Episode 181: Meet my #1 favorite Motivational Musician… Brotha James (Part 1)

[INTRODUCTION]

 

[00:00:31] Jon: Achieve Your Goals Podcast listeners, Jon Berghoff here. Hey, this episode is one of my all-time personal favorites to have recorded and if you’re familiar with Jeremy (brotha James) Reisig, the musician, well then this is going to be a treat for you. If you’re not familiar, this should also be a treat. I hope it is as much fun listening as it was to record this. I was in town in Traverse City, Michigan just last week which is right near where Jeremy lives and so we got together. We told the story of our friendship, story of how the Best Year Ever Live Blueprint was really what brought us together and we play a bunch of music. So, I’ve never done this before in an episode but we played in a number of songs. It’s a two-part episode so today is part one and hope you listen in to part two. And one more quick shout out to many of you who’ve been picking up tickets, purchasing your seats for the Best Year Ever Live Blueprint experience. I cannot wait to see you.

 

For those of you that intend on joining us, November 17, 18, 19, we’re about to start announcing a lineup of guest contributors, speakers. And this event is sold out every year and I can promise you it’s going to happen again especially once we start promoting who are coming to this event but here’s the deal. BestYearEverLive.com, I think we have payment options for the first time that are still available and they’re probably going to go away pretty soon because we’re getting closer to the event. So, if you plan on joining us, you’re bringing a friend, you’re coming to Entrepreneur Day on Friday, November 17, 18, 19, go to BestYearEverLive.com. And until then, I hope you enjoy this conversation where brotha James and I are hanging out playing some music. Have fun, everybody. Bye.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

[00:02:09] Jon: We’re probably live right now, Jer. We’re probably live right now. Hello, Miracle Morning Community.

 

[00:02:18] James: Hey.

 

[00:02:19] Jon: Hello. Hello. Hello. I’m here with brotha James.

 

[00:02:22] James: Hey. It’s brotha James.

 

[00:02:24] Jon: It’s brotha James. So, check this out. We are tuning in live from Traverse City. Jer, what is the name of that body of water right there?

 

[00:02:32] James: That is the West Grand Traverse Bay which is connected directly to Lake Michigan which many of you know as part of the Great Lakes. And the Great Lakes holds roughly 20% of the world’s freshwater. So, right here in Michigan and surrounding this area is all water. I essentially live on a peninsula. We’re on a peninsula right now, buddy, basically like on a peninsula in the world.

 

[00:02:58] Jon: Would it be appropriate to say that we are peninsula-ing right now?

 

[00:03:02] James: It would be appropriate to say that. Yeah.

 

[00:03:04] Jon: Hey. If you are tuning in to watch us live through the Miracle Morning Community or you’re listening to this Achieve Your Goals Podcast episode, I am here with a very dear friend, Mr. brotha James. Some know him as Jeremy Reisig. Maybe your mom. I don’t know.

 

[00:03:19] James: Yes.

 

[00:03:21] Jon: Well, brotha James is a very dear friend. He’s become a pillar of many of our different communities including the Miracle Morning Community, the Best Year Ever Blueprint Event. So, we’re going to play some music for you today which I’ve never done on an Achieve Your Goals Podcast so this will be a first and then we’re just going to have a chat and talk about the power of music, the music of life, the rhythm of life, shout out to Matthew Kelly. It’s a favorite book of hours and just tell some stories. So, welcome, everybody. Here we are in beautiful Traverse City. I wish you could see what we could see right now. We’re looking out at the water. We were swimming in the water.

 

[00:03:55] James: We were swimming in the water. Yeah. We did a pseudo Miracle Morning. I love thinking of the Miracle Morning in a way that makes it as easy as possible. I once asked Hal, I said, “Hal, what is a miracle morning?” and he said, “It’s anytime you wake up before you have to and do something that empowers you to become the best person of yourself.” So, it doesn’t have to be like all six SAVERS in a row. And what I love about hanging out with you is that we always are doing things like gratitude before breakfast whether it’s here in the hotel or at Restore, so we’ve got like our affirmations around what we’re grateful for and we always did exercise every single morning. Today we treaded water for 10 minutes out there, probably more than 10 minutes in the about 65-degree water after about 20 minutes of Frisbee and stretching.

