The School of Greatness - 469 J Balvin: Be Humble and Chase Your Dream

Episode Date: April 10, 2017

"It's never going to happen if you don't try." - J Balvin If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/469

This is episode number 469 with the Latin music pop star sensation, Jay Balvin. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. We have a very special guest today. I had an amazing time connecting with my man, Jay Balvin, who is in the greatness studio

today and what a journey this human has had over the years. I am so excited to hear his story and share it with you because he's overcome some incredible adversities growing up, some incredible adversities early in his career where people said he wasn't going to make it and they actually laughed at him. And then he came back and has been described by billboard as the greatest discovery of latin music in many years now this has recently been confirmed when he was honored at the billboard latin music awards in the categories of artist debut of the year latin rhythm song of the year and latin rhythm songs artist of the year in addition to the success achieved with his own music,

J Balvin has become the name to take into account when thinking about collaborations. Now, he has been called to work on remixes in Spanish with names like Justin Bieber, Pharrell, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, and many others. And he has toured with Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull. I love this story. And some of the main things we talk about in this interview are how getting into a terrible plane crash inspired Jay Baldwin to do more with his work and why it really woke him up. Why having a dream is so key and essential to your own success. Without a dream, it's hard to be successful. key and essential to your own success. Without a dream, it's hard to be successful. How to hustle when you're working solo and don't have a team. And there are some amazing stories about how J Balvin explained how he was about 10 people in one in the first few years of his career.

The way gratitude works to create abundance in your life, how to develop confidence in yourself before you're successful, and so much more, guys. There's so many great lessons in this interview. Please share it out with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 469. This is going to be a powerful one for so many people that listen. And before we dive in, I want to make sure I give a shout out to the review of the week over on iTunes. This is from Nate, who says, been listening to Lewis for about a year now and love everything about this podcast. I only listen to about five separate podcasts and this is one of my weekly personal development

staples. I use it for during my commutes and also during workouts. And as an ex-pro athlete myself, I love to see what he's done with his life and how he's transitioned to dominating the entrepreneur's world as well. So many athletes struggle to find their purpose after sports, and I'm following in your shoes, Lewis. Meet you at the top. Nate Forsey, thank you so much for leaving the review. You are the review of the week. And if you haven't left a review yet, please go to iTunes.com slash greatness and leave one right now. All right, guys, let's dive in.

I'm super pumped about this. Again, make sure to share it out with your friends while you're listening and give it up for the one, the only, Jay Balvin. Welcome, everyone, back to the School of Greatness podcast. Very excited about our guest today, Jay Bobbin in the house. Good to see you, man. Good to see you too. Finally, man. I'm super excited.

I didn't really know who you were until a few months ago. And then I think you followed me originally on Instagram. Yeah. And I was like, who is this guy? And then I started devouring your music. Fell in love. I actually had heard your music before. I just didn't know you were the one singing and it was your stuff.

But you did the Justin Bieber Sorry remake bieber sorry remake yes in spanish yeah the only room is that the only remix they put out yeah and i listened to that like on repeat every day scooter yeah shout out to scooter broad and um so it was cool to kind of like go back and start listening to everything and i've just devoured your music so it's amazing you've got a song called I Bamos right that's got over a billion views yes billion views

on YouTube I Bamos that's like Bieber style that's a blessing man we just amazing that's like seven people in the world

that has reached over a billion who's that Bieber Taylor Swift yes Taylor Psy

yes Gangnam Style right and what else all those big superstars. I'm the only one that is not a big superstar, but I got my billion views. That's crazy. Did you get some award from YouTube for that?

Yeah, absolutely. What did they give you, like a little plaque? Yes, they gave us some love. But, you know, at the end of the day, the important thing is people are showing love. They're really showing love, and they really want to see what we're doing and feeling our vibe. That's amazing, man. Now you're from Colombia. How do I say it?

Colombia or Coolumbia? No, Colombia. Colombia. Yeah, because there's a lot of people that when they write Colombia, they say Columbia. It's not like Columbia from here. It's Columbia. Columbia. C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A.

There you go. Yeah. Colombia. Yeah. Now I play with the USA National handball team Team handball I bet man

You big And a year ago I was in Buenos Aires And For a tournament And we played against Colombia So you played that You danced salsa man

What did you do? Yeah yeah I mean I used to play football Yeah Do acro yoga Play guitar A little guitar Okay I do that too.

Do you? Yeah. Oh, we should get the guitar and afterwards and see what you can do. All right, cool. But we played Columbia, and we beat you guys, so I apologize. We apologize. But you guys beat us in pretty much soccer and all the other sports. Okay, okay.

But I've always wanted to visit. You've told me how amazing it is before here, so one day I'll come and visit you and watch you. I already told you, you're a super invited man. I appreciate it. We got you. I appreciate it. I'm sure you do. Now, you moved to the U.S. when you were 16, 17, right?

From Columbia. You didn't speak English before then. Not at all. And why did you move to the U.S.? You moved to Oklahoma, and why there? Well, I didn't choose Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma chose me, yeah. You know, like I was looking for, you know, to be an exchange student.

Oh, really? Yeah. So it was something like just random, you know, like they just, I don't know, they put your name. Maybe they put your name in a box and be like okay jose is going to oklahoma atoka that was the name of the town really small town probably right super small like 20 000 people or less i think this is this is the town right here sure yeah so so you went there your junior year or senior year? That was senior year. Yeah. Yes.

No English. A few words maybe. Yeah. You know, I was listening to hip hop since I was a little kid and listened to rock and heavy metal. So I thought that I have some ideas, but when I got there, I was like, nah, I'm lost. And you have to listen in class and like study and try to figure out what people are saying and learn yeah you know like i think i think that was really you

know it was really a blessing because you have to there's no other way you have to learn how to how yeah you have to survive how to express yourself even with your hands or whatever, you know, somebody will help you, like, spoon? Yeah. Exactly. Eat, okay, eat. Yeah.

