Jairek: I am ready.

John: Yes. Jairek was born in Santa Monica, California. He’s a decorated performance coach and lifestyle entrepreneur who has applied his innovative methods to living a life of adventure, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship. Jairek, take a minute, fill in some gaps from that intro and give us a little glimpse in your personal life.

Jairek: Oh man. I don’t know how far back to go. I guess I’ll start from the beginning and do a real quick recap. I literally grew up in the personal development [inaudible] [00:00:29]. My very first seminar was in mom’s belly. She was getting her NLP practitioner certification from my godfather, John Grinder. And she was teaching people how to break through their fears by breaking bricks with their bare hands. I was introduced to entrepreneurship very early on.

If you fast forward I think somewhere around four or five, six years old, I remember there’s pictures of me dressed up in a little suit and tie at my grandma’s house. And she put me to work right away. She’s in a sales position and she was teaching me how to lick envelopes, how to write out people’s names and mail them letters. And we were doing mail marketing back then. But I was part of it way back then. And even at that age, I’d memorized the whole presentation for selling an insurance policy.

And she used to take me on appointments. And every now and then she’d let me do the presentation, which was hysterical. So literally I got tossed into entrepreneurship and sales from the very, very beginning. If you fast forward, well, it’s my second job. My first job I got when I was 15 and a half I think. I was in high school. I think that’s in high school. Somewhere around there.

John: Yeah, it’s like sophomore year.

Jairek: Yeah, I wasn’t old enough to have a job to run the register. But I was big enough and tall enough that a friend of mine who worked at Blockbuster Video gave me a job as security. I could see over the shelves which helped. I’m glad to say that theft went down 40 percent within a week of me starting.

My second job, though, was at a nonprofit; for one of my dad’s nonprofits. And I worked there. It’s my heart and soul; giving back, making a difference. We focused on taking care of homeless people. This last year, he did an amazing thing where he partnered with Feed America and they did a hundred million meal challenge. And I believe as of last year they literally delivered 50 million of those meals. And he matched whatever funding came in. And they made up to 50 million meal donations in the United States last year. It’s remarkable.

Every year they feed millions of people between Thanksgiving and Christmas all because someone showed up at his house when he didn’t have much as a kid. And he said, “I’m gonna give back some day.” And he certainly has. So fast forward that, I worked at the nonprofit for a while and I love it.

The only thing I didn’t love was the paycheck didn’t match up with the vision I had for how I wanted to live my life. I imagined fancy trips and cool places and fun stuff. And I looked at the paycheck and I’m like, “This is really, really fulfilling. But this doesn’t add up.”

And I remember one day I walked across the courtyard to the profit side of the business and I asked them, “What do you guys do?” And it happened to be the coaching department. And I was 18 and I said, “Can I do it?” And I think she was humoring me. There was a lady named Charlotte in charge of the coaching division. And she goes, “Well, sure you can, buddy.” And she was like, “Well, you have to pass the test and you have to go through 265 hours of training, and then you have to prove that you can do it.”

And fast forward, I went through all that, ended up passing with flying colors and really learning how to deliver, spent six years coaching there, did a couple years outside sales with them and really learned all kinds of aspects of this type of business. And then now we’re on our seventh year this year.

But seven years ago, I split off on my own. I threw up a website. I was working three side jobs just to pay the bills, living in the front den of a house. And I took this skills set that I had built for six years working with that company, started my own business or my own private coaching practice. And within eight months brought it up to six figures in revenue, which at 24 years old making six figures, having very low overhead, you feel like you’re king of the earth. You have conquered life.

My roommates used to try to figure out what the heck I was doing behind this curtain as a door every day. They’d stick their head in and be like, “What are you doing? Is it legal? Where is this money coming from?” I’m pretty sure they thought I was dealing drugs or something. But I was like, “No, I coach people on performance.” And they’re like, “Fine, coach me.” And I was like, “That’s not how it works.” And so we’d go back and forth and they’d tease the heck out of me.

But I grew from there. We’ve grown every year since. And now we’re our seventh year into it. And, yeah, it’s been amazing. So that’s been my entrepreneurial journey I guess from the start there.

