Last updated on August 10th, 2021 at 10:28 am
Jeremy’s journey is an inspiring one…
He started off with initial success as a digital nomad travelling the world with his laptop, only to realize it wasn’t what he wanted.
Through a leap of faith & series of good moves, Jeremy founded Nested Naturals with co-founder Kevin Pasco and has grown the company to 8 figures and a team of 18 (and growing!).
In this interview Jeremy goes deep into his lessons learned through this whole process, and how he’s been able to build a strong culture for such a large team. Enjoy!
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:58 – Jeremy is on extreme sports and relates it to his business.
- 04:18 – Started as a digital nomad to CEO of his own company.
- 08:50 – How Nested Naturals started…
- 12:50 – Autonomy and freedom in Nested Naturals and the importance of culture.
- 16:07 – Unlimited vacation policy, work environment, etc. at Nested Naturals.
- 22:02 – What Jeremy thinks of launching new products vs. optimizing it.
- 25:10 – Personal development talks.
- 34:19 – Jeremy message to fellow entrepreneurs.
It all started in 2003/2004 when I broke away from a job to do my own thing. I was attending an internet marketing seminar with Corey Rudl. Cory was on stage talking about freedom and the power of the Internet and making money. At age 20, this was a totally new concept to me.
From that point on, the last 8 years has been a journey of ups and downs, learning internet marketing, eBooks and how to make money online.
The entrepreneurial journey is filled with ups and downs, disappointments and hard lessons.
What kept me going was the freedom of choosing my own scheduling and being in control of my life.
Surround Yourself With the Right People
The type of people you surround yourself impacts who you will be in the next 5 years.
After I met Ryan Moran (Capitalism.com, Freedom Fastlane), who was a super inspiring guy, I learned that you can put products on Amazon and start a business that way.
Ryan was having success with this and he put up content on how to help people do the same. I observed what he did with his company at the time and learned how I can replicate it.
Find Your Tribe
Humans have evolved to live in tribal societies… It is possible to do it alone as a “solo-preneur,” but it is much easier to have some support.
Most of my efforts at this point had been completely solo-preneurial and it contributed to my loneliness. I wanted to find someone with a similar mindset that was excited about the same things that I was.
I was into health and health supplements and thought I could make & market them better than the competition. This is where I realized I needed a partner so I reached out to Kevin Pasco.
Jeremy Sherk – On Creating an Inspiring Work Culture
We do things differently at our office… We have a boardroom with beanbags, we have space that allows for reading and meditation time.
I take a lot of pride in offering a workplace to people that really activate them on a deep level, that really invigorates them and inspires them & brings forth that innate enthusiasm. We just need the right environment to cater to that and foster that.
We give people the autonomy to dictate their own schedule to take time off. In this day and age you can take your work with you, so if you want to travel to Europe for a month or two, great. But we expect you to be getting the job done as well.
The Key Leverage Points to Scaling on Amazon
We’ve gone through different areas with our company, different chapters so to speak. We went through an era last year where it was all new product launches as fast as possible. We had the team & resources to do it like “go go go !”
But we realized as a team we were releasing on products too fast & we had all these “un-nurtured babies” out there.
We were so focused on launching new products fast that we weren’t giving them what they needed to blossom and really have a successful launch.
So we pivoted and said okay let’s slow the product launches and actually nurture these babies and give them the attention they need.
And now we’re at the end of that era of nurturing products and getting systems in place to really take them to market aggressively, properly, & get that traction from the beginning.
We’re still ironing out the final kinks there, then we’re going to flip the switch back to fast product launches.
I can tell you that running this company for the last few years it’s like there are seasons, an ebb and flow. You go too far in one direction realize you’ve got to take the pedal off a bit and switch focus elsewhere.
It’s just kind of this zigzag ebb and flow. That’s been my sort of lesson as an entrepreneur in this journey. And you know I embrace that.
I just think that’s part of running a business and growing a business. You’re always kind of looking at where there are vulnerabilities and where you’re neglecting areas and you put a tension there and then a new area of neglect comes up and you put attention there. It’s just this constant sort of ebb and flow of things.
Applying the Same Mentality to Personal Life
I’m big into health and wellness and I know deep down the importance of taking care of my body, exercising regularly. .. but I still fall off. I still slip.
