Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans, for today’s guests we have Jason Duncan. Jason Duncan is the founder of one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America and one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the country. He is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of 12 companies. Got started entrepreneurship as an unemployed schoolteacher. He became an educator, then an entrepreneur. Jason now runs a mastermind called the Exeter Club that teaches entrepreneurs how to live the exit lifestyle through a method he calls. Exit without Exiting focuses on the four core principles they can use to break free from the daily grind of business operations. 

He’s also the host of the internationally syndicated podcast The Root of All Success, which can be heard by all podcast players as well as on YouTube Jason is what I believe embodies the entrepreneur. Over the spirit that makes America extraordinary, he managed to use his thought process and certain actions to Google where he is as the successful entrepreneur he is now to have Jason on the show. Jason, are you there?

I’m here Cosmos. It’s good to see you. My man. Yeah, it’s good too.

See you too. I’m glad that you took the time to do this show with us.

My Honor man, thank you for inviting me.

So, Jason, I know that you’re a very successful serial entrepreneur, coach, and a very successful podcaster. Can you tell us a little bit more about your background yourself? And how did you get it?

Well, I am. I wanted to be a designer—a car designer. As a kid, I loved drawing, and I wanted to go to art school to learn how to be an industrial designer, and I wanted to design cars for Ford, Chevy, Volkswagen, or Porsche. I just always loved cars. In my line of sight, nobody can see I’ve got four model cars on my desk and on the shelf across the room. I don’t know how many, but there are dozens. I’m a car guy. I’ve always loved cars and motorcycles, and so that’s what I wanted to do. But God had other plans for me, and between my junior and senior years of high school, I felt like I should go into ministry, and that’s what I did. 

So, for the 13 years I spent, I spent my time in pastoral ministry. And then I got sick of doing that and decided I got to go somewhere different, somewhere I could really make a difference because I felt like I was stagnating in my ministry role and as a pastor. And I went back to school, got a master’s in education, and started teaching 8th-grade American history. And I taught for four years and absolutely fell in love with teaching. I loved the students. I loved everything about it, but because of the Great Recession, they could not renew my contract. They had to cut two teachers in the building where I was teaching at the time, even though I was the number one teacher in the county for my subject, they cut my teaching position and another guy’s as well. We were the last two people hired, and I was forced to make a decision about the rest of my life. Am I going to go back to the corporate world? Am I going to go back to the Ministry or what am I going to do? And I made the decision to try my hand at entrepreneurship. 

So as an unemployed schoolteacher and an accidental entrepreneur, I started a company that turned out to actually work. And I ended. up, making millions of dollars as a result of it. And that’s kind of led me down the road to where?

We are today. So, you’re saying that the recession was actually a blessing and just.

That’s for you.

Well, you know what you could say because that day my principal sat me down and told me that he knew it was a big blow to me, he said. You know, I can’t renew your contract for next year. That was a dark day. But looking back, you know, it was still a dark day. My history and the history of that moment do not change how dark that moment was, but I wouldn’t know you. You would have never invited me to be on a show. I would not have been an author. I wouldn’t be a podcast host. I wouldn’t be a millionaire, for sure. I wouldn’t be these things had that day come.

What I admire about this is that the recession was a dark day for a lot of Americans. But you used your entrepreneurial, innovative, and hiring spirit to come out of it. You fought back, and you succeeded. And that’s what a lot of Americans need right now. That’s like that same energy that you have, you know? So, Jason, what was your overall, overarching vision and goal when it came to entrepreneurship?

Well, I’d be lying if I said I had one, and I think I’m not alone as an entrepreneur who didn’t have a goal or vision when they started because I just simply wanted to survive. You know, I was here. I was the father of two kids, married, and had a mortgage. I don’t know if I still have student loan debt. But, as you know, we had debt. The things that normal people have in terms of debt: Just living paycheck to paycheck. And I thought, OK, I’m going to start a business. I had no goal. Other than paying the dog’s mortgage, I have no vision for what this will accomplish. I wanted to make sure that my kids could continue to go to the private school where they were enrolled. I wanted to make sure that things were happening financially the way they always had, so that was all I wanted. 

And that’s and I, indeed, was able to receive that. It wasn’t until I really began as a business owner that I started to understand what entrepreneurship really was because business owners and entrepreneurs are two different things. Some business owners are entrepreneurs, and some entrepreneurs are business owners, but they’re not always synonymous. I think most people we call entrepreneurs are business owners. And they have no ability or desire to take risks or innovate. And for me, that’s why I had to grow into that role as an entrepreneur. I was at first a business owner, and then I started learning and reading to get around other people and listen to podcasts like this. And that’s when my life as an entrepreneur actually took off.

Wow, no, it’s pretty interesting. Because you know, a lot of times, like most people have, a fear of failure when it comes to entrepreneurship. Like they are afraid of financial ruin, but for some reason like you managed to push in spite of that. And I think I wanted to ask what the motivating factor is. Was it just survival?

