How To Build Your Time Freedom Blueprint With Jeff J Hunter

As leaders, we often feel trapped by the demands of our businesses, struggling to balance our time and priorities. In this episode, I sit down with Jeff J. Hunter, a Fortune 500 IT project manager turned entrepreneur, to uncover the secrets behind his remarkable leadership transformation. Jeff shares his journey of breaking free from the corporate world, the personal hardships that shaped his career pivot, and the strategies he’s developed to empower leaders through his Time Freedom Blueprint.

From building remote teams and leveraging AI to mastering delegation and time management, Jeff offers practical insights that any busy CEO can apply to reclaim their time and focus on what matters most. Whether you're an entrepreneur stuck in the daily grind or a leader looking to level up, this conversation will leave you inspired to take the next step.

Connect with Jeff J Hunter:

If you’ve ever felt trapped by your business or unsure how to regain control of your time, connect with Jeff J. Hunter at TheBusyCEO.com. His practical resources and expert insights will help you unlock your full potential as a leader. 

Books Mentioned:

• The E-Myth by Michael Gerber

Join the New Catalytic Leadership Community

Check out our new online membership site, with new resources by Dr. William Attaway and his team added weekly: https://checkout.catalyticleadership.net/

Chapters

• 0:01 Starting the Leadership Journey
• 4:50 Overcoming Self-Doubt and Building Confidence
• 11:00 The Leap from Corporate to Entrepreneur
• 20:50 Building Remote Teams and Delegation
• 29:31 Leveraging AI and Emerging Technologies
• 38:01 Leadership Evolution and Time Freedom
• 43:31 Resources for Busy Leaders

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I am so excited today to have Jeff J Hunter on the podcast. Jeff is the founder and chief growth officer of Branded Media, where he creates solid, recognizable, legacy-driven personal brands for legitimate companies and influencers. Branded Media is on its way to being the number one branding agency in the world. Formerly a Fortune 500 IT project manager, Jeff is the founder and king of outsourcing at Virtual Assistants, at VA Staffer, a team of 150 plus virtual assistants based in the Philippines. He's the founder of the AI Persona Method, a certified AI consultant program with over 100 AI consultants. He's a digital futurist who's into AI, blockchain and remote teams. With a column on entrepreneurcom, he's recently been featured as a main story in Business Insider and featured in this month's episode of Success Magazine alongside Tony Robbins.

Jeff J Hunter: 1:02

Jeff, I'm so glad you are here. Man, thanks for being on the show. You know what it's been an incredible year. I think we're starting fresh. I think that we have this incredible moment of just realignment, and even you just reading off that bio just makes me think about my own realignment that I've been doing for myself, and I think it's really important as leaders that we reassess what our goals and priorities are, because even listening to that, I'm like you know I probably should redo that a little bit.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:37

Oh, so good, so good. Well, and I think evaluation is how you get better yeah.

Intro/Outro: 1:43

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 2:01

Let's start there. I want to look back at your journey so far. I would love for you to share some of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey in your development as a leader. How did you get started?

Jeff J Hunter: 2:15

You know, first I have to give a shout out to my grandpa, the reason why I always say I'm Jeff J j hunter. My middle name, jesse, is after my grandfather, who I was, you know he passed away back in 2016 and, um, but he always pushed me to learn it, to learn automation, to learn computers, and when I was only 12 years old, he, I remember I had my very first computer and, uh, it wasn't not great. But my grandpa, he bought a two speed CD burner at his house, a CD burner back then this is in the early nineties, right, and it was interesting because, um, he actually used to drop me off at this computer store that was about two blocks away from the house, and I would work there for free. I would just get off of school, I'd go over there, I'd learn from the technicians and build computers and do all that stuff, and I always knew that I was, I'm a very hands-on type person, but I just always had this fascination with computers since I was a little kid because ever since, you know, my parents worked a lot.

Jeff J Hunter: 3:33

I don't know if a lot of people can relate to this, but my parents they worked so much, didn't have a lot of time for me and my babysitter was my Nintendo right. So as growing up I've always just had this, you know this fondness towards you, know computers and and just what you can get them to do. And it's interesting because as I've become a leader, I've realized how hard it was for me to actually get used to humans, right.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:04

A little difference in machines, right.

