Turning Adversity into Purpose Overcoming Chronic Illness and Finding Success with Dane Johnson

Jordan Mendoza (00:04.465)
our own trail podcast. name is Jordan Mendoza. your host and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Dane Johnson and I'm going to have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today.

Dane Johnson (00:17.698)
Jordan, thanks so much for having me. And I'm so excited to be here and share my story of how I blazed my own trail and how I took the worst thing that ever happened to me and turned it into the best thing that ever happened to me. And I took pain and turned it into purpose. And if you're here and you've been through hard times and you're stuck and you feel like you're in a hole and not sure how to get out, this is dedicated to you. And I hope that today we go over a lot of things that are going to be a catalyst.

for your ultimate success. Thank you for having me, Jordan.

Jordan Mendoza (00:49.075)
Yeah, my pleasure. And my favorite part of the show is we were just kind of off air is really just taking a rewind and getting deep context into people's story and to their journey. And so I'd love for you to share where we born and raised, what kind of kid were you, what stuff did you get into? If you can share some of the adolescent years, we're thinking like elementary, middle and high school years.

Dane Johnson (01:11.766)
Yeah. Yeah. So I was born in Kansas and my parents were kind of moving around from my dad's job. So it was Kansas, Georgia. Then we landed in Virginia in the middle of nowhere, Virginia, Haymarket, Virginia. And I was raised there and there, you know, our neighbor had horses and we were on gravel roads and the neighbors liked to hunt. And it was just a good clean kind of,

Upringing, I mean, I've always kind wanted to give my own kids a very similar upbringing to mine because when you walked out of my house, there were no cars. Like there was land. We could run around. I spent all day playing with friends. All day. Like it was just, I remember being six, seven, eight years old and just feeling really clear and clean in life. And I felt so grateful to my parents and to God and anything about this reality.

I wasn't raised wealthy. wasn't raised with a silver spoon of any sort, but I was raised in a place where my parents were happy people and I was a happy person and, and I loved sports. play, was just vivacious about, basketball, football, loved golf, did a little bit of skateboarding. You know, I just plan every day. I would sleep at a friend's house sometimes like a week at a time. You know, I was that kid just always out little rug rat.

But then adversity started to strike. My parents had divorced when I was 13 years old. It was an ugly divorce. It was two good people who should not be together and completely opposite in energy. And that hurt me and it changed. mean, my mom and dad were just completely different people and then they didn't treat each other very great in a certain part and that...

that affected me as because you are your parents in a way. Like I see my dad and myself and I also see my mom and myself and they're like black and white. Honestly, it's like, how did you guys even get married? You're so different. And so that did start to shape me. And then all of a sudden in my teenage years, I was going from one house to another. So every week or two weeks I'd change houses and there's two different environments to live in. The moment I got a car, I was out, dude. I was like, get, burn a CD.

Dane Johnson (03:23.96)
I'm on the road, let's roll. Started working when I was 14, got something side with my parents. I was always a hard worker. I didn't like the idea of things just happening to me. I liked more to happen to life. something about me is I'm not energetically so big on fate. I believe in a certain temperature or temper of fate, but I like to be in control. I like to have a say in what happens. And that really sparked an entrepreneurial part of me. And I think it helped save me with what I was diagnosed with.

and during those years which I'll get into. yeah, I was a good kid. I never really hurt anyone. I just like being around friends. I was very social. I loved sports. just, even when I went to college, I didn't

Dane Johnson (04:18.454)
I was just a smart kid, but I didn't like books. I didn't like the issues there. I was more street smart. I was more of a communicator. I was more of a sales guy. was a guy, you know, I worked at Papa John's Pizza at 14 years old and then I was working at a golf course and then I was caddying and then I was working as a waiter. I mean, I was just always working. mean, when I thought back to high school, one thing I think that helped me really blaze my trail is when I think back

Ninth, 10th grade, I was working 60 hours a week. I was doing 30 at the pizza place and 30 at school. That was much harder than college, right? Think about it. College is 15 credit hours. That's 15 hours a week. It's not that hard, right? I mean, yeah, you might have a lot of homework and all that. So that's kind of who I was. And, you know, we just ate whatever, you know? But back in Virginia, it's like, where it's pizza night, spaghetti, any of those issues. We just ate. We didn't know organic food. We didn't know functional medicine.

When I was 19, I started getting blood in my stool and I didn't know where I was from. And I was just in, I was going to college at Charleston in South Carolina. And, um, there was all the guys there. We, there's good old boys, you know, we just, we would drink some beers, play some beer pong, go to drive over to the USC game, the Gamecocks watch them play. We would, uh, and just, just hang. And all of a sudden I'm getting blood in the stool. the time I'm 22, when I graduated.

I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and I didn't know what it was and I wasn't trying to talk about bowel movements with anybody, you know? And so that was an interesting concept. And I apologize, my camera went out. I'm not sure why, so we're on my computer camera here. And then, you know, so when I got diagnosed with colitis, doctors say, hey, you're gonna have this for the rest of your life and then you can do about it. And then I'm like, okay, so

Jordan Mendoza (06:00.999)
No worries.

