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The Transcript

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should (Plus Other Life Lessons from Seth Spears)

Voiceover: Rainmaker.FM. You are listening to The Digital Entrepreneur, the show for folks who want to discover smarter ways to create and sell profitable digital goods and services. This podcast is a production of Digital Commerce Institute, the place to be for digital entrepreneurs. DCI features an in-depth, ongoing instructional academy, plus a live education and networking summit where entrepreneurs from across the globe meet in person. For more information, go to Rainmaker.FM/DigitalCommerce.

Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Digital Entrepreneur, the show where digital entrepreneurs share their stories and the lessons they’ve learned so that we can all be better in our online pursuits. I am your host, Jerod Morris, the VP of marketing for Rainmaker Digital, and this is episode No. 36.

This episode of The Digital Entrepreneur is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform. I will tell you more about this complete solution for digital marketing and sales later, but you can check it out and take a free spin for yourself at Rainmaker.FM/Platform.

On this week’s episode, I have a guest who’s been obsessed with quality from a young age. Seriously, he is crazy about quality. If it’s not the best, he won’t have it. He got his start in digital entrepreneurship in 2009 when he founded his own one-man digital marketing shop that has now grown into a small boutique agency of employees and contractors serving dozens of clients around the world.

He specializes in helping small business owners and bloggers who are crazy-passionate about their area of expertise take their business to the next level by creating a strategy for long-term success. He is Seth Spears, and he is a digital entrepreneur.

Seth, welcome to The Digital Entrepreneur. It’s great to have you on the show.

Seth Spears: Hey, Jerod, thanks for having me.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, for sure. This will be really good. It was great seeing you at Digital Commerce Summit. Glad you were able to make it out there.

Seth Spears: Yes, I had a great time.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, it was good. Let’s hope in here, Seth. I’ve always believed that the number one benefit of digital entrepreneurship is freedom. I think that’s what a lot of people feel that it is — the freedom to choose your projects, to chart your course, and ultimately, the freedom to change your life and your family’s life for the better. What is the biggest benefit that you have derived from being a digital entrepreneur?

Why Seth Loves the Balance Freedom Brings to Keep Him Centered and Focused

Seth Spears: I would completely agree with that statement as far as freedom. Especially the time freedom. Some people, they have monetary freedom where they make a lot of money, but they don’t have any time to enjoy it. They’re a slave to their desk, their office, or wherever. They’ve got to be there 24/7. When I think of that, I think of attorneys or doctors.

They’re high paid professionals, but they’re completely reliant upon being there and doing the work, so they don’t have the time to spend with family and friends, travel, and do the things that they enjoy. So I completely agree that having that time freedom and being able to work either in an office or coffee shop or at home or traveling is definitely the biggest benefit to being a digital entrepreneur.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, there’s certainly something admirable about putting in tons of hours and doing the work, but it does kind of lead to the question “what’s it all for?” if you don’t have the time to spend it with the people that you care about most and doing the things that you love doing the most.

Seth Spears: Yeah, exactly. That’s something that I’ve thought about a lot, especially over the past six months or so because I’ve certainly put in a lot of hours over the past few years as far as just work on either my own business or the clients’, et cetera. No stranger to the hard work and putting in lots of hours. But then at the end of the day, it’s, “How much work do you actually want to do?”

You get to a certain point where you’re like, “I can continue to grow this. I can continue to push and make more and make it bigger and better, but then why? Why am I doing this? Why am I pushing so much if I’m not using either the money or the time, et cetera, to spend time with my family, do things that I enjoy, or hang out with friends?”

I think it’s all part of finding a balance there. Both of them have their time and their place because, on the flip side of that, if you just spend all your time just doing what you enjoy, well, then you’re not going to be very motivated. You’re going to be kind of lazy. That’s great and all, but at the end of the day, I think you got to have some balance. That keeps us centered and focused.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, I agree. Balance is definitely the key.

Let’s go back. Take me back before you became a digital entrepreneur. What were you doing, and what was missing that lead you to want to make a change?

How Seth Used Just-In-Time Learning and a Strong Work Ethic to Go From ‘Miserable’ to Pursuing His Life Dreams

Seth Spears: Great question. Back in 2009, I was working for a small college in Nashville, Tennessee. I was the Assistant Director of Admissions, so basically recruiting students, handling paperwork, traveling to college fairs, and all kinds of stuff like that. I was miserable. I hated it.

When I was in college I always had this expectation that I was going to major in business. I was going to graduate. I was going to meet the girl of my dreams, get married, have kids, start my own business, and sail off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

Jerod Morris: You had it all mapped out.

Seth Spears: Yeah, except that didn’t actually happen. It’s kind of happened now, but not exactly in the timing or the way that I was hoping for or expecting it to. I graduated college, bummed around for about a year, did some nonprofit mission work and stuff, waited tables and bartended, then went to work for this college. Got married, started having kids, but I was miserable in the job that I had.

I always had entrepreneurial leanings. I always had a really strong work ethic, worked a lot, and was always doing something on the side. I dabbled in some real estate investing. I tried some little side ventures here and there, but nothing ever seemed to work.

I basically came to a point … we had a new administration at the college, and it came to a head. I said, “You know, it’s either me or them. Since they’re not going anywhere, I’m going to have to go somewhere and make a decision to do something else.”

Now on the side, I had a little side hustle going. I was doing some independent collegiate consulting for homeschool students, helping them to prepare for college. I saw it as an under-served market, so I was doing a little bit of consulting on the side for them. I was homeschooled in high school, so I understood what it took to get in to college — and also, having the administrative side working for a university, I knew what it took to get it.

I began doing that. That was fall of 2009. During that time, as I was leaving, I realized that, “Well, I’ve got to market myself to get myself out there, to get more clients, and to create content and use social media.” Then realized I need a website. “Somebody’s got to be able to find my website, so I’m going to have to learn how to rank that in the search engines, use social media to promote it, and all of that.”

It was a really steep learning curve. I have a marketing degree, but what I came to realize was that that degree was worthless because everything has changed so much. All those theories as far as product price, place, promotion, and all that stuff, it wasn’t really relevant to what I was trying to do as far as market myself and the content that I was producing.

I basically went on a journey to learn as much as I could about digital marketing. I bought some courses, and I read as many blogs, articles, and things as I could, just to really teach myself. During that process, I discovered WordPress, StudioPress and the Genesis Framework, and started teaching myself website design.

As I begin doing that, I really enjoyed it. I like the creative side. There was a really steep learning curve for me, though, trying to figure out what FTP was. I was like, “I have no idea. I don’t understand.” It’s funny to think back now. That wasn’t that long ago. It was 2009 I guess. One thing basically led to another, and I began building out my own website.

