Matthew Mak 0:05

You ever notice the people doing the most aren't asking for advice? This is built without permission. I'm Matthew Mak. Before I ever drew a blueprint or signed a business deal, I was folding suits, hauling snow, and washing glasses until 2 a.m. Bank game architecture, tow trucks, and a built business from the ground up with my partner. No blueprint, no safety net, no approval. Just real stories, hard pivots, and what it actually takes to build something from nothing. Let's get to work. So, Jody, thank you for joining me on Built Without Permission. How's it going?

Jodi Friedman 0:47

Going well, man. I love the name of your show, Built Without Permission.

Matthew Mak 0:51

Thank you, man. And I, you know, I thought about it really hard on that, and it definitely something that was uh to resonate with many people. Right. And I do appreciate that. And I hope it slowly, you know, will make its way through the world.

unknown 1:07

Yeah.

Matthew Mak 1:09

Absolutely. That's what we keep talking about, right? Is uh about um telling ourselves that you don't need permission to do things, right?

Jodi Friedman 1:18

I mean that that's the crux of of I think being a founder and entrepreneur when you're starting your own business, of course, but indeed you've gotta grab the reins, right?

Matthew Mak 1:29

Absolutely.

Jodi Friedman 1:30

Someone else to grab the reins for you, it'll never happen.

Matthew Mak 1:32

Of course. No one pays for our bills except for us. Now you get it. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So now, Jody, tell us um give us the 60-second version of who you are, what you've built, no fluff, just the real story.

Jodi Friedman 1:49

The 60-second version.

Matthew Mak 1:51

Um man you can bleed over a bit if you want.

Jodi Friedman 1:54

No, I'm I'm a I I'm I'm a I'm a serial entrepreneur. I definitely love business. Uh, you know, I started uh as an artist pursuing being signed to a record deal and as a songwriter, and I just wanted to make an impact and I was good at music. So I went that route for a while. And my life changed. Talking about Built Without Permission, um, when I decided I didn't need a label to sign me, I wanted to become the record label. And I built a very successful multiple record labels in the industry for about 20 years now. So yeah, I get to work some fun jobs. Um, you know, I I like some musicians. I'm not like a huge fan of all musicians, but I love music. But I really love film. You can see these posters behind me. Like, yeah, my heart is it's since I was a little kid, even before music was in the picture. So I get to work where music meets film. I work on The Bachelor as a music supervisor for the Bachelor franchise, and I work as a music coordinator on one of my favorite shows of all time, Dexter Resurrection. That's as of like three months ago. So I get to work some fun jobs, and in the meantime, I have a brand that I am building, a personal coaching brand under Jodye Friedman. Uh, and I built a framework called Wreck the Room. And uh, I've also been working as a keynote speaker in that realm, too. So expanding my outside, impacting musicians and creatives there, and moving over towards other entrepreneurs who also struggle with the same things that I've been through, you know.

Matthew Mak 3:22

Very cool.

Jodi Friedman 3:22

And that was like a minute, that was like a minute and a half or two.

Matthew Mak 3:27

Oh man, don't worry, you're on point, man. Uh, but that's really cool. And like uh music, awesome. Um, again, they go hand in hand, music and uh movies, and those are two things that I love a lot. Um, music's definitely something that I think all of us can relate to uh to our lives, right? Like there's there's just so much emotion to it, right? It's just its own language, right? And that's actually really cool to hear you you on that that end of uh things, right? That's that's really neat.

Jodi Friedman 3:56

Yeah, yeah. You know, there there's these funny, funny clips that have come out. If there's a clip going around from Star Wars, the end of Star Wars, like the A New Hope. A new hope. Actually, it's the end of Return of the Jedi, and it's a scene where Luke and Chupaca and Han Solo are standing at like the the front of the room.

Matthew Mak 4:14

The altar thing. Yeah.

Jodi Friedman 4:15

The altar thing is. There's a clip going around where every someone removed all the music. And they kept they kept like the noises of the room, and it is amazing. Because without the score, without John Williams score at the scene, it's it's it's just hilarious.

Matthew Mak 4:39

Yeah, yeah. No, that's amazing. Yeah, and you see, like, like you're saying there that that's that's you see the difference how it impact they're you ever watch a scene and you put like mute the scene.

Jodi Friedman 4:49

I do this with my daughter sometimes. I'm like, what song would be funny here? And we play music to you know, scenes that we're watching, and it makes it different. Like I'm too sexy by right said Fred.

Matthew Mak 4:58

Oh, yeah, it's great.

Jodi Friedman 5:00

You know, yeah. Music's powerful, especially Mary to Picture.

Matthew Mak 5:04

Oh, absolutely. And it's like um, so I've I was never a fan of uh horror stuff, right? Horror films and all. But my brother always told me, just turn off the sound and you're gonna laugh. And I'm like, Okay, you know, and then he's totally right because it's like it's just that ominous sound and music that that's what really hyped you up and gets the goosebumps, right?

unknown 5:26

100%, yeah.

Matthew Mak 5:28

No, but that's really cool. And then you were singing about wreck the room. Uh love that name. That's awesome. Thanks. That's that's cool. Yeah, we're definitely gonna wreck the room. I'll help you, man. You just tell me where, when, how, we can do it.

