Speaker 1 (00:01): This is the nine five podcast. And I'm your host, Nick Nalbach when we get into the minds of entrepreneurs and people just like you. So you can start, build and grow your own online business. Okay, welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:19): I'm back to the nine five podcast. This is the show where we interview entrepreneurs and business owners to get inside their minds and try to help you start and grow your own business. And today with me, I have Jordan Mendoza, Jordan, welcome to the nine five podcast. Hey, what's going on, man? I appreciate you having me on the show, looking forward to hanging with you. Absolutely. And we actually, for the listeners, we actually met through clubhouse and we'd gotten on a call. I think it was about a week ago at the time of this recording and we just kinda got to chatting and kind of learn what each other's stories was. And you actually just quit your nine to five. You took entrepreneurship. Full-time just this last week, didn't you? Yeah, just a, this is my end to my second week. So yeah, 10, 10 days into full-time.

Speaker 2 (01:06): That is insane, man. That is so cool. I'm really happy for you. So congratulations with that. Appreciate it. So why don't you to kick things off? Why don't you give the listeners a little bit of an idea of who you are? We know you're Jordan, but what it is that you actually do in this entrepreneurial online space? Like what are you two weeks into now? Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, my name's Jordan Mendoza I'm, uh, in the Metro Atlanta area, uh, grew up out in the Pacific Northwest, uh, originally from there. But, um, my wife and I have five kids and, uh, as far as the, uh, entrepreneurship world goes, I help business owners level up in whether they're brand new. They've been in, in a while or they're 20 plus year veterans. And what I mean by level up is, you know, I can't take a consultative approach into all aspects of the customer journey.

Speaker 2 (01:56): Um, you know, we're, we're their leads coming from their marketing, their sales, all of it, uh, and then figure out where there's holes. And then I'm kind of the guy that comes in and fills those gaps and, uh, helps get them from where they are to where they want to be. That's awesome. So you, you've got to kind of all locked in from top to bottom. I love that. You're the perfect guest to bring on this thing. Yeah, it's funny because all of the stuff that I have locked in is because I did it all myself, right. And so when you put in the reps and you get consistent at things, and then you start to slowly teach that stuff to other people. Uh, and in my case, I realized, wow, this is, this is something that most people don't have. They don't have this system, they don't have this framework in place. And so I've built these systems and frameworks that really add a lot of value to most people that I, uh, that ended up being clients. It, they get tremendous value right on the front end because, you know, if your foundations are broken, uh, it really affects everything else. So, absolutely that makes total sense. Um, I'm really interested to get into for one year journey and then to kind of pick

Speaker 3 (03:00): Your brain on some of this stuff that you're just talking about now. But before we do that, something that I'd like to do with all the guests that I bring on the show is I like to ask them what their superpower is. And when I say superpower, I mean like, what does that thing that you feel you are just a rockstar at? What do you think your super power be?

Speaker 2 (03:14): I, I think, um, I think for me, my super power is building relationships. You know, I've, I've done it my entire life. I have friends that are still friends from, you know, elementary school, right. Because I've kind of kept those relationships, uh, connected together. And so whether that's maintaining relationships or connecting other people to, uh, integrate relationships in ecosystems, that's one of the super powers I have for sure.

Speaker 3 (03:42): I absolutely love that because some other entrepreneurs that have come on the show have said some very similar answers, and this was actually something I touched on a few episodes back now. And the relationship building thing is a reoccurring theme through all of this. The reason that these entrepreneurs are so successful is because of the relationships that they've built. So I've been just harping on that, on this podcast, the connecting and the actual, not even so much as networking, um, back in shoot, it would have been a while ago. I had PJ Sorbo on and he's like, I hate the word networking. I hate the word connecting. Like you're not networking. You're not connecting, you're building relationships with people. That's where the success comes from being able to build the actual relationships in a one-on-one connection with somebody. So I think that is awesome that you brought that up. It just keeps driving home the point I've been trying to make here. Awesome. So I want to talk about before you quit your nine to five, because that's brand new. It's super exciting. I have to imagine. What were you doing before you actually got into what you're doing now?

Speaker 2 (04:45): Yeah, so, um, what I did before was, uh, training and development for a national property management company. And so, uh, when I first got the role in training, I was actually a property manager before I got the role as a property manager. I was an assistant. And before that I was the leasing professional and, you know, just a quick story about how I even got into property management. You know, my wife and I were living at an apartment in Maryland. I was actually working for my dad landscaping business. And, uh, I would go to the office and get packages like on the weekends. And I would always just talk to the office. I'm an extrovert. So I would just always talk and just build those relationships with them. And one day they said, Hey, would you ever want to be a leasing professional? And I was like, I don't know, what does that mean?

Speaker 2 (05:30): Like, what do you do? They're like, well, just kind of like we showed you your apartment, you would show apartments to people and if they rented it, you would get a commission plus you would get hourly pay. And I just said, you know, is there benefits? Do you guys offer that? Because we, my oldest who's now 16 was six months at a time. And so we weren't getting benefits working for my dad. He's he's small business owner. So like, that's the reason why I took that job. And then, you know, you fast forward 15 years later had an career and never would have thought I would have done some of the things that I did working there. You know, I spent five, five and a half years onsite, uh, doing that. And then I spent the rest of my career, uh, last 10 years on the corporate end in the training world. So really, really cool experience. And, you know, into the show, I'm happy to kind of talk about what that role exactly was and some of the awesome things I got to do there.

