Jake Blanchard: [00:00:00] The the one I lean on very similar is you can't get upset at results. You don't get by work. You don't do,
Riley: today I've got my friend Jake Blanchard here he is visiting us on the show.
I'm, I'm super excited to have him here. Jake has been the one of the biggest inspirations for me, for not just as podcast, but for my company, salt, electrolytes, and, uh. I don't know if you even know this, Jake, but there's just little, little things you would say over the years that were really encouraging to me and kind of put me in a [00:01:00] spot to think crap, man, maybe I can do this.
And, and, uh, you know, now here we are three, four years later and some of this stuff's coming to fruition. And, and, uh, yeah, man, that's why I wanted you here today. I just, I want the, I want the world to know where some of that nudging came from, that pushed me along. So welcome to the show, Jake.
Jake Blanchard: Hey, I appreciate you having me on, man. And it's been fun to watch, man, you, you're one of those guys that I admire from a business standpoint. I mean, obviously you've been successful outside of the context of salt electrolytes, and you just kind of have that mental scaffolding of like what it takes and the patience to piece it all together.
So over the years, watching you build this thing and be so deliberate about launching a company with great products and great, uh, marketing and all the things, it's, it's been really fun.
Riley: Well, listen, you just so people kind of know what you do for, for a living. I take that pretty seriously when you say, I was so deliberate because I, I, uh, sometimes I'm quirky in my deliberateness, right? And so, [00:02:00] but you tell people what you, what you do for a living and then that's gonna shed some light on why you say what you say.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, so I've owned a management consulting firm for the last, uh, 15 years or so. Um, I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of or large organizations, uh, in kind of complex project management, multinational project management. I've done technology implementations, launched new products, new services, and spend a lot of time also helping organizations, know, find opportunities for efficiency, whether that's reorging, uh, parts of the organization to kind of make things streamlined from a communications or change management standpoint all the way through, you know. When I say reorging, letting people go and then, uh, you know, I'm, I'm really interested in, in growth initiatives. I'm really interested in cost savings initiatives, so, you know, any, anytime, and I'm really interested in technology. So anytime those, there's [00:03:00] the confluence of those types of things, uh, I find myself in those positions.
And, and you know, again, I've worked in retail, grocery, healthcare, animal health, uh, cybersecurity, a variety of organizations.
Riley: Yeah. You know, when we first met, you know, it's been seven, eight years ago, you told me you did consulting and my, you know, like most people, when I hear the word consultant, it means between jobs, right?
Jake Blanchard: Oh yeah.
Riley: But you're the real deal. You know, over the years you've kept with it and you've been involved in some pretty big projects.
And so guys, when you hear Jake's a consultant, this isn't the, this isn't the stereotypical consultant, right?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah. No, I, I totally get that too. And you know, it's funny, I've had some, uh, interesting clients over the years, uh, some of which, uh, are just really. Thoughtful entrepreneurs. I, I think a one in particular, uh, and I'll just, I'll just call it out on this podcast, a guy named Rock Pylon. He, he owns Jim Reapers. [00:04:00] Uh, Jim Reapers is the number one weightlifting belt, uh, on Amazon. And the guy is built, he's just a young guy. He is just so passionate. He just pours himself into his company. And I mean, he's wildly successful, uh, at what he's done. And, uh, you know, I was working with him a little bit on some supply chain redesign and, you know, after a while he was just candid with me.
He is like, Hey, man, like you do, bring value to the table. But quite honestly, like, I'm in this every single day. There's not a lot that you can tell me that I don't know. And when you find a passionate entrepreneur like that, or even yourself, like, you're not gonna go out and hire necessarily a consultant like me that doesn't understand your industry or your business and, and try to advise you.
But outside eyes are important, especially to large organizations. 'cause once that, once that machine gets running, once the complexity of like, people and job descriptions start to erode and fade a little bit, um. It's a, uh, it can be, uh, it can be really helpful to have someone like me drop in.
Riley: Well, hey, did you tell me at one point [00:05:00] that in your career you did something with, uh, like user manuals, you, you, you wrote them or worded them or took a process and put it on paper?
Jake Blanchard: I've done, I've done plenty of that. I've done a lot of that. Um, you know, it's, it was funny. I, uh, tell this story, uh, quite a bit. I've filled it on a few podcasts, but I'll, uh, I'll, I'll talk it, talk it here. I got into consulting in a really interesting way. So when I graduated, uh, from, well before I graduated from Boise State, I was, I was between my junior and senior year I needed an internship and oh eight, the bottom of the housing market kind of fell out and a lot of people were getting laid off at kind of the, the major manufacturing organizations and folks like that in town.
And my degree was in supply chain, so that's where I wanted to work. I had an internship set up with a company called Micron here in Boise, and they called me up and said, Hey, we'll still honor the scholarship we gave you, but we don't have, we don't have an internship role. We're doing so much reorg right [00:06:00] now. I ended up finding an unpaid internship in healthcare at a hospital here in Idaho, and uh, it was 160 hours unpaid internship. But they gave me a security badge that lasts for like six months. And so I was looking at my at the time, my wife now, and I said, Hey, you know, I need to experience a lot more than I need the money. So I went to Ross Dress for Less, got myself some college shirts and things that definitely weren't tailored. And uh, I showed up. I worked every day there for, um, you know, about six months unpaid. And I worked myself into just becoming an expert at their, um, ERP system of what they use to purchase and receive.
And, uh, all those things. I started writing manuals for it to, to help the people who are, you know, do the day-to-day work or, or onboarding new employees. And, you know, I, my background includes like lean process improvement and so there's a [00:07:00] lot of like standard work document writing that's involved in that and, and a whole philosophy around. do you transfer knowledge to an individual that needs to do the same task or repeatable task over and over again? Um, so yeah, I'm certainly interested in that. I'm at a point in my career right now where I don't do a lot of the tactical, like standard work, document development. Uh, but you know, if, if I find the energy for it and an opportunity to do it, I, I certainly will.
Riley: Well, it's, you know, the, the reason I am asking you about that and the reason I, I took an interest in it when you first mentioned it to me. 'cause I was in, gosh, probably only a year or two outside in my other business, my mobile oil change business. I, I had just written all of the procedural documents for the, the entire business.
I've got this extensive file of every process and, and, you know, every operation in that business is documented and it's step by step. And I wrote it. [00:08:00] So that my 10-year-old daughter at the time could follow those steps and get the job done, you know? And so I wrote it to a 10-year-old, and I, so when you brought that up, I was just curious.
Is that, is that what, what kind of a philosophy were you talking about? Is that something similar to that, or am I way off base?
Jake Blanchard: that's, that, that's exactly it. I mean, you know, it's funny, we, we would, uh, we would train executives at this particular health system on, you know, what? What writing process improvement documents, uh, is like, and we would put them through an exercise. And so we would do something very benign and simple like making coffee, right?
So
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Jake Blanchard: write the standard work document for making coffee. And you know, a lot of times it would be like five lines, you know, get the grounds out of the bag, put 'em in the filter, put the filter in the coffee machine, hit start, put the pot underneath, right? But there's so much like there, if you really break it [00:09:00] down and you follow the instructions and you show them all the points of failure that'll happen following that standard of work, you know, you just pour the grounds into the container, right?
And they're like, oh no, I meant put the filter in the container. Well, that's not what you said, right? That's not,
Riley: That's not what you said. Yeah.
Jake Blanchard: what you said in here. Um, and so, you know, the, the whole talk to me like I'm a child thing, that's, that holds up and, you know, we uh, we always point to this really great quote.
There's a guy named George Bernard Shaw. He said the biggest illusion with communication or No, the biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place. And I, I love that
Riley: Yeah.