Jeff J Hunter: 4:05

Yeah, and you know, through my career, I worked at a computer store that I worked as an, as an it uh, basically for a for a private hospital group, as a network administrator, um, setting up like VPN, tunnels and things for doctors and lawyers and whatever. And then then I I actually became an it person for a school. I was like their tech, you know, on site at a school. I ended up becoming the it coordinator for an entire school district and then I became an it project manager at a fortune 500 company before I took that crazy dive to become an entrepreneur myself. And I think that there's a natural progression in becoming a leader. I don't believe it's something that you're naturally born with. It's funny because when I speak on stage and I'm leading teams and um, doing consulting and things like that, people always say, wow, jeff, you're such a natural. And there's a little bit of inside me that wants to laugh when they say that because they're like they only knew how unnatural that is for me.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:12

You know, I think that's so well said because somebody so often people will look at somebody like you, somebody who's on stage, who just seems so comfortable as they're speaking. I mean I watched you speak at an event we were both at and you know you're so comfortable and I think from the outside somebody looks at that like, oh wow, I'm not comfortable like that. It must not be natural for me, like it is for him. And so I think to hear you say that is encouraging for a lot of people.

Jeff J Hunter: 5:42

Let me give an analogy. First off, I am definitely and this is something that I, you know, people will argue with me till the day I die I am an introvert and it's. And from the day I was born, you know, I was really quiet, um, rotten but quiet, quiet, rotten but quiet. I could never imagine that. Yeah, I had a little sister one year younger than me. We didn't really, you know, we didn't hang out, we didn't, you know, like I was kind of just on my own Island and we moved around so much. As a kid I 'd never really had like a best friend and I always had that anxiety of meeting new people and you know it sucked. You know, honestly, it just sucks. You know, and you have a childhood where you move around a lot. You never have a friend longer than a couple of years. You know, my mom was a traveling nurse, my dad was a Marine, so you just don't have that security of having that childhood friend, you know, and I never was really comfortable around people. You know, some of it, I would say growing up, looking back, is probably sports helped. Um, I did my, my, you know, I got pushed again by my, my, my, by my grandpa and actually my sister. I felt peer pressured by my sister because my sister was going into sports and I'm like dude, my little sister, right. So I went into, I did swimming, I did water polo, which are very gruesome sports, by the way, water polo probably one of the worst. People don't even know how gruesome water polo is, but the thing is it's almost like everything when.

Jeff J Hunter: 7:24

I'll give you an example of my son, who's 12 years old, I've always known at a very young age when he was born. He's always been tall Like my son right now is 5'10". He's 12, right, wow. Yeah, I don't know how tall he's going to be Taller than me, I assume. Wow. But he's like 5'10 right now. And he has always hated basketball Shame, right. I'm like dude, the one advantage. You got the one sport right. Like you don't even have to be good, all you guys need is to raise your hands and they're going to put you on the team right.

Jeff J Hunter: 7:57

And when I first put him out there and we played basketball together, he hated it. He would literally kick and scream and cry and he wouldn't want to do it when he was like eight or nine years old. He would just really throw a tantrum and he hated it. Same with soccer. We put him in soccer. We're trying to find something he was good at. And of course he was good at nothing. And I blame myself, you know, as a father like, uh, I didn't really spend a whole lot of time with him with eye, hand coordination and stuff. He's kind of and because he's so tall he looks like a giraffe out there, but the thing is, after a while he started learning how to make some shots. He started doing a couple of things, guess what. Now he's starting to like it.

Jeff J Hunter: 8:38

So in reality, what happens is your confidence isn't natural. You don't have a natural confidence. I mean, some people might. But I believe that if you're someone who wants to become confident, you work on your competence first. Right, once you start making those goals, once you start making those shots, you get a little bit more confident in what you're doing. And it's the same thing with public speaking. It's the same thing with being a leader, right, like when you're a leader, you first thing you think of the first time you've ever had to lead something. You're like I'm not qualified to do this, I'm not a leader. You know, people always talk about imposter syndrome. Uh, it's called the truth, folks.

Jeff J Hunter: 9:22

It's reality, that's right, imposter syndrome always blows me away because I mean sure there's level of it that I believe it's a truth. Like, if you are truly like for me, I'm I would definitely say I've spoken on stage probably 100 times. I've been on hundreds of podcasts, like I would say that I'm very competent at delivering a message and speaking, but but I will tell you that still to this day, I get nervous when I go on stage. Even though most people would think no way, dude, like you have done this so many times, I get nervous every time I want to cry. You saw me cry on stage, right? So that's the thing If you want to become confident as a leader, or confident in anything for that matter, you have to start working on your competence first.

