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In this episode of THE COMPANY WE KEEP podcast, Jason Pearl talks about the importance of identifying and prioritizing your passions in your business life–and how doing so can lead to more long-term success (and profits) down the line.
Jason Pearl is a second generation entrepreneur, bootstrapping business owner, loving husband, devoted dad, and raging Bills fan. He tosses aside the idea that you can't have it all and devotes his life to proving it wrong. Grab a cup of coffee and join Jason every Tuesday morning as he dives into topics to help everyday business owners and entrepreneurs think differently about growth and success, and how to achieve a better balance in both business and in life. He’s also shining a giant spotlight on some very smart people in his inner-circle that have helped ignite his success along the way.
[00:00:00] All right, all right welcome back to another episode of The Company We Keep podcast. I am your host, Jason Pearl. This is a podcast for every day business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders who want to think differently about growth, want to think differently about success and want to find better balance in both business and in life. In today's episode in all of season three is sponsored by John MacDonald and Harbortown Financial Group. John and his firm work with individuals, families and small businesses to build customized financial plans using their holistic goal based approach. If you want to contact John and his firm, uh, all the details will be provided on my website Jasonmpearl.com in the show notes there's links to his emails, links to his phone number and their firm website. Check John and his firm Harbortown Financial out.
[00:01:07] Now as we talk about this podcast is for business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders that are looking for more out of both business and life and today this episode is talking just about that. We're going to be talking about the importance of both identifying and prioritizing your individual passions as a leader, Most will think this is kind of back- a backwards statement. but, uh, I- I want to lay out why I feel like if you prioritize your passion first, and your profits and business second, it is like a cheat code. Both in the business that you're running and leading, as well as in life. And I'm going to lay out why. And again this does not have to be for you just being a business owner, if you're a manager, if you're a supervisor, if you're a leader, whether it be in business or through you serving somewhere, anything else. This is something that you should tune into and check out.
[00:02:07] So we're talking about why prioritizing passion over profits work. So to do this, I kind of want to lay out some personal stories about my early career. And how I started to identify what I was passionate about, and then how it translated into making me successful in business. And then later, successful in life. So I want to go back to my first job out of college. Um, so if you know the story, if you've listened before my first job out of college was as a credit manager and being in a management trading program for Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo had a consumer finance division called Wells Fargo financial, and right out of college in 2001 I took an opportunity as a credit manager in their management trainee program. I was hired to be individual producer, so easy way to kind of understand it, I was hi- I was a hired sales person, right. Straight out of college my job was to work with our portfolio of prospects and clients, and try to sell them different loan products. That's what I did, that's what the division of Wells Fargo I worked for was all about. So when- when I first started in June of 2001, um, really early on within a few days of me even being in this new branch environment and having this new job out of college that I was super proud of, I found myself always looking for ways to learn how to help, not only my boss. So the manager, the guy that was running the branch, his name was Marty [Carnes 00:04:30] dynamite guy by the way, but it wasn't just trying to help him it was trying to help the rest of the brand succeed.
[00:03:44] I grew up as a sports guy, loving sports, loving team sports. And- and wanting people to- to win, I really took a liking, almost as soon as I got hired to finding different ways, even if it was outside of my job responsibility to help the branch that I was a part of be held in higher regard. As far as, you know the rest of our peers, or the rest of the branches that we were employed by. So what I did was, I started to take on additional responsibilities and projects that likely, honestly took me away from my individual contributor role. But I liked it so much that I knew that I had to do what I had to do as an individual contributor. So I was going to be allowed to do all these other things that I really love to do. and what that did, that passion of mine, of wanting to help others win, gave me an opportunity kind of showcase, some of my skills that I had. Or the raw talent, probably at that point in time, I wouldn't even call them skills. The raw talent that I had, and the want that I had to basically help others succeed. And when you're in a professional setting, when you start to portray that you really like to see others succeed, that's where you start getting put into the- management, supervisory track, So within nine months of me being hired by Wells Fargo I was promoted to being an assistant manager role, and I was asked to move from the Rochester branch I was a part of to Syracuse. So I did, you know very willingly. I was very proud to get a promotion, but was also really proud that now my responsibility was still going to be