0:02 hello and welcome to people making money I'm your host Kevin bemel and we are here every Wednesday at 10: amm Pacific time and that's of course 100 pm on the East Coast for those of you on the other side of the country and we talk about all things related to building a business building a professional practice and Building Wealth so uh today I'm I'm really happy to have as my guest uh Jason Gerardo Jason and I are part of a a group we meet once a month it's it's
0:38 we're all ex-military people um and we we trade business leads and talk about the the challenges of transitioning from military to civilian life some some people are recent uh transition as we might say some you know were in the military quite some time ago so it's it's actually a really great group and I don't want to take too long to to do an introduction because I want want to get right to uh Jason um but um Jason has spent his civilian career um taking I
1:16 think what he learned in the military and helping other people by applying those lessons um to to their um path to success so so Jason uh thank you very much for joining me on people making money welcome to the show thank you so much Kevin and thank you for the invite and for being such a great host and and having me on here it's really exciting to to join a new community I'm all about we'll get into that of course I'm allend all community and so to be able to join and and meet your community so to speak it's really exciting great so you know
1:51 as I typically do with guests on this show um because I like to I like to have them Trace their professional Arc so people can see how how their professional life developed so take us back as far as you're willing to go um even into childhood if if if if that you know works right what did you want to be when you know you were a kid I mean I know for myself um I did not grow up thinking hey I want to be an independent trustee in fact I don't think I had any
2:26 idea what that was right I wanted to be an astronaut I wanted an engineer on a train you know that so um if if you're willing to share what you know growing up as a kid what is it that you thought you wanted to do thank you thank you for the question and this is one that sometimes on other shows you know I do other podcasts and other interviews and stuff and I'm challenged because my story does begin in the beginning my story does begin as a child as as a youngster and sometimes I feel I'm a little apprehensive about going that far back for for me to be succinct and for time Stakes but so thank you for
3:01 that the opportunity to share and so I'm a Healer I've always been a Healer I've always been empathetic I've always had seen things felt things from a very young age and it's in my bloodline but it wasn't talked about and so as a youngster I always had so much of a calling to help people and whether that was you know sitting with a friend I was the friend that everyone came to for help as we got older and you started to to socialize and I knew when to listen I knew when to put in my two cents uh and then when to to spread that between the two but I think with a lot of us I think
3:36 the challenge is and this is kind of what my journey has been is that we're not we it's hard to find a mentor it's hard to find someone that's GNA say yeah you're going to do that or or let's recognize your talents your abilities and let's you grow with that because you know like you said sometimes as kids we we have a great imagination which we should never stop having a great imagination and we want to be astronauts and we want to do these amazing things and you know and and those around us the the adults so to speak in the room should should be helping us with that now for me that was that was just my calling it's who I was and you know
4:14 we'll jump we'll get into it later about how that became a career because that was always a challenge for me as well that that question about well this is just my calling it's what I do and I help people but beyond that you know just to kind of talk a little bit you know I've I always love knowledge I've always been have a thirst for knowledge and always been excited and I was the the the the kid that would go to the library during recess I like to play and I played all the sports and I'm very physical but I I I remember maybe third grade going to the library and looking at art books and other books and oddly enough I found law and for some reason
4:49 at a very young age law spoke to me to the point where this is even I I even look back and go you're a weird kid Jason that I used to take out law books and read case studies for what that's worth and for what I actually understood of it but I was excited about that for a couple years and I really you know influencing people communication there's a lot of aspects to to trial law that just spoke to me and uh you know being a speaker and a trainer that's just been inherent in who I am my whole life and so that was that was the only career that I really remember wanting as a
5:25 youngster was was looking at the law for a while and reading law books and being excited about that and other than that I just kind of was like let's see what shows up about how old were you when you when you were you know reading law books and such around between eight and 10 okay so really young yeah yeah that's interesting I want to go back to something you said right at the beginning which is you said um being a person who helps was is in your bloodline kind of would you mind mind expanding on that and what what do you
6:02 mean by that so that's that's one that I I try I really want to honor and I really don't want to disrespect people that are out there that so my family is Chira Apache my great-grandmother was actually born on the reservation in in New Mexico well she was she was born in the New Mexico area born in that area and this is 1871 my my family had children really late so my great-grandmother had kids when she was in her 30s and then my grandpa had kids in his 30s and my dad had me when he was I think 34 so so my line is not that far back you know I mean it is actually that far back it goes there so my my
6:38 great-grandmother was a Medicine Woman but she was into herbs and I was saying where you know we don't get mentored that the the most that I would get as a kid is I remember at times dad my dad would say um he reminds me of Grandma oh that's like Grandma and then as I got older I would hear some of the stories but and this is a whole another show talking about you know about race and about how that shows up but so that's that's that's where my lineage goes to is my great-grandmother was a Medicine Woman she was into herbs which is not my calling plant spirit is not my calling
7:13 but um but it was there and my family is very intuitive my family on my dad's side um were Native American Spanish and Mexican okay and very attached to those roots and so I say that you know I am I am of that culture but I'm not from that culture I didn't grow up in it because my grandmother passed away when in 1960 and I was born in 71 so she wasn't around I wasn't around her but through my father and my dad has has the same thing my dad is a he has the same stuff but once again you know how we not
7:48 to talk about his journey but same thing he grew up on a ranch he was born in 1938 grew up on a ranch you know you just do what you do you you do your chores you do your work right let's not talk about that stuff it just shows up and so I'm blessed now that later on in life I've moved four years ago I moved closer to my dad and I get to spend a lot of time with him now and we get to talk stories and we get to tell he tells me about oh I have se you know the seven spirits that stay with him and that he has dreams about and that they talk to him and so these are things that are being exposed to me later on in life but at early in life I was aware to an extent of it but not enough to really be
