Army Veteran Turned Business Podcaster on Creating Freedom Through Focus and Value | John Lee Dumas | Motivation | E35

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Hello, my name is Tim Story. Welcome to MiracleMetallity. Remember rooftops, drawing spaceships on the ground. It's for the dreamers, the doers, the believers in something greater. In each episode, I'll invite you to rise above the mundane, to push past the messy and learn to live boldly in the miraculous. Every episode will have practical wisdom, spiritual insight, and my guests will explore what it takes to activate your Miracle Mindset. Remember to subscribe, follow, and like. Welcome to the MiracleMetallity podcast. It's getting fun to talk to you guys about the guests that you're liking and what you're enjoying about the podcast. Thank you for doing what I ask. Liking, subscribing, and telling a friend. We are consistently in the top 10, both on Spotify and on Apple, growing our YouTube numbers, consistently at number four. But guys, why not number two? Take us to number two. So how do we do that? Just keep telling people, and we'll keep bringing on amazing guests. To me, a miracle is something extraordinary. So everything I'm talking about today is just extraordinary living. So my guests today, I'm excited to interview them. I've been doing a lot of research on them. John Lee Dumas. Who wouldn't want a name like that? Sounds like an actor. It's like there's a movie. It's with Angelina Jo Lee and John Lee Dumas. So John Lee Dumas is an American entrepreneur, podcaster, but is very successful. He's been doing it for a long time, way before most of us started. He's a great speaker, best known for founding and hosting the flagship daily podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire. That's a great name. Before entrepreneurship, he served in the U.S. Army, platoon leader in armor, including a tour in Iraq, which I want to talk to him a little bit about that, because that's something I would not know about, which he helped shape him and discipline him in his mindset and just the way he does life. He launched Entrepreneurs on Fire way back in 2012, and since then, it has grown into a top-ranked business podcast with thousands of episodes, millions of downloads, and significant revenue streams. He has masterminds in which he educates people to be better human beings. Let's welcome to the podcast the John Lee Dumas. Hi, John. Tim, what's up? Thanks for having me on the show. I can see why you're a top podcast and YouTube show. We got the chance to speak a little pre-interview, and I just love your personality. I'm excited to share value with your listeners and just have fun. I look forward to it. Okay, so first let's start with the fact that you are living in Puerto Rico. How did that happen? The only thing I've done in Puerto Rico is stay at the Ritz Carlton. A friend of mine got married there. He's a famous Latin singer, and I went to the wedding. And, man, that Ritz Carlton is nice, and then they took me around a little bit, and it just has a way about it. Tell me about you in Puerto Rico. Well, first off, that Ritz Carlton is one of two Ritz Reserves in the world, a six-star hotel. So it's pretty special for obvious reasons. I'm glad you got to enjoy that for sure. And to answer your question, I launched Entrepreneurs on Fire back in 2012 just because I wanted to talk to cool people like you, to be honest. And that was the only way that cool people like you would talk to me is if I had a podcast, because I was just an Army veteran with really nothing going on in my life at that point. So I said, hey, why don't I just talk to cool people seven days a week? Let's call it Entrepreneurs on Fire. And as we are speaking now, that was 13 years ago. That was 4,726 episodes ago. That was 175 million listens ago. So the show became quite successful, Tim. And sometimes when a show is successful and you do a couple of right things on the business side of things, you also become financially successful, which sounds great, and it is. But when you live in California, which is where I was living and you're financially successful, you give almost all of your money to the government. I was working for the government until July 15th of every year because I was paying over 51% in tax, 13% California, 37% federal, and then 1.5% franchise tax after everything going back to California as well. And I said to myself, listen, I've already served my country as an officer. I don't need to keep serving my country by just shoveling piles of cash at them every single month of the year. So I'm going to move to Puerto Rico because of one reason, Tim. I like to keep the money I make. I know that sounds crazy, but I like to keep the money that I make. And so I moved to Puerto Rico, which has an amazing program for business men and women, for entrepreneurs. And what is that program? You pay no federal tax. You pay no state tax. You pay a 4% total corporate tax on your business and 0% capital gains on any investments you have, real estate, stocks, crypto, fill in the blank. So I went from paying 51% in tax overnight to 4% tax with a 0% capital gains on all of my investments that was 9.5 years ago, and I've never looked back. I have a question for you. Can I have a loan? I'll tell you, I'm the right guy to ask because when you get to keep the money you make, it's pretty crazy what can happen with compounding investments. Now, you're breaking that down well. So I live in Los Angeles area forever. And so many of my friends, business people, entertainers, are moving to Florida, moving to Nashville, moving to Las Vegas, to Scottsdale, Arizona. Sorry