Life-Changing Books Podcast Episode 55. H John Mejia: Author of Step Into Your Zone

H, welcome to the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books Podcast. How are you doing today?

Nick, I'm doing great. And it's such an honor and pleasure to visit with you here today. And just a little kudos and a big shout out to you, Nick. You do a great job. I'm so impressed with the way you handle yourself, the business that you've built. Book Thinkers, all about inspiration and inspiring. So I'm pumped to be here with you today. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm pumped as well. And thank you for the kind words and congratulations on the release of the new book. So Before we jump into the book, I'd love to have you introduce yourself to everybody that's not already familiar with your work.

Just a quick little bio. I'm originally from New York City. I'm a kid that grew up in Jamaica, Queens, New York, and a kid that had a lot of dreams, a lot of aspirations, and I've been on a tremendous journey my entire life. And I'm currently in the Tampa Bay area. I'm in the TV media world. I'm an entrepreneur. and a new author, as we're going to talk about today. And I'm all about inspiration, encouragement, about going to the next level. I'm always trying to find what is the hack, what is the code, what is the combination to self-improvement. So, I know you are as well with your company, with what you've built. And on that note, I'm so excited to be here. And yeah, you'll also hear a lot of football metaphors and analogies. So, I just want to give people a heads up. A lot of sports analogies are coming as well.

Well, I love the sports analogies. I grew up playing football. I played in high school. I wanted to play in college, but I never ended up playing in college. And funny enough, I'm from the Boston, Massachusetts area, and you're in Tampa. You guys stole our quarterback, and he just won a Super Bowl in Tampa. So, not so bad.

You're right, but just a correction. It's not Tampa. It's Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay. Champions.

Hey, growing up in New England, everybody has always hated the Boston Dynasties. So I can give credit where credit is due. Well, I'm excited for today's conversation. Like I mentioned, you just put out a book, Step Into Your Zone. And it is full of a lot of sports analogies, a lot of business and sales strategies. It's great for life in general. And so what inspired you to write this book?

Step Into Your Zone is a book, and I just happen to have a copy right here if I don't give a little plug. Step Into Your Zone: Playbook of Secrets for Peak Performance in Business, Sales, and Life. This book is not just for athletes. It's a book that, uh, you know, we all hear about the zone. We were just joking around about Tampa Bay Champions and Tom Brady leading us to a Super Bowl as he did so many years up in Boston. The zone is oftentimes connected to what, Nick? It's connected to sports and athletes. And I do have a football background. I did play college football, high school football, peewee football. I did sign NFL contracts, USFL contracts, MLFS league. I played 2 years. And I was able to transfer the zone into business, into my personal life. So what I wanted to do through this book is to encourage and inspire people to get to the zone, that they could each have, we all can share in that experience of the zone and get to the next level, to better our best, to break through to the next level, to get unstuck. And especially today, in today's environment, Nick, and what we've gone through, obviously, with the COVID and the pandemic, the next year plus of, you know, being locked down and and having a lot of changes going on here, it's about pivoting. It's about getting to the next level. And that's what the book and the inspiration is all about. And I've covered and been through a lot of journeys and a lot of great experiences I've had as a kid from Jamaica, Queens, New York. And I just wanted to inspire people that they could have those same journeys, those same experiences as well.

No, I think it's very applicable to our audience. I mean, the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books Podcast is all about introducing our audience to new books and new mentors like you that can help them achieve more and live better in life. And accessing this zone, stepping into the zone, I think it's a very important way to achieve that. So, who is the target reader for this book? You just mentioned the zone is typically related to athletes, but this book isn't just for athletes. It's really for everybody. Who is the target reader?

It really is. I tried to, you know, as I was going through this journey of writing the book and And really the foundation, the principles, the strategies that I share, they're really geared towards business people, executives, salespeople, entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, people looking to get ahead, people coming out of college, people looking to reset, reboot, people that wanna start a business, people that wanna make improvements and get unstuck. So the net of the target audience, Nick, is, is pretty wide because the golden nuggets of the foundational principles that we share are going to be available to everybody, uh, to what we do, and they can use it and apply it in their own life. They could apply it, uh, to their day-to-day living as well.

Yeah, I can see how it can be widely applicable, like I mentioned before, and, and I think anybody that's listening could give this book a shot and could increase their ability to perform whatever their profession is. Even in their personal lives as well. And so, how did you come up with the title, speaking of the zone?

