The Vault Unlocked - How a Near-Fatal Car Accident Made Guinness World Record Holder Jenn Drummond Stop Living for Everyone Else

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Jenn Drummond had no mountaineering experience, no tolerance for sleeping in tents, and a fear of heights she did not discover until she was ten feet off an indoor climbing wall during her first training session. Three years later, she became the first woman in history to complete the Seven Second Summits, standing on the second-highest peak on every continent and earning her place in the Guinness World Records as one of the most unlikely and most documented athletic achievements in modern history. Jenn Drummond is a Guinness World Record holder, entrepreneur, speaker, and mother of seven. She built and scaled a white-label investment platform for institutional clients, walked away to raise her family, and nearly died in a car accident in 2018 that forced her to stop performing a version of herself and start building from the real one. What followed was nine mountains, seven continents, a teammate lost in an avalanche on K2, and a record no woman had ever completed. The episode opens on the car accident. Not as backstory. As the diagnostic. The universe gives you cues, Jenn says. If you do not hear them, they get louder. The crash was loud enough. From there, the conversation moves into what it actually looked like to pursue a world record in a discipline she had no business attempting, hire the wrong guides and learn from it, develop a fear of heights mid-training and build a thirty-day protocol to climb through it, and turn back on K2 after a teammate died in an avalanche rather than summit without him. They also get into what Guinness told her after she submitted seven mountains' worth of documentation and believed she had finished. Two more mountains. Different continent interpretation. Different geopolitical boundary. Jenn's response was not a fight. It was a calendar invite for the next climb.  The conversation closes on what she is building now, a project built around the someday lists people carry but never act on, and why she believes the founders most at risk of living on autopilot are the ones who have optimized everything except the life underneath the business. If close rate is still your primary metric for a life well lived, this episode will change how you run the numbers. Questions Answered What does it actually take to pursue a world record with zero relevant experience? How do you rebuild your identity after a near-fatal accident? How do you respond when the finish line moves after you believe you already crossed it? What is the difference between external validation and internal authority? Why do the most optimized founders often have the least examined lives? How do you model resilience for your children without performing it? What does it mean to stop deferring and start building the life you keep postponing? What is the real cost of waiting for outside permission to pursue the life you already know you want? How do high-achieving people know when to stop optimizing and start experiencing? What happens to your sense of purpose when the goal you built your identity around is finally finished?   Looking to dive deeper into these conversations and connect with our host and guest? Follow Jenn Drummond Instagram Facebook   Linkedin X TikTok YouTube Website Follow Kayvon: Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok     Want to go deeper with Kayvon? Subscribe to the newsletter Book a discovery call Get your Revenue Engine Scorecard™️ Hire the right salespeople

Most people think resilience is something you either have or you don't. It's not. It's something you build, one decision at a time, usually when everything is telling you to stop. Today I'm sitting down with Jen Drummond. Jen is the first woman in history to summit the seven second highest peaks across all seven continents. She started with zero mountaineering background, discovered a fear of heights 10 feet off a climbing wall, and still went on to complete nine climbs across four years to earn her place in the Guinness Book of World Records. We're getting into what it actually takes to move through fear,

how she rebuilt her identity after a near fatal car accident, and why the moment you think you're done is almost never the moment you're done. This is the vault. Let's unlock it. Well, Jen, I like to say, I mean, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me today. Super excited to be here. Well, I'm excited because before we were talking, before we kind of, you know, we jumped on, you're telling me, you're climbing mountains, changing lives, going from achievement to alignment. I mean, all these things that, you know, even as business owners as humans we need, but really, and then 360, there's something you were saying about this new project you're working on. So I'm excited to jump in all of them.

But for the listeners that might not know who Jen is, why don't you tell us a little bit about where you started and where you are today. Yeah, definitely. I grew up in Michigan, smitten with the mitton and was an athlete my whole life, went to college to study medicine. My professor said I wasn't cut out for it because I didn't like the library or knew anybody in my classes. So suggested I get into something else. And my business law teacher said, yes, you should be in business. What are you thinking? I got into finance, thankfully, because I would have probably financed purses and shoes if I didn't learn the compounding value of money. And then I started my own company that white labeled an investment platform for institutions to utilize, which ended up doing way better than I ever imagined, decided to like step away from that and raise children, which was super fun until they went to school all day long and I didn't know what to do with myself.

And I really like creating things. I got into a car accident, which reminded me that this time here is not forever and all these things I had pushing for when the kids go to school, then I'll do this. When they go to college, I'll do do this. And all of a sudden, I brought a sense of urgency into doing those things now. I made a bucket list of things I wanted to do before I die on that list was climb a mountain. I was going to climb a mountain named Amma de Blom. And my son heard it as I'm a dumb blonde. Oh, wow. And up that to Everest. And so I'm like, fine, I'll climb Everest. I'll show you whatever Everest is. We can summit. So I had to hire a coach and the coach is like, I think I got one better.

