Make It Extraordinary with Jacob Lawson

WEBVTT

00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:02.140
Like if you're going to make something, make it extraordinary.

00:00:02.430 --> 00:00:07.740
You know, like if you have that ability, why would you just be settling for ordinary if you can make it extraordinary?

00:00:07.849 --> 00:00:19.309
So that one moment sitting in the back of a van, when I could have listened to, you know, somebody who I highly respected and admired tell me, Oh, that's too much.

00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:20.250
I didn't listen to him.

00:00:20.250 --> 00:00:23.719
I trusted my gut, changed my business and it changed my life.

00:00:33.649 --> 00:00:45.049
Welcome to The Wayfinder Show with Luis Hernandez, where guests discuss the why and how of making changes that lead them down a more authentic path or allow them to level up in some area of their life.

00:00:46.109 --> 00:00:54.030
Our goal is to dig deep and provide not only knowledge, but actionable advice to help you get from where you are to where you want to be.

00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:57.969
Come join us and find the way to your dream life.

00:01:08.328 --> 00:01:09.849
Welcome back to the Wayfinders show.

00:01:09.849 --> 00:01:11.338
I'm your host, Louie Hernandez.

00:01:11.338 --> 00:01:12.368
And today I'm here.

00:01:13.034 --> 00:01:17.584
Uh, with Jacob Lawson, who I'm thrilled to welcome to the show.

00:01:18.013 --> 00:01:28.174
Jacob is a serial entrepreneur and author of a book called Make It Extraordinary, 27 life changing lessons that will elevate you beyond the ordinary.

00:01:28.674 --> 00:01:31.444
And he's the founder of Extraordinary Flooring, Inc.

00:01:32.024 --> 00:01:38.864
His journey from overcoming personal challenges to building a thriving business and mentoring others is nothing short of inspiring.

00:01:39.373 --> 00:01:40.034
Jacob.

00:01:40.144 --> 00:01:49.563
Has a passion for personal development and is committing to help committed to helping others unlock their full potential Through his work and writing jacob.

00:01:49.573 --> 00:01:54.384
Welcome to the show and thanks for having me louis Appreciate it.

00:01:54.713 --> 00:01:58.259
I've been looking forward to this one Yeah, likewise, man.

00:01:58.259 --> 00:02:02.108
I heard you on some other shows and like, Oh, we got to get you on the way finder shows.

00:02:02.638 --> 00:02:09.139
So we're tap, uh, you got, um, I, you know, for people who don't know, you just wrote this book and I think you're just starting to get yourself out there.

00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:14.308
So, um, if you can just share maybe your origin story with our listeners.

00:02:16.568 --> 00:02:16.938
Yeah.

00:02:17.019 --> 00:02:20.688
You know, so, you know, I'm a kind of a serial entrepreneur.

00:02:20.688 --> 00:02:24.278
I've been, been in business for over 20 years on my primary bit.

00:02:24.973 --> 00:02:28.253
Business, which is, which is my, my breadwinner, my extraordinary flooring.

00:02:28.253 --> 00:02:29.413
We're a commercial flooring company.

00:02:29.413 --> 00:02:30.903
We do, uh, polish.

00:02:31.528 --> 00:02:33.959
Concrete and decorative concrete and epoxy coatings.

00:02:34.399 --> 00:02:36.899
So it makes us a specialty flooring contractor.

00:02:36.899 --> 00:02:44.709
We're here in, uh, New Orleans and we service that whole kind of greater New Orleans area about a, about a three hour radius at a new Orleans area.

00:02:44.709 --> 00:02:48.098
So it gets us in a couple of little states and in different areas.

00:02:48.549 --> 00:02:50.118
Uh, and that's my primary.

00:02:50.313 --> 00:02:59.054
My primary portfolio that we, that we do have, you know, I've also been a home builder and, um, a general contractor or restaurateur.

00:02:59.593 --> 00:03:15.074
Uh, but, but as, as of late, as I, as I gotten into my 40s, I've, I've wanted to dive into, into more of a mentorship role and, and kind of pay back some of the things that I've been blessed with, uh, which led to me writing my first book, Make It Extraordinary.

00:03:16.723 --> 00:03:19.753
27 life changing lessons to help you on the ordinary.

00:03:20.443 --> 00:03:25.433
Basically took, uh, all of the biggest life changing lessons and the mentors.

00:03:25.864 --> 00:03:38.723
He taught them to me and I wrote a quick little story about him and, and, and put him in some lessons and paid homage to those mentors and, and, uh, you know, now I'm on a journey to, to hopefully pay it back and, and, and maybe have somebody write something about me one day.

00:03:39.524 --> 00:03:40.264
Yeah, I love that.

00:03:40.734 --> 00:03:44.563
You know, that's not much different than the origin story of the Wayfinders show, really.

00:03:44.563 --> 00:03:47.584
I was kind of inspired, uh, I'm in my late forties now.

00:03:48.054 --> 00:03:58.989
And, um, And, you know, we were inspired to go and share stories of people who've done some inspirational things to try to motivate and inspire other young people, you know.

00:03:59.549 --> 00:04:07.919
Uh, and in particular, I really like, you know, kind of the story of overcoming hardship, right?

00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.438
Which I know you have a lot of that.

00:04:09.883 --> 00:04:22.149
In in your book because I I think that's important, you know, we look up to people who are really successful You know, we think that they've always been that way but the the real success is built In the struggle, right?

00:04:22.619 --> 00:04:24.348
So can you talk about some of those?

00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.928
Struggles and hardships you had to overcome to get to where you are now.

00:04:30.309 --> 00:04:58.738
Yeah, I mean for sure You know, I started in an offshore career and then I and I kind of in my off time was was working for a kind Of best friend slash big brother mentor as a side job doing flooring and I knew that I didn't want to live my life offshore Or so, you know, eventually I decided to make that jump and when I did make that jump, I called it my Home Depot bucket and a prayer card or a prayer moment.

00:04:59.478 --> 00:05:02.468
You know, I didn't have jobs lined up.

00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:04.048
I didn't have work secured.

00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:05.968
I didn't have a ton of equipment.

00:05:06.088 --> 00:05:07.889
I didn't have a ton of money left over.

00:05:07.889 --> 00:05:22.394
I took, I just finished taking all of my savings and dumping it into my first home and Um, you know, and, and it's one of the titles, one of the chapters and it was a Home Depot bucket and a prayer, you know, a Home Depot card in a prayer.

00:05:22.394 --> 00:05:32.853
I'm sorry, uh, because that, that's what kind of got me through the first year of business, you know, racking up that Home Depot card and, uh, buying tools and, and, and just starting to grind.

00:05:33.843 --> 00:05:35.863
Um, I.

00:05:36.283 --> 00:05:47.994
Always had a great work ethic instilled in me, you know, whether it was instilled from my parents, my grandparents, you know, they definitely helped and, you know, whatever it came and natural abilities.

00:05:48.033 --> 00:05:49.983
I was always a hard worker, even as a kid.

00:05:50.454 --> 00:05:52.738
And so that was the thing that really helped me.

00:05:52.949 --> 00:06:04.889
Just pulled me through my first, I would call it at least 10 to 12 years, 10 to 15 years of business and just grinding work ethic, making sure you're doing right by your clients.

00:06:05.259 --> 00:06:11.059
Um, and, and when your back's against the wall, stand there and fight, you know, and don't give up on it.

00:06:11.228 --> 00:06:17.668
And, uh, you know, that, that kind of work ethic is, was definitely needed through my first 15 years of business.

00:06:18.259 --> 00:06:21.569
And, uh, it, it definitely pulled me to those next levels.

00:06:22.803 --> 00:06:23.314
Interesting.

00:06:23.684 --> 00:06:27.024
So you, you, let's open it up a little bit.

00:06:27.024 --> 00:06:30.163
You said you went offshore into offshore flooring.

00:06:30.413 --> 00:06:31.004
What does that mean?

00:06:31.014 --> 00:06:34.403
You went like to other countries and stuff to do flooring work.

00:06:37.363 --> 00:06:38.684
Uh, not to do flooring work.

00:06:38.684 --> 00:06:39.754
It started in the oil field.

00:06:39.764 --> 00:06:41.244
So it started in the oil field.

