55. Jacob Salem — The Good, the Pure, The Positive

There's this guilt when people are either going to be more successful than others that happens, and definitely financially, but I also feel like happiness for people that are struggling with that unnecessary guilt.

The last thing I want is to be laying on my deathbed looking back thinking about the things that I wish I would have done, the things that I wish I would have tried to achieve, the people I wish I would have went and met, the things I wish I would have learned. I just did it. I just said, I really believe to the depths of my soul that—

My wife says this intro sounds like a conspiracy mystery. So I'll stop that voice and I'll just tell you, this show is here to give you some cinematic fuel, tools, and excitement so you can stop drifting and start directing your life better than any movie. My guest today, is an entrepreneur. He's a speaker. He's also an author.

I have his book right here.

And he's a pilot. His name is Jacob Salem, and he's the founder of EasyMetrics, a done-for-you agency that helps your business grow. A cumulative revenue over $800 million for his clients. Impressive. Really cool. He's a stand-up guy. He also is the founder of Salem Speaking Bureau. And I'm with them. I'm a speaker as well, and I'm excited to have him here today. He empowers people and he's a great guy. Welcome to the show, Jacob.

Tony, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here and an honor to share anything with your listeners here today.

Thanks again. And my first question is, what are you excited about right now or coming up?

So, I have an event coming up. I don't speak full-time anymore. Partly because I have young kids. I have 3 young daughters, and although I don't post them all over social media, they're the number one, you know, most important priority, you know, God, family, church, business type of thing. And so I love spending time with them. So I don't speak full-time, but I am heading out to California next week to speak at a very high-end elite private mastermind. So that's exciting. And then I also have my second marathon coming up. So in addition to being a pilot and doing everything else, I love fitness. And so I'll be running my second marathon on April 26th. Not sure when this is going to release, but April 26th, 2026, I'll be running my second ever marathon, shooting hopefully for a sub-4 time. Pretty excited about that. And as always, we're continuing to grow our businesses and just keeping Christ first in everything we do and having fun.

That's awesome. I've never ran a marathon. I once had a friend call me. He was training for a marathon and he's like, hey, you want to run my last 7 miles? And I'm like, I've only ran 2 miles my whole life. I took the challenge and I did 7 and I never did anything again. But it was crazy. So I respect, I respect you with all that.

Yeah, it's fun. It's kind of my midlife, you know, journey. Helped me get back in shape, back to health. And I like chasing big, hairy, audacious goals. And I always have to have something written down in front of me to chase or else we all, all of us, we all get lazy and complacent.

Yes. Yes. What would you tell people listening right now to kind of connect the physiology part of achieving the things that matter to you in life? Because obviously, it's a big part of your life to be moving around and just having good spirits.

Yeah, well, I believe all of us, right? We are mental, we're physical, we're spiritual, we're relational, right? We need to fuel all of these things. And, it's hard, right? If we all only have 24 hours in a day, how do you balance all things? How do you balance business? How do you balance life? How do you balance fitness? How do you Balance all of these things. And so first and foremost, I love writing things down. I love actually writing things down and setting good, clear goals and aspirations and putting dates to them, right? I'm going to achieve X by X date. And even if you come up short, that's okay, but you want to have something to shoot for. And then for me to connect it all, I start telling people about my goals, right? And I believe that if you can see it in your mind and you're willing to speak it out of your mouth, then you can take the actions needed to achieve what you want to achieve. And so that applies to all areas— mental, physical, spiritual, relational, all of it. And I believe we need to fuel all to keep all balanced.

Yeah, that's some great stuff. Writing is everything. Even if you're not— let's just say for some reason you can't write. Unfortunately, some people, they can't physically. If they have a voice, even recording it and then listening it back and just, just putting it there and in crystallizing it. I, I'm a strong believer as well. You know, here's the funny thing. I was reading the book. I've read it like 3 times, High Performance Habits. I have it right here on my left. Brendon Burchard, I'm sure you're very familiar.

Of course.

Yeah. And one of the main takeaways that high achievers beyond the high performers, they share their goals. You know, you're with a high performer when they're talking about what there's— what's coming up, what they're excited about, you know? And sometimes, unfortunately, we're with people where you want to share your goals and You know, they're like scared of the goals because it reminds them that they're not going after their own. What would you tell people that are actually nervous about sharing their goals or they feel like maybe that's for other people?

