Digital Social Hour
From Rock Bottom to Millions: Khalil Rafati’s Journey | Khalil Rafati DSH #1318
Sat, 12 Apr 2025
From rock bottom to building a multimillion-dollar brand, Khalil Rafati’s story is nothing short of extraordinary. 🌟 On this episode of Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, we dive into Khalil’s incredible journey from battling addiction and homelessness to becoming the founder of SunLife Organics and changing lives worldwide. 💪✨ Discover how Khalil turned his pain into purpose, the power of gratitude, and his mission to inspire others to chase their dreams. From his relentless grind building a juice empire to his transformative trip to Japan in search of the best matcha, this episode is packed with valuable insights and heartwarming moments. 🌿🍵 Don’t miss Khalil’s candid reflections on overcoming hardships, embracing accountability, and the importance of aligning with positivity and light. 🙌 His story proves that no matter where you start, you can achieve greatness with determination and resilience. 🚀 Tune in now and join the conversation! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🎙️🔥 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:33 - Best Matcha Discovery 06:06 - Khalil's Journey to Homelessness 10:45 - Money vs. Happiness 14:24 - Seeking Divine Help at 33 20:35 - The Impact of Judging Others 26:23 - Supporting the Homeless 27:03 - From $200 to $11,000 Daily 32:41 - Profitability Timeline 37:09 - Escaping Maslow's Hierarchy 40:24 - Mike's White House Experience 45:34 - Mike's Take on Donald Trump 49:20 - Political Insights 55:17 - Changing the World Together 01:01:31 - Finding Khalil 01:02:21 - Khalil’s Inspirational Message APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Khalil Rafati https://www.instagram.com/khalilrafati SPONSORS: NORTHWEST REGISTERED AGENT: https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/socialhour LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ #KhalilRafati #DigitalSocialHour #SeanKelly #Podcast #Inspiration #SuccessStory #OvercomingAdversity #SunLifeOrganics #Entrepreneurship #Matcha #Gratitude #SelfGrowth #spiritualawakening #lifecoaching #khalilrafatijourney #sunlifeorganics #selfimprovement
Chapter 1: What is the story behind Khalil Rafati's matcha discovery?
That'd be amazing. All right, guys. Got Khalil here with our Sun Life drinks, my man. Cheers. Cheers. Man, these are so good. Thank you, buddy. I'm a big matcha guy. It's grown on me the past couple years. I love matcha. I used to be coffee, but I love matcha now. When I first tried it, I hated it.
I didn't get it. The guy from the Chili Peppers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, when we first opened, he was like, you have to have matcha. And I'm like, matcha? What is that? I didn't even know what it was. ordered a couple kilos of it, put it on the menu, created a smoothie. Nobody wanted it. This is 13 years ago, 14 years ago.
And then I was in New York eight years ago, right when the matcha craze started to happen. And I saw Chacha Matcha and Matcha Bar and I flew back home and then flew my crew out. And I was like, guys, this is going to be a huge trend. We need to study this. We need to find the best of the best of the best. We need to capitalize on this opportunity. And so they went home.
I went to Japan twice in search of this mythical, the best matcha on the planet. And I was in this region called Kagoshima and nobody spoke English. And it wasn't like you can just roll up and like buy shit. You have to win over the tea master before you can even go to the factory. Yes. Wow. And it's very formal. And they had to train me to like...
When he goes to hand me his business cards, because people still use business cards there, you have to take it with both hands and you have to grab both corners like that. You can't go like that. You can't go like, it was so weird. And the interview was going terrible. And my outfit was, I think, a bit obnoxious and he wasn't liking me.
And at a certain point, I'm just like, fuck it, I'm going to throw a Hail Mary. And I'm like, what does he like better? Because he kept talking about the matcha bushes, the leaves and all that. And I was like, what does he like better, the matcha bushes or his wife? Yeah. Which was like, you know, the interpreter was like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm like, ask him.