No, it was. It was literally a matter of survival. I wanted to survive. I was a very good salesperson. I’ve always been very good at sales, and I thought I could make this work. And I think that if I did this the right way, I could probably make enough money to pay the bills. And I did. I was able to do that, and, you know, I was able to pay the bills and then some. And my life changed forever. I mean, I remember my first tax bill from the IRS after my first full year in business was more than what I used to make annually as a school teacher. And you know, the money was a significant reward for the risk that it entailed. Look, but in my stupidity, I did not save any money for those taxes I didn’t understand and didn’t know. I didn’t. I didn’t realize. And I remember after getting my taxes done that year saying, “And looking at that big, huge 5-figure number that I owed the IRS, I was thinking, “How am I going to do this? I don’t even. Like I’m going to go to prison. I don’t. I don’t have any money. I don’t know how to make this work, but even that was a failure in my life that taught me I’ll never let that happen again. And I haven’t been sentenced and I’m glad to say now that my tax bill is lower than it was when I was teaching school because I’ve learned what wealthy people now do with money so that they don’t give away money unnecessarily to the government.

No, that’s awesome. Uh, yeah. That’s crazy. You saw the fire like. That would have definitely scared me. If I saw that I’d have anything. I’m like a man. What am I going to do now, like oh?

My God. Yeah, it was terrible.

So, Jason, what was the biggest lesson you had to learn in all your years of being an entrepreneur? Like, what is the biggest inside You gleaned from all these years?

Well, I think I was. I was actually just talking to a potential client about this, and I think one of the biggest things that I’ve learned is that I now believe that business ownership is not the goal. Rather, it provides the financial resources to support our families and the lifestyles that we truly want to live, and I believe that we as entrepreneurs start businesses in order to give us a better life, not a better job. 

And this is why I spend most of my time coaching entrepreneurs today. I teach them how to design businesses around their lives rather than having their lives built around what’s left out after business life is done. And I’ve helped founders of companies free up over 50% of their time to focus on more important tasks to grow. Businesses grow and start other businesses to do more, traveling to spend more time with their families. And that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned: that the myth of live entrepreneurship is that the business itself is the goal, when in fact it’s the lifestyle that you truly want that the business can provide. That’s the goal.

Yeah, I noticed that a lot of people start their businesses, but it becomes their full-time job. They end up doing 10 or 12 hours, and the initial goal of being free is no longer there because they’ve ended the thing.

Well, and as entrepreneurs, a lot of times find ourselves in circles where we’re making fun of or talking or belittling the 9 to 5 W2 workers because they don’t have any time, they got to answer to the man who listens most entrepreneurs create the same scenario for themself. Those you know, they’re just the man. They have to listen to you and you become your own employee rather than your own boss. In the 9 to 5 you traded for this new job, now is 24/7.

And so we’ve got to get us, we got to get our perspective straight because most entrepreneurs aren’t living on yachts at the beach, driving Lamborghinis. We see that on Instagram. They don’t tick tock because people think that’s cool. But reality, that’s not reality. 99% of entrepreneurs out there are barely making it like they’re paying the bills. They’re barely making it. And then out of that 1%, maybe, maybe 3/4 of that 1%. Are making a lot of money, but don’t have the time to spend it, and then that one-quarter of 1% of the people have figured out the magic. 

Like, how do I live the lifestyle that I truly want to live, for some people, it is the Lamborghinis and the models and the nightclubs and the Beaches. But for others like me, it’s just that I want to be able to take motorcycle trips. I want to ride my motorcycle one-on-one. I want to go on RV trips with my wife, I want to Travel more I want to and sure I trade that for the ability to make a. Lot more money but time is way more important than money.

I see. I mean, a lot of the time. Like, there’s always this illusion of, like, not only the Lamborghinis and there’s all this, this illusion of success where it’s almost like an unattainable goal for it’s unrealistic. So, what you’re saying is We have to be more realistic in our goal setting altogether.

I mean, I think our goals are way too lofty. I think inadvertently, all the motivational gurus that have been around for the last 20 or 30 years say, “Set goals. They are so high that, you know, even if you miss it, you’re somewhere in the stars”. Well, the reality is that if you set a goal so high that you can’t reach it, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. 

You know, lower your expectations so that you can experience the joy of completion. You know if you have high expectations, and believe me, I have high expectations. I expect a lot from my people and from the people that work for me. But they’re realistic. Nations and entrepreneurs who say, “Well, I want to be a millionaire by the time I’m 28 or I want to have a $10 million company by the time I’m 30, or whatever their goals are. You know it’s fine, but is it realistic? Is it possible? 

