Blaze Your Own Trail - S2:E22- Creating the WorldWide Dance Challenge with Jesse Smith

Episode Date: August 11, 2020

About Jesse: Jesse is currently operating two projects that he founded, My Creative District and WorldWide Dance Challenge. Both of these projects are focused on providing the opportunity to creatives across the world that he sees could have been a game changer for him in the entertainment industry. Jesse spent time as a professional performer where he was signed to MSA. He was a professional dancer that had the opportunity to dance with stars like Justin Timberlake and Rihanna. He also was signed to a record deal through Universal. He toured the country using his passion of dance and music to inspire tens of thousands of youth and young adults. Outside of performing, Jesse has been building and developing sales teams in the corporate world for over 15 years. He has also spent ten years traveling the country, expanding into parts of Africa and Europe teaching leadership at schools and non-profit organizations. In the corporate sales world, Jesse developed many sales teams and saw many awards and great team performances due to his leadership. He was best known for helping his team members advance to the next level in their career. Jesse joined the John Maxwell Team in 2017 where they attended their first event in March. Jesse credits the John Maxwell Team for helping him find his unique voice within the market place and how he can serve his clients at the highest level. In this episode we discuss: Jesse's upbringing How he got into dancing Where he got his start How it was to be signed The WorldWide Dance Challenge What he's up to next Connect with Jesse: Website: https://www.worldwidedancechallenge.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessepaulsmith/ Thanks for listening!! Enjoying the show? Join our Facebook community to interact with fans and guests of the show! https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeyourowntrailmastermind/ Follow us on Instagram for more content! https://www.instagram.com/jordanjmendoza/ 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.

Hey, everybody. I hope you all are doing well. I'm looking forward to releasing this episode with Jesse Smith. He's a former dancer. He is a founder and CEO of the Worldwide Dance Challenge, where he actually enables dancers from all walks of life all over the world to compete in live dance competitions, live on Facebook. He's got a really, really cool story. I don't want to spoil it, but definitely looking forward to sharing this with you. Tune in and I will chat with you right after the episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza, and I've got a very special guest with me today.

His name is Jesse Smith. And Jesse, I'm going to give you a second just to give the audience some context into who you are and what you're up to now. Yeah, so I am the CEO of my creative district and a co-founder of Worldwide Dance Challenge, where we bring dancers from literally all around the world from all different styles to compete head to head live online in front of a live audience and help them showcase their talent and tell their story. That's awesome, my friend. Well, we're going to take a rewind, right?

That's what I love to do on my show is really get into the nitty gritty of who you are, really where you're from, and we'll kind of start into the formative years. So where would you say that you grew up, you know, those elementary, middle school high school years. Yeah, so I am, I come from a, I come from a low middle class family out of Superior Wisconsin. I was one of those people that only moved once in their entire life. You know, I grew up in a really good home. I have parents that are still together today. I grew up with three other siblings. I was the oldest out of three siblings. And I had a, I had a, you know, a good life, family life on that side. But, you know, going to school, I was a small kid. I was kind of

like the the reject right i was an ultra band geek i played like five different instruments and you know i was in every jazz class you possibly have right so band class i was in jazz i was in marching band i was in you know concert band the whole nine yards and um and so i got picked on and bullied a lot when i was uh when i was in school and uh but i was always like this this dreamer so i always wanted to do big things. I remember when I was in middle school, like the big thing for me was I was going to play in the NBA. Like me, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Morning, we were going to be homies. Like that was, that was going to be, I was going to play for the Charlotte Hornets. We were going to go down. But the problem was, was I was barely five feet tall and could hardly jump over a

piece of paper. So, you know, the NBA probably wasn't going to be in my cards. But, you know, music has been a big part of my life all growing up. And so in high school, like I said, I was deep into music and really started to develop this dream about doing something significant with my life when it came to music. And, you know, the big push for me to always, to do these kinds of things was because I knew what it was like, I knew what it was like being a reject. I knew what is like to be misunderstood. And I just really wanted my story of what seemed to be impossible, coming from a, you know, smaller city of, you know, 25,000 people that there's literally no connection to Hollywood, no connection. There was no reason my family didn't have any connections.

There was no reason I should make it. But if I could do it, maybe I could give hope to the other kid that was sitting in the corner of the class that nobody wanted to talk to and, and want to, you know, and they see that they have a potential to do something significant with their life. I love that, man. That is awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And so thinking back to when you were a kid, so who were the big music influencers in your life?

You know, I would really like to give the audience some context into who these people were that inspired you. So it's funny because I grew up in a Christian family. So I didn't grow up on, I didn't grow up on journey. I didn't grow up on Chicago. I didn't grow up on, you know, even, you know, guns and roses and all the hair bands and the 80s music that was out. I grew up on artists like Carmen, Twyla Paris, Amy Grant.