individual contributor, but also helping others, do better at their jobs as well. And I really, really loved it. So from there that kind of spring boarded my career with Wells Fargo into being labeled the guy that really wanted to help make others better. And that was just something core that was a passion of mine and I started to really leverage that early on in my career. Um, a lot of people would question me, they'd ask, they'd say, "Jason, you know why do you want to go spend time trying to make somebody else better when you could just focus on yourself because you're good and you could make more money." And I just never could understand it, because it just wasn't the way I was built. Now that certainly, by the way this does not mean that, you have to go do this if you're in an individual contributor role. You don't have to, it's just the way I was built. It's- it was what was in my heart. we talk about head, heart, house on this podcast a lot. Like that's for me, was something that was really driving me. So I really went after it. But you know, shortly after I got this- this promotion, I- nine months later I was promoted to take over my first branch in Northeastern Ohio as a manger at 23 years old. and I started to get a reputation of being like a fixer. so what Wells Fargo would do is basically every two years for about I think eight years I got moved to- to different branches. I got a reputation of being able to take underperforming branches and- and turn them around. the reason that I'm- I'm telling you this story is because it was something internally that I had a passion for. And the fact that Wells Fargo was gracious enough to give me an opportunity to actually hone my skills as a leader and not- as individual contributor really set the stage of where I'm at today. Because from 23 years old to today, which is almost 20 years by the way, I've been able to work with hundreds if not thousands of individuals and help them become better at their job. Because for me I had a passion for wanting to see other people win. And that passion early on in my career made me less money. But what it did, is it set the table for me to do what I do today and- and all the other steps I've had my career before today. which have been very lucrative for me that's a specific example of how you can take a passion that you have or something you really like internally and translate into profits in the long term I look at Wells Fargo and the training I got in those first you know 9.5, 10 years that I was with them as invaluable, Because I was able to hone my skills, and not just hone my skills but understand what I was passionate about in the work setting. Because when you're passionate about something you will do it better, You don't feel like it's work, you feel like you know it's- it's fun. And- and that was super big for me, and that's one of the reasons why I did very well there. So whether it's, you know, now, trying to help others win, as I've talked about on this podcast. Whether it's through [Naker 00:09:42] consulting and working with my clients and helping them win or whether it's through my personal brand business at Jasonmpearl.com where I do some coaching, um, some problem solving and- and just helping business owners really kind of understand where they need to go to take the next step. I do that because I love helping other people, I love watching them win. So from a professional setting, that's one of the ways that we can do that, uh, that's one of the ways I've been able to do that. But what I do want to talk about. I know last week on this podcast we talked about, creating space to serve, And- and- and last week's podcast was all about service and giving back and all that stuff. And that's great, but I want to kind of talk about how, um, putting passions before profits in this arena of your life is going to help you as well. So besides being passionate about my family, um, you know you guys have heard me talk about a few other things on this podcast I'm super passionate about. First thing, you know obviously the highest portion for me is my Christian faith and my church family. you guys have heard me talk about my involvement with the church, how I'm- I'm faith and family first type of guy. but the thing within my church where I serve is I pastor to high school kids. if you'll allow me some rope, I'll kind of explain how this has translated into success in business for me as well. I've also talked about on this podcast how I'm passionate about playing hockey. And I'll- I'll get to where that comes in, and how that passion has helped me be profitable as well.
[00:09:30] But, um, you can say like what do these things have to do with you being, you know profitable in business long term? And I'll explain that. when I talk about what I do at the church, and pastoring to high school kids, as well as adults, you're still dealing with people right, so right now what I do whether it's Naker consulting or through my personal brand business coaching you know I'm dealing with real people with real issues and real problems and I'm helping them solve those. no different when you're dealing with, whether it be high school students or adults in some type of a church setting. specifically in a church setting there- there are always, um, things that come to light that sometimes are very dark, And you're working through, these issues and these problems and you're doing it through the lens of faith. But it- it's one of those things where you're still dealing with people, and you're dealing with people and problems. And- and that has created an opportunity for me to really understand people. no one's perfect- no one- everyone's individualistic right? everyone's, uniquely made by god But s- there's a lot of similar themes when you start dealing with high school kids.
