August 27, 2020

From Son of A Pimp to CEO of Scribe Media|Jevon “JT” McCormick on The James Altucher Show

Check out The James Altucher Show Episode Page & Show Notes

Key Takeaways

• “My dad, he taught me a few things what to do, but more than anything, he taught me what not to do. He taught me how not to be a father.” – JT McCormick
• JT eliminated 3 words from his vocabulary: hope, wish, and luck
  • “You can wish all day, it’s not going to produce anything” 
  • “I don’t do hope, I believe. Believe forces execution” – JT McCormick
    • Don’t spend time hoping, wishing, or waiting to get lucky. Instead, believe in what you want and go after it.
• Instead of debating people online, JT focuses on his business, wife, and children
  • “I focus on the things that I can influence, have a bit of control over, and outside of that I don’t really get involved with other people’s opinions or thoughts” – JT McCormick
• An important lesson JT learned at 9 years old: “Everyone is not going to like me. I’m never going to be able to make everyone happy, so I’m not going to spend my life trying to make everyone happy.” – JT McCormick
• If no one loves or believes in you, then love and believe in yourself:
  • “So at the end of the day, there’s always one person in this world that loves me and believes in me, it’s me” – JT McCormick
• “You’re only as good as the great people you’re surrounded by and that became the way I did business” – JT McCormick
• Writing a book is a difficult skill; it’s hard to be a top endurance runner and a professional writer. Scribe helps amazing people tell their stories without them having to spend years learning how to write a book.

Intro

• JT McCormick (@realjtmccormick) is an American author, public speaker and businessman. In 2016, author Tucker Max hired McCormick as CEO of Scribe Media.
  • He is the author of I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream
• Host:  James Altucher (@jaltucher)

Books Mentioned

• JT is the author of I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream 
• If you want to learn more about the life of a pimp, James and JT recommend reading Pimp: The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim

About JT

• JT is the author of I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream 
  • JT never planned on publishing his book, as it was meant only for his family, but after support from friends and family, he decided to share it with the world
• JT had a rough upbringing: 
  • His dad was a drug-dealing pimp who fathered 23 children and one of his father’s prostitute molested him from the ages of 6-8 
    • That same prostitute smothered his baby sister 
  • JT spent time in juvenile jail and didn’t go to college 
• JT’s first experience with business was observing how his father collected cash from prostitutes
  • If you want to learn more about the life of a pimp, James and JT recommend reading Pimp: The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim
• The lack of positive male and female role models in JT’s life made it impossible for him to maintain a healthy relationship
• “My dad, he taught me a few things what to do, but more than anything, he taught me what not to do. He taught me how not to be a father.” – JT McCormick

Eliminate Hope, Wish, & Luck

• JT eliminated 3 words from his vocabulary: hope, wish, and luck
  • When JT hoped he would get something to eat or for his dad to pick him up, it never happened so he stopped hoping
  • “I don’t do hope, I believe. Believe forces execution” – JT McCormick
    • “You can wish all day, it’s not going to produce anything” 
      • Don’t spend time hoping, wishing, or waiting to get lucky. Instead, believe in what you want and go after it.

Valuable Life Lessons

• “I may never touch perfection, but damn it I’m going to get close enough that I can smell it”– JT McCormick
• JT stays away from most social media platforms except LinkedIn
  • Instead of debating people online, he focuses on his business, wife, and children
    • “I focus on the things that I can influence, have a bit of control over, and outside of that I don’t really get involved with other people’s opinions or thoughts” – JT McCormick
• An important lesson JT learned at 9 years old: “Everyone is not going to like me. I’m never going to be able to make everyone happy, so I’m not going to spend my life trying to make everyone happy.” – JT McCormick
• People will judge you by your name: JT started going by JT instead of his first name, JeVon, because he saw people treating him differently based solely on his name
• If no one loves or believes in you, then love and believe in yourself:
  • “So at the end of the day, there’s always one person in this world that loves me and believes in me, it’s me” – JT McCormick

From Toxic Salesman To Amazing Leader

• JT has worked in the sub-prime mortgage industry briefly before becoming the president of a software company
  • When JT first got hired by that software company, he was the lowest-paid employee and went to a storage closet to make his sales calls
    • “I should have been fired 71 different times from that company because I was not a culture fit…I was toxic” – JT McCormick
      • However, because he was so great at sales, he eventually got promoted to EVP of sales and marketing
        • “So then I went from toxic person to creating a toxic team” 
• However, once JT was promoted to president, he realized he was responsible for everyone in the company 
  • “You’re only as good as the great people you’re surrounded by and that became the way I did business” – JT McCormick
• JT’s 3 rules for business:
  • 1) Surround the company with people far smarter than yourself
  • 2) Surround yourself with people far smarter than yourself
  • 3) Repeat rules one and two
    • Focus on people, process, and profits, in that order
• If you’re a leader, you need to serve and support the people you work with. Move the roadblocks or obstacles that stop your employees from achieving their goals.

About Scribe Media

• JT is the CEO of Scribe Media, the company helps authors write, market, and publish their books
  • “We help you from start to finish” – JT McCormick
    • “We help people from book idea, all the way to publishing, getting it up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play, and so forth” 
      • They’ve helped 1,700 authors and worked with several big-name authors and organizations including David Goggins, Tiffany Haddish, and the Nobel Peace Prize committee
• Scribe Media provides the same quality services of publishing companies, but in a more flexible manner
  • The key difference is that Scribe’s model allows authors to keep 100% of the royalties of their books
    • “You own 100% of the IP, the book is yours” – JT McCormick
• Scribe’s creative director has created book covers for 17 NYT bestselling books
• Writing a book is a difficult skill; it’s hard to be a top endurance runner and a professional writer. Scribe helps amazing people tell their stories without them having to spend years learning how to write a book.
• Scribe also takes care of the marketing plan for authors
• Scribe is profitable, has no debt, and hasn’t taken any VC investments

Additional Notes

• “Remote is here to stay, it’s never going away” – James Altucher
  • JT says that most employees at Scribe work 2-3 days a week at the office and spend the rest of the time working from home
•  If JT could make one change to the education system, he would  add a class for freshmen in high school called “Show and Tell.” It would show students a wealth advisor and tell them how they can become wealthy.

James Altucher Show : business, leadership, life lessons, luck, writintg
Notes By Alex Wiec