[EO Philadelphia] Creating Championship Teams in Business and Hockey With Jim Jacobs

Jim Jacobs is the Founder and CEO of Focus Insite, a leading market research firm specializing in qualitative recruitment services for various industries. With an innovative approach, the company takes on projects of diverse complexities and offers invaluable insights that help shape its clients’ business strategies.

With a strong background in sports, particularly hockey, Jim has leveraged his leadership skills both on the ice and in the boardroom. Before founding Focus Insite, he worked in sales and management roles across multiple sectors. His blend of entrepreneurship and coaching has uniquely equipped him to build effective teams and nurture talent, consistently driving his company toward success. Jim’s dynamic approach to business and development led him to make significant contributions to the field of market research, establishing him as a respected figure in the industry.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Jim Jacobs talks about Focus Insite and how it serves its clients
How Jim transitioned from running a side hustle to an authentic business
Focus Insite’s evolution of services since its inception
The key talent Jim hired to grow his business
What Jim does to instill culture in a remote setting
The power of ask
How Jim’s experience coaching hockey influenced his leadership style
What Jim considers his business superpower
Personal development resources Jim recommends

In this episode…

Building a business is like building a championship sports team — vision, strategy, and continuous development are essential. But how can you apply these strategies to grow your company?

As a hockey coach and business leader, Jim Jacobs combines his experiences to share unique insights on leadership that apply to both the sports field and the business world. His journey offers a distinctive lens on how the disciplines learned on the ice can translate to entrepreneurial success. Jim says sharing a clear vision can motivate a team and why ongoing training helps people grow professionally.

In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Jim Jacobs, Founder and CEO of Focus Insite, to talk about the link between sports coaching and business. They also discuss the value of helping team members develop, the hurdles of running a business, and the rewarding experience of changing lives through leadership.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Episode Transcript

Intro 0:02

Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.

Jeremy Weisz 0:13

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here founder of InspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Jim Jacobs of focusinsite.com And that is I N S I T E .com. And Jim, before I formally introduce you, I always want to point out other episodes people should check out of the podcast in your in EO. And you’re always learning I’ve had some amazing people from EO on my podcast, Robert Hartline grew his, his two companies actually software company, and actually grew a chain of cell phone stores to over $100 million and sold it and just a pretty amazing story. And so he did two episodes and really talks about productivity. And I’m not sure how he gets accomplished, what he gets accomplished. I had EO member Adi Klevit, who does, she has a great podcast to check it out. But she does. SOPs for companies. She’s an easy button for a company to produce SOPs, so they can do things standardize and train their staff and make their business more saleable. And all that fun stuff. So check her out, check that episode out, we geeked out Jim on our favorite productivity, tools, and software. So I still really listened to that one. That and many more. And this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream 100 relationships and partnerships. And how do we do that? We actually help you run your podcast, we are an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast we do the accountability, the strategy and the full execution and production. So we call ourselves in the kind of the magic elves that work in the background and make things look easy for the host where they can sit back, relax, have the conversation and run their company. So you know for me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships. And I found no better way over the past decade a profile that people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should you have questions you can go to rise25.com to learn more. And I’m excited to introduce Jim Jacobs, he’s founder of focusinsite.com. And they’re a nationwide leader in qualitative recruitment. And they’ve served companies like Adobe Tesla, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, I can go on and on with the companies they serve. He’s, you know, has some amazing stories because he’s talking and their company’s talking directly to the consumer. Right. So that’s what consumer insights are, and they help these companies make big decisions, not off of guesswork, but actually coming from the consumer. So check them out, he started the business with a broken arm $20 Bill, and he made the Inc 5000 play six on the Philadelphia Business Journal’s soaring 76. In terms of growth rate, he’s multitalented. If you’re watching the video, you can see in the background, there’s this picture. And he’s also a hockey coach. And he coached Melbourne prep to a state championship for the first time in 17 years. And as I mentioned, he’s also a member of EO – Entrepreneurs Organization, attended Harvard and Wharton School of Business for the executive education. Jim, thanks for joining me.

Jim Jacobs 3:26

Wow. Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be on.

Jeremy Weisz 3:28

So let’s start with you know, I described a little bit about Focus Insite, but tell people more about exactly what Focus Insite does.

