Become Instantly Happy & Make Millions - With Jesse Elder

Starting from Nothing – The Foundation Podcast Guest Name Interview – Jesse Elder Introduction: Welcome to Starting from Nothing – The Foundation Podcast, the place where incredible entrepreneur show you how they built their businesses entirely from scratch before they knew what the heck they were doing. Dane: Would you like to be instantly happy? Then listen to this interview that I just did with Jesse Elder where we share just basically – It’s a happiness pill in an interview. You’re going to hear how he lives in a complete state of joy almost all the time and we even – At the end of the interview, I asked him to give me a tour around his multimillion dollar home and he even plays a song for us on the piano. In addition to that you’re also going to hear how he starts companies and does all that stuff too. Enjoy! Welcome everyone to another edition of Starting from Nothing, our Monday episode where we bring on the superstars of the world. Today is definitely the brightest of star, maybe even brighter than Venus in space at night. His name is Jesse Elder. Jesse, what’s up? Jesse: Dane, how are you man? Dane: Good. Where you at in the world? Jesse: Austin-tacious. Austin-tacious. And for those who of us, layman term, what does that mean? Jesse: Austin, man. Austin, Texas. Dane: Austin, Texas. Well I have got a bio for Jesse that’s like only two lines. So it will be pretty quick, I’m going to read it. It goes something like this. Jesse’s known as the action philosopher whose traditional education consists of a driver’s ed. Huh? What’s that mean? Jesse: It’s just what it says, brother. I can show you the proof. That yes, I actually did pass my driver’s license. Dane: So wait, did you graduate from high school? Jesse: No, I never went to high school. I didn’t’t go to school at all, period. Dane: Okay, we have to ask about that in just a moment. That’s what that means. Jesse went from saving money for bus rides to building a 3.2 million dollar business which he then sold to make room for his current role as a teacher of spiritual growth strategies for entrepreneurs who don’t have the patience to live in a monastery. That sounds like me! Jesse: I think this is going to be an amazing interview. Dane: So why no high school? Jesse: Pretty simply put, I was one of those homeschooled kids. My dad was actually a career school teacher. I guess, from his experience in the classroom, he said, “I don’t want my kids to go through that” So, he and my mom chose to home school us. I’m the oldest of five. My education basically was self-directed. Once chores we’re done in the morning there was really no agenda other than following whatever it was that interested you. My dad would lay out these stacks of books on the table, and he would lay them out and he would say, “Jesse, you read whatever you want,” and he’d walk away. I just remember being 5, 6 years old and just feeling this incredible freedom like I can just study, read whatever I want. It wasn’t until 30 years later that I’ve started paying attention to behavioral psychology and childhood development. I realize what just champion move that was on my dad’s part to be the one in charge of all the selections and then leave the actual choice up to me. That really set the tone for my education. To this day, I have little tolerance for things that don’t interest me. Dane: Wow! What were some of the books that you picked up, do you remember? Jesse: I will never forget. Matter of fact, I lovingly confronted my dad on this and said, “Dad, I realized you were giving me free reign here. But I was six years old and The Iliad and the Odyssey?” Greek mythology was big. I just remember just loving that and feeling the rush that came with all those stories. I think, in a way, that it speaks to a lot of us that’s why we’re all on this journey especially this particular – this talk that you and I are having and people that are listening to this. Somewhere along the way we decided that we don’t exactly fit in to the mold that’s been poured for us. I definitely remember a lot of those early stories being foundational in my own growth as an entrepreneur. Dane: You said they’ve been what in your … Jesse: Foundational. Dane: Did you say what? Jesse, how old are you? Jesse: Forty-one. Dane: Forty-one. I was going to say when I was in First Grade shooting spit wads at my teacher, and getting in trouble, and getting pulled out to be homeschooled, you were probably reading The Iliad and the Odyssey. But you are much older than you look. Jesse: I might have been re-reading it. Dane: The impact that this had on you sounds silly to say but just profound. Jesse: It was. With every year that passes, I appreciate those foundational experiences even more. I do believe that it’s never too late to adjust your course ever. It’s never too late to reset your focus, re-establish your priorities and start to move in different direction. I’m extremely just blessed, man. I feel relentlessly blessed by God, by the universe, to whatever decision my parents made. I can certainly trace back to a lot of stuffs that happened since then. Dane: I feel like I want to give your dad a hug. Jesse: Well, he would receive it begrudgingly. He’s not a very affectionate guy, but we’ve broken him in over the years. Dane: So, what’s your view of the world? What is it like to view the world from Jesse’s lens? What are some of your core beliefs? Jesse: That’s a really good question. The first thing that comes up for me is a playground, like the world’s a playground. Probably in my more faster moving moments, launching a new product or sharing something from a stage. When things are really flowing, the experience that I frequently get to have is that life is like a bonus level in the best video game you’ve ever played, and you’ve already beat the freaking game now you’re playing the bonus level. That’s something that I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in learning how to architect. It’s a huge part of my work now is how to access that flow. Dane: How do you access that flow? Jesse: Much less about the engine and it’s much more about the aerodynamics. Dane: What does that mean? Jesse: It’s not about being more powerful. You don’t have to force power. You are power. It’s about the … no longer being willing to deny that power, no longer negating the flow of that power. It’s just thinking in terms of electricity. You don’t need to force the electricity into the light bulb. It’s going to go there anyway. Electricity will find its flow. To turn the light off you don’t turn off all the electricity, you simply introduce a switch which restricts the flow to the bulb. Human beings are no different. We are bulbs. We are lights that have the ability to shine. And we also have freewill which means that we can choose to focus ourselves into a negative state. The way that this shows up emotionally is negative emotions. Emotions that feel bad consistently, not situationally appropriate emotions like grief. If somebody close to you dies, that’s healthy and normal. But to linger in a place of stagnation or frustration, to linger in a place of depression or despair, to linger in a feeling of overwhelm or fear. We have the choice to do that. But the reason it feels bad is because it’s so add-ons with our actual nature. Our actual nature is to shine brightly into – to apply our freewill to focus on the things that we’ve decided are important to us. Dane: I feel like I’m getting lost in your eyes right now. I’m falling in love with you. Jesse: Well, stranger things have happened, Dane. Dane: That’s not strange to me. One thing we learned about your belief system is you think it’s strange when a man says he loves you. Jesse: No, I said stranger things have happened. Dane: You did. You caught me. You caught me. How do you access this aerodynamic flow? One thing you mentioned was that accessing what’s already there. Jesse: Yeah, Again, thinking in terms of just physics and something that we can all relate to in some way. A fire that’s burning starts with a spark, and then a flame, and then that flame grows in perfect proportion to the availability of fuel and oxygen. Our emotion, our well-being emotionally is very much the same