So I, you know, it's interesting because if I go back, none of their music really influenced my own musical flavor. It wasn't until I got into high school when I was like, hanging out with my friends and I was starting to listen to all this hip hop and starting to listen to this R&B and stuff that I wasn't supposed to be listening to at home. I'll talk to my parents about it now and we kind of joke about it. It was like I was going behind their back and I remember falling asleep like listening to Metallica on my headphones and my in my CD player so my mom didn't know what I was listening to. But, you know, if I really look back on some of my big inspirations with music when I was in high school was like boys to men and uh you know even even like

you know the the backstreet boys and in sync started to kind of make their merger just as I was graduating so those were some of the you know musical influences that I really grabbed a hold of early on that's awesome and so once you finish up high school you know what was what was the next step you know did you have aspirations and did you go to school or did you focus more on working or trying to figure out, you know, how to make your dreams come true. Yeah, so I was kind of split. So I came from, again, my dad worked for Park Maintenance Forestry for the city of Duluth for his entire career, right?

He never made more than $35,000 his entire career. And my mom was at the time she was an LPN, but in 1991, she got into a car accident that permanently disabled her so she couldn't work. So we grew up paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. And so my parents were always of that mindset, like go, go to college, get a good job, you know, so that you can make good money. And my mom was kind of, because my mom was in the medical field and she knew my demeanor, knew my personality and kind of how I loved people. She was always pushing me to go into the medical field. She said, you'd be a great doctor.

And, you know, you have such great bedside manner and all this kind of stuff. So I didn't know any better. My career guidance, you know, they usually have like a career guidance day or now they have a week. My whole like career guidance consisted of literally they're walking us into a computer lab. And this is back in the AOL days, right? So walk into a computer lab and they said, go research what you want to do. And I didn't know. I just, I knew I wanted to make a lot of money.

So I, and my mom said I would be good in the medical field. So I looked to make a lot of money in the medical field. well, the neurosurgeon popped up. I realized I don't want to go to school for another 15 years. It ain't going to happen. So the next one was like nurse anesthesis. And back in that time, it was like 180 grand was the average income. I was like, dude, I can do that.

So that was literally my whole like career guidance because I knew music was what I wanted to do. But I always had my parents kind of not pushing me, but definitely encouraging me. Listen, like the music thing's cute, but, you know, let's get realistic and go. get a good job. And so I went to one semester of college because I signed up for the medical program. So I started quickly into the CNA program, which is your lowest, you know, nursing level. And they have you spend in my program, they had it for our clinicals, you spent five days in a nursing home. And I, I hated it. I hate it. I spent probably three of those five days, half of the days spent hiding in a janitor's closet because I just hated the activities that

they were having us do. But while I was doing that, I was playing in a rock band that was starting to gain some pretty significant recognition throughout the city. And we started building a following. You know, this is in 99. And so we started building a significant following. And we got we got some recognition enough to actually get audition for word records. And that was kind of like the, the culmination, so to speak, for this group because we went down to this audition. My lead singer at the time just got engaged. And his soon-to-be father-in-law wasn't a big fan of his because he didn't want his daughter marrying a deadbeat rock star. And so he goes, basically we have, we have, if we get this record audition, we're going forward.

If we don't get this record audition, the band of disbanding, right? And so we go and we have this audition. we don't get it. And I remember that day, Brian saying, well, fellas, it was a good run. And the band kind of disbanded. And at that point, I was like crushed because I thought this was going to be it right here. And it was literally in a matter of hours, we were saying goodbye and the band disbanded. Wow. So band breaks up, man. So what do you do next? What was, you know, and again, it sounds like, you know, all the eggs were in this one, Right. Like all of them. You were waiting for it. You're ready. This thing's going to blow up and all of a sudden the air gets taken out of it. You know, and that's tough. Like, that's tough when you're a kid and you're going to get ice cream and then the ice cream is down. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just as hard. It's, it sucks. Yeah. So how did that make you feel? Obviously, you're devastated. But, you know, what were the next steps? Yeah, it was tough because like for literally for two years, because we were starting to play together in my senior year. and really like spending.

I mean, we were practicing, no joke. We were practicing probably five hours a night, five days a week. And so these were my homies. This was my, this was my group. This was my, these were my people. And when the band disbanded, it was like, we all just went our separate ways.

I didn't have anybody anymore. I didn't know what to do. So I was kind of bitter. I was angry. I was frustrated. And so I remember somebody that I met at work. I was working at Menards at the time in the lumber yard. And they were like, yeah, we're going to this, you know, this local club.

And they're like, you should come with. And I was like, you know, again, I'm this good Christian boy. We don't go to clubs. We don't do that kind of stuff. But I was like, you know what? I don't got nothing to do. And I'm frustrated right now. So I'm going to go have a good time.

And it was, you know, we were 19 years old. So it was about 20 years old. So they had this dry night so I could, you know, we could go. And I just saw these guys. doing this Crip walk stuff, the CWalk stuff. And I was like, yo, this looks dope. I think I could do that because I had been doing martial arts for a long time. And when I'd go to these national tournaments,

you see all these like jungle care and Paul Mitchell guys like doing all this breakdance and stuff. And we didn't have that where I was from. So for me to even start seeing these guys in the club start to dance, I was like, hey, this looks sick. And so literally I started just, from that day on, I started diving into dance and just started to, you know, started to pull up music videos because we didn't have MTV. Couldn't afford it, right? So we did have Yahoo and a 56K modem.

