Foreign. Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now, here's your host, Blake Elsner. Most people don't know what they want to do. At 16 years old, today's guest already has a product in Walmart. Think about that for a second. While most teenagers are focused on what comes next, he's already building a brand, learning business and making things happen at a level many adults never reach. Today we're finding out how exactly he did this. What's up, everybody? And welcome back to Elevate with Elsner. This show is all about elevating mindset, your business and your life through conversations with people who are doing extraordinary things. Today's guest is proof that age determined does not always equal impact. At just 16 years old, he's already making waves as an entrepreneur and has successfully gotten his product into Walmart. Please welcome Mr. Fresh Global. How are you? How are you? How are you? What's going on? My man? Thanks for joining us. No problem. Thanks. Thanks for having me. This is, this is a great platform, you know, just to share some amazing experiences. Absolutely. So give us a quick little, you know, you're, you haven't been on the planet very long, you know, years old. So give us a little, you know, take on, maybe take us back to, you know, maybe five, six years ago when you were maybe 10, 11. How did this come up with the, with the business of what you wanted to do in life? Yes. So I'll introduce myself. So my name is Joshua Danrich, aka Mr. Freshman, and I'm the only 16 year old entrepreneur in the entire world or my own air freshener business now officially in Walmart. My air fresheners are designed to eliminate odors from your cars and homes and offices or anywhere. And I have six different scents and they're amazing. And how I got started is. It all started my love and passion for cars. I loved cars and then I wanted to own my own luxury sports car dealership at 10 years old. And then I asked my mom and she was like, no, Josh, you can't own your own luxury sports car dealership at just 10 years old. And since I love STEM, which is science, technology, technology, engineering and math, I asked her, can I formulate my own luxury sports car air fresheners? And then she said yes. So now working from one point to the next point to get to a luxury sports car dealership and to be an engineer designing my own luxury sports cars and it's been an amazing journey and experience and taking you back to 11 years old, 10 years old. I started with grind, hard work, passion and drive because I knew what I wanted. I was so passionate. I had over 4, 500 different Hot Wheels in my room laying around. And one day I had to ask my mom because she was a business consultant. I was like, mom, like, you help other people start their own businesses. Why don't you help me start my own business? And it went further from there. That's awesome. You know that little tidbit where you throw like your mom's a business consultant. You're like, man, it's right here. Here's. This is my ticket. 2 million bucks right next to me. That's really awesome. So that's what was like the first thing you ever sold as a young kid. Was it Hot Wheels? The first thing I've ever sold was actually, I think it was Hot Wheels. I had so many Hot Wheels that when I was like, I think seven years old, different people that would come to my house, my friends, they were like, Josh, you want a highway? I'm like, you got to buy that. I want some money, you know. But they, they bought different high wheels off of me when I was seven years old, you know, because they, they loved cars too. That's, you know, that's really neat. Well, but how did you keep going? Like, you know, you have other kids around you. It's a completely different mindset. At 16 years old, 15, 14, you know, people are doing, the kids are doing totally different things. Here you are wanting to build a business. How did you, you know, how do you stay consistent in trying to accomplish that at that, at this age level? How I stay consistent is that when I see the other kids around me, I see that some of them may want to be, I guess, like what everyone else wants to be. They want to be a football player, they want to be a basketball player. And I'm not saying don't be that, but I'm saying with me, I think outside the box. I want to think outside the box and I want to motivate and inspire kids that you can be bigger than anything that the world tells you you can be. I'm in, I'm a business owner and I own an air freshener company that's in Walmart. You would Never expect a 16 year old kid entrepreneur from St. Louis, Missouri to be in Walmart. I'm thinking outside the box and I'm teaching the generation to think outside the box as well, to, to aspire to be whatever you want to be. And not only when it comes to football or basketball or sports. That's a plan A. Always have a plan B. You know, I wanted to be A. When I was younger, I wanted to be a police officer, I wanted to be a firefighter. I had all these aspirations and what I wanted to be, and those are my plan A's. And then I came up with my plan B. And here's my plan B. Do I have a plan C? Yes, because then also we have another company, which is Pet Wipes, that we're releasing soon, and that will go into veterinarians and a lot of different places as well, because the pet economy is huge. That. That's a. It's a huge market. Wow, that's pretty cool. I have to do a whole another podcast on that one that. Yeah. Wow. But, you know, let's