00:06:41.244 --> 00:06:45.694
And, and I'm in Louisiana, which is a big oil field state, you know, oil and gas production.

00:06:46.264 --> 00:06:52.514
Um, and you can get a lot of that done right here in Louisiana, but I, uh, really quickly turned into overseas.

00:06:52.514 --> 00:06:53.754
I did go to Africa.

00:06:54.314 --> 00:07:13.163
Um, worked a couple of years in Africa, which led me to a bunch of different countries just kind of intermittently traveling, which was an amazing time for a 20 year old, 21 year old kid out of high school, making great money and got to see some really cool stuff.

00:07:13.723 --> 00:07:23.863
Uh, my dad had that same career and he would always say that, you know, if you ever catch somebody complaining about the things you got to deal with in the States.

00:07:24.413 --> 00:07:29.084
Tell them to go work in a third world country for a couple months and, and, and they'll stop those complaints.

00:07:29.353 --> 00:07:39.944
You know, you, you, you kind of learned that it ain't Kansas anymore when you get to some of these other countries and, you know, it ain't, uh, calling, calling 9 1 1 and anybody coming to save you.

00:07:39.944 --> 00:07:47.334
You can call whoever you want, but you're kind of on your own out there and, and, and you go into these different worlds and you start respecting.

00:07:47.434 --> 00:07:51.413
And although our country is not perfect, it is still one of the greatest countries in the world.

00:07:51.413 --> 00:07:52.723
And you start realizing why.

00:07:53.153 --> 00:07:59.454
And you start going to some of these smaller third world countries that don't have the freedoms and liberties that we have that's right.

00:08:00.653 --> 00:08:01.223
Yeah point.

00:08:01.223 --> 00:08:08.593
Well taken um the So so you went so so how did you get into flooring exactly?

00:08:10.603 --> 00:08:24.678
I had I had a next door neighbor who who was kind of treated me like uh, like a big brother I never had any brothers and uh, he was You know, probably it's the thing is a good 10 years older than me and he lived next door and he had his own flooring company.

00:08:24.678 --> 00:08:31.579
And so when you work offshore, you'll typically do different hitches of three weeks on one week off or two weeks on one week off.

00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:36.739
You'd have different, different times where you go work straight and then you come home for an extended period of time.

00:08:37.349 --> 00:08:41.639
And, um, I was never very, uh, good with just being idle.

00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:48.489
So if I had a way to go make some extra money, which he presented that opportunity to me, I would do so on all the times I'd be off.

00:08:48.884 --> 00:08:49.943
I would go to work with him.

00:08:50.053 --> 00:08:53.403
And that's how I picked up that, that kind of, that trade of flooring.

00:08:54.333 --> 00:08:54.884
Oh, I see.

00:08:54.903 --> 00:08:55.543
And you liked it.

00:08:55.553 --> 00:08:58.244
And I'm assuming you were just like, Hey, I can do this for myself.

00:09:01.234 --> 00:09:03.323
Well, yeah, I mean, I, I did like it.

00:09:03.504 --> 00:09:06.083
Uh, basically it was just another opportunity.

00:09:06.083 --> 00:09:09.264
It's not like, Oh, I just fell in love with laying tile.

00:09:09.668 --> 00:09:17.688
But I did see the opportunity and, you know, my big brother, Jeremy, he, he, he painted that opportunity for me and he showed me what was possible.

00:09:18.109 --> 00:09:22.668
Um, actually, you know, coincidentally, he, he had a similar upbringing.

00:09:22.668 --> 00:09:25.879
He, he started early in the old field career and quit and did that.

00:09:27.078 --> 00:09:34.649
No, he was, you know, I guess, you know, in his early thirties at the time and, you know, had a nice house, nice car, all the money he cash he wanted.

00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:40.048
And he just, you know, it kind of, it was that opportunity to show me that, you know, if you just grind and hustle.

00:09:40.673 --> 00:09:44.774
And and whichever one you choose, and it happened to be he chose flooring.

00:09:45.239 --> 00:09:55.149
And I seen that opportunity and, um, you know, and he, he, he showed me he showed me what's what was capable from just, you know, going out there and working hard and getting it on your own.

00:09:55.339 --> 00:09:57.908
You didn't have to go work for somebody else.

00:09:57.908 --> 00:10:02.839
You know, you can go work for yourself, you know, and so he showed me that opportunity and I just kind of opened that door for me.

00:10:02.839 --> 00:10:07.178
So I'd say I just kind of fell into floor and it happened to be who knows he could have been a.

00:10:07.803 --> 00:10:14.203
You know, any other trade and it might have turned out completely different, but it just so happened that he was laying floors and that's what got me started.

00:10:15.193 --> 00:10:17.313
So then you went off on your own.

00:10:18.014 --> 00:10:22.894
Did you, uh, was it extraordinary flooring for Negeco or how did you start?

00:10:26.514 --> 00:10:28.644
It was Big Jake's affordable flooring.

00:10:28.903 --> 00:10:32.854
Uh, from the get go, uh, big Jake was the childhood nickname.

00:10:33.193 --> 00:10:36.004
It was also my, uh, my hip hop persona.

00:10:36.583 --> 00:10:39.173
Uh, we had, uh, we had a hip hop record label at that time.

00:10:39.943 --> 00:10:43.833
So, uh, big Jake's affordable floor and is how it started.

00:10:43.833 --> 00:10:49.063
And I was always, of course, attracting the biggest spenders with that name.

00:10:49.063 --> 00:10:55.683
You know, of course, that's exactly who the, the, uh, the well off or, or, or shooting for with that, that kind of a name.

00:10:56.124 --> 00:10:57.884
Um, and so, no, that's how it started.

00:10:57.884 --> 00:10:58.323
And that's exactly.

00:10:59.318 --> 00:11:09.089
Exactly what I was attracting was the, the, the nifty and thrifty spenders of the world looking to get the, uh, you know, the best bang for their buck in the cheapest price.

00:11:09.538 --> 00:11:13.438
Um, that didn't last very long.

00:11:13.658 --> 00:11:15.989
Um, maybe six months into it.

00:11:16.178 --> 00:11:25.208
I, uh, I kind of had an aha moment and that aha moment came actually doing some pickup work with him riding in a bag of his van.

00:11:25.823 --> 00:11:30.104
At the end of the day, and I just kind of had an aha moment and said, I got it.

00:11:30.813 --> 00:11:31.543
And he's like, what?

00:11:32.433 --> 00:11:34.134
I said, I know what I'm changing my name to.

00:11:35.764 --> 00:11:36.313
He's like, what?

00:11:36.543 --> 00:11:37.923
I said, extraordinary flooring.

00:11:38.693 --> 00:11:39.413
He's like, you sure?

00:11:39.413 --> 00:11:40.293
That's a little much.

00:11:40.354 --> 00:11:40.913
I said, no.

00:11:41.384 --> 00:11:42.783
This is what I'm changing my name to.

00:11:42.783 --> 00:11:44.563
I'm changing it to Extraordinary Flooring.

00:11:44.573 --> 00:11:47.484
It's no longer Big Jake's Affordable Flooring.

00:11:47.484 --> 00:11:48.634
It's Extraordinary Flooring.

00:11:49.224 --> 00:11:54.283
He kind of gave me a side eye, like, I don't know, it's a little much for you, you know, but I was like, didn't matter.

00:11:54.344 --> 00:11:57.244
It was, it was set, you know, that's what I was going for.

00:11:57.244 --> 00:11:58.293
That's what I was going to do.

00:11:59.349 --> 00:12:00.408
That's what I changed.

00:12:00.458 --> 00:12:02.058
And that changed my whole persona.

00:12:02.058 --> 00:12:06.548
That changed the way, the mindset of what I was going to provide.

00:12:07.158 --> 00:12:10.438
And almost instantaneously, it changed my clientele.

00:12:10.548 --> 00:12:17.058
You know, almost instantaneously, from there on out, I started attracting completely different clientele.

00:12:17.658 --> 00:12:18.724
And, you know.

00:12:19.094 --> 00:12:28.104
Was it because I changed the name or because I changed the mindset because I changed the way I thought about it You know that changed what I was attracting, right?

00:12:28.153 --> 00:12:50.994
so that was a huge thing for me that you know, it was it was a One moment on an evening in the back of a van, you know Could have listened to his advice and said oh, maybe that's too much and maybe I think of something else I trusted my gut and I went with it and it changed and it changed everything.

