Living The Red Life - From Broke and Lost to Building a 100-Acre Empire

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

What does it really take to build something from nothing?In this episode of Living The Red Life, Layton Jones reveals how he went from debt, uncertainty, and no clear path to building a thriving 100-acre business ecosystem rooted in community, faith, and relentless execution. Through raw insights on entrepreneurship, real estate, and team building, he breaks down how to scale multiple income streams, develop leaders, and create a business that gives back.But the real question is—can you build success without waiting for the perfect moment?Key Takeaways • Why waiting for “perfect” kills more businesses than failure ever will • The “start at the end” strategy to reverse-engineer your income goals • How to build multiple businesses that feed one core vision • Why getting in the trenches is the fastest path to growth • The real difference between making money and creating impactNotable Quotes • “$100,000 ideas make $100,000. Million-dollar ideas make a million.” • “Start at the end and work backwards.” • “You’ll never start if you wait for perfect.” • “When you can make someone else successful, there’s no greater feeling.” • “Get in the trenches and figure it out.”Connect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

$100,000 ideas make $100,000. Oh, yeah. A million dollar ideas, make a million dollars. Yes, sir. So I always tell people for the roadmap, they go, what's your roadmap? My roadmap is start at the end. And whatever that looks like in your life, if it's, I want to make $100,000, say, okay, we'll start at $100, and work backwards.

Layton Jones is a purpose-driven entrepreneur, community builder, and the visionary behind Jones farm. Drawing from his belief that success is measured by impact rather than profit, he inspires others to pursue meaningful work, strengthen their communities, build legacies rooted in faith, family, and service. One of the biggest mistakes I see in early entrepreneurs are like, I got to have everything perfect. And when it's perfect, I'll start it. You'll never start because it's never going to be perfect.

I didn't know what I was doing in half of these businesses, much less, all of them. You know, I get in there and you literally figure it out as you go, and then you find better ways. Trying to be successful is rewarding. But when you can make someone else successful, I don't feel like there's any greater feeling than that in business. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the Red Life, ditch the Blue Pill, take the Red Pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Red Life Edition. For Insighton Success, I am Ray Gutierrez.

Joining me today, fresh off of Nashville and fresh off of his legacy maker's interview is Layton Jones from Layton Jones Farms? The company is named Jones Farms. Jones Farms. Nice, dude. Welcome to the show. Well, glad to be here. Right on.

You are in a very Tuesday mood. I love it. My friend, how do you feel you? You just finished filming your Legacy Maker's episode. Yeah, it was wonderful. It was great. There's a lot to get off my chest and kind of, you know, take it easy now. Yeah, is there anything you'd like to share with us here in the decompression zone?

I think I just went through it all from now. I'm just trying to kind of get back into it. the swing of things, you know. Back to present day. Give us a sneak peek. What are we going to learn about you in Legacy Makers? Man, I'm excited to share what we got going on with Jones Farm. Like I said, we're a multifaceted business.

It's got a community building aspect going along with us. And so we've got everything from weddings and retreats and cabin rentals. Nice. We've got a 100-acre farm that we're developing out for more cabin rentals. And we'd like to give back through retreats and men's group and women's group for them to come rent the space from us. So we're building all that out right now. but in the process of building this whole thing, and we just kept creating business after business

that kind of fed the general business. Yes, sir. As you're starting to build some of these things, you start to realize that, man, I got to cut cost everywhere I can because everything's so expensive and then a business was created. I'm pretty sure the reason why everything is red is because Rudy was trying to cut costs in color.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Bad joke, bad joke, bad joke. Buying in bulk. Yeah, for sure. Gosh, it's funny what you do with a piece of land and some infrastructure and you're feeding families, villages. Talk about the very beginnings of seeing this plot of land and seeing that vision. Yeah, man, it was, I don't know, if the vision was all there, the first day, we go out there and it's just old tires and mosquitoes and overgrown land.

Yeah. It's been wild to see, you know, it kind of transformed. But in the early stages, it was, I think, a dream, you know, of just kind of like, we'll get married out here. We'll have a wedding or two. And then as the phone call start coming in, it's more like, this is kind of a. business. And then it just business after business starts evolving and growing. So it's been really cool to see the community get behind us and kind of come in and really just have our back. So we're excited to share more and more with them. Erdon, are you family operated or are you hiring staff from the community? How do you recruit? We're basically an entrepreneur staff. So everyone's a 1099 that

comes on. They're a contracted worker that have a different lane and a different role to play. So not only are we growing our businesses, we're teaching young entrepreneurs how to run a business. Nice. And we're trying to get them more involved, and we call it leveling up. So every time someone comes in and they think this is their base pay, they find a new way to help the team. And then they make more money just because everyone has something cool to bring to the table. And we don't like ceilins. We don't want to cap.