And so Yahoo at the time was hosting all these music videos. So I'd pull up like Justin Timberlake videos and and Usher and, you know, Michael Jackson. And just like you'd pull up the video and wait for three hours. So you'd go cook dinner and do your laundry and do everything else. And then I would just watch those videos and you'd keep on that video all. day, right? You wouldn't X out of that video. So you just watch it over and over and over again. And that's literally how I started my dance journey. That's awesome. Yeah, no, I can relate to that. You know, we had a conversation off air right. In 95, I saw Beat Street and I saw breaking. And, you know,

for anyone that's listening and you haven't seen those movies, you've got to watch them. I mean, man, you got to. There's just so much artistry and just the power moves and the conversations, right? And they're just, they influenced me. They was like, man, like, I want to do that, you know? And it's funny, like, when you start, because you're like, man, I must look really, really stupid right now. You know, I'm sitting in there. I, like, got some cardboard out of my garage and put it up in my room.

And I'm trying to emulate it. And I think I can remember my mom even telling me, like, just, what are you doing? Like, you're going to put this on. You know, like, you're going to break your neck trying to spin on your head, you know? So what was that like? for you, like for your parents. And when did you let them know that this is something that you're actually starting to do?

Yeah, I mean, they started to find out probably, well, I would say probably a year because I started to go to, I started to go to the clubs Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, because I was about 20 years old and it wasn't too much longer after that that I started, I turned 21. And I still didn't drink or anything like that. So for me, the club was about free dance space, you know, because I couldn't afford studio, you know, classes. And even if I could back in those days, like, there wasn't the kind of classes I wanted to take, you know, around where I'm from. And it was like the jazz, you know, lyrical ballet. They had a hip hop, but it was really jazz pop. It wasn't, it wasn't what I was

looking for. So, you know, my, my practice space was the dance clubs on Wednesday through Saturday and then also I went to a local Walmart between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. And I would go in their cosmetic section between that time and because I knew there was no traffic. The managers knew me. They knew that I wasn't going to give any problems and I was listening to their speaker above because I didn't have a Walkman or anything like that. And so I would just listen to the radio above me and I would just dance to that for like three hours a night. And so you know, finally eventually my my parents started hearing me talking a little bit more. about this whole dancing thing and the dancing i picked up on it relatively quickly and so i started

getting local recognition from different folks and and i started to think well maybe this is my ticket to music because all these dance all these music artists started to to dance and that was starting to become more and more of a forefront and then when when you got served hit man it was like game over like we're doing this and uh and so my folks started to hear me talk about listen i'm i'm i'm gonna do music like for real and uh you know music and and and and dancing and like this is going to be my life and and so uh i think you know in 2003 is when it really became a reality then that you know jesse's jesse's focused this is what he wants to do that's awesome man and so oh three hits what happens next what was what was the next step or or what kind of pivotal moment took place that started to

to kind of shift for you. Yeah, so I started going to local clubs again and started to dance. And I started getting, then I started to get the clubs calling me and saying, hey, listen, like, you know, will you come, we'll give you. And again, I didn't drink. So they offered me like free Red Bull and stuff like that just to come. And, you know, eventually they started offering me money because what was happening is I was starting to, if I would go and dance at these clubs, you know, the,

girls started, this girl started coming around. And so, and obviously they knew if the girls were coming, the guys were going to come and the guys were going to buy drinks. And so, you know, it was, it was, I started making, making appearances and getting people to call me. And the next thing that started happening is I would drive down to Minneapolis, which is about two and a half hours from where I lived. And I was starting to go to these clubs in Minneapolis. And I was going to, and I was going down there and I was dancing. And I was starting to battle dancers down there. And I'd And it was right then that I started to really realize, you know, okay, because it's one thing to do it where I was from. There was not a whole lot of people there doing it.

But Minneapolis is much bigger than where I'm from. So going there and like realizing, holy cow, like I can actually do this. And I was getting props from breakers. And, you know, I wasn't a break dancer. I did a lot of, you know, more popping and more, you know, urban hip hop stuff. But, you know, I was getting recognition from these dope breakers. and, you know, the crowds were coming to me and starting to, you know, the security guards started to know me really well. And they all knew me as this dude that was killing it on the

floor. And I would have more and more people come up to me and be like, man, you should be in music videos. You should be doing this for real. Like, you don't belong here. And every time somebody said that to me, it was like a bullet in my in my gun, right? It was just like this arsenal for me to start to believe like, yo, you, you're, you really have the. ability to do this. Yeah, isn't it so interesting when you know you get that validation, right? Like you get people that see something in you that you don't even see it in yourself, right? And it just starts to shift. It starts to move and this beautiful thing starts to happen where you finally build up that confidence. Because I think we all get into that place. It's like, like who's going to

want to see me do this? Who's going to know, who's going to think this is cool? Right. We all get stuck in our own heads when it when it comes to that all right so people started noticing you're getting more appearances you're going to bigger events and so what happened next so in 2005 so I started hearing about this this audition so I actually was I got scouted at this I got scouted for this audition down in the cities and they asked me to go down there and it was for this talent agency that I heard of and I was like okay so I'll go down there and I went and I I I brought my guitar. I sang and then I also performed dancing-wise.

And it was one of those, you know, and looking back on it now knowing what it was, it was like one of those agencies were like, they wanted you to come and check out their stuff. And then they wanted to sell you a package on, you know, your photos and, you know, your PR package and all that kind of stuff. And then they would represent you,

but you had to pay for all that. And I went and auditioned, and I remember the lady looked at me and she goes, you're way too talented for what we have to offer here. But I do have an audition that I think you should consider. And I was like, okay, she goes, there's this audition down in Orlando, Florida that I think you would be perfect for. And I was like, okay, tell me about it.

