Engineering Dreams: Jim Miller's Inspiring Journey

Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an essential podcast for those who live, work, visit, and play in Carlsbad.

Good morning, and welcome, everyone. My name is Brett Schonsenbach. I am the president and CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, and I'm your host today. And I'm excited to have with me Jim Miller. Jim is the founder and host of Bold Leadership Stories Media.

Good morning, Jim.

Good morning, Brad. How are you today?

I am fantastic. Thanks for coming down and joining me. Awesome. This is

a wonderful studio. I'm I'm I I do a podcast as you just said, and this is such a treat to come down and have a chat with you here.

Yeah. Thank you. This this room up till twenty twenty, it was it was it was an office, and we had, like, a business consulting and counseling in here, but it had kinda died off. And then COVID hit, and so it was really dead. And we were like, this room needs to be repurposed.

So we ripped everything out. There was a bunch of, like, built in desks, you know, like, in built in.

Yeah. So we ripped them all

out in all the cabinets and made

it a little

podcast studio, and, yeah, we kinda like it.

That's great.

It's got a fun Carlsbad vibe to it. Yeah?

Yeah. It does. Love it.

Yeah. This is our first time meeting, so I was kinda looking in your background a little bit. It looks like you're a you're a graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Yeah. Slow town.

Yeah. My my sister's a fellow alum up there. Okay. Yeah. And so I've had a chance to visit the school.

Now are you from that area, or where are you originally from?

I grew up in in the Bay Area. I was born in New Jersey, and we moved out here when I was five. So I'm I'm pretty much a native Californian as as that goes. But, yeah, I went to Cal Poly back in the seventies. Yep.

Been a been a minute.

Yeah. Been a little while. And then it looks like you got involved into manufacturing, right, kinda right out the gate from college.

Yeah. I did. I I my goal was to get into technical sales. So I started as a manufacturing and industrial engineer, happened to just I I did a stint when I was an undergrad as a co op student at Cal Poly. Uh-huh.

And it was with Burroughs Corporation, which is now Unisys, I think. Yeah. And it was great. I I had I got some experience, and and at that period of time, people were having trouble getting jobs right out of college. Sure.

And so I thought, well, if I got some experience and I could put something on my resume that said, yeah, this guy's got something going on, then it would give me a better shot at getting a job. For sure. And so and that's what I did, and it worked out really well. In fact, I at Cal Poly, you have to do a a senior project. It's like a a mini thesis statement Sure.

Thesis. And so I did that, and I got actually got paid to do that and got an a on it. So it was it was really good. And got

you got paid to do your little thesis thing and and got a good grade. That's great. And then as you just said, you were you were hoping to get into sales, and I saw, well, a few companies, one that was at least recognizable, three m. It looks like you did some sales for them, and so tell us about that part of your journey.

Wow. That's kind of at the end of the the whole program. I was in I was doing engineering first for about seven years, And I was in manufacturing and industrial engineering. Required. Right?

When you

come out of slow, you have to be an engineer. Right? Oh, yeah.

I think so. It's it's like, yeah, we're we're technical it's a technical school. Yeah. So it was it it fit right in, and it was great because I got a chance to to really get immersed in the process. Yeah.

And I learned how, you know, how to do efficiency studies and where the money goes and and the organization, and I learned about, you know, the the processes of, quality and making everything work in manufacturing, the incoming, the inventories, where the money is in that process, and how to make it efficient and keep the customers happy. And so, yeah, it was it was a great experience. Moving then, my goal was to move from that into selling. And that was Where the real money always is. Well, it can be.

Not always is, but it can be. And it was a good decision for me to make that transition. But it was kinda like I looked back on it, and it was kinda like I've done some skydiving. And it it looking back, it's kinda like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Oof.

Because you don't know what sales is. Yeah. You know? You think you do. Yeah.

And you think your ego is like, yeah. I can do I can do great with that. You know? Yeah. And then you jump out of the airplane, and I at that time,

I had free falling. Yeah.

I mean, I I had I had some overhead. I had a house Yeah. Mortgage. I was married. I had a new child on the way.

