Blaze Your Own Trail - Creating Plastic Action with Jax Navarro

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

About Jax: Jax Navarro A.K.A. Plastic Action is best known for creating art with toys.  With features on:  #plasticballerz series, Marvel Live, ESPN, Nerdist, Complex, Gizmodo, Yahoo & Entertainment Weekly. He also has over 162K Instagram followers & just under a half Million followers on TikTok. Make sure to follow him for amazing content! In this episode we discuss: Jax's upbringing  What his town is famous for Being a shy kid Being into Art from an early age His love for the comics His favorite NBA Team Barely graduating High School Being in Telecommunications The person that Re-Lit his fire for Art Getting into toy photography And much more! Connect with Jax: https://linktr.ee/jaxnavarro Connect with Jordan: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjmendoza/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/therealjordanjmendoza/⁠ Clapper: ⁠https://clapper.vip/jordanjmendoza⁠ Join my Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/linkedintrailblazers⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.blazeyourowntrailconsulting.com Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are you ready to find out how to blaze your own trail? Welcome to the Blaze Her Own Trail podcast with your host, Jordan Mendoza. In this podcast, Jordan interviews people from around the world to find out about their journey to success. If you're looking for valuable content with actionable advice, you've come to the right place. And now your host, Jordan Mendoza. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. I've got a very special guest today.

His name is Jacks Navarro. He also goes by Plastic Action. And I'm going to give him just a quick second to tell us who he is and what he does. Thanks, Jordan. Like you said, my name is Jacks Navarro, aka Plastic Action on social media. I'm a photographer. I've been in photography for probably about eight years. It all started with dogs and dogs.

transition into photographing toys where and that's where I'm at today. So I've been doing that for about four years now. Awesome, man. Well, you know, the thing I love to do on my show is I really want to find out how you have blazed your own trail. Right. Let's give the audience that context. So where did you grow up? You know, where were you born and raised? And, you know, what kind of kid were you? Let's share that with the audience. You know, were you more into academics? Were you into sports? You know, what kind of kid were you when you grew up? Sure, sure. So, uh, I, I, I was born here in the States, Los Angeles. I grew up in a little town called San Dimas,

made popular by the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, if you know what that is. Classic. Exactly. So it was a pretty small, quiet community. I grew up mostly in San Dinos all the way through high school. As a kid, I was fairly shy, you know. doing this kind of stuff right here where I'm talking in front of a microphone I wasn't really into.

But I was shy reserved, really chill. But I was really into art and drawing. And so I did a lot of drawings when I was a kid. I was really into Star Wars. So I did a lot of Star Wars art. And anything comic book related. So I had drawings of like Batman and Superman and all. all kinds of comic book characters.

I discovered basketball. I was a big Lakers fan in the 80s. Magic Johnson was basically my drug into getting into basketball. So I did some drawings of magic and some of the Showtime error Lakers. And that kind of faded away as I got into high school. You know, when you get into high school, it's more of like, trying to be accepted socially. And so that was kind of the focus is like hanging out with friends and going to parties and

stuff. So I was, honestly, I was a really poor high school student. But the thing I remember in high school as far as academics was a class called cartooning. And I really loved, really just kind of solidified my love for art in high school. but I honestly I barely graduated high school like I was just a poor student I think I graduated it with like a 1.8 or something like that GPA um yeah so that was basically my childhood in the nutshell okay awesome so thank you for sharing that and so what was what was the first drawing that you did right because I know you're going to remember this just because you're an artist and you you're

investing a lot of time and energy into your craft when you were a kid, right? So do you remember that first drawing that you drew that you were just so proud of? You couldn't wait to show your parents, couldn't wait to tell your friends about where you were just like, you know what, man, I think there might be something here. There's two. Like the ones that when I was really young, I had like a little, I think it was a Return of the Jedi art book. So I would kind of replicate that. And I must have been like maybe seven or so. So it was a really, it was a poor rough sketch of like tie fighters and X wings like battling each other and explosions and whatnot.