Speaker 3 (06:20): Definitely. How, how quickly, or how old were you when you kinda got into the, like working in the real estate

Speaker 2 (06:27): Property management? And I was 25. So yeah, it was, I was 25, 20, 25, 26, maybe just about to turn 26 and yeah, you know, I, I just did a post about this on Facebook where I said, you know, I was a 25 year old kid with a newborn and now I leave a 39 year old man with five kids, you know, like, so in 15 years experience, you know, which is worth its weight in gold. And so, yeah, it was, it was a really, really cool journey and, you know, getting into like leadership development and some of those things and really having an impact on people's lives. It just, uh, it really lit something in me and, and really helped me make the decision to leave when I did.

Speaker 3 (07:11): That's really cool. The reason I was curious about that is because you did, you were working a significant amount of time in that corporate realm before you took that leap into entrepreneurship. And it's something I haven't really talked about much on this podcast. I think if you want, a lot of people get into their corporate job and they've spent several years into it, it's kind of intimidating to think, okay, I'm going to leave this position where I'm comfortable to go work for myself after I've already been here for 10, 15 years, and here you are doing it, showing that it's possible. So I just really wanted to point that out that, I mean, no matter where you are in your career, taking a step in entrepreneurship and starting your own business and wanting to start your own business, it doesn't matter if you're just out of high school, just out of college or you're 15 years into your career, you can still do it no matter what stage of life you're at. So I just think that it's really a cool thing to touch on. Cause it's something that we haven't really talked about here. What made you want to take that leap that step into entrepreneurship? Was there something that like a certain moment in your life where like I need to change or was it just something you thought we'd be interested in or

Speaker 2 (08:16): Man, Nick I've. I think I've been an entrepreneur my whole entire life, you know, I think it started, you know, we were super poor growing up and, uh, if I want to candy or something, like my mom didn't have money to give me. So I would literally go knock on people's doors and, and wave and say, Hey, um, do you have any cans that I can take, I'll go ahead and return them for you and in Oregon where I grew up, you got 5 cents. So I knew if I went out and I got 10 cans, you know, I have some money, I could go get some candy. So, you know, I was hustling in an early age and that led into, you know, playing sports. Like I, I played baseball, didn't really enjoy baseball or soccer, but I enjoyed the fundraising part where I got to go sell the candy bars.

Speaker 2 (08:57): Right. So I've always just loved. I've always been a people person. I, that excited me. And then I got into baseball cards back in the Ken Griffey Jr days in the early, late eighties, early nineties. And then mid nineties, I got into selling sneakers, like when the Jordans, when, when the ones that are retros weren't retros, but they just were coming out. You know, I had a connection at Nike and so I would get them for half off and then I'd flip them for full price. So, you know, there was always that entrepreneurial drive inside of me, you know, and then, you know, meeting my dad at 12, you know, he had a business and he had had it for a number of years. And now, now he's a 40 year business owner, you know? So I think seeing that, that kind of inspired me as well.

Speaker 2 (09:38): And, and B to be honest, and I don't know if I've even said this on a podcast, but I'm not a very good employee, you know, like, because I'm always like thinking outside, I'm always like kind of one, my mind is always wandering. I'm always wanting to create and always wanting to expand and, you know, like really just know if I reflect on my career, probably not the best employee, because I always was reaching for stuff, you know? And like most good employees like stay like, you know, they're, they're stay focused on everything that they're doing, but I was always, I always knew there was something else out there yet. I couldn't figure out what it was until really is the last couple of years from now, which we can, we can talk about. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:16): Yeah, absolutely. That's okay. I guess before, before we step forward, are you paying, do you follow Gary Vaynerchuk at all? Yeah. Yeah. I do follow Gary. Yep. Everything that you're telling me just reminds me of everything that he's preaching right now doing the garage saling and flipping the baseball cards and all that stuff. I just think that's the dudes out there grinding and that's exactly what you're doing from a young age. I think that's so cool. Um, yeah. I don't know. I had just watched a video that Gary had done. Not that long ago, he walked up to this guy in a, at a garage sale and he was kind of bartering with the guy who was like, I want to like four bucks and he's like, I'll give you one buck for it. And he kind of went back and forth with them. And finally the guy's like, okay, fine, whatever.

Speaker 3 (10:52): It's like, why do you want it? And he told the guy like, Oh, I'm doing a show for my YouTube. It turns around. He's like, I almost told the guy that I'm just going to turn around and sell that $1 thing for 20 bucks. Honey, it's such a simple concept, but I mean, people are making 15, $20,000 a year, just flipping products like that. I mean, that's, that's really easy money and depending on where you're at in life, that can make a huge difference at the end of the year. So I think that's such a creative awesome way. But to that point, you, you had that entrepreneurial spirit from the get-go and I think that is really awesome that you kind of had that your father as a figure to kind of look up to and see like, okay, he's running a business. I have that ability to run a business myself if I want to.