00:12:50.994 --> 00:12:51.884
It changed my mindset.

00:12:51.884 --> 00:12:52.913
It changed the way we did business.

00:12:52.933 --> 00:12:54.193
It changed the way I attracted clients.

00:12:54.193 --> 00:12:55.614
It changed, changed everything.

00:12:57.163 --> 00:13:06.624
And to, to say that it changed my business, you know, 20 years ago is one thing, but it's changed my life.

00:13:07.234 --> 00:13:09.764
It's now what it's, it's now my motto.

00:13:09.764 --> 00:13:10.609
It's not.

00:13:10.828 --> 00:13:13.438
My flooring model of make it extraordinary.

00:13:13.438 --> 00:13:14.639
It's my life model.

00:13:14.668 --> 00:13:16.359
It is what I live by.

00:13:16.369 --> 00:13:17.229
It's my credence.

00:13:17.229 --> 00:13:18.448
It's my North star.

00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.019
Like if you're gonna make something, make it extraordinary.

00:13:23.308 --> 00:13:28.619
You know, like if you have that ability, why would you just be selling for ordinary if you can make it extraordinary?

00:13:28.729 --> 00:13:31.619
So that one moment sitting in the back of a van.

00:13:32.428 --> 00:13:40.198
When I could have listened to, you know, somebody who I highly respected and admired, tell me, Oh, that's too much.

00:13:40.318 --> 00:13:41.129
I didn't listen to him.

00:13:41.129 --> 00:13:44.629
I trusted my gut, changed my business and it changed my life.

00:13:46.474 --> 00:13:49.394
Man, I, uh, I absolutely love that.

00:13:49.443 --> 00:13:50.864
That, that's awesome.

00:13:50.864 --> 00:13:52.433
Let, let's dissect that.

00:13:53.124 --> 00:13:58.024
I mean, you've done a good, good job of already dissecting like the mindset behind that, right?

00:13:58.024 --> 00:13:59.114
Which is, is huge.

00:13:59.134 --> 00:14:03.543
But I, I kind of want to dissect it almost like in a business level, right?

00:14:03.583 --> 00:14:10.193
When you were Big Jake's affordable flooring, your clients, um, well, you, you kind of joked around about it.

00:14:10.244 --> 00:14:12.234
They were just the people looking for the best deal, right?

00:14:12.264 --> 00:14:23.479
So you, you were, Essentially a commodity who people were just trying to get for the cheapest and lowest, you know, uh prices And what was it?

00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:42.928
I I imagine in that um, it didn't take long before you felt a certain way I mean you you said six months you were like i'm changing it and um, There's something about that right that you feel like people are treating you like a commodity right and you and you are Devaluing yourself.

00:14:42.958 --> 00:14:43.678
Would you agree?

00:14:44.823 --> 00:14:45.663
There's no doubt.

00:14:46.234 --> 00:14:47.774
There's absolutely no doubt.

00:14:47.943 --> 00:14:53.644
Um, Jeremy's clientele was in that moderate stage.

00:14:53.644 --> 00:14:57.073
He was doing at least, you know, three and 500, 000 homes.

00:14:57.083 --> 00:14:59.594
So he was always at least doing new nice homes.

00:14:59.974 --> 00:15:04.994
And then when I broke off onto my own, I was doing section eight apartments.

00:15:05.124 --> 00:15:14.153
I was doing dirty little bathrooms in the back of grocery stores and just things that you just didn't even want to touch.

00:15:14.163 --> 00:15:18.193
You go into a house and it'd be like, Oh, you don't even want to go in here.

00:15:18.193 --> 00:15:21.264
You know, whether it be the cat lady's house or something that hadn't been.

00:15:23.484 --> 00:15:30.283
Remodeled in 20 years, you know, and, you know, things that just, there was absolutely no joy in doing it.

00:15:30.594 --> 00:15:36.203
There was no sense of pride when it was done because you weren't doing anything special.

00:15:36.203 --> 00:15:45.653
You were doing the cheapest tile at the cheapest house or the cheapest apartment for the cheapest person who still, no matter how cheap the price was, still wanted to get a better deal.

00:15:45.663 --> 00:15:45.884
Usually.

00:15:47.538 --> 00:15:48.698
Julie, right.

00:15:48.708 --> 00:15:53.479
So, um, you, you weren't making a ton of money at the end of it because of all of the above.

00:15:53.859 --> 00:15:56.448
So there was no sense of satisfaction in any of that.

00:15:56.499 --> 00:15:57.599
It was, there was none.

00:15:57.629 --> 00:16:01.038
It was, you know, it's like none of it made me happy.

00:16:01.048 --> 00:16:09.719
None of it made me feel good about what I did or feel prideful in what I was doing, other than the fact that, you know, I was putting food.

00:16:11.514 --> 00:16:13.803
Put on a table for for me and my young family.

00:16:14.614 --> 00:16:14.974
Yeah.

00:16:16.024 --> 00:16:16.254
Yeah.

00:16:16.254 --> 00:16:26.964
Well put so then you When you take that and you you start being you you change it into extraordinary where you did you start becoming?

00:16:27.374 --> 00:17:00.844
Selective in your clientele Like how did you just change because it must be hard when you had a steady flow of business in the affordable flooring space And then all of a sudden you're trying to attract something else, like you, it's two different worlds, two different realms all together, how did, did, you know, did, did the clients just start coming in right away and you didn't have to worry about cutting the others off, or, or did you consciously say, nah, that's not me, um, I'm gonna, uh, uh, I'm gonna wait for my, my, you know, the extraordinary clients to come.

00:17:02.514 --> 00:17:03.783
There was a little bit of both.

00:17:03.884 --> 00:17:07.854
Um, there was still, you know, still the need to make sure that the bills got paid.

00:17:07.874 --> 00:17:13.943
So, you know, still had to take some jobs that, you know, weren't your dream clients or dream jobs.

00:17:13.983 --> 00:17:18.003
But, you know, I have another chapter in the book called guys, divine timing.

00:17:21.044 --> 00:17:32.983
And, you know, it's, it's based off of the premise that, you know, like if you put, you put these things together, put these thoughts in the world, put these, these, these goals and ambitions in there and you start chasing after them, maybe they don't happen exactly when you would love them.

00:17:33.463 --> 00:17:50.804
To happen, you know, maybe it doesn't happen overnight, but if you're continuing in that process is going to happen and, you know, whether it was, you know, as divine timing, divine luck, karma, or just pure outlook, it, it almost instantly happened.

00:17:50.814 --> 00:17:54.933
We, we started landing some, some really big, uh, contract.

00:17:57.378 --> 00:17:59.868
we're doing multimillion dollar homes.

00:18:00.348 --> 00:18:03.939
And, you know, as an early business, I only had a couple of guys working with me at the time.

00:18:03.999 --> 00:18:08.219
And, you know, that would be, you know, big, huge jobs for us.

00:18:08.578 --> 00:18:15.348
So that would give us instead of trying to chop up and do 10, 15 bathrooms in a week, you know, we're doing a whole house.

00:18:15.348 --> 00:18:22.019
That might take us, you know, two to four weeks, which then also gives you time to start landing those other clients in the same time.

00:18:23.888 --> 00:18:24.348
And.

00:18:24.894 --> 00:18:28.794
It didn't take much at the same time I landed some of those big contractors.

00:18:28.794 --> 00:18:39.183
I landed a couple of high end flooring stores, which, you know, they sold high end flooring and then, you know, led, which led to the leads of, of getting that flooring installed.

00:18:39.753 --> 00:18:48.314
And um, you know, it was kind of off to the races from there nice So you you've got a few transition points that you've grown with that.

00:18:48.584 --> 00:19:07.749
I find interesting One is is the one we just discussed right just How you become a really clear intentional and what you want your business to be like your clients um, you know the How you value yourself and all that, but then there's others along the way as you grow, like you, you know, you started doing the floors yourself, right?

00:19:08.118 --> 00:19:13.328
And now I imagine, I'm making assumptions here, but I imagine you're not going out and doing any floors, right?

00:19:13.328 --> 00:19:17.189
You got some people out there, you might have people managing those people, am I right?

00:19:19.868 --> 00:19:22.108
Yeah, no, now we're now we're a team of 20.

