The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 069: Jesse Itzler – Taking Risks, Selling For Millions, Living With A (Navy) SEAL, Married To A Billionaire

Episode Date: November 5, 2015

Episode 069: Jesse Itzler – Taking Risks, Selling For Millions, Living With A (Navy) SEAL, Married To A Billionaire Jesse Itzler is an incredibly interesting person.  Despite all of his (massive) success, he’s one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever spoken with.  This conversation felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend.  I absolutely loved it. Jesse cofounded Marquis Jet, the world’s largest prepaid private jet card company in 2001, which he and his partner sold to Berkshire Hathaway/NetJets. He then helped pioneer the coconut water craze with Zico coconut water, which he and his partners sold to The Coca-Cola Company in 2013. He is a former rapper on MTV and he produced both the NBA’s Emmy Award-winning “I Love This Game” music campaign and the popular New York Knicks anthem “Go NY Go.” When he is not running ultra-marathons or being a dad to his three kids, Jesse can be found at the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games, where he is an owner of the team. He is married to Spanx founder Sara Blakely whom Forbes listed as one of the “100 most powerful women in the world.” Forbes labeled her as the one of the richest self-made American Woman with a net worth of $1.1 Billion. Most recently, Jesse has written a new book titled, “Living With A SEAL.”  When Jesse felt himself drifting on autopilot, he hired a rather unconventional trainer to live with him for a month-an accomplished Navy SEAL widely considered to be "the toughest man on the planet"!  Lebron James says the book is “Hilarious!” Episode 069: Jesse Itzler – Taking Risks, Selling For Millions, Living With A (Navy) SEAL, Married To A Billionaire Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio “I am a huge fan of Sara.  When the light is shining bright on her, I’m her #1 fan.  And the same way when it’s shining on me.  Sara is 50% Einstein and 50% Lucille Ball.” – Jesse Itzler describing the relationship with his self-made billionaire wife, Sara Blakely "Jesse is a risk taker and is always trying different things to get better.  Plus, he fun's to go out with." – Tom Brady, New England Patriots Four-Time Super Bowl Champion The Learning Leader Show Some Questions I Ask: What are the common characteristics of high achievers? What made you start Marquis Jets? What was the process like to sell the company? Discuss the importance of leaping outside your comfort zone… How did you meet Sara?  How quickly did you know she was the one for you? What is it like being married to a self-made billionaire? Why did you write “Living With A SEAL?” What are some of the key life lessons you learned from the experience? How do you stay so grounded? In This Episode, You Will Learn: The importance of a singular focus The process for partnering with the right person when creating a business What it was like to sell his company to Berkshire Hathaway What it’s like at home being married to a self-made billionaire and raising 3 kids together Why specifically Jesse needed to get off auto-pilot and how SEAL helped him do that Takings risks and how to do it wisely The importance of finding great people to work with Being willing and able to adapt on a daily basis “Money is a great magnifying glass.  If you’re an asshole, you become a bigger asshole when you get money.” – Jesse Itzler Continue Learning: Go To Jesse’s website: com Read: "Living With A SEAL" Read about Jesse and his wife Sara: The Ultimate Partnership Follow Jesse on Twitter: @the100MileMan You may also like these episodes: Episode 001: How To Become A Master Connector With Jayson Gaignard From MasterMind Talks Episode 034: Jimmy Hatch – Shot While Searching For Bowe Bergdahl And Sky Diving With Gabby Giffords Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts Did you enjoy the podcast? This was a jam packed episode full of great content.  Jesse Itzler is a leader who is constantly learning in order to help us all live a better life. Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show! Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell   Bio From The100MileMan.com    Jesse cofounded Marquis Jet, the world’s largest prepaid private jet card company in 2001, which he and his partner sold to Berkshire Hathaway/NetJets. He then helped pioneer the coconut water craze with Zico coconut water, which he and his partners sold to The Coca-Cola Company in 2013. He is a former rapper on MTV and he produced both the NBA’s Emmy Award-winning “I Love This Game” music campaign and the popular New York Knicks anthem “Go NY Go.” When he is not running ultra-marathons or being a dad to his three kids, Jesse can be found at the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games, where he is an owner of the team. He is married to Spanx founder Sara Blakely whom Forbes listed as one of the “100 most powerful women in the world.” Forbes labeled her as the one of the richest self-made American Woman with a net worth of $1.1 Billion. Most recently, Jesse has written a new book titled, “Living With A SEAL.”  When Jesse felt himself drifting on autopilot, he hired a rather unconventional trainer to live with him for a month-an accomplished Navy SEAL widely considered to be "the toughest man on the planet"! Living with a SEAL is like a buddy movie if it starred the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air... and Rambo. Jesse is about as easy-going as you can get. SEAL is...not. He even shows up at Jesse's apartment with an inflatable raft just in case the Itzler family ever has to escape Manhattan by crossing the Hudson River.  Lebron James calls the book “Hilarious!”