So that really stands out. But as I got older, probably when I was 10 or 11 or so, I drew this portrait of Batman. It was the Michael Keaton Batman. And it turned out really well. Like I was really impressed at the job that I did with that drawing. And I was like, wow, I'm pretty good at this. And so that like got me to draw even more. Because I show, yeah, I was kind of shy too, but I did show like my family.

They didn't really show my friends, but show my family. They were really proud of what I did. And so yeah, that Batman, I wish I still had it. I gave it to my cousin who has it somewhere, but that one definitely stands out. Awesome, man. And that's one man that you need to try to figure out how to get that back, right? I know. That's the one that started it all, you know?

So how were your parents, right? Noticing this strength in you, right? I think this is an important conversation to have. I'm a parent, you know, I'm a father of five, believe it or not. Wow. My oldest is 15 and he's, you know, he's at that age right now where he's trying to figure himself out. And, you know, one of the things that I'm trying to do as a parent is just find out what his strengths are and make sure I invest in that heavily. Right.

I'm not really concerned with things that he's not good at, right? But I do want to invest in strengths because one thing I know about investing in your strengths is that if you don't invest in them, the strengths can start to diminish over time. So I'd love to find out what was your parents take on that? You know, were they supportive or were they like, hey, this is cool, but you know, you got to figure something else out. I'd really love to find out how that was. Exactly what you said the second time was they were, it was like, oh, that's that's really cool, but you need to like get good grades and find a job and work for a good company that has good

benefits. So that was kind of ingrained into my head as an adult. And that transition into adulthood was all about that. It was like, okay, what am I going to do for a living? Because obviously, you know, you hear the word starving artists and all that BS, right? It's all bullshit. But back then, that's, that was like my reality. It was like, you can't make money off art. So yeah, so it was, was really just focused on, okay, what can I do to start a career, you know, being Filipino, it's like you can be a doctor, you can be a nurse, you can be an accountant, which none of that really appealed to me. But I did go the route of, you know, I went to a trade school. I got a degree in electronics and been in telecommunications for 20 years now. And, you know, during that time,

That's when I discovered photography. And, well, I should say I met my wife. It was my girlfriend at the time. And she was very artistic. And she kind of lit the fire back into me. Because it was gone. I mean, it was gone all the way from, must have been like 16 all the way to I was about to my mid-30s.

And, yeah, it's crazy. And so when I started dating my wife. You were literally, and I don't mean to cut you off, bro, but you were literally living as somebody that you weren't. Yes. I mean, like, think about it. Like,

you were, you were trying to be, you know, the person that was recommended by society or by your parents. Right. And you literally, like, left all this amazingness under a freaking rock.

Like, you let us sit there. So shout out to, to your wife, man, for igniting that fire again, bro, because your work is,

when I tell you in the audience, it's going to listen to this or see this, like, it's amazing. Like, Like I couldn't imagine not seeing it now that I've seen it. I don't know if people have told you that, but like, it's incredible. That means a lot.

No, nobody's ever told me that. And so thank you for acknowledging that. But yeah, she was, when we were having our initial first conversations, she would talk about some of the stuff she painted and what she drew. and, you know, me trying to want to impress her, I was like, oh, I used to draw as a kid and whatnot. And I drew a picture of her father who had just recently passed a little portrait. And that was like, oh, my God, I really miss doing this. And she introduced me to photography.

And that was it. I, you know, photography is weird. Like back when I was a kid, I used to take photos, right? I used to go to Laker Games and take photos. But I never thought of it as art. I just thought of it as capturing moments, capturing memories. But it wasn't until her, and I saw her actually taking pictures and getting into these crazy angles and, you know, teaching me, she taught me about composition. And I was like, wow, that's art there.

And so she not only lit my fire in the art world, but photography. photography too. That's awesome. And I'm sure that had to have felt good, right? For one, now you get to, you know, relive this passion, right? Relive this passion that you had really invested in as a kid. But also now you're starting to get educated on the actual art of photography. Right.

And so when did it shift, right? As you're starting this journey, you're rekindling this spirit with art. When did it shift from just, you know, taking a static photo? to, you know what, what if something in the photo actually moved? Like, what if something else happened? You know, when was that first point when you decided to do that? Are you talking about the toys itself? Yeah, yeah, the toys itself.