How about you become the first woman in the world to climb the seven second summits, which I didn't know what they were? And I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, I know the second highest peak on all seven continents. He goes, think about it. Seven mountains, seven continents. You have seven children. It's a jackpot.

I'm like, I've never slept in a tent before. He's like, oh, those are details. And so then I started on this pursuit, which. really reflected a whole bunch of business lessons I had learned before on building my own company and scaling that that we got there, did that. And here we are. Here we are. Wow. I mean, this is why I said I was excited.

Where do we go? I, okay, I, I'm really excited about the seven, seven mountains, seven second highest mountains. Yeah. So like K2, that would probably be the most famous one in the list. So I used Everest as training. to prepare for K2. Okay. Yeah.

And you're so you're the first woman in history. Yeah. Documented history. Yep. Page 86 of the Guinness World Record Books, my friend. To, to climb the second tallest mountains in seven continents. Yes. And then of course, because anybody out there building, creating, or doing understands that there's

false summits. And so I sent in all the documentation, had everything ready for Guinness, all seven continents. And Giddis comes back six months later after auditing everything. And they're like, you know what? There's a dispute on what's a continent. So we need you to climb two more mountains. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, how can there be a dispute? And they said, well, sometimes Indonesia is considered part of Australia instead of Asia. And if that's the case, you need to climb a mountain in Indonesia. And then because of the geopolitical turmoil, in Russia and Europe right now. We really think you should climb the mountain in Europe if we exclude Russia from Europe. So I went to Switzerland to climb Mount Rosa and I went to Indonesia to climb

Sumantri and then I got it done. Wow. And how long it's not so much. Would you say dumb blonde climbing a mountain anymore, right, son? Right. You're right. How long it'll take you to do all that? So I started in the first. winter of 2020. So it was interesting. This goal kind of came about after that car accident, which happened in December 2018. 2019 was that big reflection of year like, why am I here? What's my purpose? Why was I saved? And then 2020, I was turning 40, but then this thing called COVID entered the scene and kind of disrupts my climbing plans. And then towards the end of the year, actually Chile opened. And so when Chile opened, I climbed Ojos del Salado, which is located in

out ofcoma desert and that was my first of the seven second summit climbs and then all of 21 climbed and then 22 and then 23 I thought I finished in June 1st and then Guinness Worlds came back and I said okay well at that time my next mountain was in May of 24 and then I finished it October 9 of 24 with a Sumantri in Indonesia there there's so much here because I'm thinking there's so much advice I hear in this in the sense that business life, I mean, comes our way to think that you've done something this big and then to find out, nah, you got a good code. Not one more, two more.

And it sounds like you just were like, okay, no problem. But surely there must have been some things going on internally, externally for you to feel a certain way. Or did you just, nope, okay. Let's just go back to training and get it done? You know, for me, the entire pursuit was a unique challenge in the standpoint of one, it had never been done by a female before. Two, I was zero percent qualified as a mountaineer, right?

Like, I relate to the four seasons hotel than a four seasons tent all day long to this day. But what happened was when I came home with the concept, my kids, I was talking to them about it. Like, hey, I'm thinking of doing this. Well, they started claiming continents. And so all of a sudden, they were equating like, if mom climbed my mountain, and she loves me and she didn't climb you or she doesn't love you. Yeah.

Right. And that's what kids can do. And that was kind of the first lesson in truly accountability is love. Like at some level, like when you have people around you that hold you accountable to who you are and what you're capable of doing, sometimes that rattles us. But that's love at its deepest form. And so then when the Guinness came back and said, hey, there's two more mountains. I had two choices.

I could fight it and throw a fit. and be like, no, this is why and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or I could just be like, hey, this is life. I'm going to go climb those two more mountains. What's next? Bring it to me because I'll take it. Right? And so when your kids are watching, you show them that when you think something is done

and it's not, you get to decide how you want to respond to that. And I was going to respond to it. Let's go. And that's how I hope they respond to things if someone challenges them. Absolutely. Absolutely. On average, just so I have an understanding, how long did it take you to climb these mountains? Well, every one of them is different, extremely different. So, for example, Mount Kenya is the second highest point in Africa. It's actually about a 22-pitch rock climb. Or Kilimanjaro is like a hike, right? Big difference.

That one only takes a day to climb. And in fact, you have to be really quick to climb it because you're at the equator. and you only have 12 hours of light. So you want to be climbing this thing and repelling this thing in the light. So you're racing the clock the entire time you're doing that one because the sun rides at 6 a.m. And the sun sets at 6 p.m. Stop for a second.

