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Speech Transcript

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L. Scott Ferguson: [00:00:00] Time to Shine Today. Podcast Varsity Squad. This is Scott Ferguson and just welcome to the show. This is kind of kicks off our veterans day week. Veterans day is actually Saturday, November 11th, but this is going to drop on, I believe, Tuesday right before veterans day. And I just had a fantastic interview with.

Jonathan Mayo from Iron Front Solutions, who was referred to me by my really good friend, Adam Bird, and from Heroes Media Group, who I am strategically aligned with as well. And my guy, Jonathan, is quite an anomaly. He’s developed an awesome, awesome, of supplement that will help with your mind and your energy and really keep you relentless as he likes to say.

And there’s a giveaway at the end if you listen to that. And also he’s a father and a fantastic consultant that really does not want to have any veteran to feel left alone. And especially if a veteran really wants to grow out, go out. Grow a company he’s there for you. [00:01:00] Fantastic. Fantastic. Consultant.

So without further ado, if you don’t mind smash the like button, or if any veterans or anybody out there, it really needs to be leveled up. Please share this with them. Not only that it’ll help them and it also helps me and my sponsors and affiliates. So again, without further ado, here comes a really good friend from iron front solutions, Jonathan Mayo.

Let’s level up.

Time to shine today. Podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. And this kind of starts off our veterans week. And I’m going, I’m bringing on some of those introduced to me by my really good friend, Adam bird. I don’t know what his problem is. Keep introducing me to army guys and whatnot. I’m just kidding.

My little resting bitch face friend, Adam, man. But seriously, like I got my guy here, John Mayo. We’re, we’re ended up being here. You’re pretty good buddies. Only day this year that we probably won’t be is December 9th at the Army Navy game. But then after that, , we’d be back to good friends. But John is a passionate leader, author, podcast host, and entrepreneur who aims to revoke thought and insight action [00:02:00] as founder of iron front solutions.

He pioneered the strive mythology. To empower organizations and individuals. He also co created the universal learning approach for personal growth and is working to help fellow veterans reclaim their purpose with over a decade of experience across diverse sectors. John is a decisive, creative leader devoted to forging partnerships, catalyzing transformation, and guiding organizations to optimize performance and fulfill their potential.

Not only that he is designed in a fantastic focus interview supplement which we’ll get to towards the end of the podcast. With a free giveaway and John, thank you so much for coming out. Please introduce yourself to time to shine today. Podcast RC squad. But first what’s your favorite color and why

Jonathan Mayo: it’s going to be dark green.

L. Scott Ferguson: Green. I am Packer. Love it, baby. Love it, man. It fits you though. It fits you. Oh, it’s also Johnny rolls jujitsu, which we had a nice little fun grappling conversation before it gets on there. And he’s, I saw if you go on Twitter right now, you can see him on his mats. It [00:03:00] looks like they’re in his garage.

It’s gotta be cold as shit there, bro. Get after it, man. That’s awesome. But man, seriously, thank you for coming on brother. And, and what you’re doing for veterans. To help them reclaim purpose and, and just, and also the veteran owned businesses is just phenomenal, man. So again, thank you for coming on.

Yeah. Thank

Jonathan Mayo: you so much for having me.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, man. So let’s get to the roots brother. Like everybody kind of has their story and when it comes to veterans, people like to hear it and I, including myself, so I’d love to get down to the roots from you, if you don’t mind.

Jonathan Mayo: Yeah, absolutely. Father of four kiddos extremely happily married.

I always like to throw that out there, but I was serving doing very well in the army as an artillery officer in the professional sphere. And I realized that I wasn’t a unified person across all the spheres of my life, the home front, the, , different organization fronts that I was a part of and I realized that for myself to change that I needed to change pace.

So that actually led to me deciding to walk away from [00:04:00] that career in the military of my fruition to become more dialed in as the father, husband, holistic man. I wanted to be and that launched off. And also I kept facing peacetime missions, things like that. So all of that combined faced off with the catalyzing Of my journey to okay, what if I live more intentionally?

What if I focused on myself? What if I work to help others accomplish what they want in their life, right? And that’s bloomed into that wild to hear introduction you just shared very shortly.

L. Scott Ferguson: No, I love it. So you, you had the, you only have so much bandwidth. How many kids did you have while you were serving?

Four. Wow. So you had four in, and then were you deployed much at all?