Jim Jacobs 3:37

No problem, let’s focus insight, what the heck is Focus Insite, what do we do? We are the nation wide leader in qualitative market research recruitment, the What the hell does that mean in English? Okay, so, you know, fortune 500 company, I mean, not only fortune 500 companies of all sizes, they have, you know, huge decisions to make on how they market their product or service. And the key to that, is getting what, you know, getting what people really think about that product really interviewing people who use their product, or who don’t use their product. Why do you like it? What don’t you like about it? Right? So all those opinions, that information is extremely, extremely valuable to companies, who companies have, you know, had one idea for some sort of marketing campaign and have changed it, you know, done one ad based on people’s feedback. And so that happens all the time. And that’s what we do is you supply the product we supply to people, so, you know, companies or market research firms who need people to participate in studies. That’s what we do.

Jeremy Weisz 4:45

We’re gonna get into that a little bit, and people can go to your website, and I don’t know, do you have a lot of people joining the database because people can actually make money from doing this, right?

Jim Jacobs 4:55

Yeah. Yeah. That’s always fun for all my hockey and golf buddies like the alcoholic beverages study, right? They get in they get paid $150 to have drinks. Right.

Jeremy Weisz 5:07

So this is online focus group.

Jim Jacobs 5:10

Online. So this is, you know, this is an absolutely a you know, I mean, there’s one you see on on election we do on your everyday essential. So, yeah, for sure. So there’s always people who need different opinions on or who will pay you for your opinions on various different products out there. Like you see, like virtual reality. That’s a neat one that we did. We did that years ago where we did. We did a big study for Oculus go where we shipped out free headsets for Oculus go. And I’m Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah. And then the, you know, the people got like, I guess 200 bucks, and they got a free headset. And you know, the end client on that one was Facebook. And there were there were using data to say, Hey, should we acquire the activity Oculus go. Then six months later, I walk into Best Buy Christmas shopping, and all of a sudden if the Oculus go by Facebook, so it’s pretty neat. Like we did the whole study behind that.

Jeremy Weisz 6:12

Well, that’s awesome. Yeah. So I mean, obviously companies can contact you if they want to get consumer insights. But consumers can go on your website, too, and possibly get opportunities as well.

Jim Jacobs 6:23

Yeah, absolutely. Just, you just go in and sign up our database. And and then you know, when you qualify for a study, we’ll send out a link on email and you fill it out. And if you qualify, well, that’s what we do when we get you in. We’ll get you scheduled. And there you go. Right there. Join us panel. You got it.

Jeremy Weisz 6:43

Awesome. Love it. Let’s talk about, so go back.

Jim Jacobs 6:48

Jeremy, come on, we’ll get you in something with that.

Jeremy Weisz 6:50

I’m going to chemistry Are you kidding, like I would have been all over the Oculus I bought one I could have got one for free and been in the study, come on. Like, I’m gonna check all those out. I’m not a big alcohol drinker. So I’m not like a good fit for that one. But I’ll check the other ones out. I’m gonna spread the word on that you want to make some extra cash. Go ahead. You broke your arm. So what happened?

Jim Jacobs 7:17

Oh, my God, I was coaching hockey, the passion of mine. And I coached all different levels from the Learn to play for five year olds, up to 18, and even some college. So, of course, all level certified role levels, and coaching little guys kick out from behind me, I fly near, break my arm, have to get surgery. And I can try for six weeks. So my former business was a commercial real estate broker. And you’re just you’re doing your all the time you’re at different properties, right? So you’re, you’re driving all this drive all over the place. And I couldn’t leave the couch. Right? Because I know, I was in a, I was in a sling and a cast and whatnot after the surgery. So a friend of mine had asked me if I wanted to be in a focus group on Facebook, they had a, a company doing this. And I was a member of Entrepreneurs Organization with them. And that was how it started. I ended up getting in that group. And I said, Wow, this is probably something I could start as a side hustle. While I’m, you know, the real estate markets depressed, and I was chasing some commissions, though suing for. And little did I know, this met a few criteria that I liked, which was, you know, had a recurring revenue stream, essentially. I mean, It’s project based business. But you know, once you once you acquire a client, you will do multiple projects with the client as opposed to real estate where the one off type of sale. So it wasn’t an overnight thing. But you know, it took a while. But I did see a huge potential in this. And that’s how I started Focus Insite.

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Jeremy Weisz 8:59

Talk about taking it from a side hustle to an actual business, because you start off with the mindset of this is just a side hustle. I just want to make some extra cash. And talk about just kind of evolution of turning that an actual business.

