#storytellerjewels Today, my very special guest is Jay Fantom. Listen in as he talks a little bit about the use of social media. 

Jay Fantom You have to show up on social media the same way you show up in real life. There is no difference. But what people do is they show up differently. They put on a face, they create a mask for the sake of follow followers, and that is the wrong way to live. That is an unhealthy way to live. And the reason why we have so many issues with mental health is that’s one of the biggest reasons.

#storytellerjewels In today’s interview I have the pleasure of talking with Jay Fantom, the host of the incredibly successful The story box podcast. Jay is a persistent and passionate 25 year old entrepreneur, award winning filmmaker, speaker and writer who works incredibly hard at being the best authentic, honest, loving kind and excellent version of himself. Daily Jay is the founder and host of the story Box. A top four podcast in 2021 j and the story box have been featured in Forbes magazine, Business Insider, Yahoo, New York Weekly, The Los Angeles Wire, NBC, Fox, CBS and Market watched among many others. Since the beginning of the story box in November of 2019, Jay has had the privilege of Unboxing stories of over 600 plus high profile world class leaders from every field. These include Tony Robbins, Matthew McConaughey, Grant Cardone, Robert Kiyosaki, Sugar Ray Leonard and many, many, many more. Jay, welcome to the show. 

Jay Fantom Jewels, thank you so much for having me. Apologies for the dog barking in the background. Thank you so much for having me and a real pleasure to be invited onto your show. 

#storytellerjewels Jay I’m a big fan of your podcasts, and I’ve been binge listening to a number of years shows lately, and one thing I’ve noticed is the joy in your voice as your guiding others to share their story. Where does your passion for stories come from? 

Jay Fantom Great question to start off with. I have always loved stories for as long as I can remember, ever since I was a little kid growing up, you know, in a conservative Christian household, we weren’t able to really watch movies, so those stories would be formed with books, so my mum would often read to us every single night different book, usually whether it was from the Bible or if there was like I’ve got a couple of them in my bookshelf Down below, towards like character development, you name it. There’s a couple of them that I still remember. Rikki Tikki Tavi. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Charlotte’s Web, for example. Uh, the Swiss family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe. All those classic tales. Uh, And then, you know, I I just fell in love with him. I fell in love with the the ability to just transform yourself into these new worlds and, uh, these, Yeah, these great characters as well. I mean, I used to imagine that I was some of these Romans in the backyard that used to, you know, play with sticks and thinking they were swords. So I guess I had this this vivid imagination from a young age and I was always curious, too. So I’d always never got on well, with kids my own age. I’d always go to adults and ask them random and weird and wild questions and wanted to hear them speak like I didn’t like doing most of the talking. I love listening, and that’s part of I think enjoying stories as being able to listen to them and then also towards my high school or even primary school life. I just absorb so much books, like the information in books with timeless wisdom and knowledge. And I just I just loved it, man. So, um, the passion for stories didn’t really hasn’t left me ever since. You know, I’m still quite young at the moment. Uh, and I still love stories just as much as I did when I was a kid. Like it hasn’t hasn’t changed over a period of time. In fact, I’ve gotten even more in love with stories now and having doing what I do now. It’s just ever more present. And, uh, yeah, man, like I’m truly, truly amazed and blessed to be able to listen to so many different people’s stories. And, um, every single person is unique, and there’s no one story that is the same. We’ve all been on a different journey. We’ve all got a story to share. I’ve got a story. You’ve got a story jewels and everyone’s going on. So that’s my my love is being able to use other stories to help others to and say look, let’s come together and and let’s listen to them and see what can see what can happen. Whatever you’re struggling with, if I’m struggling, then the way we can go about healing that is through sharing stories. So that’s really how I fell in love with stories. If that answers your question, yeah, absolutely. And I’ve just got this vivid image of you sort of sitting around a campfire or sitting sort of at the feet of your grandparents or, you know, just sitting there listening to people tell their stories. 

#storytellerjewels So, Jay, you’re 25. You’re BIO reads like you must have been busy since you were a toddler. Very, very impressive for somebody your age so well done. Who or what have been the influences in your life that’s inspired you to, you know, this driving you to get things done? 