Then some family and friends were starting businesses, and they asked for some help because they knew that I was into marketing and technology. I was building a couple here or there, one for myself and some other people, so I did. Then I began to get a couple clients, asking them to help, and I was like, “Huh, this is interesting. I actually really enjoy this. I don’t even like the collegiate consulting site, so why don’t we just kind of pivot and roll it into marketing? That’s what my degree is, and I can kind of do that.”

That’s where Spears Marketing was born. That was in 2010 basically. Then began doing a lot of website design and getting into social media marketing, search engine optimization, and that whole game.

Jerod Morris: It sounds like there was never really a grand plan for Spears Marketing and where you’re at now. It was almost just like one step led to the next, and it all sounds very logical as you explain it. Did it feel like a logical progression as you were going?

The Inherent Opportunities of ‘Flying by the Seat of Your Pants’

Seth Spears: I’ve never thought of it like that. I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants for the most part.

Jerod Morris: It’s easy to put the pieces together in retrospect, and that’s kind of what I’m wondering. Did it feel like that as you were going through it?

Seth Spears: I don’t think so. It’s hard to take myself back there and feel the feelings as far as what I thought. I just saw an opportunity. I’ve always really enjoyed the study of economics and looking at the market and where opportunity lies. I was definitely in the right place at the right time as far as getting into WordPress and the whole digital marketing side because it was so new. It still probably is, but granted, there’s a lot more noise, traffic, and competition now.

Looking back, it does feel kind of like a natural progression, but at the time, I had to learn what I thought that I needed in order for my own business and then for clients. That’s how things really grew — working with a few clients here or there, just helping them with whatever they needed, teaching myself, and learning and growing from there.

Jerod Morris: Tell me about the milestone, or the moment, in your career as a digital entrepreneur that you’re the most proud of.

The Pride That Comes with Realizing the Difference You’re Making for Clients

Seth Spears: Over the years, I’ve had a lot of success working with several different clients and helping them to improve their traffic and search rankings and their growth, income, and revenue. A year or so ago, I looked back at statistics, the traffic statistics for pretty much every client. And those that actually followed the recommendations that I made — and this would include a website redesign, improved content, some search engine tweaks, and things like that — I had seen, on average, about a 30 percent increase in traffic for the clients.

Jerod Morris: Wow.

Seth Spears: That made me really happy. Just seeing the improvement that the clients would make because that was directly influencing their bottom line. They’re making more money. They’re having more success, and I was really proud of that.

Jerod Morris: That had to be a moment of real pride. Is that something now that for prospective clients that you will tell them? Kind of slip in there like, “Hey, clients who follow our recommendation are seeing 30 percent increases over the ones who do not.”

Seth Spears: I wouldn’t say still because I think the game has changed so much, and there’s so much more competition. Yeah, there were things that we were doing, and still do, that cause you to see a lot of growth. At the same time, I feel like I was on the cutting edge, but everything has caught up so much.

There’s so much noise just in the online space. The competition is a lot greater. Google’s in a state of flux. Social media — just the reach that we used to be able to get on social media — it’s not the same now. Now it’s pay to play. I still think there’s huge opportunity if you’re willing to throw a lot more money at it than before.

Because I always focus on the organic side, but I’m slowly beginning to transition and realize that the paid side is probably where the biggest bang for your buck is right now — just because it’s so much more pay to play.

Jerod Morris: Which, I suppose, was always the inevitable outcome of social media.

Seth Spears: I guess. It’s unfortunate that that’s what it is, but I guess that’s just the nature of markets, you know?

Jerod Morris: Yeah. All right, we’ll take a quick break. When we come back, I’m going to ask Seth about his most humbling moment as a digital entrepreneur.

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Now, back to my interview with Seth Spears.

All right. Seth, tell me about the most humbling moment in your career as a digital entrepreneur thus far and, most importantly, what you learned from it.

Seth’s Advice on Just Because You Can Do Something, Doesn’t Mean That You Should

Seth Spears: Probably when I realized that I took on a client — it was a good sized project — and then I had to fire them about a week into the project, realizing that it wasn’t a good fit, that they were very needy and high maintenance. The amount of handholding that they needed, myself and my team would not be able to provide that.

It made me take a step back and realize that I needed to improve my processes as far as onboarding and do a better job of due diligence to make sure that I was only taking on clients that were a good fit. Just because there was an opportunity to make a lot of money there, if it’s not a good fit, it’s not worth it.

I’d say that was definitely the most humbling and also one of the biggest lessons that I learned in business — just because there’s opportunity, doesn’t mean you need to take it. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Jerod Morris: That’s a great, great lesson to learn.

In 2014, you learned that because you can provide a service for a client, doesn’t necessarily mean you should, as you explained. You also, I was reading, you got tired and kind of burnt out. You decided to scale back and go to more of a one-on-one marketing approach. Can you talk about that time period, what you learned for it, and how it’s helped you move forward?

Why Being a Self-Learner Has Helped Seth Accomplish What He’s Set Out to Do

Seth Spears: Yeah, so when I got started, it was just me — just freelancing, consulting and strategy, website design, SEO, social media, and all that stuff. Then I began to scale up and bring on a team. I basically had formed a little digital agency from about end of 2011, early 2012, until the beginning of 2014.

Like I said, I took on a couple clients who just weren’t a good fit and just some bad experiences. I had an employee or two that left, and I realized, “You know what? I don’t like the managing the employees. I don’t like offering all these different services.” I was offering so many different services to clients based on whatever they wanted. Then either the on-staff employees that I had would handle that, myself, or I would contract out some of it — just whatever the client wanted.

Then I realized, “Just because I can offer something, doesn’t mean I should offer it. Maybe it’s time to look at what I’m good at, what I really enjoy, and focus on those things.” And that’s what I did. I really narrowed the focus as far as specifically to the consulting and strategy side, just to work with digital entrepreneurs, online business owners. Specifically to help them figure out what they needed and only work with those.

I stopped offering all the other services, like the done-for-you social media and SEO work and some of the website design, although we still do a little of that. But I really narrowed the focus down and only began offering just those services that I thought that I was the best at and enjoyed the most.

Jerod Morris: What does your business look like now? Because you have Spears Marketing where you’re doing client work, and then you also are obviously with Wellness Mama as well, where the blog and lots of digital products there. There’s really two sides to the business right now, right?

Seth Spears: Yeah, so Katie and I have a partnership there as far as she handles all the content, and I handle all the strategy and everything, the technical side of everything. They’re two completely separate businesses. But yeah, that’s strictly a passion play. She loves to help people on the side and tries to help as many people as possible.

