Welcome to the get hired up podcast, Jake!

Jake Thompson 

Hello, thanks for having me, excited to be here!

Maureen Farmer

I'm excited to have you here. And this is where I want to start. Because this grabbed my attention when I saw it. The life we desire is closer than we think. Let's start there.

Jake Thompson

Yeah, changing our life. It's funny, a lot of times, people I think are under the misconception. It's like winning the lottery. Like it's out there. And maybe you'll get lucky, maybe you'll get struck by lightning, maybe your life suddenly changes. If you do something magical, there's a tipping point, as we would say. But in reality, our best life changing that life changing the career really comes down to the teeny tiny choices we make every day. Because the choices we make start to compound over time to create those outcome results. And it's not a big magic moment. I tell folks, it's like a Lego block. A single Lego block by itself. It's completely worthless unless you are barefoot walking through the house and it will find that but you stack a lot of Lego blocks on top of each other. As a kid, you could build something cool as an adult, you can build something really cool. Your life and career the same way. You stack enough good small choices every single day, you end up building something incredible. And everybody always sees the outcome, they don't really see the building process. And so when I say your your life and that full potential and everything you want, it's closer than you think it's because you own the power to change your choices on any given day, versus continuing to go through the motions that we just kind of get distracted by or caught up in.

Maureen Farmer

I can relate to that very deeply. When you think about compound interest is those little those little itsy bitsy things that we do in the beginning that begin to add up. And Lego was a favorite toy in our house growing up because my brother, my brother was not well, and so he didn't he couldn't play sports and things like that. But he played Lego like no one else played it. We had more Lego in our house, I think than any one all of my friends combined.

Jake Thompson

I had tubs of it when I moved out and went off to college. I think my mom gave him away. And I was like, Oh, maybe I still wanted him.

Maureen Farmer

You will when you have your own kids. That's awesome, though. And, and I can relate to what you're seeing. What is it that keeps us so far away from? I don't know...the first step or is it because we focus too much on the outcome? Do you think or...

Jake Thompson

Yeah, I think the first step is always the scariest, right? You think about running a race. What's the scariest part, it's not the training, it's not crossing the finish line. It's not even in the middle of the race, the scariest part is standing in the stalls waiting for the race to start. Because it's in that moment, we're not moving. And so our brain is just running wild with thoughts which we know we have 60 to 80,000 of a day and most are negative. So we're not moving our focus is kind of thinking on the gap between where we are and where we're trying to go. And we're afraid of how long it's going to take much work it's going to be if we're going to fail everything in anything that can pop in our head. And those moments do. But it's funny, those voices tend to get a little bit quieter once you start taking action. Once you're focused on the move. Our self talk starts to shift those voices start to shift. And so I think a lot of our problems is that we're not taking action and we're just thinking about lack of a better phrase eating the elephant in one bite, instead of the proper way to eat an elephant which is just like you do a doughnut. One bite never eat an elephant just saying, Well, yes, no, not actually. But the idea of Yeah, no, a monster size goal, we tend to think Oh, I gotta do this today. It's like, Oh, I gotta lose weight, or I have to get promoted at corner office. I've got to do something today. And it's really not about today. It's about the long game. And how do I make a little bit of progress today toward it?

Maureen Farmer

There's...and people will be tired of me quoting this guy, but his name is Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He wrote the book called Psycho Cybernetics. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but I was introduced to the book through another podcast that I listened to. And I've read the book like five times, it's on my nightstand. And there's just so many lessons in the book. And he was a plastic surgeon in the early 1900s and lived in Manhattan. And he had an incredible story. But one of the things that he really focuses on is enjoying the journey, like trying to trying to embrace the journey rather than the destination. And I try to remember that I try and it sort of is tied to gratitude as well and things like that.