Jonathan Mayo: I was, I didn’t have the opportunity to deploy, unfortunately, but I was gone 90 percent of the time on training.

L. Scott Ferguson: So your wife is the epitome of a domestic engineer

Jonathan Mayo: then, right? Yeah, she, cause we had four under three, four boys under three.

They’re [00:05:00] all red blooded and getting after it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow. Let’s give your wife a name. What’s her name, brother?

Jonathan Mayo: Her name’s Lindsay. Lindsay,

L. Scott Ferguson: huge shout out to you, my friend. Huge shout out to you. Not only to be married to an army dude, but now four boys under four. That’s amazing. Wow. I’m sorry. I’m kind of like…

Starstruck in a sense that you’re so you stepped away for a little bit more of, , reclaiming your, I like to affectionately call it your dattery, right? Your, your bandwidth, the reclaiming your dattery, right? So you stepped away from holistic. How scary was that

Jonathan Mayo: brother? You know, it, one of the things that I don’t think we talk about enough is piercing the black veil of exiting service.

Right. Because the army does like the military holistically does such a beautiful job of giving us identity purpose drive. Even when we’re unhappy, we’re still freedom fighters and we still have our brothers and sisters for left and right. So it is terrif, it is, it is fear provoking. It’s terrifying to look at getting out, but , courage is not the absence of fear, but action despite it.

So it’s like, okay, [00:06:00] if this is what I believe I need to do for my family, then it’s time to pierce that veil and figure out what’s on the other side. And that’s what we did.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. And what did, what did the family and the wife think? I mean, four littles, , you’re kind of stepping out of, , it doesn’t pay great.

Obviously no heroes get paid enough. Right. But like, what did, what did Lindsay think when you really stepped

Jonathan Mayo: away? She’s rock solid. We had a piece about leaving, but everyone around us was saying that we’re crazy because I was fast tracking to promotion. Everything was going really well. All the valuations are solid.

So everyone’s like, you’re insane. You’re throwing this away. It’s like, no, I’m fighting for the 1 thing that from what I can see is going to really matter over the course of my life and my children’s lives. And with that, she. Supported me. She said, all right, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I trust that you’ll figure it out and I trust we’ll figure it out.

So with that kind of vote in agreement, I dropped my packet and 18 months later, we left. Did you,

L. Scott Ferguson: did you meet

Jonathan Mayo: Lindsey young? [00:07:00] Yeah. So we met in college, actually had our first child in college. It was a surprise opportunity to grow. And then we had our second one. We had all four, we had four under three. So we had all of them very quickly while in university and initial years of service.

So

L. Scott Ferguson: shout out to Lindsay, man. That’s awesome. So tell me about iron front solutions. Am I right?

Jonathan Mayo: Yeah, absolutely. So iron front solutions is my consulting firm and we rock the strive methodology, which is the hyper, hyper simplistic approach to understanding where you are, where you want to go and putting it into decisive action.

That is actually kept front and center. And with iron front, I focus on helping veteran owned businesses or operated businesses that are sub like, , that, that are working to create resilient value driven growth. And they’re my people. That’s where we can create a lot of heat. And that’s what.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it.

And was that your brain child to come up [00:08:00] with iron front and kind of put that into action. So what was your, then why behind it? I mean, when you really dig it, it was a feeling that hit you. It might’ve been in the shower or on the mats or something. Right. But like, when, when did it hit you?

Jonathan Mayo: So iron fronts actually.

The produce of that, like, it’s like the 3rd step of pursuing that. Why? And that why came from being angry at the world about 2 years ago, not being able to make an impact and realizing the only thing I control was what was between my 2 years. And if I did enough of that, it would begin to influence my home community and beyond.

And with the universal learning approach and all that jazz, I was able to focus on myself, small groups, community, creating tools. And then in the last and more recent future is when I was like, okay. The last place I’m not touching is other businesses and organizations. I’ve served as leaders in them for the last decade, but I’ve not, I’ve not created a service offering to help there.

And that was the, okay, it’s time to start the consulting firm. That’s where it’s like, we can [00:09:00] create these solutions and help businesses thrive as well as individuals, communities and everything else. So by bringing that in, it was like the missing piece. It made sense and it was time to put it to action.

So

L. Scott Ferguson: are you working with the, the, the clients as a consultant kind of one on one to get started? Okay. Yes. So you may be in a discovery, , conversation with them. What is some of your secret sauce, if you don’t mind sharing, John, that, , helps them maybe identify their initial blind spot.