Jake Blanchard: I say it all the time. Uh, but it really reminds us all to, uh, to, to just take the time and if, if we expect somebody to do something that, you know, we should, uh, you know, we should clearly state exactly what the expectations are, try to include some pictorial representations of what that process looks like or, or what a done, finished product looks like, and, and be open to the fact that our [00:10:00] first few times of communicating that are, are likely wrong and that we need to test it until we can get it right or get who's never done it before to do it accurately the first time through.
Right.
Riley: Yeah, that's a challenge too, man. And I think, you know, in small business there's a lot of books that talk about processes and, and procedures and how to document all that stuff, but they never really give you the nuts and bolts of how to do it. And you know, I ran into a book called Traction by Gino Wickman.
Jake Blanchard: yeah.
Riley: Not sure if you've ever read that, but, um, it.
Jake Blanchard: I'm well versed in the EOS operating system for sure.
Riley: Yeah. Yeah. And that, that really helps me, man. And that's, that's a shout out for that book. If anybody's listening here, you get the book Traction, but it's a, it's more of a workbook than it is just a read, right?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah.
Riley: He's got a couple other story versions of it that walk you through it in a story. Fashion ones get a grip.
It's called, um, again, Gino Wickman. But that changed all that for [00:11:00] me and it helped me to really get a grasp around that. You know, how to write a procedure and how to write it for someone who's never done it. And you're right, man, if you don't pressure test that stuff, you're gonna get some fail failure points.
Jake Blanchard: You know, it's, it's interesting too 'cause I, I do work with small business through my consulting firm, and every now and then I'll run into an organization that's done the EOS implementation and, and they're running their level 10 meetings and things like that. And, uh, I actually built a, a whole mini service in my firm to do strategic planning that compliments what they do in EOS.
And I actually took some principles from lean and some personal experience that I have and merge those things together. Uh, and I've gotten, you know, like I said, smaller business, less than 20 employees, folks like that. But it's, it's been a good service for me. I mean, I, I sell a couple of 'em a year, uh, and I don't really hunt that business all that much.
Riley: And so what originally drew you [00:12:00] to this kind of stuff? Was it was, was that something you're just kind of naturally bent towards or she just fallen that on accident?
Jake Blanchard: Um, a little bit of accident. You know, it was, uh, it was, was one of those things where one of my close friends at the time in college, uh, he was actually the best man at my wedding, uh, stents. We're still friends, but you know, we've, you know, you know, I lose touch with people over time. You know, he started having kids and things like that, but his dad was a, um, worked at HP for a long time. And, uh, had just retired from HP had opened up a consulting firm and at least he was a smart guy. He was my first real business mentor, um, guy named Tom Old. Shout out to Tom Old. Uh, always shout out to Tom Old. And, uh, when I was, uh, engaging this hospital on the back end of that six months. So the rest of the, the, uh, [00:13:00] internship story was that after six months, I was deeply entrenched in all kinds of work that was going on. Uh, in this consulting firm, or excuse me, in this, in this hospital. And I came in and right, right before finals I was taking 18 credits of upper division courses. I was working like 30, 40 hours a week for free. And I was like, all right, I think I got of the experience that I needed to get from this and at least six months of work experience here. So I walked in and I quit. I said, Hey, listen, you know, I I, I don't necessarily have to give you guys two weeks 'cause I'm still a, uh, an intern, so I'm just letting you know I was done like five months ago. I just kept showing up out of interest. Um, well you sign off on my internship. And then, uh, they were like, no, like you can't leave.
You got all these projects going. We don't have staff for it. And they said, well, we don't have a full-time employee position available to you, but we do have a discretionary, uh, consulting budget and they could capitalize costs like that. And, and uh, they actually brought me on through a third party. [00:14:00] Um, and, uh, as a 10 99, and Tom me the advice.
He said, Hey, listen, like. You are, you're a contractor now, and he goes, I know they're not paying you a ton, but if you wanna go through the exercise of starting a business, which I would strongly encourage you to do, go file for an LLC and, you know, go, go try to structure a consulting firm and establish it in 2008. And by the time that you're, you know, in your forties, you're going to, you're gonna be happy that you had, you know, 15, 20 years of experience, uh, under this consulting firm. So I did that, and then about a year later. The health system actually hired me as a full-time employee. I was working on a month to month contract doing process improvement work, just trying to save them money where I could. and then I kept the consulting alive and so I would just always try to find like a side hustle. It was always just like, who's gonna let me work on their business? And it was absurdly low rates for any kind of opportunity that I could get. Whether it was [00:15:00] helping somebody with a sales funnel, whether it was, you know, helping somebody launch a product or, you know, look at their manufacturing processes.
Just whatever I could get my hands into, uh, I, I would do on the side. And by about 2013, I had gotten enough experience in project management, process improvement technology to feel confident enough to go out and try to sign my first big deal. And, uh, thankfully that's what I did. I, I ended up at UCLA medical center for two years doing a huge IT infrastructure upgrade and, and, uh, device refresh, right when they were going through, uh, electronic health record, um, upgrade. And, uh, yeah, that's all she wrote, man. I've been doing a lot of consulting work then since, since right around then, 2013 was, was where I was doing the big boy stuff,
Riley: You know, it's interesting, you, you, you talked about going, you finally felt the confidence to go get your first big deal or go at least try to get your first big deal, right? I see people all the time where they go to start a business [00:16:00] and their first order of business. You know, it's like I gotta file for the LLC and I gotta make some business cards and sort of thing, and I'm gonna go into business for myself.
But you're not in business for yourself until you make that first sale,
Jake Blanchard: right.
Riley: right? You, you just got your name on some papers. That's all you've got. If you got a business card and an LLC. Talk about that a little bit, man. What, what was that first experience like that, that first big account, 'cause I know you remember that one.
Jake Blanchard: Oh yeah, for sure. You know, I, uh, thankfully I, I do a pretty decent job of networking. And, uh, I just happened to know a guy who was leading some it, um, projects there at this hospital that had left to go work for one of the big consulting firms, right? So he was at, you know, one of the, the, they call 'em the, like the big five, right?
So he was at one of those firms and he was doing some consulting for this, uh, uh, for UCLA medical center. And was having a lot of trouble, um, advancing the project for this end user device deployment. They were [00:17:00] behind budget. They had let two or three people go in that role or, or moved them into different positions. And the guy that he had in the position at the time, who I actually knew was doing a great job, but his skillset was, uh, geared toward kinda doing different things on the technology side. So this guy calls me up and he goes, Hey man, I like you. I know that you don't have, like, you have great experience in project management and device deployment and those types of things that I was already doing. And he goes, but you wanna go take a bite outta this? I'll fly to LA every week and, uh, put you up in a hotel and, you know, you just gotta promise me you're gonna work for, 12 hours a day and get us back on track and go crush it. And, uh, thankfully there was a really great team in place, um, just needed some additional direction, most of which were 15 or 20 years, my senior. And, uh, we, we established a great working relationship outta the gate. And, uh, the two years flew by man. I mean, I was finishing grad school at the time at Arizona [00:18:00] State. I was getting a master's degree in supply chain. Um, and then, uh. My wife was pregnant with our first kid at the same time. Uh, so that it, it was a 20 13, 20 14 was a grind. I saw my son for like 70 days, uh, his first year, which is always tough 'cause I, I consider myself a, um, certainly a family man. Um, but I was making sacrifice to try to make that paper and pay off some college debt and, and put ourselves in a good position to start life. And so, you know, sometimes you gotta sacrifice a little bit. And, uh, that's, that's what I did on that contract. But, you know, it, it opened doors for me, uh, in healthcare consulting and opened doors for me, uh, for my consulting firm in general. And it was really great launching point to, uh, to get a ton of experience in a short period of time. Thankfully, I got the project back on track within three or four months.
Uh, and then we executed a high level through, through the entire deal. I.
Riley: And so you said something in there that's, that's curious to me that I know a lot of people really struggle with at the [00:19:00] beginning, right? Is the people you were, you were advising were 15 to 20 years your senior, right? So you're this young guy who comes in there and you've got these much older, much more experienced people, and you've got to give them.