Jim Jacobs 9:13

Yeah, sure. So it was It was wild. So it was just for some extra cash. And I had done a pretty big real estate deal. And the buyer and commercial real estate can be very cutthroat so the buyer and seller got together today before we’re supposed to settle and they did settlement without me. So I had a pretty sizable fee. And it’s because it was a it was a transaction that took over two years the conduct by the time you had environmental testing, it was a lot of factors to it very complex transaction. And at the end, they both decided well, we’re going to remove him from the from the picture and the seller can make more money and the buyer can get it for a cheaper price. So get rid of the broker who put the whole thing together and kept the whole thing together. So what happens if you don’t get paid, and then I had to pay an attorney upfront in order to chase money that I should have gotten. And then at the end of the day, when you do get it, it takes you a year, 18 months later, and you’re paying four or five grand, any attorney, and then you’re settling for 50 cents on the dollar, if you’re lucky, you know, usually a lot less than that 3040 cents, and and so I was doing that. And so I was doing the side hustle to pay the attorney, right, just pay attorney fees. And I was like, Oh, this is kind of the other side. And then one thing became another or one thing became another, and then they call me and they had a huge study on macular degeneration, which I didn’t even know what it was. But I was able to look it up and the piece of equipment that they were testing was like a $3 million dollar piece of equipment. And they wanted that. And they needed a very specific target that no other company could get. And they needed ophthalmologists. Right, but like, but they wanted some who had fellowships and whatnot. So lucky for me, one of the guys who I played hockey with, he was he had just graduated ophthalmology school. So I had gotten a list of all the recent grads, fellows and things like that. So we were able to fill a study that no one else was able to fill. And then they ordered a whole second round, they were so happy of it. I’m so happy about it. And then I got to check right away in two weeks. So I said, wow, you know, I mean, like, why am I chasing money over here? I didn’t get paid right away here. And my phone kept ringing off the hook for us to recruit people. And I said, You know what, this is a business. I think I could scale. So that was when I said, You know what, I know sounds nuts. But I’m gonna go full in here and make this happen. And it’s been a great ride ever since.

Jeremy Weisz 11:53

What was another client that you remember? Not that I’ve made it, but that you remember, you’re especially proud of?

Jim Jacobs 12:03

Oh, well, you know what it was? Probably the biggest one was Pinterest, when we first went to Pinterest, because we got on the preferred vendor list, which was very extensive. And that was neat, right? Because that’s, that’s an app that everyone has their phone, everyone knows. And now we have a bunch of those. But it’s really neat. Once you start landing those, you know, the fortune 500 fortune 1000. Internet, you’re like, wow, you know, so because this was just went from an idea to now we we have extensive vendor paperwork and lawyers filling us out. So there’s a whole bunch of them. But you know, we’ve done suffered a major major cosmetics. I mean, there is we could walk through your office or through your house, and I can see product. Oh, yeah, we’ve done studies for this. Yeah, we worked on that. So that’s pretty neat. But yeah, I think the first big one was was Pinterest once we were able to start working with them. That was that was really neat.

Jeremy Weisz 13:01

You know, Jim, you have a you started with one service and your services have evolved a bit. Can you talk about just a little bit of the evolution of the services from when you first started till now? Because you offer several different things?

Jim Jacobs 13:15

Yeah, well, I mean, our bread and butter is qualitative recruitment. Right, which all that means is, you know, you need 50 People who like to dine at Chili’s, or whatever it is, like, we will find you those people. And I mean, I’m making it super simple on the consumer side, but some of them are very technical, like we’ve done. The big thing right now is ChatGPT. Well, you know, the past few years, that’s all we’ve gotten is, hey, we need to speak with data scientists, we need to speak with people about machine learning. Right? So that was a very specific discipline that we could get that people had a hard time getting to recruit for us panels, you know, and now you see all the the AI coming out, and we were kind of recruiting for a lot of different AI studies years ago. Right? So. So yeah, so the qualitative recruitment is still our bread and butter, but a lot of our bigger clients want to come to us for the whole kit and caboodle. So, you know, we offer transcription, translation, you know, some of those things but But 95% of our business is qualitative recruitment, for sure.

Jeremy Weisz 14:23

You know, I did a series on because I really tend to geek out on direct response marketing and copywriting and so I had a stint of some of the top copywriters, direct response marketers, and they say, the way they produce amazing content content or in copy is asking the customer and, you know, putting those insights into in the customer’s words into the copy, right and that’s basically you’re getting these direct insights from the consumer. I love to know one of these market research studies and what you found that was interesting. I know one of them we were chatting out before we hit record was it was apple. So can you can you talk about that one?