Dr. William Attaway: 10:09

I love that and I think you know, when it comes to the confidence of speaking on stage, use that example. You know, I heard somebody say this once and I mean, like you, hundreds of stages, hundreds of times of being in front of people with a microphone on, I mean, this is just part of what we do, but every time there's a little bit of apprehension, every time there's a little bit of nervousness. And for a long time I wondered about that, like, well, why is that? Like you, I'm an introvert, but is that normal to continue, even at this point, even 30 years in, to still have that little bit of nervousness?

Dr. William Attaway: 10:45

And I heard somebody say something that really helped me a lot. They said if you're not a little bit nervous when you stand up in front of people, then you are not fully engaged in whatever it is you're talking about. Wow. And I thought, wow, man, that's solid. Yeah. And it really helped me to bear that in mind. And every time I do that, still to this day, when I stand up, I remember that, yeah, this matters, yeah, it's a big deal, yeah, I want to make a difference in people's lives when I'm talking, and so it's okay to have a little bit of that, and maybe there's somebody listening who needed to hear that, who needed that encouragement from you.

Jeff J Hunter: 11:23

So thank you for sharing. The other thing is, too, is like how do you expect people?

Dr. William Attaway: 11:30

to take you seriously if you don't take yourself seriously. That's true, right, that's right. If you're blowing it off, if you're just winging it cause it doesn't matter that much, why would they take it seriously, right? So let's talk about how you made the turn. I mean, for a lot of people, a Fortune 500 IT project manager I mean that's a fantastic career. That's the end game for a lot of people. They're like okay, I've hit it, I've arrived, but you didn't stop there. You dove into entrepreneurship. Why, why?

Jeff J Hunter: 12:00

would you do? That part is is that I went to stan state at california state university out here in california, and it's kind of a commuter campus. You know, I'd say like 80 90 percent of people that go to that university they commute. It's very rural, you know, they have dorms and stuff, but in all reality I only live 25 minutes away from the school, so so I drove right, um, and what's really interesting is I always knew I didn't know that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, flat out. I didn't know, um, but there were little signs here and there, like, for example, I always knew that I was a bit of an overachiever. Um, and, by the way, this is a trait that you can learn, being an overachiever. And, by the way, this is a trait that you can learn being an overachiever. It's just not suddenly a status quo, right, it's just it's like knowing that you are destined to do more than what you're doing now, and I hope that everybody in their life wakes up and feels that way, right, yes, absolutely.

Jeff J Hunter: 13:00

Now, when I was going to college, I always had a full time job and by the time I graduated college by the way, it took me over 10 years to graduate college? Ok, yeah, I have, I could. I could have been like Van Wilder, I could have had my own cart there, my own designated parking spot. And what was really interesting to me was is that everyone that was going to school like that was their job? Yeah, but for me it wasn't. And I feel like, by the way, the education system needs to go back to what I'm about to say. I had a job and I was upskilling, I was learning something while I had my job. So, actually, by the time I had graduated college, I had already been an IT coordinator for a school district, which is already, by the way, a 75K job and $130,000 job as an IT project manager for Fortune 500. I had just got the job. Before, matter of fact, I had to sign a paper that I was about to graduate, because to get the job I had to be graduated. Wow, right. And even the IT coordinator job, it was required that I had a degree, and I didn't have my degree yet, but I had something that people really wanted that was more valuable than a degree, which was experience Competence. See, there we go Back to that, that's right.

Jeff J Hunter: 14:20

So what happened was and this is how it all came down is that every time, by the way, I will. I want to put this out there. I wasn't looking for another thing. I was very happy with my job. I loved my job. I still, to this day, say it was the best and the last job I'll ever have. Wow, being an it project manager was a dream come true for me.

Jeff J Hunter: 14:43

It comes with a status, matter of fact. My job title was project manager. I Roman numeral three, like. I was up there, right, like, and the crazy part is I had actually quit just literally two weeks after I put in my resignation, two weeks after they had given me a promotion to project manager three. Oh, my goodness, right, it was. It was your yearly. It was my yearly evaluation. I had walked into the room and here was the pivot point.

Jeff J Hunter: 15:15

There were three main instances that happened that really hurt me. Number one my grandfather, in 2015, was diagnosed with I'm sorry, my father in 2015, was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma and was told that he had probably until Christmas or maybe he wouldn't make it to Christmas. Okay, um, I tried to put in a request to go back home and just go to California because, as part of my job, I had to move from California up to Portland, oregon, and they said that I would have to be there for about two years. Well, four years later, I was still there. Okay, wow, I said, hey guys, I'll keep doing this. I'll even pay for my own plane tickets to go back and forth, because it was 80% home, 20% travel type job. I could work from home, manage projects, travel on site for kickoffs, travel on site for go lives. I'd be good Right, and I was a pioneer in remote teams, so I was doing things more remotely than anyone in the company at the time I was. I was actually, uh, one of the top five project managers. Three quarters in a row at Phillips electronics was where I worked, and what ended up happening was I started seeing that they didn't care about me. That was the key. So number strike. Number two was in November of that same year.