really dive into the whole part of, I would say the Walmart thing. Man, that is truly impressive. Like, this is a, you know, it's a, it's a impressive biz like the Walmart everybody knows, like, to get into it. To be the youngest one with a product inside Walmart is special. How did you do this? So how I did it is I went to Benville, Arkansas, to the open call and to share my experience. The open call was amazing. The people there were great. It was such a great experience. Like Walmart, it was so energetic. Like, when you go there, I mean, they, they want you to win. And they saw, they saw the vision in me and they wanted me to win that golden ticket. And it was an amazing experience. So I pitched the three categories. The home essentials category, the air freshener category, and the candles category as well. And I won the automotive category. I went in with a dream, my product and a whole lot of passion. I believed in myself. I sealed a deal in my products or Walmart stores. But when I went in, I had to know my pitch. I had to sell myself. I had to share with them the drive and the passion that I have, that this is not only just a city company, a state company, this is worldwide. I want to go worldwide with my brand, and I am worldwide. And I, I left with a golden ticket because I knew before I went into Walmart, I was going to leave with this golden ticket. I was going to get in Walmart, and I just want to share that to other young entrepreneurs or young people out there, that if you believe it, if you, if you can tell your mind you believe it, you can achieve it. You know, I bet one of the hardest parts was just getting yourself to get there. Right. Once you're there, you probably, you had it like, like you're telling these, you know, these other kids like, hey, it's kind of like going to the gym, right. The hardest part sometimes just showing up to the gym, right? You're right. Once you get there going, I feel like it's kind of like your story here with, with how you, you know, got the golden ticket. That's, that's cool. Like did. Was there a certain panel that you sat in front of? I didn't sit in a certain, I didn't sit in front of any panels at Walmart. There were other different, bigger companies that sat in panels in front of Walmart like just telling like what they've done in Walmart and how many sales they've had. Because Walmart is about numbers and mainly the customer matters most. So leading up to Walmart it was actually, I think it was a four or five hour drive to Benville, Arkansas. So I had to, you know, study my pitch the entire ride and you know, I was a little discouraged because you know, there's seven, there's 700 other businesses at Walmart pitching their own product. So I had to go up against other companies to get the golden ticket, you know, and, and I had the drive and passion in me. With my mom alongside Mama Fresh, she told me that I can do it and believe in myself and have the confidence. She's instilled the confidence inside of me because Mama Fresh is the foundation of Mr. Fresh. That's, that's all, that's true confidence like that you, you walk in and, and show some confidence behind your product clearly, like a product that's new, it's not gonna have sales. Right, right. And you gotta really, yeah, you really gotta prove yourself and, and how committed you are to this product. So how many people actually went home with a golden ticket with like a new product? They walk in, is there like, let's see. Obviously they don't. So everyone how it works is Walmart's open call. It's a very, it's very, very rigorous. You go there, they tell you what's going to happen in the upcoming days and then the first day is basically a networking day where you can network with all different vendors that are across the world. Like people from across the world come there to the open call to pitch their brand. And some people are repeat golden ticket winners because they would come there the first year and pitch and win and the second year they have a new product and pitch and win. So that can be a first term repeat people. And then on the other side is just you know, normal businesses coming there to pitch your product and showing their numbers, showing their e commerce, what they can do, how they can benefit, showing them like a kind of like a scale and a prototype of how it will look inside of their store, different things of that nature. And you know the first day is a networking day, the second day is the pitch day. So you're pitching the second day to that, that category that you're looking to get in and there's like when you go on Walmart you go in, it's nice and then there's a hallway full of rooms that you pitch in of different categories. And how many people want. I don't know off the top of my head but I think maybe a hundred different businesses won a golden ticket. Not, not, not that many. When there's no. And I don't, I don't know, like, like I'm just you know, guessing but from what I saw it was around like a hundred in that, in that range. Wow, that, you know, that's impressive. And so you get the golden ticket and, and now coming up with I guess products, right? You gotta, you gotta stock the shelves. So how do you go about that? So after I won the golden ticket then the work, like they say, after you win the work begins. Now after that there's a nine month process of a series of things you have to do to get in Walmart. And with stocking we have you know, a manufactured company that