John: I love how you started with philanthropy but at the same time you realized that, heh, I need to become successful financially as well. And that’s one thing, Jairek, that a lot of entrepreneurs go through. They work hard, they put in the time, they become successful financially, they’re happy. But then there’s still something that seems to be missing. What I call that is significance.

And I love when I see entrepreneurs move from just being successful as an entrepreneur and financially, etc. into significance. And that’s philanthropy and giving back. And you kind of started with philanthropy and then moved into being a successful entrepreneur and now have even doubled that and amplified even more into philanthropy. So that’s really cool to hear.

And a lot of our listeners, Jairek, they’re starting out, they’re wantepreneurs, they’re sidepreneurs. They’re getting their hustle going right now. They’re looking for ways that they can build viable businesses like you have. So how do you today actually generate revenue?

Jairek: Oh man, we have lots of streams of income over here. So I figured this out in the beginning, my very first stream of income was one on one performance coaching. So I was working with individuals doing one on one coaching and that was our first source of income. When I maxed out at 52 clients a month within that first year, I realized I couldn’t reach everyone on my own. So the next one I was like maybe I’ll put together a product and that will help reach more people when I’m not physically there. So we started doing products, digital products online. Low overhead but reached tons of people. Great revenue, great profit index there. So that worked.

A friend of mine brought me out and said, “Heh, could you consult with my company and help build out the personal development training aspect of this?” Sure. So we did some consulting. That added to our repertoire of what we could offer.

Someone heard I had grown my business from zero to six figures in eight months as a coach. And as of seven years ago, most coaches were making $40,000.00 to $50,000.00 a year. So I had doubled that within eight months of starting. And so they brought me out as a keynote speaker to come and speak for their group of coaches to train them on how I did what I was doing. So keynote speaking became part of our piece.

Just a thought right there; most people confuse people who get up and sell from stage versus people who are actually hired as a keynote. They’re very different. And so most people say, “Oh, I’m a speaker.” And it’s like, “Well great, you stand up and try to pitch your stuff everywhere. That’s awesome. You have a great living doing that.” But there’s a whole different group of people who corporations hire for five, ten, 20, 30, 50, even $1 million a speech to come in. And they’re hired, they show up, they talk, they leave. And it’s a whole different game there.

So we got brought into the keynote speaking space, which we’re still in heavily and we love it. And we go and deliver great content and experiences for companies and organizations. And then from there, we got ahead of ourselves and we started doing events all over the world. So we decided to do one day events. And we did them Tokyo, Australia, the UK, all over Europe, the US, Canada. And there was a big mistake made that was in that.

And then from there, on that same year we decided to add a retreat to the repertoire. And the retreat was 25 days, ten countries on a cruise ship where we took a group of 30 people with us and had literally a life changing experience that you couldn’t imagine. We were building houses and schools in Guatemala for families in need. We partnered with the mayor of Manta, Ecuador and delivered Christmas to 200 families who couldn’t afford it. And then we were literally snowboarding in Nicaragua down the side of a volcano. So it was a badass trip.

John: Now what I love, Jairek, is how you’re showing Fire Nation how you’ve progressively grown your revenue streams. You stared at square one. You were coaching one on one, got to 52 clients a month. That’s insane in a great way. But, of course, you can only leverage that so much. So you continued to say, “What can I do to grow as an entrepreneur, to scale my time, to leverage my capabilities?” And, Fire Nation, you’ve heard the results.

Jairek, you’ve alluded to something that you kind of tripped up on a little bit. And maybe this is gonna be that story but maybe it’s not. Because this is your call. Because what I want to really move into for our listeners is what you consider your worst entrepreneurial moment. So really take us to that moment in time, Jairek, and tell us that story.

Jairek: Well, it was what I was alluding to. We decided that we got ahead of ourselves. We got really excited. We had lots of growth, as you’ve heard, going on in all different directions. We decided to do events all over the world. And that year we made more revenue than we’d ever made in our entire business ever. And it was like, wow, look at the numbers. We’re crushing it. This is amazing. And we looked at profit and that looked good on paper.