That was another one of those accidental businesses that was nothing more than a hobby, that grew, and that I basically use WellnessMama.com as a testing ground for client work. Like, “Hmm, I think this might work. Let’s try this.” Or, “Let’s try this new technology.” Or, “How about we try this with social media, SEO, or whatever.” It just so happened it worked really well.

Again, we were in the right place at the right time for it, but at the same time, there was a lot of work and effort that went in to it. A lot of content created and a lot of strategy. We’ve been strategic with it as well, but it was definitely one of those accidental things and not something that we set out to say, “Hey, let’s create a business there.”

Jerod Morris: But you know it’s funny how often that’ll happen. You have a main business, and then you have maybe a sandbox that you’re kind of ‘playing in.’ You’re trying stuff out, and eventually there’s kind of, “Whoa, there’s an audience here. I’ve created digital products, and there’s a real business here.” I’ve had that happen to me, too. It’s funny how that happens.

The Importance of Focusing on What You’re Good At (and Where There Is Demand)

Seth Spears: Yeah, exactly. It is very funny how that transpires. There are two schools of thought here. Some people say that you should just do what you love and the money’s going to follow, but I disagree with that. I think that, if there’s no demand for what you love, then the money’s not going to follow. You might enjoy it, but you’re going to be broke. Then eventually you’re going to hate it because you can’t support yourself.

I think you should focus on what you’re good at and where there’s demand for, and then you’ll learn to like something. If you’re that good at it and it’s bringing in money, you’ll learn to like it enough to do it. But having a side project that you enjoy and not even trying to use that as a business, or trying to monetize it necessarily, but just dabbling in that sandbox to play and just because it’s a passion project, I think that’s a good thing. It takes you away from the day-to-day and helps the creativity juices to flow.

Jerod Morris: Yeah. Let’s fast forward to now. What is the one word you would use to sum up the status of your business as it stands today? What would that word be?

How to Evolve and Enjoy the Journey of Taking the Next Step That Makes Sense (Even When There’s Pain Points)

Seth Spears: ‘Evolving.’

Jerod Morris: I like it. Where do you want to evolve to?

Seth Spears: I don’t know. I think the journey over the past several years has just been flying by the seat of our pants. It’s never been planned out to say, “I’m here. I want to be here.” There’s been elements as far as short-term goals. “Hey, I want this much traffic, this many subscribers, or maybe even make this much income per month.”

But as far as the long-term, five, 10 years down the road, I think the Internet is constantly changing so much. It’s very hard to set those long-term objectives just because there’s so much flux and volatility, especially when it comes to Google, Facebook, and everything.

Jerod Morris: Well, hey, that’s part of your story — not necessarily knowing where you’re going to go but just taking the next step that makes sense.

Seth Spears: And trying to enjoy the journey as much as possible, which I’m not that good at all the time, but I’m working on it.

Jerod Morris: What is your biggest recurring pain point as a digital entrepreneur? What sometimes doesn’t allow you to enjoy the journey as much as you’d want to?

Seth Spears: Seeing dips in traffic and not understanding why. A couple of years ago, I felt like I had Google figured out. I can rank pretty much any website, you know, “We put out this type of content. We promote it here. We do this and this and this, and it works.”

Now, I feel like their algorithms have gotten so very specific, and it’s not a one size fits all. There’s so many variables that, for different clients, it’s a lot harder just to get content to rank than it used it be. So trying to figure out that whole game, it’s a never-ending process. I’d say, currently, that’d be one of my biggest pain points.

Jerod Morris: Yeah. What element of your work gives you the most satisfaction on a daily basis? Not necessarily the outcome, seeing X, Y, Z success, but what part of the actual work gives you the most satisfaction?

Why Seth Thinks It All Comes Back to the Freedom to Work When You Want

Seth Spears: I think it goes back to our conversation earlier as far as the time freedom. This might not be the answer you’re looking for, but just realizing I can work a whole lot right now, work 60 hours this week, and then next week I can take off and only work 10 hours. Is that the answer you’re looking for, sort of?

Jerod Morris: Yeah, sure. Because to me, that’s the kind of thing that, in the moment, keeps you motivated to work right now. It may not be that you necessarily love researching SEO in this very moment, but because of what it allows you to do later, I think that’s definitely a fair answer to that question.

Seth Spears: Yeah, exactly. I think the other side of it, I like seeing progress made. I like being able to do something and see the outcome from it. If I put in a whole bunch of effort and I spend, say, an hour crafting an email, either for myself or for a client, and then see the outcome of that — see the open rates increase and the click throughs based on that — I really enjoy that side of it as well. Even though I’m not a copywriter per se, but just seeing you put in the effort, you put in the input, and then the output is positive.

Jerod Morris: By the way, I just want to commend you on your use of the phrase ‘crafting an email’ as opposed to just writing an email. It truly is crafting it when you’re trying to write something that’s good that will drive an action that will be enjoyed. It really is crafting. I appreciated that turn of phrase right there.

Seth Spears: Very much so. And that really is an art and a science. It’s funny how trying to get out of your own head and just write I’ve always said I’m a better editor than I am a writer. I’m a good writer, too — or I feel like I am — but it takes me longer to do that. I’d rather take something that someone has already created and tweak it to make it that much better. I feel like my strengths are better there as far as not creating something completely from scratch, but taking bits and pieces from here and here and here, and making something so much better, 10x-ing it or more.

Jerod Morris: Yeah. So let’s open up your toolbox. What is the one technology tool that contributes the most to your success as a digital entrepreneur?

The Not-So-Secret Tools in Seth’s Toolbox

Seth Spears: The one technology tool. There’s so many. Obviously, WordPress is huge because everything’s online, so using that for website build-outs. Google Apps would obviously be another one, and Dropbox. I’d say those would be the three that I couldn’t live without. There’s lots of other ones as well, like smaller ones like Evernote.

Jerod Morris: Is there one kind of off-the-radar one that people might not be familiar with that’s maybe a newer one that you found to be especially useful?

Seth Spears: As far as a general one, not that I can think of right now, but an app that I really like as far as just content creators one of the things that I focus on over the past year or so is website speed and really focusing in on and proving site speed because that’s something that Google really looks at. And images are a big, big issue. Because people upload massive images, and that takes longer to load, especially if you’re on mobile.

There’s an app called ImageOptim. You can download it for Mac and I think PC as well. Basically, you just drag your images into this little app that sits in your dock and it smushes it down. It reduces the size of it without any loss of quality, so it gets rid of all the underlying data that is added to an image when you take a picture. So when you upload that to your site, it’s going to be quite a bit smaller. In turn, it’s going to improve your site speed.