So there was this audition called Fashion Rock. And it was put on by Lou Pearlman, who founded Backstreet Boys and Insink. And so I went down there in 2005 and 2000. And there was, there was a, there was, they were having, It was this huge talent, you know, scouting, auditioned where actors, singers, comedians, the whole nine yards. If you can think anything in the entertainment industry, they had them down there. So I go down there, there's about 1,500 dancers, and it's all hosted in the World Marriott Center. And I go down there, not knowing what to expect.

And, dude, there's this, there's this five-star resort. Like, the pool's got waterfalls in it. there's a laser show in the pool area. Dude, I'm a small town kid from a, you know, from a family that lived paycheck to paycheck, bro. We stayed in $60 a night motel rooms, right? So for me to be in this place, I walk into the lobby and the, you know, the chandeliers are like, you know, almost as big as my house.

I didn't know what to think. And so I go in there, I find out there's 1,500 dancers. I'm like, oh, crap. And there's the on top of that, the choreographer for it was a choreographer that had done work for Michael Jackson. So this isn't some of your low budget choreographer, right? And I didn't grow up in the dance world doing choreography. It was all freestyle. So choreography was tricky for me.

And so they, you know, you go check in and you march down in this room and they have you in by 100 people. have you had a hundred people um or no it was it was like two 250 people 250 people come and learn the choreography for 45 minutes they shove you out and then they have a new group come in right and the choreographer could see that I was visibly frustrated because all these other dancers are picking up this choreography like this right and I'm like stumbling just to get through the first eight count and so I remember him handing me a CD and it was the CD with the music on there and he gave me a small portable boombox again I I didn't have a walkman or nothing.

He goes, get familiar with the music and work. And I remember grabbing that boombox, dude, and I left that room. And this hotel, when I tell you, this hotel was huge, you know, you walk through. And it just seemed like a new hallway every time you turned around the corner and you could just kind of get lost. And so we get down there and we get down there and I get into my room and I realize there's not enough room. there's not enough room in my room to practice. So I go and find this corner of this hotel. It's got to plug in it, plug in the boom box, and for 10 hours straight, I worked on that

choreography. Everybody's out in the pool having a good time. Everybody's partying and having a good time. And I wanted so badly to experience that, but I just kept telling myself, dude, if you do this right, you can have hotels like this the rest of your life. And so for 10 hours, I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and I remember going into my hotel room and I had like five hours before I needed to be to my audition. My body hurt.

Like everything in me was sore. I didn't ever want to hear that song again. And woke up the next day, went into the room and just something like just a fire inside of me and everything just clicked. And they brought you in by, they brought you in by 20 people at a shot, 20 dancers at a shot. and basically the culmination was they watched all the dancers. They chose five guys and five girls to be the finalist out of 1,500 dancers. And so I went in there. I did my thing.

And at the end of the day, they had this all in this big room. And they called from, you know, the stage who the top five were. And I remember they go through the, they go through the girls first. And they go through all the girls. I don't pay attention to that. And I'm listening to all the guys. They call four different names. I'm like, dude, there's only five slots left.

Or there's only five slots. There's one slot left. And sure enough, they called my name. And so I got to dance on stage in front of 3,500 people, got scouted by every major dance agency and modeling agency and everything out. Caribbean cruise line, Disney. And I made a decision that day to sign

with McDonald's Sells and Exsociets. And within 30 days, I was out in L.A. That is awesome, man. What an awesome story, right? because like you said, you're in this amazing place and it's crazy because I was just at that hotel in February. We just had a meeting, a team meeting down there and you drive in. There's a golf course, right? And then you keep driving down and then all of a sudden it's this massive place and there's, like you said, the water slides, the laser light show.

I mean, that place is amazing. It's awesome. And the fact that you decided, right, to invest in yourself for 10 hours versus go and experience. a life that you hadn't seen before. I mean, that just says a lot about your character. So kudos there, right, that you put the time in. But the time that you put in is why you were selected, right? Is why you were one of the five. And it's why you had the opportunities that you have, because, you know, success leaves clues, right? And for those people that are listening, there's a, like, him being able to get selected, it didn't just happen in those 10 hours. This has been a

journey from being bullied and picked on and doubted, right, that finally came to fruition after all that time. Yep. Yep. And so what happened next? So you get signed, you're out in L.A. You know, give us some context into, you know, for one, how mind-blowing this was that guy from Wisconsin, all of a sudden you're in L.A.