A mentor came in, and he’s still a mentor of mine in business. We recently took a course with him on how to buy and sell businesses. And he says, “You’ve got to remember, 95 percent of businesses fail within the first five years and 98 percent fail within the first ten years.” And it’s mainly, in his words, because they don’t understand their optics.

And the optics are the equivalent of you got in a cockpit of a plane, you have to understand what button and what lever does what. Because if you don’t know that and you’re at 3,500 feet in the air and now you’re in charge of flying the plane and you don’t know which lever makes the plane go up, which one makes it go down, which one holds it steady, which one speeds it up, which one slows it down, which one turns it. If you don’t know those things, the likelihood that you’re gonna burn and crash and blow everyone up is very high.

And the same thing goes with your business. If you don’t understand the optics of what levers mean what in your business, meaning when you pull this one it turns right, when you push that one it goes down, when you pull this one it goes up. If you don’t understand those key performance indicators and levers, that’s the first part, you’re in real trouble. So we did not understand these. We did not know the direct correlation of what actions led to profit and which ones just led to revenue and which ones led to cost. Now those seem overly simplistic.

But if you’re a new entrepreneur, don’t fall into the trap we did where we made more money than we ever had made at that point, we thought we were killing it according to our P&L, but we didn’t understand the difference between profit and operating cash. This will kill a business.

John: Gross revenue, Fire Nation, is something that a lot of people focus on with their business. They see the money coming in the door. But then, just like Jairek was alluding to, it’s that revenue, it’s what’s left over after everything that you can say, heh, this was an actual success. This is really what’s gonna keep the lights on in our business. It’s gonna allow us to grow and keep moving forward. And so many entrepreneurs, Fire Nation, are focusing on the wrong thing.

And there’s actually a great book. We had a guest on pretty recently, Jairek, his name was Michael Michalowitz. He wrote a book called “Profit First”. And it’s really great for the starting entrepreneur to say, “Heh, how can I pay myself first? To make sure that I’m actually growing my bottom line, my dollar, my savings account so that I can actually give myself some money for extending that runway, having that rainy day?” So that’s critical for you, Fire Nation, to really realize that this is a big component of your business.

I loved all those words that you used, Jairek. And those are all things, Fire Nation, that you need to become intimately aware of; your KPI, your P&L. All of these things make so much difference in that bottom line. So what’s that one big lesson that you want to share with our listeners about really that trying time in your business?

Jairek: So the big factor was a couple things like you mentioned. 1.) Having at least six months set aside of your operating cash. And I do this personally and professionally. So personally adding up what’s your six months that you need set aside to pay your bills, cover your mortgage or rent or insurance, food, everything like that. Have that set aside.

Second, in your business, what six month of your operating cash that you need? Hard cash on hand set aside so that if something happens, like what we did where you think you’re growing like crazy, you find out you’re losing money every day, you have that set aside to keep your runway going.

The other factor there is really, really, really having a second set of eyes that understands business like Keith does for us; Keith Theningham. But understanding, having that second set of eyes, that they can look in and point out what you can’t see.

I couldn’t see the fact that we were drowning because the way that I was looking at it, and in my perception and understanding, we were killing it. And my ego was exploding, everything felt amazing, thought we were dominating what we were doing, everyone was so proud of us and cheering us on from the outside. Inside we were literally drowning without realizing it. And at that point, having that outside person who has a set of eyes, who knows optics, who can sit inside of your business with you and give you that feedback is invaluable.

John: Fire Nation, what more can you say about that? You just heard it from Jairek Robbins. These are the key components to growing a successful business. Not just a business that’s generating a ton of revenue, a successful business. And, Jairek, this is where I like to shift into another story. And this one’s gonna be where you consider one of your bigger aha moments you’ve had in life.

Now, of course, what we just talked about was a huge aha moment for you when you said, “Wow, I need to be focusing on these metrics. This is what’s gonna keep my business going.” That’s massive. But you’ve had a ton of these, Jairek. I’m sure you’ve had some today when you were talking with your coaching client right before we jumped on this call. What is an aha moment that you’ve had at some point in your journey that you can share with our listeners today?

