. you know whether it's a company or a. non-profit or a you know a for good. company there's an extraordinary amount. of work that is required in those early. days and years. because you really could kind of die at. any moment like you know the thing could.

die. um you could go bankrupt like you're. only as good as your last sale or your. last donor you know that believes in you. so i'm lucky that i got. that. really hard work in early and built the. organization to you know now there's. there's 2 000 people around the world. that are working on charity water. projects every day you know there's a. hundred people uh here in the states and. in london. you know who are working on you know the. fundraising and the campaigns and. um and and managing all these these.

water projects. so i work. differently but less you know i'm really. present with my kids i take my kids to. school every morning when i'm home and i. pick them up from school. having tasted a lot of ingredients of. life what do you think is the the recipe. for. in your view for yourself because i. guess that's any perspective you can. talk from but for yourself for a. fulfilled life having been in the clubs. and this the planes the private jets and. yep what would you now say is the recipe.

for a fulfilled life service. you think that's central to yeah i. fulfilled service um generosity. yeah it's the only game in town i mean. there's so many people that i've seen. you know i've gotten to spend i've been. to 70 countries now i've been to the. continent of africa more than 55 times. i have seen some of the most. marginalized. um. suffering people living in. in in conditions that that are shocking. i've been with moms that have lost seven.

kids to diarrhea and water-borne. diseases. um i've i've seen. horrible horrible things around the. world and then i've been with you know. dozens and dozens of billionaires. and i've seen the top echelon of private. planes and 40 cars. and 70 million dollar houses and. i'll tell you that you know the houses. and the cars and the watches and the. planes and the you know the out market. capping you know your competitors.

is not where. purpose lies um it's really in service. and. asking how. for me how can i use my time and my. talent and my my resources my money in. the service of others how can i look. around and. see who is needlessly suffering in my. local community in the global community. and how can i contribute to stop that. suffering. and it's kind of a never-ending work. there's no finish line to that there is.

no. you know while i'm trying to get to the. unicorn billion dollar evaluation and. then you know. this is a life of service or a life. trained uh or kind of pointed at being. useful. and loving others. doesn't there's no there's no endpoint. there's no finish line there's always. going to be someone who could use your. help and i found. the more you give and let's just say you. know some people don't have money to. give they could have time to give or. they could have mentorship to give the.

more you give the more you give it's. like this muscle you know you need to. use it like if you exercise the. generosity muscle instead of saying no. you know to all the incoming requests. the most generous people i know they. love giving to 50 or 60 different causes. a year they're not saying oh i just get. hit up all the time. they love being useful and and. you know it's a it's a privilege for. them to be asked for money for a noble. cause.

because they get to contribute. interesting reframing but a very. significant one so i hate the i hate the. word giving back that we use a lot here. in the states and um. you know oh my company gives back right. you hear about these giving back. programs what almost implies that we. have you know pillaged and plundered to. such extent. to throw some scraps to the port yeah. let's throw a few scraps back right so. we feel better about ourselves so i. encourage companies just drop the back. language just giving.

let's build a culture of giving in our. families let's build a culture of giving. in our companies. giving not because we've taken giving. because we can give because it's a joy. to give it's a blessing to be able to. give people listening to this now how. can they. if they're driving up and down the. country washing their dishes whatever. how can they. support what is a very very worthy cause. like charity water. we have an amazing community uh of of. people who show up every month giving a.

little bit whatever they can for clean. water it's called the spring. uh uk is our big is our second biggest. market to the us but we now have people. in 150 countries we have people in. africa that give a little bit every. single month. for for clean water. costs about 30 pounds or 40 to get one. person clean water. so there's a lot of people that just do. that every month. and they don't get music or. movies or you know hour. next hour shipping from amazon you know.

