IAM219- Thought Leader Devoted To Empowering Individuals To Fulfill Their Purpose

Jamelle Sanders is an author, speaker, award-winning entrepreneur, radio host and respected thought leader. As one of the most respected voices of our time, Jamelle founded Jamelle Sanders International to provide solutions to global problems. Jamelle has been featured on NBC, CBS, The Huffington Post, The Best You Magazine and numerous other media outlets. Jamelle has devoted his life to empowering individuals to fulfill a purpose and maximize their greatest potential.

• CEO Hack: App- Evernote, Book-Think and Grow Rich and The Power of Broke by Daymond John
• CEO Nugget: Be patient and enjoy the journey
• CEO Defined: A person who knows how to manage their self-will

Website: https://www.jamellesanders.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JamelleSandersIntl
Twitter: www.twitter.com/JamelleSanders 
Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialjamellesanders_
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jamelle-Sanders/e/B00K0R1N54

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and we have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jamelle Sanders of jamellesanders.com Jamelle, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Jamelle Sanders 0:36

Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:37
No problem I appreciate having you on and what I wanted to do is read a little bit more about Jamelle so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Jamelle Sanders is an author, speaker, award-winning entrepreneur, radio host, and respected thought leader. As one of the most respected voices of our time, Jamelle founded Jamelle Sanders International to provide solutions to global problems. Jamelle has been featured on NBC, CBS, The Huffington Post, The Best You Magazine, and numerous other media outlets. Jamelle has devoted his life to empowering individuals to fulfill a purpose and maximize their greatest potential. Jamelle, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Jamelle Sanders 1:13

I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:13

Awesome. Let's do it. So first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Jamelle Sanders 1:20

That's a great question. I came out of college undergraduate at a time when the market conditions were very uncertain in the world. At the time, I was working, doing some things in consulting and more in a research analyst capacity for a company. And, there were a lot of offers originally and different things started to shift in the market. And so I started talking with different mentors and advisors and individuals about where they feel I should go next.

And so I kept my foot in consulting, and I continued to network with different individuals. But what it ultimately led me to was starting Jamelle Sanders International and having that hub and place for leaders and particularly millennial leaders and entrepreneurs that have the tools and the resources that they needed to be successful in life or business or whatever it is that they were endeavoring to do. And so it was kind of the forces of the market and the time and what was going on. And also some of the personal passion and vision I had to make a greater impact in the world.

Gresham Harkless 1:20

That's awesome. And I too, graduated during the economic crisis. So I know how crazy that time was and how uncertain it was. But it's funny enough when I read a lot about other times that happened like that, in history, a lot of the most successful companies and organizations actually started during the economic crisis. So it's kind of great to see how that parallel also sparked your opportunity to build your organization.

Jamelle Sanders 2:47

Right. I think the crisis is always what I call the incubator for great solutions and change in the world. And so it's all about perspective and having the right perspective need to see the opportunities that aren't available at that time.

Gresham Harkless 3:02

Absolutely. Yeah, I love that kind of thing. That's your highlight. Because that is to have that mindset to understand that when it is a quote-unquote, the crisis actually could be a really big opportunity because that's when you can start to build and create things and kind of get ahead sometimes in your industry as well.

Jamelle Sanders 3:16

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 3:17

Awesome. So I know I touched on it a little bit. And I know you did it as well. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing with Jamelle Sanders International and how you serve the clients you work with?

Jamelle Sanders 3:25

Sure, Jamelle Sanders International is a leadership and business development firm. And what we do is work with leaders and entrepreneurs to help them clarify their vision, give them strategic vision and planning for their organization, as well as serving as a place for incubation and mentorship along their business journey.

And so some of the things that we're doing and working with in particular is what I'm passionate about right now is mentoring millennials and giving them the tools that they need to not only be successful in their career, but maybe they want to have a side hustle or do other things like that. We're helping mentor them in that area. We're also working a lot with leaders around the world and helping them to be on the cutting edge in their industry, giving them tools and tactics, and strategies to lead this new 21st-century era of business and leadership.