But I've had Ryan, you know, I've had, they're not all wins. I've had losses. I've had products. I've had things that I've tried that just haven't, you know, that's just flat out haven't worked. And you learn from those mistakes and you have to have thick skin and you move on. But you have to learn and you have to be willing to take that chance. It's way better.

To me, that's not failing. Like coming up with an idea or trying something and trying your hardest and it doesn't work, that's not failing. Are leaders born or are they made? Our host, Ryan Hawk, believes that leaders can be made through determined, focused work on learning the art and science behind the makeup of other successful leaders. Now it's time to inhale knowledge and exhale success. You're listening to The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk.

Hey and welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk. Absolutely thrilled with tonight's featured leader. He brought so much to this podcast. It's with the great Jesse Itzler. Jesse is an entrepreneur who co-founded Marquis Jets. He eventually sold it to Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway. He's a former rapper, and he also wrote and sang the Emmy Award-winning song,

I love this game for the NBA. Jesse also happens to be the husband of Sarah Blakely, who is a billionaire and the creator of Spanx. Incredible. Together, they also are part of the ownership group who most recently purchased the Atlanta Hawks of the MBA. On our really fascinating conversation night, we discussed his strategy for creating Markey Jets and its unconventional approach to focus groups and how they eventually sold the business. Then also, what's it like to be married to the billionaire creator of Spanx? How do they manage both of their workloads?

How do they manage the success, the money? We talked a lot about that, and I think you'll find Jesse's answers really fascinating. I love how down to earth he is. And then the mindset and thinking differently on your approach to your everyday work. What if you were never taught how to do something, and you just had to figure it out? That's how Jesse and Sarah approach their businesses until I've had so much success. He's also the author of a great new book called Living with a Seal, which was 31 days spent training with the toughest man on the planet.

We talk a lot about the book in this conversation, too. Ladies and gentlemen, this one is an absolute treat, and I'm excited. Introduce Jesse Itzler. All right, Jesse, so excited to have you here. I know the listeners are, this is a huge treat, the listeners at the Learning Leaders Show, to have you here with us.

I got a quick question to get us rolling quickly, and that's around high achievers, people who have done big things in their lives, and you're obviously one of those guys. You married somebody who's, done that and you've spent a lot of time around others who are high achievers. And I'm curious as to what are a few of the common characteristics that high achievers all seem to share? Well, I love it. We don't waste any time. We get right into the money question. Yeah. No, it's a

great question. You know, what I've found in my experience is I think that most people that function at a really high level that have been incredibly successful have been able to identify the one thing that they're really good at and focus on that and put all their energy towards that one thing. You know, not everybody can play shortstop. You know, you have to play the right position. And it's so hard to build a brand in this country, one brand. You know, you have to be single focused, let alone do multiple things.

So I found that the people that I've come across in my experience have really been able to identify that one passion and the one thing that they're really good at and just perfect it and bring it home. So between, like, who are some people that come to mind outside of yourself who embody those traits and that you could say, oh, man, that's somebody that inspires me. I'm passionate about learning from them and following them and really everything that they've accomplished. You know, I think it's funny.

I think you can look at almost all the greats. If you look at all the greats, you can look at, I'm a big sports guy like you, so I love to use sports analogies. You know, if you look at all of the great athletes, they've all, you know, focused on their craft. If you look at Bill Gates, I mean, he focused on technology and, you know, he was in that lane until he shifted his focus until philanthropy and, you know, became the best in the world at it. But I think even, you know, I live it every day because my wife is an incredible marketer. I'm surrounded by her.

And, you know, her brain is wired as such. and she spends her time really focused on, you know, her brand and marketing and positioning it in a way that there's no distractions. She's not looking to start something new to do something else. It's like, how can I make this product better? How can I make my message stronger and clearer? What are the customers want and how can I give it to them efficiently and make that product better? It's all, you know, all that energy is really put into that one product or idea or passion and as a really strong driving force. So let's dive in now to your backstory here, Jesse, and the things that you've accomplished along the way.

So, you know, I'll let you tell it, but just a brief bio and obviously from my preparation and from just reading about you prior to even attorney, our mutual friend, Tony Duff, introducing us, which I'm very appreciative for. But, you know, you go from a guy who's a rapper to a guy who's writing music

and winning awards for writing music for the NBA and other people, to then starting and co-founding marquee jets, selling it to Warren Buffett's company for, I would imagine, hundreds of millions of dollars. And then, you know, you are a part owner now of the Atlanta Hawks.

