You Are Your Competition with Jake Thompson

Hey, before we get started today, I just want to say thanks for tuning in and if you enjoy listening to the podcast, do me a favor and leave a review. First of all, I'd appreciate your feedback. And secondly, your input will allow us to connect with and inspire more people. And with that, let's get started.

Like, her first thought is, oh my gosh, do you have cancer? She's like, the only time I've ever seen you this emotional is when our first dog died and I was like, no. Like, I can't pay these bills.

This is Reclaim in Advance, a social impact project where we host vulnerable conversations with modern day high performers exploring the lowest points of their personal or professional life, how they recovered, and their life on the other side of hardship. My hope is that you'll realize you aren't the only one who goes through tough times and there is a way out. Through these conversations, you'll. You'll gain inspiration from the grit and honesty of our guests. And you'll learn practical tools and science backed frameworks that empower you to take on new challenges, regardless of how difficult they may seem at first. So if you're ready to join in, let's get started. Jake Thompson is a leadership performance coach and chief encouragement officer at Compete Every Day, a brand that he started in 2011 by first selling T shirts out of the trunk of his car. Jake has spent over 10 years helping leaders and organizations drive better results for their companies. He's also been featured in Forbes and hosts a weekly podcast called Compete Every Day. Without further ado, here's our conversation. Hey, Jake, how's it going?

Good, Terry. Thanks for having me today.

Yeah, yeah, thanks for being here. And I see your shirt says every day is you versus you, so I'd love to have you unpack that. And while you're doing so, just explain what you do as well.

Yeah, so, I mean, I think this fits with a lot of your mentality as well. Especially I love seeing all the workout videos on LinkedIn. The Burpee one the other day you did with the weight vest, I was like, props on that, man. Because I, I know how much of a struggle it is just doing burpees alone. But you throw on the extra weight. It's kind of that one at a time mentality. And for me, the. The everyday is you versus you is really the core ethos of my brand. Compete every Day because we so often get caught up in the idea that it's me versus you. And business is competitive, sports are competitive, life is competitive, and there's something to having external competition of knowing, hey, there's another business down the road that's doing similar stuff that we do. There's, you know, someone else I'm competing against. In a sports perspective, the problem I think we have is we don't use that outside competition as a way to level ourselves up and instead we use it as a measuring stick for our own worth and confidence. And that's a really dangerous place to get in because you're putting a lot of things in your control to outside of your control and allowing someone else to determine your happiness, your confidence, your potential versus how am I showing up and improving on the very unique journey I'm on. And so that's kind of the core ethos I try to live by every day. Not that I'm perfect by any means, but the work we do today at Compete Every Day, I'm a keynote speaker. I do some leadership performance coaching. But we started honestly with me selling T shirts just like this out of the trunk of my car back behind a CrossFit gym in 2011. So I've done quite a bit over the years, but really all around the idea of helping people to understand the competition is with themselves and how to do it more effectively.

When you're talking about, you know, competing to be the best version of yourself as opposed to, you know, against everyone else, it's almost the inverse of what happens in corporate. And that's why I'm glad I don't have a real job anymore. Because in corporate it's like, hey, you're ranked, you know, based on your performance and so on and so forth. So I'm wondering, did you have what I like to call a real job before you started doing this, did you ever work in corporate and what was that like that? Exited if so I'm a terrible employee.

