EP 22: Justin Brown — Skincare Tips, Growing a Business, and Greatness vs. Insanity

Justin Brown is the founder of Rhino Skin Solutions, a company that provides high-performance skincare products for rock climbers. We talked about best practices for skincare, tips for dialing skin for different rock types, how to grow a business while keeping things simple, and the connection between greatness and insanity.  

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/justin-brown  

Nuggets:  

2:23 – The COVID pivot, hand sanitizer, and the restaurant hustle  

5:48 – Whole Foods, the Rhino growth trajectory, and growing to make a better product  

9:50 – How to fix product that has separated   

11:30 – Hand Sanitizer for greasy hands and dirty climbers  

13:52 – Best practices for healing dry skin  

17:24 – Dry/Performance plus Spit for dry and pliable skin, removing sweating as a factor, and different skin for different rock types  

19:32 – How to use Rhino Spit   

20:39 – Justin’s skincare routine leading up to a climbing trip  

24:02 – Combining using Performance and Repair, and best practice for antiperspirant use   

26:28 – Training your brain to sweat less and taking a break from using products once a month  

30:35 – Tegaderm and Hypafix for splits and gobies  

34:34 – Better climbing tapes  

36:48 – Filing old shoe rubber, shoe cleaning products, and OXY Pads  

41:48 – The early days of Rhino, and why Justin   

46:21 – A simple business model and growing organically  

49:08 – Growing vs. profitability, putting systems in place, not wanting cogs, and the label machine  

54:51 – Work-life balance, getting an employee, and freeing up time  

58:40 – Getting hurt climbing, starting MMA, getting in the best shape of his life, and the heart monitor story  

1:03:58 – Training for MMA and carryover to rock climbing  

1:06:21 – Justin’s standing in jiu-jitsu and converting belt rankings to the Yosemite Decimal System  

1:08:05 – Mixing MMA and climbing, a pesky wrist injury, and climbing because it’s fun  

1:10:56 – Greatness and insanity, and different limiters on crazy  

1:12:27 – Steven’s thoughts on limiters, how limiters shift, and waking up early to hangboard  

1:14:38 – Exceeding climbing goals, the gratification of improving at something new, and the myth of discipline  

1:17:06 – How each route at Smith leads to the next, and progressing through the 5.13s  

1:21:12 – Justin’s approach to climbing ‘Badman’ (his first 5.14), and dealing with shoulder impingement  

1:25:25 – Carryover from jiu-jitsu to rock climbing  

1:28:49 – Carryover from rock climbing to jiu-jitsu, projecting sequences, and foot matches  

1:32:18 – Climbing 5.14 again, goal routes, and climbing the hardest route from the year you were born  

1:35:33 – Justin’s (secret) Shuteye Ridge trip  

1:37:29 – Gratitude for family and his sister’s illness  

1:40:48 – My experience with van life during COVID-19, being in stasis, why Justin craves going out to eat, and restaurant energy  

1:46:14 – Rye sourdough mango pancakes  

1:47:02 – High-4 (Justin’s new company for pet care)  

1:50:20 – New Rhino products (coming soon)  

1:52:23 – Where to connect with Rhino for skincare questions  

1:53:10 – One last story