The Elevate Media Podcast
Join Chris as he chats with successful business owners and entrepreneurs and shares his own lessons and successes of building Elevate Media Group.
His mission is to help coaches bring in more clients through video podcasting and content creation so they can elevate their brands and become the experts in their industries without all the time spent doing it.
The Elevate Media Podcast
From Doctor Dreams to $2 Billion in Private Markets
Chris Anderson welcomes Jeremy Hill, a seasoned entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in private markets who has facilitated over $2 billion in deals through JB Capital. Their conversation offers profound insights on entrepreneurship, faith, family values, and maintaining character in business.
• Private markets defined as everything beyond traditional stocks and bonds - from private equity to small businesses to alternative investments
• When seeking investors, look beyond money for partners who bring additional value through connections, experience, or industry knowledge
• The best business partnerships accelerate growth through resources beyond just financial capital
• Jeremy initially pursued becoming a doctor not for medicine but for the lifestyle and respect it commanded
• Traditional values like dressing well, speaking properly, and maintaining manners still matter in business
• Throw out the concept of "work-life balance" and focus instead on harmony and consistent quality time with family
• Marriage during entrepreneurship requires choosing each other repeatedly despite career uncertainties
• Faith provides essential alignment and foundation for leadership in business and family
• A resurgence of traditional values and appreciation for small business is emerging among younger generations
• Growth requires struggle - wear your challenges as a badge of honor rather than avoiding discomfort
Connect with Jeremy on social media @JeremyBHill or through JB Capital's website to learn more about his work in private markets and men's leadership groups.
This episode is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.
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Welcome to the Elevate Media Podcast with your host, chris Anderson. In this show, chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, chris Anderson.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another recording of the Elevate Media Podcast. I'm Chris Anderson, your host, and I got to start off by saying I'm super excited. Everybody, if you're watching this on YouTube I hope you are You're going to see we're finally in our new content studio that we've been working on tirelessly here recently. So it's our first episode in the new space. So super excited to have our guest on today. We're going to be talking about his journey and just the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and how he overcame and how faith is a big part of his journey and family, and so super excited to have our guest on today. We're going to be diving into all sorts of stuff. He's been in private markets for 25 years, done a lot of great stuff. I won't get too deep into his bio. We'll have that for you linked in the show notes, but super excited to have Jeremy Hill on the show today. Jeremy, welcome to Elevate Media Podcast.
Speaker 3:Mr Anderson Excited to be here. Dude, the new studio looks fantastic, man. Congratulations, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:I love you. Open with Mr Anderson. I was just talking to someone the other day when I was in middle school I had a substitute teacher this is a rabbit hole guy, sorry A substitute teacher taking attendance. He goes, mr Anderson. I was like dude, what are you? Who are you? What are you talking about? He looked at me weird. I was like you've never seen Matrix. What are you? Who are you? What are you talking about? And he's like looked at me weird. I was like he's like you've never seen matrix, have you? And I was like nope, he's like, ah, okay. So that was really weird. I was like yep, uh, he's like, and he explained it. But yeah, that's cool. So now I get the reference I've seen the matrix.
Speaker 3:Uh, but we can continue the conversation then, okay.
Speaker 2:Exactly. So yeah, back to something. So yeah, man, I'm super excited. What to dive right into it? Private markets, working in the private market. For people who might not know what that means because you've had 25 years experience in that, what is working in the private markets?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, think about stuff that's not traditional stocks and bonds right Head over. Tackle, you know, stocks and bonds and public markets and public equities in that kind of world. Think about the opposite of that. And so private markets, historically over the last 30 years has been everything from, from you know, non-traded real estate to private equity, to small businesses, to rich guys at the golf club putting a deal together to buy an apartment building or a small business or loan somebody money or that kind of thing. So just think about it as the opposite of what traditional level thinking, investing and such is. And so that's now exploded over the last 15 or 20 years to not only include private equity and private debt and real estate, but now it includes crypto and royalty finance and NFTs and thousands of different, just ulterior alternative sources of capital are kind of making up what's known, I guess, on a macro level, as the private market.
Speaker 2:Okay, now, within this, and is that something like, for example, like if we were looking for investors into Elevate, is that something that's like private market or is that something completely different? Just like, as far as like angel investors go, versus private market?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean I would consider a lot of the angel investors private market investors, because Elevate as a whole is not a public entity, a publicly traded company, and so when you are looking for capital to grow Elevate or me to grow JV Capital or to do one thing or another, I'm not going to traditional public markets for access to capital, I'm going to private markets.