And that’s one of my mentors; one of my coaches actually taught me this. And this is a really good point, he said. Possibility and probability are completely different. Is it possible that you’ll be a millionaire by the time you’re 28? Is it possible? Is it possible that you’re going to have a $10, $20, or $100 million company? Is it possible? In the realm of possibility, anything is possible, but the question we really have to ask ourselves is, is it probable? I mean, really look at it… Is it probable that you’re going to do it, and the reality is that most entrepreneurs don’t sit down and think about it? What the probability rate is of success, and they set a goal so high that the probability is so low that they’re just going to get burned out. That’s why they end up working 100 hours a week to try to attain something. Just not likely. It’s not probable.

No, totally. So, Jason, what is the biggest challenge you ended up having to face over the years in entrepreneurship and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge that I ever faced is whether there are two, so the first one, I think. Most people would. Would know what I’m talking about and that’s cash flow. Cash flow is one of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face. Cash is not king. Cash flow is king. Understanding and managing the difference between income and expenses But you know, do you want the company that I own in the lighting business? You know, we would do $1 million projects with you. Would think OK. Wow, you just got a $1,000,000 project, and you’re set? No, because now I’ve got $1,000,000 worth of expenses. 

Not technically but. But there’s a bunch of six figures worth of expenses against that that I’ve got to manage. If my customer’s not going to give me a million dollars and then hope that I get the project done and I do, Keep what’s left over? No, they’re going to. They’re going to dole out cash at certain points and have one customer. They owed me at one point well over $1,000,000 and were six months late in paying his bill, and it almost put us out of business.

So, managing cash flow was a big challenge. I had to learn how to overcome it, and it’s been a process of learning and progress. The other, and the biggest, challenge that I did have to overcome was that of a business partner who was not willing to provide value commensurate with the amount of money that he was taking out of the business. And it was a very difficult time in my life because we were friends. We really loved and respected one another. And when I broached the subject, he didn’t see it the way I did. And ultimately in order to save the business. In the future of the business, I had to make the decision to terminate him as part of the business. You know, his ownership in the business hurt me. It still hurts to this day. And you know, I overcame it in the sense that my business survived and was able to move past it, but it was a devastating blow to me personally, and financially, I almost went bankrupt as a result of it. The business suffered tremendously as a result of it, and we were on the cusp of completely rebounding from it. And then. So, it hit. So, you know how that turned out.

Man, I feel for you because you know. A lot of people when they’re starting a Business, they are afraid of their partner or their business partner, basically not giving enough value or basically scamming them. Or there’s always trust. You’re like, there’s either like either in business, you have the discipline, or you have trust issues, either is disciplined to get the thing done, but a lot of the time it’s a matter of trust. Can I trust the other person financially? A lot of people would have trust issues, so it’s definitely a big issue? What do you think, people? What would you tell the audience on how to get about that?

Well, I think the first thing you really have to consider when you start a business is that if you don’t need a business partner—and need is a very important word—don’t take a business partner. Business partners should be strategic, and there should be a specific need for them to be a part of your business. And money should not be one of those reasons. With very rare exceptions to that, because money can be obtained from so many other places without having to give away equity to anyone. You can go to the bank, or you can go to hard money lenders. You could, in other words, borrow credit cards. 

There are many creative ways to get cash to get money for your business that a business partner should not be the one, and that was one of the mistakes that I made: at the early stages I needed money and it was a good opportunity to provide that. And he did. And he did provide that, and his return on that investment was quite significant. But I would tell people, first of all, if you don’t need a business partner, don’t take it. 

I think if you do take on a business partner, you need to make sure you hire a business coach first to arrange what your business operating agreement is going to look like. Who’s in charge of what? What are the specific roles and responsibilities of each individual on that LLC, if it is an LLC? Who will do what? And then once the business Coach works with you through. That then goes to the attorney, have the attorney finalize it, make sure it’s all legal, and that the founder of the business — and this is so important — must always have 100% complete control. You cannot leave that to chance. You cannot leave that to the whims of a vote among two or three people. The founder must have complete control.

It kind of gives me the Image of Steve Jobs. Going to his board the whole the end, the very company that he started, that they get kicked out of his old company, yeah.

That’s right.

So, you know, as a lot of Americans like, they want to start a business. They want to do an internship, but they’re afraid of finances like they start a business…. Whatever it fails, there’s like so many fears that are out there. What would you tell somebody that wants to start a business, but it’s just too afraid to do it the way that he can financially get that thing?

Done well, courage is not the absence of fear. It’s acting in spite of the fear. So, if you’re not courageous, you’re never going to make it as an entrepreneur. Fear is a reality of entrepreneurship. You’re going to be fearful about money. You’re going to be fearful about vendors and fearful about. Do I have enough customers? Is my product going to work or are people going to return it? Is somebody going to sue me? All those fears have some semblance of legitimacy, but it takes courage to get past that. And entrepreneurs are courageous people. 