You run hundreds of miles and you had a Navy SEAL live with you for 31 days and you wrote a book about it. I mean, there's just so many things. I'll let you kind of tell your origin story now to say, how in the world have you accomplished so much at still a relatively young age? Well, you know, I've always had a very non-traditional approach to things and it's brought me great rewards living out of the box. I've met some interesting people. I started out in the music business. When I was in college, I went to American University in Washington. DC in the mid-80s, and I got really into music. And going back to single focus, that was my,

there was no B plan. I really wanted to have a record deal. And I focused on that and signed to a record label right when I graduated in Los Angeles, an independent label that was very strong and popular at the time called Delicious Final. And I spent a couple of years in doing, you know, doing the music thing. And the best thing that ever happened to me was I just sell that many records. So it was life's way of telling me I was a little bit off course.

And I stayed in the music business, but I found a unique kind of cool niche marrying two things that I love, which was sports and music. And I started doing theme songs for professional sports teams. So I went to the New York Knicks in the early 90s. Game presentation was changing in the NBA,

and there was a big focus on entertaining the games are 48 minutes, but fans are there for three hours. How do we really entertain them? And they started seeing dancers and, you know, the Laker girls and the Nick City dancers, et cetera, and all these new things started emerging to entertain fans. So I came up with an idea to do a theme song for the Knicks, which was called Go New York Go. And it became my calling card because other teams would come into Madison Square Garden where 20,000 fans were singing this song. We'd a video with celebrities, et cetera, became a really popular song and say,

well, how come we don't have this song? You know, who did this? And I created this, my own little niche in the music business, kind of doing sports music. And that grew into a bigger business where I was selling records. I was basically licensing all the songs they were playing at these sports arenas,

like whether it was Puff Daddy or YMCA or whatever the music was, and I put great moments in sports history in the team history. In between each song, it became like a musical program and sold it at retail and sold a lot of records and ultimately sold that company to a public company called SFX. Not to be long-winded, but the owner of this company, Bob Stillam and at SFX,

had a share on a private jet and took a liking to my partner and I and invited us on a trip. And that's when my life really changed when I went on a private jet for the first time in 1998 and my partner and I looked at each other and said, how do we do this more often? And that led to the idea of Markey Jet.

And then, you know, from there, it's just meeting interesting people and following different passions that I had. I've been fortunate to, you know, tap my feet, my toe into various businesses and have had success in them. So you go from, what was that process like at Markey Jet from starting it with your partner to then selling it from really from start to feel? finish. What was that like? How did it, you know, I know the, the hours worked and that the time spent, it's not like, oh, it was just simple. Like, you, you had to grind it out. Like, you were working,

like, crazy many, many hours every day to build that up. And what was your, your philosophy and strategy towards doing that? We did. Well, you know, we knew that we wanted to fly on a private plane. And we knew that there were really only three ways to do it at the time. One was to buy your own airplane, which was incredibly expensive and took us out of the picture. We couldn't afford that. Two was to do a fraction by a fraction of a plane, which is also a big commitment and a tremendous amount of money, and that kind of took us off the list again. Or charter an airplane. And there's some inconsistencies at the time and some questions about, you know, who's flying the airplane? What if the airplane doesn't show up? I mean, all these kind of things. And so we knew that there were a

lot of people like us that probably wanted to take two or three vacations. a year and if there was a affordable, more affordable way to do it, would probably sign up for something like that. The problem was we'd figure out, you know, well, who can we partner with? Who had the airplanes? You know, neither my partner and I had any experience in private aviation or any aviation. So the first year was really dedicated to learning. We had to really do a deep dive into the different airplanes that were available, how these

programs worked, what would be the best model for customers, what are the customers really want, what was important to us and what would be important to others. So the first year was really just research and coming up with our plan and strategy and then convincing the powers that be it net jets to allow us to use their fleet to sell 25 hours of jet time under the name Markey Jet. So that was kind of year one. And then the focus shifted into staffing up, hiring our weaknesses, bringing in people that could fill in gaps of areas that we didn't have an expertise in and focused on building the brand. So really, you know, years two through five were predominantly creating buzz, getting the word out there,

creating PRable content. We didn't have much of an ad budget. So we had to create as much hype and buzz and sizzles as we could without, you know, taking ads out and advertising on TV and all the other jacking. companies were doing that. So we had to get really creative in how we went about doing that. And then the last chapter of Markey Jet was really just scaling it. Once we got all the kinks out, we had a solid foundation. It was how do we really ramp this up and scale it to be, you know, the number one player in the space. Which you guys were able to do and then you sold it, correct?

and how was the process like to Berkshire Hathaway, right? So the company, that's Warren Buffett's group. What was that like? I mean, you hear that name and you're like, wow, I'd love to hear what was that process. Was Warren involved personally? Or how did it work? You know, it's every entrepreneur's dream, right? Yeah.

