In 2020, two friends hid $5,000 dollars in the mountains of Utah, leaving cryptic clues to lead locals on an epic four-day treasure hunt. The motivation behind the hunt? Simply to get people outside and having fun after months of COVID pandemic quarantine.
In 2021, they raised the stakes to $10,000—and left a series of clues that took seventeen days to solve as thousands of people raked the hiking trails along the Wasatch Front.
In 2022, they went even further and are giving away $20,000 in a treasure chest, that is, if you’re clever enough to solve their riddle 😉. Now this isn’t even the craziest part, they’re not doing just one hunt for 20k, but 3 separate treasure hunts throughout the year, each with a chest of 20,000 dollars waiting at the end!
Who Is Behind the Utah Treasure Hunts?
So who was behind these epic treasure hunts? John Maxim and David Cline, two Salt Lake City residents and business owners. John is a real estate mogul and house flipper, and David is an author and investor. Our host Charan Prabhakar talked with them about their experience planning the hunts, how this year’s adventure exploded to get international attention, and the unexpected ways these treasure hunts have inspired individuals and brought families and communities closer. Have a listen, and enjoy!
For current and future treasure hunts, visit Dave and John at utahtreasurehunts.com or follow @the.cline.fam & @onthejohn on Instagram for real time updates.
Who is John Maxim and David Cline
Both hailing from Utah, they have successful businesses that span across varied sectors. They have brought numerous families together and allowed people to explore and fall in love once again with the great outdoors, on treasure hunts that both excite and unite.
John Maxim
John Maxim is a confessed Mario-Kart master from Salt Lake City and keen to chase and capture serenity in all areas of life. With his great sense of humor, his work has spanned across multiple industries, but notably, some of his greatest achievements are within the world of real estate. John also dabbles in the art of filmmaking, which can be further seen on his own YouTube channel. John studied at the University of Utah, but he originally hails from Portland, Oregon. Many of his musings are documented on his blog.
John’s success in Utah has spanned over many years. He has worked on many house flips and currently has flipped close to $200M in houses. He also has other business outlets, Tree Fort Realty and Rhino Property management, where his main focuses are. His real estate accomplishments have helped him branch out into other areas, such as his company Savvy House Design. John is one of the top listing agents in his area. He sells more homes than 93% of real estate agents in Utah, making him one of the most successful businessmen in Salt Lake City. Smart, focused, and determined, John often sells homes without a price reduction, more than 54% of other real estate agents in Utah. John bought his first house when he was 21, which, after many years, culminated into his successful company, Tree Fort Realty. His management company, Rhino Property Management manages nearly 400 doors. And they flip up to 30-50 at once. There is no denying that John is reshaping the industry in Salt Lake City.
David Cline
David Cline, a resident of Salt Lake City, has some impressive credits to his name. Not only is he a family man at heart, but he has had a varied career. From author to investor and web-developer, his creative abilities continue to grow. David’s book Mega Tsunami is an exciting, action-packed novel set in the 1950s. During a stint of sales in the summertime, he realized that he wanted to write a novel. He has dipped his toes into other areas of creativity too. He is also an amateur musician. A lover of the outdoors, you can see on his Instagram page the many adventures he embarks on with his family, including rock climbing, boating, and camping. David also moved to Vietnam on a new adventure, which is where his idea was first created. During his trip, he was inspired by creating the idea of an outdoor treasure hunt. David has invested in numerous businesses and his entrepreneurial skills have led him down an exciting road.
David studied Mathematics at the University of Utah and has worked within the area of web development, helping businesses in their first steps in the world. He assists companies in evolving and experiencing continual growth to further their success. Dedicated and professional, he is committed to creating. His skills are incredibly varied, as he has plenty of experience within the field of business administration and management.
It is easy to say that John Maxim and David Cline have crafted an ultra-special and extraordinary concept that brings a fresh outlook to treasure hunting and the outdoors. The Utah treasure hunts are continuing to grow in popularity. Bringing people together, reconnecting families, and offering a thrilling chase, both David and John have attracted international attention, which is undoubtedly an exciting prospect for them.
John Maxim & David Cline Podcast Transcription
Charan: Hey, what’s going on guys? This is Charan Prabhakar with the Lemonade Stand stories podcast, and I’m here with two newly found legends. They have made a great name for themselves as Utah’s treasure hunters or actually, no, the creators of the Treasure Hunt, right? We’ve got Dave Cline here, and we have John Maxim here, and what you guys have done has inspired a community and has massively grown not just your own fan base but has also helped tons and tons of people come together at a time when people were not wanting to come together, or they were feeling a little sketchy about coming together. And I think it’s just freaking awesome, especially because Utah, I think, is so beautiful, and so getting people out there, it’s just so great.
Charan: So, guys, thank you so much for doing what you’re doing, and welcome to be on the podcast. It’s really great to have you guys here.
David: Yeah, so happy to be here.
John: Yeah, thanks for having us.
Charan: Of course. So I’d love to know even before the Treasure Hunt stuff, how did you two even get together and do all that fun stuff?
David: Well, yeah, so, John here, he’s one of the real estate moguls of Utah.
Charan: Nice.
David: He’s one of the biggest house flippers, and me, just getting started in real estate, I just kind of wanted to be more involved with him. He’s kind of a tough guy to go to lunch with, but to be honest, no, I had this idea, and I was going through my phone thinking about who’s the craziest person that I know that would actually do this, and he’s literally the only person I could think of that would be willing to bury money in the mountain.
Charan: That’s amazing.
David: We kind of know each other through real estate, but then this thing has really kind of solidified a friendship that has made us grow a lot closer.
Charan: That’s amazing, and did you guys decide you were going to do this last year when the pandemic hit, or was it just kind of an inspiring thought that kept happening over and over, or how did it go down?
John: Yeah, we were talking about, I mean, David called me right after the pandemic, and he literally said, “Everyone’s been locked up. I’ve been wanting to do this. I think it’d be a great time to do it now to give people a reason to get out.”
Charan: Yeah, that’s so awesome. And your background, were you like a big National Treasure fan or did you have an idea like, “Oh, I need to create clues like this or like that” or how that all went down?
David: I think it’s in everyone’s DNA that they have an Indiana Jones in there somewhere.
Charan: Of course.
David: And so, yeah, I’ve loved treasure hunts. I’ve loved all those movies growing up, and yeah, I kind of just had this idea. It’s like, how could we get everyone safely outside even in the pandemic, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: And just kind of had this idea of a treasure hunt, and John was completely on board, and so we kind of just got it rolling.
Charan: Was this your first one that you guys just did, like the last couple weeks ago or whatever it was?
David: No, so the last one was actually 2020. So it was last year.
Charan: 2020.
David: Yeah.
Charan: You guys did one in 2020.
David: Uh-huh.
Charan: But how come, was it just this one that took off in a massive way or … ?