So, if you can’t get past the fear, don’t be an entrepreneur because just because you might muster enough courage to get past One, it’s going to. It’s really hitting me in the face all the time. I was talking to someone on the phone before this, and, uh, he was like, “Yeah, I feel like a boxer. It’s like I’m always getting hit as an entrepreneur. Somebody’s always punching at me”, and that’s what’s going to happen in the life of an entrepreneur. Fear is a reality. You’ve got to be courageous to push past. It, but it’s in terms of the cosmos of what you’re asking in terms of the financial ruin; I mean, really think about this: what is the worst thing that could happen?

The absolute worst thing that happened was finance. I’m going bankrupt. You go bankrupt. And what does that mean? Well, that means well. It means a couple of things. It could. You could have a type of bankruptcy where you have to pay your creditors back over a very long period of time, or you could be completely released from all those debts. Neither one of those things is death. Nobody dies; nobody goes to jail. Like, that’s not that bad of a thing or not. I’m not. I’m not recommending you do it but put it in perspective. But bankruptcy is not that big of a deal. 

And for most entrepreneurs. You started with nothing, and if you lose it all, you’re just back to where? You started. That’s not that bad. When I started my company, my salary from the state of Tennessee as a schoolteacher was $38,000. Now I’ve risked a lot of things over the years financially to make millions of dollars. The worst that could happen; As I go back and I’m making 38 grand a year somewhere, I think it’s Not that bad. What we fear Is not that bad.

That is awesome. Yeah, I think a lot like that actually gets hooked a lot, cause a lot of people are afraid. But you’re saying that it’s like, yeah, what do you have to lose at the end of the day? Like, you have to go for it anyways because you know, there’s like a lot of job security issues in today’s world. It’s not like 60 to 70 years ago just going to like a manufacturing job or You just retire like, right now, living the world with no security, and at some point, you have to take that chance, you know.

Well, and the irony of this whole thing is that we’re so fearful of the money problem and the bankruptcy of losing it all that we work ourselves silly and end up losing the people closest to us: our children, our wives, our husbands. You know, our spouses—we lose those people because we quit paying attention to them in the hopes that we do not lose money at the same time. End of the day. When it’s all said and done, you’re not going to be sitting there at the end of your life. I wish I’d made more money. You will be. Saying I wish” I’d spent more time with my wife. So don’t fall prey to this money fear because it’s not that big of a deal. I mean, worst-case scenario, you’ve got to make a couple of awkward phone calls to tell them that your credit is going to be wrecked for seven years. But listen, you could come back from that. But if you lose your wife, you lose your kids. They don’t respect you anymore. You don’t come back from that. That’s tough.

Right, Jason, that’s inspirational. Yeah, I actually agree with you on that. So, Jason, what is the one thing you wish you’d known when you started your entrepreneurial journey, and what would you advise somebody that wants to start and wants to become an entrepreneur but is just starting?

So, what I wish I would have known It’s something called the law of the architect, and it’s something that I now teach my clients, and the law of the architect is one of these universal laws that most people don’t know about. I happen to have mentors and advisors who help me understand. These are three laws. The law says that… 

#1 The architect of the business is the founder of the business, the one who founded the business, and the architect, meaning he is the one who designs and builds the business. Right. And the architect only has three jobs, and this is one of them. And that job is to set the vision. For the company. #2 is to communicate the vision to the company, #3 is to build the asset. That’s it. The architect’s job or those Three things. And those three things alone.

Now, if the architect gets involved in things that are not part of his core job responsibilities, it will stifle the growth and success of the organization. Now, in the beginning stages, every entrepreneur is starting out by himself or herself and has to do everything. They’re the salespeople. They’re the accounting people. I get it. But the reality is, once you get past those first couple of months of start-up, you have to immediately, as the founder of the business, obey the law of the architect or suffer the consequences of breaking that law. That’s what happened to me. I didn’t pay attention to all the architects, and it took me 7 years of breaking the law because I wasn’t setting and communicating the vision as clearly as I needed to. And I certainly wasn’t building the assets. I was just maintaining the organization, and when I woke up to that reality, it wasn’t too late because I was able to recover from it. But I had lost millions of dollars, thousands, and thousands of hours worth of time, and the potential for millions of dollars worth of growth because I wasn’t paying attention to the law of the architect. So, if I could go back and do it all over again, I would obey the law of the architect from day one.

That’s awesome. I would definitely recommend the audience to like to put this in mind because yeah, a lot of the time they go into business and there are like 5 founders, and nobody knows who’s the actual founder. So, it’s like a total mess, you know, and then.