Speaker 3 (11:34): And that was always something that kinda I struggled with was seeing that running a business or owning my own brand and business is something that I could possibly do because I was looking like way ahead of myself. I was looking at the people at the top and I'm like, wow, like, look at these people. I could never be these people. These people are fricking billionaires. Like I'm never going to be that. But being able to have someone to kind of see, go through that and know that they're just a normal person, like, that's just my dad, he's running this business. That's awesome. And that's when I, when I finally realized that there's other people that are only a few steps ahead of me that are financially free, they're on their entrepreneurial journey. Like they're, they're doing this thing that they built themselves. That's when I realized, Oh shoot, like I could do this too.

Speaker 3 (12:15): Like, this is something I can do. So a hundred percent, I think that's, that's kind of the premise of this whole podcast. And the reason I had started it, it was because I didn't know what that was possible. And I want you to shed light on that, that, like you were saying in that corporate realm, there was just something off, there's some something wasn't there. Now you've reached out into your own business and your own realm. And I have to imagine, I guess I can't speak for yourself, but I have to imagine that's pretty fulfilling.

Speaker 2 (12:39): Listen, brother. Like, I can tell you this. I have, in my 10 days of full-time entrepreneurship, I have spent zero hours and unproductive meetings, you know, that was worth leaving right there. You know, because in a corporate environment, unfortunately, that's just what happens. You know, it's like, let's have a meeting about the meeting. And then in that meeting, let's wrap it up with another meeting and jump offline with another call with two people from that meeting. And it's like, seriously, like, you know, how much lost productivity happens when you have meetings that are an hour or two hours long, this should have been like 12 or 13 minutes. Right. It had the, the people there that should have been there. And, and so like, yeah, being able to write my schedule and get it established and do things the way that I want to do them, that's going to add the most value to my life. My family's life, a routine that's that is so refreshing and rewarding. You know, I, um, I've got a few brothers coming out from Oregon for my birthday, you know, I put in a vacation request instantly approved. Like I didn't have to worry about it. You know what I'm saying? So like what, what another beautiful perk, you know, I'm glad you laughed, Mike. My kids didn't laugh when I told them that. So

Speaker 3 (13:54): No, I know. Yeah. Oh, I love it. So when you were working in this corporate job, where are you starting to kind of build the framework for what your business is right now? Or did you just kind of just, yeah,

Speaker 2 (14:04): Yeah. Let's talk about when, when that kind of pivoted, right. Because, uh, there was definitely something that happened in, and what had happened was we had found out on our training team, we're like a team of seven. And we found out that we were going to start teaching a six month leadership program. And so back in 2016, every month we would, I would fly to Dallas and, you know, our entire team would meet there that we had a facilitator teach that was certified in Myers Briggs. And then we literally were participants in this program, like, but we were also having to take notes and like figure out how we were going to teach this thing. So it was kind of a dual role that we had and, you know, going through it, you know, for one, uh, going through the NBTI assessment and, and having that really opened my eyes, taking that introspective, look at myself and realizing, you know, like, wow, maybe I'm not like stupid.

Speaker 2 (14:56): Maybe I've just, just because that's how I'm wired. Right? Like, so kind of having those. Um, but also, you know, Nick, the real value is being able to see things in other people, right? Because once you understand yourself, it's a lot easier to start to understand others. So that just opened my eyes to really the professional development side of things and how me knowing this and teaching it to other people could impact their lives, not just professionally, but on a personal level. And so you go through this training, it was amazing. We graduate and then it's like, all right, Hey, you guys need to go sign up for NBTI certification in April. Now I hated the school, Nick. I knew I didn't want to go to college. Like, you know, skate, skate through high school. Like I just didn't enjoy it. I was daydreaming too much if it was PE or drama, a like if it was something I enjoyed, I, I passed it.

Speaker 2 (15:49): If I didn't, I just really didn't put enough effort, you know? Um, but I was very self-aware and knew that I didn't want to go to school. So here I am, I'm in this new corporate role. I was, I was just in it for, I think I'm three years in by this point. And I find out I've got to go get certified and I'm like crapping myself because I hate school, white tests. I hate all this stuff. So it was so funny being there with my other colleagues, because they're like, why are you so quiet? Like, you're you normally talk? I'm like, I have to pay attention right now. So I'm like taking notes. I'm, you know, page flagging everything. I'm staying up late doing the homework because I didn't want to be the guy Nick that came back and wasn't certified. I didn't want to, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (16:30): Like, I didn't want to lose my job. Like, so I just had to dial in. And it's funny because what I learned is that, you know, that was my inferior, your functions taking over. Like when we get stressed out, we go to this place called the grip and the grip is when our inferior functions take over. Right. So, so naturally on that to the outside world, I'm highly extroverted, right? Like I'm, um, you know, the, the life of the party I'm out in doing all these things well, when I'm in the grip, all of that flips on its head. So I become more internal. I become very introverted and I start thinking out loud, you know, where we're normally okay. Um, you know, kind of more reserved in thought, but louder on the outside, if that makes sense. So, um, it was very, very interesting to S to, as I was going through this training to actually see myself showing up differently.