Speaker 2:And that private market could be a fund, a group of investors, an old rich guy, an angel investor, your neighbor, your brother-in-law, you know whatever whatever that happens to be Right, yeah, so with that, how does that kind of because we've considered it a little bit, we've looked at, you know, sba loans, we've looked at investors, what is that it can kind of look like for a business as far as structuring that kind of quote unquote deal, that contract, with maybe one or two investors? Do they get like equity in the company? I mean, I'm sure there's multiple ways to set it up, but what's kind of the average or normal way you see someone coming on to invest. I'm going to give you your business money because we see the value, but we want this in return, kind of thing I mean, the simplest thing is is that there is there is no set way of doing things.
Speaker 3:How should I elevate and raise money? You can do it a thousand different ways, right? Yeah, it's really what is important. It is to you, your partners, where it is that you're going with the business, what kind of part you want, what kind of money you're looking for. A number of those things In their most simplistic forms, you're really either raising debt or selling equity, like kind of one or the other Now there's a thousand different flavors of vanilla ice cream in each one of those buckets but the reality is is you're either borrowing money that says great, hey, chris, I want to borrow a hundred bucks and I'm going to pay an X percent interest until I pay that a hundred bucks back, and here's what I'm going to do with it, right?
Speaker 3:Or hey, chris invest a hundred bucks and for for doing so, I'm going to give you 20% of my business. You know, whatever that is Right, it's kind of one facet or another, and then in there it's really. You know negotiating what's important to you. You know what kind of partner it is that you want what you know. Are they bringing anything more to the table than just money? Right Cause, if you know, one of the things that we have in our business is that if, for us, when we're investing in you know Joe's, you know software, business or whatever, whatever the company happens to do, If the only thing that we bring to the table is money, I shouldn't give it and you shouldn't take it. Right Like there needs to be something additionally accretive by way of my involvement in the business that helps you get to your point faster.
Speaker 3:Going to be faster, and I think that's what entrepreneurs and small businesses should look like. Is that, if I want to go grow my business and I need a hundred grand or a million bucks or five million bucks or whatever the number is right. What does that look like? And who's on the other side of it? And are you just looking for money or are you looking for somebody that can maybe make introductions or that can maybe help you put a board together, can maybe solve some you haven't encountered yet. No, no, no, no. You need to think about those things before you decide. Hey, man, I just need five million bucks and leave me alone, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's an interesting point because, like, that's something I didn't think about, like because we, like I said, had considered, you know, even you know a quarter of a mil or or something like that as far as investments, but like the investor bringing more value for whatever they're getting in return, I didn't, you know, even kind of think about that. Like I said, we're early, early on this thought, um, but that's a good point like what do they bring instead of just giving you money? How are they going to help it kind of, I guess, grow, almost like they have more, more weight in the game, I guess.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, if it's always just about money, somebody always has more money.
Speaker 3:Somebody is always taller, richer, better looking. You know whatever that wants to be Right. Somebody's money is always cheaper than mine, and so it can't be just about money. You know, for you from a studio side of things, hey, we want to grow this media and publishing brand. I want to look at an investor that comes in that by way of their money. They're also going to accelerate us getting the next 50 podcasts. They're going to accelerate us because they have a distribution platform and technology that will grow my audience from X to Y.
Speaker 2:That's something beyond just dough because somebody's got more dough right yeah, absolutely, because that's a good point, because, like, because we do the video podcast production, we do brand story production and then we do event production or event productions as well, and so it's like, okay, maybe it's someone who has the money but also has events or knows people do those events, or that's a good thing to think about for sure. So if we were to find those people or connect with those types of people, what's the best way to structure that kind of proposal to show the value of the company is worth them investing in monetarily and with their time and energy as well?
Speaker 3:You know, all of it is is figuring out a way to take what it is that you're doing with your business and articulate it in a fashion enough that is compelling for somebody else to want to be involved. Okay, yep, I think you know there. There's that old saying as, as you know, you ask somebody for money, you get advice, and if you ask somebody for advice, you might get some money. You know that kind of thing, you know. Oftentimes, when you go and I and you're going to pitch, hey, chris, I got a deal for you and call today, don't delay, you know all this other kind of stuff Right.