You're living a life that, you know, you had hoped and you had. dream for now this is finally coming to fruition so you know what was that like yeah it was it was surreal like i i you know i right away we right away i go and and and i sign with with mcdonald sales associates i met with my agent they connected me with they connected me with dancers you know one of the first dancers my my agency actually connected me with it was a b-boy legacy who won so you think can you dance season six um that was kind of my homie when i was out there man he got you just kind of connected me with everybody, but, you know, I went to Millennium Dance Complex and started building relationships there. But, you know, it was, it was crazy. And I thought, okay, I've made it this

far. And I'll be honest, it started to get a little bit of an ego because I was like, oh, I'm a small town boy from, you know, Superior, Wisconsin, not really any formal training. And I go out there and I crush it in the game and I'm moving to L.A. I'm going to take over L.A. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be something big in five minutes. And I remember walking into my first dance class at Millennium Dance Complex, and I took a class by a guy by the name of Bobby Newberry, who happened to be Brian Friedman's assistant at the time. And Brian Freeman, if you don't know, for your audience, was Britney Spears choreographer. So, and I hadn't done any girly hip hop at all, right? It had been pretty much, you know, urban hip hop. And so I walk in, and I knew I was in

trouble within the first eight count, the dude used his long flowing hair as part of his choreography. And I had a shaved head at the time. I'm like, I'm screwed. And it didn't take me very long to realize, yo, these people don't play. And the talent that was out there was just mind-blowing. And I quickly realized that I went from being a big fish in a little pond to an itty-bitty fish in a huge pond. And, but, you know, I met some, I met some of the coolest people. You know, I also had this thought that, okay, once I get there, I've made it. And I think so many times that we were looking for this mountain top experience that that's the last mountain you're going to climb. Like, I just need to get here.

And when I get here, everything's gravy. And that was my mentality. I just need to get to L.A. And when I get to L.A., I'm fine. You know, and I signed with an agency. And I didn't realize, like, just even being signed as a dancer out there was a treat. I met like so many talented dancers that honestly were better than I was. They were like, man, I just wish I had representation.

I'm like, dude, that's easy. You know, but, you know, I, when I was out in L.A., I had representation. I'm going to all these commercials. I'm going to all these auditions. And dude, all I'm hearing is knows. And, you know, just because you have representation doesn't mean you're making money. I was like, there was a point when I was. living in L.A. going to auditions and all I could afford was ramen noodles and water.

That's all I lived on that for 30 days. And I ended up meeting people and the way that I made money was going in front of the man's Chinese theater down on Hollywood Boulevard and dancing in front of that and making maybe 75, 100 bucks a day dancing on the street. Like that's how I made money. And, you know, I had a hundred nose when I got to to LA, a hundred knows before I got my first yes, a hundred. And, and, you know, and, and even after your first yes, you, you might have to go to a hundred more nose before you get your next yes. And I think that was the biggest lesson that I learned in Hollywood was, you don't ever make it. You don't ever make it. There's never a day that you stop. There's so many people that have had

their mountaintop experience only to find out that there's another mountain to climb. that there's another peak that you have to go through and that if you don't keep pushing yourself, if you're not continuing to make yourself better, at some point you're going to be irrelevant. And there's a million people that are just dying to take your job. And so, you know, I got to do some work with Justin Timberlake and Rihanna and Channing Tatum and all the step-up crew because at that time was when the step-up movies started to really start popping off. And but even all that, even all that, you know, I still was struggling.

as an artist out in LA. And in 2006, I found myself out there in 2005. In 2006, I came home because my parents are missionaries and they needed me to take care of their estate as they were getting ready to move to Africa. And I remember I barely had enough money to get back home. And I told my agency, listen, I'll only be gone for three months.

I'll only be gone for three months. And just got to get everything in order. I remember pulling into my parents driveway. And I put my car into park and boom. What is that? My dad, it was so loud. My dad came outside to see what was going on. And sure enough, my transmission fell out of my car. And I was like, it was like this voice inside me said, you, you're stuck now. You, you weren't good enough to make it now. And now you're back where you belong. And you just need to give it up. You just need to give it up.

Man, there's definitely some important lessons, right? For one, you know, had to hear two hundred knows to get two yeses right so i mean that's that just shows your perseverance there because you know i can remember being a kid my first job was going door to door right selling trying to get people to subscribe to the organian newspaper and i remember hearing that hundred knows and sitting on the curb all up in my feelings and not wanting to come back for day two because it sucks like it sucks hearing no. But I did go back for day two and I did get better and really that's been the foundation for every line of work that I've ever done because if you can effectively communicate with people, man, the world is a really, really large place, right? And there's a lot that you can do.

So definitely kudos to you for sticking it out and for not giving it up. And then all of a sudden things come crashing down and now you're back to essentially a full circle from where you start. So what happened next, right? This is now 06, you're back at home, transmissions on the ground. Like, and I'm sure, like, that's definitely not a great feeling, right? You barely made it back, and then all of a sudden, that three months is looking a lot longer now. So what were kind of the next steps from there? Yeah, so, I mean, I battled depression for a really long time, actually.

So I almost committed suicide in 2006 because I, I felt like my life was over. I felt like I worked so hard to get out there only to fall right back here. And I was like, this is just, you know, and, you know, because of because of the fact that I only focused on working on skill set and never focused on working on my mindset, I didn't know how to handle this type of situation. You know, and the difference between a successful person versus somebody that's failing, quote unquote, in life is, is really their. perception of their reality, right? It's how they deal with the hardships and all the difficult situations, because it's not a matter of if you're going to have difficult situations. It's just a matter of when and what it looks like, right? And those that succeed in life just learn how to deal

with those and pivot and maneuver around those things and use those situations as stepping stones instead of looking at them as roadblocks. And so, you know, I really was battling depression for a long time and and and and what really helped turn things around for me is I had a I had somebody give me a call and they said hey listen um I'm part of an upward bound program and we heard about you and we heard about your story and was wondering if you'd come and share your story uh with your journey to Hollywood with our students and and helping them understand that you know anything is possible and I was like sure you know and and and didn't know really a whole lot about the upward bound program, but I went there. They asked me to do like a little bit of a dance instructional thing.

