"Remember that you will become like the five people you spend the most time with."

Our guest this week is AJ Richards. AJ is a combat veteran, entrepreneur, and CEO of Sustenance Earth, an early-stage SAAS marketplace that plans to connect consumers directly to local food producers, starting with beef. His passion for ag stems from his family ranching background in Southern Utah, followed by an enlistment in the Army National Guard and a deployment to Iraqi from 2005-2006. Like many veterans, AJ struggled to find his purpose following military service, spending time selling pest control products, working in the oil field, self-development coaching, managing a USDA beef processing plant, and starting a CrossFit style fitness competition.

The quote above comes from a realization during this search that he was not surrounded by the type of people who would have a positive impact on this life. So he made a change.

In this episode, AJ and I discuss the myriad of business opportunities he’s been a part of, some of them unsuccessful, and the lessons learned from those experiences. It was enjoyable following this story during our conversation where he never lost sight of his desire to be back in agriculture.

Sustenance Earth was born out of those experiences as well as the struggles we all saw with the food supply chain during COVID. Listen in as AJ describes his path to be the “Airbnb” for the food supply chain.

You can follow AJ on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. He's also started a discord group geared towards helping producers find interested buyers. The group can be found here - www.feedthepeoplebythepeople.com