Jay Fantom Obviously, uh, firstly, my parents. So my mom and dad, they’re both extremely hard workers, but I grew up in a household where, you know, sort of like lower middle class, like the very bottom of that. So, life in the Phantom House I wasn’t exactly easy early on, so I had to watch my parents you know, struggle to provide and put food on the table. My dad had to work two jobs just to put food on the table and to give us the essentials, you know, But we never went really without much. We always were given everything that we needed, which I appreciate it and I I love. But I saw the drive. I saw the the tenacity that they had, but also my grandfather and I take after him so much so that he was a business minded individual. He loves stories just as much as I did. He would research like there was no tomorrow. Like he would just absorb all this information, whether it was from books, whether it was from courses. Uh, he did a 12 month managerial course in, uh, sorry. He did a three year managerial course in 12 months and gave him a heart attack. But he did it, and it was like, around my age, Um, that was the kind of person that I was raised around. And I just remember all these stories of, um, going back to my grandfather and just speaking with him, and he gave me so much profound wisdom advice and knowledge. I mean, one particular time I was quite young, but I still remember this. We were He was trying to teach me how to build something with wood. So we used to go over to his place often times, and we just spend time with them, which I love, and I will forever hold those memories for as long as I live. But there’s one particular time he was trying to help me form the ability to build something with wood. Sadly, I was not given that gift that was passed down to my my two brothers. I’m the different creative type I like to say, but remember he was he was showing me something and I just said to him, Grandee, can we Can we just do this tomorrow? I mean, I want to go and watch Cartoon Network and drink my pub squash and then eat a lot of junk food. And, uh, we used to do all the time and he just looks at me. He stops what he’s doing. He just looks at me directly in the in the eyes and he says, Don’t put off for tomorrow. What can be done today? He said, If you’re going to continue to have this attitude of I’m going to do it tomorrow, then you’re just forming the basis of laziness and you’re never going to get anything done. He said. Lazy people are the ones that continue to procrastinate. And I was like, Damn! Okay, I didn’t want to upset my Grandy. So that for me was like a light bulb just went off in my brain and something inside me changed. And I am proud to say that I have never procrastinated in my life because every time that I go to procrastinate, that story comes up in my mind and I’m like, No, I’m going to do a disservice to myself here if I do procrastinate so that those are really my influences, growing up with the kind of person that I am today and also my own inner drive to want to live out my purpose and and help others reach their full potential and do the very best in their life because I know how hard it was for me growing up. So if I can, if I can share my story, all the advice that I have been given then hopefully that may be able to help someone avoid all the anguish and all the pain that I had to go through along my journey. 

#storytellerjewels Is your grandfather still with us? 

Jay Fantom He’s not. Sadly, he passed away when I believe I was 11 years old, so still fairly young. But I wish that he was still alive to this day. 

#storytellerjewels What an incredible influence. An incredible gift he’s given you, though, because clearly it’s, you know, put a fire in your belly and made you you know, the person that you are. Um it’s incredible that, you know, just even that one sentence possibly. I don’t know if you told it to you many times over the years or whether it was literally just one one sentence that he uttered to in that particular moment. But what a profound influence. And, um, I’m sure he’s looking after looking over you and very, very proud of what you’re doing today. So you know your your podcast mission and I’m quoting from your website here is to help anyone listening to realise their worth and reach their greatest potential in life. Is that what led you Is this experience with your grandfather. What led you to start this podcast? 