David: Well, so, it was funny, because on the way down the mountain after we hid the chest, we were actually joking with each other. We didn’t know. I mean, I’m like, “John, no one might care about this. We might have to come back in a few months and just dig it up ourselves because no one’s going to care at all.” And the exact opposite happened. It was so insane that we completely underestimated just both the response and the talent of the community, and so we thought that the hunt was going to go for the entire summer, and it lasted four days.
Charan: Four days, really?
David: Yeah.
Charan: People found it four days?
David: It was found in four days.
Charan: No way.
John: So I think the response probably would have been similar. It just was over so quickly that it didn’t have anywhere to go. It didn’t build up.
Charan: Well, no, that’s amazing, because I think you hit a couple things on the head. People felt so isolated. They needed a way to get out of their own heads, out of the depression that followed, because what’s interesting about the pandemic was not just the sickness but the mental sickness as well and the reaction to it.
David: Definitely.
Charan: And I think like it really did a lot of damage. In my own industry I felt like there’s a lot of people suffering, but I think togetherness and a coming together was exactly what was needed, and it happened at the exact right time.
Charan: Now you guys were both telling me a little bit beforehand that as a result of this treasure hunt, you guys have found new fame. How’s that been for you?
John: It’s been a little weird. I mean, during the Treasure Hunt, my first real experience of it was, a car full of teenage girls pulled up next to me and started yelling, “It’s the treasure guy!”
Charan: No, are you serious?
John: … as I was getting on the freeway.
Charan: Okay.
John: And I told David, I’m like, “People are recognizing me,” and I look like a lot of people. I mean I’m not very unique looking, so it was really kind of weird. And then even since then, I’ll go to play soccer or whatever I’m doing, and people are like, “Oh, man. You’re that guy.” It’s weird. It’s really weird, you know?
Charan: It’s strange, right?
John: Yeah. I’m used to just no one ever noticing.
David: And it’s funny, because when we started, we never really, our goal wasn’t to be famous at all.
Charan: Of course.
David: We just wanted to do something fun for the community to get them outside, and if I guess local fame or influence or whatever comes our way, maybe we can just have a bigger platform to do more cool things and positive things in the future. But, yeah, so it’s been kind of strange. I’m almost a little nervous… It’s so new to me that I feel like I’m too old to be instafamous or whatever, whatever they call it these days, and so just kind of taking it a day at a time, so.
Charan: No, you know, I think that’s the best approach. It’s interesting because, so I was mentioning to you guys before, like I work in film as an actor, and I didn’t grow up though as an actor. I grew up as just like a normal kid, and then I got into it in my adult years, but I’ve got a lot of friends that were child actors. And the way fame hit them was very different than maybe someone like us who have had life experience and have been a little more grounded, have an idea of normalcy, but it is very interesting when it hits. Because then you’re like, “Oh, how do I navigate and how do I go to places without being recognized?” Because anonymity sometimes is awesome.
David: Definitely.
Charan: And when you don’t have that, it’s interesting. But, did you guys make videos? Did you post it online or how did that all go down or how was like the process of like unveiling the treasure hunt?
John: So, yeah, I mean we actually put a lot more thought into this than people thought.
Charan: Okay.
John: You know, and having done it once. Even back then, not just were we influenced by Indiana Jones and The Goonies and that but Mission Impossible and all these kind of things. So we were very calculated in how we did things. So we actually shot the video, we shot promo videos at one location. David borrowed his dad’s car. We meet in a random parking lot. We get in his dad’s car, because we’re like, “Maybe people can track us.”
Charan: Sure.
John: “Maybe people are listening or following our phones.” We turn off our phones. We go take a video in a different location. Then we go and hide the treasure. We wore disguises to hike up to hide it just in case someone’s videoing.
Charan: Of course.
John: You know what I mean? Like we went to great lengths.
Charan: Sure.
John: And it’s crazy, once we released the treasure hunt, how people just assumed we would never have gone to any of those lengths. So there was tons of people that like, “Oh, I know exactly where that trail is where they’re shooting the video. That’s where the treasure…” I mean we had a guy that flew in from Atlanta-
Charan: You’ve got to be kidding me. No way.
John: And that was his big solve was, “I know where that trail is.” And then he even sent me a picture of the tree from our promo video and said, “See, we’re in the right place. Where’s the treasure?”
John: I’m like, “Dude, that’s not where we hid it.”
Charan: Oh, man.
John: So, yeah, we went through a lot of effort to make sure that it was not found in four days.
Charan: Yeah. So how did this one take to get found?
David: This was 17 days.
Charan: 17 days. Okay. That’s a nice little chunk of time, a couple weeks.
David: Yeah, I mean we thought this one would go all summer because we took all these precautions, but yet again, the response surprised us and the talent surprised us, but it’s an improvement from four days. So first year four days, second year 17 days. Maybe next year we can hit one month. We’ll see.
John: But going back to that, the whole fame thing, I mean, it blew up so much. I think both of us, at 17 days we’re like, “I don’t even know if I care if it gets found now” because there was so much interest and so many people.
John: You know, you start to feel bad for people because they’re going to the same trail over and over and over, and you know it’s the wrong trail, and they’re sending you all these messages like, “I know it’s this place. I know it’s this place.”
John: And they’ve been going there for two weeks every single day, and you’re like, “Ah. Maybe this needs to be over.” You know, so I don’t know maybe 17 days was perfect. We don’t know.
David: But honestly, it was kind of a relief when it ended just because I felt we were in kind of, you know, it was like one of those viral moments, you know?
Charan: Sure.
David: And so now, I kind of have a lot more empathy and almost sympathy for people who go viral just because I know what as a really small scale of what it’s like. And so, I mean, it went national news, Fox News, CNN. They were all reaching out to us, and so yeah, anyways. I’m just so thankful that it just stayed positive. That was kind of our number one.
Charan: I was going to ask you guys. Was it for the most part overwhelmingly positive?
David: Oh my gosh. 99% positive.
Charan: Awesome.
David: Yes.
Charan: That’s awesome, because I imagine some people may have gotten really upset, you know. They’re like, “We were there, and we didn’t see anything.” Or you know, [crosstalk 00:10:36].
David: Well, some of the issues we ran into actually is Search and Rescue had to get one guy, you know.
Charan: No way.
David: He was a treasure hunter. Yeah, I guess my worst fear was someone could get really hurt up there looking for treasure, and a lot of these media outlets reached out to us, and of course, like in the beginning we were just like, “Yeah. This helps us kind of get the word out. Thank you so much.”
Charan: Sure.
David: But, I mean, we kind of got a taste, too, of how the media…
Charan: Totally.
David: I mean not, I don’t know. You got to be really careful though, because they just want a story, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: And whether the story is like, “Hey, this super positive treasure hunt’s going on. Get outside with your friends. Try to solve this.” Or it’s “Our resources being wasted because treasure hunters that are maybe not experienced enough to be hiking are getting dehydrated,” and all this stuff. It was kind of a fine line that we were balancing.
David: But, I mean, that was a very, very, very small part of an overwhelmingly positive experience.
Charan: Overwhelmingly positive experience.
David: Yes.
Charan: How many people, would you say, actually went on the hunt overall?