Uh, good advice. You've gotta, you've gotta gain their respect.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah.
Riley: How'd you do it?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah. Well I think that the good thing for me prior to that, uh, contract was that I had been consulting internally for this hospital on process improvement. so that's what my role had evolved into over a period of time with them. And so, you know, I was used to working with executives. I've been used to working with people that, that have tenure in an organization that have been there a long time. what I knew going into it is that they don't recognize me at a peer level. Right.
Riley: Right.
Jake Blanchard: so like how do you become a peer? Well, you become a peer by listening. You become a peer by [00:20:00] relating and you know, really making sure that before you start, you know, changing things that you demonstrate the standard. Right? And that's, that's a big thing. And process improvement is you demonstrate the standard before you change the standard. You make sure that you understand the ins and outs of what's going on, um, before you just kinda rush into that. It doesn't have to be perfect, but certainly it needs to be a collaborative effort. Uh, and that's really what we found, uh, together. And, and quite frankly, there's one person on the team when I got there that really did not like me and did not like me there. And, um, uh, she had some experience running practices. In the organization, uh, and had come over to work on this big IT implementation because she thought it would be a, a good launching point for her career, but she kind of got stagnated and kinda lost in the shuffle a little bit and was doing something that was not familiar to her and that she wasn't happy in. so, you know, after. You know, some difficult conversations. We, we talked and I was like, Hey, listen, [00:21:00] like I fully support you, like finding somewhere else in the organization to go. 'cause you're clearly not happy here and you weren't happy before I got here. So, uh, and my being here makes me even more unhappy.
So like, what can I do to, to help serve you, uh, in, in this, because you have so much to give and so much to offer, um, but you're not feeling seen right now. And, and let's try to figure that out
[00:22:00]
Jake Blanchard: and think she, she figured out on her own, she ended up running up practice within the organization and we ended up working together in a different capacity, uh, as we were installing devices and, and getting their network up to speed, um, with the new implementation.
So it was, uh, it was good, man. I mean, I, I think overall people just wanna work with high performers and they wanna be seen and recognized for the things that they do, and they wanna be respected in the places that they go to work. Uh, and, you know, secretly, I think most people wanna be held to accountable in a way that they kind of understand where the line is.
Right. Some people drive
Riley: Oh
Jake Blanchard: of a
Riley: yeah.
Jake Blanchard: they, they overstress the, the, the people with unreasonable expectations, and then some people don't drive a line at all. then you create this [00:23:00] environment where it's, it's super inconsistent. You just don't know what to expect. And so, as long as, um, I recognize the fact that on the leader of that team, I'm always on parade. I'm the person who's, uh, that they're looking at, uh, on a regular basis and, and what my work ethic is. And, and if I'm doing the things that I say that I'm gonna do, I think we win. Right?
Riley: You know, you mentioned there that people, they wanna know where the line is, right? Um,
Jake Blanchard: Yeah.
Riley: we do something, and it's part of the EOS, but the scorecard, right? The, uh, and I, I have very clear job descriptions that don't overlap with other, other people. And so each individual person that works for me has the man, they know exactly where the line is and then they get these scorecards, right?
And I always, I always tell them kind of in our, in our meetings, our motivational times that the scorecard is there. So if I'm not in the mood to be dishing out compliments that day. You know where you stand. And so I may not have [00:24:00] said Great job, but you look at that scorecard, you know you did a great job.
'cause you, you achieved what you were, your job was designed to achieve. And so I I man, I hear that. I think having those lines makes their life so much easier. I.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, no, I, I couldn't agree more. and you know, it's, it's, it takes a little time to kind of find that balance and find out what motivates people and what they're really interested in. I mean, some people have families, some people don't have families. Some people go to yoga and it's important to them to have that lunch break and yoga.
And it's like, you know, it, it used to be that things were a little more rigid in, in the corporate environment, but I think, uh, talented people have options today. there are available jobs, there are, um, you know, a lot of ways to beef up your resume and put yourself out there. And people will leave you if they don't feel respected or if they don't have a little bit of flexibility in their life.
And I try to keep that in mind in, in anything that I'm doing or anything that I'm working with.
Riley: Yeah, [00:25:00] man. Well, listen, let's, let's move on from the business aspect of it and let's talk about Jake Blanchard and who he is. So tell us, tell us where you grew up and what, what it was like being a kid.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, man, I, uh, I was born just out, I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but I grew out, I grew up just outside of Lafayette, uh, in a town called, uh, like kind of Abyville, Youngsville, Iraq. It's all kind of the same area down there. Um, my parents are both from Louisiana and their families are all from Louisiana or East Texas.
And, uh, we were, we were the family of the group that actually moved outta state. So when I was 10 years old, my dad, uh, got an opportunity to, uh, to move up to Alaska for work. He was in the oil field services business and, uh.
Riley: He said 10 years old
Jake Blanchard: I was 10 years old. Yeah. So
Riley: and no accent. Huh?
Jake Blanchard: you know, I had a speech impediment when I was a kid.
I had a pretty bad lisp and, uh, I did speech therapy from the [00:26:00] time that I was about seven or eight till I was about 12 or 13. And, uh, in learning how to tuck my tongue behind my teeth to say my S'S Sally saw six silly snowman smoking cigars. I'm pretty proud of that. Said that a lot,
Riley: Holy crap.
Jake Blanchard: um, in that process. Uh, and just, you know, uh, being a kid in Alaska, you, you kinda, I lost my accent. Um, somewhere around, I'd say seventh, eighth grade. But, uh, it was very noticeable when, when I got up to Alaska, but, you know, 28 years not living in the South, you kinda lose it. but yeah, you know, found my, found my way up to Alaska. Uh, ended up living in a small town called Soldotna. It's, it's primarily known for fishing. The Kenai River runs right through it. The population kind of explodes in the summertime with people who are, uh, trying to get those, uh, cohos and kings and silvers and halibut and all the things that, uh, Alaska brings to bear. [00:27:00] And, uh, yeah, I mean, an interesting place to grow up. weird to, uh, to move from Louisiana to Alaska in February. We moved up February 16th, it was snowing where we, we loaded our bags up in my dad's company truck and immediately slid into a snow bank. And then my mom looks over at my dad. She's like, what the hell did you do to us? You know, it's that kind of thing,
Riley: With an accent.
Jake Blanchard: yeah. But, uh, you know, after a while you get used to, to being up there and, uh, you know, it was, uh, it was good. I mean, it, it, it got to be outdoors a lot. My, uh, wife I met in Alaska. We were in the same fourth grade class when I moved up there, and then we started dating junior year of high school.
And, and, uh, we've been together 21 years. So the best thing about moving up to Alaska with me is, you know, finding my, uh, numer Uno person.
Riley: Oh, that's pretty rad, man. Would you ever go back?
Jake Blanchard: Uh, I actually just spent 11 days up there.
Riley: I.
Jake Blanchard: my brother [00:28:00] got, uh, married and, um, got to, uh, actually meet, meet his wife and, and her family and, and whatnot, and got to spend a little time out in the water. I tell you what, I get the, the problem I have every time I go to Alaska is I, I get up there after I get there for like two or three days, I just start looking for property and I'm just like, I gotta be up here.
Like, I just get bit by the bug, you know? And then by the time I'm up there for like seven, eight days, I've gotten bitten by about 9,000 mosquitoes. I'm like, oh, well, you know, maybe, it's one of those places I could just kind of visit once a year for, you know, a couple weeks in the summer when, when the time is right.
Yeah.
Riley: Oh my goodness. He got bit by the property bug and the mosquito bug. Huh?
Jake Blanchard: That's it. That's it. Yeah. It's, but you know, I think, uh, I dunno, my wife and I consider ourselves kind of Alaska people, but I think we're more just like outdoor nature people. We get a deep appreciation for, for mountains in the woods and then, and all the things that come with it. So Alaska's kind of a hard place to ignore, especially when you [00:29:00] have some familiarity with it.