I didn't interrupt you, Tim, but the problem with that, because I know you're going, the problem with that is you're leaving the beautiful coast of California and you're moving to a much less desirable place to live, and you're only getting rid of state taxes. You're still paying that big, chunky 37% federal tax. You're still paying massive capital gains on everything you invest in. So why not stop being a fake and just do a little jump to Tennessee and go to a Caribbean island like Puerto Rico and be a real man and keep the money you make? I'm liking what you're saying. Are you possibly going to run for maybe governor of Puerto Rico? I like to keep the money that I make. So I would not touch politics with a 10 foot poll because every government, every politician is corrupt and slimy and I'm sticking to it. Okay, off the podcast, I would like you to text me some areas in Puerto Rico you could see Tim's story living in. There's two places. I'm going to tell you right now. Dorado, which is right next to the Ritz Carlton, and Palmas Del Mar, which is where I live, which is amazing for different reasons. Palmas Del Mar? Yep, those are the two places in all of Puerto Rico. And they're safe? They're very safe. Puerto Rico is an island's very safe. Incredible culture, such kind people, great police force, the National Guards here. We have military bases here. Like it's a safe island. I like Puerto Rico and I like the people. I like Puerto Rican people. We both obviously have a lot of great friends. They're so friendly. Do you speak Spanish? I can understand quite a bit. My mother's first language is Spanish. Yeah, so you'd fit right in here. And I look a little Puerto Rican, I think. You pass. You had 100% pass. Hey, John, let's get into something. So let me tell you what I wrote. I said, in my notes, you served eight years in the army, including 18 months in Iraq. 13 months in Iraq. Yeah. Talk to us about that season. What was the inner journey for you? What did you believe about yourself then? And how did the service help shape the leader that you are now? Great questions. Again, I can see why your show is awesome. So for me, like I was 17 years old and I didn't have any money to go to college and my dad wasn't going to pay for it. So I applied for an ROTC scholarship. You know, you basically can go to West Point, which is hard to get into. You can go to school for free. Or you can get an army scholarship, kind of pick your school that you want to go to. And then the army will pay for your school. But then of course you owe them four years active and then four years in the reserves afterwards. I chose ROTC, an army scholarship. I got accepted and I went to Providence College, which is in Rhode Island. And for four years, I spent as an army ROTC cadets during college training, doing all the things in the morning, physical training, all this stuff, learning how to become an officer in the U.S. Army. I was a senior on 9-11, 2001. So I was a senior about to be commissioned as an officer. 9-11 happened and all of us were like, okay, we thought we were going into a peacetime army, but we're obviously not. So it's time to get even more serious about our profession of being an officer in the U.S. Army. Sure enough, that May, we were the first officers commissioned post 9-11. And about 16 months after that, I was in Iraq. And I was in Iraq as a platoon leader of four tanks. And the tanks that the U.S. Army has are called M1A1 Abrams, an amazing weapon. And 16 men for individuals per tank. You've got the driver, the loader, the gunner, and then the tank commander, which was myself. And we were in the heat of it. You know, we were there from 2003 to 2004. I was stationed in Fallujah, Aramati, Habaniya, which were all hot spots within Iraq. And so I saw a lot of action. It took me from being a boy, which at 22 years old, having just gone to college and really just mostly focused on partying and hanging out and having fun to like having to become a man with actual responsibilities on the life and death side of things. So I went from a boy, I became a man, and I learned about responsibility and I learned about discipline. But one of the most important things I learned about Tim, perspective. And that's been one of the biggest things that's helped me in the past 20 years post my military experience is that I have people all the time who come to me and say, John, I just had a terrible day. And I'm like, Oh, tell me about it. And they'll tell me about something that went wrong, that to be honest, isn't great, but it's not the end of the world. And I say, Well, listen, when I have a bad day, I think back to the time that I went on patrol and four of my 16 soldiers were killed. So that was a bad day. So the day that I just had today, this hypothetical day that I'm talking about with you right now, that's a bad day. It's an amazing day. I'm here and I'm on a beautiful Caribbean island with my family and I'm getting to spend time with my two year old son, Bo and my wife, Kate. And, and yeah, this went wrong in the business and that went wrong in the business and this sucks and that sucks. But it's not Iraq. So perspective Tim, I had and still have to this day amazing perspective because I can always compare what's crappy today compared to what actually crappy means in the real world. Let's break this down because I think you may know this a little bit about me. So my doctorate is in world religion. And then my other degree is in therapy. So I became a humanitarian 82 countries of the world, but I'm also a therapist for the last 35 years. So I think through as a therapist many times. So I think some things in life we decide other things we discover. So, you know, young John in high school, you then go to college and then give us the name of the college and then tell us how long you were there again. Providence College four years. Okay, as known as a very good school, right? Yeah, it is. Okay. And your major there was American history. American history. So at what point in your life, did you say to yourself, I want to make some form of an impact on people's life. Was it in the high school years, college years where you started thinking more in terms of impact, change, mentoring, teaching. When did that spark start to happen? 