Speaker 2 (17:23): Right. Because that was the first time I realized, wow, like, okay, I can start to identify when I'm going down that hole, because we all experience those in the grip moments. Right. We all, it's like the, the Snickers commercials, right. When it's like, Hey, Hey Nick, do you need us? You need a Snickers. Right. 'cause, you're, you're turning into something that you're not right. So, um, so, so yeah, that was really cool. And of course I, I did pass, I, I made it through, I got certified. So, and, and, uh, a month later we started teaching. And so now, like you have certified Myers-Briggs and this is a lifetime certification. So that sparks something in me. It was like, wow. Like I could see myself putting people through this on the side, you know? So I had, that was actually the first iteration of my business was I just started telling people I was certified and got, you know, my first client was like 35 people and, you know, made a really good amount of money.

Speaker 2 (18:18): And then it kind of died down. It was like, I was so excited and then like a lot of stuff in my life, it was just kind of fizzled out, you know, Netflix, I think game of Thrones got more exciting or something like that happened. I got distracted, you know? Um, but, uh, but after that, I, you know, got a goal for the year. And that goal was to try to figure out a social media platform that could add value to our associates, you know, maybe a different way that we can teach or resource them. And so I had like research Snapchat, I was on Facebook. I was just trying to find a place. And then I stumbled upon LinkedIn. This was April of 2019. And man, uh, LinkedIn had changed. So I don't know how often you're on there or how long you've had your account, but I had had my account forever, but I really used it as that place to go, like update my resume and congratulate people on their new jobs so I can stop there and what, we can dive more into it here in a second. But, uh, cause I would love to tell you what happened when I started getting on LinkedIn and getting active. Yeah,

Speaker 3 (19:19): Definitely. That's that's actually, uh, kind of what I wanted to roll into here. Next is the LinkedIn side. I know you are very involved on LinkedIn. You actually have, I think some courses and resources out there for people to kind of level up on the LinkedIn game. LinkedIn is something that it's something like you said, a resume and a builder type of thing. You just kinda throw your resume up there. Sometimes you jump in the platform just to see what's going on, but I've not spent a whole lot of time doing it, but I hear so many people talking about the benefit of LinkedIn and how they're able to build these amazing connections and relationships with people within LinkedIn. So I am curious, what kind of role has LinkedIn actually played in all of this for you?

Speaker 2 (19:58): Oh, it changed my life. Like literally changed my life and I wouldn't, I don't even want to say it's LinkedIn. I think it was somebody who's been a dear friend and mentor to me his name's Brian showman because when I was researching platforms, I came across LinkedIn. Uh, I noticed that it changed, like people were posting videos, you know, there, you know, like there was a ton of engagement with stuff and I came across Brian Schulman's content and he, and he did these, these kind of like recurring content series. One of them was called what's good Wednesday. And literally it's, you know, it's a video of him saying, just share what's good this week. What's good on Wednesday. And people were in the comments and they're like cheering each other on. And like, Hey, somebody graduated, we just had a baby. Like, and it was just encouraging man.

Speaker 2 (20:45): And I'm, you know, very positive person. So I saw that and I was like, I want to follow this guy. Like I want to connect with this person because it attracted. And then on Saturday rolls around, he does a thing called shout out Saturday where you get to literally shout out somebody maybe that you talk with on the phone, a bit new business connection, a friend, maybe someone's birthday. And it's again another positive thing. And so I reached out to him, I connected and, and you know, he just really became a mentor to me. And he just said, listen, like you have a lot of experience. You've been through a lot in your life. You just need to start showing up. You need to start telling your story. You just start teaching and training in the areas that you have expertise, as you said, he said, brother before long, you'll have a brand way bigger than mine, you know?

Speaker 2 (21:28): And, and man, those deposits that people make with us because he saw things in me that I didn't even see in myself. I was sitting there with 7,000 connections, having this conversation with a guy that was about to cross 40,000 followers. And he's telling me my brand is going to be bigger than his, well, of course I'm thinking there's no fricking way possible. You know? And then second I'm like, you know, this guy probably says this everybody else. So, but I did take his advice and I did post that first video and it was bad and nobody watched it and it had a five views and they were all me. Right. But I think everybody deals with that where they're worried about those vanity metrics and like who's, you know, so worried about the data. And so I just kind of said to myself, and this is what advice that he had given me, you know, I'll never forget it.

Speaker 2 (22:15): He said, Jordan, just focus on inspiring one person a day. That's it. If you can inspire one person a day, that's 365 people a year, if you multiply that by. Right. And so I just said, you know what, let me just start looking through that lens. And when I did that and stopped focusing on engagement or likes or the views, and just started sharing from my heart, coming from a place of, you know, educating inspiring or, you know, entertaining with my content man, everything changed. And I started building an audience by December of that year, I hit 20,000 followers, you know, got to half of where my mentor was. And I was like, Holy crap, like what's happening on this LinkedIn thing? You know? And, and so at that point, my audience started reaching out and saying, Hey, do you help with this? How did you do this?

