EP45: The Power of Inspiration with Jerome Myers

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwdGl0bGUlM0QlMjJFbWJlZCUyMFBsYXllciUyMiUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyYm9yZGVyJTNBbm9uZSUyMiUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMmh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGcGxheS5saWJzeW4uY29tJTJGZW1iZWQlMkZlcGlzb2RlJTJGaWQlMkYyNTYzNDExNSUyRmhlaWdodCUyRjE5MiUyRnRoZW1lJTJGbW9kZXJuJTJGc2l6ZSUyRmxhcmdlJTJGdGh1bWJuYWlsJTJGeWVzJTJGY3VzdG9tLWNvbG9yJTJGODdBOTNBJTJGdGltZS1zdGFydCUyRjAwJTNBMDAlM0EwMCUyRnBsYXlsaXN0LWhlaWdodCUyRjIwMCUyRmRpcmVjdGlvbiUyRmJhY2t3YXJkJTJGZG93bmxvYWQlMkZ5ZXMlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIxOTIlMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjEwMCUyNSUyMiUyMHNjcm9sbGluZyUzRCUyMm5vJTIyJTIwYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNEJTIyJTIyJTIwd2Via2l0YWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUyMG1vemFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRCUyMnRydWUlMjIlMjBvYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUyMG1zYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default” animate=”yes” delay=”50″][vc_row_inner column_margin=”none” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default” animate=”yes” delay=”50″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_background” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” top_padding=”0″ bottom_padding=”7%” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” class=”custom-p” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][toggles style=”default”][toggle color=”Default” title=”Episode Transcription”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-3-percent” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Kelly Meerbott  14:56:43   Welcome to the space where we reveal our personal humanity to reconnect with our shared humanity. Let’s begin our conversation with Jerome Meyers, Chief inspiration officer. And I have to say, in the first 10 minutes, I was already inspired. So I’m excited about this conversation. Welcome, Jerome. How are you?   Jerome Myers  14:57:02   Amazing, Kelly, thanks for having me.   Kelly Meerbott  14:57:04   Thanks for being here. So if I were a six year old child, and you were going to explain to me in a way I could understand what a chief inspiration officer is, what would you   Jerome Myers  14:57:15   say? Whoo.   Jerome Myers  14:57:18   That’s a really good one. Because I have this conversation with my daughters from time to time, and they say Daddy will, how do you make money? Hmm. I have meetings all day. And I talked to people about their problems.   Jerome Myers  14:57:33   And she says,   Jerome Myers  14:57:36   I could do that. I say, Yeah, you’re a good problem solver, too. So if I was having a conversation with a six year old, I would say, I listen. And I ask questions. And I help people get clarity on the situation that they’re in. See, a lot of people tell themselves stories. And those stories can be fiction. And what we want to do is get them out of the fiction and get them into the nonfiction section, we want them to live in their truth. And so that’s why we spent all this time on red pill and matrix and a lot of the other things that people my age and maybe a little bit older are plus or minus five or 10 years, get really excited about so that would be the answer to the question, which will probably make more questions with a six year old.   Kelly Meerbott  14:58:19   Yeah, so of course, it’s always Why Why? Why? Why? Why? I love kids, we, um, we don’t have children by choice, but you know, they’re they’re always speaking truth in such an unvarnished way, which is so refreshing because, you know, when we you get to be our age and business owners, there’s a lot of posturing that goes on. And with them, it’s just like, it is what it is. So let’s give our shout out to your lovely children. So what are their names and ages? Yeah, okay.   Jerome Myers  14:58:49   Yeah, Lee k will be 13 this weekend. Unbelievable. Leah’s   Kelly Meerbott  14:58:56   Day. Happy new day. That is so.   Jerome Myers  14:58:59   Okay. And Leah’s 10 Yes. Awesome. Okay. So usually,   Kelly Meerbott  14:59:06   things are defined in our lives between eight and 14. Could you point to a defining moment for us that happened in that timeframe or even earlier, that informed what you do today? Because I find that there are things that happen in your childhood that create the leader you are today?   Jerome Myers  14:59:25   Yeah, so the place will be a little bit earlier. So my mom stayed home with me when I was young. And actually, she stayed home with me throughout the whole thing, except for a very short window. And those days, we will play outside on the blanket. And this was before preschool. I was probably four. Yeah, it was four. And so every Thursday, the trash truck will come down the main street, or your third house on the right and cola sack. And so I could hear it on the main street, it would throw the trash and he would come down. They make the ride on the street. And of course, I’d be peeking around the corner because I didn’t want them to see me, but I wanted to watch. And so why don’t you hop off the truck, throw the first one and come down to the next one and throw the trash in. Then he gets to mine. And it was like art. It was Kelly it was art, he’d hop off, you’d go to the end, he’d pop the lid off it spin around like a top fall flat, you do a little parallel, dump the trash in the trash can, or in the back of the trash truck, and then spin it back to the curb. It never fell over. Then he looked at me. He gave me a little wink in the hand guy. And if you can imagine a kid doing Baby shark right now. That was me, pulling the lever trying to get him to crush the chest. And without Phil he would always pull the trash. And on this particular day, I would look at my mom and I would say mom I want to be a trashman