Jesse Itzler ’ s life is about being bold and never shying away from taking risks .
A former rapper turned entrepreneur , motivational speaker , and bestselling author , Itzler believes action trumps experience and you create your own luck by putting yourself in a position for luck to find you . He says , “ Luck doesn ’ t happen sitting at home watching the Kardashians .” Check out this clip from the 2022 Producers Club meeting , where Jesse shares an incredible story of the action he took that pushed him as an entrepreneur : MSPSuccessMagazine . com / action .
At 21 years old , he landed a record deal as a rapper ( under the pseudonym Jesse James ) by cold-calling a record label and hustling his way into the room .
After getting dropped from his record label , he wrote a theme song for the New York Knicks that went viral and started a record label called Alphabet City Sports Records . He and his partner wrote and produced sports team theme songs , including the NBA ’ s Emmy Award-winning anthem , “ I Love This Game ,” and collaborated on campaigns with big-name brands such as Coca-Cola and Foot Locker . They later sold the company for $ 16 million .
At 27 years old , with only an idea , no experience , and not enough money to get his company Marquis Jets off the ground , he convinced the largest private jet company in the world to go into business with him . He grew that company to the world ’ s largest prepaid private jet card company that did $ 5 billion in sales , which he and his partner then sold to Berkshire Hathaway / Warren Buffett .
Jesse tells a fascinating TRUE story about how he sold his company , Zico Coconut Water , to Coca-Cola . He convinced Matt Damon to make a home video of himself , begrudgingly shaking a coconut from a tree in his backyard and tirelessly chopping it open so his young daughter could drink from it with a straw , then sent the video to the president of Coca-Cola . Zico Coconut Water , which Jesse co-founded , was one of 27,000 beverage companies in consideration for Coca-Cola to purchase .
During a 100-mile race he ran with friends , he became so inspired by a Navy SEAL named David Goggins , who ran the race by himself , that he invited Goggins to live with him for a month . He turned that experience into a bestselling book , “ Living With a SEAL : 31 Days Training With the Toughest Man on the Planet .”
Today , he is one of the top 10 speakers in the world , married to the founder of Spanx , Sara Blakely , raising four kids , and co-owner of the NBA team the Atlanta Hawks .
At a recent TMT Producers Club meeting , Jesse Itzler shared his unorthodox journey of going from a kiddie pool attendant to growing a company to $ 5 billion in 10 years and how he pulled off his extraordinary accomplishments . Here are 12 lessons from Jesse on how to create your own luck .
Build Deep , Authentic , Meaningful Relationships . When Jesse was 22 and had no money , he sent 10 handwritten letters out every day . They were all oneway letters , meaning he didn ’ t expect a response . He built relationships by authentically sending messages that truly meant something to people at a time when they weren ’ t expecting it . For example , he ’ d send a note to someone and tell them he admired the way they parented their kids and that they were an unbelievable dad . “ I did three things my entire life to build deep , authentic , meaningful relationships with people in my inner circle ,” Jesse said . “ I complimented them . I congratulated them . And I consoled them … and a crazy thing happened . They gave me a referral . When something went wrong in my business , they stuck with me .”
Put Yourself On The Playing Field And Do Whatever You Can To Accelerate Your Plan . In the beginning , a lot of Jesse ’ s meetings were flukes . He ’ d be out somewhere and see someone he ’ d been looking to pitch . Then he started putting himself in situations where his audience was hanging out and be ready with his elevator pitch . When he started Marquis Jet , to get leads , he ’ d show up where wealthy people were hanging out . He flew to a conference called TED , but when he arrived , they wouldn ’ t let him in because he didn ’ t have the credentials . Noticing the TED audience was buying lattes and muffins from a local coffee shop during their breaks , he bought all the muffins . Offering people with credentials one of his “ extra muffins ” is how he made his first sale for Marquis Jet . “ I literally controlled all the muffin inventory in Monterey , California ,” Jesse said . After people were told there were no muffins , Jesse stopped people as they left the coffee shop . “ I ’ d say , ‘ Sir , excuse me , I overheard , and I have an extra muffin . If you want it , I ’ m not going to have it .’” The first man asked Jesse what he did , and when Jesse said he owned a jet company called Marquis Jet , it turned out the man was in the market for a timeshare jet . “ When we wrote our business plan for Marquis Jet , nowhere in the business plan did it say , fly 16 hours , go to a coffee shop , and hope to land the customer ,” Jesse said . “ When you have a business , do whatever you can do to get there faster . That ’ s always been my attitude .”
Do The 3-Minute Miracle Every Day . There are a lot of calls and meetings you won ’ t get , so you need to plant a lot of seeds . “ I play the numbers game a little bit ,” Jesse said . “ I have something I do called the three-minute miracle where every day , I write a text , DM , or email somebody . If you do it for 30 days , you ’ ll hit a hundred people . If you do it for a year , you ’ ll hit a thousand people . Not everyone ’ s going to be your customer or best friend , but in the beginning , you need one person , one referral , one thing .”
Optimize Your Time . After living in a monastery with eight monks , the biggest change for Jesse was his relationship with time . He explained that often when we think of relationships , we think of people such as our relationship with our kids , our spouse , or our parents . But Jesse challenged the audience to think about relationships in terms of time and money . To illustrate , Jesse asked a woman in the audience about her parents . He discovered she lives in Hawaii and her parents live in Vancouver , and she visits her 80-year-old father once every other year . “ Let ’ s say he lives to be 90 ,” Jesse said . “ You don ’ t have 10 years . You have five visits . Once you start to look at life and opportunities like that , in moments and not time , you get a fundamental shift in how you want to spend your time and who you want to spend it with .”
Raise Your Standards . As a dreamer , Jesse believes most people ’ s standards for their products and services aren ’ t high enough . “ I believe once you have your product and most people say , ‘ This is amazing !’ I immediately go to ‘ How could it be 10 times better ?’” Jesse said . “ Everything should be at an Olympic standard . My wife just made a product . Everybody in her company
WWW . IT-RADIX . COM | 11