EP 65 – Samson Jagoras: From Big 12 Football to Big-Time Entrepreneur
Hey, hey! Welcome back to The Bullpen Sessions! And welcome back to my October series, where each week I am highlighting a different entrepreneur from my local area of Fort Collins, Colorado. Today, we have Samson Jagoras, and I think you guys are going to find him absolutely incredible!
Samson knows what it means to do it all. This man is the Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Recruiting for Madwire, the founder of the real estate investment firm Growth Vue Properties, and the co-owner of Pursuit Nutrition & Training Center. That’s a whole lot on one man’s plate!
But Samson knows how to juggle three businesses. As a former football player, he knows that teamwork, time management, and balance are what it’s all about. He knows that a clear sense of purpose is all you really need, and that as long as you know how to delegate, you can run as many businesses as you want!
I was so inspired by Samson’s mindset. He is doing so much good in the Fort Collins community, and he’s creating sustainable, meaningful financial security for himself and his family. He is an incredible testament to the power of individuals to rise to the top by having a success mindset and the determination to out-work everybody else.
Samson and I had an incredible conversation today! We talked about his background growing up in a blue-collar family and playing football and the mindsets and tools that gave him to help him succeed. We also talked about the importance of building a team for your business and allowing yourself and your teammates to operate within your zones of genius. We talked about the intangible qualities that make someone a good employee — or a good entrepreneur. And finally, we talked about the passion that drives Samson to be an active part of so many businesses.
I’m so excited to dive into this interview. I think you guys are going to get a lot of great value out of it, so let’s go!
Who Is Samson Jagoras?
As I mentioned before, Samson Jagoras is the Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Recruiting for Madwire, the founder of the real estate investment firm Growth Vue Properties, and the co-owner of Pursuit Nutrition & Training Center. He’s a prolific entrepreneur with a desire to impact his community and help others create sustainable change in their fitness, financial wellness, and businesses. This man’s passion is helping people pursue their passions, and he’s impacting lives in a big way!
But Samson wasn’t always as successful as he is today. In fact, he grew up with a lot of financial limitations. Samson was raised in a blue-collar family in Los Angeles, but if there’s one thing Samson inherited from his dad, it’s his blue-collar mindset:
“A lot of that blue-collar mindset … I got from my dad growing up and [from] skateboarding. That relentless mindset — you do a trick a hundred times and bust your ass a hundred times. You realize that if you just do it long enough and hard enough, you’ll eventually get there. So I was never the biggest, the fastest, or the strongest, but I definitely had grit.” – Samson Jagoras
Samson used that grit and determination to play football throughout high school, and he spent a year playing Division II ball at the University of Western New Mexico. But eventually, DII ball wasn’t enough, and Samson started striving for a scholarship to attend the University of Colorado to play Division I football. That’s how Samson landed in Colorado, and we’re happy to have him!
Samson is a pillar of this community. His businesses are helping countless people enjoy growth in their fitness levels, businesses, and finances. And his wisdom and advice are priceless! Let’s dive into our interview and talk a little bit more about the power of the blue-collar mindset:
Treat Every Day Like Day One
As I mentioned before, Samson didn’t grow up wealthy. His dad worked a blue-collar job, and their family wasn’t exactly swimming in money. I was excited to ask Samson how that affected him and his drive to be the prolific business owner he is today, and his answer was absolute gold:
“I’ve always been able to brush [it] off [when] people say, ‘That’s crazy. You can never do that,’ right? Because I’ve just always kind of walked to my own drum. And … when I decide and commit to do something, I can do it. … Especially not … getting recruited out of college the way that I wanted to, I was always just like a little pissed. I was going to prove everybody wrong. And so when I showed up to practice, every day … was like week one, day one. I need to come in and crush it.” – Samson Jagoras
Did you write that one down? “Every day was like week one, day one.” Samson treats every day like he’s showing up on the very first day with a need to prove himself. Can you imagine if we all did that? If we all showed up to our businesses each day with the same fire and desire to do our best that we had on the first day?
That’s such a fantastic mindset to have because it keeps us motivated. It keeps us striving forward and trying to out-work the other guy. It helps us to bring our A-game all the time, instead of phoning it in when we get tired.
Business Is a Team Sport
I’m sure Samson had plenty of days when he wanted to phone it in as a football player. He played a position we don’t see all that often anymore — fullback. As a fullback, your job is basically to go in, get your face crushed, and try to crush somebody else to pave the way for your teammate. Needless to say, it’s not the most glamorous position on the team.
The fullback is not usually the guy giving interviews with sportscasters and getting all the praise. However, he is a vital part of the team because he sacrifices himself for his teammates. That team-player mentality is something that Samson has carried into each of his businesses.
“I think that you can have a lot more success in business and like when you’re not the person that has to have all the ideas … or has to be the person that’s always carrying the rock. And so a lot of how I’ve built my companies now is just [to] find great partnerships or hire great people, pay them well, and then coach them — mentor them — so that they can go have a ton of success. The byproduct is if they win, you win, right? It’s a team sport.” – Samson Jagoras
I love this idea that we can think of business like a team sport. When you’re a business leader, you’re a little bit like a coach. And the coach can’t win the game all by himself, right? Of course not! The coach has to assemble a strong team of players and coach them to win! The team is only successful when everyone’s working together, and the coach’s job is to make that happen.
Think about your business. Do you feel the responsibility to be the one with the good ideas every time? If so, it’s time to start delegating! You don’t have every skill set, and you can’t be successful all alone. Find people who are good team players and work well with you but have different skill sets. That way, each person can bring their unique expertise to the table and, just like the fullback on the football field, play a vital role in helping the whole team succeed.