We're talking. You were like mountain, you weren't hiking. You were doing, because I know, like, I've heard the whole Mount Everest is more of a bougie, like it's not real climbing. It's not that hard. But you're actually rock climbing. You're harnessed in,

but you've never been harnessed in, before. Well, no, so we knew that climb was on my list, right? So this is an awesome story. Everybody listening will hear this. So I'm like, I do a host del Salado. I have success. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself. And like the next climbing season, because mountains have climbing seasons, it's kind of like, oh, you can climb up Kenya. And he's like, have you ever a rock climb before? I'm like, no. He's like, do you have a fear of heights? I'm like, no, I've been on skyscrapers, roller coasters, chair lifts. Like, I'm good. He's like, okay, well, I need you to go buy this gear. and go hire a coach and go to the climbing gym

down in Salt Lake City, so I live in Park City, and start training with an instructor just to make sure you know all the key moves. Okay, cool. So I show up down in Salt Lake City, probably a little arrogant, to be honest with you. And I'm like, hi, I'm Jen.

I'm the one that booked the lesson. I just need to get some training before I go climb Mount Kenya. And so this coach is like, okay, perfect. So he's like teaching me how to tie this knot and like put the shoes on and like all the things is like the best way to move forward is for you to go get on that wall.

I can see what you're doing. will build a plan around where you're at. Like, okay, perfect. So I go up on this wall and I'm like, do you want me to follow a certain color? Because indoors, there's colors, right? There's whatever. Not outdoors. Like when you get outdoors, you're like, where's my purple holds?

I want purple. Why don't you have any purple out here? So anyways, I'm on this wall and I'm 10 feet off the ground. And I start shaking. My heart wants to come out of my chest. I'm like, my vision tunnels. and I look down at my coach and he gives me the finger to come off the wall

and come talk to him. So I come out of the wall and I'm like, what just happened? Like what's going on? He goes, I think you have a fear of heights. How could I have a fear of heights? Like I can't have a fear of heights. I have to climb 17,000 feet.

Like I can't be afraid at 10. He's like, well, that's what it looks like. I'm like, oh my gosh, what do we do? He's like, well, we're going to have to do exposure therapy. I'm like exposure therapy. He's like, yeah, you're going to have to learn how to climb with the fear. And I'm like, okay.

So he's like, what you're going to do is you're going to go on that wall. You're going to reach one handhold higher. And then you're going to come off and reset, drink some water, get a snack. And then we're going to go back on that wall. And when you feel the fear, I just need you to go one handhold higher. And lo and behold, after like 30 days of wanting to vomit and probably losing weight because I was so stressed from the whole experience, like I got it. And then fear never went away.

but it was something that was like, okay, here's how it feels and here's how I can manage it and I could, I had proof. Like, I used to be scared there and now I'm scared here, right? Like, I'm good. So when we got to the actual climb, I was like, oh, I really liked it when I had purple handholds. But here we are.

Yeah, I mean, surely you climbed outside, like a lot. Well, no, because I literally like climbed my first mountain in December, right? Like a summit of December 16th or something. And then I went to Kenya in February. And so then what happened is when you live in Salt Lake,

you can't climb here in the winter because it's snowing. So we went to Vegas for a weekend in February before I left for Mount Kenya and then had like one weekend to practice because even though the climb is only 12 hours, it takes you, I don't know, I think like about six days to hike in to where the mountain is that you need to climb. Wow. Yeah. Wow. This is fascinating. I hope when people are listening to this, they're understanding, like, what was coming up for me is like the only limitation in life is your mind. Like it's not like it just, it's insane. Like I live actually in like what they call is like the Mecca world class climbing like outdoor climbing. And I've been on the mountain. And it's no joke. Like I don't, I'm not a climber. I don't like it's not who.

It's not my thing. But like I've been harnessed up. I've done crack climbing for 30 minutes, maybe 20 minutes. And I want it off that mountain. And I come from a, you know, a very professional, professional sports background as well. But like to go from never climbing to climbing a mountain for 12 hours on a harness is in having what it sounds like maybe a couple weekends of practice beforehand is just wild. It's wild, right? When you look back on it, but when you're in it and you land in Africa and you are with all the people that are going to help you.

And there's only one woman on your team because the women there do not have the same privileges that we do here. And that woman is like the cook who's helping with those kinds of activities. And you try to get to speak English with her a little bit. She can't really that well. and she looks you in the eyes and she holds your hand before you go to leave to climb that mountain. And you realize, I'm not climbing this mountain for me. I'm climbing this mountain for her to show her that we all just need to keep climbing to get to where we want to go. And we all start at different places.

And so for me, it was like anytime that fear showed up, I was like, I need to turn around or this is getting overwhelming. I'm like, girl, you're not allowed to say that. Like look at where you come from and look where these people are. You have to show these men what women are capable of. So they start believing that their women are capable to. Wow. Wow. There was a deeper reason behind all of this.

