Turning Dreams into Realities with Jake Kelfer

Episode 194- Turning Dreams into Realities with Jake Kelfer
 

 

So excited to have Jake Kelfer with me today. He is the best hype man on the planet and I am thrilled to share this conversation with you. Jake has assisted everyone from pro athletes to entrepreneurs turn their dreams into realities.  After writing three bestselling books, he is now teaching others to write their own books.

In this episode we will cover:

  • Jake’s trajectory to help players be able to play pro ball
  • Advantages of writing a book 
  • What it takes to complete writing a book

You can reach Jake Kelfer on his Instagram – follow him and DM him to connect!

 

The Dream Bigger Conference FLASH SALE on July 11 for 24 hours ONLY.  Text now to be on the text list at 832-225-3164 and on July 11th text me the word EVENT for the details.

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The 5-Day Legalpreneur Challenge is back! It is going to cover everything you need to know as a small business owner; this won’t be just a surface level discussion like you get in this podcast, instead we are diving deep into all the knowledge you need to run your business. Remember to use code PODCAST for a special discount!

Links: 

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Disclaimer: 

The Legalpreneur Podcast is advertising/marketing material. It is not legal advice. Please consult with your attorney on these topics. Copyright Legalpreneur Inc 2022

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Episode 194: Turning Dreams into Realities with Jake Kelfer Transcript

Andrea: [00:00:03] Welcome to the Legalpreneur podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Sager, founder and CEO of Legalpreneur, Inc. As a serial entrepreneur and someone that works exclusively with small business owners legally protecting their business, I'm dedicated to covering common legal issues faced by business owners, providing you with the business knowledge you need to catapult your businesses growth and showing you just how some of the world's most elite entrepreneurs have handled these legal and business issues themselves in true attorney fashion. The information in this episode is not legal advice. This is for informational purposes only, and you should always consult with your attorney before implementing any of the information in the show. In case you missed it, Legalpreneur live is now dream bigger. We're talking all things business and personal growth. Tickets are actually not for sale right now. We've had to put everything on a wait list because things were getting a little crazy. And on July 11th, we are having a humongous blowout. So when I mean humongous, I mean like 70% off of your VIP ticket, plus like another added bonus. However, this offer will only be available to those on our text list. So text the word event to 832-225-3164. Yes, 70% off of your VIP ticket. And there's another amazing thing in there and you'd be like, What the heck? Have you gone crazy? No, I have not gone crazy, but text me. We will get you all the details. And seriously, nobody else is going to get this offer. You have to be on the text list. This will be available for 24 hours only on July 11th to get you a ticket to dream bigger. So happening October 5th of the seventh in Phenix, Arizona, covering all things business and personal growth. Hey there. Welcome back to another episode of the Legalpreneur Podcast. Today's guest is none other than Jake Kelfer, three time best selling author who helps entrepreneurs write and launch a best selling nonfiction book. He is seriously just like a hype man like no other. He is like your bf in business. He's just fucking incredible. Jake, thank you so much for being here today.

Jake: [00:02:30] Let's go. We can bring the hype all day in here. I mean, you just teed it up, so I'm excited to be here and get into it.

Andrea: [00:02:38] Absolutely. So get us started, Jake. Tell us how you got to where you are today in business.

Jake: [00:02:44] Oh, it's been it's been a heck of a journey. I mean, it started with, you know, I went to college and you're going to be like, why did you start here? But I went to college thinking my entire future was planned out. I realized at a young age I wasn't going to make the NBA. So I said, Well, if I can't be in the NBA, I'm going to represent NBA players. I'm going to be a sports agent, I'm going to go to college, and I'm just going to just run the world, right? And I had this entire vision in my mind, and I was in college and I interned at all these agencies. And right before I get ready to graduate, the agency that was going to hire me goes on a hiring freeze and they say, Jake, we can't bring you on. And I was like, no way. Right? Like I'm going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt and now I'm going to graduate college from USC without a job like. That's not that's not Jake Clifford. That's not what I'm all about. And so luckily I'm like, all right, this is just another test, right? This is the test that's going to say life isn't always going the way you expect it to go. And this is the first time I really realized that. And I was like, All right, let's make this adjustment. And just so happened that I started networking with people and I get offered to work for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, an L.A. guy growing up, that's the greatest franchise in the history of sports. I was like, yes, count me in. Like, I want that job.