Perfect bookend, start a business, have some success and sell it to a guy like Warren. Our journey, like I said, it was always a little bit non-trader. When we first went in and pitched Rich Santulli, who was the CEO of NetJets, to allow us to use his fleet, we brought in our own focus group. We literally brought in a bunch of athletes and young Wall Street guys that explain why they would buy 25 hours of flight time, which is what we were offering, as opposed to a fraction or their own plane. And we were able, through this focus group, literally like brought in chairs, sat them down. You know, the guys at Netschets had no idea what was going on. we were scheduled for a meeting of two and literally like 10 guys show up and one by one start explaining to them why a program like what we were trying to do would would have merit

and be interesting. So that spirit carried on throughout the whole process all the way really until until we sold the company. We had partnered with Netschette so they were the obvious exit. We became really ingrained in the DNA of their company. There was a lot of efficiency in what we were doing and what they had already established. So when it was time to, when we got the knock on the door and said that they wanted to have a conversation, they were already really comfortable with us as individuals. There was a huge trust factor that was established. We'd proven ourselves as marketers. We'd proven ourselves as a sales organization. So, you know, the next, the sale was actually relatively fast and easy. Wow. It's just an

incredible story from start to finish and then you continue on. Meanwhile, you, from a personal perspective, so for the few people listening who don't know, so your wife is Sarah Blakely, she bootstrapped her business with $5,000 to start the company called Spanx, and most, I'm sure at least the female listeners all know what that is. Now she's been on magazine covers that talk about being a billionaire, and it's just incredible. Her story is really inspiring to anybody. I know from going to, as a person who sells fax machines, to like I said, bootstrapping your business with $5,000 of your own savings account, to having no other funding. You're the 100% owner, and that's your wife, man. I mean, I can only imagine the,

one, the amount of pride you must have in her work and what she's done. But also, I'm curious about how you guys met, you know, where were you both at in your businesses when you met? And then what's it like now that you both continued to grow to have this immense success? I think it's fair to use that term, even though people have many different definitions of success. But what's that, what's that like with a wife who's so accomplished and just really incredible? Well, it's unbelievable. I mean, I met my wife. She was actually a customer of ours at Marquis Jet. And we were having a big kind of customer appreciation event in Las Vegas that Warren and Bill Gates sponsor, it's a big kind of poker tournament

for our customers and NetJet owners. And we had a very limited amount of, of invitees that we could have here. And so what we did is, I think we had about 40 of 4,000 customers. We were allowed to take 40, and the rest of the folks went from Netschets. And each one of our sales reps submitted a handful of folks that they thought would be a good fit or were great customers or whatever. And our Georgia rep sent me an email and said, I really think this gal should come and included a picture of her.

and she had an apple on her head. I was like very intrigued. And I immediately typed her, wrote her back in an email and I said, don't invite anyone else. And if she has friends, they can come too. And we got married literally a year later. Wow. So we met in Vegas.

And I think we both knew that we would be in each other's movie, but we didn't know, you know, I had no idea that I would be a co-star or have a starring role in her movie, but I knew she would be in my movie. We got married, like I said, and, you know, it's great. My wife also very unorthodox, incredibly supportive. I always say she's kind of 50% Einstein and 50% Lucille Ball. And whenever she's in the Einstein mode, I have like the best focus group or audience on the planet. I can ask her and pick her brain on business ideas or work questions or challenges or whatever.

And whenever she's Lucille Ball, we get the crack up. I got to believe, you know, I'm very fortunate to have a wife who also works in a similar profession to me and is somebody who's way smarter than me. So it makes my life easier from both personally and professionally. And obviously, this is a little bit different, but I got to believe you guys are both almost accelerators for each other in your business lives as well as obviously the joy you bring to each other from a personal perspective. We are, but, you know, we're really big. fans of each other. So I support Sarah in all the crazy ideas that she has. She supports me and all the crazy ideas that I have. And that really works well. And you know, when the start, when the light is shining bright on Sarah, I'm a number one fan. And I think, you know,

the same for me. If I, if I have a project or something that I'm proud of, she's my number one fan. We just, you know, we try to, we have three kids now. We have three boys all under the age of six. Wow. And, you know, we're both working. So our time is very valuable, the time that we have together and as a family. And we just, we make it work. We make it work.

I love it, man. It's, uh, it's inspiring story, I think for, for so many people to see all of the, the things that you guys accomplished both before you met and then during and, and certainly right now. So another thing that you've done, like I said, you've, you've done so many things that I found is really interesting is. You invited a Navy SEAL to come and live with you guys when you lived in New York for 31 days. And so in addition to doing this, you also obviously took good notes and you wrote a book, a great book that I appreciate you guys sending me in advance copy, called Living with a Seal, 31 days training with the toughest man on the planet.

And one of the things I want to, before diving in the book, I want to point out. So if you look on the cover of the book, you have a quote from LeBron James. And then on the back, you got quotes from, well, one, your wife, and then Coach K, Duke's coach, and then Tom Brady, the guy from Body by Jake, Jake Steinfield. So, like, you've got these quotes and endorsements from incredibly high achievers, to use a term spoken from earlier. Like, the circle you obviously run in is incredible and it's diverse. So let's talk about, first of all, why you decided to have one of the toughest or maybe the toughest man on the planet. One, how you found him. I read the story, but I'd love for you to tell it, how you found him.