Speaker 3:The thing is that you get is a lot of advice and you know rather a lot of times shaping what it is that you're raising capital is looking at. Hey, we're really trying to grow this platform and here's what it is that we're thinking.
Speaker 3:Here's what it is, that we think we need and here's what we think we're going to do with it, and the business is going to go from A to B to C because of those kinds of things. You guys have built a big media business. Here's what it is that we're trying to do with ours. Is there anything it is that you see in our plan right now? It is that I should avoid, or that I should pour gas on, right Asking for that kind of advice, right, having the guy get involved, be kind of emotionally connected to the story of what it is that you're trying to do, either with your media business or my investment business or Joe's software business or whatever people are trying to do right, and that emotional connection to what it is that you're doing may either engender better quality advice or it may engender, you know, here's what it is that I think you should do, chris.
Speaker 3:And oh, by the way, I want you to talk to a friend of mine, john, because here's what it is that he does on XYZ that might be able to help. Right Now I have an advocate for what it is that I'm doing that's putting me on. That may be either a client, a customer, an investor, a partner, a friend, something that is there, and I find that that is better than just hey, give me money and I promise I won't screw it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, I think that's a great relationship to kind of build with those involved, because then you're all kind of it's not just kind of a here, it is, like you said, good luck type of thing. It's like, you know, I think, shark Tank, almost like they come in, they invest and then they're also going to guide or they're going to open up networks and things of that nature. That's the pitch. Anyways, we'll see, right, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:So for you, though, like um, you know you grew up in texas, right I was born and raised west texas and so I grew up born and raised in lubbock, and so it's one of those places that, if you forget your name, you just look down at your belt it's probably your belt buckle on the front of the back somewhere. Either way right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you know, Little Jeremy, did you ever think you're going to get in a private market? Dude, what did Little Jeremy want to do back then?
Speaker 3:Little Jeremy I'm sure through you know varying stages of being Little. Jeremy probably wanted to be a soccer player or a fireman or something cool, right, you know. Um, as I got older, I actually wanted to be a doctor, um, and I loved math, science, you know all things kind of biology I love Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic and just lying about shit, I just loved it, yeah, um, and then when I was growing up too, I don't know if I actually wanted to be a doctor, but I remember growing up and every time I was with my mom or with my grandparents and and we were out to lunch after church, or we were at the country club, or we went to play golf, or we went to play tennis, or we went to just do whatever it is that you do growing up.
Speaker 3:I like have these vivid memories as a child it is of of being with my grandfather.
Speaker 3:My grandfather would be like oh, you know, you see so and so over there, that's, that's you know, john whatever it is, he's a doctor or, um, you know you're out and you know we'd always drive after sunday church and we'd go to the cadillac dealership because that's what grandparents do. And then we, you know, drive out and look at houses on the country club and I'll see that house over there. That's, that's Dr So-and-so's house. You see that over there. Oh yeah, that's his daughter. Oh, you remember that girl you were playing tennis with. That's Dr So-and-so's daughter. And I was just like I don't know if I necessarily wanted to be a doctor, but I wanted. I wanted to to have a nice house and a nice car and a pretty wife and have influence in the community and be respected in those kinds of things. And when I was growing up, that was the doctor and I was like, well, I guess I want to be a doctor dude, yeah, doctor, all the school and bullshit and insurance and all right?
Speaker 3:no, not at all. But I did want that stuff and so I went to university and with the intent it is, and going pre-med and ended up dropping out between my junior and senior year. My wife and a few years later started a business and I guess have desperately trying to be important and well-respected and trying to make a dent for those people around me since.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool. Now you mentioned spending time with your mom and your grandparents and it sounds like your grandfather was a big piece to your upbringing.
Speaker 3:A little bit, yeah he was a cool dude. Yeah, what's that? This painting in my office was in in his. He had an architecture and engineering firm in the state of texas that did stuff all over and, uh, that painting was in his office since the 40s. And so I remember growing up with growing up with that, where every time I'd go to his office at whatever it is a kid you know um, and play around on all the little sketching tables and stuff like that, that was was always behind him, and so, uh, for some reason, I guess that's behind me now.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome, yeah. So how did? How did he impact you? Uh, you know into who you are today.
