In this episode of Ayahuasca Podcast, host Sam Believ (founder of http://www.lawayra.com) has a conversation with JM Ryerson, entrepreneur, author, and performance coach with over 20 years of experience. JM is the co-founder and CEO of Let’s Go Win, an organization dedicated to improving leadership, company culture, and peak performance. He is also the author of Let’s Go Win: The Keys to Living Your Best Life and host of the Let’s Go Win Podcast.
We touch upon topics of:
[01:22] Personal development and the inspiration behind Let’s Go Win
[03:15] The impact of studying abroad and embracing cultural diversity
[05:40] JM’s journey with Ayahuasca and how it changed his life
[08:48] Synchronicities, spiritual growth, and the role of numerology
[15:01] Overcoming failure and embracing faith
[17:50] Tools for self-development, including breathwork and meditation
[25:51] JM’s challenging yet transformative Ayahuasca experiences
[34:36] The idea of Ayahuasca retreats for team-building and corporate growth
[36:34] Cultivating a growth mindset and unlocking potential
[43:28] JM’s books and how they can help individuals and businesses thrive
[46:04] The importance of vulnerability in leadership and personal growth
If you would like to attend one of our Ayahuasca retreats, go to http://www.lawayra.com.
Find more about JM Ryerson at http://www.letsgowin.com.
Transcript
Sam Believ (00:01)
Hi guys and welcome to IOWASCA podcast. always, we do the whole assembly of today. have an interview with JM Ryerson. He is an entrepreneur, author and performance coach with over 20 years of experience in building and leading companies. He’s a co-founder and CEO of let’s go win an organization dedicated to enhancing leadership, improving company culture and helping teams achieve peak performance as an international speaker and host of the let’s go win podcast.
shares insights on leadership, mindset, and personal development. He has also authored several books, including, Let’s Go Win, The Keys to Living Your Best Life, which offers strategies for personal and professional success. JM, welcome to the show.
JM Ryerson (00:46)
Sam, thanks for having me, brother. I appreciate it. It’s great to be here and I love your background. people can’t see it, it’s pretty awesome.
Sam Believ (00:54)
Thank you. Yeah, it’s a bit psychedelic and there’s this kind of vortex of galaxies and I put myself in the middle of it, but it’s It’s just because there’s mess behind it. I’m moving offices. So this It kind of covers it all up. Your background is nice, too That’s actually what I’m heading to in my new office, you know family photos and hopefully books I will write in the future. But for now I’ve only started so JM
Tell us a little bit about your story. Obviously we want to go into the ayahuasca, but how, what in your life brought you to this path of growth and improvement and now helping others?
JM Ryerson (01:35)
Yeah, that’s a good question, man. I think when I go back to that big question, personal development, it actually started when I studied abroad. I was over in the Netherlands and my sister, I think she gave me the Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. think if I’m remember that title correctly, probably think and grow rich. And there was, there was one other, and I just remember riding on the trains going, dude, I love this stuff.
And then after I graduated college, went into being an entrepreneur in the financial service world, which I don’t know much about Sam, honestly, I was good at sales leadership and building teams. And in doing that building teams, what I really was excited about was helping people grow and inspiring them to live their best life. And then after I ended up writing the first book, as you mentioned, Let’s Go Win, I actually wrote that for my wife and I have two kids,
18
and 15 year old sons. It set me on this path, which is now what Let’s Go Win is, which is inspiring people to live their best lives. So it’s just something that I like to do. I like to work on myself so I can show up as the best version of me. And I found that that’s something that I’m passionate about helping others do as well. So that’s what I ended up doing, both personally and professionally. And it’s just kind of a lifestyle at this point.
Sam Believ (03:03)
Thank you for sharing and you mentioned going abroad. How did that affect you, you your ability to be more open minded than let’s say an average American?
JM Ryerson (03:15)
Yeah, it’s a good question because I’m a kid from Montana. I was playing basketball in college. That’s, that’s my passion. And when I blew out my knee for the last time, I kind of was like, well, what now? You know, it’s weird not being, you know, the athlete. And so I decided to go study abroad. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had. And I strongly suggest anybody listening, if you have kids and they’re able to do it.
Certainly do it because it’s a big world out there Sam as you know There’s so many amazing human beings and cultures and things to experience and here’s what’s cool man when I went over I actually ended up studying in Hroningen in the Netherlands and I lived in It is a nice town brother, it’s it’s kind of smaller but just
Sam Believ (04:02)
I’ve been there. It’s a nice town.