And then two, why you decided to have him live with you for a month? Sure. Well, I have this thing that I've been doing for years where if I see or hear or read about a very interesting person, I call him up kind of like when you're like in kindergarten or grade school and you write a, you write a, you write a, you write a, to someone and ask them to check a box if they want to be your friend and they pass it back. It's sort of what I do, but with like famous people or really cool people. And I saw this, I saw, I was at a race. It was actually a 24-hour marathon. You could do it as a team of, I think, up to six people.

And I went with six friends. And you run one at a time. You take turns and run as many miles as you can in 24 hours as a team. At this particular race, there was a guy like maybe 10 or 15 feet away from. where we had set up before the race, sitting in literally a folding chair with a bottle of water and crackers. And we had supplies.

It was a self-supported event, so you had to bring your own stuff and bring your own supplies. And this guy literally was just sitting in a chair with a bottle of water and crackers. And he just looked so determined and so focused and had like a look that I'd never seen. And I'm like, I got to meet that guy.

So during the course of the race, I watched him run. And it was, I mean, he was, like, first of all, he didn't have any teammates. He ran the whole 24 hours by himself. And he was, at the time, he was a really muscular, and he looked like just like a locomotive. I mean, he was a machine.

And I was just, I kept glancing over to him and keeping tabs on him throughout the race. I got his bib number. And then I just tracked down his name. And I literally just cold called him and said, you know, I really want to come. You don't know who I am and blah, blah, blah. I said, I want to get on a plane and meet you.

And I really wanted to incorporate. I wanted it. He had something that I wanted. I don't know what it was exactly, but that determination, that drive, that grit, I really wanted that in my life somehow. So I invited him for 31 days at this meeting when I just met him flew out to come live with me. And I don't know, you know, the stars were aligned or whatever, but he said, okay, under one condition, you know, you have to do everything that I tell you to do. And, you know, I ended up getting a tremendous amount. out of it, not just getting in great shape because that was a big part of it, but also just literally changed my life. And I think he got a lot out of it, just getting exposed after 20 years in the military to, in his opinion, interesting people and kind of as he was thinking about life after the military, I think it was great for him to live with us and get a sense of, you know, business, the world, et cetera, and just kind of see new things. So it was, it was an unbelievable and challenging time.

It's an incredible book. Like I said, I would urge everyone to buy it. This podcast will probably be released right around the time it's coming out here in November 2015. And I was fascinated by one, the stuff you guys did, though it's not like it was so hard. I mean,

I don't know. I guess the easiest way to put it. I mean, I don't need to make it more complicated than it is. It was just incredible. And I'm curious as to the day to day during those 31 days, like, what was going through your mind when he would quietly wake you up while trying not to wake your wife up and pulling you out of bed to go for these crazy runs, regardless of the weather, the interval training that he'd mixed in and say, Jesse, your runs are boring, even though you can run a long distance. We're going to do intervals or whatever it was, he would change it up on you. I just love to learn more about your mindset during those days because I got to believe the, I don't know, the buildup of dealing with adversity that had to be one of the biggest takeaways that you, that you, I don't know, gleaned from that experience.

Yeah, I mean, you know, again, initially, I just really wanted to get in great shape. I really wanted to get in great shape. So when he was waking me up, I kept reminding myself, this is what I signed. Weren't you already in great shape though? I mean, you were a long distance runner, you know, you're doing it done it, you know? I was in great shape, but I found myself in a routine. I was doing the same, you know, I was doing the same kind of thing every day. I was having a hard time really honestly motivating myself beyond, you know, a five or six mile run in the pushups I was doing or whatever. I was in pretty good shape, but I wasn't getting better. And I was getting frustrated that I wasn't getting better. And I was also scheduling all my runs. I think like so many of us, we say, okay, I'm going to work out. out in the morning. And then if we say, you know what, I'm not going to do it in the morning, we go through the day and we just don't do it. Then we start to feel guilty. And, you know, so many of my friends are like, oh, I'll do it tomorrow. Or I just can't motivate in the morning.

And they get mad that they put it in their book, their to-do list for the day and they didn't do it. And he taught me that, you know, he really opened up my eyes to a whole new style. First of all, it was a completely unorthodox approach. There was no rhyme or reason to a lot of the stuff that he did. I mean, one day, he took a boulder, literally cracked a hole in a frozen lake, and made me jump in. So some of it was physical, but a lot of it was mental. So I think, you know, one of the biggest lessons that I learned was we all have a reserve tank. And with this kind of, with his approach, which again was very no rhyme or reason, he really forced me into discovering what I have in my reserve tank. And I think one of the quotes that

he used to say, I love it. It still sticks with me today. is he would say, Jesse, when you're done, when you think you're done, you're only 40% done. And he would take me there. You know, he would challenge me and take me to exhaustion and then prove to me that he was right. You know, mentally, I'd be like, you know what, I'm not really done. I just want to be done. And there's a big difference between wanting to be done and how far you can really push yourself when you tap into your reserve tank. And what's funny is, you know, these little mini lessons were starting to translate.

into my everyday life. At work, I would go a little bit earlier. I would stay and proofread something maybe an extra couple of times that I wouldn't have in the past. I would, you know, doing a couple different versions of something when I could have in the past maybe say, oh, this is good enough. And it just became really about going that extra mile, getting uncomfortable, doing what I didn't want to do in the past.

