Episode 075: Jay Doran - The Importance of Building Team Culture

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Yeah, I'm good.

All right, what's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast. This is episode 75, and today we have someone special, actually, that I'm super pumped to get on, Mr. Jay Duran. Someone that when I listen to his content or when I meet him, he's all about culture. And I'm super excited to have you on the show, Jay.

Thank you. I heard it matters.

Yes, yes, yes, it does matter. A lot. And that's something I want to talk about today. And before we kind of get into not just your story, but what you're working on, I kind of just want to fill people in that are listening kind of up to date based on who you are, what you're currently working on, just. Just so they know a little bit more about who they're listening to today.

Yeah, well, I guess the easiest way to say it is a couple years ago, I decided that culture mattered more than anything that I had going on personally. And it mattered more than most even thought to even have that conversation about. So I put everything to the side personally, familially. Friend wise moved into my car with a bunch of books to figure out how I was going to make this idea a business that actually made sense. And today I work with organizations with 50 employees and up and help them get clear on their values, coach the leadership on their vision, their mission, their values, and actually develop training programs within the organizations to lower turnover, increase productivity and profitability. And that's what it's about. It's about a successful business that lasts and people that want to be there and know how to be effective in it. And this is my purpose on the planet, is to have this conversation with as many people as possible until they bury me in the ground.

Amazing.

They'll just be talking in the ground.

Amazing. Amazing. I think when it comes to, number one, how we connected, I know we've kind of seen each other in different events, but I think for the people listening today, the first question that I kind of my. Myself that I'm interested in when it comes to culture. Right. It's like you hear that word a lot, especially when it comes to internally with businesses. I think everyone, including myself, may have a different perception about what that means, how it is impactful to them. So for you, as I would consider the culture expert, what does it really mean to you and when did you first kind of get that meaning ingrained into your brain?

It's a great question because culture has become a buzzword, so you just throw it out. Like I'm supposed to say, I'm supposed to know what this is.

Yep.

Every single year, there's over 7 billion people in the planet. Everyone on the planet has their own way that's just a teensy weensy bit different than another person or every other person way of viewing the world. That's their own character. That's their internal culture.

Yep.

As soon as they decide to open up their mouth, because this is the most important word is the alignment. When they open up their mouth, their beliefs are either going to make someone else angry or make them agree with them or indifferent, Something is going to happen. And the important thing to understand is not a right culture or a wrong culture, but is there alignment? Are the people that are in your, for example, your friend group?

Yep.

Well, if you have a friend, that means there's cultural alignment. They believe what you believe at a certain level of belief so that you, you know, you don't agree with them on everything, but you can like, look past the crap.

Yeah, yeah.

What you guys agree on, whether it's a friendship, whether it's a family, whether it's a relationship, whether it's a company, whether it's a group, whether it's you're meeting for drinks on the weekend, there is a cultural alignment or a misalignment in every scenario. So the real important thing is to understand that I define a culture as a. Think of it like an invisible ecosystem. It's there, but it's not there. It's called a metaphorical ecosystem of shared belief created by an influencer and maintained by the alignment with the influence. So you. Let's say you're like the influencer.

Yep.

Right. Now you say Something someone either agrees or disagrees. There's either alignment or there isn't.

Yep.

That's what's most important. So it's not about right culture or wrong culture. There's just different cultures. There's 192 plus countries. There's thousands and thousands of different belief systems on the planet. There's billions of people.

Yeah.

It's about understanding the conversation. That's where the power comes from.

Amazing.

Starts with that. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah. Totally. Totally.

And I think that we were to work together, or a CEO, we would get clear on what your character is.

Yeah.

What vision is, what your mission is. We would get clear on that because that's yours. And then you can develop from there. But there isn't a right or a wrong.

Okay. Now that makes sense. Yeah. That clarified a lot for me as well. So I'm sure it did for the audience as well. So I think when I think about culture, and I think I want to get your perspective when it comes to just the looking statement of boom, you are focused on culture. People pay you. Organizations pay you to come in and help them get their culture right. When did that start in your life and what were you doing before that that kind of led up to this now dominant force in your life?

Yeah. So to be brutally Honest, I wasn't 1, 1000 of who I could claim I am today in a sense of personal power.

Okay.

I was a mentee to a mentor. We. I left everything behind years ago to follow this mentor to open up a business. I was, I guess Robin. He was Batman.

Yep.

And with an American Express credit card, a Bank of America credit card. His vision, my talent. Poor character, actually, but tireless effort and sacrifice. We started this small business together with like three sleeping bags and just tireless effort.

Yep.

Through these team meetings, which he saw me for more than I was at the time. It was almost like, you know, you enter a mentor that sees something in you, but you don't even see it yourself.

Totally.

That occurred and I wasn't grateful enough to appreciate it at the time. And he let me run the team meetings and through the trials and tribulations of this business, starting with nothing but a vision and some credit line. And it became very successful very quickly because of a bunch of things. But what I'm about to share with you changed my life and set me on this path to teach this and codify this so I can teach it to like break it down and so.

I can teach it right.