JM Ryerson (04:09)
You know really beautiful people. I mean gorgeous women and But anyway, I lived in these apartment complexes that were three stories I think they’re three stories high and in each wing you had people from Japan and Spain and all over Europe all put together in this one, know living space and so every Sunday we would have somebody cook
from their culture, their you know, whatever they were going to put on. So my roommate was Italian, and to just prepare that meal with him and watch him do it. And that was every single week we got to do that as a 21 year old kid. So cool to see so many cultures come together. So it’s it’s just it was an amazing experience. I strongly urge anybody. Like I said, if you’re studying, go study abroad, go abroad, broaden your horizons and see what else is out there.
you
Sam Believ (05:10)
Yeah, traveling has been a big part of my journey as well. That’s kind of what brought me eventually to ayahuasca. Obviously I had to travel all the way to South America to have that experience. So I know you mentioned that you basically, you’ve only worked with ayahuasca and you, you know, it’s been, it’s been your first sort of psychedelic experience. Why it’s because it was similar to me, but why, why was it this way for you? And why did you pick ayahuasca?
JM Ryerson (05:40)
Yeah, it’s one of those things that I was called to it, I guess. I had always put this ayahuasca thing as a drug and I’m very drug averse, right? I’m like, no, man, that’s not for me. No judgment. If you do it, it’s just not my thing.
And somebody that worked for me, his name is Mark and he’s like, Hey bro, you really should go check out this ayahuasca thing. I know this group who, you know, I know you, you’re going to interview him or you’ve talked to him, Brandon at one heart. And I was like, all right, you know, I’m not really into it, but thank you, Mark. I appreciate it.
A couple years later, I actually end up moving to Florida and there’s a guy named Todd and his son and my son are playing on the same baseball team. Well, sure enough, he were talking and he mentions, Hey, I’m actually going to go do this Ayahuasca thing with one heart. In fact, the CEO is my brother-in-law. And I’m like, okay, that’s weird. That’s twice.
But I’m like, cool, man. Have a good trip, Todd, whatever. I do a podcast like a month later and somebody mentions the same group again. Well, I believe in three Sam and I was like, all right, I’m being called to do this. I had lost my dad, just shortly before that. And I knew there was some stuff that I wanted to really deal with some, some trauma and some stuff.
And so I finally said, you know what? I’m being called to it. I’m going to go do it. And it was funny, Sam, because I walked through.
And there’s, I think there was like 30 of us or, or, you know, around that area and they’re like, this is your first experience with the psychedelic. I’m like, yeah, they’re like, dude, you’re jumping right into the big leagues, like straight away. And I said, yeah, man, it wasn’t on my radar, but I’m really excited to experience it. And it ended up being pretty amazing, you know, hard, but amazing at the same time. And I’m just so grateful that, that I did. And here’s the other thing, Sam, I said, I would never do
again and I recently in my meditations I feel like I’m being called back so I’ll probably explore it again and I’m excited to do so
Sam Believ (07:51)
Well, as I like to say, when it comes to ayahuasca calling, I generally tend to be a messenger as well. just the fact we’re talking, consider it’s one of the synchronicities, because that’s literally ayahuasca podcast. That’s kind of all we talk about. I think this ayahuasca skepticism is a very healthy thing. Like I personally had the same opinion. was like, if you take any drugs, you end up under the bridge. Of course, now I know that.
There’s drugs, there’s medicines, but I ended up also jumping straight into the Iwaska wagon and I’ve only tried mushrooms and my approach is like everything that has thousand year tradition is probably safe to work with. Like they know what they’re doing. But so you mentioned those, you know, the calling, the skepticism. How, how did the calling, so the synchronicities, know, like generally they happen right before your first experience. And then a lot of them after, you noticed?
starting to notice those patterns or like sort of universe or God sort of guiding you more clearly I believe you might have mentioned, know, like seeing certain numbers and stuff like that. Can’t talk about that.
JM Ryerson (09:01)
Yeah, I mean so numbers have become a huge part of my world and just before ayahuasca and certainly since it continues to come up in fact next Tuesday, I’m gonna go meet with a numerologist to do a reading so I really enjoy Things that people would call I guess woo-woo I’m into man like I don’t care if you say this is science or not if it works I’m in and so the calling with me I really
want to reconnect with with earth again in a way that I was able to with IA here’s the other thing I’m colorblind so I know that there’s certain colors behind you I can kind of tell but when I was doing IA it was like my god dude there was a whole new world that I had never experienced before
And I really I I want to see it again. I want to experience it again. I I feel like i’m ready to do that so yeah this connection to the higher power to to god to you know
whatever your thing is, I’m feeling compelled to go see it because I’m having a lot of powerful visions and I want to put them all together. I want to understand it. And, the other thing is just being out in nature, man. I’m like, said, I’m from Montana. used to spend so much time barefoot in the ground, in the mountains. And now I do some of it, but not to the level that I did when I did the ayahuasca retreat and I just feeling called to it.