[00:10:36] It- as well as adults, so being able to go through and kind of talk about sensitive topics with kids, and talk about sensitive questions and helping them work through issues, has been super beneficial for me. Just to understand different angles where people are coming from, regardless of if they're in high school, if they're adults. I mean that's'- they're still people right? So that has really helped me hone my skill- my listening skills, my ability to really understand and listen, build empathy, empathy is obviously so critical for you to have as an individual in life, It will help you in business, but if you- if you lack empathy you're gonna struggle. But if you can understand and harness empathy, it's- it's going to make you very successful. Also too within my church, within this high school ministry I do preach a fair amount. I put together faith based messages, I teach and quite honestly when you're teaching about faith, um, I hold myself to a very high, responsibility when I'm doing that. I mean I- I love what I do business wise, and, I- I love what I do there but if I make a mistake in business, I make a mistake in business. The last thing I want to do is, give my god a bad name because I'm teaching them the wrong thing So I take it very seriously. And I take my preparation very seriously. over the course of the past five years I've probably delivered, two to three dozen worth of faith based messages to high school students. And- and also to- to others within our church and- and going through that process of preparing has really helped me hone my skills Because when you're talking in front of high school students, and- and really gosh for- for how adults too, attention spans are getting less and less and less. And maybe that's technology, or maybe it's something else, but, you really have to understand how to get a point across. And how to influence in a way- in a short period of time, with enough body and, uh, to- to the message so- so they can understand it and have some takeaway. So putting together in crafting, two to three dozen different messages over the course of the past five years has really helped me hone my skills in preparing, um, how to communicate. Especially communicating to a group, and that's what I do in business. I do that all the time through Naker consulting. I communicate to management teams, board of directors, and things of that nature. So being able to craft a very concise but impactful message is huge, right? It's- it's critical to the success of the business and it's been critical to the success as I'm teaching within our church So that's a way that obviously something I'm super passionate about, which is leading these high school kids. It translates into profitability in my business because I am better today because of the teaching and the preaching and the pastoring that I do outside of my nine to five, So that is another way that, you know passion over profits. And passion will lead to profits.
[00:13:23] And then the other thing that we talk about, which is kind of silly but, for me it's been huge. is my passion for hockey I grew up playing hockey. but when I was years old I stopped playing hockey and I, did what adults are supposed to do and like go get a real job. And then you know, focus on all those things, and one of the things that I found, after I started playing again. So I stopped playing when I was 23 years old, and I started playing again when I was 35 years old. So this is about a 12 year gap. What I realized was is that, as an individual I have this drive for- for competition.
[00:13:58] Some would say, oh that's why you're in sales, or that's why you know, you do what you do. Because you're naturally competitive, it's in your makeup, it's in your DNA. And I would say, yes for sure that's part of it. But, there is something that playing hockey has done for me which as- as a passion of mine, but it has translated into making me better at what I do professionally. And there's a few reasons for that, one of the reasons is, is that because I'm so competitive when you don't have that outlet outside of work to be competitive you sometimes can make work more competitive than it's supposed to be, I know I have done this more than once, where because I have this drive to compete, I have this drive to want to be the best or want to be number one or want to win. Which at the surface is not a problem, but it can get unhealthy when you make the competition unhealthy, and I have done that in the past because I didn't have an outlet for that internal competition that I was craving. That I created that competition at work. And again it's one of the reasons why I'm good at what I do, but it could also in my early career is one of the reasons why I potentially didn't gel or mold as well as I should have with others because I was so competitive. So now that I have this outlet, I'm able to compete and get this kind of like raw, almost animalistic competition out of my body so I can go in and still be competitive at work and want to help my clients win. But I'm not creating, almost like false competition because I have this need for it because I'm able to exert it outside of work. In addition to it, I mean just- just being physically active is healthy, everybody knows that So being able to not be sedentary and get out and exercise and be competitive and work up a sweat and things like that is super healthy. And I play hockey one to two times a week, it's normally later in the evening that's when men's league hockey goes. But it's been really great for me because not only can I stay healthy and stay, um, active but I can get out the healthy competition that I need to get out. So both of those passions I talked about, church and hockey have been ways that my passion has led to profits and- and to better things in my business life. And then finally I would say people will- may listen to this and they could say well how can I translate my passions to help me professionally? and that's a great question because I think it's one of the things that, people still have- have a struggle doing. They know that they have this need to make money as an adult to provide. and- and sometimes they say well, yeah that's great that I really like to do this, but I still need to support my family which I totally understand. But people could ask me, how do I translate, uh, my passions into making my business life better or making my business more profitable? And the first thing I would say is, you've heard me say this on dozens of podcasts before.