Oh, so the way I discovered toy photography was kind of by accident. At the time I was, I was into dog photography. I had my own dogs and I had an Instagram account with dogs. that was doing pretty well also. And I, during that time, I was getting, I hit a big creative block. And so I needed to kind of step back. And long story short, my wife bought me a little BB8 droid. I know if you're familiar with the character BB8 from Star Wars.

And it was one of those app controlled droids. And I have. I thought, wow, that'd be kind of cool to take a photograph of. And so I just, for fun, just created or took photos of this little BB8 droid. And I thought, why don't I start a BB8 Instagram, right? Because I don't think anybody's ever done that before. The truth is, somebody has. Like, there was already two accounts with, like, a BB8 account.

But that didn't discourage me. I was like, I'm going to do it anyway and put my own twist on it. And so I started treating this account as like a sort of like a pet account on Instagram where BV8 was like its own sort of personality and doing like everyday things, like going hiking and whatnot. And that's how and through like hashtags and discovery on Instagram, that's how I found the world of toy photography. And I ran into an account called Galactic Warfighters.

And what he does is he takes these Stormtrooper toys, and he's an ex-marine, and he recreates some of the old stories of what he went throughout in battle and recreates it with these stormtroopers. And it was very, very cinematic. Like, you look at these photos and you're like, it just looks like it's a movie still, basically, right? And so once I discovered there are toys, I was like, okay, I'm already kind of doing this

with BV8, so let me just start investing in some figures. And the moment I pulled the trigger on one figure, that was it. That was it. It was over from there. That's awesome. Yeah. So, you know, you created this page. You stumbled on one that was doing something,

taking it to kind of the next level. And then that probably got your creative juices flowing where you're like, well, if somebody's bringing it here, why can't I bring it here? Right. So what would you say is the first shoot that you did that really, really started to take off, right? Really were maybe you posted it and then you didn't look for a little bit and you just, your notifications were going off on your phone, right?

Because there had to have been one that really, you know, set the momentum, right? That kept you wanting to keep creating. Absolutely. And it was pretty early on. It was a, it was a scene with Ray. And it's all, like in the beginning, it was all Star Wars base because that's how was, that's all I was shooting at the time. So it was Ray.

And she was slicing a Stormtrooper's head off. and the photo itself did okay but I posted a behind the scenes on how I accomplished that and how I kind of accomplished the movement and kind of sold how the head was flying out because I used wires and I used canned air to show like the dirt kind of flowing and moving and stuff and I ate my initial

thought on the behind the scenes because it doesn't look attractive like on on the Instagram grid page I was like I just want to kind of educate people on my process and post it and I'll just take it down after right but it blew up like I think I only had a few thousand followers and it went guy I think it got like 6,000 likes or and this was early on I was like, wow, how are people really, why do people like this so much? That was like the first post that kind of blew up. And I realized like people got value from it. You know, people really learn from it and took whatever that I used and put that into their own work or whatever.

That's awesome. So you had, you know, 6,000 people. react to this post, right? That's, that's definitely a lot. So what would you say happened after that? Did you start getting, did your DMs blow up or people reaching out and saying, man, like, great job or like how did, I saw the behind the scenes. I still don't know how to do this and I would love to know. And I would love to kind of figure out like what that did for your brand. I don't know if I got, I honestly can't remember like if, if, uh, I got a lot of DMs or I know I did get a lot of questions like what camera do you use, what lens you use, how long have you been doing this kind of thing?