There’s no such thing as a co-founder. When people announce themselves as co-founders, I have. Race to because I don’t know the law of the architect, but the reality is there’s no such thing as a co-founder. If you and I sit down for coffee and brainstorm business ideas before deciding to go into business together, one of us will come up with the idea. The idea that someone is the founder, that someone founded the idea, doesn’t matter who had the money, who had the connections, or who had the office space. The founder is the one who had the idea. There isn’t a co-founder. You might have assisted me with that. But in reality, there’s only one founder of any business now.  Does that mean you can’t call anybody a co-founder? No

I get what people mean, but I know this one company. For example, I’m a vendor, or they’re a vendor of ours, and I love their product, but I’m not going to mention them only because I don’t want them to think I’m talking trash about it because I’m not. But I know the founder of the company; I know his story. He’s been on my podcast. I know exactly how he found it. I know why he did it. I know everything about And then one of his technical people, who’s been with them since the beginning, has on his business card co-founder. And I’m like, “Dude, you were there from the beginning. You didn’t find this thing; you helped build it, but you’re not its founder. And that subtle lie that there are other people who helped us find it is what helps us break the law of the architect. Because one person’s job is to set that vision, communicate that vision, and build that asset, you can hire people to help you communicate it. You can hire people to help you build it, but it’s ultimately your responsibility.

I think it’s more like a status update. The cool factor It sounds super cool, you know, and Yeah, you know, it’s like a subtle thing. It’s like, well, yeah, I’m the co-founder of this business, but I agree with what you’re saying. They can only have one architect, and one founder. So yeah. So, on a different note, Jason, that they see that America Is the land of the free? And the place where she dreams of me. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Well, I think generally yes; I agree with that statement. But here’s why I hesitate. These last two years and what our government has done to us during this pandemic are unconscionable and should be punishable by some means associated with what they’ve done to us by locking us down. Enforcing health measures that we don’t agree with by keeping people out of work, they have absolutely killed a generation of people from their abilities and their opportunities. They’ve made a whole generation of people just scared of their own shadow. I mean, I still see people wear masks and drive cars by themselves. I still see people not going to events because they’re scared of being in crowds that should be punishable, maybe not by death, but definitely punishable, So the freedom that I thought we all had as Americans became crystal clear to me over the last few years: we’re not as free as we think. 

So generally speaking, yes, we’re the land of the free, and I think there’s tons of opportunity here. But voting for the right people in office now is more important than ever, and I’m not. I don’t normally get political on any podcast, certainly not my own. Not other people, but the reality, that freedom still has 11 days before it is taken away from us. I mean, the freedom that we had to go to school, to the grocery store, to the mall, to go play golf, was completely stripped. And that scares the hell out of me. So yes, I think we’re the land of the free. Of the brave. But for the last two years, so many people have let the government tell them how to live. And I think it’s despicable. What they did to us and the fact that we let it happen

I think, yeah, a lot of people lost their jobs, and there were some. There’s a there was a. A big hit was on the way, and a lot of people felt, on the financial front, like they could not be free. Like it’s showing America is. On the financial front, freedom is the goal, which is why entrepreneurship is the thing. But I think, yeah. COVID was a pretty big disaster on that front altogether.

Absolutely. 

So, you know a lot. What do you think it is? Like the biggest hurdle? What obstacles do Americans face when it comes to realizing the American dream, and what can they do to overcome them?

I think the biggest hurdle is just our lack of imagination and courage, which goes back to what we were talking about earlier with this fear that people have. Not certain. Business I think the thing that prohibits us from getting to the American dream is that everybody’s American dream is different. I mean, you know, some people want to own a business. Some people want to own a home. Some people want a good job. Some people want a pension; some people want to travel. Everybody’s dream is different, but everybody has the opportunity, and that’s really what’s great about it. 

The United States of America is that we do have those opportunities, in spite of my earlier comments; we do have those opportunities, however limited they might be from time to time. We do have those opportunities. 

And so it’s our lack of imagination and our lack of I recently invited a family member to invest with my wife and me in a real estate investment, and I understand how cash flow works and investments, even if I borrow money. If I borrow money to put money into it, as long as it makes me money, it doesn’t cost me anything. I understand that. And I think lots of entrepreneurs listed in this show will understand that. 

But the people who don’t understand it and don’t get involved—it’s their lack of understanding, knowledge, imagination, and courage that will keep them from producing long-term generation wealth. Well, so, you know, I was hopeful that they would come in with me, not because I needed the money, but because I just wanted them to be blessed by seeing this opportunity, and they chose not to. Because they are. Whatever the reason, they didn’t want to borrow the money to put it in or take it out of their investments. To put it into real estate, and that’s their prerogative, they certainly have no ill will towards them. But I think it’s that lack of imagination that will keep people from realizing it. The American dream, whatever it means to them.

Yeah, I think I think a lot of like achieving the American dream actually, like taking up those opportunities, right? We always talk about an opportunity for a better life. But when the opportunities come. And if you don’t take it, then that’s actually sets us back. So, that was a good thing. What you did was like giving somebody an opportunity.