way. Biochemically, it’s almost exactly the same to have a spark of inspiration, to have a spark of some positive emotion. And then by maintaining a consistent focus on that which we appreciate, there’s actually no limit to the expansion of that feeling. You can go in a 15-minute period of time maximum, usually much quicker, anybody can go from feeling distracted, frustrated, frazzled to feeling absolute radiant appreciation, and I’ll go as far as saying pure joy and bliss. All of those feelings are inside of us. They don’t come from outside. They don’t happen to us. We don’t get hijacked by emotions although it might feel that way sometime. To be in this place literally is simply a matter of second by second focusing on things or people or situations that we can appreciate. As corny as it sounds, it’s a universal truth that what you appreciate appreciates, what you give positive attention to actually increases in value. Dane: One thing you have written here is you having a consistent ability to create space for emotional and mental clarity. What is this consistent ability that you speak of? Jesse: Mostly it’s a … Dane: Hold on a second. Basically the past answer when I said how do you access that state of flow, you said you basically just appreciate stuff? Jesse: Actively. Dane: Actively appreciating stuff. Jesse: Actively. Dane: What if I don’t want to? Jesse: You don’t have to. Dane: Okay, I’m not going to. Jesse: You’re free not to. You can’t make me appreciate anything Dane: What if I want to while I don’t want to? What if it’s hard for me to appreciate things? Jesse: Those are three different things. Dane: Solve my problems, Jesse. Jesse: Well, here we are. Wanting to and then not wanting to, that cannot happen simultaneously. It can happen back and forth very rapidly so much so that it feels like the same thing. We can only focus in a very finite area at a time. We may say, for example, somebody would say, “I really want to make more money,” and in that moment it’s a pure desire immediately followed by the momentum of old thinking which says, “Yeah, but it’s going to be hard” or “I don’t have the time” or “I don’t know how.” What ends up happening is they oscillate back and forth between wanted and unwanted. That’s spiritually and mentally exhausting, and that’s why comfort zones are so powerful it’s just known. To get from a place of being distracted, or even stronger emotions, from a place of being fearful or overwhelmed, even in the middle of that feeling there’s a choice about what to give our attention to. What do we look at, what do we listen to, how do we move our body, how do we breathe. Each of these are micro choices that we can shift. Within a very short period of time, if we have – It does require a little bit of determination. It requires a willingness to not just do what you’ve done before which is let’s say, “I’m overwhelmed. I’m just going to go drink a sixpack and watch some TV show.” No judgment against six packs or TV shows but those are designed to sedate you, not to inspire you, not to educate you. It’s a willingness to continually stay in that zone of active appreciation and you can do it right now. I mean if I’m sitting here, and let’s say that I’m feeling distracted, overwhelmed and I just go, “Wait, time out. I’m going to apply this philosophy of active appreciation.” Dane: Here, let me pause you. Would you want to just do it on me for a second? Jesse: Yeah. Dane: Okay. I legitimately am having a response of anger in the lower part of my stomach about appreciation. As I start to appreciate it, I actually feel a heat rising up to my body, and I was feeling sweat come through on my forehead. Is this common? Jesse: I’d say it’s not uncommon and it’s a unique experience. Dane: Just wondering how weird I am right now. Jesse: Hopefully you’re very weird, man. I was counting on that coming into this conversation. Dane: Help me appreciate when it feels so difficult. Jesse: Well, if you think about any emotion as simply energy moving through our body, and it’s – some feels good, some doesn’t feel good, but there’s no right or wrong to any of it. Just acknowledging emotion and even appreciating the intent of the emotion if – I mean I’m thinking what you just shared and remembering times that I’ve had that feeling, that tightness or that heat, and you get a response in your face or in your skin. That’s just energy moving through our body so that we can then do something with it. The word appreciation is a weird one for a lot of people. I had a really hard time with it when I first started studying this because I thought, “Yeah, but I want to deal with the reality. I want to deal with what’s actually going on” or “this may help me but it’s not going to help that guy over there.” There’s millions of ways that we can diffuse and scatter our focus. But if the intent is to feel better, that’s it. Not to get to [unclear 00:15:15], just to feel better. Then a couple of deep breaths and just chilling out, and going backwards in time, maybe to the beginning of the day or the beginning of the week, and just giving yourself just a space to start to count your wins. Whatever win looks like for you personally. Maybe it looks like something big, maybe it looks like something simple … Dane: I got to cuddle with my cute dog. Jesse: That’s a win. Dane: Awesome! I so appreciate that moment. It feels amazing. Jesse: Let’s go deeper in that then. If you think about that feeling and how it felt to cuddle with your dog, what’s the next thing that you think of? If you wanted to feel more appreciation, if you wanted to extend that appreciation, what’s the next thing that you think of? What do you appreciate about that? Dane: Well, the next thing I think of is doing jumping jacks all over the world and throwing footballs over mountains. Jesse: Cool. How would that feel? Dane: It’s pretty hilarious. Jesse: Yeah. Then what would happen as a result of that or what could you appreciate on the heels of that thought? Dane: I would feel happy. Jesse: Yeah. If you play this game for not longer than 2 to 3 minutes and just continue, what ends up happening is our capacity for appreciation actually expands. Appreciation … Dane: As it’s appreciating, Jesse, like there’s still that defensive anger in my stomach that I’m present to. The voice is like, “It’s not time to appreciate, it’s time to get shit done.” I think that makes me sad because I’m not always – I hope I’m not always like that. I feel like usually appreciate stuff. But in this present moment it’s like, “No. Don’t you dare appreciate anything.” It feels like it’s almost my mom saying it to me or something. Jesse: Interesting. I think you touched on something really important that all of this is subject to individual choice and individual timing. There is no way that I, or anybody else on this planet, can presume to say what’s right for you or for anybody else on the planet. It’s like if you’re going to go and do a workout and you hire a personal trainer, and the trainer starts giving you things that are increasingly difficult, well, if you’ve committed to the workout and if you trust the trainer then you understand that there are going to be periods of self-selected discomfort – things that you signed up for. And a good trainer will say, “Cool! Glad you’re hurting. You’re doing it right. Now, quit crying and get back on the bench” or whatever the exercise would be. But those are very rare relationships. It really takes a tremendous amount of trust on both sides to have that level of relationship. For that reason, I’m extremely wary of any healers, or teachers, or coaches, or “gurus” that will come out of nowhere and say, “I have the solution for you right now” because, you know what, you don’t. You get to feel what you feel, and you get to own your feelings, and nobody can ever tell you what you should or shouldn’t feel. Back to this example that you’re sharing of having this energy in your stomach and feeling this resistance, or anger, or whatever word you might use. I totally, as your friend, I would say go for it, man. Like feel it to its fullest extent. It’s there for a reason. When you’re done, look back and say, “Okay, what do I want now?” Dane: Sure. I love going into the first part of the day, just