Balancing life and business can be incredibly challenging, particularly when you have an integral role in a thriving business. Jeff Walker, the New York Times Best-Selling Author of LAUNCH, took time out to discuss how he built his business, his role as Dad and so much more.  For those that don't know Jeff, he's truly one of the world's greatest marketing experts - without question. If you've seen anyone launch a book, a course, a membership or an online product then you can guarantee that they will have learned how to launch from Jeff's famous Product Launch Formula - and if they didn't learn it from him, they will have learned it from someone who learned from Jeff. He's the OG of the LAUNCH world. My mastermind coach, Brendon Burchard, speaks very fondly of Jeff and how much he has learned from him -  which can be considered one of the greatest compliments coming from another big-hitter in the marketing world.

Our conversation wasn't solely focused on launches, in fact a lot of it was centred around fatherhood. Jeff has two children, who are now adults, and he shared stories about how his life and business were built around his family so that they could all live with more personal freedom. He did comment on the fact that starting a company with young kids can be challenging, and in fact he felt that he wasn't always fully present when they were young. This scenario is consistent with a lot of the other leaders and entrepreneurs I've interviewed - in fact, one of the worlds greatest cricketers talked about holding his 18-month old in the kitchen whilst his mind was on the next big test match.

For dads and mums out there who sometimes feel guilty that they aren't always present - join the club. I'm that parent some days - and it doesn't feel great. But it's about catching yourself and then snapping out of it. A great quote was shared with me that really helps when I feel that my mind is wandering. "Be where your feet are."  It's a great reminder to just look down at your feet and be present wherever you are . So if you are in the boardroom, be there. And if you are at home with your partner, be there. All too often we are somewhere else, and it's not just millennials that do it (I hear far too much criticism of millennials in regards to them being on their phones when they are in the company of others... but we are all guilty!)

I know you will love this weeks episode with Jeff Walker, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what your greatest takeaway was. 

 Be sure to head over to Jeff's site and connect with his amazing work: https://jeffwalker.com

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Full Transcript

The following is the full transcript of this weeks episode of the Life On Purpose Podcast with James Laughlin. For weekly motivation please subscribe to the Apple Podcast, Spotify or YouTube Channel.

 

Speakers

Jeff Walker, New York Times Best-Selling Author of LAUNCH and Founder of the Product Launch Formula, Durango, Colorado 

 James Laughlin, Life Coach and Leadership Coach, Christchurch, New Zealand 

 

James Laughlin 00:00 

Welcome to Life on Purpose, my name is James Laughlin. Former seven-time world champion 

musician and now a success coach to leaders and high performers. Each week, I bring you an aspiring leader or expert to help you live your life on purpose. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and 

investing in yourself. Enjoy the show!  

 

 I'm incredibly excited to welcome this week's guest, Jeff Walker. Jeff is a number one New York Times best-selling author of the book launch and created the Product Launch Formula which has transformed hundreds of thousands of people's lives. He's got students that have earned over a billion-dollars in sales from selling their products online and launching them.  

 

And today's session we talk all about fatherhood and what it truly means. And what Jeff has learned through achieving financial freedom and being able to be present with his kids into adulthood, and developing those strong, everlasting bonds. So, if you want to learn about entrepreneurship, parenting, and life in general, tune in and enjoy the show.  

 

James Laughlin 

Jeff, a massive welcome to the life on purpose podcast. 

 

Jeff Walker  

Thank you, James. Glad to be here. 

 

James Laughlin 

 

That's so great to see you. Look, I've read your books I've heard so much about you from friends. So, at launch the book that you wrote, number one New York Times bestseller really changed my outlook on business. But one of the things that I really loved about it that really brought me into your world was you talking about fatherhood, you, making decisions around, hey, this is what my business has got to do to give my family a vehicle to have freedom and so forth.  

 

JEFF AS A STAY-AT-HOME DAD 

So, I would love to go back to when you were a stay-at-home dad, with your kids, and thinking about nine to five rat races versus doing your own thing. Tell me more about that situation.  

 

Jeff Walker 02:00 

Yeah, well, um, so I was in the corporate world, coming out of college, I got a corporate job, you know, my dad worked for the same company for 35 years, a big corporate company, my father-in-law worked for the same big corporate company for 40 years. Back when I was coming out of college, that's what a lot of people did, times are different now. But that's that was sort of like what I was programmed to do. And so, I was in the corporate world, but it, I just didn't feel like I fit there. And I was very much not happy. And my wife was going to graduate school to be an engineer, or for a second engineering degree. And we got pregnant while she was in school. And by the time she graduated, my son was a year old. And we just really wanted someone to be home to have what a parent home with our son. And, you know, I know not everyone can make this work. But we decided we're going to try to make it work. And so, we had one salary, my wife, Sal, where she was supporting a family and did a great job of it. But it was still tight, it was very tight. Money was very, very tight. And but I started, I was, you know, quit my job just walked away. And when my son was right around a year old, and then you know, about two years later, then we had our daughter. So now he's home with a couple of little kids. And frankly, you know, I can tell the story. So, it all seems like, like it makes sense. And like I was intentional. But the reality is we just wanted one of us home with the kids. My wife, I hated being in the corporate world, and my wife fit better there and had her new degree. And so, she got the job, and I quit. And we had no real plan going forward from there. And then about four or five years later is when I started my business. And it's probably about six years later. And I just started this online business. And it was just with the hopes of making a few extra dollars to help support the family. Like my goal was like if I could make an extra $10,000 a year that would really ease things up. And things took off from there. And the first year was about $10,000. And the second full year, I've made more than my life. And we started talking about having her come home. And then in the third year, she was able to leave her job and come home, be with the kids but also helped me grow business and take a big role in the business. So that's sort of how it all transpired. It seems like a dream now. It was amazing to be home with the kids when they were young like that. I don't think I was equipped for it like I was 20- Let's see 27 years old when my son was born. I don't think I was old enough. 