when I grow up. She said baby Don’t you like Jordache Jeans? Don’t you like your Nikes? Once you like your guest shirt, I was like yeah, she said, Well, if you choose to be a Trashman, you might not be able to afford that for yourself or for your kids one day if you have some, and I said, Well, while he’s at home every day when his kids get home from school, and he gets to work outside, and he gets to work the big machine. I want to be a trashman. So yeah, but when you choose your profession, you need to choose one that’s going to afford the lifestyle you want to live. And you can see all of the NFC is being sucked out of me as that thought that I couldn’t just follow my passion was taken from my soul. And so fast forward to senior year, I got to talk to Mr. Ayers, who was my physics teacher and say, Hey, Mr. Ayers, I think I want to solve problems with people. But I’m okay with this math and science thing. What do you think I should do? Because I don’t know what I should study in college. And he said, What’s wrong, you’d be good at both problem solvers, problem solving. But a psychologist or sociologists makes about halfway to engineer what makes starting out. And so then I went to four year old Jerome in the yard with me and said, Oh, I guess I’m gonna be an engineer. And so I went and did that. And what happened from there is, I knew that I didn’t want to be an engineer, sophomore year, I knew I didn’t want to be engineering. So I matriculated and I did all the things you’re supposed to do, got my job, got, got the starting salary, got all this stuff. But I knew that it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing. And I had the aptitude, I had the ability. But that’s what it was, what I was supposed to be doing was supposed to be taking out the trash, I was supposed to be solving the problems and dealing in the stuff that most people don’t want to touch. So I found my way back. But I had to find it back not as a person that was taking the trash can and putting it in a trash truck with the one going into everybody’s business or home and helping them work through the stuff that nobody else wants to talk about. The stuff that most people call trash.   Jerome Myers  15:03:06   That’s, that’s   Kelly Meerbott  15:03:08   fascinating. I mean, what a great story. See, this is why I love this podcast because I get to hear stories like that. And ironically, you had no way of knowing this, but because of the holiday last week, our trash pickup was recycling was Friday and, and trash was Saturday. So Saturday, I’m outside decorating the house for the holidays. And here come the garbage collectors, right. And I love watching them. I have never met anybody else who loves watching them. But there are cars parked on either side of him or a narrow street and they’re backing in to get this big dumpster and I’m standing there watching them like, oh my god, like how are you doing this? Without him? I mean, obviously, they’re directing each other and all of that. But that’s a massive truck. And they didn’t thank God, they didn’t hit my car. But like, you know what I mean, there’s a lot of magic and passion to doing that. And, you know, I think no matter what you do, as long as you have pride and you add your own magic to it, it doesn’t matter if you’re picking up the trash or being an engineer or the head of a fortune 1000 and Silicon Valley. So that’s a great story. So okay, when did you start your own business? When did that happen?   Jerome Myers  15:04:29   I love to do full time things in 2016. I had the fortune of building a $20 million division for Fortune 550 started on January 13, of 2015. And by September, we had 175 people on my team by the end of the year, $20 million 30% profit margins. I got a phone call on December 24. It goes something like this. Hey, Jerome, you and I’ve been going back and forth for a while. And I’ve made a decision. We’re gonna lay half of them off. Like, that’s not the right answer. Like a call to inform you of a decision. This isn’t a negotiation. I was like, Yeah, but this isn’t the right answer. We need these folks there. There’s gonna be an opportunity for him. And we went back and forth for a couple more minutes. And it’s like, Hey, man, it’s Christmas Eve, we’re gonna go spend the rest of your time with my family. I’ll talk to you in the new year. Oh, I’m the guy. I’m the ask man. And I was like, I don’t know what to do. Because I’ve never had to do this before 2009 had come and gone. I wasn’t impacted. And so I went to try to figure out how to make the most objective way to figure out who stayed and left, right, because that’s what you do when you’re not cold. And like it actually matters to you. And I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat. Holidays were kind of wrecked for me from that point forward. But here, I go there, Kelly simply because I want the listeners to hear that I gave up my agency. Because what I said was they made me and I know this was a conversation about leadership. And the fact of the matter was, it didn’t make me do anything. Right. I chose to participate in it. And I didn’t get that until about March of the following year. And then we fast forward to around Thanksgiving a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I called the team and I said hey guys, I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and the end of the year. But I don’t want you to spend all your money on Black Friday. Right because I don’t know what will happen if you don’t have any money. You gotta go find a place to go Get new employment, because nothing happens between Thanksgiving and the end of the year for the most part. And what I’ve learned from having some real estate is, most people can’t afford not making income after about two weeks. And so I was trying to caution them, but I felt all of my leadership just kind of ooze out through the bottom of my shoes and onto the floor. And