Yeah, Step Into Your Zone. 4 critical words: step into your zone. The word step reminds us that step is an action word, right? We have to take movement. We've got to do, you know, it's not lay, sleep, relax. It's step. You've got to take some action. So that's where the word step comes into. Into anything that we want to accomplish has to be intentional. Nick, if we want to go to the next level, it has to be intentional. It just doesn't happen. Tom Brady doesn't just wake up on Super Bowl Sunday, you know, ready to play for a championship. There's an intentional work ethic that needs to go into in preparation, going through trials and tribulations and making it happen. So, step into your. This is critical, Nick. Your is all about your experience. You're not competing. We're not competing with anybody. We're not in a race against somebody else. The biggest challenge that we have is us. So, your zone, your game plan, your vision of what you want to accomplish in living your dream. Step into your.

Zone.

zone. And the zone, we can define in a lot of words: nirvana, pinnacle, um, flow. There's a lot of names that are attributed to the zone, but the zone is really where you better your best. It's where you reach your potential. It's where you go to the next level. It's where you stretch yourself, challenge yourself, and grow to the next level to experience that high level, that peak performance. That we've all done at some point in our lives, the inspiration behind the title, Step Into Your Zone. I might add also, Nick, that obviously I've had a great entrepreneur career. I've had a great award-winning TV media career as a TV host and producer. I've worked with a lot of celebrities, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of great things, a lot of experiences, a lot of great football experiences. And there are a lot of things that I've shared in the book with their— within the book. But Nick, on the same token, I also don't want to mislead people as well. The reality is I've had so many screw-ups. I've had so many adversities. I've had so many challenges, especially when I was cut from the NFL. Limiting beliefs, self-esteem issues, lack of confidence, the not good enough syndrome, the There's a lot of things that we all carry that perfectionism doesn't exist. We might have an image on social media, but part of this book really deals with the mental mindset that through my adversities, my limiting beliefs, the self-sabotages that I've had and have experienced and been my own worst enemy, that we all can fight through that and get through that mess to get to the other side, to bridge over to the zone, and break through to that higher level that we can all experience.

Well, I love that you just brought up the obstacles, and we're going to unpack that in a little bit more detail when we talk about the 10 characteristics of the zone, because I love the section on anticipation of the obstacles. Before we do that, you just broke down the title, and I resonate with all 4 pieces of the title. The one that I really resonate with the most though is the word your, because you're totally right. this whole genre of personal development is personal development. It's not comparative development. We're not looking at other people and saying, look at how amazing their lives are. We're saying, here's where I was yesterday. Here's where I am today. Here's where I'd like to be tomorrow. And can this book, in this example, your book, can this book help me to achieve what I'd like to achieve? And I think the answer is yes for your book, because you're teaching people how to access that zone, that flow state where you can achieve more and to live a better life. Like I said, the purpose of this podcast. So thank you for choosing that title. And I also never really thought about the idea of incorporating action into a title. I'm actually writing my first book right now, just started the process. And over the next 12 to 16 months, I've got to figure out a title that works for me. And so thank you for mentioning that as well.

Awesome.

Speaking of writing a book, I also have to come up with a cover, and I love your cover. So you're holding a football. Can you tell us a little bit about how you chose the COVID there?

Nick, what position did you play?

I was a wide receiver.

You're a wide receiver. Okay, we're in the same family group. I was a tight end, so I did catch touchdowns and catch passes, but I also had to deal with the, the D, uh, you know, blocking on the D-line and going against linebackers. But I am holding a football, and yes, I was not a quarterback. I'm holding a football and I've got a suit on and a tie. See, what I've done is I just felt inspired that, and you can appreciate this because we all share the same sweat and the same blood that we, and on that football field and the brotherhood that was established in high school and playing at that level, that football is a, I was able to take a lot of lessons from the field. I was blessed to have great coaches, great leaders. That sowed a lot of seeds of teachings, seeds that didn't come to fruition until years after playing that I'm still able to reflect back. I know I talked to a lot of my teammates, to the brotherhood that I've experienced with those lessons that were taught. So football has a lot of foundational principles that I've been able to transfer into my life. A lot of hours, a lot of years, a lot of work that I spent with it, and that's the reason I put my suit on holding the football. So there's a lot of sports metaphors. And in the book, I share a lot of athletes and celebrities that I've interviewed, a lot of stories and lessons that I've learned from those celebrities— NFL Hall of Fame players, movie stars, etc. And that's the reason behind the football.