And that was every single day. That's incredible. Sometimes a four in the morning. Yeah, man, I love that. You answer what was going to be my follow up was how it's helped you in your regular daily life, your professional life, personal life. So I'm curious, you mentioned this, but I talk a lot about comfort zone with people. I'm fascinated by this.

I think it's a great thing for us to talk about because all of us have had moments, and a lot of people listening have had moments or maybe they're currently having one, to where it's so simple to stay comfortable. people get comfortable in that zone. And the high achievers I've been around and talked to, been fortunate enough to meet through this podcast, get very comfortable being uncomfortable, leaping outside of their comfort zone,

doing things intentionally that they know is going to be walking up to somebody in an elevator. Instead of turning around and facing the door, they face the person and they talk to them directly. Little things, but things like that that may force people to do unconventional things like you've said you've done your whole life, your wife has done our whole life. But I'd love to hear from you, one, that your thought process on comfort zone, as well as

the importance of leaping outside of it. Yeah, I mean, I think we've all been taught, you know, routine is good, right? Getting good habits, you know, getting a good routine. You hear that all the time. And routine is good, but routine can also be a rut. And I think it's, you know, what Seale taught me was it's really almost impossible to get better. when you're in your comfort zone and you're just doing the same routine. And, you know, he would challenge me every day. And it doesn't have to be, oh, I want to hire a Navy SEAL.

You know, some days we would just take a different route to work. Some days we would just, out of nowhere, say, instead of doing our workouts in the morning, we're going to do them at night. It was just breaking up the routine and breaking up what I was used to doing and forcing me to look at the world differently. And when you do that, you find that you just,

you open up your eyes, to a whole world of other possibilities. And that's really important. And it's hard to be successful without being a risk taker. I think if you were to ask any great entrepreneur, the best example is probably Richard Branson and guys like that. They're all risk takers.

And you can't be a risk taker if you're living in a comfort zone, in your comfort zone. So that was definitely a big takeaway for me. And sometimes it's very hard to get out of that that space, but the rewards are incredible once you do. Yeah, I got a question for you to, let's try to relate this to some of the people who are listening. And so the listeners are actually a very diverse group, but I'll just pinpoint one.

Let's say, for the sake of this conversation, let's say a listener is a 29-year-old who was selling fax machine, something, you have someone in your family who's done that, your wife, obviously, was selling fax machines as she started her business. And let's say there's somebody who's a 29-year-old selling fax machines, but they have an idea, they have some thoughts, but they happen to be married with kids and have a mortgage and a spouse, and they make pretty good money. They're not super rich, but they make good enough money to live comfortably. They're certainly not paycheck to paycheck or anything like that.

But they feel like they have an idea or they could do something bigger. They could have a bigger impact on the world. but they also realize on the other side of their brain they're saying, yeah, but I got this good job and I make good money and I got to pay the mortgage and take care of my spouse and kids. What do you like if you talk to those people, what's the advice you would give them? What's some of the things they could do to potentially and they say, Jesse, I love what you've been able to do. I love what Sarah's been able to do. What would your advice be to them? Well, a couple of things.

First, I think you have to trust your gut. a lot of times you might think you have a great idea and this has happened to me and the enthusiasm and the excitement around that lest you maybe get into something that in your gut says you know what I don't I'm not a hundred percent sure you have to be a hundred percent sure most of the time that you're going in in the right direction to start something and your gut usually is very honest with you know is very honest and so that's always been a good guiding you know guiding light for me for your 29-year-old selling fax machines, they have the benefit of youth. And when you're young, it's the best time to take chances and take risks because you can recover.

Very hard if you have kids and you're in your 50s and you've had a job for a certain amount of years and you're set in your ways. It's a different conversation. But at 29, you have the freedom and the ability to take chances because you have the time to get back on your feet if it doesn't work and recover. And I also think that a lot of times, in listening to your facts person example, we're taught how to do something one way. And we're told by our boss or through our training program, this is the best way to do it. This is the best way to have a icebreaker or a conversation or whatever. And sometimes it's good to just take a step back and say, you know what, if no one taught me how to do this, if no one ever told me how to do my job, how would I do it?

and a lot of times you get better results when you do something like that. So sometimes it's a big advantage to not, to having not, I think for my wife, having not gone to business school and had never taken a business class in her life, she was able to kind of almost take a Kermit the Frog approach to business. Like, okay, and look at it in a way like I can't afford to advertise, so I have to get really creative with my packaging and have bold packaging. and I can't afford to do the way that this guy did it. I had to do it this way.