I knew that I couldn’t stay there. And so that’s when I made a decision that I was going to have to go out and be on my own. Because when I knew that I had agency, I knew that I got the opportunity to choose to participate in whatever I was told I should do. I wanted the book to stop with me. And so I left and started the full time entrepreneurship thing, after all of the years of kicking the can down the road, because I didn’t want to do the pay cut and didn’t want to do this. And I didn’t want to do all the things that most of us are scared to do, even though we know that it’s what we should do. You know,   Kelly Meerbott  15:07:37   I mean, it’s it’s so interesting, because this is the first time we’ve met, and how I always find that there are so many similarities and God the universe, whatever you believe in, that’s the God of your reality, will put people in your life that you need or are very similar to and, you know, I was in corporate till 2009. And very similarly to you, I’m sure made a lot of money for the corporation, and got the call. Actually, it was not a call, it was a tap on my shoulder, January 20 2009, at 9am. And the only reason I know that is because it was the day Obama was inaugurated. And I was like, you went up to my laptop to watch Aretha with the hat and all this stuff. And I get Harry wants to see you in his office. And my boss is sitting there with a manila envelope with my name on it. And he says, You have 10 days to review this with your attorney and sign   Jerome Myers  15:08:32  

1. And I looked at him and I said, Wait, what?

  Kelly Meerbott  15:08:37   And he said, You have 10 days to review this with your attorney and sign it. And I knew exactly what it was obviously, because two weeks prior in the front page of the Wall Street Journal, it said 30,000 jobs were going to be cut from this organization. I didn’t think it was going to be me because I was a top salesperson. So I said to him,   Jerome Myers  15:08:58   why? And he said,   Kelly Meerbott  15:08:59   we put your numbers through a corporate budget matrix, which, to this day, 14 years later, nobody in corporate knows what that is when I mentioned it. So obviously it was made up. And he said you didn’t make the cut. And it was the first time I ever pushed back on a boss in this way. And I said, That’s bullshit, and you know it. And he looked at me and he said, you have 10 days for you to secure a attorney and sign it. And then I was walked, which I had never been walked out before either. But what’s really interesting is two years later, I wrote him a thank you note saying what I thought was the worst day of my life is actually the best day in my life. Because it launched me into what I was called to do, which is executive coaching. And here we are 14 years later, I know, this was not part of the plan. Jerome and I I’m sure it wasn’t part of the plan for you. But you know, there’s the old yet to share the same man plans. God laughs And I constantly hear universal laughter. When I think of being in charge. Not at all. So okay, what is your day to day experience? Like for you? Like what what’s you know, and as entrepreneurs? That’s a hard question, because every day is different, but on an average day, what’s an average day for you?   Jerome Myers  15:10:16   Yeah, so weekday work day, is 4-5am rise. Outside time, usually an hour to hour and 30 minutes of jogging, some type of cardio, come back with some meditation, journaling, reading. Then after that, we get into weights. And so we’ll do weights from nine to 10 or something like that. And then we’ll start calls and we’ll do four to six calls, coaching calls a day, and then some days have a podcast mixed in. And then by five, we’re usually wrapping up and preparing for whatever’s going to happen in the evening. We’re working really hard not to do anything work related after five though. Me too.   Kelly Meerbott  15:11:18   I mean, it’s so funny our days are very similar. I rise, pee and meditate. So I go to the bathroom, get back to my bed with my noise canceling headphones on 30 minute meditation, get my clothes on and clipped in at a spin class. Around 545 Do that for an hour. And depending on what day of the week it is. So like today I lifted but I didn’t do cardio, tomorrow will be cardio, no lifting. And then Thursday is lifting and cardio and Fridays, just lifting, which is getting older, and I’m 46 Stretching is so important. And I’m not doing that. But it’s all about designing your day. And I find that the most successful entrepreneurs and most successful CEOs really are intentional about their start date, this the start time and how they start their days, you know, and I’ll tell you, there are some days when 430 comes away to your fast and I’m like, I don’t want to get out of bed. But I know when I miss that ritual. It just does not mean my data is not the same. Do you find that as well?   Jerome Myers  15:12:30   1,000%. And it only comes too fast if you did something wrong on the night before?   Kelly Meerbott  15:12:38   Yup, usually it is. But yeah, so Okay, so where did you learn that ritual? Like for me, it’s just what works for me. And I also know, at the end of the day, because of the nature of the work we do that can be emotionally draining, I’ll be like, Yeah, I’m not gonna get that done in the morning. Yeah, where   Jerome Myers  15:13:00   Did I learn this? It’s really interesting. So in college, I played football. And we would have winter workouts and they would be 430. Because they didn’t want anybody to have the excuse that they can’t make it because of class or this thing or that thing or work, whatever they’re like, Okay, well, we’ll fix all of you. Here it is. And I just found that after the workout, nobody bothered me. So if I had homework or some other stuff I wanted to get done. It was quiet. And there weren’t any distractions. And so it left me in a place where I could be extremely productive. Now, there’s a temptation to dive right into work. And I did that for a period. But what I found was, I felt drained. When I did that, versus making the investment in myself. I mean, some people think it is ludicrous to spend four hours on yourself a day, trying to fill your cup to make sure that you can pour out into people the way that they are compensating you very well to do if this concept that you can just pour and keep pouring without any filling is silly. Yeah, Bess, you know,   Kelly Meerbott  15:14:20   Again, so many similarities. I mean, I always tell my clients that there are two pillars to leadership. And if they can master these two, everything else will fall into place. And the first is energy management. And I know you’ve heard this Jerome or people are like, Oh, it’s your home, you got to refill your cup.   