Jerod Morris: Nice. What is the non-technology tool that contributes the most to your success?

Why Seth Loves Unplugging to Enjoy the Great Outdoors

Seth Spears: Taking time away from the computer, from the phone, from being inside, and just getting outdoors. I’m a bit outdoors guy, so I love hunting, camping, and all that fun stuff, skiing. Getting away so you can take a mental break and just get in touch with nature and relax.

Then, also, reading something good from an actual physical book. I think there’s something about holding a physical book in your hands and sitting back and just reading, and not just reading on your phone, on the computer or Kindle, or whatever.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, I agree with that. Earlier I asked you for the one word that you would use to sum up the status of your business as it stands today. You said evolving. When we talk again in a year, what would you want that one word to be?

Why Seth Wants to Evolve into a Place of Consistency

Seth Spears: ‘Consistency.’ Consistency is something that most people struggle with — whether that’s business consistency, personal consistency, your personal life, business life, whatever. I think I’m pretty consistent, but that evolution of things it’s hard to stay really consistent — whether it’s your making X number of dollars per month, you have X number of clients a month, or X number of traffic, whatever.

Trying to make things so that they’re more consistent across all those so that you don’t have the flux of being up or down with clients, revenue, and traffic, et cetera.

Jerod Morris: I have a few rapid fire questions for you to close out. Are you ready for these?

Seth Spears: Yeah, let’s do it.

The One Book Seth Would Insist You Read

Jerod Morris: If you could have every person who will ever work with you or for you read one book — and obviously, they would read it as a physical book — what would it be?

Seth Spears: I’m going to go with Brewing Up a Business by Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head.

Jerod Morris: Oh nice.

Seth Spears: It’s a phenomenal business book about entrepreneurship, business, and marketing from somebody who’s crazy passionate about what he does. I read this years ago and just really connected with his story, his work ethic, and the way he sees the world and business in general.

Jerod Morris: Also a great brand of beer, too.

Seth Spears: Yes it is.

Seth’s Ideal 30-Minute Skype Call to Discuss His Business

Jerod Morris: Okay, if you could have a 30-minute Skype call to discuss your business with anyone tomorrow, who would it be?

Seth Spears: I’m going to go with Jeff Bezos from Amazon. I think he would have a lot of insights just where things are going and heading digitally just because he has been such a visionary over the years and Amazon has gotten so big and all the other things he’s doing as well. I think having a little call with him would definitely be interesting.

Jerod Morris: What would you ask him? What would be your first question?

Seth Spears: Did you envision where Amazon is now, or was it just a natural progression? That would be one thing.

Jerod Morris: I would love to hear that answer.

Seth Spears: And where do you see things going over the next five years?

Jerod Morris: Very good.

The One Email Newsletter Seth Can’t Do Without

Jerod Morris: What is the one email newsletter that you can’t do without?

Seth Spears: I’ve pretty much unsubscribed from almost every newsletter just because email is such … I get too much. But the one I’m really digging right now is Brian Dean from Backlinko.com. He’s got a really good one. He focuses on SEO and some social media, but I feel like he’s got his finger on the pulse of the search game right now. I really enjoy his. He’s a great writer, too.

Jerod Morris: Brian Dean, Backlinko.com?

Seth Spears: Yup. Backlinko.com.

Jerod Morris: Okay.

The Non-Book Piece of Art That’s Had the Biggest Influence on Seth as a Digital Entrepreneur

Jerod Morris: What non-book piece of art had the biggest influence on you as a digital entrepreneur?

Seth Spears: I am very passionate about quality. I always look for the best. If it’s not incredible quality, craftsmanship, I really don’t care for it. So I’m going to say Saddleback Leather Company. I came across them five or six years ago, and I read something about them. They were just the small little company in Texas that created these amazing leather bags.

Over the years, I’ve purchased some, and the quality’s just amazing. They’ve built up an incredible following. They’re pricey, but their story is fascinating and just their focus on quality and not skimping on quality based on price or whatever — so I would say one of their bags.

Jerod Morris: What productivity hack has had the biggest impact on your ability to get more meaningful work done?

Seth’s Biggest Productivity Hack for Doing Meaningful Work

Seth Spears: I think kind of like I mentioned earlier, just getting outside and disconnecting from technology for a while. Probably over the past month or so, I’ve been somewhat burnt out just because I worked so much over the past several months. The past four weeks or so, I’ve basically kind of taken a little time off and I’ve gotten outside.

I’ve been hunting a lot. I’ve been camping, taking my kids and just hiking and stuff. Just getting away, reconnecting with nature, getting away from technology, and realizing there’s a lot more out there to see and do and not just being in front of a computer all the time. That’s really tough to do as an online entrepreneur.

Jerod Morris: Yeah it is.

How to Get in Touch with Seth

Jerod Morris: And finally, what is the single best way for someone inspired by today’s discussion to get in touch with you?

Seth Spears: Either Twitter, my handle’s @SpearsMarketing, or on my website SpearsMarketing.com/Contact.

Jerod Morris: Excellent. Well, Seth, this has been a great conversation. Appreciate you being on here and lending your insight to us.

Seth Spears: Thanks, Jerod. Great talking to you as well.

Jerod Morris: Yea, take care.

Seth Spears: You too.

Jerod Morris: My thanks to Seth Spears for taking the time to join us on this episode of The Digital Entrepreneur. Also, as always, thank you to Caroline, Will, and Toby for helping to make this episode a reality.

And thank you for joining us. I always appreciate your attention here to The Digital Entrepreneur, and I’d love to hear from you. Shoot me a Tweet @JerodMorris. Let me know your thoughts on this episode, guest ideas that you have, future topics you’d love to see us cover — always love hearing what you think of the show.

All right, thank you, and I will talk to you next week on another brand-new episode of The Digital Entrepreneur.

The Transcript

How Becoming a Digital Entrepreneur Helped Jarmar Dupas Get His Life Right

Voiceover: Rainmaker.FM. You’re listening to The Digital Entrepreneur, the show for folks who want to discover smarter ways to create and sell profitable digital goods and services. This podcast is a production of Digital Commerce Institute, the place to be for digital entrepreneurs. DCI features an in-depth, ongoing instructional academy, plus a live education and networking summit where entrepreneurs from across the globe meet in person. For more information, go to Rainmaker.FM/DigitalCommerce.

Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Digital Entrepreneur, the show where digital entrepreneurs share their stories and the lessons they’ve learned so that we can all be better in our online pursuits. I am your host, Jerod Morris, the VP of marketing for Rainmaker Digital. This is episode No. 36.