I love it. And, and one more thing before we actually dive into some of these golden nuggets— the foreword of your book. Now, I'm a huge fan of the show Shark Tank. I've been watching it I've been watching it for a long time as an aspiring entrepreneur and now as an entrepreneur looking to grow and scale a business. So, Kevin wrote the foreword to your book. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Kevin Harrington, the king of infomercials. I met him, he's also one of the original Sharks from Shark Tank. He was on season 1 and 2 on the hit TV show Shark Tank. And I met Kevin probably about 11 years ago, Nick. I did a TV interview with him. He was on my TV show here in Tampa, Good Life Tampa Bay, and Kevin and I kind of connected. We— I did a great interview. He enjoyed the piece that I did on with him, on him, and he said, H, I like your energy. You should do some infomercials with me. And Kevin and I did work on a few projects together, developed a friendship over the years, and when it came down to time to writing the book, who's going to write the foreword to the book? And I was going through and I said, man, Kevin Harrington, one of the Sharks. And guess what? You know, a lot of times that self-talk, oh, he, why would he do this? Why would— I'm too scared to ask him. Why should I ask him? All these mental games that go in. And I asked him and Kevin was honored and I'm so blessed to have him write the, an incredible foreword to the book. I also might add, Nick, as well, a lot of compliments that I'm getting at this. You know, we reached a lot of levels as an Amazon. We were leading like number 1, 2 bestsellers in our category, in our book categories, uh, for, for, for a while when we pre-launched and, and launched the book. But I've also got a lot of feedback that there's a lot of great pictures in the book, a great photo album of celebrities, athletes, Hall of Fame players, uh, from Eric Dickerson to Marcus Allen to the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian, to political people like Jeb Bush, Hall of Fame players like Terrell Owens, a lot of great things in the book that they're in here too with some great pictures, people that I've interviewed over the years as well. It's been pretty cool.

Yeah, well, funny enough, whenever I go to post something on Instagram, which we featured your book, I always look, who's in the book? Who can I tag? Who might be willing to reshare this? And, uh, I was very amazed at the star power both in the advanced praise and the pictures in the middle of the book. A lot of very powerful people. And so as a celebrity TV host and producer, you have access to a lot of very interesting people. So maybe towards the end of the interview, if we have some time, I'll ask a couple specific questions about those and we can have some fun there. But to dive into the meat and the bones, so the book is really broken into 5 parts, at least for today's conversation.

Yeah.

And part 1 is the 10 characteristics of the zone. So, I've got a couple specific questions in a minute, but what is that book about? Or what is that part of the book about?

Yep. Think about it, you know, and you're a great example to all the Book Thinkers audience. You're a great example of using books, using information, and improving, doing self-improvement. Think about it. If you want to go to be your best, if you want to reach the peak, you want to reach the zone just like professional athletes, great athletes do, Wouldn't it make sense to have a student mindset? Wouldn't it make sense to do some homework and get into understanding and studying the zone?

Absolutely.

If you want to be the best version of yourself, it would make sense to start doing some work. And I've identified in the book, you know, what is the zone? And Nick, it's kind of funny because it wasn't until years after playing that I started to get in tune with the zone, and I was able to reflect back of the experiences on the football field, and I know you, you as a wide receiver, we can connect where, you know, you're running and, and there becomes moments when your game is on, you're just outrageous, no one can stop you, and everything slows down. The ball, the speed of the game slows down, you have clarity, obstacles, defenders are non-existent. And would it make sense to say, okay, how does that happen? And how does it happen in business? And how does it happen in sales and entrepreneurship? And I've identified the 10 characteristics of the zone. And here, uh, I want to just talk about real quick. One of those characteristics of the zone is that the reward is not in the goal that you set. The reward is not in that big target objective that you're going after. The big reward you're gonna have is your climb and your journey on the way to that big obstacle. It's the person that you become, Nick, during that journey, during that process where all the adversities, the things that come up against you, the struggles that you have, it's who you become in the journey. Don't get me wrong, hitting the goal is important. No, no question about it. but it's who you become during that journey along the way as you go through those trials and tribulations in that journey. That it's who you become along the way. And so that is really one of the key characteristics of the zone, uh, in part 1 that we cover.