Jerome Myers  15:14:38   I don’t believe that, I   Kelly Meerbott  15:14:40   believe that you have to be as close to 100% as possible people get your overspill, right? So that the 100 is our reserve. And if you dip below, you know, the 100% mark, you need to rise up and make sure that they get the overspill. And then the second pillar is emotional regulation, you know, are you going in with your central nervous system in line in a relaxed body and calm, observant mind? And if not, you need to go and get yourself settled and regulated, and then re approach because I think, too many people, whether it’s incorporated or do to burnout, which is a form of trauma, you know, don’t take care of themselves and then believe, figuratively bleed all over other people like, hey, Dre, on Christmas Eve, you’re gonna have to be the ax man. And that means, you know that that’s just not humane? And you’re right. I mean, when you invest in yourself like that, it just pays dividends over and over and over again.   Jerome Myers  15:15:46   Right, yeah. It just is.   Kelly Meerbott  15:15:50   And I find that ever since I’ve done that, like, my practice has exploded, you know, and, and us as coaches, we can’t expect our clients to do anything we’re not doing ourselves. So I, I love that you model leadership and are in such an alignment with what you say and what you do. That’s learned behavior. So where did you learn that? Where did that form of integrity come from? How was that modeled for you?   Jerome Myers  15:16:18   Yeah, my dad, right. He was a military man. He got out of high school at 17 went into the Marines and did that for a while then got out, then went into the Army and did that and so I watched him. You weren’t Carolina half days. You know, you’re in Philly. You might not know what that is. But you pick the 12 hours that you’re going to be here. work. And so, during the winter, I saw him in the dark, right? He would leave it before 6am. And he came back after 6pm. And I’d have to wait for him for dinner. And that will be the place where we had a conversation and, but I knew what he was doing. And he used to try to encourage me to do stuff. And I didn’t want to do it. He’s like, Hey, man, you need to read every day. Like, that’s just give me a ball or I got homework, I’ll do homework, I don’t want to read a book. And every day, if you chose to get up, you would see him in his quiet time reading the book, you would see him kind of just staring off into the business or staring out the window. During the meditation thing at that time. I had no idea what it was. But I saw him do it. And you know, he was here this week, past weekend, and he’s still doing the same thing. And he’s, he’s like, 65, and allegory, the exact same thing. And I was like, it works. And it absolutely works. And that for me, was that because, you know, as we already talked about the two little people that just mean the whole world to me. They don’t listen to what I say as much as they watch and emulate what I do. And so I had a superhero that I wanted to be like, and that’s where I got the Modeling, and I’m eternally grateful for that for sure.   Jerome Myers  15:18:06   What’s dad’s name? Jerome?   Kelly Meerbott  15:18:11   Wow, thank you for your service, Jerome. And again, I’m smiling because my husband did 20 years in the Navy, he went in when he was 17. And his mom tells a story about how she signed him in and was crying the whole time. Because, I mean, you’re sending your son off to the military, you don’t know what’s gonna happen. But yeah, I mean, and now coaching military, it’s the integrity there is infused in their DNA. And just like your dad, that’s, that’s great. But you also prove another point that kids don’t do it, you know, you learn what you show them. You know, and that’s, it’s always funny, when, when I see parents are at work with parents, and they’re, they’re doing one thing and saying another, and the kids are picking up on what they’re doing, which is what they don’t want them to do. And I’m like,   Jerome Myers  15:19:03   Cuz you’re out of alignment, like,   Kelly Meerbott  15:19:07   So that’s, I mean, this is just, I’m loving this conversation. Thank you so much for your time, I’m really enjoying you and getting to know you. So   Jerome Myers  15:19:17   what, um, tell me about your   Kelly Meerbott  15:19:20   unique training method, like, how did you come up with that?   Jerome Myers  15:19:23   And what is it comprised of?   Kelly Meerbott  15:19:26   Whatever you want to share is fine. Like, obviously, that’s your product. So I don’t want to give it away for free. But, you know, let’s give him what it is.   