I did that. And then, but, you know, I did, I did that and came and spoke to their students. And I had such a good time. And I remember this girl coming and with tears running down her eyes or her face. And she said, I just want to thank you so much for sharing your story. You know, she goes, honestly, I've, I've thought about killing myself. And your story, you know, your story. really gave me hope and helped me believe that I can do the things that I really want to do. And I just want to say thank you. And she gave me a hug. And I started tearing up and getting all emotional.

And I remember walking away from that conversation saying, this is what I want to do with my life. Like, I want to encourage other people that they're valuable. I want to encourage people that their value comes from who they are, not what they do. And that anything is possible, that we are all given a purpose and a design to to serve that purpose. And so I just, I remember like it was just that a moment for me that everything shifted. And I was, as I was saying goodbye to the director and saying, hey, I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity. If you ever need anything like this again, just please give me a call. And she said, we are absolutely ecstatic. She goes, I'll write you a testimony. I'll do whatever

you want to do. I said, that'd be cool. Not really even understanding marketing at the time or understanding the power of a testimonial. But she had me an envelope. And I didn't even know it. was. I was like, well, thank you. And I left and I sat in my, I went to my car and I sat down and I opened the envelope up and I was like, what's this? And I opened and here was a check for $200. And I was like, wait a second, I can make money doing this. Like it never even occurred to me like, oh, dude, this could be a way to do it. And that's really what set me on a path to start speaking at high schools and speaking all over the world using dance as a platform to, to be able to get on stage.

Man, that's awesome that, you know, for one, that you were able to overcome and, you know, glad that you're here, right? Glad that you're still here and that you're able to tell that story, right? And I firmly believe that the experiences that we go through, the hardships, the pain, they aren't for us to keep inside. Like, they are for us to share with other people in the hopes that they will do something different. They'll be something different.

They'll learn from, right, your journey. Yeah. Because that's what it's all about. everybody has a story to tell. It's just some people, unfortunately, aren't around long enough to share it. Right? Because, I mean, that one person that you impact and just imagine if you can do that to one person a day for a year,

that's 365 people. You can multiply that number and you keep multiplying it. And man, what a beautiful thing. And so you got paid, right? Like, didn't even expect it. Wasn't something that you even tried to do. I think this was you really being able to release some of that to get some of that off of your chest because I'm sure like you said it probably was like this

massive weight off your shoulder like getting it out that one time right and then all these endorphins are happening and and you're getting happy from it and so now you're going down this journey to speaking and impacting people at scale right and so that's is that what you've been up to for since that time yeah I mean there's been a lot of things in and out of that I had a record deal that I got that failed really bad. That put me $170,000 in debt facing bankruptcy. But during that time, I had been speaking and, you know, performing all over. And then finally, I took over a business.

When my record deal failed, I said, you know what, that's it. Like, that's the indication that music, dance is not in the cards for me. I am no longer going to touch that. you know, the only thing I used music for was I led, I led worship for my church. But other than that, like music was done. And in fact, it was so much I wouldn't watch America's Got Talent. I wouldn't watch anything that had to do with music or dance, partially because I was just so mad and so bitter.

But I dove head first into business. And I joined a friend of mine. We took a failing hearing aid franchise from $476,000 to $4.4 million in four years. We helped a bunch of people make their first six-figure income. And so I really dove head first into business. And, you know, I joined the John Maxwell team and became a speaker trainer and coach for them. And we started using their material to build our franchise. And then we walked away from that franchise and started our consulting world, our consulting business.

But during that time, I was teaching sales and doing all this. There was this rub. There was this gnawing at me that I just couldn't get out of my system. And I couldn't figure out what it was. And finally in 2018, the John Maxwell team actually found out who I danced for. And they were doing a theme on unity and diversity. And they asked me, hey, would you possibly dance on stage for us for a business conference? I was like, no, we ain't going down that road.

Now, the interesting thing is the John Maxwell team conference is held at the World Marriott Center. When I walked into that hotel for the first time since 2005, in 2017, I about hit the floor. And, you know, just all these emotions came and came over me. But in 2018, I found myself dancing on the exact same stage in the exact same room as I got discovered in in 2005. And it was in a different area, an area that I would have never thought. I mean, we're talking a bunch of CEOs and business people. and you know but there I am and ripped jeans a long-tailed tea and piercings and tattoos that I was trying to put away because I thought that the world didn't want to see that side of me anymore

and I learned the value of surrendering to your authentic design that day and realizing that just because a dream doesn't formulate and happen in the way that you think it's going to doesn't mean it won't that's awesome man and talk about a full 360 right And I'm going to actually add another layer to that because you were talking about mindset earlier, right? And you know, you had all these amazing things, but you didn't, hadn't learned about like, what do I do when I get into my own head? And how do I break that? And so literally in February, when my team and I were down in that same hotel in Orlando, one of our speakers for the day, he said something that was so profound. And you'll appreciate this a lot.

as he said, the inner game controls the outer game. Right? And when we can control what's happening in here, it makes everything out here a lot easier. You know? And it's just so crazy that, like, for one, this is the first time we've ever had a conversation. And that Mariah has played a significant role in both of our lives,

which is insane, right? Talk about serendipities. Yeah. So let's get the audience some context. So you're dancing on the stage for the Maxwell group. Big Maxwell fan, by the way. What a great author and a speaker. And I've been connected with him probably for like 10 years on LinkedIn.