Jay Fantom Not quite. I mean, it’s part of it, but I wouldn’t say that it was the catalyst for me to actually start it. I mean, I originally started the story box back in, uh, back in 2018. Actually, it was a very different design model, and I had no idea what I was doing. And it was just basically me and a friend sitting down talking about movies because I had this amazing love still do, actually, and desire to want to, you know, create movies and then review movies so that people might be able to, you know, I was that individual that would go to a cinema, and I just talked throughout. It would be the annoying one that did that or even at home, I would sit and pick it to pieces. Um and so I wanted to do that in sort of like a talkative way, because it would be easier instead of like writing things down on social media, which which is what I was doing. So I thought, you know, I listen to podcasts. It looks easy, so why not give it a go and I didn’t know that it was actually really time consuming. It was a lot of work, Uh, and you had to be committed to it. And it basically it fell flat on its face within five episodes. And then I just went about my life normally, you know. Sorry, I worked in after school care and did that for a period of time. Uh, my life was just sort of like coasting, you know, I didn’t really have much direction in my life, Had no idea what my purpose was. You would have asked me back then what it was I’d be like, Yeah, it was to be a filmmaker. That was the main sort of drive and purpose for me. But when that didn’t happen, I was like, Well, now what? Now who am I? What am I going to do with the rest of my life? So I had no idea about that. And I was just Yeah, once again coasting through my life and got into a relationship that I thought was going to be for the rest of my life. And I was very much committed to that. Um and you know, in in January of 2019. I’m just fast tracking a little bit here. We had to put down a dog of 11 years, and that was the year that I like to call the Year of Sinking, Uh, the year of not feeling like I was able to get to the surface for fresh air. I was just in this state of confusion in my life. I hated living as sad as it is for me to say. Um and I was just utterly miserable, and I had started a new job in real estate, and I was being abused in the job. I didn’t know what I was doing. Um, but around halfway through with me being in that job, losing my dog, losing the relationship that I had cherished. And I put all my worth and my identity into that I thought was my identity and worth. When that all ended, I ended to like I just completely upended, uprooted myself from anything that I thought was normal. And, um, I I just like halfway through the year, I got to the point where I was like enough is enough. I’m tired of everything that’s going on, and I as hard as it is for me to mention, but I will mention it for the sake of. Hopefully someone hears this and gets inspired or is helped by it. That I I planned on ending my life and I attempted it. And it’s an amazing story of how I was saved from that. But what I will say is that I got to the point where I thought that I wasn’t worth living, that I attempted to take my own life, and that was ultimately selfish of me. And that’s what it is. Suicide is a selfish act. Um, because you’re leaving behind your friends, your family to deal with the fact that you’re gone. Um, and you may be out of pain here on Earth, but your family isn’t They’ve still got to live with the fact, and that’s a pretty traumatic thing to actually live with. So and I kept quiet about that. I didn’t open up to anyone, didn’t tell my mom didn’t tell any of my family members. I just captain all inside and went about my life. And then around at the same time I had a friend of mine messaged me on on social media because I had started doing like these movie reviews to try and get some sort of normal normalcy in my life. Any dems, Many guys podcast question Mark and I was like, Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, you know, all that sort of stuff. And then at the same time, I also tried getting my film career off the ground. I was lost, man. I was like, This story may, like, be all over the place, but that’s the way it was. It was, um my life was just all over the place, really had no direction. So, um, fast forward to around. I think. August around this time in 2019, I decided things weren’t working out too well in real estate. So I decided to leave that with no job prospects. Really. Outside of that, I had a great big debt on my shoulders. I had to be had to honour, and so financially it wasn’t a great decision, but and at the same time, the business that I had started with my friends in terms of film that also collapsed as well. So now I’m sort of in this limbo process of what do I do Uh And then that was when I had the wild idea of maybe starting after story box two point. Oh, didn’t know once again where it’s going to be. And I wasn’t going to be committed to it unless I had that vision in that mission because I knew if I had that, then I wouldn’t like let up on it. Uh, So anyway, I remember being in this job interview for a top recruitment company in Sydney. And the perks were wild man like. And I knew that I would have done a fantastic job at that. Um, and I would have become very, very successful in the corporate field. Uh, and I just remember being in this in this interview with the CEO of the entire company. You asked me this one question, he goes, Why do you want to work here? And I answered him immediately, and I said, I want to help people. And as I didn’t realise in that very moment, what that to the extent of what that meant Until I went home that afternoon until I got down on my knees and I asked God to show me what he wanted in my life, And he did not. Not long after, which was the basis of the mission of the story box, helping others realise their full potential because what I realised was it was like this light bulb went off and the new one was put in his place. And that was I had been through a crazy, crazy journey in my life, a lot of trauma, a lot of heartache, a lot of grief and a lot of mental health problems. So how many people that I don’t even know are going through the same things that I went through and they don’t know that they can get out. They’re stuck there. What if I can unboxing stories of people that from every field imagine imaginable? What if I could share their story in a way that is different, too? That’s been told before. What if I can do that? And if I can share it with the world and hopefully that they can hear it, they resonate with it and they can help by it. That’s what the mission of the story box really became. Helping people realise their worth and reach their full potential through the power of stories because every story matters and it always will. So I started in November of 2019, Uh, no idea what I was doing at all friends and family. And it’s just being this amazing roller coaster ride of ups and downs, and I’m just once again truly blessed to be able to do what I do today. 