Jerome Myers  15:19:35   I think it is meant to be shared. And, you know, for the folks who aren’t ready for that level of investment, hopefully this can help them on their journey. And so how, how did I come up with it being the guinea pig, I am the guinea pig. There is nothing that I ask clients to try that I haven’t done all myself. It’s the ultimate experimentation. And so our model is called the red pill. And it’s a model for sentient life. I think balance is a fallacy, I don’t think people can actually achieve it. And if you do achieve it, you’re not making progress, or you’re not doing anything. Because if you look at a scale, and it has zero on it, there’s nothing on it. And if you balance your weight, and you try to move forward, you won’t make any progress without coming out of balance. And so we want people to be centered that way they can continue to go in. So it’s got six levels, the but the way that I like to describe it is we do four things, we reduce your stress, we improve your health, we drive or increase your wealth, and then we help you create a lasting legacy. Now, that gets broken down into the actual six levels. And so the first three levels, self image, relationship and work. They’re all tied to reducing stress. I feel like every piece, the idea of stresses in our life is in those three areas. We got conflict with ourselves, we got conflict with other people, we got conflict with the work that we have to do. And if you can turn down the volume on the stress, and you can help people stop doing the self destructive habits. Yeah. Because they’re trying to sue they’re self medicating instead of actually dealing with the thing and so we force people to deal with the stressor. From there, we can move up to health. In health. There’s a bunch of different components. But what I will say is, if you aren’t doing the self destructive habits, then we can add on the things that we’ve been talking about like meditation, exercise, diet, affirmations, and so many These other what I think are attars amplifiers, but there’s no reason for my perspective to do that if you’re destroying what you already have. And so we want to help people not destroy, and then make progress for. After health, we want to move up to prosperity. And in prosperity, there’s three things: time, talent, and treasure. We want you to be able to create abundance. And each one of those, there’s no reason for you to have treasures in no time, there’s no reason for you to have talent and not be able to use it to get treasure. So we help people figure out what those are. And then we measure the growth of them through earned income over the course of a year and net worth increase. And then most people think they’ve arrived when they get through level five, because they’ve self actualized, they’ve got money, they’ve got time, they’ve got the ability to pick and choose what they do. And a lot of times they can do what they want, where they want with who they want. And they might not be able to do it for as long as they want. But for most people, they feel like they have freedom. And then something funny starts happening. They start asking questions, is this it?   Jerome Myers  15:22:57   Is there more?   Jerome Myers  15:22:59   When they start asking those questions, that’s when we know that we’ve got them to the place where they’re looking for fulfillment. So level six is significant in this use, you can describe it a bunch of different ways. If I was talking to a six year old, I would say, this is how you become a mortal. And because they know that all their superheroes never pass away, right? They live on forever. And this is where you create a legacy or this is where you’re able to pass on your generational wealth. The thing about significance is it has to be from what you mentioned earlier, the overflow, right? So when you create abundance and prosperity filled with time, talent treasures that you can share with other people, what I found is there’s so many folks who are trying to be generous, and are being generous to their detriment. And so they’re never able to actually achieve prosperity. And mainly because they’ve got an unhealthy relationship with prosperity, they don’t feel worthy of it. So they feel like they got to give it away, hold another rabbit hole, we won’t go down. But just know that significance, you have to have a place of abundance before you can reach that level.   Kelly Meerbott  15:24:09   Yeah. And I think in our society, well, I now I’ll drop the I think, in our society scarcity mentality is pushed through marketing through, you know, other kinds of doctrine that are just not true. There’s simply stories that have been told over and over again, and a belief is just a thought you keep thinking. So it’s, it’s our job to untangle those and mean, I’m curious who trained you as a coach, because a lot of the language you’re using are things that I say like i, i beta, test everything on myself first, I will never ask my clients to do something that I haven’t done. Myself, I don’t recommend anybody whose work I haven’t experienced firsthand. I mean, every book that I recommend, I’ve read it, and I’ve probably read it twice or three times and put it into practice. So I’m just curious, like, who trained you as a coach?   Jerome Myers  15:25:04   I don’t have any formal training.   Kelly Meerbott  15:25:06   I don’t have any formal training. It’s just a lived experience.   Jerome Myers  15:25:10   I love that.   Kelly Meerbott  15:25:11   I love that. You know, I think some of these certifying bodies, I won’t call them out in our conversation are   Jerome Myers  15:25:23   okay.   