And he asked him and there was like a pregnant pause and the guy just fucking busts out laughing, gets up, puts his arm around me, literally walks me over to his home, which I didn't even realize we were at his home. Ugh. introduces me to his family, keeps talking in Japanese. I have no fucking idea what's going on. And the interpreter is just like, like nodding his head. He's like, you're in.
Oh my God. That's legendary. Yeah. So we got this matcha. It's from Kagoshima, Japan. It's the region where the last samurai ruled. Wow. Yeah.
That's historic. Why is Japan known for matcha? What's so special about their environment?
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Chapter 2: How did Khalil Rafati's past experiences lead to homelessness and addiction?
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as a young man in search of fortune and fame and went to California and did a pretty good job initially. Got my SAG card, got into a rock and roll band, blah, blah, blah. But unfortunately, took a left turn
and uh and and wound up you know just losing everything and and and wound up on the streets addicted to heroin addicted to um cocaine crack and lost everything in the process of trying to find that happiness through money fame success whatever wow um yeah it was fucking horrible That sounds crazy. Yeah. Was it a gradual buildup or was it all... It was. I mean, you know, drug addiction is...
it's like uh there's a honeymoon period where you're just partying and you're dating models and actresses and you're hanging out at clubs and and you're doing drugs and everything seems great and and there's definitely a honeymoon period it's about a three-year honeymoon period and then um and then as the drugs got heavier and more consistent and the darkness began to enter and then all of a sudden it's just like having a rug pulled out from under you like like addiction
will rob you of your soul without your consent and and and that's what happened so i i went from a young ambitious man you know super insecure um embarrassed of who i was parents were immigrants both from different countries different languages different religions If that wasn't bad enough, having immigrant parents in rural Ohio where everyone was fucking blonde hair, blue eyes, good looking.
And you got bullied a lot growing up. I did. Yeah, I did. I just didn't fit in. I didn't have any. I didn't have any skills like I didn't have any. I was terrible at sports.
terrible and as a man that's yeah you'll get ridiculed for that yeah um i was shaped weird like very like long torso short legs large skull so kids mercilessly made fun of me called me names called me charlie brown or pumpkin head or yeah it was fucking brutal i mean it's funny now but like at the time like it was it was brutal like i i hated myself i developed such immense body dysmorphia.
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Chapter 3: Does money equal happiness according to Khalil?
yeah yeah yeah it was it was a lot it was it was there was a lot of pain there and a lot of confusion and i didn't understand like other people like seem to have these good families and they play catch in the yard or they would like you know boy scouts or camping or whatever like nothing could be further from the reality that i was living the violence and the neglect and the abuse and um
I just felt like a real piece of shit. So running to Hollywood to become famous because that's going to fix me and I'm going to become rich and famous and that's going to fix me, which is interesting because you think about how many people we hear about that actually do become famous and kill themselves or they become drug addicts or both. And when I was... I'll jump forward for a moment.
But when I was... I think I was 45 years old. Do you know who Rick Rubin is? Yes. The podcaster, right? Yeah. I know him as a podcaster. Yeah. He's a music producer. And he was a customer and a friend and a bit of a mentor. And I had just sold a piece of my company for... Of Sun Life? Yeah. For me, for a fucking... Like I was rich, you know, for, for me it was a multimillion dollar amount.
And I was like, so like blown away that I didn't even want to deposit the check because I wanted to just like hold it and keep looking at it. It like symbolized something. And, uh, I kept taking pictures of it and eventually I deposited it, deposited the check and, And then a couple days later, I sunk into one of the worst depressions I've ever had. Wow, that fast? Yeah. Yeah.
And I was in Pasadena with Rick and we were going to Dave Asbury's conference or whatever. We were with Wim Hof and we were going to introduce Wim Hof to Dave Asbury. And I was walking behind Rick and I said, Rick, I'm really depressed. And he just, he's a man of few words. And I said, like, I'm like really fucking depressed, like suicidally depressed.