#storytellerjewels Jay that’s an incredible story. Thank you for sharing it. Thanks for going so deep into that story, too. I think you’re absolutely right. I think sharing your story and sharing other people’s stories is how we survive as a as a culture as a as a society. We’ve for thousands of years. We’ve told stories, and it’s how we’ve passed on knowledge. But it’s also how we learn. It’s how we grow. It’s how we adapt. Um, you know, I’m on the on a similar journey from a storytelling perspective where I believe that telling good stories or continuing to tell your story and sort of the craft of that helps helps in in more than one way whether it’s at a personal level and an emotional level at a psychological level at a business level, Um, that the power of stories is immense. And I applaud you for telling that story. Um, and I know it will help people, those who managed to hear it. So thank you. You’re an incredibly prolific podcaster and off air. You also mentioned that, you know, you’ve written some books and some articles and other things as well. And I know how much effort goes into producing these podcasts. And you talked about filmmaking as another passion. Why do you think? Why are you putting so much energy into the podcast? Do you think that’s the right medium, or has it just been a trial and error thing for you? And this is where you’ve really gained your stride, Do you think? 

Jay Fantom Well, my my vision for the story box was really what? What it has become at the moment, obviously much bigger, much grander. You know, I had this naive thinking that, you know, my podcast is gonna be bigger than Joe Rogan’s one day and all that sort of stuff, which you know, no doubt everyone has thought when they first start their own podcast. But I started with no audience, literally just my friends and my family, which was not much at all like it. I don’t have a big family. I don’t have a widespread friendship network. Um, but I just I I had this drive and this inner urge to want to help, and I think people saw that from the very beginning, and they wanted to. They believed in me. They believed in yes, what I was doing, but also what the story boxes about. And I think it’s a timeless thing because stories of the essence of being human without stories which seems to be living would be existing. But we wouldn’t be living like and that’s what I think people love is having this ability to share their story on a safe place. But they’re not going to feel like they’re judged. They’re not going to be asked all these stupid questions that are out there to get them, or they’re going to be twisted like usually the media does the real, sincere and honest questions that I’m curious about as a person, and I just want to bring Valley not only to their story but also to the people that are listening. That’s really my my heart’s desire. I don’t go out there every single day and and try and tear people down because I don’t believe that is that is the right way to go about life. But to answer your question more specifically, um, I mhm I I love what I do. That’s the honest answer. I love it, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world, Um, whether or not this is the right me the right platform in the right way to do it as opposed to other ones. It’s what’s working at the moment. It’s what I believe, that I have been blessed with this space in time, and I don’t know if it’s going to change over the years. But until I get confirmation that it does change or my life takes on a completely new direction, which I’m also excited about, I will continue to do the story box for as long as it’s humanly possible. And as long as I’m still alive and I’m still passionate about what I do and sharing stories, I’ll just continue to share stories and yeah, that’s that’s really it. To be honest, 

#storytellerjewels it’s one thing to put out a heap of content, as you do. It’s another thing entirely to build an audience around that. What do you think you do different to others that maybe haven’t had the cut through? What are you doing that drawing people in? 

Jay Fantom Well, it’s really about community, Um, and once again just being vulnerable enough and courageous enough to share those inner demons that you have struggled with and what we often we don’t understand, because oftentimes we think that it’s too personal to share. We don’t want our kind of like a dirty laundry out in the open, but I don’t mind now. I don’t I’m not ashamed of any of the things that I have done or I have been through because it forms part of who I am. And I think that people want that permission. They want that that’s sincere nous because they’re missing it all over life, like social media or the media. And even our education system has conditioned a lot of people to hide and shy away from sharing their truth. And I think that what I I don’t really know, so to say so, to speak sorry of what I do specifically differently. But what I know is that I have that desire to help people through my vulnerable side and I think people are craving that. And I’ve heard a lot of other people tell me that that’s what I do differently. And they have said that I do it well and I hope that I do it well, like that’s That’s really what I desire is to that’s Yeah, that’s how I help, um, And if I stop helping Then I stopped living in my purpose and then I stop and then I become stuck and I don’t want to be stuck. I like to say that I am the eagle. I wasn’t designed or made for the ground. I was designed for the air to soar, and that’s what I will continue to do in my life is soar above the clouds, and when I’m faced with difficult obstacles in my life, I will just push through it. 