Yeah. And an opportunity came up for me to transition from engineering to sales. I was making really good money for the time. It was close to, like, 90,000 a year. Sure.

Almost a hundred in in in my early or mid twenties, you know,

which is

pretty good. Yeah. But I decided, well, I wanna double that money. Yeah. And so I I just you know, ego as it is.

I jumped out and and took a job as in commission sales. Mhmm. So I six months, I was, like,

whew, sitting and running.

And not doing well. I got fired from a job.

Oh, golly.

My first sales job. And I had to the the thing is I jumped out of this airplane, and I I needed to grow wings because I didn't have a chute. Yeah. And to get the feathers going and all that, so I I jumped out six months, lost a job. And within a weekend, I had another job.

Mhmm. Got a project and started making money. Nice. So I I just barely scraped the ground and started flying. Nice.

So it but it was absolutely worth it for me. Yeah. And then after that, went into, you know, selling to various companies, industrial companies. Mhmm. I was selling a product called paper honeycomb,

which Paper honeycomb.

Yeah. At that time, it there was a big deal about recycled Yes. Packaging material because we were shipping stuff out, you know, as a as a as a country or shipping products out with all the Styrofoam and Yeah. Stuff that fills up the landfills. And and there was a lot of awareness about how bad that was at the time.

Yeah. So it was it was fun to be associated with a a product that could kinda replace in some applications those materials, and we were using kraft paper.

Nice. So an eco friendly alternative to the Styrofoam and the Right.

Yeah. Yeah. So I got into it, and I used my engineering and and started learning how to sell better. It was the and the biggest thing for me in the sales process was, you know, I'd say, well, I'd go talk to, say, the operations manager at a business, and I'd I'd I'd just introduce myself. Hey.

How are doing? Let's go back to your process. I think I can help you because I've got experience and the production stuff.

You could speak his language and yeah.

Well but it turns out that that didn't work. Uh-huh. What I learned was that people need to know who you are. Yeah. So I had to learn how to take the time to To build a rapport.

Build a rapport, get some trust, and have some, you know, authority with what I'm doing before they trust me enough to to come in and and see what they're doing and actually make a difference. So I thought

makes sense.

After I learned that, then things started opening up.

Yeah. The I like what you said, though, a little bit earlier. Even when you were in engineering and working in the manufacturing side and you you said you you got to learn how the money flowed and where the money was and things like that. We were just we've just launched a new program here at our chamber for middle school students.

Okay.

And it's a it's a little business academy and entrepreneurism thing. It's called future CEO.

Oh, that's awesome.

Love that. And so we were just talking with the kids yesterday about what actually is an entrepreneur? And they're like, oh, it's somebody who starts a business, you know, and and they got that pretty quick. And, of course, we talked about some famous entrepreneurs that they would be able to identify and but but we were talking about how you start a business to make a profit. You know, you start a bit it can and we were kinda emphasizing, don't forget the goal is to make a profit, otherwise, you don't continue.

Your your business will collapse and fold, it'll cease to exist. Yeah. You know? And so it's it's gotta be about you gotta have that that awareness. And so we were walking them through a business plan, like, how to, you know, do this stuff, and it's great.

They were they were really responsive, and it was it was a good time. But it's

You know, that should be with my podcast. Listening to the entrepreneurs that I've interviewed on my show, they, almost to a t, start early Mhmm. On their journey. A lot of them have experiences that they've they started, like, when they were nine years old

Sure.

With something. Yeah. And they had some little bit of a success, and they they kinda got the bug.

You know? The spark. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's that's awesome that you're doing that at that that level.

And speaking of the spark, well, I before we get into because you founded multiple businesses from what I can see, but you did have a stint. It looks like, you know, you were in sales as you mentioned. Mhmm. And then it looks like you got into digital marketing for a little while. Or

Yeah. I was doing some digital marketing. I I had been through the corporate sales. Yeah. Ice I was instrumental in bringing some major accounts into our business, including Apple Computer and Hewlett Packard and Google and Microsoft, and we grew the business from my territory.