You started off with the kids and then it turned into women and then it turned into like a lesson. Wow. I mean, every one of them like that's just unfolded in these magical ways that had no idea. But when you got there, like, okay, this is what it looks like. This is what we're doing. And did you grab a team or get together a team that went to every. amount with you or was every amount a different team like a local team every okay so some things I learned there too um this whole thing was like a big science experiment um everything like and they be you kind

when you climb the second summits you do have different teams because unlike the first summits that are almost all hikes right so avris is a hike kilimanjaro's a hike all of those are hikes at some level some on snow someone dirt uh what do you do the second summits like we had the rock climbing one i had some ice climbing in Antarctica i had to ski one in you were not stop or you are not ice picking up a mountain without any experience well i mean you get experience right because you have to be ready but i didn't start with experience and so like the second summits have this whole different skill set that you need because it's not just hiking it's all these different pieces yeah and so then you have to

hire different people because not everybody has those skill sets. And then also, like I started with, I'm going to hire the guides in the country that I'm going to climb in to support their economy. And then after having a few experiences, I was like, you know what? First, I'm going to hire for safety and then I'm going to hire for the people in that country. Because we, you quickly realize, like, we have, like, IFMGA guides or some of these certifications that other countries don't require and you're like, next time we're going to do things a little bit different because safety's first.

I do actually want to come off this mountain and talk about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Wow. Wow. It's this, it's crazy to me because I understand how hard it is to train for one, but out of nowhere you just

went like, it sounds like three years, four years you did seven. Well, actually you did more than you did nine. I did nine. Yeah. And then also like I like I failed K2 the first time. I failed Mount Logan the first time. What is that I mean?

You couldn't get to the top? Couldn't get to the top. Tired, exhausted? Just worse. Worse. On K2, one of my teammates died in an avalanche. Oh. And so when you have that happen, you have a choice to continue to climb or to go back down.

And I'm like, I'm not climbing a mountain when a teammate passed away. Like I'm going to go back down. The mountain will always be here. Who we show up as people is way more important than what we achieve. I'm going to go take care of my team. And so I had to go back to K2, which is like a huge deal because it's extremely expensive to climb. It takes a ton of time and training. To get to Pakistan, you are talking 36 hours of flights.

You're talking like seven to 14 hours of driving, 55 miles to hike into the base. And then you're waiting for great weather to climb that. mountain and then you reverse all of that home. And so when you make that decision of like, hey, I'm turning around. It's not like, hey, I'll be here next week. It's like next year when the climbing season opens again, I'm going to come back and do all of this. Yeah.

Yeah. So we've had, wow. So we, I mean, that's mad, an avalanche and you're lucky you didn't get taken out. I'm extremely lucky that I didn't get taken out. Yeah. Sorry to bring that up. man, the tribulations that go through this, right? It's not all the successes you hear about.

No, there's so much that just doesn't get said or isn't talked about because everybody loves to celebrate the highlight reel. Right? And when we're building or creating or doing, there's a lot that goes on so that there can even be a highlight reel. So speaking to the highlight reel or the dim light wheel or the life changing reel, you see. said you had a car accident. It's interesting because I've been in that, I've probably been in that similar situation where you're, you probably died and came back.

I think I didn't, I didn't quite die, but I had the choice. Like I was in that space where I had the choice of like dying and I was like, I'm not ready. I'm like, I promise I'll do something significant. Like,

let me live. I'm sorry that I got caught up and all these false things. And I'm back on, I'm like a put me back in the game coach type of talk. So let's talk about, do we want to talk about the car accident or do you want to talk about it? Yeah. I mean,

so the car accident I think happened for me, to be honest. I think the universe gives you these cues along the way. And if you don't hear them, they get louder and louder until you can't ignore them. And I was not living my path. Like I, I was that mom in the school classrooms running,

like PTA things or holiday parties and there's women that love that and they thrive in that space, I was like, their kids eating glue. Like don't eat glue, right? Like it just wasn't my like skill set. And when I kept like, that's all I saw as a successful mom and that's what made a good mom. So I kept trying to be something I wasn't. And so when I got in that car accident, it was like, okay, are you done like pretending

you're all these things that you're not? And can you start like standing up for why I put you on this planet? And so then all of a sudden, became this big awakening of, is this me or is this society or like whatever? Because I either disappoint you or I disappoint myself. And if I disappoint myself, I'm disappointing my creator. And so it gave me so much permission to kind of say F you to everything that didn't feel right. And then that's when like things just went through the roof for me like on meaning, on significance, on success and all of it. It's it's so interesting.

in the car accident, was it like, did it flip? Did it? Yeah. So like it was interesting because I was paying attention to the side of the road. And I was like thinking, you know, you're daydreaming. Why hasn't the reservoir frozen over yet? Are we going to get enough snow? So we're out of the statewide drought.

Like all these thoughts. Something grabs my attention. I look at the highway and I realized I was coming up hot and a semi-truck going slower than a snail. I was like, oh, okay, okay. And so you look in your rear of your mirror. I'm like, oh, I can get over. I went to get over and I didn't quite make it.