And so those are two of the primary things we're doing. Of course, we do workshops and masterminds, and all of those great things, but we just want to arm leaders and entrepreneurs to be that change that they want to see in the world.

Gresham Harkless 4:37

Yes, absolutely. I love that. And often in order to see the change, I think there's a quote, I can't remember exactly how to say but essentially if you want to see a change in the world, you have to begin with yourself. So that's usually where you want to build yourself and develop yourself and you start to manifest that self and people you're interacting with but everything you're doing as well. Do you find that kind of happens?

Jamelle Sanders 4:56

Absolutely. I think that it definitely starts with you. And I think that one of the greatest blessings that I've been given is the ability to overcome opposition and odds I've gone through a lot in business, the business almost collapsed three times, there were a lot of critics or a lot of people saying that this is not going to work, how it's going to be sustainable and to see it go from that stage to being like you say, featured in the different publications and different things around the world. It's amazing. But I think that none of that will really be possible without a crisis. And so crises and challenges really helped me to develop more, so that I could serve the people around me and ultimately serve the world through the work and the products and services that we deliver.

Gresham Harkless 5:45

Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. Let me ask you this. When you're in these crises, these things are going on, it seems like everything's falling apart, what is your mentality? Or what can you kind of tell people as far as like, how you should approach that? And how you should look at that so that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Jamelle Sanders 6:01

Oh, that's a great question. One of the things that has been fundamental for me, and the work that I do, is developing what I call this uncommon paradigm. And so one of the things that I've done is, I've spent a lot of years developing my mindset. And so when I look at crises and difficulties in the world, I kind of look at it differently than most people, I see this as an opportunity for me to grow, for me to develop, and ultimately, for me to stretch to the next place or the next dimension in my life.

And so one of the things that I've always had the ability to do is to understand that the circumstance or the condition of your life is kind of temporary, and it's subject to change. And that as long as you have a mindset that is open and pliable and stretchable, you really have the ability to rise above whatever situation or circumstances arise in your life. And I think that has been the thing that has really given me an edge over people over the years.

Gresham Harkless 7:03

Absolutely, absolutely. That makes perfect sense. The foundation of everything is kind of like your mindset and how you're approaching and looking at it. And would you say that is what I like to call your secret sauce? And what do you feel kind of distinguishes you and your organization?

Jamelle Sanders 7:15

Absolutely. I was talking with my sister yesterday. And I've written seven books, and we were saying how all seven of those books have kind of centered around thoughts. And as I've talked to different people from around the world and their experiences based on reading the different materials and different things, it seems like the thought process has always been the key thing for me. And I think we live in an era in a time where we have what I call an information overload, we have access to so much information. But the problem is there are so many people who don't really know how to think, analyze process information and make good decisions. And so I think the thing that has really differentiated me over the long term is that ability to think differently and to come up with those innovative ideas and solutions that most people don't really see.

Gresham Harkless 8:10

Absolutely the ability to take all this information that we have at our fingertips most of the time and be able to kind of synthesize that and think creatively about that and come up with solutions is definitely something that I would consider a secret sauce as well too, and a superpower, if not that as well. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have. But it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Jamelle Sanders 8:36

Oh, it's definitely I would say it's a combination of everything. If there was a particular app, I would say Evernote is really a great friend of mine, whether it's on my iPhone my iPad, or my MacBook, it just helps me to stay organized and organize my ideas, but more so than the app, I think that books have been like a fundamental thing for me. And so if I had to recommend something to people, I think that most changed my thinking about life and business would be Thinking to Grow Rich and I think the most current book I would recommend would be The Power of Broke by one of my mentors. Daymond John, it's a fun fundamental book, it will just shift how you look at business, how you look at success, how you look at everything and so those are just some of the things that have helped me I read so many books I probably could name like a couple 100. Also, like two things that really stood out to me.