Jonathan Mayo: Yeah, absolutely.

Just seeking open ended questions, frankly, because a lot of times, especially if you’re leading a business or working in a business, Missing the forest for the trees, right? You’re so close that everything’s a knife fight, right? Whatever metaphor you want to use, you can’t see the problem. So you just start asking questions and then you start asking.

So, like, ask. So what do you want? What’s getting in the way? And kind of, triangulating between those two questions that there’s a through line that’s typically reveals itself just by understanding what they want [00:10:00] what’s getting in the way because you get desire and frustration and between those two things, you can find true North pretty darn quick and a lot of issues.

So

L. Scott Ferguson: love it, man. While you’re kind of in this discovery conversation and whatnot, you’re really leaning in and listening and finding out what’s really that obstacle, what’s really getting in the way. Is there any good question that you wish they would ask you, but never do? Yeah, I have a, I

Jonathan Mayo: have a personal favorite question.

Yeah. And I’m a, if you’re about to twist it on me, that’s brilliant, but it’s What should you ask me that you wouldn’t know to ask me? And I think that’s a great conversa question for any conversation where you’re getting to know someone, what should you ask me that I, I would not know to ask you?

Right. Because how else can you flush out that black swan Right. Or, or gain some understanding of like, Hey, what’s going on here that I would never even think about. Sure. ?

L. Scott Ferguson: So I love it. I love it. So have you had any kind of situations [00:11:00] where. PTSD is really a major blind spot from really that you had to help them work around that barrier.

And if so, how did you help them with that? , because a lot of business owners that I work with that are veterans, there is some stuff that they never got help with. They’ve crept up and we really had to get them through that. Are you experiencing that in your over at Iron Front?

Jonathan Mayo: So, so just to be radically candid, which is.

How I like to operate iron front just launched in September. So we’re still work. So I’m still looking in seeking those initial like flagship clients, right? That I can partner with up front. That being said, I have worked with individuals in that context, more organically as a part of the team. And, and what I found is like one, if you don’t have some level of agreeance of trust or openness in the conversation, just shut up.

So that’s the first thing, but if it’s welcomed. Or if that relationship has been forged or permissions given right in any of those contexts, then I just [00:12:00] believe in. , it’s very circumstantially dependent. So there’s not a universal fit, but meeting them where they’re at and just Right. And sometimes it takes multiple iterations to get to a point of clarity and progress, but sometimes just the right blunt question shared out of love can really pierce the veal.

So it just depends.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely, man. Cause you’re, you’re coming from a place, like you said, of love and not. Really prying too much and a lot of people will just open up. And I’ve just found, , being having did the deed myself, I’m able to kind of get that out of my coaching clients that are kind of just stuck, man, and it’s just usually that one question you ask them, then they’re like, Oh, , we talked off mic to everybody knows what they want.

They just don’t know how to talk themselves into it. But if I can get that powerful question and really lean into it, then yeah, the breakthrough is just awesome to see. So have you seen the movie back to the future? All right, man. Let’s get Okay, let’s go back to the double deuce the 22 year old about nine years ago for you, [00:13:00] right?

Let’s go back to double deuce john what kind of knowledge nuggets might you drop on? That john right not to change anything because you have four beautiful boys. Awesome Lindsay, did time serve your country not to change that but to maybe help him shorten his learning curve And level up maybe just a little bit quicker Yeah,

Jonathan Mayo: absolutely.

I already had the kids then too. So that’s funny. I would. Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah. And I would never change that. But I think the 1st thing I tell them is become more intentional and everything speak, like, just look in the damn near, sit with your thoughts and really hold yourself accountable or just aware of that, what you’re doing.

That’s really it. Because I think, yeah. The more intentional that we become, everything else follows. We begin to think more. We begin to become more prone to decisive action. We begin to have to sit with that, which we’re not okay with. And we are that we do. And just by becoming aware, purposeful and mindful of those things, everything can start to

L. Scott Ferguson: catalyze.

Oh, it might be the [00:14:00] parenting at such young age that like you look like you’re in your twenties, but you talk like you’re in your forties. Cause there’s a lot that’s going to happen between now and even say my age at 51, right, that you’re going to have all this experience. He just builds up and stack.

You start stacking doves, , your W’s and experiences and stuff, but you’re just talking just from like an old soul, but in a young body, man, that’s, that’s, that’s awesome. I’m paying you a compliment, bro. Yeah. Thank you so much. So how does. John one is dash. Remember that in that little line in between his incarnation date and your expiration date.

