Exiting the Corporate Career

Jerome Myers on transitioning from profit-driven roles to purpose-driven lives

Ric Edelman: It's Friday, May 3rd. On today's show, protecting your brain from Alzheimer's disease. Plus, what do you do when you're at the end of your career? We'll talk with Jay Meyer. When Pfizer was developing Viagra, the goal was to treat cardiovascular problems, specifically hypertension and angina. 

Let's boost blood flow into the heart to strengthen it, they said. But in clinical trials, they found out that the blood flow was going, well, not to the heart, but to somewhere a little bit lower. So, Viagra became the blockbuster drug to treat erectile dysfunction. You know, it's not unusual for drugs that are created to do one thing are discovered to do something else. 

These are called side effects. Sometimes the side effect is better than the intended effect. A pill to treat cancers, was found to regrow hair, and now Rogaine, is a popular prescription for men with hair loss, and an anti malaria drug is now prescribed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. 

So now, after looking at the medical histories of 7 million men who have been taking Viagra to improve their sex life, researchers have found out that these same men have a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease than other men their age. We're talking 69% less incidence. This is after adjusting for sex, age, and other diseases. 

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic analyzed two patient databases, and they found that the drug activated genes and neurons that are associated with cell growth. As well as improved brain function and reduced inflammation. We're not sure yet if we can credit Viagra or not. More trials are needed and they are planned. 

In the meantime, while we wait to see if you ought to start taking Viagra to protect against Alzheimer's, there are some things that we know you can do right now that will help prevent the risk of you getting Dementia later. First, improve your diet. Gee, what a shocker. Everybody's been telling you to improve your diet for decades, and now we know that your diet has a big impact on your brain health. And we know what it means. It means to eat less, and it means to eat a more balanced, nutritious diet, no alcohol, no cigarettes, and we need to reduce sugar and all the bad stuff that you know so well. There are thousands of books on this topic. You really don't need me to go into the detail for you on improving your diet. Just make the decision to do so.  

You also need to exercise regularly. Gee, another shocker. You know the importance of this as well. We're not talking about becoming an Olympic champion or running a marathon. Just one hour a day, three times a week is enough to improve your muscle mass, your heart and lung capacity. And the more physically fit you are, the better your immune system, the better not only your brain health, but your heart health. This is something you need to put into your daily routine.  

And make sure you're getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is a huge stress on the body. We need to rejuvenate ourselves, and it takes eight hours a night to pull that off. Make sure you're getting good, long sleep on a nightly basis. And be sure you're engaging in the activities that are keeping your brain stimulated. Don't just sit there watching TV or scrolling through online posts. Play chess. Play cards. Do puzzles. Engage in active political conversations. Get your blood boiling with it all! 

That means your brain is engaged. Come up with facts and figures, not just emotional biases. Get your brain working. Play games with each other. Go on adventures. Read a fascinating book, not some trivial fiction book of a murder mystery, but go take a college class, go read nonfiction, go learn, do something, get your brain going. That is going to help your brain stay strong. And like I said, you'll keep your heart healthy all at the same time, and I'll bet you end up feeling better, having more fun.  

Coming up next, maybe you're a corporate executive, maybe a founder of a business and you're nearing the end of your career. How do you exit? What's next? Stay with us for a conversation with the host of the Dreamcatchers podcast, Jay Myers. 

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Ric Edelman: You're listening to The Truth About Your Future. You know, you're a corporate executive, maybe a founder of a business, you're nearing the end of your career. And boy, I can personally relate to that. Oh, how do you exit? What's next? Well, to help us figure all that out. I'm really happy to welcome onto the show my friend, Jay Myers. Jay hosts the Dreamcatchers podcast, where he helps company founders, company, senior executives transition out of, Jay, what you call the matrix. Welcome to the show.  

Jerome Myers: Thanks for having me, Ric. Super excited to be with you again. I was grateful to have you on the Dreamcatchers podcast. That episode has done really well. And so to be able to come hang out with you today is super exciting, man. Thanks again for having me.  