8:26 like oh this is this is you know as a kid what do you know about calling you know right right so you know you're going through school you're you know by the way I can relate to you know being in the library in recess I when I was in uh sixth grade the school I went to had this great library and especially when it rained it was the best place to be you know schol like just pouring through book so really really resonates so is you're going through school you get through High School okay and and now it's kind of you know time you know what
9:03 are you going to do so what you know once once you graduated high school what what was the decision tree at that point so that that's an interesting piece to my puzzle because you know as we were talking about going on the show and just as I reflect on my past I think about these things and so two things I want to mention real quick is my my two biggest influences growing up are really different but in the in the way the same and I'll just touch on really lightly so my grandfather on my mom's side owned his own garage from 1947 to 1986 he was a business owner he owned his garage he sold mobiles he sold boats he sold he
9:40 had his own airplanes he sold planes wow very focused on work but his you know he was born in I think 190 no 1913 actually on that side and you know that's a different generation and so you worked hard you grounded out and and Gramps would come home and and have his Jack Daniels cocktail just relax and sit on on the chair and so I so I saw that so that was my vision of owning your own business you work really hard you sacrifice a lot you do that but he was happy he loved working on cars you know he loved we call it busting Knuckles you know he loved working on cars and and doing that and so I picked that up as
10:16 well my brother really my brother actually became a mechanic before became a firefighter me it wasn't that much this comes into play and the at the at the middle of that story I'll pause that for a second and my other one was my dad and you know sh my dad but my dad grew up on the ranch went in the Marine Corps got out and just he worked he worked as a Cattleman you know did out here in in uh Central California and just kind of did his just worked you know Dad Dad worked at Lura scutters he worked at different factories uh but then he found his way to get back there's a in the mid mid
10:52 1980s and when the town that we lived in they somebody built a third red horse ranch and so he went on and he helped on the maintenance side because he was a Horseman but also he you know he build and did construction so he helped build that ranch and through that he then started working with the horses and then started being a trainer and worked his way through there so he found his way home he found his way back to his passion through doing other things so I mentioned that because my you know my two visions of what success are are really are really different but also that kind of so for me growing up I
11:28 didn't I I lived in a small town but I wasn't like well I'm GNA get out of here I'm GNA go do this and I'm gonna it just wasn't on my the front of mind it just was I'm live my life the question that I think you and I have have received multiple times I guarantee it is why did you join the military I don't know you know my like I said my dad was in the Marine Corps my uncle's in the Marine Corps my uncle's in the Army you know we've got military family but my father used he said to us my my I have an older brother he said if you go in the military join the Air Force don't join the Marine Corps it's it's better it's better Duty it's good
12:04 Chan you know you get an education and so and it wasn't a rebellious like well screw you I'm GNA go in the Marine Corps I just knew from a young age I was going to join the Marine Corps it was just one of those feelings I had so from around 12 I just knew I was going to join the Marine Corps so and that was going and that was enough for me that was enough of a of a light that was enough of a path that was enough of a vision for me to just jump on I didn't have a clear vision of what it was going to be after I think a lot of us don't you know uh College wasn't
12:39 in the cards for me I was I was intelligent but I didn't like I didn't enjoy school at that structure so I didn't have great grades and we economically it wasn't in the cards for for me to go to college so as I got closer I graduated I was 17 I'm a I'm a youngster and I said well you know what I'm going to use my GI Bill and I'm going to go to college and I'll become an officer and then I'll do that in the Marine court that was that was kind of 16 to 17 as I was getting closer to actually going in I started to kind of formulate that plan well so jumping back again to being a mechanic and learning
13:14 training wrenches I knew I didn't want to work on cars I knew that just wasn't for me it wasn't so they said well I scored really high on the you know the entry exam the asab as you and I know it and they said you know what do you want to do and I looked at some different things and I was like well I'll look for a career when I get out on mechanical so I actually became a jet engine mechanic oh oh wow and I said well that would be something I can do when I get out and I enjoy working on mechanical stuff I just don't want to work on cars and trucks and that's just you know may you know that's the ab reaction I think to my grandpa's garage was you know I've done enough of that as when you start
13:49 doing oil changes at seven years old you know but so so that was that was going into the Marine Corp I got in the Marine Corps I turned 18 the week before boot camp changed I graduated rather and within a year I had gone through all my schooling and I was in the desert as desert shell Desert Storm came up I got I got to my duty station like August 2nd and I deployed August 20th wow and then I was over there for I think eight or nine months that that Journey during that time um it
14:27 was eye opening things I saw things did things and I was like well maybe this isn't for me but also at the same time the paperwork I was putting the paperwork through for my college you know to go through that program the officer's Pro OCS and I had to get the sergeant major signature well the sergeant major was back in North Carolina and I had to get the paperwork and I just was like that's not it you know I just I was so I was so living the moment over there you know filling the sandbags and doing what we were doing and all that stuff it was like okay so that kind of changed changed course for me and then at that time I said well maybe this isn't what I want to do with
15:03 the rest of my life so uh I'll get out and then as I was getting out I was certified in jet engine Mechanics for one specific engine I started looking at that as a career and it really I was disheartened because I you know I saw like well I have to get my my airframes and power plants license and I have to get this other license and stuff and at that moment this was 90 around 19 1984 MH and some of the big hitters the boeings and stuff of that were laying off people and I looked and I was like and and I I'm very logical and maybe to my detriment at times but I said you know if I get out this this kid that I
15:42 was like 21 22 I was in five years so 21 22 at the time whatever it was maybe close to 23 and I've got this specific experience and they've got someone that's been doing it for 20 years who's going to get hired who's going to be that so I didn't see being tangible I didn't see it like something that I could just go after so I I held off on that and it's it's just a part of my life that I'm that I love and I respect but I didn't go further in that field I just really looked at what it would take and I would have to probably move out of California and it just logically didn't