No, it's a great characteristic. I, I've made a big shift in my life over the last couple of years from outcome-based goals to more habit and lifestyle-based goals. You know, I want to live as an entrepreneur traveling the world, having fun, always curious, being humbled by the information I'm learning, not become a millionaire, right? Because that's an outcome-based goal, and I— what I want to do is enjoy the process. And I agree, it's really important if you want to stay in the zone or enter the zone as frequently as possible to be living a lifestyle that suits you Not just be aiming for these big objectives all the time.

If I might add 2 things real quick on what you were just saying. Yeah, it was when I was doing a call with you or, and I said, and I noticed the background and I, because I'm Mejia, I'm part Colombian, south from South America. I said, are you in Medellín, Colombia? And you said, yeah, because I noticed the buildings and I know where you are because my cousin lives in that same area in Medellín. So, it's really cool. I might add too, is this just on part one of the 10 characteristics. It's a struggle. Let me just share an example. Let me just share a real-life example. You know, a lot of times we see today in social media the pictures, the entrepreneurs, the Lamborghini, Silicon Valley, $20 billion a year revenue. You know, part of my journey as an entrepreneur, I was very fortunate. I had some great partners, co-owners. We built a marketing agency from $0 to $18 million. We had over 100 employees. We had things that were going. We were just cranking year 1, year 2, year 3. We were cranking. Guess what? Adversity and the dark valley finally did hit. There were times I remember, and I joke with my partners about— not, well, joke, reflect back at it. There were times that on Monday morning, we would run to the bank and plead with our banker, please cover payroll.

Wow.

We had 100 families that we were responsible for. We had, you know, we were doing $200,000 plus a week in expenses. Can you imagine the stress, the anxiety? There were times as an entrepreneur did not take checks for 4 months, had to put money into the business to keep funding and cover payroll. That's the reality. Sometimes the facade They're great. Don't go— go for the Lamborghini, go for the billion-dollar tech company, build a company, create it, you know, that's awesome. But a lot of times there's a lot of sweat. That's the true entrepreneur spirit of going through that adversity. There was another time when we'd walk in on Black— we call it Black Monday. We called it the CMC Black Monday day where we had to let go 27 people to keep the company alive.

Wow.

Make tough decisions. So, that's part of the entrepreneurship business journey that sometimes people, oh, you're an entrepreneur, you have your own business. Those are things that, you know, it's in that struggle that I'm grateful for. Didn't appreciate when I was going through it, you know, right? Going through that adversity. So, that's just part one. It's who you become during that journey. And I'm grateful now as I reflect back. for those struggles and adversities.

It's an amazing lesson. And more and more of our guests are successful entrepreneurs, but it's becoming more of a theme in this podcast to discuss how entrepreneurship, you know, it's not the stoic entrepreneur fighting against all odds by themselves. It's a community of people just trying to do their best. And then part 2 of the book It deals with 11 strategies. What are these 11 strategies and what is that part of the book about?