No, actually. So funny enough, I grew up thinking I was going to be Jerry Maguire. Like, I wanted to go the sports agent route. I sent letters out in college. I had four guys write me back. Two were thanks, but no thanks. One guy said, hey, I'm looking for an intern. And another group was a big agency that offered an internship, but it was unpaid downtown Chicago. And there was no way I was going to be able to live downtown Chicago for six months without income, working a full time job. And so I took the one in Texas, started working while I was in undergrad, and then went into grad school. Very quickly realized, this is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. Mentally, I was not emotionally ready for the roller coaster of building the relationships, breaking up with guys, having guys break up with you. And so I got out in the fall of 2008, which I know you can remember as well. And a lot of our listeners can, like we're in the middle of a recession. And so I have non traditional work experience with the agency. I'd work some with the Dallas Cowboys, some other groups and I have an MBA as well. And so entry level is not looking at me, experience is not considering me because it's non traditional. And so I kind of had to start freelancing from there. Marketing strategy, early social media. I taught myself graphic design, basic website design so I could build a website landing page for groups and just started building one after another and it started to grow and took off and years later I was making great money but living a very superficial and crappy life. I love to say, like it was all about me and what I was doing. And I liken it one day to building this epic sandcastle that I realized like everything I'm doing is in a selfish pursuit in vain. And there's nothing wrong with having success and accumulating wealth and building a big business, but when it's only about you, it's pretty empty and hollow. And I started shifting my mentality of like how do I do this differently? And so for me it became about going down the path of compete every day. And so I've always had this on my own mentality, having to build it initially out of necessity, but now as I've gone along and understand kind of how my brain works and how I like to work, I work with some clients in a small consulting outside role. But in terms of full time, nope, that's not me. And I probably more than anything blame my dad because he is a small town entrepreneur. He had two little gas stations in our East Texas town. And so I grew up seeing that firsthand of not only the highs but the lows. Like the crap he had to deal with the secretary who embezzled a couple hundred thousand dollars from the business and company, but also just the freedoms he had of like, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to make one of your baseball games or like hey, I'm going to, we've got some flexibility to do stuff. So I saw that early on and thought I like aspects of that, maybe I can do it as well. And so that itch to kind of do my own thing's always been there.

Did you work at the gas station too? Out of curiosity.

Oh my gosh first job, dude, I was free labor. Seven, eight years old. I was in it. I still remember, man. I'm bagging ice, sweeping parking lots. I was so excited the day I got to run the register. Like, that was what I wanted was to get out of everything else in the store to actually check people out. And then eventually, when I got into kind of my junior, senior year of high school, and then when I come home from college, I was able to help manage the stores. He had grown them, added a few more stores over the years. And so I was able to go and do the paperwork, initially thinking I was going to learn the business and maybe it was something I was going to go into and very quickly realizing this is not at all what I want to do.

You're going to hate me after I tell you this story.

That's okay.

I worked at a gas station for about three weeks. It was when. During. When I was in college and I was home for, like, winter break or something. And I had these bills to pay for my apartment. So I went to this local gas station and I lied and said that I was dropping out of college because I got my girlfriend pregnant. And that's the only way they would give me the job, because they're like, you know, you're. You're a freaking junior in college. Like, what's going on? And from that lie, every time one of my friends from college would walk by, they're like, hey, what are you doing here? And, like, my manager would be sitting there looking at me, and I have to lie and say, I got my girlfriend pregnant. That's why I work here. So the whole rumor around my. My town is like, terry dropped out of college and is now working at a gas station, so. And so forth. But what I learned from that lesson is just how people treat you so differently based on your perceived stature in life.

And.

And that's when I said to myself, look, I'm never going to judge someone based on what job they have, right? Because when you're in college, you feel like you're an elitist, right? I'm going to be a business leader. I'm going to do all these great things. But having that experience, like, you know, changing, like, the garbage and pumping gas and people looking down on me, I gained a lot of empathy from that. And I imagine you. You have as well. So we have. We have that aligned. But you would have been so pissed if I was that guy who quit after three weeks.