Jake: [00:03:54] So I work for the Lakers and I keep realizing like, okay, there's more to life than just being in sports. There's more to life than like working with famous people. And I had an experience where I got to watch Kobe. It was his final season, and I got to see people spend their life savings to travel the world, to spend 3 hours in the nosebleeds, watching Kobe play one more time. And I was like, That's what I want to do. I don't care the vehicle, but I want to have people change their lives. I want to impact people so much that they're willing to travel around the world for a chance to have a better opportunity, a memory. And the way that I started doing that was I was like, you know what? I can help people. Maybe not everybody like Kobe, but I can help three people. I can help my brother, I can help my fraternity brothers. And so I ended up writing what became my very first best selling book called Elevate Beyond. And when Kobe retired, I retired, I launched his book, and a new trajectory of my career began. And over the next few years, I continue to write different books. I started speaking all over the world. I continue to work in basketball, helping people turn their dreams of playing pro ball into their reality. And ultimately, it's led us to this point where now I have three best selling books. I coach entrepreneurs, thought leaders, service providers, how they can actually now take their experience and knowledge and turn that into their own book so they can grow their business and change the lives of people they want to impact.

Andrea: [00:05:18] You are incredible. Number one. Number two, I know you left out a kind of a big piece of your history about the Combine and how you have helped. Basketball players actually like play basketball for a living. Can you please allude to that just a little bit?

Jake: [00:05:39] Of course. Of course. So while I was writing these books, while I was getting things started, you know, even though I wasn't going to be an agent anymore, I still wanted to help NBA players. The whole reason I want to be an agent was to help these NBA players achieve their dream of playing pro ball. And so I ended up creating an event that was predicated on getting top prospects into a chance to raise their draft stock and turn their dream of playing pro ball into the reality. And so what we did was we help them get noticed. We helped them get signed and we help them get paid. And over the course of the three years we ran the event, we helped over 70 guys get signed, 20 plus million dollars in contracts, a first round draft pick, 30 countries of contract signed, like you name it. We were able to do it and bring together some life changing opportunities. And that is like the motto of How I live by is like, let's turn dreams into reality and let's frickin go. And so that was a big part of the story.

Andrea: [00:06:33] That is so incredible. And you know me, like I'm a huge sports fan, like, especially when it comes to Houston sports, namely the Astros, like, you know, like Astros all day. Like, let's chat. But basketball like basketball is the thing for me. I just I'm just not a huge, huge basketball fan. Like, you want to talk about sports. I'm all about baseball anyways. So. I love that, though, because actually I wanted I never knew what I wanted my role to be in professional sports, but I wanted a role in professional sports. And the fact that you wanted a role and you still fucking made it happen, even though the like the company that you were supposed to be working for didn't hire you. That's fucking incredible. Like, that is insane. Like, kudos to you for making that happen. And so I'm just curious for my own knowledge. Do you keep in contact with any of those players that you, like, got help like got help for help with?

Jake: [00:07:33] Yeah. So I stay in touch with a few of them. Obviously. Now it's a lot more sporadic. But, you know, one of the guys I stay in touch with every once in a while is Jay Sean Tate, who's on who's on the Rockets. You know, there's a few other guys that I still stay in touch with, bunch of the agents, a bunch of the NBA execs. So it's still fun. But what's really cool is now I can be a fan and still have these contacts versus being in the business and really having to like hide my Laker fan hood a little bit because now, you know, now I can just be a fan and just go go Buck Wild, have a couple of beers and say, let's party. You know, it's been a fun journey and it's cool that as a kid growing up wanting to be in the NBA, you know, I figured out a way to to get in front of the best athletes in the world and meet a lot of these people that I'd looked up to for so long. And so that was just really cool that I got to play a small part in people becoming millionaires from a basketball side of things. That's pretty cool for me, you know?