[00:16:52] Everyone needs to define their own success. So I would say that you need to start there. what does success mean to you Does success meaning something to you include some of your passions? Or is it void of your passions? If it's void of passions, I would bet that that's not really fully what you want out of success.
[00:17:12] But I would ask you, say start doing some kind of internal auditing. What do you like to do outside of work? if somebody asks you what are your hobbies? What are things that really excite you? What do you like to do? take an audit trail of that and then start to understand is there a way I can translate this skill or enjoyment into my professional life? so looking at that, what you like to do outside of work is where you should start and then when you define your own success or what that means to you, you'll start to be able to see a clearer picture of can I or can I not translate this into my professional career? For example, I have a cousin, Krystin Pearl, she lives in the Virginia beach area, she married my cousin Vince. Great couple, wonderful family, she had three kids in- in I think six years. Or, actually less than that. I think it was three kids in like four and a half years. And so, she's a really busy mom, and they have a really busy household, busy family. But after she started having kids, she got really into wanting to balance her life and her time both mentally and physically. So she started to really enjoy during the day, kind of as an escape being able to workout and being able to exert that energy and make her mind and her body feel healthy So as she started to do this, she started to embrace that more and more and it became a passion of hers.
[00:18:29] So what she did is, she took that passion and she turned it into a business. she now does, fitness, nutrition, health coaching, and she does it professionally, She has a whole slew of clients. she has a business called fully fit and fearless, that's her brand. So if you want to check her out, her name's Krystin Pearl. she's a phenomenal woman and, is really good at what she does by the way. but she took something that she was passionate about and translated it into a business.
[00:18:58] She was in a service business before she started having kids, and she said, that's great, it's easy to make money there but it's just- it's just a job. It's just a nine to five. It's just punching a clock, punching in and punching out." So what did she do? She decided to translate in that, into something different. Which, I commend her for you know it's not easy to start from nothing and try to build. But over a few years now she's building quite a clientele list and she's doing a phenomenal job. And you could just tell that she's super passionate about it, and she's happy and she's fulfilled and she's helping people. And that's for her, that's what she wants. So kudos to her, but that's an example of how that works. we live in a world today where building online is easier than it's ever been Building online, creating online businesses, creating income online, is huge. And there- it's so easy to do now a guy that, uh, subscribe to his message and listen to all the time is a guy by the name of Justin Welsh, I'm a part of his audience and income group. I'll leave a- a link in my show notes about him and who he's all about and what he's all about but he runs this group of, online entrepreneurs and teaches them how to grow income online and ha- basically really how to follow their niche, their passion, and their intelligence into generating income online.
[00:20:11] And he teaches this, and he's got a phenomenal following and he is a solopreneur and has created a million dollar business, uh, by just building online. And it's super impressive, building online is very easy these days and if you are passionate about something there are outlets that you can check out. But one of the other things that people could ask is, what can I do, if I don't have these like hobbies? If I don't have these passions that I can turn into a business, then what? Am- am I lost? Am I not able to do this? Am I not able to live this fulfilling life? And I'd say no, that's not true. I would just say, ask yourself, in your job what you like to do/ what do you love to do most during your day work?
