Jason Wachob

Lewis Howes:                 This is 5-Minute Friday!!

Our guest today, his name is Jason Wachob, he is founder and CEO of MindBodyGreen.com, which is a huge health and wellness site that gets over 12 million unique visitors a month, has over four thousand contributors, it’s really the authority in the health and wellness space online.

He’s been featured in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Vogue, and all over the place. He has a B.A. in History from Columbia University, where he played varsity basketball for four years there.

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Jason Wachob:               I think that wealth is a blend of mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, and environmental wellbeing. So, I think the way I see true wellness, it’s this blend. I don’t think it’s just self-help. I don’t think its just fitness, or just nutrition or just the environment or just business.

I think all these things are interconnected in becoming our best self. And so I leave the building blocks, I think, because we touched on it, I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to anything.

And so, I think that each individual has to decide, which elements are important to them. Where they’re lacking, where they’re not, and decide where they need to make change in their lives. I think, in a lot of ways, Wellth is the book that I wish I had fifteen years ago when I was going through this.

Where I would just go to Barnes & Noble and just read anything I could read on becoming a better person, a healthier person. That was important to me when I did this. How do we reach people who aren’t in this space?

Lewis Howes:                 So how did MindBodyGreen come about, then?

Jason Wachob:               Sure, so I left Wall Street, became an entrepreneur, had some things that didn’t work. The cliché is true: you learn more from your failures. And so, I was running an organic chocolate chip cookie company, that was delivering whole foods in the country.

Lewis Howes:                 Ah! That sounds amazing!

Jason Wachob:               Yes, and no. The cookies were amazing.

Lewis Howes:                 But the business of making cookies was hard, huh?

Jason Wachob:               The business and it’s the only business, the natural products business, where what you invoice is not what you get paid. It’s fascinating.

Lewis Howes:                 That’s hilarious, and you don’t get paid for six months, right?

Jason Wachob:               Oh, and nett 30 is like nett 90 and it’s a tough business. So I was running that business and doing a lot of flying that year. I flew almost 150,000 miles domestic, I’m six foot seven.

Lewis Howes:                 Oh, my goodness! That’s misery!

Jason Wachob:               It is!

Lewis Howes:                 You have a back injury just from that year.

Jason Wachob:               Well, yeah! So my back got really bad. I had two extruded discs, pressing on my sciatic nerve, 04, 05, S1. So I went to a doctor, he did an MRI and an x-ray, and said, “You have these extruded discs, you need back surgery. Not negotiable.”

So, like, “Okay, let me get a second opinion.” So I sought a second opinion, he said the same thing, “You need back surgery. Maybe a cortisone shot will help.” I tried that, it didn’t do anything. And he said, “You know, maybe some yoga therapy could help, but you still need surgery.”

So I was like, “Okay, I’ll try yoga. I’ll see what happens.” So I started doing some really light yoga, ten, fifteen minutes in the morning, at night. Started to explore stress, sleep, nutrition, the environment, how all these things affected health, and so all these things started simultaneously and I’m starting to feel better.

Lewis Howes:                 While you’re still in the cookie business?

Jason Wachob:               Yeah. So I’m starting to feel better, and then, over the course of weeks, starting to walk better. The pain is moving up the leg, which is a thing with back pain. The further south it goes, the worse; the further north it goes, the better.

And then, over the course of months, I’m fine. So I’ve never gotten surgery.

Lewis Howes:                 Wow! No surgery!

Jason Wachob:               No surgery, totally fine.

Lewis Howes:                 Just a yoga practice, sleep, nutrition.

Jason Wachob:               Nutrition. You know, I was the guy who looked great at the time, but I was a mess.

Lewis Howes:                 Eating fast food everywhere.

Jason Wachob:               So I ate so much steak, and I still eat meat, but not a lot of it, I ate so much steak at The Palm Steakhouse in the west of Manhattan that my caricature is on the wall. One year, so it’s like, Adam Sandler, Joe Namath, and me.

Lewis Howes:                 No way! Yeah.

Jason Wachob:               That’s how much steak, so my idea of health was steak, and like ten Martinis. And so, I started eating more plants, started to look at the power of spirituality and the environment, and how all these things were interconnected, and I was thinking, “Everyone’s got this thing wrong!” My mind was blown, because this happened to me.

And the other thing, like a spiritual level I found out about the chakra system, and I found out that the root chakra, in the lower back is associated with money worries. And I was broke at the time, and getting engaged, I had no money to buy the ring. And I was like, “Oh, my gosh! This stuff all makes sense! It’s not crazy!” It’s one of those things that you say are out-there, New Age, then when it hits home you’re like, “Holy s**t! What else is there?” and you can’t get enough of it.

And it was like, “Everyone’s got health wrong. Every print magazine is about vanity and weight loss, and it’s just lifestyle! It’s mind, body, green! No one’s talking about this! For the normal people, like me!” And then I launched the site and the rest is history.

Lewis Howes:                 Wow! What year was this?

Jason Wachob:               2007 we had the idea for the site. It’s awesome! I love what I do. I think, energetically, from a people perspective, I think you are a combination of the five people you hang out with most. And in the past five or six years, I’ve gotten to meet some of the most amazing people, like yourself, in health and wellness, doing amazing things!

And you meet these people, and we’re friends, and we hang out, and you just can’t help it, like, feel the energy and be inspired. It’s just like someone over here, you’re writing another book, and he’s doing this, and it’s like, “What are you doing?”

It’s awesome, you know? Versus in some environments with friends it’s, like, “What are you doing? How are you going to make money?” It’s just a different conversation, so I’m continually inspired and fulfilled by the community, which is just awesome. So, it’s been great!

And growing the business has been fun, and it’s been great and challenging and all that stuff. I think one thing, personally, I definitely have to be careful of is I love what I do so much, and my wife works with me, I work a lot.

I’ve had moments when all this wellness is making me sick!

Lewis Howes:                 That’s hilarious!

Jason Wachob:               I’ve got to find time for myself. You know, it’s great if I’m helping people change their lives, but I’ve got to also take care of myself.

Lewis Howes:                 Make sure you continue to do your yoga practice.

Jason Wachob:               Right, meditation, yoga, go to the gym. I have a volve and I compete in a volve, and I think a lot of people in wellness have that problem, too. They love what they work so much, but it’s like, “What happened to my practice?”

Lewis Howes:                 Yeah, right?

Jason Wachob:               Whatever that may be.

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Lewis Howes:                 Hey, guys! If you enjoyed this inspirational clip from a past episode of the show, then you’ll love the free book I’m giving away right now. It’s called The Millionaire Morning. It includes some of my best tips for starting off your day with a millionaire mindset. Get your free copy at themillionairemorning.com and just pay shipping.

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