16:17 make sense so go ahead yeah just want to interject a question here so a couple of minutes ago you mentioned that you grew up in a small town and you did didn't have a desire to leave that town and I I think unfortunately a lot of times that would be interpreted as a lack of ambition or a lack of vision or something like that and and and I I don't get the sense that that is was the case with you so why why did you
16:54 um decide to remain in in in a small town and I I think this is a by the way I think this is a very crucial thing for people to think about right now because this idea that we're going to you know move to the big city and have this you know amazing life I'm not sure that that really works anymore um and and yet I think sometimes young people feel compelled to you know move to the big city so I I think this is this this could Pro potentially provide a very important insight for people yeah and you know the interesting thing is this actually goes a different direction
17:31 because what I and this is this goes into what I do now and the first thing when I when I see a client one-on-one I just had a new client start this week the very last thing I say to them before we end our first session is from now on focus on what you do want and not on what you don't want because we could all write pages and pages about what we don't want in our lives but then we okay so what do you want uh uh that's where the catch is MH I've always been focused on what I do want so when I say that I wasn't like I have to get out of this town it wasn't
18:07 like I'm trapped it wasn't like oh that's not here for me because I did move and never went back I did join the Marine Corps at 17 when I got out I moved up to Northern California close to where my dad was I was living my mom lived down that area still we had moved earlier but it wasn't so much for me like well this city is holding me back or being here is keeping from doing what I want to do so that's why you know I know people that were like I have to get out of here and they would go to San Francisco and you know on the weekends which was only about an hour from hour and a half from where I lived and that wasn't me so it wasn't so much about
18:46 saying well I'm I'm happy here because I like my town but it was I just knew that there was more for me out there and that I was going to find it so it wasn't about well I have to leave this place to get to what I want it was I'm going to have what I want and whe whever that happens so I wasn't so to clarify I wasn't like happy and I'm just GNA stay here and because it was a it's a farming community so there was the you know economically there was only so many options there and so much industry you could do but it wasn't like well I hate this
19:21 place and I have to get out of here and oh my goodness it just was my vision was just I saw a different path I I knew I was destined for other things I knew I was destined for and I'll I'll use the word because as a young person it's it's safe to use as you get older people kind of look at it but I knew I was destined for greatness I knew I was destined for something bigger than where I was already at and I was gonna find it so I didn't necessarily have to leave the location because you know what is the book What's the title of the book wherever you go there you are so I knew I had to change myself I knew how to change in my internal to get
19:57 the external that I wanted and so how did you know that you were destined for greatness to to use your phrase and and what is what is because again I think most people would say oh you know you're you think you're G to be I don't know president of the United States right because that's how they Define greatness right and and and and what does that mean you know from your perspective I was destined for greatness I I knew there was bigger things on the horizon for me and I couldn't put a pen in it like oh this is specifically what it is and this is what I'm going to do
20:33 and I'm going to be the president of the United States or or you know so on and so forth I just knew there was more for me than I saw I could see in the town that I was in and the and where I currently was at in my mind I knew that I had to expand my mind and expand my vision to be able to see what I could see I had to turn that light on and but I knew that once that light was on the room was vast that I knew that there was something out there for me that was bigger and not to go too sideways with this but you know my my leanings are towards
21:08 Buddhism and you know being whole and center and complete inside and and being true to myself that's greatness greatness isn't an external thing where someone says oh well that person has that job he's great you know because they always say that happiness is the greatest destination you know if someone was to pass away and you said oh well they were Rich well someone could ask well were they happy but if someone was to pass away and you go oh yeah he had a great life he was really happy you'd say oh that's great so it could be the destination so I think for me greatness was that destination greatness was Finding for me
21:45 what it is and what it's become is living my purpose with passion I couldn't articulate it back then but truly that's that's what it is and and for me it's helping people that's my greatness is being able to help people change their lives that's that's that Ripple that's where I become greater than myself so okay so let's let's let's pick up your your career path you're you're out of the Marine Corps you decide you're not going to continue in in um you know jet uh jet engine mechanics so
22:23 it sounds like there's a another turning point there for you so where where do you go from there so here's here's the there's the catch and this is the the greatest part about the story I think because I think the challenge is changing our values and this not to go into the military side because this isn't our this isn't our veterans group but as you know as a veteran when you get out of the military you look around you're like well wait a minute because you just came from a whole and complete world it's you the military is encaps ol ated and you
22:59 could you could happily stay within that bubble and not have to go outside of it it it's it's self-contained but then but then you get out in the in the we'll call it the real world or the civilian world as we would have said and you're like wow and and it's it's confusing but it's great because there's opportunities here's the challenge though is that you know back in my day in 1994 when I got out well uh what should I do when I get out well there's a book at the library called what color is your parachute you should maybe you could check it out and read it that that was our transition
23:36 back in the day you know and for the oldtimers it's even worse than that you know it's like get out of here here you know here's your here's your paperwork get off get off base well I esort you off base right and so it was in a transition so I got out and then I think that's the biggest challenge in life is that if we don't have a mentor or we don't have a vision or a guide it's easy to get lost in the mix so you know I always tell the story I said well I got to the military and I was like well okay what what do you do as an adult well you I guess you get a job you have to get a job right and I guess you get a place to live and you get in a
24:13 relationship and my girlfriend at the time was now my wife came back with me she was living her dad was a retired marine and she was actually visiting her mom and in the town that I was living in North Carolina and we started dating about six months before I got out and she said yeah let's do it she came back with me to California but you know what do you do you're young and you just like let's figure you figure these things out because you there's not someone that's helping you or guide you for the most part you know for my my experience but I I think that's a challenge for a lot of us is that it's just like well here go go go be an adult right so I said well what am I gonna do so I said well I have