But I remember from that point, it just things just started happening, not immediately, but, you know, months down the line, you know, I get an email from Hasbro saying, hey, we would like to use this specific photo. in our Comic-Con booth for, I think it was like 2017. And so that brought it to another level, right? So it starts here, and then Hasbro, the first company that I invested in as far as buying toys wanted to use my photo in their Comic-Con booth. So that was like another one of those pinch-me moments. Like, is this really kind of happening? I don't know if to answer your question or not.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's huge, man. Like, Hasbro, for real? Like, you know, did you think it was a real email at first? Did you have to, like, double check to make sure, you know, wasn't someone just like to make on me, right? Like, this is, this is Hasbro, you know? Right. And it's Comic-Con, too. I was never really into Comic-Con,

but I know how massive it is, how international, and how many hundreds of thousands of people attend those things. so yeah and in comic con is obviously the main but there's also awesome con there's all these different events that happen you know throughout the year and um you know so so getting your work featured there was there ever a point where they wanted you to to like come to the events as as kind of a person to be showcased for your work um no i never got that opportunity but another company um bandai uh who creates their own action figure line called Tamashi Nations or S-H-figure arts. They're from Japan.

Like, that's where the figures come from. And they offered that. They said, hey, you, along with some other toy photography artists, we want to have you and showcase your work. And we want you to sign photographs for fans. And that was another one of those things like, what? I mean, do I have fans? You know, that's like my number one question.

I'm like, do I have fans that would recognize my work? So that was pretty surreal. That was an awesome moment. Definitely one of those things that I'll never forget. That's fantastic. Yeah, so where did you have to go for that? Did you have to go to an event? Was it like an invite out to an event to go and meet with these fans?

and then speak to them and sign their autographs? That was at San Diego Comic-Con also in 2018. That's awesome. Yeah, and the cool thing is it was not only me, but it was a handful of people that I knew within that toy photography community on Instagram that I had met. So it was awesome for me, but to also share that with a group of peers.

Yeah, no, that's cool. And it was kind of like, so it was the first time really you guys have all connected in person and everything. So it was kind of a cool. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome, man. That's very cool. And so, you know, I know your work has been featured by, you know, some amazing organizations and companies. I mean, you know, I've seen on your profile, you've been featured by a bleacher report, which is massive. If you're a sports fan, I think everybody has to, has that bleachers. report app. So, you know, what has that been like for having these, you know, obviously, Hasbro and Bandai are really big in the toy realm, but now we're shifting, right? You're starting to shift and work with some brands that are elite, especially in the sports world. So, so what has that been like for you? And how's that kind of change for one, probably it's lit in the fire even brighter for you, right? Like you've gotten even more excited about it. So what has been the difference for you so far?

It's been incredible. I'm just incredibly grateful to be able to experience that. Because I'm a sports fan, number one, and number two, I'm a wannabe geek. So, like, yeah, I love Star Wars. I love a little bit of Marvel. But for, you know, I don't know the backstores. I don't read the comics. But there was one point where I knew every jersey number on the Lakers, and I knew all the names of every NBA player. So I'm a huge sports fan. So that first feature with ESPN was like, that was a life changer for me. Because, you know, to be recognized within your own community.

And when I say that, I mean like the toy photography community, that's huge. Like to know like your own peers like really respect your work, that's huge. But when it goes outside of that and it reaches different audiences. it takes it to another level, right? And especially me being a huge ESPN fan. You know, I used to watch sports turn as a kid religiously. And I was, you know, so into like Dan Patrick, Stuart Scott, all the old school dudes. That just made it that much more special.

Yeah, I bet, man. That is amazing. That's awesome. You know, we were talking a little bit of, you know, off air about, you know, how I actually came across your work. And so I was on Instagram. I follow a guy that most people know by the name of Damon John, you know,

creator of Fubu, one of the sharks. And I came across a video where he was interviewing you and talking to you about plastic action and all the amazing things you're doing. So I would love for you to give the audience some context, you know, how did that even come about, you know,

like did he reach out to you? Did someone on your team reach out to him? him. Just give the audience some context about it because it was a really cool conversation. Yeah, sure. So, um, it, the first interaction with Damon John and his and his people was, uh, a couple of years ago. So this was, uh, shortly after the whole ESPN, uh, feature. Um, because I got a lot of exposure from that. And I was, uh, I was sitting, I remember it was like a Friday, uh, evening late afternoon. I was, I was at home. I just got home from work, was with my wife, and I was just scrolling through Instagram.

I see this follow from the shark Damon, and it caught my eye, right? Because the name is striking. I'm poor with names. I watch Shark Tank. I'm poor with names. I didn't know, I'm going to admit this. I didn't know who Damon John was. I mean, the name, right?

