An Army of Normal Folks - What Jesse Itzler's $18 Office Can Teach Us About Service

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

When Jesse Itzler was broke and sleeping on a friend's couch, he couldn't afford an office. So he made the Beverly Hills Hotel his office - for the price of an $18 salad and four hours of iced tea refills. He sat, watched, listened, and showed up until the right people noticed him. The rest is history. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex take that story and flip it toward service. Because most people who want to help their community are waiting for an invitation that's never coming. The tough neighborhoods, the kids who need mentors, the opportunities to make a real difference - they're already out there. You just have to get in the room. This one is worth sending to someone who keeps saying they want to help but doesn't know where to start. ARMY ACTIONS Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us! Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/ Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.orgSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody, this is Shop Talk 118, and it's about what Jesse Itzler's $18 office can teach us about service. But first, what happened, Alex, 118 years ago in 1861? 1908. Oh, 1908. We really got to do this every week. I don't know. Maybe.

So the Ford Model T debuted. The what? The Model T debuted. Really? A hundred and eighteen years ago 1908 baby 1908 Yeah and then

Not much else But check TBT wrote up this thing That was kind of interesting Uh huh And said someone born in 1908 Entered a world where cars were still Novelties Airplanes that existed for only five years

Radio was primitive Antibiotics didn't exist In much of Whoa whoa Antibiotics did not exist Apparently so In 1908 there were no antibiotics And much of Europe was

ruled by emperors. If that person lived in 100, they would have witnessed two world wars, automobiles becoming ubiquitous, commercial aviation, nuclear weapons, television, the moon landing, computers, the internet, and the iPhone. Honestly, that hundred-year stretch is maybe the most advanced stretch in all of humanity. But pretty wild. In a compressed period of time. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Okay, so that's what I'm 118 years ago for Chop Talk 118. after these brief messages from our general sponsors, we're going to talk about what Jesse Itzler's $18 office can teach us about service right after this break.

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Okay, everybody, welcome back to the shop. It's Bill Courtney Ethan Army Normal, folks, and shop talk, and here we go. What Jesse, Itzler's, $18 office can teach us about service. And I don't know where Alex dug this up, but we'll see where it goes. I'm sure it's going to be fascinating because it always is. You'd love him. He's a goofball like you. Well, and I read most of it this morning at about 5.30 when I was trying to tell people overseas that's not to answer to me. I swear. A guy in Turkey, beard, we don't know you money. I'm like, I know you don't owe me money. I'm sorry. When Jesse Itzler was in his early 20s, he didn't have

an office. Heck, he didn't really even have a house. He was trying to make it in a music business in L.A. sleeping on friends' couces and trying to figure out what he was going to do with his life. You've been there, Alex. Uh, no. Really? You never had to do that. I don't know.

Because, I mean, this entertainment production gig you've been in. I'll sleep on somebody's couch. Actually, I did sleep on somebody's couch for a period of time. Yeah. I worked on a governor's campaign. Yeah. And they moved me to a different... They don't pay you anything.

Yeah. Well, they moved me to a different part of the state against my will for a month. For a month. For a month. Nice. Yeah. All right. Well, it's a right of passage for young people. I did it. I had a Murphy bed. My more equivalent example is my first apartment in D.C.

You didn't get this good when your kids were there. Yeah, I mean, it was just a studio apartment with a Murphy bed. Honestly, the three weeks I did it, my junior in college, somebody from sleeping heavily pretty should have come back because I was sleeping on the floor. All right. But I'm bad. The beds for your size? Yeah. So he's trying to chase music and he's trying to figure out what he's going to do with his life. and one day a buddy takes them to lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Can you imagine? Don't even have a house. Don't even have a place to sleep. Don't even have Bangor the Beverly Hills Hotel for lunch. I was actually curious. Have you been there? Have you been there? Beverly Hills Hotel?

Yeah, yeah. Of course. I assumed you have been. I haven't been to. Do you know the last time I was there? It was Sunday and Lisa and I had brunch and Kelsey Grammer was right. Really? Nice.

He was actually really nice. They kind of relates to the story. Well, there you have. Now, if you've ever been to the Beverly Hill Hostel, you know this ain't the Waffle. Jesse walks in this place and starts looking around and there are more executives, advertising executives, actors, athletes, entrepreneurs. Basically, everybody just wanted to know was sitting in the restaurant. And he asks his buddy, hold up, wait a minute.

You don't actually have to stay at this hotel to eat here. Nope. Anybody can make a reservation and Jesse realizes something. He could afford lunch. He could afford an office in Beverly Hills. he couldn't even afford an apartment, but he could afford to order something cheap and sit in one of the most powerful rooms in L.A. So that's what he did. He started going to the Beverly Hills Hotel almost every day.