Sam Believ (10:39)
Yeah, it’s interesting that you mentioned the colors because I’ve seen colors on ayahuasca that don’t exist in real life. Like it’s such a strange feeling. So that’s, guess, how it feels to be colorblind and then see colors. it’s a really cool sort of side effect. Were you, you mentioned being woo woo or spiritual, were you spiritual before ayahuasca or did it kind of come or did it like boost your spirituality?
JM Ryerson (11:07)
Well, it certainly boosted it. and here’s what’s been interesting for me prior to going to Ayahuasca. I would say, cause I was raised Catholic and I really never
jived it wasn’t I didn’t have synergy with that particular religion So the word god and I were at a place like it wasn’t something I was very comfortable saying for many many years I mean from probably 18 till Gosh 40 something. I didn’t really use that word a lot
Spiritual for sure like I I meditate several times a day Buddhism Taoism those would be the two areas that I definitely resonate with But here’s what’s interesting just prior to going to the retreat to do to Aya
I actually, I spoke with God in a meditation and that had never happened before. Like there was something going on. And as you guys that know I have better than I do, you know, they’re saying the medicine’s already working before you even got a chance to, do, to, take the medicine per se.
Ever since that moment Sam my relationship with God is something that’s just grown Certainly whatever that looks like for people I have no judgment on but for me I I say every single day I’m grateful for my relationship with God and thank you for Helping me come back to that place I say it every single day when I’m doing my breath work because I really didn’t have that connection prior to the I experience
And now I’m so comfortable talking about God talking about faith and not having any judgment on religion Just saying look if it makes you a better person awesome. This is what I’m doing So I’m I I’m forever grateful for that from Aya because I truly believe it brought me to that place
Sam Believ (13:04)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. think a lot of religious people are worried about the ayahuasca because they think it’s a kind of religion and you have to like follow other kinds of saints. But I think the way I view it is basically just an antenna that increases your signal to whatever version of God you want to deal with or whatever facet of the face and presentation. It’s interesting you mentioned faith as well because I recently realized that
That’s what I’ve gotten as well from Ayahuasca in a way that when I have some challenges and they’re really tough, I have this like, just faith. if it’s, if something is happening and putting me on a different direction, well, it means that that’s supposed to happen. I’ll do my best work, but I’ll basically just have faith that it’s for the better. Maybe there is a better way to do something. like if a certain kind of path is failing, there might be another path that is better. So that’s a…
That’s another thing that I guess when you talk about woo woo or spiritual stuff is it’s important to kind of accept that there is woo woo stuff that just bullshit, just people pretending to be somebody they’re not or saying something that’s not happened to make money. But through this ayahuasca work, I’ve seen over and over again patterns or things happening that are absolutely paranormal. However, I can like not scientifically, but I can, I can, I can prove it, you know.
So it’s interesting to kind of see that the other there’s both sides of that. So I mentioned my own challenges, right? When I strike some difficulty and I’m looking for another path. I know you talk about winning and about losing and about learning. can you talk to us about that and maybe what role could psychedelics play in somebody’s journey when they’re failing or let’s say
need to find another path.
JM Ryerson (15:03)
Yeah, I think the word faith is going to come into play in a major way because here’s the deal. Yeah, I grew up playing sports and I understand the idea of winning and losing but when people talk about let’s go win, I don’t really believe there’s a loser that should be involved right now. The only way you really fail in my opinion is if you quit right because every time I’ve failed on a project or something fell through.
Typically some great learning lesson came from that or something even greater, know, that’s rejection if somebody rejects you or says no Sometimes in the moment our ego, know stands up and it’s like my gosh, it’s the worst thing ever Well, if you just are patient for a second you realize wait a minute. There’s something greater waiting for you right around the bend
That rejection was one of the greatest gifts that God, universe, spirit guides, whoever you subscribe to gave you. And so it’s, is one of those interesting things that I have people all the time ask me about winning. And it’s taken me down a really cool rabbit hole with the word winning itself, because if you look up the word winning, you’re going to see one word over and over and over. And this is something that is fascinating to me.
Self-love self-care self-belief self-development that word self is always present in Winning and so then I was like, okay cool. But what does that mean? Well self stands for in my opinion Strength energy love and freedom and there’s three areas that are a part of that emotional mental and physical so
If that’s the case and I want to win quote unquote in life, I really have to start with myself first.
And so that’s what I’m teaching on a daily basis, Sam, when I’m working with my clients, whether it’s an athlete or an executive, it starts with you, right? It starts with how are you pouring into yourself so you can show up as the best husband or a father or employer, employee or whatever hat you’re wearing. You have to pour from a full cup. You can’t pour from an empty cup.