Speaker 2 (23:01): What are you doing? And I actually started gaining clients from that, right. Just adding new clients here and there. And, and then it started to build. And so in 2020 I added another 40,000 followers. And so, you know, I'm over 60,000 now, and this is less than two years, you know? And man, it's been such an amazing journey and you know, they've got, my audience has got to see me launch a podcast. That's now a year old, you know? So they got to be there as part of that journey, you know? Um, and so like I think the, the biggest lesson that I would share with anybody that's out there, that you have a business idea, you have a purpose, you have a mission, you gotta show up, you gotta start putting in the reps, you know, because if you don't show up, if you don't put in those reps, uh, of the feeling awkward and you know, who's gonna see this video getting past that imposter syndrome, you're not going to reach the impact of what your purpose is, you know? So that's my advice to people as you, you've got to start showing up. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:58): I love that. It's stepping outside of that comfort zone. It's something new. I actually, I had just come on Dalen Ray, Ray Behr's podcast a couple of days ago. And we kind of got into this conversation about that because it's very easy when you're younger to not really think about something like, think about when you were learning a new skill, when you were young, you didn't think about it. You just did it. You didn't care what anyone thought you were just out there having fun. And then I feel like as we get older, we kinda, our mind, we start to become more self-aware of everything that's going on around us. And we're starting to think like, okay, what does that person thinking? What is this person going to say about me? And we kind of like trap ourselves into this imposter syndrome. And we don't realize when we were younger, it took the repetition to become skilled at whatever we kind of carried on into high school.

Speaker 3 (24:44): It's the same thing. Now it's just years later. And now it's getting over that fear and just kind of putting ourselves out there and just knowing, okay, like you said, I really love the point of just focusing on inspiring and helping one person. Don't think about you trying to go out there and help the entire world, to be honest, like a lot of people aren't listening. So if you can go out and inspire one person each day, like you said, by the end of the year, you got 365 people that are like, yeah, I love what this guys do in Jordan's. Yeah. So I absolutely love that. And it kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off that you're not like you're not trying to broadcast out to the world and you're trying to broadcast to one person. And it kinda in my mind eases that pressure. So when the, when you started doing this, focusing on inspiring one person a day, is that, did that involve like actually reaching out? Were you seeking out other people on the platform making like connection requests and just messaging them or was it just posting to the platform or how did that kind of work?

Speaker 2 (25:36): Yeah, definitely. It was connecting, you know, like we talked about, I love to build a relationship. So, you know, I think July of last year it was, uh, July of 20. I believe. I, I think I hit that 30,000 connection Mark, is it LinkedIn maxes you out? You can only have 30001st level and then as many people can follow you. So yeah. You know, I was super intentional on connecting with people and I'm one of those people where I'll give everybody a shot, you know? And, um, uh, so I'll connect with everybody, but you know, if it gets weird or, you know, people just try to sell you immediately, then you know, you may not be a connection for very long, you know, I think it's, it's a, it's a, uh, it's a two way relationship. It's it should be a conversation, not just sales pitch. Um, and most people fail on most platforms because it's like, I just connected with you and let me throw up what I'm doing versus, Hey, let me see, let me lead from a place of gratitude and value. And if, because when you do it from that point, a relationship could actually start to build.

Speaker 3 (26:38): Yeah. I want, I want you to talk about that a minute because I I've been on the other side of that as well, where it's an, a connection and say, Hey, I'd love to connect. And then the next semester they come out as like, what do you do? I'd love to be able to sell you this thing. How, what is the best way to approach people? If you're reaching out to someone that might not know you, it's not like come off too aggressive or kind of push them away in that kind of salesy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:00): Yeah. I mean, I'll, I'll give people a template right now. Does that sound fair? Like for sofa, if you're listening to this episode, you know, uh, grab a pen, you know, because I'm going to literally give you a framework that you can use that, you know, leads from a place of gratitude value and true connection. And that's what we all want as humans. Right? We want to know that people appreciate us. We want to connect with people that align with what our values are. And, um, most of us, you know, want to know more about each other, but sometimes we just don't know how to ask those things. Okay. So if I was, let's say that we had just connected Nick, you, you, you okay. Role-playing here with me. Let's do it. So, so, so you just send me a connection request on LinkedIn. I had a spot open, maybe I'm at like 29,999.

Speaker 2 (27:47): That happens. Some people remove me too. I don't know why, but it's all good. Uh, so I've got one spot and I'm just letting you into my network. Right. So my first message would be, uh, Hey Nick, thank you so much for connecting. If there is any way I can add value to you in any way, let me know that those are my first opening sentences. So what did I do right off the bat, Nick? So I thanked you and then I offered a value right off the bat, right? So gratitude and value. Anybody that likes to gratitude and value is probably going to keep reading what I'm saying next. Right. And so listen, whatever I'm up to. Right. For example, you know, I'm a podcast host, so maybe it's, maybe it's an episode of my show that just recently got released. So people love giving feedback, right?

Speaker 2 (28:33): So, Hey, I'm the guy just released a new episode of the show. We'd love your feedback. Here's the link. Whenever you get a second, have an amazing day. Right? So again, thank them value and then just a small, Hey, check this out. You know, if they listened to podcasts, great. If they don't, they might still check it out. Right. And so now what what's happening is your content is getting in front of more people, but you're doing it. You're not doing it in a way where you're like, here's a link to my podcast. Go check it. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's based on

Speaker 3 (29:05): Relationship. Yes. I love that. And do you, do you kind of, I know I kind of, when I'm reaching out to somebody that I'm excited to try to get in contact with, I get all excited about it. Is there, do you kind of give it some breathing room? Like you say, Hey, thanks for the connecting with me. I appreciate that. Can I help you in any way? Or if there's anything I can do to help, let me know. You kind of give it some time in between then in the. You're not just like bang, bang, bang, um,