Jeff J Hunter: 16:34

In 2015, my grandfather was diagnosed with hay fever. He had a lung infection. He was 94 years old. Oh, my goodness, exactly. I knew something was up. My aunt called me, said dude, you better figure this out. He's not doing well Again. I asked if I could transfer back to California. They denied my request for the second time and told me they didn't have anyone to replace me.

Jeff J Hunter: 16:59

So the third one was when my wife and I actually announced that we had a baby on the way 10 weeks we had. It was January Portland. It was one of the very few times it snowed in Portland. We built a snowman and it was a figurine of myself and my wife and my three-year-old son at the time, and then we had a little baby. We had the mommy holding a baby. We put a little baby, we had the mommy holding a baby, we put a little thing over it and it went viral on social media and everybody was so happy for us. And then, literally next week, we lost that child. We had a miscarriage and they wouldn't even let me take the day off to go with my wife and go to the hospital.

Jeff J Hunter: 17:42

Um, during that, oh my goodness, yeah, so I was actually flown to Alaska to kick off a project. So what was really really challenging? All that and this is not a very proud moment to me, to admit, but even those three things were not enough to make me leave my job. The thing that made me leave my job was that they promoted me. Remember I told you how they promoted me to a project manager three. But what they did was they put me on a whole new salary scale. I went from an hourly employee to a salary employee.

Jeff J Hunter: 18:17

But here's the problem I was working about 32 hours of overtime, 32% overtime, which now, on a salary, I was making zero overtime. Overtime accounted for a big percentage of my pay and when you work hard, you feel like you should be rewarded hard. And I had a conversation with my boss if he's listening, thank you for kicking me out the door and making me do something better than my life. His name was Jim. Jim looked at me and I said well, jim, I'm kind of excited to be back on salary. And I said this in not a condescending way, but a reaffirming way that if I'm on salary, I'm not working overtime. And I said, jim, I'm going to make sure that my phone's turned off from nine from until nine till 8am and I'll log off around 5 pm. And he says Jeff, now you know this is an eight to five job, no-transcript.

Jeff J Hunter: 19:12

Oh, here's the best part. I got my first paycheck. Yeah, it was over 25% less, even with a raise, a 25% raise. It was 25% less because they cut out all that overtime which was paid a time and a half, and if they didn't make me work and travel on Sundays, it was double time, oh my goodness. So here's the here's the moral of the story, ladies and gentlemen.

Jeff J Hunter: 19:34

By the way, my dad is still alive today. Chances are he's going to die from something else. Matter of fact, he just got his scan yesterday. I'll have to see how those results came out, but every six months he does some scans and things like that. But, thanks to God, chemotherapy and my mom who works in radiation therapy he's good. That's awesome. My grandpa, unfortunately good, that's awesome. My grandpa unfortunately did pass away, though.

Jeff J Hunter: 19:58

But the point is here is, you know, the transition to entrepreneurship was kind of a kick in the ass. It was kind of like me realizing they didn't care about me. They gave me, they didn't. They literally took 25% of my salary with a fake promotion, giving me more work. Percent of my salary with a fake promotion, giving me more work, literally not denying my request to move back to California twice, not allowing me to see and be there for my wife during, you know, a very horrible procedure to remove our our you know miscarriage, and it finally set me over the edge, and it was actually February 29th of 2016, leap day, and I said, you know, god's playing a funny trick on me and, um, I took the leap. I took the leap February 29th of 2016.

Jeff J Hunter: 20:49

At that time, I had already built kind of a side hustle uh, the virtual system business for about a year and a half, two years. Um, because I basically found out that, um, I hated doing a lot of project management stuff. I was a busy, busy guy and I hired my very first virtual assistant who was helping me do documentation, things like that, and I couldn't believe that's how I became a top five project manager. By the way, that was my little secret, my little hack, and I started realizing that there was an opportunity here to actually build remote teams for other people to, to build what I call an executive assistant to really help with the day to day of just busy leaders. And that has changed my life. Obviously, um, I have now a hundred plus people that work for me, for that company. I have hundreds of clients and I've literally helped thousands of busy CEOs, you know, live a real life instead of becoming a slave to their business.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:21

That is remarkable. Remarkable, you know, I think there's so many people who are afraid of making that leap, you know, and I think your story is so encouraging because it illustrates something that we hear people say, but until you experience it, I think it feels a little less real, and that is that as long as you're working for somebody else, you're not in charge, else you're not in charge, you can't really call the shots, you don't get to choose. And I think your choice to take that step or that leap, I think, has yielded everything that has come these last eight and a half years.