picturing cuddling with my cute dog. Jesse: Cool. Dane: With that, I’d like a transition. I hope people got use out of that little brief stint there. I want to hear you talk about … So first like it’s recapping. The way you create this flow is to be in a constant state of active appreciation. Jesse: I would say that active appreciation stimulates the flow but it’s not an always on type thing. Dane: Active appreciation stimulates the flow. How about Suja? Does that help with the flow? Jesse: Suja helps me tremendously. I love this stuff. Dane: Do you want me to one up you? Check this out. I’ve got a hot hippie who brings these freshly pressed juices. Jesse: That is awesome. Upgrades happen. My capacity just got expanded by Dane Maxwell. Dane: Well, it is the weird City of San Diego. I’m drinking green juice, Jesse’s drinking green juice. You want to be part of the cool kids? You can drink green juice. While you’re drinking green juice, sit back and listen to Jesse talk about how he develops his consistent ability to create space for emotional and mental clarity. Jesse: The next step, if we take active appreciation as a prerequisite or as an ingredient, let’s say. The other part to consistently create that space is –I believe the greatest freedom on the planet – I’d never found a freedom that feels righter than this. The greatest freedom in life is allowing other people to have their own experience. So the need to adjust someone else’s behavior is an entirely selfish need because ultimately, any desire to change someone else’s behavior is ultimately to change the way that we are feeling about their behavior. Dane: Some next level stuff. Jesse: Well, we didn’t sign up for the cheap seats today. Dane: The greatest freedom in life is to allow others to have their own experience. Jesse: Yeah. Dane: Can you tell me of an example when this was hard for you and what was happening? Jesse: Early on, physically in martial arts, when you would … Dane: Yeah, your 3.2 million dollar business. What was that business? Jesse: We had a chain of martial arts schools and a consulting company where we showed other school owners how to replicate what we we’re doing. Dane: So you had successful schools and also a coaching/information business teaching other schools to be successful? Jesse: Absolutely. Dane: Which one did you like better, if there was? Jesse: Coaching without question. Coaching was the theme that ran through out every aspect of my role in the business. Whether I was starting out teaching classes, to then training instructors how to teach, to then working with them on how to market and sell, to transition, take all those strategies, those strategic by-products and then start to share them with friends of mine who are entrepreneurs. Coaching and just sharing has been a consistent theme. So that’s a long answer to an easy question. What was my favorite part? Sharing. Dane: You’re eyes are very bright when you say that. Jesse: It’s why I’m here, man. It’s the entire reason I came to this planet. I didn’t mean to sound like [Jorelle 00:22:49] when I said that. That is why I was born, without question, is to be an amplifier of abundance. Your question about the freedom and how to – I first experience that when I was training martial arts, when I would get in the ring and compete with somebody, and it was really a weird experience because I knew that they we’re trying to hurt me or trying to win. I was trying to win and both of us couldn’t get what we wanted at the exact same time. In other words, we both couldn’t win the match. I lost a lot of matches in the beginning because I was really watching out for my opponent’s well-being. I wouldn’t be as aggressive, I wouldn’t hit as hard, or I wouldn’t – I just wouldn’t go in to dominate the fight. I went in just to have a good time and “Oh, they won. Okay, cool.” And then I realize that I was actually doing an incredible disservice to that person and I was actually being incredibly disrespectful to them. What tipped me over that was really understanding competition, what competition actually means. It doesn’t mean what we’ve made it to mean in the Western culture, in modern life where it means to go and beat the other person. It’s become that as kind of this bastardized version of legal warfare and that’s kind of what competition has become. But that’s not the original word means. The original word means to conspire with. It means that if I step in the ring with you, and you step in the ring with me, then we’re both going in there not just to win the trophy or win the medal, we’re going in to expand ourselves. The only way that that’s possible is … The only way I’m going to expand is if you bring 100% of everything that you are into the ring mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. You need to bring everything in because that’s the only way that I’m really going to grow. That’s when I realized I was disrespecting my opponents by not bringing a 100% of who I was. Not bringing 100% of what I was into the ring. Everything changed for me then and I began to win consistently. I began to change the games that I was competing in. I went from point taekwondo, to full contact, to jiu-jitsu, to this crazy no holds barred fights in the bar on Thursday nights. Every time it was just more and more intense, and the stakes kept getting higher and higher. Through it all I recognized that real freedom came from just letting my opponent experience whatever he was going to experience, knowing that he signed up for that consciously. Knowing that he stepped in the ring with a full understanding of what consequences could be. From that day on I never had any guilt, I never felt bad about winning, knowing that I was accepting the consequences of the same. It really helped me to understand that freedom from an experiential level, that they are free to have their own experience. As life continue to unfold, I began to realize that every single one of us has that freedom. We can grant that freedom to other people, we can allow other people to truly have their own experience. If we couple that concept, that greatest freedom concept, and we dovetail that with another concept which is the greatest gift. If the greatest freedom is allowing other people to have their own experience, the greatest gift that we can ever give is the gift of our own happiness and wellbeing. I began to look at the connection between those and I began to look at – quite frankly, I began to look at where my business was growing the fastest. My business grew the fastest when I was in the sweet spot and had a harmony between those two things. Number one, totally granting freedom for people to have their own experience, and number two, the greatest gift is the gift of our own happiness. I gave away my own happiness frequently in the early days because I wanted other people to have a better experience. I would have instructors that would come to me and they were behind in their goals. I would go in there and I would do the work with them even though I was sacrificing my own well-being because I had other things to do. But I wanted them to feel better so I would go in and help them. Ultimately I realized that that was a recipe for disaster because everything fell apart. When I began to grant them the freedom to have their own experience with a clear understanding that “This is the goal, this is the game, this is what we are doing, this is we’re training, now go on and apply it. I believe in you. You can do it.” When they would not apply it or they would not do it I would say, “Well, here are the natural effects of the happening. The natural effects in some cases might be that you’ve got three days to earn your job back because right now you’re fired. If this is what you really want to do, prove it. I don’t want to hear you talk about it. I think you’re better than that. I don’t want to hear a small story, I want to see big result that I know you’re capable of.” Man, even just know talking about it, the energy seems so harsh and yet that was what was responsible for the most incredible growth in this staff member, in this employee, or this team member when they were totally free to experience the consequences of their own choices. Dane: How did you get them to be free to