I started with about a $250,000 book of business, three states. I grew that to 11 western states, half of Canada and Mexico, and landed some big companies that I had targeted that we weren't doing business with, like Apple and Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. Those are some big companies. Yeah. So I grew my my territory from 250,000 to over 18,000,000.

Nice. And we had I'd landed Apple. It was my first big account. Yeah. And that was really exciting.

We we took that. We were we got a ride on the very first iPod back in 02/2001, and they were having a problem with their drop testing. I was working with a company that did shock and vibe Wow. And acoustic stuff. So we took that opportunity and parlayed it into we eventually ended up in every single Apple product with some kind of solution.

Wow. It was all engineered solutions, custom stuff.

That's amazing.

And then we parlayed that into work with all the other companies. I kinda set these I had target accounts. Yeah. And it was, like, the precursor of account based management or marketing right now. ABM, people might recognize.

Well, we didn't have a computer back then that we have today. We didn't have cell phones. We it was all old school stuff. So but the concepts in the and the the same process is that I use we use today, but it's just faster Yeah. With the computers that we've got and the the information that we have access to.

For sure. Yeah. Oh, that's wild.

So it's it's taking that those those concepts and creating something from it that from nothing. That's really what I learned. Yeah. And serving the market and developing those relationships and the trust all kinda builds on each other.

Yeah. And then you founded some businesses in the sales and marketing arena, it sounds like, as well as others.

Yeah. The the digital marketing was fun because I I started that because selling to Apple and doing all that, you know, work took me two and a half years to get Apple.

Mhmm.

And I was just pounding the doors. I'd go in like, every week, I'd fly from here, Southern California, to San Jose. Yeah. And I'd I'd go into Apple, knock you know, go into the front door and ask for somebody. No.

No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. For two years. And I while I was doing that, I was doing other things. I call them fishhooks now.

I put out a whole bunch of fish fishhooks. And one of them, one day, finally, I got a call from a manager that Haya had befriended and was working with on other projects in a drop test house up there. And he called me up and said, hey. What are you doing? I said, what what do you need?

Yeah. You know, you always answer a question with a question. Right? And so he said, well, I've I've got a couple engineers here from a company that I I need your help. And so I was like, when can you be here?

And this was, like, eight in the morning he called me, and I was in Orange County. Oh. So he said and I said And he

was up in San Jose?

Right? So I was like, okay. Yeah. I'll be there by noon. Yeah.

I just bet that I could do it. Yeah. And and I had to call my boss and say, hey. Can I get a flight up to San Jose? I need to go right now.

You know?

And at that time, the money was tight. They were rationing pencils, I think.

Oh my goodness.

And so it was, like, really, really a challenge. Finally, I got a call that's, yeah, go for it. So I flew up, made the 12:00 meeting, and that that was the iPod. Wow. And they were having trouble getting this to pass the drop test.

They have to drop this the product from seven feet onto a cement floor with accelerometers, and they do that nine times. They do this and it it's running. And there was a there was a actual physical hard drive, spinning hard drive in there, micro drive from IBM, that was in the first iPod. IPod. So it was very fragile.

Yeah.

And what we our products were were shock and vibration control. So we were able to absorb, like, mini shock absorbers. If it was designed well, we could create a a shock or shock and vibration control system within that tiny space Wow. To protect the hard drive. And so we did that because we got there fast.

Yeah. And we created a solution, we made it happen.

That's awesome. And that got

us in the door at Apple.

Got you into Apple, and then you were into everything. And that's that's a great lesson, right, about perseverance, about, you know, and continuing like, the the door that got you into Apple wasn't the one you were anticipating, it sounds like. No. You you were going in the front door and getting shut out, but you created other relationships that eventually led led you in, like, a side door, and then you got full access.

Yeah. Right. So it was that relationship with the manager that had the better relationship with the right people Yeah. At the target company I was I was trying to get involved with.

I love that. So now fast forward, take us to your thought process. Why did you start Bold Leadership Stories Media?

Well, I I was up I spent a year up in San Jose. I'd I left the like, three m. I'd left three m, and I went to work for another company. That didn't work out well. I there for about a year, and that didn't work out.