Ric Edelman: Well, I'm happy to have you with us. Talk about why you refer to this as, you know, leaving the matrix and you refer to this as the exit paradox. Talk about all that.  

Jerome Myers: Yeah, man. So I think most people that are in this part of the workforce, they saw the 1999 documentary called The Matrix. 

Ric Edelman: I don't know if I'd call that a documentary.  

Jerome Myers: They saw the documentary and they're aware that you know, for a lot of people, they're living in a simulation. They're not living in their truth. They're not living in intentionality. And they're just going the path that was already carved to create it for them. And so we think, and not that we think we found, that there's a whole lot of people who want to do a whole lot more, but they feel like they can't. And they're looking for a way out. They're looking for a path. They're looking to be extracted from this thing that has become their life, but it's not what they were truly searching or seeking for when they began on this journey. It's something that they kind of fell into.  

Ric Edelman: I think I can really relate to that. My client experience over the decades, so many folks enter a field, enter a career with high aspirations, often an idealistic viewpoint, but after you get into it and you're doing it and you're doing it for 10, 20 years, all of a sudden you're making a lot of money. You've got career success, but by making a lot of money, you've built a lifestyle that with a house and a mortgage and you're raising kids in the middle class, upper middle-class environment. You've got a lifestyle where you gotta keep making that money. And you feel trapped and there's nothing you can do about it.  

Jerome Myers: Well, there's a lot you can do about it... 

Ric Edelman: But a lot that people feel that they can't. 

Jerome Myers: Yeah, a hundred percent. And so we want to make them aware of the other options. We want to make them aware that they don't have to continue to do things that they're not passionate about just because they pay well, and we want them to understand that financial freedom isn't the end of the road. I know a lot of people think once they arrive at a specific number that life's going to get better, or they're going to have what most people are seeking, which is fulfillment. But that's not true if they're not living a life of intentionality. And so we spend a lot of time helping people pull back from what they've been pulled into and kind of running on the proverbial will, and actually take observation and do some introspection so that they can figure out what the next play is. 

Ric Edelman: And let's talk about how you do that. You refer to the eight exits of an executive.  

Jerome Myers: Yeah. And so the first one is one, I think most common, and it goes back to the documentary that you say is not a documentary and that's leaving corporate. Most people get out of school after they did well, and they're following the path of the American dream. And so they get a good job and then doing that good job, they learn a whole lot of skills. And then eventually they realized like, this isn't ever going to actually be mine. They realized that, they can't pass that on to their kids. And so they do one or two things. They try to make as much money as possible so they can pass the money on, or they venture out, they exit and go do their own thing. And they move into being chief everything officer. And we call this CEO 1.0... you do everything. And Ric, when you were on the podcast, you talked about those early days, right? Where you and your wife were figuring it all out. And you go from all the structure and the support of corporate to figuring out who's going to actually get the paper from for the printer, because it's not sitting in the file cabinet for you. And then from there, you actually start to hire people. And so the exit number two goes to the being a thought leader or a manager of people. And in that some things are happening without you, but you're more a wizard and you've got a bunch of different helpers, right? You have to set the course. You have to monitor, you have to review it. You got to do QA, QC. And so you still don't really feel like you made any headway. And for the people who left their nine to five, they traded it in for the five to nine. And so they're working a whole lot. Don't feel like they're making a whole lot of progress. And on an hourly basis, they're probably making less than they did when they had a job. But at the end of the day, they can say it's theirs and they have their pride. And so once you get there, then it's like, okay, we have people. I need a manager of the people. So the next exit is moving to that place where you're installing like a chief operating officer so that you can truly become a true CEO and things start happening without you, without you being involved in the fulfillment or delivery, then that next level would be going to a board. And so now somebody else is stepping into the CEO chair and maybe you're chairman of the board and you're directing vision, but you're out of the day to day and you're working on governance, you're working on future casting. And that separation is something that I think is really important for a lot of people, because the identity in those first four, or a person's identity gets wrapped up in those first four phases. I mean, it truly becomes a part of you. And if you don't have the company, you can't say you're the founder of, or the owner of this, you get in trouble. And I bring that up because the next step is the portfolio, right? Once you create some wealth, all right, I skipped a step. So from there, then we go to the exit. So you go chairman of board, then you sell the company. And now you have a cash infusion. You got the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And what do you do with that? Cause most people aren't used to having a whole lot of money and trying to figure out how not to run out of money. 

