About Vip:

Besides having a really cool name, Vip Vipperman is a cool guy with a great story. This conversation would have fit will within the “Iron Sharpening Iron” series because I definitely came away sharper. Enjoy the conversation!

Vip Vipperman is an investment professional and relationship manager who has developed a global network of entrepreneurs, funds, incubators, accelerators, and family offices to build deal flow and catalyze investments. He hosts pitch competitions, keynote events and training sessions for thousands of investors and entrepreneurs annually, and his teams have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for investment projects. He spent 9 years living in Asia and speaks Mandarin Chinese. He is the co-founder of The Lion’s Den DFW.

Phil Burks, Author “How to Eat a Failure Sandwich”

This is a special episode for me. Phil Burks is a friend and mentor. I cannot be more proud to call him friend. In this third visit to the show Phil discusses his new autobiography “How to Eat a Failure Sandwich.” This is a great account of Phil’s entrepreneurial hero’s journey. It’s not just a book about a business well built but a life well lived.

“How do you eat an elephant?” the old joke goes. Answer? “One bite at a time.” How do you get through failure and pain? It’s the same way you eat an elephant or a New York deli sandwich—one bite, one day at a time. These raw stories of what went wrong on Phil’s way to success serve as a reminder not to rush your way through the sloppy parts of life. They’ll challenge you to slow down and learn all you can from the whole messy process. When life serves up a Failure Sandwich, do you refuse to take a bite? Insist this is not what you ordered? It’s never what you want, but failure and disappointment happen to everyone. This book shows how to tuck your napkin under your chin, take a big bite, and start making your way through it all the way to the end.

f you’re a businessman and you’re feeling the tug to stand up taller in your business life, drop an email to me. I’d like to share more with you. You might also like to visit the Promise Keepers website. Additionally, there is a great site that offers daily, devotionals to enrich your daily walk with our Best Friend. Don Emmitte writes these daily 5 minute devotionals: Grace Restoration. It so happens that we attend a fabulous church here in Tyler — Green Acres Baptist Church. Bobbie is a family counselor with close ties to Green Acres and is founder of 413 Center For Change. I’m really involved in the worship and music ministry. To God Be The Glory!

In Him Who Controls All Bits…Phil

Buy “How to Eat a Failure Sandwich” at Amazon

Dr. Aly Cohen

About Dr. Aly CohenDr. Aly Cohen is a board certified rheumatologist and integrative medicine specialist, as well as an environmental health expert in Princeton, New Jersey. She has collaborated with the Environmental Working Group, Cancer Schmancer, and other disease- prevention or­ganizations, and is coeditor of the textbook, Integrative Environmental Medicine, part of the Oxford University Press/Weil Integrative Medicine, Academic Series. In 2015, she created TheSmartHuman.com to share environ­mental health, disease prevention, and wellness information with the public. She lectures nationally on environmental health topics for el­ementary/ high schools, colleges/ universities, medical schools, and physician- training programs, and she is a regular expert guest for tele­vision, print, and podcasts. She has been the recipient of countless awards, including Top Docs NJ in rheumatology from 2016-2021, the NJ Healthcare Heroes Award in Education for The Smart Human educational platform in 2015, and the 2016 Burton L. Eichler Award for humanitarianism.  Dr. Cohen is working to educate and empower the next generation to make safer, smarter lifestyle choices through the creation of en­vironmental health and prevention curricula for schools nationally. Her TEDx talk, “How to Protect Your Kids from Toxic Chemicals”, can be found on YouTube, and you can follow her health and wellness tips and recommendations on Facebook at The Smart Human, Twitter, and Instagram: @thesmarthuman. Sign up for The Smart Human newsletter, read her latest posts at TheSmartHuman.com, and listen to her podcast The Smart Human. Dr. Cohen lives on a farm in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and lots of furry friends.