Yeah, in the beginning of, we'll just say this journey. So, I've been on this journey for 12 years, right? So, I've owned the business you shouted out in the beginning, EZ Metrics, I've owned that company 12 years. I'm very proud of that. And actually, the bio, wherever it was came from, can be updated. We've actually done $1 billion with a B in sales on behalf of our customers underneath that brand. Very proud of that. We hit that October of last year. So apparently I got bios out there that need to be updated.

Wow.

Thank you. Um, when I started all of this, you probably have people around you right now listening to this. The people listening to this, you probably have people around you right now who, when you start to chase greatness, when you start to try to be more, do more, and have more, You have people right now that are going to look down on you because you're willing to put yourself out there to say, I'm trying to be more, do more, and have more. The reality is, though, I figured this out. I've also learned it. I don't remember who to even cite for this, but I've digested it and internalized it. Our lives typically are in 5-year cycles, meaning the people that you are around right now, you're surrounding yourself with right now, that are your friends, that are your colleagues, the people that you hang out with every single day, in 5 years they're probably not going to be there, right? It's very rare that you're with somebody for more than 5 years. And it's like the people that are going to look down on you now, that's okay because they're probably not going to be here in 5 5 years, that if you, as you're listening to the sounds of our voice, believe you're called to something so much greater— and I believe you are called to something so much greater— that if you start speaking it into existence and start putting it out to the universe about what it is that you're trying to achieve, if somebody doubts you, just let that go to the wayside. Let it go in one ear, out the other, and find the people who are going to cheer you on. You know, in the fitness world, it's, it's almost a joke. You see reels, uh, on, on Instagram at least, where it's like, I started my fitness journey and all my friends, you know, were, were judging me and looking down on me, and, you know, what are you doing? And then it's like 100 other strangers were liking my stuff and commenting on my stuff and cheering me on along the way. And so it essentially becomes find the people who are your cheerleaders, who want to encourage you, who want to inspire you, and find the people who already achieved the result you're trying to achieve. And again, back to that statement I keep repeating on this podcast unintentionally, but mental, physical, spiritual, relational, right? When you start chasing those goals, find the people who already achieved them and tell those people because they, they will be the ones to pull you, to cheer you around, to push you and hold you accountable.

Yeah, there's something that is in my brain right now from what you said. You go to the rooftops and, you know, you shout your greatness and your dreams, and some people will tell you to shut up, you're the town idiot. But then there's that— the cheerleader people.

That's right.

They're like, come on down, let's talk. And I love those people. You're one of those people. I've noticed it. I've taken your courses, and I know how much you give and care, and I really appreciate that about you.

Thank you, Tony.

I wanted to also, because we touched on it, like the— there's this guilt when people are either going to be more successful than others that happens. And definitely financially, but I also feel like happiness. I used to be a little guilty of me doing like handstands around people and playing and doing cartwheels, especially if I saw a disabled person. I was like, oh, let me not do that. And I would dim my light. And I got out of that mindset. It didn't serve me. So, I have a question for you. For people that are struggling with that unnecessary guilt, which it is, earning more money and being more successful, but while still being good and maybe spiritual, what would I say to that person?

I mean, it's a mindset, right? So, it's in order to be everything you want in this world, you got to change the mindset and become who you want to become, right? And so, the Zig Ziglar quote says, Something to— this is a paraphrase, it's not the actual quote. It's basically to the tune of what you feed your mind is what you become, right? You can change who you are, you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind. And so it's almost like changing what goes into your mind. And then also to back up a little bit, I actually never did struggle with mixing my Christianity faith in Jesus and money.

Hmm.

Society did. I got asked a lot. I get asked a lot, how are you doing both? I just did it. I just did it. I just said, I really believe to the depths of my soul that Jesus would rather have his bunch be successful and wealthy so we can give more, do more, and be more than Satan's bunch. And I just believe that. And I internalized that at a very, very young age. And so I just went after it. I had people ask me all the time, how could you possibly be preaching? Because I am a preacher too, for those that don't know. How can you be preaching the gospel and then also teaching people how to become billionaires? Right? I'm starting to say the word billion. I'm not a billionaire. I'm a millionaire, but not a billionaire. I'm so far from it, I can't even— don't even know what I don't know.