Kelly Meerbott  15:25:24   But I think lived experiences are really the way to go. Because you have the actual experience that you can speak to and the learning that you draw you draw from. I love these six levels of significance. I think that’s really powerful. So I was trained by Steve Chandler, and a woman named Sharif McCrory. And they all use that language. You know, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Steve Hardison, he was, he’s part of that group as well. Um, they’re all really powerful coaches, and none of them are certified, which is really interesting, because Steve Hardison is probably the most famous coach you’ve never heard of. Wow. You know, like, he’s like, up there with Tony Robbins. I mean, his fees start at $250,000 up front and go to a million depending. You meet him at his house for 100 hours. And if he, if you quit, you take the balance and donates it to a charity of your choice. If he fires you, you donate and he takes the balance and donate to a charity of his choice. And he’s just, he’s been doing this for years. So yeah, I mean, I have this learning experience. So what do you know, a lot of people are talking about resilience, right? So my own story of resilience is hopefully coming out. And then TED talk, I don’t know when they’ve had it since the end of July. And we’re just waiting for them to approve and upload it. But my own story is, I survived three sexual assaults in college and oh, no, no healed from that and used that in my work to help others, right? And what I found about resilience because it’s, you know, this buzzword now, and apparently there, it’s a vertical and management consulting now, resilience is about falling down and getting back up, right. And over time, you know, that kind of time span shortens. So like when I got laid off and corporate, I was facedown in the mud for seven days right? Now, something really kind of horrific happened a couple of weeks ago, where I was like, Alright, 24 hours later, I’m like, Okay, I’m done. So, what would you say, besides the defining moment that you talked about in corporate, we had to lay off all of those   Jerome Myers  15:27:47   people. Where was there?   Kelly Meerbott  15:27:51   Describe a time when you were like, literally life kicked you in the teeth. And how that impacted you caused a shift   Jerome Myers  15:28:00   in a positive way?   Jerome Myers  15:28:02   Yeah, there’s two. Okay. I really one’s more emotional than the other. I’ll go with the less emotional one.   Kelly Meerbott  15:28:14   No, no, no.   Jerome Myers  15:28:16   You’re the emotional one.   Jerome Myers  15:28:19   Okay, well, you’re the host. So I will follow directions. And so when I was in eighth grade, during football season, my mother would take me to a high school football game as my treat. And so I was playing middle school football and had a teammate, who had been a classmate since we were in the third grade. He actually, I’ll never forget, was shooting rubber bands and shot me in the eye. And that was the day we became friends.    But anyway, on this particular Friday, at school, I told my teammate, hey, I’ll call you before I go to the game. And you can go with us. And so I forget to call and we go to the game. And I get back. I think the team were rooting for one and I went to sleep, and when I woke up the next morning, I got a phone call. And he said he’s gone. Like who’s gone? Like you didn’t hear? I was like, no, what are you talking about? It’s like drills dead? And I said, What do you mean? It’s like, I don’t really know the story. But evidently, there was some alcohol and there was a game of Russian roulette and he lost.   And all I could think was, I didn’t call him. I didn’t call him like, if I would call them then that couldn’t happen, because he would have been with me and like, how, how could I not honor my word? Like, how could I not have called? I could have been there for him. And so for me, not honoring your word is a life or death situation, though. And so if I tell somebody, I’m going to do something, and I do it, I’ve been in therapy, I’ve been with coaches, and, you know, they’ve said, Hey, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that. And then they don’t do it. And like, you don’t understand, like, this is a life or death situation. If you’re in the right situation. Yeah, what are you doing? Yeah, I’m not, to this day.    Kelly Meerbott  15:30:37   I am literally the same way. If I say I’m gonna go do something, I will literally kill myself trying to do it, or renegotiate that commitment. You know, I mean, it’s words that create our reality. And if you can’t honor your word, you really don’t have anything else left to give, honestly. You know, like, right before you and I got on, I, you know, opened in a relationship with a new client. And I said, I will get you the contract and the invoice immediately. And like 353, hit send and she got it, you know, and it’s, that’s, that’s something I always tell my clients, I’m like, if you tell me you’re gonna have something to me by five o’clock on Friday, Eastern Standard Time and a hits my inbox of 501. You’re out of alignment, you’re out of integrity. And some people may think that’s harsh. I don’t and I’m in full agreement. with you, I think it’s a life or death situation. Because there is too much doublespeak in our world there. I think there’s a war on integrity. You know, where people are saying things and then apologizing now, apologize, I’m all about, I’m all about that and keeping my side of the street clean, but an apology without behavior changes in manipulation. And there is way too much of that in our world. So I believe as leaders like you do, that we need to model the behavior we expect. You know,   Jerome Myers  15:32:16   We don’t know who will. And so this is why self image is the base of our conversation in our model, because you have to be aligned, I like alignment, but I will call it integrity, you have to be in integrity with yourself before you can hold other people accountable. If you can’t hold yourself accountable, how can you hold somebody else accountable? You can’t and so you get squishy on it, and then they don’t deliver. And so now, nobody’s accountable. And if you read the good path, at least the only book and you know, there is no trust and it just becomes a disaster. I love Patrick   Kelly Meerbott  15:32:57   Lencioni. He’s so great. I mean, like all of my team building and work is out of his, you know, five dysfunctions of a team. The advantage is so great. And yeah, I mean, it isn’t when I say alignment, it’s shorthand for alignment