Ric Edelman: Yeah, this is true. Not just for founders of businesses and CEOs, but senior executive, senior management who are participating in an equity stock equity plan where they've got stock in the company. And then all of a sudden when they leave the firm, they cash in that equity. They get a big fat check, money they’ve never seen before.  

Jerome Myers: It's the biggest wire or check they've ever seen. And, you know, everybody thinks that you should be extremely happy when that happens. But the fact of the matter is there's a piece of you that left. Most people won't talk about the sadness that they feel or they experienced as a result of having to exit. And this is where the paradox comes in, right? Because it's like, I should be happy. This is a great achievement. This is an accomplishment. This is success, but I feel sad. I'm confused. I feel lost. I feel grief. I don't know what's next. And so a lot of, some people will call it existential crisis. I can't spell existential. So I don't use big words like that. I call it the paradox because I do believe that it is different from what most people would say is the existential crisis in the fact that it's brought on by significant achievement. Usually people have the existential crisis when somebody dies. That's close to them. And they're like, oh man, I'm reflecting what's my life about. And that actually happened to me when I was 30, where I drove three hours to go to my buddy Hambone's funeral. And I walked out of there asking the question, well, who would carry my casket? Cause I couldn't come up with the six people that would be fighting other people for that opportunity. And so with the existential crisis, something great happened. You should be excited. Everybody around you feel like you won the lottery and life's going to be perfect from here on out, but there's a whole lot of questions that are being asked. And so there's six centers of doubt that people navigate their way through. And the first one is self-image. And so the self-image is like, okay, well, I've thought about myself as the owner or the leader, the founder of this thing now, it's not a part of my life anymore. I can't say that. And I liken it to the person that wears the high school varsity letterman jacket when they're in their fifties. And they're not going to the homecoming game, but they're still in their hometown. Their greatest achievement or accomplishment was being the varsity quarterback when they were in high school. Now they don't have anything else to connect to. That's challenging for a lot of people. Most people don't want to be seen that way, or whether it was a head cheerleader, whatever their thing was, they peaked early. And so when somebody exits their company, a lot of times they feel like they've peaked and they don't know if they can do anything bigger or more meaningful. After self-image is relationships, people start to ask a whole lot of tough questions, especially when new people come in. Well, why are they here? Are they just here cause they want money from me? I don't want my family to know what happened because they may ask me to borrow money or invest in this thing, and I don't believe in it. Does my partner, right? Whether it's spouse or somebody that you're just building a life with, does it make sense to still be with them with this new found freedom financially? Then you go to work. Well, what do I do every day? Which is level three. I don't have to go do the regimented thing that I've been doing because I don't own the company anymore. And those first three, not only do they create doubt, but they create stress. All of our stresses comprise in our self-image relationship and work. When we go up to health. It's like, did I sacrifice my health in order to get this check and can I wind back the time or did I miss so much of my life that I can't get back? And then level five is where most people peak, right? Level five is prosperity. So now I have the pot of gold, I've got the big check, I've got the big wire, and I can buy whatever I dreamed of. I can buy the Ferrari, I can buy the watch, I can buy the new house. I can, some people can buy the island, but it's empty. And there's, but so much of that you can do, or they don't feel like they can buy it because they've delayed gratification for so long that they feel uncomfortable relinquishing the money. 

Ric Edelman: Oh, I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had conversations with clients where I've said to them in their retirement, when they tell me that they're going to Europe for a vacation, I say to them, you should buy a first class ticket. They get angry with me. What a waste of money. That is, are you kidding? No way. I'm like, you can easily afford this and they can't bring themselves to spending that kind of money to enjoy themselves at that level because they've spent 40 years scrimping and saving and delaying gratification and they can't bring themselves to now recognizing that they're allowed to spend the money they've got. You're absolutely right.  