experience the consequence of their own choice and remain attached? Jesse: Very simply. We had a very simple bonus system and very simple goal system. This is how many appointments must be set over a two-day period. It was binary. Either you hit the goal or you didn’t. If you hit the goal, then cool, you can continue to train, continue to work with us. If you don’t hit the goal then here’s what will happen, you’ll have a warning. If it happens again, then you’ll be suspended. If it happens again then this just isn’t the right job for you. Then they were then free to make choices to either do the actions [unclear 00:29:13] to hit the goal or not. I was completely willing to allow them to experience the consequence of their choices. Dane: I have a hard time understanding this. Can you say that again in a different way? Jesse: Yeah. If at that time if somebody is working with us, the goal is ten appointments, and we’re going to meet again on Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock and bring your appointment book. A win looks like ten or more appointments. If you don’t hit ten then that’s a loss. Here’s the training, and let’s role play it, and you’ve winged somebody, you’ve gone out with somebody. So you know how to do it. Now it’s a question of applying it. Everybody understand? Yes. Cool. Then they would come back on Wednesday and frequently would not have their ten. I have a choice then in that position, as a leader, or as a coach, or both, to either move the finish line for them to give them extra time, or to allow them to experience the natural consequence of their choice to not recruit, not set appointments and etc. The natural consequence of that, as promised, is that we are going to make a mark here, we’re going to give you a warning. If you fail to hit the number again, then it looks like suspension. They would sign off on it and say, “Got it. I understand.” It was very unforgiving environment but it produced excellence without question. I’m not sure if that shaped a little … Dane: It does. It shaped it incredibly clearly. You said the greatest gift we can give is our own sadness and misery. That’s what you said, correct? Jesse: That’s an interesting translation. Dane: If the greatest gift we can give is our own happiness and well-being, how do you live in that? Jesse: It’s a lot easier to live in that than it is to labor under the idea that it’s not our natural state. If we think happiness and well-being as some place we have to get to, or we think it’s some place we have to go, or something we have to create, then that belief system will yield very predictable results. Dane: Have you heard of Daniel Schmachtenberger? Jesse: No, I have not. Dane: He’s probably one of the smarter guys I know. You would really like him. He talks about how scarcity, unhappiness, jealousy, and greed are all societally conditioned. And they would not exist, at all, if people were raised differently. Jesse: Cool. Dane: Our natural state is, in your opinion, happiness. Jesse: I believe it is, yes. I’m not saying that – for whoever is listening to this – that that should be their paradigm or that’s what they need to do. I would never do that for anybody. But I found it to be an incredibly, incredibly useful perspective, and that kind of dovetails with another philosophy which is that it’s much less important to know what the truth is, it’s much more important to know what is valuable for you. Dane: Well, I feel – So, this podcast is called Starting from Nothing, and so I would like to talk about how you started your businesses from nothing at some point. Right now, I want to focus on this confusion. A mild amount of confusion I feel when you say happiness is our natural state. I feel confused. Jesse: Okay. So, if we think about – I want to acknowledge the fact that you say that because I would – How do I put it? I expect that from you. I expect that level of realness from you. You’ve actually conditioned me to expect that from you. I want to acknowledge that, and I freaking love that. If we think about happiness as some place we have to get to, then that automatically assumes that happiness is conditional. If we can hold another concept, neither one being right or wrong, true or false, we’re just kind of bringing this out on the philosophical table and trying them on. One philosophy says happiness is out there. Meaning, it’s over there, something has to happen first, and then we’ll be happy. That’s one idea. Another idea says happiness is inside of us, and when we do feel it then it’s – Where we’re feeling is inside. I would take that philosophy to another degree and say that the reason why happiness feels so good – and we can interchange different words: joy, wellbeing, feeling light, feeling loved, feeling good. The reason those feelings feel so good is because it’s the closest to who and what we actually are. The reason why negative feelings, let’s say fear or overwhelmed or frustration. The reason those feels so bad is because we’ve actually focused ourselves away from our core and it’s the tension between our focused perception and our actual nature. That’s a big stretch. Our higher self, our soul, is not going to go with us and say, “You know what, you’re right. Just this one time life is terrible.” The core of who we are is happiness. The core of who we are is well-being. Whether that’s true or not true is almost irrelevant. Is it useful? Is it useful to believe that happiness and well-being are our natural states and that anything that we focus on, that causes us to not feel that, is actually hiding our light. Personally, I found that that to be incredibly valuable to focus into and to lean into a state of natural well-being, a state of grace, a state of pure powerful and positive energy to the displacement, to the absolute strategic ignorance of anything that’s not that. As I’ve continually lived my life in this way, I’ve found that all the reasons for feeling bad have continually diminished, and in most cases completely dissipated. On those experiences where there is contrast, on these experiences where there is pain, where there’s a little like, “Oh, that’s not what I want,” there’s actually blessing in that too. Because every time we get what we don’t want, what it does is actually cause to know what we do want much more clearly. From that perspective, there really are no – there’s nothing but blessings. Dane: Is there something in your life that you have or you don’t have right now that you want? Jesse: Oh, tons. Dane: What’s the most charged example? Jesse: Girlfriend, partner, queen, twin flame. Dane: How are you staying in a state of appreciation and the greatest gifts of your happiness and well-being while not having what it is that you want. There are many people on this podcast, I imagine, who are in similar situations, whether it’s a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a job. How are you personally handling that? Jesse: First of all, Dane, I just want to say I thought we were going to ask deep questions. When are we going to stop with the superficial stuff? I totally appreciate the question, and the same way that everything else comes about. My being in a place right now, in my life, where I’m – I would say preparing or where I’m opening to that space of receiving a partner in my life. The presence of a partner is not a requirement from my happiness or well-being. For those people that woke up with Christmas in their household, you went to sleep Christmas Eve with a sense of eager anticipation because when you woke up the next day you knew something awesome is going to be there. You’re not quite sure what it was, but you knew that it was going to be awesome. That sense of desire is actually life giving, it’s an uplifting, energizing feeling of desire because there’s a knowingness to it. Contrast that with if you’ve ever had your hopes dashed, if you’ve ever expected something wonderful to happen and it didn’t, you may have gone into a similar situation feeling a sense of hesitancy and fear. In terms of being happy with what is, dude, if I sit still for two minutes and start making a list of all the things in my life and the people in my life, and the just … Dane: The people like me? Jesse: Mostly Dane Maxwell whose