31 years old. Alright, so we go to college, then we go to the military, right? 31 years of age. What happens to you? I had gone through what I call six years of struggle. You know, I left the military at the age of 26. That was my four years of active duty. I spent the next six years from that timeframe trying to find financial success to him. I went to law school. I dropped out because I hated it. I took a job in corporate finance. I thrived for about a year and a half, but then I burned out. I moved and did commercial real estate. I did residential real estate. I was trying all these different things over those six years of struggle from 26 to about 31. And they weren't happy times and nor were they successful times. And there was a quote that honestly smacked me in the head. It was an Albert Einstein quote at about 31 years old that was, try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value. And Tim, it was like somebody was holding a mirror in front of me and being like, idiot, you're trying to become a person of success. So obviously you're not because you're just thinking about yourself. You're being selfish. You're not being selfless. You're being selfish. You're trying to just take the jobs you think are going to make you the most money because you think that's going to make you happier, make you successful when you're not providing value to anybody. And that's when I said, well, what can I do to become a person of value? And that thought, that question I posed myself, Tim, was the seed that was planted that then did end up blooming into launching a daily podcast, interviewing entrepreneurs like yourself, who could just share their genius with the world for free? John, you're saying something really good. And I think part of it is this whole idea of you trying to figure out what was right for you with the possibility of law school or certain businesses and certain things. I feel like a lot of people get frustrated with themselves because they try things and then they realize it's not a fit. I personally believe that sometimes that's what you have to do. That I think that some things in life you decide and some things you discover. And when you're in the discovery side of things, there's a lot of trial and error. Some of the great artists that I know, they're not even looking at a canvas and saying, absolutely, I decide to do this. Sometimes they're going at a blank canvas and they're just experimenting. When certain occupations did not work for you, did it deplete your faith or did it strengthen your faith to just keep going on until John Lee Dumas figured out what he was supposed to do next? I would say it just increased my faith because again, going back to that one word perspective where I had the perspective of like, OK, I failed at law school, I dropped out, I failed at corporate finance because I quit. But at the end of the day, I'm waking up in a world where people aren't trying to kill me for the next 24 hours, which was my life for 13 months in Iraq. So that perspective allowed me to keep the faith and build the faith going forward and just try the next thing and just be OK. And you know, you asked me what my major was in college and you know, American history really helped me just become an avid reader. I read so many books of the great Americans of times past like the Benjamin Franklin biographies, the G.D. Rockefellers of the world. And like learning from their ideas and their daily practices, it just encouraged me of well, even these great men failed incredible amounts of time and their journey. So it's probably OK if little J.L.D. John Lee Dumas over here is failing because I'm still in my 20s. I can figure this out. And so I just kept swinging the bat and you know, again, luckily through my readings when I stumbled across that Albert Einstein quote that I shared with you earlier. And that really had me start thinking in a different way, which was how can I become a person of value? OK, so I'm going to think like a life coach from an OK. So many times when people are trying to find the right plan for their life, they're looking at a few things. They're looking at purpose, like what is my purpose? What is something that is meaningful? What will give me meaning in life? And they also will take into account the financial side. John, when you were trying to figure out what's next, whether finance, law school, whatever move it was going to be, how much did the purpose, the meaning in the finances come into play? Let's break this down because we have a lot of entrepreneurs that watch us, probably some of the greatest in the world. And we also have a lot of guys that are trying to be the greatest in the world. So from you, what were you thinking? Was it purpose, meaning, finance? 