Dane Johnson (06:12.638)
Well, give me what you're give me. mean, I was a guy that like you you just weren't worried about your life You just do your thing and if you have a health problem, you just go to the doctor So went to the doctor gave him some steroids. Give me what's called a five ASA stomach coder. Misalamine or you could they call it layout other things and That kind of took over my life. So when you were asking Jordan for everyone out there, know listening I was very much like gonna be an entrepreneur. I'm willing to work hard. I'm willing to go make my own

I had $40 ,000 in debt from college. I never wanted to go to college. I always thought school was a sham personally for me. Like I was a businessman. thought my favorite class in college was a class called entrepreneurship, but this guy named Tommy Baker and he owned like three or four Mercedes dealerships and he would bring in another entrepreneur every week just to talk to us about how they built their company. I was like, forget business law. This is great. Like this is what I want to learn. So for me personally, I was really into just

network, what are you about? I'm willing to work hard. I don't need this stuff. I was also an avid weightlifter. love to exercise. You know, for Christmas I asked for weightlifting equipment at 14 years old. I just love to push myself and compete and be the best I can. And that was to my detriment in certain ways and it was to my benefits in certain ways. And so it was a long and, you know, tough road when I got sick because I was such a kid. And

I had actually just manifested this really big thing in my life. And I think a lot of people have ever wondered this, but when I was a kid, I'd watch movies and I'd say, man, I think I can do that. You ever had that thought, Jordan? You're like, I think I could do that. And so I had a little bit of like, think I could, so I took a one -way trip at 23 years old to Los Angeles, California from Tyson's Corner. We were talking about earlier. yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (08:00.049)
And I want to get into that in just two seconds. So let's unpack a couple of these things because I think you dropped definitely some nuggets. There's some things that I have some questions about. And then we want to hear about this one way ticket to L .A. because I think it sounds like a pivotal moment. So I'm very interested in that. So let's go back to sports. You you mentioned you love basketball, you love football. You know, what are some lessons that you learned being an athlete?

that still stick with you today, whether it's something that you see in your business, something in the way that you show up, the way that you maybe work with your team. Are there some things that you learned along the

Dane Johnson (08:45.482)
Sports taught me how to be aggressive and how to push through pain. Like you know when you're just sprinting down the court, someone's on a breakaway, your lungs are on fire, you can hardly breathe, your heart rate's sitting at 190, and that game, you gotta move, it's fourth quarter. You will never push yourself, sports taught me that you will never push yourself.

as hard as you think you can until you're on a team. When there's other people and you see them pushing and you're trying to push, you'll just push yourself way harder than you will independently. So if you're guy in the gym or you're just going for a run or whatever, you're never gonna push as hard as it's fourth quarter, there's two minutes left and we gotta win this game. So it taught me how to push through and how to feel pain and not just talk. I think before sports, especially a lot of us,

We're always imagining what it would be like to compete. We're imagining, we're imagining what we would do, how clever we would be. But when you, when you're in the game or you're competing against other strong, powerful, capable people, there's, there's no more talk. And so it's also humbling cause you're going to get beat. And so you start learning about yourself about like, wow, where are you really good at things? And where are you? Where do you have limits? I learned I had limits in basketball. I had a great shot.

I was a good basketball player, but once I started playing in private school against kids who were going D1 and I'm playing against kids in the McDonald's game, forget it. It was like, wow, I'm humbled. I know I can now see that athleticism is out of this world. Like I can't do that. So it taught me where quickly, where I could focus on how I could be of value, how I could win in this world and my realm.

and where I might need to say, let's bow out. Cause I thought I was going to play college basketball. I really loved basketball growing up. I played all day long. I practiced all day and it just, didn't, I didn't have it. I wasn't big enough, fast enough, strong enough. I'm six two. It's just not that big in basketball. I was the second shortest kid on my high school team. Okay. I played at a private school and, and uh, called Notre Dame Academy and our center was six 11. mean, they, they recruited kids from around the world to play that, you know, kids who really had a shot. So I was

Dane Johnson (11:03.88)
bench. You know, I was in a market. I was great. Nope. Here bench. So, you know, my best bet was golf and I was a good golf player, but I didn't have the patience for golf longterm. Like when you start looking at six, seven, eight handicap, you're like, nah, this is, this is, it wasn't for me, but I still love and appreciate people it is for. So that's what sports really taught me. Sports taught me

If you're going to be successful in life, you've got to be willing to fail in order to succeed. And that's what it is to step on the court. That's what it is to put on those pads. You know, I got a concussion, two broken fingers and a broken arm playing football because I'm just not that big dude. I'm I'm six to, but I walk around in high school. was one sixty five. You know, I mean, some of those big guys, I mean, they're five ten walking around at two fifteen. I do. I wasn't thick like that. I couldn't take a hit. I was more like a grasshopper, you

And so, and then I also wasn't that fast. couldn't run a four, four, a four, three, right? So I think that it's one of the best decisions I made my life to compete and to try and to push and really learn about myself on where I was good, where I wasn't. And that really helped as I became a man. It really helped as I became an entrepreneur to know thyself and be okay with losing the game and not giving

Jordan Mendoza (12:22.075)
That's great. And those are some great lessons. I think the biggest thing that stuck out for me there is self -awareness, right? You're able to really kind of understand where your strengths were, where your weaknesses were. And then, like you said, try to figure out, OK, where can I leverage my talent and ability in other places? So that's great. And the other thing I wanted to chat about was

Dane Johnson (12:23.274)
So that's probably a big thing in sports.