This episode of The Digital Entrepreneur is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform. I will tell you more about this complete solution for digital marketing and sales later. But you can check it out and take a free spin for yourself at Rainmaker.FM/Platform.

On this week’s episode, I am joined by someone who started his journey out of frustration. He didn’t have anyone to turn to when it came to his problems with money. He knew something had to change, and so it did. He did. He began to question his beliefs about money and who stood to make the most from financial advice from mainstream media.

After intensive research, he learned from those doing it wrong. Today, he wants to help others achieve financial freedom. He gives his advice through his podcast, Get Your Money Right, where he strives to help others take back their purchasing power. He is Jarmar Dupas, aka The Money Misfit, and he is a digital entrepreneur.

Jarmar, welcome to The Digital Entrepreneur.

Jarmar Dupas: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Jerod Morris: No, it’s awesome to have you here. You and I first became acquainted as part of The Showrunner Podcasting Course. You joined the course when we launched it. How’s the podcast going?

Jarmar Dupas: The podcast is going pretty good, actually. It’s surprising. After taking the course, just decided to start it with you and Jonny helping me out. It’s been growing ever since. I’m not on your level or Tim Ferriss or anything like that, but it’s amazing the tens of thousands of downloads we’ve gotten from just my little old voice. I don’t do any interviews or anything like that. It’s been great.

Jerod Morris: It’s been all monologues and you basically giving people advice. Your show is Get Your Money Right. So you’re giving people advice about money, and it’s just been you so far doing monologues.

Jarmar Dupas: That’s it. I think what really helped a lot, and I learned from The Showrunner course, was getting into New and Noteworthy. We jumped off to get a good start, got into New and Noteworthy, and got a good boost from that. I guess it just resonates with people. I’m just pretty much just telling my story, talking about money as it relates to real life, that a lot of the financial gurus don’t dig into. Either they’ve made it and forgot what it’s like to still be going through a journey in life or maybe had some other situation.

So I m just telling my story, and it’s helping people apparently. It’s been a lot of fun.

Jerod Morris: Very nice. Well, the podcast is obviously an important part of what you’re doing. We’re going to talk in this episode about your journey as a digital entrepreneur. I’m sure that we’ll be touching more on the podcast and how it fits in. But I want to begin with the question that I always ask our guests to begin these episodes.

That is this. I’ve always believed that the number one benefit of digital entrepreneurship is freedom — the freedom to choose your projects, the freedom to chart your course, and ultimately, the freedom to change your life and your family’s life for the better. For you, what is the biggest benefit that you have derived from being a digital entrepreneur?

What Jamar Sees As the Biggest Benefit of Digital Entrepreneurship

Jarmar Dupas: Man, that’s not fair, Jerod. You already took the answer.

Jerod Morris: You’re allowed to agree with it and expand on it. That’s totally fair game.

Jarmar Dupas: I definitely do agree with it. I guess if I had to add onto it, one of the biggest benefits of being a digital entrepreneur — and it’s fun because you get to see what’s coming down the pipe — we’re turning into a digital world. The world is digital.

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur in this day and age, what other type of entrepreneur would you want to be other than a digital entrepreneur? At least, definitely from a marketing and customer outreach perspective, being digital is almost vital these days. Definitely the freedom, but also being able to see into the future and be prepared for what’s to come.

Jerod Morris: That’s a great answer. One of the reasons why I structure the question that way is because I know most people will say freedom, so I like to get that one out of the way. But everybody always has a unique perspective after that. Yours is one we haven’t heard before, so that’s a great one.

Jarmar Dupas: Awesome.

Jerod Morris: Let’s go back. Let’s get into your story a little bit. Take me back before you became a digital entrepreneur. What were you doing, and what was missing that lead you to want to make a change?

The Moment That Got Jarmar’s Ears ‘Buzzing,’ Which Got Him Interested in Entrepreneurship

Jarmar Dupas: Oh, man, what was I doing? I’ve done a lot of things. I think like a lot of entrepreneurs I meet today, I’m just all over the place. There’s so many things that I want to be doing. I started off, I was born at a young age. There was college, and I wanted to be a doctor, believe it or not. I wanted to go to medical school. I was pre-med in undergrad, and then halfway through that decided I didn’t want to do that because it wasn’t what I thought it was. I wanted to make money. I wanted to travel the world.

I met a guy one day who said he made like $40,000 a month. I was like, “You’re lying. Nobody pays anybody $40,000 a month.” I’ve never heard of such amounts of money. Growing up, we were taught if you could be a doctor, lawyer, even the post office worker, or something like that, then you’ve got it made. When I first heard of that, the gentleman who told me said, “You’re right. Nobody’s going to pay you that much. You have to earn that much.” That’s when I first got my wind of what entrepreneurship is.

It’s funny because I’d never even really heard it that way or even thought that I could be an entrepreneur. It was always grow up, go to school, and get a job. I didn’t even think of me or anybody around me being a business person. That’s kind of when my ears started buzzing. I got my foot wet, and the whole network marketing MLM-type of direct sales type of businesses. I did okay with that. That wasn’t really my cup of tea. Then I started a bartending business.

Jerod Morris: Really?

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah. I started a bartending business. I was doing private parties, which was something else that kind of just fell in my lap. I had no idea that people actually hired people to come to their house and stuff like that to do parties, to bartend and mix drinks.

Jerod Morris: Had you been a bartender before, during that, or was this something that you trained specially to do because you had this business idea?

Jarmar Dupas: Well, I went to a bartending school because I needed money. I went to bartending school. One of the instructors that was there, he asked me one day if I wanted to do a private party. I was like, “Sure, why not?” That grew onto something else. One day I couldn’t make it. I asked a bartender friend that I knew if she could make it for me, go to the party for me, and I charged a flat rate per hour plus tips.

I told her, “I’ll just pay you all my money.” She said, “No, I’ll just keep the tips. You can keep what they pay you.” That was my first taste of making money without having to actually be there, actually doing work for the money. I was like, “I like this.”

Jerod Morris: Yeah, no doubt.

Jarmar Dupas: That kind of grew from there. Then I had some guy come and bought my business from me after that. I was doing Super Bowls. I even did a party for Puff Daddy. It was a bunch of crazy stuff.

Jerod Morris: Oh really? Wow, we might have to do another episode and just talk about stories from your bartending experience.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah, it’d have to be a late-night edition for that.

Jerod Morris: I bet.

Jarmar Dupas: Can’t let my wife to listen to that. I sold that business. I blew all that money. I started consulting for other people who owned bars, and I was running bars. Then I got into commercial real estate. I’ve done so many different things.