 

04:42 

And certainly, initially when I saw him with the kids, I was more like just more like a babysitter my wife was still the homemaker really even though she was working all day she was the one really being a homemaker and I was doing my- I was hanging out with my fingernails when I was first home with the kids. 

 

James Laughlin 

05:00 

Sounds familiar. I'm a rookie dad as well. So, every day is like, you know, I'm learning I'm a dad and progresses when I call it. 

 

 

Jeff Walker 

Yep. Yeah, no one gives you training for it. And more than that, no one seems to recognise that you could really be useful to have training for it, you know. And, you know, people just assume they know what they're doing. And even as a parent, you assume you know what you're doing. And I yeah, I wish, knowing Now, what I knew then, because, like when I was there, like around 96 was when I bought this programme by Tony Robbins, personal power two, and I bought it, there's an infomercial that ran all night long here in the States. And I bought that. And in going through it, there's a lot. It was a personal moment product, first thing I'd ever done in that direction. But the mental lesson I learned is that no matter what we want to learn what we want to do what we want to be good at, there's someone else that has spent a lifetime studying that and getting good at it. And even though at that time in my life, I didn't really have much going on. Besides that, I had this young family, which was wonderful. And I had a wonderful wife. But there wasn't a lot. If you looked at my life from the outside, you're like this dude is like a loser. Because like back in the early mid 90s of being a stay-at-home dad was not a fashionable thing. We didn't know a single person that did that. And so from the outside, it's like, yeah, he doesn't have a clue. In my mind, I'm like, I thought I'm like, really smart. But then in studying that programme, I realised that I could get a lot better at whatever I want. And one of the things I wish now looking back, I wish I wouldn't got a whole bunch of books, and study a bunch of courses on how to be a better parent, because I know I would have been if I, there's just things you can learn. And you don't figure it out on your own, and you're not going to do a great job if you are not very many people are going to do a great job. They try to figure out on their own. 

 

James Laughlin 

That's amazing. Like, the personal power. I've done the Tony Robbins stuff into fewest events and went to Fiji and what not. It's just a powerful way to think and the way he delivers it. And the same I listen to that audio programmes like a 30-day programme. 

 

Jeff Walker 

Exactly. 

 

James Laughlin 

Clears your mind.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yep.  

 

James Laughlin 

That's amazing. You wrote a real pioneer in two ways. Really, I see one, you're a pioneer in the dad realm. Because as you say, back when you were a stay at home, dad, it was quite unusual. And you're very new, and also with the Product Launch Formula. So, for those folks who don't know nothing about the Product Launch Formula, I mean, that has transformed, the business world has transformed hundreds and thousands of people's lives. 

 

 

 

WHERE DO YOU GET THAT CREATIVITY FROM? 

So, when you talk about that business, it's a very special business, it's very much you were a pioneer people weren't doing it the way you were doing it. So where do you get that creativity from? 

 

Jeff Walker 

07:46 

I don't know. You know, in some ways, I think I'm not a terribly creative person. You know, if you look at it, I created that Product Launch Formula. But that's the only thing I've created professionally. I mean, I've been selling that programmer, iterated updated version of protein for 15-16 years, and a lot of other people have gone through 18 different things in that amount of time. I think, I think one of the things is, you know, I created the programme. And for everyone out there, it's just a programme and how to launch your product, your service, your membership site, if you want to launch anything online, this is the way to do it. And it still has worked. And my students have done over a billion dollars of sales. And, and if you've seen someone launch in a big way, they either learn from me, or they learn from someone who learned from me. And it's just and that sounds egotistical. But the thing is, I've just started out early. And again, I don't think I'm that creative. But I've always been about conversation and relationship. And I came into this world with no experience in sales or marketing. And so, when I went to make that first sale, and again, at that time has been a stay-at-home dad for five, six years, I hadn’t made a penny in all that time. And it's the idea that someone would buy something from me it was just, I was really stretching my boundaries. But I created this newsletter. It was about the stock market where I've been sharing what I knew about the stock market. And that was all just personal study. And but if when it's time to try and make a sale, because I was just trying to help support the family. 

 

09:18 

I didn't know how to sell so I romance people until I felt good about asking for that sale. And it turned out that philosophy was really completely in alignment with where the world was going with the internet. And with so much connection and interactivity and, and transparency, that process lined up really well. And then I started teaching people and as you start to teach people, you start to learn more and more and more. And then I had hundreds and then I had thousands and tens of thousands of people going through my material, and I could see what they they're iterating as much as I was, and I always just made report back to me. And I was really good at keeping that conversation going. So, I almost feel like I've just I had that initial spark. And then since then it has been co-creation with my clients ever since. 