No. Well, I mean, so it's funny you say that, because there's two things that popped in my head. So the first is, like, the one thing I remembered watching my dad deal with, especially with kind of the first two stores, is you either had lifers, like, the people who were there, they were loyal, they did, they stayed. Or people were fired for stealing or not showing up. Like, that was kind of it. There was no middle ground of, like, you just kind of go through the motions. It's like, hey, I'm here. I do good work every day. Or, like, I just don't show, or I'm stealing from under the counter or cigarettes or anything else. And so I had that mentality of, like, that would frustrate me if I was in my dad's role. But there was a point when I was in college and I came home, dad was shorthanded. I forgot what was going on. But essentially he's like, I just need help this week. Like, can you come in and help fill in one of the stores till we get this new manager train? I'm like, yeah. So I go in. I haven't worked in the store in a couple of years. So this lady comes in. She's not a local because obviously my town's like 13,000. So, like, you know, most everybody. People would know me when they're in the store. She comes in, she gets like, a Pepsi. And I rang it up as, like, $0.89, because my dad was like, okay, all the soft drinks, 89. Well, the Pepsi has a little sign back on the back of the cooler says, on sale, 79 cents. And so she comes up to the front. I ring her up, and it's like 96 cents after tax. And I was like, 96 cents. I was like, is there anything else you need? And she was like, can you not read? She's like, that says 79 cents. I guess they don't make literacy part of the job requirements here. And I lost it. And I was. I just, like, blew up on it. Of like, who the heck do you think you are? Like, do you know anything about me? I may have a higher education than you do. Like, just ripped her. Well, then she calls the office, and she calls our corporate office, right? And my mom happened to be up there that day because it was summer and she was not teaching elementary school. And the lady's like, you have the worst employee at this store. And he yelled at me and da, da, da. And my mom goes, well, that's my son, the owner's son. So I'll be sure to ask him what happened When I talked to him later tonight and you just heard deathly silence and then click. But to your point, like, not only that of like, not making assumptions on someone because of their role, but like, I remember, and we can jump into a little bit more later. But like, one of my hardest periods in business, I took a consulting project I was not overly excited about, but, like, financially we were in a hole that I needed additional revenue. And I remember the struggle for me of, like, I feel like a failed entrepreneur doing something else to help build this dream. And I remember going through that process and having all of those doubts and insecurities that we go through. When you feel like the thing you've been talking about and doing your failure but you're doing, my mentality is like, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get this dream to stay alive and grow. And when I went through that process that even reframed my mentality on anybody's role of like, if you're someone doing a good job, like, you're putting forth the effort, you're showing up with a good attitude, you're putting in good work regardless of what the job is, like, I'm gonna be a huge fan and always have the best of intentions for you because you just never know what's going on. Like, it could be their third job. Like the person picking you up in the Uber, this could be their third job to help pay for their kid to go to college. And. And there's so many different things that we don't always understand. Just on the surface level. Interaction based on a role of like, well, why don't you have a, quote, grown up job? Because I'm sure you've heard it just like I heard it as an entrepreneur. Like, where are you going to go get a real job? I'm not.

Yeah, yeah, I want to go. I want to go momentarily. I want to go back to. Why was there this, you know, financial hole? What was it like for you to go through that transition of getting back into this other role that you, you didn't like. But to your point about, like, just not judging people, like, the other day we're on the subway or something and like, the subway agent was rude. And my friend's like, oh, man, they were so rude. And I was like, they probably don't like their job. Like, this is it, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not dissing anyone listening, who is a, you know, a subway ticket agent. But like, most people don't aspire to have that job in life from my understanding. So for Me, I'm just showing empathy. I'm like, they don't want to be here either. Like, they're underground the majority of their work day. During the winter, they don't even see the sun. So, yeah, they are going to be a little prickly if someone keeps on asking them how to get to Union Square for the fourth time. And just that empathy and realizing this is not an attack against you. It's the fact that they have something internally that they're not really settled with and they're expressing it externally. Right. So when you can just see the world without, like, the shadow that you cast upon it, it's a lot easier place to live.