Dane Johnson (12:46.249)
Mm -hmm.

Jordan Mendoza (12:48.425)
You know, starting to work at 14 years old, I did the same thing. I worked for the Oregonian newspaper. I would go door to door and try to get people to sign up for the newspaper. And there might be some listeners. The newspaper is this big square thing that people used to get. I'm just kidding. Everybody knows what a newspaper is, but you know, I was doing that and, you know, knocking on a hundred doors a day and getting yelled at, cussed at, you know, waking up people's babies and upsetting people's dogs

even when there's a no soliciting sign, risking it all, risking my life. That really taught me a lot about myself. It helps you develop tough skin when you can learn how to speak to people face -to -face. I'd love to have you share what were some foundational things you learned at Papa John's. You're working at a pizza shop and I don't know

you were making the pizzas or if you're sweeping the floors or putting the boxes together, maybe all of that, you know, it could be everything. But what were some foundational things you learned at an early age that really helped you get to that, you know, million dollar business level?

Dane Johnson (14:00.214)
So when I was 14 years old, I had to get my dad to sign something to get me to work at Papa John's. And he said, why do you want to do this? I'll pay you 20 bucks to scrub the toilets. I would work way harder for someone else than my own father. I don't know why. It wasn't more of my dad. I didn't want to clean the house. I wanted to go get a grit. I wanted to go into the world. I think some of the big things I learned is it was like, it's very similar to a basketball game. I wanted to play the real game. When I got a job, it wasn't about how much I was making. It was about this is what value is in the market.

This is the market. People are calling. They're giving you money for something and you're delivering. So I was in the game of business and I wanted to see what, what is, what are things worth? What, what makes someone say yes? What makes someone say no? And so, you know, at 14, I was learning about how to, you know, if you, if you buy two medium pizzas, you get 50 % off the second one here at Domino's. And we also will do a shipping discount, you

Like I was learning about incentives. was learning about leverage. was learning about, you know, putting together like, um, my first boss would give me a hard time if I put too much cheese, cause I made the pizzas. Like I could flip a pizza. I would make 220 pizzas a night myself, like dough up in the air, flip it down the aisle, like oven, all of it. was oven driver. worked at pizza places for four and a half years on and

I made good money as a driver. was making like 22 cash. almost, one thing I learned early on is like, if I had to wait to get paid for two weeks, they would take a lot out of taxes. But when I did a tip job, I got all my cash that night. And so it was another thing I learned real quick is how cash works. And it taught me the first things about taxes and, and leverage on finances. And, know, so at 14, my thought was I want to work to save for a car and I wanted a Mustang. And my dad,

I saved $1 ,000. I made $5 .15 an hour, Do know how long it took me to save $1 ,000 after taxes? I'm flipping pizzas. My dad took that money, bought a car without even me knowing what the car was. I had no say. He was like, yep, I'll take the G. I'll let you know when I find something. So he got me good there, but he got me something cool. It was all

Jordan Mendoza (16:12.975)
And what was the car? That's what we need to know. What was the car?

Dane Johnson (16:16.266)
He got me a Chevy, he got, I know everyone's gonna be hating my dad for this. He got me a Chevy Cavalier 2004, I think 2004, 2003, something like that, 2004, but it was stick shift, it had a sunroof, it had a CD player, which are the things I wanted. But it was, that thing, because we had winners and stuff, that thing slid all over ice. I did a 360 once or twice in that thing that I was not trying to do, so.

You know, you give a young boy a car. You give him a tank. That's what I'm doing with my son. So, but, you know, I learned, I worked hard. It was like, I got a thousand bucks. This is what I did with it. And I learned about tips and cash. And I learned about like what environment I wanted to work in. Like, did I want to stay inside and have my boss have his eyes on me the whole time? That's why I moved into driver. That's why I moved into caddy and golf courses

And I had a value, we were talking about value on the field. I realized I had a value in golf because I was good. was the, uh, I was the number one seed in high school in senior year on my golf team. So all these guys in there who were shooting like 93, 96, I could give them a little bit of tips. I could talk to them about their swing for free or clean their clubs and they'd throw me money. So all of a sudden I went from five 15 an hour at 14, by the time I was 16, I was making 18.

So I learned how to, you know, how money works and how value works and how to make more per hour. you, you know, I learned how to talk. I learned how to communicate with people, make friends, to network. I learned where my value was and why, you know, looking professional is big. A lot of kids go in there with their pants sagging and just stinky and their hair all messed up. It's like, you're not going to grow. So I really wanted to grow, you know, and I know a lot of you guys out there are listening because you want to do big things.

And so you've just got to, you just got to be street smart. I'm really, if I'm to be honest with you, I really haven't still to this day, not all that excited about what they're teaching in schools. And I think if you're going to be successful in life, it's what you do at that job. It's what you do, you know, listening to this and take massive action. You're going to mess up. There's going to be things that go wrong. You know, I got fired from a great job over a girl when I was 16, you know, it was a live and learn. Right. So you just, you just act and just go for it and just keep putting that next.

