More Money Podcast - 127 How to Become an Entrepreneur on Fire - John Lee Dumas, Entrepreneurs on Fire

Episode Date: November 8, 2017

He wasn’t fulfilled in his life or career, so instead of complaining and wishing he had better luck, John Lee Dumas did something about it…which turned into a multi-million dollar a year business now known around the world as Entrepreneurs on Fire. Long description:  This is a pretty big moment for me because ever since I started the Mo’ Money Podcast back in June 2015, John Lee Dumas was one guess I aspired to get on my show. Fast-forward 2 years and over 100 episodes and I got him! So, why did I want to get him on the show so badly? Because he was actually one of the inspirations for me starting my podcast. When I got the idea to start a podcast, I immediately starting researching online and fairly quickly he popped up. He had (and still has) a very successful podcast called Entrepreneurs on Fire, and he also had a free course on how to start a podcast. I took the course and it really helped me start things off on the right foot. Honestly, if I hadn’t taken his free course, I know I would have made all the rookie mistakes and would have taken even longer to propel my podcast into what it is today. For my interview with him, I just wanted to dive deep into what we was about, how he got to be so successful as a completely online entrepreneur (he now lives and runs his business from Puerto Rico). I also wanted to know how he does all the things he does and stays sane and grounded. And of course, he has a stellar morning ritual to start of his days right, something I know I need to start implementing myself. This episode isn’t really about personal finance, but I wanted to share it because John is seriously such an inspiration to me. He’s a hustler, he’s a risk-taker, and he’s proof that if you feel unfulfilled and unhappy in your life, you can absolutely change course at anytime (it’s never too late!). Helpful Resources The Dip by Seth Godin The Freedom Journal by John Lee Dumas John Lee Dumas’ resource library For full episode show notes visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/127  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to episode 127 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode. I'm very excited about this episode because I am interviewing someone who actually helped me get into the podcasting world. So I am talking to John Lee Dumas. He's my next guest, and he is the founder and host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews entrepreneurs seven days a week. Damn, that's a lot. And since starting his podcast, he's interviewed over, get this, 1,800 guests, including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vee, Barbara Corcoran from Shark's Tank, and Tim Barris. But before all that, John didn't start out in this world of entrepreneurship. He actually was in the army for eight years. And after that, he tried out law school. It was not for him. And then he worked in corporate finance and commercial real estate for a little bit.

But one day he realized he just wasn't fulfilled what he was doing. So he started listening to some inspirational and motivational podcasts. And he really got drawn into ones that were really focused on entrepreneurship. And he got really excited about that. So he decided to start his own podcast that wasn't similar to the other ones that were just a weekly show. He wanted to do something different. He wanted to air a different episode every single day. And since then, he's been able to become an entrepreneur himself, now earning six figures every single month. And he puts his spending reports, his income on his website. So there's

proof of that. And now he focuses on teaching others on how to start a podcast or start their own business, just like he was able to just a few years ago. And so he is super awesome. So the reason that I kind of mentioned that he got me into podcasting is that back in, I guess, 2015, when I decided to start my own show, I was looking for resources to help me get there and obviously started listening to his podcast because I knew it was just like a really inspirational way for me to kind of get my gears turning. But also he had a lot of great resources on specifically how to start a podcast. And when you're, if you don't know, like, you know, if you have ever thought, maybe I want to start a podcast podcast there's a lot of elements that go into it and uh i was totally had i had no idea where to

even start and so he actually has a free course on how to start a podcast which i did super helpful and really really helped me um kind of start with my best foot foot forward so i have him to think for that and ever since then i'm like hmm wouldn't it be cool one day if I could interview him for my show? I know he's a very popular and busy guy, but maybe I'll get to a point where my show is big enough and popular enough that he'll be interested in getting on. And bam, season five, John Lee Dumas is on my show. So very excited to chat with him. I'm sure that you're going to love this episode. But before I get to my interview with John Lee Dumas, I just have a few words about this episode's sponsor. So you're racing against the clock to wrap up three projects, prepping for a meeting