Gresham Harkless 9:35

Absolutely. And I absolutely love Evernote you know you said it's like a close friend. I think it's like a family member for me because it's that deep where you know, I swear by my Evernote and I love those two books especially Daymond John's book as well too because I think that in line with everything that you said, earlier a lot of it is perspective because the kind of like the whole thesis and correct me if I'm wrong about that book is that you have a different perspective on what broke means but actually means an opportunity for you to be more resourceful to be more creative in terms of finding solutions to problems.

Jamelle Sanders 10:06

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 10:07

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self,

Jamelle Sanders 10:18

If I could hop into a time machine, the thing that I would tell my younger business self is to be patient and to learn how to enjoy the journey, if you told me years ago that my organization or the brand would evolve into what it is today, I probably would have laughed, because there was so much going on that it's kind of difficult to see all of that as you're navigating your way through. But I think that so many people, I think we live in what I call this Facebook, Twitter, Instagram generation, where we look at highlight reels of individuals' lives.

And we think that's reality, we think that success just happens and that it's overnight. And people don't really understand that it really is a journey. It's about you bringing your best every day and becoming that best version of yourself. And when you bring that to every day into the world, you come into what I call that realm of mastery, where you distinguish yourself as the best in the world at what it is that you do.

Gresham Harkless 11:19

Absolutely, absolutely. It makes perfect sense. Yeah, like you have to put in your quote, unquote, 10,000 hours, you have to put in that time, and a lot of people see the finished product or project or whatever it is, but they don't see that hour after hour, minute after minute that people have put in.

Jamelle Sanders 11:33

Exactly. And I think that a lot of people have a misconception that there are shortcuts to success. And one of the things I always tell people is that there are no shortcuts, there are strategies that can help you get there a little bit faster. But it's still a process, as you were saying, and I think it's we appreciate and go through the process. We enjoy it so much more.

Gresham Harkless 11:54

Absolutely, absolutely. And it's a great reminder to remember as a CEO, entrepreneur, and business owner. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Jamelle, I want to ask you what does mean a CEO means you

Jamelle Sanders 12:10

That's loaded. A CEO is a person who first of all knows how to manage themself well and then has the ability to create a larger vision and to bring people on board with that vision and communicated in such a way that it becomes a magnetic force, attracting the resources and the things that need to be there for that thing to be accomplished. And so I think that a lot of times a school education has made CEO so much about science and management, but it's really about mastering yourself. And as you master yourself and get those fundamental skills down. That's what really makes you powerful and successful at the things that you do.

Gresham Harkless 12:11

I absolutely love that definition, especially that magnetic force, that visual, it gives me a visualization of, you know, being able to understand like, sometimes we have a massive goal or a very ambitious goal, I guess a lot of times that things will bring themselves to you because you're attracting yourself and you're putting it out there and manifests itself in a lot of different ways.

Jamelle Sanders 13:13

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 13:14

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Jamelle, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and our listeners know. And then of course, how they can find you and find out about all the awesome things that you're doing.

Jamelle Sanders 13:27

Okay. One thing that I would like to share, in addition to what we've talked about, is the power of knowing who you are and embracing your authentic voice. I think so many people are trying to find a shortcut and build a great brand and have a lot of followers and all of that. And I think that the key for every entrepreneur, and every CEO in this 21st century is really finding your authentic voice. And as you find your authentic voice and who it is that you are and what you bring to the world that is so unique and different. That is going to be the key and the overarching thing that creates the success and the prosperity that you want to see.

And I think that the thing that has really helped me grounded and anchor me is knowing that voice and communicating everything that I go through that distinct voice, and it's given me an advantage through the work that I do around the world. And if people wanted to reach out to me, they can reach out at jamellesanders.com. We are in the midst of launching a couple of new courses and things to help leaders and entrepreneurs this year. And I'm excited about book number eight is coming before the end of the year. So that's kind of what I'm working on right now.

Gresham Harkless 14:43

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Jamelle, I truly appreciate all the awesome things that you say on this podcast and the time you took out but also all the awesome things that you're putting out into the world and I appreciate you. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jamelle Sanders 14:55

Okay, thank you.

Outro 14:57

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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