100% finance and nothing of the other boats. Tell me why? Because I thought during those, again, six years of struggle that that was the goal in the life was to make as much money as possible. Was it become financially successful? Was to achieve success through a paycheck, through a big dollar amount coming in the door? That's what I thought. And obviously looking back now at 45 years old, I know how wrong I was, but that was the time with the journey that I was at. And that's where my head was at. And fortunately, like I was sharing with you earlier, I kept reading the right books and consuming the right content that shifted that mindset into becoming a person of value. But that's where I was at during those times you're asking about law school, corporate finance, real estate. How can I make as much money as possible? Okay, so what would you say to a young entrepreneur in their 20s and 30s that right now they're thinking just mainly on the financial side? I just want to make money. I'm on my grind. I'm beating the sun up. I'm going to just dog on, make a heck of a lot of money. What would you say to them? How would you coach them? The reason why your mindset's incorrect is because you're thinking about yourself. You're being selfish. You're saying, how can I make more money? How can I improve my economic situation? And in order for you to actually do those things, you need to be flipping that script 100% and saying, how can I add value to this world? How can I help as many people as possible? Like that great Zig Ziglar quote is so true is that if you help as many people in the world get what they want as you possibly can, you'll have everything that you want for the rest of your life. It's a little bit of a butchering of the quote, but the meaning, the essence is right there. So I would tell those individuals in their 20s right now to take a step back and say, how can I provide the number one solution to a real problem in a growing industry? Because if they can do those three things, if they can become the number one solution to a real problem in a growing industry, they are going to win. Why? Because they're going to be providing an incredible amount of help and value to so many people because they are providing that solution that people need to their real problem. And Tim, people will beat a path to the doorstep of the person who has the number one solution to their problem and they will ignore the second through infinity people that had the second best solution through infinity because nobody wants a second best solution to their problem. They want the best. So become the best, create the best, offer the best and then let people come to you because they will find you. I like what you're saying. And thank you for quoting Zig Ziglar, somebody that I knew. I'm really good friends with his son. His son's amazing. You should interview his son. Tom Ziglar's great. I would like to. I love what the Zigglers have done over all these years. And he was such a humble guy, Zig Ziglar, and influenced so many of us. So let's get into something that gets interesting. So you say it wasn't so much purpose, meaning at that time it was the financial side. Did you ever hit, and we won't get into amounts of money, but did you ever hit some of the goals that you had on the financial side where you said, I want to make this much a year. I want to have this kind of house. Or did you ever hit some of these? Never during those six years of struggle. In fact, I was very unsuccessful financially. It wasn't until I launched Entrepreneurs on Fire and that took off 18 months later that I started hitting my financial goals, which again prompted my move out of California because I was tired. I was paying seven figures a year in taxes. So that can just give you an idea of how much I was actually making and how much I was actually able to save by moving to this lovely island in the Caribbean. Thank you for watching the Miracle Mentality podcast. So many of my friends are texting me, DMing me, speaking to me and saying, Tim, thank you for these great guests that you're bringing on. So share it with somebody, a friend, a family member, a colleague, and then make sure and reach out to us at TimStoryOfficial and let us know that you love what we're doing. Thank you for being a part of this movement. All right, so let's talk about something. What do you think about so much of this talk online and social media of I'm on my grind and I'm beating the sun up, which is to me almost like a chest pounding way of looking at life, where I will tell you, I'm more about not chasing dreams, but I like to cooperate with the assignments that I believe that have been downloaded into my life. So when we get around each other in person, you're going to see I am this laid back. But yet I run a lot of companies very successfully, but I'm this laid back. But I do work super, super hard and I work a lot of hours, but I do it in this laid back fashion. What do you think about this whole beat the sun up and on my grind? I hate when people tell me what to do. I really do. And maybe that's because I spent four years in the army and I kind of was bucking against that trend of people always telling me what to do. So I don't tell people what to do. What I actually say instead is know thyself. I truly believe you need to step back and know thyself. Like it's very obvious to me that you know yourself and that you're a laid back guy, you know what works for you. But guess what? Gary Vaynerchuk you may have heard of that guy would go crazy if he wasn't grinding his face off 21 hours a day. His head would pop off. That's just him. He knows himself. I would burn out in two weeks if I followed Gary Vaynerchuk's schedule. I have no desire for that. That's not me. I love to work hard. I really do. But I have a very balanced schedule because it works for me. I'm up at 5 30am every single morning. I take my dog for a three mile walk. We watch the sunrise over the Caribbean. It's an amazing way to start the morning. I have my exercises. I max out on push ups. Then I come back. I publish my show. I spend one hour with my son. And then my actual day starts. And that's at approximately 9am. By 9am, I've already crushed a three mile hardcore walk with elevation, done my exercises, published my show, spent an hour with my son all before 9am. And then from 9am on, it's just gravy. Sometimes I have crazy busy days when I'm interviewing seven people in one day because I do a daily show Tim. Seven days a week, 365 days a year. So sometimes I'm interviewing seven people in one day and I'm absolutely grinding. Seven people in one day. In one day. In each interview averages how many minutes? 