Speaker 3:You know he was a different generation, then you know, you know the the generation today is. You know we're in. You know, uh, you know you know the the generation today is. You know, wearing. You know, uh, you know, jordans and basketball shorts and beavis and butthead t-shirts. You know, trying to be a leader and an influencer and you're like dude fucking, just brush your hair please, right, right. And that generation then you know it was. You know there was a. There was a different level of being, um, a gentleman and being well-spoken and being educated and being well-read and having manners and being polite, and we've gone through a different time now to where, um, those things necessarily aren't frowned upon, but they are not lauded, applauded and rewarded like they should be right, um, I think that's one um, you know that generation worked hard, they took care of their family, they dressed well, they spoke well, they were respected, they had a good degree of friends. You know, I'm sure that there was all sorts of crap going on at the time, right, certainly not romanticizing it, but it was. It was a different generation, and so he had a really good impact on me, um, as just kind of a standup guy in the community. Right, he, he worked hard, he always, you know, spoke well of my grandmother. He always feel like it is that he did his best to teach and to love and to lead his kids.
Speaker 3:Um, my father passed away when I was really young and my parents got divorced when I was two. I met my dad when I was 12. He died when I was 20. And so my father, if you will, when I was growing up, was my grandfather. And so when when I was young, you know, my grandfather wore a suit and tie seven days a week. So I like to dress like. I have a disproportional amount of suits and ties than a normal human being, so to average, and grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and Perry Cullen and Martin and Palenka and this kind of thing. So when I started dating my wife, she's like dude, how old are you? I'm hanging out with my parents' friends, what's going on? But he was a really good man and just one of my favorite people.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome, that's really cool and it's so the crazy thing is. So I feel like we have a lot in common. Um, you know you have a couple years on me, um, but I'm just, I love Frank Sinatra. I love that. I think, um, like I would dress in a suit every day if it was not so now, if it was not so outside the norm, like I just love that. I love that aesthetic. I'm trying to teach my boys a little bit of it with their young. So, frank's having Frank Sinatra play, having Perry Como having who'd we just listen to the other day? Dean Martin.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep, Yep, Yep. So, uh, just old soul, I just feel like that was my time and, uh, I wish, I wish the suits, I wish that stuff would come back. I love wearing my grandma. Uh was a big part of my life and you know she would say that you're not wearing a suit if you don't have a vest. And so, like I love the three piece, you know, having a vest and suit when when I'm wearing it. And, yeah, I wish, I wish we'd go back to that time where dressing nice was the norm, Cause I don't, I think people took more pride in themselves and how they looked and how they, you know, felt and were healthy, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, well, you, you, plain and simple. Do I mean it when you it's it's not a, it's not a costume, right? But if I am, if I'm gonna go to the gym, I'm wearing gym clothes, right, wearing a suit to the gym right people seem to have forgotten that, though.
Speaker 3:When they're working or doing business like it's like I'm in Arizona, it's, it's, you know, 90 degrees in a couple of months it's going to be 115, right, like when he's rocking out a three piece wool suit at one brother, it's hot take pride in the way it is that you dress. And the reality is when, when you have a good shave and you have a good haircut and you have a nice watch and you're taking pride in your appearance and that kind of thing, your mental game is different than how it is that you show up to work, whether that's a meeting, whether that's an interview podcast, getting to know each other this way, or whether it's just your own like discipline of the day of working. When I'm in a mode it is, and taking pride in the way it is, that I do, you simply just show up better. Yeah, you just do, and so I I compliment you for that thinking and and encourage you to a day a week maybe rock it out and dress it up.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I love that. No, I'd like that challenge for sure. So and we, and we just got a maybe that's what we just got a new, it's called 1933 lounge. It's like, um, it's got a cool older aesthetic to it, um type thing, and maybe, uh, maybe the day may I'll go network there and take that, take that time, cause it's got that cool old kind of feel that I really like.
Speaker 3:So waiting for my invitation.
Speaker 2:That's right, there we go All right, yeah, and it's brand new one, so it's not far from here. So that's, that's cool. Um, you know, through your you you talk about me and your wife, right? Um, what was that like? Because you're going for a doctor, becoming a doctor, you dropped out, you had. You know?
Speaker 2:um, Christineine, right, I believe was her name yeah, that's right, how, how was that relationship going, with you dropping out, starting a business, like because I, you know, I quit my job, tried to start a business shortly after getting married to my wife. So, like, what did that look like for you, um, and her and that and that, because it's not easy, um, so, yeah, how did what that kind of look like with you guys?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we, we met between my junior and senior year university and then we're married. We met and married in about 18 months. And so the minute it is that I convinced her, like I told her I was going to be rich and famous and good looking, and like, stick with me, baby, it's going to be great and the minute that she was dumb enough to believe me, I was like, really lock it down, do it before she changes her mind. Yeah and uh.