 

James Laughlin 

It's honestly inspiring that the first time I heard about you was through Brendon Burchard, who arguably is one of the top marketers on the planet now. And he said, Guys, I'm going to show you this, this and this, but you need to know, I was inspired by, and I learned from Jeff Walker and the product launch partner. So go buy it, go check it out. So, he's, he still to this day encourages people to check it online.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah, Brandon's an amazing friend. He's like one of those once in a lifetime people that you meet him, and it's just like, oh, my gosh, this guy has greatness built into them. So yeah, it's been great to know him over all these years. 

 

REALATION OF WORK TO ABILITY TO BE MORE PRESENT DAD 

James Laughlin 

That's so cool. He obviously sees the same thing in yourself. So, when we think about you creating this, and it gives you this freedom, this financial freedom, how does that relate to your ability to be more present Dad? 

 

10:51 

Well, I'm just, okay, full disclosure. You know, I don't have very many regrets in my life. But I'd say the one regret at grad I had was in those first early years of the business when the kids were maybe five, six, and you've got a five-year-old maybe 5,6,7,8. I was working so hard to create this business, that I don't think I was as present as I would like to be. So, yeah, that's it, you know, you don't get those years back, you just don't get those years back. And even though I was with them all the time, we, you know, in those early years, I was still off, and my brain was off in business land. 

 

11:39 

And, yeah, I'm 

 

James Laughlin 

11:42 

How would you do it differently? 

 

Jeff Walker 

11:45 

I'm not sure. If I could have built what we've built, I don't know, if I could have done it differently. You know, it really was requiring my presence. And I, I think I am in such a privileged space in so many ways. And I know, like I said, we made that decision for one of us to be home. And not everyone can make that decision. And, and they're there. 

 

12:14 

And it's hard for me to make proclamations and tell people to be present. Because, you know, everyone's got a different situation. But I do know that like once we started to get to a comfort level. 

And the business got to a comfort level that like the things that we didn't do is we didn't grow our lifestyle. We didn't start buying Lamborghinis. And we didn't start moving into bigger and bigger and bigger homes, we kept our lifestyle pretty, pretty much the same. And then it's like, we didn't have this pressure to continue to grow. And you know, and as an entrepreneur, you You're always, you know, you got a little bit of competitiveness, you just see work, I take this thing, how can we grow it.  

 

But knowing that, you know, the most important thing for me, it was family, and a lot of people say that, but a lot of times the decisions they're making don't reflect that. So, you know, we, one of the things we did was we moved out to our dream home, our dream home town, that dream house, but our dream out into the mountains in Colorado, because I wanted to be where my kids would grow up close to nature, and where we'd have those continual opportunities to get out in the woods and, and just be silly and have fun out there. But to give them a connection to the natural world, and be someplace that they didn't want to leave, like when they grew up. So, then it’s like are already looking forward to my grandkids. My kids are like little, but I'm like, you know, looking forward to grandkids. And so I wanted the kids to I want to be someplace that gave me the best chance of them not wanting to leave. 

 

13:53 

And yeah, just yeah, there's it's tough. You know, when you're a parent of young kids, you're just getting, you're just trying to survive, at least for me, you're just trying to survive, you're hanging on by your fingernails, just keep your head above water. And it's hard to have a bigger picture view in that time and be able to step back and look down. 

 

14:16 

but yeah, I'd say as soon as you can get some perspective on it. You know, just try to try to figure out ways to get close. I mean, like one of the things I did I was I'm not doing it now, but I was a big fan of monthly goals. And I'm a big fan of having a balanced life and, and staying like for sustain and shape physically, of being a good community member of stan balanced mentally, psychologically. Of having a relationship with the natural world of being a good father be a good husband of you know, having a financially solvent life, of having strong business. So, there's all these different roles we have. And I'd have goals around all of them. So, I would have parenting goals. So, like with goals, it's nice if you can make them tangible. So, I would just do silly, sounds silly. But literally like in my journal, like right over there. Every month, I write down all my goals, and one of my goals would be, playing with my kids. And so, I would literally set this is the number of hours I want to play with the kids each this month, and I would track it like a 30-minute basis. I mean, it shows you what a geek I am. But I'm, you know, I am figure, like, if I can actually ground it down to that I'm actually playing with them, then, you know, it's tough to put a measure on having a good relationship with your kids, but I can measure playing with them. And I think playing with them, and spending time focused on them can't help but you know, contribute to that relationship with them. 

 

CONNECTION WITH CHILD IN ADULTHOOD 

James Laughlin 

Time spent is so important. And I guess one of the true measures because your your children are in their late 20s, early 30s. So, you've got a longer perspective than I do. I'm a real rookie. So, I think a true test is the connection that you have with your child in adulthood. So tell me about that connection you've got with your children now.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Oh, it's pretty. It's truly magical now. So, my son is 30? That's the problem when they get older. Oh, he's Yeah, he's 31 I was trying to he's about he's about to have a birthday. So, he's 31 about to be 32. And when he was in college, and this was like, 2010, I could see the world- my world was moving towards video. And I you know, I live out in the mountains, there's like no one I could just call up to do my video. So, I said, He's off for summer for office school for the summer. And I said, hey, I want to start doing some video. If I buy a whole bunch video equipment, you learn how to you want to try to learn how to use it, and you know, shoot some video with me, you know, for your summer job. And he's like, okay, yeah, that sounds good. You know, he didn't have any other job going. So, we decided how much I pay him. And I went and just bought some cameras, and I bought some lights, and I bought him some courses on doing video. 