Jairek: Great question. One of the biggest ones for me, and this is hard. I’m a young guy. My personality is if I have someone that I leveraged to or ask or someone that works with us and I say, “Heh, can you get this done?” If it’s not done at the speed I would want to do it or it’s not completed in the way I would want to have it done, because we’ve always been a pretty small and lean team over here, I have the personality that will pull it right back off your plate back onto mine and say, “Never mind, I’ll do it myself.”

And this is tough especially in the first so many years of business because in order to grow you have to have team members. You have to. You can’t do it all yourself. And this was one of the biggest lessons and aha moments I hit myself. Even in the very beginning, how we went from three to five clients enrolling a month to 52 clients and signing up 20 clients in a day was without realizing it, but when I look back all those years, it was me finding a partner to work with.

And I found a partner who had a great reach. We partnered together. We did a cool little event. And all of a sudden, I went from three to five clients a month enrolling to we’d sign up 20 clients in a day at an event. And then four months later we did it again, signed up 35 clients in a day. It was amazing. So my coaching practice grew astronomically through having a partner. But I didn’t realize how important that was at the time.

Fast forward so many years later, I was facing almost burnout where I was creating videos for online, editing them all afternoon on a Sunday, then coaching people all day throughout the week, then at nights doing marketing emails, creating them and putting that together. In the afternoons doing lunch meetings, trying to fly different places and speak to organizations while also building out programs and systems and structures and standard operating procedures for companies we were consulting with. And literally I was trying to do it myself.

And I would end up hiring someone, giving them some of it, immediately pulling it back onto my plate and going, “Never mind, I’ll do it,” and literally just burying myself to the point where nothing existed in my life except for this. And the big aha moment was learning how to really, really, really count on others. But in order to do that came the ability and the understanding of how do you create really, really, really amazing standard operating procedures? And how do you systematize everything you do in a way that’s easy and effortless to hand it to someone else?

The phrase that I was taught when I was first building was you need to be able to create these SOPs, or standard operating procedures, so that an averagely intelligent human being on their worst day couldn’t mess it up. And I hate to say it that way because it sounds a little blunt, but literally we did this, and this became the ability for us to grow.

Even now today our most recent project we’ve been working on was I’ve always done one on one coaching by myself for all these years; for seven years and for six years for the company before that. And all those years doing one on one coaching I’ve always felt like, heh, I had the magic. It was me that was delivering this coaching.

And I had to sit down probably a year and a half ago. And I had to sit down and say, “Listen, what are the tools we use? What are the conversations we have? How do we get through to these people? It’s got to be systemetizable. What’s the system here? What’s the structure?” And I said, “If I ever want to grow past what we’re doing here because we’ve kind of hit a plateau,” I said, “I have to be able to structure this and organize this in a way that another person could do it.”

And that’s a bit of an ego check as an entrepreneur because, I don’t know if anybody else listening is like me, but I had the belief that I was somewhat of the magic. It was my special talent that other people can’t do. And you see this in doctors and surgeons and dentists and all kinds of people out there. They want to believe they’re the magic sauce. The truth is if you are the magic, how can you duplicate yourself in some way that allows you to reach even more people with your magic? And so the big aha to be was I couldn’t do it on my own, I had to figure out how to systematize what it is we’re doing.

And over the last probably 13 months now our team and I have sat down and systematized how we actually coach people in performance. And knock on wood, we’ve put together all that package. And we’ve just brought a beta group through it. And now it’s our goal to actually be able to train more people in becoming that kind of coach so that we can reach even more people.

But that big aha was, heh, I can’t do it on my own, I need to find a way to take whatever magic I believe I have and systematize it in a way that can, on its own, the message, the magic becomes the tools, the magic becomes the message. And the message is more important than the messenger at that point. And allow that to continue and reach more people. And the reason it was a big aha is I’ve always imagined and dreamed of reaching millions of people around the world.

And the most frustrating moment has always come to the point where it’s like you hit the plateau and you realize you’re running at full cylinders, you’re pushing every ounce of energy and life you have out of yourself every day, you’re maximizing everything you could possibly maximize, and you’re still not even close to what that dream is. And the only way to get past it from where I’m at at this point seven years in is systems and structure.