Speaker 3:So we have our 29th wedding anniversary coming up here congrats it's pretty awesome, um, you know, going through those, those you know kind of changes and just you know it's maturing and growing up because I mean, like I've spent more of my life with my wife than without her and her the same right. So there's very there's few memories that I have that don't include her. And you know, going back to that time, to where it is, we're kind of transitioning through school and what do you want to be when you grow up and how, how am I going to know I'm getting married and how am I going to take care of this woman and eventually a family?
Speaker 1:and you know, make sure it is that you know.
Speaker 3:You know she continues to feel good about her decision and that you know her parents are, you know, are like OK, you didn't marry some schmuck and you know my right, I'm going crazy because I dropped out of school and the reality is is that we screwed it up a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, you're young and you're dumb and you're broke and you don't have a ton of leadership, you know, from either side of the family. So, like dude, what did you think was going to happen? Like you know, do you think you're just going to keep? No, it's, you're figuring it out as you're growing and you're maturing, and so there's a lot of things that I did wrong, that we could have done better. I think the biggest thing it is for us, as we were figuring out what to do with business and figuring out where we wanted to live and how we wanted to live and who we wanted to be, and that kind kind of a thing, is that we just, we just simply always came back and chose each other right Is that it didn't matter if I was a doctor or a ditch digger, a plumber, a bartender, whatever it is.
Speaker 3:My wife chose me and the same thing it is for me, right? Is that I didn't know or care really where I was going to be, what I was going to do, Still trying to figure out what Jeremy was going to be, when you know he was old and wise and all that other bullshit, Right, but whatever it was going to look like, I wanted her beside me and I think those were the things it is that we found that were most important, regardless of you know how long it took us to figure the other things out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what would you say, would was your or would be your biggest piece of advice for someone starting out who's married, maybe just got married, they're trying to start a business, cause it's. You know, it's a rocky road, it's up and down, it's a rollercoaster to keep that relationship healthy. Um, along that kind of rollercoaster of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, throw balance out the window. Everybody, everybody's like.
Speaker 2:you have to find balance that's the dumbest thing in my heart. Harmony is the luckiest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's some instagram bullshit, right, yeah, throw, throw that out. The you're going to be out of balance and it's okay. Um, the thing it is that I would tell you is to to over-communicate with your spouse, right Like about things, and then make sure it is that you guys are having some time, right Like you can work seven days a week so long like I pretty much work seven days a week. I don't work Sundays very often, but I definitely work Saturdays and I and I work all through the week. But I try to make sure it is that that my wife and I get just a one-on-one lunch together for a couple of hours during the week. It is to just be with each other. We get at least an hour or two at the end of the night. It is to just kind of sit down and hold hands and just, you know, talk or listen to music or have a glass of wine or do whatever. It is to just kind of, you know, decompress and just have a little bit of time to reconnect with each other.
Speaker 3:And it doesn't always happen that we're not always perfect, but we're conscious of those things, and so a lot of times too, it is that I would tell you that do not get disillusioned that the job or the business is more important than your wife. The reality is and nobody's going to like to hear this, brother, it's just a fucking job. It's just a job. And and the reality is, you will have a bigger impact on on your community, on your life, on your children, on your wife and that kind of thing, when you make your wife a priority and not your job, right. So the job is important, the business is important.
Speaker 1:Making money getting ahead being successful, doing all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is hugely important, but it is not more important than sacrificing your wife and your kids, your integrity, your character, your family, your legacy and those kind of things along the way your health, yeah, not your health, another for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. I love that, yeah, because, like, from my perspective, like it's kind of like you know, god, my health, like me and my health I know that sounds selfish, but like if I get sick and can't help around, like everything else crumbles. So like god, myself, care, health, right, close, and the next would be my wife and they're almost kind of like even, and it would be the kids, and then it's business, and then it's kind of trickles down from there. So, and I know, I think you know, faith is a big part of your journey, right. So how is that? How does that play a role for you? I know kind of how it does for me, but how does that play a role for you through these years of building business and doing all this?