I walked in at Barnes and Noble One day, after being extremely stressed out, nowhere, like I said, nowhere like I am today. And I saw this book. I don't think I have it over here, but it's called Uncontainable by Kim Tyndall. And it's about the Container Store. And I opened up the panel, you know, kind of like this. It's not the book, but I looked it, I read it, and the CEO wrote this book in 2014. He said that 90% of his employees are previous customers, that they make 50% more on average than the average retail associate, and they have 1,000% less turnover. And he said it was because of his seven, seven foundation principles. They used to train their staff basically every day.

Okay.

We were training our staff every day. And not as articulately as this book broke down. So I was inspired by this book.

Okay.

And I got really clear on what the values that I believed would make my team successful. Because now we're starting to grow, right?

Yep.

And every day in these meetings, I shared these values, and I used them as the driver to teach the competencies necessary for the guys to be more successful. And to be brutally honest, I wasn't a great dude. I was an insecure person. And I had a lot of character flaws and still do now. And having lost the respect of my staff and then regained. And then lost it again, and then regained it, and seeing the difference between them being somewhat attached to the business to extremely attached to the business and the difference in how they treated the customers after these meetings and how the values that we were so clear on in these meetings started to translate to them as people. And seeing that difference and seeing my personal development, I said to myself, how do I do this every day? The only thing I enjoyed at that point, I started being, like, actualized.

Yeah.

I started being fulfilled by this. And I've always been pretty quirky of a nerd type epidemic that didn't really go the academic route.

Yeah.

What if I could teach this somehow? Because all I looked for one night, I can't forget this. I'm laying in bed, and at this point, we all live together, and I'm laying in bed and I'm looking at the ceiling. I'm like, what if I could do that meeting? Because there was a meeting, like, every. Every day for an hour. What if I could do this every day? Maybe I would. Maybe I would be happy. Okay, now, it turns out this is the funny part. That's not what's made me happy. That's a whole other podcast. But in the pursuit, it took over three years. Thousands of books on 77 disciplines. I think this is one of them, actually, right here. I do like to read. It's given me some. Some purpose. Oh, boy. I got a stack that's about to fall. Anyway, there's one book over here I want to get, but it's like, no worries. It was called Kind or Do the Kind Thing by Daniel Lubecki. Ever one of those kind bars?

Yeah.

Yeah, I read that book.

Okay.

And he talked about the same thing that Kip Tindall talked about in Uncontainable, about how he was almost out of money, he was about to lose all his business. But he used the 10 tenets of his company to drive the inspiration and the competencies for his staff to, like, get it together and be strong and pursue and just keep persistent and not give up. And I was. I was extremely inspired by it. So that was the catalyst, right. With a big bang of this, like, whoa. Because I personally was invested in that, in everything in that business.

Okay.

And I saw my entire life change, the people around me change, and it gave me some serious purpose. I said, this is something I got to figure out. And it took years now. And it took a lot of videos, right? 1500 videos in a year and a half.

Wow.

Just putting videos out. Yeah. I mean, there's 970 on YouTube. And, you know, not everyone's seen that.

Yep.

But just putting it out there, putting it on Facebook, putting it on LinkedIn, and it's good. It's. It's. Here I am.

Yeah. That's amazing. So when it comes. So my question, I would say, is when it comes to you say, team meetings. Right. And at the time when you read that book, was that when you first. First started your first business? Because I think a lot of people that are listening, they're super young, whether that be high school, college, what was that time frame in your life? And when it comes to you starting that first business was, quote, unquote, entrepreneurship business, always a thing for you, or how did that kind of, like, come about into your life?

So 1991, Linda was running down the road, bust through the doors of a police station. She thought the mafia was chasing her. She had a newborn baby in her hands. She wanted to save her baby. I was her baby. The mafia wasn't chasing her. And she dropped me off at the police station, and they took her from. They took me from her. And then, like, adopted.

Okay.

So I was adopted. My mom, my biological mother had a schizophrenic mania, like Bipolar schizophrenia.

Okay.

Episode. That's when my business started.

Okay.

Like that's the first time it started because that occurring shaped the development of me as a human growing up. And I grew up in this. I was adopted by a woman in her 50s who was extremely loving, extremely hard working, and wanted to give me everything that I was, that she wasn't able to, let's say, give her biological son. Yes, say that. Right. And I grew up in the basement of this big mansion. And I saw Barbara, who adopted me when she was 50, work really, really, really hard. But to me, not that smart. Because we lived in the basement of this big mansion. We think, well, why was I living in a big mansion? Because my uncle, who was her sister's husband.

Yeah.

He was an entrepreneur.

Okay.

He was a builder. He was. He still is. He's like 75. Who knows how old he is, you know, growing up. You know, they say you model your parents.

Yep, totally.

They say you become who you're at the most, don't they?

Yep.

Well, there's two things that I got. One, I want to be like him. And two, Barbara who adopted me when I was a baby, she always read books. So I say I was, I was born to be a inspirational teacher in a sense.

Right.

Now, navigating through school, which what I would say to me, you know, they say book smart or street smart.

Yep.

I would say I'm a, I'm a book smart guy that didn't go to school.

Okay.

So no street. I learned all, everything the hard way.

Okay.

And I never finished school. I was kicked out of every one of them.

Elementary or what? Exactly.

High schools. Never went to college.