We want to be able to make as much as we can and help each other out as much as we can. I would hate to say cast, because we literally casted you for legacy makers. But where do you pick your talent from? Are you looking for artists? Because you're near Nashville, so it's just beaming with artists. Yeah, but it's been a journey. buddy. Oh, I believe it. I've been through hundreds of people. You've got to kiss a lot of frogs, as they say. Yes, for sure.

And then, you know, you go through a lot of these things, and there's been a lot of great help along the way, but then there gets to a point where you're like, okay, you see something different at someone, and then they kind of take the bull by the horns, if you will, and take the reins and kind of do things that's not ask of them. And then we have a 90-day review period, so we take that. We'll pay you like an employee, and here's your money, and then once you become that entrepreneur-spirited person, we're going to either give you the spot or we're not. And, you know, the ones that we have now have stuck with us and built it and have done wonderful so I'm very proud of them too.

That's amazing, man. This sounds like you're, this sounds like a thriving operation. How does, how do you find someone that has the entrepreneur spirit versus someone that's just self-employed? I put them in the trenches. Nice.

Man, I put them in the trenches, man. I tell them every day, I said, look, if I got to do it, you got to do it. And I said, and I'm not too good for any of these jobs from shoveling dirt to poop to, and, you know,

getting your hands dirty, cooking the burgers or serving the, or, you know, doing the tours for the weddings, whatever it is, we do it all. And so when they go, what do you want me to

do. I'm like, everything. And so it's one of those things. All at once yesterday. And they'll laugh at me because it's very much that way. I'm like, now, down, down, now. And they're like, there's no time. Like, what the present? Let's do it right now. Let's not wait. So you kind of create that energy, if you will, you leave from the front. And then if you're not going to, if you're not going to do it, why would they listen to you and why would they do it? So that's kind of thing. What I look for them is, are they willing to get their hands dirty? And if they are, my type of person. Right on. Gosh, what How do you build a curriculum? Do you build a curriculum?

Is it just kind of like every day as a new day? How do you build entrepreneurs? Every day is definitely a new day. And some days are better than others. I tell people all the time, it's not going to be unicorns and rainbows every day out here. It's going to suck a lot of the times. But if you stick with it,

you want to build something bigger than yourself, something that lives on past you, then just get in the trenches and figure it out. And people are like, what do you mean figured out? I'm like, look, I didn't know what I was doing in half of these businesses, much less all of them.

I get in there and you literally figure it out as you go, and then you find better ways. One of the biggest mistakes I see in early entrepreneurs, they're like, I got to have everything perfect, and when it's perfect, I'll start it. You'll never start. You'll never start because it's never going to be perfect. I'm going to be working on that place forever,

and if it's not me actually swinging the hammer, it's just always things to do. But there's no better ways to find the flaws in your business, to get in the trenches and figure out what's wrong. because you know like you can have everything buttoned up everything perfect for that wedding or that oh yeah and then you get there and oh we forgot this we forgot that it's going to happen so when you get into the trenches it's going to tell you real quick what you need to work on for sure how do you test for that do you kind of design an event where it's like well let's remove the water in the air

here let's see how they operate and they can still survive then they're great employees how does this work what's your philosophy no because failing is not always the problem sure if you get in there and you mess up, I don't worry about how do you bounce back? How do you rebuild? You know, being an athlete my entire life, you don't win every play. Right on. You're playing with people that are just as good or better than you every single day. So we take that and we learn from it.

And when you get knocked down, get back up. Yes, sir. You know, that's kind of the beauty of it. And there is no right or wrong way to do it. They're just better ways to do it. So you may do something for a very long time and go, this works. It's not broke. And they go, it's not broke.

No fix it. Yeah, but if you find a better way, would you maybe pivot? For sure. For sure. you know, say some guy's selling you something at $5 and you find it for three, you're going to keep buying it for five? Yeah, yeah. You're going to buy it for three. So where does this, where does this knowledge come from?

A lot of folks that sit in that chair, you know, go through their coaches, they drop names like Tony Robbins, Rudy Moore, Regiteers, Badger. I feel like your divine download is coming from just being alive in the dirt, in the farm. Pretty much in the trenches. Hell yeah, man. I mean, my father was an entrepreneur. They've built, you know, he has their own business back. in Mississippi, but you know, you learn things that you do like and you learn things that you don't like.

And you finally, that's kind of part of failing, right? And sort of every failure is your next success story, you know, because there's, there's been times that I get in the, you know, early on in my segment. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I know what I didn't want to do. Yeah. Which made the, there's two roads, right? Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah.