 

[00:04:45] Jon: Just beautiful.

 

[00:04:45] James: It’s awesome.

 

[00:04:46] Jon: It’s beautiful.

 

[00:04:47] James: Yeah.

 

[00:04:47] Jon: Yeah. It’s great. We seem to regularly start and often finish our days outside in nature.

 

[00:04:51] James: Yeah. With exercise.

 

[00:04:53] Jon: With exercise, throwing and catching something that flies through the air.

 

[00:04:57] James: Sometimes with your kids.

 

[00:04:59] Jon: What are we going to start with, buddy? Want to play a little tune?

 

[00:05:01] James: Let’s start with Grateful.

 

[00:05:02] Jon: All right. Let’s do it.

 

[00:05:03] James: This one’s called Grateful and I’ll encourage you or invite you to think about what it is you’re grateful for today as we sing this song and move through this podcast. It’s amazing the power of gratitude and the things that are right in front of us that can really make us feel and experience those emotions that we’re working so hard to get. A lot of times they’re right there and that’s the power of gratitude.

 

Grateful

 

There came a time in my life,

When I knew I had to try

And open up my eyes

 

It’s seemed so simple to me

Why such a struggle to be

My own insecurities,

are creeping up on me

 

No more time in today

The Sun is fading away

And I’m left feeling cray cray

 

I need to make a change

It’s time to rearrange

Late night in bed I lay

Why does it seem so strange to?

 

Concentrate, on what’s great

And sustain this feeling

Give it meaning, it is healing

With one simple question

 

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things

What am I grateful for

So many simple things

 

Woke Up with a stretch and a yawn

So darn tired I gotta mow this lawn

I gotta call my mom, go to the studio

A couple hours out I gotta write this song

Could be worse if I was fighting a war

Dying from a disease with no real cure

Homeless on the street so cold and poor

And I’m here complaining about all these chores

What am I so grateful for I gotta write it down

So that it makes some sense

About having a job and paying the rent

Food on the table respect for all my ladies and gents

Speaking in languages taking in

Surfing waves in the sunshine Catching a tan

Clean cloths on my back and a couple of raps

My family and kitty cats how about that.

 

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things

What am I grateful for

So many simple things

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things

What am I grateful for

So many simple things

 

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for

What am I so grateful for  (scream!!!!)

 

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things

What am I grateful for

So many simple things

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things

What am I grateful for

So many simple things

 

[00:08:44] Jon: Beautiful, Jer.

 

[00:08:45] James: Good job, buddy.

 

[00:08:45] Jon: Good job, buddy. Dude, this is great. And that’s a beautiful song, man. It’s a beautiful song and I wish those of you that are watching the live stream or if you’re listening to this could be looking at what we’re looking at. If you want to imagine, it’s just a beautiful day. Traverse City, we’re looking out over the water. It’s wonderful.

 

[00:09:04] James: And at each other.

 

[00:09:04] Jon: Yeah. So, I got a great place for us to start today. That song that you just played, you and I first met and first became friends just a few weeks before the first ever Best Year Ever Blueprint Event in 2014 and actually, the first time you ever played that song live was on Sunday morning of that first ever Best Year Ever Blueprint. How cool is that?

 

[00:09:28] James: It’s amazing.

 

[00:09:29] Jon: It’s amazing. I’ll never forget when you played that. I remember where I was like dancing around in the middle of the aisle.

 

[00:09:35] James: Yeah. You’re in the – if I was looking out from the stage area, you’re all the way on the right side of the room so like over house right, right in that walkway of that aisle and I remember watching your face and kind of like looking at the room being like, “This is awesome and we could probably do this a lot more times.” But I was like, “I’m so glad that he’s liking it because that means that we’ll probably be friends and we’ll probably do more of this.”

 

[00:10:02] Jon: Dude, so we should tell the story of how we met through Hal and what’s happened since then and what’s been going on with you and your music and the lessons that you’ve learned and that we’ve learned together bringing music into events.