Jerome Myers: They won't loosen the reins. I’ll never forget sitting in a conference and a guy was on stage and it was, we were talking to a deck of millionaires or they were interviewing deck of millionaires. And he said, I'm worth $11 million. And every day I worry about sleeping under a bridge. And so the thought that delay gratification is a good thing. There's a limit to that. At some point, the prosperity should be enjoyed. At some point, you should be able to release some of the discipline that you had so that you can actually experience what you worked so hard for. And so the prosperity can become a prison, but it's not just finance, like the money or the assets, there's treasures. Which is what we talked about already. There's talent and that's the use of the talent. You've cultivated skills. You're really good at them. If you don't get to use them anymore, you're not prosperous. And then the last one is time. Time is the only non-renewable resource that we have. And so you should fly first class. At the minimum. So you could get your bags first and you can get off the plane first, instead of trying to figure out how to get out of row 31,  

Ric Edelman: you know, that is so funny. You say that because people don't realize that the big benefit of flying first class is not the bigger seat. It's exactly what you just said. Getting off the plane first, getting your luggage first, the massive time saver, compared to sitting in the back of the plane. That's so funny, but it's so true. Todd, for wealthy people, their currency is time, not dollars. How do we save and spend time rather than saving and spending money? 

Jerome Myers: It's a game changer when you realize that the time is more valuable than the money in the beginning. That's probably not true for a lot of people, but as your ability to earn grows, I think it very quickly becomes more valuable. So with talent, if you're not able to use your talent after spending decades, cultivating skills, how will you feel rewarded when you're actually spending your time on something? I just think so many people miss that opportunity to really only do the things they're great at. You know, early on, we were taught to figure out how and learn how to do the things we're not good at. Then as our business grows, we hire people to do that for us, the things that we're not good at, if we're building a strong team. But we don't tend to take that anywhere else in our life. We just do it in the business. And I will tell you if you're doing philanthropic things, it's a more valuable investment for you to spend your time than your money, a lot of times.  

Ric Edelman: So talk about, I think a lot of folks are got a lot of wheels turning in their heads. I think the number one thing people are asking themselves right now is they're listening to you, Jay, is who are the six people who are going to be fighting over the right to carry my casket? I think that's a really profound question that a lot of folks are asking themselves right now. Given everything that you've just said, which is all very insightful and profound, how do we deal with all of this? I presume it means we've got to create an exit plan. How do we go about that?  

Jerome Myers: Yeah. So the, the funny part about that is like level six being significant, it's about the impact that you make on the world. It's you figured out the money problem, which most people spend their entire lifetime trying to figure out. But I think your listeners and many business owners figure out that piece a little bit quicker. And then it's like, well, how can I make a difference in the world? And so we figure out, I call it PILL, Proceeds Invested for a Lasting Legacy. I think a lot of people are out there trying to figure out what their philanthropic endeavor is going to be, but they don't come up with a funding plan for it. And then when they get into this business of philanthropy, they wanted to continue to live on past them. But they don't have a mechanism for it to be funded. And so now they're out on the trail, trying to fundraise. And what I found is when people have businesses and then they're going to ask other people to do things for them, instead of creating inherent value, where it's being perpetuated on its own, just based on the product, that they don't like it. And so when we have these significant financial or these significant capital infusions, I think it is so important that prior to you getting that you create a plan for what you're going to do on the other side. One, because it helps deal with the stuff in the six centers of doubt. You have a plan, you have something to attach your identity to, you know what relationships you need to continue to cultivate in order to be successful at the new thing. You have some true mission work that you can do. You can continue to work on your health and focus on your health as you're doing this because you're being immensely stimulated. And then with the prosperity piece, you're only going to spend so much. Like there comes a point where an extra $10,000 or a hundred thousand dollars doesn't make a difference in the quality of your life, depending on how wealthy you become. And so what if you can go off and do good and get fulfillment with the use of those resources? At the end of the day, I think we become resource allocators. When we get to the highest levels when you think about governance and even as a CEO, but we when we move to that next level of creating fulfillment. I don't know if we fully grasp that that is where the magic happens. And so putting together a plan for the problem that you want to eradicate from the face of the planet, and then building all of the things out, that's going to allow that to continue after your time on this earth expires is the next mountain for somebody to climb when they don't have to solve the money problem. 