Dane Johnson (18:27.496)
that next goal right in front of you. And so I loved working, you know, and for me, I was like, seize good degrees. You know, I didn't put all that extra effort into work. I put that extra effort into working. Like I put, I'm sorry, I put that extra, didn't put that extra effort into school. I put that extra effort into working, into work and making money. And it wasn't because I needed that money, it's because that was good. That was really what was going to prepare me to be good, a good interviewer, go to that job and really do

And so Jordan, when I graduated college, I didn't really have a great GPA. You know, I got into College of Charleston as I transferred from a community college and I hacked that. You want to hear any college kids listening right now? I did 30 credits at a community college that cost me 40 % and I had to pay for a lot of my college. 40 % of what the university charged, they were way easier. I got straight A's in the class, B's, A's, B's, and I was able to transfer into a college that I never would have got into at high school. They didn't even need my SATs or transcripts after 30 credits.

and I didn't have to pay two, $3 ,000 a class out of state for those credits. I was able to pay half the, it was easy. They're pre -electives. I'm in there for a business degree and we're talking about social studies? What are we talking about? These pre -electives are a joke. So, it saved money, it saved time, it got me into a college I never would have got into. So you always have to think strategically about how to move forward. Like take more action and stop.

doubting yourself and stop letting all these tricks the world's play on you affect what you can do because you can do it. It's smoke and mirrors. You can do a lot more than the world says you can do. there's a lot of fear there. And you just have to understand the market. What is the market? What is what are things worth? And then treat people with respect, treat them with respect, take care of people, be an honest person. OK. And when in doubt, it's uncertain. Give.

Just give, just watch that carmatic value, take care of the market, just give and go the extra mile. you're gonna, and people are gonna be repeat business. They're gonna grow with you and you're gonna build your confidence that yeah, I can do this because I understand who I am and how I can lead. And I'm sure Jordan, you were the same. Like once you build that confidence and how you lead and how your character is, your mind will think bigger. Like, know what? can do a million because I know I'm the right guy. I know I have the right temperament. I know how I trust myself with money. You know, that's another thing I think Jordan, when I was in that age,

Dane Johnson (20:51.242)
I had three, $400. could go buy some new Jordans. I could go buy that new, those new clothes. could go spend. Nah, nah, I saved. And just the act of saving proved to me that I had the discipline to manage money, to not getting credit card debt. Like so many of us just need to go back and condition ourself about what money is worth. You know, because with me, if I've got millions of dollars moving around and I've got 15, 20 mouths to feed,

and everyone's riding everyone's job, they're building to pay their mortgage and take care of their kids is riding the success of my business, our business. You know, I've got, there's a lot of trust there. It all has to be done correctly. And that started at Papa John's. That started at 16.

Jordan Mendoza (21:30.473)
Yeah, that's great. That's great. Yeah. And again, I always tell my clients I'm working with is, we have to look at the foundations, you know, and I think that's going to resonate with a lot of people and they're going to have to wait until part two to get there. And when we get part two started, the one thing that we're going to jump into is this one way ticket to L .A.

Dane Johnson (21:57.781)
Yeah. LA, so I had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis, then another doctor said Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. These are forms of inflammatory bowel disease that are considered incurable. By the time I was 27, they nearly killed me. At 23, I moved to LA. And it was just this massive irony. And that was one of the most painful thing I ever went through was the Crohn's and colitis. It nearly killed me, but it also shaped the man I am and

completely changed my idea of what's normal and how to live and how to empower myself. Today I take no medications. I haven't taken medication in 10 years. I never got any surgeries and I have no symptoms and I gained 65 pounds of weight. So right around, you know, 26, you know, I was already in LA. I was in a wheelchair, 120 pounds, couldn't walk. And so that was very difficult. And, you know, we'll get to that story a little bit, but LA, it was that vivacious confidence.

Well, I think what gave me that confidence to do it, I think it was all the jobs. I think it was the discipline around money. It was the fact that I went through college and did college even though I never was a huge fan of it. It was the fact that I ran a business in college while I was going to school. So I got, I started my first company. Well, I bought the company actually at 18 years old and was in complete debt from it, but I paid it off with the company's earnings. And it also gave me in -state tuition in South Carolina because I made myself an employee and paid

taxes in that state. the last two years I saved 50 % of tuition because I only I was in state tuition. So that was a great hack. So going to LA was about I've done it. I got a job. got a job in Tyson's Corner. I worked. I built a resume. did everything society said I had to be scared about. You got to go to college. You're never going to get a job. You got to get a resume. You got to get work experience. You're not employable. Okay. I'm 23. I've had I've had a big boy job. Did it for a year. Resume looks great. Run my own company. Done all these

I worked really, really hard. And then I was just diagnosed with incurable disease. It's like, what am I doing? I'm sitting in this office. I'm wearing this suit. I got to drive an hour in Tysons to get to my job. I don't even like being there. I feel like I'm wasting away. What am I doing? think getting sick was that wake up call that, you know what, I'm going start living life on my terms because it's short. And even when I did everything society told me to do, I got sick.