Jeff J Hunter: 24:01

And, by the way, I just want to point some encouragement out for you guys, because you know some people think it's going to be rainbows and sunshine and roses, and you know what happened when I left that job it was two o'clock in the morning, coming up on three o'clock in the morning, had just switched from February 28th to February 29th. I had written my resignation letter six hours before that. It was in my email inbox, it was drafted and my finger was shaking over that send button. Hmm, I'm getting a little emotional. Yeah, I remember. I remember praying. I remember calling my grandpa. I remember calling my grandpa. I remember calling my dad, calling some of my colleagues even.

Jeff J Hunter: 24:53

And when I spoke to my wife that was the final straw my wife said we'll figure it out, they don't care about you. And how long are you going to tolerate this? And uh, and I warned her. I said you know this means you know I didn't build a nest egg Like we're going to be broke. Um, we'll probably have to. You know, to make this business in the Philippines profitable, I'll probably have to go over there and live there for 30 days. And she said let's go, profitable, I'll probably have to go over there and live there for 30 days. And she said let's go.

Jeff J Hunter: 25:31

And, um, I basically took the last of the money that I had. We moved in with my grandpa for the last month of his life in a tiny little one bedroom me, my wife and my three-year-old. We got to spend that entire month with my grandfather, who had never even got to really meet his grandson, his great grandson who, by the way, I named my son, jesse, after him. And it was one of the most humiliating, humbling moments of my life. Going from a hundred and something thousand dollar cushy six figure job company car company, computer, company phone company, credit card, company, printer. I mean the car I got a new car every year and a half. Like it was just like a dream job. Like everyone would love to have my job. Like I would love to have that job back if it paid more. And here's the thing I left everything I had. I didn't even have a phone because I had to use the company phone for four years, right, like why would I have my own? Right? And I moved in and we were completely flat broke and we went to the Philippines for 30 days and built out the business. I hired a consultant in the Philippines to help dial in what I needed to do with the team to make it profitable and shift my culture, and sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff to figure things out. Sometimes you have to build the rocket while it's flying. Yes, and that is one of the.

Jeff J Hunter: 27:13

As a leader, I am not a carrot person, I'm a stick person. That's good. Yeah, I am not excited and I don't wake up every day thinking about how much money I'm going to make or how much power I'm going to have or how much authority I'm going to create, or you know, like I don't wake up like that. For me personally, I will wake up every day playing video games, and as long as I had money, I wouldn't care. I have door dash, I wouldn't even leave. Right, I'm a stick person. I'm not. You can't dangle a carrot in front of me and get me excited about dang near anything. But what does motivate me is becoming a failure, not being able to provide, letting my team down, letting my family down, not being a good example for my kids down, letting my family down, not being a good example for my kids that's the stuff that motivates me, and sometimes you have to have some serious pain to do something good.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:15

So for those of you who are on the edge, first off, build a little nest egg.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:22

Good plan, that's right.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:23

I just want to throw it out there.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:25

If you're listening to this, don't quit your job.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:28

Yeah, all right, make sure you got a little, a little nest egg.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:32

That's the one thing I wish I would have done, cause it was like kind of like I was just so upset about everything that happened.

Jeff J Hunter: 28:37

I just, you know, I didn't. You know I didn't have to quit then I didn't have to quit, but obviously I don't regret it. I got to spend the last month of of of my grandfather's life together my son, my son got to meet his great grandfather, who they had never really got to hang out outside of. You know, a once in a while travel down and to live with him every day was totally worth it. So that's so good. For those of you listening, I just want to say, like, if you're in a situation where you have a business that's draining you and it sucks, you want to do something different. If you have a JLB and it's not fulfilling you and you want to do more like start a side hustle, start building something up, start getting some revenue in, start validating what you're doing, and the easiest way to validate anything is to make money doing it. If you ain't making money doing it, you've got to figure that part out first.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:31

Yeah, no, that's so good. You know. You illustrate something that I tell my clients all the time you have what you tolerate. If you don't like what you have, change what you tolerate, and that's what you do.