Okay.

Very self educated.

Okay, Makes sense. So high school. So you didn't, did you drop out of colleges? Didn't even go. In general.

By then I was already sucked into the entrepreneurial spin.

So yeah.

Remember, I wanted to be my uncle at this point.

Okay.

Went to college. He didn't even finish high school. At least to my knowledge.

Yep.

And Barbara, who adopted me, she gave me confidence. Confidence. She always said, you know, you're smart, Jay, you're gonna be alright. You do what you want. That's all. I knew myself up very quickly.

Okay.

And at 18, I was a bit of a stubborn, narcissistic, selfish little brat. So I played lots of video games.

Okay.

Didn't become much of an entrepreneur. And then at 18, I got five jobs and went crazy with that. And by 20, I had left my first job, which had been a corporate job, basically selling personal training, sales for a successful company in the northeast. And I done very well there and got an opportunity in New York City to basically be my own 1099 self employed business in a gym that I turned around and did very well with, which was the prerequisite to the business that I did with my mentor.

Okay.

So it was like as soon as school was done.

Yeah, yeah.

Was always, you know.

Okay. So I like to put in perspective too, because like when you say you're 18. Right. So I'm 18. Turned 18 the other day. And then a lot of listeners, they're usually, I would say anywhere from 15 to 23. So them listening, it's like that's their starting point. Right. Like you just said, like when you were 18, you're looking back.

Started at 20 years old after getting kicked out of high school.

Okay.

I've read 1300 books. Instead of probably an excuse executed on everything you could imagine. The average PhD does 60 books in their doctorate degree. So, you know, I spend four hours a day and a half usually listening to audiobooks. I write 18 minutes a day and I speak 27 minutes a day of film content. And that's actually the mission statement of Culture Matters.

Amazing.

Write, speak, and inspire others to do the same.

Okay.

Because that's made me a powerful human.

Yes. I feel the energy, especially when I see you speak on stage. Yes, yes.

I wish I started at 12.

So she said, third. Thank you. Thank you. You said 1300 bucks. That stuck out to me. Right. So you said you've read. So when. When did you say that sort of took in your life?

This is the frontal granular lobe.

Okay.

It's a textbook on the, on the front of your brain where you make your reasoning.

Okay.

What'd you ask me?

I'm sorry. No, I was saying, I was saying because I. I think a lot of the audience obviously, that if they're listening to this, they either read, listen to podcasts, whatever that may be, they're in that sort of self educ. What is it called? Just self education route in life. Right. Yeah. Personal development. So with you, when did that kind of start? Because I like to give people perspective. You say it was 22. Exactly. Because I just like taking people and kind of hearing, like, when did that route or journey start? That's just different. The unconventional path, sort of saying, I.

Got a story for you. Ready for this? So I was extremely awkward growing up and very shy.

Okay.

Exact opposite of whom I'm portraying to the world now.

Amazing.

So do not limit yourself by your personality, because if Your personality wasn't able to be changed. You'd probably be a crocodile, not a human.

Yeah.

So my first personal development force, I was almost 19. I had been at. At this point. Try living with a woman in her 60s or 70s when you're 18. That's gonna be very difficult in a very small. We were not living in a big house, very small little apartment. We were getting not so long. So I was living about a half hour away from high school, staying with a friend who. It was three Cuban guys.

Okay.

A dad and two sons. And the father, because he saw that I was struggling with the opposite sex.

Okay. Women. Yeah. Yeah.

Gave me my first personal development course.

Okay.

And that was like. It's called. This might be. This is funny. It's called Double your dating by David D'. Angelo.

Okay.

It's like over 30 or. You ever heard of the book called the Game?

Yes, I have. That's. Yes, yes, yes. You know RSD Tyler?

Yes.

Yeah. I'm good friends with him.

Okay.

He was one of the guys in the book. Yep.

So I believe that guy was one of the guys that developed content or gave value.

Yeah.

To David d' Angelo, who sold these Double youe dating courses. I believe that was my first personal development ever.

Okay.

My first job ever was as a security guard or a bouncer at a big nightclub while I was in high school. So it was pretty big at the time. And every day when I drove to high school, I listened to those dates. Now, some people like, number one, why would you tell people that? Right. Number two, well, why would you even have those things? Number one, I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah. I didn't have role models. I didn't have a father. I could ask. My mother's in her 60s. I'm awkward. I'm a nerd. War craft.

Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Now, I know if I'm walking down the flight of stairs in the dark, I'm scared. But if the lights are on, I'm not scared. So when you know things, you're less likely to be afraid. So I educated myself on how women think. That helped me get confidence to go talk to them. And now I do extremely well. Let's just say that.

Totally, totally.

You don't need to be with everyone. You don't need sexually unhealthy for your psychology. Anyway, so that was an important part of me developing as a human. So every day when I drove to high school, I would listen to these, like, probably. What is that, an hour a day?

Yep.

18, 19, I'm working by 20 or so. I got a job, my first job in sales and I was given some Tom Hopkins. You know he was Tom Hopkins. You ever heard of him?

Yeah.

Sales trainer. Yeah. Continue with the audio. Audio. Okay, this is my shout out actually for Uncle G Grant Cardone in 2014. I was pushed the 10x rule. And after listening to that book, I 100x my audio and my, you know, hardcover reading.

