Tough Luck Produces Tougher Resolve: The Jay Myers Story

As an entrepreneur you’re going to be tested and Jay Myers knows this fact all too well. His rocky road to entrepreneur success was paved with stones of both trials and tribulations that seem quiet frankly, in the eyes of a good catholic like Jay a bit “old testament”.   His is a story of faith and pure vision.  He captures his uncanny tale of turning tragedy into triumph in his autobiographical account, “Keep Swinging”.  The title says it all.  The old adage: “The road to success is paved with many failures”, is no less true in Jays case.  Jay turned an untimely termination into the inspiration to step outside of his comfort zone to make his dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true. 

It came down to a case of simple self-analysis for Jay.  He puts it this way, “You have to decide how badly you want to be your own boss.”   Who wouldn’t like the freedom to focus on what they want to focus on? The ability to optimize your time by leveraging other people just seems well, logical.  Jay had a passion for connection people through digital media and turned that passion into a multi-million dollar business.

So who is Jay Myers?  Jay is an unapologetically hungry businessman who learned the importance of financial controls the hard way, the lessons of personal loss in a personal way and succeeded beyond his wildest dream in the wildest way.  As the son of a father who talked business but didn’t own one, Jay’s success is also the story of generational fulfillment.  The greatest tragedy in life is not in what is but is in what could have been.  I was impressed by three major points from Jay's management style:

1.     “Hire the hustles” – You can train salesman to sell but you can’t teach hustle, someone either has it or they don’t.

2.     “Network, network, network” – You have to be an absolute self prompting nut case!  If your not selling your business then who is?

3.     “Community Support” – It’s not an option, it’s an obligation!  Everyone came from somewhere and in turn does business in some community.  Give back a piece of what you took out!