How Being a Digital Entrepreneur Has Been Conducive to Creating Jarmar’s Desired Lifestyle

Jarmar Dupas: To make a long story longer, what brought me out of that was I wanted to get married. I was like, “Okay, this life is not conducive for being married.” I had to find another way.

I remember that time. I actually saw Copyblogger. I was actually on their emails list. I didn’t really pay much attention to it until years later. Now, I’m all over you guys’ stuff. Everything, Rainmaker Digital, I’m all in on. I’ve always wanted to have freedom. I’ve always wanted to be able to live on my own, do my own thing.

That’s what attracted me to a lot of things I’ve ever done, was how does it fit around my own lifestyle? I knew if I wanted to have an awesome marriage and have an awesome lifestyle. Being in the bar business probably wasn’t going to be conducive for that. I had to get out of that.

Jerod Morris: That led you to where you are now?

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah, so I’m actually a firefighter. I work ,unlike most of the people that you have, I actually still have a job. That fell in my lap as well, too, but it was also part of the design. As a firefighter, we don’t work every day of the week. We batch our hours, so to speak. We work 24 hours at a time or 48 hours or whatever, depending on what city you’re in.

That was attractive to me because I can get these hours out of the way and have several days off to pursue my entrepreneurial goals. I could still make some money, and I can manage some money that was steady, so to speak, that could fund my entrepreneurial dreams. That was the thought process behind that.

Jerod Morris: That’s why I love this story because you’re right. A lot of the people that we’ve had on The Digital Entrepreneur are people who have gotten to the point where they’re doing it full time. But for so many people, those stories have a part in them where people are working, and they have a side hustle. The goal, of course, is to make the side hustle the full-time job.

But most people have to go through that transition and manage priorities, manage time, manage money, juggle all the things like you’re doing right now. This will be a great perspective.

Jarmar Dupas: Absolutely.

Jerod Morris: Tell me about the milestone or the moment in your career as a digital entrepreneur, with the work you’ve done online, that you are the most proud of.

The Simplicity of Jarmar’s Proudest Moment and What You Can Learn From It

Jarmar Dupas: To be honest with you, it’s just starting. It’s the biggest milestone because it’s the biggest fear, I should say. Not even really fear because I don’t believe in fear, but more of a doubt. I don’t think people really fear. I think they have too much doubt. Doubt, of course, leads to fear. Doubt is just a lack of information.

I think one of the things that The Showrunner course helped me do, and even podcasts — not just this one, but all types of podcasts — and seeing examples of other people doing things, it gave me enough information to drive out doubt. I was like, “Look, if this person can do it, I can do it.” Even in those times of doubt, I said, “I got to get started.” Even my show today is not where I dream for it to be, but just getting started was I think the biggest milestone for me that got this thing moving.

Jerod Morris: I’m glad you said that. In all the work that we’ve done helping people with podcasts, and it’s the same thing with starting a business or any kind of online pursuit or side hustle pursuit, that fear of starting can just be so pervasive and can stop people in their tracks.

I’m glad that you highlighted that as something that you’re proud of. It’s something easy to overlook. “Oh I started, who cares?” No, that is the biggest hurdle for so many people. I’m so glad that you mentioned that. Kudos to you for starting. That’s awesome.

Jarmar Dupas: Thank you. But let me say this, though, I got into your course about this time last year. I didn’t start till March.

Jerod Morris: Hey, that’s okay.

Jarmar Dupas: But I started.

Jerod Morris: Exactly.

Jarmar Dupas: For anybody who’s out there who is beating themselves up about it, it’ll happen. Just keep getting that information in, and just do it. Just do it.

Jerod Morris: Absolutely. Let’s take a quick break. When we come back, I’m going to ask Jarmar about his most humbling moment as a digital entrepreneur. We’ll be right back.

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All right, Jarmar, tell me about the most humbling moment in your career as a digital entrepreneur and, most importantly, what you learned from it.

Why Jarmar Was Humbled by Realizing the Work It Takes to Do Something Great

Jarmar Dupas: I don’t know if this is a moment, but more of a process of looking at my numbers and then comparing myself, my show, my business to other people. It was humbling because I started to realize the work that it takes, that goes into doing something great. It goes into doing something outside of the norm, so to speak. It’s really humbling that I get to see other people doing such great things.

I’m out here, and I’m working. It’s like, “I’m working, I’m working, I’m working,” and not sure if it’s working, but then you see the results. Then you hear other peoples’ stories. It humbles me to sit back and look at that. It gives me grace for myself. Like, “Look, maybe you’re not making a million dollars a day, but have some grace, sit back and relax. You’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. It will all happen in due time.”

Jerod Morris: Yeah. We talked about the podcast. Can you give us a little bit of an overview I guess of what your business is right now? I know from looking at your website it looks like you’re starting to build a membership. Do you have any streams of revenue yet, or is that something that you’re planning on for the future? Where are you at with the business right now?

Why Jarmar Sometimes Gets in His Own Way and How He’s Trying to Overcome It

Jarmar Dupas: Right now I’m still in that discovery mode. Working on a course right now. I’ve done a few webinars for research. Really, I’m in a stage of serving — serving my audience, finding out what they want, what resonates with them. It’s funny because I don’t have any services on my site, but I get people that email me all the time and say, “Hey, could you sit down with me? I want to talk about this money thing.” Or, “Me and my wife, or me and my husband were having an issue. How do you and your wife do this?”

My revenue has come out of that, people emailing me. I go, “Okay, we’ll sit down.” I guess you call it one-on-one consulting so to speak. Initially, it was going to be podcasts and courses, but I’m finding so much more by talking with people one on one.

Jerod Morris: I’ll tell you, it’s one of the themes that I’m starting to find out here as we go through these episodes of The Digital Entrepreneur. You find that a lot of people start out doing the services, or doing the consulting, and really learning from those one-on-one experiences and using that to then inform a course. A lot of times they even thought, “Hey, I’ll do courses first.”

Of course, while you’re doing that, you have to pay the bills. That’s where the consulting and the one-on-one stuff comes in. I think there’s a benefit to doing that because I’m sure you’ll learn — and probably already have learned from those experiences — so much that it will inform or make your courses even better.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve learned quite a bit. The things that I think that I should talk about a lot of times, it’s not exactly what everybody wants to talk about. I talk about money, but a lot of people want to know about credit. How do we get that credit? — which is a part of the whole equation, but I didn’t realize how much of a mystery it is to so many people. Those are the kinds of things, things like that.

Jerod Morris: What is the one word that you would use to sum up the status of your business as it stands today, if you had to pick one word?

Jarmar Dupas: I’d probably say ‘raw.’

Jerod Morris: Raw?