Yeah. Well, and it’s like my kids. My children are adults, aged 19 and 22. And, you know, I’ve been telling them for years that you’ve got to get into real estate. You’ve got to get into investments. We waited for way too long. My wife and I did this; had we done it 20 years ago? You know where they are today. Can you imagine? Can you imagine how much different my life would be? I mean, I watched these tick-tock and Instagram guys that are in their 20s and 30s that have 50 Airbnb’s, and sometimes they don’t even own the property, and they’re just doing arbitrage, and I’m thinking, “Why did I miss this?” How did I miss it? This is why someone wasn’t there to show it to me. And now that’s why I’m a coach because I want other people to see those opportunities and take them when they’re young and can’t.

No, totally it’s, I mean, coaching and education are how to get more people to think with an entrepreneurial mindset. 

So, Jason, what are your viewpoints on inflation and death? You know like. There’s a lot of inflation going on. In this country, how gas prices rise, board roll. There’s and then like and then a lot of people aren’t consumer debt, but you know, entrepreneurs have a certain take on how they view inflation debt. So, what are your viewpoints on this?

That well, inflation and I guess the golden or the silver lining, and everything is going right now. Is that this generation of people who just watched what happened in the last two years, if they’re paying attention and now, I’ll see what’s happening with people who are running our country today and what they’re doing with our dollar, hopefully, they will draw the lines between, oh, they control and fear us, and then they deflate our value? Our money probably ought to vote for different kinds of people. That’s, I think, the silver lining on this. But inflation is not that things cost more, it’s that your dollar is worth less and people don’t get it. The fact that I bought my first house for $77,000 in 1997 and today, you know, a starter home would be 250. $290,000. It’s not that the bricks and sticks are worth that much more money. It’s that our dollar is worth that much less than that much less. And we have to pay attention to that. 

So that goes to your question about debt, I would say that debt, consumer debt, compounds the problem of inflation. So if you’re going to borrow money to buy a car, and you’re going to pay that out of your earned income or borrow money for a new couch, you’re going to borrow money for television. That’s stupid. You’re never going to make it. You’re compounding the problem in the opposite direction. Debt is dumb. Consumer debt is dumb.

But leverage is another thing, just like I was saying before. If it makes me money, it costs me nothing. I don’t care how much money I had to borrow to do it. If for some reason, I could borrow the $180,000 to buy the new Porsche 9/11 that I want if I could borrow the 180, but the Porsche somehow made me money. I would do it, but you and I both know it doesn’t. It doesn’t work that way. So how am I going to get that Porsche? Well, what I have to do then is go borrow. The $189,000 buys a little fixing flip. Flip it, make some cash, make or rent it out and then get the cash flow to pay for the Porsche. 

That’s how you use other people’s money the right way. Don’t borrow money for jewelry. Don’t borrow money for watches and cars and yachts and boats. They don’t borrow money for things that make you money. Because if it makes you. It costs you nothing, and I’ll add this if you’re saving money, you’re losing money. Do not save money. Saved money is absolutely worth less today than it was yesterday, especially during times of high inflation like what we’ve got right now in the bond administration. It is insane. Your money is worth less for every single day you wake up. 

So, the longer it sits in that account, the longer it sits at the bank, you are worth less. Get out of the banks, get out of the banks, and figure out how to get out of the banks. I figured out how to do it with life insurance. Get out of the banks, get into real estate, and get into things that will appreciate long term because savers are losers.

Jason, I love that you said that because like a lot of extraordinary America is about, OK, your wages are not matching up to the inflation that’s happening. And then you’re doing consumer debt. You’re becoming more financially inflated now. You’re forced to go do a job and everything like that versus utilizing debt to do a business. Or like to basically utilize that to get yourself out of financial trouble to a state of financial freedom. 

This is really important because right now more and more Americans are getting it to sleep because, like, they are taking them, they’re using their debt to buy cars… This, that and consumer debt, these debts and everything that wages are not matching up with inflation and so they’re not free on the financial front and America is all about freedom. But on the financial front, that’s not the case that we’re seeing. Right now.

Yeah, and the small-minded people who are not taking opportunities to listen to shows like this and expand their thinking. They’re looking at, well, gas just went up to $5 and bread went up to $8 and groceries are up while so you. So, Mr. employer, you should pay me more too. 

OK, that ‘s why that’s not going to fix it. Because I’ll pay you. Or that doesn’t fix the problem. The problem is the Fed is making rules and making laws about what’s going on in our money system that’s ruining it all of us. 