David: Thousands, I would say.
Charan: Thousands, really
David: Yeah.
Charan: Wow.
John: The only thing we have to go off is our Instagram views, and we were getting 10 to 12 thousand views on every single story.
Charan: Wow.
John: We went on a hike afterwards to show people where the treasure was, and one lady was like, “And I got the views, and then I sent that to five other people and was telling them about it and sharing everything with them.” It could have been 10,000 people. I don’t know.
David: Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot of people.
Charan: That’s amazing.
David: It was just, I mean, as part of just on the front lines of getting all those DMs and talking to thousands of people in the community. It was just so fantastic because everyone had a story.
Charan: Of course.
David: And some of them were incredible. One guy lost 16 pounds in three weeks, just because he was-
Charan: No way. Oh my gosh.
David: And that was like a theme, you know. I mean, I would say we probably had at least, I mean, a lot of people that lost at least 10 pounds, but this guy kind of won. I mean, it wasn’t like an official contest, but an unofficial contest of losing 16 pounds.
Charan: Just from hiking.
David: Yeah, just from hiking.
Charan: So cool.
David: We kind of rekindled. You know the families reached out to us, and they’re like, “Hey, you know, we couldn’t drag our kids away from the Xbox before, and now they’re dragging us out the door.”
Charan: That’s amazing.
David: You’re right. There’s a lot of mental health issues right now, a lot of depression, a lot of people just kind of locked in their homes, even now. Maybe not because of the thing going on but for other reasons, and this kind of gave them a fun, just a thing to focus and channel their energy onto.
David: I mean, I got a lot of messages of just being like, “Man, I don’t know if this saved me, but this has been life-changing for me at least at this point in my life. We just came at the perfect time,” is what they say.
Charan: That is so awesome, because even more than finding the treasure, I mean, this is going to sound so cliché, but the treasure hunt was a treasure. You know what I mean, in a sense?
David: Totally. Yes.
Charan: Because now it’s like people had a chance to go out. They had a chance to experience life with each other a little bit more than just sitting at home. Had a chance to lose some weight, and that right there is positive and the fact that they have something really positive to look forward to, perhaps finding some treasure could be amazing.
Charan: And, of course, I’m sure whoever, I forgot the name of the guy that won. I was researching, but, whoever won, I’m sure that must have been a really cool moment for him to find that or whatnot, right?
John: Yeah, it was really great. He did a live video on Instagram. We worry, because one of the things that actually inspired this treasure hunt was the Forrest Fenn treasure hunt, the very famous. He hid like three million dollars somewhere in four states.
Charan: Okay.
John: And then one of the things that we don’t like about that hunt is for the longest time nobody knew who found it. Still, to this day, nobody knows where it was.
Charan: Okay.
John: So then you get skeptics like me wondering, “Why? Did they even hide the treasure? Is this a big scam?”
John: And so a big thing for us when David called me is like, “We got to have a pay off. We need to be-
Charan: A closure.
John: We need to show people somebody found it, and this is where it was, and this is how the clues work out. We want that to be there for people, and I think that helped a lot. So we worried that someone would find it and just not tell everybody, but he did a live video when he found it.
Charan: Good.
John: He’s a veteran police officer.
Charan: Wow.
John: He’s a big, tough guy, and it was great, because he’s getting choked up, like, “I just found this treasure.” Like it was so great to watch. It was such a great moment for us, I think.
Charan: Yes. Wow.
John: We had a trail cam. We saw him on the trail cam, and I told David, “We got to go down there right now and catch him at the bottom because this guy did a live video, and he’s like the perfect-
Charan: He’s the perfect guy.
John: … to find that.”
David: It was over Fourth of July weekend. It was the perfect ending to that, and it was really cool because we went to the bottom of the trailhead, and he had called his wife, obviously really excited, and so she came with their kids, and she was waiting for them. So we got to know them pretty well while he was being mobbed. Because a lot of people had kind of narrowed it down to that trail, so there was probably 50 other treasure hunters up there when he found it, and on the trail down, he was just getting stopped every hundred feet by someone wanting the take pictures and with the chest and all that stuff.
Charan: Oh, wow.
David: But then, you know, when he finally comes into view and his daughters run to him. I mean it was just a special moment.
Charan: That’s incredible. Man, and like what a cool memory for like all these people, right, not just for him and his family but all the people that were like, “Can we please take a picture with you? Can we have this moment?” That’s just so great.
Charan: So you guys funded this yourselves? Is that right?
John: Yeah, so far everything’s been self-funded.
Charan: Self-funded?
John: Yeah.
Charan: You’re hoping to do more, right? Is that the plan?
John: Yeah.
David: Yes.
John: Eventually we’ll run out of money, I think.
David: Yes.
Charan: Probably sooner rather than later.
David: I don’t know if my wife will let me continually bury money in the ground.
Charan: Yes.
David: I mean, the community is so generous. A lot of people have offered to contribute, but you know, one of the things that we want to just make sure is that this is always free for everybody. I know there’s a lot of other treasure hunts where you have to pay for clues and stuff, and we don’t want to do any of that, and so I don’t know. Those are still kind of some issues that we’re working through, but definitely it’s going.
Charan: I kind of feel like I’m sure with the community being so generous and supportive, I think even businesses that have write-offs and stuff, and they’re like, “Hey, we need to donate some money quick,” they could donate to a treasure hunt. You know what I mean?
John: I mean we’re exploring a bunch of different things. I mean, we’ve even, as David said, inspired several treasure hunts and some of them have already gone the route of, “Hey, donate to this, and we’ll bury all the funds.” We haven’t quite gone there yet because we think there’s ways we can do it that none of the hunters will have to do that. I think businesses, and there’s all kinds of ways that we can get it funded so that everyone can just enjoy it and not have to worry about, “Oh, man. Do I have to feel guilty because I didn’t donate $20 to this treasure hunt when I go look for it?” We don’t want any of that to be the case.
David: And there’s also kind of a fine balance, too, where once you bring sponsors in, it’s not as clean. John had the perfect analogy. I actually looked this up. I guess on the movie The Christmas Story where he’s decoding some kind of clue, and he’s so excited, and then it says like, once he decodes it, he reads it, and it’s like, “Don’t forget your Ovaltine,” or something.
Charan: Okay.
John: He’s so disappointed because it’s just an advertisement for Ovaltine, and we want to make sure that the treasure hunts never go that route.
Charan: Exactly.
David: Yeah, anyways, we still haven’t figured this out, but we’re definitely open to sponsorships, as long as we can keep the integrity and the spirit of everything, you know?
Charan: The spirit of everything.
David: Right.
Charan: And is the hope to expand out of Utah or go to other places and do more?
John: Absolutely.
Charan: That’s the hope, right? And maybe even if you get more money, you might even be able to do more with it, because then it’s like, people can like, I don’t know. I can imagine this being like a nationwide thing at some point. A worldwide thing, that could be really crazy, but hey, you know what? There’s people out there that would go for it.
David: Definitely.