creativity is matched only by his humility. This feeling of being completely thrilled and happy with what already is … Dane: Because you know me. Jesse: Because I do know you. That feeling of being thrilled and happy with what is while simultaneously knowing that the better it gets the better it can get is that is, in my experience, it’s an absolute sweet spot of conscious creation. If not needing something to happen in order for you to have the good feeling nor is it just being so content with what is that you’re not even thinking about what’s next. If we have it as a Venn diagram they really overlap and there’s that sweet spot right in the middle between – including being so happy with what’s going on that you can’t even speak English like I’m just stuttering now. You’re so thrilled with what is while simultaneously knowing that something’s so freaking awesome is on its way that is going to force you to upgrade your own capacity for joy. That’s a cool place to be and it’s absolutely learnable. Dane: Do you ever have doubts that it’s not on its way? Jesse: Never. Not anymore. I used to quite a bit. I went through some dark times man. Dane: How recent? Jesse: How recent were those dark times? Dane: Yeah. Jesse: Probably four years ago, three and a half, four years ago. Dane: You seem to be having a consistent ability to create space for emotional and mental clarity. Jesse: That’s [bio 00:41:21] promises. Dane: I notice that you have flowers here off on the right, on your … Jesse: Yeah Dane: Are those fresh flowers? Jesse: They are, man, super fresh. Dane: Who put those there? Jesse: This hand did that. Dane: Your hand. You go and you buy flowers. Jesse: I do. Dane: What else do you do that’s like that? Jesse: That’s like what? Buying things or flowery things? Dane: That’s like buying things that incorporate intentional beauty into your life. Jesse: I love that. Dude, music is a huge part of my life. I won’t go, if I can. I won’t go a day without playing piano. That’s just like … Dane: Do you have a laptop right now? Jesse: Yeah. Dane: Do you mind giving a small little tour of your space maybe towards the end of this, maybe we could leave with a little song. Jesse: I’d be happy to. Dane: Yeah, I’d love to give an essence for how you’re living. So you got active appreciation stimulates flow, you’ve got the greatest freedom in your life is to allow others to give them their expression. Oh, what a nice statement that would be to be reminded of daily so that the next time that someone is like, you’re just like … I imagine myself getting caught for a second and then being like, “Oh, wait.” Boom! “Oh yeah, just let them.” Jesse: Oh man, I just got chills when you said that and you did that little role play there because that’s exactly – that’s my experience of it. When I will feel somebody kind of just spinning off in whatever direction they are choosing and creating, and I’ll feel myself going with them because I want them to change the way they’re feeling. I genuinely don’t want them to feel sad or angry, and I’ll go with them. Partly this comes from – It’s like so many other things in life that just comes from practice. What you just demonstrated there that, you know, feeling of starting to go with them and then just going, “Wait a minute.” Just that pause. Just that part to say, “You know what? I am …” and you can say this to yourself. “I am going to allow them to have their own experience.” That sounds like a weird thing. Like, who am I to allow them to have their own experience? Just think about how easy it is not to. How easy it is to say something, to get them to change the way they’re feeling, to change their behavior; when most of that, if not all of it, is just to make our self feel better. I’m not suggesting that we have to be around behavior that’s abrasive or abusive, certainly not. I was married for 11 years and my stepdaughter, when she was very, very young, she would be crying and having temper tantrums, and I would just tell her, I’d say, “Paige, I love you and nothing’s ever going to change that. I think you really like being happy. I think you like being happy better than you like being sad. And it’s okay that you are going to be sad and it’s okay to cry. What I’m going to do is I’m going to sit here, thinking about happy Paige because I like being around happy Paige more. You can go and do whatever you need to do for as long as you need to do it and I’m going to be here.” There was not a reinforcement of the, “Why are you crying? It’s okay to cry.” No, it’s totally okay to cry. “And if you’re going to cry that loud the best place to do that is in your room.” She would go have her experience, and she would come back, and it was over, and we didn’t have to talk about it. Dane: Why do you say joy is insanely underrated as a fundamental prerequisite for starting out? Jesse: Because so much of a start out with very much a rebel mentality Dane: Rebel? Jesse: Rebel, yeah. Dane: Not Red Bull? Jesse: Red Bull, that’s later. That’s at 2AM after you’re tired. Yes, so there’s two kinds of fighters: there’s a warrior and there’s a rebel. The rebel is someone who is fighting against something and the warrior is someone who is fighting for something. It’s a very subtle but very powerful energy shift. The rebel is trying to end things the way they are, the warrior is trying to fight for something that is unexpanded. This experience of joy – Joy can be a savage feeling, joy can be intense, joy can also be peaceful and harmonious. The reason why I frequently share that and say that, that joy is severely underrated, is because a lot of us entrepreneurs, especially when we’re starting, we feel that joy is the finish line and that we will only allow our self to feel joy when we fill in the blank, when we reach the goal, the quota, the production, whatever it is. When in fact, we can create from a place of joy, we can work from a place of joy, we can engage with other people from a place of joy. And action that we take in joy is infinitely more powerful than action that we take outside of that. Dane: How do you do that? I want to know. Jesse: Good. Beginning with active appreciation. This is a simple, simple tactic, anybody can do, and it’s one of the rituals that I do on a consistent basis. Wake up in the morning. Before you even open your eyes just say the word “Yes!” Sounds corny but you just do it. Your eyes are closed and you just say “Yes!” Dane: Yes! Jesse: Yes! Dane: Yes! Jesse: It’s especially cool if there’s somebody sleeping next to you. Maybe they are waking up to that and set … All sorts of things can happen. The idea is by just priming yourself – just saying the word. Even if you don’t feel like, whatever just say. It’s three syllables, let them out. What happens is your brain catches that and it’s like all of a sudden you take that exit ramp mentally and emotionally and it totally sets the tone for your morning. And then you reach over to your phone and type into you notes, or grab a journal and write it down, and just write down this phrase, “Today I will look for that which pleases me.” Simple phrase. “Today, I will look for that which pleases me. No matter where I am, no matter what I am doing, no matter who I am doing it with, I shall look for that which pleases me.” Depending on where somebody is at, depending on their level of openmindedness and willingness to give it a shot, it can take sometimes two days, sometimes a week, but never more than a week of doing those two steps. Before your eyes open, you do the triple yes. After your eyes are open, grab your notes, you write down that phrase. “Today, I will look for that which pleases me. No matter what I’m doing, no matter where I am, what I am doing, or who I am doing it with, I will look for that which pleases me.” Write that down. Sometimes it helps to keep it with you but, dude, it’s a super fast pivot. Once you start making that a conscious part of your focus, and then when you feel yourself getting pulled in directions that’s not looking for that which pleases you, you’ll notice it, you’ll catch it. Now, you may get a lot of energy from that. You may get a lot of energy from fighting against injustice and that’s cool. If that gives you energy and brings you joy, freaking do it. But