Yeah. Hopefully it’s way down the line, brother, but yeah.

Jonathan Mayo: Mortality is real. Yeah. Mortality is very real. And, and knowing that any day could be the last, right. Something that I’m sure you’re familiar with as well. laying seeds for my children in case that day comes soon, right? Between my book and podcast, they have kind of a repertoire of things to help guide them. And that’s been intentional, but ultimately in my dash, I’d love for people to know that I was [00:15:00] intentional and pursued the creation of value and to be part of the solution that the world needed.

I, I categorically. Venomously stand against this idea that the future is doomed and believe that we need to bear up under the weight of responsibility to make certain that it’s not the case. So I would like people to say I was a way maker, someone who helped to transform that bleak picture into something that was vibrant and filled with life and value and love.

And , that’s typically unifying, bring people together and building, but if it takes the sword, so be it. And collectively we can build something

L. Scott Ferguson: then. That’s beautiful, man. That’s true. And then we have to, it’s gotta be a collaboration. Everyone’s competition, division. You have to have the collaboration, man, and synergy.

And that’s what you’re putting together there at Iron Front, which is, which is fantastic, brother. So how about like, let’s go with the, if you really knew me question, if you really knew me,

Jonathan Mayo: what would it be? I’m unbearably relentless. Ooh,

L. Scott Ferguson: love it. [00:16:00] Yeah. Let’s unpack that, that, that relentless, man. We’re, like, again, I don’t know your younger background, but, and I know you compete in, in a sport, or you, , practice a sport where it’s just you and the other person.

There’s no one to pass the ball to. You have, , accountability is 100%. Yes. But where did that come from, man, the

Jonathan Mayo: relentlessness? Intentional cultivation. I. I believe in pursuing a more beautiful question. So the, the other organization, you’ll a universe dot com that that’s really focused on the individual and communal elements of helping veterans reclaim their purpose.

Whereas iron front is for the business side like to help businesses do that value driven growth. But. About three, four years ago, I, right before I learned about Andy Priscilla, 75 hard, I created a personal contracts, so I put myself under personal contract to do some, some terrible thing every day for X amount of time and just intentionally pursuing it pursuing my deals and goals and burning off the bullshit, excuse me, all the garbage, [00:17:00] right?

The it’s grown to now I am. Gratefully waking up between 2 30 and four to get to work training early and then continuing to work until about 6 PM when it’s dad time, right? And then I’m hitting dad and husband time hard as I can. So that that’s not something that I don’t want to glorify, but it’s like beautiful because you can accomplish a lot when you’re willing to invite people into the game and.

Expend yourself fully in pursuit of it. And like the one thing to the competition thing that jumped out, I’d really love to speak to you is creation of value. Value is the only commodity that is truly universe, like is truly limitless. It’s the only thing that on demand, someone can sit down and create something that has some form of value.

And because of that, unless you’re competing against the. Like against some core value, we can only support each other to grow more and to create more value.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that with [00:18:00] my clients, John, a lot of people, , I’m blessed to have some professional athletes and whatnot. And then they just, they don’t go for the kill when they’re on, because they’re such a collaborative, , human being, right.

And they’re having trouble really going for the kill. And that’s where I actually have to develop, help them develop. They come up with a developing alter ego for themselves. It seems like you probably already have that from two 30 to six. , PM, and then you go hard on being dad and husband and you become John.

So what is that person that’s on the clock? That John that’s on the clock. What does he look like?

Jonathan Mayo: The same one that’s sitting here. And that’s actually been an incredibly intentional effort to be a unified expression of self across all domains. But, but the linguistics change, right. And there are some like trappings that do change because, , you don’t want to show up to.

A gunfight with a spoon. So having the right tools for the right application is [00:19:00] important. And I, I think that I’m just, I know it’s no fluff. I keep removing parachutes and the more the accountability directly shoots towards me, right? Is aimed at me, focused on me, the more free I am to get after it. So that, that when I’m on the clock I’d say it’s just.

I’m just shifting focus because when I get off the clock, I have this ritual I do before I go up because otherwise I’m kind of a jerk. Not intentionally. I’m just still in go mode. I feel like very operationally, like, let’s go. But when I go up, I have to shift gears to dad and husband mode. Right?