 

17:23 

And he dove into it. And you know, complete rookie no experience. But he over the years has become one of the premier videographers in the industry. And he you know; I feel like we've set the curve in a lot of ways for a really good video in the industry. And we've inspired a lot of people but he's so he's, he's the one that's driven all of that. And he's also shot for some of you know, some of the most biggest names most famous people that you can imagine in the industry. So, he works for with me part time, and he also freelances part time for other people. And he's, he's, he's an incredible artist. But the cool thing is, is we work together all the time. And he's now not just a videographer. He's my producer and my director. So, he's often like telling me what to do and what to say.  

 

James Laughlin 

Role reversal.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah, it's and it's just, it's just magical. And in here is like, in his element, and I'm in my element, and we just get to just feed off of each other. Like, it's just ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, you know, and he's so he's so gentle and sweet. It'll be like, well shoot something. And maybe I'll shoot something, I'll be completely horrible. And he'll be like, okay, we got one in the can. Let's, let's try that one again. Let's just let's get another. 

 

James Laughlin 

Okay.  

 

Yeah, so he's, he's just absolutely amazing. And then my daughter also has a part time role in the business. And she also she does, she designs, she's a fashion designer of clothing. And she does design and construction of like one off pieces. But um, you know, we just have just a super, super warm relationship, and they love each other. And they're always playing with each other. And you know, they're off on a bike, a mountain bike ride right now, as we speak. And they invited me a lot longer. This is one of the magical things is one of the things when they were little, real little, I decided that I would always share a passion with each of them. And I'm like, I don't care what it is. I'm going to share a passion with them. Because I'm like, that's something it'll always be something to talk about. And, you know, my daughter if it's American girl dolls, you know, okay, I'm really passionate about American girl dolls. And because you know, almost anything, once you start to dig into it, it gets you can go deep on anything. Almost once you go start to go deep stuff starts to get fascinating. So, I'm like, I can make anything my passion if I if I set my mind to it. And so, I made that decision early on. And it turns out my kids took on my passions. So, you know, when they are early teens, they started mountain biking, and which is like a big passion of mine and they started skiing. And, and those two things are like lifetime anchors for us that you know that they just love to do those things. And I love to do doing with them. So, it's been amazing. So, we get to ski together in schemes and amazing family sport, unbelievable family sport. I mean, it's expensive. That's the only negative, it's super expensive. But it's a lifetime sport that you know, people can do into their 80s. And you know, when you're when they're 15 years old, or 16 years old, and maybe you're having a hard time, you know, now sit them down and have a conversation with them. When you go skiing. They they're on the chairlift right up with you, like 8,10 12,14 times a day. 

So, there's like this built-in time. And who knows, you might even have a conversation on that lift.  

 

James Laughlin 

That's so cool. We'll have to get you down in New Zealand and get you on a set of skis down here. 

 

Jeff Walker 

I'd love it. I would love it, especially since the seasons are opposite. So, I can you know, our summer I can go skiing down there. 

 

FIRST STEP TOWARDS FINANCIAL FREEDOM 

James Laughlin 

Totally winter bunny. Absolutely. I love it. So, I'm thinking about dads, mums out there, and we want to be more present. We want to be there for our kids want to be connected. But the one thing that really holds us back is that thing called work. And we head out the door at 7:30. And we get back and it's still dark in the middle of winter. So financial freedom. And obviously, if you've listened to the Tony Robbins stuff back in the day, he talks a lot about that freedom. And so, you've achieved that through your Product Launch Formula. It's phenomenal. So, for people out there who are stuck in a rut, who can't see a way out who are in the corporate world. How could they take the first step to actually work towards financial freedom? What would your advice be?  

 

Jeff Walker 

Well, what worked for me and it's worked for me to several times I've seen work for other people is to well, first you got you have to have an idea, you have to have something that you're passionate about. First backup, I'm going to come at this from the lens, the world I work in, which is primarily online businesses, and primarily information driven businesses where you're teaching someone how to play tennis, or how to meditate, or how to speak a second language. And so, these are wonderful businesses, and those are the primarily 80 to 85% of my students are in those type of businesses. You know, that doesn't mean, you know, there's a lot of other kinds of businesses, you can start I just, these are the kinds of businesses that I'm familiar with and I love and tend to, you know, you can you can start on a shoestring, you can start just from nothing, you don't, you know, if you want to open a restaurant, there's a lot of capital involved, but these kind of businesses, there's not. And so with that lens in mind, you have to have an idea for something that you want to share with the world that you're passionate about that you either have studied, like back in the day, with the stock market, I had studied the stock market, and just deeply, I had no official designations, I wasn't a stock broker or commodity trading advisor or a registered investment advisor, no initials after my a no credentials, other than having studied it. And, and having an opinion and wanting to share wanting to help people. And so, I just started publishing, I started publishing a newsletter, a free newsletter. And back in the day, if we didn't have social media, so you couldn't just publish on social. So, I published an email newsletter, I still think email is the absolute killer app, I think it's the way to go. But I would always just say the way to get into this business is to start publishing. And you can do that just via social that a great thing about social is you need zero tech experience. 