So I was kinda bouncing around, and I I my parents lived up in and I got a divorce in there. Mhmm. So it was, like, a really crazy time. And I I during that five year period, I I at the end, I spent ended up going up and living with my parents. Yeah.

You know? And it's like I'm 50, and I'm, like, living with my parents. Yeah. So I think this is the first time I've admitted that anywhere. But it did.

It's out now, Jim. Yeah.

It's out now. And so I I was up in the Bay Area, and I I had some friends up there. And so and I love startups.

Mhmm.

So I said, why don't I go do something for a startup? So I started taking BART into the city and attending Shark Tank. Like, they have all these Yeah. Meetings up there that you can just go and listen and watch. And it was a lot of fun.

I went to probably a hundred of those over the course of a year, saw probably a thousand pitches, got to meet a whole bunch of And I started thinking, wow. This is really cool stuff. Why don't I start a podcast

just About these stories.

About these stories. So I did I started it's called Angels and Exits. Nice. And I started doing that and interviewing people. Like angel investors and Exactly.

Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Angel investors and exiting. And so and it was just having a conversation just like this up there.

And I I started getting some traction. I was like, wow. This is this is kinda fun. But I I ran out of runway, and my parents kinda kicked me out. So I I had to come back I had to come back to Southern California and figure out what to do.

And so while I was doing that, when I got back here, was like, oh, wow. I gotta do something else that I you know? And I I wanted to do something that I could serve the community with. Mhmm. And the the the first podcast I did was huge.

I mean, I always interview people all over the world, and it was great from that respect, but it was just like I couldn't really make a difference. There's so many other podcasts out there doing the same kind of thing. So I thought, why don't I do something local? So I I said I thought said to myself, like, if I could interview people in my town

Mhmm.

And those people would be doing business with other people in this little geographic area

Right.

And put those up on YouTube and and just broadcast you know, they say that you know, advertise that we're here in this town. So that and this worked, actually. It's it's it's like people who come on my show are local people, and the local other local people see who they are, and they get kind of this mini celebrity status

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

From this zero budget little show that, you know, I'm I'm doing with no money. Yeah. And and people are starting to kinda recognize it.

That's awesome.

And so it's it's giving them that back back, that little bit of recognition. And then for me, I'm I just like doing it. It's fun. Yeah. So it's pulling the the ideas of business people.

And then a side benefit is I get to learn about business from some really smart people, and I get to meet people in town

That are doing well.

That are doing well. So when I'm out and about, I could you know, I get more friends, and so it just kind of expanded my personal network.

That's perfect. So let's do this. We're gonna take a brief pause. We're talking to Jim Miller, the founder and host of Bold Leadership Stories Media. When we come back, we're gonna talk more about his podcast and what he has going and how you can connect with it.

So stick with us. We'll be right back. So, Jim, before we took a break, you were just really getting into the story of starting Bold Leadership Stories Media. And but let's tell people exactly what it is because I think in addition to, like, a traditional podcast that people can watch later, think you, like, livestream and stuff like that. Like, how can people like, where can they follow you and find out what's coming and, like, join when it's happening live?

Because I think that's a cool aspect. Tell us about that part.

Well, I appreciate that question. And and I'm, like, way behind the curve on that. I'm starting another business called Rebel Fawn Mentoring. Okay. And right now, I'm diving into the tech side, which I've been trying to avoid.

Yeah. I hear you.

And so but I've I've building a website, and I've I've got go high level, and I I'm put putting everything in there, building funnels, and we're building offers, and we're creating this whole infrastructure, building an audience now. I'm using AI. Nice. And it's just there's so many interesting things. And I'm 67 now.

So it's like, why would somebody my age dig into stuff that the intimidates a 20 year old? You know? But it's like, I'm just crazy. I I just like that's what got me into Apple. It's like, I've I everybody was telling me when I started, I I said, I'm gonna get Apple.

And it took me two and a half years, and they were telling me, you're you're you're nuts. Yeah. You know? As I kept getting, no. No.

No. No. I just had faith that this is gonna work. This is happening. And I just saw the picture of what it's gonna be like in the end.