Jake Thompson

Well we get in so much trouble if we look for the outcome, right? Because everybody wants the outcome. We want the outcomes. We want the wins. We want the goals, the promotions, the money, we want all of it, but it's not as fulfilling as we tend to think it is. And it's really the journey and the process and gratitude in that process of who we become that you really find value. And I actually just heard University of Oklahoma the women's softball team just won the national championship. for I don't know how many years in a row, they are at sports dynasty, and they're interviewing the best player on the team. And she said, You know, I win this, and it feels good. But I'm going to wake up tomorrow. And it's just going to be another day. And she said, the joy and the things I enjoyed, were the training and the being with my teammates. It was the process, not the outcome, because the outcome is going to fade. There was a soccer coach for University of North Carolina, he would give his seniors a rose every year. To signify like you're winning is like this rose. It's beautiful in the moment, you love it, you cherish it, but it's going to start to die immediately. And pretty soon it's going to be nothing. And so find your joy in the process in the people you surround yourself with and how you show up every day to get better. Versus just did I win the game? Just did I get the promotion? Just did I close the deal?

Maureen Farmer

I think we need to bring that earlier into our lives. Because I remember my first undergraduate degree, I worked so hard to get that degree. You know, I was older going back to school, and I really worked very, very hard. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being a student and so forth. But by the time I remember, went to graduation, and then that afternoon, we were out raking leaves in the yard. And I'm like, wait a minute now. You know, it was it was anticlimactic, I would say and I had I was lucky enough to have won a couple of awards and, and things like that. And then all I could think of as I was going to lose are going to miss my classmates and my profs you know, it was it was that stayed with me. And now I am learning that it's not the destination, it is the journey because sometimes that journey takes us sometimes the destination changes in your course correcting as you go.

Jake Thompson

You absolutely are. Yeah, I mean, where I thought I was starting out after was not at all where I ended up today in the work I do. But you think about from a leadership role. And even just growing throughout your career, it's being you have a hard time to lead to influence to succeed unless you're able to stay in the present moment. You can, you can look ahead, you can make some calculations and adjustments. But it's being in the moment where you're able to cultivate the relationships within a team to lead coach develop the right people, it's being in the moment where you're able to do the best work, which puts you in a position for future opportunities. It's being in the moment that allow you to enjoy it versus being which I was as well in such a rush to get quote there, that you miss out on a lot of opportunities. And you think I'm doing it because I'm getting there. I'm getting this level income. I'm getting to this point in my career, I'm doing this get there, get there, get there. And then you get there and you think that's it must sacrifice all of that for this. Yeah. And then you're you're stuck with that kind of regret of that decision, whether it's professionally or personally.

Maureen Farmer

So Jake, I would love to know more a little bit about your journey. I know that you your earlier career. You were with Thompson oil, is that a family company?

Jake Thompson

Yeah. So my very first job was working in a gas station when I was like seven years old, my dad, small Phillips 66 gas station in our little bit of East Texas town. And so summers, Saturdays, I worked all the way through high school, went off to college, and then would come back and work learning not only kind of the business, but how to manage people how to how to kind of lead workings, not only going from working in the stores, to managing the store to managing a couple of stores. So I learned a lot of that process. But I was all the while just like this is my quote, summer job. I didn't I didn't focus as much on it because I was really focused on how do I be a sports agent? That was kind of my dream job.

Maureen Farmer

That was your thing.

Jake Thompson

That was my thing, yeah. Yeah, it's been a few years. You know, I started in the sports industry working interning and working for the Cowboys, then their arena league team. Then I started interning and working with an agent spent a few years into it and was like, This is not what I thought it was gonna be.

Maureen Farmer

So tell me about that. I'm very curious. It wasn't what you thought it was going to be.