What we do is we break down, and just going back to an earlier thing, think of this book as we're going to walk you through. Think of, let's use the metaphor of Mount Everest and the peak of Mount Everest, and that your zone, your zone of opportunity, your zone of being the best you can be is at the peak of Mount Everest. Think of this book that we're there, I'm there to be able to guide you kind of like a Sherpa, take you up the mountain safely and give you 11 power tips, 11 strategies that you need to implement and execute to get to the zone. And I identify them, I give tremendous stories and examples from my personal journey, stories and examples from the great people that I've interviewed to be able to give you that insight to help you get to the top of your zone, the top of your Mount Everest of opportunity. And I'll share just a personal story here, Nick, if I may. One of those power tips is sometimes— Nick, you're the great host, you know, with the wide— being a wide receiver. You know, sometimes you got to go throw a Hail Mary, right? How many times during the game, Nick, let's just send all the receivers deep, get to the end zone, our quarterback would just throw it up for grabs. you're going to throw that Hail Mary pass. And sometimes in business, entrepreneurship, sales, and life, we have to throw a Hail Mary pass. We have to throw deep. We've got to go for it. And let me just share a quick story, a personal journey where I threw a Hail Mary pass, where oftentimes my self-sabotage of self-doubt would have prevented me from taking that opportunity. I was, uh, years ago, I was in my mid-30s and I was reading a, the newspaper at that time. And, uh, there was an ad in the paper for an on-air TV sports reporter locally in Cincinnati, Ohio. And I read the ad and something came over me, Nick. I was just, I said, wow, that would be really cool. Now, going back to college, I was a business marketing major. I wasn't in mass comm. I didn't deal with media or TV or wasn't part of my genre in college. Oftentimes in my mind's like, well, why would you go there and do that? You didn't even study that in college. At that time, I was in sales, one of the top sales producers for a company in, in Cincinnati, Ohio. And thank goodness, I'm just blessed that I didn't overthink it. I just said, I'm going to go to the interview. It was a casting call. I went to the casting call, I got online with other people, and I started to feel uncomfortable because I started to feel exposed. I started to feel not good enough. Everybody in the line, what kind of production work have you done? What's your demo reel? I didn't have a demo reel. I've never done anything. So I'm online and I literally was moments away, Nick, from turning around and just walking away and leaving. So what am I doing here? I don't, I don't deserve, I'm not good enough. I don't have the experience. I went into the casting call, had a 3-minute meeting with the, with the, the lead producer, the 3 executives there. I talked to them, asked me a few questions, and I left. And I walked out and I said, wow, that really went well. And, you know, just like kind of sarcastically. And guess what? 2 days later, out of all the people they interviewed, I was one of the 3 that they gave an opportunity. They gave a shot because they said, H, we like your energy and we're willing to work with you. Wow. And that was the beginning, the seed that was planted to a career that has led to over thousands of interviews. I've done national TV, hosted Fox on Fox Sports. I've met celebrities. Look at the journey that I would have missed if I had listened to my inner voice of being not good enough or why am I doing this or the negative thinking of self-sabotage. So a lot of times you throw the Hail Mary pass when you think there's really, there's no hope, right? What's a Hail Mary pass? We're behind, we're losing, we're not in a good situation. And in opportunities in your career, we need to throw the Hail Mary pass where we stretch ourselves, get out of that darn comfort zone and get uncomfortable and try to make some great things happen. Because sometimes, as we know, You will catch it in the end zone and score that touchdown to change the game.

Absolutely. Well, I resonate with all of it. The 2 of us are cut from the same cloth. I also went to school with a business marketing degree, and I had to get outside of my comfort zone and step into this entrepreneurship role. And by the way, I was a terrible public speaker, the worst, full of verbal pauses. I couldn't even get 2 words out in front of people that I didn't already know. I was very attached to my family and scared at school. And here I am now, not hundreds of or thousands of interviews, but we're getting there. And I'm meeting amazing people. And it's simply because of that Hail Mary pass as well. I decided, hey, I'm going to take a door-to-door sales job when I was in college because I'm the worst public speaker on the planet. And I know that by the end of a brutal summer with tons of anxiety, and tons of fear, I will become a better speaker. And so, here we are now. If I hadn't done that job, I wouldn't be here either. So, I totally resonate with the Hail Mary.

Well, okay. Door-to-door. What were you selling? Because I did the same thing in college. I did door-to-door. So, what did you do? What were you pitching?

I ran my own house painting business and I had to go door-to-door and sell house painting jobs. I also had to hire my own crew. It was terrifying, to say the least.

That's amazing. You know, I did door-to-door and I worked, one of my coaches in college had a roofing business and I, during the summertime in Baltimore, Maryland, I went to Towson University, big shout out to the Tigers there. I'd put on my shirt and a tie and I'd just go knocking on doors and I would hand out information to try to do some lead generation. And that's where I learned about commission sales at One of the prospects bought a roof and I got a $700 commission check. And I was like, whoa! Effort, get out of the car, hot environment, go knocking on doors, saying hello to people, get the door slammed in, meet some people, shake some hands. And that's the lesson. I might add also, Kevin Harrington, one of the Sharks from Shark Tank, our story is very similar to yours, Nick, is that Kevin Harrington in college, he went to University of Cincinnati, He did driveways. He'd go knocking on doors and do refurbish the driveways from all the cracks. And that's how he started his business career. And eventually, he ended up quitting college because he ended up building a business with a team and parlaying that into some big money. So, door-to-door has some merit, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. And then, I also took a sales position and became the top earner at that sales company. or software company after graduation as well before stepping, I guess, into the media world. We could call both of what we do the media world. So yeah, very similar stories. Yeah, I love that. What about part 3 of the book, Zone Interviews?