24:49 to get a job I'm really fit I just got out of the brain Corp I have a lot of energy I've got I have this leadership abilities I was a sergeant when I got out you know leader leader of men leader of of troops so to speak or Marines and I was like I I know I could find something so I did a couple part-time like warehouse jobs and stuff just just to make money and then I started working I was like well retail looks like something I could do I don't have a college degree but I can use my leadership I see there's managers that don't have degrees and I love working with people so I can do that so I got
25:24 into I got into retail and I did a good job and and someone recognized that and said hey you do a good job do you want to be a manager and I became a like a third key a fourth uh you know a floor manager so to speak that entry level and I did that and I said okay and they said oh you're doing a good job do you want to be an assistant manager okay well you're doing good at that do do you want to move to this other city and help us run this other store okay and it just went from there so I ended up being in retail leadership for 26 years just just yeah just doing what I did because I found enough and this is part of this of
25:59 my story for sure and I I see we got some time I'm happy to get into it yeah it became how how do I honor who I truly am and make a living and within if you've ever worked in retail or been around retail which we all have it's chaotic it's a lot of stress and it takes a lot to do well at it but you can do well at it you just have to grind out you have to work hard and I said I can work hard and then I went into I went into HR I went in HR
26:34 team I was a trainer for like six years as well as running stores so I was able to make myself happy enough within that job scope but all along I just had this calling all along I kept getting that tap on the shoulder saying you are not being true to yourself you are not doing what you were putting here to do you need to do it and one of those one of those strongest fingers was my wife she's been my biggest Advocate or not she yeah she's been the biggest one in
27:09 my corner my whole my whole career my whole life to where you know I'd come home from a really bad day and she'd say how many more signs do you need from the universe to know that you're not where you're supposed to be that you have a much bigger plan for you that you have other things you should be doing you you have these gifts and you're not using them and we find these excuses well I won't make money at it I shouldn't make money at it I don't know what to do I don't once again not having a mentor not having a guide not not being able to see that picture I was
27:46 scared and I said well I'm doing this retail thing I'm making decent money we're we're living you know we we were living in the bay well Southern California then we moved up back to the Bay Area and it was enough it was just enough to keep me in the game you know and to be very open and honest here I I just recently went back to where we used to live it's I love the area and I go to half Boon Bay there's a Beach Town that's just an amazing spot and um I was walking and this is maybe too much but I'm just going to share it I was walking downtown and I was think just having a
28:23 conversation with myself as we're apt to do and I was thinking like what were you doing when you were here and my response was you were waiting and I'm like waiting for what I was waiting for something that wasn't going to show up it was something that I had to go get but I wasn't at the point where I was ready to go get it and so I became stagnant and really unhappy I was unhappy because I wasn't going after anything I wasn't answering my call I was just existing I was just doing enough with my career my I did I
28:59 had a semantics but I had a job not a career my vision so being being in and you happen to have been in retail I I I I think it would be reasonable to say that you know if you'd been in food or if you'd been in you know manufactur I'm not so sure that you know the industry one is in is is necessarily as as relevant but but that but it within within retail which was your industry what what was kind of the state
29:34 of the other people that you worked with and how did that impact where you found yourself you know that afternoon walking you know walking in the sort of the streets of uh you know this town outside of Half Moon Bay yeah that's a that's a great point I I usually try to work that in because it's so true because it it it speaks to how I was able able to exist within that world because in retail you have a lot of young people you have they they're just starting their lives out they're just getting out of high school they're just stting College I worked with a ton
30:09 of college some of my best friends were going to college and we met working together um people that are unsure of what they want to do in their lives people that are just because just like me they said well I can do this and make money and I don't have to have a degree I could actually slip in and I could cashier and I could process Freight and I could there's a lot of jobs I can do MH and so I was working with my client base before I had a client base because I work with people who are unsure of what they want not aware of where they're at don't have a plan of how to get there and don't realize that
30:44 there's a lot of things that are holding them back from getting to there like with like even with my experience I had things that were holding me back limited decisions negative emotions that were holding me back so the employees that I were was working working with offered me the opportunity to do who I to be who I am with in counseling in coaching and being a leader and being that you know I had people in my I probably had more people in my office crying than I do now with clients you know and I would be able to be there for them and sit there with them and have that conversation and say
31:20 hey what's going on oh I'm fine I'm fine come on let's talk let's have a chat and so it allowed me to live have a enough of my toe in that stream of where I wanted to go to keep me from going crazy so to speak to keep me from being like I have to I have to get out it didn't get me to that point but I did get to that point because the the culture got so CTIC the culture became about literally your employees are taking too many steps from the box of freight to their processing table you're losing
31:55 productivity you're not doing your job and these people have to work harder and you have to push them more and we have we're going to get 10 more 10 more pallets of freight and You' have no more payroll and that those you know those are very specifics but I just want to mention because those are the kind of things that I was like I I can't be a part of this anymore you know this taking advantage of people and just really just grinding people hard and these people were you know that's a lot of years and I saw the economy come and go and I saw the economy where people just needed a job and had to work and they were like I'm
32:30 okay with it and I saw the economy where there was plenty of jobs out there paying what we paid and they said I'm out of here because I'm not getting the respect I need I'm not getting you know the return that I need and I'm leaving so I was able to see that and you know it just all fed on to my education seeing people seeing what motivated them seeing how to motivate them seeing how I could support them so it was a perfect PL besides doing what I actually do and what I love and what I'm doing now M it allowed me to practice within that system so 26 years working in retail and
33:08 you're you're kind of getting enough um um satisfaction that that you you you you know you kind of bump along um for a while um but it's getting ever more difficult what what was what was the event or what what caused you to take that step outside of this you know I don't know was it a cocoon of of of of retail and and you know go out and you know and establish your