 

24:18 

You don't need any kind of investment. You can literally do it from your phone. And but once you start publishing and you start to find out what the market reacts and what the market wants to learn about, and what they care about, then you can lean into that and you start to find your voice, your publishing voice, whether it's your speaking voice or how you are in video or your writing voice or whatever, but you start to find that voice and you'll start to attract a following in. You know if you can attract a small following then you can build a serious business. And it's, I've gone that route and I've had literally 1000s of my students go that route as well. 

 

25:00 

And it works. And where you just have to look around, look at your inbox. And you can see no matter what you're injured, what if you're if you're into guitar, you can see there's literally hundreds of people that have built businesses teaching people about guitar. You know, if you're into ukulele, it's the same thing. If you're into photography, it's the same thing. If you want to build a meditation practice the same thing, there's a reason that people are publishing. And it's because it's not just out of the goodness of their heart, it's because it turns into a business pretty quickly. 

 

James Laughlin 

Well, your system works brilliantly. I played drums since I was nine years old. And it says Scottish Style Pipe Band Drumming, and very niche very specific, but it's a real passionate community. And I was like, you know, I want to share this, I want to share some of my knowledge that I've had across the years, I've been very fortunate to win some world titles, I've got stuff I could share here. I don't know where to start. So read launch, I got to do this, followed it step by step, and hit the button out to the email list. And it was transformational for them. And transformational for me, it was phenomenal. And I'm still learning and iterating. But your system is phenomenal. And you've touched literally hundreds of thousands of people's lives, because every student of yours is inspiring and educating hundreds, if not thousands of other people. 

 

Jeff Walker 

It's absolutely ridiculous to think about it. But yeah, they're, you know, these are, there's people that are playing Scottish pipe drums better because of my work, you know, there's, there's people with dogs that are better behaved because of my work. I'm not a great dog trainer, I can't play drums. But it's, and, that's the world we live in is we can all make such incredible contributions, and make a great living at it. And to have the lifestyle and the freedom, you know, the time freedom so you can focus on your family or whatever you want. And you know, my kids have grown up, that's one of the biggest choices my kids have grown up around these. And they've seen how you can create your future. You know, you can visualise that future and you can go and create it. And they have grown up in that. One of the blessing, I mean, there's so many, but it's just I'm so blessed. It's just ridiculous. And oh, before I forget, I do have James, you're going to love it. But I've got a new edition of the book, complete rewrite revamp updated, coming out in late July. So, yeah. 

 

 

 

 

 

James Laughlin 

Let me know where we can get it. And if there's a link, let me know, I'll put it on all the social as well, again, to my email list. I'll be the first to buy for sure.  

 

Jeff Walker 

27:35 

Cool, cool. Thank you appreciate that. But yeah, freedom is just ridiculous. And one of the things how, 

there's so much that one of the things I'm really thankful for, with my kids is the struggle, the financial struggle we had, because they remember, they remember when like, there was this sort of Italian fast food restaurant, it was it was it was mostly fast food, but they'd actually bring your food to your table, it was just that one night a week where we could, we could afford to eat there, we said some incredible special and you know, it was like $3 for the kids and $6 for us to eat. And until like maybe once a week, we'd go there. And they, they would think that was such an incredible treat. And they look forward to that. And they still hold that in their mind of how that was such a special thing. And daughter recently, that restaurant was in Denver, and she recently went back to that, like I said, you know, 25- or 26-year-old, she's like, boy, that restaurant was really pretty, pretty bad. It's been so amazing. But the food is really pretty bad. Now I go back, but I have to it's just so special when I was growing up that we could go out. 

 

28:51 

But you know, we transition from, you know, along with my business success came financial success. And you know, we don't have to struggle for things. 

 

29:04 

But I'm so glad that my kids remember when it was a struggle. Because I think, you know, I think raising your kids when you have wealth makes things harder, frankly, I think I'm glad that my kids have that touchstone you know, if I had that success earlier, then they wouldn't have that touchstone and I think it made it made raising them easier. Because they're very driven. They save money. They're, they're super driven to support themselves. I'm so thankful for that. Because I think what if you grew up around a lot of money, then it's easy to not have that. So that was that was we were lucky. We were like a winner.  

 

VALUES ON YOUR CHILDREN 

James Laughlin 

Would you say that you intentionally imparted a value or values on your children? Were there certain things you brought from your parents like you know what I want my kids that carry these? 

 

Jeff Walker 

30:02 

Yeah, I think, you know, I think my parents taught me how to treat people well. 

 

30:09 

I think they taught me how to be kind, how to treat people as individuals. 

 

30:16 

And to treat, you know, to give everyone a chance. And that prejudge them based on anything. 

 

30:24 

I think those are really important things that my parents instilled in me. And just and also the value of hard work and showing up and doing the work. And so those are things that I definitely, you know, wanted to impart on my kids, you know, the most important thing is that, you know, I'm not preaching to anyone out there, this is just me preaching to my kids, is the most important thing is not your work, it's not the amount of money you make, it's not anything like that. It's how you treat people well, that you treat people well. 