Yeah.

So just give people some examples. Anytime I'm not talking to a human, I'm listening to an audiobook or reading a book.

Okay.

Anytime.

Okay.

Okay. I'm not making a phone call if I'm not in a conversation. Anytime.

That's amazing.

It's something I actually enjoy.

Okay. That's super cool. And that started 23. Just to like finalize or 2020. Ish.

Right on that for the last, I want to say, five years, 100%, four hours a day.

Amazing. That's beautiful. I just love giving people that kind of sort of context, especially from the young standpoint of people, because I feel like for me, it's like when I had my really bad neck injury, that was when I was almost paralyzed. Started reading more. So that's what I love. Just kind of taking from different people. So I definitely appreciate that insights, but I want to kind of jump ahead real quick. So when it comes to you and everything you're doing today, I like. I love going back and forth on podcasts and like, backstories and now what you're currently working on. So when it comes to organizations today. Yeah. Yep.

The amount of months or no.

Yeah, eight months for.

That's the listening time on an audiobook account for like two years. It's two years old.

Oh, no way. Like straight listening.

Yep. Eight months. Oh, wow.

That's it.

That's good stuff, guys like that. This is the information age.

Yep.

The whole point is to pick and do stuff. Anyway. You're asking questions.

Yeah, no worries. I was saying, when it comes to, like, in your mind, companies today, whether it be a startup, people that are young, people that are trying to throw together a company, as well as the Fortune 500 companies that you've spoken with, whatever that may be, what do you think in today's just entrepreneur world, quote unquote, where do you think a lot of people when it comes to culture and particularly where do you see them struggling? Because I know you said you help people develop it from a standpoint of just simplistic. Like if you take all the companies or people that you've consulted with what is just a general concept of places you see people struggling with. And how do you usually correct that? Because I think there's someone listening today that either they have a company, they're working in a company, they may not be aligned with the vision of the company. And how do you really get those two things locked on point from like a beginner level?

Yeah. So I'll give you a very standard. This is the secret sauce. So break down three steps, find it, transcribe it and do a date. The reason all of these things occur, like, oh, I can't find the right people or yada, yada, yada, the profits aren't right, or this is going wrong. That's all the effect of not getting the steps right. Meaning what's finding me? Write down your vision. It's the visual representation of what you're trying to do with your business. Like, what's the goal? What, what's the vision? The vision is what it looks like on paper. Like simply, what is that? What's the mission? What do you need to do to get there? Now this is important though. What are your values? What do you stand for? What words describe you as a man? Like Casey, Right. Now, if you were to write down three words that describe you as a man and then ask all your friends if they agree with that, then we figure out who you really are.

Okay?

Now it's not so important like whether you're right or whether you're wrong. What's important, important is when it's written down. You can use that to hire by creating the questions that you're going to use to interview people to see if they believe what you believe. When you write that down, you also can use that to teach people how to be successful. Because this is the thing. Find it, transcribe it, and do it daily. That's where the meetings come in. That's where the training comes in. If you don't train your people, they won't be competent. If they're not competent, they won't be confident. If they're not confident, they're not going to do anything. Even if they love you and they want to do something, they just won't do it. And then you're just going to be mad at them and you're going to, you're going to hold them to the ground and say, ah, why aren't you doing this? You don't care. But they really do. They just don't know what to do. Yeah, you have to figure out, write it down. Right. Get clear on it. Find it. What's my vision? What's my mission? What are my values? Like, who am I? Write it down and then train your people. I'll give you an example. I was on the phone today with Jordan Belfort's business partner, Peter Galletta. He's an amazing man. They've been working together since the beginning of Stratton Oakmont. If anyone here seen the Wall Street Forever. So we had a call today, and I love them because they embodied training. They train their people every day.

Okay.

If you listen to the podcast I did with Brad Lee, like we talked about it and Jordan said it, we train them every single day. We train them in the morning, we train them in the afternoon, because they train their people. The people knew what to do.

Makes sense.

So you get clear on it.

Right.

Find it, you write it down. What do we stand for? And then you train your people. If you just do that, I'll give you a little bit more for people watching. So they can really get value from this. Once they write down their vision, their mission, their values, it's not going to help them if it's just sitting on a wall. You talk about them in the morning for a couple minutes. When you start your day with your people.

Yep.

And when you have your meeting in the week, when you train your people on what they need to do to be successful, whether that's sales, whether that's service, whatever it is, you make sure that you bring up the values and you talk about them.

Yeah.

That's something very simple. That the return on that can be massive.

I love it. I love it. I think everything that, when I was listening to that, just what you were talking about, I think, for me, when it comes to you as an individual, what do you think are the. Or what do you know as the characteristics of your company? What is your culture, meaning? Just how do you operate? So people can kind of get like a tactical piece of advice when it comes to. When you wake up every day, talk to your team, what does that look like? And then what's the strategy behind that? In a sense. And when it comes to having those meetings daily, what does that look like internally with your business?