frequently it’s not and frequently people … I had a mentor years ago and I would be working, working, working. He would come up to me. We’re doing like marketing for the martial arts schools, I’m passing out flyers or I’m writing thank you cards, and I just had this furrowed brow and he would just lean in and say, “Mr. Elder, are you feeling okay?” and I would say, “Yes, sir. I am doing good.” He would go, “Make sure you tell your face.” It’s so simple. I was like, “Oh yeah, I am feeling good.” But I got so locked into not feeling good for whatever reason that I just stopped letting it flow, and just like you pinch yourself off, you completely constrict that natural flow of energy. Man, to this day – I mean I recorded hundreds of videos at this time: the Mind Vitamin video series, just a ton of stuff on Facebook. To this day, I will not record any video unless I’m in that state. Those videos that actually proven to be a fantastic tool for me personally because I will only shoot one when I’m in that state and I know that I want to get a video out there and it’s like, “Oh yeah. Oh, I forgot how awesome things are.” Boom! Grab the phone, do a video, and people are like, “Oh my God, that helps so much.” I’m like, “You have no idea you can help me too.” We just are such champions for our suffering and it’s so easy to have a lot of company. Anybody who tells you, you have to suffer your way to success, that’s because they’re suffering and they’re lonely and they want your company. Dane: Yes, you do not have to suffer your way to success. Jesse: You cannot punish yourself into prosperity. Dane: Just letting that sit for a minute. What do you mean? Jesse: Well, there is no such thing as a happy end to an unhappy journey. You might experience relief that you are no longer happy but when you experience that it will be much more about permission and focus that you’ve given yourself than about crossing some imaginary finish line. Dane: So how did you – No, finish that thought that was on the tip of your tongue. Jesse: Just very simply that, you know, there is a giant difference between staying in a state of joyless existence and working hard and crushing it. Cool! Like I have used that term too but then I have asked myself like after I crush it what exactly am I going to do with it? Like what do I do with it after I crush it? What if I didn’t crush it? What if I just enjoy the ride? What if I was able to just stay in that state more often? I just split-tested it and I just went through days of experiencing that joy for no good reason other than that I was able to stay focused, not taking the emotional exit to those feelings that was like, “Oh, I’ll worry about that later.” I will just sit. “I will worry about it later” and I started taking action. Man, that action became so much more effective. I just realized that there’s no reason to be unhappy in equal proportion to the happiness that I one day hope to have. I mean that reveals real – in my own thinking I saw that as a flaw that I was thinking it’s either good or it’s bad, it’s either terrible and then it is going to get good. I thought “What if there are more options on the menu of life? What if my choices were not good and bad? What if my choices were awesome and freaking awesome? Like what if I just only held those as possible?” Dude, things happen so quickly and I recognize the power of tolerance. I stopped tolerating things that were just okay and I either did something to bring them up to the level that I really wanted or I no longer have that in my life. I really learn that people with the highest pain tolerance are actually people that have the lowest standards for themselves. Dane: You cannot punish yourself into prosperity. Joy is insanely underrated as a fundamental prerequisite to starting out. I think a lot of Foundation students will enjoy hearing that. I am going to enjoy – I enjoyed hearing it. Because I enjoyed hearing it I imagine others will. Jesse: Cool. Dane: So how did you start your karate business? Jesse: By default. Remember, I’m this homeschooled kid with no GED, no college plans, but I freaking loved martial arts. By the time I was 13, 14 years old, I was taking a bus to go teach class or go take class. By the time I was 14 I was helping in class and I was so just blessed to have an instructor who was kind of burned out. The moment he realized that – he said, “Would you like to warm up the class?” Actually he told me. He said, “You are going to warm up the class.” I remember being 15 and being like … I was terrified. That poor class. They must have done a thousand jumping jacks in that warm up because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. But it was – I made up for it with enthusiasm and the class had a lot of energy. So the next day he said, “I want you to teach the class.” I just took the same approach. I just went out there and yelled louder and made them sweat and they appreciated the energy even though I didn’t really know how to teach very good. By the third day, he had me teaching most of the classes. By the end of the week I had a key to the school. That was my … Dane: That fast, huh? Jesse: He was burned out. He didn’t really, really love teaching anymore. Dane: How old was he? Jesse: Good question. At that time … Dane: Twenty-eight? I‘m just kidding, Jesse: Well, probably not far off. He was probably 30, early 30s, but just didn’t love teaching. In big part because it was not financially that rewarding and it’s hard to keep yourself going when you don’t see evidence that what you’re doing is working. You know, here comes this 15-year old kid that’s excited, and next thing I know I’m 16 and I’m teaching class. By the time I was 17 I was like, “This is it.” Like this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I told my parents that. They were curious but supportive and willing to let me have my own experience which I think is really where I got a lot of this ideas and philosophies. I was kind of on the receiving end of those growing up. When I was 17 I moved out which incidentally when you’re homeschooled, that’s how you graduate. You leave home, you move out. I did go back from my master’s program when I was 21, moved back in with my dad. Go back to home school. Dane: Wait, you didn’t actually get a masters? Jesse: Well, I went back for my master’s degree in homeschooling when I moved back in with my dad when I was 21. Dane: Why did you move back in with your dad when you were 21? Jesse: Because I was broke. I wasn’t making any money. Dane: So what did you do? Jesse: Only thing I knew how. I just taught more. I just figured this out eventually. So, in the gap there 17, 18, 19, 20 I was competing, traveling a little bit for competition, and just teaching. That was my life was teaching, training, teaching, training. I had terrible social skills and I was super shy. I also had a super – like my attraction levels were insane. I would just fall madly in infatuation with any female that I saw. That was a horrible combination. Terrible social skills, incredibly attracted to every girl you see, not a good combo. That was super painful actually. But that pain drove me to get my emotional needs met through teaching. For whatever reason, that’s where I felt better was when I was teaching. Dane: What made it so awkward? Give me the story about, like a woman that you said you liked her big toe or something awkward. What happened? Jesse: Well, interestingly, it was the fear of rejection that kept me from having any sort of actual experience to justify my fear, if that makes sense. I was this teenager and already knew that these girls are going to say, “Oh, we don’t want to go out with you” or “you’re ugly” or whatever. My self-esteem was so low around women, around girls, and yet I could go and teach a class in front of a hundred people and be bulletproof. I really was leading this double life. I never had any actual experience of rejection. I made up plenty of my own that were enough to keep me out of the game. Dane: So you’d feel bulletproof in front of the class of a hundred people, “I‘m badass Jesse Elder.” And then the girl comes and you’re like, “Wah! No!” Jesse: Very much so. Yeah. To just shape a little bit, when I would be teaching I wouldn’t feel like I was