 

[00:10:15] James: Awesome.

 

[00:10:15] Jon: Let’s go all the way back.

 

[00:10:17] James: Let’s start there.

 

[00:10:17] Jon: Yeah.

 

[00:10:17] James: Well, I remember you being on a lounge chair in your house in Hudson, Ohio and there’s no furniture in the house and you like had just gotten the keys so you just moved to Hudson.

 

[00:10:30] Jon: That’s right.

 

[00:10:30] James: Which is now it’s like near and dear to both of our hearts.

 

[00:10:33] Jon: Yeah.

 

[00:10:33] James: Hudson, Ohio. We spend a lot of time there but you are there 2014 November-ish, 2014. You just moved in the house and you made somehow in your schedule to talk about bringing music to BYEB. You’re sitting on a lounge chair and you’re like where somewhere in the house.

 

[00:10:51] Jon: Yeah. Well, it was in the family room. I mean it was a folding chair, yeah, and we had just purchased that house and you’re right. And for some reason, you and I were talking on the phone the moment that I got the keys and walked into the house for the first time.

 

[00:11:06] James: Yeah.

 

[00:11:07] Jon: And what’s cool about that moment, it symbolizes a few different things happening all at once. Like moving to that house, it was an expression of aligning with our values as a family. We wanted to be near nature. In this house, you and I have now played lots of music around the fire pit in the back yard. We’ve run around the trails in the backyard but it backs up to a lake and all these trails and so that the moment that I talk to you is my first time stepping into the house and it was the first time you and I ever spoke together. And it’s wild to think years later how many crazy memories we’ve created. And I think you and I being introduced is a great reminder too.

 

Hal introduced us, right? You had mentioned to him, “Hey, maybe we could play music at this first event?” And if there’s a lesson in this, I think it’s the importance of trusting in business partners, trusting in your friends. And when Hal said, “Hey, we’ve got to have this guy, brotha James, play music at the first Best Year Ever Live Blueprint Event,” this is like two weeks before the event, I thought we don’t have enough time other than to trust. So, you and I got on the phone and we said, “We’re going to figure this out. We’re going to find a way to play music at the event.” And that was three-and-a-half years ago and since then we probably played music at I don’t know how many events together. It’s been crazy.

 

[00:12:18] James: Over 20 or maybe even 30 at this point.

 

[00:12:21] Jon: Yeah. It’s been awesome.

 

[00:12:21] James: Including my GoBundance events and the Front Row events and BYEB events and the QLM events and the 1Life events like we’ve had a lot of jamming whether it’s in the event or to bring the energy early in the morning. Remember speaker trainer experience? We did like we did the first ever we got a digitalization where I was playing guitar. So, we’ve had a lot of mutual experiences. Something I want to talk about really quick, just a quick shout out to Hal. The reason I even had a chance to mention music to him is that he like literally bootstrap that thing meaning like he was calling everyone he knew to fill up that room.

 

[00:12:59] Jon: For the first Best Year Ever Event. Yeah.

 

[00:12:59] James: You know what I mean? Like it wasn’t like, “Oh, let’s just put this live event together and see what happens.” He was personally calling everyone and being like, “Hey, I’d love for you to be at this event,” and that’s just, I think the lesson there is, you know.

 

[00:13:11] Jon: Hard work works.

 

[00:13:12] James: Hal didn’t just become Hal. It’s like Hal is bringing that, yeah, that extraordinary effort, unwavering faith and extraordinary effort. Unwavering faith that he could put on this live event and extraordinary effort to make the live event, now an event that sells out every year without having to make any of those costs.

 

[00:13:28] Jon: Yeah. Dude, that’s a great point. That’s so great for us to share. That was the Miracle Morning Community and the Achieve Your Goals Podcast Community because a lot of people see Hal in what he has created and you and I have had the privilege to be a part of it as friends of his and supporters and from behind the scenes. And we’ve known him from before there was a Miracle Morning Community and you’re right. He has a tenacity and he has this unshakable determination and a work ethic that is so admirable. It’s so admirable. A lot of people see what he does and they might not realize how much consistent constant effort he’s put into that for 10 plus years. It’s awesome.