Megan Lubbers Episode 96

So I used to be the guy who turned his nose up at organic. I thought it was just overpriced food for elitist foodies with too much money and not enough to worry about. I’ve done a 180. For those I judged, I’m sorry. We are seeing more illness, diagnoses of Type 2 diabetes, Autism, allergies, girls with unregulated minstrel cycles. There’s something going on, and I have to believe it has to do with what’s in our food.

Here’s the thing though. Going organic can be overwhelming. Mrs. Wright and I are NOT 100% organic. It’s not something that happens overnight. Is it a little more expensive? Sometimes, but not by as much as you think. Like so many other things, when the market demands something competition arises. When competition arises prices fall. This is the case with organic products.

In this episode, Megan Lubbers and I talk organic, biohacking and other things to make for an overall healthier home for you and your family. She taught me so much, and I know you will gain some valuable insight from this conversation.

From Megan: Living a life as the typical American, taking cycling classes daily and eating fast food and boxed hamburger helper until then 3 year old daughter got sick. Double wammy with impending type 1 or type 2 diabetes diagnosis, coupled with apnea in her sleep and severe rhinitis that impaired her ability to breath out of her nose at all. Megan was studying for her bachelors of nursing and did what she knew best! Dive deep and bury herself into research of food and environmental toxin that she believed were the crux of her daughters health crises. Megan was a migraine sufferer from the age of 8 and struggled with endometriosis as well. 

Changing her life to fully organic regenerative living and riding her home of toxins from cleaners to kitchen cookware and more she saved her daughter from a diabetes diagnoses, heard her migraines and endometriosis. 

She spent 7 years as a cardiothoracic ICU nurse before hanging up her hat to homeschool and travel INSPIRING YOU TO CREATE YOUR ORGANIC HOME and life she SHAREs WITH YOU HOW TO TRULY THRIVE AND BE FREE,  WITH THE TOOLS THAT GOT her THERE.

Instagram @megsnolia

https://linktr.ee/megsnolia

So let me define “The Matrix” as I see it. The Matrix is the physical world we inhabit. It’s like a flowing river where decisions we make are almost made automatically. We like certain things because…well, why do we like those things? Why is one thing better than an another? How do we define our happiness? Is it based on our idea of happiness or what others have told us happy is? I think the ad executives on Madison Avenue, social media influencers, professors and the like have created the Matrix. They create want. We make the want a need. And before we know it we’ve lost sight of what we actually know to be real. We get lost in a plastic world.

Can we make different decision contrary to what the Matrix says? I’ve become a big fan of the content being produced by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They are better known as “The Minimalists.” I first noticed them on their Netflix documentary ‘Minimalism.’ I highly recommend it. These two guys have become famous not for their willingness to live without but for their determination to decide to live a life of MORE of what really matters. They ask the question, “What is essential?” I think their message and lifestyle best describes what I’m talking about.

We live in a material world. That’s what Madonna told us a long time ago, right? So who determines which material we should curate our lives with? Did you choose the clothes you’re wearing or did someone else? Seems like a simple question right? Well, maybe it’s not so simple. I give you the following video from the movie ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ as exhibit “A.”

“That sweater was chosen for you.”

So much of what we accept as our “normal” is the result of societal influences. What if you stopped for a moment, stepped out of “The Matrix” and looked at it from the outside? What if you started to question things like why we need such a big house? Why do so many of the luxury items purchased all look the same? Why do we accept education the way it is?

What if there really is a supernatural world separate from the distraction of the Matrix? This is not some anti-materialism, anti-capitalism religious rant I assure you. I hope this episode leaves you with more questions than answers. I certainly don’t have it all figured out, but I’m searching. I want to get to a place of essentialism. I want to reduce the clutter of life to leave wide open space for the things that matter most. I hope you enjoy this first installment.

Simone Hanlen is a bit of a contradiction. She is an ultra-marathoner, a tennis coach, a fellow Peloton member and a veracious consumer of some of New York’s greatest culinary delights. Because she’s always on the run, you aren’t going to see a picture on Instagram of Simone dining on foie gras at some trendy Manhattan bistro.