00:19:22.128 --> 00:19:29.538
So, so definitely we're, we're not doing any, and it wasn't too long into the business that, that I couldn't do the flooring anymore.

00:19:29.638 --> 00:19:34.439
You know, that we had enough work going on to where I'd have, you know, within the first year I had.

00:19:35.828 --> 00:19:52.538
I had six or eight guys, uh, working with me and you know, when you get that, that amount of guys under you, there's, you know, you can try to, you can try to do the work, but you, you gotta manage, you know, and if you're not managing, then you can do all the work you want, but everybody else is laying on your leg and you ain't getting nothing done that way.

00:19:52.538 --> 00:19:58.298
So, um, you know, so instantly I had to learn, I had to learn to, uh, you know, start managing that.

00:19:58.878 --> 00:20:02.469
And, you know, I call it a year into that and we're rolling.

00:20:03.663 --> 00:20:16.584
Next thing you know, the biggest transition hits, which was a groundbreaking moment here and here in Louisiana and almost as soon as we start rolling Katrina hits, you know, right.

00:20:16.594 --> 00:20:18.943
And that was a whole nother whole.

00:20:19.433 --> 00:20:21.304
So that was that was right at that time.

00:20:21.304 --> 00:20:24.729
I'm a year and we start rolling and then we get smacked with Katrina.

00:20:25.358 --> 00:20:38.858
Which was just, you know, a monumental occurrence, some of the biggest destruction in this nation seen, uh, you know, over time and, you know, second biggest hurricane in Louisiana's history.

00:20:39.459 --> 00:20:45.148
And, uh, you know, so obviously there was some downtime, you know, to clear through some of that aftermath.

00:20:45.148 --> 00:20:49.778
But once, once that downtime was, was in, it was, it was, it was really.

00:20:49.979 --> 00:20:52.919
You know, as much work as I could handle.

00:20:53.068 --> 00:20:57.798
And I was sitting here trying to recruit any able bodied person I could.

00:20:57.798 --> 00:21:06.999
And, and, and we were, you know, I had, you know, I was running as much as 15 at that time, you know, into a year into business, but, you know, Katrina was just.

00:21:08.203 --> 00:21:17.243
You know, a chaotic occurrence that, that almost 80 percent of this general area needed to be completely rebuilt.

00:21:18.023 --> 00:21:18.344
Wow.

00:21:18.344 --> 00:21:21.384
That was, that was, that was another groundbreaking moment for us.

00:21:21.384 --> 00:21:23.473
And it just happened so fast into my career.

00:21:23.483 --> 00:21:27.834
You know, once again, it just, it led to, I needed to learn how to manage more people.

00:21:27.834 --> 00:21:31.278
And if I had my business acumen.

00:21:32.388 --> 00:21:37.749
Where I am now, I would have made and retained more money than I did.

00:21:37.788 --> 00:21:49.259
We brought in a lot of money, but I was still learning, you know, and I was, you know, making money on this side and losing money on this side, you know, cause you got so much going on and you're new in business and you're not prepared for that.

00:21:49.259 --> 00:21:53.108
And that's where that business IQ really starts to come in.

00:21:53.749 --> 00:21:55.618
And, you know, you can always say live and learn.

00:21:55.618 --> 00:21:57.078
And that was definitely living and learning.

00:21:57.078 --> 00:22:12.699
But had I had the business acumen and knowledge that I have now, You know, I, I probably would have banked a couple million dollars at that time, you know, so, um, but it's a living and learning process and, and, you know, that's part of the book.

00:22:13.078 --> 00:22:21.568
I share so many lessons on what I call the, the first off easy lessons from the mentors that taught it to me just by being blessed to have them in my life.

00:22:21.963 --> 00:22:32.814
And then what I call the hard lessons, which you learn the hard way in business, you know, like learning the hard way you got to get those costly mistakes that cost you a lot of money.

00:22:32.814 --> 00:22:38.443
And typically the more costly they are, the better you learn that lesson.

00:22:38.973 --> 00:22:52.463
And then what I call the expensive way when you're paying to be in that room, paying to be close to those mentors, paying to be, you know, and learn those lessons from the people who have already, already learned them, right?

00:22:52.463 --> 00:23:02.364
So, uh, part of that book is the, the easy, the hard and the expensive, and a lot of times the hard is equally as expensive, but when you're just paying to get.

00:23:02.969 --> 00:23:03.618
That easy.

00:23:03.618 --> 00:23:05.318
It's, it's, it's not hard, right?

00:23:05.378 --> 00:23:07.128
It's you, you're paying to get that.

00:23:07.148 --> 00:23:11.078
It's expensive, but it didn't like learning a lesson the hard way.

00:23:12.269 --> 00:23:13.628
So I would imagine, right.

00:23:13.628 --> 00:23:14.979
You, you learn it the hard way.

00:23:14.989 --> 00:23:16.308
It's going to stick, right?

00:23:16.308 --> 00:23:20.898
You know, you're not gonna, you learn, you really learn, right?

00:23:21.328 --> 00:23:27.808
So, uh, and even unfortunately, you know, the expensive way I equate that to, you know, going to college and everything.

00:23:27.808 --> 00:23:30.479
And sometimes that sticks, sometimes that doesn't, right.

00:23:30.479 --> 00:23:34.689
How many of us forget everything we learned as soon as we get out of school and.

00:23:34.773 --> 00:23:35.854
You know, had that degree.

00:23:35.854 --> 00:23:37.824
We forgot everything we just learned, right?

00:23:38.403 --> 00:23:40.223
We still got that bill though, right?

00:23:40.243 --> 00:24:04.219
So it's it's funny all of my hardest lessons that I learned from getting spanked I call them college semesters, you know If I lose more than a couple grand on a lesson or a job or a project or a mistake That's a college semester and that's why I tell people i've got my doctor Cause I've, I've taken so many, so many lessons the hard way.

00:24:04.219 --> 00:24:07.298
Never, never been into college other than to lay their floors.

00:24:07.328 --> 00:24:10.888
But, uh, I've, I've definitely gotten my degrees through the lessons.

00:24:10.888 --> 00:24:11.489
I've learned the hard way.

00:24:12.088 --> 00:24:12.439
Yeah.

00:24:12.939 --> 00:24:21.068
Outside of Katrina, is there, is there another really hard one that really stands out to, to that when you came out of it?

00:24:21.808 --> 00:25:06.344
Really elevated your business and yourself to another level The next the next real big elevation, you know things Grew nice and steadily and progressively over the next few years and and you know, life is good And you know all that good stuff continually to slowly grow and implement and change Um that the next biggest lesson came came at another monumental um point in almost everybody's life, uh, and this is as of As of recent, a couple of years ago, and that was COVID, um, COVID came and, and, and extraordinary foreign was rolling, rolling pretty well, damn near on autopilot.

00:25:06.344 --> 00:25:08.064
I had started a few other businesses.

00:25:08.064 --> 00:25:09.763
I had started a home building business.

00:25:10.134 --> 00:25:12.233
Um, I had multiple partners.

00:25:12.233 --> 00:25:14.723
We were doing multiple homes at a time.

00:25:15.544 --> 00:25:24.993
I had also started up a restaurant, uh, with my wife and another partner, um, and kind of had a lot of these balls juggling in the air at the same time.

00:25:25.368 --> 00:25:36.999
And, uh, three weeks into getting that restaurant off the ground, it was about a half a million dollar setup that we, that we did and three weeks into grand opening COVID smacks us all dead in the face.

00:25:37.659 --> 00:25:53.699
Um, at the same time, COVID smacks us in the face of the restaurant, building materials and labor went through the roof, you know, building materials instantly almost, uh, for like home building materials almost doubled instantly when that happened.

00:25:54.358 --> 00:25:57.239
Like lumber doubled in some points, 2.

00:25:57.239 --> 00:25:59.479
5 times.

00:25:59.479 --> 00:26:04.628
Um, yeah, yeah, it was, it was ridiculous.

00:26:05.148 --> 00:26:08.618
Um, and then, you know, a lot of the projects.

00:26:09.144 --> 00:26:11.903
That we had slated on the books for extraordinary flooring.

00:26:12.314 --> 00:26:15.403
We're kind of up in the air and, you know, can we move forward?