Andrea: [00:08:29] So because I'm such a big I was going to say big baseball fan, but ultimately a big sports fan. I love your story about getting these men jobs. Playing basketball for a living. But aside from that, now you help people literally fulfill their dreams, fulfill their desires by helping them write a book. And can you tell just like tell the audience, the listeners, like, what are some of those amazing stories from people that are just like. They couldn't have fucking did this if I didn't help them write a book.

Jake: [00:09:06] Yeah. I mean, so, you know, writing a book is one of those dreams that a lot of entrepreneurs have, right? You could look at statistics and it's somewhere upwards of 80 plus percent of people have a dream of writing a book, and very few people actually do it. And, you know, for me, when I wrote my first book, it was like life changing. When I wrote my second book. It was I got invited to speak in China before the book even came out. Like what in the world? Like 25 years old, getting invited to ten day speaking tours in China because I wrote a book on networking like that's insanity, right? And so and then my third book, like, like I got to interview some of the people who I looked up to from the minute I started this, this journey as an entrepreneur during my Lakers, like I interviewed John Lee Dumas and Pat Flynn. Those were the first podcasts I ever listened to on my drives in traffic from LA. Right. And so books have opened up everything. But what's what's the craziest thing about it is everybody wants to write a book. And the biggest thing that that they say is, well, who am I to write this book? I don't have time to write this book.

Jake: [00:10:09] Nobody wants to hear my story. And, you know, oh, bullshit aside, like people want to hear your story, especially if you've already been paid to teach them what you know, because your story is what gave you a chance to learn the lessons you need to inspire somebody else. And so writing a book creates so much opportunity for the person writing it, not only because it's a dream fulfilled, but because it has an exponential ripple effect. You write your book once and then someone else reads it. They share it with three people, and it just starts this feeling of, Oh my gosh, like I'm playing my part that I was supposed to play. And so writing a book is so, so, so beneficial as a, as a business owner. It's so beneficial as like a a dream achiever. Like there are just so many amazing things that come with writing a book. And I could give you tons and tons of stories, but I want to be respectful of our time. But yeah, there's, there's a ton of stories that we could dig into to.

Andrea: [00:11:02] Oh my gosh, I would love to dig into all the stories. But so one question that I do have, so tell me more about like your transition from going from this event that you held for three years to now helping people write books like that's kind of a big transition. So talk about that.

Jake: [00:11:20] Huge transition for sure. Like, like basketball, NBA athletes to entrepreneurs writing books. But here's, here's the kicker here. The goal of the combine was to help players turn their dream of playing pro basketball into their reality. In between that, I ended up writing my third book during the pandemic. Following that, I had a coach that I was working with and she suggested, Wait a sec, Jake, like, why aren't you coaching people on how to write books? You've written three now and they've all been bestsellers. Like, people want to know that. And I'm like, You know what? You're right. People are always asking me about that. Why don't I turn that into a legitimate thing? And so we start making that adjustments. And the thing that makes the most sense is it's the same concept. We turn dreams into reality for NBA players, and we turn dreams into reality for entrepreneurs. The only difference is the vehicle at which we do it. And so because I've worked with people at the highest level in sports, we took everything that we learned about that. What are the key principles to getting somebody an advantage in their industry? And we turn that into leveraging books to grow your business, build more credibility, get more marketing opportunities, get more speaking engagements, create more impact, and ultimately just have more frickin fun in this game of life. And so like that's how it really evolved was I was doing the event, wrote my third bestseller, and then started to focus on teaching it and people are just eating it up.

Andrea: [00:12:39] That's incredible. That's insane like that. I mean, to think about that, I mean, that really is a huge transition and you've been successful in the combine and then transitioning to helping people write books. Now, what would you say like when you finally like started helping people write these books? Do you have a moment that was like, Oh shit, like I've made it like, this is great.