John: Jairek, hearing you tell that week so intimately that you went through; shooting the videos on Sunday, editing, then going into pure coaching mode, and then writing emails in the evening, and then travelling and doing lunch meetings, it really got me a little bit sweating because, I will tell you, I felt myself slipping down that same slippery slope. Because, Fire Nation, you will realize as you start to get success in this world and as you start kind of making a name for yourself and get some momentum, you’re gonna start getting pulled in so many different directions.

And I’ve just felt that before. And I’ve been like, man, I just don’t know if I want to go that down that road because then where does it stop? And it is a conversation you have to have with yourself, Fire Nation. And I always go back to a Derek Sivers’ quote, “If it’s not a hell yes it’s a no.” And it’s really that simple sometimes. If you’re not really fired up about it, especially when you’re at the place that Jairek’s at, and you’re at the place that I’m getting to, you really have to start applying that. Because you have to make sure it’s an absolute heck yes otherwise it has to be a no because all you have is time.

Now, Jairek, you have so many things that are going on right now in your world. What’s just that one thing that has you most fired up today?

Jairek: Probably what I was sharing and alluding to in the last comment there was our performance coach university. It warms my heart. It puts a smile on my face and almost a tear in my eye to be able to take someone who has a big heart, who has a passion for helping someone else, and to equip them with everything I’ve done for 13, almost 14 years of my life, and to literally teach them how to do it, to get them to the competency and level of proficiency that they can do it, and then to watch them go out and positively impact another person’s life. There’s nothing that comes close to those moments.

I remember we recently had a letter come back from someone who was in the armed forces, in the Air Force, and she was having a real tough time with some post-traumatic stress disorder. She was having flashbacks. She wrote in her note to us multiple times where she was deployed, she had her firearm in her mouth and was considering pulling the trigger because she couldn’t remember why she was here and she couldn’t remember the purpose of why she was alive.

And she read the first chapter in our book which talks about designing your ideal day, of how you live everyday life in a simple way but a meaningful and purposeful way. And she read it and it helped her remind herself of why she’s really here. And to be able to give other people the opportunity to make that kind of difference in someone’s life when it matters most is what fires me up right now.

John: Wow, I can totally see why. And being somebody who’s served our country as eight years as an officer, Jairek, I’m gonna say thank you for what you’re doing for obviously service men and women. It’s a huge, huge struggle to get back from PTSD. And just sometimes that little sliver of light if you can grasp on to that, it makes all the difference in the world. And where can Fire Nation find out more about that?

Jairek: Performancecoachuniversity.com.

John: Performancecoachuniversity.com. Jairek, are you prepared for the lightning rounds?

Jairek: I’m prepared.

John: What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

Jairek: The fear of the unknowns. I remember at the point I was ready to pull the trigger and really go for it, I remember having a conversation with my grandpa on my mom’s side. And we have some Spanish and Mexican blood in us. He goes, “[Speaking Spanish], really you have insurance, you have a good job. Why would you leave that? What if you get hurt or something? You don’t know how big those hospital bills are gonna be.”

And I remember freaking out over the uncertainty of, wow, I could become so far in debt if I become hurt or something. And then I went and looked up how much insurance was. And at the time it was a couple hundred dollars a month for myself personally. And I thought about it and said, wow, my whole vision and dream was almost derailed over a couple hundred bucks a month because of the uncertainty of not knowing what would have happened on the other side. Yikes.

John: God, that is such great perspective because that holds so many people back. I’ve heard so many people say, “If I only lived in Canada I would try to be an entrepreneur because they have healthcare.” Is that gonna hold you back from your dreams, Fire Nation? A couple hundred bucks a month? No, Jairek, what would you say is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Jairek: You can’t help everybody. It’s actually from my dad. I remember talking to him. And I have a passion for people. And when there’s someone that crosses paths with me that needs help, whether it’s a homeless person or someone struggling mentally or emotionally, or someone trying to break through that piece that’s holding them back, there’s a part of me that wants to stay with them until we get them to the other side.