00:26:15.403 --> 00:26:16.334
Can we do this?

00:26:16.334 --> 00:26:18.324
How do you do this with social distancing?

00:26:18.334 --> 00:26:19.094
How do you do that?

00:26:19.124 --> 00:26:19.503
You know?

00:26:19.933 --> 00:26:24.594
Um, so, you know, that was another, that was kind of that next pivotal moment.

00:26:25.824 --> 00:26:29.534
And at that time, that's when I really started.

00:26:29.993 --> 00:26:33.574
Uh, you know, we all had a little bit more time on our hands than normal.

00:26:34.273 --> 00:26:39.124
And, uh, I started diving into, I actually stumbled upon, uh, Grant Cardone.

00:26:39.913 --> 00:26:41.453
And, uh, he intrigued me.

00:26:41.453 --> 00:26:44.413
He was, I jumped onto some of his real estate stuff.

00:26:44.413 --> 00:26:49.614
And, you know, at the time we were, we were, you know, building a bunch of homes and we were building, buying a bunch of land.

00:26:51.038 --> 00:26:59.528
And to build these spec homes on and, uh, and, and that dove me into my personal development journey.

00:27:00.288 --> 00:27:11.159
And while things were going, you know, really good before COVID happened, uh, they were kind of just going organically.

00:27:11.159 --> 00:27:17.209
And once again, you know, my work ethic and determination is basically driving most of that stuff.

00:27:18.259 --> 00:27:24.368
Wasn't that I was, um, just becoming this super intelligent entrepreneur or anything.

00:27:24.368 --> 00:27:35.058
I was just, you know, living by the basic means of entrepreneurship of working hard, doing the right thing by your clients, getting all that done and, and learning the lessons along the way.

00:27:35.548 --> 00:27:43.929
Um, this is really when I decided that I, I know that I've got more inside of me.

00:27:44.108 --> 00:27:44.909
You know, to learn.

00:27:45.058 --> 00:27:54.949
I know that I can learn so much more in this real estate world, in this business development world, you know, um, you know, all of these things and personal development.

00:27:55.028 --> 00:27:58.269
And that's when I started diving into that personal development.

00:27:58.818 --> 00:28:04.788
Um, at the same time, I also wanted to get back to my physical development.

00:28:05.239 --> 00:28:06.699
I had kind of let myself go.

00:28:06.808 --> 00:28:08.598
I was running all of these different businesses.

00:28:08.598 --> 00:28:10.159
I was doing all of these different things.

00:28:10.919 --> 00:28:19.249
Um, you know, running a restaurant, I, I would start my day with the flooring company, then go into the home building and finish my day at the restaurant.

00:28:21.469 --> 00:28:24.949
After, after doing all of that, you're finishing your day at the restaurant.

00:28:25.068 --> 00:28:29.028
Uh, you know, I would finish my, finish my day at the bar, at the restaurant.

00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:33.528
And, uh, that, that led to, you know, just not taking care of myself.

00:28:33.528 --> 00:28:45.969
I was sitting here just kind of burning at both ends and, and, and not taking care of myself physically, not taking care of myself mentally, not growing as a leader, not growing as an entrepreneur.

00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:57.128
Um, and, uh, you know, that, that sparked that huge, excuse me, that huge change in my life where I knew I had more to develop.

00:28:57.449 --> 00:29:01.638
I knew I had more mentally, I knew I had more physically, I knew I had more spiritually.

00:29:02.318 --> 00:29:05.979
You know, things were, things were good in my household, but I knew they could be better.

00:29:06.449 --> 00:29:13.193
I knew that I was somebody who was completely buried in work and didn't really have much else to offer.

00:29:13.973 --> 00:29:20.784
offer other than just being this hard working guy trying to get all of this stuff done, but I knew I had more.

00:29:20.923 --> 00:29:26.874
And, and that's where this, this whole pivotal change came in me where I knew I could be more.

00:29:28.084 --> 00:29:31.794
And I dove a hundred percent into personal.

00:29:32.108 --> 00:29:56.398
And professional and physical development into myself, which in turn coming out, out of that is what has gotten me motivated to, to know that, you know, everybody can do really well, just kind of going at pace in the world, but you know, you've got something else in you and you can dig deeper and get that.

00:29:56.949 --> 00:29:58.489
And that's what led to this.

00:29:58.969 --> 00:30:00.179
Make it extraordinary.

00:30:00.179 --> 00:30:03.759
Not being my extraordinary flooring model, but being my life model.

00:30:03.798 --> 00:30:08.138
That's what, that's what led to me saying, all right, Jake, you've learned these lessons so far.

00:30:08.509 --> 00:30:12.358
You know, um, you know, how can you start teaching this to other people?

00:30:12.368 --> 00:30:14.949
How can you start sharing some of these lessons with other people?

00:30:15.048 --> 00:30:19.098
How can you start, you know, where your life was, it was good.

00:30:19.239 --> 00:30:23.058
It was fine, but you knew you could make it better.

00:30:23.159 --> 00:30:24.469
You did make it better.

00:30:24.838 --> 00:30:26.989
How can you start sharing that journey with other people?

00:30:29.108 --> 00:30:34.419
So that led to the book that led to the book.

00:30:34.648 --> 00:30:39.378
It's uh, I was, I was just kind of felt, felt called to write it.

00:30:40.048 --> 00:30:48.378
Um, it started as what I think is going to be my next book, which is The Extraordinary Process.

00:30:49.439 --> 00:30:56.138
And as I start diving in and start writing it, I'm like, you know, The Extraordinary Process is something you're still developing.

00:30:56.878 --> 00:31:00.259
You, you've got a lot of these lessons and chapters in here.

00:31:00.864 --> 00:31:06.884
You know what, you know what that, that, that has taken where, where it's going, where you're coming from for that.

00:31:08.413 --> 00:31:09.544
You're still developing it.

00:31:10.314 --> 00:31:14.134
And then I said, you know, but I know I'm ready to write a book.

00:31:14.134 --> 00:31:15.894
I'm called to write this book.

00:31:15.903 --> 00:31:16.753
I want to write this book.

00:31:16.763 --> 00:31:17.933
I said, so what can you write it on?

00:31:18.074 --> 00:31:24.874
I said, let me take every big life changing lesson that I've had thus far.

00:31:25.433 --> 00:31:29.882
And let me put it in a book, you know, and that's where I started diving in.

00:31:29.882 --> 00:31:30.148
Like.

00:31:30.378 --> 00:31:32.538
Where was a pivotal moment that changed my life?

00:31:33.048 --> 00:31:38.548
What was that step that did something that, that made your life go in this direction?

00:31:38.558 --> 00:31:45.328
What was a, you know, every life changing lesson that I had is, is, is in that book.

00:31:45.739 --> 00:31:48.898
And I wrote it, I wrote the quick little story behind it.

00:31:49.459 --> 00:32:16.489
And I paid homage to the mentors or the people that I learned from, um, and that goes from early on childhood lessons to young teenage and early 20 adolescence lessons, some knucklehead lessons in there, uh, to, to then the expensive, the business acumen lessons that I've, that I've learned from the mentors that I've paid to be in the rooms with, you know, and paid to get into those seminars, paid to get into those masterminds.

00:32:16.929 --> 00:32:19.858
You know, um, you know, those lessons as well.

00:32:20.269 --> 00:32:26.288
And those are the ones that have really been, you know, those next level business lessons, right?

00:32:26.739 --> 00:32:34.939
Those, those ones that take you from just the work ethic and determination grit that got me so far to those next levels of business.

00:32:36.999 --> 00:32:40.469
So what, uh, what, what, what do you hope to accomplish with the book?

00:32:40.578 --> 00:32:43.209
Is it simply to just get people inspired?

00:32:44.509 --> 00:32:53.479
Do you have any other, well, I'll just come out and say, like, I've heard you say you also want to use it as a tool to help open doors.

00:32:53.628 --> 00:32:57.479
So what are those doors you want to open with the book?

00:32:59.378 --> 00:33:06.314
The doors I'm looking to open, you know, um, I think God's going to put them out in front of me.

00:33:06.963 --> 00:33:14.614
Um, I do know that I'm put here to be more than just, you know, the owner of my flooring company.

00:33:14.624 --> 00:33:17.824
I do know I'm put here to be more than just the author of this book.