And in doing that, I just kind of soften, take a deep breath. And relax pace, maybe down to like second gear, but then it’s the same intensity and passion because those four boys are watching me and right. They, they need that intentional interaction. So, not, I just don’t have a good answer that delineates the two.

It’s like, well, I have one life. There is no work life balance. It’s just you and it’s just life. So it’s like, all right, I’m here. So I’m going to be me here and I’m going to get after it. And then when it’s time to be with the family, I’m going to be with them talking [00:20:00] with you. I’m going to be me. So it’s like, I’m living.

L. Scott Ferguson: What I hear in that? I like I’m a huge believer that balance is shit. Balance is junk. I believe a huge believer in harmony, right? It’s it’s like, like harmony is with I liken it with my clients and even with my own life to like a jazz band. I like jazz music, right? So like God might be the drums.

Personal growth might be the trumpets or horns. Family is the piano, on and on through community work, money, living environment, whatnot. But if any one of them is out of tune, it’s going to sound like junk, but that’s all you have to do. If like, if you’re having an issue with one of your four boys, man, you make that right.

You’re back to harmony, ? Yeah. And I love it. Yeah. I hate balance. I hate the word, , cause balance is zero, man. It’s, it’s junk to me. So, , what do you think then people misunderstand the most about you?

Jonathan Mayo: I don’t know because those I’m close enough to I ask a lot of questions because I’m seeking feedback. So I don’t [00:21:00] know where the misperceptions are. I don’t have an answer on this

L. Scott Ferguson: business with my 30 plus years experience. You’re going to start, , maybe, maybe an episode 2. 0 of our interview.

You’ll you’ll, you’ll answer a little bit more of that. No, I get it. Yeah, I,

Jonathan Mayo: I think, just to put something there. I think that. People can think that I’m too focused on high performers and that can become exclusory to those who are not. But the invitation is, is very intentionally to meet you where you are, like based upon the premise of like, it’s not who you are compared to this other guy, but it’s who you are compared to yesterday that matters.

So I don’t really care what you find hard. That does not. Discourage me. It’s not a comparison, but if you’re tackling what you find hard, I care deeply and, and I would say after taking stalling for a minute that’s the biggest misconception, cause I’m talking about pushing hard on every level of life and pursuing that ideal self.

And I think that sometimes that can. Make the gap feel too large for those who are like, man, I’m just trying to like, not drink myself into an early grave. It’s like, Hey [00:22:00] brother, so was I three years ago and, and now I’m not. So it’s, it’s more of the things it’s like, what’s hard to you today is what matters.

Cause you can beat that today and be better tomorrow today than yesterday. So that’d be the misconception. This is for everyone who desires to pursue significance and create value with their life. It’s not for some crazy hardcore dudes though. It’s for them too. It was

L. Scott Ferguson: pretty cool to watch you marinate on that.

, you’re like well, yeah That was awesome, dude That’s perfect. That’s life So if I am at a networking event press and flash meeting some peeps and whatnot It what might be some trigger words that i’m hearing from people i’m talking to because my biggest Compliment is when I walk away, people are like, what does that guy do?

Cause I’m a gatherer, man. I’m my superpower is curiosity, right? So what might I hear them say that would make them a great referral prospect to iron frying to John?

Jonathan Mayo: Yeah, for iron front veteran owned or operated business, [00:23:00] that’s wanting to accomplish more, right? They’re stuck or they want to grow more aggressively or they need to do a pivot, right?

I can help with that strategy and change management on the individual side, on the individual communal, it’s any of that free fall that you pick up that someone’s seeking either their 2nd mission. If they served or their 2nd mountain pursuits is what I call it. If they didn’t where it’s like, okay, I’ve, I’ve accomplished this.

Yeah. Now what do I do with the rest of my time? , it’s like, what’s going to actually add flavor, light, and value to my life so I can shine, right? And that’s, that’s where that is. And I call you a super connector, and that’s what I’m working to be as well. Someone who’s like, You’re genuinely seeking to help others and in so doing, you get to meet a lot of cool people.

And I’m very interested in that. And as far as like client and service, that’ll come. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. Yeah. It all, it all leads there. There’s a formula. If you want to use that word for everything, , once you start living a life of intention, like you are and being able to [00:24:00] provide and serve, serve, serve until hurts so good, man, that’s, that, that’s where it happened.

