Episode 196 Blaze Your Own Trail with Jordan Mendoza (Part 1)

John sits down with Jordan Mendoza — founder and CEO of Blaze Your Own Trail Consulting, LinkedIn coach, speaker, host of Blaze Your Own Trail Podcast, co-author of Brand Sharks: Unstoppable Strategies from Industry Leaders, husband and dad. Jordan shares stories from his childhood that shaped his perspective on facing challenges, turning adversity into advantage, and being grateful for life's lessons. He also provides insight on building a LinkedIn audience and the importance of listening in sales. Listen to this episode to learn more:  [00:00] - Welcome notes and Jordan's intro [01:42] - Jordan's background and beginnings [03:42] - Embracing adversity and finding purpose [05:09] - When Jordan was stung by 53 bees [07:12] - Traumatic encounter with the police at age 12 [11:38] - How Jordan got into sales [13:38] - Surviving a near-fatal accident [17:17] - Things happen for you rather than to you [20:30] - Jordan's experience as a co-author of Brand Sharks [22:35] - Update on John's book [24:51] - Jordan's career journey [25:52] - Jordan's journey to parenthood against all odds [28:37] - Jordan's career journey in real estate and marketing [33:40] - Becoming a LinkedIn coach [38:45] - The philosophy of sales and serving others NOTABLE QUOTES: "Adversity gives us strength. It enables us to see through a different lens and have a different perspective than someone that may not have experienced it." "I think everything happens for a reason … and there's a lot of lessons to be extracted from that as well." "What happens at home follows us to work, whether work is 10 miles away or the next room over." "Once you break the ice a little bit, business actually becomes a lot easier, because you see the person you're really dealing with, and no one is trying to put on this business facade of like, the numbers and all that because you're gonna get that you're getting the person no matter how you slice it. It just depends on do you want to get them later? Or do you want to get them now?" "I always tell people, hey, doesn't matter what people say, you know, sometimes there's other plans that are in order, and things are just gonna come to be." "Your employers are your first investors." "If you can teach people, and they can take that knowledge and apply it and get results, that's when you know, you've got something." "Sales is just serving, that is all it is. Because if we're serving people they never feel sold to." USEFUL RESOURCES: https://www.blazeyourowntrailconsulting.com  https://www.instagram.com/therealjordanjmendoza https://www.facebook.com/therealjordanjmendoza https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjmendoza/  https://twitter.com/jordanjmendoza  https://www.youtube.com/@jordanjmendoza http://tinyurl.com/BlazaYourOwnTrailPodcast https://brandsharks.co/  CONNECT WITH JOHN Website - https://thejohnhulen.com     Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnhulen     Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/johnhulen     Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/johnhulen     LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhulen     YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLX_NchE8lisC4NL2GciIWA     EPISODE CREDITS Intro and Outro music provided by Jeff Scheetz - https://jeffscheetz.com/