Luxe Life Magazine Special Edition: 20th Issue; Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Candice Bar

Multi-media mogul, speaker, mentor, tv personality, author & female entrepreneur advocate

Ms. Bar is the Founder and CEO of Luxe Enterpise which includes:

Luxe Media

Luxe Life Magazine

Luxe Life With Candice Bar Vodcast Women of Achivement Awards

"Luxe Life Magazine was created to help put female entrepreneurs on the map, and receive some REAL recognition. I am proud we have been able to place female entrepreneurs in positions of power, through not only our magazine, but with our PR expertise. Women business-owners has grown so much throughout the years, and I am so happy to be in the forefront of female entrepreneurship advocacy."

Founder & CEO Candice Bar

Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

Candice Bar: I want to introduce Beth and Jay Robb to Luxe Life Magazine. I had been drinking Jay Robb protein shakes for years at the private gym I attend in Los Angeles. Your shakes were the only products they would use and sell, which made me so interested in you and your company! I had to reach out and interview the amazing couple behind the brand.

Beth Robb: Thank you so much Candice.

Jay Robb: It’s been wonderful to connect with you.

CB: I want to jump right into it; you’ve been in business for a long time, your product it is extremely well known. It's the cleanest protein shake out there, it has been since its inception, if I'm not mistaken.

JR: When I launched it in 1988, I wanted to create a clean protein powder that didn't have the added sugar or anything else artificial, which was so common back then. A lot of different protein powders had soy proteins which were more in line with bodybuilding. I wanted this to be more of a health food. I really wanted something clean and tasty that didn't have the grit, so that's what I set out to do. Once I perfected it, I then brought it to the world through health food store outlets.

CB: Clearly, it's doing well if you started that in the ‘80s and it’s still a leading brand.

JR: Yes, God has blessed us well. That's why we just feel so happy and joyful every day. We've had the opportunity to meet not just thousands or hundreds of thousands, but millions of people. Not just through our protein; but through the books I have written on diet, exercise, fitness, weight loss, healing, and detoxification. It's been a beautiful journey that protein powder and fitness sparked for me.

CB: What was the main reason you even got into nutrition, health, and wellness?

JR: Wow, that one started for me probably when I was seven years old! I had just joined a local swim team. I was just an outdoors kind of guy, very active. When I was at swim practice, I noticed how people can transform from practice and exercise. The sunshine, fresh air, the exercise, and the camaraderie with the team is where it started. I began to observe all that at a very young age.

Then the second thing that happened when I was eight years of age, I got sick right at Christmas, and I just felt awful. I hated that because I look forward all year to Christmas. Here it is, Santa Claus is coming and now I feel horrible! I was angry. I said kind of an angry prayer, “I want to know why I'm sick and I never want to be sick again, ever! I do not want to be sick again!” That was exactly what I said, and that set me on a journey for the rest of my life.

I know I was only eight, but I was fascinated by what caused people to feel happy, look happy, be happy, and be healthy. By the time I was twenty-two, I learned up to that point what made me feel good, what got me in shape, and then what got me out of shape. I jumped into body building and that’s how the protein powder idea all came about.

In 1980, I opened my first fitness club, Jay’s Gym, and I got a line of supplements that I sold and that put my head in motion. I really enjoyed having nutritional products to help people. People just needed some assistance. I thought, “How can we make this simpler, how can we make diet easier, how can we make even exercise easier, how can we formulate with less ingredients?” There are so many ingredients in protein shakes, and a lot of them and you can't even pronounce. I wanted to make things simple; the work out, the diet, and everything else. That's what set a lot of this in motion, the simplicity.

Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

CB: You know humans - we like everything simple. If it's complicated, we're not going to do it, especially with how things are done now. Things are fast, and people want it done yesterday. Someone could be living an unhealthy lifestyle for years; when they finally try to live a healthy lifestyle without immediate results, they revert to their old lifestyle.