Jake Thompson

It wasn't and there was a couple of reasons for that one I had aligned with probably not the best role model mentor in the space. I had, you know, that's a really tough industry to break into. And so just getting somebody to pay attention was a big deal of like, hey, yeah, I'll let you do research and start to learn this business without fully probably vetting who they were as an individual was a tough deal. And so when I got into it, I struggled from that standpoint of having someone actually teach me versus just us me. The other aspect is I emotionally at that time was not mature enough to handle some of that sales process because you spend six to eight months getting to know guys get to know their family, their goals, talking to them updating them and then you're hoping you know at a 10 Guys you talk to you may get rid of three Three or four may get rid of you, you hope you sign one. And so that's a lot of like emotional investment and not going to work out. And for me, it really came to a head in 2008, were on back to back days, I sat down with two different guys, one guy was a kid I knew from school at TCU Craig guy, and he just wasn't gonna get drafted, he just didn't have the talent level that they needed. And so we kind of said, Hey, here's what we can do as potential agents to support you, but you're gonna have to make the team as a free agent. And it just crushed his soul. And like that broke my heart to see crushed even though it was the truth, and we couldn't lie to him, like, it still crushed me. And then the next day I drove that night, I drove like, eight hours overnight to Louisiana for another meeting. And that guy looked at me point blank and was like, Hey, listen, I like you, I would sign with you if I could. But I don't trust the guy you work for. So I'm gonna go with this other group, okay. And when he said that, I was like, I'm done. And so I got out, I got out, I had two weeks left in grad school, I was still finished, got my MBA, but that was 2008. The recession was in full effect, couldn't get a job. I laughed at BestBuy wouldn't even hire me for holiday jobs because I have Dallas Cowboys and sports agency and you know, the oil background and like an MBA and what are we going to do hiring you. And so I just started freelancing, started building a consulting practice working with organizations on their marketing strategy on social media, which was so new, taught myself basic graphic design, web design, things that small businesses need, and just didn't have the funds for didn't know how to start. So I just helped build things and get referrals and helpless strategies, and did it for a few years, but was really unfulfilled with the work was making great money was enjoying single life in Dallas. I was, you know, on the surface, checking the boxes. But I felt that I was building myself a sandcastle, because really, it was just about me. Like, how can I make the money? How can I buy the toys? How can I have the fun instead of how can I help someone else, right. And when I realized that I was like, I've got to change what I'm doing, to start helping others. And that really sent me down the path to ultimately starting to compete everyday brand, and testing in the market. And obviously, the work I do now in the performance coaching and speaking space of helping folks really embrace that mentality as leaders to get better results for themselves and the people they work with.

Maureen Farmer

That's awesome. I want to hear the t-shirt story!

Jake Thompson

I came up with this idea of competing every day against yourself, what if we stopped being people that go through the motions that just take each day for what it is they get distracted by busy work versus important work? What if we stopped doing the things that for lack of a better phrase fear talks us into because anything else is uncomfortable, it's a little bit outside of our comfort zone, feel a little icky. Sometimes we don't know the results, we may lose, we may fail. What if we started going after those things, those things that were beyond our current reach. And the only way I saw to do that was truly to compete with yourself because you don't control anyone else. It's like a track star. If you're running 100 meters, and you look at everyone else, you're going to slow down your body physically will not produce his top speed. If your head is twisted your shoulders or turn any of that it's your lane, your finish line that you have to focus on and give your best to run at full potential. It's the same I saw with life, if we can get out of this mentality that our happiness is derived from how we compare to our neighbor, and is only determined by how much better am i doing than I was the day before and how much closer I am to my potential Could someone starts shifting their outcomes in reality. And I saw that and I started studying how people's pursuit of happiness is really dependent. It's not a absolute dollar figure, like from a financial standpoint, we think, you know, there's an absolute number that if I get that number, I'll be happy. When in reality, all of the research shows that the only number you really want is the one that shows you're better than your neighbor or your friends. Like you just want to make a little bit more money than the people around you. When we live off of that we're constantly in this battle because right what our happiness is always dictated by someone else. And someone's always going to be doing better than us in life. And someone's always going to be doing worse depending on the timing. So it also removes our ability to become our best self. Because instead of focusing everyday on where am I improving? How am I maximizing my talents, my abilities to be the best leader, the best worker, the best spouse, parent, whatever. We are focused on someone else's level. And what if their talent or their potential is far below ours? Do we end up cheating ourselves? And so I started packaging all of this and really just threw it into T shirts at first because the other few ideas I had didn't really seem to work and was selling it out of the trunk of my car behind the gym in Dallas as just a side hustle from my consulting, who would talk to people about it. I would say Hey, this is what I think this is important. Some message we're communicating. And it really started to take off and started to go and I would start traveling the country Working CrossFit competitions to Rock and Roll Marathon series to expos and events selling the merchandise branded with compete every day are messages that reinforced that idea of everyday being better than you were the day before. Instead of getting caught up in this comparison.