Oh, it's a ton easier. And that, I mean, that makes me think of, like, as much as. As you and I travel, because we both speak like gate agents or people at the ticket counters. Like, they get the brunt of people losing their mind about things completely outside of that person's control. And you always are like, listen, there's a difference between somebody intentionally just being a jerk that day versus somebody who's literally just trying to do their job. And there's nothing they can do about your flight delay. There's nothing they can do about this connection you need to make. They want to help you, but you yelling is not helping them. And so I always have so much empathy for them as well. Of, maybe they don't love their job, but. But, like, it's hard for a lot of us to think, man, I'd really love my job if I got just berated every day by people for things that I have zero control of. And so how do you have more empathy and grace for people in those roles when you do interact with them? Because one thing you find is, like, you act just nice, polite, go out of your way to say, hi, oh, suddenly we have an extra thing of cookies here on the flight. Like, the flight attendant's like, oh, hey, would you like another drink? Like, there's all sorts of those things that they're just not used to getting.

So you had this. This challenge that you went through, and I'd love to unpack it, like, what happened and how you were feeling during the process as well.

Dude. So I've probably had two major, I would say, pivotal moments, trajectory points within my career. So the first was probably 2013, 14. So starting a business, apparel business for anybody that doesn't know, like, you have to sell a lot of 25 to $30 t shirts to make money, and the margins aren't as great as you think they are, especially if you're printing here domestically and things like that. And so as I was growing the business, I was accumulating debt because I'm having to always carry inventory. You go sell $5,000 at this event, you turn around, you cut a check for $4,000 to buy a lot more inventory. And it's this constant game of hard to get ahead. And I'd taken on debt early for a couple reasons. One is we started to grow. I got distracted, right? The thing that I talk about, I stopped eating some of my own medicine and started being like, well, that group does this, and, yeah, that person's a big influencer, but we need to do what they do, and we need to look as big as they do. And so I started trying to change us to look bigger than we were, because I was hoping to compete in a space that, honestly, we probably weren't ready yet for. And so I accumulated debt. And anybody in here that's ever carried any kind of debt for an extended period of time, like, you know the weight that that weighs on you. And so we left one event in, we'll say 2014ish. And I had lost money. It was CrossFit Games. We had leveraged quite a bit to be at the event. We loaded up on all this inventory. We did a lot of things, and it just did not go according to plan. I remember leaving that event, driving from LA to Vegas, and just thinking, like, I'm not the guy to build a business. Like, what the heck did I get myself into? I came in here thinking we were going to make all this money. We lost money. And so I went through this point of, like, struggle of, is there a reason to keep going? Do I want to get out of this? Do I want to get out before I get too far in the hole? And a buddy of mine about 18 months prior, taking me to lunch and just kind of encouraged me with the message that, like, I'm stuck. Like, my own accountability partner is the person I see in the mirror. Because my message is compete every day. Good situation, bad situation, anywhere in between. If you want to change something, you show up and compete. And so he's like, you're stuck with this. You can change how the business looks, but, like, you got to stick with this message. Because whether there's 10 of us or, dude, I hope one day a million of us people have bought into this message. And the moment you quit is the moment you tell them it was a lie. And I know you don't believe that. And so when he told me that like that drive changed a lot. Like the rest of that year, the year after, I stopped worrying about how great we looked and just literally load up the truck, load up our van, let's go do a show this weekend. Let's figure out how to sell more online. Like that was, it was all in hustle every day at that point. Flash forward a few years and 2016, 1716 ended up being our best year. We crushed it at events. But I started thinking like there's gotta be a better way to teach people how to compete every day. Like I want to teach people how to be more mentally tough, how to have this gritty resilience and mentality. And I happened to come across a guy that taught speakers, was fascinated by watching him teach. Not the presentation, but all the things I didn't know, I didn't know. And so when I watched that, I went to, I ended up going to his conference and they had a high level coaching program and it was a big investment at the time but I thought we're coming off our best year. I start going through the program and as I'm going through it I literally start to say this is the direction we need to go. So what I do is take this large e commerce business that's doing really well and say we're going to go all in on events in 2017 and in 2018 we're getting out. Like we're going to go all in, footprint, physical. And then 2018 we're getting out and we're going this new direction. Well, in 2017 we saw a flood into the market. CrossFit, fitness, events, racing, everybody starts flooding with new apparel brands and it was a race to the bottom. Who wants to be the cheapest? At the same time, events started hiking up their fees. So we saw a massive amount of new competition and an increase of expenses come up to where we were netting, I don't know, 70 to 80,000 profit on just events so that could pay team members salaries for the year to where we lost like five to ten grand in 2017 on events. So not only did we go from a huge profit to a loss, but inventory turnover and all of those other things that come with it shifted. So I'm heading into 2018 having invested in building a speaking business, changing our business, looking at all of this money that we were now like building back up the debt. And I was like about as depressed as I could be. And I remember in 2018 I'd take this consulting project. It was guys I'd Connected with a decade prior, I'd done some work with. They had a new project, they reached out, and I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I needed to. Like, I needed revenue. I was starting to skip a couple of paychecks to make sure our team was paid. I needed cash flow coming in to pay off this debt. And if it had to come from somewhere else outside the business, that's what I was going to do. And so I took the project, worked on it for about eight months. It was a grind. Eight months to manage both. But I remember sitting at the kitchen table one day, and it was probably March or April. We were coming up on our anniversary competes anniversary. And Amex has been calling me because I have, like, a 25k credit card bill I can't pay. Like, we just. I made sure my team was paid. I paid all the lower hanging fruit, but the big one, I just couldn't pay. And I'm starting to freak out because I am not the guy who can't pay bills. Like, I'm gonna pay a little bit, but I'm gonna pay something. And they're calling, and they're calling. My wife comes in that day, and, like, I just broke down and. Because I felt like such a failure. Like, I.