Jim Jacobs 15:11

Well, that was one, you know, and we’ve done a few different things with the iPhones or whatnot. And this was just a story that’s been told to us. We didn’t actually do this one, but when, when Apple was doing the iPod, okay, they didn’t know what colors to make it. And they had different groups and people like yellow, really yellow, and everyone decided on yellow. And then when you left, you got to pick one of the many colors of iPod to keep and you get for participating. So everyone picked Wi Fi, but what if there’s a story that was told to the conference, I thought that was pretty neat.

Jeremy Weisz 15:50

So some of those things baked into the study where it’s like you’re asking them, but then basically looking at what their their actions are, also.

Jim Jacobs 16:01

Yeah, I mean, for sure. I mean, we’ve got you know, and that’s one of the things we moderated a few different studies where you’re, like, different drink delivery systems. And, and, you know, that’s what’s really neat is all these the latest and greatest and newest inventions and different ways to do things. I mean, we would do studies about Uber all the time, you know, Uber, or freight right before was kind of like a prospective service. You know, what do you like, what don’t you like, what, right, so it was very neat. And it’s really neat to see how what we do is shaped every day. Like, for example, we did a study on diabetes, right. And it was it was a special app for the phone and a special thing to check your blood sugar. And we did that study with a big study. And then two years later, a friend of mine the pharmaceutical rep, and they’re like, oh my god, it’s the coolest product. You know, I’m gonna be repping. And he told me all about it. Yep. And I’m telling them about the product. And they’re like, I just went to training on this two days ago. And how’d you know all about it? I said, Look, if we did a study. So I love it.

Jeremy Weisz 17:12

What were some of the key hires? In evolution? Right? It starts off you on your couch, making side cash. Right. So what were some of the key hires that you had to make to grow the business?

Jim Jacobs 17:26

Oh, wow. You know what, and if you ever read, you know, your, you meet with a lot of VO guys, but you know, it’s all the people, right? It’s people strategy, execution, cash are the four pillars to scale any business. And number one is the people, the people, people, people. My number two in command is Leanna wood. And she was, you know, she was actually someone who I met through Upwork, during the initial stages of the business, who had a little bit of a market research background, and was just being her.

Jeremy Weisz 17:57

What were you hiring for the time? What were you looking for?

Jim Jacobs 18:01

And the assistant. Okay, so, you know, now like, for example, last year, we did business with 102 clients, right. So, but But yeah, so with, I was looking for an assistant, and, you know, I was really able to hone in on something. And this is free COVID. Right. So, but there was a number of people who, who had young kids or great job skills, college degrees, and they just wanted the flexibility to be able to work from home. So that’s what we created for COVID made it prevalent. But we were on the cutting edge of their of how do we have a work from home company? I mean, I go into an office, but it’s kind of like it’s a shared office facility of John Ratliff Bowens from the he’s big. And he’s part of scaling up with Bernie Harnish Vern Harnish, but another entrepreneur. But yeah, for sure. Liana was absolutely one of our key hires. I mean, she makes this place go every day. And then I got Christina swanky, who had a background in finance, with hedge funds in New York, so she was really able to help us scale the business accordingly and grow it. And then we just, we just kept adding so many great people along the way.

Jeremy Weisz 19:17

You were also um, I think you want something that for best workplaces. So what do you do to instill culture especially in a remote setting?

Jim Jacobs 19:28

Well, Liana is a big part of that, right. She’s very, she’s very big into into culture, and she does a great job leading the way but but we all do, right? So we want you know, we look at if you’re gonna go to work every day, why can’t it be enjoyable? Why can’t you have fun with the co workers Right? Like what? Why can’t the workplace environment be somewhere where you want to be? Right and that’s the whole way we’ve always treated it like we have a you know, once a week 11:11 Every Tuesday and all hands call and we try to Put a little bit of fun in it at the end of the day. And yes, it’s work. Yes, KPIs, yes, measurements, but at the same point, you know, it’s also a good way for everyone to get together to talk about different things. And we try to, you know, and that’s the thing if we try to really train our people, right, so we can, you can come in, and it’s always people first, and we’ll give you the skills, if you want to, we’ll train you for whatever we need. And we’ve been very successful doing that.

Jeremy Weisz 20:30

Um, you know, are you allowed to, are your staff allowed to participate in studies also?

Jim Jacobs 20:37

No.

Jeremy Weisz 20:37

No, they’re not there no. Do you ever get people inquiring the work for you that have participated in the studies? Or do they?