Maureen Farmer

I love that one of our colleagues in my mastermind group calls it comparanoia. And I really liked that.

Jake Thompson

Yeah, it's so true, right? Because you're always worried like, somebody's going to catch me, you know, and you're worried about everyone else, which doesn't allow you to become better yourself. Because your focus your energies, your efforts are elsewhere. And so yeah, so I did that for a number of years. We still have the apparel business today. But in 2015, organizations started reaching out. And they say, Hey, we saw some of your shirts, we have your shirts, how do we get our people to embrace this. And I've always been, as you can see, behind me the bookshelves. I've always been a reader always been a study er, and I've always studied leadership development, personal development, sports psychology, things that I'm like, man, if had only known when I was in high school, like how differently what I've seen the world and challenges. And I just started talking about these things, and working with organizations. And I had a special opportunity in Houston to speak at an event. And the VP pulled me aside and said, if you haven't thought about this, I think you should go do more of it. And so I filed it away, until about a year later when I happen to come across a guy who teaches speakers and he teaches kind of the business and what does it look like to actually go teach and train and talk from stages? Are you able to share her that is for ya. So it's Michael, Michael Port, with heroic public speaking, he and his wife, Amy run a phenomenal program, I invested in their program, went through it back in 16. And 17, finished it and then went through a separate program that a friend of mine runs called the speaker lab out of grant Baldwin, and just said, Hey, I really want to learn this business. Because one I knew if I put money into investing, to learn how to handle the stage, and learn how to grow the business in this industry, I don't know, I think I can impact more people than if I just sell T shirts. Right? And so I really went that direction. And so 2018 was kind of my first I say, half year speaking 2019 Everything ramped up, we all remember 2020. And what that was a roller coaster, especially for someone in my position who does in person events, but the business has grown every year. And it's really evolved in spite that I'm sure despite of SpiceJet Yeah, you know, really COVID did a lot of things for us from a beneficial standpoint, in the fact that in person events went away, but virtual ones didn't. People were at home shopping more. So that meant more people were buying apparel, which were being introduced to our brand and the story, right, so created a really cool ecosystem for us that we've spent the last couple years fine tuning. Because the whole work we do is at the end of the day, how do we help someone get better results for themselves and the people they lead? Because we know that's the biggest challenge. We know people are amazing talent, and they get promoted into leadership positions, they launch a business, they start hiring people, they get put in a position where they've been really good. And now they're having to take care of others. And they struggle. They either struggle to lead others, they struggle to get why other people don't work as hard. Or the worst case they just get so burnout of leadership, that they hate it. Not that they actually hate leadership, but they hate the fact that they're put in a position they weren't trained to succeed at, they were almost set up to fail. And so they're like, Forget the money, forget the extra hours, like I'm going back to what I was doing before making less with less responsibility, because it's just not worth it. And that crushes me because we need good leaders, the world is full of opportunities for good leaders, just go to your local grocery store, or target and see how many shopping carts are out there all by themselves on a stroll, right? You know, we know we need leaders. And so we are passionate about about doing that. And so we have a variety of programs now between my book and second book, which is just now going to editor podcast and everything like that this designed to help that specifically for it. And so it's you know, if you'd told me in 2011 when I was selling T shirts that this would be what I do now. And I laugh. But it's been really cool to see how do we actually take this core concept, apply research and science behind it of saying this is where we do most often this is what we could do to be better, and start positioning it to help people start more than anything living better lives, which we know will create a chain ripple effect with the people they work with and the people they live alongside.