He'd get there around noon and he'd stay until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I bet the waiters loved him. For four hours, he'd sit there watching, listening, meeting people, learning how successful people operated. He watched how they greeted each other. other, how they carried themselves, what they talked about. Who knew who? And because Jesse kept showing up, people eventually started recognizing him and conversations started. Relationships formed, doors opened. The Beverly Hills Hotel became his office. Think about the absurdity of that for a second. A broke 20-something year old sleeping on couches trying to have a business of the music

industry who doesn't have two nickels drubbed together, decided one of the most famous hotels in America was going to be his office. And the crazy thing is, well, we know how the story turned out. Jesse eventually wrote the anthem, Go New York Go for the New York Knicks, built up business making songs for dozens of professional sports teams. He co-founded a private jet company that he sold to Warren Buffett's company. He became an owner of the Atlanta Hogs, and he married Sarah Blakely, the founder of Spanx. My wife wears Spanx sometimes,

who built a billion-dollar business from $5,000 of her own money and a whole lot of hard work. Not bad for a guy whose first office was an $18 lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Now, obviously eating lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel didn't make Jesse Isler successful, showing up did, putting himself in rooms where he could learn, did, and dare I say, was uncomfortable.

Building relationships did, taking chances did, and Jesse understood something back then that I think a whole lot of us forget. Sometimes you've got to go where the action is. Now, Jesse tells the story as a lesson about business and networking. If everybody on Wall Street hangs out a particular bar, go to the bar. If you're trying to get into sports and NBA All-Star game comes to your town, figure out where everybody's staying, get yourself in the room. His point is that opportunities aren't necessarily going to come looking for you. You've got to put yourself in a position where opportunities can find you.

And I think that's right. But I think there's a lesson in that story that goes way beyond business, Because think about how most of us approach service. We sit around waiting for an opportunity to show up. We think, man, I'd love to help somebody, but I don't know anybody who needs help. I'd mentor a kid, but nobody's ever asked me. I'd volunteer somewhere, but I don't know where to go. That's not the way it works.

You're sitting on your couch. The action ain't on your couch. The tough neighborhoods are out there. People doing the work in them are out there. And there's endless opportunities in them for you to. There's no such thing as not knowing somebody who needs something. Sometimes the first thing you've got to do is simply put yourself in the room. That's one of the many reasons our Army members are launching local service clubs in their community

because we need to create more of those rooms, places where people who care about their community actually know one another. You see, proximity creates opportunity. Jesse figured that out. at the Beverly Hills Hotel, we need to figure it out in our communities. There's no way you're ever going to serve anybody unless you get into the room. It's so true how many times we hear I'd really luck to help, but I don't know how. Or I don't know who needs help. I mean, I don't know how you can drive around any city in the United States and not see somebody

or see opportunities. Not somebody who needs help, but see opportunities to serve. And you've got to have the temerity to put yourself in the room. You really just think about here in Memphis, like you go down a, Soulsville. You can go to the stacks. You know, they have a whole nonprofit there. They have the Memphis Rocks right across the street there. Like, just put yourself in the neighborhood and see what's going on there. There are going to be good people doing good stuff that you can get involved in. Can marry the woman that made Spanx? Yeah. Unbelievable. That is crazy. They're both goofballs.

You'd really love them. Do you know them a little bit? No, but I loved it, though, one day. I think the whole point behind this shop talk is if you, if you learn from his lesson, it also plays into something we talk about a lot, which is you don't have to be part of some big 501C3. You don't have to be invited. You don't have to create some massive organization. I think the metaphor of this guy's sleeping on a couch and is having an $18 lunches for four hours in Beverly's Hotel,

which means he's ordering like a salad and tea, I think it was his order. Yeah. It had an unglamant refills on ice tea. And he nibbles on a solid for four hours. But the point is, he put himself out there and he was, he wasn't anybody. He didn't have anything. And he wasn't going to create something.

He just created opportunity. And, you know, the person who reads to a small young child to help with literacy once a week that helps that one kid once a week is just as important as the United Way. but you got to push it off of the room to do it. Yeah, I was going to say something interesting, and then I forgot it because I was listening to you. It was what I said. That's what I said that interesting. It was good, Bill.

It was so good. Fantastic. I hope our listeners are also. So that's it. That's Shop Talk 118. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends on on social. Yeah, subscribe to the podcast. Join.

What are we going back and forth? Yeah, join the Army at normalfolks.us. Dot org. By Merge. Take the 10th level challenge. If you're from these areas, someone has reached out to Alex and said, hey, I'd like start an Army normal folks service club. So if you're from the following cities, email Alex at. Alex at normalfolks.org.

And say, hey, I'd like to maybe be part of this budding service club in my community. Which ones do you remember from that list? Lincoln, Nebraska. Good job. There's something in some county in Kentucky. Sumter County. Sumner County in Kansas. Southern County in Wichita.

Actually, somebody who had heard you speak at the Wichita Bear Breakfast. Did that? Yeah. Well, she came up after her and said, I'm interested in starting this. That's awesome. By the way, I really like the mayor. Yeah, she's awesome. She is cool.

Okay, I don't know. All right. Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville. Well, one of the fastest. of Scrored and cities in the country. It's ridiculous. We don't have a club there already.

Bozeman, Montana, and then somebody's interested in rolling it out in a bunch of locations in Oklahoma, which is exciting. All right. So if you're from any of those areas. Oh, San Antonio, Texas. Yeah, San Antonio. So if you're from many of those cities, you're interested in helping start a service club.

There's somebody who's stepped up, willing to start it. They just need members. Email Alex, and I guess that's it. That's up. That's up. That's up. Until next week, do what you can. We'll see you later. I'm talking to a felon right now with face tattoos, and I cannot decide if I like him or not.

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