Yeah, you know, part of the thing is, and I encourage people, I inspire people, I know that through my experiences, through my stories, that there are some golden nuggets that people can resonate with, can connect with, to use to help them make some changes. But I also had the benefit of some of the TV interviews that I've done. I've interviewed some powerful people, successful people, and I'm able to share some of their knowledge in the book. I wanted to give so much into this book to be able to offer different perspectives. And readers are not gonna use all of them or be inspired by all of them, but I wanted to create that buffet of stories and teachings from others as well. So, in this book, Kevin Harrington, who wrote the foreword and we've been speaking about, Kevin offers some great insight that I was able to— insights that I was able to pull from. I did a full 1-hour TV interview with Kevin, had the privilege and honor to get inside the mind of a Shark. What was his story? What was his beginnings? What was his adversities? What were the keys to his success? So, I share some of that in the book as well. I also interviewed a guy that has built a $100 million successful company. He has built a franchise, one of the most successful franchises. He's still in his 30s. He and his partner built this from college when he started and built this incredible franchise company. And he's able to offer some insights and some tips that I've captured here in the book. A former Hollywood personality, TV personality, who became, in her 50s, started a second career as an entrepreneur. And now she's a queen on HSN, Home Shopping Network, where she generates millions of dollars of sales from her apparel business. I also have someone that I interviewed who was an aspiring singer and entertainer, and he had a passion for singing. And like so many of hundreds of thousands of others, Nick, he applied and went out for The Voice, the TV show The Voice on NBC. And guess what? I talk about his journey along the way where he makes it to The Voice and he makes the cut on The Voice with Christina Aguilera and CeeLo and all these great celebrity singers. And he's able to perform in front of 10 million people on NBC. And I talk about his journey as an entertainer because you know what? Whether it be an entertainer, salesperson, entrepreneur, business, the zone has common traits that we all can connect to, Nick.

Yes, it does. And so, using what you just mentioned as a transition, the business side of things, that's what part 4 is all about. And now, this audience is full of a lot of young professionals. Our demographics, I think 90% of our listeners are 18 to 35, U.S.-based. So many of us including myself as a listener of the podcast. Yeah. We're aspiring entrepreneurs, we're young professionals, we're grinding in the business side of things. And so, how does your book help somebody in business?

Yeah. You know, a great question on the business side because the book deals with the mental mindset, the makeup to get to the zone. But I also, there's a part of the book, part 4 deals with the business side of the book. You know, there's been never, there's never been a better time. This little magical piece of equipment, technology, that we're able to generate videos, we're able to access social media, access the digital platform. You and I are sitting here worlds apart and we're communicating, doing an interview together. You know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, that did not exist. So, the business side of things that I cover, I have a complete section chapter on the digital world. I complete guide to social media platforms, how to use them, how to do advertising. I give a little blueprint of a guide to help people start their side hustle, to help them improve their existing business. I also talk about the entrepreneurship spirit. I talk about creating a side hustle. I talk about using videos, how to use incentives and videos to grow your business. I talk about sales and the mindset And the strategies to play the sales game, because the reality is, you know, Nick, we're all in sales. Everybody, whether they admit to or not, is in sales. We're always selling ourselves. We're selling our services, our products, our ability to do what we do. So the book has a nice section on the business side to be able to add specific strategies and tools to complement the other strategies regarding the mindset of getting to the zone as well.

I love it. I love it. And that, that part is the most applicable for me because like we talked about in the very beginning, you think about the zone with an athlete, but where does the zone apply to business? And you just touched on a bunch of items. For me, I can think back to, you know, door-to-door selling. After so much repetition, your subconscious starts to understand the information. And after so much repetition, you start to understand how to interact with other people. And there were entire days where I remember I was just in the zone. I would go out, knock on 200 doors, I would set up 10 demos for myself, and it just felt like the best. And I always thought, how can I do more of this? How can I do more of this?

Yeah.

Practice and repetition and practice and repetition. And it's such a beautiful space when in business you feel like you're in the zone because we spend so much of our time In our professional lives.

Let me just add a couple of quick points to that. You know, that experience, what you just expressed, it's the greatest feeling, isn't it? When you're there, you're just, you're jamming. And a lot of times what people do, or let me just give a tip. When you're in that zone state, whether it be cold calling, whether it be dealing with customers on the phone, whether it be prospecting, whether it be knocking on doors, whatever the situation might be, is that when you're in that state, know that it's magical, it's special. And you know what? Keep dialing, don't get off the phone. Start calling everybody, go through your prospect list. 'Cause when you're zoning, you're feeling that the best version of yourself, go get 20 more phone calls than you anticipated making. Go out because no one's saying no to you 'cause you are in the zone. Take advantage of it and capitalize on it. And that's a critical element to consider with The Zone.