Maureen Farmer

So what are the name of the books? Maybe you can't give us a second one.

Jake Thompson

I can't give you the second one. I'm really excited about the second one. And like I said it is today we're recording this as June 23. I've got to have it to my editor, like next week and so I have like a chapter left to right and then clean up a bunch of it because I definitely went over my word count. First book though is called compete every day. It's the not so secret secrets to winning Your work in life. Awesome. And the reason I titled it that is, is really it's just about seven, eight choices, that once you read it, you're like, Oh, that makes sense. It's common knowledge, some of the things that talked about in the book, but what do we know, common knowledge is not common practice.

Maureen Farmer

It's not so common, much of the time. 

Jake Thompson

So how do we actually do it? And that's one of the things in the book I was most proud of is, at the end of every chapter, it's like, how do you apply this choice to your personal life, your professional life and your relationships? Because I want people to start connecting the dots of when I say, you know, outwork your talent. I'm really saying, like, how do we stop justifying a lack of talent? To not go after a goal or justifying our talent? To be the reason we don't work as hard? Because we just go through the motions? And what if we start actually trying to maximize that talent? What can happen? And that plays off of, you know, I'm gonna say Carol Dweck, Angela Duckworth, work on grit, and that, in the long run your work ethic and consistency is twice as important as your talent? How do you focus on what's in your control? Which is your work ethic and your consistency, and less about the things you can't which is your talent.

Maureen Farmer

Amazing. So tell me, tell me, Jake, what has surprised you most in your career so far?

Jake Thompson

How hard it was? I think that's I mean, that's honestly it. I think the challenges I've we've dealt with building the business, managing people figuring all this stuff out, we're more than I would have anticipated going yet.

Maureen Farmer

How many on your team?

Jake Thompson

It's a pretty lean team. On the E commerce side, we have four people between fulfillment design, marketing, social, and then on my side for the speaking and training, there's just two of us. And so it's very strategic that way for a reason we have other contractors. So like we have a video team we work with, we have a bookkeeper, an accounting team. So we have some outside parties we work with, but I've intentionally kept it smaller. Because when I was earlier in the business, I was focused on scaling fast. And what happened when we did that we accumulated debt, which right ties your hands up in some of the things you can do. And when I realized our future was more teaching, than just t shirts, then we started making shifts to say, how do we actually lean out? How do we still have the apparel business? Because it's a good business for us. But how do we actually shift our energies in the direction that we believe can make the bigger impact for us? And so we've done that. But yeah, I think the biggest surprises have been just the difficulties. And I think anybody that owns a business or sits in a leadership position can relate. Because you don't know what you don't know until you're in it. Right? You've got to be resilient enough to say, Okay, what do we do to get out of it, instead of just how to quit and run.

Maureen Farmer

And the courage to make those decisions.

Jake Thompson

Yeah, the courage or the stubbornness, as I love to say I had, I had a friend that the first year of business, he took me out to lunch, I mean, I had been selling shirts for three or four months. So like, just out of the gate, not making anything to live on shirts, but selling them. And he said, How's it going? I said, Well, it's going to be a lot harder than I thought it was. And he laughed. He said, Well, it's a good thing. You're your own worst accountability partner. I said, what he said, think about it, you've started talking about and building this brand that says, no matter what you go through, no matter what you face, you don't give up, you show up and compete, you find a way in the middle of a storm to get one inch four, and one inch four, he said, so no matter what you go through with this business, you can change it, you can pivot the model, you're stuck with this brand until the day you die. And hopefully then some. Because if you quit, regardless of whether it's 10 people that have bought something, 100 people, maybe a million people one day, if you quit, you're telling all of them this message that I said I believed in that I believe is accurate, that I have evidence to back in actually lied. And you're going to let all of those people down. Because you're going to tell them that you were selling them on something that you actually don't believe in. He said, So essentially, you're stuck. And I laughed in that moment, not realizing the weight fully of what he said. But that conversation has been one of the most pivotal and important ones I've had throughout my career. Because anytime I found myself in that valley and those low spots, whether it was in 2018, when we were really shifting the business, and I thought we might just go under making that turn whether it was early days of expos not working or trying to you know, change staff and all of that. I always went back to that statement. This is I don't want to let the people down who have bought into this message. So giving up is not an option. How can I invest my energies and attention into finding solutions? Instead of either complaining or sulking.