[00:20:51] Are you good at building relationships? Do you love analyzing data? Do you have a knack for helping people understand complicated things? Do you really love service, you love helping other people understand, you know how to do things? Uh, do you like training people? Start doing an audit internally of what you like to do when you're at work and then figure out if there's other job descriptions within your organization. If there's other opportunities for you to really lean into those things, because if you have a skill and you have a knack of doing those things you're going to be able to take that passion, even during the work day and turn it into probably a more profitable career for you. Even in a W2 standpoint that's probably something that could work. So there's a number of different ways that you could do that but you just have to understand What task during the day do I really enjoy? Which ones do I not enjoy and that's one of the things that can kind of help you out. And then finally, I've seen a lot of people, like we talked about last week with service. I've seen a lot of people translate, non profit organizations that they're really passionate about and turning it into a career. I've talked about my church before, the executive pastor at our church worked for an international bank, before he became the executive pastor of our church, he was a pretty high ranking official at an international bank here locally. And what he decided to do is, he decided to hang up his, his corporate international banking suit and- and trade it in for being executive pastor of a multi campus church with thousands of members, So he's able to translate what his professional skill was into a passion of his, right. Which was his faith, and leading people well. So he went ahead and did that, and I just think it's- it's amazing but- and there's so many people that do that, because they say, well oh well you know it's a non profit I'm not going to make that much money. Or what am I going to do here, what am I going to do there? Well people decide that pay. I'm so passionate about this, I'm going to be able to maybe make some decisions in my life to say hey, maybe it's not about like the highest paycheck, maybe it's about happiness, or- or whatever you decide. Or whatever you define success to be in your life. But this is something that he did. so th- those are just a few different ways that you can look through it and give yourself an audit if you find yourself in this situation wondering how can I turn my passions into profits? And then, finally I would say, like let's just be dead honest right? I've always said I'm a direct communicator, like do passions always turn into profits? That's a question that people would ask when they listen to this. And the answer is no, like they don't. But I would say that most people that follow their passions probably lead happier, more fulfilling lives. But if you want to go follow your passion, does that mean you're going to be more profitable than you were today? It- it- maybe yes, maybe no. I don't know your individual situation and I don't know your story. But what I would tell you is, if you don't give it a try and you don't even think about it, and you don't go through this process of understanding what you're passionate about and then are there ways that you can utilize and lean into this more? You're likely going to regret some of those things. this is not a, uh, solicitation to say hey go hang up your nine to five job that supports your whole family to say that you- you're a 42 year old guy like me and you want to go play professional hockey. Probably not going to happen, even if you're passionate about it But there are ways that you can figure out things that you are passionate about, or things that you're good at and try to lean into them more to make yourself more successful.
[00:24:00] So here's the one thing I know to be true, if you are passionate about something, it's contagious, The- the people that I have worked with or the successful people that I see on a day in and day out basis are super passionate about what they do. They don't just like what they do, they love what they do And passionate people find ways to surround themselves and attract other passionate people. And that's where wonderful organizations are built Passionate leaders that attract other passionate people for the same mission, to go and make special things happen in the business world, So I would say that don't waste your life wishing you did something, start to lean into something you want to do. And start figuring out ways to take your passions, and- and work at them so you can make it work for you in the long term, So here's the deal, one of the things that you may want to do and we talk about this all the time, the name of this podcast is the company we keep, Start looking at the company you keep. Are you surrounding yourself with people that would be rooting you on and cheering you on to go follow your passions and help you figure that out? Or are you surrounding yourself with people that would speak into your life and tell you that you shouldn't even think about this? You need to make money for your family, you need to do what you have to do to put food on the table. And it doesn't matter if you're happy or not, you just have to do it. I would say if you've got too many of [laughs] those people in your circle, get rid of them and bring them in, fill their spot with new passionate people that you can trust that are going to speak good in your life. And are going to motivate you and cheer you on as you follow the things that you care most about, 'cause passionate people are contagious and passionate people change the world So that's something that you need to focus on, what are you passionate about and how can you make your life and other's life's better? Find what excites you and sprint after it, that's what I did, I wake up every day on fire to do what I do both in my- in my business, in my personal brand but also in the areas of my personal life that have nothing to do with business that I'm passionate about, Because I want to sprint after the life that I want, not dream about the life that I want. I want to live the life that I want and I want you to live the life you want too. So thank you for listening to this episode of the company we keep podcast. As you can tell I'm super passionate about helping others win, that's why I'm recording this episode. And it's honestly why I talk into this microphone every single week. There are so many of you out there that are not reaching your potential and there are so many of you out there that I know, if you took your passions and you really worked hard at them it would turn you into being a more profitable individual and probably a more profitable company, um, if- if you happen to be a business owner.
[00:26:45] So as we discussed last week, I have a revamped website, um, you can find it at jasonmpearl.com check it out, content, show notes, all that stuff is in there. We'll link to everything, I also created a coaching link where if you're looking to problem solve, you're looking to get some like kind of point solution coaching from me, um, to help you work through a problem or there's a very specific issue you're having, I'm happy to do so. You can learn more about that on my website, there is going to be more content that we're going to be flooding our website with at jasonmpearl.com. So don't be a stranger, check it all out, thank you for keeping me company today as you can tell this is a message that I am certainly very passionate about, and just want to make sure that you have the right people speaking good into your life because if you find something that you're passionate about, don't let it go. It will become profitable in the future if you do it the right way. So thank you for keeping me company today, I am Jason Pearl, this is the company we keep podcast. Until next time I'm out, see you later. Peace.