 

James Laughlin 

That's beautiful. That's interesting, because I’ve interviewed quite a lot of dads in different fields. And I recently interviewed one of the world's greatest rugby players, he plays with New Zealand or used to play with the New Zealand team. And he said, James, the one value that I want my child to carry the one only value of us the only thing I impart is kindness. And that's exactly what you've said as being kind to others treating others. Well, that's, that's beautiful.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah.  

 

WHAT FIRES YOU EVERYDAY? 

James Laughlin 

Love it. And what gets you out of bed in the morning? What fires you up today? 

 

Jeff Walker 

31:35 

I've tried to figure that one out myself. I think, seriously I'm trying to figure it out. 

 

31:43 

We've gotten to a place where the money. Look, it's been a long time, it's been over a decade since I was driven by by income or money. 

 

31:55 

We kept our lifestyle pretty darn simple. You know, I've got some really nice bicycles. Mountain bikes, like really nice ones. I've got some nice guitars. But you know, I drive a Chevy truck, a Chevy pickup. We live in the same home we lived in for 21 years. 

 

32:14 

We do take nice vacations; we travel first class when we travel.  

 

 

 

 

32:21 

But in general, I never think about money. I think about serving my clients. I think about serving my team, you know, we've now grown out a pretty big team, we've got about 40 people on the team. So, I think about serving my team, I think about serving my clients.  

 

32:41 

And I do like to get better, I like to continue to get better. And there's always new tools coming that you know, we had to figure out video, we, you know, when I started out the first 15 years I was in business, no one knew what it looked like. Because even putting a photo online was hard. In the early days, much less a video much less doing lives. But I figured all that out. But I think really the direction I was starting to move in without abandoning my work and my clients, my team was, I see a lot of entrepreneurs that struggle that even once they start to achieve some significant success, they still struggle with their inner game, they struggle with not feeling like they're with, you know, the whole imposter syndrome, they suffer with being pulled in too many directions, they suffer with you know, working with their team, there's just a lot of suffering out there for people that you might look at from the outside and say, wow, that person's really successful. But inside they're torn to pieces. And for whatever reason, I tend to be a fairly even keel and I tend to be pretty happy. And I have these long relationships and just in pretty much most almost all the areas of my life I've got my shit together. And it but it's because I've worked at it, and I think I've gotten a lot of lessons to share around that. But exactly how I do that is a great big puzzle. So, I'm not sure but that's the direction. Pre-COVID that was the direction I was starting to move I was starting to I had this code name was handprints and it was about the handprints you're going to leave on the world, and I guess there's a legacy piece in there. But there's also just a way of being an entrepreneur and still being at peace being having a peaceful heart and a peaceful mind. And starting to move in that direction and then COVID hit, and we had to, you know, it's been 15 months of scrambling to, you know, to reinvent the business, and all that worked, but you know, soon it'll be time to go back to figuring that other piece out. 

 

SELF-CARE 

James Laughlin 

35:00 

That's very exciting. I'll be keeping a close eye on that one. And if you look at, say daily or weekly or monthly habits, is there anything you do for self-care that does give you that balance psychologically, spiritually, emotionally?  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah. The stuff I've been doing for about 12 years now. Well, I've been doing it longer than that. But I've gotten really ritualistic for about 12 years. And, frankly, it's a lot of the stuff that you hear a lot of people are talking about these days. 

 

35:32 

And so, you know, having a morning ritual is super important to me. And that involves, the two, three, but let's call it three big ones is yoga. I do almost every morning. It's a pretty minimal practice. I'm like a total wimp about it. But it's like 20 minutes of, and I'm getting on it mad every day. 

 

35:58 

Again, it's wimpy, wimpy, wimpy. 

 

James Laughlin 

Like, every day, though? 

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it is, you know, I'll miss certainly at times, but not, you know, if the intention is it's every single day. And, you know, some days just get off a little bit sideways, and they don't, but, you know, this morning, it was yeah. 

 

36:20 

And then meditation, and I do about 20-25 minutes of meditation every day, in the morning. And hydration, you know, I fill up a half a gallon jar of water, and I'm going to go through that the least one and a half times in a day. And so you know, I know if I like if when I walked downstairs, if I drink, you know, one of these, then like I'm off to, you know, if get that down the first five minutes of the day, then I'm going to be I'm going to get there. So those three are like a real Cornerstone journaling. Again, my journaling, I don't have it usually I do when I'm on these calls. But journaling has been part of my life for 25 years. I actually number well, here we go. I'll just pick up an old one. Here. I always number them, so this one's number 54. So, think I'm currently in number 56. 

 

37:21 

And, but that's not like something I do every day, I'd actually like to bring that into more of an everyday but it's a regular occurrence. being outside, so but the yoga meditation, hydration, those are the three like non negotiables every morning. And then I always want to bring in exercise and being outside as well sometime during the day. And for exercise. I'm not a big fan of like going to the gym. I'll do that if I have to. But you know, I've got a lot of passions that just get me the exercise, you know, I'm tennis, mountain biking, kayaking, skiing, hiking, just I'd rather do things that I'm passionate about, than having to worry about going to the gym. So, I say I won't go. Yeah. 