for more stuff but 100 of whatever they. they give every month goes directly to. help people get clean water and we're. really good at proving where that money. goes and sharing stories of of impact. so um people can learn more at. charitywater.org or just thespring.com. and you i guess you're always looking. forward for individuals that are also. willing to do yeah the the well members. of course i mean if there may be some. entrepreneurs who love building you know. businesses or organizations so. those 131 families are the lifeblood.

of the organization and we're always. looking to to grow that really. incredible group that then allows. millions of people to give in a in a. transparent and. um. effective way. scott the work you do is i mean i don't. really know the words to describe i. sometimes think of like nice. adjectives and stuff but it's like a. really deeply profoundly inspiring. journey story book cause. um. [Music]. and future that you're creating and it's. really made me question a lot of things. about myself.

i'm in that phase of my life now where. i'm also. asking myself serious questions about. that part of me the purposeful service. part of me and so meeting you today. feels like it was meant to be in many. respects reading the book felt like it. was meant to be but. um i'm sure the conversation we'll have. will continue. off to come with me. come with me on a trip. i'd love to we work in 29 countries now. so i'd love to i'd love to i think you. love seeing the work for yourself and. um water is just so basic you know it's.

when when you. when you hear. what it means to people. you know in their own words it's you. know we just step back and it's it's. very powerful well if you'll have me i. definitely will yeah i see that's being. a very kind gesture. um to allow me to we do have a closing. tradition on this podcast which is. the last guest writes a question for the. next guest. the question was. when was the last time. you got badly rejected. i won't use the donor's name but. um. it was.

it was definitely you know someone who. just kind of pretended to be really. interested and. you know. felt like was really stringing me along. and then just. i don't know inexplicably. never gave never engaged and felt like a. huge waste of time. and you committed a lot of time i just. lit a lot of time and energy and and was. really you know maybe expectancy. and it was just uh it was a big. disappointment. it normally doesn't happen i mean i'm. i'm uh we're really blessed by you know.

being surrounded with with an amazing. group of people and an amazing community. um i just had i just had maybe to end on. a more positive note i had a situation. very very accomplished uh on internet. entrepreneur. um. recently and i asked him for. a very very large sum of money. and. we caught up afterwards after he'd had. time to consider with his wife and he. said.

why'd you ask for so little. and then he gave four times more. wow. swings him round of vows why did you ask. for so little. so i was like wow my mind like. absolutely expanded and am i asking for. too little am i think 15 years in 700. million dollars raised you know like a. global movement am i thinking too small. there's more. there's more generosity there's more. goodwill out there so i focus on that.

not the rejections it's very easy for me. to kind of you know brush that off and. and. and just not carry that around. and find. the. the generosity and really let that fuel. me so that's been fueling me now for. weeks it's like okay. maybe i really need to go for it. scott thank you. just an amazing conversation on one. that's going to stay with me for some. time i can feel that certainly so um and. your book if nobody's i mean there's two. things there was a couple of catalysts.

that really brought me to you i said to. you earlier my manager had seen you. speak and insisted that we had this. conversation and i read your book then i. saw that famous video which anyone can. watch which kind of summarizes your. story in about 20 odd minutes which has. done some 25 million views on youtube. that that had me completely. scott thank you thanks for having me. i had a few words to say about one of my. sponsors on this podcast my girlfriend. came upstairs yesterday when i was. having a shower and she said to me that. she tried the heel protein shake which. lives on my fridge over there and she.

said it's amazing low calories you get. your 20 odd grams of protein you get. your 26 vitamins and minerals and it's. nutritionally complete in the protein. space there's lots of things but it's. hard to find something that is nice. especially when consumed just with water. and that is nutritionally complete the. salted caramel one if you put some ice. cubes in it and you put it in a blender. and you try it is as good as pretty much. any milkshake on the market just mixed. with water it's been a game changer for. me because i'm trying to drop my calorie. intake and i'm trying to be a little bit.

more healthy with my diet so this is. where heel fits in my life thank you for. making a product that i actually like. [Music].