Pull up a chair and tell me your memory Why does it matter to you?
I want to hear your story, your point of view
Tell me what happened to you
Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened
The podcast that features folks from all walks of life telling us of one childhood experience
and how that event has impacted who they are today.
I'm your host Jay Rehack and like you I've had my share of childhood experiences that
have impacted who I am today.
But I'd like to think that everything that happened, good or bad, has made me a better
person.
That may not be true but that's what I'd like to think.
Tell me what happened is sponsored by Sight Lining Publishing, publishers of quality books
including Susan Salazar's classics One Little Act of Kindness and I've Got Peace in My
Fingers.
Today I have as my guest John Lee Dumas or JLD as Millions of his followers call him.
JLD has turned entrepreneurs on fire into a media empire that generates over a million
listens every month and seven figures of net annual revenue eight years in a row.
His first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is the modern
day version of Think and Grow Rich with a revolutionary 17 step roadmap to financial
freedom and fulfillment.
But more importantly, more specifically to me, JLD is a mentor of mine.
I've never met the man until today but he has been an inspiration to me and my students
when I was a teacher.
That's because I used to listen to entrepreneurs on fire at my school with my students as I
try to teach my students the value of energy and enthusiasm in everything you do.
Welcome to the show, my mentor, the great John Lee Dumas.
JLD, are you ready to tell your story?
I am ready to drop some value bombs on a childhood story.
Thank you.
I'm going to get out of the way and then at the end I'm going to ask you just one question
JLD and that is how do you think it's impacted who you are today.
So take it away JLD.
So the story that I want to share today starts with me at eight years old.
I was a skier growing up.
We lived in southern Maine in about three hours from a ski mountain called Sugilove where
we would go a lot of weekends during the winter.
So I became pretty good at skiing on this Maine mountain.
But my dad was quite the expert skier and he would always push me and get me on the
black diamonds and you know, it's kind of nerve wracking for an eight year old but I
would ski them.
And then I remember he was talking one winter about going out west to ski and I had never
been outside of the northeast and he said, you know what, I'm going to take you with
me and it was a trip that he would take with all of his cronies.
So they were all, you know, men in their 40s and 50s, which at the time I thought was the
oldest in the world.
Of course now I'm in my 40s and you know, I realize it's not that old.
But at the time I'm like, oh my God, it's going to be me, this eight year old kid going
out to ski out west, which out west, I didn't even know what that meant.
But I'm going to go ski out west with all these unbelievable old skiers that are just
so good and how am I going to keep up and all this stuff.
But it was such a cool experience.
Like we, you know, got in the plane in Boston.
I remember we flew and it was such a fun experience to be like in this big plane flying out west.
And then I can remember we landed just about dusk and like you could see as we were flying
as we were touching down into Denver, Colorado, you could see the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
And you just knew that it was a different world as far as skiing went.
Like these mountains were on a different level than the main mountains that I was used to
by a long shot.
So we got in a rental car.
And again, I thought that a rental, you know, renting a car was so cool.
Like everything to me was just so cool.
And everybody's laughing and they're all drinking beers, driving, you know, not the driver,
of course, but everybody else in the car.
And they're driving out to the Rocky Mountains and, you know, we get to the resorts and it's
this huge, beautiful resort and there's hot tubs everywhere and there's pools and there's
outdoor restaurants and roof deck restaurants and all these things.
I was like, man, this is a different world.
And you know, we get to get to our room and everything's new and exciting for me.
And then we woke up the next morning.
I remember I was nervous.
I'm like, okay, this is where I'm really going to get tested.
It snowed a little bit last the night before.
So like it was a little bit of powder on the ground.
So everybody wanted to get going early and they're just like, hey, John, you know, make
sure you keep up.
We don't want to leave you behind.
And I was like, oh my God, they might leave me behind, but you know, everybody wanted
to ski the powder.
So they didn't want to wait, you know, wait up for an eight year old.
My dad, you know, he wasn't the kind of dad who was like, don't worry, son, I'll wait
for you.
No, he was like, you better keep up.
And so I was like, all right, got to keep up.
And I'll never forget, like, you know, getting in the gondola and going to the top of the
mountain, getting dropped off and being like, I can't even breathe up here.
The oxygen is so thin.
It was like, you know, 13,000 feet or 11,000 feet.
Like it was like super high and like, you know, there's a reason why they call it mile
high in Denver.
And then the Rockies go, of course, twice to three times that.
So I just remember that day just really committing myself to saying, you know what, I'm going
to stick with these men.
I'm going to stick with these expert skiers.
I'm not going to let them down.
I'm not going to let my father down.
I'm going to stay with them.
I'm not going to slow them down.
And they wanted me to keep up, but they also wanted to get first track.
So of course, me being the youngest, I had to go last.
So I was going last and the guy right before me was barreling down the mountain on the trail
and he just had a total wipe out, total yard sale.
He goes flying.
His skis goes this way.
His poles go that way.
And now we're talking like four feet of powder have probably fallen by this time of the day
because it has started snowing the night before and just hadn't stopped.
And this guy started just being like, oh my God, I'm never going to find my skis.
This is it.
Like I'm going to have to like get a toboggan down and go buy new skis.
He was so pissed because it was like he was 50, 75 yards down the mountain and he wasn't
even able to hike back up because it was so impossible on this trail with the snow being
so deep and the trail being so steep.
And I remember skiing a little ways down because I kind of been watching what he was doing
and I just put my pole in the ground, chink, and I found his first ski and I picked it
up and I threw it down the mountain to him.
I took a couple more turns off to the right of little ways, put my pole down, chink, and
I got the next ski too.
And I threw it down to him and he was so relieved.
He was so grateful and so thankful.
So now like for the rest of the trip, you know, I had this person on my side and he was always
like making sure that I was keeping up and like not letting other people kind of bully
me too much.
And it was a really amazing trip for an eight year old.
I felt like I was one of the guys and I felt like I had a great time.
And from that point forward, my dad took me out west every single year from that age eight
all the way up to like 18 years old.
He would always take one skietrip out west.
And I feel like at the first one had gone bad.
It probably would have been a few more years until it took me again.
So I would have missed some pretty epic ski trips.
You know, now that my dad's, you know, 71 years old, there's only so much more time
that we have to spend together like on something like a ski trip.
So it was a pretty special memories, pretty fun memories.
And I really, you know, think of that story when I think back to my childhood.
Love it.
JLD, you've been helping old guys for a long time.
That's great.
So listen out very quickly because I know you're a very busy man.
Can you tell me how you think that particular event has impacted who you are today?
I know because I was listening to your podcast this morning that you're 42 years old right
now.
You know, that's 30, 40 years ago.
So how do you think you can connect that to this?
I'm going to again, mute myself and just listen.
Yeah.
Yeah, it actually in three days, I'll be 43 years old.
So coming up on my next birthday for sure.
And I can say, you know, it definitely impacted me to this day because it really makes me
realize that, hey, if you can find a way to be of value, you're going to be accepted by
any group, by your listeners of your podcast, by the customers of your product, by the neighbors
that you have, if you're providing value to them, they're not going to forget it.
And I was able to find a way to provide real value to this individual.
And it made me realize that I always need to look for a way to provide value to help,
to guide, to support.
And that's really been my MO, my modus operandi from that day forward.
I've been listening to your podcast for a while, even teaching me like crazy.
I've been learning tremendous enough for you.
And I know that sort of your mantra is that idea of, you know, trying to produce value
bombs as you would say, but just to help people really, I mean, it's really is about
helping other people.
Yeah, I always like to say, you can be the number one solution to a real problem in this
world.
You're going to win.
I like it.
Well, thank you so much.
I'm so honored to have you on the show.
I'm kind of overwhelmed as you could tell from my enthusiasm, but I will say I wanted
to tell you this from the start that I used to be a school teacher.
I retired a year and a half ago, but I taught for many years.
We would listen to your podcast.
And I would say the most important thing I would always tell students is the word enthusiasm,
because enthusiasm actually means with God or with the power of God.
And I'm not talking about religious.
I'm just saying that spirit, that power.
And one of the things that I've just tried to emulate and I'll stop talking again is
that your enthusiasm on your show just reads right through.
And I just like, I just want to, I want to be myself, but I want to be a podcaster with
that type of enthusiasm.
Well, I appreciate that.
And I want to speak to that for one second, because one thing I will be honest with you
is that I'm not always going to be able to deliver an amazing podcast.
I'm going to try every time, but it's not always going to be amazing.
And so I can't guarantee that every show is going to be amazing.
But one thing I can guarantee is in myself to bring the energy, the passion, just the
devotion to delivering that enthusiasm via my voice to my listeners.
And some of them have said that very thing like, John, I was feeling a little down and
I popped on your podcast.
And honestly, like it was a good show.
I love the topic per se or whatever it might be.
It wasn't just for me, but just your enthusiasm is what I needed to surround myself with that
day.
And I love hearing that stuff.
So that's very aware of you to bring that up.
And I received that.
I'm glad you did because basically JLD, you kicked the skis down, threw the skis down
for me today.
And I really, really, really appreciate it.
And thanks for sticking with me because, you know, I'm an amateur and you're the professional,
but I really appreciate you taking the time.
It's an honor to actually meet you.
Again, I've been listening to you for a couple of years now and learning from you all the
time.
I'm a big fan of learning every day.
And that's one of the things that I admire about your show is that I, if I listen, I
learned something.
Your guests, you always have these dynamic guests.
I don't always do what they tell me to do, but I always listen to them and they give
me good, solid counsel.
So thank you for that.
I appreciate it, brother.
It was great spending time with you today.
Thank you for listening and for putting out your voice to the world.
And I'll catch you on the flip side.
Thank you, JLD.
Thank you.
Well, that's our show.
I'd like to thank my guest, JLD, the great John Lee Dumas for all of his value bombs
that he constantly drops on everyone who listens to him.
And of course, our sponsors, side-lining publishers, publishers of quality books, including Susan
Saldo's classics, One Little Act of Kindness, and I've Got Peace in My Fingers.
And of course, LaughSaver.com.
Visit LaughSaver.com and record your laughter.
We'll keep it for you now and forever.
It's free and your family and your friends and everybody who's ever met you are going
to thank you for the laughter that you're providing the world.
So until next time, this is Jay Reagg asking you all to please stay safe out there and
try not to hurt anybody.