Ric Edelman: So how do we do that? Give me some practical steps for getting from here to there.  

Jerome Myers: Yeah, so what we do is we bring people in we do a two hour interview and we get a comprehensive set of data for everything that got them to this point. And in that we dig into the things that they're most passionate about. Again, you talked about people being in roles where they get paid well, but it doesn't stimulate them in a very meaningful way. And so we throw all of that out. We say, if you don't, if you didn't have to work in order to earn money, what would you do? And they talk about vacations and they talk about golf or the beach and some of the other surface stuff. And then we really get down into the nitty gritty because everybody who builds something big has something that's fueling them, something happened. There's some type of trauma. I found that the majority of apex performers have experienced at least one of these five life experiences. And they don't have to have all five, but, and I have had all five. And so it's total financial ruin. It's a near death experience. It is, losing someone close to them when they're young. There's some type of suicidal ideation or mental illness that they work through. And then the last one is people pleasing, where they found that the only way that they feel worthy or get love is by doing or achieving for other people. When you have those five experiences, it usually triggers something in you that you never want anybody else to experience. And so we go through their history. We find that we helped them come up with, this is the problem that I want to solve. And then we reverse engineer from, this is a problem I want to solve. What don't they have? We do a gap analysis to figure out what they don't have. And then we go to a make buy analysis to see, do they want to build this stuff? Or do they want to buy it from some other vendors who’ve already solved it? And then. We start the plan of executing once we figured out how to eliminate the majority of the friction. 

Ric Edelman: It strikes me that what you're describing is a very powerful, but intimate experience of somebody talking with you about their deepest, most innermost feelings, thoughts, experiences. I imagine that some folks might not be immediately comfortable with doing that. They might but they may not be successful at having that conversation. 

Jerome Myers: Well, the success I believe comes from their willingness to be open with someone. I've watched a lot of people try to figure this out on their own. And Ric, you'll hear about people walking the Appalachian trail or backpacking through Europe or spending however long on the island with the hope that magically this thing is going to drop in and be downloaded. Here's the problem. It's hard to read a label when you're in the jar. And so, finding somebody who is willing to go on a journey with you is one thing, but it's something different to have somebody come in and actually write the ingredients out on the label on the jar that you're in. And then to show that to you so that you can actually makes sense of it. Many times when we go through this process, somebody will say, oh yeah, that's not me, that's not what I do. And then we'll say, okay, well, you talked about this during the interview and what about this? And you remember that time when you did this thing? And then they sit back and you're like, I never thought about it that way because they didn't need to be seen that way. It's our goal to shine the light on the blind spots that they have. And then from there, let them sit with it for a while. And then they're sitting with it. They can talk, they can wrestle with the uncomfortability of the fact that they're moving into a new space. And that in and of itself is the most important thing for anybody who wants to go down this path and actually find the transcendence actually wants to find the fulfillment. Because, you know, when I went from being a high school football star to a nobody as a freshman in college, I realized that I had to start over. There was a new start. And when you have done something for so long, you've been the boss. You've been the owner. You've been the check writer versus a check receiver. it's hard to go back to that place. Unless there's somebody that's with you, encouraging you to go on the journey. And so what I would say to that person is, you've been successful at so many things. And with that said, there's been so many things that's tried to eliminate or in some instances, kill you. And you've been able to overcome those things. Being back in that place where you're learning new things and exploring new things and doing things for the first time is one of the most rewarding places if you can get your ego out the way, but your ego is the thing that will prevent you from getting to that new level. And that next level is going to require a different person than the person that has been there in the past. 

Ric Edelman: And following this initial two hour interview process where you're delving into all of this, I presume that there's something following that.  

Jerome Myers: 100%. And so there's a two hour report delivery where we walk through it one on one, and the only request or requirement of the person on the other side is to argue with us if we got it wrong. And so we're presenting this to them. We're talking about the anchors to their identity. We're talking about their satisfaction as it relates to their self-image relationship and whatever work that they've been doing. Your job is to argue with me if we get it wrong.  