And all those different things forced her to differentiate herself early and was a big part of her success. You mentioned earlier about failure, though, about times you've potentially messed up or your gut wasn't all the way there. Can you share a story or a time about bouncing back from adversity or a time when you just flat out been wrong and what you learned from it? Yeah, well, I mentioned earlier. I had a record deal at a young age, and I thought, oh, my gosh, I signed to a record company. I had a video on MTV. I thought it was just kind of Locke City that I was going to sell a zillion albums and be on a beach at 25, and that didn't happen at all.

Once I went through my family and friends and my contact list and some others that maybe liked the song, I didn't sell that many records. And at the time, I was incredibly disappointed. I didn't get picked up for a new album. and I had to start all over really basically at 25 with no money and no job and no direction. I had to kind of figure it out for myself. But that was a great lesson for me because it forced me to do just what I was just talking about. It forced me to really kind of relook at my path, figure out what I thought I was good at

and what I wanted to spend my time doing. And I took a risk. I took a risk with the Nick Song and getting into this sports music business because no one was doing it and some people said it would never work and it ended up working out great for me so you know sometimes failure is is the universe's way of just kind of nudging you a little bit and saying you know what you're just a little bit off course and if you change this and change that and get back on course it could work out and that's what's happened that's what's happened to me but i've had ryan you know i've had they're not all wins i've had losses i've had products i've had things that i've tried

that just haven't, you know, that's just flat out haven't worked. And you learn from those mistakes and you have to have thick skin and you move on. But you have to learn and you have to be willing to take that chance. It's way better. To me, that's not failing. Like coming up with an idea or trying something and trying your hardest and it doesn't work, that's not failing. Failing would have been saying, I'm too scared.

I don't want to do it. I'm not doing it. And going to work where it's something that you're not happy with because you're too, scared to try something that, you know, you believe in or have passion for. I love it, man. And the other end of that spectrum, and so I think it's healthy and it's good to talk about times we've failed. But the other end of it is when you're deemed a success.

And in your case, you obviously are into that category. You've got like awards in multiple different areas of your life. Your wife is a billionaire. It's pretty incredible to say that. how have you guys managed to handle success? Success and money can change people at times. It can reveal character flaws at times. How do you guys handle this? I mean, this is an ongoing thing. I mean, you guys are both worth a bunch of money, which we've seen what that can do to relationships. You're both still working hard to continue to do great work. You're obviously now a new owner of

the Atlanta Hawks, which is a whole other thing to add to your plate. I mean, I'd love to hear how you guys specifically think about this, what you guys talk about to ensure that it doesn't come crumbling down as it does for others at times? Yeah, well, I think there's a great quote in my book. And that's that money is a great magnifying glass. And if you were a great person before you had money, once you have money, you become even a better person. And if you are a generous person, you become even more generous with money.

But if you are an asshole, you become a bigger asshole. And I really believe that. And, you know, for me, and I would say for Sarah too, but she can speak for herself. You know, my relationship with money is, I mean, look, it's great to have. It's fun to make. It's fun to spend. It's fun to give away. It's fun to spoil your family and people closest to you.

I mean, it's, that's, the greatest joy for me of having the luxury to spoil the people closest to me. and and that's that's really the focus i mean you know my relationship with money isn't one that you know i'm not chasing i've never been someone that chased it i've always been if i can run six miles and have you know fruit in the morning and brown rice at night i'm good um and i'm still i feel like i'm still like that i still pretty much have that same kind of philosophy day to day. Yeah, no, I think it's... Just have ice for sneakers.

Yeah, I know. I can just sense that, you know, even in the correspondence leading up to this, just an immense, I don't know the right word, down to earthness in you. And it just, I could just feel that. And, you know, I've been fortunate to talk to a lot of different people,

varying levels of achievements and success. And you don't always see that, you know? I think at the times you see people who have let some of that get to them, whether it's the exposure or the, It's the money. It's both, whatever it may be in it. And it's so it's refreshing. And it's nice to see it really, I can sense just saying, hey, it's great.

And I'm not going to deny that it's not great. Another guy, Todd Wagner, he started Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban. And Todd's a guy who I've been fortunate to get to know and he's a guest here on the show. And he's the same way. Like, you know, he's a guy that I've been fortunate to go to his house and he has this immense pride in the home he's been able to build for his family. I mean, it's gigantic. and it's awesome. But I mean, it wasn't like bragging. It was just, he's proud. You know, and he worked hard for it. You know what I mean? Yeah, listen, I have a great appreciation. It was a, it was a journey.