You know, I consider him as a mentor from afar. And so you start this dance journey once again, right? It literally all came back around and ended up in that same place. So this happens with Maxwell. You're dancing on this stage. was was this seed for what you're doing now kind of planted in that moment and and how did it all really start and then we'll give the audience some context on where to find this challenge and also how to connect with you as well yeah i mean it was definitely the start right it was it was

kind of the awareness piece and and uh you know one of my mentors paul martinelli talks about uh talks about you know the law of gestation that everything has a um or the law of gender where everything has a as an incubation and gestation period, right? And so I believe that at that moment, it was a seed that planted that, listen, this is who you are, right? And I do a lot of speaking about surrendering to your design. I think a lot of people fight their design

because of bad experiences or past hurts or failures or whatever the deal may be. And see, I misread failures or ends of chat. in my life as failures and as indications that I wasn't meant to do music. I wasn't meant to be in the entertainment world the way that I wanted to be. And it's because we often have this vision and that vision is very narrow in journey, right? And one of my other mentors, Chris Robinson, who is the president of the John Maxwell team, says this all the time.

That's a way. I've had to learn that there's multiple ways to get to Rome. There's so many different ways that you can get to the end goal. And you have to be open to the fact that it might not look the exact way that you wanted to look. So in 2018, when I got off that stage, it was the seed that was planted. And even in that time, I was still doing my sales consulting business. But again, everything just started to like, it was like an ache in your body that you were ignoring for so long. finally you couldn't ignore it anymore. And I went through this long journey again of my business

actually imploding because I was so miserable in it. And I wasn't enjoying reaching out to clients. I wasn't enjoying anything because there was this part of me that was being denied, right? There was this part of me that was not allowing me to fully come out. And I believe that when you do that long enough, it's kind of like a sore or an internal injury and it's going to eventually seep out on the outside. And I found myself battling depression again. And it was because I wasn't connected to my purpose. You know, so many times when we're not connected to our purpose, we, we experience all these emotions and we don't understand what it is. And it sends us down this negative spiral.

And that's really what happened is I got down this negative spiral of I, you know, my life was meaningless and it was worthless and I wasn't enjoying life. And so, you know, what happened was COVID happened. and I was on the last leg of my I was on the last leg of my business I was ready to just close it up and and I didn't really know what I was going to do I knew I didn't want to work for anybody because I don't work well working for other people and you know this is why surrendering to your design is so important so we all have gifts we all have talents and we all have strengths and Ken Coleman does a talk he did a talk that you can find on YouTube it's a phenomenal talk he calls it the sweet spot. He's talking to Liberty University students. And he says so many people are looking for their purpose in life. And I believe your purpose in life is when your passion and your strengths intersect. And I started to think about that. What is that? I'm passionate about dancing. I'm passionate about people. One of my strengths is I'm really good at being able to empower other people. I'm really good at being able to teach other people. I'm really good at being able to connect with other people.

and I sat down in my room and I started thinking about who do I really want to serve. I was tired of serving the people that I thought I needed to serve so I could make money. Who do I really want to serve? Who am I going to wake up at six in the morning with energy that I just, I can't wait to get back and serve them? And I just knew it was it was dancers. It was dancers. It was dreamers. It was people that were laying at bed at night like I was 22, 23, 24 years old,

picturing myself in the Like I Love You Music video with Justin. in Timberlake, literally picturing myself dancing right side by him. Like, that was who I wanted to get up every day and give a chance to. I wanted to help them, you know, turn their dream into a reality. And so I had a conversation with a buddy of mine who is now helping with this, who's really the other founder of this whole thing, Zach Knight. And we had this conversation and literally in 45 minutes. Like I got really clear on who I wanted to serve.

I got clear. I was going to start this dance academy on. line and I started talking to him about it. And he was like, you know what? I as a fan girl of dance, have always wanted to see something like this. And literally within 45 minutes, we came up with a blueprint for what we wanted to do. And the next, in five days, we launched our first episode. We didn't know exactly what it was. We just knew we needed to take a step. And for some of this, some of your audience members right now, you know, too many times we get caught up in the fact that we don't have the exact plan. And we get so, we get so overwhelmed with this beautiful,

elaborate plan before we take a step. And sometimes the best laid plans only have one step. And it's the next one. Then we knew the next step was to get two dancers together and compete online and figure it out. And literally, since that day, we've had two episodes a week. We haven't missed. And right now we are, we're in the middle of talking to people about, getting it on Netflix and on Hulu or on Disney Plus, we're getting ready to shoot a full-length featured movie about the competition and what's behind it. And we are dead set on helping undiscovered dancers from around the world that don't have the ability to necessarily get to an audition like I did.