 

HOW DOES MEDITIATION LOOK LIKE FOR YOU? 

James Laughlin  

I love to get out and do things I enjoy going to the gym, even just the smell of the gym. I'm like, I don't want to be here. I'm not the big bulky guy. But I'm similar to you in that I love to meditate every morning. So, I know between 20 to 40 minutes, and breath work, hydration, journaling. So, going back to the meditation, what, what does your meditation look like for you?  

 

Jeff Walker 

Well, it's varied a lot, over the years. I have used apps I've used headspace. I stuck with Sam Harris's waking up for quite some time. 

 

38:46 

And right now, though, is my favourite time of year because I have, just about a month ago, the weather got warm enough where I could be outside in our front porch. And I live in this tiny little community and there's just a little walking path through the community. And I sit on my front porch. And I have this sort of a meditation music thing. It's not an app. It's just it's a- what is it called? It's, I forget what it's called. But it's like a 21 minute you know, ethereal sounding thing. I'll just have that plain just that kind of tells me when it is done. I know 21 minutes into it. But I'll literally sit on my front porch. And in my meditation these days, it's more open eyed. You know where you got a real self-focus. The thing I'm keying in on usually is just trying to feel any hint of a breeze or the birds the nature sounds. So, I'm just focused on sound or feeling as opposed to like breath. And if my back minds really, really busy and I can't get to that calm place, then I'll go to breath and I'll start focusing on breath. But yeah, that being on the front porch early am and, and we've got our neighbours have a five-year-old boy who's going to kindergarten. So usually, the way the time works summer in the middle of meditation, he'll come bursting out the door and running, running out the door go to school. And so, you know, it's just joyful for me to see him in his five-year-old energy and how it varies every day. And so, I welcome that little interruption to my meditation. But yeah, right now. So, you know, at some point, like it probably too warm to be out there and parts of the earth too cold. But right now, front porch was about a two-month window here three-month window, which is beautiful. And it's actually my favourite meditation. 

 

JOURNALING 

James Laughlin 

I love that. And for a lot of moms and dads out there, I do think meditation is one of those great ways to balance the stresses that come with being a parent. And for me, that's what I use it for to stay balanced. And then the journaling. So, when you journal, is it just whatever comes to mind? Or do you have questions that you ask yourself in journal on those?  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah, it's more what's whatever's on my mind where I'm at. And frankly, I think I could do, I think having some prompts might actually be better for me. But yeah, it's more just sort of where I'm at right now, what I'm thinking about right now.  

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE? 

James Laughlin 

I love it. I love it. We've got one last question I asked everybody this, Jeff. So what does it mean to you to live life on purpose? 

 

 

Jeff Walker 

41:37 

Well, that's a, you know, that's a great question. Because, you know, one of my absolute favourite words is intention. And living with intention. So, life on purpose, it's living an examined life. It’s an examined life. And it's like looking at, you know, having that time to step back and saying, is this is this how I want to live my life? And is this on purpose is or is this- am I creating what I want? 

 

 You know, is life, you know, one of my favourite phrases is, you know, or questions is life happening to you, or for you? Is life happening to you? or life happening for you? And when you're in that mode of life's happening for you. 

 

42:30 

That's where you're actively you're designing your life. I think, I think Tony Robbins used that phrase and personal power to way back, you know, designing your life and that, even though back then, you know, holy cow, it was just like, we were desperate for money. We were desperate for time, we were desperate. You know, we had two young kids, we, it was just hard. And even at that point, you know, when I bought that programme, which we had, you know, was a significant investment for me at the time. And I was scared to tell my wife about it because I was embarrassed. Right. But some often infomercial. 

 

43:08 

I got the chance to tell the story to Tony Robbins, personally. 

 

43:13 

Yeah, that was, that was a fun moment. I'm like, Tony, I know you hear these stories a lot, but about personal power to my life just completely changed after that. And Tony said, you know, you just never get sick of hearing those stories. So, thank you. 

 

43:31 

But yeah, it's like saying, it's, you know, I think for parents, especially parents and young kids, I think meditation is great, but it's also hard, you don't just get to, they're going to wake up, when they wake up, they're going to get up when they get up, you know, it's like, so, I'm like, everything I can say about, you know, about a morning ritual and all this stuff. It's like, it goes out the window. If you got young kids, I mean, you know, they're going to live, you know, they're going to, that’s the beauty of them. They're in the moment in their moment is now if they're waking up, or if they're hungry, or whatever. So, I have enormous compassion for parents trying to figure that out. But yeah, it's like, is this are you living the life you want? And having ways to programme in the time where you can ask yourself that question. And I'm asking myself that question all the time. Another question I asked him, sometimes I asked this too much. But it's like to what end? 

 

44:32 

Why are we doing- to what end? We want to do this launch to make a million dollars, to what end? What's million dollars going to do for you? Really? How is that? What How will that actually show up in your life? And what will that change? What will you do differently when you have those million dollars? And can you already be doing that now before you have those million dollars? And does it really need to be a million dollars? Could it be $100,000, you know, because, you know in my world, people get caught up in the money and especially people doing these big launches, you know, in crazy amounts of money can come in, in a short period of time. But if you're not using it to, to live the life you want, then to what end? And if you've gotten to the life you want, and you're just pushing for another project and other projects, bigger, bigger, bigger, it's like to what end? 