Speaker 2 (29:30): You know, with a small like that, where I'm looking for feedback, I'll do it on that very first one, because it's, it's not like, I'm like, Hey, buy my course, you know, I'm not selling anything. I'm truly, I'm truly looking for feedback. Uh, because as a, as a host, I want to know that everybody enjoys my content. If somebody doesn't, then I would love for them to share with you. Right. So again, it's, it's about the words that you're actually typing in it's about the positioning. So everything leads to the next thing, if that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (30:02): Yeah, no, I love that. So I want to challenge everyone. That's listening to this podcast to go out there and try to make some connections, build some relationships with people on LinkedIn. Even if you have not spent a lot of time on LinkedIn, I think it would be just a good exercise to kind of put yourself out there and to step outside of that comfort zone and try to try to build a relationship with someone because you never know where that could lead to it could be a big partnership or an opportunity, or maybe you just give feedback on that thing that you're working on, which can be completely worth it and valuable in itself. So I think that's an awesome, awesome little template and feedback, or what am I looking for now? The framework framework. There we go. Yeah. Got it. No, I love that. So with that, I was actually in a clubhouse chat with you and you were talking all about link tree and I know you kind of use link tree as a way, I guess, how do you use link tree? What is link tree for those listening that might not know? And how are you using that in conjunction with LinkedIn? Yeah, so I mean,

Speaker 2 (31:07): Link tree is a big part of my business. So link tree is essentially a way of having a tree of links, right? It's, it's kind of how it sounds. Um, and, uh, you know, what most people don't understand about link tree is that there are tons of features. If you upgrade to a pro account, it's like 60 bucks for the year, six bucks a month, something like that. But you get tons of features to measure all the traffic, being driven to those links that you're creating. So the what, so the way that I use it in the way that I teach clients, when I'm onboarding new clients, especially ones that, um, you know, use me for kind of business foundations is you want to think about that tree is, is kind of your ecosystem, right? It's getting people to the places that you want them to go.

Speaker 2 (31:55): Does that make sense? So like a static website is great. And then, you know, they're going to have to click on each tab to kind of get to all those different places. So with link tree, it's kind of all in one place. And the way that I use it in, in this will be highly valuable for anyone that's out there. And, and of course, anyone that's listened back to this, if they need help, they can reach out to me. Um, but you want to think about your, your tree of like, where, how do you want people to start the relationship with you? What do you want that customer journey to be like? So when I think about it, the first thing, and again, this will make sense because of how I just built the framework for messaging is I always want to lead with value.

Speaker 2 (32:35): So that first link is something free. It's a free resource. It is Nick's guide to becoming nine to five free and it gives them five high-impact tips. Does that make sense? So, you know, some people call it a landing page. Some people call it a lead magnet, right? There's, there's tons of terminology. Some people call it a given a get, right. It doesn't matter what you call it, but it's a way that where you're going to give out a free resource, they're going to give you their email address. They know that now they're now part of your ecosystem. And so now you're building that audience, right? Because everything's a game of audiences, right? Whether it's email lists, whether it's followers, whether it's connections, it's all a game of attention and audience, because that's what everybody wants. The more eyeballs and ears you have seeing your stuff, the more possibilities you have to convert those people into customers.

Speaker 2 (33:27): Right? And so we, we start with a lead magnet, then it's your next best thing. So if the next best thing for you, Nick is, Hey, book a call, um, to see if we're a good fit. So that's, you know, it could be a discovery call. It could be a, your podcast, the link to your show. So, uh, one of the things that I do, I like to be creative when it comes to link tree. So I like to have, you know, some of the links have like a dynamic effect where they like pop out, pop out at you, you can integrate YouTube natively so that the video is played directly from the tree. I mean, so there's a lot of things that I, that I like to test on myself. I have, I think three, three trees altogether, personally. And then I have several clients I've helped build theirs. Um, but you know, it's about testing, but what I like about link tree is, is you can, if you're using it right, because if that one tree should then be placed everywhere that you show up digitally, so it should be on your faith, your Facebook website, right. It should be your LinkedIn website. It should be, it should be the website or the link for everywhere that you go in your whole ecosystem. Yeah, I

Speaker 3 (34:36): Actually, so since we had that clubhouse call, I was working to kind of set up my own link tree and I've been coming back to your profile and I keep going back to your link tree and just checking it out, like, Oh, he did something with that. Like, what was he doing there? Like, I really like how you have that set up and if anybody's listening and they want to kind of see how Jordan has his link tree set up, you can go follow him on Instagram. That's in his bio, his little website URL. And it's Jordan Jayman Doza correct.

Speaker 2 (35:04): Yep. Now Jordan J. Mendoza. Yep.

Speaker 3 (35:06): Perfect. So I will actually those links and some of this other stuff that we're talking about here, I will put that in the show notes for this episode. So if you're trying to look for Jordan, you wanna check out that link tree, or you just want to get in contact with him, make sure you go check out the show notes for that page. So with the, with the link tree, are you putting that, is that on Instagram, Facebook? Is it all over the place? Is that where you really send somebody to first?