Jeff J Hunter: 29:47

I agree. You don't get what you deserve in life. You get what you tolerate Absolutely.

Intro/Outro: 29:51

Exactly right.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:54

So now you are a sought-after speaker. You are a business leader, owner of multiple different businesses, multiple different businesses. You are a thought leader in the AI space. I mean all this just in eight and a half years after making that leap. A digital futurist which I like that term, I have to say the idea of looking forward into what could be and preparing now for what is not yet. It seems to be a superpower of yours.

Jeff J Hunter: 30:31

Would you agree? Interesting. You say that because that's, you know, growing up I was pretty poor. You know, when you have a traveling nurse mom and a, you know, an ex-Marine, you know, I mean, there were definitely people more poor, but let's just say my dad wasn't going down to the store and buying me whatever cd I wanted, right and um, you know, god forgive me, but how it all started was when we we got our first computer. And the reason we got our first computer was because my dad was working at a computer store and that was a job that he had. And you know, you know, he, he.

Jeff J Hunter: 31:16

I think my one thing I will say I learned from my dad is he's a really good negotiator. So he kind of negotiated well, if I'm going to sell computers, I got to have one, Right, that's good. I got to have one Right, it's good. So he had this computer and it was old, you know, I mean, it's even back then. It wasn't the newest, it was whatever the guy had laying around so we could have Right. And, uh, I remember going to, if you remember this warehouse music that was.

Intro/Outro: 31:42

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Nineties right.

Jeff J Hunter: 31:43

Warehouse music. And oh yeah, oh yeah, nineties, right, warehouse music. And they, warehouse music, had the nicest magazine rack. Remember those? Oh yeah, Barnes and Noble still has them today. If you can find a Barnes and Noble, they have really nice magazine racks. And there was this one magazine that I loved and as soon as I say it you're going to laugh, knowing about me PC Gamer Magazine.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:11

Oh, I'm sorry, I had many issues of that. No, no.

Jeff J Hunter: 32:14

And do you remember, my friend, that that was an expensive magazine?

Dr. William Attaway: 32:19

Yes, it was.

Jeff J Hunter: 32:20

That's when it was a $20 magazine, exactly, I made these $20. That's like $60 a day, right? And the thing about this magazine, and you remember this, they don't do this today, so, depending on who's listening, they used to have in the very beginning. You know, in the center of that magazine was a demo disc. Yes, there was a cd, a physical cd, and boy, I'll tell you what. I was that horrible kid who came after school to warehouse to see the new, the new one, and I would open up that magazine and I would just gently rip that little bit. Oh, I was a horrible person god forgive me.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:07

So when I came to get the magazine and opened it up and the disc was gone.

Jeff J Hunter: 33:11

I'm that guy.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:12

That was you, that was me.

Jeff J Hunter: 33:15

Look, I never stole a candy bar. I never stole gum. I stole the free demo disc inside the PC Gamer magazine.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:24

Oh, that's fantastic.

Jeff J Hunter: 33:27

And I would put that CD in that computer and I would drift away. I would imagine I would try all the free games, and it wasn't just games on there, there would be apps, like a matter of fact, that was my first demo. I believe there was like a demo of, like dream weaver, which was a web creative tool and there used to be like all these apps for coding, and I would just download everything and try and I was just mystified and I was so my imagination was captured by what other people could create. Yes, and that really embedded in me this deep rooted love for emerging technology. You know, like, what people are creating and I was so excited about just what kind of ideas people would come. And the sad part is, you know, a lot of those demo discs, a lot of those things, they failed, yeah, you know, that's right. Like all these apps and stuff, they failed. And so I love the demo disc because those people were paying those magazines to put those demos in there Brilliant, by the way, this is how I love marketing. Obviously, you know, looking back, you know I didn't understand it when I was young, but now, looking back, I'm like, wow, that was brilliant marketing, because there's still things that I've learned and and appropriated into my own life from those demos, into my own life from those demos.

Jeff J Hunter: 34:49

Yes, and emerging technology is one of those things where, like for me, you know, like, thank goodness, you know there's a lot of people out there talking about, you know crypto's back, right, I mean, we hit all time highs in 2024, bitcoin up to 94,000, you know things are looking up. You know people got scared. They sold. I bought those bags, don't worry, I know what the future looks like looking at. You know people got scared. They sold. I bought those bags, don't worry, um, I know what the future looks like because I've seen what's happening over the years and because I've been in it since I was literally a kid. You know I can kind of see where the direction's going and that's why you know, between I actually I'll send you a copy I actually created a book a few years ago back when it wasn't even cool, called the zero to hero crypto guide.