And so it’s really taken me down a cool training keynote. This is what I’m delivering so often is like, what are you doing for yourself? And inside of that, there’s 12 different exercises that I offer to people to really get them doing it. Some of which include breath work, meditation, grounding, cold plunges, things that people in this world are really comfortable with. But for a lot of people, they’ve never even considered doing this.
Now to the question you asked about psychedelics and how it can help you It opens up just like it does traveling in my opinion, just like you started this episode off with Why did you travel? What did you gain from it to me? going and doing Aya opened up a whole new portal or world and That I had lost at some point or I’m sure it was there and I’ve lost it and I love that connection because we are truly connected
Well, how does that help you in business my gosh now you truly have more empathy for those that you work with maybe even for your own competitors Now you have energy and alignment with people that you’d never saw before all because of this medicine that unlocked your subconscious or however the science whatever that does
So that you can really see people in a different light. So I think anybody that chooses to do it, I think it’s a powerful tool. I would also let them know, man, hey, buckle up. It is not for the faint of heart. It’s not easy in my opinion. And it’s something that, like I said, I never thought I’d do again. And yet now I’m like, yeah, I can feel I really am interested in doing it again because I want that connection.
Sam Believ (19:12)
So you mentioned emotional level, mental level and physical level. And obviously, since you work with the ayahuasca, now what do you think about adding another one, which is the spiritual? Have you in your work with the medicine, have you touched that or felt the spirit?
JM Ryerson (19:29)
Yeah, no question about it. So it’s interesting in the emotional, mental, physical. You’re right. There is that part. And what I also coach people to do is take care of three things every single day. Take care of your mind, your body, and your soul. In my opinion, soul is spirit. Spirit is soul. Kind of use them interchangeably.
Sam Believ (19:49)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
JM Ryerson (19:51)
And it’s such an individual thing for people, know, like mind it’s, know, you should be working on improving your mind, whatever that looks like, whether it’s reading or a podcast or, know, just looking for, to, to really develop your, mindset body, move the body, right? At the end of the day, whether you’re lifting or you’re playing pickleball or you’re just yoga, whatever, man, you’re, we all know to do that.
The spiritual side is so different for everybody for me. It’s meditation for others It’s reading the Bible for some it’s hiking up a mountain others. It’s swimming in the ocean There’s no real right or wrong way For you to fill that bucket, but I will say I and those experiences 1000 %
Are going to accelerate your development in that spiritual sense I don’t think there’s any way to avoid it and here’s why I believe that Sam the the last thing that made me decide to go do ayahuasca Every human being I asked that did it they said the exact same thing. It’ll change your life and I thought Okay, that’s interesting. They didn’t really say a ton more after that, but those words always came out. It will change your life
And a hundred percent I can say the same it changed my life and for the better for sure but I was so fearful going in about this drug thing and I realized why people say it’ll change your life because It’s doing something that I don’t think you Can attain without some of that medicine. I think it would be very difficult To reach that place that I brings you to without having the medicine
Sam Believ (21:33)
Yeah, it changed my life too completely. And in an interesting way, like not over the night, overnight, like, boom, I just realized something and changed, but it just like changed the direction of my life by just one degree. But I ended up in a totally different place. And here I’ve heard hundreds of people told me that, you know, people that came through our doors also saying that it changed their life. you, you mentioned entrepreneurship, obviously you work with entrepreneurs. What would you say, you know, to people that are afraid of I’ve seen like in Silicon Valley.
They’re not afraid of ayahuasca because a lot of CEOs end up like quitting or finding another path. What do you have? You noticed that there is there, is there a fear for people that are driven for wrong reasons to maybe stop being driven or take another path?
JM Ryerson (22:19)
I don’t think I mean have people taken other paths and found a different purpose because they’ve done I 100%. Who cares does if that makes them happy. I think that’s what we all want. Right. I it’s interesting you bring up Silicon Valley because when you look at the majority of the economy of our world, it’s kind of based out of that little area, you know, in in California, Northern California.
Well, one thing that’s that a lot of those CEOs I can’t say all of them They typically are doing some form of psychedelics or they’re going to Nevada and doing I’m failing on the name, but they’re going and and Thank you. They’re going to Burning Man Well, they figured out that this creative side of your brain something gets unlocked when you do these psychedelics now
Sam Believ (22:57)
Running man?
JM Ryerson (23:12)
not saying it’s for everyone, right? Like if you were to say, hey man, let’s have a hit of acid. I’m going to say no. Like I’m just not interested. But like you, if it’s mushrooms, I’m probably, yeah, man, if it’s a good space, I would love to be in that safe space and see what is out there that I’m not able to access in my subconscious or I’m not able to access the connection to the earth.