Charan: If you had enough of a payoff at the end, it would be a massive, massive thing. Of course, it’s a ton of work on your guys’ end to organize something like that, you know?
David: Right. But, I mean, to me it’s not even work. It’s just so fun.
Charan: That’s so amazing.
David: And so it’s like, you know, we’re both big real estate guys, but if we could somehow turn this into a full-time thing, that would be a complete dream for me.
Charan: Do you feel the same way? Would you want to do that too? Would you want to quit everything and be like, “Hey, I’ll be the guy that creates the treasure hunts.”
John: Oh, yeah. I mean versus tracking contractors down and flipping a house, which is a lot of freaking work, building a treasure hunt and watching the smile on a kid’s face as they hunt for treasure. You know, that’s pretty rewarding.
Charan: It’s not bad, right?
John: I think, you know, it’s funny the whole “making lemonade out of lemons” thing, I mean, the news and David. David’s probably the most genuine guy I know. The whole like, “We did this to get people out and make a positive impact.” Honestly, the motivation was that this is just an awesome, awesome thing to do, and I’ve grown up my whole life want to do treasure hunts.
Charan: It’s so fun. Yeah.
John: And no one’s going to do it unless I do it, so we decided to do it. And then, out of that, we just wanted to do something awesome and see how it went, came this massive, positive response that now we’ve kind of got to figure out how to truly make that into lemonade, because we should, because it’s pretty amazing, right?
David: Yeah, we definitely tapped some kind of nerve.
John: I have all these messages saved, and I show my wife, and she starts crying. Some of them are so positive, and people really got so overwhelmingly moved by this thing, and for us, I mean really, if you really break down the motivation, we just thought it was so cool.
David: Yeah, it was just awesome. Something awesome to do. But now that we’ve had such a huge positive response, it’s like, how can we-
Charan: Keep going.
David: … keep this going. Yeah, because I mean even families that are like, “We just weren’t connecting with our kids. They were kind of growing distant.” Or even relationships, like boyfriend, girlfriend or wife and husband, and it’s like, “Man, we really bonded over trying to solve this thing. We had all these adventures. We ran into a rattlesnake,” or whatever. Everyone has an adventure, and it’s just so cool that they have that now.
Charan: They had that moment.
John: It helps getting out together with people, you know?
Charan: And I was just going to say, what you guys are doing is really creating more light and positivity in the world, and at the end of the day I think that’s what is so compelling and so amazing and so awesome because there’s so much heaviness. There’s a lot of darkness.
Charan: So it’s interesting, when I was in LA, I had a pretty, you know, my career was actually taking off. I was having some really cool opportunities on cool TV shows and stuff, and yet, my spirit was feeling like I was dying inside. I’m like, “What in the world?” I’m getting auditions. I’m booking parts. Why do I feel like I’m dying inside?”
Charan: And I had to take an honest, hard look at myself, and I said, “This work that I’m doing right now, how is it inspiring people? Or is it just gratifying myself? Is it just like, ‘Oh, look at this cool show,’ or is it actually empowering people?”
Charan: And the more and more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking, “I really, really, really want to do stuff that’s going to bless other people or show light to other people and just like help people feel good about themselves and joyous about themselves.”
Charan: And that’s what you guys are doing, in a massive way, and you’ve already proven that the model works, because now people are stocked about it.
John Maxim & David Cline Talk About Turning Lemons into Lemonade
Charan: Now we were talking a little bit about lemons to lemonade. In your own personal lives, has there ever been a moment where you’re like, “Oh, boy. That was a lemon. That was a tough blow to have been given, and how do I flip this in a,” no pun intended, but, “how do I flip this and make this lemonade?”
John: I got a great story, but if you’ve got one, I don’t want to one up you.
David: Oh, gee.
John: It’s probably like almost somebody scripted it for this moment.
David: Well, yeah, I’ll let you say it. To be honest, I’ve had an incredibly blessed life.
John: Me too.
David: There’s a balance, I think, between making decisions that enable you to have a blessed life and being lucky in a sense, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: And I think I’ve had both. I feel like just certain experiences and living abroad has kind of taught me like, “Okay. This is what you should and shouldn’t do.” So that said, I mean, I don’t want to do anything crazy, but I remember… I love talking about the three things that are kind of faux pas in our culture. It’s like money, religion, and politics, which we’re not going to get into right here but. So with money, it’s like I tell a lot of people, when they think about how much money they need to retire, they always think of like 10 million or 20 million. They have this big lump sum, but I’m like, “Honestly, just add up your monthly expenses, and then figure out a way to make that without working every month. And especially if you keep those low.”
David: So, anyways, me and my wife, we were working on that for years, and we finally hit our, I guess, I call it a retirement number where you don’t have to work any more; you’re good every month. Even though we’re not living large. We’re not rich. We’re not cruising or yachts or anything, but at least we have enough to break even. So we wanted to celebrate that, and we wanted to pretty much live in Asia. It was kind of a crazy.
David: So this is pre-pandemic. This is 2019. So we get on a flight, and we have two small kids. One’s 10 months, and one’s two, and we literally fly to Japan, and I don’t know. As kind of the man, I guess, of the, I don’t know, father of the house, I was completely overwhelmed. We’re going into a country that I’ve never been with my two babies and a wife without knowing where we’re going to stay or what we’re going to do, and I remember we landed in Tokyo airport right when all the restaurants were about to close. We hurried and ordered food, but it was all in Japanese. I couldn’t understand anything. And I remember that they gave us a plate, and I ended up taking a bite and thinking that it was going to be warm, and it was just like ice cold noodles. And I just remember, I just bawled my eyes out. I was like, “We are way over our heads here.”
David: And thankfully, in our marriage it’s like when my wife’s feeling down, hopefully I can get her up, and in that moment I was just crushed. I was regretting everything.
David: But anyways, so we got through that, and the next three months were some of the best three months of our whole lives. We were going to be there longer, but then the pandemic brought us back, which is a whole other story. We almost didn’t make it because airports were closing all over the place, but I don’t know.
David: For me it was just kind of like a leap of faith, and it turned out unbelievably amazing, just as far as our relationship, our relationship with our kids, and then everything. I don’t know if that really counts as a lemon, but anyways.
Charan: I think it does. Absolutely. Because the truth of it is, is like, you are taking a leap of faith into the darkness, and during those times, it can be dark. It can be very dark. It’s not always going to be lit up before you. You might have to sit in the darkness for a little while before the light actually appears. So being in a place that is completely unfamiliar to you, and on top of it to have ice cold noodles, that’s the worst. So, yeah, I know what you mean there.
David: It’s funny what finally gets to you.
Charan: Yeah, what actually breaks is the noodles. You know what I mean?
David: Yes, exactly.
Charan: Yeah. Which is hilarious because he’s wearing a noodle shirt right now.
John: That’s right. [crosstalk 00:26:02].
David: But anyways. I just had to set the low bar, so that John can stun us with his-
Charan: John can spike us with his lemon story.
John: Well, yeah, I’ll be quick.
Charan: No, you’re good.