Jake: [00:13:08] I've had moments where I'm like, Let's frickin go, you know, like, this is, this is what I need to be doing and I need to be doing it now, right? And, you know, I have I have somebody right now who's working with me and she was like, "Jake, I need to I want to write this book, but I got tons of things going on. I'm launching. I'm running a successful business. Like, does this make sense? Is it going to give me what I need? You know, I want to get to that next level?" And I was like, absolutely right. And she starts writing her book and she's not even done with her book. And she's already been invited for different speaking engagements with Glennon Doyle, Jazmin Starr, and some of these other like big name female entrepreneurs. And she's that's why she's writing this book. And so everybody has a different reason for why they want to write a book. Some people it's I just want to share my message. I've been through hell and back. I want to share that message for other people. It's I want to use this book to generate leads to grow my high end coaching offer. Some people want to use a book so that they can fulfill their dream of public speaking, right? There's so many different reasons why people do it. But at the end of the day, like all of these moments when people say, Gosh, I did it, when they go out and pick up an Amazon package, except this time it's their book and they hold it up and the tears start to come down their face and they're like, This is this is amazing. Those are the moments that get me the most excited. You know, I don't care about the teaching it as much as I care about them having that final product. And that's just that's the stuff that we live for and that's why we do what we do in our lives. And anything that we do is to see other people have that great success and accomplishment.

Andrea: [00:14:46] Yes. Oh, my God. I have goosebumps like and I can't see but I like legit have goosebumps. So for those that are listening and they're like, oh my God, yes. Like I need a fucking write a book. How did people even get started?

Jake: [00:14:59] Well, first thing you do is you DM me and we say, what's up? How you don't write, you know. But no, but you got to here's here's the truth. If you aren't committed to writing the book, you're not going to finish your book. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with people that are like, I've been wanting to write a book for ten years. I have 45 different journals with pages and pages of content. I've been called for this for 12 years, but I just haven't been able to do it or I've started to write, but nothing seems to ever come to a final product. And so if you're really getting started, you've got to address a few things. Number one is you have to say, Do I really want this? If you really want this, because you'll be tested when you write a book, right? There's a reason not everyone has a book. It's hard, but it can be simple. It's still going to be hard, but we break down the process. And so the question you have to say is, am I committed? The second question I have to say is, well, who is this book really for? Right. Gone are the days where you need to focus on putting a book out there for everybody. You need to focus on a book for a specific person to get the result that they're looking for so that you could achieve the result you ultimately want. Number three is you've got to ask yourself, what is the intention? Why do I actually want to write this book? Okay.

Jake: [00:16:06] We have we have someone right now and she's writing this book because she wants to have this book to inspire women, but she also wants your kids to know who she really is. And she was in the middle. She was in that middle end of her rough draft. And this is where a lot of authors get stuck. And she was like, Jake, like sometimes I'm waking up and I'm saying, why am I even doing this? And I said, well, let me ask you this. Why are you doing this? Why what did you say the first time we talked? She goes, I'm doing this because I want my kids to know my story. And I said, Do you have any more questions for me? And she goes, Nope, I'm in. And she finished her book the next week. And the point of this is we have to get clear, right? Are we committed? Who is it for? Why are we doing this? And then we have to say, let's go. We have to trust the universe, trust the process, and also trust the person that's going to help us get this book done. Right, because accountability is absolutely critical in writing a book. So if you do those things before writing, you open yourself up to a lot more potential to actually complete the book and create something that you're proud of and that can impact others.

Andrea: [00:17:06] Yeah, that's beautiful. And I know, like, if you're listening and you're like, yes, like I'm called to write a book like reach out to Jake like he this is what he does for a living is he helps people get these books out into the world and not even just like out into the world, but also helps people, like, truly launch them to make them successful, right? Yeah.