I think they figured out that you know what there’s more to our brains and we’ve been conditioned to kind of shut these things down and these psychedelics open them up now many creative people have utilized whether it’s drugs or medicine to access things that they couldn’t do otherwise and I think it’s smart. I think if you’re willing to do the work
If you’re willing to say, know what I want to, I want to be more creative. I want to be more loving. I want to be more abundant, whatever your thing is. I was cause going to help. And I know I’m talking to you. This is your thing. So you subscribe to this, but if somebody’s listening, they’re like, yeah, man, I’m, afraid of it.
There’s really no need to because if you’re doing it in a safe space with people that know what they’re doing, there’s really nothing to fear. Now that doesn’t mean you’re not going to see some nasty stuff, man. There’s going to be some tough things to deal with, but wouldn’t you rather deal with it? So you’re in, in your life, can thrive. And I think that’s what I’m seeing these CEOs in Silicon Valley to all over the world. They’re saying, I want my life to be better. And this medicine helps.
Sam Believ (24:55)
Yeah, there’s no, I don’t think there’s a way we could separate our culture from psychedelics period. We were always delving in that space and ancient Greeks were tripping and you know, everyone was tripping on something is just that we kind of lost it. Now we’re recovering it. We don’t have our own tradition, but we can obviously go to Amazonian traditions and others. And he had like
the even original math people that were figuring out, you know, the programming languages and like early, like people that came up with the idea of computer, they were also tripping on stuff. So it’s like, obviously it opens a lot of creativity. So you mentioned several times that, you know, I was case challenging it can be a difficult experience. Can you describe your own experience and what were the challenging parts and maybe what were the nice parts?
JM Ryerson (25:51)
So the big ones that come to mind, have, my hearing is not awesome. And when I do, I, when I know it’s really kicking in, there’s a huge loud buzzing that happens in my ears and I don’t like it, man. I mean, it is like, it’s just really, I know, cause I did it three times. Every time that buzzing would start, then the visions and everything would start.
For me, the idea of not having control of the functions, and that was the scariest part. Because for instance, I love tequila. That’s just, if there’s a vice in this world, it’s either red wine or tequila for me. But I know if I drink one glass of tequila, two glasses, three glasses, I know exactly how I’m gonna feel. I’m gonna feel X every single time. And I’m in complete control.
With Aya, it was so new to me and I’d never done it. I did the first cup and I remember sitting there for almost an hour and felt nothing. And I thought, shoot, something’s wrong. Well, nothing was wrong. They offered additional medicine. I had that and I don’t even think it was a full cup. On my way back to my mat, I literally felt, man, you could feel the tingling coming on, feel some things.
Scared me initially brother because I was like, man, like I am NOT I’m going to a place that I don’t have control of what’s interesting Sam is I don’t feel like I’m a Controlling type a personality like my wife certainly would fall into that category But for me, I’m actually pretty easy going for the most part, but I found with this medicine That was my challenge
Now the beautiful things, man, the, music that they were playing at, at, where I was at the nature, cause we were in Costa Rica and you could hear all the different animals around. was incredible. The colors will always be my favorite because I, again, I don’t get to experience it on a daily basis the way maybe some people do. don’t know, but certainly it was something that was so vibrant and so clear and just.
It was it was just astonishing. I’ve never seen anything like it and I I’m starting to want that back And then the connection just I remember seeing just the almost like being an avatar the trees and everything Connecting and it was like I don’t see that on a daily basis
And I just it’s something that I want to experience again and I want to understand You know things that are being sent to me like the black hawk that’s followed me since Aya that literally everywhere I go that black hawk is still with me today and I want to understand even more what it’s trying to tell me and I think I know but I think I can help
Sam Believ (28:48)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I was going to make a joke, know, as long as a Black Hawk is not a helicopter, then you’re good. You described that connection that you felt and connection to nature. How does that, you know, when do you feel it the most? Is it just when you’re in the nature or?
JM Ryerson (28:59)
Hahaha.
Sam Believ (29:18)
How did that feeling affect your life?
JM Ryerson (29:22)
Yeah, so the last ceremony we did was during the daytime and I actually went outside and I just laid on the grass man and I started writing a poem. I haven’t written a poem since probably fifth grade when we had to do a haiku. Like that’s not something I do.
I’m watching on the grass watching this hawk just circle and circle and circle and So every day that I go outside now whether I’m in Florida or Montana or Colorado or Tennessee Oklahoma, I mean all the places I’ve gone just recently Guess what that hawk is still right there now I Feel a connection to that black hawk in a way that you know is a connection with my dad
feel a connection, especially when I go outside and do my yoga and ground every single day. But I think the one thing that I’m missing is the vibrant colors until there’s one meditation that I’ve been doing recently that I’ll get close, but it’s not quite the same.