Did she know everything that was going on, or were you.

No, like, she knew. Like, we were struggling a little bit. She knew I was trying to build this speaking business, but she didn't know, like, I was. At that point. She knew I had debt. She knew. She's like, okay, well, you know, you've got a little bit. We'll pay it off. And I just broke down, and she thinks I have cancer. Like, her first thought is, oh, my gosh, do you have cancer? And I was like. And I stop. And I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, I've never seen. Like, the only time I've ever seen you this emotional is when our dog, our first dog, died. And I was like, no. Like, I can't pay these bills. And they're calling. And she kind of laughs. And she's like, my last marriage, like, we dealt with that. Like, this is no big deal. And if anybody can solve these problems, like, it's you. Like, I have 100% faith in you doing it. And I just kind of remember going through that. And I wrote a note, a long note to myself about how great stories always have the dark moments. Like every movie book, you name it. Without the dark moment, the ending, the epic win isn't as important isn't as inspiring. And I just remembered, like, if I give up now, I'm giving up in the pit, which is not the place where great stories end. And I remember, like, the next, like, two weeks later, I'm having to lay off our team members, our contractors, and one of the guys sat me down, and he's still one of my dear friends to this day. And he said. He literally said, I just want you to know, like, this moment is going to be an incredible chapter in your story if you keep writing it. And I was like, not what you expect to hear when you're like, hey, I've got to end the business relationship. But it was. And so I just kind of started clawing and I cranked up sales on the speaking side of, like, I believe this is the direction. Like, I got to go all in with it. And so I just start selling it. And so I start to get a little revenue at the end of 2018, and then 2019, I start to gain traction. 2020, everything took off on the speaking side, really, where by the end of that year, or, excuse me, by the end of January, we'd already passed six figures in contracts for speaking engagements. Obviously, two months later, we lost about half of that when Covid hit, but we were still able to claw it back through virtual and other projects. And so that was really the pivotal point of, like, man, I went through that in 2018ish 19 when Covid hit. Like, I remember getting home from an insurance conference in Omaha, Nebraska. The next day, the world shuts down, and my client emails me of like, hey, we're canceling these next few events. We need you to cut us a check back. Another client's like, cut a check back. So I'm cutting, like, 40, $50,000 in checks back. And I remember being upset about it, but I also remember being like, we got through. I got through that stuff two years. Like, a year and a half, two years ago. Like, I can get through this. And so that night, like, literally, I laugh, I said I was upset, I was frustrated. I went downstairs, poured a nice little glass of tequila. I sat on the couch, watched a movie with my wife that night. And then the next day, I woke up and said, what can I still do? What's in my control? I said, we're just going to shift strategy. And so for me, it was kind of that roller coaster of reminding yourself, if you stop in the pit, that's where the story ends. But if you want something great, if you want to do something great, you Got to find a way to get out of it. And for me it was that. And the speaking business really opened up because what it allowed me to do was leverage my knowledge and how I can teach to bring in revenue and opportunities to pay off debt without physical products. And when we did that, we started to see the apparel business shifted one Covid everybody kind of had some free money. And so we had a lot of people shopping online, which drove book sales, which drove speaking opportunities. And so it was a really interesting switch on how that business changed almost overnight. Roughly when Covid hit to where it is now of speaking drives us. We do some coaching and consulting and then the apparel is kind of our fun way to support the message and themes of what we do.