And he stops and he looks at me and he goes, you just got a lot of money, right? And I go, yeah. He goes, are you newly single? I go, yeah. And he said, so you got to experience and realize what very few people will ever realize. And I'm like, which is? And he said, success doesn't equal happiness. And he just kept walking. Wow. And I'm like, it doesn't? And he didn't even respond back.
He just kept walking. We went, we had some burgers and whatever. But
yeah success doesn't equal happiness money doesn't equal happiness money is going to amplify who you are money is going to make whatever you got going on become bigger that's why when you see people win the lottery it it often ends so tragically that's why when you see people become very famous very quickly and become very wealthy very quickly or both
you see it end very tragically because it's just an amplification. And yeah, by the grace of God, I was able to get past the childhood, get past... The addiction, which most people don't. I was 33 years old when I finally just literally got on my knees and asked God for help. And I don't even know what that means. I didn't even know who I was praying to or what I was praying to.
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Chapter 4: How did Khalil find divine help and turn his life around at 33?
Not a lot of people will ever get to that realization, though. They won't take accountability.
Most people don't. Having sovereignty over yourself and taking responsibility over yourself, I think that paradigm shift is one of the most underrated superpowers ever.
there is yeah and hate him or love him i actually learned that shift partially from andrew tate did you really yeah because he always talks about taking accountability for your own actions yeah and he's very open about all the attacks on him you know he's somewhat accountable for that yeah because of what he's doing on social media yeah i don't know him well i've seen clips here and there some of them i actually do find quite inspiring um but i will say if
Number one, if he wasn't successful and he wasn't really good looking and really fit because he is, nobody would be talking shit about him. Facts. Yeah. Yeah. So Andrew Tate, love him or hate him, is a very, very intelligent, very, very attractive, very fit man. Not really my cup of tea. But if I think there's something wrong with him, then there's something wrong with me. Projection, right?
Yeah. I mean, I was the classic as a kid growing up. If a guy was better looking than me, oh, he's gay. If a guy's in better shape than me, he's on steroids. I had to create a story as to why somebody else had something that I didn't have. I played victim and engaged and learned helplessness my entire life up until I was 33, 34 years old. Yeah.
I did it to about 25. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a good strategy for growth.
No. And what's amazing, and you're more proof of it than I am, is that we can literally do anything. We can fucking do anything. That little spark, that thing that, you know, when I got on my knees and I prayed to God and I reached towards my divinity, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, there's darkness, which is the absence of God, and then there's light.
And if we reach towards that light and we try to align ourselves with that light, we're going to grow and we're going to prosper and we're going to, and we're going to do good, whatever that is. I don't even know what that means. And I don't, I don't consider myself a religious man. I don't consider myself a spiritual man, but I pray a lot and I ask God for help.
And I start out each day with gratitude. I literally just walk. I get up in the morning, it's 5 a.m., and I just go outside and I say, God, thank you. Thank you for the roof over my head. Thank you for the clean water that I get to bathe in. Thank you for my amazing friends. Thank you. You know, I start out with the basic stuff and I begin to develop an attitude of gratitude.
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Chapter 5: Why is taking accountability important for personal growth?
Man, I love that story. $200 a day to 11K. And that's in two years, you said? Four years. Oh, four years. Yeah. Still insane. All from good old word of mouth too.
Word of mouth. Yeah. Networking just, yeah, just getting up every day and you just keep going. You get up every day. I think the thing with, I see so many people that are taller than me, smarter than me, you know, more educated than me and like sort of stuck in life. Because they come up to a problem and they just accept no as an answer. They don't keep going. Right. You got to keep going.
You know, I mean, when you were starting your thing, did you ever imagine that it was going to be like this?
Not this quickly. Yeah. Yeah. And it was tough at first. I lost money for six months and was almost, almost quit a few times, you know?
Yeah.
But I didn't.