Maureen Farmer

And who was this guy? You don't have to say his name but was he...

Jake Thompson

One of my best friend. Now it's funny, I laugh now he's I mean, He's practically a brother. I'm an only child. So I have like, three or four guys in my life who I consider like blood. And at the time, I'd only known him like a year or two. I knew his wife, his wife, and I'd worked together years before the Cowboys. And so I'd gotten to know him to her. And we were at the same gym at the time. And now we about once a month, if not more, we'll get together and have a glass of tequila and just catch up on life and talk about he's a dad now. And so we talk about, you know, parenting and youth sports and work. And he's someone that has become super close. And I didn't realize at the time would and didn't realize, obviously the weight of what he was saying. But it's been a huge impact and influence on me.

Maureen Farmer

That's awesome. I'm curious about...if you could go back just for a moment, I know a couple of young, young people who are interested in becoming a sports agent, could you in case they're listening, or in case anyone's listening is curious about that, from a career choice point of view? What would you say? You know, what, what couple of things could you say to them that may influence their perspective, I guess on that career choice.

Jake Thompson

Yeah. Like a lot of things, it's not as pretty as you think it is. And the business has gotten a lot more challenging in the last 10 plus years than even when I went through it. So I when I was trying to get in, it was a graduate TCU. In 2006, the NFL changed their rules, starting 2007, that you had to have a master's or a law degree to be certified, which is why I immediately went in and got my MBA before that you didn't. So now you have to have an advanced degree, you also have to understand their percentage of what the agent makes has been cut. I think I don't even know if it's down to one person now, but the actual revenue is out. So some of the agents who I even knew in the game 10 years ago that were really successful, are not no longer even in it, they were just like, it's not worth that they're out. So I say all that, to tell you that it is an uphill battle to break into. And it is a challenge to stay there. And the reason I don't paint it in a pretty picture is a very specific reason. It's like if you're training for a race, if you casually go through the motions of the training, and you're feeling good, it never really hurts you never uncomfortable. And you're like icing on the bat, and then you get on a race day. And you start running. And it's like you get slapped in the face like it hurts, your side hurts your feet hurt, you think I'm never gonna get to the finish line, this is miserable. You're unaware of what you're walking into. And it's going to knock you down. And it's probably going to prevent you from finishing and for sure prevents you from getting through it. But when you're training, when you know going into even training, this is going to be hard. And I'm going to make my training uncomfortable. I'm going to do the uncomfortable work that when you show up on race day, and it starts to hurt, you just think this is par for the course, I was expecting this, this is not a surprise for me. And so if you know getting into the industry is going to be harder than you ever think that it's a lot harder to be profitable. And that that you're aware going in of shattering some of those expectations that I was unaware of coming in. Right. And so I always say that. The other thing I'll say that's really important is you have to be I would say more consistent than anything else. You've got to be consistent in building relationships and honoring those relationships in an industry where not all, but many will stab you in the back if they get the chance. Right. And there's a lot of industries like that. A lot of industries we know like that of where there's no friends. But what I say is, if you always focus on how do I just add value to the people, I'm trying to serve the people alongside even the industry as a whole. And you keep that mentality. That's what I've seen some really successful agents do. Kelly Masters is a phenomenal example, out of Oklahoma City. She's got a book she, like one of her first drafted clients was like top five in the NFL, which is almost unheard of for your first one. And she continues to elevate that profession with how she shows up how she carries herself and how she takes care of her clients. But she's consistent as all get out. She works her tail off, there's no hey, I'm expecting it to be easier. And she probably even has it harder than some people listening who are guys because she's a female representing a lot of men in a NFL type sport. So I have mad respect for her. So that's why the sales you got to know it's harder than you ever think it is. I say that to if somebody's trying to start a business. It's harder. I think it's going it is there's no question no that going in and you remind yourself this is par for the course then it's how do I be consistent about adding value to every relationship I interact with? Things tend to work out better in the long run.