That's funny, man. So, yeah, I went there, and, why did you want to go be an exchange student? Because,

you know, I, I think when you know English, and, that's, basically, it's kind of, like,

music. It's a universal language at the end of the day. I wouldn't be here talking to you. It would be different. It's funny because Anita Nazario, who you know, who's in Puerto Rico. One of the biggest. A goddess star there in Puerto Rico.

A good friend of mine is great friends with her. I said I was interviewing you because I saw he posted a photo of you on social media when he was at your show a couple nights ago

in Puerto Rico and I go yeah I'm having him on he goes he speaks English he was like it's a shock that you spoke English and I was like

I'm pretty sure you know so it's amazing because not many people from Colombia or artists I'm assuming they don't speak English

like you do well I don't know I just it depends if you really want to conquer the world or not. That's true. You know? Like, it depends how you...

Like, all the biggest guys that I always dream to meet or, you know, to be like them, basically, they all... Most of them are all from here. You know, like Pharrell Williams or, you know, like, even Scooter Brown. And basically, most of them are all from here. You know, like Pharrell Williams or, you know, like even Scooter Brown. You know, people that I really like. Like I really admire and say, wow, how nice they are.

When I was a kid, I was like, okay, how am I going to talk to them? You know, they are just going to have them in front of me. What am I going to do? Speak in Spanish? What if they don't know? Get a translator. It's not going to be cool. So if I really want to conquer the world one day and just try to express what's my point of view,

because I don't have to sing in English because it's all about the right vibes. But when it comes to really express myself, in English, you know, because it's all about the right vibes, you know. But when it comes to really express myself and what's my message to the world, I have to. Yeah, of course. What is your message to the world? What's your vision for why you do all this?

Definitely, I think, you know, I just like six months ago, I had an airplane crash. Really? Yeah. Like a private plane or is this? Yeah. And everybody in that island, like we were the only survivors from all the airplane crashes that had happened over there. Wow. Where was this?

That was in Bahamas. Bahamas? Yeah, Bahamas. Yeah. How many people were on the plane we were we were six and you all survived yes and not even one scratch and everybody died like you know when i got out from the plane you know the plane was caught up on fire and and we all were alive. And I was like, why? So when I started running to the FBO, I told them a story. They were like, you're lucky because everybody died. The last seven airplane crashes that they had there, everybody died.

So there's no coincidence. I think life is perfect, man. So I remember that Pharrell Williams called me that day. He was like, listen, there's no, life has no mistakes. It's perfect. And you're here because of reason. So he was like, what are the chances to be alive and work from an airplane crash? So that's when I was like, hmm, okay, so I got to,

I still have something to do in this world. And I always knew it, but I was new, but now I'm like reassured that, you know, the message that I have to send to people is like, you got to dream. You know, you need a reason why, you know, to get up in the morning

and say, okay, I'm going to get up in the morning and say, okay, I'm going to get this. This is what I want to. And dreams are beautiful, man, because they keep you with hope. And when there's hope, there's a future. And I think that's the message. Music, it's just the way I can get to the people and tell the story. You know, like go and follow your dream.

Everything is possible. And the good thing about dreams is like there's no end. You can dream as long as you want. Yeah. Once you achieve one dream, it's another bigger dream. Another one and another one and another one and it doesn't matter how big they are.

If they're small dreams or big dreams, they're all dreams and that's what matters. What's your dream right now? The big dream? Well, one of my biggest dreams,

I have a lot. You know, it depends. There's professional dreams, personal dreams, spiritual dreams. You know, like I want to have a family.

That's one of my biggest dreams but maybe it's not the moment right now so that one, I want to have a family. That's one of my biggest dreams. But maybe it's not the moment right now. So that one I have to wait a little bit. But musically speaking, I think I really want to conquer the world at least the farthest I can get with Spanish. I'm not in a hurry to do nothing in English. But I'm doing it too because I'm doing it for fun. Yeah.

You know, like I'm not hungry to be famous. I think I want to be successful, which is different. Because you can do any stupid thing and be famous in a second. You know, kill somebody or say some stupid words. You know, be racist you know there's a lot of stupid things that there's a lot of famous stupid people to get attention yeah yeah so i want to be successful and that takes more time and at the end of the day when you're really successful people will know about it you know even if they don't understand what you're saying the music is going to be so dope they just gotta flow with it gotta move yeah you know it doesn they don't understand what you're saying the music is gonna be so dope they just

gotta flow with it gotta move yeah you know doesn't matter who you are absolutely amazing man

what's the definition of success for you well I think it's a good question right now I think success is feel

proud of what you do and at the same thing at the same time you're proud of what you do. And at the same thing, at the same time, you're inspiring people to make their own dream too. You know, because there's no,

there's no reason why, I mean, there's a lot of things right now in my mind. I'm making some translations. It's okay. You know, but what I think right now is like, what's the reason to be successful some translations why it's okay you know but but what i think right now is like

what's the reason to be successful if you cannot share that with your people or your family or with the world you know like what you're gonna do let's just talk like money-wise for example like what you're gonna do you have 10 million dollars in cash just for you what you're gonna do with it like what's the point once you got your house and you got yeah but you're gonna be alone exactly right it's different to be with your family and you just share it and then you buy an airplane just be with your people your friends your family and take them with you and show them the world how beautiful it is you know at least you gotta share i think it's it's being successful is sharing. And at the same time, it's giving them hope that if you make it, they can make it too.

I think that's, you know, a little bit of what I think has been successful. But I think there's a lot of ways to express that too. Of course, yeah. I mean, you know, I was just in Guatemala a couple weeks ago. I i was telling you and everywhere we went in guatemala christine was there there was billboards of your face you got tired of me like oh my god every mile was like a big billboard 100 foot uh photo of you and um you know you're like this mega star in latin america and anywhere in spanish-speaking country and i think people are starting to know who you are here in the U.S. more and more, but really you're just well-known there, which was hilarious for me to see.