Ric Edelman: And how often does that happen? 

Jerome Myers: Never. It's always the reluctant smile and the head nod. Or then we'll talk about some instances where they're like, hey, well, you don't agree with that, but what happened about this and this and this, and they'll say, oh... and so we'll highlight it, or we'll put a question mark beside it. And then we'll get later in the report. And then we'll say, oh yeah, remember when we were talking about this? And they're like, oh man, I guess you are right. And so at the end of the day, we don't spend much time editing reports after they're delivered to the person. And then at the end of that, we have a full plan that we can execute over the next 12 to 18 months, depending on how big the goals are for the person to get from here to there. And so I know I didn't answer your question concisely when you said, well, give me the practical steps. Everybody's plan is unique to their specific skillset and their outcome. And for us, we just think it is the most magical process because now people aren't doing things because it pays them well, they're doing things because it is a problem they've seen. They've been impacted by in some way, and they're going to eradicate it from the face of the planet.  

Ric Edelman: Now, I have to presume that most of these folks that you are counseling, consulting with are married or have a partner. Is this a process they're engaging with as a couple or are they coming individually? 

Jerome Myers: That's totally up to them, right? I found that most people have, and so we do this to see the matrix, and where we ask them about the five people they spend the most time with Ric, and we plot them on this chart and sometimes they're mutually beneficial. Sometimes the people are underutilized other people are uninspiring, and the last group of people are draining. And so with apex performance, a lot of times they have some folks that are draining them. There's no mutual benefit. They're low capacity and they're low contribution to the person's life. I often find that partners are either in the uninspiring box or the underutilized box. It's not always that they're working hand in hand and doing life. It's usually one person's in the front and the other's like, hey, let me know if you need something from me. And so when people are building stuff together, like you and your wife did, I would absolutely encourage people to do that thing together because the next phase of life is going to be together because, here's the fact of the matter, you either grow together or you grow apart.  

Ric Edelman: So how did you get involved in this? Talk about yourself. I mean, you're a young man. You have not, you know, I think most of the people you're counseling are twice your age. No? 

Jerome Myers: Yeah, I looked younger than I am, Ric. But you know, I went to engineering school, played football, got into the power industry and when I was in my early thirties, I got the unique opportunity to build a division of a fortune five 50 company. And I was employee number two. We went from two employees to 175 employees over the course of about nine months. That first year I did $20 million in revenue with 30% profits. On December 24, I got a phone call from the person that I saw once a quarter and talk to every other week and he said hey we're gonna lay half your staff off. That's not the right answer. It's not what I want to do. And he's like, yeah, I know you and I've been talking about this for about two weeks now. I'm letting you know that I made a decision. This isn't a debate. This isn't a negotiation. And I was like, man, this doesn't make sense. This isn't right. I'm pretty stubborn, Ric. So I kept arguing with them. And so he's like, Jerome, it's 4:59pm on Christmas Eve. I'm going to go spend the rest of the year with my family. I'll talk to you in the new year. And he hung up and I was like, I don't know what to do. This is my first time having to decide who stayed, who went. And I just, this doesn't work. And so I didn't sleep. I didn't eat and it really ruined the holidays for me. And still to this day, I don't get excited about holidays because I know what's happening in the fourth quarter. Fast forward. We make the layoffs. We put Humpty Dumpty back together again, and we make another $20 million run another $6 million in profit. I know that people are going to get laid off again. And so I decided to exit corporate America from there. I move into real estate full time, do some fix and flip. And then I get in a multi-family apartment, investing, build a multi-million dollar real estate portfolio. With me and some of the buddies that I went to high school or college with and a couple of high school guys as well. And then I realized that I missed something. It was lonely, right? And so I've got this lone wolf over my shoulder. And that's what I was. I was out there hunting deals. We were doing deals, but I wasn't really developing or impacting anybody in a real way. And so I was like, what do I miss? And it was the statement of Jerome, I couldn't have got this done. If you weren't here, I don't know how I would have done this without you. And that was from developing the new staff, right? If you go from two to 175, you got to build new leaders. Almost in an instant. And so that development was the thing that I was missing. And so I went back in and we started working in financial services, helping, young reps as well as senior leaders. And then this just kind of evolved from that because I was seeing more and more people exit. And, you know, whether it's exit one or exit six, it doesn't really matter. The process is the same. You have to become a new person to go to that next level. And so we were working with them on those things. And I realized that there was a gap in the marketplace because nobody is really, outside of the financial advisors and the brokers who want to maximize the dollars that come out of the transaction, nobody was working with those people who were exiting. Nobody cared about the person that was left behind after the entity was gone. And it just felt wrong to me. It absolutely felt wrong to me. It made me think about when I left the division that I built and how people wouldn't answer the phone for me. And nobody cared about what was going on in my world. Now that I was outside of the matrix to bring it back full circle. And so I was subject one. I was test subject one. And, I swung the pendulum too far one way and back the other way.  