Dane Johnson (24:19.752)
And was kind like my life was being robbed from me. going to LA was about, I didn't go to LA, I went to Orange County first. And going to Orange County was about where do I actually want to live? I want to live where the mountain meets the sea and there's great sunshine and people. I just love that outdoor vibey fit, healthy, clean. just like it vibe with me. My grandparents were from California. So we used to come all the time. And every time I get off the plane as a kid, I was like, man, this place is.

I didn't know anything about taxes and politics. So that's another thing. I went to LA because my spirit wanted to be there. had nothing to do with Gavin Newsom or anything to do with the tax codes. I didn't know anything about that when I moved here. And that's always been something really spiritual grounding for me as I came here for the right reasons. I wasn't coming here just because of politics. So came here at 23. I didn't know a person who lived here. At that time, my grandparents had passed. I didn't have a person in my cell phone who lived near me.

Met a dude and on Craigslist. mean this is I Wouldn't advise this but that dude moved in with them That was it lived there for three months until I moved in with a buddy who eventually from my college moved to LA to me we teamed up but that's why I moved and Something amazing happened were all those dreams I had manifested in a way so I went for it and this is really big and I want people to hear this about blazing your own trail I was a kid from Virginia

No one ever knew me. I never done anything that was special. When I went to LA within about four months, I manifested getting signed with one of the biggest agencies in the world. I got signed with four models. I got signed with Osbrink talent agency for commercial and acting. And I was all of a sudden, I went from Papa John's pizza to going out for jobs that pay $8 ,000 a day, $5 ,000 a day. I'm like, what? And I'm in a room with all these athletes and

amazing looking guys who are strong as an ox and had everything given to them. And I was just diagnosed with incurable disease. You know, like I was diagnosed six months before I got picked up and I didn't get picked up because someone found me in a mall or I went to a Zoolander contest. was just living my life working out twice a day. I was a personal trainer in college. I was just using my mind and my sales ability. And I'm gonna tell you right now in that world of going out for movies and going out for commercials and going out for print jobs.

Dane Johnson (26:40.488)
You know, I worked all around the world the next few years. was hired in New York and Sweden, Germany, Miami, you name it. had agencies all around the world, but at the same time, I was fighting for my life. How did I do that? And I was hiding my disease from that world. And I'm supposed to be perfect. I mean, think about what you in that world, like you're supposed to be, it's like idolization. it's, it's, you know, being cool and hip and a perfect body and beautiful and all this. And, you know, that's kind of one of the reasons I got out of it.

later on, but you know, I was, how did I succeed? I blaze that trail. made that happen where I was able to work three days a month and make, you know, a hundred K a year and travel the world, you know, be paid to put in five -star hotels. How did I do that? I did that because I knew how to talk to people when I was working all those years.

in regular jobs, I knew how to talk to people. This dude who had everything handed to him, who was a perfect good -looking 6 '3 quarterback who didn't make it in the NFL, who was also in that room, he didn't know how to talk. He didn't have any real sales experience. He didn't have communication. When you're talking, when you're on a set, these are regular people. The art director's a regular person, probably with a master's. These are smart people. So when I walked in, I learned how to draw strong eye contact, strong handshake, remember people's names, repeat their names back to them, ask

Qualifying questions of what they're looking for in this project. They're spending $100 ,000 on and I'm and I walk in a room and a hundred guys and I'd book they pick me and It wasn't because I was the best -looking or the coolest or I had the most Instagram followers It was relatability and connection. I believe the world really works way more than you think I'm being able to relate connect show integrity sure that you're a trusting person so that you're not someone doped up on drugs and alcohol and That you can take care of yourself and you're a hard worker

People want that around them. They want to hire that. They want you to finally be done with this and they want to put their trust in you and say, done. That's the person I want to work with. It's the same in business or it's the same book and a acting job or modeling job or any of that. So I did that full time for eight years and that's what really saved me while I was chronically sick. But obviously when I got real sick, I couldn't do anything. was housebound for a year, wheelchair, you

Dane Johnson (28:54.622)
But that's why I went to LA and that's what I was able to do. And I was able to memorize, I told you, Jordan, I used to think I could do that and no one found me. had to like, when I first started even looking at that, LA laughed at me. I walked into rooms and like, who are you? We see a thousand of you. You're not special. No one, I was not special. I had to be strategic. You have to stop. I know everyone listening is looking for that it factor. You just got to make up your mind that you're going to do something and keep poking at it and

looking at it. And so my wiggle room was, just started finding photographers and getting in commercial classes and then putting that positive energy. If this is who I am, this is how I work. This is I do. And eventually led to me meeting a manager who said, look, you're not going to go into that agency looking like that. We're to change your story. We're to change your look. You're going to go get sand in your hair. You're going to let your beard grow a little bit. You're going to get a tan. You're going to dress like a surfer bum. You're going to walk in layer like you don't give two cents. And then they loved me before that. Every time I tried so hard, they're like, nah.

But I walk in there like some guy told me to come here, bro. Like, you know, I walk in that disheveled guy that the acting world loves that, you know. But anyways, it was like just the ask and the ask and the ask where I was able to manifest something that not many people in the world can do. And, you know, you obviously there's some genetic gratitude in there. Now it's all about, you know, Instagram followers and all that, I think. But I just wanted to share that story of blazing my own trail, because if I hadn't had

Jordan Mendoza (30:22.067)
Yeah.