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in less than 30 seconds, set up online payments with just a couple of clicks and get paid up to four days faster, and see when your client has seen your invoice and put an end to all those guessing games. FreshBooks is offering a 30-day unrestricted free trial to all of my listeners. To claim it, just go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. Once again, that's freshbooks.com slash m o and enter Mo Money Podcast in the How Did You Hear About Us section. Well, thank you, John, for joining me to be on the Mo Money Podcast. Before we started, I'm so excited that

you're joining me. And especially because you are a big reason why I got into podcasting. And I've been podcasting for over two years. And it's now become part of my full-time business. So thank you. Well, I love the fact that you're into this world. And the name of your podcast is amazing, B-I-G in the house. Yes, absolutely. So super excited to chat. You're someone I've been following for a while because you're very motivational, inspirational. And obviously, I'm a huge fan of your podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire. So for this episode, what I really want to kind of chat about and for listeners to take away from

is just like, how do you do what you do? You know, because I read your bio and really looked into you because I was really interested in like how where you started to how you got to where you are now. And it kind of seemed like you just like started like most people, you had a job, you did a couple different things, you weren't super happy. And then you kind of decide to take a huge risk and start your own podcast, which eventually blew up into this entrepreneur on fire nation business. I would love to know how long from that moment when you started the podcast to now, when did you start? How long did it take it to kind of grow into what it is today? Yeah. So I will say that it was a process. For me,

when I was first starting my podcast, I was as inexperienced as anybody starting a podcast because I'd never been behind a microphone before. I'd never interviewed anybody before. I didn't know what I was doing. But that's okay because I was willing to invest in myself. I hired a mentor, Jamie Masters of The Eventual Millionaire. She was my first mentor. She was incredible. I joined a mastermind. So I was being now surrounded by other successful podcasters. And by the way, unsuccessful podcasters, like we were a mastermind of trying to find our way in the podcasting world. So we were able to share our struggles, our wins, our losses with each other, which was so important. And then when I launched the podcast, actually five years ago tomorrow, it was a five-year anniversary, I didn't really know what to expect. So I said, you know what? I'm going to focus on this one core concept. I'm

going to deliver free, valuable, and consistent content. And then I'm going to grow an audience. And then when that audience is at a big enough point, big enough stage, I'm going to ask the audience, what are you struggling with? And I'm going to listen. And then they're going to tell me what their struggles are, their obstacles are, their challenges. And then I'm going to create the solution in the form of a product or a service or a community.

And that's the process that I followed. Like it was really that simple. I built my audience up to 5,000 members per episode. And you know, that's a big number. And so now I had this big pool of people to reach out to and to say, hey, what are your biggest obstacles in life right now? And then I just listened and they gave me all the ammunition that I've used since that point, which was about the six month mark into my podcast to create everything that I've created, this turned entrepreneur on fire into a multimillion dollar a year business. Now, was that kind of always your goal to grow into this

big business? Or did you kind of start the podcast is let's see how it goes. Let's see if this even works. And then we'll go from there. Because I know like kind of as a blogger, I've been blogging for almost six years now. I know I remember before I got into blogging, everyone said, don't start a blog with the idea that you're going to make money. You need to have that passion. And it's really about who you serve first. And then if you see a way to monetize, then that's great.

But never basically start something like that with the idea of making money. What do you think about that? Well, listen, time is our most valuable asset. And so for me, I was going all in on this and going all in on something means you got to make the dollars, you got to make the money. And so I was focused on turning this into a business as soon as it was feasible. I didn't want to rush it, but I wanted to turn it into a business as soon as it was feasible. And for me, that turned out to be about six months in. And so it was always to me about how can I create enough free, valuable, and consistent content to grow an audience that's large enough to generate significant revenue. And so that