#storytellerjewels Do you think that social media has played a part in amplifying this need to put on a brave face? You know, the perfect instagram feed, for example, where you only see the people’s highlights makes it quite difficult for those that are struggling and those that are perhaps a little vulnerable and see those perfect lives what seemingly perfect lives, anyway and compare themselves against people’s highlight reels and then spiral into perhaps a little bit more sadness because of that. Is that feeding this need for the perfect life? Do you think? And are we on a track of doom and despair if we continue this way and therefore you know, podcast like yours, where all of those things you know, you can come out and people are vulnerable on your podcast and you can be vulnerable as well? Sort of makes it more real, makes it more authentic, makes it something that people can assimilate to and understand and feel part of. Do you think society needs to really think about what they are sharing out there? 

Jay Fantom I totally agree with you. The social media has. It’s a good thing and it’s also a bad thing. It’s a tool. We’ve used it oftentimes because the human condition is often I want to compare. I don’t have this, so I’m going to equate that to being not worth enough in society. I’m not worth this person’s time. I’m not worth this person’s Yeah, anything and we look at social media and the lives of people have portrayed, and we think their life, they’ve gotta made their perfect. But what we don’t understand is there’s no such thing as a perfect life at all. To stop thinking that there is, there is only a life that you can live that is fulfilling to you and how you get there is not allowing all the negativity on social media, and I know it’s it’s hard. But guess what? Comparison is easy. The ones that say I don’t want to compare I don’t want to judge. I don’t want to do all that sort of stuff. That’s the strong people, the ones that actually want to live a fulfilled life. And I feel like, yes, society has conditioned a lot of people to just be followers of that, and, you know, that’s that’s what it is. You follow someone for what you like on on their on their platform, and if you don’t like it, you don’t follow them. So what kind of message is that sending to people you know, it’s removing the relationship base of of a human being and saying you’re going to be in my corner because you’re following me on social media and the more followers you have, the better I am. And that’s the culture that we have created. I mean, the blue tick, for example, you’re verified. It means suddenly you’re more worth than someone else that doesn’t have that blue tick to so many people. And I speak to so many people about this as well. They’re striving for that blue tick. All they want is that blue tick. And I’m I’m in the same boat because I’m in an industry where you’ve got to have those social media followers. Because if that if that doesn’t show up for you, then why should I give up my time? Because I’m so special. I’m so like this and that, you know, my time is valuable and I totally get that. But what makes me and I’ve looked at this a number of ways, um, if I know there would be so much easier for me and the story box to grow If I had a massive social media following, I know would be that easy because they’re looking at it and they’re looking at our promotion. I want that I want people to to follow me. I want more audience right, But that’s not what it’s about for me. I don’t care how many followers have gone on social media. What you see on my social media is what you get. That’s me in real life, that is me being authentic. And what people have got to understand is that you have to show up on social media the same way you show up in real life. There is no difference. But what people do is they show up differently. They put on a face, they create a mask for the sake of follow followers, and that is the wrong way to live. That is an unhealthy way to live. And the reason why we have so many issues with mental health is that’s one of the biggest reasons. Uh, Social Media, um, was, you know, an exciting thing for a lot of people. But now it’s just gone down the drain because a lot of people have used it the wrong way. So, yes, I definitely agree that social media has played. It’s a plague. I’m not totally against it against how people use it. Um, but yeah, hopefully that answered your question. 

#storytellerjewels Absolutely. Um, it is a difficult thing. So it is finding that right balance, right? Like people don’t just want to see, you know, necessarily your best life. But they don’t necessarily want to see you, you know, eating your dinner or having a bad day just entirely. But I think what you’ve described there and if correct me if I’m wrong. But if you can show everything about you if you can show your balanced life the authentic you, then people actually are drawn into that and actually want to be a part of that because it’s more like their life as well. And I think I do think people are getting a little bit sick of seeing the Hailo rule, Um, and then because it’s depressing, it’s supposed to. To some degree, it should be there to sort of inspire you. But at the same time, it’s depressing because it often feels like, you know, hurdle too high. To be able to attain that kind of, you know, brilliance, you know, even though most of it is, is a masked brilliance, not the true authentic self. What do you think podcasting has done for you and your personal brand? As it Has it made you money? Has it opened doors? Has it enabled opportunity? What’s it? What’s it doing for you from a personal brand perspective? 

