In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Jeremy Leonard, a LinkedIn Local Nashville host, LinkedIn engagement consultant, and technology recruiter. Leonard shares a powerful personal narrative of growing up in a wealthy Connecticut family before a series of tragedies—loss of siblings, family drug abuse, and financial collapse—forced him into hardship, shaping his resilient perspective. He offers career advice, emphasizing authenticity over a polished resume, urging job seekers to present themselves genuinely on LinkedIn and to be patient in the marketplace. Leonard stresses the importance of understanding one’s personal “why” as a motivational anchor for success, and advises ignoring external judgments while fully committing to one’s vision. He identifies gratitude as the key to happiness and cites Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It as a pivotal book that taught him how to build a social media following from scratch. Leonard also shares two favorite quotes—a college professor’s definition of hell and Zig Ziglar’s principle of helping others—to illustrate his guiding philosophy. Finally, he provides his online handles, directing listeners to find him on LinkedIn (#JeremyJLeo) and across other platforms under @JeremyJLito.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Jeremy Leonard with us. He's the host of LinkedIn Local Nashville, #LinkedInLocalNash, LinkedIn engagement consultant, and full-time technology recruiter. So welcome to the show, man.
Thanks, brother. I appreciate you having me on.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. We We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Oh man, that's a good one. Well, I'd like to say that, you know, I think one of my connections put it best, Scott Leese, when he said that I was a richest to rag story. And when he said that, you know, I come from a very, I was born into a very wealthy family in Connecticut, you know, to the point where a lot of people would dream of being born into that family, you know, having life at their fingertips. Really at a young age, I think I was 8 years old, everything just kind of went to hell. I lost a brother in a car accident. I had family members relapse from drug abuse. We pretty much lost our entire inheritance in the span of 2 years. I went from living with an in-house maid at a very young age, my arbitrary birthright gave me that, to the point to where I was living in the closet of a duplex apartment while there were drugs going around me. And then later on, I saw multiple divorces in my life. I saw another one of my brothers die in a separate car accident. The end-all be-all of that is made me the man I am today because truthfully, man, the universe just really doesn't care about our problems. I think at some point in time, it's all about our perspective. Everyone's going to go through hardships and problems and get knocked out and get hit right in the face. You really just got to understand that it's okay and to pick yourself back up because anything is truly possible if you're patient and work hard enough for it.
Thanks for sharing that with us as well. The next one I have for you is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So I'm a full-time recruiter. That's one of the things that I love doing. I love helping connecting people with jobs. I work with a very specific skill set, but the one thing I want to encourage anyone out there that's struggling to look for work that's, you know, stuck being a resume, you know, as opposed to being a person, is just to open yourself up a little bit more and be authentic. I think one of the things that we run into as recruiters is we find a lot of these candidates who are embellishing their level of experience and getting put into positions that they're failing. So Be authentic with who you are and, you know, be patient and really start to put yourself out there in the marketplace. LinkedIn is hot right now. I encourage everyone to go. You know, it's not just a place for, you know, just a place for people to find jobs. It's a place for you to express yourself. It's probably my biggest piece of advice, man.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
My best piece. I'm a very, very strong believer that you got to understand your why if you're going to be successful at any part of life. When I say that, it sucks waking up early every single morning trying to get motivated for the day when if you're not happy with what you're doing. You can always revert back to your why. Is it your wife? Is it your kids? Is it understanding that your dream is right around the corner? Is it knowing that there are other people depending on you, that there are people out there today that need help? Whatever it is, whatever your why is, figure that out and always revert back to it.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Stop giving a damn what other people care, like, think about you. You know, there's always going to be people that don't understand what you're doing. There's always going to be negative influences on your life. If you believe in what you're doing, go all in.
And, um, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Man, I think the key to happiness is just Being grateful. I think, you know, there's always something that we can dwell on. We can be mad about, you know, getting stuck in traffic, whatever it is, you know, just be grateful for where you are. You have another day on this earth. You have an opportunity to live and understanding that there are a lot of people out there less fortunate than you. And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that? So one of my favorite books of all time is Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk because he literally gives you the keys to success on how to personally build your social media following from nothing. Lays it all right there in the book.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
I knew you're gonna ask this one, but I've got so many. I'm gonna split it up, man. I gotta give you two. All right, so one, my college professor in college, one of my professors in college, you know, told me the definition of hell. And it's— I can't even tell you who it's by, but it's pretty much, you know, on your last day on earth, the person you become will meet the person you could have become. That lights a fire in me every single time I hear it. And then probably my all-time favorite is, "You can get everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." That one's by Zig Ziglar.
Yes, I love it, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story with us. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and connect with you online? I think I might know the answer, but I'll let you go.
So definitely LinkedIn. Go ahead and check me out. If you type in #JeremyJLeo on LinkedIn, you can find all of my content. But across every single social media platform, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, whatever it is, you can find me @JeremyJLito. Perfect, man.
Thanks again for joining us. We appreciate it.
Absolute pleasure, man. If you ever need anything from me, give me a shout.
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