So I saw the blue check mark and start looking into his account. And I was like, oh, wait, this is the dude from Shark Tank. Um, so I tell my wife, I'm like, babe, you're not going to believe who started following me and show her my phone. She's like, oh my god, dude from Shark Tank. And shortly after I get a DM, like five minutes later, I get a DM, says, hey, Jacks, really love your work. One wanted to see if, uh, you'd be interested in, uh, talking with, with the team about potentially being on our podcast or doing some work for us. And I was like, absolutely. Um, And I just remember shaking at that moment because that's just how my body reacted.

I don't know what caused it to, but it was just like I'll, maybe it was the amount of pressure, but I just remember like my body uncontrollably shaking. But it was cool. Like I, you know, the next day I had a phone conversation with his entire team, not entire team, because he's got millions, probably like thousands of people. but his team and we just talked about doing some work for him. And so the initial work for him, I did, because he has his own little action figure.

I don't know if you've seen it before. It's on one of my older posts, but he has his own action figure from Shark Tank, and so I kind of created a couple scenes surrounding the Shark Tank environment. He really loved, the team really loved what I did, and, you know, he had a new book coming out called Power Shift, and he wanted to kind of bring out some of those principles

and wanted to ask me a couple of questions surrounding those principles, and that's how kind of that interview came about that you saw. Yeah, no, that's awesome. I appreciate that backstory. You know, I think for most of us out there, you get a guy like Damon John to follow you and then, you know, DM you shortly after. I think most people would probably be shaking.

So I think, you know, how you were feeling, you know, I think it was very warranted, you know. So that's super cool. But again, it's just, you know, it's a testament to one, your wife for, you know, rekindling this spark in you, right? Right. You know, we can't stop and give her enough shoutouts because, like, you have this amazing gift and these abilities and they literally sat dormant.

Like, exactly. sat dormant, you know, and now that they've been able to surface, I mean, like, you've just been having an amazing, amazing run that I don't see really ending anytime soon. And so what are, what are some goals that you have? I mean, you've, you've had this amazing exposure and been on these amazing platforms and work with some amazing brands, but like, you know, what is the goal that Jacks has? Like, what do you have for yourself, you know, over maybe the next handful of years? from now? Well, my number one goal is to leave, to leave my job that I'm working at, nine to five job that I'm working right now, because that is taking a lot of my time. And it's very,

I don't want to say hard. It's, it's, it's mentally challenging to get out of that mindset. That's basically 40 years of programming that I have to kind of, do because there's a lot of fear in like leaving the stable paycheck and whatnot. But I'm on my way. Like I see it happening. But as far as like goals for plastic action, it's a good question. Like I see I see my work worldwide in galleries. I see I see I see very.

influential and wealthy people owning my pieces and hanging these pieces in their home. I also see creating something, whether it's a toy line or something related to toys. I see, I don't know. I mean, it's exciting. It's exciting. I know, like, the focus right now is just to stay. like laser focused on photography and see where that takes me. Right now I'm a lot of where the income is coming from with toy photography is creating content

for brands. So I'm going to ride that for a little bit. That's been challenging and fun in itself. But yeah, yeah, I just want to keep it fun. you know i don't want it to feel like like it's work like it's a job you know what i'm saying does that make sense yeah no it makes makes a thousand percent sense and you know i was thinking like when's the movie coming out bro right you know what i'm saying like think big big picture i mean you know because i think with your creative ability and the and what you've been able to put

together, you know, whether that's a movie around these characters that you've created and you've partnered with people, or maybe it's a movie around the story behind how the whole thing, you know, came to fruition, right? Like, swing for the fences here. Why not? You know, I like that. Like, listen, over the last, what, three years, these crazy things have been happening that if you had asked yourself 10 years ago, you would have been like, there's no way. Right. So why not swing for the fences, man? Like, why not have, you know what I'm? You know what saying a live action plastic action film i mean i would i would buy that ticket bro you know what i'm saying absolutely yeah yeah uh it's it's funny bring that up like stop stop motion animation is something that

uh that i really want to learn that is an art form that is is mind blowing uh just to be able to take these static figures and create animation with it so that's right yeah I've done one. It took me probably about two weeks to create 16 seconds, but it was fun. It was fun. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure it was, you know, just being able to know what you had to put in to get to the end result. Right.