Jay Fantom So before I answer that question, I do want to also tie off the social media thing that I didn’t mention. You’re at the hands of big tech and algorithms. They decide how much engagement you have. So depending on how many followers you’ve got, well and how many, uh, what the algorithm says based around your content? So what you decided to share, whether it’s authentic or whether it’s fake, whatever it is, and all those philtres and making it stand out from the crowd, which is what they all teach you to do to get that organic growth, or whether or not you pump money into it, you’re just feeding the machine. Uh, that all depends. You had the hands of really the algorithm, and I’ve noticed that with even my own Instagram account that it’s gone down considerably, and I’m like, What the heck is going on here? But I’m not going to allow it to take away my joy. Take away how I show up Still in the world for the sake of an algorithm that tells me that if I don’t post this particular thing that the platform likes, then people won’t like it as well. I’m not based around the how many likes I get. I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter as long as I am showing up in the best authentic version of myself, and I’m being wise with what I am posting as well. Very careful about that. Mm. While obviously being true to me, then I honestly believe that I will be okay. I’ll live a life that I want to live, and I won’t be at the service or of the beast, so to speak. But to answer to answer your question, it hasn’t. I don’t look at it as a monetary kind of thing. It’s more about the opportunities that has opened up for me, opportunities to speak with people that I never thought I’d be able to speak to remotely when I was when I was growing up, people that I have idolised or I shouldn’t say idolised ones that I have known about and the ones that have changed my life. Authors such as Mitch Album, who I had the opportunity to speak to the other day. I mean, people like that being I would have access to them and ask some questions. Sure, I’m not perfect. Sure, I stuff up and make mistakes, but that’s part of being human. That is part of living this, this journey and go along for the ride because you’re going to get either a number of things you can. You can get opportunities, you can get money, you can get all these areas that can come about with just an idea. But for me, it’s not about fame. It’s not about notoriety. It’s not about me building my own personal brand, although that’s what a lot of people have told me to do. It’s just about Jay Fantom is Jay Fantom look at his life and what he has done. He’s a regular guy from Sydney, Australia, who tries his very best to help people. That’s the truth, and when I wrote that bio, I meant every word because that’s the truth of who I am, and I’m sure I make mistakes, but like I was saying, it’s part of part of being a human and don’t ever be afraid of that either Live it, embrace it because the failure is going to make you better. It’s gonna make you stronger. And it’s going to once again give you the wind beneath your wings so you can soar in your life. 

#storytellerjewels Jay Make sure you’re keeping you, mate, because you’re an inspiration. You’re doing a fantastic job. You’re wise beyond your years. Um, and I do feel that authenticity. I’m drawn into it. Um, I’ll be a fan of yours for life, so keep up what you’re doing, because you’re an awesome version of you. So whatever you’re doing, it’s working. Um, I have to ask, though, how do you manage to get such big names? To say yes to appearing on your podcast 

Jay Fantom Its the million dollar question. Everyone is curious about this, and I have no doubt. You know, I don’t Yeah, I understand. Why. Why? They’re curious. Especially the ones that are, you know, just starting out. I mean, it seems like this this grand thing, you know, I want them to, you know, um And to be honest with you, I didn’t want them to start off with, like, I was just like, no way. I don’t even have an audience. I got nothing. So no way are they going to even say yes to me. It didn’t stop me from asking. I kept on asking. And a lot of the people that you see on my show today are actually the ones that said no to me from the very beginning. They and that is fine because I understand that their time is valuable. They have a lot of things going on. There’s a lot of podcasting, unfortunately, but fortunately as well is a heavily saturated industry. There’s like new thousands of podcasts being introduced every single day, and depending on the time that you get in, depending on your audience level, all that stuff dictates whether or not you’re going to be quite successful and whether or not these cats are going to want to be on your show. But I had to build up to these people. I had to, um, obviously be smart about it, but I I was There’s no really one way that I can give to you already answer even neutrals and say This is going to no doubt work for you because it worked for me So I want to say that it won’t work for you too, you know, But I just I built up on it. It was a process, and secondly, it was being persistent, not giving up and saying, Look, if if you say no to me now was to say that you’re gonna say no to me six months down the track, I just, uh And there’s still a lot of people that haven’t said yes to me, by the way and for whatever reason, that is, that’s still okay. You know, I’m going to continue building the show as much as I possibly can. Um, now I am in the in the stage where I’m being pitched, whereas before, I was pitching out a lot, and I still do a lot of pitching myself. But nowadays I do have those relationships which is key, by the way, keeping those relationships going. But it’s not about Hey, um, I What can I take from you? It’s how can I serve you? There’s a difference of mindset. They’re so and I think a lot of my guests saw that, and I can’t really speak to them, but for me, I just wanted to help them and going back to the authenticity aspect. They didn’t feel like I was there to do them harm or do their brand harm do any of their work harm? They saw that there was this young guy there was interested in their story, wanted to unbox it. There was the interesting twist there. They liked the idea of Unboxing because it hasn’t really been done before and asking them questions and that never really been asked before. So that was really I guess how it all just kept on going. And one person led to another person and another person. And then I was once again blessed enough to get sorry, those big names that you read out in the introduction. So hopefully that helped answer your question in a roundabout way. 