Speaker 3:You know, I think you know, just like your relationship with your spouse and just like you know, the time and tenure in your business goes through seasons. You know, for a lot of people me included is my relationship with God has gone through the same things. There's been times to where it's been spring, summer, winter, fall, right. There's been times where it is that you know Game of Thrones, winter is coming. You know to where it's just cold. There's times where you're feeling really in flow.
Speaker 3:For the last probably two to three years, like my, spiritual life's been really really good, you know, and there's been times over history it is with my wife and I that it's been better. There's been times that it's been distant. I don't think, you know, people get confused with the fact that is that just because you show up and go to church every Sunday means you have a good relationship with God. Right, church is full of the most hypocritical people in the world. Right, most hypocritical and judgmental people in the world and some of the best people it is that I know that have the strongest relationship it is with their father. Don't go to church on Sundays.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I mean, we grew up in Texas and these farmers, you know, spend, you know, six, seven days a week on a tractor by themselves for 10 hours a day.
Speaker 3:Who do you think they're talking to? Yep? So, um, for me, constantly making sure it is that I am, I'm getting fed, that I am learning that I'm making sure that my alignment is good because it's really it is it's up to me to care for, to lead to love, to provide for my wife and my children. And so if I'm not doing so, and if I'm not in alignment and I'm not working on my relationship it is with God, then how can I expect to feed and to lead them? And so, um, I've definitely become more aware of that, more conscious of that, and I'm spending time there making sure it is that my soul's fed so I can take care of my family that's awesome yeah, it's so important?
Speaker 2:yeah, because you can't, right, you can't fill someone up with an empty cup, right? You can't pour out anything if you're empty, and I think that plays with health, um, with your spiritual life and and your relationships too. So, and it sounds like that's a big piece for you is like wanting to kind of have a legacy, mentorship type thing or, uh. So with your business, um, let's talk about that. You started your own business, right? Uh, jb capital, if I'm not mistaken. So, entrepreneurs, you know we're solving problems. What is, like the big problem you're passionate about solving? That led you to starting JB Capital.
Speaker 3:You know it's funny, man, I've had a bunch of introspection on this lately because there's some new opportunities that are coming into my life that it's kind of, you know, causing me to kind of reflect back and get more of a picture of you know what am I supposed to do in this world, or you know what am I supposed to make.
Speaker 3:And I think ultimately, the core of it is to feel like it is that I'm paying attention, uplifting and breathing life into those people that are either underrepresented or not being helped. And that kind of manifested in my business with JB Capital 20, almost five years ago, is that I was finding that there was this group of people that is that were small businesses. Right, it was either you know mom and dad with a you know 20 trucks and you know an electrician or something like that, a guy that had just started a software business or whatever it was. There was this growing, burgeoning group of people. It is that we're kind of past that friends and family, mom and dad would jump around and raise money, but they really weren't yet to a point to where large institutional smart money could actually afford to pay attention to them, cause if Chris and Jeremy didn't need to borrow 50 or 80 or a hundred or 200 million. We needed to borrow three or four or five.
Speaker 3:That was such a weird check that you know three, four five million bucks in the in the community for the local rich guy to do by himself. Dude, that's a big chunk of dough. But yeah, a million dollars for anybody with any institutional money. They don't give a shit, they don't care like right dollars is like the christmas party budget.
Speaker 3:Yeah and so for those companies that were there, like who helped them. And so we got really good at solving those problems, because I found that there was this big group of people that is that just were kind of left to fend for themselves. And so that's really been the thesis of what JD Capital has been for 25 years, is that solving problems and kind of acting as a guide, you know, a mentor, a leader, somebody to kind of coach them through this process of how to understand what types of capital it is that there are, making sure that you're making the good decisions, bringing on the right types of partner, and understanding that kind of underneath of things by what those contracts and agreements make, to make sure that they're not getting taken advantage of and they can access the capital that they want. We've done a really good job of that, to the tune now in 24 or five years it's a little bit better than $2 billion. That's manifested now more in what it is that we've started doing with this kind of men's leadership groups. It is that we've been doing.