It was just like, oh, yeah. How do you handle that much attention? You've got this big audience on social media. Every show you do is sold out at 20,000, 50,000 people, whatever it may be. You're collabing with Bieber and Pharrell know j-lo and all these other people how do you stay humble and not allow yourself to get so caught up in the hype so that you can stay grounded and really committed to your vision yeah there's a lot of things you know like i think family is really important man and the way they

raise you education that's what we need in the world more education you know and and uh and parents that really support their children's where their dreams because i think there's a lot of parents that maybe not, how can I say that? Like, they think they're doing it right for the kids, but they're doing it wrong. Because they program their kids with their dreams, not with the dreams they want. You know? Get me? I'm being crazy? No, no.

Yeah, of course so my family I remember you know when I decided to be an artist my mom said like I support you but the day

you think you will start you're going to stop shining for me the day you think you're going to start you're not going to shine anymore for me what does that mean

the day you think you're going to start the day you think you are a star a star you're not going to shine more for think you are a star. A star. You're a star. You're not going to shine more for me. Yeah.

That's powerful. That's like. Whoa. Your mom said it to you? Yeah. The day you think you're going to be a star. Yeah.

You're going to stop shining for me. Yeah. So I think that. That's powerful. That was good. You got a good mom. I'm really grateful

with that. Yeah. Because. Yeah. I think. Wow. How old were you when she said this? I was like. Seven. Seventeen. When you, I think. Wow. How old were you when she said this?

I was like 17. When you moved to Oklahoma? Yeah. When I decided to be an artist. Really? Yeah. Why did you decide you wanted to be in music? Because I remember that I was studying two careers at the same time.

I was studying international business and how we call it in English? Like communications. Uh-huh, sure. So I remember that I was in the classroom, and every time I was in this classroom, I was just writing songs and thinking about how was the clothes that I wore for the show. Really?

how was the clothes that I wore about to work for the show really so I was like man you know my mom and my dad they making all this effort to pay you know my my university and I'm here just like not caring about this class yeah so I was like you know what nah this is not for me sure and I remember a guy that is a really friend of mine and he approached so I was like you know what nah this is not for me and I remember a guy that is a really friend of mine and he approached me he was like

you think you know Shakira of course don't lie yeah we had Wyclef here a few weeks ago yeah yeah

okay so he approached me and he said like you think Shakira or Juanes which is another big artist. Juanes is amazing. We'll be here in this room. He asked me that.

I was like, no. I was like, no. In college, university. Yeah. And I was like, so what are you doing here? I was like, I'm out. Really? Yeah.

He asked me. I think he was an angel, man. He was an angel. Wow. Yeah. Where were you going to school? What college was that? It was, the name is Airfield.

In Columbia. Yeah. But I thought that, you know what, I'm going to be an artist. Wow. Forget about this. And I called my mom and I was like, mom, I got to tell you something. And I don't know how you're going to take this, but I want to be, you know, an artist.

And she was like, that's what you wanted to tell me? That's it? Yeah. Of course. I support you. You can just be whatever you want as long as you do it good. You know, you got to be the best on what you do. I don't care if you want to be a musician,

if you want to be a football player, just be the best. Wow. And that puts me more pressure because usually when people don't believe in you, you're just like, okay, I'm going to show them that I got the skills. But when they really believe in you,

wow. They got to show up. Yes. You got to prove them right. Yes. Not prove them wrong. Yes. So that's how it started. Wow. You got to show up. Yes. You got to prove them right. Yes. Not prove them wrong. Yes. So that's how it started.

Wow. Yeah. Who was more influential in your life, your mom or your dad growing up? My mom. And what was the biggest lesson she taught you? That we are all the same. You know, like, he always told me, like, my mom always told me, like, if you, I don't know,

if you're going to meet Justin Bieber, for example, like, don't get scared. He's just like you. You know? He got fears. He got feelings. He got his doubts.

You know, like, he didn't tell me about Justin, but for example, you know, like, anybody, you can meet the most powerful guy in the world and they just like you so just don't believe that they you know don't feel don't feel like you're different you're the same right what was the biggest lesson your dad tell you my dad well he never told me but with with the action with his actions i learned a lot you know he's a

he's a warrior man he's always working and he inspired me a lot you know to be always like focused yeah wow so you left school and then what was the next step were you just like in the studio every day were you trying to network with other artists yeah i was in the studio you know and uh but i i thought it was too cool you know to be in colombia so i left colombia and i went to miami looking for the american dream sure which is being so tired and go back to bed so i started you know i went to miami looking for a label i didn't have no money but there was no excuse because that's another thing that i want to tell where like don't make excuses when you really want something you want to get it you know like

i didn't have the money to fly to mi at that time or to have, you know. But when you really want something, you're going to get it. There's no excuses, you know. So I wanted to go to Miami. I went to Miami. And I didn't have money, so I looked for a job, you know. But it was illegal to work, you know, because I was with my tourist visa. You were illegal.

Yeah. I mean, illegal because, you know, I'm allowed to work mmm yeah I'm allowed to go on vacations right yeah oh tourist visas you really so like a three-month thing yeah yeah they always give you six months but you're not allowed to work but I had to work so what you do I started painting houses under the table getting cash under the table yeah of course and um yeah i was i was working man i was working and looking for my you know like how to you know how to weed and you know just keep looking for for for connections for the music you know and you're what 20 years old now or yeah i

was 20 i was eight like 18 That was after Oklahoma. Yeah. So you're painting houses. Yeah, I was painting houses and fixing rooftops. But it was amazing. You know, like I learned a lot. I learned a lot from that. And one day somebody approached me and was like,

who are you in Colombia? I was like, no, I'm nobody. So he was like, okay, so colombia i was like no i'm nobody so he was like okay so you gotta go back you know get get your name big in your country and you know let your country take you to another level so i was like oh my god no i don't want to i don't want to go back like a loser you know like like you didn't make it yes but but i i took the decision and i and i went back you did yes how long were you in miami for like six months to a year or yeah like six months yeah and i started i started started from the bottom that we're here. And what happened? What was the next step? Were you just trying to meet managers or other artists?