turned into by the 12 month point, making six figures a month of revenue. And I haven't looked back since. That's incredible. And really fast. I mean, I guess at a certain point, you see the numbers growing and growing and you're like, okay, I'm on the right track. But I think with lots of people who think of starting a side hustle or their own business to earn more money, I think there's that fear of trying for years and nothing happening. At what point do you think if people are trying something and when should they figure, hey, I don't think this is working? Because sometimes it does take longer than six months. It could take years. Yeah. And that's my problem with that advice that you were giving about blogging is that time is so valuable. So can you really spend

years trying something that might not work? Because that could potentially be looked at as a waste of time and energy when you could have been doing something else. You know, so I think it's, it's really important for an entrepreneur to say, you know, like, listen, like, what are my goals starting off with? Like, what are my numbers? What are my subscriber goals, my listener goals, my reader goals, my viewer, if it's a, if it's a video, like what is those numbers? And then what are the revenue numbers? Like how much do I want to make by the six months, by the 12 months and so on and so forth. And then that kind of gives you that benchmark to then work towards. And again, if you can really say, listen, I'm not going to pretend that I'm not trying to make money here, but I'm making money with the focus of just delivering

more free, valuable and consistent content, then I'm going to win. My listeners are going to win because they're getting more free, valuable, and consistent content. And then we all win. So I think personally that time is the most valuable asset. Time goes like this. I mean, if you were to tell me that I've been rocking entrepreneurs on fire for five years now, I'd say you're crazy. But all of a sudden this happens because that's how it happens. And I've been able to build this multi-million dollar a year business in just five short years. And really, by year three, it was a multi-million dollar a year business because of that focus of free, valuable, and consistent content. So figure out what kind of content you want to create, what medium you want to share it on, and then just be consistent

with it. Yeah. So I guess, yeah, in that kind of same vein, talking about consistency and that is kind of putting out content all the time, I guess there is a little bit of that you have to be patient. And so there is, I think that's kind of where that, you know, original kind of thought process that I had when I was like thinking about starting a blog six years ago, lots of people, you know, and I think just there's been a shift too, because so many things have changed in the online space and social media. It is a little bit easier where you can create a service or a product completely online, whereas it really wasn't done that many years ago. And so it's becoming a little bit more popular, which is, I think it's great. And just like you

said, which I thought that was, you know, you really hit the nail on the head there that, you know, it's not that you're trying to monetize something just so you can get rich and then, you know, be greedy and be like, bye. It's so you can kind of do more for your audience. And I think, yeah, that is kind of a perfect way to say that. Cause I think a lot of people sometimes, or like, you know, from the content creator standpoint, they're afraid of seeming inauthentic. If they, if people will think that they're trying to make money, you know, it's like that kind of weird thing. It's like, I don't want people thinking that I'm trying to take their money, but I also want to make money so I can grow and do

more things, like you said. So it's a weird balance, right? And there's this one resource I'd recommend for people that I think would be helpful on this specific topic. And that is the book, The Dip by Seth Godin. It's a great book because it talks about how a lot of people quit too early. They start their thing and then it goes into a little bit of a low, a little bit of a valley, and then they quit. And that can sometimes be the wrong move because we all go into that valley, into that dip. And the people that are persistent, they make it out the other side. But on the flip side, he also talks about how, hey, sometimes you're in a hole and you're just digging in that hole. And the only way to get out of that hole is to stop digging. And I think people need to realize

that too, because you need to continuously be evaluating yourself, your business, your life. Like, is this where I want to be? Is this direction that I want to be heading in? If the answer is yes, then get through that dip, keep pushing, you know, have faith in yourself. But if you start questioning yourself too many days in a row, then recognize that, hey, maybe I'm in a hole just digging deeper, like, and I need to just stop, get out of the hole and find my next move. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I really like that too, actually. Cause yeah, I think, yeah, you're either digging in a hole or you're digging on the way to success, but sometimes it's hard to know which one you're doing right now. You're like, should I give up?