JR: We’re in a world of instant gratification. You have to help people realize, and I think that's why we mediate. We must tell them what to expect, have the patience, meditate, be still. That’s one of the things I discovered about bodybuilding, it's like a very deep meditation if it's done right. It's not done properly these days. When you really get into bodybuilding, really get into the rep, really get into your body, you’ll lose yourself. That's meditation right there. The mind is leading, and you want to lead the mind. The mind is always the problem, always. I learned so much about the real world, not the real world in my head.

CB: This is why most people are having trouble with diet and exercise.

JR: This is true, it reminded me that it all begins in your own mind. What you believe is what you get, and if you can’t change how you think and believe, you're not going to move forward. I don't care where you're going if you’re in a rut, you’re better off going any direction just to get in motion. Once in motion, it’s easy to stay in motion. Once you break inertia, things are so much nicer and so much easier. Until then, it’s like your magnetized or stuck to the ground!

CB: You're living the same day over and over, and you're wasting time. That is not living your optimal life that you could be living.

JR: If you're not living your dream, you're not having fun. I tell people if you’re not having fun and alive, what’s the point? No matter what your occupation is, you have to enjoy it! Even if it’s a mundane thing like putting tires on a car, figure out how to make this fun. What could I do to make this enjoyable? It is totally possible because you always can just change your mind. Once you change your mind, go back to the discipline of body building, or meditation, that’s the ticket out.

CB: When did you bring Beth into the company? When did that start?

BR: That started about a year after we started dating, in 2010.

JR: We started working together and I noticed she was very keen; she was very talented at seeing visuals and knowing what she liked. I learned quick that she saw things way better and different than I did. By that I mean she saw if I created a market, she had the eye knowing what the consumer would want. We've always had a very large female and she knew that if I put something together if it was very masculine, it wouldn’t work. She quickly got me on track every time. I don’t mince my words here, but she could see what I could not see! I told her please be blunt, do not tippy toe around because one thing I don’t I don't like is somebody saying, “Well I don’t know, I think it’s ok”. I want to know if this is horrible.

CB: I agree. Honesty is important, even if it stings.

JR: My feelings are not going to get hurt, it’s going to hurt my feelings if you don't tell me. (Cont.)

This just kind of evolved into more and more of us doing things together for the company. We just kept the vision going we expanded outside of just protein powder. We saw a different vision, and that was to bring more peace and love to the world!

CB: Most of our readers are entrepreneurs; we all know working with your spouse can either be great or it can be detrimental to the company. How do you navigate this?

BR: It can be also can be detrimental to your relationship.

CB: Absolutely. What advice would you give to people with partners who are looking to possibly work together? What advice would you give to people who are having a difficult time working together, and it's now affecting their relationship?

BR: First of all, I’ll start by saying I quit a couple of times, actually a handful of times.

JR: This is the secret I’ve always found; no matter what’s happening, no matter what it is, you’re right.

CB: That’s a great idea! You seem to be exactly where you need to be.

BR: I think some people can be in a partnership better than others. I do think that there are some people who don't work well with others. Somebody has to be the deciding vote. When you have two people at an impasse there must be an agreement. We’re a little old fashioned. I feel like that Jay is the leader of our household, he's the leader of our company, he's our spiritual leader in our home, he's the leader of our relationship. Now this doesn't mean I don't have a say, everybody knows I'm super bossy, I make my opinion known. None of us are perfect, we do the best we can, but I trust him. We formed an agreement, and this was Jay’s idea, he says, “I'll tell you what. You be the CEO of the home

and I'll be the CEO of the company.” We've abided by that so far and it's worked for us. Sometimes we have to remind each other.

JR: I don’t question when it comes to home, I might have my little challenges, but we always figure it out.

CB: You both know your roles and you stay in your lane.

BR: Exactly!

JR: We honor each other and respect each other. She’s right, I’m CEO of the company, but I say that God is the CEO, period. That’s my boss, that’s who I look to, that’s who I want guiding me all the way, which is why I meditate or pray. That's the guiding light. If I'm not paying attention, I can't guide my family, or people, or anything. I'm a conduit, let's put it that way. I’m a conduit that’s willing to let God work through me to create, to teach, to share the love to be kind. That's where it is, and it’s always going to be that way.