 

I’d love to talk about how over the years the Best Year Ever Event has evolved and a lot of it through what you’ve done with music. So, first year was the first year and you brought out the Gratitude song that year which was awesome and that was the launch of the brotha James Best Year Ever all of our communities realizing we need to have live music at every event we ever have. What do you remember about the next year? Next year we were at the Westin I think which is a beautiful room. That was such a great event.

 

[00:14:37] James: I know. We were talking about this yesterday. We were talking about the – I was thinking of it as like the PERMA project, right? Like…

 

[00:14:44] Jon: Oh yeah.

 

[00:14:45] James: And I don’t know if that’s…

 

[00:14:46] Jon: The random acts of kindness.

 

[00:14:47] James: Random acts of kindness but like bringing positivity to a community in San Diego. So, all in San Diego and I guess the biggest like the thing that these people would relate to the most would be the Big Give, right? Like people have heard of the Big Give. So, this is the Miracle Morning Community’s rendition or kind of way of doing a Big Give in the community that we’re in. So, we’re in San Diego and we’re split into like 16 teams of, well, more than that. There are 330 people there and there is – we were all in teams of about 10. So, it’s 30 teams, 33 teams.

 

[00:15:27] Jon: That went out into the city.

 

[00:15:29] James: Went out into the city and did things like…

 

[00:15:31] Jon: Random acts of kindness.

 

[00:15:32] James: Yeah. Or some of those. Like so for my group, we went and we did. So, this is your number two and you guys were taking a chance. You’re like this is half a day. We’re going to send these people out there.

 

[00:15:42] Jon: Yeah. We thought this is a crazy idea and people either are going to love it or they might not love it.

 

[00:15:47] James: Well, it’s an interesting thing because people want something when they put money on the line to come to an event. One of their first questions is, of course, what’s in it for me?

 

[00:15:55] Jon: What’s in it for me? Right. Yeah.

 

[00:15:57] James: And what’s very interesting is that what’s usually in it for us like no matter what we’re going after, there are always feelings that are associated with our goals whether it’s financial, physical, relational, societal, these goals, all we’re really going after is the feelings that they’re going to give us that make us feel like we’re enough to be loved and be proud of ourselves. And by going to an event and thinking you’re going to get this huge take away that allows you to do that, you get it by going and finding ways to give because we know through many different studies that contribution and giving to others is really what gives us that feeling inside of like we’re truly living. So, that part of the event has now become we’ve done it two years in a row.

 

[00:16:37] Jon: In that 2015 event, Jon Vroman was a big influence on this and that was the first year we also in the middle of the event held the Front Row Foundation fundraiser.

 

[00:16:46] James: Right. What a way to give.

 

[00:16:47] Jon: Yeah. So, we’re talking about this last night and it’s fun to look back on what it has led to but one of the things that we did going into that event and for any of you who are listening or thinking, “I’m just listening to these guys tell stories,” when you think about goals that you have, I think a huge lesson for all of us is when you look back to the 2015, we had a question that we created as a group and the question that we created we called it a guiding principle. So, as we were planning the event, we had four or five questions that guided what kinds of ideas we wanted to generate in planning the event. One of those questions was how might we integrate into a personal empowerment event, an experience of something that connects people to a deep sense of purpose? In other words, one of the things that we all believed in his how important it is in our lives and our businesses to be driven by a sense of purpose or to find meaning in what we’re doing or to be fulfilled as we go to work every day. And so, we made it a question. We said, “Well, how do we not just talk about that at the Best Year Ever Event? How do we actually live it out? As we live it out and instead of just talking about it, it might be a deeper impact.”

 

And so, yeah, there were two things that that question really reinforced which was, one, we are going to take this gamble and we’re going to send everybody into the City of San Diego to generate random acts of kindness, and after the fact it ended up being a highlight for so many people. And then the other thing was we hosted right there in the middle of the event. So, many of you we know have been to this event every year and if you haven’t, it’s kind of crazy. We had this idea. We thought, well, we really want to support the Front Row Foundation which for those of you in the Miracle Morning Community, you may or may not or may not be aware of this because we just forget to even remind ourselves but as a community, the Miracle Morning Community is the biggest supporter of the Front Row Foundation. I mean, collectively, the supporters of the Front Row that have come through that community have generated hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in support for the Front Row over the last several years.