Did you have a mentor? Were you just singing in clubs? I wanted to be like Daddy Yankee, I remember, all the time. He was my biggest inspiration. But I was independent. I was independent for like, it's been like 11 or 12 years of my career now and I was independent for eight years. Wow.

So I learned how to manage myself. I used to be my manager. The household. Yeah, I used to be my own manager. I used to sell my music in the streets. The merch here. The merch, I used to, you know. It was funny because they called me

and I was acting like I was the manager. So I was like, hey, I need you in Balvin. I was like, yeah, yeah. I'm just talking with Jose. Uh, we need to book him for this day.

Okay. I'm a, I'm a talk to you about him and I'll let you know guys. Okay. What's your name? I'm Jose. Okay. Jose.

Thank you. But you were saying you were at J Balvin then. They didn't know I was J Balvin. I was Jose. Gotcha. Yeah. I got you. I see.

You know, like I was the manager. So let me talk to J Bal bobby okay what am i gonna do so and i learned that i learned and i started learning how the music business works in colombia and i started doing my own promo and going to all the radios and knocking the doors wow that's you know there's no excuse when you really want something you know to make it happen wow so were you just kind of writing your own songs yeah collabing with other people then no at the time i was just writing my own songs and just and the beats and everything or were you just doing the

lyrics not just the lyrics yeah you found someone else yeah yeah i found some tracks that were like supporting me and you know like they really love my music and wow it was good but it was amazing you know it's been amazing you know just yeah to watch the whole process you know that it's not like it's not it wasn't for one day to another you know it's a process been 10 years right over 10 years and i'm still i think that i'm just brand new to starting yeah especially in different markets people yeah the funny thing is like ah the the the bigger I get the less famous I feel mmm really yeah yeah why do you feel I don't know I don't know I used to I used to think that I was famous but nobody knew me and now that I'm like a little bit well-known I feel like nobody knows where I am really yeah but it's

I think it's good it keeps me on the ground yeah sometimes I even forget that I'm J Balvin because I'm always I'm still living in Colombia I'm still living in Medellin and I like to be around my true friends and they don't see J Balvin they say Jose they see Jose you know so but I'm like a week, I just completely forget. I'm like, oh my God, yeah. Oh shit.

I'm Jay Balfour. Yeah. We got these things to do. And when you come here to LA, do people recognize you or? Yeah. No. The Latin community is probably.

The Latin community is big enough. Yeah. But you know, I love fashion and, you know, this like, they've been like putting me in some fashion blocks from here and you know they started like who's this guy and and then maybe screed exposed a picture of me and then

this one and this one and this one and and they started knowing like who's this guy right bieber performs with you live at the state center that was beautiful how was that it was amazing you know it's like it's like if you it's like a 10 years ago, you just invited Michael Jackson to go to your show. And then he performed. Yeah. It's crazy, right? It was amazing. But that's why.

I remember that day because I called Scooter like, yo, I'm going to Staples Center and we've got this song. Why don't you tell Justin to come? I don't see nothing impossible. You know, he just, what's the worst thing that's going to happen?

Say no? But even the no, you can change it. You keep pushing, pushing. But that was like quick. We're like, yo,

it's cool, I'm going to LA. I don't know, why don't you ask your boy if he wants to go with me? And then, he said, yeah,

he's down. Amazing. We're like, sweet. but you got to try. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of people that never try. They kept the fear for them.

You know, like, yeah, like, nah, that's never going to happen. And I asked them, have you tried? And they said, no. So how you know it's not going to happen if you don't even try? You know, so. What do you do to train your mind and your heart to overcome any fears or doubts you have is there a practice you have a spiritual practice do you have i got i got a mentor i mean i got like i got somebody that really takes care of me and helping me with with all this like the

spiritual things you know and um he has helped me a lot and uh and he's been like an angel for me you know and of course I always try to connect with God or the universe whatever you want to call it but I talk to God

you know like but lately I used to be like God give me this give me that and now i'm just grateful and grateful and grateful and the more grateful i am the more things i get i think it's the most beautiful business that you can make with the universe of god it's funny but it's true i don't know how i don't know how it works but it's like that you know like like even when i wake up the first thing i'm like yo thank you god you know thank you i'm breathing you know i can see i can

move and then the other thing is more blessings and blessings and blessings you know and and i think it's the best i think yeah if you want to see us a business do the business it's going to work yeah be grateful you know we preach that a lot at the show talking about gratitude for me it's constantly on my mind the morning i talk about it at night before i go to bed i say what i'm most grateful for on my voicemail for my phone when someone calls me uh and it goes to voicemail i say if you want me to reply to you tell me what you're most grateful for today. That's dope. So I'm constantly trying to share it and get it out of other people

because I believe in the same philosophy. Wow, I think it's the most beautiful thing, man. It really, really works. When I get up and I just get the coffee. Really, just like... So grateful. It's funny when people think like, nah, he's a big artist or whatever.

What makes him happy? Like, what am I going to give him? You know, like, when it's my birthday, people are like, we're not going to give you nothing. You have everything. What you know is, what's everything for you? That's what I ask them. Like, give me a chocolate, man. Give me a coffee.

Give me a hug. You know, like, I'm grateful with that. Give me your time. You know, so, I don't know. Life is full of beautiful and simple things. And the good things are good too. You know, like it's a balance, you know. I'm grateful for the little things and for the big things.