00:33:18.433 --> 00:33:28.314
Uh, I was blessed to have many people in my life to help me get to where I am today to teach me these lessons that I've learned that, that put me in these directions that I'm in.

00:33:28.874 --> 00:33:31.874
I really, really enjoy mentoring.

00:33:32.838 --> 00:33:46.989
You know, people that are looking for mentorship, that are looking, that are struggling in these different, different categories, you know, the four kind of, we talked about earlier, the kind of four pillars, health, wealth, spiritual relationships.

00:33:46.989 --> 00:33:55.999
You know, those are kind of those four things to me that when you've got all four of those in line, you know, you, you, it's what made me feel extraordinary when I had all four of those combined.

00:33:56.048 --> 00:34:02.439
I felt great, you know, and I felt good many times in life when I didn't have all four of those in sync.

00:34:02.898 --> 00:34:07.028
But when I got them in sync, that's when I truly felt extraordinary.

00:34:07.429 --> 00:34:12.608
So, you know, definitely gonna, you know, gonna help in the mentorship role.

00:34:13.068 --> 00:34:21.438
Um, you know, we will eventually do some, you know, do some, you know, maybe masterminds and mentorship programs and things of that nature.

00:34:21.438 --> 00:34:24.789
But for now, I'm just, you know, I'm, I'm just opening it up.

00:34:24.849 --> 00:34:30.208
I'm getting, this is the start of this journey that, that I'm trying to spread this message, you know, worldwide.

00:34:31.164 --> 00:34:42.884
You know, over the course of my life, I plan on helping millions, you know, inspiring them to find fine with that, that, that extraordinary version of themselves is fine with that extraordinary quality that they may have.

00:34:43.463 --> 00:35:00.114
You know, uh, I believe everybody has something extraordinary inside of them, you know, whether, whether they're willing to admit it or whether they're willing to dig for it yet is up to them, you know, but you know, the same way I felt that, you know, I could have been satisfied with status quo.

00:35:01.164 --> 00:35:06.773
I knew and felt that there was more to me than what I was putting out there.

00:35:07.083 --> 00:35:07.884
And life was good.

00:35:07.914 --> 00:35:19.684
You know, there's nothing wrong with my life and there's nothing wrong with so many, everybody else's lives, but they still have something else inside of them that they can either share with the world or share with their family.

00:35:20.043 --> 00:35:21.213
We'll just be proud of that.

00:35:21.213 --> 00:35:22.563
They're putting it out themselves.

00:35:23.009 --> 00:35:30.409
And I feel that, you know, there's many, there's many others that feel the exact same way that, you know, they're doing fine.

00:35:30.668 --> 00:35:33.998
Life is good, but it can definitely be better.

00:35:34.489 --> 00:35:41.179
And to be extraordinary, to feel extraordinary, there's, there's no other, there's no other feelings.

00:35:43.068 --> 00:35:55.949
So what, what will practically like really, um, uh, um, in, in, in, in raw way, like what will success look like?

00:35:55.978 --> 00:36:00.889
Not figuratively, but just like, you know, 10 years from now with this book.

00:36:01.108 --> 00:36:05.518
Or or the extraordinary life journey that you're going on.

00:36:05.929 --> 00:36:07.759
Well, what will success look like?

00:36:07.759 --> 00:36:12.518
Well, where will jacob lawson be and what will that movement look like?

00:36:15.418 --> 00:36:20.818
Well, you know, obviously success is determined Individually by everybody right?

00:36:20.829 --> 00:36:36.159
So, you know, you you do have to choose your own version of success You do have to choose what that is to me It's, it's growing my businesses, um, you know, to, to many higher levels than they are now.

00:36:36.659 --> 00:36:49.728
Um, and it is, you know, speaking more to inspire more, uh, mentoring more to inspire more, um, having people feel the same way about me.

00:36:50.148 --> 00:36:57.208
As I feel about my mentors, the ones that have changed my life, the ones that have, have given me those lessons.

00:36:57.974 --> 00:37:13.384
That have leveled me up, the ones that have given me that accountability to, to not give up and to not take it easy when I know that I could push through those, right?

00:37:13.384 --> 00:37:25.724
There's, there's, there's many people in my life that have given me that ability that because I was connected with them and because whether I reached out and made that connection or it was just an organic connection in our life.

00:37:27.318 --> 00:37:39.139
Those people gave me that drive to reach up and go for those next levels, you know, that's, that's who I want to be to, to as many people as possible over my lifetime.

00:37:40.369 --> 00:37:40.759
Excellent.

00:37:41.978 --> 00:37:46.268
Well, Jacob, we're going to switch over to our world famous Wayfinder 4.

00:37:47.248 --> 00:37:50.139
So, um, can you give us a hack?

00:37:50.509 --> 00:37:52.688
This is just a life hack that you use every day.

00:37:57.219 --> 00:38:03.378
I've had that I use every day is get up early, get up early and, and, and that allows me to knock out me first.

00:38:03.768 --> 00:38:05.159
Uh, I'm a family man.

00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:06.188
I'm a businessman.

00:38:06.188 --> 00:38:13.489
There's a lot of people that, that, that depend on me to do a lot of things during the day, but nobody's calling me at four o'clock in the morning.

00:38:15.289 --> 00:38:23.579
So at four o'clock in the morning from four o'clock to six o'clock is when I do me, I work out, I read a little bit, I meditate a little bit.

00:38:23.954 --> 00:38:26.724
I, uh, I, uh, do my stretching.

00:38:26.724 --> 00:38:31.393
I just, I kind of get my mental focus going and all of that's out the way.

00:38:31.744 --> 00:38:42.143
You know, at 6 20 in the morning, I wake up my kids and I get them ready for school and then I go about the rest of the day and everybody else that needs to depend on me can depend on me and I'll get it done.

00:38:42.603 --> 00:38:46.253
But at four in the morning, only person is dependent on me is me.

00:38:46.443 --> 00:38:49.989
And that's when I get up and that's when I focus on myself and I get that stuff.

00:38:50.278 --> 00:38:54.088
Done because like all of us, we all have busy, busy lives.

00:38:54.088 --> 00:38:57.889
And once, once the day takes hold, we may have a goal to work out.

00:38:57.889 --> 00:39:00.009
We may have a goal to do something for ourself.

00:39:00.028 --> 00:39:03.108
We may have a goal to this, but it's so easy to get distracted.

00:39:03.898 --> 00:39:07.289
But when I knock that stuff out early, I'm starting the day winning.

00:39:07.398 --> 00:39:12.929
And, and then I can give myself to everybody else who needs me, but in the morning, that's me time.

00:39:13.909 --> 00:39:15.728
And that's my productivity hack.

00:39:15.739 --> 00:39:42.188
And that's, that's a huge part of what's changed me physically and mentally is I can get that stuff in and before six o'clock is up, um, um, I've got those wins checked, I've got those boxes checked and now it's back to business, back to family, friends, anybody else who needs me, anybody else that, that anything else I need to do, I can do it, but, but me has been checked off the box.

00:39:42.409 --> 00:39:52.338
I have, uh, I'm also an early morning riser and it started a, uh, running club here in Denver that we run at five in the morning every day, even now in winter.

00:39:52.878 --> 00:40:10.483
And, uh, we have a guy in our club that, um, he's, he calls it, uh, he, Kind of like what, you know, you're putting that mask on when you're on an airplane before you help somebody else, you know, when you go on to give you all that spiel about what you got to do and before you help anybody, you got to put that mask on.

00:40:11.063 --> 00:40:28.373
And I just think, that's what he calls it, you know, we start, he always takes our selfies when we start out in the morning, he's like, all right, everybody put your masks on, it's time to put your, you know, and, uh, it's, it's a great, uh, analogy, I think, right, taking care of yourself first, so you can help others later.

00:40:28.704 --> 00:40:33.414
Right, so well put yeah, and you're you're built you're ready to go.

00:40:33.414 --> 00:40:38.454
You're a vic You're invigorated after that run, especially when it's uh as freezing as it is over there, right?

00:40:38.483 --> 00:40:48.153
Yeah Yeah today's rough but yeah, no no doubt about it you always it it's it's always a better day.

00:40:48.164 --> 00:40:51.293
It doesn't matter what It's always better.