Jim Jacobs 20:44

We’ve had people who have participated in study who have come to work for us a year later or something. And they’re like, Oh, my God, I’ve been in one of your studies. And a friend of mine told me about your this incredible business that went to be a recruiter. And so yeah, but but once you we have a pretty, you know, you will be terminated if you participate in a study if you work for us. That’s, that’s not

Jeremy Weisz 21:04

It’s just because they know too much or why Why isn’t?

Jim Jacobs 21:08

Correct. It’s just biased. Right? Correct. We weren’t, we weren’t unbiased opinions.

Jeremy Weisz 21:16

I would think that people doing the studies be like, Oh, this is cool. This company, oh, maybe I should work for, you know.

Jim Jacobs 21:23

We’ve had that we have people reach out all the time about that.

Jeremy Weisz 21:26

You know, you’re big on education and big in personal development. You taught a seminar in college. And can you talk about the power of ask?

Jim Jacobs 21:39

Yep. So it was actually from my friend, Paul Alfred, he owns or his company, he’s a part of Bloom Planners, which is a phenomenal company, great culture. And I’ve gotten a lot of the culture from him. But they wanted a fellow entrepreneur to come in and speak. And it was really neat for his newspaper side of the business or for the advertising side of the business where they would sell advertising on college campuses. So I went spoke, and he’s like, Hey, could you do a presentation? I’m like, Okay, well, on what you have something interesting. He said, but we want you, you know, we want the question to be what would you tell your 25 year old self? Like, oh, wow, right? Or what would you tell your 20 year old self? So I kept it like, that bugged me all weekend. I’m like, what would I tell myself, you know, and ultimately, what I came back to, is about the power of ask, right? That’s what I came up with. It’s like, if you see where you are now, and you see where you started, like, Well, how did I get on this crazy path? Right? And, you know, and it was always, it was as well because I asked this guy about an internship and then I asked for this and then I asked here, then I asked this, they asked for that, right? So when you go down all the asks, it’s the whole power of s like, if you don’t ask the answers always no, right? I’m gonna say Pat Croce telling me that, right? So Pat Croce used to own a, he was a trainer who became an owner to build off he’s 76ers, and I’ve ever become, you just buy, puts together to deal part owner to team, we go down and all of a sudden, you know, at the time, the logos changed black and everything like yeah, I’m like, Well, did you do any market research on this? No, your bags, it was like, you know, Paul Pascual, my, my old man, he goes, if I asked him for the sneakers, he beat the crap out of me. So then the next time I just bought the sneakers, a piece of crap, I was buying the sneakers, but I still had the sneakers. So his whole point was just, you know, just ask just ask do it. Figure it out. So that’s the power of ask like, always be asking, Who can you ask? away? What can I do for you? Hey, Jeremy, I have a good introduction that might help you write things like that. And when you look over time and yours, you see a huge compound effect of that.

Jeremy Weisz 23:59

Were some, who do you consider some of your mentors throughout the years when you speak of ask I’m sure that you reached out to people for advice or help or, you know, were some of those mentors throughout the years.

Jim Jacobs 24:12

Now all the time. I mean, one of the big ones is, I mean, there’s so many to list but one of the big ones is Mike Michael Morris, who’s a good friend of mine, I met him at St. Joe’s and he started company Transport International Pool and sold GE back in the day and I talked to him once a week, twice a week. And is amazing person, so many through Entrepreneurs Organization who I know mentor me on different things. You know, Paul offers one who’s helped me through a lot of different things. You know, Bob Simpson is my cow and he’s helped me through a lot. It’s funny, I’m a hockey guy. So guys, like you know, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Carrion and Jim Watson who I have the utmost respect for. Played pretty high level NHL, I’m able to get those guys on the phone. They have them hockey base.

Jeremy Weisz 25:02

Jeremy Roenick was used to be on the Blackhawks at one point. I don’t know whether teams he played for but

Jim Jacobs 25:07

Yeah, you know, that was kind of wild, right? He talked about the power of ask we that’s a perfect perfect example we it was during 2004, the NHL was locked out. And to all the players were looking to get into just had like, you know, they would have like charity, golf outings and hockey games. So they keep crashing into each other because they couldn’t play for a year. Because because the owner said, Hey, you guys make too much money. We’re locking out and we’re really redoing the collective bargaining agreement. So all of a sudden, the paper got asked here with the comes in the paper, the Daily News saying, Hey, Jeremy Roenick for the fillable flyers is having a charity golf outing for charity hockey happening in Arizona. He goes if anyone wants to stay sharp on blades, and we played pretty high level hockey, so I had sent the article to my entire play soccer team at the time. And one of the guys was like, Hey, does anyone want to go on this, this would be pretty neat to go to. And someone a friend of mine said, Hey, I know him pretty well. We grew up playing with with against each other, and personal friends. And then that’s how the connection was made. And we went out there. And we’ve been friends ever since. So it’s it’s that was pretty cool. So you’ve helped me through some hockey stuff and whatnot.