It happened for me. Once I stopped trying and just started serving. It was like, Oh, this dude plays for, , the Miami Marlins. He’d really like to have a chat with you, , or whatever, , it just started happening. Cause I wasn’t trying, don’t get me wrong. I was still grinding and, and the grit was there, but it was like, I wasn’t trying to be somebody that I wasn’t.

Everyone would be like, tone it down for a year loud. And finally a couple of people are like, dude, your nickname on stage is the boomer. Like, I don’t need a fucking mic, dude, excuse me, a freaking mic, I bring it, , I’m 6’1 I’m 240, I’m pretty well put together, I carry a stage, and I would try to dumb it down, and just be like this, and it’s just like, dude, , I can’t do that, so, I love that you’re being authentic there, so then, John, what is your definition of a life well lived?

Jonathan Mayo: , that, that is where the invitation comes in, because that is to the eye of the beholder, right, like beauty, you have to define that for yourself, what, is a life well lived for me. For myself, [00:25:00] that is that I’ve upheld and exceeded my responsibility to my wife, Lindsay, and to my sons, and that I’ve created value in the world, right?

That I’ve not stood silently by as evils prospered, and that I’ve actually helped make some things of value. That for me literally fuels every day. Like I cannot give a more authentic answer. You

L. Scott Ferguson: have five heartbeats that are relying on you and really look in your way, brother, there’s nothing else in that harmonic life.

Like your harmonic hustle is, is very, very impressive, man. That’s, that’s very cool. And.

Jonathan Mayo: Sorry, you got me excited with the harmony thing. I call that flow, right? Like, how can you create flow through instead of opposition? And, , to have your kids want to pretend to drink with you at 7 in the morning a few years ago, right?

Which I’m not against a fine drink, but. To have that shift to now they’re pretending to podcast, write books, work out, do all those things just from two years of intentional effort that that’s a gift, right? And that’s the type of indicator and the other piece, and this is very short, but [00:26:00] one of the beautiful things about the season is.

I’ve been able to refine more and more how service oriented I am because I left my last organization due to conviction. I was a senior leader there and I had to leave. I chose to leave because of some concerns that were not being, I was unable to resolve. And that was in June. The boat was not close enough to the job to the dock to make that jump.

So I’m I’m getting to test every day watching the old provision account dwindle and say, okay, am I going to go for the quick money or am I going to stay true to the course? And I’ll frankly would rather stop breathing than not stay true to the course. So it is beautiful. Like you’re saying, when you’re getting, when you’re focused on service, service, service, it aligns everything in such a gorgeous life giving manner that it’s like the rest will be attracted

L. Scott Ferguson: and people attract to you.

, that’s just being authentic because people will try to change. Don’t get me wrong. I have an alter ego. Like even when we were talking about Jiu Jitsu, Scott Ferguson has never competed in a Jiu Jitsu match [00:27:00] because I’m actually a nice guy, right? Like if we go out of like, I’m a Midwest hugger, , stuff like that, when I got, I have a certain name for that person that walks out there.

Because I, I want to please so much that my alter ego becomes, I won’t tell you his name on, on camera and tell you later, but it’s, it’s, it’s a different beast, , and that’s, that’s how it goes, man, , and I have to turn on a couple of different alter egos for certain parts of my life. I’m not being unauthentic, I’m just making it so I can relate better to people like Bo Jackson, one of the best athletes ever said, Bo Jackson’s never played a down to football.

You said that, right? Reggie Jackson said, Reggie Jackson’s never had an at bat. Deion Sanders said, Deion Sanders never played a down a football. , so that’s where I really help people set up that alter ego. Because a lot of, especially one on one competitors, they aren’t, they aren’t ready to kill.

They don’t want to. But listen, the rules of the game are during that is to kill. Period. Win. , [00:28:00] just like if we’re at war and doing the D like I did six tours. Then, , you got to do what you have to do on that time. And then when you bring it home, that’s what’s so impressive with me for you is that you can go from 2 30 or 4 a.

m. till 6 p. m. turn on dad. And then you’re probably turning a little bit of that person on again, right before you go to bed. And that kind of leads to my next question. Does anything keep you up at night? Not if I’ve done my job

Jonathan Mayo: during the day. Love it. Okay. And I understand your question earlier. Yeah, there’s absolutely a kill mode.

And, and that version that earlier when I was speaking to that, I, the more serious it is, the more silent I get. I

L. Scott Ferguson: love it. Don’t want to see John get quiet, bro.

Jonathan Mayo: There’s times. There’s times as you’re alluding to that action is better, right? So let us act in silence and let it be loud. But the yeah, as far as nighttime goes, if I can’t sleep, I get up and I come down and I write.