Like, you know, two weeks for 16 seconds. You're like, holy cow, that takes a long time, you know? Mm-hmm. Awesome. So what is, what's, I think, the biggest lesson you've learned? so far on this journey, right? Because the journey, you know, from, I think, an outsider's person's perspective, to me, it looks like it's just been a bunch of fun and games and, you know, being able to work with these amazing people. But there's probably some lessons that you've learned, right?

Some lessons of maybe conversations that didn't get the results that you wanted to get, right? And maybe ones that did. And there's got to be a difference in how those conversations went. So I'd love to just share maybe some lessons that you've learned along this journey so far. Lessons. That's a, I have to think about that one for a second. It could be lessons, could be takeaways, you know, like, you know, maybe, you know, I didn't think I could do this, but this company says that I can, so I definitely can. So maybe I learn something about myself, you know, going through this whole process. well one thing that this art has gotten me to do was really focus on like the like personal development

and how how my mind works i discovered uh i don't if you know who bob proctor is i think if you watch the secret you know who he is yeah but i discovered his work and um have been uh kind of his student for the last, how long has it been? It's almost going to be a year in August. So, um, God, like his, just being exposed to his knowledge and just, just hearing him talk has been life changing for me just because it kind of explains my fears and like how, basically how I prevent myself from not doing something, you know, uh, because it's pretty much everything is fear-based, you know, when I don't want to, when I don't think I can do something, it's just all based on fear. So definitely just having a

higher self-awareness has been key for me. That's awesome, man. Yeah, I think in self-awareness really is everything, right? I mean, because, you know, if you're not aware of how you show up, right, then how are you going to help and serve other people, you know, and that's, you think about emotional intelligence, right? You look at the four buckets of EQ. The first one is self-awareness, right? How do you show up? The second one is self-management. Now, how do you manage your emotions? And then it goes into relationship management and how you show up in social settings, right? And so, you know, self-awareness is foundational, you know, if you don't know exactly how you're going to show up on a daily basis, it's very hard to get ahead, right? And I think all of us

have these, you know, self-limiting beliefs. You know, I can remember about 15 months ago, I started creating content on LinkedIn. And that was like the platform that I focused on. And I remember being stuck and in a place where I just, you know, I have this expertise in sales and leadership and marketing, but I never, I never knew that people would be interested in it, if that makes sense. Like I always thought like who's going to want to watch me on video? Who's going to want to read my post or my article, you know? And it took somebody else to see something in me that I didn't see in myself, right? Probably similar to your wife where you met her and you started talking to her and all of a sudden she's like, well, why can't you do this? And you're like, why can't I do

it? You know, it's just amazing what happens sometimes when people come into our lives that can really help push us past these self-limiting beliefs that we have. Exactly. Exactly. And just you, just having this conversation with you has really reinforced and opened up like things I need to to look into and just, you know, throw, throw away, you know, those, you know, those limiting beliefs that you talked about. Because, you know, those paradigms just always, it feels like the more.

the more you progress, the more those things kind of pull back at you and try and get you back to that comfort zone, you know? Yeah, that's exactly it, man. And, you know, when we're in our comfort zone, it's comforting, right? That's why it's called a comfort zone because it's easy, you know? But if it were easy, like everyone would be doing it. You know what I'm saying? So, Right, exactly. So, you know, the fact that you're on this podcast interview, that's going to be growth. Like you're going to go back and listen to this episode and say, wow, if you had asked me a year ago, would I be doing interviews like these, right? The answer probably had been maybe, right?