Jeremy Weisz 26:21

Describe, Jim for people can’t see maybe they’re listening. But there’s a picture behind you describe that scene in what’s in there.

Jim Jacobs 26:32

That’s a really neat, seeing a video of it and everything. It’s great. So. So I played hockey at Malvern prep, and it was very much a defining experience. Because you go from not being getting cut to making the team to go into the JV, varsity. And now all of a sudden, you’re winning a flyer, scalping and winning triple A state championship, and there’s nothing like it more diversity champions in the history of the school. Well, fast forward. Now, that’s the 9090. And so my stuff, so I come back there needed a middle school coach, eight years ago, camp, we have been doing this for eight years, but they needed a middle school coach, and just had a vision and saw an opportunity to Hey, build the middle school team and get our high school back to the championship level. And no freshman that won. The team has not won for 17 years. Right. So we’ve gone through a huge drought. So it was a lot of you know, recruiting and selling guys on the vision and getting guys to hey, look, you know, I know, the team is struggling now. But you got to look a few years down the road what this thing is going to be. And that’s it. And, you know, I remember telling one of my guys, Maddie Harris, Maddie, you’re gonna be looking up in the stands, these things are gonna be packed. And you’re gonna be holding that cup over your head. I go if you come here, right, God honest truth. And, you know, three years later, that’s exactly what he was doing. It was unbelievable. I guess I got chills right now thinking about that. But that game went into overtime. And like I said, we hadn’t won in 17 years. And my son ended up scoring the game winning goal in overtime, wearing my jersey number. And the whole place when that’s and it was all over social media. I mean, TSN in Canada had it on their social media page. I mean, every huge hockey channel on Instagram, like it just blew up. There was millions of views. It was it was really unbelievable story. And it all started with a vision. And not only the vision, but really having a vision fresh in your head and executing every day, day upon day, month upon month, in year after year. And then we want it back to back. So it was really amazing.

Jeremy Weisz 28:43

The video on your phone? What is it up? Like? How did you did you get it? Or did someone send you the video? What is what is it? What’s the video of?

Jim Jacobs 28:52

Just of the goal itself the goal of that goal? Yeah. Someone shot that and yeah, it was unbelievable. That that? Yeah, the social media, the Social Media Manager for the team. Gracie at that time she she shot it and upload it to Instagram to every every hockey page who read blasted all over the place. It was really wild, how big of a story that became 24 hours.

Jeremy Weisz 29:18

Talk about how you what you brought from your hockey, career and coaching into the business because I mean, it’s sounds like all of the similar things. You had to give the vision and sell the vision, execute practice. What did you bring from hockey

Jim Jacobs 29:35

to your business? is so similar. It is unbelievable. Okay, so now I deal with 1516 1718 year old in high school and then some of the younger guys in middle school. All guys, and all of a sudden when I’m dealing at work, we you know, it’s all females, right? So but they’re all people and it’s all the same thing right? You have To get people to see a vision that doesn’t exist, you have to get people to believe something that is not there. Like, you know, if I never told Leanna, right, like, hey, Leanna this is gonna be really neat, it’s gonna be me and you working 50 hours a week to 60 hours a week. Don’t steal that mission. All right, like, what’s, what the hell’s exciting about that? You know, and what that was exciting was, hey, you’re gonna come over here and, and play hockey. And you know, we’re gonna try to win a few more games next year. I’m like, What’s exciting about that? Right? So I’m like, now we’re gonna be the leader in the, in this quality of space, in market research, we’d be on the top companies in the industry. And you know, what, it took a lot of big swings. And we struck out a lot. Okay, but you know, what, like, we just hit the Inc 5000. Last year, top 25%, like you said, and, you know, hockey, that was very difficult. There was lots of scars and pain along the way. And tough moments, you know, tough conversations with kids, tougher conversations with parents irate parents, but you know, what, they all have championship rings now. And we, you know, we hit the Inc 5000. And we’re doing projects with some of the biggest consumer product companies in the world. I mean, the tech companies, the world, I mean, it was kind of our Stanley Cup. So they go absolutely hand in hand. But number one, it’s, you know, I think that the biggest job of the entrepreneur is to really help sell the vision, and then not only sell it, but work with the team to drive it every single day. And you got to be willing to roll your sleeves up and, and get dirty, because if you’re like, No one’s gonna leave, if you’re not willing to do these things. You know, I’m,