badass, I would feel like this is badass. Like, “Wow! Look at what we’re doing together. I would move the students through training and it was just like, “Man, total, total flow.” Dane: Shoulders back, you’re in flow, you’re confident? Jesse: Yeah, 100%. Breathing deep, posture good like into it. Then I would go out on Friday night, it was like Jekyll and Hyde, man. It was like Disaster City. I didn’t even get rejected because I would never put myself in the position to feel that. That just kind of continued. And then when I was probably 21, 22 I started to develop – I had a couple of casual relationships, nothing really serious. Then little by little I started to feel more … It was so funny. After I achieved some kind of business success, I had a school now and I had an actual business, then I started to feel justified which, looking back, was very short-sided and very shallow to think that I needed all those other things in order to justify approaching a girl and asking her on a date. There is a correlation between your having a confident identity based on contribution that then translates into other areas of your life. I see now that it wasn’t necessary, that I’m the same person – I was the same person whether I had a business or not. That’s just how it worked for me. Dane: Yeah. Well, so how did you end up getting a school? Did you buy a school? Did you build into a school? Don’t I remember you telling me that you became one of the best karate instructors for all women’s classes? Is that how you compensated for this lack of … Jesse: Good memory, man, although that might be some projection on your part. Dane: All projection? Jesse: It’s all projection. Yeah. I think first connection you and I had here in Austin. That was a huge part of that initial school. So what happened was I was teaching at a fitness center, and I had around 30 martial arts students. I started getting calls for women that wanted to do kickboxing. I thought, “Are you crazy? Kickboxing, it hurts full contact. You’re going to get bloody nose. You don’t want that.” Well, they were talking about Tai-Bo. They want to do cardio kickboxing. I realized, “Oh, that’s what they want to work out.” I took my rent money that I was going to pay this gym owner. I took the rent money and I put it into a weekly ad like, you know, there’s this entertainment weekly thing. I had one of my girl friend of one of my students who is a fitness model and she posed with her arm out like that. She had this blonde ponytail and I just put boxing gloves on her and I just put kickboxing and then my cell phone number. That was the ad that we ran with my rent money. We had over a hundred women call my cell phone in the next – I guess the next four, five days because nobody else in town was offering it. It was big on pay-per-view. Billy Blanks was just selling the heck out of that program. But there is nobody offering it locally and I was the first one to do it. I made about ten thousand dollars off of that next two-week period which, for me at the time, that was like five months gross income. I used that money to open my first school and basically had these hundred women, or a little bit about 80 that signed up. The conversion rate was awesome because we were the only one. But 80 women and about 30 taekwondo students, martial arts students and that’s how the school opened. I just continued to do the thing that I knew how to do best which was teaching. I just continued. I just had this insane need to make every class better than the last. I didn’t always know how that was going to happen but I just had this super clear intention like “Today is going to be better than yesterday. These are not the same students, these are not the same people, this is not the same class, this is not the same performance.” Every class was exciting, every class was hard as hell like they would sweat, they get endorphins going, and they would bring friends. I just continued to focus on the inner experience being as awesome as humanly possible and I would finish teaching at night and I’d go on the desk and there would be a stack of checks that people that had signed up. It was a terrible billing system but it did the trick. Dane: Kickboxing, then your cell phone number. Where did you learn copywriting? Jesse: There was a lot of trial and error. I literally had only space for those two things so … It’s crazy. Dane: You can be pretty sloppy with your copy when you give people exactly what they want. Jesse: Yeah. Dane: You had that and you started having just women just pouring in everywhere. I also remember a couple of years ago when we were talking, there was a phrase that really resonated with women that you would say … Jesse: Absolutely. Dane: … that really lit them up. And for the women listening, I want them to hear this. Jesse: Yes. Imagine this class where you’ve got – in any given class, 50 to 70 women. There’s only a handful of guys that would do the class. It was primarily women in this class. Imagine that you’re holding a target for somebody who is basically your training sister, like she’s there with you. You’re holding a target for her and she’s got a gloves on. The music is like 145 beats a minute and it’s just like bam, bam, bam. Good music and you’re in the zone, and you’re holding targets for her and she’s hitting the bag “bam, bam, bam, bam, bam,” you got that rhythm. Imagine that the moment that she thinks she can’t go any further you yell to her, not at her, but you yell to her over and over and you say, “You are stronger than you think you are. You are stronger than you think are. You are stronger than you think are!” That was the mantra for this class. Imagine 70 women yelling this at the top of their lungs, with this music cranking, with this contact happening, and just literally doing battle with any personal demon that you have. At the end of that class, you have no problems. All that you have is your power. All you have is your strength. All you have is your energy. All you have is your unique essence on this planet and that displaces any sort of resistance. It was pure addiction. Dane: Pure addiction, as in? Jesse: Once somebody’s tasted that level of competency, and once somebody’s tasted what it’s like to touch your limits and watch them completely fall apart, you can’t live any other way. Dane: I like testing limits. The Foundation tests limits. I see everyday people being stronger than they think they are. Jesse: Yes. Dane, you see that in them which is why people – that’s why you change lives because you do not see people for who they see themselves as only. You see them as the best possible version of themselves, and that’s who you speak to and that’s what you’re talking to. You’re talking to their essence made manifest in the most brilliant, beautiful way possible. Because you’re congruent in your life, and that’s how you actually live, you’re in total integrity. The ultimate influence is being congruent. I’ve seen it, man. I’ve seen you just – I saw it when you spoke in Austin. Matter of fact, I think I got a picture of you connecting with this woman, and talking to her, and just the energy that was between you guys was so intense. You were talking to who she was going to become. You weren’t talking to the residue of her past limiting beliefs. Dude, that’s a freaking powerful space, man, and the world needs more of that. Dane: I deeply appreciate that recognition here on this podcast. It means a lot to me. Jesse: That’s how I see you, man, and a lot of people do. Dane: You notice how we spend about six minutes talking about how you built your business and about 45, 50 minutes on the real shit that matters. Excuse my language. Jesse: I can’t believe you said matters. Dane: Well, guys, if you are interested in living this kind of life being connected to this kind of energy that Jesse and I are [unclear 00:08:18] exuding and living this everyday of your life for six months, that’s how transformation, one way transformation happens. It happens with many others. We would love to have you over at The Foundation for our next program. You can apply at thefoundation.com/apply. Jesse, how can people be in touch with you? Jesse: Easiest way right now is I’ve got a website. Just go to jesseelder.com and there is a daily