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah, just really raw. Just like a ball of clay. I’m still in that period of trying to mold it, trying to figure out which way this thing is going to go — which I think all entrepreneurs are always doing that. I think Brian Clark talks about that quite often, about pivoting. If you look at his career, look at where Copyblogger has come from and where it’s going, you watch all these pivots. I think it’s part of the natural evolution of a business. Definitely, I would have to say raw right now.

Jerod Morris: What is your biggest recurring pain point as a digital entrepreneur?

Jarmar Dupas: Getting in my own way. I have so many ideas.

Jerod Morris: I laugh because I feel you.

Jarmar Dupas: I’ve got so many ideas and so many things that I want to do and think I should do. But then it’s like, “Okay, get this one thing done first.” That’s a re-occurring battle that I have with my own self like every day.

Jerod Morris: What element of your daily work gives you the most satisfaction?

The Element of Entrepreneurship That Gives Jarmar the Most Satisfaction and How It Inspires Him to Keep Moving Forward

Jarmar Dupas: Just hearing the stories. I just got an email the other day from a single mom. She has three boys, and she just was bouncing checks and overdraft fees, all this other stuff. I sit down with her, and I talked to her about her money and everything. One of the things that happens a lot of times — I know it’s not particularly about digital entrepreneurship, but just to tell the story — is people over pay their taxes, or they just ignore. They’re distracted by life.

This young lady was getting a tax refund of like $6,000 a year, but she was bouncing checks. She couldn’t make ends meet. I said, “We can make adjustments on your tax returns. That’s a $500 a month pay raise you can give yourself instead of waiting all the way until April or whatever.” We did that. Walked with her onto the IRS website. There’s a little calculator. She typed in her numbers, and it spit out her W-4 for her to change her deal.

She hits me up like three months later. She’s like, “I got a new job. I’m working on a new skill. I’ve made more money. My sons are doing better in school.” Those are the things like that, it blesses me. This is the reason why I do it.

Jerod Morris: There’s nothing better when you create content, especially any kind of educational content, and you get those stories. It’s like hearing you talk about starting after taking The Showrunner Podcasting Course, and those kind of stories. You’re right. There’s nothing better at all. Definitely the most satisfying.

So let’s open up your toolbox real quick. What is one technology tool that contributes the most to your success as a digital entrepreneur?

Jarmar’s Not-So-Surprising (and Old-School) Favorite Tools

Jarmar Dupas: This is such a softball. I hate to sound like a fan boy, but it’s going to be, I have to say it, it’s the Rainmaker Platform.

Jerod Morris: Nice.

Jarmar Dupas: I work out of it. It helps my podcast, the blog, the website. It does the design for me because you get to kind of hire Rafal to do your design for you, off a template. It’s just the tool that I use. It makes everything easy for me. It’s all in one place. I use RainMail. I was one of the early adopters of it. It just makes things, for me, easy.

Jerod Morris: Very nice. I love the design that you have on your site, too. You’re using Digital Pro, which is the same one that I use on my site. I love it. What about the non-technology tool that contributes the most?

Jarmar Dupas: It’s not very green, but paper. I like pen and paper. I have a paper calendar that I work out of that’s on my desk. It’s a little folder that I use. I jot down my thoughts on paper. I journal to get all this junk out of my head. Non-technology, I guess, it’s using paper and ink pen to kind of get things out of my head.

Jerod Morris: We’ve had a few people say that. Pen and paper still holding on strong, even in the digital age. There’s something about — and I like it, too — being able to work it out with a pen. I don’t know. There’s a better feeling when you do it.

Earlier I asked you for the one word that you would use to sum up the status of your business as it stands today. You said raw. When we talk again in a year, what would you want that one word to be?

The Power of Being ‘Systematized’

Jarmar Dupas: Let’s go with ‘systematized.’ I like systems. One of the big draws of my podcast and the work that I do is I kind of design systems around money, so you don’t have to think about money so much. I think a lot of people struggle with money because of decision fatigue. I think I get some of that, too, with my digital business, trying to make decisions every day. I try to make a couple decisions early and just go through the day and just do the work.

Jerod Morris: I love that. I love that concept of decision fatigue and doing what you have to do, creating systems, to combat that. That’s great. I think a lot of people face that. Especially when you’re an entrepreneur and you have so many decisions to make and so many seemingly open-ended decisions, it can be really overwhelming.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah. This goes to the people who still have the 9 to 5s and stuff. You’re dealing with that. Then you’re dealing with life. I have a wife. I have three kids. We got one on the way — which is the first announcement I’ve made on podcast, so congratulations on hearing that little exclusive.

Jerod Morris: Very nice, congratulations. That’s awesome.

Jarmar Dupas: You got all that. I have a dog, too. Can’t forget about my dog.

Jerod Morris: That’s right.

Jarmar Dupas: You got all that, and you’re trying to be a great person. You’re trying to be a great husband, a father, an entrepreneur, a friend, a son or daughter, you’re trying to be all these things. You don’t have any time to make too many more decisions. There’s already these other things that really need your focus. I am really a proponent for that.

Jerod Morris: Very nice. I’ve got a few rapid fire questions to ask you as we close up here. Are you ready for them?

Jarmar Dupas: Let’s do it.

The One Book Jarmar Would Insist You Read

Jerod Morris: If you could have every person who will ever work with you or for you read one book, what would it be?

Jarmar Dupas: I’d have to go with Proverbs in the Bible. There’s something about having all that wisdom. I think the word ‘wisdom’ even means the ability to live a skillful life. That’s probably one. If they’re allergic to the Bible, it’s something they can’t touch or something like that, it probably would be How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Jerod Morris: Oh that’s a great book.

Jarmar Dupas: For me, it taught me to focus on others and taught me how to talk to people. That is done so much for me. I tell people this a lot of times. My last four or five jobs that I’ve had, or gigs that I’ve had, I’ve not even filled out an application, even in the fire department. Don’t tell anybody this, but even working for the city, I had a job offer before they even had an application on me.

Jerod Morris: Wow.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah. That’s just talking to people, winning friends, and things like that. It’s a great, great, great book that I think everybody should read.

Jerod Morris: I agree completely. I actually got the audio book for that and listened to it on a drive from Miami up to Virginia Beach like 10 years ago. It’s great. The headline of that book, it’s so benefit-driven. It almost sounds like it’s kind of selfish, like you’re learning how to manipulate people. But you get into it, and it’s all about listen to people, remember peoples’ names. It’s basically be kind, be empathetic. It’s some great lessons that, when you do them, you’ll see benefits from it, too. It’s terrific.

Jarmar Dupas: Absolutely.