Should I not? And sometimes it's not even about giving up necessarily. It's about doing one thing or a couple of things differently and you'll see a huge shift. I mean, I've definitely seen that in my experience. I did one thing for like four years, having a blog, didn't really see much traction

and I just started changing things and I was able to quit my job. So, and do this full time. So it's, it's sometimes you just have to kind of, I don't know, test the waters, be patient, but also like strategic about that patience, I guess, like you said. One thing I really want to talk about, cause I remember reading somewhere that you have a very similar, you know, you get up like really early and you have a very interesting process with your days during the week. It seems like you're very organized because you are a very busy guy with a full-time business. How did you kind of come up with this, you know, your schedule? How do you keep yourself so organized? Because I think that's another thing with people that do have maybe a job on the side or they're an entrepreneur or self-employed, it's treating to keep themselves accountable and being their own boss and having

that work-life balance, which is really difficult to find. So a morning routine for me is one of the reasons why I win at such a high level. And I have been for so long now because my morning routine is critical to my success because it allows me to focus on myself first. And that's critical because a lot of people, they wake up in the morning, the first thing they do is they check their emails, their social medias, this and that. And what does that mean? That means they're on other people's schedules, OPS, other people's schedules. And there's a fire that's going to come up. You go put that fire out before you know it. It's noon. And what have you really done with yourself, with your life, except react, react, react, you're in total reaction mode.

You have to take that possibility away, put the power back into yourself and have a morning routine that you crush every single day. So for me, you know, my morning routine consists of journaling, of meditating, of reading a business book, you know, getting that good quality 20 minutes of reading in every single day, exercise, nutrition, putting the right foods into my body and nutrition into my body so that I'm energized to go throughout the day. And then guess what? Then and only then do I then turn and focus on other things. And to me, that's been a huge reason for my success. And I think a lot of people don't believe in, or they just don't understand how powerful it is to give yourself permission

to put yourself first to kind of then go on with the rest of your day. Like you said, most people wake up, myself included, and it's something I've been trying to work on is I wake up, check my phone, and then there's all these things I have to do. And then it's noon and it's like, oh crap, I haven't done. I feel like I haven't done anything on my actual to-do list. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, I didn't get dressed on my actual to-do list. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, I didn't get dressed and it's two. That happens.

I wanted to talk a little bit about another thing that I thought was really cool. So you put out this thing called the Freedom Journal. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? That sounds definitely up my alley. Yeah. So what's great about the Freedom Journal is, again, it just falls to this theme that we've been talking about, is about how I've created free, valuable, and consistent contents in my podcast, interviewing successful entrepreneurs, built an audience, asked them what

they're struggling with. They told me what their struggles were. One of the major struggles was they didn't know how to set and accomplish goals. So I created the solution for them in the form of the Freedom Journal. And the Freedom Journal is a gorgeous, stunning, leather-bound journal on how to accomplish your number one goal in 100 days, period. How to set a SMART goal, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-balanced, and then accomplish that goal in 100 days. And it's just a step-by-step process with daily tasks, nightly recaps, 10-day sprints, quarterly reviews. So the whole thing is a system that I've created that'll have that one goal that's been holding them back their whole lives because they haven't accomplished it and accomplish that goal in 100 days. And we sold over 25,000 of these journals. We're actually approaching a million dollars in

sales just on the journal alone. So it's been a massive success. It's helping a lot of people out. And if people want to learn more, it's thefreedomjournal.com. Awesome. Yeah. No, I think that's a huge roadblock, not just with business, but also it's interesting that you mentioned Smarkles because Smarkles is actually applied in lots of different areas. Personal finance, where my background is, Smarkles is the only way that you're going to be able to save money, hit certain numbers and all that kind of stuff. So I'm sure your Freedom Journal could probably be used in lots of different areas in people's lives, right? Totally. Totally.