BR: The other thing we do is there's a quitting time. There's the end of the day, so you don't lay in bed thinking, which I'm guilty of. Jay never breaks this rule - I break it all the time. Jay’s going, “What time is it? Put the phone down. Its time.” Jay’s guilty when we go on date night, something will come up, “Oh this is a just great idea!” and I'm like, “Hold on, time out.” It's very difficult not to crossover and have the line crossed, but we both remind each other. We have rules sometimes on date night that we could talk about hopes, wishes, and dreams; that's my rule. Let's talk about what we want to do someday with whatever.

CB: I want to ask two questions on this topic. First, can you talk about a challenging time you in business? Secondly, I want to hear a great time that you’ve had in business;

Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

one that reminds you why you keep doing what you’re doing.

JR: This biggest challenge I think we’ve over the years, was the rate at which we grew. We grew at a 44% growth rate for twenty consecutive years. We went through eight buildings in a twenty-year span. It was a challenge for me, the biggest challenge I had had was not outgrowing cash. I’d like to grow companies in cash. I don't want it to be leveraged so far that if anything tips, we’re tanking. I never want to get ahead of myself so I would never grow too fast. We grew out of one building every other year, regardless of being in a lease. That was challenging. because it’s always a space issue. That brought me to my knees many times to slow down, be patient, and never get ahead of myself. I'd rather have everybody working to their maximum capacity, including me.

The second challenge for me was probably keeping, as the spokesperson and the marketer, the branded image for the company. Being able to produce, and be the celebrity, and run the company at the same time was the biggest challenge for me simply because of time and relying on others. I probably couldn't oversee as tightly as I could. I’d either be on TV, I'd be on the radio, I'd be traveling. As far as the greatest triumph, I think the first thing that really made me spark was when my CPA called me up and said, “Jay you sitting down? You're officially a millionaire!” This was a long time ago, 25 years ago. It was kind of a pipe dream in the back your head, that’s where I'm going, and then going on to being a multimillionaire and so on. That was one moment I do recall very specifically. The second greatest thing was probably when Beth entered the business. Beth and I could work together simply because I had a partner that loved me and cared about me.

Somebody that wanted to just be by my side and have a wonderful time. She helped me get through some of the worst times in my life and still hold and stay focused. She helped me see beyond at that time, my present mental limitations. “You're far more than diet guru, you’re far more than these things, you are a true guru. You have more to offer and share.”

CB: It's everything. Having a support system, having someone you can lean on emotionally, spiritually, and knowing they truly have your back, is everything.

BR: We bring out the best in out in each other, we complement well, we love each other completely unconditionally. I think Jay is just so much more than what others realize, and if you’ve been in his presence, you do see that and feel that. He just makes people happy; people smile, everyone loves Jay. Everyone loves Jay, and Jay loves everybody. I think that's the message that everyone that has received from Jay, the giver of peace, this is how we all should be! We can be this way, it's a choice.

JR: If you want to feel loved, be love.

CB: Its going back to simplicity. It’s the simplest thing, as humans, we make things so complicated. We love to make things complicated; it does not need to be. Everything is very cut and dry, yet we make it complicated. It's going to be so much better than what you anticipated. Just let it be what it was going to be, and be grateful and happy about it.

BR: Jay says all the time, there is always going to be angst in the world. You can't outrun it.

So, you might as well know that it’s going to happen. How do you choose to live in that world filled with angst? Are you also being all uptight, or are you going to be kind, loving, generous and peaceful?

JR: Fear is the greatest motivator in marketing, you probably know that as well as anyone. If you can get someone afraid, they’ll do anything. Fear of death is the number one, or it might be the fear of public speaking, the second is fear of death. You get someone afraid; you can get them to do anything at all. It keeps them off balance by keeping them afraid and you’ve got them. All I tell people to do is you can overcome your fears by simply not being afraid. Embrace it. It's always self-induced fear. The fear of people are going to make fun of me, or I'm not good enough, or I don’t look good enough. The mind is the one you have to watch out for. It’s a trickster.