Yeah. We lost money for 10 years. Jeez. 10 years. Yeah, I'm complaining about six months. 10 years. Wow. The last, the last year of losses was 2019, ironically enough, right before COVID. We lost $1.6 million. Holy crap. If you want to start a food business and you want to do 100% certified organic and only have the best of the best of the best ingredients...
You're not going to make a lot of money. You might not make any money at all. I mean, we operated an 8% profit margin. Wow. Now, we'll do $23 million in sales. So, 8% of $23 million, I can't do math, but it's pretty good, right? And the company has been profitable since 2021. Nice. Yeah. But for 10 years... I just kept going.
And I think if you're willing to put a decade into something and you just keep going, I think you're going to find success no matter what. I really believe that.
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Chapter 6: What role does gratitude and avoiding judgment play in success?
Yeah. That is good to know. Cause yeah, I got to up my protein intake. So maybe I should start looking into liquid forms.
For sure. I mean, I, I mean, I I'm there every day. Like I can eat wherever I want. I can go to whatever restaurant I want. I've done, I've done well. Um, but I go there every day. I go there every single day and I, I will typically get a smoothie or I'll get an acai bowl. Um, Uh, I love the holy cow. I substitute the noble protein, which is a beef based protein.
Um, and I want all the organs and all that stuff in it. Cause I, I can't stand taking vitamins. I do take vitamins a couple of days a week just to make sure I'm not missing out on any like vitamin D or magnesium or whatever. But, um, Yeah, it was a challenge in the beginning. People definitely were horrified by the prices and people still talk shit about the prices.
But having said that, you know, I was working out this morning and I'm looking at the kid who's cleaning the gym that I'm working out in. He's I know he's making minimum wage. Right. And he's wearing a Chrome Hearts T-shirt. So this kid's going to go spend, I don't know what a Chrome Hearts t-shirt costs, but I'm going to imagine $150. Yeah, it's not cheap. Yeah, it's not cheap.
So you see people wearing these stupid Golden Goose tennis shoes, you know, and buying these Chrome Hearts t-shirts or these girls walking around with these $3,000 shoes. What's that? Birkenbags? No, no, no, no. Those are the price of a house. That's like next level. Goyard. Goyard. Goyard.
Yeah, you see every basic girl that drives a white Jetta is walking around with a Goyard tote that costs, you know, three grand, but she can barely pay her rent. How much sense does that make? Like... They've got us by the balls where we think we need to have all this fancy shit to feel complete and to feel whole.
Nothing, nothing will ever make you feel more whole and complete than a relationship with God, your creator, a person who you get to share your life with, a mate, and escaping Maslow's hierarchy. You cannot... I shouldn't say you cannot. It will be very difficult for someone to self-actualize, to become the highest version of themselves.
I'm not talking about the girl on Instagram that's living her best life. I'm talking about the person who literally becomes... the hero in their own journey, right? You're experiencing that now. I am, yeah. When we get to take care of our parents, when we get to take care of our friends, when we get to become the hero in our own journey, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to self-actualize
until you can escape Maslow's hierarchy. So, you know, most people are down here in Maslow's hierarchy, right? And then some people are lucky enough to get here on that pyramid. But to get up to the top, to escape, to get to the point where, let's say you got a couple rental properties, And now you have no debt. No. And now the income coming in is yours. You're free. You escape the matrix.
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Chapter 7: How did Khalil build SunLife Organics from $200 to $11,000 daily sales?
Yeah. You're starting to see that movement for sure. Yeah. Actually in the health scene. Yes. You know, I know you've had your health battles, which is a big reason why you started this company, right? Mm-hmm. And I can see when you talk. This means a lot to you.
Yeah. Well, because I went from 109-pound walking corpse with my fucking teeth falling out of my head to 173-pound athlete at 55 years old. I'm in the greatest fucking shape of my life. Wow. I feel amazing. And I have boundless energy. And... I'm at the point in my life where I realized like, fuck man, I can do anything. I'm just barely scratching the surface. I can literally do anything.