Speaker 3:Now that is gaining more attention than I thought, and so it's still that same underlying tenet there of working with and coaching these men that are, you know, feeling the weight of life. Feeling the weight of life, they're feeling the weight and kind of the gravity of what's going on when you, when you've got you know, your employees count on you, and your wife counts on you, and your, your kids count on you, and your community counts on you, and as your parents are getting older now, your parents are counting on you and this, this weight, just gets heavy, brother, and so it's what do you do with that? And then then, when I or when you need something strong to lean on, where do I go?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And we started talking about that maybe a year ago, and the response to it has been something that is that I did not expect, and so I think it is that that, for me, it's really again going back. Whether it's a business and small business and finance and this kind of thing, or whether it's men, it is that are growing up and struggling with the responsibilities of life that just need a little extra oxygen in their life for them to keep going. That, I think, for me, is what it is that we're supposed to be doing, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I love that mission. That's really cool and I think, yeah, cause heavy is the head that wears the crown right For those business owners and um and and, like we mentioned earlier, like we're in such a different time of like what masculinity quote, unquote should look like and what it really should look like, and that's I think we've drifted from that, from what we should actually be as leaders, as men, and so I think it's cool what you're doing to be able to lift those men up and guide them and give them a place to kind of figure it out together. It sounds like we're just cool. Yeah, that's really awesome, and so I mean, right there, it sounds like you're building that legacy. So, with that, what are some of the most important things? If you're talking to some young men today, younger than me, I'm 33. So you know.
Speaker 3:Good Lord, it's the food. Do your parents know you're here, good?
Speaker 2:Lord, right, I know curfews, no, just kidding. But if we're talking to 18, 20, know 18, 20 year olds, young men today, about things that are missing from male leaders or things that we need to be reminded of, what would you kind?
Speaker 3:of lay on their hearts or like put out there for them to realize, yeah, you know what's? What's interesting is, what it is that we're seeing now is this generation of this kind of, you know, 16 to 24, 25 year olds. Now, as we're recording this um is really finding masculinity and kind of the truth of masculinity, um being attractive, right, you know they, they want to be in the gym, no-transcript morons, right, you know a bunch of these guys running around, you know drinking fucking almond milk and you know trying to fight guys with a trash can lid and a pool noodle, you know, like something wrong with you. So I think today, you know we're seeing this kind of um, this, this resurrection, it is towards value. That is wonderful. And so, you know, you get guys that are going to church, not because it's in vogue or in fashion, but it is that they want that connection, it is, with something bigger than themselves. It is that can provide kind of lead and some structure and guidance in their life where they may not have that or get that either from a dad or an uncle or a grandfather or you know, somebody strong it is that they have. Right, they're looking at those things you're seeing is. You know, across this too, is that there's this big return. It is to americana and small businesses.
Speaker 3:You know, when I was, when I was their agent coming out, it was go, go. You know, get your education, whatever it is. Try to get into baseball and get your ass to New York or London to try to go for Goldman, right Goldman or Morgan or something like that. Go to one of these big banks, get in there, pay your dues for five years. You're going to make a shitload of money. You know. You write your ticket. My kids are all of college age right now. I do not want to go into Harvard, columbia, yale, any of these universities. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I don't want you at Goldman, I don't want you at any of these houses, I'd rather you just, you know, take that, you and I learned some stuff.
Speaker 3:I'll put the money together and let's go buy a plumbing business, like there's a turn to this generation. It is that gives me hope for this kind of next 25 or 30 years of what's going to happen in the States. I next 25 or 30 years of what's going to happen in the States.
Speaker 2:I'm really bullish about that. Yeah, a hundred percent, I agree, and I think we got to the point. You know, I was super, super blessed to have a great family, great parents, with a dad who worked so hard, instilled great values like what we're talking about right now, and grandparents as well, like that interest instilled, that that just worked with their hands, that got stuff done, and so like that's what I'm trying to instill in my boys, because we see so much in culture today of comfort, like and there's a point, I think there's a point yes, there is some something good with efficiency and having that kind of comfort or like ease of systems, but there's still a time where you just have to put your head down and just, you know, work through it and put in the reps or you know, you know, do the hard things Right. Still, we can't make everything easy?
Speaker 3:No, and it shouldn't be, because I mean, there's there's the old saying that we've all become very familiar with over the last four or five years about.
Speaker 3:you know, hard times create soft men and soft men create hard times, right, and that whole circle, and that's what it is that we're seeing here. So true, it shouldn't be soft. There is nothing good that comes without struggle, and so you know the things it is for you and your young boys. I've got two sons and a daughter. So you know the things it is for you and your young boys. I've got, I've got two sons and a daughter, and the thing is it is that we look at is you want to celebrate, celebrate and be proud and wear as a badge of honor? Right, like I am?