 

[00:18:52] Jon: And if you’re wondering if you’re hearing this maybe for the first time, what does that actually mean, the Front Row Foundation sends people who are battling life-threatening conditions, illnesses to sit in the event of their dreams. So, it’s kind of like Make a Wish but it’s really specific and they create a moment for a beneficiary in their families that lives on forever and we know looking back after 11 years that half of all the beneficiaries that we’ve ever served have ended up passing on. So, we create some memory that the families can hold onto and we often hear from those families and we call it it’s a forever thing because those memories last forever. And that’s actually since become a huge metaphor for all of the events we run is we want it to be about creating magical moments. And so that second year 2015 that was a big moment and so I remember you played as far as I knew for the first time in front of an audience, the second year, the Front Row song. Do you remember that?

 

[00:19:49] James: I’ll play it right now.

 

[00:19:49] Jon: Do you want to play it right now?

 

[00:19:50] James: Yeah.

 

[00:19:50] Jon: Let’s play it right now. That’s so much better than talking.

 

[00:19:53] James: The Front Row.

 

[00:19:55] Jon: If you’re listening, this is why you want to watch the live stream so you get the blessing of the appearance of where I’m at.

 

[00:20:01] James: And speaking of living in the front row, we’re at Hotel indigo in Traverse City, Michigan which is a beautiful new hotel in the Warehouse District right downtown and it’s absolutely incredible. Where we’re at, we’re just sitting in the conference room. They were kind enough to let us use the conference room. Hotel indigo has really been a fantastic place for us to connect the last couple of days.

 

[00:20:23] Jon: Front Row song.

 

[00:20:24] James: Front Row song. We just did the Grateful song about 15 minutes ago and this one I’m going to invite you as you’re listening to this in the future podcast, kind of live forever. So, if you’re listening to this on a podcast or you’re with us streaming live, you get three different invitations in this episode, maybe more. So, the first one was to think about what you’re grateful for and if you do that daily, that’s something where you’re training your mind to see gratitude all around you. You’re exercising that muscle, programming that muscle so that invitation to think about what it is you’re grateful for is one of the ways in which we can live a fully lived best version of ourselves type of life because we know that we’re in a great state when we’re thinking of what we’re grateful for. Versus what’s broken, what’s missing, how do I get there, think about how you’re already there and how you might be using what is already great to get there. Second one is we can learn a lot from our Front Row experiences. Like last night, Jon got to play his first live show at a real legit music venue.

 

[00:21:19] Jon: It was legit. Definitely legit.

 

[00:21:21] James: Definitely legit.

 

[00:21:22] Jon: And we were even joined by a Mongolian throat singer and if you don’t know what that is you haven’t lived.

 

[00:21:28] James: Yeah. So, that was a front row moment. What are some of your front row moments? Think about some of those front row moments and if you’re bold enough, that’s not really a challenge. That’s just like if you want to be bold, write those down. Write a couple of them down and just see how you feel as you reflect upon some of your front row experiences and hopefully this song will inspire you to grab that pen to go on to Evernote, keep listening, but go on to Evernote or Notes or whatever and jot those down.

 

[00:21:55] Jon: Shout outs to Jonny Vroman, Mr. Front Row Moment. Shout out to Hal Elrod, the biggest supporter all time forever of the Front Row. Thank you, Hal, for changing so many lives. Shout out to Sharissa and Julien, who were there when this song was played at a very special moment.

 

[00:22:17] James: Yeah. Big time shout out to Brianna.

 

[00:22:19] Jon: Shout out to Brianna Green’s family.

 

[00:22:20] James: Brianna, we’ll be connecting later today if it still works out. You know that means. And a big shout out to Joe Perkins who did the video of the Front Row song.