email that goes out. The emails are – We consistently hear feedback. We get emails every day from people who are reading them. We’ve got some of the best marketers on the planet that are on our email list that say that this is the only ones they open consistently. That’s not me, that’s our community. The easiest way, just go to jesseelder.com, sign up for the emails. For those people who are into conversions and stuff like that, which we all should be, our open rates are consistently around 46%, 48%. That’s the easy way to stay plugged in. I’m also on Facebook from time to time, so that’s a good place to go. If somebody’s interested in working with me directly, I do have a private master mind here in Austin called Gamma. They can go to jesseelder.com/apply and the password on there is choice. Jesseelder.com/apply and the password is choice. Dane: I went ahead and just opted in for the email. Jesse: Cool. Dane: Then there’s an offer to buy some stuff. Which one of this is good? Jesse: Let’s see. Dane: What part of your life needs an upgrade? Money? House? Sex? Confidence? Proactivity? Creativity? Experience? Or Faith? I just wonder if you to talk about this possible purchase for people so they can know a little bit about it. Jesse: Yes. The upgraded life is kind of our flagship program. The upgraded life is a really cool program. It’s a six session course. We’ve also got a really active Facebook group. That’s a really cool way for people to get not just ideas but actually get some tactics that they can really go and apply. Dane: Awesome. Jesse, I’d love to see your place and have you send us off with a piano song. Jesse: I think that can be arranged. This will be a first. So, here we go. Let’s see. I’ll give you some more flowers there. Okay. So, we will – I want to go too far and [unclear 01:11:10] strain the Wi-Fi but … I’m down in the deck here. And so this is downtown kind of seeing the fog, kind of over there. We got the pool, we got the back area here. And then … Dane: Is this all one house? Jesse: It is one house. Dane: Holy crap! This is awesome. How many square feet is this? Jesse: A little over 5,000. Dane: Wow! What did you want all of it for? You’re going to have a big family? Jesse: Oh, we have our events here. So, all of the Gamma masterminds are held here. Dane: What’s the rough ball park for a 5,000 square foot house in Austin? Jesse: Around 2 million. Dane: Wow! This is incredible. I like this room a lot. Can you hold the video up higher? What are all these pieces of paper on the wall? Jesse: Super secret strategy. Dane: Next, over versus under. What’s that one that says, “Push a button and make millions?” I‘m just kidding. Jesse: Yeah. So this is the strategery room. Dane: Is this where your Gamma group hangs out? Jesse: We take over the whole house. There’re people [unclear 01:12:20] outside, there’s people in the hot tub, there’s people here in the … Dane: The limits of the Wi-Fi. So, where is all the magic happen? How does the master bedroom look? Jesse: It looks pretty awesome and that’s invite only. Unfortunately, your viewers can’t go in there. Next time you come hang out, we can go check it out. It sounds weird. Then, yeah, this room has had nothing done to it yet. We have had big tables in here and lots of chairs. Dane: Did you custom built this house or was it just or sale? Jesse: No, I just got this three weeks ago. The house was built probably 20, 25 years ago. Dane: It looks brand new. Jesse: The previous owner put a lot into it. So, yeah, it’s really cool. Out here, which we’ll probably lose the Wi-Fi if we go there, but there’s a staircase there so that it goes down there’s a greenhouse under us. If you go up there is a third floor – there’s a hot tub on the third floor and then it goes up even more. There’s a balcony on the fourth floor. Dane: Wow! Jesse: Yeah, this is affectionately known as the house that Gamma built. Dane: What do you mean by that? Jesse: Gamma is the name of the mastermind. Dane: Yeah, I know. Did the Gamma fund it or like the … Jesse: That’s my primary business is that mastermind. It only made sense that with the income that is being generated that we had something that people could come and enjoy. Dane: Do you have a rough ball park of income that you’re able to share for that or is that private? Jesse: What’s that? Dane: I am losing you for a second. We’re in the technical difficulty phases. We’ll wait for it to come back. Jesse: Can you hear me? Dane: Yes. Do you have a ball park of what the income is from Gamma or is that something that’s kept private? Jesse: No. I can totally share it. For Gamma is between $70,000 to $90,000 a month. Dane: Oh, wow! How many members are in it? Jesse: Every event is small group so we run six to 12 people. Six to 12 people per event. Our bigger events will have maybe two dozen. Dane: So how many members total are in the Gamma? Jesse: We have 36 right now. Dane: So 36 members are what make up about 60 to 90 grand a month or so. Jesse: Mm-hmm. Dane: That’s wonderful. It’s a business that’s fully aligned for you. Jesse: 100%. It’s a 100% expression of purpose and co-creation. I mean it’s not me, this group is baller. The selection process is something we really spent a lot of time last year really dialing in. My number one requirement now, or my number one job, is really keeping the integrity of the group. We’re taking about 20% of the people who apply right now. Dane: Amazing. How do you get the people that applied? Did they like your Mind Vitamins and then just want more Jesse? Jesse: Yeah. Basically. I mean everything – Everybody is either coming by referral or because they saw a Facebook post and they’re intrigued and they want more. I’m very clear that they’re not … They don’t want more me, they want more of the way that they feel as a result of hearing the message. We’re very, very careful to keep that as pure as possible for Gamma. Dane: Badass. How do you feel being aligned and being in this house? Jesse: It’s a dream, man. It is a dream. Dane: What does a dream feel like for you? Jesse: Light, fun, free. Dane: What do you say to the people that are so far away from where you are? Jesse: First that it’s okay to want what you want. Nobody can say otherwise. You get to want what you want. Secondly, that along with the ability to want comes the ability to make it real. You wouldn’t have the desire without also having the corresponding ability to bring it about. Dane: Send us away with a song, sir Jesse. Jesse: Alright. This one is going out to my friend Dane Maxwell. Dane: Oh, yeah! Jesse: Maybe you can sing along with me? Dane: We’ll see. [unclear 01:17:08] Where are the lyrics? Jesse: Can you hear that? Dane: Yes. Can you turn it down a little? Little more. Jesse: How’s that? Dane: Just a little more. A little higher. Yeah, good. Jesse: (Jesse sings while playing the piano) Dane: Keep going this is your song. Jesse: 10% volume. Dane: Jesse Elder, thank you so much for spending time with us. Thank you for spending time with The Foundation family. Thank you for impacting my life and changing my heart a little bit today. It happens every time I see you. I want to come back to Austin again so we can hang out. Jesse: I relish the thought of that, and thank you so much for sharing your time. To the listener, if you can dream it, you can do it. If a kid who got that ugly picture on his driver’s license and if that driver’s license is the only formal education, and then you’ve got The Foundation in your pocket, and you got Dane in your corner, sky’s the limit, baby. Dane: And the Mind Vitamins coming to you every day. Jesse: And the Mind Vitamins in your email. Dane: And your active appreciating-ly appreciation stuff. Your greatest freedom in life is to allow others their own experience and the greatest gift you can give others is your happiness. How could you not be happy in the world when you’re living that way. Jesse, thank you. Jesse: It’s always my pleasure, man. Thank you. Closing: Thank you for joining us. We’ve taken this interview and created a custom action guide so you know exactly what action steps to take to grow your business. Just head over to thefoundationpodcast.com to download it for free. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next week.