Riley: Uh, well, it's, it's somewhere I've never been that I'd love to go, man. Uh, but the combat fishing for salmon does not appeal to me at all. I'd rather go find some remote stinking river and fly fish by myself.
Jake Blanchard: I tell you what? You, you tell me when? I'll tell you where. How's that?
Riley: Yeah, dude, that'd be rad. Um, tell me this, man, and, and, and, you know, maybe, maybe this, maybe I got the wrong impression, but you went through a time in your life where you got pretty heavy
Jake Blanchard: Oh, yeah.
Riley: and had a pretty big weight loss journey, right? And I, I don't know that you and I have ever talked directly about that, but maybe just in passing.
So that's why I'm a little unconfident in my, you know, asking that question. But it seems like you, you did that. So can you talk about that, if that's true?
Jake Blanchard: yeah, no, that's, that's totally true. So, um, I tell you what, the, the, the one thing that was really hard about doing the contract there in LA was being, being away from my wife and being away [00:30:00] from my son. And I think, um. You know, it was a great, great quote. Pedros Kan said it. He said, you know, men are like German Shepherds.
If they don't have purpose, they dig holes. And uh, you know, the reality is, you know, when, when you've got depression and things that, uh, kind of set into your life when you're sitting in a hotel lobby, I didn't know your wife is at home giving your kid a bath, you know, and you're choosing to be somewhere else and exchanging time for money. Um, as a young man in my kind of early to late twenties, that was, that was a hard pill to swallow. And, you know, I, I didn't, I didn't have the mental scaffolding really to, to process that in, in the most responsible way. And so I found myself, uh, letting some, some habits seep in specific, specifically drinking, like I was, you know, going to the hotel lobby at, at night and, you know, it's like six beers or, you know, it's a bottle or two of wine or, you know, it's a, you know, half a handle of a cocktail, you know, and you're, you're getting after it. Um, and, and that's the thing. And so like, work hard. [00:31:00] And then, uh, drank a little bit. Um, and, uh, you know, over time I just got into this pattern of life where, you know, you know, the bartender at the airport, you know, and if you tip him well, he gets you an extra drink or two, like those types of things. And, you know, you're, you're flying Southwest, they give you the drink coupons.
So you got, you know, two or three free cocktails, uh, every time you're flying on flights back home. And so, you know, by the time you get home, you're like eight cocktails deep. And, uh, you know, your wife is picking you up at the airport and you know, you're not, you're, you're already starting the only two days that you have at home before you get back on a flight on Sunday. Um, you know, off on, I wouldn't say the wrong foot, but just one that's not responsible. you know, it was funny, uh, you know, I attribute this a lot to, to a lot of personal growth came out of this time, but, you know, at the time it was really hard to work through. My dad was gone a lot as a kid working out in the, the rigs and the golf.
He was gone two or three weeks at a time. He'd come home for a week, um, or 10 days and then he'd go [00:32:00] out and make the next job. So, you know, there was a lot of, like, my dad was gone a ton. I really didn't wanna do that. uh, when I got home was home a lot, I felt really disconnected with my son. And then I just started eating a lot and just, and it was, I would gain weight and lose weight.
Gain weight, and lose weight. And it's funny, like my friends didn't necessarily notice, but you know, over time I, I ended up kind of getting close to that 250 pound range and for me on a five foot 11 guy's frame, uh, and the way that I carry my weight, you know, I had my belly kind of sticking out and I started chasing my son around a park one day. I was out of breath chasing a 2-year-old. And, uh, this was in mid 2015, and I finally kinda looked at my wife and I'm like, God, I gotta change some things. You know, I, I really need to, I need to find some kind of catalyst of motivation that [00:33:00] I'm interested in enough to, to, to stick with it. And, uh, oddly enough, within, you know, you asked the universe and, and, uh, the universe will provide, I, had an on it sticker on my laptop.
I'd been listening to the Joe Rogan podcast, a bunch traveling back and forth. Uh, you know, you're on these planes, right? So you just download the podcast, it gives you something to listen to on the way home while you're half cocked from gin and tonics. uh, I had, uh, had been ordering like, supplements from, from on it, and I put a sticker on my laptop at, at, uh, the, the place that I was working and the CIO of that company. Who did Brazilian jujitsu at Team Rhino, looked at my laptop and he goes, Hey. He goes, do you do Jiujitsu? And I go, no, no. I did some kickboxing and some martial arts as a kid and have considered doing Jiujitsu because, uh, you know, the Apostle Joe Rogan talks, uh, [00:34:00] he talks a lot about starting jiujitsu and, you know, the, the great benefits in it and those types of things.
And so it crossed my mind because I was very open to the idea and, uh, he said, you should come. You, you should come. We got a really great gym. We got a really great gym culture. You'll love meeting Keith. And so, yeah, you know, I started, I started Jiujitsu in in 2015 on his recommendation. And, uh, the first day that I was there, there was some kid, some 15, 16-year-old kid. It wasn't Marshall, uh, but it was some, kid like that, uh, who just choked the piss outta me. Like the first day that I was there. It, I'm like this 26-year-old, 27-year-old guy who's getting choked out by a kid whose mom's picking him up from jujitsu, you know? And you're like, man, like I, I
Riley: Oh man.
Jake Blanchard: myself. I'm sloppy as a human being. Um, I, I need to do something about this. So I, I made a [00:35:00] commitment to, uh, to, to losing weight and to using Juujitsu as the, the, the anchor for how I operate. And, you know, 10 years later I've stumbled across the Juujitsu Black Belt, and I would say that I'm relatively physically fit.
Um, you know, I, I, uh, 20 pounds almost out of the gate. You know, by the beginning of 2016, I'd lost the first 20, I lost 20 more by that summer. And so I was walking around, you know, well below 200 pounds. Uh, and it stayed that way for a while, uh, until recent, where I purposely put on quite a bit of mass. Um, and, uh, and that's just more of a my juujitsu style thing. I like, I like having the extra weight.
Riley: Well, that's a different, it's a different form of mass though, isn't it?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, it's, it's a little bit more muscle these days for sure, but, you know, everybody's got a couple pounds they can lose. So I'm, I'm, you know, open to the idea.
Riley: Man? I, uh, see you, you've made fitness [00:36:00] quite the. Quite the steady part of your life, at least in the last few years since I've known you and, and probably even more so in the last year or two. Um, you've dealt with some injuries with your knee and, and you had a neck injury there for a while that you were struggling with.
Um, what has recovering from those things look like? Because for those of you who don't know, juujitsu tends to, it's not like you're getting hurt all the time, but Jake City has grappled for 10 years and you're basically been sore for a decade. Something's tweaked all the time. Right. And I, I, uh, I kind of laugh about that sometimes, but I've never had any major juujitsu injuries, but I've had these stupid things all the time.
It's like, oh, my next sore today, my shoulder's sore tomorrow. My, it's constant. How have you dealt with that recovery time?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, I've had, I've had two, two real injuries, uh, in Jiujitsu. I mean, I, I, I don't consider like broken fingers, broken toes as like real injuries that that stuff happens all the time. And most of the time it's just your own fault from planting your feet wrong or, [00:37:00] you know, whatever you do. I, uh, I three quarter tour my ACL. Um, back, you know, five, six years ago in a tournament, I was in a blue belt tournament and, uh, actually it was the Northwest Submission Challenge when it used to be, uh, in a gymnasium and, and trend
Riley: The tournament style.
Jake Blanchard: back in the day. uh, right out of the gate, I, I planted my leg wrong. I twisted my knee when I was kind of defending a take down. And, uh, man, I, I ended up losing that match by arm bar. I, I've rarely been submitted in competition. I, I've lost on points a few times, but rarely submitted. And, uh, you know, this guy beat me on points 28 to zero 'cause I just could not plan on my foot. I couldn't escape anything. I, I didn't, I didn't, uh, wave the white flag.