 

Front Row Anthem:

 

I’m gonna be a moment maker

I’m gonna make this a beautiful life

I’m gonna be a giver not a taker

I’m gonna help other people thrive

 

Step up, give love, it’s time for us to go

Let’s dance to the rhythm and get ready for the show

I know that you and me we were born to be bold

So rise up and strike that Front Row Pose

 

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

 

My proximity to the people places things

Helping me believe in a dream that i see within me

You wanna know what I think

Take a deep breathe let it out and scream

I am the voice, now i will lead

I’m gonna be who I wanna be

See like I wanna see, do what i wanna do

Move how i wanna move

Cmon Dance, Dance to your music

Enjoy the journey while you build your dreams

Dance, Dance well we can use it

And if you feel free when you’re moving to the beat

Imprint the memory in your psychology

Like technology hit control C, copy and paste it to a new scene

It’s a recipe to achieve our dreams, it’s up to you and me to choose our

Seat!

 

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

 

Never Back down

Open up my eyes and redefine reality

Never Back down

Open up my eyes and redefine reality

 

This is the best day of my life

This is the best day of my life

This is the best day of my life

This is the best day of my life

 

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

I wanna live in the Front Row

I wanna hold my hand up high

I wanna let my light show

This is how i live my life

 

[00:26:13] Jon: It’s great.

 

[00:26:15] James: Yeah.

 

[00:26:16] Jon: Dude, so 2015 was the year that you brought that song out. What happened in 2016? Anything crazy at Best Year Ever Blueprint?

 

[00:26:23] James: Yeah. You gave me the go-ahead to be an engineer of musical magic at the Best Year Ever 2016. You said, “Jer, for these Quantum Leap Masterminds,” and for those of you who don’t know what Quantum Leap Mastermind is, Quantum Leap Mastermind is the mastermind group that essentially started out Best Year Ever Blueprint, right?

 

[00:26:42] Jon: That’s right. Yeah.

 

[00:26:43] James: Right. So, Quantum Leap Mastermind and Best Year Ever Blueprint you said, “Hey, for these events this year, I want you to be in charge of bringing in finding a way to get enough drums in the room for everyone to play.”

 

[00:26:53] Jon: That’s right.

 

[00:26:54] James: And that’s where we got Baba for QLM. Shout out to Baba and Baba David and then I said, “You want me to do this for BYEB? That’s like 400.”

 

[00:27:03] Jon: Yeah. We had 400 people playing the drum. Yeah.

 

[00:27:06] James: And that was the Drum Cafe and Natalie who was absolutely phenomenal, the Drum Cafe did such a crazy good job. And that was like, you know, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

[00:27:17] Jon: It was. It was. And there are some things about you related to this that I want to compliment, Jer, that are such great, I think, admirable qualities for anyone to think about. One of them is over the years as we’ve kept looking for ways to play music at these events, I’ve always challenged you and said we’ve got to keep evolving and innovating and it can’t just be better. It’s got to be different. And just for the sake of it being fun to challenge ourselves. And one of the things that have been really cool is to see, and all of your fans have witnessed this, how you have constantly pushed yourself to evolve how you can generate positivity with your music whether it’s at our events or elsewhere.

 

And I think that’s – it’s just such a cool quality that you’ve exemplified that I think all of us could be inspired by is it doesn’t matter where you’re at, where you’ve come from. Let’s keep asking ourselves, how do we evolve? How do we innovate? And I’ve thrown a lot of crazy questions your way and you’ve constantly come back with, your first response is rarely if ever, “No,” or, “I can’t,” or, “I don’t know how.” It’s, “Awesome. Let’s see what that could lead to,” and that’s been so much fun, man. It’s been awesome. So, who knows what we’ll come up with this year.

 

[00:28:29] James: Yeah.

 

[CLOSING]

 

[00:28:30] Jon: All right. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this conversation, this musical conversation between myself and brotha James. We wanted to cut it off right here and you’ll get to enjoy part two next week. If you loved what you heard then we cannot wait to be with you in sunny San Diego, November 17, 18, 19 because we are going to once again be innovating on how we bring live music into that experience. Join us, visit us at BestYearEverLive.com. Take care, everybody. Bye.

 

[END]