Jeremy Weisz 31:40

I’m curious. Jim, what you would say your superpower is, you know, when I listen to you, you seem to be really good at the visual, like creating a visual for someone, you’re painting the picture for that vision, you’re not just sharing the vision, but you really, you know, with that person, you paint the picture so they can see it. You know, imagine the people in the stands imagining Holly up that cop, even with the ads, you know, imagine our products, you know, we’re watching the Superbowl, and we see a Superbowl commercial, and the product that we helped, you know, do the research for is on there, right? What would you say your superpower is, in business?

Jim Jacobs 32:24

Developing people, developing people, right? Like, you know, I believe very much in the equation, one plus one equals three. Okay? So that means if you come in, you know, we’re gonna leave you a lot better than we found you, we have people who can come into our company, as an entry level recruiter, and be promoted to a system project manager or project manager or director within a short period of time. Right? It’s really on that, you know, it’s kind of one of the things I say, with with hockey, right? You know, we supply the opportunity, you supply to rest, right, so, so that’s what I think that the key job of any coach or entrepreneurs is, number one is to people, right is develop your people, show your people the way you can’t do it for them, right, but you need people who are driven and to show them the vision and show them I know, this is where you are now. But this is where you can be. And this is where we can be together if we accomplish this. Right. So and, you know, to the credit of a lot of the guys I’ve coached, they’ve achieved success. That picture is that moment. The armor the girl, you know, the many people just kind of guy jumping in the stands, you know, right. But to me, that’s hours upon hours of practices, and work and vision, and whatnot. And, you know, like those jerseys, the original jerseys that came out were unwearable. So we had to order last minute jersey, right? Like it’s like, everyone’s like, Oh my God, you have the best jerseys in the league, like, yeah, like, and no one has a right. It’s like the dock where it’s paddling, super quick under and you know, it’s all smooth, but you don’t see everything that’s happening underneath. And that’s the way life and business is, you know, so everything goes super already and crazy. But now by far, Jeremy, number one, developing people and making that one plus one equals three. Meaning when you get the people, the value of the whole is a lot more than the sum of the parts.

Jeremy Weisz 34:30

What should others be doing to help develop their leaders? What have you found kind of baked into your process or how you train or what do you do that other people should be doing to help develop leaders?

Jim Jacobs 34:46

Yeah, for sure. So it’s kind of wild through EO I met Chris Ronzio. Chris Ronzio owns a company called Trainual. So, Trainual is phenomenal. So we have everyone we recruit We’re different modules, different learnings, and we constantly train people through training will. And it’s like the old thing like, well, if we train them, and they leave, like, what if we don’t, and they stay? Right. So we really tried to have different weekly trainings and, and try to train people on different facets of the industry. And you know, get them, you know, because a lot of them are actually everyone, that’s pretty much new to market research. So we train them within the industry. And, you know, some of these people, some of some of the women have been out of the workforce for a little bit. Maybe you had some kids and they started working a few years they want to get back in, or they went started a part time recruiter. So honestly, if you’re not training your people to be better than, you know, I think you’re doing yourself a huge disservice as an entrepreneur, because what’s really neat is like, there was four sales calls today. Okay, and I hurt my back, and I wasn’t on any of them. But I

Jeremy Weisz 36:02

I wish I knew a chiropractor or you, Jim. Sorry.

Jim Jacobs 36:05

Thank you. I knew one right around right around the corner. Thank goodness, that’s where I spent all morning. But, you know, having awesome people and developing them into awesome people is super, super, it’s the most rewarding thing about the business. And you know, what more rewarding any financial statement or any sales figure? Yeah.

Jeremy Weisz 36:26

I have one last question. Before I ask it, I just want to point people to focusinsite.com to check out more. That’s focus. And then I N S I T E .com. To learn more about the business, whether you are a business who wants to get consumer insights or you want to make some side cash, and actually see what other opportunities you can enter in their database. My last question, Jim, is I know you are a heavy learner. Personal Development, I love to know some of the your favorite books, or resources that that you love that you recommend people check out.