That's a great question. So in the mornings, we have our call. The call is going to be now, is it going to be every day? That's the goal. If it's. The point is to have it at least two to three times a day and that quick, whether it's in person or on the phone, it's like that 10 minute, hey, what are you thankful for everyone. Give me a value. And hey, what's your top thing that you're doing today? Like, something of that nature can help bring the cohesion together. The team meeting, like, the training is going to be at least once a week. How we do it internally with Culture Matters is we actually open it to the public on Mondays now.

Wow.

So every Monday, people that are not even in the company can come to this meeting where we personally develop together. Wow. And on Fridays, we have the meeting internally where we train on the phone. We train on the hot call or. Yeah, the hot calls or the phone. We train on the Facebook. 5. See, culture matters courses. I have courses that teach personal development.

Yep.

The courses that are going up in the marketplace, we use those internally to train ourselves.

Yep.

How would it make any sense that people would buy courses from us, but my employees wouldn't? You know, the people that work for Culture Matters, but they wouldn't get that value?

Yeah.

That makes no sense.

Yeah.

So there's no quite like, like, secret answer. Like, for example, Belfort is a great example. They train their people eight hours a week.

Yeah.

The Container Store train their people an hour a day. Chick Fil? A continuously trains their staff. Continue to look how good that company.

Yeah.

The more they're merrier. As long as you're not wasting time. It's like there's short meetings that have a purpose because we just want to get everyone on the same page. There's meetings that might be an hour because you're training something that's really important. There's meetings, like with the leadership once a month that may be strategically pick two topics that you're going to nail down for a couple hours. Or there's things every quarter with a mastermind.

Yeah.

It's getting clear on why you're having the meeting and then executing on the how to have it. So it's not like this redundant, long, tired, boring meeting where no one's learning anything.

Yeah.

The biggest takeaway I can give to anyone listening to this is very simple. If you've ever gotten value personally developing, like reading, speaking, growing, ask yourself, why would your business not be built around now with your employees?

Yeah. Makes sense.

Doesn't make any sense. So you figure out what works for you when you do it. And there's been like. It's like going to the gym once a day, like three times a week. The return is crazy.

Yeah.

Same thing when you actually train your people. It sucks that the times you got to do it anyway.

Yeah.

Like, oh, you know, you owe People money, you're not paying your bills on time, things aren't going right, you better train your staff because that's how it's gonna get paid. They gotta know what to do.

Totally. I love it and I think no 100% because I think I'm picking up a lot of stuff when it comes to just things that the little things that I can take away to implement for my team or whatever that may be. So I'm thinking a lot of people listening, they'll for sure be able to take a lot of things away. But I think one thing that I want to touch on because I know when it comes to just the word team, team building, I know a lot of people. They will have. Some have people have the in house. Some people have a lot of people that are working for them but they're not currently in a building with them. What, how does your company operate? Just so people get a context. Is it more internal like in person stuff or a lot over the phone? Team meetings through Skype or things like.

That whole thing started with the telephone. I mean, I love this thing.

Yep.

If this was a woman, I'd be with it. There's some stats on this. It says, you know, 88% or 90% of communication over the phone is tone and body language. All I know is culture matters as an idea and as a business that has grown to be bigger than me just coaching companies on culture, which is what I thought it would be.

Yeah.

It's become bigger than that. There's all these people involved with the culture. There's all these people investing their time. There's all these volunteers investing their time. It all started making a phone call every week to who is now the president of my company, Anton Webb.

Yep.

It all started with that.

It's amazing.

So if you have people. So great example. If you have people, you're outsourcing everything. If you're clear on your vision, your mission, your values and it's discussed because it all rises and falls on the leaders ability to.

Yeah.

To know themselves, be themselves and share themselves. If you are the walking, walking embodiment of what you stand for, Casey, for the rest of your life. And you can teach people how to be better. Not motivation only, but like how to actually do things. Like make a phone call. Like do some, some marketing copy. Right. Like follow up with a customer. If you can teach them something and you're clear on who you are and you know who you are, you show up and you teach them the return is you're going to Be a better dad, a better friend, a better lover, better everything.

Yeah.

You're just gonna be a better person.

Okay.

So even if they're far away, that's okay. Have that zoom. Like, think about this conversation we're having right now. Is this not proof?

Yeah, totally not through.

You have a call once a week for 45 minutes with your people. That's like going to the gym, working out your mind.

And most people never work out their mind, literally.

So they need you to do that. If they work for you. And they need to feel like they work with you. And you've got to teach them something. What else do you provide in the information age? They don't need you. They have a phone. They can sell it online.

Like, that's the truth. I love it. I love it. So, yes, totally.

So I think that's the talk in la.

Yeah.

There's no such thing as millennials.

I love. I loved it. I loved it. When it comes to. I think now I want to touch on social media. Bringing up the cell phone, bringing up everything. Nowadays, for me, that's been a huge standpoint of building my brand, connecting with people like yourself, Jeremy, all these other guys. When it comes to your company, how as social media, not just your company, but you as a person, how is social media play to impact? Cause I love talking about this. Podcasts and myself is a lot about personal branding, creating that, I would say culture within yourself expressed to your audience. So how does social media play an effect on you and your company overall?