with your integrity. So yeah, absolutely. But it’s, and I remember so Steve Hardison invited me out to be with him for a day back in 2013. And I went there, and he took me to my gosh, it just flew right out of my mind with the name of the company as, but it’s a big tech company that does email marketing, you probably I mean, like, if I were going to mention the name, you probably know, and if I hadn’t slipped my mind, but he walks me in. And it’s in Arizona, and there was a bank of elevators to the left, and there was a hook with a dog tag that said ego on it. And I said, sat and he goes, check your ego at the door. And we walked in. And there’s a big, like, turf football, like field in the middle of this building right? Inside. And there’s a big banner in black with white black letters that says, we will do what we say we’re gonna do. And I can’t believe I’m gonna have to Google it to tell you the name of the company. But yeah, I mean, it’s and Steve was telling me, he said that, that is the basis of everything that we do everything. And you know, everything we’re talking about Jerome is   Jerome Myers  15:34:34   Think about what would happen if a politician did what they said they were going to do, what the world would look like, if a CEO of a Fortune 1000 company always did what he or she said, I mean, it would literally change the trajectory of the world.   Jerome Myers  15:34:57   And it’s, it’s, it’s that simple. And people are like, Well, Kelly, it’s not no, it’s that simple. It is that simple.   Jerome Myers  15:35:05   Once the words leave your mouth, people are making decisions off of that. Yes. So if you can give them something to solid they make the decision off of   Jerome Myers  15:35:19   then don’t give them anything. Yeah. Don’t say it. Don’t say I mean, I   Kelly Meerbott  15:35:26   had a couple of clients or prospects who are like, yes, yes, send me the contract. I’m ready to get started. Send them the contract and crickets. And I remember saying, when I was calling to follow   Jerome Myers  15:35:42   up, like, I take you at your word.   Kelly Meerbott  15:35:47   And you’re out of integrity. And one of them got very upset with me for saying that. And I frankly, don’t really care. Because when people get defensive, you and I both know, as coaches, we’ve hit a nerve, and we’re most likely Right. And, you know, I’m probably the only person that has said that to him or her. You’re out of integrity.   Jerome Myers  15:36:13   You know, and it’s true.   Kelly Meerbott  15:36:15   It’s so true. So   Jerome Myers  15:36:18   we stuck where they are because they can’t receive the feedback.   Jerome Myers  15:36:22   Exactly. Exactly. So what kind of legacy do   Kelly Meerbott  15:36:28   you want to wait for your two lovely daughters?   Jerome Myers  15:36:32   It’s so much bigger than them. I’ve made a pretty abrupt stop. Oh, One thing that doesn’t allow women to be a part of. So I won’t build anything or participate in things   Jerome Myers  15:36:48   that doesn’t allow women, right?   Jerome Myers  15:36:54   mastermind groups where it’s just for men, I don’t believe in that anymore, I believe that women can bring something to the table. And if the reason why women can’t be in the room is because the men won’t pay attention, or they won’t be open, because they feel like they’ve got to be in this macho mode, because a woman’s there, we probably have the wrong people. In like, that’s just a simple example. Because I think there’s some really good organizations, but they’ve taken that approach. And I just, I can’t become a member as a result of it. Because I don’t want them to not be able to have the opportunity to walk in the room, even if they don’t want to go in, I want them to be able to walk in. At the end of the day, I just want to end suffering, like that’s the legacy that I want to leave, but specific for them. And I mean, it’s not just them, it’s all women. And I want them to have the opportunity to not be   Jerome Myers  15:37:59   boxed out   Jerome Myers  15:38:04   because of what they were born with. Like, it’s just silly.   Kelly Meerbott  15:38:09   It is silly. It is silly. And thank you for that. We appreciate that. And similarly, for me and my own business, and I’m hoping that, you know, the audience listening to this will take these ideas and implement them because they’re not, they’re not hard. It’s just, you know, for me, I made a decision that I was only going to have vendors that worked with my business like my attorney, my accountants, my business development, and who were women are members of historically marginalized communities. So my accountant is fantastic. Her name is Sharon Hodges. She’s out of Illinois. She’s a black woman, and she is the first person who has ever made taxes fun and no idea. Every other member, right. I know. It’s crazy. But yeah, she, it’s really that simple to put your money where your mouth is, and just do these kinds of things where you say, yeah, no, I’m not doing that. And by the way, the name of the company I was telling you about with Steve Hardison is Infusionsoft. So yeah. Yeah, they’re huge. And they do what they say they’re going to do. And that’s why they’re huge, because they are in alignment with their integrity. So, um, a couple rapid fire questions. If you’re open to that, Jerome, and honestly, I could talk to you for hours, but I think we lose some audience listeners. So hopefully, you’ll come back and we can have some more conversations like this because it’s fantastic. But okay, what’s your favorite comfort food?   Jerome Myers  15:39:51   I don’t want to save this on the record. I love it. I don’t know if this counts as food. But I left hurdles. Right. I love chocolate, pecans and caramel. Oh my gosh. Oh, yeah. I crushed a whole bag by myself with Tao. Is anybody thinking about sharing it with anybody? Sure.   