Jeff J Hunter: 35:36

It's on Amazon. Zero to hero. It's a nice thick book. It's video game themed, of course. Nice, right, um, and it just breaks down. You know, like, what this emerging technology is and you know. That's where I started realizing where I said my competency is something that not only I need. I have a I have calling to share. You know, god doesn't give you gifts for yourself. That's right, right, that's exactly right.

Jeff J Hunter: 36:09

It's the benefit of other people. That's right. An apple tree doesn't eat apples. A pear tree doesn't eat pears. Right, so true.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:19

I love that.

Jeff J Hunter: 36:20

It drinks water, the apple, the fruit is for you walking by and and that is why you know, I believe, if God has given you these gifts, it's your duty to share these gifts to better the lives of other people around you. I love that, and this is the beautiful part about marketing is that you can actually help people around you and make money doing it, and I think a lot of Christians, by the way, you know not to not to pull the Christian side of things in here, because I'm a pretty, I'm a pretty secular guy. I buy and sell from everyone and whatever walks of life you're in, you know. But especially if you're a God fearing person, you need to understand that your time, your effort, your energy is valuable, just like the barista when you go down to Starbucks and guess what happens. This is what I love about capitalism. You go down, you go to Starbucks, you pay somebody $6.25 for a freaking coffee and you say thank you, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:32

Yeah, that's right.

Jeff J Hunter: 37:34

So the next time you actually do something that can really help somebody and you feel bad about charging that person money, I want you to think about that $6.25 coffee at Starbucks that you say thank you knowingly way overpaying for a cup of joe. Okay, so well said so.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:55

Well said man. I love that. Yeah you, you are always growing. You are continually in a learning posture. You have to be to do what you've done and learn what you're learning. I'm curious. You know like your businesses need you to lead at a higher level today than they did five years ago, and that same thing is going to be true five years from now. They're going to need you to have new skills and lead at a different level. How do you level up, how do you grow and develop those skills so that you'll be able to serve your clients and your team at the level that they're going to need you to be at?

Jeff J Hunter: 38:36

Well, I have amazing friends, like you, I'm always so. So this I'm, of all you know, one of my mentors. Shout out to Tony Grebmeyer he is an incredible dude, great mentor, tony G love him to death. I'm going to send him this clip. But he told me many years ago, when I had no idea what I was doing and I was a fresh entrepreneur 2016, 2017. And he was the first person that I ever heard say that you don't know what you don't know. That's so true. The first person that I ever heard say that you don't know what you don't know. That's so true. And you know.

Jeff J Hunter: 39:18

A lot of times, the CEOs, you know. We're like, we have these blinders on. You know, and we're just doing what we know. We're doing what we do and, the truth be told, in 2016, when I had left my corporate job, I was not the most qualified person to be the CEO of VA staffer. I was the crazy dude who started the business right, so I've had to become the CEO that they want me to be. Yeah, you know, and, ironically, over the years, now I'm the CEO that I want to be. Yes, I feel like there's an interesting transition, there's a progression. There's a progression absolutely like.

Jeff J Hunter: 39:54

Right now, I spend about 15 to 30 minutes a day on a multi-million dollar business with 150 people. I spend the 30 minutes a day. Think about that. Wow, I have a team, the. The team does everything. I make the executive decisions. That's what a real CEO does. I make executive decisions and I and I'm very, very cautious of the people I put around me. Now, that's the one thing I've learned Very cautious, I don't let a lot of people into the circle and I don't hire people based on opportunity anymore. I make sure that people are vetted. I make sure that people can actually do what I want them to, because I've learned from other people that actually didn't know what they're doing but, ironically, at some point in time, didn't know what they were doing. Right, I feel like surrounding yourself with the right people, um, reading the right books. You know some of the books, um, that I've read. Can I do some plugs for some books?

Dr. William Attaway: 41:08

Please.

Jeff J Hunter: 41:09

Absolutely All right. So there's the E myth Michael Gerber really incredible book, um, about leveraging time. Another one is the four hour work week, which, by the way, it sells the dream. It doesn't tell you how it will implant in your head. That four hour work week that I'm actually living today for a multi-million dollar business okay, um. And then one of the ones that I really like, which is newer, is dan martell's buy back your time brilliant, okay.