After my surfing trip in March coming back in April, I wasn’t really keeping the workouts up.
It’s like the analogy of my business, my life I think runs in seasons as well. Sometimes there’s a season that’s nose to the grindstone and my health’s being a bit neglected.
So I’m always analyzing my life and I feel like I’m very self-aware as far as what my body needs or what’s needed in the business, not perfect, but I’m always taking inventory and trying to improve.
I’m always trying to be my best and bring my best every day. But I also have big goals and big dreams and sometimes that trust is in balance and it’s just this constant dance.
But as far as how we get self-awareness, I don’t know if I have a specific answer to that. I just think it’s like life experience and just asking questions like “how do I feel right now”. Like how do I feel right now? You know, I feel very good.”
Jeremy Sherk’s Exercise Protocol
I’m following a protocol which is to try and sweat once a day, I believe that’s a good gauge. If you’re sweating you know you’re detoxing, your heart rate & circulation is increasing, you’re getting exercise.
So I went for a run this morning & I feel great. I haven’t eaten yet today because I do intermittent fasting, it really helps me.
It’s really just experimentation. I used to be one of those guys that is like get up and eat your high protein meal right away, eat every three hours right until you go to bed or you’re going to lose muscle… I used to buy into that philosophy.
That really that didn’t work for me. Maybe it works for other people, but I was tired, sluggish, & not sleeping well. I’d wake up, eat this big meal and then two hours later like I want a nap because the digestion is such an intense process for yourself.
But then this intermittent fasting concept came around and I’m like “that sounds cool, I want to try that.” I tried and it felt amazing.
So I think developing self-awareness comes from experimentation. Ok, I know that getting up and eating a high protein meal doesn’t work for me. I know that eating right before I go to bed doesn’t work for me. I tried this intermittent fasting thing, I feel amazing. I feel clear. I have high energy. I have mental clarity.
I know that getting up every day or sweating once a day works for me. I know that not doing that doesn’t work for me. So it’s just this constant learning lessons, experimenting, and adopting those lessons in your life, always reminding yourself of how important they are.
Everyone slips. I slip, I’m very hard on myself. I have a very high standard for myself & the people around me, but I’m not perfect. You don’t want to be too hard on yourself or you’ll burn out. Try experimenting, trying things seeing what works for you and knowing what you really need to be at your optimum.
Jeremy Sherk’s Fasting Protocol
I do the conventional 16-hour fasting, 8-hour eating window. Sometimes it’s even shorter where I’ll probably eat all my calories within five hours.
I’m just drinking water during the fasting period. I’m not drinking coffee which some people do, I just do it pure and simple. And then just eating clean whole foods during the eating window.
And I also experiment with just fasting for a whole day. I haven’t done that in a while but it’s something I’ll bring back about once a month where I just fast for 36 hours essentially so I’ll eat my last meal in an evening. I’ll have the full sleep. I’ll have the full day and then another full sleep. So it equals about a 36-hour fast. And I’m just drinking water for that period.
Some people have blood sugar issues, maybe fasting doesn’t work for them.
But look, there are so many scientific documented benefits on fasting the benefits are undeniable. The digestive benefits, detox, the mental clarity. There’s a ton of research out there you can find.
What’s Next?
I’ve always had an interest in speaking and I’ve been working on presentation skills and public speaking for many years.
I’ve always wanted to start a YouTube channel but it was never the right time. There’s always an excuse and I was focused on other initiatives.
But last year, I said to myself fuck it, it’s now or never. I just clicked on the camera and started talking and I really going to every video at least in the beginning stages. I went into every video what would I want to tell my 10 to 15 year younger self?
I just started doing videos with that mindset and putting content out to my personal Facebook profile. The feedback was good and I really enjoyed it, I’m passionate about it.
Now I have a YouTube channel. I’ve started taking it more seriously and looking more at strategy rather than just throwing videos up. I wasn’t even promoting them before or doing research on keyword ideas, but I’m taking it a bit more seriously now.
If I get more speaking opportunities, that excites me. Those speaking opportunities could maybe lead to paid stuff but I’m not relying on it for an income.
Nested Naturals is my business side of things and I’m just doing YouTube purely out of passion at this point. I think that’s a great place to come from when you don’t have that desperate need of it having to end up with a certain result. It’s just a good outlet for me. It’s good therapy.