It's amazing how like the main revenue driver is now just like a nice to have after some reflection.

Yeah.

While you're telling your story. I thought like a fun exercise for me and everyone listening to do would be to just like draw your lifeline. Right. Like what are the ups and the downs and just realize like, hey, X years ago you were this down. You might have thought it was like over for you, but look where you're at now. And on, on my end, I mean, I've had a lot of challenges on mine, like, you know, getting, getting fired and battling alcoholism and stuff like that. That definitely sucked. Right. But I mean, if I look at myself now, like this Friday, I'm flying out to Los Angeles for the premiere of a reality show that I was in. You know what I mean? So it's like if I had quit then, if I had felt like a loser, that was my identity for the rest of my life, then, you know, I'd still be stuck there. But now I'm on tv, so it's like, I think it's, it's a very healthy exercise, but I want to double click a little bit to an extent where there's almost a danger in almost being too, I don't know, like self reliant.

Yeah.

In that you didn't feel comfortable sharing things with your wife because you're like, no, I got this, I got this, I got this. I'm looking in the mirror like I'm my own accountability partner. And I'm flagging this for myself too, because there are times when I should ask, ask for help. But I'm the guy talking about resilience and look how tough I am. Look how many burpees I did. You know that shit. So how do you, like, what is the line? Like, what is the trigger for you, like, hey man, look, Jake, you got to get some help because this is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of using your resources.

