EP68: Jesse Itzler: You Only Get So Many Summers Left

Jesse Itzler did the math on his own life and it stopped me cold.

His oldest is about to be a junior. That's two summers left under the same roof. And when he breaks it down to weekends, to football games, to the number of times he'll realistically see his college friends again, the whole thing gets real fast.

We get into a lot in this one. How he went from running two miles to running 100. Why "remember tomorrow" came from a tattoo on a recovering alcoholic's arm. What he thinks separates the people who make money and stay miserable from the ones who make money and are actually happy. And why he won't take any amount of money to miss one of his kid's last eight football games.

If you're grinding right now and telling yourself you'll be present later, this is the conversation that'll make you rethink that.

Jesse's the guy behind Living With a SEAL, the founder of Marquis Jet and Zico, and one of the people who flipped a switch in my head years ago about what's actually possible for a normal human.

Press play. Then go look at your own calendar.

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Transcript

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This is the Austin Cohen Podcast where we talk real strategies for chiropractors ready to grow beyond the adjustment. If you're building a business, developing your leadership, and trying to build wealth without burning out, you are in the right place. Let's get to work Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Austin Cohen Podcast. I'm here with, uh, many of you may know, Mr. Jesse Itzler. How are you, buddy? Great to ha- great to be here. I had to make sure I adjusted you first before we did this, by the way. Now he is full on optimally functioning, feeling good, sitting straight, all is good. So, uh, uh, we just got through our adjustment just now and, it was funny, couple weeks ago when I was here, he's like, "Hey," and you don't know this, you go, "Austin, what can I do for you?" And in my head, I'm thinking, "Man, you've already done so much for me." Like, that was such a... I was thrown off guard a little bit. I was like, "Man, like, you've done so much with your books, and I've been to a bunch of your workshops before," and, um, obviously some of the social media stuff, and just seeing how you lead by example has been very inspiring. So thank you for already giving me something that you didn't even know. Yeah. Well, you've been coming to my house and adjusting me, and I felt And you just, you know, you call me to make sure to see what works for me, and you come here. This is the easiest commute in the world. I walk from my bedroom to here to do the podcast. So I wanted to return the favor, but- No, I appreciate that, man. Yeah. You already have, so thank you very much. No, thanks. I appreciate it. Um, so right now, the people that are listening to this are service providers. These are people that are in, like, kinda the entrepreneurial space. Some of them have their own practices. Some of them don't have their own practices. You, what I love about you is you've been through the entrepreneurial journey multiple times, uh, and done many different things. If you kinda look back, though, over the last, I don't know, what would you say, like, 30-plus years of doing this- Yeah what would be something where you look back, you're like, "Man, Austin, there's one thing," and we'll get into some details, but like, if you're one thing, like, I remember that had the biggest impact, this was something that was transformational in my entrepreneurial journey of just thinking of, "Man, I didn't realize this was possible," and, "Oh my God," like, "here's where I am now," just based on whether it was, like, sleeping somewhere or putting out content or... I mean, you've done so many different things, so I know there's a lot of stories in there. Yeah. I think, well, just, like, without getting into one specific thing, which I'll do in a second, I think the biggest thing in my journey, and it's, it's really- rings true in your profession is just caring so much about my customer. I think that's been a really big theme throughout everything, is just thinking about the experience of the customer from, in your case, maybe it's from the time that someone shows up or you go, you adjust, to the follow-up email, to how are you doing, to checking in, to sending articles. Just everything above and beyond just the appointment, um, was a big part of my journey. When you get a 980 on your SAT and everybody's smarter than you, you have to out-care them. So I cared the most. I think the turning point for me probably was when I was 21 years old, I got a record deal, and 22. I had shot my record demo to, like, 15 different record companies and they all said no. But I kept going until I finally got a yes. And the reason why that really changed the trajectory of my life is I didn't have a lawyer, I didn't have a manager, I didn't... I had no connections, and I did it on my own. And, like, when you prove to yourself that you can do something just by you doing it it opens up the floodgates to what you think you can, can do. You're like, "Whoa, I don't need any help. I could do this myself. I could build this business myself. I could get referrals myself." And that just changed the way that I moved around forward. Like, I wasn't looking for so- like a silver bullet or someone to come and save me. You know, someone to ride in on a horse- Yeah and be like, "I got you, man. I'm gonna introduce you." I did it on my own, so. Who were mentors, though, that, like, you looked up to, that maybe you saw them doing something that was possible and you're like, "Man, like, if they can do it, I can do it," or just, like, the way they acted and the way they led really motivated you? When I was young, I didn't have any mentors like that. I mean, there was no internet. The only people you knew were the people in your town. Yeah. There were, like, I had no- Yeah access to anybody, so, but as I got older, I had plenty of bus- and even now I have mentors. I mean, now you can have virtual mentors. People you never even met before can inspire you- Wow through their social channels. But there was also, like, a desire early on to be successful. You know, like I was competitive. Ego played a big part in- my early tw- I mean, business ego is a big part of your 20s and 30s. When you get older, that ego tends to go away. But, like, you want... You root for everybody, you want everybody to do well. But when you're young, you don't. You're rooting against people, you're competitive. So that was a driving factor for me. Yeah. I think one thing I loved, one, when I heard you speak one time, is you talked about your dad and, like, he was a spiritual billionaire. My dad was a men- I love that. Yeah, he was a mentor for me. I mean, if I was gonna pick someone early, it was my dad. But not because he was, like, he was... He owned the plumbing supply house. It wasn't his, business success that, that was the reason. It was just the way that he showed up- Mm for everything, and the way he treated people, and, like, just the friends that he kept. The way that he was, the balance that he had. Like, he worked six and a half days a week, but still showed up for everything, still got home for dinner, still went to every game, still listened. Was never too tired for his children. So that played a big role in where I am now as a parent, but not so much in business. Yeah. The, uh... Well, I think, you know, one thing I love that you said is how you do something and you realize like, "Oh, I can do this. Like, I get to see what's possible." And in today's world we're like, yeah, there's social media and there's books. So you know, I know the first time when I connected with you, it was right after you got done writing the book Living With a SEAL. I was like, "Man, this guy's done a 100 mile run. Here's what's possible." So it, it really paved the way for a guy like me to be like, "Oh, okay, this is possible for just a normal human, uh, like me to be able to run 100 miles." And those endurance races, and I know you've done a bunch of different endurance races so maybe you can speak to this, but those to me have been so impactful 'cause you, you're gonna get to a point where you're gonna wanna quit. And at that point it's like, okay, well what do you do at that moment? Do you keep going? Do you stop? Like what is your thoughts on endurance races and how it's led you as who you are in today's world? I think... Well, first of all I've done a lot of endurance stuff and- I started off running two miles. That was like my goal as a runner. How old were you? Like probably my 20s. Okay. Early 20s- Yeah when I first started running. But nothing on my body's changed. Like I'm not super strong. I'm not like this is the same legs I have. But I saw people running 100-mile races. I went to a race, two races, and I watched people finish, cross the finish line, and none of them looked, most of them didn't look super fit. They just had incredible will. And I was like, "Oh, you just need will to do this? I have will." So that was kinda like, let me see how much will I actually have. That's what got me into the sport. Um, I feel like when you, if you're, if you set a goal of two miles and then you 50 exit down the road, you start to look at your business and you're like if my goal is to make a million dollars, why can't I make $50 million?" Like, you just see things differently and realize that like, I've been putting all these limits on myself. So that's what long distance running has done for me. It's expanded what I think I'm able to do. I think everyone should run a marathon in their life because it will convince them that they, and surprise them, and make yourself proud and be like, "Whoa, I have so much more in me." So that w- that's that. When it comes to like not quitting, I think I'm big at visualization. Like I'm always, I always think that I've com- in my mind, I've actually run that r- ran that race or done that challenge to completion. I just have to like execute it now. So when I get to the starting line, it's not like really an if, it's like... And I know it's gonna hurt. If you're an entrepreneur, you have to know that it's gon- there's gonna be bumps. If you're running a 100-mile run, obviously it's gonna hurt. Mm-hmm. So that's not s- what's gonna take me out. It's not, I know that's coming. I know being an entrepreneur is gonna be hard. That's not gonna take me out. So what is? Injury? I don't know. But not not my mind. So that's been my approach. It's never easy. You always go through all the excuses of why you wanna drop out, why you want the race to, why you want it to rain and the race gets canceled halfway through. But as you keep chipping away You see the light at the end of the tun- It's like anything else. You get an idea for a business or a race. You could use them in parallels. You get excited, you research it, you train or you work. You go through a part, a period of insane doubt, like every entrepreneur goes through it. You fight through that. You get a sale, s- you get momentum. You see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like, you have to just keep chipping away, and, it's not over till you quit. Yeah. Do you think everyone's built for entrepreneurship? Or do you think... And you've probably been asked this question a bunch of times. Or do you think just some people are not built for that risk? 'Cause some people aren't willing to go through and do the marathon because they know at the mile 13 to 18 they're gonna hit the wall and they're gonna stop, 'cause they're gonna justify why they should stop. And are, like, what are your thoughts on... I've, I've just, like, wrestled with this for so many years of like, is everyone built for entrepreneurship, or there's some people that just, they're great at, like, technicians and leaders of their businesses. I don't, is everybody built for it? I don't know. I think everybody could become an entrepreneur. They could just put their hand up and say, "I wanna do it," and take a shot at it. I think some people are wired to be better entrepreneurs than others. For exa- and some of it is just the way that, that people are wired. Some people are very, not introverted versus extroverted, 'cause I've seen both be successful as entrepreneurs. But if you're extroverted, you, maybe there's a better chance you'll be good at sales. I don't know. And that can help as, you as an entrepreneur. There's traits that people are born with that can help them. Is everybody wired for it? It depen- no, I don't think so. No. I don't think everyone's wired for it. Yeah. And it's interesting, so in my profession in chiropractic, if you go to a class of 150 people- But by the way, just the way, same way- Yeah everyone's not wired to be an athlete. Yeah. Yeah. And everyone's not wired to be a good speaker, and everyone's not wired to be a great writer. Yeah. Some people are just born better with that, or pick up things along the way that make them better. So no, I don't think everyone's born with it. Yeah. In a, in a s- if I look at a class of 150 chiropractors right now, you ask everyone here, like, "Hey, who here wants to own their own business?" Over 50% will raise their hand. Should 50% open their own? I- Stats would say no, and that's true for like any, you know, service provider industry that's not regulated like a hospital industry. That's like a small business. So it's just been interesting where I've been talking about it, what I've been learning is that, you know, you have technicians, you have business builders, and then you have like visionaries. And when people can be like in their own roles, they can usually excel and be great. Whereas- That makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah. So- Yeah um, one thing you, uh, taught me, by the way, I love just having this conversation 'cause I'm like, "Hey, one thing you, another thing you taught me, uh, that you don't know about." One thing I love is the quote you said, and you've said this, you've said mul- multiple ones that always like kind of stick in my brain, but one of them is like, "Remember tomorrow." And I always think about that during an endurance race. And I don't know where you got that from, and I'd be interested to hear that from where you've like that concept came to you. But I remember you... I forgot where you were saying that, but any race I've ever done, I've always thought about that. Like mile 60 of a 100-mile run, I'm thinking in my head, "How would Monday feel like knowing I gave up and justified why I should quit?" So I've alwa- so I've wr- I've wr- I write that down, like on my arm or on my leg when I did like the Navy SEAL training. So yeah, where did that come from for you? Like how'd you learn this? So funny you should say that, 'cause I actually saw it on someone's arm as a tattoo. No. He had a huge "Remember tomorrow" tattooed across his arm, and he was a recovering alcoholic. Wow. So he was trying to remember, day by day. Um, and I asked him about it and he said, you know, "How am I gonna feel tomorrow if I do something today?" And I just started applying that to ultra-running, to, to basically everything. You know, it's not about necessarily what you feel like doing, it's like what you have to, you do what you need to do. If you did what you feel like, if I felt like doing what I wanted to do- I'd probably stay home and, like, watch TV or s- doom scroll through Instagram all day. Yeah. But what I have to do today is go ride these hills when we get done with this podcast, and then work, and then be with my kids. So, remember tomorrow is a really easy two-word phrase to help you navigate big or small decisions. Like, remember how those decisions will impact you tomorrow. And then doing what you have to do versus what you wanna do is important. Yeah. But you've had... I mean, because you've said yes to so many things, you've created experiences for yourself. Yeah. And those experience have turned into things like Remember Tomorrow, or when you were doing the that race, it was the race where it's like you do four miles every hour. N- Last Man Standing race, and it, you know, you came up with this, "I never get tired with Chad. Like, I feel fantastic." So it's been cool to watch and just, like, you're saying yes, you're showing up, and that's turned into just so many probably amazing life lessons where, you know, obviously you're a huge leader for a lot of people who look up to you and respect you, so, which is great. Yeah. Those little things like having a little mantra like remember tomorrow, or your self-talk, or, you know, how you think about things like going into a race or a business, your enthusiasm, your attitude how you handle low points, how you handle high points, those are really important traits. And it, you know, if you stack a lot of those things up, you have really good self-talk, you have really good habits, y- you... Crisis management, you get in front of problems, you don't panic. Y- you- everybody that you look up to has doubt. Your favorite rock bands have doubt, your favorite athletes, your favorite politicians, your favorite entrepreneurs. But they all manage it well, and they do it through a series, a process of, like, how they think, their habits. And that, that stuff, if you can stack as many of those things up- On the right side of the ledger good things always happen. I, uh... It's interesting, so you and I both know somebody s- uh, mutual, James from Hard Knocks. So I actually in- got to interview him as well. And I asked him, I said, "James, what's the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire?" And he says, "Billionaires... Millionaires think in days, billionaires think in decades." And then when y- if you think of, though, like, just people, and I hate, like, just, like, relating to money, but, like, if you think of people who have financially, like, done well successfully, and you look at their life and you're like, man, Austin, like, I know some people, and you do, you, you probably know people who've done very well, but also they're happy, like, internally. What have you seen them do? 'Cause obviously they have phrases I'm assuming they go by, probably some visualization exercises, and p- probably the way they lead themselves is very different than other people. Like, what are some characteristics or traits you've seen those people do differently that- Of the people that are- The high-level people who are not just financially successful, but they're also, when you look at their life, you're like, man, Austin, like, they're happy. I think they're not scared to fail. I think they're not scared to be embarrassed. I think those are really getting over that fear of being embarrassed or failing is- Big one the first step, I think. They're risk-takers in general. E- even athletes that the greats are willing to take the last shot. They're willing to, they work really hard. They're really good at managing distraction, like saying no and focusing on the things that move the needle. I think that's a really big thing. I've learned that the hard way. Well, mo- I mean, most people aren't great with distraction. Yeah. And they say yes to too many things. They get a little lucky, but they create that luck by putting thems- themselves out there. They don't, like, sit and wait for opportunity. They grab opportunity. They're consistent. Wow. Dude, that was really fast. I don't even know. I had no idea. How'd that just, like, roll off your brain? I was- That was amazing. That was so gold split-screen while you were sa- while I was answering that. You were talking about millionaires versus billionaires. Yeah. And I was, like, thinking to myself, there's probably 18 million millionaires in this country. Wow. And there's probably 1,000 billionaires. So there's 18 million. I don't... I'm making that up- Yeah but I think I'm pretty close. Okay. I'm gonna check when we get off this. I think it's 18 million. Maybe more now. 20. Yeah. All right. There's 20 million millionaires, and there's 1,000 billionaires. That is an insane gap. Wow. So, like, what are those 18 million doing? What are the thousand doing differently? Part of it is just the space they're in and the category they're in. Y- yeah. I know a lot of millionaires that, barbers that are, are millionaires, but I don't know a lot of bar- I don't know any barber that's a billionaire. Part of it is, like, the industry they're in, that they choose to go in. Yeah. You know, if you wanna sell, You know, I, I don't even know, meat door to door. I, I'm not- Yeah solar door to door. You might be able to get to be a millionaire, but, like, that's not a path to becoming a billionaire. You know? Yeah. So part of it is the industry. I don't know. I wanna- I gotta think about it. Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, like, in my industry, like, to be a billionaire as a chiropractor, that's a lot of adjustments, uh, you gotta sell. It's a lot of ad- w- you can't get there through adjustments. No. You can only get there through owning, owning multiple- Yeah multiple, multiple, multiple businesses. Or creating a product that every chiropractor uses. Mm. Or creating some kinda recurring revenue. Even there you know, I don't know. I have no idea. Well, you actually, no, you're actually dead on, by the way. Like, you are, I mean, and it's interesting, like, that's how your brain works, but that's, you're, you're exactly right. Like, there are chiropractors in our space who have multi-unit, but also have developed, like, we've developed software for example that all chiropractors need. But those would be the things I think that would get people. But at the end of the day, like, is my life goal to become a billionaire? No. But is it to, like, be able to, like, provide for my family, create something that, like, changes and impacts people's lives? Um, yeah. Well, it might be, uh, your mi- your life goal might be, "I wanna make money where I don't have to be there." Yeah. You know? Freedom. Which would be, yeah, I mean, which would be amazing. Um, and that's, I think, what a lot of people, when I interview people who are in our space, in chiropractic space, and we ask them, "What's the number one thing you want?" The answer always comes down to freedom. That's what everybody's looking. But then when you ask them, you say, "What does freedom look like?" That's where the lack of clarity does come into play for them. And would you say that people, some of the people that you know, like, what is, like, what is the driving force, like, in today's world? Like, you're doing all these cool things. Like, what motivates you to keep going? And like, the Adventure Club, the Calendar Cl- like, you're doing so many awesome things right now. What keeps motivating you, man? Just things I'm enthusiastic about that I like to do. What drives me is, like, some people, I get energy from people. So I like being around people. Some people, being around people zaps them of energy. I get energy from that, so I still do that. I like speaking, I like hosting events. When you mention, um, freedom, like, what came to my mind, 'cause I'm, like, thinking, "Well, what is my definition of freedom?" The first thing that came to mind is being able what, to do whatever I wanna do whenever I wanna do it with whoever I wanna do it with. So, like, if I could do, that's freedom. "Man, I wanna go here. I wanna..." It's not, i- it's being able to do it, it's- It's being able to say no and being able to say yes to the things you do and don't wanna do, and then doing them with who you wanna do them with. That's... And, and one, I think one other thing I learned from you too- I think, but I wanna think about that too. But, but- No, that's good. I mean, I think one thing I learned from you though is, is well, like in that is like relationships and experiences. Like, you talk about that, and I think early on where as a young entrepreneur, and I don't, I don't know if you can relate to this, but it's, and you probably can, but it's like my first like six, seven years of business was all about saying no to the things that were actually important and just grinding. 100-hour weeks. Now it got me to a certain point of my career but what it also did is it sacrificed a lot of relationships, and I created no experiences. One of the best things I ever did was in 2015 go back to doing things I enjoy doing. I bought a basketball and a fishing pole, and I went back to doing things I did as a kid, and that brought so much joy- Yeah and had the biggest expansion- Yeah, I like that on business ever. So I got two last things for you real quick is, uh, one is I was at a f- a memorial recently of a very successful guy, and they said, "You die two times, the time you take your last breath and the time someone says your name for the last time." And I think what I can really respect about you is like we're all gonna obviously pass away, and you can relate to that. I wanna hear, like, kind of your mindset on time too as well. But man, your lasting impact, like, will live on forever. Ha. I- people will say your name for a very long time, which is a cool I don't know if you ever thought about that or not before. That's good. That I never thought about that. But the first part of, like, you die when you die, I don't want that to happen for a long time. For sure. For sure. The man probably knows that. I mean- Yeah, I mean, like, people can be talking- Yeah about me, that's cool. But yeah. What is your relation- like, tell me about your 'Cause you are big on relationship on time, by the way. Yeah. And, and, and there's one last question I wanna a- ask, but this is, like, something I know you're really big on, where you are very intentional with time, longevity, being present in the moment, creating experiences, Misogi, like, all of that. It's a lot to kind of unpack there. But yeah, what is, like, how did, h- where did you get clear on thinking in your brain? I think it's been an evolution. Mm. I think that people think about relationships with, they think of it, like, with their kids or their parents or their husband or their wife or whatever, but they don't think about their relationship with money. And I think it's important to understand what your relationship is with money. Like, what do you want it for? What do you wanna do with it? How are you gonna treat it? And then also time, because it's just, they just don't, we just don't think about it. We think about it in, in terms of, like, appointments and night and day, and days and months, but not in terms of moments. And so I don't know. I- I've always, I've always had an awareness around that. But as I've gotten older, thinking about, like, for example, my son, my oldest son is gonna be a junior, so I have two years left then he's no Then the d- family dinner that we had last night, that's not happening. And then the waking up and, "Hey, get up," that's not happening. So when I think about time like that, like, oh, I only have two ye- I only have maybe th- I'm f- gonna be, let's say I'm gonna be s- 58. So let's say I live to be 80. I have 22 summers. So, like, thinking of that, that makes this summer more urgent. Thinking about, like, there's only 14 weeks this summer. If you live in Atlanta, it's way less 'cause we start school so early. So, like, summer's only, like, 10 weekends. Wow. Like, yo How are you gonna use those weekends? Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, when you start to think like that in moments- 14, your son's a junior, that means there's only 28 roughly then. 28. 28 weekends that he has left while he's in high school, right? Uh, of summer. Of summer. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. So I think, I... Thinking in terms of, of bra- Like, that's how my brain works. Mm. More like, how many times am I even gonna ski, ski again? Like, how many times am I gonna see my college friends? I see them once a year. You know? So, like, those... I wanna do more of that. My parents got older, it was like, okay, I only see them twice a year. If they live five more years, I'm only gonna see them 10 more times. So I doubled down on that. That's how... Not time, like hours, minutes. Time like moments football. It's our last football season in NYO here where we live. So like, you know, how I set up my calendar is I don't wanna miss any games. Zero. None. You couldn't pay me enough money to give a speech to miss one of the eight games, 'cause there's only eight left. And people are always like, "Oh, it's just one game." No, it's not just one game. It's one game of the remaining, you know, it's over. Yeah. There's no more after this at this age. So that's how I break it down. I love that. And you have a phra- another phrase, summer hard, man, which I don't know where you got that from- I'm about to go do that, yeah but that's so good. Yeah. Well, that's part of the fact that I only have a certain amount of summers left. I want to attack them hard. So summer hard is dominate the summer, take advantage. Sun- sun up early, sun down late, s- milk it. That's awesome, man. Um, and last thing is, and it's kind of off the cuff. If, if you were a service provider in today's world and man, I don't even like really know this question. It's like you're trying to grow, but maybe you're trying to create more joy. Like a lot of people are burnt out right now, for example. I think COVID hit, people had to survive, man. They were like grinding hard, especially in my industry. Like you had to take people like one by one, you had to clean tables. It was a hustle. And then everybody did well because people wanted to get back into communities in '22 to like '24, but then everyone's starting to get a little burnt out right now. And I don't know if you could talk to that. Yeah. I think you just gotta weave in fun. It doesn't have to be at work. Mm. Or it could be at work. Create ways to create newness, fun, get out of your routine. Put something big on your calendar that you can look forward to. It makes going to work easier if you know in three... I'm gonna work really hard for three w- three months, but then I'm going on a vacation, then I'm running a race, then I'm... Like, having milestones to look forward to, 'cause we're mostly reward driven. Yeah. Most humans are like wired for reward. Put some rewards out there. Yeah. I'm gonna work really hard for two months, but then I'm going away for a week. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna make... And make changes where to create, like I said, newness or adventure, things you're excited about. That's awesome, man. That's, yeah, always having something to look forward to would be, gosh, wisdom right there, dude. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, my pleasure to learn more about building your business, leadership, and life on purpose, visit chiro one eighty.com or follow Austin on Instagram at Dr. Austin Cohen.