In this promotional monologue for Dashboard University, host Jim Bouchard introduces two upcoming guests and shares a personal boxing story to illustrate the show's core theme of perseverance. He first highlights Chris Treese, who lost everything in a massive Tennessee flood and rebuilt his life using the resilience he cultivated as a former Tennessee Volunteers athlete alongside legends like Peyton Manning. Next, Bouchard presents David Klein, co‑founder of Jelly Belly, who was pushed out of the company he helped create, sold his stake for a modest sum, and later returned with a new line of gourmet jelly beans while the brand now generates over $160 million annually. Bouchard then recounts his own brief boxing career, describing how he was knocked down early, the contrasting encouragement from friends to “stay down” versus the later realization that true allies yell “get up.” He uses this anecdote to emphasize the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive people who encourage persistence, tying it back to the show’s focus on resilience and community.
Chapters
I'm really pumped up about Dashboard University. Our first guest is going to be Chris Treese. We've had him, I think, like a Black Belt show before. Imagine losing everything. Chris lost everything in a massive flood in Tennessee and built his life back from that. And the resilience that he found largely came from his life as an athlete. Chris was a member of the Tennessee Volunteers and the teammate of folks like Peyton Manning and some of the great athletes in Tennessee. So he'll be here to tell us how he brought himself back from that into a lot of success. And then David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Belly, who was literally squeezed out of that company and sold— I think he sold out with his partner for somewhere around $4 million. Last year Jelly Belly did over $160 million in one year. And he went He wasn't even mentioned in the history of Jelly Belly, so he'll be here to talk about how he came back and his great new products, which is gourmet jelly beans. We say in the martial arts, knock down 7 times, get up 8, right? And this is what it means. I can remember in my short and unillustrious career as a boxer, I was knocked down in the first round. That's right. And there were several of my friends at ringside, and of course, you know, what are your friends going to yell? On your back looking up at the lights and they started yelling, "Get up, Jim! Get up! Get up!" I could hear them pounding the thing, "Get up!" Long story short, after the fight, it was my birthday and they took me out for a few pops. After the conversation was lubricated a little bit, I turned to these guys and I said, "Hey guys, you know you're my friends, right?" They said, "Yeah." I said, "You guys love me, right?" They said, "Yeah, we do." I said, "Then the next time I get knocked down like that, you should be yelling, 'Stay down! Stay down! Keep me safe!'" I was safe, right? Years later, I realized I was wrong. And those are the types of people you want around you. Those are the people who are going to help you persevere. When everybody else is saying, "That's it, throw in the towel, quit," you want the people at ringside yelling, "Get up, get up, get back in the ring."