So I just try to, my practices every single day, at least five to 30 minutes that I get outside and I just get my feet in the ground.
That’s when I feel connected again, because otherwise, brother like you, I’m sure, I mean, I’m doing a lot of these, you know, zooms and I’m on the phone and you’re doing business. You got to make time to get outside and get reconnected because the energy that we get is just, it’s so, it’s so profound. And it’s something that I spent a ton of time outside as a kid. And I kind of lost out a bit in my adulthood and I want to get it back.
Sam Believ (31:08)
Yeah, here definitely it’s easy because of the climate. It’s so nice all year round. So I definitely go for the walks. You mentioned your dad and I think you lost your dad not that long before your first ayahuasca retreat. Have you been able to access this consciousness or maybe contact him or somehow process the loss?
JM Ryerson (31:35)
So to a degree, it took me
I think three months of meditation to where I could ever see my dad’s face again. Now lost him to suicide. And I only say that because it was a traumatic thing that I didn’t know was even a possibility. My dad was my hero. It’s, you know, still is just strongest man you’ve ever met. And I didn’t realize how much pain he was going through. And I’m a mindset coach. So that’s even more difficult to be like, gosh, I just wish I could have helped.
Just prior to going on the retreat I have done a meditation and I actually saw his face and I was able to connect with him again which had taken months to do that
Since then I recently especially i’ve been seeing him a lot in my dreams and Not that he’s saying anything to me, but I I just i’m seeing him So I don’t know man i’ll never have the answers that I want or at least I don’t think I will until I go to that other side
But I know that he’s in a better place. And when I see that black Hawk, man, it just tells me that, you know, he’s up there. He’s not struggling because when I watch this Hawk, man, he’s not fighting against the wind. He’s gliding.
And he’s always just gliding and, obviously for somebody to take their life, they weren’t gliding, man. They were going through a lot of pain and struggle and to see this black Hawk not doing that. it just tells me that he’s in a better place. Now, some people don’t believe that and that’s okay, but it’s for me, it’s given me a lot of peace and solace to know that he’s found some peace and harmony and hopefully he’s up there fly fishing just like, you
That was his love when he was down here. So I don’t know if I’ve been able to connect with him the way I want to, but I certainly continue to be open to it.
Sam Believ (33:41)
Yeah, sorry for your loss. JM, suicide is kind of rampant, these days and we get lots of people actually coming here that later on mentioned that they bought one way ticket because they basically tried everything and they say, this doesn’t work, I was cause specifically they, they were going to like, you know, finish it. And, and, and as far as I know, all of them are still laughing, kicking and better than ever before. It’s kind of, it can be that
sort of strong jumpstart when it comes to mental health journey. But yeah, in your career, you built teams. I just wanted to run an idea by you. We do private retreats and once we had a group of board directors that came and did the retreat together, they’re also like remote family members, cousins, et cetera. And was pretty great.
I was like, and you probably noticed that when you collect group of people and they work with the Alaska together and they share, they started to really bond really quickly. And I was like, what if, what if we do a retreat specifically for like team building instead of like going, taking people playing paintball together, bring them to a retreat and just like actually, I think, solidify the team. What do you, what do you think about that?
JM Ryerson (35:01)
think it’d be incredible, brother. Obviously, they’re going to need to have that growth mindset to say, you know what, I’m willing to go through this experience. Because that takes a lot of trust, you know, for team members to truly be that vulnerable. But I will say any company or team listening, if you want to take it to the next level and you want to accelerate it, 1000%, there’s there’s this is an accelerant to everything that you’re going to do.
And as you said, you now can relate and bond about something so much bigger than not that paintball is bad or not that doing games is bad, but this is deep work.
And when you do deep work, now you’re connecting at a much deeper soul level to where you and I are brothers for life, man. It’s like we went through an experience that no one can take away from us. No matter what happens in the outside world, we can always go back and remember those times together. yeah, mean, dude, I think it’s fantastic idea. think any companies or teams that are open to it.
You’re going to have great results, but they’re going to have to definitely have a growth mindset and trust one another enough to say, yeah, this is something that we should do.
Sam Believ (36:20)
So how do they get that growth mindset? know, obviously I believe I have it, you have it. How does one adopt it even before drinking Alaska?
JM Ryerson (36:34)
You know, it’s a good question because I would say I do have a growth mindset and yet I have a fixed mindset in certain ways too, right? It’s something that I’m constantly working on every single day. I think Carol Dweck when she wrote the book mindset She unlocked this idea That there there is a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and one is certainly more productive more attractive if you want to live your best life
So for me, when she put the words around what having a growth mindset is versus a fix, I got to say, man, it changed the way I talk to my kids. It changed the way I look at failures again, quote unquote. And I think she just, she absolutely nailed it. So it’s one of those books that I read often, you know, probably once every year too, just to remind myself.