John: There’s plenty of details I can give, but 2007 I was in real estate, but I was really kind of a hack. I was pretending. Honestly, I made money renting my house out to bachelors and donating plasma, you know? I had recently been divorced and things weren’t going well, and I got really far behind on my mortgage. And then the market crashed, which, of course, made things get way, way worse.
John: Anyways, I’m renting my house out to a bunch of guys to pay my bills, and we found out that we’re going to lose my house to foreclosure.
Charan: Wow.
John: And it got to where we had three days left, and I’m a serial procrastinator, and so I waited until the three days to kind of tell my roommates, “By the way, house is going up for auction on Monday, you know.” And we had just finished watching the movie Hot Rod, and we’re sitting on the porch, and they’re like, “So, do I got to move my stuff out? Like what do we do?”
John: And we were talking about how in movies like Hot Rod and The Goonies, literally our conversation was about Hot Rod and The Goonies, how in movies when someone has a problem, they do something crazy to solve that problem.
John: And I had an old Ford station wagon, a really crappy car, and I was like, “You know, this is America. I bet if I,” and this was back before GoFundMe’s and things were really big. I wrote a blog post that kind of said, “Hey, I screwed up, and I’m losing my house to foreclosure, and I suck, but by the way, if you lend me $20, I’ll light my car on fire and put it on the internet.”
Charan: Okay.
John: I needed $20,000.
Charan: Okay.
John: In three days. So, it’s funny, because it’s maybe a little pre-cursor for the treasure hunts and things. In three days, we raised $20,000 just getting on the radio and using Twitter and all this kind of stuff.
Charan: No way, dude.
John: And what happened to me then is, you know, I’d been up three days straight just messaging people and all this kind of stuff, trying to get people to loan me money. And really, it was all pretty micro donations. I think the biggest one was $1800 from my grandmother. But then the next one from that was 300 bucks. I mean there was tons of people.
John: And I go to the auction with this check. It’s literally on the courthouse steps, just like they show you in the shows, and I hand it to the attorney. He’s like, “Oh, yeah. That reinstates your mortgage. Okay, you can keep your house.” Great.
John: And then when I look around, there’s all these guys in shorts and flip flops, and then they’re bidding on houses. And this moment I’m like, “These are my people. This is what I need to do.” And actually that experience led me to get into house-flipping where I get to a point that I can do okay enough that I can bury $10,000 in the mountain for people to go find because I think it’s cool. That experience led me to be able to do what I do for a living and to get me there.
Charan: Dude, isn’t it so crazy to think that sometimes the hardest things that we have to face in life ends up being the exact thing that we needed to have happen to propel us into where we’re supposed to be to begin with, right?
John: Yeah.
Charan: I think like, in my own life, truth be told, I don’t even remember what I was struggling with, but there was a hard, hard week that I had that led me to face myself and say, “What is it that I would regret the most if I got old, and I looked back on my life?”
Charan: And that’s when I’m like, “Oh my gosh. Well, if I never give acting a shot, I’d regret that.”
Charan: And then I’m like, “Why haven’t I done that?” I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’m going to fail. I’ve been told this my whole life. “Oh, you can’t do it. Very, very few people can actually succeed.” All those narratives, right? And that I believed, but then when I went and did it, it actually worked out. I mean, of course, it’s been hard and challenging, but it’s also been a tremendous amount of fun.
Charan: But I love what you were saying about this treasure hunt was just fun. It wasn’t work. It was just fun, and it brought a lot of joy to people’s lives. And just even kind of seeing that from an overall perspective, I can tell you guys find joy in bringing other people joy. And seeing the light on people’s faces and the memories that people have had, and like the DMs that people have been sharing with you. Saying like, “You have no idea what this has done for our family, and keep going.” Of course, that’s like the biggest motivation to be like, “Yes. We’re doing this again. We have to do this again,” you know?
John Maxim & David Cline Talk About What’s Next
Charan: So what’s next? What’s the next step for you guys?
David: Well, just going along with that, there’s a lot of ironies in the New Testament. You know, lose yourself to find yourself.
Charan: Yes.
David: But I think like one of the biggest ironies that, I mean, is literally to find your own happiness, you need to focus on the happiness of others, and that’s a really profound. You’re completely right. Anyways. I just wanted to mention that because that’s so true. If you only focus on your own, what you want, you’re just in a hamster wheel of trying to find happiness, but if you can focus on the happiness of those around you and the community, it’s so rewarding. And ironically that’s how, I don’t know, that’s how you do it, so.
David: But as far as what’s next, so we had a lot of families reach out to us and say, “Hey, we would love to do one of these but for kids.”
Charan: Oh, I like that.
David: And so I’ve been working day and night trying to get it ready before school starts in five weeks or late August. And so we’re hoping to roll that out first week of August. We’re going to do one just for 16 and under, with the help of their parents, and then I think we’ve got another bigger one for everyone, kind of like state-wide, we’re hoping to do September. It will be different. We kind of want to do with the poem and the one treasure once a yea;, that’s going to be like our summer thing.
Charan: That’s like your summer thing, right.
David: Yes. But then we’re going to do other ones in between, so.
John: Yeah, more scavenger hunt, amazing race, kind of projects where people can… Because one thing that, I mean, thank goodness David brought me in on this because the ciphers and the codes and stuff, I still have a hard time.
Charan: Sure.
John: But man, I cannot believe how many people love that, love that stuff. And so we kind of wanted to go maybe more that direction than the hiking. I mean the hiking is a big part, and we got a lot of people who were like, “Hey, we just love getting out. I love hiking. This is great.” For me, hiking for treasure is kind of like playing soccer. You can’t get me to run at all, but if I can chase a ball, I’ll run all day long, right?
Charan: Yeah.
John: And so that happened for a lot of people, but also the codes and the ciphers and the figuring all the puzzles out, is a huge thing for people, and so we’re thinking maybe the next one is going to be a bigger version with more of the puzzle-type things.
Charan: Yes.
John: And I think we’re going to, it will be a little more mobile, so we’re going to kind of maybe put it more towards adults, and that’s why the kid one will be good to have kids do.
John: And again, just like David said, I mean we’re just listening to what people are telling us, and how can we do that and make it as awesome as possible?
Charan: As awesome as possible. And what’s great is Utah is like the perfect place for stuff like this, because I was privileged enough to work on a project that allowed me to travel through Utah, even southern Utah but not just St. George. I’m talking about, there’s a place called Ticaboo. Have you ever even been to Ticaboo?
John: Yeah.
Charan: Never even heard of it until I went, and I’m like, “What? Why doesn’t everyone know about Ticaboo. This place is insanely amazing.” And Leprechaun Canyon. Have you guys been to Leprechaun Canyon?
David: Yeah, I have as well.
Charan: That’s where we shot our film, and I’m like, “This place is ridiculous, and it’s empty. Like nobody knows about this place.” And so just like looking at all the BLM land in Utah, I’m like, “Dude. This place is so gorgeous and so beautiful and so untapped.”
David: It’s a treasure hunter’s paradise.