Speaker 3:I am not going to to get the physique and the body and the level of fitness. It is that I want, unless when I'm in the gym it actually hurts. You leave the gym and I'm not sore. You're just going through the motions, dude Like, just stay in bed, right Like. Don't same thing with your business. The same thing in making decisions in your friendships, right Like if there's nothing there to where it is, that you're not standing up and having a backbone that somebody can see from the front, you're missing something. Brother, you need to have a degree of character there to where it is, that it is unquestionable and unshakable about the person and the man and the beliefs and the standards it is that you have. And if I have that and you have that, then my boys are going to see that 100%.
Speaker 2:I think it's the point of, like, people don't understand, as they try to build a business, that it's going to hurt, it's going to be hard. I've heard it, new levels, new devils so you have to basically get to the point where you just deal with that pain in a good fashion, like it's going every time you get to a new level. There's going to be discomfort, it's going to stretch you, it's going to be like, oh my gosh, now it's these problems and you just get good to adapting and dealing with those. But the pain is like, it's almost like you always have growing pains as you're growing as a person, physically hurt, you're going to continually have that through the whole business. You just get better to adapting to it, or you're being able to build a team that can help support when, when those things happen, Um, and that's just life, I think, um, and we, we just don't want to have the pain, and so people look for releases or avoidance instead of just dealing with it and getting stronger.
Speaker 2:Uh, and I think, like, instead of just dealing with it and getting stronger, and I think, like you said, we're seeing a resurgence of coming back to like no, it's going to suck, it's going to be hard. I'm going to enjoy the journey anyways and just deal with it and, like great, things are going to come.
Speaker 3:Yeah, agreed, you need to wear the struggle as a badge of honor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think, because we've been told not to like oh's not a bad job, like no, like it's, it is like you've overcome, like you weathered the storm, agreed, so that's cool. So you know, I kind of want to finish with like some rapid fire questions. Um, so, uh, this would be good, hopefully recently. Do you have a favorite book?
Speaker 3:um, that's been super impactful to you yeah, I've probably given it out 20 times. If you haven't read green lights by matthew mcconaughey like, yeah, I'll send it to you right after this, it's that would be awesome fantastic, great book, cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I looked at it, I just haven't pulled the trigger. Okay, uh, one habit or discipline that keeps you grounded?
Speaker 3:you know, fitness journey, right like going to the gym, right? Um, that's become more and more important to me, and and especially the last couple of years, and so if I don't go to the gym today, it feels weird, and so that's usually how I start my day that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I love that. And then last one, on this if everything was taken away, all your accolades, all anything you've done was stripped away, and you were going to leave the world with one thing to remember you by, or remember of you. What would that one thing be?
Speaker 3:I want. I want my beliefs and my dreams and my struggles and my challenges and my standards for what it is that you know, I hope you know, my life will leave to live on through my children, and so that's extraordinarily important to us and we spend a ton of time thinking about and and sowing time into those things so that, god forbid, if today is my last day on earth, it is that you know my kids live on and do great things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. You know the. I think we're like the one person in a in a guy's life that wants to see them do better Isn't that in their times? Like, that's how I look at it. I'm like I want them to learn and be better than me and do better than me. So I love that answer. Jeremy, this has been great, super awesome conversation. Really, really have enjoyed this. If people want to get connected with you, maybe they're at the point where you're able to help them, either through investments or through that men's group. Where's the best place for them to connect with you and learn more or just stay connected with you?
Speaker 3:Sure. So anywhere on social, just Jeremy B Hill or the Jeremy B Hill LinkedIn and Instagram is pretty easy. You can jump on the website or you can look us up at JB Capital as well.
Speaker 2:We're pretty easy to find. Awesome, well, yeah, everyone, make sure you definitely get connected, continue to learn from Jeremy and, yeah, just if he if it's the right time. Yeah, just me. And yeah, just if he if it's the right time. Uh, yeah, just seek him out, connect with them. A load of knowledge and value there. So, uh, and then share this episode, if you, if you haven't followed the show, go do that and then share this with someone else who is in their entrepreneurial journey. I think there's a lot of value here because if you do that, we can help so many more people together and get this to so many people, more people's eyes and ears. And, yeah, just appreciate everyone doing that and for tuning in. Until next time, continue to go out there, elevate your life, elevate your brand, and we'll talk to you later.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.