manufactures everything for us out in Kansas City. You know my products are made with 100 essential oils but I can't tell you every ingredient that's in it because that's you know, a trade secret. But we do have a company out based out of Kansas City that does it for us and they manufacture, they do everything for Walmart and they send everything out for Walmart. So you know, Walmart's big rigs comes to pick up our amazing products and to every store that we're in. Yeah, that's pretty neat. So I, you know these, these products that you know, they're all not. Tell us a little bit about like what truly makes this unique. Like you said, it's the oils. All this stuff give, dive into that a little bit. First off what makes it unique is I'm 16 and not only now you have other companies out here like Febreze, Febreze Glade and Little Tree and I feel like they're selling just air. I'm selling Passion. I'm selling impact. I'm selling that when you buy this bottle, not only will, will you get fresh, you will think fresh. Because I'm telling you that like in this bottle is, it's, it's me. It's everything that my hard work and my talent and, and who I am is in this bottle. And I want to steal that inside of them as well. Not only that is with the air fresheners. People want air fresheners that last. I made them with essential oils so they last. When you spray other air fresheners, they may last for maybe, maybe a few hours. Mine lasts for days. Two to three sprays last for three to five days because it's made with essential oils. And how I came up with the scents is I came up with scents that men and women like. Like Cool Breeze, for example, is a cool, fresh new car smell that everyone likes. And then you have black gold. It smells just like black ice. Little hanging tree. You have baby powder. Some people use baby powder, you know, for the bathrooms. Then you have yellow rose. Some people say this is the old school smell. And then you have jasmine for women. And then you have vanilla for seasonal. Because people like vanilla during the Christmas times. So vanilla's big. Yes. What's your favorite? My favorite is between Cool Breeze and vanilla. I, and I might go with vanilla because I like vanilla a lot. Vanilla is like a sweet, kind of like fruity smell. And then Cool Breeze is like that when you step into your car, you're just like, like a brand new car. Like, that's, that's my opinion on my favorite. And when I think of like the passion and you know, what you've put into this, clearly, like, you know, you could have created something that just sits, you know, comes out of a wrapper and you hang it on your, you know, your blinker. The problem about that is it's stuck in one spot. That smell is stuck right there. Yeah, it's like sometimes it's overwhelming, like, because it's not spread out. Right. So on top of that, you don't know what's in it. Right. You know, what's, I mean, you could, but you know, this is natural oil. Like, this is all, all you'd ever want to really breathe in terms of air fresheners in your car. Right. So that's, that's truly. I'm gonna have to pick up all the flavors because I, I think I'm gonna have to do not a taste test, but a smell test. Right. We don't wanna taste it. Right. It's probably so good. You probably do wanna taste it. It probably smells so good. The vanilla. The vanilla, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So what, at what point did you like actually think this could become like a huge part? At the point I really thought that this can become bigger than just what it, what it was in St. Louis is when I went on Good Morning America. So, you know, to tell the story of just how I, how everything went is when I started at 10, it was vendoring events every single weekend while I'm in school. And the summer, I gave up a lot of summer. So, you know, just telling people out there is that with business comes sacrifice. If you want to make it to the top, you want to be the big dog, you have to sacrifice a lot in your life to, you know, scale the company that you want to scale. But with me, when I went on Good Morning America, that was a life changing experience to me because I got to go out and you know, when different celebrities go on like slap people's hands and hands, I went in a line doing that to a lot of different fans out there. It was amazing. I got to meet celebrities, I got to being in a camera in front of millions of people who get to experience Mr. Fresh. And you know, it started with vendor events, it started with trade shows. It started with going out of town to sell my products, you know, getting on newspapers, publications, speaking to schools. I've spoken over 3,000 youth promoting my product, being consistent. Consistency is key. And then Good Morning America, then it went to Access Hollywood and then it came back to St. Louis that I got on the news stations here again. Mr. Fresh, like you've only been in business for one year and you're already a Good Morning America. How is this possible? Well, it's because I'm consistent and I'm driven and this is what I want to do. So the same thing for anyone else out there. If you want to do it, you can do it. Continuing on, then schnooks called me and I was like, oh, oh my goodness. Like, like the, the friendliest store in town. My home, my start called, called my phone, you know, asking for me to come up, to come up their corporation and pitch my product during, during the COVID times. And then on top of that 60 second