33:45 practice so it's kind of a long journey because it it was a slow process and it was at the at the end it was just that like okay I just can't do this anymore and I actually I knew I I'm going to jump to I'm GNA go to the end and then I'll come back to the beginning so it got to a point where I was like I can't do this at this level anymore I was running big boxes I was you know I was running some big big stores you would know the names of the of these retailers I worked for and I knew that I needed to separate myself but I had to wean myself off of it so um like I said I'm G to jump to the beginning but I was working
34:20 part-time on my business at this time and I was seeing clients I was seeing clients on Tuesdays I had an office share and I was seeing clients on Tuesdays but I said you know what I don't I don't see the opportunity to totally pull back and go 100% on my own financially just a lot of there was a lot of barriers for me personally but I said I could step back and so I went from running big box stores with anywhere you know from 60 to 200 employees to running boxes that had 13 employees so I kind of t i was tapering off and it was in I went to pet retail I went to something that just was
34:55 fun it was enjoyable it kept paying the bills it allowed me to get my head straight but let me jump back because what I've been processing this for a long time and my calling has been calling me and shouting pretty loudly for a lot of years and I shared you know jokingly about my wife but seriously how she said you know what's it going to take for you to realize you're not doing what you want to do it took about 20 years for me to finally take that step unfortunately but but I am who I am I'm where I'm at so I I honor that that Journey because it's it got me where I was that's why now I want to help people not take that long but I got to the
35:31 point where I said well I I want to help people I'm a Healer I help people this is what I do but I'm also pragmatic and I said well I need a toolbox I can't just say here come sit with with Uncle Jason and I'll talk to you I needed a toolbox I needed some modalities I needed some things that so how are you going to help people specifically how are you going to process that you know so I started I I looked around at a lot of different things start reading a lot of books started just learning about different modalities and I came across NLP neural linguistic programming and it really spoke to me
36:06 because you know I say what I do is a art and a science and NLP truly to me is an art and a science there's structure it's based on it's based on other therapies but it works for the unconscious mind there's the how how you and I have Rapport matters there's a so there's a lot of nuance to it right so I started studying that I and I it was an action I took an action I said I'm going to start studying this that that was that and as soon as I did that I felt better about my situation because I was taking action and then so few years down the
36:43 road I studied a while I I took an online course got a little tiny certification and in 2010 I got my practitioner I went I had a study like I don't know 600 hours or something online and then I went for seven days straight in Henderson Nevada outside of Las Vegas and I got my practitioner certification and at the time I said okay you got it and I didn't see clients and still those those blockages were in my way and so I went a few more years and then I got my master practitioner I said okay now now I'm going to do it and I got my ma
37:18 Master practitioner that's another like 800 hours of study plus uh 17 days in Henderson Nevada with one day off of the middle of training and right after that I got my first client somebody that I knew said hey I hear you do this stuff I'd love to work with you he was starting off he had he had one business he was looking at open a second business he actually was just getting married and he wanted some support and we worked together he opened a second and then a third business he got had his kids he did he he did amazing things and I I'm just I'm just happy to have been there with him along that journey and then I started seeing
37:53 clients part-time I got an office share I started building websites started doing stuff like that and and there and then financially you know honestly I think for a lot of folks it's that Financial part it's that oh but what's going to happen if and we got to a spot where we moved from the Bay Area to closer to my family we live in a I told you I was born in a small town when I was born it was 20,000 people the town I live in now is like 7,300 people wow it's a tiny but it's but it's Community it's it's my heart these I love these people I live I live
38:28 20 minutes I just was in actually Davis I live 20 minutes away from Davis where UC see Davis it's a huge a huge college town I actually grew up there I grew up there part for a for for a few years I I actually lived in Davis my brother graduated high school there um so I'm byy close cities I'm I'm an hour out of the city out of San Francisco but we moved here finances changed we got a different house I have a home office now and I then went out full-time in 2021 and said said this is going to I'm going to make this happen and I stepped out into my own prayer so I'm um I want to
39:04 shift gears on you just a little bit because you've you've mentioned your wife several times she's obviously an integral part of of your story and your path um how how did your Journey I'll call it um you know the the increasing dissatisfaction um her cheerleading you and yet you it sounds like not
39:40 necessarily you know taking action perhaps on this you know in in in the way that she would see you doing it how did that impact your marriage if you're if you're willing to discuss that and by the way you can just say you know I'm G to decline to answer this question because I realize it's very personal but but for for for people who are married I think sometimes they get tied up in that issue um and and it and it is a daunting one and and and not meaning to sound chauvinistic but I think men in
40:15 particular we we put a very high value um on on our marriages um in in a way I was I was reading some things recently that women don't or in a different way than women do and so I'm curious how what was that Dynamic like if if you're you know willing to share that I am and I'll actually go deeper than you're asking because it's it's pertinent to the to the conversation and it goes it's it's it's a sad story that becomes happy so I mentioned that my wife I met her when I was just getting out the Marine Corps she didn't know I was in
40:50 the Marines I had I was in the airwing my hair was growing out my hair was just a little bit longer or a little bit shorter than it is now believe it or not I didn't have the beard but um she didn't know I was in the Marine Corps but we were together she moved back with me she had just turned 21 I was getting close I was 22 is close to 23 at the time just young and and part of all this whole story is what didn't know what I wanted didn't know what I was supposed to do we moved back to California we were both trying to figure out our lives we both trying to figure out what to do part of that is what you get married so we've been together about two two years and I asked
41:26 her to marry me that's a funny story of itself but anyway so we got married small ceremony with just our families uh and we were together and we were both trying to figure our lives out and I was I was not happy because I was just working and but but talking about values my values growing up was you have to work hard to make a difference you work hard you work hard you work hard family a second that's my grandfather's influence okay and that's what I was doing I was just I was I would get up some mornings I had to leave the house