I was just like, it's five minutes. Like I'm, I'm just gonna suck it up. They caught me with an arm bar in the last three seconds and I was, you know, it is what it is. I like, I like how [00:38:00] that's what I remember more than anything else. It's like, yeah, he got me. Um, but, uh, yeah, the recovery on that was, was difficult.
But they, you know, my doctor actually lives with a torn ACL as well. And, uh, he told me, he was like, Hey, stay on the bike. You know, keep moving that thing. And you know, if, if, if you're committed to, to keeping it active, you can live with it for quite a while. And then as you get older, you know, if your knee blows, you're, you're eventually gonna have to have surgery.
And so I followed his advice and, and the knee flares up sometimes. Um, the neck is what got me. I was, uh, training for the last kind of what they call like super fights or feature fights for the Northwest Admission Challenge. And, and that was two years ago when I was, I was doing Northwest Admission Challenge three and in training going up to it. I, uh, slipped two discs in my neck and I got what's called a neural radio radiculopathy, if I'm saying that wrong, sorry to all the [00:39:00] PhDs that are listening to this. But essentially what it is, is a pinched nerve that's on my, my five six in my neck. It runs down my arm. I lost all the feeling on the inside of my middle finger and, and the inside of my index finger got kind of V there. And then I've got some nerve problems that run through the palm of my hand all the way up into my elbow. And, uh, it's really impacted my ability to lift With my left hand. I get, I get a lot of pain in my forearm and my elbow, uh, some days are better than others, but, you know, I, I can't lift, uh, the way that I used to. I, uh, I probably, think max curl with my left hand about 30 pounds. Which for me is wild 'cause I can do a lot more with my right arm. I don't bench press anything over 135 pounds anymore just because the mechanic of my arm pushing up against that much weight. Uh, my arm becomes very in unstable and, uh, my, my, uh, my hand can go numb when I'm doing it.
So it's a little dangerous for me to do it. So, [00:40:00] uh, and I live with that. I mean, I live with it every day.
Jake Blanchard: Uh, I did two years of rehab, uh, still rehab all the time as far as flexibility and mobility and, and just trying to make sure [00:41:00] that I'm, I'm maintaining weight on it. 'cause if I don't move it. Um, it, it, it hurts.
It actually atrophied that nerve that runs over your shoulder also runs down underneath your pec. And so the bottom of my left pec died. Um, so it's really weird when you feel that side versus the other side. Uh, my left pec is the, it's kind of got like a dip in it. Um, and it's just a, a little, a little striation of muscle, um, that that runs out underneath and, and so it just kind of looks silly.
It's, it almost looks like, uh, something that's. Wrinkled, more than anything else. Um, and you know, it's one of the main reasons that when I'm passing someone, I tend to pass, um, to their right side or, or my left side. I, I, I stop passing so much, uh, to the right. Um, because that, that underhooking, uh, their right arm coming across the body is just something that, uh, you know, I can do.
But it is something that I, I don't [00:42:00] prefer because I do feel the pain, uh, when I'm, when I'm on somebody's, uh, well, I guess it would be their left side.
Riley: Man, so you're to, you're to most people's good side is what you're saying. This is a guard passing, we're talking about in Juujitsu, right.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, yeah. Sorry. It's, I went into, uh, how it's impacted my life negatively, and, uh, it's not, you know, all the pain that I had. I, I actually woke up. I was in so much pain when this, uh, happened to me. I woke up in the middle of the night, uh, almost like sleepwalking and, uh, basically punched a hole through my bedroom door. Um, I was, uh, I would sweat every night, uh, in pain. And I, I don't take, uh, painkillers. Um, I had a, a brief run in my high school days when I was in heavy metal bands, uh, where I abused them, uh, recreationally. And I just, I won't hardly ever take an aspirin or, or an Advil or rin or whatever it is. Um, so I certainly don't, don't take those [00:43:00] things.
Um, so I'd rather, I'd rather know how much pain I'm actually in, uh, instead of numb it. And, you know, that's, that's part of the deal. It's like you can get addicted to those things pretty easily. And, and, um. The pain makes you wanna work on it?
Riley: Yeah, for sure, man. Those are, I feel that way about alcohol. 'cause it, it took out a couple of my, my real mother and my stepmother both, and it's something that I just don't even want to ever, I don't touch it because of that. I, I know that my addictive little personality could very much have a problem with that.
So,
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, I, I
Riley: um
Jake Blanchard: drink, but I, I have a, my rule is I do not drink when I'm sad. Like, I don't, I
Riley: hmm.
Jake Blanchard: drink when I've had a long day. I don't drink when I'm like, I, I drink to celebrate and then I drink in moderation. And, you know, it's been a very, very long time, uh, since I've been even buzzed or what I would consider drunk. Um, and, and mostly [00:44:00] because, you know, I, no good things happen for the most part, uh, when you're blasted. So I, I try to stay away from it.
Riley: Yeah. That's a fact. Um, still on this fitness vein, man, you have taken. You become part of some, some fitness kind of camps. They're like boot camps. They're uh, they're almost like when you describe them to me, almost like a seal training sort of a thing.
Jake Blanchard: Sure,
Riley: Talk about some of that. 'cause you're still involved with a couple of those, aren't you?
Jake Blanchard: yeah, yeah, to some extent. So, um, it's, it's funny, you can scroll across Instagram and every now and then you'll see like a reel, um, that'll have this like former Navy Seal or former marine drill sergeant yelling and screaming at people. And, you know, these people volunteered and I think the point that they make is like, these people spent, you know, X amount of thousand dollars to go get yelled at by somebody for 75 hours. Uh, it does get a bad rap online, and I think of a lot of people have taken the [00:45:00] experience outta context that that program's not around anymore. It used to be called the Modern Day Night Project.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Jake Blanchard: I had to, I was the, one of the first classes that went through it and I, I've gone back a few times, is what they call like a cadre instructor or, you know, somebody help and facilitate the program and, and supporting logistics of it. my, my experience with it is like, there is a, well, I'll, I'll drop another quote here just 'cause I'm a quote guy, but they say most men live lives of quiet desperation. Right.
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Jake Blanchard: And, uh, I think there's a lot of, um, people who have not been, including myself, had, had not been tested in their life with a crucible or like a rite of passage or, you know, something that's being administered to them that forces them to rise to the occasion. And I think for some people the, the military certainly is that outlet where they have an opportunity to, you know, they're locked in. Once you sign that contract, you sign your life away. You gotta take on whatever comes to you or wherever you're told to be, and [00:46:00] however you're told to do it. And, and you get a different mindset that comes out of that.
And, and military service serves some people really, really well. And, and, and I think on the other side of it, it, it, um, you know, some people's, uh, mental faculties are, are actually damaged, uh, from their experience, uh, uh, going through the military. And I, I, I would say the project was, uh, certainly the same way I would say it had the best intentions in the way that it was orchestrated and administered. Um, you basically, for 75 hours, you're nonstop, barely sleep. Uh, you're carrying heavy things all the time. But for a lot of men, including myself, it put me in a position where the walls come down. You just don't have a lot of mental resistance, um, to not fight through, you know, some of the trauma that you might have endured as a, as a young person or some of the realities of, of your life or the position that you've put yourself in. so, you know, I see and have seen a lot of [00:47:00] people grow from that experience. Uh, and, you know, I'm proud to have, have gone through it. I'm, I'm proud to have supported, uh, that particular program. What, uh, what I do now is kind of what's spun out of that program was, was something called, uh, operation Black Site. And this is a totally different experience. It's, you know, a lot of, uh, typically high net worth individuals, uh, who are interested in learning some basic, uh, combatives interested in learning some basic, um, you know, shooting techniques and, and those types of things. So they bring in world class instructors in that they bring in former, uh, or current MMA fighters. So, like, dream Killer Bolanos De Limon, Michael Chandler supported for a while. Uh, Tim Kennedy supported for a while. So there's, you know, various firearms instructors and, and combatives instructors and things like that. And there's also a whole part of the program that's taught by a good friend of mine and, uh, former sir instructor Chris Weichman, that teaches [00:48:00] people how to get outta restraints and how to be situationally aware and how to travel smart and take care of your family. And so, you know, over the two to three days that, that, uh, this program runs, uh, you know, people end up walking away typically feeling like they, they learned a lot, uh, about. Navigating foreign countries or, or that they understand how to go home and, you know, pie the corners with a firearm in their house and kind of understand what would happen if somebody broke into their home.