Sure, yeah. For the coffee, then when Bieber comes to perform with you. Yes. Both of them are great. Yes. Yeah, they're all blessings man when you go to sleep at night what's the thing you think about what's the dream or the thing you think about right before you go to bed right now you know like right now honestly

i just go to bed and say thank you god thank you and i go to sleep it's hard for me to sleep because i'm always thinking and thinking me Me too, man. It's tough. It's like when I get up, I feel more tired than I used to the last day, you know, because I'm thinking

constantly all the time, thinking, thinking, and it's not like I have done something bad. It's just that I just... It's hard to shut it off. Yes, but I can't, man. It's funny because I just. It's hard to shut it off. Yes, but I can't. The idea is to get out there. It's funny because I wake up more tired.

Do you meditate? Yeah, I try. I try to meditate. I look for it. I used to try two times a day in the morning and like around six. That's what they recommend me. Sure. I did the classes.

I went. You went to TM or what did you do that which classes that's a dental meditation yeah yeah yeah yeah you know they give you their main try and just repeat it over and over again you know secret mantra yeah yeah so okay so I got my secret mantra and I just repeat it over and over again but I cannot tell you that I do it every day because I'm not it's challenging challenging. It's hard to, man. Yeah. I try to do it once a day, but it's hard.

That shows how selfish are we with ourselves. We should give more time for us to meditate than get money or whatever. Yeah. Because if you're not okay and you're not relaxed, it's not going to be easier to get the other stuff. But I'm trying. I try. Sometimes I do it.

Sometimes I just like stay quiet. Uh-huh. Breathe. And that's what I see lately. I rest more when I stay quiet, like in the bed like this, than when I'm sleeping. I don't know. It's weird. I'm like hyperactive. Yeah. You got a lot of lot of ideas man a lot of opportunities flooding in every day everyone's pulling out ideas and

and i just it's hard to execute it fast enough right but super fast yeah i want it i want things done like this yesterday that's yeah like yesterday I think it's good and bad. You know, pressure is on and sometimes it's good because that has helped me to achieve a lot of dreams. But sometimes I suffer a lot because there's things that you just cannot do it. Yeah. You just cannot do it right now. It takes time, man.

It takes time. You didn't get this big overnight. No, exactly. A decade. Yeah, a decade. And I know there's more things that I have to achieve. Absolutely. It's going to take me a lot of years too.

How old are you now? I'm 31. 31. Yeah. When's your birthday? May 7th. Coming up. Yeah.

32. I'm going to be 32. That's cool, man. I just turned 34 last week. Oh, really? Yeah. How are you feeling? Young.

That's good. Hungry. I'm super hungry, but I'm really scared of, I don't want to get old, man. It's a state of mind. You think? Yes, right? It's a state of mind, man. You know, I talk about this a lot on the show, that my dad never celebrated my birthday when

I was growing up. We didn't have parties. There was no presents. And I used to get very upset and hurt. I was like, do you not love me? I go to these birthday parties, and everyone's getting cakes and presents, and I was like, how come I don't have this? My mom gave me one party when I was like four or five,

and then my dad wouldn't let me have any afterwards. And I finally asked him when I was like seven. I go, Dad, why don't we celebrate my life, my birth? And he said, because I never want you to be limited by your age. Most people in this world are limited by how young or old they are. And when you put emphasis on it, it's going to hold you back. We should celebrate every day. Every day.

Not one day to be like, oh, I'm a year older. Or I'm this and that. So for me, it was more of like a mindset. I feel healthier now than when i was 22 absolutely because i had to daily practice and i feel like i'm so much wiser you know every year i feel like i learn so much because i try and i fail and i we all students man that's it man it's a school of greatness students here yes um are there any non-negotiables for you things that you must do every single day

It's like call your mom Or work out or meditate Or something where you're like It's a must do every day I try to work out every day Try to eat healthy every day Try Talk to my mom every day basically

Since she knows how to use WhatsApp WhatsApp, yeah All the time sending me pictures and video and you know moms sure you know and um what else being grateful is the most yeah it's the thing that i really have to do yeah every day even when bad things happen all All right, thank you. I don't know why, but I say thank you. Isn't it funny that sometimes all the things that we think are bad or negative

or the adversity we face, when we look back at it, we realize it had to happen in order for us to be where we're at. Yeah. Like some bad, tragic thing happened. Like you got a plane crash. Like tragic.

Yeah. But what did it teach you that you've developed now into your music or your passion yeah but it doesn't mean that it was your best moment in your life

absolutely yeah because there's a lot of people that are like yeah when I went to jail I think that was the best moment in my life because I learned

no no no no that's not that wasn't your best moment you learned from it but you can be grateful for it yeah and be grateful for it but don't tell me that was the best moment

in your life because it's not. Right. But yeah, man, I think life is perfect. I think life is perfect and everything happens for a reason. And do you feel like you have a responsibility with your platform, with your audience and your following? Absolutely. And what is that responsibility for you?