 Until I’m [00:29:00] exhausted. Longhand or do you type it out? For this it’s either longhand, like I just write on a piece of paper I can crumple up and throw, or I put it on my whiteboard. Nice. Depending on what it is. You stay away

L. Scott Ferguson: from screens. I have the same thing, man. It’s like I just have, I pull a piece of printer paper out and I’ll write.

And it’s funny you say you crumple it up because I’ll look at it the next day and be like, this is junk, but it helped me get my mind sent down. Yeah. I love it. Then again, I also had a pretty damn good revelation in that, that I just wrote it, fell asleep. And it took my podcast from like a thousand downloads in one day on the first day to like 6, 000 just off of something I wrote, , waking up… time to shine today. Podcast, Varsity Squad. We are back. And John, when we hook up some of these questions, we’ll probably talk 15, 20 minutes about, , if you want to grab a brain grenade or a Kava, if they have those out there in Colorado.

But today you got five seconds with zero explanations. You’re ready to level up. Hmm. Let’s go. Let’s go, buddy. So what is the best leveling up advice John’s ever received? [00:30:00] Be more intentional. Love it. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success. Train daily. Beautiful. If you see me walking down the street or maybe at an event, you’re like, man, Fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums, man.

What book might you hand me that’s really kind of changed your mindset to help me level up?

 12 rules for life. Beautiful. What’s your most commonly used emoji, if any, when you text? Hang

Jonathan Mayo: loose or rock on. All right. Nicknames growing up. Mayo, sauce, juice,

L. Scott Ferguson: so what’s your, is there a hidden talent or superpower that you have that really no one knows about until now?

Jonathan Mayo: Just being indomitable.

You can’t make them quit.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Chess checkers or monopoly chess headline for your life. Be relentless. Yeah. Any superstitions that you hang on to? No. Go to ice

Jonathan Mayo: cream flavor. Dang. Chocolate malted crunch.

L. Scott Ferguson: All [00:31:00] right. There’s a sandwich called the mayo sauce juice. Build that sandwich for me. What’s on it?

Jonathan Mayo: Those are three separate names, but we’ll do four times a BLT. Yeah, there we go. Four types of meat, egg, and some cheese.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Just missing man. Candy got to have some bacon on their favorite charity and our organization like to give your time or money to, I’m creating those nice, nice. Make sure you keep us in the loop, brother.

So we can get them out there for you. Last question. You can elaborate on this one a little bit, but what is the best decade of music? 60 seventies eighties or nineties?

Jonathan Mayo: Seventies. That’d be

L. Scott Ferguson: wow. Bro. What brought the seventies up, man?

Jonathan Mayo: I don’t know. Just following my intuition, dude, I have to

L. Scott Ferguson: relook at it.

It’s funny you say that one, , like I was, I was born in 72. So the eighties was kind of like my maturing jam, but with like the seventies, if I’m editing a podcast or, , my team sends it over to me to build show notes, like I’ll have. Some seventies onto the background, like some seager, , there’s something that’s just because of their stories that are told in [00:32:00] it.

Right. And that’s what I love. And you can understand it. So Jonathan Mayo, how can we find your

Jonathan Mayo: brother? Yeah. You can find me at ULA universe. com or iron front solutions. com. And also I know I sent a bunch of links over for the show notes. But those would be the 2 best

L. Scott Ferguson: in ULA. What is, what is that? Am I missing something on

Jonathan Mayo: that?

Yeah. So universal learning approach. Okay. It’s a, it’s a couple of things baked into 1, but the only universe is where CC stamina, our energy performance supplement as well as some other initiatives we’re doing to help individuals and communities thrive is located. Gotcha.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. I love that. Yeah. I want it squad to go through it cause everything’s in the show notes.

So go down there now and take a look at it. But I really want to get into a little bit on the sisu stamina. Yeah. It’s a product that John has created that. It’s going to give you some super razor sharp focus, energy, elevate your mood, give some solid endurance. A lot, a lot of the people that I hang with here.

So, , we have a big [00:33:00] gathering pretty much every weekend down at the beach and we get after it and maybe share some, some trade secrets with each other. I’m going to have to take some of this down there. , it’s a workout, bro. It’s it’s, it’s insane. You’ll enjoy it if you come here on the weekend.