So, a $15 minimum wage doesn’t fix anything. It actually compounds the problem even more because. You just listen. When I started my first job, I think I was making $3.80 which was minimum wage back then, as a 15-year-old kid bussing tables, I wasn’t screaming for $10.00 an hour or even seven at the moment because that was it. That’s what I was supposed to make. That’s what that job paid today. Minimum wage. I don’t even know what it is. What is it? 7-8 bucks. I have no idea what it is, but you can’t find a job that pays for it. Everybody’s paying more than that. Right. Because the marketplace demands it lets the marketplace decide how much people should get paid. The Fed and the government are telling us how much to pay each other if you’ll do a job. For me, for a dollar, why? Why should you? And I have the government come in and say no, you have to pay them too. That’s crazy. This whole thing about you having to raise my wages to keep up with inflation doesn’t fix the problem. 

Also, understand that that doesn’t make anybody feel any better either hearing. But the problem is not the employer. The problem is not the employee. The problem is the Fed. The problem is our government. We’ve got to figure that out. That’s why over the last two years, my eyes have been opened. I used to not be political at all, but my eyes are open. The people in charge are the ones that are screwing everything up.

Yeah, I agree. But at the end of the day, like, you know, when most Americans are in survival mindset and they’re not going to be able to think in these entrepreneurial terms like they’re looking for solutions, but they don’t really know what the root cause of the issue is.

Yeah, you and me, we got to help them. We got to help them see that we gotta get out there and help them and educate them and let them know that. Listen that what you’re asking for isn’t going to fix this. It’s not going to fix it. We’ve got to fix the root cause of the problem, which is greed from our government.

Yeah, it’s the one thing we know. It’s how. Like greed is always going to be there, you know, so. This brings me to the next question. You know, like there’s been a deterioration in America’s economy in the past few years, not just in America’s economy but also in the family unit that is just the government in general. Where do you think America is headed, and do you think we should be optimistic about the future or not?

You know, that’s a great question and I don’t often get into these topics, on podcasts. These are usually reserved for private conversations. Among my closest friends. So, I love it.

I agreed to do it. So, I’m happy that I’m happy to stretch a little bit and answer these questions publicly. Where is America headed? Well, here’s where I don’t. Think it’s over. I think that there are a lot of people talking about the fact that the dollar is going to be replaced by the yuan or some other form of currency as the standard. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I really don’t. I don’t have a lot of reason to believe that other than the fact that we’re still the strongest country on the planet, and I don’t think that I think that when that happens you know we’re close to the end like the capital END… and I think that’s not going to happen as an end. I also think that America is not going to lose superpower status. 

I think we’re going to be fine in terms of that we’re the biggest innovators. And we can continue to lose science and math triathlons to the Chinese and people in other countries. But you know what? We’re still the ones inventing and innovating things. I still stand behind our innovative spirit as Americans, and we come up with the coolest stuff and we come up with every cool thing that we’re dealing with these days. Came out of the mind of an American entrepreneur. Who has changed? So, the fact that our kids aren’t performing well against other nations. I’m not too worried about that. I am confident in America’s future. 

Now, where are we going? I don’t know. I tell you the idea of these midterm elections is coming. I think there’s going to be a huge, huge shift back to Republican. I think after this, after this midterm election, I think that there’s going to be a return to more fiscal normalcy and responsibility because it’s been really crazy over the last couple of years in my opinion about what’s been happening. I think we’re going to get back to some centrist policies of how things should be done in terms of money and what the feds do with the interest rates and what’s happening on Wall Street. But I’m hopeful that we’re still going to be here and we’re still going to be powerful and I’m still proud that I’m from here. And I love this country. And I feel. I feel blessed to be a part of it.  I’m ****** most of the time because of what we’ve done over the past couple of years, I still think given all the alternatives, this is still the best place in the world.

No, I totally agree. You know, of all the countries that I’ve known, like, yeah, it has always been like the hell of the nation. Like the hell of the world, I mean and so yeah, so. Jason, on a different note, I know you’ve done this mastermind thing called the Exeter Club where you teach like. The exit lifestyle can. You tell the audience a little bit more about the Premise of this and how you got started with this.

So, in 2020, I stepped away from the daily operations of one of the businesses that I own and It took me a long time to figure out how to get out of the daily operations without selling it where I could still make money, still benefit from it financially in taxes, etcetera. And uh, when I stepped away, I had this, you know, desire to help other people. I’ve been coaching entrepreneurs for quite some time. Just on the side. And I thought, you know, I’m going to formalize it and start a coaching company. 

So, I did. And I started coaching entrepreneurs and then I started thinking about, well, what’s the unique thing that I know how to do that I could actually train specifically other entrepreneurs how to do, and what I pulled off was an exit, but without exiting. It was an exit without selling. And it occurred to me, working with my coaches, that other entrepreneurs would probably be interested in the same thing. They will probably want to figure out how to get untapped from the ironic prison that they found themselves in as entrepreneurs and business owners. And so that’s what I started paying attention to. 