Jake: [00:17:29] Yeah. And here's here's the thing, too, is like, you know, if you're interested in writing a book at all, reach out. I will tell you if you're not a good fit, believe me. Right. Because because I know how important a book is to most people. And if you're not a good fit for me and I'm not a good fit for you, we ain't going to work together. Not directly to someone who I believe could work with your style, because I'm so confident in the way that we approach it, that it works for a specific type of person. And so if you want to write a children's book, I don't do that. But I got someone who will help you write the best children's book ever. If you want to write a fiction book, I got you covered. If you want to write a nonfiction book, though, that will grow your business, share your story. I will be your guy most likely. All right. So it's really, really important that if you're thinking about writing a book or thinking about launching a book, maybe you've already written it and you need help getting that that finish line to bestseller status like these are the things that we help people do because we help you launch it in a way that gets to the results you ultimately want, not the results that society thinks of when it comes to actually launching your book. And there's a big difference there.

Andrea: [00:18:29] That's incredible. So let's do a little shift. So throughout this business, previous businesses, how have you actually used, if at all, the legal stuff to your benefit or have you. Like, what's the legal shit that you've gone through?

Jake: [00:18:47] Yeah, I mean, I've been pretty blessed that I've dotted my I's and cross my TS. All right. And and I mean this, you know, a lot had to do with the basketball players, right? Like this, an industry where there's big money, there's a lot of scandals, there's a lot of things that could go right or wrong. And so when it came to the legal stuff with with my combine and I'll start here before I move to the book stuff because I've learned so much that now the book stuff becomes a little bit easier. But I had I really had to learn like how important and why you need contracts for literally almost everything that you ever do. I had to learn and understand how to read a basic contract, even though I was going to rely on support from the experts. If I didn't know the basics, I was going to get screwed. Right. And so, you know, we were working with athletes that if we did something wrong on our end, they could lose their eligibility and then not even have a chance to go back to college or to to get signed in the pros. And we were taking a huge chance by creating something that no one has ever done before.

Jake: [00:19:49] And so we had to work with attorneys, compliance officers, the colleges, the agents, the families, every party that you could imagine we had to do. And the biggest reason for our success was because I realized I don't know shit about this stuff and I need someone to tell me what it is, right? And I think that's where people get into trouble is they're like, Oh, I know how to read a contract. No, you don't. I know how to write my own contract. No, you don't. Right. And so it's really important that you rely on people that are in this space, that are really, really good, that have contracts for everything you need, aka legal for newer, right. Like you have things right that are set in stone that have been approved that you can really leverage. And because I was able to have the right people in my corner, I was able to avoid huge legal issues and I was able to keep myself protected so I could focus on things that I really do well in terms of growing the business and giving people these opportunities to turn dreams into reality.

Andrea: [00:20:49] Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. So did you. Well, I don't know if I could ask. I'll ask it. And if you want to cut it out, we can just tell the editors to cut it out. But I'm curious, like, were there any big, like, legal mishaps with like. Basketball players.

Jake: [00:21:05] I love that you asked the juicy question. Like like I love that we're not adding this out whatsoever. But also, my answer is pretty bland for for that. Like, I know you want some juicy stuff. We didn't have any huge issues. And part of that reason was because I made it very clear from the beginning of the combine that I was not going to be asking people for percentages. I was not going to be asking people for a piece of the pie. My goal was the mission, which was to turn their dream into their reality. And my event was the vehicle that gave them the opportunity their agents had to deal with the negotiations and the teams. And I have plenty of stories where agents get screwed, whether it's a single agent getting screwed by the the big time agency who just poaches the player. I've seen people lose clients right before a big second contract where it's literally millions and millions of dollars. But the way the rules are, you can get away with certain things. So so there have been plenty of stories that I've been around and a part of and have seen and I've seen it on the positive side and I've seen it on the negative side. And, you know, I knew going into that that I needed to really just be very, very clear with what I was doing and how I was going to do it. So there are crazy stories, but fortunately for me, I didn't I didn't have to go through any big legal battles or anything like that.