Such an amazing recommendation. Well, we have 2 more things to cover before we officially wrap up the podcast. First, self-sabotage, part 5 of the book. So, how does self-sabotage play into your book?

Yeah. You know, again, this is the reality that there is no perfection, that we have this image today more so than ever, Nick, with social media, Instagram, we're all highlighting, we're all guilty of it. And you and I are both in the media. We're always presenting the best, right? We're doing— I'm doing celebrity interviews. I'm doing celebrity events. I'm, I'm always, you know, making sure that we might do 5 hours of, uh, footage, but the hour that we're going to use is only the best, right? You don't see the reality, the flip side. And we all have struggles. We all have internal battles that we go to. that we deal with. And for example, in my situation, I openly share is that I carried a burden that when I was cut from the NFL after aspiring for years and years and years of work and dreaming, and then to be on the field, to go through training camp, go through mini camp, to be there with the guys and then be cut, fired. I've been fired a few, a number of few times from different teams. So Going through that, there was a hit that I took from self-esteem, self-confidence, the not good enough syndrome. And so with that, and I didn't even realize it as I matured and going through my thought process, hey, I was— there was things that were dig deep down inside me that I was carrying with me, and that was holding me back as I transitioned from football and sports And transitioned into business and sales and dealing with that. And it was like the negative self-talk, or trying to interview an NFL Hall of Fame when I would be so intimidated, so scared and fearful because I didn't think I was worthy because I was the bum that got cut. And here this person was a Super Bowl champion. You see how screwed up Our minds can control what's going on, what we're thinking. And the book deals with those self-sabotage, deals with that way that we talk to ourselves, the way that we think. I give strategies, we give strategies and tools on how to overcome that and to move through the fear, to get to the bridge of taking action, executing that strategy that you want to implement and going for it. So, I'm very open with it because again, I go back to that media opportunity or I went for that interview. So many times, other times I would have just said, what are you wasting your time for? You're not that, it's not your major. And just say, why bother? Or get off this line, you're going to embarrass yourself, right? All these little mental games that are going on. I deal with that because that's a big part of of the mindset, uh, dealing with self-sabotage, self-talk, mindset, confidence, self-esteem. All those things come into play. And Nick, it's my opinion that 70% of this success deals with the mental side of the game. My opinion, 30% of it is the business strategies of executing and delivering that. So I really think that It all starts inside. You know, we all work out, you know, we all, we all want to look good, we want to be healthy, but it's such— so important, and you know this better than anybody in the— in starting Book Thinkers, we have to work in. You have to work out the exterior world, but most importantly, it's about working in and getting your game on from the inside. And forget the exterior world, it all starts inside, inside you.

No, I agree 1,000%. And I've struggled with it too. I mean, Book Thinkers as a business has taken a couple different stabs at monetization. We've launched a couple different products that didn't work. And while these products are failing or while these services aren't really hitting the goals that we set, I'm interviewing people with net worths of $100 million and things like that. And you just think, oh, am I really the right person that's cut out for this? And so yeah, I mean, the mental games play tricks on you sometimes. And I've read so many great books on mindset, which is why I think I've been able to overcome so much of it. And I think your book touches on a lot of those subjects as well. So I'm happy that we brought that up. Now to kind of wrap it up, one last thing I wanted to discuss. Like you've mentioned, you've interviewed the who's who of the Hollywood elite and Hall of Fame sports players. You've interviewed amazing entrepreneurs. So are there one or two interviews that you want to bring up and kind of highlight? As far as like some star power here?