17 to 23 minutes. Wow. Yeah. That's my show. That's my style. Get in, bang, value, get out. Let's move on to the next one. And then some days Tim, I literally have nothing on my calendar. Some days. Like it's white, just empty. And I do nothing that day. And I'm fine with that. That's me because I know myself. I know that I have the capability of grinding my face off a couple days a week. And then I also have the ability of doing essentially nothing and like being really happy with that. That's what works for me. And some people would hate my schedule and that's fine. I would hate most other people's schedule and that's fine too. So it's a long way of saying to answer your question, know thyself. There's a lot of people that you're mentioning about the get up and pound their chest and they're grinding all day. I think a lot of them are really setting themselves up for disaster and burnout because guess what? They're doing it because they think they should do it, not because it's what actually they would their personality with what they actually want deep inside want. Check your pulse, know thyself, and then create your schedule around that, whatever best fits that mentality. That was a great answer. Thanks. How long would you like to live on this planet? You want to go into your 90s? You want to go into your hundreds? 120, 120. Okay, talk to me about that. There's a great book I highly recommend for a lot of people, which to me is a great book because it's simple. Like it's not crazy complicated. It's not like crazy theories over here or over there. It's not like that. It's just a book that just to me just really makes sense and it's simple, clear format. It's called Never Be Sick Again by Raymond Francis. That book, every time I just need a little refresher, I just read that book and I'm like, okay, this is what I'm going to do for my body. I don't drink alcohol. I obviously don't smoke. I eat very clean. I exercise every day. I don't live in a world of stress. I live a very stress-free life. Of course, there are days where I do have some stressors. It's important to push yourself hard to exercise. It's important to push yourself hard on the work wise too because you want to be always getting into those zones but not living there. It's like you don't want to always have your car revved up to 9000 RPMs. You want it to get there when you're going to go fast and then you ease off the gas a little bit to kind of relax and let that engine take a break. So I want to live to 120 years old. I mean, listen, what's happening in the world with AI, with people understanding functional health and the ability to have different things when it comes to stem cells and going to places like Fountain Life, which they have a number of them around the world now where you can go in and one day and get all of your biomarkers tested, like 194 potential cancers can be predetected. It's insane what you can do and I want to live to 120. That's a goal. I think it's realistic because I think it's realistic. I just had Ben Greenfield on my show the other day. But Ben is also my buddy, the 10x health guys, those guys are my buddy, but I've been to all these countries around the world and I meet these people that are like 107 years of age and they're strong. Yeah. They're moving, they're lifting bags. It's really interesting. And in the world that we're living in today makes it a lot more realistic. And they don't have the benefit that you and I are going to have in 20 years with the progress that's happening at such an exponential level. So it's insane. Ben Greenfield is a great example of somebody who's pushing the limits and it's great to say. Okay, let's get into some things. I want to ask you what irritates you about how the world is going today. So I think any great leader, something irritates them. Even if they don't say it, even if they're not complainers, I'm spoiled. I work with the smartest people on the planet and the leaders of leaders and getting to know these people, something irritates them. Like if I go to dinner with them, something's irritating them. So is it the wars that are taking place? Is it the economy? I know taxes, the way we do taxes is irritating you. What is irritating you? What irritates you? Yeah, what a great question. I hate how some places in America, specifically right now in New York City, is trending toward socialism. To me, that is unbelievably irritating, that is so sad. It's really just destructive. The fact that I'm living in the United States of America and seeing that even a portion of it is trending towards socialistic values, I think is incredibly irritating and scary and incredibly destructive for this world. And why do you think we let something like that happen? Failure of governments, governments never stopping printing incredible amounts of money, printing the value of the dollar into oblivion. That's why I'm such a Bitcoin