Charan: It’s a treasure hunter’s paradise.
David: Because you’re right. Out of all the states, Utah, I don’t know how much percentage-wise, but like 50% of it is BLM land.
Charan: Yes.
David: And you’re right. Like we have everything from like the High Uinta alpine pine trees all the way to, yeah, red rock and desert and everything in between, and so because you’re completely right.
David: And that’s another gratifying thing about this, is a lot of people messaged us and said, “Man, I haven’t gone on a hike for 20 years, and I’ve forgotten how amazing this is.” So it kind of rekindled their love of… Or it’s like, “I only hike one trail once a year, but this forced me to look at all these other places, and there are so many amazing places just within half an hour of my house that I’m so excited to take family and explore with my grandkids or kids or nieces or nephews or whatever.”
David: And so you’re completely right.
Charan: That’s awesome.
David: We’re spoiled to live here.
Charan: We really are, and there’s actually a guy I need to introduce you guys to, as you’re talking. He’s like a real-life archeologist, treasure hunter, Indiana Jones-type of guy, and his life has just spent on finding not just actual treasure but technology. He’s found some really interesting technologies in Utah.
David: Like ancient technology?
Charan: Ancient technology.
David: That’s awesome.
Charan: And I’m like, “What?” And he’s like shown me stuff. I’m actually meeting with him tonight, but he is just like a, he’s a real cool guy, and he’s a very spiritual guy, and I’m a spiritual person, and so we love talking and getting together, and it’s like our pastime. But he actually has access to helicopters, and he flies around to places that no one can actually get to, right?
Charan: And he’s like, “Charan, you would not believe the stuff I’ve found in Utah. It is mind-blowing what is actually in… right outside.” Hidden caves and things that you would not be able to even know about, right?
David: Oh, yeah.
Charan: It’s very fascinating. It’s very interesting, and I think that actually piques a lot of people’s interest, right?
Charan: So kind of back to that coding situation. I think, the interesting part of National Treasure and those movies like that, are those codes. Like, “Oh, what does this mean? Oh my gosh, is there a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence? I don’t know, but I kind of want to find out.” You know? And so, having those type of situation and things.
Charan: And I know we were talking a little bit about you guys are going to create more QR codes and more things like that, so it’s kind of cool, because now with technology, you can actually implement some of those things to make your treasure hunt. You don’t have to have actual, physical artifacts. You can have a lot of those things kind of pop up on your own phone, right?
David: Yes. Yeah, with technology it is just unbelievable how many different directions you could go with it, and how cool you can make it, and honestly, kind of we were talking about international, just how small the world is, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: Because even with this little treasure hunt in Utah, we had people flying in from all over the the country. We had Hawaii, Georgia, Florida, Texas. I mean one person from Germany almost came.
Charan: No way.
David: So it’s just, you know. Yeah, there’s just endless possibilities, and as long as it can stay positive and people can stay safe, that’s our biggest priority.
Charan: And that’s a big thing, right? Because it’s not you’re watching to make sure that they’re not… Because when you’re going hiking and going on mountains and stuff like that, it can always get a little sketchy. I mean, some of the most expert hikers can even get hurt, right?
David: Yeah. And we made clear, it’s like, “Hey. If you feel like you’re in danger, it’s probably not there. You’re not going to have to scale the cliffs or do anything crazy dangerous to get to this treasure.” But again, you organize something, and you just don’t know what people are going to do.
Charan: Right.
John: And even the accidental stuff. I mean I’m active, and I hike, but I had no idea how many rattlesnakes there are in Utah mountains.
David: Especially this year, yeah.
John: No clue, until we did this treasure hunt. I don’t think an hour went by, an hour, when we were up in the peak, where someone wasn’t sending me a picture or posting a picture on social media of coming across a rattlesnake. Like it was a constant, nonstop thing.
Charan: No way.
John: I’m amazed nobody got bit. I mean, honestly, and it’s just like, how do you even compete with… I mean that’s the real world. That’s the thing. There’s just things like that that I don’t think we could ever really prepare for.
Charan: You can’t prepare for it, right?
John: No.
Charan: And I mean weather also is an [crosstalk 00:38:14].
David: Just the heat.
Charan: The heat.
John: We had a couple storms roll in on people where they were running out of their thunder storms.
David: I mean, there’s a balance. We’re not going to make it too dangerous, but at the same time, it’s like critics have said, and there haven’t been many, and that’s why, but you always remember what the critics say, you know. And they were like, “Hey. You shouldn’t do a treasure hunt because people are going to get hurt.”
David: Well, it’s like, you could get hurt doing anything.
Charan: Absolutely.
David: In order to live a good life, I feel like you have to risk, and so it’s like, even going to the grocery story, driving there and then slipping or whatever. It’s like. there’s risk in everything we do, so yeah.
David: And again, the community was amazing, and for the most part everyone was smart and-
John: People get it.
David: Yeah, people get it.
Charan: People get it, you know. You do it at your own risk, right?
David: Exactly.
Charan: I mean, it makes sense. Like those critics, it’s like, “Well, you shouldn’t eat because you may get food poisoning.”
David: Exactly.
John: Or choke.
Charan: I mean there’s a strong possibility-
David: You can’t live your life just based on “this could happen,” you know?
Charan: There’s a strong possibility that you could chew incorrectly and bite your tongue. I know.
David: It’s a balance.
Charan: It’s a balance.
David: Yes.
John Maxim & David Cline Talk About What Brings Them Joy
Charan: So, guys, let me ask you this, what brings you to both joy right now? I know we talked a lot about helping other people feel joy brings you a lot of joy, but what’s brought you a lot of joy in your own lives?
John: For me, and the treasure hunt goes right along with it, and I deal with a lot of seminars and speaking and stuff, and people are always talking about their why, and my family’s a big why for me, but pre-family, everything, it all comes down to, I just want to make people laugh, honestly. And I do a little bit of house-flipping where I try to make them laugh and with the treasure hunt I try to make them laugh, and anything I can do to just get a laugh out of people, that’s what brings me the most joy, and that’s why this fits so perfectly, because even when we’re talking about clues and hunts, it just gives me an opportunity to do that more and more and more.
David: And along with that, I remember when KSL sent a reporter out to do a story, I was just telling him, “Every night on the news, there could be 10,000 amazing things happen, but they’re focused on the one bad thing,” you know?
Charan: Yes.
David: And I think that if people are in their homes, especially months at a time without reminding themselves through interaction with other people that there are actually a lot of good people out there doing good things, it almost just like, it’s just overwhelming. It’s just all this kind of negative. And so even if we could just distract the whole community for three weeks with a treasure hunt on something that’s not just negative and scary and dark, it was worth it for us.
David: But, I guess, for me it’s super cliché. You know, I have three kids now, and my oldest daughter, who is four years old, just barely started a little outdoor soccer league.
Charan: Awesome.