Like, where are your kids located? Do you have a split floor plan? Those types of things. So, um, I, I love being around that stuff. I love being around people with military experiences or, or unique experiences in life like that, and specifically around being a human weapon or, or being situationally aware.
So I volunteer my time and, and support of that program and, and, uh, some of the programs that they have for fathers and sons called the Squire Program, that, that, um, spawned out of [00:49:00] it.
Riley: . This Squire program you talk about, what has it done for you?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah. I, I think this is a, an interesting nod to the relationship that, that a father and a son have in their life. There's a lot of cultures out there that have what we would consider like a rite of passage, right? Where, uh, a young man comes of age and either, you know, there's the old, like, you know, give 'em a hatchet and put 'em in the woods for 24 hours and they come outta the other side.
Or, you know, it's, you know, some cultures do more extreme things, but we really don't, like societally, we don't, we don't really have a true, like, structured rite of passage that helps, uh, a father and a son talk about the evolving relationship that we have at a really critical point. Uh, in a young man's development, you know, that 12 to 15-year-old range. Uh, is a time where that kid's experiencing some of the most changes in their body, socially, [00:50:00] uh, mentally, the desires that come up, the things that they think about radically change the way that they absorb information from the outside, change the way that they view their mother and their father change. And so it, it, it catalyzes the opportunity to, one, try to get closer, uh, to that young person through a variety of challenges, uh, physical and mental challenges, um, having difficult conversations, uh, about things. And, you know, on the other side of it, the goal is to help, uh, that father and son come out of the other side with, with a changing and evolving relationship.
And, and one that's more mature. I mean, the reality of it is, it is the, is the job of every son to kill their father. And what I mean by
Riley: Explain that.
Jake Blanchard: Uh, what what I mean by that is, um, you know, as, as want your son to be able [00:51:00] to out of the house to operate as a young man right now, not to say that he won't need your advice or your support or you know, your perspective on things and you wanna have the kind of relationship that communication moves two ways and, and that you can support your kid, but you want them to be independent.
You don't want them to be fully reliant on their father their entire life. It just doesn't work. And you see a lot of instances of that, uh, especially, uh, most notably I guess in, in families that might have a lot of money or trust funds or those types of things. And where, you know, the, the young person didn't go out in the world and, and carve their path. Or they've always had safety nets, uh, surrounding them, and they haven't felt the pressure of, of what it takes to go and, and be that man, uh, that, that the world deserves, uh, or that they deserve of themselves. And so I, I like the concept. I'd like supporting those types of events, and I like to see the [00:52:00] relationships shift and, uh, with, as a father, with my son, uh, getting ready to turn 12 here, uh, next week, um, you know, we're, we're considering just doing it as a duo, doing the father son. Um, my, uh, my buddy Matt Ortiz out in Chicago runs, actually a Pedro Sauer, uh, affiliate, uh, trains with Jeff, uh, current out there. And,
Riley: Mm-hmm.
Jake Blanchard: he, he runs one of the franchises there, the, the Squire program. So at some point in time, my son and I will go out there and, and take on the same experience that we've seen, uh, fathers and sons go through for the last couple years now to know.
Riley: Oh, that sounds awesome, dude. Um, listen, can we switch gears and move on to some lighter questions?
Jake Blanchard: Yeah. Anything, man.
Riley: All right, Jake, this is called the Go Earn Your Salt Podcast. And when you hear that term, go earn your salt. What does it mean to you?
Jake Blanchard: Oh dude. I'll do anything for mango salt. I [00:53:00] just, just, you know, going and earning your salt, man, I, I, I love the line, by the way, from, from your company. I wear the shirt that you've got on, um, that, that you gave me, uh, proudly. And I think really what it means is, you know, you need salt in your body to replenish yourself, Um, you've gotta do something. That's physically exerting, mentally exerting, you know, whatever it is, uh, to require replenishment. And so, you know, whatever it is that you do, whether it's, uh, work, whether it's, uh, you know, juujitsu, it's, um, you know, after, after this call, I'm gonna go ride, uh, motorcycles with my son. Uh, and just enjoy that experience. Like, you know, like you can waste a day pretty easy in this life. Uh, you, you truly can. And, um, you know, you gotta go out and you gotta go earn the day. You gotta, you gotta go put out work and effort, um, [00:54:00] and, uh, make sure when you sit down, you put your head on the pillow, uh, that you felt like, you know, you, you, um, made one more memory or, or, uh, worked toward a goal. And, uh, yeah, I, I was probably off the cuff what I'd say, go earn your salt means to me.
Riley: What is your favorite pastime outside of Jiujitsu? You've, you've already spoken of that, of that. It's been a decade doing it, so you must love it. But outside of that, what's your favorite pastime?
Jake Blanchard: Oh, man. Can I give two?
Riley: Sure.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah. I'm a family guy, man. I, I love spending time with my wife and, and my two kids. I'm, I'm so fortunate, uh, just have, you know, and I know you've got kids too, but I've got the best ones just like anybody else, you know, like, kids are awesome, man. I, I really, truly enjoy spending time with them.
Like, uh, last night we played, uh, just randomly, we were doing a random word generator for charades, and it was, there was [00:55:00] no clock, there was no teams. It was just kind of a really organic, uh, moment where, you know, I was asking kids what they wanted to do, and my daughter was like, we should play s and we're like, all right.
Like, sure. Uh, and we get to do stuff like that all the time. I think the other thing is I fell in love with, uh, coaching, lacrosse, and just supporting my son's lacrosse journey. He's a phenomenal young, um, lacrosse player out here in Idaho and, and, uh, it's been really fun to see how seriously he takes it and how hard he plays.
And I, uh. I had always wanted to lean into whatever activities my, my kids are doing. I'd love to lean into my daughter's dance, um, routines and things like that more. But, you know, quite frankly, that's such an individual sport for the most part. I can watch and I can applaud and, and I can create a container to just be there for and support, but, you know, I, I can't make her more flexible, but I certainly can help my son shoot a little bit faster.
Right. So, um, I spent a lot of time with him, um, you know, just [00:56:00] practicing, you know, whenever he wants to, which is, is quite frequently. And, um, had the opportunities to coach his rec league lacrosse and, and as he's getting ready to go into sixth grade. You know, I don't have a lacrosse background. Uh, it's just a sport I fell in love with, with him, um, and, uh, have, have leaned into quite a bit. Um, but I've got to develop other kids through that. You know, I know enough about the sport now that I can teach kids a path and catch and basic movement that's going on on the field and, um, motivate them in, in a really positive and encouraging type way and, and try to fill that role for coach and mentor for some of those kids.
And I've built some really great relationships through that. And, you know, for me, I'd look for as many opportunities as I can to, to, uh, be around my son and pour into other kids and, and help grow the lacrosse community here. So that was a little bit unexpected in my life, but, uh, something that I'm pretty proud of.
Riley: That's great, man. Okay. You're in a restaurant, you order a cheeseburger, not that you [00:57:00] would, 'cause it's not part of a good fitness diet, but you order a cheeseburger and the veggies come below the patty. Is that acceptable?