maxi because I truly believe in the value of scarcity. That's why I think we've seen gold do so amazing this year because smart people who have money are actually seeing the value of scarcity, gold, Bitcoin, real estate, art. These things are going up incredibly in value because the government is just diluting the dollar at such a high level that it's just crazy. I mean, I'm an incredibly wealthy individual and I get sticker shock. Every time I go to a store, I was in San Diego a couple of weeks ago, I go into Joe and the juice, which is like a coffee shop just like pizza. I see you're probably being sponsored by Pete's down there with your coffee. I'm kidding. You're probably having a cup of coffee. But I go into Joe and the juice. I order a coffee, a smoothie and a sandwich. It was $43. I'm like, how does a human being exist? Most people are taking home $43 a day, you know, after they take out taxes and this and that and blah, blah, blah. And just this little lunch snack is $43. It's crazy. So I mean, the world is getting so expensive and that is why people in New York are like, we can't afford to buy real estate. We can't afford food off the streets. We can't afford any of this stuff because the cost of living is so high. Our paychecks are so low and we don't see it getting any better because AI is now coming to take all of our jobs. So that's why people are trending in that direction. But I mean, it's the worst of all options. I think you're a real leader. I've watched some of your podcasts. You're a leader. That's why I want to get this out of you. I was wanting to see that leadership side of you. You're a strong leader. And I think you're going to see more of that emerge. So if I took you to the Beverly Hills Hotel with some of my buddies at the Polo Lounge and they said, so, John, what do you do for living? How would you describe yourself? I would say that I essentially interview the most successful and inspiring entrepreneurs and businessmen and women around the world, extracting their zone of genius, extracting their areas of expertise, distilling them down into actionable uses for my listeners, Fire Nation, so that my listeners can take the genius from my guests, apply it to their business, apply it to their life and become more successful themselves. That's a great answer. You're a different version of Larry King. Larry King is a legend. Hey, John, how come you're not involved in more businesses? Guys like myself, because I'm out there a lot. People always want me to be part of the business. They want to break off a piece and do things. But I do believe in this thing by Keller called the one thing. You got to really be careful about getting too scattered. I've been very, very fortunate because I have a guy named David Michael who is my CEO who's just a beast and knowing how to handle business. I have great lawyers around me. And so I don't just take on all these businesses that people want Tim Storty to do. Why don't you take on more businesses and start more businesses and be part of more businesses? The one thing by Gary Keller is one of the best books I've read in my entrepreneurial journey and I've read thousands. So it's a great book. I love that example. One of my favorite words, Tim, is focus. Follow one course until success. Focus. Follow one course until success. Follow one course until success. Yeah, that's an acronym. Focus. Follow one course until success. I love that acronym. I love that word. I love what it stands for, what it means. I've seen that true in my life when I focus on health and wellness. My health and wellness improves when I focus on my relationship. My relationship improves when I focus on my business, my business improves. And I'm also a massive believer in the phrase that when you say yes to one thing, you're saying no to everything else that you otherwise could have done during that now one thing that you are having to allocate time and bandwidth to. So whenever I get these opportunities that I know you get thrown your way at a high level as well, it's just so easy for me to say no, because I've done it. I've created the business that I love that has the revenue that I'm incredibly happy with and my investments are where I want them to be. And I'm just really well set up. And what I don't need is distraction. What I don't need is to be stretched thinner. What I don't need is more of my bandwidth to be taken away because again, I have a two year old son. I waited until I was 43 years old to have him knowing that when I had my child, I wanted to be unbelievably present every day of his life. Now, I'm not sitting there staring at his face for 12 hours a day. I have my hour in the morning with him. I spend at least a couple hours in the afternoon and evening with him as well. But I'm able to do that because I say no to essentially everything. It's very rare to get a yes out of me like this interview right here. This might be the first interview this year I've done this over 15 minutes because I could ask to be on an incredible amount of interviews. My VA has a one email response, which is thank you so much for asking JLD to be on your show due to the amount of requests that he gets. He can only do this day of the month is one day per month in this two hour window. And it can only be a 15 minute interview that he's back to back on. So I do about 10 interviews every single month on one day within two hours back to back to back 15 minutes. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Of course, when Tim Story wants an hour from you, you give Tim Story an hour. So we're having one of these very rare. No, but that was super kind. But how much are you enjoying this conversation? As much as I knew I would immensely. I love it. Yeah. So to quote JZ, you can't deny me. You know you need me. That's a great quote by JZ, baby. Well, let me tell you what happens. He was trying to get into my friend's nightclub called Dublin's. My friend is Brent Bolt house, who I interviewed last week right here. They call him the gatekeeper of Hollywood. That's I met Leo DiCaprio, Cameradillas, Charlize Theron, everybody else. So JZ was trying to get in, but he brought too many guys. Jennifer at the door who I life coach who works with Brent Bolt house said to JZ can't come in. He goes, can't deny me. You know, you need me. And he put that in one of his raps, one of his biggest songs. That is a great story. So John Lee, do miss, man, you know, you need me. You couldn't deny me. I did not deny you. I'm going to land this plane, but I'm going to land it with beauty. I want to get into something. You are mentoring people. You're doing a mastermind. Tell us about that. Yeah. So the mastermind I'm creating is really based off of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, which is a 17 step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. It's really the culmination of now my 13 years and 4700 plus interviews of successful entrepreneurs taking their genius time and distilling it down into these 17 steps, not 17 random principles, step by step by step. And I wanted to take that book and then take a number of the right individuals and bring them into my mastermind, which I'm calling the freedom circle and just be more of a direct influence and voice in their life. You know, we meet weekly on a live call like this. I have multiple in person events with the group throughout the year, usually down here in Puerto Rico. So they get to come to a Caribbean island and hang out down here. Some of them, by the way, have ended up moving here because they're like, I didn't know Puerto Rico was just awesome. And I get to keep the money that I make and I have to pay any capital gains on all my investments. Like what am I doing? And I'm like, come on down. Let's go. And it's a lot of fun. So the freedom circle is for that kind of individual who's just looking for that kind of support guidance and, you know, taking their life and business to the next level. Okay, John, tell us how to follow you and learn more about what you just explained to us. And then your latest book, your last book that you did, the common path to uncommon success. They could also get that. But best way to follow you and find out more about what you're doing. Sure. Well, thank you for having me on, Tim. I don't take this lightly and you are right. I immensely enjoyed this conversation. Entrepreneurs on Fire is my podcast. If you want to find that anywhere that you listen to Tim, you can just type in entrepreneurs on fire or John Lee Dumas. And thank you for the kind of words about my name. My mother, Tim, actually was a big fan of John Lee Hooker, who was a great singer and artist back in the blues days. Yeah, he was. That's where I got the John Lee Dumas moniker. And true story. When I launched entrepreneurs on fire, I tried to just get like John Dumas for like social media. But there's this guy, John Dumas, who was this amazing wooden flutist that he was very successful in his niche. And I'm like, I guess I got to throw in my middle name and it kind of stuck. But eofire.com is my website. I'm at John Lee Dumas and all the social medias and freedom-circle.com is the mastermind. I like it. John, I like the way you think you're very, very creative. You're a leader of leaders. And I think what you're doing, your mastermind is going to change a lot of people because it's really things that you learn from people who know. It's very, very brilliant. It's a great, great idea. So I always ask people a final question and that is, what does leading with love mean to you? So one of the things about me as a humanitarian is I was very touched by the life of Mother Teresa. I never met her, but just reading about her, studying her. But I did meet Nelson Mandela because he came to see me speak. But these people led with love. What does leading with love mean to you? And just give me a short answer, short answer. What does leading with love mean to you? Everybody's favorite radio station is WII FM. What's in it for me? Stop being selfish. Be selfless. Leading with love is wanting other people to succeed without a care for what you do. That is a phenomenal answer. All right, ladies and gentlemen, John Lee Dumas, the man. That was a doggone good interview. So I want you to follow his podcast. His podcast is blazing. People are loving him. People are liking the way he's thinking, doing. I look forward to getting to know him and hanging out with him in Puerto Rico. For you that continue to watch the Miracle Mentality, keep telling friends. You see the types of guests that we continue to bring on that are bringing value to grow your mindset. I like Carol Dweck teaching on the growth mindset rather than the fixed mindset. Come on. Let's change our mentality and you'll change reality. Don't forget in the midst of all the stuff you're going through, life is still good. You need to like, subscribe and tell a friend. I'll see you next time. Thank you for sharing space with me on this episode of Miracle Mentality with Tim Story. If today sparked your courage or helped you understand why you're created for success, I invite you to carry that Miracle Mentality forward. Visit me at timstory.com. Come back story with an EY on the end. Until next time, walk by faith, embrace possibility and create your own comeback story.