And so and and I basically manifested that. Yeah. It created millions of dollars Yeah. In business. And so I'm doing that with this now.

I haven't really applied these principles to the the Bold Leadership Stories side yet, But and in fact, I've started two other podcasts. I'm doing one for Bright Business Yeah. Right now in Bright Business Club. Who's a member of our chamber here. Yeah.

Right. And so that that's fun. Just interviewing the members. And then and then I'm also doing another one because this journey that I've been on when COVID hit, my body I was working really hard. I had just started a job with a company here in Oceanside, and I was a director of sales for them.

And I had a pipeline started. I've been there for about six months. And the first year, you're just hustling. Right?

Yes.

Because you gotta get business coming in, and it's gotta be your business. They don't just turn stuff over. So and I had about a million dollars in pipeline going within six months, which is pretty good.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Some really nice accounts, and COVID hit, and it was in retail. So it it just vaporized. Yeah. So I was, like, going crazy, stressed out, trying to recover and get things going, and so I was working, like, fourteen hours a day.

Mhmm. No week. I worked on the weekends, just Yeah. Totally focused on getting something done. My body said this was February 2020 right before the, think it was March 2020.

Yeah. It started shutting down. Everything shut down in March.

So February, my body just basically filed divorce papers on me. I said, dude, you're just you're you're I'm not doing this with you anymore. Yeah. You can follow me or not, but, you know, it's like, if you follow me, I'm not and you keep doing what you're doing, I'm not gonna be here. So so I had to make some changes, and it was actually a blessing if COVID hit.

And I lost my job, and I was like, I got hey. There's nothing I could do. You know? I was trying to interview for work, and it's like nobody wanted to hire an old guy. Yeah.

But, you know, in fact, I had one guy look at me. I was in an interview, and he looked at his watch. He looked at me, and he said, shouldn't you be retired? That's right. But I was like, oh, man.

I I I thought I could I own you right now. Mhmm. But I decided, you know what? I just wanna work for a company that has that kind of thing. Yeah.

So I I just didn't do that. And I just decided, well, it was good because I decided right then that I need to do this on my own. And I the health wasn't getting any better, so I had to make a decision. It's like, okay. Who's gonna am I gonna go to the doctor?

And I went to the doctor. They said, you're fine. Get out here. Go do your thing. And I was like, no.

I'm not. And I and then they they wanted to start doing a bunch of testing, trying to figure out what was wrong. And I had, fortunately, some really good people in my life, those relationship thing again Yeah. Where I could they told me, you know, it's your diet, and you're probably too stressed out, and you're not exercising. You're overweight, and you're not sleeping very well.

So I I listened. Yeah. So I was like, okay. I went on this started this journey, and I started reading books. Doctor.

Gundry, Doctor. Boz, Doctor. Fung, Doctor. Davis, all these people I've learned about. And I've read all their books, and I've learned about how the body works now.

And so I lost 50 pounds. Wow. And I've I've I've become kind of an expert on longevity and on intermittent fasting and how your body works, the mitochondria

Sure.

And your microbiome and all that. So I'm I'm now eating for my mitochondria

Mhmm.

To so that they can produce the most ATP, adenosine triphosphate, which is the currency that the body uses for energy. So I I've learned a lot about how that works, and I'm eating now for them. I eat basically one meal a day. I'm eating window of about four hours a

day. Mhmm.

And so I've I've keep kept the weight off. I'm exercising now. I'm managing my stress through meditation, and I'm trying to get at least seven hours of good sleep a night. And I tell you, just those four things have helped me so much. And I I had to take some time to kinda relax and and rebuild myself.

Sure. And I learned about becoming Mhmm. Again. So I started focusing on that. And then I learned about audience building and the podcasting.

Yeah. And then I learned about generational wealth. So those are my seven things now. Seven things I do is, you know, diet, exercise, stress management, sleep, becoming building an audience, and generational wealth. Those are the, like, my seven pillars of my life right now.