The Intangible Qualities That Make a Valuable Teammate
Specific skill sets are essential — especially when it comes to specialized industries that require computer skills or fitness coaching experience. But there are intangible qualities that might be even more important.
What are intangible qualities? They’re traits that can’t be taught. They’re character and personality assets that you want to see in your employees but that you can’t force on them. They’re the qualities that drive people to contribute to your team and have the great success you’re striving for together.
“You can hire off of skill set. I think that those are a dime a dozen. Everybody has a degree now. … So how do I … within a matter of reading a resume, seeing them go through some different aptitude tests, and having maybe like two interviews with them, recognize that this is the type of person we want on our team? So I look for intangible qualities, right? And it’s those five things: humble, hungry, smart, gritty, competitive, and the sixth one kind of wraps all those up — it’s just extreme ownership or personal accountability.” – Samson Jagoras
Humble, hungry, smart, gritty, competitive, and personally accountable — those are qualities that can’t be taught. You can take a quick online course to learn about a specific kind of software or how to optimize your social media profiles, but you can’t learn humility, grit, or competitiveness. Those qualities are innate, and they make for incredibly strong teammates.
For those of you who are business owners — have you been looking for those qualities in your employees? And perhaps more importantly — do you look for those qualities in yourself? If you have those six intangible qualities, you’ll have everything you really need to succeed.
People with intangible qualities like the ones Samson listed drive the people around them to be better. They elevate the whole time, and while they don’t always get all the glory, they create massive success for the entire team.
“My circle is very, very tight because I want people who are gonna push me. You know, if I’m the smartest guy in the room or the most successful guy in the room, I’m in the wrong room. … If you’re not [as] driven and motivated as I am, then we’re probably not going to have a lot of stuff in common.” – Samson Jagoras
Who are the people around you? Who are your teammates? Are they people who drive you to be better, smarter, and more successful? Or are they holding you back from being as impactful as you can be? Seek to surround yourself and fill your team with people who have those incredible intangible qualities, and watch as the whole team succeeds together.
Driven By Passion
Well, you’ll have almost everything you need to succeed. There’s one more thing every successful business owner or employee needs: passion.
Initially, I was shocked at Samson’s ability to juggle so many businesses. I thought, “How does he make time for them all? And why does he do so many things?” But when I heard him start to talk about his drive to succeed, it made so much sense:
“… Maybe it’s six years ago now, I had a pretty serious panic attack. … And when you have a panic attack, you feel like you have a heart attack and you’re gonna die, right? And so I was afraid of dying because I still had so much that I wanted to do. … I didn’t want to look back on my life and say, ‘Why didn’t I do that stuff?’ So when you asked me, like, ‘Why do I have a gym? Why do I do real estate?’ [it’s] because everybody else says, ‘One day,’ ‘Someday,’ ‘I hope so,’ or, ‘After this,’ and ‘The next time,’ and it’s like, I got too much shit I want to do for that so happen, so I’m just going to go figure it out.” – Samson Jagoras
Samson doesn’t let anything stand in his way. When he decides to do something, he’s going to do it, purely because he has the drive and the desire to do everything he’s capable of during his lifetime. But his passion isn’t only about fulfilling his personal drive to succeed. It’s about helping others, too.
“When I got in … shape, people were like, ‘Hey, can you help me too?’ … Pretty soon, I have like 30 people that I was helping. … So then I brought two more people onto my team, and then pretty soon they had like 20 or 30 people [they were helping]. … What it was about for us was — if we can help people change their [lives] through nutrition and training, they’ll make a fundamental shift and … they’ll have more confidence, they’ll make more impact, … etc. so what makes me tick is I love seeing other people get what they want.” – Samson Jagoras
And the same thing goes for Samson’s other businesses — he thrives on seeing people achieve their fitness, financial, and business goals. Nothing lights him up more than helping other people succeed. So is it a little stressful sometimes to run three businesses? Sure. But is it worth it to him to help so many people get what they want? Absolutely.
What truly makes you tick? What lights you up more than anything else? I want to encourage you today to go after that, no matter what! Even if it leads you to running three separate businesses, chase the thing that brings you fulfillment, and you’ll never get too tired to carry on.
Why You Should Listen to This Samson Jagoras Podcast Episode Right Now…
Samson Jagoras is an inspiration. This man works incredibly hard, and he does it with seemingly endless passion and drive because he truly wants to help as many people succeed as possible. From his teammates to his clients, Samson drives other people to success, and that allows him to run three businesses with more efficiency and enthusiasm than many people run one.
If you loved this episode, please share it on Instagram! Post a screenshot, and make sure to tag Samson, @samson.jagoras, and me, @andy_neary. We’d love to hear what your biggest takeaways from the episode were!
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Thanks so much for joining me today, guys! Before I go, I want to give you two special offers: Number one, I want to invite you to join my Complete Game Mastermind. This is my coaching program, and it starts in just a few days! Masterminds are a great way to get coaching and put yourself in rooms with other entrepreneurs just like you. You can start building your community and gathering people around you who will support you and your growth.
You can also join my FREE text community! Just text the word “Mindset” to 414-622-1462, and I’ll give you access to a TON of free weekly coaching. If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge and join the Complete Game Mastermind, this text community is a great way to see if my coaching might be right for you.
Until next time — treat every day like day one, and you’ll be amazed at the heights of success you can reach.
Resources:
- Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyneary/
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