But now with technology, we can eliminate the geographical barriers and we can eliminate the financial barriers because all they need is a smartphone and some internet. that we can literally bring them to a platform where we can have all these people watching them. And we already have dancers that have gotten gigs from being on the show. We've already gotten dancers that are making money doing what they absolutely love doing because they came on our show and competed. And this thing just keeps blowing up bigger and bigger and bigger. I love it.

I love that, man. And right, you just eliminated the gatekeeper, right? There's no more gatekeepers anymore as long as, yeah, you have access to the internet and you want to dance like you're giving people a platform and an opportunity um and so how do you feel today right all this it started happening quick and um like you got to be proud right you've got to be proud to really where you've gotten to and and now the upward uh trajectory of this project yeah i mean dude i'm i i wake up every day so pumped i just i'm i'm I'm like a, I'm like a little kid, really.

I, you know, I work, I work all day connecting with people and loving on people and helping people make their dreams become a reality. And I get to play while I'm doing it. I've started dancing a lot again. And, you know, that part's just so much fun. But I think, you know, and I take a look at it, we've only been doing this for, for two months, right? We're going to be on episode 18 airing here on, on the Wednesday that's coming from this, us doing this interview. And I mean, we've got movie deals. We've got, we've got, you know,

big names. I mean, big, big names. I can't drop names yet, but we got big names that are looking at this thing, wanting to work with us. And, you know, we've come, we've put together a dance academy that was birthed out of the worldwide dance challenge. So now we have the worldwide dance challenge and the worldwide dance academy where we're literally bringing choreographers from around the world to teach all different styles of dance on an online platform and doing live classes in there. And we're partnering with gyms and homeschool groups. And I mean, there's just so many cool things that are happening out of this. But I take a look at this and there's a story that I first heard from Les Brown. And it's a story about the bamboo tree. And if you haven't

checked out Les Brown and the bamboo tree, you need to go check it out. But you know, the interesting thing about the bamboo tree is that it's known for, you know, being able to grow up to 90 feet tall in six weeks. Like the growth trajectory of the bamboo tree is huge. But what most people don't know and what most people don't want to talk about about the bamboo tree's journey is what happens before it breaks ground. Because it grows up to 90 feet once it breaks ground. But it literally takes five years from the time you plant the seed and you have to water that seed every single day. If you don't water the seed every day, it'll kill the tree. tree. So you can be diligently watering that seed for four years and you miss a day.

Toast. Right. And so I take a look at this journey that I'm on right now. And some people have come to me and be like, oh, you're so lucky. You know, look at where you are. And it's, it didn't take you any time at all. Two months and whoop, your story blew up and blah, blah, blah. You know, and I have a guy that I did some work with back in the day with the U.S. Speaking Circuit. His name's Josh Schip and awesome guy. And he says, It takes 10 years to become an overnight success. And it's so true. Like, we all have stories of just failure, hardship, tears, blood, sweat, you know, feeling

like we're going to give up. You know, and this two months of growth really took 20 years. I mean, I've been at this thing for 20 years. And everything that I've gone through, everything that I've learned over the last 20 years are really what's helped this growth come in the show. two months, you know, and that's what I tell people is, listen, this didn't take two months. This is 20 years and two months of my life. And yes, once it broke ground, boom, it's like, blown out of the water. But it took 20 years to get here. Yeah, man, it's all the journey, right?

It's the ups, it's the downs, it's the peaks, it's the valleys. It's all of the hardships, right? All of those things are what helped birth this and shoot it 90 feet in the air. You don't get you don't get to work to this without that, you know. But it is interesting that, you know, we've all seen the famous depiction of the iceberg, right? That people only see that surface level. They don't see the bottom. They don't see all those things that go into it. Well, that's awesome, man.

And you've had an amazing journey and I definitely wish you all the success in the world. And so where can people find this challenge and then where can people connect with you? I know you're a networker, like just listening to the journey. that's one of the strengths you have is connecting with people and building those networking relationships. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people to listen and say, man, that's a guy I want to, I want to connect with. Yeah. So you can find the Worldwide Dance Challenge. We are on all the social media platforms, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Worldwide Dance Challenge. Or you can go right to the website worldwide dancechallenge.com where we actually stream all of our episodes

live and we have the backlog of all the previous episodes so you can go check those out. As far as connecting with me, Jesse Paul Smith on all your social media platforms, just because I had to put my middle name in there because there's way too many Jesse Smiths. So Jesse Paul Smith, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, you know, Twitter, Facebook, the online hours. Awesome, man. Well, hey, I appreciate you coming on the show today. I know your story is going to inspire many, many more, I should say, because I know that you've been inspiring a lot of people already. But thanks so much for coming on the Blaz Your Own Trail Podcast. Yeah, brother, it was a pleasure.

Thanks for having me. Hey, everybody. I hope you enjoyed that episode with Jesse Smith. He's doing some incredible things. One thing that we didn't get to share on this episode is that he's actually going to be launching his own podcast as well. So be on the lookout for that. I will make sure all of his info is down in the show notes. And as always, if you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe.

that'll definitely help us reach more people. And make sure you rate and review us on iTunes. We're only looking for five stars, though. So if you don't think it's five stars, please reach out to me directly. I would love to find out why and figure out ways that we can add more value through these episodes.

So I hope you all are doing safe and well. And have an amazing rest of your day.