00:40:51.293 --> 00:40:56.054
It's tough sometimes, you know, to get out the door, but once you do, you always feel better.

00:40:56.083 --> 00:40:57.454
Your day is always better.

00:40:58.643 --> 00:40:59.704
How about a favorite?

00:40:59.974 --> 00:41:01.253
This is just a colorado.

00:41:01.253 --> 00:41:02.364
Cool can be tricky.

00:41:02.994 --> 00:41:06.963
Yeah Yeah, it's not that bad here.

00:41:06.963 --> 00:41:07.313
Actually.

00:41:07.313 --> 00:41:34.173
I come from the northeast going outside and you're like Yeah, it actually, sometimes in Colorado, you can be like, uh, it ain't bad, you know, coming from the Northeast like I grew up in New England and the winters there, even though the temperatures can be higher, they definitely feel a lot colder, you know, um, so 30 degrees in, you know, New England is a lot colder than 30 degrees in Denver, in my opinion, but, so, um.

00:41:34.643 --> 00:41:41.534
It's, it's, uh, it's the first week of January, first time we've seen 40 degrees in New Orleans and we don't know how to act too well.

00:41:41.833 --> 00:41:42.134
Yeah.

00:41:43.103 --> 00:41:45.103
40 and a lot of wind is pretty cold for us.

00:41:45.574 --> 00:41:46.224
Yeah, I bet.

00:41:46.534 --> 00:41:47.903
Most people be laughing at it.

00:41:48.324 --> 00:41:49.463
That sounds nice right now.

00:41:50.514 --> 00:41:51.603
So how about a favorite?

00:41:52.623 --> 00:42:00.143
This is just, you know, something you just like to do for you, like, uh, books or a certain book or show or activity, whatever.

00:42:03.853 --> 00:42:08.273
when, when it's just for me, you know, books and stuff, I'm, I'm typically always self help.

00:42:08.273 --> 00:42:11.483
So that's, I'm always trying to learn something from a book.

00:42:11.483 --> 00:42:15.503
So yeah, I'm doing that for me, but I'm doing it to make me better.

00:42:15.503 --> 00:42:23.963
But if it's just, you know, if it's just to relax is this kind of two things, it's, um, you know, go fishing with my dad.

00:42:24.259 --> 00:42:28.239
Is, is, is like a pastime that, that we, we grew up doing.

00:42:28.248 --> 00:42:31.039
It was, it's kind of our, our little special thing.

00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:36.108
So, uh, he lives in a different state, so we may only get to do it once or twice a year.

00:42:36.108 --> 00:42:41.849
But when we do, do do it, it's, you know, it's definitely something that, that I thoroughly enjoy.

00:42:42.619 --> 00:42:51.159
And then on like a weekly occurrence, uh, when I check all the boxes, you know, for me to feel like it was an accomplished week, I got all this stuff done.

00:42:51.159 --> 00:42:52.938
I needed to do kind of business wise.

00:42:53.418 --> 00:42:58.228
Um, I've, I've done all my meal prep and, uh, cooked some good.

00:42:58.594 --> 00:43:00.594
Nice food for the family.

00:43:00.594 --> 00:43:18.063
We had a nice family meal and then like on a Sunday night, you know, I like to just, just catch a, catch a one or two hours or some, just some forget about everything, television or something, you know, and to me, that's a, that's a, a perfect week checked off the box.

00:43:18.063 --> 00:43:19.273
Got all your work done.

00:43:19.344 --> 00:43:21.293
That's all in the bag done.

00:43:21.784 --> 00:43:26.873
And at the end, at the end of that Sunday, I'll catch a couple hours of TV and I kind of feel like.

00:43:28.199 --> 00:43:33.418
That's a, that's a, that's a good week when I finish it off with that and ready to start Monday again.

00:43:33.878 --> 00:43:46.079
Any shows and that's about the only thing that one of the only things that just my favorite one that just ended was Yellowstone Yellowstone was a pretty damn pretty damn good show Definitely.

00:43:46.829 --> 00:43:52.518
I hear good things about it Man, it's it's it's if there's a TV show.

00:43:52.518 --> 00:43:58.148
I think that that one in Vikings are my two top TV shows Vikings Maybe ever.

00:43:59.059 --> 00:43:59.668
Oh, really?

00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:01.199
That's that's my show.

00:44:01.869 --> 00:44:02.148
Okay.

00:44:02.159 --> 00:44:05.059
I don't watch things multiple times Yeah.

00:44:05.059 --> 00:44:05.298
Yeah.

00:44:05.309 --> 00:44:06.599
I think, yeah, it is on Netflix.

00:44:06.679 --> 00:44:06.989
Yeah.

00:44:06.998 --> 00:44:07.219
Okay.

00:44:07.268 --> 00:44:07.599
Yeah.

00:44:08.708 --> 00:44:12.139
Uh, I actually just went through and watched it again.

00:44:12.579 --> 00:44:16.208
And, uh, I'm not normally somebody who will watch something again.

00:44:16.208 --> 00:44:21.878
Like I don't watch movies over, you know, like I've seen it like, all right, I don't need to see it again.

00:44:21.878 --> 00:44:22.289
I get it.

00:44:22.289 --> 00:44:22.559
Right.

00:44:22.648 --> 00:44:24.148
I actually watched that show again.

00:44:24.318 --> 00:44:31.068
I think the original series ended multiple years ago and I was like, man, let me look at that one again.

00:44:31.349 --> 00:44:32.539
And I have to look it up.

00:44:32.608 --> 00:44:35.239
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it through again.

00:44:36.449 --> 00:44:37.219
Okay, nice.

00:44:38.389 --> 00:44:48.739
What about, uh, well, I know you, you were pretty much, uh, you're pretty much full of these, but I need to ask you for one piece of advice for your younger self.

00:44:54.018 --> 00:44:59.369
Know your numbers, know your numbers in business and know your numbers personally.

00:44:59.954 --> 00:45:06.833
Um, this is, goes even before I even started my, my own businesses.

00:45:06.914 --> 00:45:11.903
Um, I was always a young hustler, always hustled, still do hustle.

00:45:12.324 --> 00:45:16.873
Um, just because you're bringing in money doesn't mean you're making money.

00:45:18.074 --> 00:45:32.384
And even if you finally start to think, you know, your business numbers, if you also don't know your personal numbers in and out, you know, the, the structured numbers and then the completely unstructured spending numbers.

00:45:32.733 --> 00:45:46.623
If you don't know those numbers, then that, you know, you, you might think you're doing really well and you're not, you know, or you, you think you've made a lot of money and you really could be breaking even, or, or maybe even going backwards, so, um, if I.

00:45:47.268 --> 00:45:51.429
I think I definitely could even be in a much better spot.

00:45:51.449 --> 00:45:57.829
Had I, had I known my numbers better, it was always great at generating revenue.

00:45:57.829 --> 00:45:59.219
I can always generate revenue.

00:45:59.219 --> 00:46:00.099
I was always a hustler.

00:46:00.219 --> 00:46:05.489
I can always make some sales, but I didn't always know exactly how much money I was making at the end of the day.

00:46:05.853 --> 00:46:18.304
And it took me a long time in business before I took that serious to know every single in and out of my business spending and my personal spending to really have a clear picture.

00:46:18.748 --> 00:46:34.199
Of, of where you stand, what you make, what you owe, who owes you, you know, you know, what you're really making on a project at the end of the day and what you're really making as a company at the end of the year and what you really spent as a person at the end of the year.

00:46:34.199 --> 00:46:46.429
So, you know, if I, if my younger self would have new numbers better, like I, like I said, mentioned earlier, I probably would have made a lot more money during Katrina, you know, it'd be one thing.

00:46:46.559 --> 00:46:56.739
And, you know, but And add that up over 20 plus years, you know, whatever that percentage better is, it would, it would be significant if you added it up over this long period of time.

00:46:56.739 --> 00:47:04.208
So the faster, you know, your numbers, the faster, you know, if you're making what you need to make and, um, you know, and.

00:47:04.943 --> 00:47:23.153
If you need to be charging more, taking less, where you're, you know, winning at, where you're losing at, you know, you could be doing 15 different things and only making money on half of them or less or more, you know, so until you completely know those numbers, you know, just because you generate revenue doesn't mean you make money.

00:47:23.974 --> 00:47:24.373
That's right.