David: And I’ve literally waited my entire life, because I grew up in a soccer family, growing up playing soccer. I still play soccer twice a week with my friends indoor, and just, I’ve waited my whole life to have a kid that’s playing soccer, and so it was just so special to be able to watch her run back and forth, even though she doesn’t really understand the concept of like, “Hey, we need to stop the ball from going into this goal, and we’re trying to get it into that goal.” Like she hasn’t really figured that out yet, but even just her running around on the field just was, I mean, it was special.
Charan: Isn’t it amazing? Now you’re seeing life through her eyes, right?
David: Yes.
Charan: You’re not just your own eyes. I remember I did the same thing. I didn’t grow up playing soccer, but I love tennis and I love snowboarding, and I used to be a snowboarding instructor. And so, teaching my friends how to snowboard and just the joy they get when they can complete a turn. They’re like, “Oh my gosh,” and I’m like, “That was amazing! Dude, you did it.” And so I love that idea and being able to share that with other people is incredible.
John Maxim & David Cline Talk About Their Greatest Fears
Charan: Greatest fears now. Let’s talk about your greatest fears. What would they be?
David: I think one of mine, if I’m really honest with myself, I mean, besides safety and health of family, is mediocrity.
Charan: Oh, that’s a good one.
David: I just, my whole life, I just have this anxiety that I’m going to live just a mediocre life, and then I’m trying to figure out like, “How do I not do that?” And for me, it was quitting my job. I feel like, at least for me, having a 9 to 5, kind of resigned me to mediocrity essentially. And it’s safe, and it’s scarier than anything not to have everything figured out, when you kind of take that leap of faith and do something on your own, but I knew for me at least, that was the first thing I had to do, was take that leap.
Charan: You were Indiana Jones looking over that cliff and being like, “I’m going to take a step in, and I may fall.” You know? But you didn’t fall. You kept going, just like Indiana Jones, and then turned back and you saw that there was a bridge there the whole time, right?
David: Totally.
Charan: Love that.
David: And I’m not where I want to be. Always have goals, and you’re always working, but yeah. So, I don’t know.
Charan: No, I love that. Mediocrity. That’s a great fear.
John: That was a really good answer.
Charan: Dude, and I expect you to one up that one, so I’m excited. I’m excited, man.
John: I don’t know if I can, because the only thing I think that scares me is missing out, fear of missing out.
Charan: Yeah, FOMO, man.
John: No, as I get a little older, and I get a little more successful, and I get my 15 seconds of fame and things, the thing that, only thing, really, that really keeps me up at night is taking for granted the things… You know, I’ve got five kids, and all the things that you guys talked about. I mean, I go to work, and I do great. Again, I do well enough for us to bury money in the mountain, but then I come home, and I have two hours before my kids go to bed, because I’ve been at work all day. And on Saturdays, if I go work, then that’s time away from them, and that time is so precious.
John: And it’s easy, you know, we live in the age of distraction where it is so, and I am so easily distracted, that it’s so easy for me to just do, do, that next thing, and my beautiful and amazing wife, who’s supported me and take care of me, I’m not paying attention to her. And that’s what I’m really afraid of, is that I’ll miss out on all the time that I could be spending with the people that I love the most and that kind of stuff, you know?
Charan: That’s a profound answer, man. I mean, I remember I was having a conversation with a guy by the name of [Brian Manser 00:44:37]. He’s a really, really cool guy. He used to be a former Disney executive. Marketed tons and tons of big, big movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, all these huge movies that you would see in the theater. He was the guy behind pushing them out and making the trailers and making them go big, and he was traveling the world. He said he had a fancy car traveling the world, and he’s like, “And dude, I was so miserable.”
Charan: I’m like, “What? What do you mean?”
Charan: He’s like, “I was living my dream job, and I was so miserable. I was hardly ever at home. I was hardly ever at home, and every day I would see my daughters were growing up without me actually being there.”
Charan: And so he finally got to a point where he’s like, “I just couldn’t take it any more. I couldn’t take it any more.”
Charan: So he left, and he actually went through a rough divorce and stuff, and then he was telling me, during that time, he wanted to reconnect with himself, in a sense, and what really brought him joy. And he knew that connecting with people brought him joy. So, he decided when he didn’t have his daughters with him, he was going to be a Lyft driver.
Charan: So here’s a Disney, a former Disney exec saying, “You know what? Forget all of that.” He’s like, “I’ve got plenty of money. I want to go drive for Lyft, just so I can connect with people.”
Charan: And he said that was some of the best times of his life.
John: Wow.
Charan: Was being a Lyft driver, connecting with people, right? Isn’t that amazing when you think about that?
John: That’s amazing.
Charan: Because then you realize, “Oh, money wasn’t the thing.” You know?
David: Right.
Charan: It wasn’t the thing. There’s this quote by, I think, Jim Carrey, I think, and he says, “I wish everyone in the world could get all of their dreams come true and have everything they’ve ever wanted, only to realize that wasn’t really what they wanted.”
David: What mattered.
Charan: Or what mattered.
John: It’s not a secret either. I’m a big fan of biographies, and you read about extremely successful people, I mean the Rockefellers and Steve Jobs, and all these people that changed the world with their success, they die alone and miserable. Their kids hate them. They’re divorced many times. Their wives don’t like them. Their families don’t care. I mean, success can be a very scary thing, and yeah, I think finding what truly is important is maybe what we’re all searching for, but that’s really easy to say when you have everything, it’s easy to say.
Charan: And maybe you have to redefine what success means to us.
John: Totally.
Charan: You know what I mean? And if success means we’re not mediocre or if success means we’re not missing out on family time and stuff, then we’ve lived a very rich life, right?
Charan: I’ve shared this story before on this podcast, but I have some cousins in India, and when I asked them when I was with them, “Where would you guys be if you could be anywhere in the world? If you could live anywhere in the world?”
Charan: And without even a second thought, my cousin was like, “Oh, Pondicherry,” which is the hometown that he was living in.
Charan: I’m like, “I’m so sorry. Let me rephrase this question. Anywhere. Anywhere in the world.”
Charan: And they’re like, “No, Pondicherry.”
Charan: And I said, “Why? Why would you just stay here?”
Charan: And they said, “I’m never alone here. We’re always with our families. We’re always celebrating. We’re having a good time.”
Charan: And it was so true. When I was there the last time, they’re like, “Charan. Charan. Wonderful news, Charan. We have a new restaurant, and we need you to come and check it out.”
Charan: I’m like, “All right. Sounds amazing. What is it?”
Charan: “It’s called Pizza Hut.”
Charan: And I’m like, “Okay. Yeah, I think I…”
Charan: “No, no, no, Charan. There is being pizzas and you can put-“
Charan: I’m like, “No, I get it.”
Charan: But it was amazing to see how excited they got about the simplest of things, right?
Charan: And I think, kind of going back to your point of seeing your girl trying to figure out soccer, seeing life through their eyes and seeing through the simplicity of it all, that’s what brings the joy, right? And so I hope that you guys continue to maintain that spirit in your treasure hunt which is, “Hey, this whole thing is about bringing families together and bringing people together and having joy together.” So I love it, guys. I think it’s amazing.