 

45:23 

And I asked that question all the time, all the time, it's like, and like I said, sometimes you can go too deep with it. It's like your kid when, when they ask you why, and like the 14th time, they've asked you why you're starting to get exasperated? It can so you can go too deep with that question. I'm just full disclosure, but you know, I'm, we best we know best I know, we only get one shot at this. And, and I and I want to make a count. And because I have these kids, that's an obligation that I took on, that I can't ever step away from. 

 

46:01 

You know, it's all you can step away from just about any obligation. But if you bring a life into this world, in my opinion, you signed up for it, and you owe it to them, and you have a relationship to them that no one else will ever have with them ever. And they're going to need you. And you know, what about James, when, when your five-year-old, he needs you in so many ways. And you might think that, you know, when he gets to be a teenager, or when he gets to be you know, 20-18 years old or 21 years old, they don't they still need you, they still need you when they're 30 years old, not as often. 

 

46:44 

But when they do, it's a bigger deal, the stakes are higher.  

 

46:50 

Like five years old, some comes up seems like the world's going to end well, when they're 14 years old, or 16, the problems might be fewer, but there'll be bigger, you know, when they run a car into something are, the problems are bigger, and they're harder. And then when they're 30. There are even fewer problems, but they're even bigger, and they're harder and they're going to they're going to need you so I'm sort of rambling here but- 

 

James Laughlin  

That's beautiful. It reminds me of just what an honour it is to be a parent. And the day that Finn was born, I decided that I'd write a letter to him expressing what was going on in the world in his mom and dad's world and in the world around us in every year, his birthday, wrote a letter and reflect on his year, what he's achieved and what I hope for him. But, what he doesn't know he won't get those letters till he’s 30. So, him and I are 30 years apart. And when he's 30, he'll get the first letter and hopefully I'll be here when I'm 60. We can read it. And I put a bit 100 photos. So, I go through my iPhone, and I print out the best photos from the year and right on the back of them old school. So, I'm a true believer in that like as we go along, we still play a role my dad I bring my dad when things are tough. Whether it's a medical scare dad, like I don't know what to do. Or a relationship challenge Dad, what should I do? And so, I'm a big believer, and I'm really glad you shared that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Walker 

48:07 

Yeah, well, what you're doing there is just it's going to be so amazing. And you might want to I might If I were you, I'd be tempted to start sharing more like when he's 21 or something, but you've got your plans. I don't want to-  

 

James Laughlin 

No, I take that on board. Because yeah, there's no guarantees, I'll be here when I'm 60 when I'm able to share that stuff.  

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah, it is. I mean, that doing that is just incredible. I remember when Dan was born, and because my dad and I, we had we butted heads, like when I was 17-18 you know, I was too strong willed and we were just, we just did not get along there for a couple of years. And, and it hurt me, it hurt my heart. And I remember holding Dan, when he was like this, you know, that first day and just making this promise that's not going to happen to us. You know, so we're still fresh. For me, it was only 10 years before and I'm like, in here I've now, I've got a boy. And I'm like, that's not going to happen. And then Frankly, I had a fear that it would happen even after I'd made that promise, I just fear. And then my wife at one point, she's like, you just have to let go of that fear. Because it's not going to happen because of who you are. And if you hold on to that fear, you might attract them to you. And yeah, and we got such a special relationship with both of them both the kids, very, very different relationships. 

 

49:40 

And, and I do I mean, this might not be popular, but I think that in general, there's a father's role and mother's role are different roles. And to get even more hot water. I think, you know, every father and son and father and daughter and the mother and son mother daughter, I think they have certain magic each relationship got some certain magic. Again, this is just me. hope I'm not stepping in a two-hot water. 

 

James Laughlin 

No, not at all. And I totally understand, and I agree it's a unique relationship. They're all different. 

 

Jeff Walker 

Yeah. And but yeah, it's such a such a privilege to be a parent and it's such a challenge. So, it's a challenge. And yeah. 

 

James Laughlin 

50:25 

Now hopefully one day I get to meet your kids and grandkids, why not if you bring them down for a little holiday to New Zealand, or vice versa if I'm up your direction, but I want to say a heartfelt thank you for taking the time to connect. And for anybody that's watching or listening, please Google, Jeff Walker Launch. That's the book Google Product Launch Formula. That's the amazing course is there anything else you'd like them to check out to connect with you?  

 

Jeff Walker 

No, I mean, I have a blog that I, where I publish every week, I usually it's usually a video I publish every week, it's just a Jeff Walker.com. And sort of along the lines of those of the letters you're writing to your son, the blog, theoretically, I'm a leader in the entrepreneurial marketing world, but many of those blogs I'm recording, those videos are for my kids. 

 

51:14 

You know, just the lessons I want to impart on them. I think that we'll be able to look at 50 years from now.   

 

James Laughlin 

That's beautiful. I'll be sure to put all those links in below. But thanks a million for connecting. I really appreciate it. 

 

51:33 

Thank you so much for listening in today and investing in your own personal growth. Please hit that subscribe button. I would love, love, love If you'd leave me a rating and review as it really helps me to impact more people. I've got some amazing guests lined up in the coming weeks and folks, it's that time. Get out there and live life on purpose.