Andrea: [00:22:21] That's awesome. That's great. That's great. Yeah. So I'm really curious. Like, just for my nosey perspective, do people ever ask you like, Hey, what are you going to put this combine back on? What are you going to do this again?

Jake: [00:22:34] Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, obviously 20, 20, we were set to have the biggest year yet. We had all the momentum in the world. Pandemic happens, we can't do it. 2021 There was questions around how are we going to do it or not? Truthfully, I it was going to be a big undertaking and COVID testing in the medical side like that was going to get dicey and interesting and nothing was set in stone. So we didn't do it. And then this year, everyone like, are you going to do it? Are you going to do it? Are you going to do it? And, you know, I had to make a huge decision and I made this decision towards the end of last year, which was good that I did it then and not waiting until like now because I would have gotten all excited. But I had to really, really evaluate what am I trying to do, where do I want to go? And as much fun as that event is, like I love it so much. It was so fun. But I know that for the dreams that I have and for the business that I'm building currently, which is big idea to bestseller and really, really helping people write their books, I was like, I cannot divide the attention and slow this momentum down. So I told people, No, we're not doing it now, but I'm not saying it's done forever. So I'm like, I'm like the end of a movie that is there a sequel or not. Right. And there may be we may do it, but if I do do it again, we'll make some adjustments. But for now, it's it's not being done through through my lens.

Andrea: [00:23:54] You should have sold the branding to it all.

Jake: [00:23:59] Everything that you could imagine was was considered and thought of. But the way I decided to it was, we're going to leave it as is for now. And if it's meant to be in whatever way, that'll just be.

Andrea: [00:24:12] Yeah.

Jake: [00:24:13] Absolutely. But don't get me wrong, like I thought about that, like, could I sell the brand and could I sell what assets do we have that are sellable? Is there a way to sell IP? Is there a way like all of these different things I went through that none of it made sense for the time at that. At that time, yeah.

Andrea: [00:24:29] No, I completely understand for sure. So, Jake, before I let anybody get off my show, I have to ask them the one question, and that is, what is your number one business tip? So if somebody just random off the street comes up to you and they're like, Jake, I'm like suffering in my business. I have no idea what the fuck to do. Like, please give me your number one tip, please.

Jake: [00:24:53] Oh, this is such a great one. I always have different answers for this, but this is the one I'm feeling now. Live your life by the ace method. Here's what it is. A is for action. You better take intentional action towards the destination you aim to go. Number two is see connection. Make sure you make meaningful connections with the right people who can help you, the right people who could support you and the right people that will make you feel valued, loved and hurt, and then e enjoyment. If you don't enjoy the process and the pursuit of greatness, it's never going to make a difference. At the end of the day. Take intentional action, build meaningful connection, and have great life enjoyment in the pursuit of success. You live by that method. Whatever business you're building, things will fall into place. You'll see results and you'll be a little bit happier because of it.

Andrea: [00:25:34] I love that. I love it. So tell the audience, where can they go to find you online?

Jake: [00:25:40] The best place is to go to Instagram@Jake Keller, and if you want to learn more about how to write a bestselling book in an hour a day, we've got a training for you if you want to chat in the DMS. I got a response for you. But Instagram is the best place. It's place to spend the most time right now. We'd love to chat, we'd love to connect, we'd love to hang out.

Andrea: [00:25:59] Perfect. Everything will be in the show notes and it's an excellent thank you. See ya here at Legalpreneur. We're committed to providing a supportive legal community for all business owners. I know how scary the legal stuff can be. If you found this information helpful. I would be so grateful if you could share it with the fellow business owner. And quite frankly, it doesn't cost anything to rate, review or subscribe to the show. Your support helps me reach more listeners, which allows me to support more business owners in their entrepreneurial journey. Have any questions or comments about the show? Feel free to drop me a line on Instagram, I promise. I read all of the messages and comments and if you want to be a guest on the show or know someone that would make a great guest, simply fill out our application form and a team member will reach out if we think it's a good fit. I'll see you in the next episode.

Episode 194- Turning Dreams into Realities with Jake Kelfer