Jake Blanchard: Oh man. Not at, not at all. I, I don't, here's my thing. I don't mind veggie veggies on cheeseburgers. I don't mind it, but I don't order it. You know what I mean? Like I, if I'm gonna order a burger, like a burger is meat and cheese and in my opinion, some form of onion, whether that's like a grilled onion or whatever.
I, I don't mess around with a whole lot of condiments. I don't mess around with a whole lot of like, you know, whatever. Um, just gimme, like a meat, cheese, some grilled onions, and let me just taste the burger for what it was meant to do. That, that cow, that cow did not die so you could partner it with its food.
It's just, it's just, it didn't happen that way, you know, like, you know, if you want to eat a salad, eat a salad on the side of the burger. Take the salad for what it is. But, [00:58:00] but don't jumble up my burger with your salad.
Riley: Oh man, I'm, I'm feeling you there, bro.
Jake Blanchard: Okay, good.
Riley: Have you ever been in a, have you ever been in a fight that's been not on a, not a juujitsu match or a tournament situation, but on the, on the mean streets,
Jake Blanchard: You
Riley: I.
Jake Blanchard: I really, there's one in particular that I think about all the time. Uh, unfortunately, um, you know, the, the individual who's involved in this with me has, has since passed away. He passed away, oh, I think in oh 6, 0 7, guy named Cody. were in a, well, it might might've been sophomore year, might've been early junior year of high school. And, uh, he walked into class one day and he was just head down, kind of pissed off about something. And I was joking with a kid that was sitting behind me and I grabbed a magazine off his desk and I flipped it in front of my desk. It wasn't even even close to this kid, but he just decided to use it as a trigger. Uh, and he stood over me and he just [00:59:00] started punching me in the face. And, uh, I was laughing at the first couple punches 'cause like, I thought he was just joking, you know, nothing had really connected. Like it was kind of hitting the top of my head and I was doing okay. Job with my hand up, just kinda like blocking, like laughing.
'cause we weren't, we weren't like enemies, you know, we just didn't roll in the same friend group. But I never had a problem with him and he never really had a problem with me. And then he caught me with one that split my eyebrow open. And I, when the blood started coming down, I was like, oh shit, I'm in an actual fight. So I push him off and I'm getting ready to stand up and the teacher breaks us up. And I think about that all the time. Like one empathetically for him. Like he's, what he's going what whatever he was going through, whatever he was working through. As a young man, it just manifested in some really negative energy towards somebody that was undeserving for it. he never really apologized for it, which is fine. you know, and I think about it too is, uh, I was completely unaware. I was completely, like, I didn't take it [01:00:00] seriously. I didn't have my situation or my surroundings and, you know, granted I was 16 or 17 years old at the time, but, um, yeah, that was, that's probably the, the, the one I've been in.
I, you know. of that, uh, before I trained jujitsu, you know, I was breaking up a fight between a guy and another guy and, and actually had some knowledge about how to do a rear naked choke. And I did it, and I squeezed so hard. I busted some of the blood vessels in this guy's eyes. Um, I should have started juujitsu then.
I'd be a lot further along now, but, uh, I didn't. Uh, but yeah, I, I, I try to stay away from all that shit, man. I, I just try to keep my family safe. I try to keep myself safe and, um, and for the most part, um, I, I'm pretty decent verbally, so I will, uh, you know, I, I tend to be able to smooth things over, even between people that are heated between themselves.
Riley: It's interesting 'cause everyone that I've ever interviewed that's a jujitsu or an MMA fighter, [01:01:00] fights on the streets are not appealing, man. They, you know, PE people think they walking around just wanting to do it all the time, but nope, a hundred percent. So far I've said no to that.
Jake Blanchard: I, I say it all the time. It's like, I, I want, I, I love the playfulness, um, of, martial arts or self-defense. Like, there's, there is a, a really interesting dynamic you get from standup, like sparring or, or from, uh. rolling around and things like that. There is no point in my life where I ever want to go and test what I know on somebody else.
It makes absolutely no sense to me why people look for that kind of stuff. And I wanna be out of any kind of aggressive situation as soon as possible. Especially 'cause the liability's different. Uh, one, know, you get in a fight in a bar, right? You punch a guy in the head and his head hits the table and you know, whatever it is, and then the headlines are jiujitsu, black belt beats up some guy in a bar. well that's kind of hard to shake now, right? You know, you're supposed to
Riley: Yeah.[01:02:00]
Jake Blanchard: who's in control. You're supposed to be the person who's measured, or the, the Marco artist, the Mr. Miyagi of it all. And, and, uh, you know, you lose your cool and, and, uh, you really hurt somebody that's not gonna look good for you.
Riley: Yeah, that's a fact. That is a fact. Scariest moment of your life.
Jake Blanchard: Ooh. So when I was 16 years old, I had just gotten my driver's license,
Riley: I.
Jake Blanchard: um, in November. And, um, you know, close to Soldotna, there's a town called Kenai. It's about, I don't know, 8, 8, 10 miles away. me if I'm wrong there, but it takes about 10, 15 minutes to drive it. So when the first Lord of the Rings movie came out 2002 and I was 16, took my buddy to that movie and then, uh, him and I were driving back and I was in the car and I was talking to him about a, uh, basketball game.
And we had went to the night before and me and some of the other knuckleheads that were sophomores in high school and had [01:03:00] trucks, we were kinda like weaving through the lanes and stuff like that. It was a really, you know, it was a fun night. Roads were dry that night, you know, it's Alaska in the wintertime.
Right. So that's important. Well, since. was ice on the roads the following day that had turned into some black ice. And so I was demonstrating, said swerving technique that I had apparently mastered I caught some black ice. And uh, I was going about 55 and the truck turned to the right and started sliding toward the sidewalk, you know, full speed on, on the highway. And, uh, I hit a light pole at about 55 miles an hour. I smashed the back of my truck. And it was right, it was a cab plus, like think of a, a Ford Ranger where it's just, it's not a four door, but it's the one door that opens up. You drop the seat back and they had the little seats that you can pull down. So I hit the cab plus, and then I hit the, the bed of the truck. so I was, you know, I, I hit the light pole so hard. It broke off the breakaway bolts that, that are on the [01:04:00] bottom light pole, bounced out, hit the road. elementary school principal's daughter was five months pregnant, a dog in the back. She ran over the light pole. She had to pull over her dog, hit the glass in the back.
It was just like a whole scene.
Riley: Hmm.
Jake Blanchard: And, uh, know, it was, uh, it was certainly a really scary moment in my life. Um, and it's kind of weird. It's surreal, you know, you get, you get out of the truck, you know, Alaska's always got some kind of like little dusting of snow in the air, and, you know, well, not always, but, you know, in, in this case, it was like lightly snowing it was like midday, it was like four o'clock. so the sun hadn't fully, like I say, midday at four o'clock. It's maybe a little earlier than that because the sun hadn't gone down yet. And usually it goes around three, four o'clock. It, it kind went down there in the wintertime. um, you know, it was just one of those moments where you're looking around you can't really hear anything and you know, what the hell just happened.
And, you [01:05:00] know, thankfully my parents showed up, took me out for pizza, you know, they're glad that I was okay. Uh, but yeah, it was, it was certainly really scary.
Riley: Dude. Yeah. Bucket list challenge. What's something you wanna do in the future?
Jake Blanchard: Oh man. You know, if it [01:06:00] was, if I was the same person right now but was about 10 years younger, I'd tell you I'd want to get in a cage and fight a little bit. I got that in me. Um, but I'm 38 with a bad neck and a bad knee, so that's, I I'm not gonna open up that box. but you know, I, um. I like climbing, like hiking, not like climbing with, uh, you know, belaying and ropes and the whole deal. Um, and maybe about 12, 13 years ago, I went up to Mount Bora and Chicken Out Ridge got me I, I got like
Riley: Yeah.