Speaker 2 (35:29): I would love to just share some real-time data, right? I think there's a lot of people that are interested in metrics. And so like that link tree was just created when I switched brands because my company was impulse consulting. And then when I went full-time a couple of weeks ago, I, I changed to blaze your own trail consulting because my podcast is the blaze, your own trail podcast. And I have a Facebook group called the blaze, your own trail mastermind. And I have a actual mastermind launching February 22nd. It called the blazer business mastermind. And I have a challenge launching in March. That's the blazer content 30 day online challenge. So everything is synonymous. Now everything is branded and tied together, which, which is cool. But I share that with you because in two weeks I already have a click-through rate of over 43%. Okay. I've got more than 30 referrals from Instagram, LinkedIn, and like direct referrals each. Um, so again, if you're working the link, the link will work for you, right. So you've got to make sure that that link is distributed in your entire social ecosystem so that it's driving traffic to the places that you want.

Speaker 3 (36:39): I love that. Do you like, if someone's, if you're talking to someone on LinkedIn, like you're messaging them back and forth, is that what you would send them? If they're wanting to check out more information on you, you just send them that link and say, here you go. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:52): And, and so, uh, great question because you know, the way that, I've the way that I create content, the way that my profile's designed, like everything just for the audience, when it comes to LinkedIn, make sure you start with your profile first. Okay. Because that is the foundation. You know, I tell everyone, you know, they're like, Oh, I want to create this content. I'm like, listen, before you start creating, go make sure your foundations are right. Make sure your profile positions you in a way that's driving traffic where you want it to go. It tells a compelling story. It shares your expertise. It's got a clear call to action, because if that's not dialed in, when people, you know, go on your profile, they're going to not want to do anything later. Right. They're not going to want to connect. So you've got to get that dialed in.

Speaker 2 (37:35): Then you go to content. And so, you know, I'd love to do something just for your audience. So if, if there's anyone that listens to this episode, um, DM me on Instagram, the word blaze B L a Z E. Um, so I have a 12 week LinkedIn coaching program. Uh, it's it's six grand for the 12 weeks, but anybody that uses the DMZ, that word from the show, I'll give him 500 bucks off. Okay. You, yeah. So also I'll add that value to your audience. Um, and that will be valid. What, where are we at? We're already at the we're at the end of the month already. So I'll, I'll make that valid for, uh, a week into the episode. Airing. Is that, is that fair? Okay. Okay. So you'll let me know when the episode airs and then for that first week that it's live. Anyone that DMS me, that code, you know, they'll get that 500.

Speaker 3 (38:24): I love it, man. Thank you so much. That is awesome. So I would definitely encourage anybody if you're listening to this right now, that is a hell of an offer from Jordan here. So definitely slide into Jordan's DMS and D M M the word blaze. See it, that deal. I really appreciate that, man.

Speaker 2 (38:42): Listen, everybody, you're going to work with me. There's nobody. There's nobody else. So you're going to be coached by me. You're going to learn everything that I've done to go from seven K to over 60 K in less than two years. So you get all the stuff that I did wrong, right? Like you get all of that, all the good, the bad and the ugly so that you don't make some of the mistakes that I made because listen, we all make mistakes on our journey. Uh, but they're only mistakes if we don't, if we don't actually learn from them. So learning from them is the key so that you can keep building that momentum.

Speaker 3 (39:13): Definitely. Okay. That is super cool. Now we're getting kind of close to the end here, but I got, just got a few more questions to ask you before we wrap up. So you kind of come back, coming back to your story of getting to where you're at right now, you started kind of building up this network on LinkedIn. You built these connections at this point, you're kind of picking up a few clients at what point through all of this, did you say, okay, now is the time to kind of make this leap? Did you have a lot of, a lot set up ready to go? Or are you like just really hammer hard now?

Speaker 2 (39:44): Yeah, so it was a little year called 2020 that I think we all needed, man. I mean that, that year gave me a ton of clarity. It, um, we all gained the freedom of time, you know, for those of us that commuted an hour and a half to our normal destination, I gained three hours back in the day. So I just became very intentional Nick about, uh, focusing, you know, late nights, early mornings, weekends into my business, into my podcast and shout out to my wife who had to deal with our five kids, like with me on this crazy journey to building this thing, you know? But like, I can't tell you how powerful a good support system is to have somebody that's there. Even though they may not want to know that you're doing a frickin podcast at seven on a Saturday, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (40:32): But you're doing that to build those foundational relationships and plant those seeds and to network, you know, because when I look back at 2019, it was about planting. When I look at 2020, it was about cultivating and 2020 brother, the harvest is coming. You know, people are coming out of nowhere saying, Oh, I'd love to work with you. And, um, you know, gaining well this week, I've already landed three new clients and the momentum is there. But again, it was several years in the making, but just like the bamboo tree that takes five years to even scratch the surface. Some things take time, you know? So, you know, I was fortunate to have a year like 2020, where I had this, this gift of time that I could, you know, listen, I could have done nothing with it. I could have played X-Box I could have just, you know, did nothing with it. But I, I just said, you know what, there's something here, something there's momentum, things are happening. And I just kind of put gasoline to the fire and that enabled me to confidence to leave. You know? So yeah, I would just say anyone that's on this journey, just, just remember, this is your journey. So the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it is part of the process. You need it. You're going to need it one day and that's why you're going through it,

Speaker 3 (41:45): Man. That's so inspirational. I love the message behind that. That, I mean, that's been the biggest struggle for me once I started was realizing that all this stuff takes time because that's, I mean, we all go through it where we're like looking for the quick way, looking for the shortcut, looking for the fastest,

Speaker 2 (42:02): The hack, right? What's this thing. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:06): I mean, it takes going through that. I think for a lot of us to realize that there is no hack, the hack is just putting in the work and the time to do it. And I don't know if, if I can help anybody get to where they want to be faster. It's to say quit looking for that hack and to start putting in the work and putting in the effort now, because that's going to be the quickest way from point a to point B.