Yeah.

But it's like, I'm now— how do we keep growing this thing and stretching this thing and how do we chase bigger things? And it's like we, at least you and I, and I have team members all around the world, but you and I live in the greatest country, I believe, in the world when it comes to the freedom to create wealth. We can create and be anything we want to be as long as we're willing to feed our mind with the good, the pure, the positive. We're willing to educate ourselves every single day. And if we do those things, we can take the actions needed to achieve results. Now, you, you asked the question in comparison of like somebody without limbs. Well, there's a gentleman out there, Nick, I can't think of his last name. It starts with a V. He's got no limbs. He's got no arms and limbs. And he's a millionaire too, as a public speaker, right? He went and built businesses even with arms, without arms and legs. He went and built a monster empire. He had all the same limitations. So it's like, I don't feel bad for anybody else. As long as they understand that even because it's a little bit harder than you, are a little bit harder for them, they can still achieve the thing, right?

No, I, I think I've seen him speak before. Yeah, uh, powerful stuff. I, I know it's step one, feed your mind differently than what you are now if you're struggling with that. That's what I would say to people. That's kind of what you were mentioning.

That's right.

Um, there, you know, there's a, there's a biblical anecdote. You'd probably know this. I, I don't know if I have it right, but There was like 3 people and they're given certain goods, right, spiritually. And one of them hoarded the goods and the other one didn't do something, and then the other one expanded into abundance. Do you remember that anecdote and how that goes?

Yeah, so essentially you're looking at the parable of the talents, right? And so, um, and it's obviously Jesus taught and spoke in parables. And if you give me a second, I can almost I think that was from— I'm pretty sure that was from the Gospel of Matthew, but the long and short is, right, that there was a servant with 5 talents that turned them into 10. There was a servant with 2 talents that turned it into 4. There's a servant with 1 talent that then gets afraid of losing that talent, so he buries it, right? And so the first 2 servants were told, you know, well done, good and faithful servants, because they were faithful with little, right? They were faithful over little that Christ then— that they were then given much, right? So there's the 2 adages there. It's either the parable of talents or also the money, right? The rich guy gave them money. What are they going to do with the money? One went and doubled it. One went and, you know, added more to it. One did nothing with it. And the one who squanders the gifts, the talents, the resources that Christ gives them, they're just going to be doomed essentially, right? Every single one in the sound of my voice has a gift, a talent, a resource that I do not have, that Tony doesn't have, that you are uniquely and wonderfully made in the image of Christ. And the reality is safe doesn't win in this world. Playing it safe never wins. Stewardship equals increase, right? So if we can steward the gifts, talents, resources, and we can actually do something with it. And I think that's like the cry of my heart to anybody that I talk to, whether I'm coaching them one-on-one, whether they're in my— whether they're a part of my bureau like you, whether they're building a business, it's like, take the action, take the shots, do something with it. Because if you just hoard the resources God gave you, he's going to end up taking them from you.

Well put, Jacob. I liked how you said safe doesn't win. I mean, it's so true. And also, safe doesn't feel good for yourself. You know, and we have to take care of ourselves first. And when you're at the end of your days, and you're like, I didn't take the risk, you know, that's a horrible feeling. I don't want that for anyone either.

That's right.

Hmm. Now, I know that early on in life, you were going through what So many people go through, they're like, I have a calling, but I ain't making money.

Facts.

I'm broke and struggling. For people, whether they're in that situation or maybe they're in a career that they don't love and they're just grinding, but they know there's something more for them, can you take us back to a moment where you caught yourself from drifting into the abyss of nothingness, and then you kind of finally said, like, I need to direct my life? I got to make this happen. Can you walk us through that?