Before Facebook, I was exactly who I am now. Just people thought I was crazy. You can be. And all great ideas start with someone that has it, and then people either agree with them or not. It was Friedrich Nietzsche that said, the visionary lies to himself, but a liar lies to everyone. When you have a great idea, the only thing you can do is you believe in it because you're actually good at it. That's a disclaimer, guys. You actually have to be good. When you have a great idea, you've got to get people to believe in it without Facebook. Because I built this whole company, this whole idea with my personal Facebook. Yeah, we just started doing ads. Like all of this was done with a personal Facebook.

Amazing.

All of it. And it to the point where I actually. At the last Internet earner summit last year, I taught that. It's called the Facebook 5. Something that, you know, it's 26 modules, it's four hours long. Stuff that you and me can talk about later.

Yeah.

Training that I do, I build culture Matters with a Facebook page. A personal Facebook page.

Yeah.

So there's no excuse. Well, you know, how'd you do that? Well, I posted like 20 times a day. Because if you hate me. Unfriendly.

Yeah.

If you love me, you love my content. And it wasn't. I wasn't just posting random stuff. I wasn't selling things. I was putting out education. Every single day for a year and a half, almost two years, a video has gone out on Facebook and LinkedIn that was educational, empathetic and entertaining because it was real.

Yep.

I was myself who I am in person.

Am I not the same 1000%.

That's the whole point of this.

Yep.

Now, this is the disclaimer. I'm who I am because I work really hard on myself. I want to be better, not for anybody else but me. So for the first time in history, this phone can get you in front of a guy that owns a massive company. Why? I know because this is something that I got from Dennis Yu. I think it was Dennis Yu. That from following him on Facebook. I put them at C first. If you don't have 30 influential people that you're see first that you're following, that you're talking, that you're. They were commenting on engaging on some of my richest relationships. That's like such a free tip for you. Use that. Some of my biggest relationships, that high nine figure businesses, I followed the CEO on Facebook and put them at C first. And I stayed in touch with them and I added value to them. I just had a call today. The Guy is a $20 million company. I've been following him for six months. See first. And he's been watching my videos because he. You get inside of them like you get inside of their algorithm. Now, this is the catch. This is the disclaimer. You got to put out value. Like I said, I've been putting out videos every day for two years. I didn't care if anyone's watching. Number one, I was getting better. I was getting better. And now I got thousand videos on YouTube.

That's crazy. Yeah.

Yeah.

So. So it's been two years hard since you've been doing this whole social media thing or what? 3.

You said I would say January 2016. I started filming videos.

Okay.

In an apartment with a camera.

Okay.

And I had an intern come and film them and edit them. I paid him 100 bucks a week. And honestly, I'm just sloth. I'd rather read a book than do that. So I could have did it myself, but I'm assetly a delegator. I don't want to do anything. You saw Isaiah setting the camera. I don't want to do anything. Anything other than to read books and talk.

Yep.

So I had someone help me. And every day that video went out and I filmed, like I said, probably in total. And then so it started filming me just putting videos out that are things that are in my head that I want to articulate. And then it became interviewing. And I'm gonna do about a hundred interviews in the next three months with top real estate professionals in the tri state area. Wow.

So for those interviews, those for what exactly? Content on Instagram Podcast just for your company or what exactly?

Well, just to give you an example, because of those interviews, I was able to leverage very recently, leverage that massive network and sell that for like a whole other opportunity.

Yeah.

So just think about this. I became more valuable because I got better at speaking, better at thinking, better at listening. Because like this, I'm talking and you're listening. When I was interviewing, what was I doing?

I was listening. Yep.

That's why I started this person from video. Yeah, Doing video. So much of a better person. I want to share that with people by having them feel how I do on camera. So then I started interviewing people and then that just led to a ton of business because I was being authentic with myself and I was giving value, which aligns with the first value in culture matters. Collaboration is the C in culture matters, and it stands for give first, intend to help and get started today. So our process of selling was to give value, like a relationship should be.

Yeah.

And with the intent to help. And then if it makes sense to work with someone, you ask for the sale. Why would you feel bad about that? Yeah, why would you feel bad? So anyway, not to get off on that tangent.

Yeah, no worries.

Without this, what everyone watching this needs to understand is there was four big shifts in the last 2,000 years. Cylin, you could forget his name. Actually, there's one with him, Alexander the Great, which I talked about. You see me speak on his best friend, Ptolemy. I created the Alexandrian libraries. We discovered that the Earth was round in those libraries. Why? There was hundreds of thousands of people, books, people had knowledge. Then after that, Zylon invented the paper and the east started winning over the West. And then after that, Gutenberg invented the printing press. So that way books could be in everyone's houses. Why am I talking about this random history? Because it's so important. For the first time in the world in 2018, there's more people listening to podcasts and watching videos. Billions of people that may not even be able to read can listen to this podcast, can get information on their phone. Little children in third world countries that are now first world countries can get information on this. And anyone can change the world, because the world is always changed by one person who stands up first on a bus. Yep, everybody follows. So when we talk about social media, building a business, bro, you could change the world on social media. What are we talking about? Get on social media now. This is the disclaimer. You gotta have something to say.

Yes, valuable content.

You gotta think now. There's things that can help you think, like mentors, books, not being around people who don't want to think.

Yeah, that's a big one.