And so, yeah, I feel like over this journey and just being in the athletic mode and team building and family-oriented, you know, faith-driven, you know, it's just been something that you just pick up and learn. And for me, I didn't necessarily have a roadmap, but I tell people, I told him in there, I said, you know, $100,000 ideas make $100,000. Oh, yeah. A million-dollar ideas, make a million dollars. Yes, sir. So I always tell people for the roadmap, they go, what's your roadmap? My roadmap is start at the end. And whatever that looks like in your life, if it's, I want to make $100,000, say, okay, we'll start at 100 and work backwards. Yep. What of our constant variables? We got 360,

days, seven days a week, 52 weeks in a year. So whatever you want to sell, start at your $100,000 or a million, whatever the number is, and then divide it by $365. Okay, I got to sell one a day at this price point to make that number. And do the same with your weeks and your days, your days, weeks and months or whatever it may be. So it makes the model less stressful when you know your end destination. Right on. Like if I say, hey, we're going to Florida and I'm leaving Tennessee, I don't go west.

Sure. Yeah. You know, so directional challenge is a big thing. Nobody knows which way to even go or start. But, you know, once you get in that car, you'll figure it out. For sure, dude, that's awesome. You mentioned faith, and what's it like operating under, you know, leading with fire or leading with faith? Like, what's that like for you?

It definitely keeps a fire under you, you know? I mean, for me, you know, athlete, quarterback, pro athlete, did shows on MTV, all the things that you thought mattered in your life. now looking back are so insignificant because of what you're trying to build now. And being that I've always been faith-driven or had it, but when you become a man, an entrepreneur, and a husband, a father, your purpose is a little different. So you dig into the things that there's an end result, just like I mentioned before, there's an end game.

Yes, sir. You can believe what you want to believe, but I believe that there's a greater purpose after this life. There's after that. And so for me, knowing that's my end destination, how I want to live and what I want to give back and how I want to be not only viewed in my community, but it kind of directs the path of my business. Now, if I do this and I do these things and I am ultimately putting out good, good things will come back. And so it's just been a powerful thing for me.

It started through our wedding. It started through our land. And then when we buried the word on Psalm 91 for protection over the land, we got flooded four times last year. All cabins backed up in a flood zone to a creek with a pond on the land. this side and a creek on this side. Wow. Water rose eight feet in one hour, got to the bottom of our cabins, never got inside, and subsided.

For us, it was a very cleansing of the land. It was very like, why didn't it take all those cabins just down? And I mean, you see the things in North Carolina, you see that these flooding's all over. And then, like, I would, you know, I'd like to believe we got shown a little favor in it. Oh, absolutely. It definitely makes you, whether it's that, you know, strategically as the divide or if it's more like, I see you, I hear you, thank you, because now it puts things in perspective.

And you look at it from like, man, there is something bigger than me. There is something grander. There is something that I need to drive my business off of, you know. Oh, for sure. And that's why I always like to speak to entrepreneurs that lead with faith, because you kind of see the divine plan and the code kind of emerge all around you in this reality. And folks write poems and books about it and make movies called The Matrix. And in reality, it's always kind of been all around us. It really just takes the proper education to kind of see the frequencies.

Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to see that because, you know, early on, I was telling, you know, it's a, you're like, self. I got to have everything for me. I've got to, like, drive, drive, drive. And you know, you're pushing so hard, but you're pushing and it's pushing back. When you can kind of let go and say, okay, there's a bigger plan. There's something that's going to. The money, money, money.

And, of course, that's how we pay our bills. That's what it's got to be about. Yes, sir. Right. You got to learn to sell cars. Yeah. But it can be both, you know, it can be something that's driven and through faith, through our business. And it's been really cool to be able to be able to be able to.

have that entrepreneurial spirit and build a business that allows me to give back. And early on, it's like, how can I make as much money for me? And now it's like, how can I make enough money to sustain my family, sustain my legacy, and whether you call it a tax plan for a give back, whatever it is, you can create a scenario with the system to do all of those things that help everybody out. Right on. It's kind of been cool in a learning journey because you don't know any of that stuff when you're getting started in this.

Yes, sir. You know, they say that it's designed for, you know, they say the rich or whatever, but they just know what game to play. It's the roadmap, right? It's the roadmap to play. So you get into a scenario where you start creating your own roadmap and then you just follow that. Yeah, I was all right. I like to say it.

Let me in on the joke. I just want in on the joke. I just want to sit at the table and I can help enhance the carnival act that we call life. Yeah, sometimes you're like, and, you know, for the, for me, the faith-driven stuff is like, I would like to believe that all of these ideas that I am that smart that I did it, I pulled it all, I came up with it all on my own but I don't think so.