A couple of things. My beg, plea, implore to anybody in the sound of my voice listening to this podcast would be you have a talent, you have a gift, you have a skill that nobody else has. So figure out what that skill is, tap into that skill, and you will be able to generate more revenue than you've ever wanted to. Because I believe this quote that says you can have everything in life you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar quote, but then goes into if you have that skill and you know who doesn't have that skill and you can use that skill to serve them, that will do it. I also believe there's 3 types of motivation in this world. You have the motivation that's like, do it or you're fired, right? That's kind of a fear motivation. Do it or you're fired. You have the carrot and the stick, so you're chasing something, right? So you have that big, audacious goal in front of you. I use this as one of my Current, um, targets for motivation. I, I put a carrot in front of me and I figure out what that carrot is and I start going after it. But eventually you do get full. So that's why it's like, change it up, set more goals, find other mentors, find new groups, find new people who can help you think bigger, be bigger, to do more. And then there's a third level where it's like innate. There are people who are truly just born with it, where it's like you were just born with the desire to chase greatness. And I do believe God calls people to greatness where you have something planted inside of your heart and only you know it. Your family doesn't know it. Your mom doesn't know it. Your dad doesn't know it. Your wife doesn't know it. Your husband doesn't know it. Your kids don't know it. Your boss doesn't know it. Only you know it. But you're just driven to beat the sun up every day. You're driven to be the best that you can be because the people in this category learn at a very young age. That 80 years goes fast, that the one thing that we can guarantee in this life is death. The second thing we can guarantee in the United States is taxes. So death and taxes, right? And to that person, they already know that the end is coming, that we aren't promised tomorrow. And that person wakes up every day to chase greatness. And so I think there's those 3 categories. If you're listening to a podcast or watching us on YouTube or you see a clip on social media, maybe you're already feeling that call to something else. I would encourage them, as I did, find a mentor early on who can help you, someone who has already achieved what it is that you feel you want to achieve, who can encourage you, who can educate you, and then also hold you accountable, because that is one of my secrets to success.

I think that in high schools and even earlier, they should have a mentorship class where you're just taught why we need it. And that it's not, it's not being weak or anything to ask for help. Because I had a struggle asking for help, and I was like, I'm gonna do it by myself and then I'll make it. And that was like the perfectionism ego side. And, and then you get the, the slack, like, well, I was doing it all by myself, that's why I didn't finish it, or that's why I didn't, you know, achieve it. So, you know, not a big deal, no one knows, you know. And, and I, I just, I love the, the idea of mentorship and And sharing what you know.

That's—

it's well put.

Everyone needs a coach in life. Everyone needs a mentor in life if you can't afford a coach. So, for me, mentor means typically free. Coach means you're investing. I've now invested well over 6 figures and maybe, maybe more than— I'm in the 6 figures, but high 6 figures, um, into my own, my own education post-college. I dropped out of high school on my 16th birthday, got a GED. I ended up getting a bachelor's degree, um, but post-college, post all of that, We continue to invest. And even now, as I'm on this, I'm running through my head like, okay, who— what event do I need to go to? What coach do I need to go talk to next? Because those are the ones that will catapult you to the next level. And no one can achieve greatness on their own. Like, we just can't. It's impossible.

Yeah, yeah, that's so true. Well, hey, while I'm thinking of the next question I got, I want to actually ask you, where can people find you and learn more about what you do?

Yeah, the core thing. So we still own the agency. EasyMetrics is still the core agency, but those retainers are ridiculously high. So we're serving businesses that are already doing 8 and 9 figures a year now in that company. That's how we've been able to grow so fast. We just started serving people already making a lot of money. So our retainers there start about $15,000 a month if they want services. But my true passion right now is actually how I met you, which is I've made $15 million myself. Just through speaking, coaching, and selling online courses. You showed the book. I'll show it again here, right? So, we have the book Speaker Millionaire Secrets, right?

Yeah, it's— I'm like a quarter into it. Really great book for anyone that's looking to just give your message out to the world. It's a great book and you can—