Jim Jacobs 37:09

You know, YouTube, anything by Jim Rohn. I think he’s phenomenal. Got, you know, my whole Audible but Brian Tracy, all the Brian Tracy type of stuff. And God, you know, Atomic Habits is a great one. Like, there’s so many. And I have one Peptalk. I like looked at Oh, my morning run in the morning.

Jeremy Weisz 37:29

What is that, an app?

Jim Jacobs 37:30

It’s an app where you just curate motivational content, oh, really free up that you can get for free on on YouTube and whatnot. But, you know, not only that, but you know, just books are, you know, like, I think Elon Musk, apparently when he grew up in, in South Africa, he read his whole library, like you read every book in the library, and that library that was that he grew up in or something or in a school or like that library library, but like the school he had written every book so you know, so, you know, people had problems before you and they’ve had bigger problems. And you know, books are just the way to you know, there’s nothing I love better than getting away into reading. You know, so I’m a I’m a content, consummate like I love you. I love listening to audiobooks and podcasts.

Jeremy Weisz 38:25

What are some of your favorite podcasts or Audible I don’t know if you have your phone handy. But I love to hear some of your favorite podcasts and in audible books too.

Jim Jacobs 38:35

Well, my favorite my favorite by far is Rise25 by Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 38:44

No and your favorite episode is your is your own. When it goes live.

Jim Jacobs 38:47

There you go. You know, I like Andy Frisella, Noah Kagan is really, really neat. So Noah Kagan presents and Andy Frisella is phenomenal. There’s one called DealMakers which is really neat they speak with actual entrepreneurs. I’m a hockey guy. So Spittin Chiclets is a great one just to hear from some of the most elite athletes in the world. And you’ve crazy stories and how they got to where they got to. Alex Hormozi is a guy who I really really like. He’s kind of newer past couple years into the social media content, you know.

Jeremy Weisz 39:25

$100M Offers. I forgot that.

Jim Jacobs 39:29

I have a book over there but but you can tell he’s the guy who did it. You don’t I mean, like he’s done all this because he can tell you very specifically Oh, and you know, and the credit card fee machine went down. So we had to do it this way. And like I know the stories we’ve done all those crazy stories and things have happened. So yeah, those are ones i i really liked. A few I don’t like thinking I’m like I’m not gonna recommend them because they’re kind of like, you know, their whole thing is being a coach or something like that and got it right so that

Jeremy Weisz 40:02

You want people who have been in the trenches who are have done it or are doing it. What about from Audible? Any favorite audible book?

Jim Jacobs 40:09

Oh sure, audible my, I think I have a couple of 100 here. So I’m looking him up right now Pink Goldfish is a good one. Laid Bigger, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Grit by Angela Duckworth. Her husband, Jason is a member of the Philadelphia chapter which is wild. The Magic of Thinking Big. The Power of Ambition by Jim Rohn. Tell Me More About That by my friend Rob Volpe. The Thank You Room by Serenity Bohon is a great book about her dealing with cancer. And she’s a friend and absolutely phenomenal. Founder’s Mentality, there’s so many. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss was one of my favorites. That’s a great one, isn’t it? Oh, you know, here’s one of my absolute favorites. And it’s like, it’s not even a real book. It’s like a It’s a Kindle book, How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban. But to get inside his head is is unbelievable. And I’ve had a chance to I was on a Zoom call with him. And just hearing how he approached it every day is it’s unbelievable, man. The guy’s great. So yeah, there’s something like, and also one that I suggest to all the staff, but The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. Right, quote that I quote a lot. It’s a really neat book, I highly suggest it. It’s, it’s a book about how people’s things have changed. But like, based on real things that happen in history, it’s it’s really, it’s a great book, and you’ll read it in a couple hours. But it’s, you know, like I always say like, it’s a quote from the book. You don’t always have to make the right decision, but make the decision and make it right. So that’s how we’ve grown. Like, I’m like, Hey, don’t fret about making the right decision, make a decision. And if it’s wrong, we make it right. And, you know, we’ve had clients, you know, we did this and it was the wrong thing, but we fixed it or, you know what I mean? And it’s one of our, you know, that’s one of our core philosophies, for sure. Make it right.

Jeremy Weisz 42:13

Jim, I want to be the first one to thank you. Thank you so much, everyone, check out focusinsite.com And we’ll see you next time. Thanks, Jim.

Outro 42:25

Score! Triple eight champions. Jimmy Jacobs, score three gets Sally’s. And he’s the man tonight.

Outro 42:43

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