42:01 at 4:30 sometimes I wouldn't get home until 11:00 at night and that's just what I had to do and because my values were work value or you know give value to the world make money and she she was you know she wanted to have fun and party and and be a be be a person and and that so we actually got divorced oh we actually uh and she she was brave enough to say this isn't working we're both on our different Journeys and we're not on the same journey together my words but that's
42:36 basically what it was and so I was gutted I she was my actual heart she is my heart and so we we ended up getting divorced and separating and this was around this was 1999 actually and just to just to not just to close that Loop seven years later she got remarried few years later she got remarried I was I lived L VCA I was out just living that crazy life and just trying to experience life and just running around the world traveling a lot doing stuff and seven years later I ended up getting moved
43:11 down she moved to Southern California I moved to Southern California with my work we'd always been connected because we're always we love each other we're always in each other's life we she happened to she got divorced like a year before I moved down there she had changed some things in her life that had affected our relationship and and uh we end up getting back together and then we've been we've been back together ever since and so we got married again in 2009 and we've been married for 15 years now but wow how that pertains to the story and the question is in 1999 when she left me
43:46 because she did she stepped out and that was and it was the right thing we weren't happy it it caused me to step back and look and say what's important to you mhm what matters in this life you're working hard you're just your nose to the grindstone you're doing what you think you're supposed to do and it's not getting the results that you want and now you're alone what are you going to do and that's what led me the first that's what led me to say well you need to be who you are you you see that you haven't done a good job at being someone else and being who you're
44:21 not the results are you know the proofs in the pudding you need to be yourself you you need to be true to who you are and that's when that's what led me to hey I need to make this happen so I saw the importance weal you talked about values I actually had written down values before right before you said that I wrote down values because what's important to us is what values are right and that led me to see what's most important to me and within the relationship relationships are you know two people trying to live as one as relationships and that could be challenging and you have to you both have to be flexible you both have to
44:56 give and that's that that's that reality so she is was so supportive of me though she was not like well you need to you need to get a different job because you need to make more money or you need to do a job it was it was heart-c centered it was coming from her heart and I felt that so I knew that she wasn't she wasn't having these conversations based on I was doing something wrong she wanted me to do what was right for me and because if I'm a better Jason I'm a better husband and so that's the key in
45:32 relationships is you have to align your values and they don't have to be the exact same but they need to be close you know if some if somebody has career as their number one value what being what's most important to him and the other person has family as what's most important to him there's going to be some conflicts there's going to be some challenges and so her her wanting to be aligned with myself being aligned was I didn't see it as stop bugging me I saw it as you know thank you thank you for reminding me of who
46:08 I'm supposed to be so it wasn't contentious it was it was a loving coming from a loving place so so now you're you're in Private Practice What talk about what you do how how you work with your clients how you help people so you know based on everything I just said you can see kind of what I'm going to say where it comes from I work for people that are in their early 30s to their mid 50s that have not that can't even some of them can't even imagine having a purpose or know that
46:44 they have some sort of calling or purpose but can't see how to get there and help them get there the first thing the first thing we do and I see clients one-on-one virtually just like this I see so it's a blessing because so I'm a Master practitioner neur Linguistics hypnosis timeline therapy I'm certified in poly vagal Theory I've got I've got my tool bag now and I work with the unconscious mind to help clear all these things out so I help people clear out what's stopping them from seeing their purpose and from living their purpose so when we do that oneon-one it's it's hey let's let's clear everything out let's clear out the limiting decisions
47:19 limiting beliefs from the past the things that tell you well you you can't make money unless you do this well you're not going to make enough money you know we we clear all that out because we see the world we see our external world through filters and those internal filters is what I help people discover and adjust as needed and so okay I'm sorry just real quickly before you continue when you use the word purpose what is your definition of of when you say you know help people find their purpose what is your definition of
47:55 purpose that's a great great question because I usually mention this so it could be intimidating the word purpose can be like oh my goodness but but guess what when I wake up in the morning I have a purpose and you know what my purpose is get out of bed and then and you know what my next purpose is feed my cats so it doesn't have to be this big huge scary thing you have a focus what's your focus what's your you know I I I inter I inter change purpose calling and
48:30 there what makes you happy what makes you smile what when you think about doing this what what can you feel inside I want to do this and it doesn't have to be owning your own business it doesn't have to be you know doing something one-on-one you can find your purpose within a business working for somebody else you can find hey my purpose is to do my best job my purpose is to to have money for my family so I can enjoy my time away from work that's my purpose so
49:06 it could be different things to different people but for me when I think about it it's it's what drives you what gets you up in the morning what makes you happy okay so so in my work and and if if you if you look behind me you can see there's this uh triangle basically the it's a called the three pillars of attainment and at the very Peak right there is is identity um and I I Define identity as having two parts one is purpose and one
49:43 is Mission and so purpose is who do I want to be so for example um a loving father a dedicated uh athlete whatever whatever those personal definitions are and Mission is what I want to accomplish in whatever sphere it is that I happen to be operating in what do I want to accomplish accomplish overall in my life what what do I want to be remembered for what do I what do I want to accomplish today you know what do you
50:18 know what I'm saying what do I want to accomplish within my family life what do I want to accomplish within my professional life um ETA Etc so um it it seems like in a way you're combining both of those ideas into into your idea of purpose does that does that sound right yeah that's spot on okay so then you you me you've mentioned some of the tools you use like um NLP which is I remember this is going back a long time ago when he was first getting started nobody really knew who he was Tony