And I saw the second trailer of the semi truck hit the corner of my passenger side. And then the car went like fast, right? Like externally, I could go, I was flipping. So I went like dirt sky, dirt sky, dirt sky. And then I'm like, I don't have enough momentum. We're going to start going sideways. Then I rolled sideways. And then eventually it stopped and I was hanging upside down in the median.

So that's all happening, what, in 15, 20 seconds. I don't even know. But internally, it was like slow motion in 30-some years of my life was flashing forward of like things I did or didn't do or like thoughts I had and memories I was thinking about. And it was just really like awakening moment. And I remember hanging upside down and I started like sound started to return. And like like you're, I started to smell. And I was like, huh.

And this guy peeled back my windshield. And when he peeled back my windshield, he was like, are you okay? Which I realize he's probably been saying a couple of times, but I just wasn't kind of putting the words together. Yeah. And so he looks at me and I'm like, I must not be okay because no one looks at you like that if you're okay. And I was so afraid to look at my body because I was like in my head. I was like, I said I wanted to live. I said I wanted to live, but I didn't say anything about not being handicapped.

I was like, why did I bring that out? Right? Because your body's like so warm. And I'm like, okay, I don't want to look at my body. So I closed my eyes and I wiggled my fingers and toes. And I was like, wait, wait, I can feel my fingers and toes. And I was saying it out loud, I guess. And he goes, if you can feel your fingers and toes, you're going to be okay.

We just have to leave you here to the ambulance comes because I don't want to move you and have something go wrong. And that was one of the first aha moments of. if we look outside of ourselves to get permission to be okay, we're never going to be okay. Because they're looking at it from an entirely different circumstance. But if we can learn how to close that world out and close your eyes and get back in your body and be like,

okay, I can feel my fingers and toes. Everything else is a story. And you can rewrite that story any single time you close your eyes, feel your body, say, okay, what do I want this to be? And then you start writing that. if we that's a quote if we are waiting for the outside world to tell us that we're okay will never be okay oh yeah that one hits yeah wow interesting wow okay so you're hanging off the median you're hanging into the median at this point car's done a couple flips and uh you've

came too and you've realized that you had another second chance or did anything happen to you in that moment where you just knew you were someone different or like did something change and shift internally externally or you just knew as I just consciously like this is a second chance of life that's not yeah well like so I think it like shows up uniquely so anyways that what really shocked me which is sad that I could it would even say this but I I'm like, I'm not hanging upside down until this damn ambulance comes like cute, but not happening. So I unbuckle myself and I crawl out of the car despite everybody being like, don't move. And out of nowhere are people that have water, have blankets, have like a jacket.

Somebody's like my, I have the sunroof so like stuff through the sunroof. So they're collecting all my stuff from wherever, putting it together. They're like, how can we help you? Who can we call? and I just remember like sitting there thinking what a beautiful world we live in. Like these people like just are so loving and caring. I was like I want all their numbers.

I want to make everything even. I want to like, you know like all that kind of like you whatever. And in my like God was like just you just have to receive right now. Like you're going to pay back everybody in their own way. Right now you just have to receive. And so then I like received. I went to the hospital. They ran every test under the sun.

I somehow like walked away unscathed, which is no one can even, you should see the car and it doesn't make sense. Yeah. And then I go home to my house and I like don't open the front door just yet. Like my nannies with the kids. So like I'm sure whatever. I don't open the front door. And I just looked at that front door. I'm like, man, three weeks ago I hung up a Christmas wreath on this front door.

and I was like, I need a new front door. I have scooter marks on this thing, dog scratches on it. Like, you know, like just dirt, right? Like the front door is whatever. And I remember like walking to that door and I'm like touching it and being like, this is my life. Like these are my stories. This is proof I was here.

I'm so grateful. I didn't change this front door. And then I opened the door, right? And I have seven kids and there's pizza on the counter. Someone goes by in rollerblades. Two are fighting. And like, I'm sitting there just taking in all these moments. And one of my kid catches me.

He's like, mom, are you okay? I'm like, why? He's like, because you're not mad. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, well, we got a mat. Like, he's like pointing out all the things that I'm noticing. But instead of responding, I'm just witnessing. And I just remember thinking, I have two kids in the corner that are fighting right now.

But they're fighting because they love the other one so much. They want the other one to think the same they weigh, do. They do so they feel safe. And instead, like before I would just butt in there and have my opinion and separate it out. And it was like just these moments of this life is so beautiful, like in the most like in the ways that I never witnessed it or experienced it or whatever. And then, you know, this accident happened a week exactly before Christmas. So the next week's Christmas and the kids are opening presents and I'm sitting there watching. And they're like, mom, are you okay?