It's cheap on Amazon or I'll even go one step further to say if somebody actually hears this and they email jacob@ezmetrics.com, letter E, letter Z, metrics.com, and they're bold enough to say, hey, I listened to you on Tony's podcast and you said you'd send me a free book. I'll just send it to them so they can either go snag it on Amazon or I'll just ship it to them for free. The bureau that we are scaling is my main bread and butter these days. I still make a lot through speaking. I still make a lot through coaching. I still make a lot through courses, and I still own my agency, and all that's doing great. But we are on a mission at Salem Speakers to get 1,000 book gigs this year. It's written on my whiteboard. Everything's written down, written on my whiteboard over here. I speak it into existence on every single podcast I do, on every single call I'm on. We are scaling that agency as quickly and as efficiently as we can. We have 18 full-time team members in that company right now, which is really— I'm really, really proud of that. And we are doing everything we can to get and land speaking gigs for speakers. And I essentially created a bureau, that bureau, because it's what I wished existed when I got into the corporate space 12 years ago of like, how do I even get a gig? How do I even get in front of the event host? How do I even look the part? How do I even look like I'm represented? And so for just $100 a month, we let people join that bureau. You're featured, you look the part. We even give you a little tips, tricks, and resources template website that you can fill out if you want. That is my passion project. That is the business that I put my time, energy, and effort in these days. Everything else is pretty systematized and, and it's been fun. So if you're a speaker and you listen to this, Tony, I do want you to say it on the recording. I want Tony to sign up for our affiliate program. So wherever you post this, you can put your own little tracking link. We'll give Tony a little kickback if you end up joining us through this. I love serving speakers at that level, and that is the depth and cry of my heart. And so, it's— I feel like that is my current calling.

I have a separation question. What separates people who are really intentional and excited and we have the drive, right? Like you and I, you know, I talk to you, I feel it. You probably feel it. I have the drive, excitement, and this crazy weird world we live in. Even when adversity hits, I'm usually like, OK, what can I learn from this? Or what's funny about this? You know, you have a dry sense of humor I love, by the way. So what separates people that are like that and then people that react all the time and always use the word like, I hate my job, I hate this? Is there a separator? I know we said mindset and we know that, but maybe there's like 1 or 2 steps.

Yeah. Yeah. So I actually just posted a post on one of my socials about this yesterday, and I believe this. Those type of people believe life happens to them, right? Why is this happening to me? When the reality is they need to shift. It's a mindset thing. They need to shift that mindset. Life comes from you. Your life comes from you, not at you. And so if you're constantly in a reactive state, it's because you haven't personally committed to enough discipline so you can get ahead of it. So it's like, write things down. We all got 24 hours in a day. Put it on your calendar. Get ahead of it. Take control of your life. Set your agenda, choose what you fill your mind with— the good, the pure, the positive. What goes into your body— as I'm sitting here drinking this nasty— actually, it's not that bad, but—

I like that. I've had that.

Yeah, it's not— it's got—

But I know what you mean. It's like—

About as green as you can get. And it's like, you know, instead of slamming alcohol on the weekends, drink a water and, you know, go run a mile. And it's like, you know, you can, you can fill your mind with the good, the pure, the positive. You got to keep your body ahead of it too. And it's like, I just— I'm not the type of coach to like baby anybody along is probably why I stopped being a pastor. I'm still a preacher, which is different than a pastor.

Yeah.

I don't, I don't deal with the PLOM disease. PLOM disease, according to Zig Ziglar, is poor little old me. Like, I just don't deal with PLOM disease. And it's like, funny, it's just, it is what it is. Like, man up or woman up, whatever it is, so you can go out there and take control of your life. You are the only one that is in the driver's seat of your life, and you have to own it. Like, if you don't, haven't already owned it, I'm hoping this is the punch in the gut that's like, you have to own it. Nobody else is in control of your day. And that life doesn't happen to you, it comes from you, it comes out of you. And that's a little bit— I am a Christian, but that's like almost like universal, you know, law of attraction. But I do believe in good positive energy. I do believe you can speak things into existence, and I do believe you can take the action needed to achieve those things. So—

It is so true. I wrote down the word commitment and condition because you said you need to just get the discipline going. And I wanted to branch out. When I've conditioned myself for so long, then it becomes automatic and I start enjoying the discipline, right? There's a book, I don't know if you've read it, by Jocko Willink. It's called Discipline Equals Freedom. And I really believe that when you have these conditionings and you have the discipline, you actually feel more free and in control. And Like I say all the time, you know, you're either drifting or you're directing your life.

That's right.

And like you said, you get back into the director's chair. It's your movie. Other people, though, are trying to always direct it. And that's the thing. You have to— you have to be a go-giver and a kind person, but you got to control your life because it's yours.