00:47:25.244 --> 00:47:26.373
That's so good, man.

00:47:26.684 --> 00:47:34.648
One of my favorites is actually reading biographies of, You know, great, especially business people throughout history.

00:47:34.648 --> 00:47:34.949
Right.

00:47:35.028 --> 00:47:38.458
And, uh, and lately I discovered this podcast called founders.

00:47:38.869 --> 00:47:43.818
Actually, it's been around for a while, but you know, they, they, they review these books on them and it's so good.

00:47:43.818 --> 00:47:47.528
And what, you know, the common theme on them is.

00:47:47.784 --> 00:48:13.403
These people are like, they really understand their numbers and their KPIs, like inside out, like no matter what, you know, from the Rockefellers to, you know, the musts of the world, like I can guarantee you Elon Musk can tell you what every widget in a rocket ship that he sent to Mars costs, you know, I mean, it's just, uh, the one thing that they all have in common, you know, and so I think you're, you're right on.

00:48:13.403 --> 00:48:16.224
And that's something I've often neglected, to be honest.

00:48:16.224 --> 00:48:23.539
I, I, I'm on and off with as a visionary type, you know, we're just thinking about the ideas and how to go after it And it's so that's what we have fun.

00:48:23.909 --> 00:48:36.313
But in the numbers sometimes that that's a struggle like just sitting with them But but it's essential it isn't the sooner you figure them out, especially in the early The sooner the better, you know, cause you can make those adjustments.

00:48:36.313 --> 00:49:03.724
And if you wait, you know, so many of us entrepreneurs, it's the last thing we want to do is, you know, get all of those analytical things in line and, Oh, I'm going to let the CPA handle it at the end of a year or even worse, you know, like six months after the end of the year, most of us early entrepreneurs that don't have everything in, in, in line, um, you know, The faster you get those numbers in line, the faster you can make those adjustments, the faster you can make those tweaks.

00:49:04.103 --> 00:49:11.793
And it can make all the difference in the world, whether it's 5 percent or 50%, you know, it, it, it'll all add up and I'll add up big time.

00:49:11.934 --> 00:49:14.833
The sooner you do it, you know, you're just leaking it out and you don't know it.

00:49:15.333 --> 00:49:15.963
That's right.

00:49:16.634 --> 00:49:17.403
Good advice, man.

00:49:17.853 --> 00:49:18.864
So, uh, last one.

00:49:18.864 --> 00:49:24.344
You can choose, uh, to discuss either a big opportunity or a limiting belief.

00:49:28.684 --> 00:49:32.713
What's my big opportunity or what I think is a big opportunity out there?

00:49:33.103 --> 00:49:33.884
Yeah, either one.

00:49:37.244 --> 00:49:45.853
Yeah, uh, big opportunity, you know, to me is, is what I'm, I'm, I'm stepping into.

00:49:46.474 --> 00:50:01.498
Uh, My, my, like I said, my primary flooring company is a, is a locally regionally based company, and it is based on the amount of people that I can physically serve.

00:50:02.159 --> 00:50:13.398
Um, you know, so we are a service based business and that all depends on the amount of personnel we can train to do these services and the amount of equipment we can, we can purchase to do these services.

00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:31.918
Um, But to get a bigger opportunity, uh, is, is really what I'm stepping into and, and, and this hopefully motivational space and mentorship space because I can reach out and I can touch people worldwide.

00:50:32.469 --> 00:50:44.369
And, you know, even on this micro level that I'm doing now through my social media outreaches, I'm doing that now with people in different countries that, that, that.

00:50:44.708 --> 00:51:12.478
You know, I would never, you'd never meet in your life without this social media world that we've got, you know, through the instas and the linkedins and, and all of these other, other things that, that now we, we have this ability to be connected worldwide and make connections and business moves and, and all of these things with people that, that you'll never, you may never ever reach out and shake their hand because they're in a, they're in another world.

00:51:12.813 --> 00:51:13.164
Right.

00:51:13.164 --> 00:51:26.764
So to me, that big opportunity is, is this, is this worldwide, you know, opening that we have in these social channels and, and, and the ability to, to make and do business with people anywhere in the world.

00:51:27.583 --> 00:51:27.853
Yeah.

00:51:27.943 --> 00:51:28.454
I love that.

00:51:29.384 --> 00:51:32.193
So Jacob, if people want to know a little bit more about you.

00:51:32.403 --> 00:51:38.153
Uh, maybe get your book, uh, maybe use your services, maybe seek mentorship from you.

00:51:38.153 --> 00:51:39.344
How, how can they find you?

00:51:41.364 --> 00:51:49.673
So the book, Make It Extraordinary, 27 Life Changing Lessons to Help You Elevate Beyond the Ordinary is available on Amazon.

00:51:50.264 --> 00:51:52.253
Um, easiest way to get it.

00:51:52.844 --> 00:51:58.333
Um, my socials are Make It Extraordinary.

00:51:59.333 --> 00:52:04.193
Uh, that's across Facebook, Instagram, um, TikTok, all of those good.

00:52:04.838 --> 00:52:32.338
Things make it extraordinary dot co is the website where you can also go directly to it And give me some DMS and we've got some, you know, free goodies on there Some extraordinary life checklist and things of that nature that that you can go and get into and subscribe to But but definitely reaching out directly via via socials that make it extraordinary is Is one of the easiest ways?

00:52:33.989 --> 00:52:34.418
I love it.

00:52:34.438 --> 00:52:38.179
Thank you, Jacob, for being here and sharing a little bit about your journey.

00:52:38.759 --> 00:52:41.148
Uh, you, you, you're quite inspirational.

00:52:41.148 --> 00:52:42.478
I hope people check out the book.

00:52:42.478 --> 00:52:45.559
I know I'm going to order it and see the stories.

00:52:45.559 --> 00:52:47.929
Uh, I, I want to know the dirt too, man.

00:52:47.929 --> 00:52:52.128
So, uh, we'll have to have you back on and talk about it then.

00:52:52.128 --> 00:52:52.679
It's in there, man.

00:52:52.699 --> 00:52:53.599
I'm an open book.

00:52:53.599 --> 00:52:56.188
I put, I put the good, bad and the ugly in there.

00:52:56.298 --> 00:53:18.139
And um, you know, it's, it's for people to, you know, what I hope is, is that it, that it, Leapfrog some people and they learn a few lessons ahead of time that instead of learning them the hard way like like a lot of us Have include myself, you know So I put it in there for for people to to hopefully learn those lessons ahead of time I'm not learning the hard way.

00:53:18.548 --> 00:53:18.918
Yeah.

00:53:19.498 --> 00:53:19.719
Yeah.

00:53:19.719 --> 00:53:33.164
Well, thank you for sharing them and thank you for pushing through and learning Actually from those those hard knocks right because a lot of us don't and we give up And we don't work hard and we don't move on, but you have, you, you work through it, you figure it out.

00:53:33.164 --> 00:53:37.603
You see it as an opportunity to, to grind and learn and now to inspire.

00:53:37.603 --> 00:53:38.893
So thank you for that, Jacob.

00:53:39.974 --> 00:53:40.684
Great to have you here.

00:53:40.764 --> 00:53:41.523
You're very welcome.

00:53:41.534 --> 00:53:52.184
Thank you for letting me share your platform and get on here and you're doing the same thing and you're helping people grow and giving them opportunities and, and, and whether it's, it's the listeners that get to learn.

00:53:53.228 --> 00:53:57.009
Or, or the people like myself that are blessed enough to come on and share their stories.

00:53:57.018 --> 00:54:01.228
So, so I greatly appreciate you providing that platform and, and, and you're doing the same thing.

00:54:01.228 --> 00:54:05.349
You're helping people grow, elevate, and expand, you know, beyond what their current reaches are.

00:54:06.239 --> 00:54:09.798
All right, let's go help people make their lives extraordinary.

00:54:15.880 --> 00:54:17.641
We hope you've enjoyed The Wayfinder Show.

00:54:17.791 --> 00:54:22.010
If you got value from this episode, please take a few seconds to leave us a 5 star rating and review.

00:54:22.300 --> 00:54:26.550
This will allow us to help more people find their way to live more authentic and exciting lives.

00:54:27.210 --> 00:54:28.510
We'll catch you on the next episode.