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If you combined a hedge fund lawyer, a fitness/wellness entrepreneur, a best-selling author and the creator of The Good Life Project, what would you get? You’d get our guest Jonathan Fields, he’s successfully been all of these in his lifetime!

In episode 137 we talk about his past projects and careers, his 10 business commandments and what he’s learned that has made him who he is today.

More About This Show

Even as a kid, Jonathan was an entrepreneur. A self-professed “lemonade stand kid”, Jonathan was always interested in entrepreneurship and new creations.

After law school, he got a job in a hedge fund firm and did very well for himself. He did so well he was offered a senior partnership, but he turned it down. He knew in his gut that he didn’t want that role and he didn’t want that life. He loved the people he worked with but he didn’t love the hedge fund world enough to make the necessary sacrifices to be a partner.

So he began looking at his other options and saw he had a love of health/wellness, entrepreneurship and fitness. He had saved up a fair bit of change because he knew he was leaving, and that enabled him to take a job as a personal trainer after completing a certification process.

But he did something not everyone else does: he had a building strategy going into the personal training world. He knew he wanted to build a brick and mortar business eventually and so he took the $12/hour job to learn as much as he could about the industry and how to properly serve those in it.

Within twelve months of taking that job, he had his own private practice. After that, he launched his own facility and soon his company was generating revenue in one month that the big box fitness companies were doing in a year.

You’ll also discover things like:

• The moment he knew he had to leave his hedge fund position.
• How he created his first yoga video and why the story pertains to your business.
• The two reasons most people tell you you can’t do something.
• Creative recoil: what is it and how can you avoid it?
• The single worst business idea anyone can buy into it.
• And lots more!

He grew his fitness business for about 2.5 years and then sold it. He found himself drawn into the world of yoga and leased a space near his home in Hell’s Kitchen, a part of New York City. He signed the lease the day before September 11.

Faced with a city in chaos and rubble, he wondered if he had made the right choice or if he should leave it all and forget his dream. Jonathan decided the city needed what he and his team were going to offer so he opened his doors, gave a free pass to all the relief workers and marketed his programs to the average middle-aged person who had never done yoga.

And they flourished. They opened a teacher training certification division, a media division and Jonathan’s knack for publicity and marketing helped them shine.

He continued his work with the studio for seven years and then his interest shifted to online marketing and writing, which led to a book deal. His publicity background helped him land a contract with Random House Publishing.

From there, he developed The Good Life Project which continues to hold his focus today.

One other interesting piece of material he’s created is his 10 Business Commandments. They seem to sum up who he is, what he’s learned along the way and what he’s committed to in business.

1. Thou shalt have a strategy but be open to serendipity.
2. Thou shalt magnify results with delight marketing.
3. Thou shalt train thy mind in the alchemy of fear.
4. Thou shalt find or purchase a sense of humor.
5. Thou shalt embrace the power of mentoring. 
6. Thou shalt do epic shit that actually matters.
7. Thou shalt align thy actions with thy heart.
8. Thou shalt treat people with compassion.
9. Thou shalt exalt love as a business ideal.
10. Thou shalt lead with service and soul.

After you listen to our breakdown of those ten commandments and all the other knowledge-bombs Jonathan dropped, please join me in thanking him for being on the show! You can leave a message in the comments below or send a shout out on Twitter.

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Episode Resources

Jonathan’s web site
Jonathan’s About page
Jonathan on Twitter
Setting The Table, Daniel Meyer
Tony Hsieh
Elon Musk

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