I might commit to it, but I might not show up. So you're already taking action now and you're going to see that growth down the road. funny thing you say that because I'm uh I don't necessarily enjoy doing these interviews because it's not that I don't like having a conversation with you obviously this is uh this has been great it's just more of the um you know I don't want to sound stupid or I don't I don't want to be in the spotlight you know I like being behind the scenes kind of thing so so i appreciate you inviting me on just because like you said that's growth right there so the next podcast it's funny i did a podcast earlier this week too um so going into this nerves were still there

but the it wasn't as nerve-wracking as my very first which was a couple years ago i remember that very first one i prepared probably for about two weeks and I felt like I was going to throw up before I got on, you know. Now I feel like I don't really, I just go on and this is the conversation that we're having. And if I screw up, I screw up. I just laugh at it. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's about having a conversation. That's what it's about.

And I think for me and for this particular show, I want it to be as organic as possible. I want us to be hanging out and just having a conversation because to me, that's where the real value comes from. Right. It is actually getting to know because for the audience is listening, prior to this, we've spoken on Instagram via DM. Like literally. So I'm actually learning these things about Jacks the same time as the audience is going to learn. Well, a little bit before because this will be a few weeks out from being published. But that's the beauty of having organic conversations is, you know, I don't know what you're going to say next. I have no clue, right? but hopefully it's going to be about, you know, giving me answers to the questions that I have about

your journey. And that's, you know, your journey's been, it's been amazing, man. It's been cool, really learning about it, you know, learning about the people that have been impactful for you. That's been really cool to find out. And then also, you know, what some of your goals are and your aspirations, you know, you want to be doing this full time, right? And again, I'm sure that down the road, what this looks like is going to change. It's going to have to shift and it's going to have to, you know, there's going to be changes to the dynamics. But ultimately what it sounds like is you want to work for yourself.

You've just got to get there, right? And that's part of the personal development journey is having that confidence, right, in yourself, your abilities. But for me, like from the outside looking in, right? And again, this is just me from my perspective, is you should already, this should already be your thing, you know. And it's funny, right? It's easy for me to say that because I see your work. I'm like, this, this is work is worth millions of dollars. I guess how I look at your work, you know. And so hopefully that'll be good for you to maybe instill a little bit of

confidence. And again, it's just from one person, but like I know good work when I see it, you know. I appreciate that. Thank you for an acknowledgement. that and funny funny thing you say is uh the last podcast interview that I had they said very something very similar so I'm hearing it from two people I'm hearing it from my family now there you go hey listen man it'll get there you don't get there buddy it'll get there my friend and you know I have no doubt that once you know you do get to that next version in your life that next step that you're going to be successful you know because you know from what I've learned about you is you are you are very strategic in the moves that you make right you know i i know

that you are you know more introverted than extroverted which just means that you get your energy from the internal world versus the outer world but i also know that you typically aren't going to say something and and tell it's time to speak right that's just the the how you're wired you know um and i'm the complete you could have said it i'm the complete opposite though because i i'm the complete opposite though because I talk before I think and you know what I'm saying. And I get my energy from the outer world and from people because I'm more extroverted. But again, you know, there's no right or wrong way to be wired. It's just how we're wired.

It's just how, you know, we were right. And so, you know, I'm super excited about your journey, man. I'm, I can't wait to, you know, continue to follow your content. And I would love for you to give the audience some places. that they can reach out to you. I know people are going to hear this interview and they're going to really resonate with this story. You know, there's going to be people that listen to this that were just like you, man. They had a passion for something and other things got in the way and they literally let their passion sit there for a while.

Right. And for you, the fact that now that passion has been unlocked is going to really take you places on your journey. So let the audience know, we're the best places to reach Jacks. Yeah, sure. So I'm on Instagram. My handle is plastic action. It's all one word plastic action. You can find me, I just started on TikTok a couple months ago. So I'm on TikTok, same handle, plastic action. I have a website where you can purchase some of my work. It's plastic action jacks. Plastic action jacks.jax.com. Awesome. Well, I'm going to make sure that all of that info, is down in the show notes so people can reach out to you. I'm sure people are going to get in touch, man, because like I said, your work is amazing,

and I can't wait to see some of the things that you do here in the future. So I really appreciate your time, Jacks. Thank you for coming on, the Blaze Your Own Trail Podcast. Thanks for having me on, man.