Jeff J Hunter: 41:46

All of these things will lead you down the same path of realizing three core lies that we tell ourselves. Number one I'm too busy to get unbusy, oh, so good. Number two is that no one will actually care about my business as much as me. I have people that care more. I'm not going to lie, I do, right, like I have to pretend that I care more than some of them, all right. And the third, where you specialize in, is that I am not a good delegator, I am not a good leader, that I am not capable of actually having true time freedom. Yes, right. I think that is a big lie that people say. And, by the way, to summarize that up the phrase would be it's easier if I just do it myself.

Dr. William Attaway: 42:50

Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that. So true, man. That's so true, jeff. Every time we talk, I walk away having learned something. Every time we walk away, I walk away encouraged and optimistic about what's ahead for you, because I believe your best days are still to come. I think the seeds that your grandpa planted in you, man, they're still growing, and I think your best days are ahead, and I can't wait to see what those are going to be. I know our listeners are going to want to connect with you, learn more about what you do with you, learn more about what you do and and just continue to learn as you continue on your journey.

Jeff J Hunter: 43:36

What is the best way for people to do that. You know what, Um, I would love to share with you guys. If you are, if you, if you relate to what I said today, if you relate to what me and William are talking about, if you heard those last three lies and said, dang it. I've said that to myself. If you, right now, believe that that is the truth, that you can't find the right people in your business that could actually care about it as much as you do, If you feel like you never can escape the job that you've created for yourself as an entrepreneur because you're too busy and you don't know how to delegate, you don't feel like you're a good leader and it's just easier to do things yourself right. If you don't have time to make time, um, I would invite you to check out a new series of books I've put out. I'm really excited, Actually, I just launched them.

Jeff J Hunter: 44:30

New series of books I've put out I'm really excited, Actually, I just launched them the busyceocom. The busyceocom. It'll have all my contact information there, but you're also going to see three pieces of 60 minute read content that I would love for you to check out. One of them is called the busy CEOs executive assistant playbook. It's the exact framework and literally the day-to-day schedule of exactly how I use my own executive assistant, Jackie, who you've had multiple conversations with Absolutely.

Jeff J Hunter: 45:00

The second book is called the Busy CEOs Time Freedom Blueprint. It's actually that map for you to understand how to stop being that busy CEO, how to start freeing up your time, and inside the book has downloadable resources, checklists, templates, guides, schedules, priority guides, Like there's all sorts of things that you need to do so that when you fill it out you're going to be like wow, I actually have a plan for real time freedom. And the third book in the set is my favorite. Being an AI emerging technology nerd, it's called AI for Business Strategy Guide and it shows you very simple ways just to get your time back, make your team more productive. It has a hundred plus prompts that you can use, copy paste and shows you exactly what tools to use to just make yourself and your team more productive. Thebusyceocom there's my pitch.

Dr. William Attaway: 45:52

That's so good. Now I can't wait to dive into these. It just sounds so brilliant and I love your generosity and saying, hey, this is what's working for me, this is what I've learned. Take this, apply it, execute. You know what I would love to do actually?

Jeff J Hunter: 46:07

Yeah, even if you're like, oh, jeff's trying to sell me his book, I want to give you guys, can I? I'm just going to give you guys four resources I'm going to give you. I actually have my time freedom blueprint worksheet and all the things that are inside the book. I have a link I'm going to send you guys. It's the busyceocom forward slash time freedom resources. I'm going to put the link. I'll put the link so that you guys can check it out and you don't even have to buy the book.

Jeff J Hunter: 46:35

I just want you guys to start feeling what real freedom is like If you honestly, genuinely wake up every day and you're like, man, I've created a job for yourself. If you are that person who feels like you're working 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else, I would invite you just to download these resources. You don't even have to buy the book. I just want you, to guys, to have these resources. Williams, people are my people. I really genuinely just want, like you said, I just want to serve. You know, and maybe you're at a point where you're like, I don't know about this, jeff guy, but I would love, I would invite you guys to try some of these resources for yourself and I'm going to make sure, wherever the link is around here the podcast we're going to make sure you have it we will put that in the show notes.

Dr. William Attaway: 47:21

Jeff. Thanks for that generosity, and if you're not sure about this Jeff guy, I'll vouch for him. So check out what he's doing, read these books, utilize these resources and take a step toward the freedom that you started your business to achieve, jeff, thank you for your generosity today, man. This has been such a great conversation.

Jeff J Hunter: 47:43

Thank you very much and I'm excited to be back. I know that you don't do that very often, so I'm honored and blessed to be on the show twice and hopefully again. That's right.

Dr. William Attaway: 47:55

Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, Catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 48:31

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, non-profits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro/Outro: 49:15

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.