Dane Johnson (30:23.466)
job where I could work two days a week or three or two days a month, three days a month. There's no way I would have survived my twenties because I was chronically sick. So I could work one or two days, put on a good face. You know, I did, it was doing good day LA with Tommy Hilfinger and I was on live and I literally had to go to the year right after that segment. You know, I was in Jamaica doing sandals for 10 days and they me all this money to be there for 10 days and be married and be the guy on the resort. And I was living on prednisone steroids. was living on core.

Cortisone steroids to keep my body calm. So I had to go back to an ER room, but I I was pooping blood like eight times a day onset. We were shooting this commercial in the middle of the night, a party scene. And I was losing control of my bowel movements. I'm wearing $800 Tommy Bahama crap running into the woods in Jamaica. The director's like, where the fuck is, where are you going? Be right back. I told him I had to throw up. I didn't have to throw up. You know, like a bear in the woods.

Like I can, as much as can tell you I did all these great things, I can tell you great shame in that. Like if you're gonna ask the universe for great things, guys, be careful what you wish for. There's probably gonna be some experiences. You're gonna probably go through some shame or some failure or some doubt, and there's gonna be other people along the way that have that same grit as you. And so know thyself, be willing to fail. can't, things can't go right unless you risk them going wrong. It's like, I not go to Jamaica and do this job? Well, then I might lose my career.

Screw it, let's go. Let's go baby, give me the stairway. Up the stairway, let's go. I didn't know what else to do. Or move back in with mom and go on disability. So yeah, a lot of everything there.

Jordan Mendoza (31:59.195)
Yeah, well, you know, the one guarantee on the trail is there's going to be adversity. know, whenever you're blazing a trail, you're going to run into things that you didn't expect. There's going to be detours. There's going to be all of that's going to occur. the one thing that I've just kind of noticed in your journey is you have you've put in the reps, right? Consistency, of those things have to come into play. But

continue to use all of the things that you've learned from 14 and really have added to them and strengthen those areas, right? The areas of communication, the areas of, you know, really when you think about it, it's all social strategy. It's how can I leverage the people in this room, in this situation for the most positive outcome, you know, and being able to work a room and being able to relate to people

by being yourself. All of those things are the makings to getting to success. know, trailblazers take the unconventional route. You know, I never went to college. I did go to college to sell college kids credit cards for and to give them free t -shirts if they signed up for a credit card. So I did go to a bunch of college campuses and do that. But I never went to college because I didn't want to, you

ruined my family's credit or money because they didn't have it. And B, I knew I would just probably go party. So I did sales, did door to door sales for five years and took in a couple hundred thousand nos before I turned 22 years old. And that has served me well. You can get a ton of rejection and yeah, yeah. And you can really learn how to, like you said earlier, Dane, it's about how do you effectively communicate with people because

Dane Johnson (33:44.66)
God, there's no better training.

Jordan Mendoza (33:54.811)
experience and having it done in the real world on the fly, like live in real time, there's no better training. You know, there's no better, you know, training ground to show you who you are. Right. Because yeah, there were days when I sat on the curb with my head, my legs and getting rained on because everybody told me no. And I let it affect me. But there were also days when I didn't let it affect me. And I went out and sold every single product that I had for the day.

came in and rang the bell, right? So you're going to have ups and you're going to have downs. the, you know, the biggest thing when it comes to trailblazing is you just can't ever give up. And Dane has proven that model over and over again. And I want you to share, you know, Dane, like, you know, what are you up to now? How are you helping other people blaze their own

Dane Johnson (34:26.078)
Mm -hmm.

Dane Johnson (34:49.416)
Yeah, yeah, man. And I love this conversation because it just sets me on fire. And I think I could sit here, Jordan, with you for three hours and just try to, I'm thinking right now, guys, how can I give you that fire, that those nuggets? And I'm going tell you what I'm up to now and how I've really grown in all this because each, does add up. Everything you do beforehand pays into your success into the next thing. The next thing is going to be bigger. And I would just, you know, if there's just one thing I want to give you, it's like get in the room, ask questions.

be humble, take massive action, work harder, be the hardest worker in the room as Dwayne Johnson says. When I looked at the modeling, I thought these guys, or the acting, it's like these people have been training as actors for 10 years. I'm just this kid off the street. These people are found in malls at 14 years old. They already have agents, they already have clients. They had so much on me, but they didn't have my work level. They couldn't work as hard as me. They couldn't stop drinking alcohol like I could. They couldn't go to bed like I could. They couldn't...

get in the kind of shape I was. So I'd go to my agent and say, I can get in better shape. I can talk better with the client. I can make them happy. can make them write. say that they love the experience with me and they want to have me back. And that's what agents want to hear. And that's what your community wanted to hear. Or the same thing when I was, you know, at Papa John's, the same thing about the golf course or same thing when I was running my own company in college is, you know, you've got to understand, you got to understand the market.