Absolutely. Okay. Before I let you go, there's a couple of questions I'd like to ask you. First, you seem very driven. Where does that come from and how do you maintain that motivation? So I just remember so clearly because it feels like it was yesterday, a time when I didn't have excitement, passion, or curiosity for what I was doing day to day. And it was such a sad state. It was a sad state to live in. I was unhappy and I wasn't feeling fulfilled. And I know that the majority of the world is currently in that. And I know that's through podcasts like mine and shows like yours and things that we can do to get it out there into the world that we can help other people who want to make the shift into doing something

that lights them up inside, which then was going to result in great work to have the courage and the fortitude and the tenacity to do that. I know that's what I get up and do every day is that I just want to light that fire for another person because I know that that's going to have a huge ripple effect across this world. Absolutely. Well, I like that you kind of mentioned that. It's not like you have always been like that. You did feel unfulfilled and unhappy, which is absolutely like most people in their day to day. And I think that most people think, well, that's just how it is. That's just how I was born. This is how I've always felt. So I like that you talk about how, no, you can absolutely shift. And sometimes it just means

really looking at what does excite you. There's got to be something. Well, thank you, John, for taking some time out of your busy day to chat with me. It was a pleasure. I'm a huge fan. So this was super, super cool for me.

And I'm excited to keep on checking you out and seeing what you're doing in the future. What 10 years can mean for you. That'll be exciting. Awesome. Well, listen, thank you for taking some time today. I enjoyed it. So it was great chatting.

Keep up the heat yourself. And I'll catch you guys on the flip side. And that was episode 127 with John Lee Dumas. Make sure to check him out at eofire.com. So once again, that is E-O, those letters, eofire.com. That is his website. So you can check out his podcast, his blog. And also he has so many great free resources, which are awesome. So like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, he has a free podcast course that I took. Totally,

highly recommend if you ever think of starting your own show. It's very, very good. He also has a free webinar course, a free goals course, funnel on fire course. He does a ton of live workshops. I mean, this man is very busy and productive. I've got to say, I feel very lazy right now. So he's got a lot of great stuff on his website. So make sure to check him out. I'm going to include a lot of these things that I'm talking about in the show notes. So make sure to go to jessicamorehouse.com slash 127 for all of that good stuff. And first, I also want to thank today's sponsor. Here's a little bit more info about them. Did you know that one in three Americans are self-employed? Because of the internet, it's now easier than ever to become self-employed or start a small

business. That's why I was able to take a huge leap of faith and leave my nine to five almost a year ago. What started as my side hustle is now my full time job and I can run my entire business out of the comfort of my own home. Now it has not been a walk in the park. I will not lie to you about that. Going from employee to entrepreneur is not for the fainthearted. But what has made the transition so much easier in my life is by using software that really fits my needs. That's why I use FreshBooks as my go-to cloud accounting software. It helps me stay organized. I can pull reports within seconds. I can stay on top of payments from clients. And it basically takes a huge weight off my shoulders come tax time. And what's really

cool is FreshBooks just came out with an all new version of their cloud accounting software. And they're offering a 30 day unrestricted free trial to all of my listeners. If you want to take advantage and try FreshBooks out for yourself, all you have to do is go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter momoneypodcast in the how did you hear about a section. Once again, to try it out for free, go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter momoneypodcast in the how did you hear about a section. Once again, to try it out for free, go to freshbooks.com slash mo and enter momoneypodcast in the how did you hear about a section. So like I mentioned, the show notes for this episode are jessicamorehouse.com slash 127. And just like always, I have a fresh new episode for you tomorrow, part of my listener series once again.

And I know you're going to love it. It's a really, really great episode. So make sure if you're not already, subscribe to iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, wherever you're listening. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss any episodes. And also a friendly reminder that I've got a Facebook group. It's a pretty good one. There's over a thousand people in there and it is meant to be an online support group for people that want to improve their financial lives.

If you have any questions, if you need some support, if you want to get some other people's opinions on what you should be doing with your life, your finance, whatever, this is the place to be. It is a non-judgment zone. Believe me, I'm in there all the time making sure all the content in there is friendly and helpful. And I hope you decide to join us. You can do so at facebook.com slash groups slash money life balance. That is the name of the group. It's called the money life balance community. And it's pretty, pretty cool. So hope you decide to join us if you haven't already done so already. Okay, so I've talked enough. Thanks so much for listening. I will see you back here

tomorrow for another episode of the Mo Money Podcast.