So that's my thing on social media. Social media is built. It's how I met Jeremy Haynes. It's how I met everybody. It's the reason that I ended up in Vegas, you know, with Bradley on his podcast and now coaching his company on culture. It's the reason all this stuff happened because I put my truths out there. And when you're valuable, people will want to reciprocate because you've given them values. So be valuable. Use social media.

Amazing. I love how you brought up the interview thing because that's. I. Like we talked about before we started the podcast, I started this six months ago and it's, it's literally open my. Opened up my network so quickly just from the opportunity of me listening, but then also providing value like you spoke about, when it comes to the reciprocal value with the audience, with the. If you have something to say, whether that be me saying it or in this state, it's you saying it, but it's still coming from my audience. Right? So it's like, I think a lot of people, especially in the social media age, where it's like they get caught up on, like, they don't know what to say, but they have their internal beliefs, but they're just not scared to express them, but they just don't know how. And I think that's a big thing for a lot of young people is like, they know what they want to say. They know how they want to say it, but they just don't say it because there's something triggering them to hold back thinking about that, that one person that's gonna talk shit about them or say, yo, why'd you put that out there? Right? So when it comes to. I have two more questions before I wrap this up, and I think these Are big for a lot of people. Listening is when it comes to you as an individual and the characteristics that embody you. What do you think those core beliefs are within yourself?

Oh, boy. Well, now there's the company reflects myself totally. Totally should give first intend help and get started today, which is the understanding of giving value and then asking. That's in essence how business is done.

Yep.

I give you value, you give me value back. And now there's a law of abundance. So that's our first value. That's my first intrinsic value. Unique in the company stands for education is finding the answer within. Okay. There's in Latin, one of the translations of education means the answer lies within. So give example. If I ask you a question, you tell me something, you're telling me your truth. That's your answer with it. So I know that whatever you say, that's your truth. I don't need to agree with it, but I'm not going to disagree with it. Make sense?

Yep.

So education to me or unique. And we're all unique. That's the point. These education is financing learn. The more you learn, the more you earn. Now, not just monetarily, but spiritually, emotionally, we build our world with our mind. And that's proven with neuroscience and psychology and everything that we know about the mind thus far. So that's another one of my values. The more you learn, the more you earn.

Yep.

Trustworthy. Trust in yourself. So you can trust up now, I don't know about you, but me being me, People have wronged me.

Yeah.

But a grudge is like a hot coal. The longer you hold it, it burns you.

Yep.

So I'm never gonna let someone that does something change me from being who I am. So I trusted myself.

I love it.

So I'm gonna trust others now. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna verify.

Yeah, right. Yeah, totally. I love that. Okay.

So unstoppable is the you. Dude, I could be here all day.

I got a lot of totally.

But you understand where I'm going with who I am.

No. I can tell every day.

I'm a happy camper. If I read every day, if I write every day and if I speak every day with the intent to give, I'm a happy person. And I built a whole company around that idea.

I love it.

That's why I'm not going to be retiring anytime soon. They'll be burying me with the book.

I love that. I love that. So if you get that clear in.

Your life about your business and anyone watching this you will never work a day in your life.

Perfect.

The suck would be hard though, by the way, because I'm not always happy.

I love it. I think that definitely hit me in a lot of great ways and I internalized a lot of things. Just you talking about, right when you answered it, you said, my company reflects me. And I know that you talked about that at the beginning. And I think that's super cool. When it comes to like a tangible piece of value from this, even for myself, is like, am I looking at my company, the values that I embody as well? Because it's like, if they don't match up, is that what you would consider, like an alignment of culture really quick?

Your core values are like who you are now.

Yeah.

You're gonna have other values that maybe you're aspiring to be. The company's values must reflect who you are now, because that's true. And who you're attaining to be, because that's what you're attaining to be. Because the point of getting clear on the values is. Casey, you might be the catalyst of your company. Anyone watching this, you might be the person that starts it. I might be the guy that starts Culture Matters. But Culture Matters is not called J Matters. Your company can't be about. Yeah, you're the driver of the idea, but the company must have an idea that's more important than you and everyone that works there, or else you will be a very sad, miserable, selfish person.

I love it. Beautiful. Last question. I think this is something I want to wrap it up with. Just the overall state of your journey thus far when it comes to not just us connecting, doing this podcast now, but for the people listening. And I think I would consider a lot of them, yes, entrepreneurs. But more than that, you know, I think it's more about the individual that's behind the business. Like you were saying. As in, like, how does it reflect to who's behind the company? What are their values? So I think this is to the person that has a company out there that's listening. I want to end it with this. And that's if I was to ask you a question that just. And the question is, when it comes to your day to day activities and the way that you've been able to flow since first starting that journey of, I would say self education, if you were looking back, not a book, not a resource, not a mentor, but what's something that you would consider has been invaluable that you can't find in a book that you can't listen on an audio book that you'd like to share with the audience today.

You can't really see it. Can you see that?

It's a scar.

I have a scar that goes all the way down my arm. If you go to my YouTube channel, Jaydoran J A Y D O R A N, there's a video there. You basically type in my name, broken arm.

Okay.