Instead you’re most likely going to see her in her running shoes posing with a huge slice of “Momma’s TOO!” Pizza at 2750 Broadway (this is her favorite pizza joint by the way).

As reported many, many, maybe too many times on this program Mrs. Wright and I love New York. While doing a search once I came across @NYCMuncher on Instagram. It was this girl posting amazing food. Not only that, it wasn’t unusual for her to be eating and working out at the same time. I once saw her eating cake with a fork strapped to a barbell.

Since then I have followed Simone through the five burrows of New York learning about some of the coolest little eateries. If you are ever heading to NYC, I highly recommend you checkout her Instagram and start following.

In this episode we discuss daily habits for success, combining passion and work and finding unique ways to standout in the ever-crowded world of social media.

This conversation was every bit as much fun as I had anticipated. I know you, too will enjoy it!

“Too good to be ignored”

I love Steve Martin. He’s the one comedian I’ve watched for almost my entire life. I was born in 1975. Saturday Night Live premiered in 1975. Steve Martin made his SNL debut in 1975. It was at this time my father worked nights at the coal mines near my hometown of Sulphur Springs. One of my earliest memories was watching SNL with my mother when my father worked. 

I suppose it was around 1978 I was actually able to remember Steve Martin. Afterall, I don’t think I remember the 1975 episodes, but my memory begins around the age of 3. I remember when Martin would come out with his banjo, white three piece suit and an arrow through his head. Once he came out and said he had a headache so bad it felt like his head was in a vice. He was actually wearing a huge vice on his head. I had no clue what a vice was, but it was funny the man in the white suit had that “thing” on his head. He was so funny even I as a three year old, couldn’t ignore him.

I’ve been a fan ever since. Martin is the only entertainer who I have paid attention to for basically my entire life. I think he’s a comedic genius. A couple years ago I read his biography “Born Standing Up.” I had no idea what an amazing guy Steve Martin really is. I also didn’t realize he’s a native Texan, which only increases his stock with me.

It was in this book he offered some advice I heard for the first time, and has ever since stuck with me.  When once asked by a fellow performer for career advice Martin replied, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” 

In reading his autobiography as well as listening to reports on Martin’s work ethic, he shows he is someone so dedicated to his craft and has become so good he simply can’t be ignored. I heard a story of  Martin supposedly saying about playing the banjo he didn’t care how long it took him to learn. He figured if he kept at it for 40 years eventually he would have been playing banjo for 40 years. Having this sort of long-term outlook is amazing.

In my effort to hone my craft, I’ve started searching out those who are too good to be ignored. However, I didn’t want to find the obvious ones. George Clooney can’t be ignored, but it’s not because he’s such a good actor, though he is. Like all actors he’s had some breaks, is really good looking, charming and has amazing genetics. I wanted to find those who had excelled in lesser known careers but were so good they couldn’t be ignored.

These are individuals who apply what Cal Newport calls “the craftsman approach” to their work. Indeed some of them are just that–craftsmen. It was in Newport’s book “Too Good to be Ignored” he wrote, “A waggon wheel can’t be noble, but how it is made can be.” I think all these examples share a certain sense of nobility. 

Impossible to ignore #1-Jiro Ono

I wanted to watch something good for my brain. I wanted to be inspired. So I watched a documentary about sushi. I know, right? Not exactly where one would naturally go to be inspired, but that’s what I did.

I had no idea there was such an art to sushi. I got my first glimpse of this during an episode of “Billions.” Mike “Wags” Wagner is at an uber exclusive sushi bar where he notices some guy drowning his sushi in soy sauce. 

Seeing this, Wags loses his sh**. He unleashes on the guy and dresses him down, laying out point by point the training it took for the chef to master his craft. I had to know more. So I set out to find out about the art of making sushi. 

Jiro Ono is the 85 year old owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro,in Tokyo, Japan. The shop only has 10 seats. It’s located in a subway station.