And it’s something that I, know, you’re going to have a growth mindset in many, many ways and you’ll catch yourself having a fixed mindset. And that’s okay. That’s very human of you. Just continue to work on it, continue to evolve. So yeah, it’s been an ever evolving journey, man. I don’t think it’s ever going to stop, but I certainly love the idea of always being open to new ideas and to meeting new people. Because I remember Sam at one point I said, I have enough friends.
You know how stupid that is? was 27 or 28 years old. There’s 8 billion people. And at some point I said, you know what? I have enough friends. That’s how close minded I was at that moment. I’ll never meet all of the people I want to in my lifetime. There’s just so many amazing people out there, but you got to be willing to do it. So I just hope that people open their minds to it and say, yeah, you know, there’s a cool big world out there and I’d love to experience it.
Sam Believ (38:25)
Yeah, so on that note, can you talk to us about the let’s go win philosophy? What is that?
JM Ryerson (38:33)
Yeah, so the overall philosophy is inspiring people live their best lives. That’s that’s why it exists now.
What I do is I help companies double or triple their revenue in the first year. That’s, that’s kind of the sweet spot that I’ve found. And I do it doing really basic things. I help companies get real clear on what their values are, how you behave, what are your goals? Are you in alignment? Do you have the right people on the bus in the right chairs and
When you do that, it allows you to now thrive. Your company grows relatively drama free and work becomes fun again. So what it’s really ended up being Sam is for instance, I work with some dental practices because dentistry has the highest level of suicide of any occupation.
And the reason that they they hire me is because they want to double or triple their revenue. Okay, cool. Let’s do that. But the reason that I want to work with them, I’m excited is because we get to work on the mental health side of things.
And so what’s cool with the companies they get to work with is their money is growing but guess what? So is their self growth their their love and their their work-life balance and work-life harmony starts to get in alignment with what they want in life. So it’s just helping people achieve that freedom the love and abundance that they should have and do have access to helping them unlock that. Meanwhile, they also get to you know
grow and expand their business side of things, which allows them to have the freedom to have more time, the freedom financially to go experience something like Ayahuasca or, you know, just take that vacation that they never did. So it’s become so much bigger than just helping them with money. It’s really helping them experience what owning a company should be all about.
Sam Believ (40:35)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. So you obviously coach those people and who needs a coach? And I have a coach personally I work with. I have a coach and I have a mentor kind of persona in my life as well. for people that don’t have a coach or for higher level people in the business who also maybe are thinking about
having a coach, when should they get one and is there ever time when it’s not recommended?
JM Ryerson (41:11)
So this is a softball question. Thank you, Sam. It’s everyone needs a coach. Look, if you’re, if you’re a basketball fan, Michael Jordan had a coach, had a strength coach, had a dietician, had a, stretching coach. mean, this is the greatest basketball player of all time. And he had coaches all over helping him perform at his highest level. Well, if that’s good enough for the greatest basketball player of all time, I think it’s great enough for all of us that we need a
And here’s why if you and I look in the mirror we see a certain You know, we see the the the reflection it may or may not be the way that it actually looks to the rest of the world and the other Example is if I leave a voice message, I think my voice sounds a certain way when I listen back to it brother my gosh, it sounds so different
Well, that’s what a coach is going to be able to help you with is how you’re showing up in the world. They’re going to see your blind spots because the sad truth is Sam, we will lie to ourselves. We will let ourselves down all the time.
But if you have a coach, they’re there to make sure that you’re keeping accountable to your word, helping you really thrive in whatever endeavor you’re pursuing. So everyone should have a coach at all times. And by the way, never hire a coach without asking them if they have a coach.
Because we all need it and we all have that blind spot of those flat sides And that’s what a coach is really there to do is help you see it help you get better Cheer you on in that journey and you know, it’s I I hope that everyone does find one because life is just better when you have somebody on your side Rooting for you really helping you along the way. So I Hope everyone finds a coach or certainly a mentor even if you can’t afford
Find somebody that’s lifting you up and is making you really, you know strive to be a better person
Sam Believ (43:14)
Yeah, great, great advice. So you wrote three books. Obviously, you mentioned after drinking ayahuasca, you’re also not doing poetry. So the next one is probably going to be a poetry book. But talk to us about your three books and which one should people absolutely read first?
JM Ryerson (43:28)
Ha ha ha.