That's right. A famous guy gets this quote. I don't know who it is. I have to look it up. I need to start memorizing some of these more, but I say them so frequently. It's, you either suffer from the pain of discipline or you suffer from the pain of regret. And it's just somebody gets that call.

You know, it might, it might be relative to Jim Rohn's quote.

I think maybe, maybe it is.

Weighs ounces and regret weighs tons or something.

Yeah.

Can you talk a little bit about decisions under pressure? Because when you have a large company and you have a, a family and all the stuff you got going on, decisions under pressure Just, I'm gonna just leave it at that. What do you think when I mention that? I—

so for me, I'm, I'm a unicorn, just so you know. I'm the crazy guy, right? And if you're an entrepreneur on, on this podcast, you're probably crazy too. I love pressure. And you know, what's it— what is it? Pressure creates diamonds. I love pressure. I believe that if you have an empty calendar, that's going to create depression, right? And so I love, I love pressure. I love overbooking myself. Even today, you reached out yesterday, I'm like, Calendar's open, fill it, right? I just— my calendar is never empty. And so I love pressure. Pressure creates diamonds. So for me, we, you know, that number 18 that I told you, the team members— I was talking to another one of my team members, Nick Atkins, who's been with me about 3 years. And, you know, these 18 people, that's full-time. Their families depend on my salary. And that is the coolest internal flex that I could ever have. But it's also the greatest pressure because it's like, I can't fail. It's no longer my wife and 3 daughters and 3 dogs, right? It's I have all of their families on my shoulders and we have to succeed. And because of that, I succeed even more. And so that's why I use the BHAG, Big, Hair Audacious Goal. I use that a lot because some of you don't have teams. Some of you don't even have income. Some of you don't even— are wantrepreneurs, not entrepreneurs, which means you want to be an entrepreneur. You just don't know how yet. Set the big, hairy, audacious goal. Give yourself pressure. Put it out into the universe so you can hold yourself accountable. That way you can chase it. Without the pressure, why would we take the action, right? People, what they're chasing— why do people change in life? They're changing because they're chasing something to make them feel good, or they're running away from pain. It's one or the other. So do both, right? Set a goal that's going to make you feel good and set a goal that's going to take you away from your pain. And many times one goal can achieve both things, but I love pressure. Good.

Yeah, I love pressure. In, in my book that's coming out, Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will, I have a chapter all about pressure. And there was a lot of pressure in, in this period of my life, and it's just, it's fun because it uncovers what the real you is if you let it.

Yeah.

Also, I wanted to emphasize, I love what you said. I have all my notes here, you know, when you jot, you say something great here. Empty calendars create depression.

Yeah.

That is so true. If, uh, you could see my wall, I just got this huge new calendar that shows all 12 months.

Yeah.

And then I have, of course, my phone. I love the phone calendar, is great. But when I see little things marked up, it's just like, ah, I have a purpose. You know, you have to kind of create this purpose and put it on the wall so you're reminded. It's like, it's— and it's back to conditioning.

Yeah.

I love this. It's funny, you know, you and I, we geek out on this stuff, and I hope everyone listening, you're geeking out on this. I have a final wrap-up question, and it, it somewhat encapsulates what you said already, but I want to just hear your response, and maybe you can synthesize this as, as the final takeaway for this episode. What does it mean to you to direct your life?