Just to make them first, I want to show the world that i'm a regular human being like everybody else you know like like i told you like i got fears like you know like i can feel you you've got skin i cry i'm hard you know i have broken so you're latin so it's in your blood you have to be heartbroken, right? Yeah. You have the passion. Yeah, man. I think one of the things that has changed in the music game, like from the Latino and the reggaeton side, is like I always wanted to be a game changer, not even just with the music,

on a personal level to be just real and be who you are and not pretend to have like mask or different faces you know I think to have two faces is too heavy you know to be walking in the world you know like I'm the same guy that you see on Instagram. I'm the same guy that you see me here. And I don't, it's all about being real. Like, sometimes even in the Instagram or on the social media, I'm like, it's not a good day. Yeah, like, yeah. It happens, like, yeah, it's just, maybe it's not a good day right now. But I show them that I'm not that I don't have a perfect life,

and I don't wish to have a perfect life. Right. But I tell the world all the time, the people that follow me, like, if I can make it, you can make it too, and don't worry if you've been through a hard moment because I've been through hard moments too. And I don't know know our time in the mom and i mean of this world what happened with the music industry that they just started like

showing perfect lives and it's not like that you know it's not and i think the more human you get the better it's gonna be for you because all these haters or whatever you can call they're not gonna hate that much because they'll be like oh yeah he he he's real he struggles yeah like you know because when you show the world like you have this perfect life and and nothing happens to you when something happens to you everybody's is going to be like, ah, you see? They're going to be like touching you. Not perfect. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think being real and being honest with yourself and being honest with the rest of the world, it's a blessing.

It's a real blessing. What's the biggest fear you have or biggest challenge? Like fear, like I have too many dreams that i don't want to die you know maybe i have you know i have a lot of things to do before i leave this dimension you know uh so sometimes i like i don't want to die and that's my that's one of my biggest fears. Is death. Yeah, death. Because I'm like, wow, I want to have family. And you see, I'm not saying I want to have money. No, forget about that.

I'm like, I want to have a family. I want to have kids. I want to see. Actually, when I had this airplane crash, the first thing that crashed into my mind, I was like, I didn't have no kids. Wow. I didn't care about the other stuff. I just wanted to have kids. I was like, oh, my God, I'm not going have no kids. Wow. I didn't care about the other stuff. I just wanted to have kids.

I was like, oh my God, I'm not going to have kids. Oh, nothing happened. Wow. Yeah, so. So why haven't you had kids yet? I think I haven't found the right person or I'm too scared. Or I don't know, but I really want to. I really want to.

I'm just, I don't know. I haven't found the right person yet. Hasn't felt right yet. Yeah, because I was raised in a family that, you know, my mom and my dad are still together. They really love each other. And I want to have that type of marriage, you know, like forever. Because a lot of people, a lot of people, when they want to have that type of marriage forever.

Because a lot of people, when they want to get married, they're just happy until they get married. Because they have the, I don't know how you call it, they just can't wait that day. Yeah, and then it's like downhill. Yes, because they're getting married because of the party, because of the society, and they're thinking it's going to be for the rest of your life.

So when you really think that you're going to get married for the rest of your life, you don't even need a party. Yeah. You know? Yeah. But you can do a party too if you want, because you go to the party, and then you know you have the rest of your life to share with your family or your girl or whatever.

But if you think, there's a lot of people right now that just think until the party. And when they get to the party, it's over. That's why there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of, how can I say that? Divorces. Divorces, yeah. You you know because it was just cool until they get married yeah you know so i want to get i want to meet somebody meet somebody that is going to be for the rest of the life you know explain describe her to me what's that what's that woman it's it's just i think i think it's everything is a business i'm saying like the dream has to be you got to respect her dream and she got she has to respect my dream and if we are going the same the vision has to be aligned yeah it's a business yeah yeah

because you're never gonna you're never to find the perfect person for you. You're going to build it. Yeah. And she's got to build you too, of course, you know, because that's being selfish. Like, I want you to be like this, but you don't have to do a move. Nah, that's selfish. You have to, you know, like, so I think like marriage

or whatever you can call it, I think it's really find your partner in crime. You know, Good crimes. You know? And just find somebody that dreams with you and makes you better. You know? That makes you happy because you have to be happy with yourself.

Nobody can make you happy. You know? I think that's another, that's another like point. Like some of the people looking for another woman or for somebody else or another guy even if you're bisexual or homosexual whatever you are i'm cool with that of course it's all about love so it's they're looking for somebody to make them happy and nobody's gonna make you happy you know you have to be happy with yourself to make others people happy too you know so

um i'm looking for that partner you know like okay this is what i want to do if you're done with me and i'm done with you okay let's create this relationship or marriage or business or whatever you want to call yeah that's great yeah how do you develop the confidence in yourself and when you went back to columbia after you left miami a failure quote-unquote a failure right didn't make it went back home how did you start to build confidence in this mindset that you believed in yourself enough that you could create your dreams what was that process like my mom had a lot of things to do with it because she always told me like you're gonna make it that was a positive proclamation like because sometimes your dad say you're not gonna make it

and you believe in that and you're never gonna to make it. But my mom was like, I believe in you. I see you at the Grammys. I see you doing this and that. So she, she helps me believe in me and you know, thoughts are energy and energy becomes material. That have, does it have any sense? Absolutely. Right. material. Does that have any sense? Absolutely. Right? So everything you think,

you can make it happen. You know, like you want to, I don't know, you want an airplane, so just think about the plane and work for it. Everything starts with a thought, you know, with an idea. And then boom, you've got the plane.

You know, I'm just doing random examples. Of course. But I think, you know, thoughts are energy. Energy becomes material. Absolutely. So she would tell you these things

and then you started to believe them? Yes. And you started to say, okay, maybe I do see myself there. Maybe I see the Grammy. Maybe I see... No, and I started picturing myself getting the grammy and it's funny because every time those things

have happened to me i'm like wow i i pictured this before crazy i got it here you know like i found a picture like this week of myself with uh it was like a gram it was a picture of a grammy and i was like this with the grammy in the in the picture in the photo and i remember that i that i wrote a post that said like i will get there and i'll got them so you see it's like gotta believe in you and you gotta and you gotta got to believe in you and you got to have good people who surround you and around you to tell you through. Because there's a lot of people that they don't have the talent and they think they have it, but they won't.