The Jason Wright Show companion episode

I cannot stand having to be in the car for long periods of time. I don’t like not being able to “produce” something. The thing is, I get some amazing ideas while driving. Often I take audio notes for podcast guest ideas, blog ideas, book ideas, ideas for my consulting clients. However, I still don’t feel this is productive time.

Well, I decided on this particular drive to try and experiment. I wrote about it in The Vitruvian Letter. Well, here it is. This is the first episode of “Road Ramblings.” In this instance I was inspired by James Altucher. I wanted to use this as a way to discover. I wanted to “discover” a new way to use these drives.

In this episode I discuss ways you, too can be a “discoverer” and not just a “Googler.” I hope you enjoy it, and take a way a nugget of wisdom to help you in your endeavor to improve always in ALL ways!

Episode 91 Sex, Attachment Issues, Vulnerability and Writing About Burrito Avengers With Adam Lane Smith

This was such a fun episode, and I’m going to be honest it took me to some pretty vulnerable places. I think the best way to be a good host is to be willing to be as transparent as possible with my audience. This episode took me to some pretty sensitive places.

Adam Lane Smith is brilliant. He’s a prolific writer, a retired licensed psychotherapist, a husband a dad and an all around good man. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him through this conversation, and I know you will, too.

Adam Lane Smith is a two-time #1 Amazon bestselling novelist and a retired licensed psychotherapist specialized in trauma and attachment with experience in both clinical and correctional mental health settings. That includes his work in the California justice system where he treated inmates facing the death penalty. He has appeared on over 20 podcasts discussing generational attachment styles, recovering from trauma, and storytelling techniques. 

Adam has written 20 books and coached over 500 aspiring novelists through his program Write Like a Beast. His attachment treatment method detailed in his book Slaying Your Fear is used by mental health professionals across the US, and he has delivered seminars instructing a range of healthcare professionals in treating patients with attachment concerns.

Follow Adam on Twitter @TheBrometheus

Checkout his books and articles at http://www.adamlanesmith.com

In 2009, Coss Marte was sent to jail as the leader of a multi-million dollar cocaine operation. He was also grossly overweight and warned by his physician that his current lifestyle, if left unchecked, would likely kill him. Faced with this grim prognosis, Coss started to get in shape using the tools he had—his prison cell and his own body weight. Within six months, he lost 70 pounds and replicated his successful formula of body weight exercises with 20 other people incarcerated alongside him. After he was released from prison, Coss launched ConBody a “prison style” bootcamp that hires formerly incarcerated individuals to teach fitness classes. Since the launch of his company he’s gained over 25,000+ clients , supported many folks coming home from prison, and has been featured in over 200 major media outlets such as NBC, CNN, The New York Times, TED Talks, and Men’s Fitness. Coss has also won major pitch competitions such as Pitch for Good by TOM’s shoes and the YPO shark tank competition, which combined raised $350,000.

CONBODY is a non-stop, bodyweight, prison-style, fitness method. We proudly hire formerly incarcerated individuals as our instructors.

CONBODY is the first fitness method born in prison, founded by an inmate, managed and run by former inmates. Coss developed the CONBODY method while in solitary confinement. He lost 70 pounds in a 9×6 cell in 6 months using the non-stop, bodyweight method, he created. Coss then used the CONBODY method to help his fellow inmates lose over 1000 pounds while on the inside.

Now CONBODY is the toughest most effective fitness program on the outside.

CONBODY’s mission is to de-stigmatize the formerly incarcerated community, ease their integration back into society, and change the systemic inequity of the criminal justice system. We provide wraparound reentry services for returning citizens. We work with organizations that share our mission to maximize our impact. CONBODY partners with engaged companies to provide fitness & CSR programs. Through the CONBODY FOUNDATION we have expanded upon the original concept of CONBODY in further pursuit of our mission.

CONBODY has worked with over 100 formerly incarcerated professionals with a 0% recidivism rate..