And I remember a few years ago I sat down with dad and I said, “Heh, if you can give your young self a piece of advice,” because he has the same passion that I do in that area. And he said that the best advice I could ever pay to my young self if I was out there was you can’t help everybody and you don’t have to. It’s not your job. But help the ones you can and do it to the best of your ability.

John: Jairek, what’s the personal habit that contributes to your success?

Jairek: Two of them. One of them people are pretty familiar with which is a morning routine; having a really, really, really solid morning routine to get myself mentally, emotionally, physically to the best of who I am every day before starting the day. And no one and nothing gets to enter my world until I’m at my best.

Now the reverse is we were just working with the PJs, the Para Jumpers at up the Hulburt Air Force Base. So they’re the elite forces. And for people out there who are elite, who have a morning routine, who know how to really kick butt at life, they have a morning routine, they know how to turn on and they know how to stay on mission or focused on their other goals. The challenge they face is how to turn off.

So just like having a morning routine, having the opposite, an evening routine that is at the end of your day when you are deciding to stop working, have a specific routine you go through that allows you to mentally, emotionally, spiritually if you go there, and physically tune out of your daily mission and tune into your family, your life, your emotions, who you really are, God, spirituality. But how to wind out of your day so you become present back to the people that matter to you most.

John: I love that because the morning routine gets so much hype. And rightfully so because it’s really important.

Jairek: It’s important.

John: But we can’t forget about that wind down, that nightly routine, that nightly recap of our day. So you really want those bookends, Fire Nation.

Jairek: Yeah, and the key there is don’t become an empty shell. There’s a lot of people that come home after very intense days and their head is still in the emails, at work, with that conversation, with that deal, with whatever. And they become an empty shell for the ones they love where they’re physically there but inside they’re gone. And so you’ve got to learn how to be present.

John: Can you share an Internet resource like an Evernote with Fire Nation?

Jairek: As of right now they’ve probably heard of it a dozen times. But Assona is one of our favorites; the ability to manage a virtual team from a desktop and have everyone, all the projects being organized, due dates, everything moving simultaneously in multiple directions and having one platform that can manage and organize and structure all of it, it’s definitely one of the backbones of our whole team over here.

John: If you could recommend just one book, Jairek, for our listeners, what would that one book be and why?

Jairek: “Live it! Achieve Success by Living with Purpose.” A book that really affected me, “The Amazing Development of Men” by Alison Armstrong. If you’re a young guy out there, even an older man, or you’re in a relationship with a man and you want to understand his world and why he does what he does, this book literally walks you through every developmental stage a man goes through, what he’s capable of, why he’s focused on what he is focused on, and how to maximize them. Also what he’s not ready for and why at certain levels he can’t commit and follow through.

John: So Fire Nation, “Live it!” and “The Amazing Development of Men”; two must reads. Now Jairek, let’s end it today on Fire with you giving us a parting piece of guidance, the best way that we can connect with you and then we’ll say goodbye.

Jairek: Awesome. Well, my core message, everything we stand for here is the threefold message; it’s learn it, live it, give it. Go out there, decide what you want in life and learn it. Learn what it takes to make that happen. Study, organize, get the tools, equip yourself. And once you do that live it fully. Apply everything you’ve learned to the extent that you turn that vision and dream into reality.

And then the final piece is probably one of the most important is give it. Once you’ve figured out what works for you pay it forward. Not necessarily as the way or the formula but as a formula or a way that other people can observe and see if it works for them. So learn it, live it, give it. Best way to get in contact with me, probably through our website; jairekrobbins.com. There’s a contact page that comes straight to us, we filter all of them, and it has all kinds of great free gifts and all kinds of awesome stuff on there.

John: Fire Nation, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You’ve been hanging out with JR and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com. Just type Jairek in the search bar. His [inaudible] [00:30:07] page will pop up with everything that we’ve been talking about today; his book, his research recommendation, everything, the website, you name it. We talked about it, it’s gonna be there. And, of course, head over to jairekrobbins.com for all of your information.

And, Jairek, I want to thank you, brother, for sharing your journey with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we’ll catch you on the flip side.