you

Okay, one of the reasons I could save myself when I was sick, I had low cost of living. When I was chronically sick, my entire bills were 1500 a month and I lived in Santa Monica, a mile from the beach. Why? Because I knew I was so good at leveraging cash. I had $40 ,000 to my name, but I spent almost, my rent was 400. Most people, I know, I was talking to a 45 year old about this the other day. He makes 250 and he spends 300. He's 45 years old. You learn money, learn communication, understand what the market

Dane Johnson (37:08.266)
you know, get away from the fugazi of things that are just talking about it versus just actually directly doing it. Just get in there and do it. And then write down your goals. Excel spreadsheet. I know every dollar I've made since 2010, I can tell you the percentage I've saved. I can tell you where my money went. And I can tell you what categories I've invested my money. And I can show you where I've made the most money. Another thing that was really big for me, I realized that if I worked, it was much easier for me to work three jobs that made 50 grand each than have one job that made

So I always liked multiple jobs. I worked three jobs until I was 31 and then I went full in on Crohn's Glyceps Lysol, which is what I'm doing now. So all that experience, my company in college, it paid off the 80 ,000 I bought it for. Right when it paid it off, it went under. I thought I was smart. I'm gonna raise my average cost per sale and I'm gonna, you know, I lost traffic, I lost sponsors and my revenue just clattered and I bought this company, paid it off and it went broke. Lesson learned.

But that man, that running a digital company was called GuyBuy's. I resold men's sporting goods products online. had like 40 ,000 SKUs at 19 years old, you know? And it was way better for me than college. And that taught me customer service, accounting, inventory control, website, CEO, click per pay, like all of it. That played big when I started Crohn's Gleis lifestyle. So what I did in 2015, I had gone back to school for natural medicine.

I was housebound for a year. was chronically sick for four years prior. I nearly died. I'm 26 years old from Crohn's colitis. I was in a wheelchair. had to relearn how to walk. The doctors at UCLA, Cedars -Sinai, all around the world told me I had this incurable disease. There's nothing I can do about it. Food didn't matter. And then I started realizing that was completely false. And I've dedicated the last 12 years of my life to being a functional medicine advocate specialist, Crohn's colitis specialist.

And really it's still that CEO. So I took what happened to me, the worst thing that ever happened to me. And then I brought in all that experience as a CEO, as a businessman, and I created it. And right now, in my opinion, we're really the face of IBD for natural medicine. I've got doctors and team members around the world. I saw about 40 clients a week for six years. I've personally worked with a few thousand people with Crohn's colitis. My team sees about 120 clients per week who have Crohn's and colitis.

Dane Johnson (39:30.658)
We've built this into a and this is when we talk about money and health it can be oil and water So I will not increase my revenue and dilute my impact won't happen. I don't need money that much I'm good enough with money. I'm a good enough investor. I don't need it that bad. Okay, that's another thing I differ from someone like Grant Cardone or someone like that who I respect and love all those guys I don't think the mission is just to make more money I think the mission is to make enough make so much money and you understand your lifestyle that you no longer have to think about it anymore like to make decisions not out

money. Like I want to build a restaurant chain because I don't need money anymore. And you don't need money when you decide. Grant Cardone still thinks he needs money and he's a billionaire. Okay. I don't want to be that. I'm not trying to say nothing, but I'm just saying when you learn money, the goal is to get free of it, to take its power away from you. That's the goal. If you just continuously need more, it still has power over you. So figure out your life, figure out where money doesn't have power over you, and then decide how you're to create it. Cause the best thing money's going to give you is, is to be a creator.

It's a creation of something. So with your energy and your time and use money to help you manifest and create that thing. So I created a consulting firm for healing people of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. We we put out a testimony a week. We have the best results in the world. As far as I'm concerned, we see hundreds of people around the world dedicated my life to this. We're highly good. We're really, I think the best at it. We customize plans. We teach people, customize nutrition strategies. do lab work. So I'll

viral load panels, mycotoxin panels, quantitative PCR, stool analysis. I'll do heavy metal tests, environmental toxin tests, urine, blood, stool analysis. I can do them in Dubai. I can do them in Europe. I can do them in all over North America. So I took my CEO business mind and I looked at this market and I saw it trending towards telemedicine and I just built it. My job in New York City when I lived in Manhattan, when I retired from the modeling is I took a job working with NatchPak doctors and some of the biggest doctors in the world figuring out their protocols and

their lab work and then I was taught, you know, it was my job to learn it and help them optimize that. So I got a crash course in business. And I'll tell you right now, Jordan, working with the best doctors in New York City and Los Angeles was 10 times more impactful for my own understanding and my ability to out of the market than going to school for natural medicine. Cause it's the same thing. It's theory, it's textbooks, it's remembering and regurgitating versus like being in the market and seeing what works and seeing how people respond to certain things. What about this supplement? It's 60 bucks. How's the market respond?

Dane Johnson (41:53.61)
What about this supplement at 40 bucks? What about this lab test? What about this consulting package? You know? And so I built that and you know, it's just been a long road and we've built it to a multi seven figure company and we're hoping we'll hit eight figures in the next 18 months to 24 months. But again, I will not.

scale this thing unless it is absolutely impactful for my brothers and sisters with inflammatory bowel disease because it nearly killed me and I know what it's like to be broke, deal with that. And my parents spent like 30 grand trying to help me and they were not rich. That was when I was like 23, 24, 25, I nearly died at 26, 27. I lost a lot of my twenties to it. And so I'm here to make a massive impact. Our results are stupid good. The reason we're good is because we customize. We customize plan to each person.