CB: Absolutely. That is a great segue into your “Guru Of Peace” and what you're doing now because I love it, and I'm so excited about it. Please explain to everyone what that is, what that moment is about.

JR: I’d be honored to, thank you for asking. I've been very blessed in my life. I’m not going to deny I had to work hard, but I had fun. Is that hard work? No, it’s just work, it’s called dedication and discipline. I worked sixteen hours a day, but I loved it. God blessed me on this journey and in life I'm blessed with the love of my life. I mean it doesn’t get any better that. I've been blessed financially; I've been rewarded that way. I'm blessed with being surrounded by really tight, really good friends that would always be there for me. All these blessings that God has given me, I wanted to give back to the world and I wanted to do that in an unusual or different way.

I'll date myself again here, but in the 1960’s and ‘70s I looked pretty much like I do right now. It was all about peace and love for me; hugs were common. Breaking away from the macho nonsense of what a man isn’t. I’m used to being open, loving, and kind to men, women and children. I knew what it felt like for people and especially for men to be kind to each other, because men generally aren't. They are a little keep you down, they want to keep you in your place. Somone suddenly walked in from the hippie world and were like, “Hey brother, we love you. Thanks for being here. What can we do for you?” I had never heard of that before in my life and all of a sudden there it is; I want more of this! It died down, and I wanted to bring it back. I thought, why would it dwindle? It was a beautiful moment and it just got off course somehow. That’s what I’m doing now, going back in time to bring to the present moment. Everything was just a wonderful period so I’m bringing it to the present moment. (Cont.)

"Each one of us needs to awaken to the present moment into the love that’s within us that God has bestowed upon us and be able to embrace love. Love your mate and not fear anything in the process. I'm starting a movement it's about love, to give love, to be love, to be loving, to be kind; just love the world."

Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

It’s sort of a movement, a “Hang Loose” movement because I feel like the world has become very uptight. People are really nervous and after three years of chronic fear, how do you recover from that?

CB: Absolutely. A lot of people seem to live in a lot of fear, whatever that fear looks like for them. What words of advice could you give people to help move them out of the fear space, and into the fun love space? We also know what that level of fear and anxiety does to your system.

JR: It sinks into your subconscious and suddenly you become skittish of everything. If you think you're going to trust anybody better now than you were before, you’re a fool. You almost can't trust anybody except God, and God will guide you to the people that you can trust. Without that, you’re on your own and you don’t want to be on your own, trust me. You can be consciously loving, and kind, and doing all these things, but if your subconscious in fear mode nothing will improve. You have to align your subconscious with your conscious. Meditation can help bring your mind into a still mode. Once you have a clear view, it becomes a lot easier to see what's in front of you because you're not looking in your rear-view mirror looking backwards at what happened yesterday, or five minutes ago. Does it get any better than it is now? No, it doesn't. When you live in the past, you are living in a non-reality.

CB: That’s a true fear of the future.

JR: You’re living in the fear of the future, and that becomes a world of anxiety. Anxiety is the fear of the future, and depression is the regret of the past. If you want to be here in the now and are full of anxiety or depression, it’s impossible.

That’s where I’m at, I’m starting this movement called the “Hang Loose Movement” and want it to be global, world-wide. I’m producing stickers with my image on it, and we are going to give out a hundred million of stickers. One hundred million stickers out around the world to remind people to hang loose because it's an uptight world. Each one of us needs to awaken to the present moment into the love that’s within us that God has bestowed upon us and be able to embrace love. Love your mate and not fear anything in the process. I'm starting a movement it's about love, to give love, to be love, to be loving, to be kind; just love the world.

CB: And for everyone to just chill out and calm down!

JR: How do we say that? Hang loose.

BR: Teaching people how to hang loose in an uptight world.