September 17, 22,000. No, it's September 22, 2017. So like not even a year ago, I was in a thousand pound side by side atv. My seatbelt on, my helmet on, in the passenger seat. Someone was driving it and they flipped it over going 40 miles an hour. I look up, it's on me and my whole arm is almost severed. Like just totally. Just combo number one. If it wasn't for the eight years of personal development, there's no way I would have been calm. Number two, the doctor looked at me a couple hours later because we went right to the hospital an hour and said, you're never gonna use your hand again. It works.

Yep.

That happening. And me want. And all this is on YouTube. Like, I catalog the whole thing. Really me, like wanting to kill me, kill myself. You know, I wanted. I wanted, wanted to die within two weeks of it. Like, first I was okay and then I was destroyed. And then I overcame it. Not because of me. I'm not so great. I have people around me on Facebook, my people that are believing what we're doing. Everything's on my back. Overcoming that there's any Dragon Ball Z fans. It's like Vegeta, get Goku. I am old. I'm 27.

Okay.

They probably even know it was like Super Saiyan. And overcoming that, no one can take away my truth because this is what happened. When I got hurt, I realized that there is nothing. Nothing that I need. There are only things I want.

Yep.

And I was gonna keep going with culture matters. I didn't think I'd have an arm again.

Wow.

So I was just gonna be doing it like this.

Yeah. That was less than a year, though. Wow.

That's the. That's where a lot of my intensity comes from when I speak. And I don't even bring this up unless someone asks me.

Yeah.

Because you never know that. I almost lost my hand.

Yeah. I had no idea, you know, so.

Yep.

Wow.

That showed me who I was. And that's the reason culture will matter. Because anyone watching this, they can have whatever they want in life if they want it bad enough and they're valuable enough. And in that moment when I Was faced with having an arm again or not having an arm, I chose well. I don't need it because I really don't have everything that I need right here.

Yeah.

And that came from reading and writing and speaking and developing myself. And that was the biggest tipping point my entire life.

Wow. And that was less than a year ago, you said.

Yeah, man. It was like after that happened and I was able to overcome that, which I'm not definitely far from perfect. Like I said, I want to quit and give up. And I was destroyed. Having gone through that. No book could have got me that much as I. You know, but. But if I never developed.

Yeah. Prior.

There's no way I would have been able to get through it. It would have been destroyed me. I would have quit and we would not be doing this right now. So I'm not condoning anybody hurting each other, though.

Yeah.

Like, if you want to be successful.

Hit your friend with a dude. That's hilarious, though. Cuz literally, I've interviewed a lot of people now. And, like, even from. For me, it's like the way I. I had a very bad neck injury playing football. I was in a neck brace for like 25 weeks. And that was my tipping point. And it's funny, a lot of people, like, talk about a major injury. I know Andy Vercella, he has that scar. When I interviewed him, like, I've interviewed Andy or Grant or whoever. A lot of them talk. Do what?

We all have the same birthday.

Exactly. That is hilarious. But it's funny that you bring that up. And I'm glad that we were ending on this because I think it's those intangible things that really not just define you, but that's the things you can't learn in a book. And I think everyone can define that differently for themselves. And I think. I think my question to the audience today is just like, what is that intangible force within that you can't find in a book? You know? And I think for you, it's like ending with that. I had no idea that happened. Right. But looking back on the interview, it's like everything relates to the. The person you are that matches the equivalence of who you are after that, you know? So I think that's definitely unique and I appreciate you sharing that with us today. Definitely.

Yeah. Thanks for asking. The question doesn't come up a lot.

Absolutely. So I want to end it with this. And that is number one, obviously. It's been 51 minutes. People want more of you. Right. Where can they find you? Where can they listen to you? You said you have a thousand 1300 videos. What's the best place? I'm going to make sure to link all this, but I just want to hear from you. What's the best place?

Well. J A Y D O r a n YouTube. Every day there's five videos that are educational just like that, that I'm due till they kill me. And they might, right? Jad, Facebook, send me a message. I'm addicted to it. And LinkedIn all the same name. J a y D O R a N. And Instagram is jdoran Underscore. Culture Matters. They can follow me. I'm very active on that and Culture Matters courses. Dot com. We're live.

Yeah.

How I did this business, like, meaning how I made it possible through my personal Facebook and through the telephone, is all on there. So there is 150 hours of free content on my YouTube channel.

Wow. Well, that being said, everyone, please, please, please. I know you've heard a lot of value, but for everyone that wants more, make sure to go follow Jay. I'm gonna have all the links to his websites, YouTube channel, Instagram, and everything you can think of will be down in the description below. So make sure you go check that out. And that being said, Jay, thank you so much for coming onto the Rise of Young podcast. And everyone listening, make sure to run through this again, because I think a lot of people, even for me, it's like, I'm gonna go ahead and listen to this again. There's a lot of things that I think if you listen to twice, I think a lot of people can pick up, not even for themselves, but reflect that into their company. So I definitely appreciate you coming on, Jay. It definitely means a lot.

I appreciate it. And wait, there's Culture Matter. That's the question.

Oh, yeah. 100% all day. Well, awesome. Yep. Everyone, I will talk to you guys soon. Casey Adams, out. Thank you so much for listening to the Rise of Young podcast.

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