John Maxim & David Cline Talk About What They Would Tell Their Younger Selves
Charan: Final question. What would you tell your younger versions of yourselves? If you could go back in time. You found a treasure box, and in that treasure box there was a time machine that allowed you to go back in time. What would you tell young Dave and young John?
John: I have a feeling Dave’s going to one up me here.
David: No.
John: So I’ll just go first.
David: Okay, go ahead.
John: I would definitely tell myself to get comfortable with losing money really quick, and if anything I have learned. I actually saw a quote yesterday about how billionaires have lost billions of dollars, and millionaires have lost hundreds and thousands of dollars, and poor people are just too afraid to lose any money. And I have lost a lot of money in my career. I think back to my biggest loss, which was massive, hundreds of thousands of dollars, in my career, and I can make that money back, but if I lose 200 hours with my kids, I never, ever, ever get it back. There’s no way to get that back.
John: And so, you know, you get so worried about losing money that doesn’t matter, and the sooner I could have figured that out, I think the better off my life would have been. So I would tell myself to get over it, quick.
Charan: You know, it’s interesting you say that, because it’s like, “Hey, listen. Let me give you some Monopoly money,” and you lose that Monopoly money.
Charan: It’s like, “Oh, I don’t care. It’s just Monopoly money,” right?
Charan: But when you lose real money, you’re like, “Oh my gosh. I lost money.” But the thing is, that only money only has value because we’ve given it money, right?
John: It is Monopoly money.
Charan: You know, it is Monopoly money. You know? It’s the same thing.
John: That’s great. I love that.
Charan: It’s that we’re putting value on it, and now we need it, right?
John: Yeah.
Charan: I love that. What about yourself?
David: Well, obviously I’d go back to 2011 and tell myself to buy Bitcoin, definitely.
Charan: Yes. Seriously, right?
John: I knew he was going to say that.
Charan: Oh, and you wouldn’t one up him. That was good. Because that’s got value. It’s got worth.
David: Seriously, I would.
Charan: That’s so funny.
David: Also, real estate has been a huge blessing in our lives. Just because ultimately the only currency that really matters is time, kind of like what John said. Time with your kids or time doing whatever you want to do. And honestly it’s hard to give time or resources if you don’t have that time or resources to give, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: So it’s almost like in order to even get to that point, you have to kind of take care of yourself where you can take care of others, you know?
Charan: Yeah.
David: But yeah, I mean, I wish I would have bought property sooner too. I don’t know. And between the ages of 21 and the time I got married at 27, my only goal was to have fun, and so I ended up going to Utah State and never graduated. No regrets, you know. Met my wife up there, and the rest is history, but maybe I would say, “Have fun, but also be productive-
Charan: Focused in your fun.
David: Yeah, learn some skills.
Charan: Learn some skills.
John: I don’t know. I don’t think we should give you a time machine. I think you’d be so boring if you [crosstalk 00:51:21].
Charan: Yeah, yup, yeah. The time machine has been taken away officially.
Charan: No, you know what, it’s funny, because do you guys know who the Winklevoss twins are?
David: Oh, yeah.
Charan: You know them?
David: Oh, yeah.
Charan: So I know those guys because I was on a show called Silicon Valley, and they were on that same show as I was on, and we were on the same episode. And so I remember, I would always hear them talking about Bitcoins. I’m like, “Guys, what is Bitcoin? What does that even mean?”
Charan: And they’re describing it to me, and I’m like, I literally was like, “Not only are you taller than me and everything goes over my head anyway literally, but figuratively everything’s going over my head. I have no idea.”
David: What year was this?
Charan: This was, oh my gosh. When did we film? It was after 2011. It must have been 2014.
David: Okay. So it’s still really early.
Charan: Pretty new, and they were like creating Gemini and all this type of stuff, you know? Anyway, I did not listen, as it turns out. I’m like, “Eh. I don’t know what that means.” And yeah, I’m like, “Oh, well, that’s an interesting thing that I missed out on.”
Charan: But the truth of it is, is regarding time and regarding giving things time to grow and nurture, it really is very important what we choose to spend time doing, right?
Charan: Yesterday I had the opportunity, my career is such that some days I’ve got gigs. Other days I don’t have much going on. But what I’ve decided is, “Hey, on the times that I don’t have things going on, I am going to be productive, but I’m going to go in nature.” I love nature. I just love being still and just clearing my mind.
Charan: And so I was driving, and I just feel like noticing, just the clouds, and I started noticing how nobody else was around, and I was like, “Wow. Have those clouds always been that amazing and that beautiful?” I was just kind of blown away by all of it, and I started realizing, I really believe the earth and all these things, they’re meant to help fill you with light and love, and the more we can promote that light and love, the better off we will be. And like the more we can give time to those things, the better off we will be, which is what you guys are doing. So I love the fact that you guys are doing treasure hunting, and I’m super excited to see where the next one goes, so yeah.
David: We are too.
Charan: Yeah.
David: We’ll see.
Charan: And seriously, guys, we would love to help market it for you. If you guys need some extra marketing help or anything like that, that is what our, we have a whole team of people, and that’s all they do, every single day.
David: Yeah, that would be amazing. It’s funny, because I actually have friends from high school that are professional marketers, really successful.
Charan: Oh, good.
David: And they reached out to me, and they’re like, “That is the most amazing ad that I’ve ever seen.”
David: And I’m like, “That’s so funny because we didn’t mean to make it a marketing thing. We just wanted to do this.” And maybe that’s why it worked so well is because we didn’t mean to.
Charan: Yeah, you’re not trying to sell Ovaltine.
David: Exactly.
John: Exactly.
Charan: You’re just trying to help someone get $10,000 but also let people have a good time.
David: Totally.
Charan: Which is great.
David: No, I thought it was funny though, but yeah, no, that’s very generous, and yeah, we’ll definitely look into that for sure.
Charan: That’s awesome.
David: We’re kind of just making up as we go. We’re winging this, just like everything else in life, so.
Charan: Oh, we love it. No, it’s awesome.
Charan: Well, thank you, guys, so much for joining me on this podcast. Any last words before we wrap up?
David: No.
John: Thank you for not asking for an early clue. That was cool of you, Charan. Appreciate it.
Charan: Dude, of course, man.
John: For the next hunt.
Charan: For the next hunt, yeah. No, I’m going to keep that one to you guys. I want you guys to send the clues out when you’re ready to send them out. Okay?
David: Appreciate it.
Charan: Awesome. Well, thank you, guys, so much. Appreciate it.
John: Yes, thank you.
Charan: Yup.
Charan: Thanks so much for listening to the Lemonade Stand podcast, and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to be alerted when we realize new episodes. We’d also love to hear your feedback in the reviews, and if you or someone you know has an awesome Lemonade Stand story, please reach to us on social media, and let us know. Thanks so much, and have a great day.
The Lemonade Stand Stories Podcast with Charan Prabhakar was created to shine a light on some of the world’s greatest creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators and the positive impact they’re making in the world.
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