Sean, I'm going to build... a global billion dollar brand. I'm going to take this little mom and pop juice bar that I started in Point Dume, Malibu, California in 2011, and I'm going to open all over the country and all over the world. And if I can do that, anybody can do anything. Anybody can do anything. I love that. How many locations do you have now? We have 18, 18 locations.
We operate in eight different states. We have three more coming. Another one in Nashville, a new one in Boulder, Colorado, and finally New York City is coming in April. I love it. And Aria, right? In Vegas. Aria, Vegas, that's coming this summer. Talking to some people about licensing deals in South Africa, talking to some people about licensing deals in the Middle East. Wow.
I'm going to build a billion dollar brand. I'm going to make a bunch of dough and I'm going to do a lot of good with it and I'm going to help a lot of people because it's fucking fun and because it's the right thing to do. I love that. I want to inspire people. I want to get people healthy.
I want to get people off their fucking phones and jumping into a river or a lake or an ocean, climbing a mountain. building a business or just attracting a mate into their life who they love so they can experience real true intimacy, not what they see in pornography, but like real true intimacy. And that's my purpose. That's my passion. That's my mission.
That's beautiful, man. I know you said you aren't spiritual earlier, but I do believe in energy.
Yeah.
And I think you're just putting out so much good energy with your products. Like this stuff is super healthy, all organic. Thank you. You're helping so many people. I think that's going to come back to you, man.
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Chapter 8: What lessons can listeners learn from Khalil's perseverance and work ethic?
I don't know how a smoothie maker is going to push that forward, but it seems like I'm exposed to a lot of incredible people and I've become friends with a lot of incredible people like yourself. And listen, I love fancy shit. I love shiny things. Clearly, I'm still insecure. I'm still shallow. I still want people to like me.
That little boy is still inside there somewhere that wants to be noticed. Um... I say a lot of stupid shit. I don't have a filter. I don't mean that in a proud way. I mean, I literally don't have a filter. Like I don't have Asperger's, but like I will say the most inappropriate shit at the most inappropriate moment. I cannot fucking help myself.
Humor, because I suffered with suicidal ideation much of my life, gallows humor, aka inappropriate humor, aka the type of shit that you get canceled over. Yeah. It saved my life. Wow. It saved my life. When I was in that fucking halfway house and it was 117 degrees outside and I'm looking at my life and the fucking mess that I've created and I'm like, wait, I'm on welfare.
I'm in a fucking halfway house. I'm about to turn 34 years old. I'm a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt from all the hospital bills and ambulance rides I had from overdosing and flatlining and all that shit. My credit's fucked. I don't even have a high school diploma. Like what the fuck am I going to do? I'd crack a joke and I'd feel a little better.
And then somebody else would crack a joke. Somebody would make fun of me. It was a bunch of minorities in this place called New Perceptions. It was a Black-owned, Black-operated halfway house in the valley on Roscoe and White Oak. There was like a couple of Mexican dudes.
guy palestinian guy palestinian polish guy uh white guy black guy and we would all just make the most wildly inappropriate what people would consider racist jokes but we did it for fun. Sometimes we'd go too far and then we'd have to go, hey, you know what? Let's pump the brakes a little bit. But like, you know, stereotypes are stereotypes. There's some funny shit in there, right?
There's nothing funnier like watching Sarah Silverman make fun of
people is one of the funniest fucking shit you've ever seen in your life right because there's some truths to those stereotypes watching chris rock make fun of black people is some of the funniest shit we've ever seen in our lives we need to fucking laugh we need to stop with this cancel culture bullshit we need to stop all of us are flawed all of us all of us have made mistakes
I lived the first 33 years of my life without a moral compass. And I'm not proud to say that I don't have a filter. I'm not bragging. It's just like, God forgot to put a fucking filter in there. So you don't say shit. Like I'm, I'm thinking of like, I became friends with this guy, Charles. He's a lineman for the Kansas city chiefs. And, uh, Went to the Super Bowl twice. Fucking amazing guy.
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