JR: This came from my album, “Hang Loose,”, I did a music video. One thing I love to do is to write music and she's got an amazing voice, I soon discovered. We built a recording studio and created an album called “Hang Loose.” It’s the same as the “Hang Loose Movement.” Everything we do is about hanging loose. We discovered her talent. She’s an unbelievable singer, and I love to write songs and put them together. An entire movement based on hanging loose. Using whatever talents God gave us, so we’ve got each element. We just finished the music video, it took five months to edit, but it is up on www.jayrobb.com.

CB: I'm excited, and I’m sure our readers are too!

Hang Loose with Beth & Jay Robb

JR: Beth made it happen, and her editing and stunt man, Nathan. He’s an amazing videographer and amazing at marketing. Those two really made this sing.

CB: We’re really excited to hear it and see it that's for sure.

BR: You’re going to love it.

JR: The interesting part about that and I didn't mention that in business is the one thing about business that makes a person extremely successful is to one, love what you're doing and make sure that helps people, and I mean really helps people. I don't think I never want to be in a business that I made millions or billions on that had some sort of detrimental effect on other people. I want everything I do to be positive and happy. I will say no matter how many hours I've ever worked or how many hours it took to do the music video, I had a blast the entire time.

CB: I want to point out, you really walk your talk. Your space is really chill, the backyard is a huge tiki lounge, and it's really the most relaxed, calm, cool space I've ever been in at someone’s house. I want to point that out, because there's a lot of people that their brand or their conversation is one thing and then their real life is something else completely different. You guys really are what you're talking about.

JR: We bought a property on the water, we are very fortunate, in the Palm Beach area. We bought a fixer and renovated. She’s very good at design, not just can she sing and be like gorgeous, she does everything! I’m just like in awe of her.

We designed a property that was based on Bali. In other words, I want to come home from work, or work at home, and dive into a Tiki covered entrance to the Bali resort so that’s what we created. It’s now the Guru Resort so here we are.

BR: Wherever you arrive or see, we wanted it to feel like an island. We wanted it to feel like Bali.

CB: I love that. What can both of you give our readers, personally and professionally, that might be struggling in finding a good mate or building a successful business?

JR: Let God be your guiding light, always. It’s too easy to let your mind guide you down the path of some sort of ego trip, or greedy situation, or some sort of self-gratification. It's just too easy, the mind is tricky. I look at the mind the same as the devil, it will take you down the wrong path every time. So, get in tune with God and let God be your guiding voice. Listen to the voice, don't be like praying all the time and then just go off in your life. You’ve got to listen; he’s speaking so you just have to be quiet and let God let you know. They will speak in clear terms if you're quiet. If not, it's easy to get sidetracked.

BR: Also, always trust God’s timing; you’ll just know. You’ll know for sure without a doubt when someone is the right person, don't settle. I think I get so frustrated, especially my girls and their friends, they just settle. Be patient, it's all going to work out when God wants it to. If you’re in the wrong relationship, this is my opinion, get out because God doesn't want you in the wrong relationship. I used to tell my friends when they were in the wrong relationship, I said, “Picture this, you're in your home and you have two parking spots outside your home.

You're in one parking spot and then whoever you’re with is in the other parking spot. If you're with the wrong person and they’re in that parking spot and the right one comes circling the block and pulls up, and that parking spot is occupied, they are going to drive right past. Now you’ve lost the opportunity to be with the right person.

CB: I love that analogy. You both have such great wisdom to impart. Do you have anything to leave everyone with?

JR: My last words are just: be loving, be kind. Love everyone, look people in the eye, don't be afraid! Just know that when you look at someone, you're really looking at yourself.

You can see yourself in everyone. It all works out very well.

BR: Always try to smile, make eye contact, say a kind of word, those kinds of things. You never know whose day you're going to uplift just by that gesture.

JR: To be honest with you, I'm trying to help people put the peace, love, and fun back in their life. That’s what I really do; that's why we're here.

CB: Spreading the love and peace. Thank you both again for taking the time, it was such a lovely interview. Make sure you find Beth and Jay Robb online, and follow them for more peace, love and Hanging Loose.