No, yeah, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. That's called the video game, sir. Yeah, I'm like, no, because so now it's one of those things where I even look back on the things that we've built and I'm like, how in the world did we get here? Thank God we are here, you know, and I feel blessed. I feel humbled. I'm very excited about what's to come. And I'm even more excited about my journey with the Lord and how I'm building my own personal relationship. Because it gets to a point where

you're young, you're traveling the world, you're doing these states, me, me, me, me, me, me, and then all of a sudden you get to a place where your husband, dad, father, protector, entrepreneur, and mentor. You're like, man, I can still do all those things, but now this matters to me so much, and I can do it this way too. And that's been cool. Right on. How are you mentoring? Who is your perfect person to mentors. Male, female, everything in between. What does the next generation look like to you?

Someone who's hungry, you know. No really specific. It's more so going through those 100 crapshootshoots to, you know, not to speak ill of them, but it's just like they don't want it. And it's okay that they don't want it. They realize that they're not that entrepreneur's bad. I want a nine to five.

I want this. That's totally fine. That's totally okay. And some people would say they're smarter. Yeah. I don't have any headache. I don't have any stress. I don't have anything.

so, but there is a divine feeling when you get to create something and mentor back in, you know, trying to be successful is rewarding and being in creating that successful rewarding, but when you can make someone else successful, I don't feel like there's any greater feeling than that in business, you know, so, you know, watching them flourish and watching them get excited and them telling me as a mentor, hey, my before 40 plan is now my before 30 plan. Right on. I had no idea that this was going to exponentially go. grow overnight in order to die.

But that's where it gets back to building that family, building that team, building something that they believe, well, they didn't really believe in you at first because they're like, I'll help you, but you're crazy. Yeah, and that's a good sign. This is kind of cool. It's working. Now you see them really step up and it just kind of makes it that much more interesting

and grow that much faster. Rodon, how do you market something like this? Do you have a social media following? Are you live on TikTok or are you just completely secret and it's all inclusive? Well, we have a local community that knows about us. We're kind of waiting to drop the hammer on some big budget marketing stuff. Nice. We have new stuff coming out.

That's awesome. We're developing. Right now, we have 100 acres total. We're on most of it's built out on the 10 or 11 acres. And we're about to expand into 80 more acres on the other side. Wow. We'll be more retreat style. We'll have 75 new tiny homes over there that we'll be able to do large groups.

That's amazing. These microhomes are revolutionary. Yes, man. crazy. And so being 18 minutes from downtown Nashville, we're getting family reunion, class reunions, you know, and then there's not many places, even hotels that can sleep, you know,

six people per cabin. Yep. 50 to 75 cabin. You're talking to 500 people on site. Nobody has to drive. We rent, we're going to be renting golf carts and e-bikes where you take them to your cabin. It's all, and we're about a month away from kind of putting it

out there, but this is kind of you know, preliminary, but we'll be labeled the first and only rural resort outside of Nashville. Wow. That'll be really cool. Dude, I already see it. You're met as fast seeing and I can see the vision board come to life. I'm so excited for you.

I've been doing it for three years. Like, I see it. I can't tell. You're crazy. I'm like, maybe. I know, and it's going to be awesome.

Yeah. Sign me up. I can't already see like the best haunted houses all year around. Like your own version of a TED talk out in the rural area. And like, folks, when I lived in, when I lived and worked in San Francisco,

God, folks would pay a fortune to like fly out to these areas. Yeah. And like, and, and, dirt under toes and give a very illuminated speech. Yeah, it's a whole experience, man. Gosh, God bless you. I hope you're upcharging as much as you can. How can folks learn more about this

amazing place and learn more about you, sir? You know, we're on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. We have all these things. We're getting more into our marketing of that is Jones Farm, Nashville, as our tag. But yeah, man, we're going to be doing some more news outlet stuff. So we're kind of slow playing the build out because once that becomes, then the local news channels, then we're doing a global launch. And then some of our businesses ship all over the country, and then people come from all of the country to stay at our resort and retreat. So it's going to be really cool to kind of do a global launch with that when the timing is right.

But we are kind of being a little smart on the front end to say, look, we don't want to open that door, because we have all we can handle right now. Sure, sure. And then I don't want to open that door. Here they come, and now I can't supply. Yeah. So it's one of those things where we're just being because we're going to do a soft opening in early spring. Beautiful.

Full launch in the summer. so we'll be asleep anywhere from 4 to 500 people on site. It would be really cool. Wow. Well, I'm looking forward to your first camping festival. Those are always amazing. Yeah, man. Is there anything you'd like to say before we wrap up and kick you out of here?

No, man, I think it's been great. Everything's been wonderful. It's a great meeting you guys. And I'm happy to get the story out and share with everybody kind of what's to come. And I look forward to it. I'm going to close you off here. It says, this is Laydon Jones, and he's built a community-driven business that brings faith, family, and purpose together,

creating lasting impact. Thanks, man. That is Leiden Jones, and I am Ray Gutierrez, and we are Inside Success.