Jake Blanchard: heights when I was up there. It got weird. My wife actually climbed it, no problem. Got to the top, chugged a beer at the top and then, uh, made her way back down. Um, so I want that one back.
Uh, and for me, I'd like to do, uh, I'd like to do a couple of the, the, uh, ones here in Idaho and, and continue to explore what it's like to do. I don't want a mountaineer, but, you know, certainly [01:07:00] going and, uh, you know, finding that are high elevation that look out to some beautiful views. And, and I feel like, uh, I, I certainly haven't done enough of that.
Riley: That sounds so much fun to me, man, that I've heard that chicken out ridge can, can make people nervous, but never been there, so I it's on my list too.
Jake Blanchard: Dude, it got me, it got, I, I was like, chicken out ridge. And I get up to it and I'm like, oh, this is sketchy. And then, and then you watch like eight or nine year olds like, climb up it, like it's nothing. They're getting a little help from their parents, but, you know, I, uh, you know, it uh, it freaked me out.
Riley: That is really interesting, man. All right. What is a book that you would recommend everyone read?
Jake Blanchard: Oh, man. A book for everyone. Oof. Mm. [01:08:00] Ah, you got me with this one. I've, I've read a
Riley: How about, how about your favorite book? How about your favorite book?
Jake Blanchard: Favorite book. I mean, my favorite, my favorite book of all time is, uh, is Fight Club. Like I, I was a big Chuck Pal fan, uh, when I was growing up. man, I'm, I'm trying to think of a book for everybody though. I, uh, you know, there was a, there was a book that, that, uh, changed me in a really positive way. Um, I don't think it's for everybody, but I think it was for me at the right time. It was a book by, uh, Beres Coolen. It's called Man Up. And, uh, that's, that's what led me to go look for the, uh, the, uh, the opportunity, uh, to go do the modern day night project and help catalyze a lot of, like, growing up and change in my life. And, uh, kinda reading through Pedro's story. And I've gotten close with him over the [01:09:00] years. He's, I consider him a friend. He's, he's done, uh, uh, he's a very successful, uh, businessman. He is, got a, a pretty successful podcast and, and an ecosystem around him now. Um, and, and so I appreciate the mentorship, but at, at the time, I, I didn't know him at all. And reading through that book and just hearing about his story as an immigrant, hearing his story about, you know, making a ton of money and then losing it all, and then, you know, having to grind through and figure out how to do it again and, and what it was like to kind of build an empire and focus on family and those types of things. I, it resonated with me at the right time. So if you haven't read Man Up, I I, regardless of you're a man or, or it could be easily called Woman Up They Up, you know, whatever it is. Uh, I'd encourage anybody to read it.
Riley: That's excellent, man. I I will check that one out myself.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, I got
Riley: I love that question 'cause I get a, I get a reading list now.
Jake Blanchard: Good. Yeah. I might have an extra copy at home when I had,
Riley: Well, listen, we didn't talk about, oh, go ahead.
Jake Blanchard: Oh, I said when I had Pedros on my [01:10:00] podcast, I, uh, I bought a bunch of copies and, and I've been hanging hand 'em out for a while, so I might have one around the house.
Riley: Ooh. Well, if that's an offer, I'll take you up on it, man.
Jake Blanchard: sounds good.
Riley: What's, uh, what's next for you? We, we didn't talk about this, but you also are the man on the Jake Blanchard podcast
Jake Blanchard: Yeah.
Riley: uh, that man I, I talked about earlier in the show that, that, Jake, you were a real inspiration for me to start this podcast. And you were the first guy I called when I, when I had the idea.
I've always really enjoyed your podcast and I, you know, I. We're friends. So it's kind of like, yeah, of course you do. We're we're buddies. But I genuinely have always enjoyed that thing, man. And so I know lately you've kind of slowed down on a little bit, but this is my encouragement back to you to say, we need that out there.
Dude, it was good stuff.
Jake Blanchard: Yeah, you know, I did, I did 150 something episodes and, and in, in a very similar fashion, the way you're [01:11:00] interviewing me now, I've had the opportunity to, to interview a lot of really cool and interesting people with, with great stories. I've always been interested in other people's journeys through life and how they've navigated challenging situations and scenarios.
And, you know, I, I kinda ran into this wall where, uh, about two years ago, where I just found myself looking at it more like a chore than anything else. You know, it's, uh, my podcast was, um, it was never really like revenue generating. Um, I had, uh, some cool sponsors. One, I'm wearing a shirt right now, fuel Will Hunt, uh, which happens to be Ros's Company.
And, and they've always been great. Um, Pedros and Drew and, and some of those guys. Um, and, uh, in supporting me. um, out Drew and Joey. And then, uh, you know, obviously you've got, uh, salt and, and you were, uh, supporting me as a, as a sponsor as well. And then I kind of fell off for a little bit. And here's what I realized is, you know, I named the, [01:12:00] the podcast that Jake Blanchard podcast, and then I started interviewing a lot of people that weren't Jake Blanchard. and I wasn't really coming up with my own initial thoughts or, or, you know, my, my own real thoughts around certain topics. And I think as this has evolved over the last four or five years, I, I think the next iteration of, of the podcast for me is, is certainly gonna include interviews, but. You know, I've gotta get really motivated and excited about it again.
Uh, and this is helping by the way, just being a guest on somebody else's show and, uh, just having an opportunity to, to just talk and reflect and those kinds of things. I, I truly do enjoy it. Um, especially since, you know, you and I get to, to share this forever now, right? I mean, this is a experience that you're inviting me on your show.
I've had you on mine. Um, I love home in a ways like that. but, uh, you know, the, the. Place I'm at in life right now involves a lot of supporting kids sports. It involves a lot of, um, still training juujitsu and, you know, living 45 miles out outside or 45 minutes [01:13:00] outside of town. So there's a lot of commuting and driving.
And, uh, with, with the schedule that I have, I'm just having a hard time, know, scheduling folks and you'll always make time for stuff that you're passionate about. So when that passionate hits me again, um, I've, I, I kind of know what I wanna do for the next iteration of it. Um, but until then, I'll, I'll still keep doing an episode here and there. Um, you know, goal right now is, you know, six to 10 a year. I've done a couple this year and, uh, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll keep it going and, uh, keep it evolving.
Riley: Well, for my sake, man, keep it going.
Jake Blanchard: I appreciate that.
Riley: That's good, Jake. Well, listen, my friend, I appreciate you being on here today, dude. And I just, I wish you well. I'm, I'm excited for what you got coming up and yeah, I just, I am honored that you were, you came on the show.
Jake Blanchard: Oh, brother, I, I tell you what man, I, uh, all the kind things you said about me, I can easily, uh, say back to you in kind. It's, it's one of those [01:14:00] things where you want your friends to win. Um, you and I have trained jujitsu together for a long time. Uh, I've seen each other grow in a lot of ways, gotten into each other's families in some capacity.
And, and, uh, you know, that's, that's what it's all about is, uh, you know, you get one life and you know what a gift it is to share with really cool and interesting people like yourself, man.
Riley: Well, dude, that you know, you, you, the way you just said that you want your friends to win. I think that's. That probably sums that up better than anything is, is you have been there, you have encouraged, you've said little things. You said one time, man, I kind of wish, wish I was doing what you were doing, but I haven't put in the work to do that.
And man, that stuck with me. And you know, you articulated it better. You're better with words than I am. But the uh, the idea of that was just like freak dude. Yeah. You get what you put the work in for. And I heard a quote later. It says, your life is perfectly designed to get the results you're getting.
Jake Blanchard: Oh
Riley: And I thought, holy crap.
Jake Blanchard: The the one I lean on very similar is you [01:15:00] can't get upset at results. You don't get by work. You don't do,
Riley: There it is. See, I told you it was better than the way I put it.
Jake Blanchard: my man. Oh, this
Riley: love it, man. Jake, brother. Go in your salt, my friend.
Jake Blanchard: All right. Take care.