I'm like, why? Like, well, you don't have the trash bag out. You're not picking up all the rappers. Like, there's rappers everywhere, mom. Like, what's wrong? And like, I think that mom's gone. Like, this mom is just, I just love those little fingers opening those presents. I don't want to miss watching those fingers open those presents.

And like, just everything changed. Yeah, the appreciation for life and just the little nuances that I think as a business owners for sure, whatever, when you're, busy doing one thing, you miss a lot of the other things that actually are more important sometimes in life. Yeah, or like as a business owner, we're so used to optimizing. Like, how do I optimize? How do I make it better? More efficient, more effective, whatever. Like, some parts of our life are not meant to be optimized. I feel like the universe gave, I feel like the universe came here for you to talk to me personally because it's like everything you're saying. I'm like,

yeah, that's me at Christmas time. I'm the guy with the bag, making sure we're cleaning up everything right way because my dad did that. So that's what I thought. And then right when you said optimize, I'm like, oh boy. Oh, yeah. I've been trying to optimize everywhere else in my life instead of realizing the only thing that needs to be optimized is the business and everything else just can be. Mm-hmm. Just presence. Yeah. Yeah. I hear that. Wow. What, I mean, this is so interesting. And now you're working on a new product. Yes. So we're going on a new project because our personalities, like all of us business owners are on here. Like we love the build.

We love the climb. We love like the challenge. I mean, we do. If we didn't, you would fly at the top of Everest, like take some photos and like jump on the helicopter, right? And exit. But no, we want like the story and the setback and like, I overcame this and whatever. So for me, I can get addicting. Right.

So I do the first world record. And then everybody asks you like, what's next? What's next? and that is a hard question for me because I love chasing things. I love pursuing things. I love that. Like, whatever. And my mind was telling me, like, take a season of winter, Jen.

Like, just don't achieve something. Like, let your kids see what it looks like when you're not in the newspapers or you're not doing this hard thing or whatever. Like, let them have a chance to witness recovery. But of course, like, I want to say that. But then, like, the bug gets bit. And someone's like, what's next? What's next?

I'm like, well, I'm going to climb the highest peaks, of course, because yeah, and I only had three mountains left to set the record as being the first and only female to climb the highest and the second highest peaks and how I justified it. Like this, we get tricky people, you're listening is I dropped my oldest off at college and I sobbed like a baby. And I was like, oh my God, this time does end. He leaves. Like, I only have six left at home. Like, how am I going to maximize time? Well, these climbs that I had left, the kids could do some of them.

And so I'm like, now I get to train with them. We get to plan the trip together. We get to do the thing together. Like, this is amazing. Like, this is how I'm going to like sell it to myself and everybody else and whatever. And so then all of a sudden I'm like, I have one mountain left. And I'm like, if I have one mountain left, I'm going to get asked this question again. Like, what's next?

And I'm like, I am not going for any more mountains because the reality is, is like, eventually you realize the people you want to spend time with the better you get at something. the less people you can do it with because you're such an expert at it. And so then now all of a sudden you have like it just doesn't work. They can't go to those territories or those terrains are way too extreme. And so I'm like, okay,

I know I need something or I'm going to implode. I'm like, okay, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to focus on my some days. And we all have a some days list. Like that list, like someday I'm going to do this or someday I'm going to do that. And I'm going to get serious about my some days list. And I'm going to make sure that every,

single date in the calendar year. So all 365 have some kind of memory tied to them. And it doesn't have to be climbing Everest, right? It could be, we're going to go watch a sunrise together as a family, or this last spring break, all of us went spear fishing for the first time. And so it's been really this, how do I get to do these things with people that I love and care about? And then also get other people to start getting off an autopilot and getting intentional about their lives. And the crazy thing is, is like, everybody, I bounced the idea off of. I'm like, what's on your Sunday list that you haven't done? It takes everybody like three seconds to tell me like whatever that thing is. And then I'm like, let's go do it. So like last week, there's this guy who owns this company called Aegis, which is like

making people over 50 cool. And, you know, super successful. And he's like, I've always wanted to do a front flip into a foam pit. And I've always always. wanted to do one of those indoor skydiving things. I'm like, okay, done. I sent him an email back. I'm like, I booked us the next two Tuesdays. We're going to do this on this Tuesday and this and next Tuesday. He's like, what? I'm like, no, we're doing this. He's like, I'm 67. I don't care. You said you want to do front flip into phone pit. We're going. And so we did. And then we just did the skydiving

thing. And now I have like some of these adventures coming up, which are really other people some days that I'm going to be a part of and I'm loving it. Yeah. That's so is that. So is that. is that what you're doing or how would people implement their some days and getting to see that? And kind of being a part of it. And like I'm so really what happened was I'm done with this record soon and I need something else. My grandma passed away. And when my grandma passed away, I realized like all the things that I lost about her and I don't have the chance to ask. Right. Like when did you decide to play basketball or why did you give up basketball or why did you open the