docs, they're also another photographer Hollywood company that records different companies across the world, different people across the world, unique people. And they came and recorded me and my story and I went viral. Hundreds of thousands of likes across all different platforms, millions of views and that was, that was amazing. And now with the Walmart deal, I'm continuing to be consistent and I'm turning on for my city. I'm the prodigy of St. Louis. I'm the future of the generation. I love that. You really are like, yeah, to think about it, to like I was telling my six year old about this and I'm like man, 10 years, like that's crazy. Like to see what you've built and, and thinking, thinking about him and all that. So you know, that's, it really is impressive. And to think like 16 years old inside of a Walmart is, I mean that's beyond Shark Tank. Like that's, that's, you know, that's you know, stuff that, yeah, it's gonna take you, take you to the top real quick. And props to your mom for, you know, putting in the work to help you and do all this because it's, it's incredible. So what, how did you like, how did you balance school? Because you're talking about school, you got to do school in summer, you know, you don't have time probably to play sport, you don't have time to be kind of like a normal kid. But you're setting up your future so early that, right. It's, I mean it's, you know, it's, it's impressive. Wise words. Someone told me is work now, play later. Because if I want my business not only to just, I want my business to be more just an air fresher company, it's going to be air freshener company. I'm also going to do motivational speaking. I'm going to inspire the youth, I'm going to start a foundation, I'm going to give back. Like there's more to just air freshener. And how do I balance school is I go to school, I lock in on my grades and my work and then after school it's business and then studies during, later during the night. But you know, the school hours between 3 to 7, that's all business. Responding to emails, you know, calling people back that I couldn't call, you know, because my mom does call different people during the day and I do have an assistant that does things as well. But you know, I understand that I am sacrificing a lot being a young entrepreneur, but I'm doing it for a reason. I'm doing it for a purpose. Because you know, as you can see generation, there's a lot of stuff happening in generation that, that may not be good but I want to shake up the generation and tell them what they can do. And I Say hardware beats talent. Because if you're a football player, a lot of people want to do sports. So if you're a football player, if you're an athlete, if you have a business, if you're on the field, if you're on the court and you're putting in 100 more hours than the person who has the talent and you're putting in the hard work, you're going to beat that talent on the court because you're putting in more consistent work. So I understand sports, but I do work out, you know, I'm a fun kid. You know, I still go to the gym, I still hang out with friends. Sometimes I still go to the field. And. And because I have an arm, you know, I still go to field, throw my football around, soccer, still go to baseball games. You know, I still. I still have some fun. I'm a fun. I'm a fun person, you know? Yeah, you're going to the Cardinal game tonight? Yeah, I'm going to the Cardinals games now. You know, shout out to the Cardinals. Yeah, that's right. No, you know, it. The thing about what really kind of comes to my mind too when, when you sit here and talk is you have a schedule. And I feel like some of the most successful entrepreneurs, some of the most sex successful people that I have ever talked to run into met. They all have a schedule and it's down to an absolute where there is no minutes wasted. And I feel like that's what you have tackled. Yes, yes, I do have a schedule. I do have a schedule that I'm on every single day. And also I have a schedule for. I'm booked out for the next five weeks of doing pop ups at all the snooks in St. Louis. So. Heck, yeah. So when's the first pop up? Tell us about that first pop up. Let's see. First pop up, I believe is June 12th at Zoom Gas station. Then I have another one at the pear schnooks, June 13. Then I have another one the next week, I believe is Westfall Schnooks. That is coming up. It's like June 27th and I'm popping up at. There's Juneteenth also. That's a huge event that's on Washington Avenue downtown. I'm just popping on my schedule real quick. That's. That's. Yeah, that's impressive. All these, all these pop ups. You're gonna be out there. But it's cool because people get to. They get to meet you, they get to meet the product and the man behind the product, like, that's the coolest part. It's amazing. So, yeah, June 19th, June 20th, June 26th and June 27th. So. Wow. Yeah, we'll be out there. So I'm sure. I'm sure if they, you know, follow you on Instagram, et cetera, they can find those dates because, yes, I'm gonna. I'm gonna have to come out to one of those and. Absolutely. Come out. Come out to the parish next. Yeah, June 13th. I'll have to do that. Absolutely. Right. Right after this gets released, we'll push it out and we'll tell everyone, get on out there, and there'll be plenty of. Plenty of opportunities. So what would you say, like, the biggest misconception people have about success at a young age is. One of the best misconceptions of success