So, but tell us a little bit about Sisu brother. And what does Sisu stand for? Yeah. So

Jonathan Mayo: Sisu is a Finnish concept. Yeah, no, that’s fine. And essentially Sisu begins where grit ends and. Yeah, it’s this indomitable spirit. It’s like the best fusion of what you think of, like, with the American spirit and just absolute indomitability in the face of overwhelming odds.

And that’s what CSU is. And my partner and I, for the universal learning approach, we created CSU because it is the precise tool we wish we had when we were both on active duty. And now that we’re using on our 2nd mission to build the businesses that we’re part of together and separately and to help our communities.

So it’s, yeah. It is what you described. It’s not a pre workout. It’s a pre work supplement. We have surgeons, special forces, and a bunch of other people use it before they go on, on their critical tasks, whether that [00:34:00] be surgery operations, what have you. And that’s because of the focus and everything else.

And then it’s also pretty neat because after 14 days of continue to use it, you start getting health benefits compounding radial erosions and the stress combating elements. So it’s, it’s a really cool product that. We painstakingly made over two and a half years and a lot of people want to cut corners on and we didn’t let it happen and that’s why it took so long.

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh, you, it has rhodiola in it? Mm hmm. Nice, nice. That’s one of my faves, especially a little bit older. You get my fiance likes that rhodiola a little bit more too. What I’m saying, bro? It helps you perform. Yeah, oh yeah brother it’s what I’m going to do a I’m gonna do a two tub giveaway I believe each tub is 60 servings John.

That’s correct. Awesome It’s so what I’ll do is on time to shine today’s dime I’m gonna do a two tub giveaway to the first one that puts We’ll just put Yeah, actually just put Sisu because I know that you’ve actually listed S I [00:35:00] S U. So first one to put that in to anything, Pinterest, I don’t care if you text it to us, 561 440 3830.

I will make sure that it gets out of there. Maybe and I’ll pay for the shipping and all that stuff. Maybe John will put a nice little personal note to you in it or something like that. So, John, do me one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us, internalize and take action on.

Oh,

Jonathan Mayo: absolutely. It has been and always be 100 percent up to you. No one’s coming to save you, so get to work.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. All I’m hearing in this, , squad, a lot of what I’m hearing in this whole conversation is responsibility. And, , we coach from time to shine today. The responsibility is nothing more than the ability to respond, not react.

But respondents rooted damn straight into the word and a father of four. It’s happily married to just a fantastic wife who watches his daddery, his bandwidth, but he makes sure that he puts the time in early in the morning so we can go and spend it at night with, with the ones [00:36:00] that he loves, , he walked away from, from the military.

Something that was, it’s secure. It’s not a comfortable living. Well, it’s a comfortable living, but that’s about what you’re going to be. But to be even a better husband and a better father and really kind of focus on others to help them. Level off to really pierce that black veil of the , they, which I do every day with, with my, I’m blessed to have my clients that are veterans as they exit the service.

And even though they might be unhappy and really scared because there’s such on a schedule and discipline in there that people like John or, , myself can really help you, , through those, through those times. And that he reminded us that courage is action in spite of fear, not. Absence of it.

So just get after it do it scared like my good friend, , birdie medina would do I mean my guy john air is planting trees he’s never gonna sit in the shade of and he does things for the intention not the attention and that’s what really really Suck out to me. He’s a coach or a consultant. I should say [00:37:00] that really Gets down to the root of things by asking open ended questions, really leaning in and what I call listening with your neck, , really, , hearing with the, not only the ears, but the neck, the eyes, he sees everything and he really wants to help you really level up.

You want you to become more intentional, sit with your thoughts, be aware of what you’re doing. , the more intentional that you are, the more good that will follow. , he’s laying seeds for his children to be intentional about his life as well. And they get that from the mannerisms that John puts out every day.

He loves hitting the day hard of being a great dad and husband, , he said value is the commodity that is truly limitless, man. That really stuck out to me because you can always provide value. There’s never a time, never a day. Value added is a choice, period. , and he’s doing his part in this world to level it up.

And that’s the kind of people that I really want to, , surround myself with. And John, you level up your health. You level up your wealth, brother. [00:38:00] You humble yet hungry. You’re a handsome devil. You’ve earned your varsity squad here at time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on brother. I absolutely love your guts.

And I mean that, bro. Thank you so much. You bet. Chat soon.

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