store. Why did you like do the things that you did? And how did you make those decisions? They're gone. I know her birthday and I know her death date and that's about it. My dad just got diagnosed with early onset dementia and vascular or Alzheimer's. And I'm sitting there thinking, what are the things that I want to know about him before he leaves? And I can't access those memories anymore because he can't access those memories. And then I think about my seven kids that are watching me right now. And listen, the extraordinary takes care of itself. It's teaching them how to make the ordinary extraordinary and what we can learn from each other

and what we want to know about each other. Like, if I died, I don't want them to be like, well, my mom set these world records. Like, I want them to know so much more about me. And so now this is giving me permission to do that. And I do better when I'm with other people. So now I'm like including other people. And it's been really cool to see what's happened so far.

Is this, this is an, And I'm trying to understand it. Is this like a business or is this just more of your pastime now and you're helping? Well, so it's starting as a past time, right? And now all of a sudden it's like I, for example, I'm taking a group to Kilimanjaro at the end of July, beginning of August. Because it was like all these people had always wanted to go and they're like, well, now I've got to go with a world record holder like done. I'm like, okay, let's do it. And then another person has always wanted to do this trek in Iceland that is like,

like one of the most gorgeous trucks in the world. And they're like, hey, can I pay you to go do that with me? I'm like, you can. I am available. Yes. Like, yeah. I like that. Getting paid to do cool shit.

Yes. And watching other people live there like some days in reality. Right. And like once they get this some like their first one of the momentum under it, they get so excited. And then they want to get somebody else to do it. And so we're kind of actually looking at. at even putting together an app where people would just put their some days in it.

And then if it matches somebody else's, like we could put together some stuff for people to have reasons to do it. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really interesting. Like, thinking about that, if marketed well, that's a huge product because there's so many

people that are waiting for permission. Well, we're going to have that conversation. My God, they're definitely waiting for permission. But I think they've even lost their ability to give themselves to permission. They're not even waiting. They've just lost their ability to dream or even or a dream into existence. And having an app that they can do that and then finding out that the neighbor three doors down had the same someday. And they can go do that together.

I mean, think about bringing people together. In real life. In real life. In real life. That's powerful. I like it. Yeah. No.

And I thought like if I have the app that I can have. have the data and I could be like, oh, like a hundred people have see the Northern Lights. And then you could be like, okay, we're going to go do this at this time. If it feels good, like join in. It's on your list. Yeah. There's a lot of businesses you can already think of all the spin-offs of how you can work with the like the places and the organizations to host this and all that.

Yeah, a huge opportunity. We become a dream maker and an event hoster. Who knows? I'm here for whatever shows up next. So I never thought I was going to climb them out and before that car accident. So you never know. And if someone's asking the question as a parent of two kids, seven, seven, seven. Yeah.

But let me tell you the story on seven because I think it tells a lot about who I am as a person and all of our experiences shape us into the decisions we make in our futures is I struggled with fertility. And I had the biggest shame story about it. Like the one thing a woman's born to do is to have kids and it's the one thing my body won't do. Like all the terrible things you can say or think about yourself. And so I went to a fertility treatment center. And again, it took us a little while to get everything going. And then finally they came up with a chemical cocktail that turned me into a chicken and I hand out a whole bunch of eggs like all of sudden. Right.

Like I was like, we had no eggs and then I had a bazillion eggs and whatever. And so they fertilized these eggs. and they planted too. I had my son Jack and I'm like, okay, I have at least one kid. I'm super happy. And then I got a bill from the fertility clinic. I'm like,

that must be somebody else's. I paid you plenty of money. And they're like, no, these are your embryos on ice. Like, okay, well, let's walk through what all that is again. Because I was so focused on having that child,

I wasn't maybe paying attention to all the details. And like, yeah, well, with embryos, you either use them, you donate them or destroy them. And I was like, oh, okay, well, destroying the, them at the time was just not an option. Like, no way. It took me so long to get this one child. You want me to just like, no, karma's going to come back and I'm going to have no. And then like,

donate them. And I'm like, so that means like I grew up with Dr. Seuss. And there's this book called like, are you my mom? So like, right? I'm like, no, I can't. Is that the book I read with my little two year old is that like, it goes up to like a bird. The birds or the truck. Your mom has like big years. Yeah, I'm reading that one to my two year old. I love it. I'm like, oh my God, I can't like one. Like, are you my kid? Are you my kid? Like, no, this is not an option. And so they're like, oh, you might get two, maybe three because they rank them.

I'm like, okay, fine. I can do, like, I grew up with three. Like, I didn't do three easy. And so then I have three and then I have four. And then I have five. And then there's two embryos left. Like the worst ones, they weren't going to survive the thaw. And so I'm like, okay, we're going to plan them, clear my conscience.