at a young age is that it can't be done. People think that if you're, you know, 10 years old, if you're maybe even 18 years old, that you can't be the top of the world. You know, I feel that if you are passionate enough, if you are driven enough, one. All it takes is one person to see that passion, that drive and that spark in your eye. It takes one person to change your life. So that's one of the huge misconceptions. And what I say is age is no barrier to success. Anything is possible at a young age. You know, that's. That's one of the huge misconceptions. Yeah, that is. I. I would. I would totally agree that, you know, for. But to figure this stuff out, you know, you have to really. I think it's going to be really cool to see you blossom in the. In the speaker world because you're going to be able to go talk to young kids all around and say, like, you said it like, this truly is a. Is. Is a route that I took that you can absolutely take, and it's. It's easily done. So that's really cool. I'm excited to see you blossom into a speaker as well, because that's. That's impact right there, too, so. And with also Mr. Fresh faith. My acronym for Mr. Fresh. It stands for faith to rescue every son from hurt. So I'm rescuing all of the. All the men, all the boys out here, and even girls that it's okay. Like, you know, like, you can be anything. Like, don't let anyone create like a. Like a. Like a. What is a lock on your age, because you can do it right now. Start now. Because you know what? Every time I wake up, there's four words that would change my life. Like I said on SEO bucket list, I do it anyways. Do it anyways. Even if you're tired, even if you, even if you're hurting, if you have a headache, do it anyways because it will pay off in the end. Yeah. So that's so true. And obviously what you've done is truly incredible. Being a 16 year old entrepreneur. Yeah. Inside of Walmart and inside of locally St. Louis schnooks, that's, you know, it's incredible. On the run as well. And mobile. That's right. And some other gas stations, right? Yes, yes. Mobile. On the run. Phillips 66. Yes. Those two as well. That's, that's really, really cool stuff. So you'll start to see these products pop up and I'm really excited to see, you know, your next product. I'm sure those are going to be another trip down to Walmart. Yes. Yeah, they will. 100. The power up economy is a huge economy. And I'm coming next for Pet Wipe, the pet web category. I'm coming for you. Wow. That's right. I got two doodles at home. So I know how that, that economy is. Absolutely. So let's do a quick little rapid fire to close this out. You want to, you want to play, play along with this. Let's do it. All right. Early bird or night owl for Mr. Early Bird. Oh, early bird. I love that. Favorite entrepreneur. Favorite entrepreneur. Let's see. Mark Cuban. Oh, I love that. Biggest inspiration. Biggest inspiration. Tyler Perry. Not your mom. Right there. My biggest mama. Fresh is the biggest. Richard. But I was, I was, you know, just going for different celebrities. I know I'm giving you. I'm getting in trouble. What's your, you got a favorite book? Favorite book. Let's see, let's see. It's a book by Maxine Clark, the owner of Builder Bear. Her book. Her book. I, I forgot off the top of my head what it's called. But there's also another book. It's called Starting a Business for Dummies. Right on the floor right here. There we go. I mean this, this is, this guy's giving us all the tips and tricks. I mean, that is truly, truly incredible. All right, last one. One word that describes you. Passionate. Love that. That's passionate about his product. The only way. Passionate, driven, consistent, discipline. Those are the only terms that'll get you inside of a Walmart at 16 years old. I can tell you that. So, you know, I really appreciate you coming on here and I think one of the biggest takeaways from today's conversation is that success doesn't just ask for your age. Right. It asks for action. And I think you yourself didn't wait, didn't wait for permission, didn't wait till you were older. And you certainly didn't wait till everything was perfect. So props to you, my man. Thank you so much. Absolutely. So anybody wants to go buy his products, we can find him in Walmarts around St. Louis, Arkansas, snooks, mobile on the run, Phillips 66. You're going to see his products in a lot more places. And all these pop ups, you can find him on Instagram. What's your Instagram handle? My Instagram is Mr. Fresh Global. Follow me on Mr. Fresh Global. I'm doing some big things in St. Louis and last but not last but not least last words is that if I can do it, so can you. The sky is not the limit, it's only the view. Keep striving, keep going and you will succeed and your dreams will come true with hard work and determination. And make sure to ride fresh or Mr. Fresh all day. Of course. I love that man. You were, you were crushing it. Keep, keep going. And I think you're, you're giving us a lesson in life and business that, that all of us can take something from. So thank you for joining us on the show today. No problem. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Make sure you, like, subscribe, share this episode and send it to someone who needs a reminder that it's never too early or too late to start building something meaningful. Until next time, keep elevating. One love. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. 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