Ric Edelman: And so learning how to swallow that red pill is what you have become all about.  

Jerome Myers: Yeah, I just think it is the ultimate gift that a person can give to themselves. I think everybody who builds something big deserves the opportunity to work on the thing they're most passionate about. 

Ric Edelman: So we're talking with Jay Myers. He's host of the Dreamcatchers podcast. You can reach Jay, at his website, theexitparadox.com, where you'll learn all about the services and work that he provides to folks, which I think for an awful lot of people can be really, really valuable. Jay, what would you say is the key takeaway for folks that are listening to this conversation? 

Jerome Myers: Your dreams should be real. I don't think most people hear that after about age eight. And so you built this big thing. It might be bigger than what you ever dreamed of building, but it's not over. There's something else out there. There's another dream. And there's somebody counting on you to do the thing that's been placed on your heart. So that they can do their thing. We build on each other. I am because we are. And so your dream should be real is to take away a message from me.  

Ric Edelman: That's Jay Myers of the Dreamcatchers podcast, theexitparadox.com. Jay, great to be with you today. Thanks for joining us. 

Jerome Myers: Ric, this was amazing. Thank you so much for your time. 

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Announcer: Have you registered for VISION? DACFP’s biggest crypto conference of the year. It's exclusively for financial professionals and accredited investors. It's June 2nd to June 4th, in Austin. You'll get the latest cutting-edge educational content and actionable ideas from leading investors and industry thought leaders. The information you need about crypto to serve your clients and attract new AUM. This event is designed to maximize your learning experience. No breakout sessions. So you don't miss a thing. Private one one-on-one meetings and dine-arounds. Check out our list of speakers at DACFP.com. VISION has sessions on all the latest in crypto, spot bitcoin ETFs, capturing alpha in crypto stable coins and CBDCs tokenization, AI and crypto. The institutional view of crypto and a whole lot more. And of course, terrific networking. You can also sign up for the optional pre-conference workshop, an introduction to blockchain and digital assets, a four-hour course taught by Ric Edelman. This course includes continental breakfast, lunch, and a cocktail reception at 5:00pm. Registration is only $149 – secure your spot for VISION now at DACFP.com. 

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Ric Edelman: On Monday's show, why buying and selling a house is even more challenging than you realize. If you like what you're hearing, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show, wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, YouTube. And remember leave a review on Apple podcasts. I read them all. Never miss an episode of The Truth About Your Future. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. I'll see you next week. 

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Subscribe to podcast updates: https://form.jotform.com/223614751580152 

Ask Ric: https://www.thetayf.com/pages/ask-ric 

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Links from today’s show: 

VISION – Register Now: https://dacfp.com/2024-dacfp-vision/  

The Exit Paradox (Jerome Myers website): https://theexitparadox.com/  

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Follow Ric on social media: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RicEdelman 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ric_edelman/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricedelman/ 

X: https://twitter.com/ricedelman 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RicEdelman 

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Brought to you by: 

Invesco QQQ: https://www.invesco.com/qqq-etf/en/home.html 

Schwab: https://www.schwab.com/ 

Disclosure page: https://www.thetayf.com/pages/sponsorship-disclosure-fee 

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