Speaker 2 (42:26): Yeah. I think the reason why my clients win is there. They're dealing with the practitioner. I do what I literally do, what I tell them to do every day. You know? So for me, it's, I've put in the reps, it's easy. I can give them direction, but also I've got eight years of corporate training, like face to face facilitation. I graduated 50 people in a leadership program and coached 50 people. So I put in the reps from those areas as well. So the value that I bring my clients, isn't just that I can teach them how to use social media, but I can teach them how to communicate properly. I can teach them how to close sales. I can teach them, take them through a personality assessment. Right. So, so I bring a ton more than, you know, somebody that may be just be an expertise in one particular area. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:15): I love that. That's such a valuable skillset to have for yourself, obviously, because you're bringing clients, but for the people that come under your wing, because you've been through it all, you've seen it all and now you can kind of help share that knowledge with everyone else.

Speaker 2 (43:29): Love that. Yeah. And that's what I've really loved about clubhouses because that's, that's what I love. I love to just share and drop as much value as I can because you know, it, our, if we keep our information and it does us no good, right? Like we've got to share it with people because you know, truthfully, most people aren't going to go do it. Most people want to hear it makes them feel good that, that maybe they're going to do this thing. But for the small percentage of people that do, and that start to have success, man, they're going to have some victories, you know, and small wins are just as good as big wins. You know, it's just all about gaining that momentum to keep pushing you, to create that consistency that you need to get those results.

Speaker 3 (44:08): Absolutely. Now, before we wrap up here, you mentioned your podcasts, the blaze, your trail podcasts. You want to just talk about that real quick?

Speaker 2 (44:18): Yeah. Yeah. So the, so the show is a blaze your own trail podcast. Um, and you're fortunate to have listeners in over 50 countries now and it's been out for, uh, uh, actually February 1st will be a year in a month. Um, but man, I've, I've had the fortune of interviewing some amazing people like Heather Monahan, um, David Meltzer, the late Sam Bach tr who recently unfortunately passed away, you know, some athletes, some, uh, world-renowned authors like Mark, Victor Hansen, and man it's, it's, it's added so much value to my life, you know, selfishly like learning and being a fly on the wall with these conversations. And you know, when you can learn and realize that a lot of the people, you look up to the high performers, the high net worth people, um, when you realize that they are just like you, from the sense that they've been hurt, they've cried, they've, they've experienced loss, man.

Speaker 2 (45:11): It, it makes a powerful connection that you're able to have with them. And so one thing I try to do as a host is I always try to make, break the ice right away in some way or form to just get that wall down so that we can just hang out and truly be ourselves because that's where the value is. And in my show, dives into the whole journey from birth to where they are today. And so we get to learn all those lessons without having to go through all the things that the people had to go through, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (45:41): So I will, in the show notes, I will also put a link to that podcast. So I definitely think you should check out the blaze, your trail podcast with Jordan here. Now the last question, is there any final words of advice that you would want to give to the listeners here that might be thinking about making that step into starting their own business or taking that leap into entrepreneurship? Anything that you want to leave the listeners with before we wrap up here,

Speaker 2 (46:04): Leave the listeners with a quote that I wrote it in 2019, and I didn't know how much I was going to need it in 2020. And what that quote is, is it says the struggle might be real, but the good news is that every struggle has a free gift called a lesson. And, uh, man, like I needed that myself in 2020. I know there's so many people that needed to hear that, but when you can really put that into perspective that everything you go through makes you stronger, adversity actually gives you more strength. It heightens your IQ. It actually adds more value to you going through things that other people haven't experienced. So once you can kind of put that into context, man, that's a powerful unlocked.

Speaker 3 (46:46): That's a great quote. And I completely agree with that. Okay, man. Where can people get in contact with you? We talked about the Instagram Jordan J. Mendoza. We talked about the podcast where you want people to go to get in contact with you, reach out. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:03): I mean, Instagram's a great place. That'll get you into my whole social ecosystem. So at Jordan J. Mendoza, just click that link link in my bio. Um, if you are thinking about creating content on LinkedIn, there's a free resource there, a playbook that literally gives you some tips on how to get started. If you want to explore other conversations, maybe you're interested in the 12 week program. Of course, make sure to DM me the keyword blaze and I'll, you'll get $500

Speaker 3 (47:30): Off of that as well. So, um, listen, thank you so much for the opportunity. Anytime I get a chance to come and speak to an audience and hopefully inspire one person today. Um, man, it's, it's an honor. So thank you so much, Nick. Yeah, man. After, after our call last week, kinda learning about your journey and your story and everything I knew I had to bring you on, especially the fact that you just finally stepped out into your own thing. Full-time I think that is so cool. So yeah. Congratulations on that, man. Appreciate it. And thanks for coming on and sharing your knowledge about that journey and just coming on and hanging out and chatting. I really appreciate it, man. Hey, my pleasure. My pleasure.

Speaker 1 (48:27): [inaudible].