But maybe they have another talent doing some other stuff. With me, my people were so real. When I had bad songs, they were like, nah. You suck. Yes, just like that. it's not that oh thank you I'm so grateful that you told me that not because you're never gonna like somebody saying no it hurts it hurts what but thank you not at that moment because it hurts okay yeah thank you now we got a good song thank you yeah thank you i didn't like that but thank you yeah of course amazing i'm so inspired by you man i love the the humility you

have i love your energy i love your spirit your passion and your focus to create an impact you know i think so many artists bigger artists i wouldn't say so many but there are some of them that kind of fall off the wagon. You know what I mean? They kind of fall off and they stop making an impact and they get in their head too much. Their ego gets too big. And I feel like you're, uh, you're doing it all for the right reasons, which inspires me even more to know.

And it makes me want you to have everything, you know, it's like, I want you to have it all, all the dreams you have. Um, a few questions for you how hard is it for you to transfer from the spanish market into other markets that don't speak spanish for you it's it's been amazing amazing man because like i've been in greece i've been in uh well everywhere basically everywhere like this as the first country that that i went besides being a like a latino country was romania then i went to greece and then i started going to italy and then germany and then switzerland and they didn't have no clue what I was saying but they they feel the vibe

gosh and it does that's and right now I think with the social media I think the world is smaller now

you know it's big but at the same time it's small yeah and you can reach the people easier if you have the right

the right vibes and the right things it's funny because passion is a universal language and i've told you before i've been salsa dancing for 12 years and every time i go i don't understand what people are saying but i understand what they're saying absolutely and i can feel it whether it's a sad song and someone's heartbroken or it's about you know a dream of chasing a girl or it's about living a better life, you can always feel it in the music.

It's real. It's real that it's a universal language. You don't have to feel it. You don't have to understand what they're saying. You just got to feel it. It just has to feel right. Yeah. And that's it.

And we've been traveling the world like just not, as I told you, just not Spanish, you know, people, countries where they speak Spanish. We've been flying to a lot of countries, sold out concerts,

not really big yet, you know, like, you know, 4,000, 5,000, that's people, but we can get,

we're going to get bigger. But it's a process, you know, it's a process. Absolutely. Where can we connect with you online? Where do you like to hang out the most? If people want to see you on tour,

is there tour dates online somewhere? Yeah, on the webpage, you know, jbobbing.com. jbobbing.com. But I'm really into my social medias, man. Instagram, man. Instagram, Snapchat, man. I'm all the time like that and um and i like it because i think social media if you really know how to use it i don't know if i really know how to use

it but i think i use it good at least people get my vibe you know like not just the music not just the music which is which is why I'm here but your energy personality yeah like like send them different messages through the music yeah yeah

that's great man so make sure you guys check out jbalvin.com jbalvin on Instagram jbalvin Snapchat jbalvin official

Facebook Snapchat Facebook jbalvin yeah he's massive he's got tons of great content videos photos it's awesome you guys are going to love it

I don't follow you on Snapchat yet I will you might be an official I'm more an Instagram story guy now I used to use Snapchat but now I'm kind of like there's both it sucks

it's weird right I started like super Snapchat I was like why Instagram is doing this why they try and then I started it's better at Instagram

I like it and now I'm like I'm not watching Snapchat because I can see one why do the same thing yeah so it was boring like to make two videos saying the same thing It's better with Instagram. I like it. And I'm like, I'm not watching Snaps. Because I can see one. Why do the same thing? Yeah. So it was boring to make two videos saying the same thing.

No. Like, hey, Snapchat. Good morning. Hey, Instagram. Hey, Instagram. Nah, man. And then I started just saying good morning and save it from Snapchat and put it on Instagram. Yeah, of course.

But then I was like, that's not fair for the fans. They're going to see the same thing. Yeah. So right now I'm more sticking to Snaps and Instagram. Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I saw you on your's not fair for the fans. They're going to see the same thing. Yeah. So right now I'm more sticking to snaps and Instagram. Okay, yeah, yeah. I saw you on your hike yesterday. It was great. What's up?

Yeah, yeah, I saw that. This is a question I ask at the end for everyone. It's called the three truths. And so I'm going to ask you to do it in English first, and then when you're done, we'll do it in Spanish. Okay. So the three truths. It's the last day for you 100 years from now. You've achieved every Grammy and Oscar

or any other thing you want to achieve. You've achieved it all. You're the president of Columbia, whatever it is you want to do. You've done it. You've got the woman of your dreams, the children, the family of your dreams. You've done everything you set your mind out to do. You've done it. You've got the woman of your dreams, the children, the family of your dreams. You've done everything you set your mind out to do. And it's the last day. And you have a

piece of paper and a pen. And for whatever reason, all the stuff you've created has been erased. Music, videos, everything gone. But you have a piece of paper and a pen as your final message to the world. And you get to write down three things you know to be true about everything you've learned from your experience. Kind of the three lessons that you would leave behind for anyone to ever remember J Balvin. What would be your three truths? In English. Be real real be loyal

and be grateful and the three truths how would you say these are my three truths in Spanish these are my three truths be grateful loyal

loyal grateful what was the last one be real loyal and grateful be real loyal and grateful be really grateful and dream i went i got four now let's hear it and dream big okay so in english what are they dream big dream big be loyal be loyal grateful oh my god be real

be real be loyal be grateful yeah okay one more time in Spanish what is it for? okay ser leal ser agradecido soñar en grande y

oh my god this one missing dream big be real ah si sueña en grande be loyal sueña en grande

ser agradecido ser real Dream big, be real. Ah, sí, sueñan grande. Sueñan grande. Sea agradecido. Ser real. Y... I have to write it down, man. That's funny. Let's do it. Go ahead, write it down. It has to be.

Dream big. Be real. Be real. Which is ser real you know be grateful see claro which is ser agradecido okay then dream big dream big and be loyal. Ah, yeah. We got it. Dream big. Soñar en grande. Uh-huh. Soñar en grande. Yeah. Is that right?