Nice. I love it. Well, in the as you know, I mean, here we are talking on a podcast, and we're talking about your podcast. And I love the the name of the bold leadership stories because and the word stories really jumps out because you've been sharing about different people you've met through what you've done, and that's one of the things I've enjoyed most about starting a chamber podcast is getting to the stories of the different people and their their background, what motivated them. I always love to get behind the scenes Mhmm.

And see Yeah. I love stories.

What was that spark? Yeah. What what did you see when we were talking with these young kids in the future CEO program? We were talking about how, like, what problem do you wanna solve? What what's the thing?

What's missing? Or what's something that's out there that's not exactly as you think it should be? Like, what you know, that's where you gotta start, you know? And but that's what's so fun about podcasts because it's the ultimate storytelling medium these days. You know?

Consumers and I know I'm a I'm a podcast consumer big time in my car, you know, brushing my teeth in the morning, you know, out on a walk whatever. You can listen to them so many places. Mhmm. And so I think it's great that what you are doing is taking all these amazing stories and putting them out there. So if somebody wants to listen to your podcast, where where do they go?

Well, we're we're publishing on YouTube. So it's it's at bold leadership stories on YouTube. So you can just go there, and it's I've got about a hundred interviews. It's probably about a 35. It's not big.

And but No. It's not bad, though.

A 35 interviews. Let's let's not minimize that. That's impressive.

Yeah. Because it it takes

an effort to do that. Does. I

As you know.

Know. Yeah. I saw a recent one you did. I mean, see, I'm assuming you you cover a variety of topics. I saw one recently.

It looked like it I think he was a doctor, dementia patient caregiving topic.

Yeah. Yeah. There's there's so much fun to learn from people who have such amazing experiences, and and dementia is one of those topics that right now I think are is really important for us to grasp.

Yes, sir.

My dad passed away. He and he had dementia.

Sure.

And it's like he was in his mid nineties, so he had a good run.

Yeah.

But I've lost two friends in the last three months that are younger than me to related health issues Yeah. That are completely fixable now.

Yeah. That's too bad.

Yeah. It's like and that's kind of my it's turning into my mission. In fact, I I'm I'm just I mentioned I'd have three podcasts just looking at I've started another one. I call it the Wealthy Healthy Live Show where we talk about longevity health and generational wealth. I like it.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like and and and so I can I can start talking about the aspects of chronic health issues that we're dealing with now and why because I've experienced all that, and I've overcome a lot of it? I'm still dealing with some things, but I feel like and and zero drugs. I've taken zero medications.

Nice. Done it all with my diet, just the the seven things. You know, the four diet, exercise, stress management, and sleep. Those four things can go a long way, and I think those are fundamental now. If you're not doing those things for your life, you're gonna die early.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. That's great. And, you you know, for me right now, I'm Unnecessarily early.

Unnecessarily early. Like, I've both of them both my friends were in their early sixties

Mhmm.

That passed away from

Very young.

You know, these, yeah, these diabetes you know, you they call it metabolic syndrome, and then they call it prediabetes, and then they call it diabetes. It's all the damn same thing. Yeah. It is. It's it's that you're yeah.

Don't I don't know if you wanna get into this right now, but I think we can talk about it. But it's it's like it's an easy path to fix. I'm so happy that not to get into politics, but I'm really excited that RFK Junior's doing what he's doing because he's got, I believe, the right message from what I've learned over the last five years.

Sure. Yeah. Well, it's definitely he's kinda disrupting some status quo, so we'll see where that goes.

In trillions in profits for these big pharma and all these big companies.

Yeah. For sure. Well, this is great. I really appreciate you taking the time, Jim, to come down and share with us about Bold Leadership Stories media and what you're involved in. And I know you're part of the the business I'm I just lost the name of it.

The the group

Bright Business. Business, yeah,

here at the chamber, which is fantastic, and it's a great group of business owners coming together. So so we thank you, you know, for coming, sharing your story. Thank you for taking the time and being part of us.

Well, I appreciate it. It's great to meet you, Brett.

Thank you. My pleasure. Thanks for joining us today on our Carl's the People, Purpose, and Impact podcast. If you got value out of our episode today, please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app, and please tell a friend. Can't wait to see you next time on Carlsbad people, purpose, and impact.