So I started something called a business accelerator where I it’s an 8-week group coaching program where I take you through these four things that I did to get out of the daily operations. And then 2021, at the end of 2021. I began putting together the plans for a mastermind, which you were asking about called the Exeter Club. We launched it in January of 2022, and it is an exclusive mastermind for male entrepreneurs who want to live what I call the exit lifestyle. In other words, how would you live if you didn’t have to be in your business every single day? What would you do? Some people want to start other businesses. Some people want to travel. Some people want to spend more time at home. Some people want to just start a new division inside their company, but whatever that exit lifestyle is, it’s what you do after you exit daily. 

So the Exeter Club is designed to give male entrepreneurs that opportunity to work together with a bunch of other guys who are trying to do the same thing and we can work together to encourage each other to get to that place where we finally have control over the choices of how we spend our time.

I would definitely recommend my audience take a greater look into it. So, uh, you’ve also been doing this thing. This podcast is called the Root of All Success. Can you tell the audience a little bit more about it?

That’s why, as a curious person, when I started experiencing success as an entrepreneur, I started asking other people whom I considered successful entrepreneurs. How did you do it? What was Your secret? How did you do it? How did you build this company? And it was just natural curiosity that led me to discover that there was. These five things came up every single time, and I got to thinking about them, and I thought, you know what? I bet if I had a podcast where I formally interviewed these people and asked them these same questions, I could prove this theory that these five things are the keys to everyone’s success. 

And so that’s why I started the show, and I recorded my first episode in December Of 2020. And I’m about to record my 100th episode. Yeah. Thank you. My 100th episode is going to be 100 definitions of success because I asked every entrepreneur on my show what his or her definition of success was. This is and so we’ve compiled all that, and I’m going to spend the 100th episode kind of reviewing what all these definitions mean and how they’re similar to one another, because they’re all very, very similar, and then encourage my listeners to go out and find their own version of success and achieve it.

No, it’s interesting because, like, I’ve been doing interviews right now for the past month or something. And I’ve noticed that whenever I’ve asked entrepreneurs about success tips and everything else, there’s a team that starts to form, as if they’re all talking about the same thing, like the scene, say or mentorship. And then it’s just like you have the way of dealing with failure—confrontation—when they’re looking at other things. They’re looking for possibilities and opportunities. Like this stuff and stuff like that. You know, basic things. It’s like a team that comes with a certain way of thinking and acting in a certain way leads to success. And I do believe that if this could be put on a national level, where these thought processes that you are having right now are put out on a national level, it could change the way America is headed altogether. And I truly believe that.

I too believe that entrepreneurs are the ones who change the world. I don’t think it’s the parents. I don’t think it’s pastors. It’s certainly not the government; it’s not police officers; it’s not teachers; it’s entrepreneurs now. All those people have levels of influence, but the true changing of the world happens with an entrepreneur. I mean, we’re on a zoom call right now. Well, this is changing the world. Who invented zoom? An entrepreneur. We’re using microphones. We’re using cameras. Who invented these things? Owners, we go out and ride our bikes for exercise, or we run in our shoes. Who invented those entrepreneurs? We’re changing the world, and the opportunity to make the world a better place is directly in the hands of entrepreneurs.

No, I totally agree. Yeah, it’s actually true. So, Jason, where can we go? Where can the audience go to connect with you and get to know more about what?

Well, if you’re on Instagram, I would love for you to follow me at the real Jason Duncan. So just go, follow me at the real Jason Duncan of late. I’ve had some people trying to scam me and put up my new fake accounts. I don’t know. How do you tell me? But mine is just the real Jason Duncan. No underscores, no, no spaces. No extra letters, it’s exactly what it is. So go follow me there. Report any account that’s not that one, but follow me there. I post content there every single day, multiple times a day. I’m also on LinkedIn at the real Jason Duncan. But I guess one of the big things I would say is that entrepreneurs who are. To this, if you want to know how close you are able to exit without exiting. How close are you to being able to get to that place where you can step away from daily operations? I’ve designed a tool. It’s free for you to use to know how close you are, and you can go to the real Jason duncan.com/amireadytoexit.com

And if you Google that you’ll find it. But it’s a free tool that I’ve designed that includes 1/2 hour with me. Yours truly one-on-one. But you get it. You get that tool, you get a review of it with me and it’ll tell you how. Close to getting ready for that.

Well, Jason, that’s why we’re concluding the show right now. I’m really glad that you came and took part in the show, and we would love, definitely love, to have you back with the show because, at the end of the day, you have the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit that Makes America extraordinary. In the first place, it’s people such as yourself with these thoughts and mindsets who are actually going to eventually turn things around.

Thank you, cosmos. It’s been an honor to talk to you and I would I. Would be glad to come back.

I would like to conclude this show by saying to my public, charging Americans that. There’s an extraordinary within each. And every one of us, it’s our job is to unleash. And empower until next time. Bye for now.