Maureen Farmer

Jake Thompson

100%. Yeah, rising tide raises all ships, right?

Maureen Farmer

Yeah, no, absolutely. This is amazing. And I would love conscious of the time, it's a Friday afternoon here, and you've got a book to finish writing, and I've got a plane to catch soon. So why don't you tell us a little bit about who you speak for who your ideal company client is. And anything else that you want to share?

Jake Thompson

My old speaker coach will kill me. Because I, for the most part, here's what I'll say I spend the majority of my time in sales, and in manufacturing construction. So those are really the two industries. That said, if you look at my client list, I've worked with title a scoffed title is golf diamonds, direct Senior Living Centers, health care, physical therapy, I've got a huge array of clients that I've worked with, but majority of my time is in sales. Because why we think all about competing everyday, right? It's a very competitive atmosphere, how do we get our people to compete more? So how do we reframe it and refocus that competitive drive against ourselves, and construction and manufacturing, it's a lot on leadership, because their industry no different than sales, no different than a lot of the industries maybe our listeners are listening to, we tend to promote a plus performers in the managers and turn them into c minus managers that either burnout, quit or give up. And so a lot of my work in that space is how do we actually lead ourselves? First and foremost? How do we lead our teams? And then how do we lead the organization? And so that's where I spent a lot of the time either from keynotes and state associations to I do a lot of ongoing coaching and development with organizations where I'm either virtually coaching leaders or we're on site doing workshops with their teams.

Maureen Farmer

That's great. So how how can people get in touch with you, Jake?

Jake Thompson

Yeah, yeah, easiest place, I would say twofold. My website is Jakeathompson.com. Make it really easy there. You can also go to our competeeveryday.com website, and it'll spin you out. And then I would say I tend to hang out most often on LinkedIn, and Instagram, and both of my usernames there is just Jake Thompson Speaks. So if you're listening to the show, you have some questions on the agent life, t shirt business, or any of the leadership stuff we discussed, drop me a note, would love to continue the conversation and add some value if I can to where you are on your journey.

Maureen Farmer

That's awesome. And I have one last fun question to ask you. And that is, what is your favorite restaurant? We're compiling a list of favorite restaurants. And if you have one that you'd like to add to the list, we'll add it and then we distribute the list in a blog post at the end of the year.

Jake Thompson

For my Dallas Fort Worth people, c h i d o. Chido taco in Frisco. It's a small business. Two guys built this amazing taco shop and tequila bar and I am a huge Tex Mex style guy. And so Chido is my random one place, that's usually going to be my go to spot. And then otherwise, because I've got to see this list. I love a good old steakhouse like old school style Steakhouse. So when I travel, I tend to try to find those which are kind of funny, but I'm like, if I can find a good steak, I want to taste a local steak, good steakhouse feel. And then local food.

Maureen Farmer

Okay. That's awesome. So yes, absolutely. Maddie and I are secretly hoping that we're going to visit every restaurant that's on that list, and they're all over the world. That's what is it? It's compete everyday. That's our competition.

Jake Thompson

There you go. That is your competition. Can we check this list?

Maureen Farmer

Yeah! So we will make sure that we get it on the list and all of the information that you talked about today will be in the show notes because we have a transcript that people will be able to read. And it's been such a pleasure to have you on the show, Jake.

Jake Thompson

I appreciate the opportunity. This was a lot of fun.

Maureen Farmer

Awesome, have a great weekend. Take care!