Jarmar’s Ideal 30-Minute Skype Call to Discuss Her Business

Jerod Morris: If you could have a 30-minute Skype call to discuss your business with anyone tomorrow, who would it be?

Jarmar Dupas: Probably Tony Robbins. To me, he’s kind of like that digital entrepreneur before it was really cool to be digital. Then he started on books, CDs, seminars, and things like that. Just to watch him grow and watch his business, to see what it is today, he’s a juggernaut. He has so many different avenues and things like that. I was going to say Brian Clark, but I think your last few guests …

Jerod Morris: Everybody says that. I think it’s like a subtle way of saying we want Brian back hosting the podcast, giving us these 30-minute episodes.

Jarmar Dupas: You go to Rainmaker.FM, you still see his little picture next to hosting. It’s like, “Well, come on, Brian, where you been?

Jerod Morris: I know. I’ll have to have him back on here. I’ll say, “Everybody wants a 30-minute Skype call with you, so we’ll do a big group call.”

The One Email Newsletter Jarmar Can’t Do Without

Jerod Morris: What is the one email newsletter that you can’t do without?

Jarmar Dupas: ConvertKit I guess is a good one. They have a pretty good email, or newsletter.

Jerod Morris: Yeah, they do.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah. If I had to pick one, I’d say ConvertKit is good. I’m not a ConvertKit user, but they have a good email.

Jerod Morris: Their strategy stuff is smart.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

The Non-Book Piece of Art That’s Had the Biggest Influence on Jarmar As a Digital Entrepreneur

Jerod Morris: What non-book piece of art had the biggest influence on you as a digital entrepreneur?

Jarmar Dupas: Probably my family. There’s a big portrait of us when I go outside of my office every day. One of the reasons why I try to batch my hours of work and want to be a digital entrepreneur is because I’ve always wanted to be an involved dad. I’ve always wanted to be around. My door’s always open. I work here in the office at the house. My kids can come in and be kids and stuff like that. They motivate me. They motivate me to try to make income from wherever I am, so I can be with them and do that good stuff. It’s a lot of fun.

Jerod Morris: I love that.

Jarmar’s Biggest Productivity Hack for Doing Meaningful Work

Jerod Morris: What productivity hack has had the biggest impact on your ability to get more meaningful work done?

Jarmar Dupas: I guess it goes back to my family. I first got this from Stephen Covey. He talked about I don’t know if you heard the story of the big rocks in the jar. I’ll tell it real quick because it’s a good story. There was a professor. He was in front of a class. He had these ambitious, very smart people in his classroom. He pulls up this huge Mason jar, and he puts it on top of a desk. He takes another bucket, takes a bucket full of big rocks. He puts all these big rocks in this huge jar. He asks the class, “Is this jar full?” He fills it up all the way to the top. They’re like, “Yes, of course it’s full.”

He takes out some smaller rocks or gravel. He takes the gravel and he pours the gravel into this jar, and he fills the jar all the way up with gravel. Then he asks the class again, “Well, is the jar full now?” They’re like, “Well, we thought it was, but apparently not because we see where you’re going here.”

Then he takes a bucket of sand, and then he pours the sand. The sand flows through the cracks that’s through the big rocks and through the gravel. Then he asks, “Is this jar full?” Of course, at that time, they say, “No, it’s not full,” because we know you got something else up your sleeve.

Then he takes some water, and he pours water. The water kind of sits in until the water starts overflowing outside of the Mason jar. Then he finally asks, “Is the jar full now?” Of course, it’s like, “Yeah it’s full.” The moral of the story is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in. Most people start with sand or gravel. Then they can never get their big rocks in.

My productivity hack for me to get things done especially here being at home, my wife, she’s our chief home officer. She works from home. She raises the children from home. My kids are usually at home. My big hack is to make sure that they are taken care of first. I say, “Okay, we’ve got them settled. We got their activities going,” things like that. Now I can sit down, and I can go put in some work. If not, then I will be interrupted about a million times throughout the day.

Jerod Morris: So it’s a win-win. Take care of them first, and then you’re able to take care of yourself and get your work done.

Jarmar Dupas: Yeah. Here’s a tip, especially for you. I know you’re a new dad. Congratulations.

Jerod Morris: Thank you.

Jarmar Dupas: This is anybody with young kids out there or getting ready to have young kids, if you go out with your children, people always say, “How are your children so well behaved?” Well, I put the big rocks in first. I feed them and make sure they’re watered, and they have tinkled before we go out in public — and naps and things like that. You take care of things, and they’re angels. If not, they’ll wreck you. They’ll wreck everything you try to do.

Jerod Morris: Good advice. Very good advice.

How to Get in Touch with Jarmar

Jerod Morris: Jarmar, what is the single best way for someone inspired by today’s discussion to get in touch with you?

Jarmar Dupas: Just head over to my website, YourMoneyRight.com. Again, it’s just YourMoneyRight.com. Or just look me up on the podcast. The podcast is called Get Your Money Right. It comes out on Mondays. It’s for ambitious individuals. Specifically, I talk a lot about marriage and how to handle money with families, just kind of every-day life, and also my life as a digital entrepreneur as well. It’s a lot of fun. That’s probably the best way to get in touch with me. Of course, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all that good stuff, too.

Jerod Morris: Excellent. Well, Jarmar, thank you so much, man, for taking the time. This was a blast. Awesome to have you on The Digital Entrepreneur.

Jarmar Dupas: Thank you so much. This is an honor. I can’t tell you how much this has blessed me to be on this show and to have even get an invite from you guys. Like I said, I’m a big fan of Rainmaker Digital. I love everything that you all are doing. Keep up the good work. Keep leading us to the promised land, so to speak.

Jerod Morris: That’s what we’re trying to do is serve people like you. It’s great to be able to have you on here and tell your story. This was great. Thanks, man.

Jarmar Dupas: Thank you.

Jerod Morris: My thanks to Jarmar for joining me on this episode of The Digital Entrepreneur. It was great having him on here and having him share his story with us. My thanks, as always, to Toby Lyles and the team that edits this podcast and makes it sound so good and, of course, to Will DeWitt and Caroline Early for their help on the production side.

Most importantly, my thanks to you, the loyal Digital Entrepreneur listener. Thank you for being here, for listening to the show. You are the inspiration, the one that we do this for. It’s great to have you here.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, words of advice, or Tweets about sports, because you know that I like those, Tweet me any time @JerodMorris. I always love hearing from you. Yeah, send me a Tweet. Let me know what’s up, and make sure that you join us next week because we’ll be back with another brand-new episode of The Digital Entrepreneur. Talk to you then.