What does it mean to me to direct my life? So the first thought that came into my head— by the way, for those listening, this is truly unscripted. Just throwing questions at me, having a good time. What does it mean to direct my life? So the first thing that popped into my head is first establishing my relationship with Christ to figure out what his call and will for my life is. Like, what are the gifts, talents, and resources that he blessed me with? What does he want me to do? Surrendering my life first and foremost to him. That has meant everything to me. All of my success begets from making that commitment that Christ, if it's not your will for me, don't allow me to pursue it. Then after I get right there, right after I get that figured out, then it's like, okay, what does that mean? I have gifts, talents, resources that other people don't have. How do I use them to bless others? Right? If we believe internally that you can have everything in life you want, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want, what does that mean for me? So I already, you know this if you're listening and we said it here, I already believe I have full control of everything in my life. My time, my clock. goes off, my alarm clock goes off, opportunity clock, as Zig Ziglar says, right? We get the opportunity to wake up. My opportunity clock goes off every single day at 5:00 AM. Some days we're up at 4:30 AM depending on what we got going on. I am in control of that. And from the moment my feet hit the ground, it's up to me to make the decisions, to take the actions needed to be everything that I can be. The last thing I want is to be laying on my deathbed looking back thinking about the things that I wish I would have done, the things that I wish I would have tried to achieve, the people I wish I would have went and met. The things I wish I would have learned. And so by directing my life, it's— I'm using every ounce of energy, skill, and resources that I have to pursue all the greatness I have in my life. And whatever that means, whoever is listening to this, that could be something else. Not everybody is called into entrepreneurship like I am. Not everybody is called to be a speaker. William Willoughby on my team is one of the best graphic designers, one of the best CTOs I could ever have in my life. He's been with me for almost 12 years. That's his calling. Like, he's called to do those things, and that's how he's pursuing greatness in his life. Other people are called to write books. Other people are called to run marathons. Other people are called to be professional athletes. Other people are called to many other professions. But only you listening to this podcast today can know what that means to you. And so for me, directing my life means first getting right with Christ and understanding what his call for my life is, getting in alignment with that, then writing down the things that I believe I want to achieve. And as long as I'm in alignment with his will, the things that I want to achieve, I believe he wants me to achieve as well. You know, we didn't even get to sprinkle in the pilot thing, so let's throw that in there before we wind up.

Yes, yes, sure.

I've had big, audacious goals like becoming a pilot, running marathons. I've done jiu-jitsu competitions, cage fights. I mean, so many different things that I've done in this world, even after being an ordained pastor. And I believe all of those things were ordained by God speaking down into my life of things that I want to achieve, right? I now get to go fly wherever I want. I'm most likely buying a plane probably within the next few months. I'm in 3 different clubs right now, but I'm most likely buying my own within the next 3 months of the podcast because that's how I like my life. And it's like I get to make those choices every day I wake up. I get to choose who it is I want to become. And you listening to this podcast right now do as well.

Well put. I'm gonna let that sink for a second. Jacob, I want to give you one more chance to let listeners know where they could find you.

So Speaker Millionaire Secrets is on Amazon. So if you want to just snag a copy of that, you can do that. Or if you listened earlier, you can send me an email and we'll take care of that for you. If you want to be a speaker, if you want to join our bureau, Tony, I actually don't want to give a URL. I want to say Tony around this video somewhere, or reach out to Tony and get a tracking link because I really do want to be able to compensate him for any of his listeners who come and join us. That way, it's the law of reciprocity there, right? Goes around, comes around.

I really appreciate that. And actually, I do have an affiliate link set up now, and it's tonysuriano.com/becomeaspeaker. That's Tony, T-O-N-Y, Suriano, S-U-R-I-A-N-O, .com/becomeaspeaker.

If they want to connect with me, I have a million followers on Facebook. I'm active these days on LinkedIn and would love to have you follow me there. I'm also actively trying to grow my Instagram, though that's my, my smallest platform currently. And, but I'm active, very active on my million follower Facebook page. So is my team as well. Would love to serve you. Would love to connect with you. If you're a speaker, coach, online course creator, or want to be one, that is the industry where my heart's truest call is. You're the people I want to serve. You're You're my kind of people, and I would love to connect with you.

Excellent. If you're listening and watching, check out Jacob Salem. Find him, learn from him. He has great courses and just great things to say online. And as we close, I want to thank you one more time, Jacob, for being on the show. It's been a pleasure.

I'm going to be here.

And, uh, we'll talk soon. Thank you for listening to the Direct Your Life podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, but more importantly, this episode inspired you to take actions on what matters to you, please let me know. Leave a review wherever you're listening to. If you're in the Apple app, just scroll down, rate it, leave me a review on what stood out, what you want more of, and who you want me to bring on the show next. Also, don't forget to follow because then you'll never miss an episode. And finally, if you're ready to upgrade your life, to stop dabbling, to stop conforming, or to expand what you're currently already after, I am confident you will love my new book, Direct Your Life, or someone else will. Grab your copy at directyourlife.com. And when you grab your copy, you can upload your receipt to receive the audiobook for free as my gift to you. Because if you're like me, you want to read, you want to listen, you want to just digest content that matters. Until next time, get out there and direct your life.

Thank you.