#storytellerjewels It does. Thank you. Um, I’ve had a really good time chatting with you today. Jay and I have a final question that I’d like to ask everybody. As you do. It’s a little bit different. Um, if somebody gave you a million dollars to pick your brain, but you only had a few minutes to impart your knowledge or your wisdom. What might that sound like and you can go anywhere with this. 

Jay Fantom So they gave me a million dollars to impart my wisdom to them. 

#storytellerjewels Yes, but you only had a few minutes. What might you say? 

Jay Fantom Well, firstly, I give them back the million dollars and say, I’m not going to take your money for imparting knowledge and wisdom. That is no doubt going to help you because that would be not being true to me because it’s never been about money for me. But secondly, I would say a number of things. Firstly, number one God is real. He saved my life On a number of occasions. He has given me the best story ever to share. He has I I owe him nothing. And he owes me everything. So believe that Secondly, I will say be persistent to remain consistent and the things that you want because persistence really is the key to living one of the keys, I believe to living a healthy, happy, joyful. And And if you want to use the word successful life, one that is fulfilling, um, for you and thirdly, I will say big, kind, be kind and generous. I mean, imagine the kind of world that we would live in if everyone just stopped with pride with their ego and took themselves down from their own pedestals for a second and just said, I believe in you, too. Here is just being kind to one another. We live in a world where there is so much injustice, so much unkind people. There is a lot of hate going on, but I really believe if we can choose and it is ultimately a choice to number one love number to be kind and number three forgive. We need to arrive at the place of forgiveness daily to show up in this world in a positive way because we’ve got enough negativity already. Why add more? I mean, everyone’s got that choice, right? I have it. You have it. But I choose every single day because I want to be an effective and a positive leader, one that leads people the right way, one that shows them that you can overcome difficult challenges, one that can show them the best life possible. And I like to call my my life is the path of an eagle. You can you can achieve great things if you only first believe that you can. Because guess what? Believing is half the battle. 

#storytellerjewels Jay. I think that’s the best response to that question I’ve ever had on this podcast. As few as they have been. Thank you for that. Thank you for being you. Thank you for appearing on the podcast. It’s been an absolute pleasure and honour. I hope that you continue to do your podcasting for as long as you possibly can, if not in that format in other formats. Because I think you’ve got great talent. You’ve got an interesting story to tell and to explore with others. Please keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve got a fan from me for for life. I hope others will join your journey and and listen and enjoy, because I know I have. Thank you again. Thank you so much for being here. And hopefully we can remain friends too. 

Jay Fantom Definitely, my friend. Thank you so much for waiting as well. And thank you for being persistent in following up. Not many people do. So appreciate you. You’re waiting for me to It was worth it, man. Like, I hope you felt like it was worth your time as well and and thank you for for giving me this chance to share my story. Appreciate you, man. You bet. 

#storytellerjewels Thanks, bud. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that interview with Jay Phantom. He’s an absolute pleasure to talk to. He’s an inspiration, his wise well beyond his years. And he continues to grow every single day. And I love what he does. Check him out on the story box podcast where you get your favourite podcasts. It’s well worth your time. Great interviews. I can’t wait to bring you the next episode. Much love chat soon.