We can do lab interpretation. all of our coaches and practitioners have the disease ourselves. So we're not talking like when I looked at the market and again, business guys, so much of the way you want to do, need a business understanding. When I was sick and I looked at the market, all the naturopath doctors never had the disease. didn't specialize in it they couldn't show me testimonies of helping people with the disease. That was the pain

There was no one they had never no one had built a community and brought people together under a civil roof Which we need to do in our politics to write like a civil roof of let's talk. Let's talk solutions So I we have over thousand members all diagnosed with IBD all ages six years old 18 years old seven years old all Non -governing being able to talk to each other on a daily basis and it's a it's an app on your desktop and your phone private encrypted all about IBD

Jordan Mendoza (43:31.709)
That's great.

Dane Johnson (43:32.658)
I'm saying I took that business and I took a pain point and I created a solution in the market that will not only serve people with IBD and help them have a home and help them truly heal, like really get real results, but it also I believe it'll be a hundred million dollar plus company because it's just so needed. more it's like it's like breath for the market with these diseases.

Jordan Mendoza (43:54.525)
Well, you know, the one thing that's cleared is, you you've blazed a trail and you're nowhere near finishing. You know, you just, feel like you're just getting started and the fact that you went every through everything that you went through and all the adversity and almost losing your life to the disease. And now the fact that you're putting your heart and soul into being a true practitioner. And I love the fact that everybody on the team

are people that have this diagnosis too, because they're not just talking the talk, they're walking the walk and they are going through it. I'm sure with this community you've built, everyone's leveraging new information and knowledge and it's contributing to everybody, right? And everyone's able to learn and grow from each other, which is what community is all about. And so I know that there's gonna be folks that listen to this that

could actually have been diagnosed with this recently. And so I'd love for you to share, know, where's the best place for our listeners to reach out if they want more info, if they want to, you know, work with your team directly.

Dane Johnson (45:05.896)
Yeah, first things, just check us out at cronescolytuslifestyle .com or cronescolytus underscore lifestyle on Instagram. We're also on YouTube. You can just type in Dane Johnson, Shield. Shield program is the name of our program. Cronescolytus Lifestyle on YouTube. So all social media platforms. The thing that I wanna do is I wanna build trust and integrity with you if you need help out there. So that's first. If you don't have trust and integrity, you have nothing. So we're gonna have you fill out an intake form.

And through that application, if you're a good candidate, we're gonna go ahead and schedule a free 60 minute session to deep dive in your case. What's going on? What do we think are root causes? What's your experience with natural medicine? What have you tried? What do you want to achieve? And then we're gonna see how, you know, talk, is this a good fit? Can we help? Do we have trust? Do we have an integrity? Do we think we're a good partner? So we're gonna do that for you and put our best foot forward. If you wanna learn more, I we have our free stuff, our healing journal, our six tips to healing Crohn's and colitis ebook.

We also have IBD University and I love Jordan. We're talking about college We're actually building a digital college for IBD where we have IBD professors go live each week so like a live on nutrition live on supplements and herbs live on mental health trauma if he tapping hypnosis like just some really amazing stuff But you can do it and I know a lot today. We talked about business and and entrepreneurship I do want to leave you with this Whatever you want to do in this

It's very hard to be successful if you don't have a strong business mind. If you are not humble and hungry at the same time, if you are not full of integrity, if you are not a good communicator and you can't enroll people in a bigger mission, I would not be where I am if it wasn't for Ali or Thomas or Coach Lori or all my people. I wouldn't be there. Your ability to be in integrity and work for them as much as they work for you is going to keep them there long -term.

One of the things that's helped me succeed and not fall under because a lot of the other companies who've tried to do what I've done, they've cladded. My assistant's been with me since she was 18. She's 26, eight years. My turnover in my company is very low. Why? Mission, they feel heard. They know they have a future with me. They know I'll always keep an open ear to make sure that they're happy. I have a phrase when you work with me that I like to put a ring on it. Okay? I don't like turnover.

Dane Johnson (47:28.092)
I don't want to I don't I don't like this whole fear like no one on my team worries about losing their job as long as you know, we have a Clear understanding right? So get great at business no matter what you want to do for this world business is needed Okay, and that's an edge. I've had over other practitioners. They're amazing practitioners, but they stink at business They can't do marketing. They can't run social they can't do email drips. They can't communicate a value that makes

Okay, they still sell hours. They still sell hours versus value. They don't sell value packages. They sell hours big mistake Okay, learn it read every day get sober go to bed wake up early and And get great at business and whatever you want to do on the impact this world. You have the money You have the team you have the resources and the power behind you to do good in this world Capitalism can be great and really good for the

Jordan Mendoza (48:24.273)
Love it, love it. Great advice and you know, I to say thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule coming on the show. You're definitely a trailblazer, my friend, and I cannot wait to continue to follow your journey.

Dane Johnson (48:36.372)
Thank you, Jordan. God bless,