YouSaid · the spoken record

Bill Keith

lines on the record: 73
first: 2025-06-09
most recent: 2025-06-09
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“When we come back in just a moment, how the family gets rescued by its own recipe for peanut butter bars and how those bars eventually find their way into Whole Foods, Starbucks, and beyond. Stay with us, I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to How I Built This. Hey, welcome back to how I built this. I'm Guy Ros. So it's 2005, and the Keith family is in trouble. Bud Keith, their dad, is getting sicker and sicker. So the older siblings, Bill and Lee, decide to head back to the little town of Willow Creek to help support the family. I mean, that's a massive amount of responsibility to take on at such a young age. You know that now this is going to fall on your shoulders. Bill, primarily yours, because you're the oldest kid. How did you, I mean, were you kind of an autopilot? Like, I just have to do this. I got to figure this out.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, it's kind of remarkable, and I say this with admiration, that neither of you seem to have resentment about this. Maybe you did at some point. Maybe you worked through it with therapists or on your own, but it seems like upon reflection, you're not angry.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In the meantime, while this is going on, Lee, you also left home, I guess, after you got your GED. But, I mean, you really left.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you took a business class and one of your ideas, or you had to come up with a business idea, was to make your dad's bars, to create a business out of your dad's bars. Was this a serious idea? I mean, was it something that you had talked about with any of your siblings, or was it just like, okay, I got to do this assignment and this is an idea?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, meantime, your dad's getting sick. Did he know what he had? Did he know what was going on or was he just not feeling like, did he go to a doctor?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's amazing because this is not Little House in the Prairie era. Like, this is the 90s, right? Or early 2000s, yeah. Early Just a remarkable upbringing. I mean, we could do a whole episode on just your childhood. But meantime, this, I guess an inn or a bed and breakfast becomes available for sale and your dad bought it. How did he have the money to buy it?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you were selling these bars, and I guess around, I don't know, Bill, you must have been 17, 18. You guys moved up to Northern California, to a town called Willow Creek, which I had to look up on the map. I live in Northern California, but this is like Oregon, almost of California. It's like way up there. It's way up a tiny, tiny town. Probably a couple hours south of the Oregon border, Willow Creek. Why did you guys move there? What happened?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I guess your dad, that this became one of the things that he thought could make some money for the family. You guys, I read in like 1995, Bill, you must have been 13 and Lee, you were nine or 10. You guys helped him sell these door-to-door.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. All right. So one of the things that he started to make was these energy bars or whatever, just nutrition, just bars to feed you, I guess. And it was like a combination of peanut butter and honey and fruits. Tell me about these bars that he would make for you guys”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But it sounds like he was motivated by. By his fate, like it basically, your description doesn't sound like he was making money off of this. You could imagine people coming to him and him saying, listen, I can work with you and consult with you, and it's going to be $100 a week or something. He didn't do that.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Incredible. I mean, today he would have been an influencer on Instagram and would be making hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Meantime, while you're sort of traveling around the country, your dad was also visiting people to, I guess, to advise them on their health and nutrition. I mean, it sounds like, and I use this word very carefully because it can be pejorative, but was almost like a guru to some people, right? And I guess one of his messages was, in order to become healthy, you need to follow the path of God or Christ or whatever he presented it. Is that fair to say?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I imagine given that the 12 of you were really all kind of together and traveling and moving every few months, that you didn't have other friends. Your friends were your siblings.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's, to say the least, like a very unorthodox episode. And you talk about your dad quite fondly and your mom, and I imagine with so many siblings and billiard the oldest, I mean, you probably had to take on some responsibilities with all those younger brothers and sisters. How aware were you guys of your unusual circumstances? Like, for example, did you have access to TV? Did you watch cartoons? Were you into Pokemon cards and other things other kids your age would have been into? Was that part of your world?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm looking at a photo of you guys in the early 90s, Bill. You must have been seven or eight. And there's seven kids in this photo. Your mom's holding a baby, so number seven. So she's still going to have several more kids. And I'm trying to figure. So, first of all, they had all of these kids and your dad was trying to make a living by selling nutritional supplements. Tell me about school. I'm assuming you never really went to a regular school because you were on the road all the time.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you guys were raised basically kind of like this. You were like an itinerant family. You were on the road. Tell me about your life in the 80s and 90s. What does that mean living on the road?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So he had several different lives. By the time you guys were born, Bill, you were born in 1982, and Leah think you were born in 85. Your dad married your mom, Barbara, which was his fourth wife, is that right?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Up with 10 brothers and sisters. They were raised in the 1980s and 90s traveling around the western United States, mostly in a school bus, which they also sometimes lived in. Their dad, Bud Keith, was a small-time health and fitness guru who was also a deeply committed Christian. He was a complicated man who struggled financially, and it's fair to say the kids grew up in conditions most people would describe as poverty. But Bud also emphasized health and nutrition at home. Before Bill and Lee came along, Bud ran a gym on Mission Beach in San Diego and at one time worked with fitness pioneer Jack Lane.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm gonna let you in on a little secret about this show, even though it's an audio program, I actually want you to experience it visually. Almost like a movie in your head. And oftentimes the stories on this show are so implausible, so against the odds crazy that indeed they sound like fiction. Maybe you heard the episode a few years back with the McBride sisters, how the sisters only discovered the existence of each other after their father died, and then connected and started a wine brand. That story was incredible, and so is today's. And make no mistake, you will learn business lessons in this one for sure. In fact, you will hear how Bill and Lee Keith, brother and sister, turn their dad's homemade energy snack into a big business. Perfect bars. A business now owned by the multinational company Mondalis.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Welcome to How I Built This is a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. I'm Guy Ros and on the show today how a family rescues itself from financial ruin by selling hand-rolled energy bars which eventually wind up in every major grocery in the country.”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when you're ready to launch, you offer code built to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Loans issued by Celtic Bank and serviced by Stripe. All loans subject to credit approval. What a guess was a routine kind of testing of your dough or your batter, you find a possible sign of contamination, a microbe, salmonella, and something like that can kill your business, right? So what happened?”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, one of my favorite parts of traveling is getting a feel for a neighborhood, the way locals do. A few summers ago, I was in Rome and stayed in an apartment I booked on Airbnb. It was tucked in a quiet neighborhood just outside the Roman forum. Every morning I'd walk to the corner cafe, grab an espresso, and just watch the world go by outside. I even managed to chat with the owner about the neighborhood he lived in for nearly forty years. And he got me thinking about my own neighborhood. There are incredible hiking trails and great restaurants and, of course, the beach. And when I'm traveling this summer, listing my own place on Airbnb could be a really smart way to let someone else experience the area the way I do, like a local. Listing your home on Airbnb while you're traveling is a great way to make some extra money. You could put the money toward your next trip. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much”
2025-06-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Perfect Snacks: Bill and Leigh Keith · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT