538 George Jerjian

[00:00:00]

A Wake Up Call

Jeffrey Feldberg: What happens when you spend decades building a successful life only to realize it no longer feels like enough. George Jerjian knows what that feels like. He's a bestselling author, speaker, an Emmy award-winning producer whose work focuses on one of the biggest questions most people avoid until it's right in front of them.

Who are you when work is no longer the thing that defines you?

His perspective is not academic. It was shaped by a life-changing moment in his early fifties when he was wrongly told that he only had months to live. That experience forced him to confront something deeper than mortality. It forced him to confront meaning.

Since then, George has devoted his work to helping people rethink retirement, purpose, and what it means to create a meaningful next chapter, through books like DARE to Discover Your Purpose and Odyssey of an Elder. He challenges the idea that later life is about slowing down and replaces it with something far more demanding [00:01:00] and far more hopeful: living with intention. 

And before we start the episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Bill, a graduate, who says, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program has transformed the KPIs we're using to accelerate growth and profits.

Or how about Emry, who says, and I love this, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program helped me create the right mindset for both growing my business and later my future exit. I now know what questions to ask, what to do and what not to do, which is priceless. The team and I have found dangerous skeletons and gaps that we're now addressing due to the Deep Wealth program. Today, our actions have a massive ROI. 

Absolutely love that. 

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And I gotta tell you, as I hear these testimonials, this is exactly why I do what I do. My mission, the team's mission here at Deep Wealth, is to literally change the social fabric of society, one business owner at a time and one liquidity event at a time.

The Deep Wealth Mastery program, it's the only one based on a nine figure deal. And that deal, that was my deal. You know my story. I said no to a seven figure offer. I created a system that we now call Deep Wealth Mastery and that's exactly what helped myself and my business partners welcome from a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure deal.

So if you're interested in growing your profits, preparing for a future liquidity event, Whether that's three years away or 33 years away, and if you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you. 

Please email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success, S U C C E S S [00:03:00] at deepwealth. com. 

We'll send you all the information about the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, otherwise known as the Scale for Ultimate Sales System. Better yet, why not hop on a complimentary strategy call? We'll see where you are at your business and what's standing between you and your financial independence and your dreams.

So that's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you, who are looking to create market disruptions, whether you're a startup, whether you've been in business for three or four decades, whether you're manufacturing, whether you're a high tech, SaaS, low tech, whatever the case may be.

Come on in and network with other business owners, with other businesses, just like you, because they all want to lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment. Again, the 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com. 

Meet George Jerjian

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, Deep Wealth Nation, I am incredibly excited today because our guest, you heard it in [00:04:00] the official introduction, he's a fellow founder, a post exit entrepreneur, an author, a thought leader, and a whole lot more. And I'm gonna dare you deep, both nation and pun intended, on the dare.

You'll know what I'm talking about in just a moment. I'm gonna dare you on a couple of things in terms of your purpose and where you're at, and we're gonna ask some questions that may make you feel uncomfortable. It's for a terrific reason. You're gonna learn all that and more, but I'm gonna put a plug in it.

George, welcome to the Depop podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. There is always a story behind the story. What's your story, George? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Rendezvous With Death

George Jerjian: Thanks, Jeffrey. It's great to be on your podcast. To answer your question. What got me here? I think the answer's gotta be a rendezvous with death.

Now there's nothing to wake you up like death. Now what I'm saying, I'm not being morbid here. What I'm saying is, is that when you face death is when you realize what you're missing out of life that you're not really [00:05:00] using most of us are literally.

Tiptoeing toe quiet death. we are not really engaged with what we love to do. And so what happened with me was I was diagnosed with a bone tumor in 2007. I was 52 years old, and the oncologist said to me that bone tumors are secondary cancers. And in 98% of cases. They will have spread through your body and you're looking at six months of life.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow.

George Jerjian: Yeah. Now my immediate reaction is, that's not happening to me. I had an out body experience and I looked at myself and I went, that's happening to you. That's our human reaction is that, this isn't real.

Yeah.

And the oncologist said that. They had to do three weeks of testing to ensure that their pro diagnosis was correct.

And so for three weeks I was living under the sort of [00:06:00] Damocles, am I gonna live? Am I gonna die? And strangely, I wasn't afraid of death. And I think that's really weird. I was expecting to be like terrified. I'm being honest, right. For some bizarre reason, I went into this sort of altered state and the only thing that was really worrying me was that I was gonna leave behind two teenage daughters that was killing me. So that rendezvous with death woke me up. Luckily three weeks later. The oncologist said to me you know, he had good news and bad news. The good news was that I belonged to the 2% club. My tumor was in a localized, in one place, and it was benign. It wasn't malignant, but it was very aggressive.

It had grown to the size of an eggplant sitting on my pelvis. So long story short I had six months had to be operated on two operations to remove the thing. I had to learn how to walk [00:07:00] again, but I wasn't angry or resentful that this has happened to me because I had a death sentence that was commuted to six months. So I was punching the air,

and while I was convalescing, I studied philosophy. Online to keep myself, my emotional and mental wellbeing and to keep learning. And I realized that a lot of things that I thought were important in life were actually not that important.

So don't get me wrong, money is hugely important.

It's energy and I like money. I have no issues with money, but it's not the most important thing. It's a vehicle.

And I realized that time was more important

And you only realize that when you run out of it.

Yeah.

So that's what kickstarted my, new direction in life, if you like.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. My goodness. That's quite the story, and thank you for sharing that. 

Three Weeks Of Uncertainty

Jeffrey Feldberg: Before we go on and talk about what you've done since then and the lives that you've impacted and how you've made such [00:08:00] a wonderful difference out there. Let's go back. You hear the news you don't quite know yet because you're at the beginning and they're doing all these tests behind the scenes, and our mind always jumps to the worst conclusion.

And you're probably saying to yourself, okay, this is it. This is the final chapter. By hook or by crook. I might have here, not by choice, but this is likely it. What was going through your mind at that time when you thought, well, okay, maybe I can get outta this and hopefully I do, and that's certainly the intent, but if I don't, this might be it.

I mean, What was that like for you at, at that point in time?

George Jerjian: It's such a good question. I think I was a little numb, to be honest with you. It took me a few days to recognize that, this is really happening.

Yeah, and it's happening to me. 'cause normally it happens to other people. It doesn't happen to me.

Mm-hmm. And that was hard to. Comprehend, but I recognized that this may be the end. In the [00:09:00] mornings I'd get up and I'd look outside my window across the river at the sunrise and I'd go, how many of these am I going to see? How many more of these am I going to see? So you go nostalgic you go for oh my God, life is beautiful and I was just so engaged with the running of life that I wasn't stopping and, tasting things

And I promised myself if I made it through.

I would change my life. I would change the way I approach it. I would enjoy each cup of coffee I have, as opposed to just drinking it because I need to drink it because I'm doing something else. That rushing around like a maniac to achieve, to accumulate to do all that stuff, it's nonsense.

We are not thinking. When we do that, and I think in a sense I was grateful for the life I'd [00:10:00] had. I wasn't angry, I wasn't resentful. But I was still in a state of shock in a state of, oh my God, I'm going to miss this life. And there was parts times where I would say, God, why me?

Why me? There's lots of other people.

Make Each Day Count

Jeffrey Feldberg: And George, right now, I want you and I to speak very directly to someone in Deep Wealth Nation. They're just going about their day, and I'm gonna put myself in this boat as well. If I were to go back to any one of my very fortunate, one of my many days on this journey called Life, I'm focused on the day ahead, the challenges, the problems and everything else, not realizing what's there.

Better for worse. Usually it's for worse. I'm taking it for granted. Hey, I'm gonna be here tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. And my biggest challenge is if it's business-wise, am I going to get this deal? Is my company going to grow? Am I gonna hit my KPIs and my goals? And we all take it for granted, especially when it comes to our health.[00:11:00]

Until one day without our control, it goes away. So for someone in Deep Deep Wealth Nation, and I suspect that's most of the people in Deep Deep Wealth Nation who are in that mindset, on that trajectory, what would you tell them right now with you having been there where the day before, Hey. Yeah, maybe life's not perfect, but it's pretty good.

And tomorrow, the next day, I'll figure things out. I've got time. I've got some runway ahead of me. Until you heard you may not, what would you tell Deep Nation about that? Of, of how they're living their life right now? If they had one takeaway from that moment, the doctor said, Hey, George, not looking so good.

At the very best, you may only have six months left.

George Jerjian: Well, that's a really good question, but I think you have so many people in your audience who are at different stages of their lives that I think the kind of only common denominator that I could offer that everybody would be able to receive would be something like, make each day count. What do I mean by that?

Okay. All these platitudes are great, but [00:12:00] what's the essence of what I'm trying to share with you is. Think of each day as a lifetime. Don't take it for granted that you're gonna make it by the end of today. Think about that. If you take each day as it comes, like you're grateful, first thing in the morning, you're awake, and by the evening you want to go to bed, grateful about your day, the good, the bad, and the medium doesn't matter. The point is that you make each day count, you make each encounter with other people, pleasant or unpleasant. Don't let what's coming at you. Define how you feel,

If that makes sense. In other words, contain yourself in a container where you don't allow other people's crap to affect you. Easier said than done, but if you are aware of it.

You have boundaries that allow you to cope with that and just suck the [00:13:00] juice out of life in a beautiful way with the people you work with your family, with friends, and even people that you don't get on with. They've got another story, they've got a journey, a challenge, whatever it is. Maybe a kind word. You just don't know what that will bring. You could end up having a business or getting into business with somebody because you help them out when they're not in a good place.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And I would imagine, Georgia, as you're sharing this with us, and just before we start jumping into all the wonderful things that you've been doing since then that going into this, what at the time may have felt like your biggest problem? Oh, woe is me. Look at this. Look at me and have some pity on me world because this is really tough.

That really in the blink of an eye, you're now saying, I only wish I had that problem a millisecond ago because now what I'm facing is of so much more magnitude and so much more meaningful. Not in the best [00:14:00] way that what I wouldn't do to have my biggest problem come right back, and that's my only problem that I'm facing.

That's about that.

From Success To Service

George Jerjian: Well, I actually take the reverse of that, which is the, I'm actually grateful for what happened to me. It woke me up. It woke me up from just, you are in business, you have clients, you have employees, you've got things going on, and all these are consuming you,

Right?

Energetically, they're consuming you, and so you have very little time to be idle. You have very little time and also the guilt that goes with being idle, let me tell you. Alright. I don't feel guilty so much nowadays. But the other thing is, the difference now is from the work I did before and the work I do now, is that I am just so passionate about what I do.

Before it was about making money. Achieving things, the usual stuff that we all do, as part [00:15:00] of growing up. But beyond that, it's about doing something that you love to do that is in service to other people where you're serving people and you go to sleep at night feeling good,

Fulfilled.

That's the lesson of moving. Past exiting your business is finding the person that you would like to be, the person that you were meant to be. But that's work because you have to go on a, an adventure internally

To discover who you are as opposed to the chiseled perfection that we have created for the world to see outside of us, if that makes sense.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It makes perfect sense and I love how you're looking at that and you're so right because at the time, what seems like the worst possible thing for us, our darkest hour, our darkest moment, when we look back at it, Hey, that was the best thing that [00:16:00] could have happened to me because that made me who I am today.

And. You haven't quite said it this way, I don't think I'm putting words in your mouth when I say that. Looking back at that now, this was your wake up call. This was, okay, I've got a second kick at the can here, and I am now going to make the most of the life that I've been given that perhaps unintentionally.

I didn't make the most of before I took for granted, or my mind wasn't focused. I'm gonna be now in the present. And since then, you've done some really wonderful and incredible things when it comes to mindset, when it comes to having, especially founders and entrepreneurs really. Get out of their dream state, wake up and, okay, why am I here?

What am I doing? What's my purpose? What's this gonna look like for me? 

DARE Framework Explained

Jeffrey Feldberg: So I know, dare and I use that word very intentionally at the beginning. So the word dare is a big part of what you're doing. And with some of your books, your programs, your coaching, walk us through that. What would you want us to know?

George Jerjian: Okay. Dare [00:17:00] is another word for courage.

Alright. And that's an attribute that is. So much more important than people realize, and it's gone out of vogue. It's out of fashion. We are so focused on security and reducing risk that we forget sometimes we need to take a leap of faith.

We need to have courage to do something that we would not normally do because of our programming. Minimizing risk increasing revenue, which is all good stuff. But essentially, when you come to this next stage of life, it's life's way of giving you last chance, knocking on your door, saying, last chance to live the life you were meant to live before the bell rings. Now there is courage, and courage is something you need in where I teach my clients when they sell their business or they [00:18:00] retire, what are they gonna do now apart from the honeymoon period, which is wonderful. Everything goes south after that. Because unless you've got something meaningful that you're doing something that.

It makes you jump outta bed in the morning. You're slowly drifting into oblivion. You just need to look around you. Dementia, Alzheimer's. Why are these people losing their minds? 'cause they've stopped to live. And if we're not growing, we're dying. So DARE is not just the word for courage, it's also an acronym.

Four, discover, assimilate, rewire, and expand. Most people retiring at 65, and I'm just throwing a number out there. They still have another 20, possibly 30 years to go. Slowing down, getting smaller is not the answer.

You need to change your mindset because your existing mindset is not gonna allow you. To [00:19:00] cross over into this new territory.

Just think about that. I'll use Carl Jung's saying, which was what was true in the morning of life, becomes a lie in the evening. What was true in the morning of life becomes a lie in the evening. What did he mean? Well, in the morning of life, it's all about ambition, accolades, achievements the evening of life.

It's the reverse.

It's about living a legacy, not leaving, but living it. Having a meaningful life and doing something that you're passionate about. So you've mentally and emotionally engaged. That's the antidote to dementia and Alzheimer's, or Certainly to pushing it out as far as possible.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely.

George Jerjian: Sorry.

Jeffrey Feldberg: know what's interesting about that? As we're talking about this, George, again, this may be a data point of 1, 2, 5, or 10. I know in my own circles, either through people that I know or people that I know who know [00:20:00] people when they talk about retirement, and we're gonna get to your latest book in just a moment.

But when they talk about retirement, I hear so, and Jeffrey, I don't wanna retire. I don't wanna be doing nothing. I wanna have a purpose when I get outta bed each day. Because when I look around at those who retired. They've dropped dead within a year or two of the retirement. And that's the irony. So many people are, well, when I retire I will do this or that.

I'm gonna sacrifice, I will hold off on doing certain activities because I'll save it when I retire. And then the day comes where they retire. And here today, gone tomorrow. Or heaven forbid something happens on the health side that they can no longer do what they want to do. And by the way, you both nation, when you go to the show notes in there, you're gonna have a link for all of the books that George has masterfully written.

Dare to Discover Your purpose, Retire Refire, Rewire. Pick up that one as well as all the others. There are some treasure troves in there. And I love what you've done, George, [00:21:00] because you go through the different phases here, your different pillars, if you will. So discover, assimilate, rewire, expand, just like you spoke about with us right now.

Retirement Rebellion

Jeffrey Feldberg: And I love how you phrased it, the retirement rebellion. So talk to us about the retirement rebellion. What's going on there?

George Jerjian: Okay. Thank you. That's. A great question and you, mentioned earlier in our conversation, I think even possibly before we started the recording about reinvention.

And in a sense it comes back to that Carl Jung thing. What was true in the morning of life becomes a line in the evening. In other words, the mindset we have as we grow and accumulate and.

Our ambition is fulfilled is not the attributes you need in the next stage of life. And so it's about growing. And in a sense, this next stage of life, you are gonna be more in line with who you really are

In essence, right? As opposed to what you've learnt to be. Our minds are [00:22:00] programmed from a young age.

We think we're in control, and the inner dialogue in our heads is ours, but it's not. It was programmed to, for us, by our parents, educational system, culture, et cetera. And in a sense, the second stage of life is where you're gonna come into your own, come into your own you're gonna become comfortable in your own skin. You won't have to pretend anymore. You just be you. If you can imagine now that needs a rebellious mindset, and since the Retirement Rebellion is that a lot of people understand that retirement isn't what it's made out to be, but you almost it's so ingrained in our culture that we feel, eh, we've worked hard enough now we can just chill out.

Yeah, but that's called a vacation. Your life's not over your work. What you were working at may be over, but your life goes on. And what are you gonna do with your rest of your life? And I talk about the American poet [00:23:00] Lau Mary Oliver, who said, what will you do with your one wild and precious life? Your game is not over yet. What you've achieved up to now up to this point of retirement at whatever age that is, 50, 55 or 60, 65, 70 doesn't matter.

Don't wait to retirement. You need to be thinking about what you're going to do, and you're not just gonna think about it. You're gonna feel about it.

You're going to explore. Now, what is in our mind is we're such copycats. As humans, we just as a sponge, we suck everybody else's ideas and dreams, and we think it's ours.

Like my precious, it's not ours. We need to find what's really true to us because you don't wanna get to your deathbed and think, I didn't live the life I wanted. that would be a tragedy. So think of this time in your life [00:24:00] as the last opportunity to do something really worthwhile.

Something that you love to do something meaningful and something that helps the people around you.

Surveying Retirees

Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you're talking about this, George, I know this is not some theory that's taught in the classroom. This is coming from the trenches. This is coming from your own experiences from the other founders, entrepreneur. And generally speaking, people that you've helped as well, and you've gone out there, you've asked questions.

You've surveyed, if memory serves over 21,000 retirees about what's going on with them. When you finished your survey, that's a huge number of people. What surprised you the most with that? What did you learn that was Oh, wow. Never saw that coming.

George Jerjian: Well, that's such a good question. Such a good question, Jeffrey. I'll tell you, I was shocked in so many ways. There were nine questions. Demographic, psychographic, you name it. But essentially one of the main thrusts of the questions was, [00:25:00] what is your single biggest challenge in retirement?

And let's not forget, this was done in 20 20, 20 21, right in the middle of the pandemic. So I was expecting money to be the big issue,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure.

George Jerjian: 50% said. Health issues were their number one challenge in retirement. The second highest number was 35% for outliving my savings. Interesting, right? Outliving my savings.

And the third one around 15% was aimlessness. No, no purpose. Two questions later. I pivoted that same question. I said, if you had a magic wand, which issue would you address first? 50% said health again, but this time 36% said finding a new purpose.

So great survey, more than any insurance companies do. 

Beyond Surveys Insight

George Jerjian: They do 9,000 questionnaires and they think they survey and they think that's [00:26:00] enough, but.

I ticked all the boxes. I received this, collated it, but there was something missing. I knew there was something missing and I couldn't put my finger on it until I came across a quote from Henry Ford who had said, if I had asked people what they wanted, they would've said faster horses. Think about it faster horses.

So I realized I'd asked people what they thought was the issue, the challenge in retirement. They told me what they know, but they don't know what they don't know.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah.

George Jerjian: So I had to go back to the drawing board again. So this is where, not allowing yourself to be deceived because you've ticked all the boxes and not thinking deeper.

You need to go under the skin. 

Retirement Identity Crisis

George Jerjian: What is the, and what I discovered was that just like truth is the first casualty in war, as we can see now, now the first casualty in retirement [00:27:00] is identity. Who am I now? And for your audience, selling a business, exiting a business, it's not just the money, it's there's a part of them that's going to die. Their identity is so tied into the business, right? So this is why I say that. Our identity is with work is integrated, there's a scaffolding. The work keeps our identity up. 

DARE Method Rebuild

George Jerjian: When the work comes out, the identity crumbles and I say that my dare method. What I do is I hold up the scaffolding.

When you've sold your business, you've exited. Now what you're gonna do is the DARE method helps you go through this next stage to find out what is it I want to be doing in this next stage of my life? Who do I want to be? Now, some people think our personalities are written in [00:28:00] stone, unchangeable. That's an illusion. We have many personalities. Psychologists will tell you that normal people have up to 30 personas, so go figure that out. I.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, my goodness. There is so much there. 

Odyssey of an Elder

Jeffrey Feldberg: And while we're speaking about this Deep Nation, when you go again to the show notes again, in the links are, you're gonna find George's books, another book that we're gonna talk about right now, and I'd encourage you to pick it up. Odyssey of an Elder. Which is an interesting title, George, in and of itself, and in that book, my goodness, you put everything on the table, you're very vulnerable.

You talk about the dissolution of your marriage after I wanna say 40 plus years with your wife and how that was making you feel both personally and then what you had done with that. Talk to us about the book and it's a fascinating journey and the story that you write about it, it feels like we're right there with you, but high level, walk us through it.

For those in Deep, both Nation yet who haven't had a [00:29:00] chance to pick up the book and read it, what are some of the takeaways that you want us to know about that?

George Jerjian: Thank you for that question, Jeffrey. Odyssey of an elder came about because I was teaching people to find new ways to look at themselves and to look at what they would like to do. 

Travel Humility Reset

George Jerjian: Travel, first of all, makes you humble 'cause you're in a new place. You don't know things, so you're very humble and you have to ask people for help.

And so that's a good place to be. 'cause that's a beginner's mindset and that's what you need when you're in this state of exploration

Because by the time you reach 60, 65, the delusion we have is we know everything now or as close to that as possible. But again, that's an illusion. And it's a delusion as well.

The way to get rid of that is to go and see oneself from the outside in a different place, [00:30:00] you know, we're too comfortable where we live. We, we are very grounded. We are lord of the manner, so to speak. But when we travel. Humility has to come with

And in that humility, we're able to see different perspectives.

And this time the travel isn't a vacation. It's really learning process. How do different cultures do things? So I wanted to help, well, I was encouraging my clients to go traveling even next door state. Just away from your home, away from your comfort zone so you can see things differently. and I thought, well, George, you're recommending this but you're not walking your talk.

So I thought, I've gotta do one of these. And I started thinking about it when I was a kid. I fell in love with a book called Around the World in 80 Days,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yes.

George Jerjian: a Verne, which I'm sure everyone's read, and I fell in love with it, and I wanted to travel the [00:31:00] world, but life got in the way.

Around the World Leap

George Jerjian: And so I thought this is probably my last opportunity 'cause I was 69 when I was planning this and I was already having issues getting insurance cover. Because insurance people, right? They want you to travel to a destination and come back and they'll insure you for that one. But if you are gonna go tripping around the world, they're going, oh my God, he's gonna fall over. We're gonna have to, it's gonna cost us a, a flight back for him. Maybe even a medical flight back.

Insurance companies don't take stupid risks. I realized if I waited another year, I would be uninsurable. So I had to take it. And the more I delved into this, the more I realized how complex the whole package was. I have not used a travel agent in 20 years. I went to expert travel agent that was sort of, kind of bespoke to create my own plan of going around the world, [00:32:00] and I selected the countries that I wanted to see that I'd never been to before.

So I went to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Canada. And that literally circumnavigated the world. But it wasn't just about seeing sites that I may never see again a safari in South Africa going to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, flying over the Southern Alps in New Zealand.

Or traveling by train for three weeks in Japan, which was unbelievable. Or experiencing the, Majesty of the Rocky Mountains in Canada. So there's all sorts of stuff, but I was also looking and observing about life and culture and how people do things differently. But in essence the travel, the Odyssey was.

What Pa I dunno if you've heard of Paolo Coello who wrote The Alchemist?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. Yes. Yes. A wonderful book.[00:33:00]

George Jerjian: Yeah. 

Unbecoming to Become

George Jerjian: And essentially it's about somebody who travels. He experiences things he would never experienced, and he comes back, he's a changed person. And the city that he lived in. Has changed to him because his perspective has changed. And so Paolo ELA talks about the journey is not about becoming something, it's about unbecoming everything that is not really us, so that the real US can emerge.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. As we're sitting with that, as you're sharing that with us, it really gives a lot to think about. It's always been there. Almost reminds me of Michelangelo, who's looking at that slab of stone. And to us it's just one big block of stone. Not remarkable, just like any other rock that's there, but in his mind, he's seeing what's always been there.

It's just waiting to be chiseled away to show its glory, its magnificence, its presence, and so if I can equate that back to what you're sharing with us, hey, that's [00:34:00] already within us right now, it needs, or we need the right circumstance, the right setting for us to really come forth of what's always been there.

Perhaps it's just been hidden or covered or any number of things, but it's a great segue into mindset because that's really what you're known for and

what you're all about. That's a beautiful, metaphor, Jeffrey. Yeah, that mic thing is

Yeah.

George Jerjian: Perfect.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So you traveled around the world. You had experiences, you potentially were gonna be here one day, not the next day. Oh. Made a mistake. And actually it's okay. You are gonna be here, God willing for many other days. 

Founder Mindset Rules

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so now let's take that back to mindset. Because I, I know it's right under your tagline on your website, mindset, mentor, writer, speaker, and you're doing all of these things specifically though from one founder to another founder, because I believe a founder's mindset, a founder's personality, it's different.

It's not better, it's not worse different than the general [00:35:00] population. So your journey, which has been quite a varied journey, and particularly most recently. When it comes to mindset, and now we're speaking directly to Deep Wealth Nation and in Deep Wealth Nation, as founders, we're so caught up in, okay, I gotta hit these KPIs.

Here are my goals. This is where I'm not, this is where I want to be. And we're so focused on that, that we are intentionally blurring everything else out. So let's take a step back. We're gonna pause for just a moment on all of that. We're now listening to you, George, when it comes to the mindset of a founder.

From your journey, from your insights, from your self discoveries, what would you want us to know?

George Jerjian: I think the first thing that I had to get rid of in my head when it came to mindset is not being influenced by what other people think.

We are so trained culturally. To be aware and to adapt and adopt what other people think because we give such importance to what other people think and we don't [00:36:00] give enough awareness or enough what's the word I'm looking for?

We don't give enough respect to our own opinions and thoughts. We care more about what other people think, and I'm talking about people who are influential in our lives, so to speak. Does that make sense? I'm talking about not just parental, I'm talking about spousal and even children. And so it's about recognizing boundaries, recognizing that, I need to be able to stand on my own.

Feet and on with my own ideas and my own thoughts, and not compromise it to fit in with what other people think. So that's the kind of first mindset. The second mindset I would talk about is a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is, for example, somebody says, I can't do this. Right?

We all come across that, right? I can't do this. A growth mindset is, I can't do this [00:37:00] yet.

That word yet pivots you from this is impossible to this maybe possible.

Fear and the Cave

George Jerjian: And the third thing is fear. Now we humans, fear is indelibly tied into our lives. Because from the get go, we've been told, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

And so, you know, ultimately you're in a little sandbox and we spend the rest of our lives trying to come outta that sandbox. But there was a guy called Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, who wrote about the hero with a thousand faces. And he said, The cave. We fear to enter hold, the treasure we seek. Now on the face of it, you think about a normal cave, but I translate that to this cave, the cavern, right? We're afraid to go in play around with it. It makes us afraid because. It will change the dynamics of our [00:38:00] relationship with other people around us.

Divorce as Growth

George Jerjian: So for example, in my case, my wife and I, we married for 40 years and then about seven, eight years ago, we started drifting apart. Drifting apart. Not because of anything else, but our way of thinking was changing. Alright. There's still a lot of love there. We have two wonderful daughters, and our relationship is amicable and we're still together.

But the reason the divorce happened is because we, our minds were changing. We were developing in a different way. And staying in the marriage boxed us because there was comfort in being inside that box. It's normal. You're in a long-term relationship. Everything is, you've adapted, you've changed, and you've grown old together, but there's no room for movement here.

Now, marriage wrapper shrink wrapper, as I call it, snapped. But our 40 year relationship did not,

And it gave us the room we [00:39:00] needed to be able to expand and still be together. Now that's a mindset change.

The trust is still there, the relationship is still there. It's just the certificate isn't ' cause the shrink wrapper broke. It didn't allow either of us to grow.

Now, I'm not sure if this is making sense to you, but this was just my journey. I'm not saying this is what other people should be doing, but I'm giving you a living example of how we are very fearful of going into the cave. Because changing a mindset can bring pain with it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure. Well, the human condition, our minds, and by the way, ult Nation, as George is talking, when he says into the cavern, into the cave, he's pointing towards his head himself. Our mind going within. And more so today with our smartphones and social media and all the distractions around us.

Difficult, more so today than ever [00:40:00] because there's really no more boredom if you don't want there to be. It's so easy to get distracted. Oh, I can go on my phone, or I can watch this latest movie or the show anywhere where I am. I have instant access to that, that more so than ever we don't have that time alone, that quote-unquote boredom, which is really a great exercise.

For our minds and to have that kind of discipline and what's been coming through loud and clear to me, George, and I know people in Deep Wealth Nation. You may be saying, Jeffrey, George, wow, you've been all over the map here. What's the common thread here? And before we go into wrap up mode, for me, the common thread here that you've been talking about, George, it's having a mindset that can prepare us to welcome.

Anything that comes into our life, even if we may not be ready for it, don't have any experience with it, I have the mindset that can take that on. Because here's what I know, George, and behind the scenes offline, I shared with you, we are putting together our 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery health [00:41:00] program because health is our first Wealth, and if we don't have health.

Then our business is going to suffer. Our personal life is certainly suffering our loved ones. All of our stakeholders in business and in life will suffer when our health is not there. And science is now confirming what we've known for ages is even back in the Bible. It is not normal, quote-unquote normal for people to be passing away at 70 years of age, 80 years of age, even 90 years of age.

It should be at least 120 years of age, if not more. But we've just become accustomed to well. Just got old. They lived a good life at 80 or 85 and it was time for them to go, not really, it's almost midlife for them from what we're talking about here. And so from that mindset perspective of what you're speaking about, really where I am now, I have a lot of runway ahead of me and retirement.

That doesn't mean I'm put out to pasture is a new chapter for me. Let my ambition grow, let my goals grow. And so is it possible, a bit of a rhetorical question, is it possible that at [00:42:00] the age of 80 or 90 I am more ambitious than I was at 30 or 60 or 50? The answer should be yes to that. At least for me it is.

I would hope that the answer's gonna be yes. So I love what you're doing on the mindset side of things that preparing us. And before we do go into wrap up mode. If someone in Debolt Nation hearing our fireside chat, George, if they were to do one thing coming outta this episode before they go into the next activity, their call meeting, whatever it's going to be, if they could do one thing, that would be, wow, I loved what I just did.

I'm coming out feeling great. What a difference it made. George was right with this. To put you on the spot, what would be one low hanging fruit that someone in Deport Nation could do coming out of our time together, out of this episode that could really make a difference for them?

Declutter Software Update

George Jerjian: I think the theme here has been fun, so I'm gonna give it fun. Alright. I'm gonna, this is completely left field. I would say to you, go to your wardrobe and look at every single item in your [00:43:00] wardrobe and declutter by asking the question. When was the last time I wore this shirt or jacket or trouser or skirt or whatever it is, and if you haven't worn it in the last year, put it down.

That's gonna go to charity and go through the whole thing. So you're only choosing things that you're actually using. Most of the other stuff that you have. You may have paid good money for it, and that's why you're not inclined to get rid of it.

But declutter because decluttering physically also starts to declutter you in the mind.

Now, on a last note, I'd say when we reach this stage of life, we need a software update. That's what the mindset change is about.

The software you had is obsolete. It's not gonna serve you going forward.

You need a new software update, and that is what I do.

And so I reach out to you, Jeffrey, and to your audience, and I leave it to you [00:44:00] about, I would be happy to do a course, a specialized course for Deep Wealth audience with you involved, Jeffrey. So I leave that with you.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. Why? Why don't you quickly talk about that before we go into Rapa mode, because offline you had some interesting ideas and at the very end I am going to ask where people can get in touch with you and you can share that at that time. But what would you want Deep Wealth nations to know of what you're thinking of, how you want to make a difference for them?

Eight Week Course Offer

George Jerjian: Well, I'd like to keep this under the Deep Wealth

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay.

George Jerjian: because I have many others and I don't wanna mix and match 'cause it's too complex. But if Deep Wealth organized. Perhaps 12 people or if there's a lot of interest up to 20 people maximum to do an eight week course. Each session is 90 minutes.

I do a presentation for 20 to 30 minutes, and we spend an hour working on the exercises each week. [00:45:00] They end up on the eighth week, you end up with a one sheet. Focused on what your next stage in life is gonna be. So you've got a skeleton to work with to take you to the next stage to give you that software update that you need.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I absolutely love that in Deport Nation. You will have a chance at the end to reach out to Georgian. Myself and you can contact us and hey, yeah, where do we begin? I wanna throw my hat in the ring or any questions that you have, but let's put that in the virtual parking lot, George, because we are bumping up again some time and we're gonna go into wrap up mode here.

Back to the Future Wisdom

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's a tradition where it's really my privilege, my honor, here on the zoo, both podcast, I ask the same question to each guest, and it's a fun question. Let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to. Any point in time. So George, it's tomorrow morning, and this is the fun part.

You look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car curbside the door's open, it is waiting for you to hop on in which you do, [00:46:00] and you're now going to go to any point in your life, George, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be. What would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom or, Hey George, do this, but don't do that.

What would it sound like?

George Jerjian: Oh my God, that sounds very difficult. Wow. I think I'd take the car back to 1960s.

And and I would, going back from now, I would know where to put my money in

And I would never have to worry financially again.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I love that. So you're almost like Marty McFly and you have that book that has all the outcomes of, it was horse racing, I believe, or some other sporting events, or maybe football, maybe just a sports Almanac that had all the different scores that had happened and you're like, okay, George. You go put this over here and that over there, invest over there and there, and so you're financially set.

What would that do for you though when you're doing that? It's a means to an end. So what's the end for that for you? What would that be achieving for [00:47:00] you?

George Jerjian: Well, I would be borrowing against it back then,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yes.

George Jerjian: so I'd be fine. 

Do What You Love

George Jerjian: I'd only be doing things I love to do.

That would be the difference.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Huh. And perhaps that's what you tell yourself. Hey, George, do only the things that you love to do.

George Jerjian: There you go.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's the wisdom right there, and hear that deep both Nation do only the things that you love to do. George, I'll share a very quick story. Deep, both Nation is familiar with this. When I was growing up, I was young, I was about to go into university, didn't know anything about anything.

All I know is I wanted to be rich. And at the tender age of 15 or 16, I said, okay, how Jeffrey, are you gonna become rich? And what did I know The internet wasn't around back then. It wasn't as easy to see what's out there in the world. And I said, well, you know, I have this neighbor, he's a dentist, he looks pretty rich.

I'm gonna become a dentist. Not because I love dentistry, not because I love the sciences. I just thought, well, I just wanna become rich, so I'll just become a dentist. And I gotta tell you, George, my first year [00:48:00] was a disaster. I was. Failing courses, I think by chemistry professors. They passed me because they felt so bad for me.

I was spending hours and extra help and coming in and asking questions, and I just wasn't cutting the grade. Thankfully, I had the good sense in second year to leave the sciences to leave pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, and go into business. The rest is history, as they say, and it was only then when I chased my passion.

That the money followed, not the other way around. 

Where to Reach George

Jeffrey Feldberg: So do what you love is some great advice and someone in Deep Wealth Nation, they want to speak with you. George, they have a question for you. Perhaps you become their mentor, their coach, or even having these only in Deep Wealth sessions that you've been talking about.

Where's the best place online to reach you?

George Jerjian: My website, george georgian.com.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And De Nation. It does not get any better. It's all in the show notes. It's a pointed clip. Do me a favor, de Nation. Reach out to George, have the conversation, ask him the questions offline. I had the [00:49:00] privilege of speaking with George and my goodness, we could have gone on and on. He's a lot of fun to speak with, full of wisdom and insights.

All that said, George, it's official. This is a wrap. Congratulations, and as we love to say here, Deep Wealth. May you continue to thrive and prosper. While you remain healthy and safe, thank you so much.

George Jerjian: Thanks Jeffrey and likewise. 

Subscribe and Support

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. 

What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously [00:50:00] craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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Final Thanks and Farewell

Jeffrey Feldberg: So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.