What is this one? Be grateful. Yeah, yeah. Be loyal. Be loyal. Ser leal. Man, and work hard. Go ahead.

You need to work hard, man. How are you going to achieve your dreams if you don't work hard for it? I like it. Okay. We'll repeat them again, then. Yeah, work hard. need to work hard. That's cool. How are you going to achieve your dreams if you don't work hard for it? I like it. Okay. We'll repeat them again then. Yeah, work hard. Okay, work hard. Trabajar fuerte.

Okay. So in English, what are your three? Okay. Be real. Yes. Be grateful. Dream big. Be loyal. And work hard.

And in Spanish. Ser real. Ser agradecido. Soñar en grande. Ser leal. Y trabajar fuerte. Claro. Ta-da.

Before I ask the final question, do you have any questions for me? Why you want me, why you wanted to interview me? Well, first, you're the first Latin star I've had on. And I respect your music and I now respect you even more as a human because of the way you show up and your energy and your passion. So for me, I'm

all about energy and right when I saw your stuff on Instagram, I was like, I'm attracted to your energy. For me, I don't have people on if they're famous star, if I don't like their energy. It's all about vibes. It's all about vibes.

And if I feel like I want to be friends with that person, but if they're just famous or whatever, and they have a big ego or they're mean to people, I could care less. I think the same. So for me, I want, my mission is to inspire a hundred million people to show them how to live their dreams and live a comfortable lifestyle around their dreams. Because I feel like that's when we feel the most fulfilled. That's when we give the most love to ourselves and to others when we're living our dreams,

or at least in the pursuit of it. Enjoying the process. It may take 10 years, 20 years, but we're on the path. I feel like we treat ourselves better and others better. I agree. So you're a great example of someone who's doing that, someone who's done that, someone who went through adversity, who didn't make it,

and now who's on your own path. And for me, that's extremely inspiring. And the fact that you're doing it your way, the way that lights you up, your message, you're being real, you're being loyal, grateful, working hard, and you've got big dreams. That's what excites me,

and that's why I wanted to have you on. Thank you. Of course. And before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, even though I just did a little bit there, but I acknowledge all my guests. So, Jose, I acknowledge you for the pursuit, man,

the pursuit that you took to go and learn English so that you can impact billions of people more as opposed to just understanding Spanish, for you to take that risk in high school to go learn English is scary. So I acknowledge you for that because otherwise we wouldn't be talking. Yes, you're right. Acknowledge you for taking a chance and going to Miami and then going back home when it was actually not the right move to be in Miami at the time. And swallowing your pride as a 20-year-old who may have had an ego then to say, listen, I need to go back. And dedicating on your craft to get to where you're at today. Because I know you worked 10 hard years to get here. Nothing came easy for you.

And there's no way you would have been able to do these things without being a good human being. So I acknowledge you for all those incredible gifts, man. Thank you. And for all your songs, man. Thanks for giving me the vibes to move. Yeah. My final question for you is,

what is your definition of greatness? Wow. Inspire. You know, people who inspire people that's greatness greatness when when you want to be like when you Wow but yeah it's like when like let's talk about it's a lot of greatness in the world. But, like, greatness for me, to me, it's people that really inspire, you know, like when you want to, like, wow, I want to be like that.

And he's guiding me how to get there because when you really when you're a goat you know you have to show the world how to get there you know like if you really one of the greatness you have to show them like how to get there you're not when you really the greatness when you're great or how you call're great when you're one of the greatest for example when you're the goal for example you're not scared to show the world

to teach others it's like you have to when you're great you're great you have to be great with the people and teach them how to get there how how you got there. Not doing things for them but giving them the keys. You know?

Not giving them the fish. Show them how to fish. You know? And get there. And so I think greatness is a beautiful process. It's a process that you make greatest inspired people yeah it's paying people and being and being cherries like you want to share your gifts it's like well you know you blessed but you want to bless everybody

yes and you wanna and you're happy when you see your people is it's going up and up and you just be grateful like wow I'm so happy for him that they getting in this level yeah yeah you know like for example when I'm with Farway Williams he's one of the greatest for me and he I was like you can explain me there Yes, of course. This is what I think you should do. Let's do this. Let's do that. I want to see you there. You know, like, it's love.

You know, it's all love, too. Man, greatness is love. And can you share in Espanol the definition of greatness? Grandeza es compartir con el mundo las bendiciones e inspirarlos. Oh, now I got it. You understand it? Yeah, like greatness is like share your blessings, inspire people to get them.

Hey. J Balvin. Jose. Yeah. inspire people to get them well hey J Balvin Jose yeah thank you so much for being on here thank you man I'm so grateful for you

I'm really grateful and I hope we can do more stuff in the future thank you yes appreciate it thank you there you have it my friends

thank you so much for listening and tuning in today because that was an amazing interview for me. So much wisdom inside of Jay Balvin, and I love his passion, his heart, his gratitude, his willingness to continue to get better and improve every single day.

Such a good human being. Make sure to go follow this guy everywhere on social media. He's got great stuff he puts out there. Make sure to go see him live on his tour. Check out his videos. The guy is really up to some incredible things, and he's just scratching the surface of what is possible for him, his career, his life, everything.

And I wish him the best. If you enjoyed this, make sure to share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 469. And tag myself at Lewis Howes and at Jay Bolivin on Instagram. He loves Instagram. So make sure to tag him in your Instagram stories. Tag him on your posts, up on your feed as well while you're listening to this episode because I'm sure he'd love to see you and connect with you there.

I love you guys very much. You mean the world to me. We are in this together. We're here to make an impact on the world together. And that starts with ourselves, growing our inner world to make an impact on our outer world. It starts with making an impact with our friends, our lovers, our family, the people around us.

Start with ourselves and the people around us, and we will continue to be a force for good in this world. I love you so very much for helping me along this journey make an impact in the world. We're in this together. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.