I put tons of time in, tons of sacrifice and hours, and I loved it all. I love, you know, every minute of it. But I have a great appreciation for where I came from and, you know, what I had. My dad owned the plumbing supply house in Miniola, Long Island, and, you know, worked six and a half days, long days. And, you know, we grew up. We used to drive. We'd ever flew. We drove to our trips down to Florida.

I have a strong appreciation for where I, you know, just the journey. And I remember when I bought a home, my first home, I just remember sitting outside and had a pool. And I was like, all I wanted was I wanted to have a pool and I wanted to have like a little place where I'm a big fruit guy where I could grow like fruits and back. vegetables. Like, if I could do that and run, man, and take a vacation, jackpot. And I just remember sitting out there on the steps, like, looking at my pool and I had no furniture in the house yet. I was just like, I would go out every day and just be like, I cannot believe this. I can't believe it,

man. And, you know, so I have a real strong appreciation and just try to, for me, just try to treat people great and, you know, nothing's really changed. I love it, man. It's cool. Jesse, this has been awesome. I got one more question for you. First, I'd like to say, I'm just very appreciative of your investment of time because that's one of the most valuable things we all have, probably the most valuable things. So I really appreciate that. But this show, it's called a Learning Leader Show for a reason. It's all about my fascination with the art and science of leadership, as well as the fact that the best, highest achievers are kind of. constantly striving to get better. They're constantly learning and trying to seek out, like you said, you know, you want to seek out these interesting people and you'll cold call them. And that's kind of some of the things I try to do. Just send a cold email or find ways to get in touch with people. And that's how we're fortunate enough to meet. And so like I said, I love studying

the art and science of it. I love what it means to be intentional with your actions to consistently think about how can I learn more. How can I get better? And how can can I potentially inspire others to do the same thing? And so that's why I share this podcast with people. So I'd love to hear from you when you hear the phrase learning leader, what's the very first thing that pops into your mind? Hmm. It's a good question. I'm very curious to hear what other people have said when you've asked them this question.

You know, I have a real thirst for inspiration. So I love reading about motivational, listen to motivational speakers. I love reading, following podcasts like yours, Ryan. You know, when I walk, I walk every morning. So I just think it's someone that has a thirst to learn more about best practices and, you know, what others have done just to get better. I think it's always about leading by example and just trying to constantly challenge yourself to get better. I love it, man, especially the leading by action part, especially, you know, you as a dad and a spouse,

because kids, you know, they're going to watch what you do far more than listen to what you say. And we all of us parents listening know that. And so that's why it means a lot to me to hear you say that. I completely agree. And I think the action aspect of leading is so vital. Even for people who are natural introverts and have had to kind of understand that there's more ways than to be the rowdy, a loud guy that you can you can lead through action and in a lot of cases it's more powerful way to be a leader absolutely my mother used to hit me with the silent treatment

it was way more effective than my you know some of my friends and parents that would timeouts and screaming my mom would just look at me yeah and I knew yeah not to take it any further love it man well all right Jesse again I'm I'm so appreciative of your time investment here on a learning leader show. It's been great. Where can you, if people want to learn more about you, read more by the book, where should they go online? Sure. So I have a website, the 100 Mileman, the number 100 Mileman.com.

And the book, Living with the Seal, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound.org, you know, anywhere basically online and traditional and independent book retailers. So I'm really excited about it. Like I told you, Ryan, before when we were speaking, it's kind of part training manual, part memoir. It's got a lot of business tidbits. It's got some of my favorite stories, how I got a record deal, and some of the ways that I was able to get my foot in the door and kind of figure it out later, which has kind of been my life story, are baked into these 31 days of living with this amazing, inspiring, motivating American. hero really, that moved in with my wife and I. Yeah.

I'd encourage everyone to go to go get it and read it. It's, well, it's funny too. It's entertaining. It's inspirational. Like it's kind of covers. It checks so many boxes. And I don't like to say that lightly because a lot of people recommend books like, hey, go get it.

But I really mean it when I say to check it out because you'll be better off for doing so. And I, like I said, I'm appreciative of you guys, sent me once so I could check it out. And I loved it. Something I will be rereading, obviously. But again, Jesse, hey man, thanks again for your time. I definitely want to continue this dialogue as we both progressed on our journeys because I'm fascinated by what you've been able to do,

both on a personal and professional level. And that's very important to me and I think to a lot of leaders out there who are listening. I appreciate it. And next time when I see you in person, I want you to throw me some down and out. Anytime, man. It would be my pleasure. Perfect. All right, man.

Ryan, thanks, man. Keep it up. Yeah, man. Appreciate it. Thanks, Jesse. Okay. This episode of the Learning Leader show is over, but we have plenty more to keep you locked in until next time.

Head over to LearningLeadershow.com for more information and to request your favorite entrepreneur, CEO, world-class athlete, or anyone else that inspires you. You can also talk to Ryan directly by reaching out to him on Twitter at Ryan Hawk 12. Thanks again. and we'll see you next time on The Learning Leader Show.