So it's interesting, it kind of depends on the situation. So full transparency. Like a few years ago when my business was really taking off, speaking tripled from 2021 to 2022 in terms of opportunity and revenue. My marriage was struggling majorly. And so we tried working on it and I was like, we gotta have help. And so we went and had a counselor and we met with a counselor every week for like six months. I mean, we, we were good after like a month and a half, but we kept doing it because we're like, we need an environment or opportunity to be able to talk and have an outside counsel. I then built a personal board of advisors. Like I have my buddy Jake. I'm actually meeting as, as we're recording this today. It's National Tequila Day. I'm meeting him tonight after his kids football, just for a glass. And let's, let's talk life. Let's get into the things of what's going on. Where are you stuck? Where you challenge? Where can I support you? And so now I've realized, like, I've got to have outlets. And so I have a small group of guys that I'll go to or my coach who I'll seek out and be like, I need to talk through this because I'm stuck and I'm struggling. The funny part about this is you want to talk about the guy who, who suppresses everything. When I was so when I launched Compete, so it was like early 2011, within a two week period, my parents of like 30 years divorced. Like, I'll never forget my dad calling to tell me I broke up with my on again, off again girlfriend for the last time. I started my business and I come home from CrossFit one day and think I got a freaking staph infection. I had a spot on my leg. Well, all of a sudden, so I go to the doctor, he's like, I don't think that's staff. Like two days later, I had shingles. And when I went back to the doctor, I said, what's going on? And she goes, she looks and smiles and goes, what's going on in your life? I was like, what do you mean? She's like, tell me about your personal professional life. It's like, oh, parents divorced, just divorced, started a business, broke up with my girlfriend. Why? And she's like, you need to go talk to somebody. I was like, what do you mean? She's like, the only time I've seen shingles and people your age is a bride right before their wedding. And I was like, oh. She's like, yeah, if you don't let it out, it's going to find a way out. And you now have an issue of adult chickenpox, essentially. So like, I. That was a wake up call for me to find an outlet. But it really wasn't until I was going through that season in 2018, where I was like, I wanted to be the guy who got it done. Like, there's something to that, right? You, you want to say, like, I figured this out, I solved this problem, I did this. But I stopped realizing or stopped thinking soon after that, like, I have to do it alone. And that was a real big turning point for me, for my marriage in a lot of senses. Because like, she would never understand when we went on vacation why I was a ball of stress. It was cause I was like, we're spending all this money. I don't want to spend this money. And so then what did I do? I started budgeting. So cool. This is a vacation budget. If it's not in the budget, we're not spending it. And so now when I go on a trip, I don't have to worry about it. If it's there, we use it. If not, we both are in agreement here. When I feel stress on the work side or what's going on, it's like, hey, I've got a few buddies I can call up and say, hey, I just need to go talk. Like, let's talk through this. Let's workshop this. Call my coach. I'm stuck. And so I think it's really vital that we don't try to do it alone, because there's only so much you can carry. And the phrase, like, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We tend to think of it in the terms of pursuits or building a business or going after goal. But honestly, it's life like going fast. You're going to burn yourself out eventually. But if you want to get a group of people that'll help you go farther in life, you got to have that counsel. And the best way to look at it is like, if you had a board of directors, if you were a public company and you had a board to answer to, who would be the four to five people on that board? And then just ask them, will you be my personal board of advisors that I can seek counsel from and meet with and, and that's a great way to build relationship because most people don't think about that. Oh, I have my friends I vent to, but who do I seek counsel from?

I made a video recently where I was saying, hey, think of whatever goal you have for your life, your vision, and then think of the five people that you already know who could help you achieve that goal. And then write down, how often do you by design seek their help? How often do you block off time to connect with them? And if the answer scares you, which, like it scared me, you need a board of advisors as well as a plan for how you're going to interact with them. So I think that's a great lesson because people feel like, you know, you have to do it alone or you're going to sound whiny or whatever it is, or maybe not comfortable expressing these challenges. But like, if you do, you'll find probably you're not alone, first of all. And second of all, there are people to help you, so I'm glad you're flagging that. But as we're, as we're taking off here, where can people learn more about you? Like, what are all the things we can do to follow along and, and get some more knowledge from you?

I appreciate it. Yeah. So social media most active on really two places, LinkedIn where Terry is just a machine on on I'll have to say and then Instagram. Both my handles are Jake Thompson speaks. And then you want to learn more about the brand and mentality we Talk about Compete. Everyday.com is going to be the best source.

Awesome. Jake, this has been great. I appreciate your time. Appreciate the inspiration as well. So, so thank you.

Thanks for having me, Terry.

And that's our show for today. And if you're looking for more tools and tactics to help you level up and overcome setbacks, head over to TerryRice Co Reclaim, where you'll gain access to two free resources. The first is the High Performance Playbook where I share my top performance techniques. You'll also gain access to the Forge system, a program that gives you the framework to create a powerful vision for your life and the daily habits needed to make it happen. And if you're interested in joining the Reclaim and Advance movement, here are a few ways to get involved. First, subscribe and leave a review. This is the best way for us to to spread the word to new people. Second, if you have a favorite takeaway from this episode, please take a screenshot and share your takeaway on Social Tag me tzterryrice. So I can see it and share as well. And lastly, this one's pretty simple. Just do one random act of kindness. It doesn't matter how big or small, but this is your chance to start a ripple effect that can have a positive impact on those around you, including yourself. And remember, success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts. I hope you'll continue on this journey with me, and I'll see you next time. Reclaim in advance is hosted by me, Terry Rice. Megan Dom is our managing director, and our editor is Dan Lardy. Thanks for listening.