And we're good to go. and those two embryos stuck and I have twin girls at the bottom. So I have five boys than twin girls. Oh my. Yeah. Busy, busy, busy home. Busy home, but like the most loving,

full, active, amazing family ever. And here's the thing. Like, it just taught me that if you just keep going and you keep going, I mean, I peed on the pregnancy test like every month and it was like a failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure. And then all of a sudden you have this win. it's when failures happen in other areas of your life you're like okay well that's just i haven't played the game long enough yeah i mean it's it's the the store every it seems like from yeah

it just seems like you've gone through a lot and i've done a lot and everything that key and i said before there's something that keeps coming up for me and it it seems like there's like you have a resilience to you and i feel like that resilience was in you probably for a very if not born with it for a long time because you said you play competitive sports and you cannot play a competitive sports on any elite level without resilience. And then going through, you said med school and everyone has, you know, we all like, I've had that story too. You shouldn't be here, right?

And then you find the next path and resilience to learning and going through that. And I can only imagine back then. And I'm just going to say what it was to be a woman in the finance world. Right. I just can imagine what you know. They're like, are you the secretary? I'm like, let's go. Yep.

Sure. And I'm sure. And I'm sure a lot of other, you know, not fun stuff probably. And it just seems like whatever comes your way, you're like, okay, I'll do it. And then you do it at an extreme level. Where do you think that comes from? I think life is a gift. And what we do with it is our gift back.

And I'm just so grateful to be alive that I don't know. I don't even, like when you're doing something big enough, win or lose, you win. Yeah, right? It's like, so if I didn't win, okay, but I attempted and it's like never been done before. So, okay, I didn't win. And if I did win, it's like, okay, amazing. Now how to make it easier for the next person to do the thing so we can go even further. Is that how you approach life or did that come before or after the car accident? I mean, I think when you have children, you realize as far as you can take the baton and whatever you're doing, you do that. so that you can hand it off to them and let them go further and farther and create more. I mean, that's how, I mean, think about, like, how cures for different diseases come up or how different things happen.

If somebody didn't keep pushing and pushing and pushing, where would we be? And you, like, like, I remember, again, from my car accident, I remember, like, sitting outside in my backyard and I said, all of this was a vision for somebody. All of it, like the downtown and the buildings and the restaurants and the restaurants and the roads and the ski resort. Like it wasn't made like this. Like this was somebody's dream that they brought to life. And then somebody else brought this piece and that piece and that piece.

And you can just sit in that for a few seconds. You get that energy and you're like, okay, bring whatever you want my way. I got it. Yeah. And that's why I said, I think I said the beginning of the episode here is the only thing that I think is the limit is the limit we put on our mind. And especially now with AI and everything, it's incredible where we can go and what we can do. And I think it's absolutely incredible. You went from never being,

I just can't. Like, I know what it takes to be. Like, I've been down that road. Like, I know what it takes to actually be a real climber. Ice picking is not something you just go pick up some ice picks and go climb. Like, I was so bad at it. I was so bad. Like, if you don't throw the thing, like straight. You wouldn't be bad at you've never done it. But that's the, that's the crazy thing is, but you did it. Like you, and you figured out a way to keep going and keep in like so many people would have quit. Yeah.

But then, right, but then what? Well, exactly. Like, like my whole thing is like, okay, well, eventually I'm going to win. Like, like, time favors those who keep showing up. So that was just my thought. I'm like, I don't, I didn't have a, I have to do this in two years or I have to do this in four years. My thought was, is this is so significant.

If it takes me a decade, it's still awesome. Okay. fine. And so like not having that pressure and just letting it be and unfold the way it would, but know that I was going to go until it happened. Okay. As we come to an end, I'm trying to think what, what, not what's next. I'm not going to say that for you. I'm not. I refuse to say that. But I'd say as you see where, even where AI is going and where this world's going, where do you see yourself being part of it and giving back end or building to make it a better world? Yeah, I think just reminding people that life happens in the analog.

Like we're not here to consume life. We're here to create it and experience it. So as long as I keep creating experiences for people to be a part of or doing things where people's like, oh, I want to go see what that is or experience that or try that, then it helps people keep technology in a space and also life. still happening. So instead of letting like what I'm going to get into of that is be create the life you want to live don't live the life that's being given or that's being propagated around you lately. You've kind of mentioned it a little earlier but yeah. Yeah like don't like push back like do don't defer you. Don't live on autopilot. Don't like get caught up and optimizing. Just realize I get to define what a life well live. is and then utilize the tools and resources around you to create that. And AI is going to make that easier than ever.

That's the truth there. Well, I think that's, I mean, thank you so much for joining the show and being here. Yeah, thank you. People want to find you. Where can they find you? Yeah. So gen drummond.com. So J-E-N-N.

And then all like the social handers are the Jen Drummond. But yeah. And we'll obviously have those in the show notes as well. But again, Jen, appreciate you for stopping by. Thank you.