Kelly Meerbott  15:40:19   I can, you know, it’s not my favorite comfort food. But I can go there with you. I could probably turn it off. But yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, what songs are on your playlist?   Jerome Myers  15:40:32   I love listening to the Black Panther soundtrack. And I don’t pretend to be able to pronounce the majority of the songs that I listened to. But there’s like three tracks that I will listen to on repeat for an hour, especially when I’m running. And it is. It just feels magical. And so now it’s just like taking me on this journey to find out more about like African drums and, and some of the Hispanic music was like they’re singing in Spanish and like my Duolingo training isn’t fast enough to actually comprehend the words that they’re seeing. But I feel like I’m closer to the Spanish speaking community when I’m listening to the songs but I just love the rhythms. I love the beats. I love the flow. And so that’s been on repeat here since we took the girls to watch that.   Kelly Meerbott  15:41:25   Is this. This is forever Correct? Yeah. Okay, so yeah, we just saw that I   Jerome Myers  15:41:30   I thought it was breathtaking.   Kelly Meerbott  15:41:33   I mean, just that and Woman King was really moving for me.   Jerome Myers  15:41:40   Your stat was so aggressive   Jerome Myers  15:41:47   It was good. It was good. I don’t like to see. I saw personal bias. I don’t like to see women as warriors. I think they should be protected. Why men instead of men using their force to hurt women, but I understand the story and I understand that some are warriors, my little once a warrior, she will run into battle to overtake any wrong doers, but as long as I’m around, she doesn’t have to do   Jerome Myers  15:42:22   Is that Leah? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.   Kelly Meerbott  15:42:24   Tell her from one warrior woman to another. Thank you know, my name actually in Gaelic means a warrior woman, which makes sense because I’m always like, had an instrumental. Um, but yeah, I understand the bias. And I hear you. I just thought it was just beautiful. Viola Davis, of course, is just a breathtaking actor and all the women in that were just so powerful. Okay, so what books are on your nightstand?   Jerome Myers  15:42:56   None. I do not read in bed. Okay. Will not read in bed. Okay. I’ve been going through and going back through a couple of books. One is sizing people up by Robin Triq. Okay, then there’s another one called 100 million dollar offers by Alex or mosey? Those two books have been the most profound books that I’ve looked at in 2022. And mainly is because it’s the things that my clients are fighting with, right? How do I gain trust? How do I get it fast? How do I know if I should trust somebody else? And Alice’s book is all about helping people come up with offers that compel people. What he says makes people feel stupid for not buying, right? And so for a person who is making the transition to see themselves as a salesperson, which is integral to being an entrepreneur, from my perspective, how do you create something where you don’t feel like you have to sell it to the client or the potential client? And so those two things I think, are the magic.   Kelly Meerbott  15:44:02   So it was $100 million dollar offers and what was the other one? Sizing people up? Sizing people up? Okay, I have to check those out. Right now, I’m revisiting. Never split the difference by Chris’ boss.   Jerome Myers  15:44:16   So Robin Drake is an FBI hostage. Well, he’s not hostage. He was a handler for Russian spies. And so very similar. My writing style is Chris.   Jerome Myers  15:44:31   Love that. Love that. Okay, what   Kelly Meerbott  15:44:32   are you most grateful for in   Jerome Myers  15:44:34   this moment right now? This moment you? Ah, it   Jerome Myers  15:44:40   his face, you’ve asked very thought provoking questions for me. And I think you’ve created space for me to openly share things that I don’t think most of us are willing to talk about, especially not in a space where we’re trying to present ourselves in the best light so that people may be interested in finding out more about us and what we do. We stay away from humanity and talk about the marketing messages and agitate the pain and make people feel inadequate so that they gotta go do this thing. They feel like they have achieved what they need to achieve. And, oh, we’ve just had a genuine exchange. And I think you see the humanity in me. And I’d certainly say to you, well, thank you. I   Kelly Meerbott  15:45:24   I mean, you know, I’m just a reflection of you. And it’s just been such a joy. And I always call these things you know, these meetings like God winks, you know, and again, the God is God of your reality, but I was like, you know, he/she is gone. I got you know, put your own Myers in your life. Here you go. What a gift. Okay, so Jerome, how do people get a hold of you if they want to engage you?   Jerome Myers  15:45:50   The best place to go Strohmeyer is SEO and there you can find everything? Socials, podcasts, free giveaways, all the stuff is there. And it’s just like, you can pick your rabbit hole and go down whichever journey you want to.   Kelly Meerbott  15:46:06   Yeah, and a plug for all coaches. You know, coaching is a great holiday gift. Annika on the Christmas, it’s a great gift that keeps on giving us   Jerome Myers  15:46:18   the life of somebody who you really love. That’s   Jerome Myers  15:46:22   It really can.   Kelly Meerbott  15:46:23   It really can. Thank you so much. I mean, thank you so much. I’m really like a great human. And thank you to our audience for listening. It’s our intention on hidden human to inspire you to go out and have authentic conversations, to deepen the connections and Your life thank you so much to everyone and make it a great day[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/toggle][/toggles][/vc_column][/vc_row]