50:53 Robbins he I think he was he did a um he did a a a talk on NLP for a group I was in there were probably you know 20 of us right I was in the front row you know he's do seeing of course now he's this big right whatever but um uh so I I'm certainly familiar with that so what what are what are these tools that you've you've mentioned several of them and how do you employ them to help your clients so every person is different and so I have that that's where we we have a
51:28 first my first meeting is called a detailed personal history and we really get to the what's going on where you at where do you want to go and using these tools though is so the the the simplest form of of describing NLP is using the language of the mind to get the results we want so we interpret our external World internally and they go like I mentioned before the filters they go through these filters our values our beliefs you know our thoughts our memories and then and then turn that into action we turn that into feelings which turns it into action if you're not living the life
52:03 that you want to live in that area there's a problem with either your filters or your strategies how you're going about achieving what you want in those areas and that's what I help people discover and see so you know every to the simplest form is a thing called sub modalities not to make this an NLP class but sub modalities which modalities are sight sound hearing taste feelings sub modalities are the nuances of that so is it you see a picture is it clear is it in color is it black and white is it near is it far is it moving
52:38 pictures it still we take our external world and we formulate pictures in our heads and the quality of those pictures in our heads is how we see those items so if you have an if you have something that you really like that picture is going to most likely be in color clear closeup to you you know if you have something that you don't you really dislike it's most likely going to be black and white fuzzy picture will be farther away from you so it's part of how we code and I also work with the unconscious mind some people call it the subconscious mind that's where the
53:14 conscious mind is what you know your unconscious mind is who you are and so you can't just think change and change you have to do some external work or internal work and that's what I help people do so using these tools I help people to first of all realize that ask yourself I have this belief about something and it's affecting my life so ask yourself where does that belief come from and most likely you're either going to go I I have no idea where that came from or you might if if you're having that awareness you might track it back
53:49 like I talked about my grandfather I have an awareness of oh well because Grandpa always said I you have to do this to get this and that's my belief now but is that belief was that belief serving me and it wasn't so I had to change that belief so that's some of the some of the Nuance of of what I do with people so um and and this may seem like a silly question and maybe it is by the way how does someone know that he's dissatisfied with his life as opposed to for example chronically tired you know what I'm
54:26 saying or or um uh you know going through a a rough patch in a in a relationship or in a job or something right th those are I would say those are different than being than than having life dissatisfaction right because even if we're satisfied with our life we're going to go through times when life still kind of stinks right because that's that's the nature of life so how how do we how do we know that we're you know to put it sort of bluntly how do we know we're at the point that we need to call Jason and say Hey brother you
55:04 know my my head screwed on backwards you know it comes down to so I don't have the technical definition but like say depression depression is actually a diagnosis and you have to meet certain criteria for depression and it has to be you felt this way and this way for I think it's 10 it used to be 10 days now it's I think 16 days or something so there's there's those nuances technical things that you would look at like has this been going on for a long time is this something that is not for me is this something that I'm not happy with today
55:40 or is something off and usually in our lives you know it you know and I God could be a a challenging word for people but God is just you know there is there's a higher power whatever that is to you but Wayne D used to say do you wake up in the morning and say good morning God or do you wake up and go good God morning you know and that's that's kind of funny but that's the way to look at it you know are you excited to start your day are you are you engaged with your life you when you're dis when
56:15 you're disconnected from your life you know it you might not share it you know that this goes on we're we're we're coming up on the hour but you know that's comes about mental health and the stigma around Mental Health you got to suck it up and you got to just do it you got to just man up for the men and you know well don't be so emotional for the women and you know and it goes for both of us but I use as examples that we kind of see the stigma so if you find yourself just pushing through or you find yourself just getting through it or making it happen or you know if you here's the perfect example if you go on vacation and you come back and you
56:51 need a vacation from your vacation once again wherever you go there you are know that something's disconnected and there's three connections there's connection to self connection to others and connection to a higher power nature God Source Creator whatever you call it if there's a disconnect in one any of those three you feel it you know it you have to be honest with yourself and just say you know that's like meditation you sit in meditation and you just know wow something's off something's going on and you might not be able to put a label on it it may not be well oh I hate my job
57:27 or I'm not satisfied in my career but you you can feel something's not right and why we're here for a very short amount of time on this planet in this being in this human form why be why be anything less than enthralled why be anything less than excited for your next day and I know that's a that's a leap I know going from from day to day to there you know well we have to work hard and we've got to that whistle while you work you can enjoy what you're doing and still do it if it's something even that that you don't you know don't love so if you find there's a disconnect if you find that you know just something's off
58:03 I I can't even if you can't imagine your purpose if you can't imagine something that makes you excited about your day that's an even greater reason to come and and talk to someone such as myself so I I've noticed um a number of times you've quoted my favorite line from Buckaroo Bonsai no matter where you go there you are and and I'm just I'm I'm we only have a couple more minutes um but I just I'm curious because I know what it means in the context of the movie um what does that mean you know in the context that
58:39 you're using it so it's actually the way I use it yes that's a great movie and I I I watch it at least once a year but I actually I'm actually I'm actually quoting a book by John Kat Zen a a meditation master and that's his book is that wherever you go there you are and that's that's talking about meditation quick I know we have like 60 seconds I'll try to tell a quick Wayne dire story if we go a minute or two long don't worry about it and so Wayne says he tells us he's passed away but Wayne Dyer was an author and a speaker and he shows a story that one time he did he did a a talk on live TV in New York finished flew back home to Florida he was living in Florida at the time he was
59:15 walking down the beach and a a woman came up to him she's like oh my God you're Wayne D I love your books I love you I saw you on TV last night that's so great hey I just want to say that I didn't know you here in Florida you know my family we thinking about moving down here how how are the people here and he says oh well where are you from and she said you know I'm from Chicago he goes oh well how do you find the people in Chicago she goes oh they're amazing they're they're very friendly they're very outgoing they're just they're great and he goes oh you'll find the people here like that then you know they you'll find people here just like that oh have a great day goes on down