Man that’s a good question It’s like picking between your kids. I would say read let’s go win. I That book is if you were to hop on a flight in New York and you were to land in LA you would have finished the book and It was an easy read that you were able to get at least three big ideas from each chapter. So there’s 12 chapters
Sam Believ (43:40)
Yeah.
JM Ryerson (43:59)
That’s the first book, that’s the orange one, let’s go win. Champion’s Daily Playbook, I wrote that because, again, I told you I’m from Montana. For people to work one-on-one with me, when I even, sometimes when I say my fee, I’m like, gosh, I want more people to be able to work with me. That’s why I wrote Champion’s Daily Playbook.
It literally lines out how I coach people. And if you set a goal in 90 days, if you set that goal and follow the book every single day for 90 days, you’ll hit the goal. So that’s probably the most practical usable guide. That’s more like a journal. And then the last one upgrade that was really one I wrote because you know what I realized Sam is nobody likes change people. That’s by and large people don’t like change. They resist it.
But everybody loves to upgrade brother. We, upgrade our cell phones every year. We love getting upgraded on the plane, you know, or the car rental or the hotel. It’s the same damn thing. It’s a change, but you’re just making an upgrade. And so that is one that if you’re struggling with change, I would say, take a look at upgrade because it challenges that thought to say, I don’t like change. Cool. Don’t change. There’s nothing wrong with you, but maybe you want to upgrade.
And thank you for asking man because writing those books was a lot of work and something I enjoyed and I hope other people can enjoy it and get some value from it
Sam Believ (45:29)
Same as you said once that, you know, I’ll never do ayahuasca again and now you’re contemplating it again. You also say, you know, this is hard to write books. I’ll probably never do it again. You know, you never know. Last questions, a question I want to ask you, you talk about sort of vulnerability in the growth journey and as opposed to like, let’s go win. That’s a very sort of winning, losing, but
more about like emotional vulnerability in the growth journey. Can you talk a little bit about that?
JM Ryerson (46:04)
Yeah, actually the first chapter of let’s go win is vulnerability because it’s the most profound lesson that I learned as an executive. If you want to be an amazing leader, just let people in. People will follow you to the wherever you’re going, man. If you truly let them in, if you put on a facade and a show, people don’t buy that man. And it’s really not a good way to go about life. So what I say in there is look masks.
that we start to put on at some point in our life. Take that stuff off, man. Masks are meant for parties. It’s not meant for real life. When you can take those masks off and truly show up as that naked, vulnerable self.
That’s when life becomes really really easy And I know it’s a scary idea because look I was taught boys don’t cry That was my entire childhood is that boys aren’t supposed to cry and you’re supposed to stuff that stuff way down Well, what happens if you do that it ends up blowing up in some volcanic burst of chaos. That’s not good, man So allow yourself to be vulnerable show people, you know, let them you know See under the kimono know that you’re gonna be okay. Well
Some people take advantage of you, maybe, but you’ll know those are the wrong people anyway. So yeah, man, I appreciate you asking that and I hope the people listening are truly open to it because it is so beautiful and free when you could truly just be your vulnerable self because it allows you to take all that energy and focus on something positive instead of looking a certain way, sound a certain way.
Sam Believ (47:43)
Yeah, we talk a lot about vulnerability at Lawyra because when people come and we put them together and they start sharing, there’s this resistance. So I asked them, you know, take off your masks and become yourself. And through that vulnerability, connections start to be created because otherwise people think like, everyone is perfect. I’m the only one flawed. So therefore they can’t connect to each other. It’s like almost these masks is like.
plastic that they slip over. They can’t be that friction, that rawness. So vulnerability is incredibly important and that kind of helps people at the retreat to also heal through the group healing. Because not all of it is Zayuwaska, it’s also the group healing itself. JM, thank you for this episode. I think it was really entertaining and very valuable. I’ve definitely learned a few things.
Where can people find more about you or maybe if they can afford it get you as a coach or maybe yeah more.
JM Ryerson (48:52)
Yeah, thank you brother. Any, anywhere you look up, let’s go win. I’ll pop up, but I’d say go to let’s go win.com. Lots of free resources there for you. I am taking on one more company, depending when this comes out in 2024. And then every quarter I will take on another company to help them grow. And I’m not saying we’re the right fit, but let, we can discover that we can go through and see, Hey, do you really want to grow your company and double or
Triple E revenue. Cool, man. Let’s let’s take a look and see if we’d be a good fit. So check it out. Hit me up and let’s see if we fit together. If so, that would be amazing. And Sam, you do a great job on this podcast. I love what you’re doing, brother. And keep up the amazing work. I so appreciate you.
Sam Believ (49:41)
Thank you, JM. Guys, you’ve been listening to Ayahuasca Podcast and I will see you on the next episode.