You know, there's so many experiences and I just have one. This is kind of a funny thing. Thankfully, I didn't bomb it. I was doing a Super Bowl. I had made connections in LA. I was doing Fox Sports in LA. I was hosting and producing a national TV show and I met a lot of the athletes and agents and I was able to get access a few months later to the Super Bowl, and I was doing exclusive parties. And a party that I was only one of 4 media outlets allowed to attend was with Demi Moore and with Ashton Kutcher. And obviously, I'm a big guy. I'm 6'4 and 225, big size obviously. And so here I am, and I'm holding my microphone, Good Life Tampa Bay, because at that time the Super Bowl was in Tampa Bay. This is going back 10 years ago. I look to my right, there's Access Hollywood to my right on the mic flag, and there's ABC National there on the left. And there I am with Good Life Tampa Bay, my little microphone. So Ashton and Demi come up the red carpet, and so I'm basically— and at that time, Jesse Palmer was on the left side. Jesse Palmer, who's now, uh, you see Jesse hosting a lot of TV shows, a former New York Giant quarterback. And I'm kind of taking the lead. I'm asking all the questions, and I stepped into the zone at that moment. So I'm interviewing Ashton, and, uh, so my eyes are wandering because I looked at— I've never had met Demi before. I said, wow, Demi's really attractive. I never noticed that in movies, articles. You look at magazine pictures and you And just said, wow, she is really even more, I think, more attractive than what you see on the screen or on the TV interviews. And I said, she's really attractive. And so I'm going through these little self-talks going on. This is not what not to do. I'm just giving great advice. I'm in, so I'm leading with Ashton. I'm leading the questions. I'm the guy in the middle leading the way. Ashton's answering. And then I, as Ashton's going through his response, I'm holding the mic. My eyes start to wander over to Demi, and then my eyes wander back, and then my eyes wander over, and then she connects with my eyes, and then she turns her eyes quickly, noticing that I'm connecting with her. The 3rd time I came back to her eyes, she looked at my eyes, and then she literally winked at me in the middle of the interview. I have no idea at this point what Ashton is saying. I almost dropped the microphone. But that was one of those, one of those moments that always stand out where it's like a kid from Jamaica, Queens, here I am leading the interview, 4 major net— 3 major networks nationally, and I've got Good Life Tampa Bay. And here I, I was in the zone, got out of the zone, my mind, my mind wandered, and it's pretty funny. Also, I had that TV, I had that interview where I, uh, it verifies what I did when she makes the wink at me on camera. I have it all covered. So, that was a memorable experience in a funny way.

That's amazing. And I know you have a million more. Well, I look forward to our continued relationship and, you know, Book Thinkers assisting with your book and everything like that. We had a great conversation. I'm happy you wrote it. For those that listen to today's conversation and they want to learn a little bit more about you, where should they go? What should they do?

Well, I have a personal website, hjohnmejia.com. That's hjohnmejia.com. H-J-O-H-N That's my personal website. You can connect with me there. Also, take advantage, check out the book, go to stepintoyourzone.com. That's stepintoyourzone.com. Go to that website page there because when you connect with the book, you make an investment in this book, I'm gonna give you 6 bonuses. I've got 6 bonuses waiting that when you purchase the book from Amazon, it's $199 in value. If I can just run through these real quick, Nick.

Of course.

The bonuses are as follows. There's a video library that when you buy Step Into Your Zone, you're gonna get 6 interviews that I've had with high achievers. Full interviews, almost 6 hours of on-demand content that you can refer to and look at and learn from, from the video library. Bonus number 2 is I have a video library for motivation. You need a checkup, need to get fired up, need to get inspired, you need to be encouraged. I've got 8 videos there waiting in the bonus section on demand that they— you can click, you can watch a 4, 5, 6-minute video and get inspired and get pumped up and get ready to start your day or get ready to start a hard task or a sales call or your big pitch to investors. There's a motivational library. In bonus number 3, I provide 4 ebooks. Ebook number 1 is dealing with Taking Your Passion and Turn It into a Profit. And that's a 50-some-odd page ebook. Ebook number 2 is How to Survive and Thrive in Business. Ebook number 3 is How to Write Sales Copy. And then the 4th and final ebook, uh, would be getting immediate, immediate access to part 1 of my book, Step Into Your Zone. While you're waiting on the book to be delivered from Amazon, uh, you'll be able to get part 1 right away. By the way, Nick, I wanna share with you, on our first day of our launch on Amazon, we sold out. We busted it. We busted up on Amazon. We sold out.

Wow.

We oversold it. And that's just a testimonial to the people that have supported me, fans, friends, followers, that we made Amazon kind of take a breath and had to kind of restock and reload. So, Go to stepintoyourzone.com, check it out, and my personal website, hjohnmejia.com. And again, as I close, Nick, you've done a great job. You've built a great company. You're an inspiration to young entrepreneurs in really laying a foundational principle that your stepping stone, your ladder of success should be the ladder of books in your library. So, kudos to you. I've been so impressed with your energy, the way you handle, the way you transact, the way you do business. And, uh, you should be very proud. And I know there are great, more great things ahead, and I look forward to connecting with you in the future as well.

Thank you so much.