59:50 the beach another 10 minutes someone walks up to him and says oh Wayne Dyer I saw you on the show last night hey my family and I we live in Wisconsin we're thinking about moving here and he goes oh great well um H you know she's like how are the people here and he said well how are the people in Wisconsin oh they're kind of offish and they stick to themselves and they're kind of clickish and whatever and he goes oh well you'll find the people here just the same so you bring that to your world that this the saying is perception is projection how you see your world is how you are inside so that what that means
60:26 so when you're happy inside and you're at peace inside your world is peaceful yeah you know and and I just share an experience I had last week I was at an event for a friend of mine and afterwards I ended up um talking with the hostess and a couple of her friends for quite a long time and we we were talking about various places we'd been uh Paris um I'd never been to London but they'd been to London New York you know place and and I was observing to them that when I was in Paris I found the people there to be very very friendly I
61:01 said you know I I at the time I didn't know a whole lot of French but I used I used what French I had you know and they would politely you know correct me when I made a mistake which I appreciated because helps me be right and and um and and and as I thought about it because I said essentially the same thing about being in New York and being right it's like and I you know until you use that example I didn't realize I look at pretty much every place you know people are friendly um and maybe it's because I do my best you know to be friendly to people right right and and
61:36 and say hello as I'm you know walking by someone or whatever just you know greet them with a a pleasant countenance that's sort of a that's a a Jewish philosophy you know you should you should greet every person with a a pleasant countenance smile at them or whatever so I so that that's such a great you know I I didn't think of that um um that aspect of no matter where you go there you are but now now that you've connected the two um that that that'll that'll be you know a great a great thing to sort of hang in the back of my mind as as you know as I go through life
62:12 well well Jason we we are at of time um you I think we could you know easily as I find so often with my guests we could spend easily another hour um definitely have to have you come back and um you know Del delve more into what you're doing but I what I what I like so much is that you know you you you built a life and a successful life on your own terms right and and you know I think we so
62:47 many people define success as being I don't know like I use Alon musk just because he's I think he must be the most well-known guy in the world right he's fabulously well and all this kind it's like hopefully for Alon musk he looks at himself and he says I'm successful right um most of us are not going to be Elon Musk um for a lot of reasons and that doesn't matter what we need to be is you know Jason Gerardo Kevin bemel right we we need to be who we are and and and and I think the sum summation of of of what
63:23 you've said the last hour is that that is what you've done in your life and that's what you help people do in their lives and I I I you know in this time when I think people are so dissatisfied with with their lives and their relationships and all these kind of things it seems to me a lot of that dfac dissatisfaction starts in here yeah and and then it gets projected out oh I'm dissatisfied it must be my spouse my children my co-workers my whatever so so thank thank you so much for bringing that message uh to to you know to the
63:59 viewers today I really appreciate that um just before I wrap up the show any any kind of you know final thought find what makes you happy you know find what makes you happy and find a way to get there and it's not I'm not saying it's easy I'm not saying it's overnight but truly look at pick some area in your life and say I want to I want that area to be better and just sit with yourself and say how can I make that better and just take that first step that's that's the that's how we do it we take that first step great so after the show posts I'll put your
64:34 contact information in the show notes so okay if if U you know a viewer would like to get in touch with you they'll be able to I'll put your your website email address and you know what whatever else um you you want in there so that people can get in touch with you if they'd like to to work with you so I'm gonna have you hang tight here while I wrap up the show and then we can talk offline for a minute so so folks thank you so much for watching today I really appreciate you joining us um I I I promised you a a heck of a show with with Jason and and you can see that in his quiet very
65:11 centered way Jason really delivered so I I can encourage you enough if if to you know this is I I do this I say this once in a while this is an episode I would encourage you to watch again and listen and really absorb Jason's Story and and really the the wisdom that that he offers uh I I know I found myself several times going gosh you know he's articulating something that that I've felt in here that maybe I couldn't quite formulate into words and it's it's a
65:47 very powerful skill to be able to help people do that because being able to put some intentionality behind what's inside of us can help us overcome those those hurdles that Jason was talking about so uh coming up tomorrow at 5:00 pm Pacific time is my show jiggers his place right this is this is our chance every other week to have a cocktail sit back relax talk about all those things that are not related to our businesses and professions uh my my my topic for
66:24 tomorrow afternoon is is the maltes Falcon which is the better version the book or the movie right and I I you know I'm not gonna tell you where I come down but I can tell you that I I like like bucko bansai which which I also watch about once a year I probably watch the maltes Falcon at least once or twice a year and read the book at least once or twice a year so uh you know tune in to find out what's what's this all about but there but beyond that there's there's a there's a deeper issue here right which resonates with us um you know a book maybe that's up here a movie
67:01 that's more out here so so join me for a a cocktail tomorrow at 5:00 P PM Pacific time at jigger's place and then next week at 10: am Monday uh is my show trusts and Estates weekly and then on Tuesday at 10: am is business lessons from the military and then a week from today we'll be back for the next edition of people making money so uh one more thing before I let you go if you're not a subscriber to my Channel please do consider um subscribing um that way you'll get notified every time a new a
67:38 new um episode goes live and and you know and posts on my YouTube channel um would really appreciate it h you know and having you as a you know a regular uh viewer of the show and and and maybe even a fan of course you can always I always appreciate comments criticisms and and and all of that feel free to post those um in you know in in various social media all of those links will be in the show notes as well so before signing off again Jason thank you so much for joining me today great
68:15 conversation and uh you know again we're gonna have to schedule you to come back and and we'll have another conversation and and and so then then thank you again for joining us and just signing off as I always do Marie darling You Are My Bell