Jodi Friedman 5:40

Well, it's a bit it's a bit rock and roll. It's like uh wrecking the room you've built, the room is your identity that you're operating from, yes, and then um wrecking it, and then and they're all with a W, rocking it, rocking the new room with from a place of alignment and intention. So rebuilding, redesigning your life, and stepping into the the version of you that you actually have been waiting to meet for a long time.

Matthew Mak 6:02

Oh yeah. So now walk me through the early days. Um, what were you juggling and how did you keep it all together?

Jodi Friedman 6:12

Early days of being an entrepreneur, starting the business. Oh man. Um what was I juggling to keep things together? Um, I didn't have kids at the time, so it was a little less of a juggle. It was me and my wife and our dogs. Uh, but I was always, I've always been so uh determined to I'm just gonna say it, to make a lot of money.

Speaker 4 6:36

Yeah.

Jodi Friedman 6:37

That's been a big goal of mine since I was young. I didn't learn until the last like five years how to actually do that. I thought that I would just have to grind harder as an entrepreneur. Like I made 100 grand this year. If I double down, I'll make 200 grand next year. Yeah, I said 2x mentality instead of the 10x mentality. I'm gonna plug someone else's book. It's right here on my desk. 10x is easier than 2x. Great freaking book. When it's a 10x mentality, it's like, you know, there's only one path to 10x. But doubling down, and uh what I was juggling there was being present in my relationship and being present in life with friends, with family, uh, instead of just working all the time, which I think that being a high high performer, high achiever, the tendency is to just work harder. Yes, because when we're young, we get rewarded for working harder, we get good grades, we get praised, and then you become a fault and you think, well, if I work harder, I'll make more money and I'll get praise. Yeah, and it's actually the wrong message. Working smart is the is the right message. Be smart about how you work, set up your systems, hire teams, delegate. That is I didn't do any of that for the first 10 years of running my business.

Matthew Mak 7:54

Yeah. And that's that's really like key point there, right? And and you're right, like it's so having that uh like owner operator mentality, right? Like we've all uh gone through it and some may still be going through it, right? Where it it it is that because that's what our environment taught us, right? Is like you said, work harder, make more, work harder, make more. But then how much harder can you go when there's only so much time in the day? Right, so now you and you burn out, right? And that's where I'll be honest, like even for whatever like for what I'm doing right now, it's gotten to that point where like we're growing, we're scaling. It has to take ups, of course, with uh you know the uh cash flow things like a lot of people go through, right? But it's uh it's part of that, I guess you could say, um um path and challenge of learning now, like you're saying SOPs and putting that stuff in place, right? And now, do I really need to spend so much time on my day where I'm sacrificing the family time because I want to make sure the business is driving by putting more of my time into it? But that you know, it's finding that balance, right?

Jodi Friedman 9:04

Yeah, and that's that's that's the um, you know, I often talk about like your calendar. When was the last time you looked at your calendar and actually calendared out time for you or time to be with like like in the middle of a Tuesday or in the middle of a Wednesday or on a Friday or took Friday off? If you're not taking care of yourself, if you're not being present for what really matters, because dude, when when we I'm gonna be morbid here, when we die, we're not gonna be thinking, I wish I worked harder. Yeah, I wish I worked more in my business.

Matthew Mak 9:34

More time.

Jodi Friedman 9:35

Yeah, time that's the most valuable thing we have. Time with the people we care about is uh it's the most important thing now. Of course.

Matthew Mak 9:43

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It and and it's funny when you're saying about uh the days of the week and like what you're how you're juggling your schedule, right? And I'm not gonna lie here, but I really get shocked and surprised on a Monday at like 12 o'clock. The amount of people are at a Costco. I wonder how many people are really working. I'm like, do you people not work? Like, you know, it's insane.

Jodi Friedman 10:06

I know, and along the line, like I enjoy what I do.

Matthew Mak 10:09

I like to oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Me too. Workaholics.

unknown 10:14

100%.

Jodi Friedman 10:15

And it's yeah, it's the balance there. I try now on Mondays because Monday is always tough coming in from the weekend. You get kind of like a mini vacation on the weekend. You come back Monday, and if you dive right in at 9 a.m., I've for years I did that, and now I I I try really not to. I try to ease into work, schedule things on Tuesday instead of Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday my days that I schedule most of my meetings and calls. I try to block out Mondays and Fridays to Fridays to try to take off. It's really difficult. Yes, really difficult to take off Fridays.

Matthew Mak 10:48

It shouldn't be, but that's when everything falls apart is on Fridays, just before the weekend, all the fires start, right?

Jodi Friedman 10:57

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Matthew Mak 10:59

Right.

Jodi Friedman 10:59

But there's a law around that. Like if you have you know four days to complete the job, you'll get it done. If you have five days, you'll get it done in five days.

Speaker 4 11:07

Yeah.

Jodi Friedman 11:07

I don't remember the law, but there's actually a name for that. Like the the time you're given is how long it will take you to get the work done. It's like cramming for a quiz or a test the night before. You'll learn it all, you'll cram it in your brain, or you can study for two weeks leading up to that test. Either way, you're gonna learn it.

Speaker 3 11:24

Yes. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, um what's the decision that changed everything? The one that scared you the most at the time. The decision that changed everything.

Jodi Friedman 11:48

I'm actually in the middle of it right now. And it's been for about a year, maybe a year and a half. I finally got to the point in my music pursuit and my film pursuit, music supervising, where I've I've I've got the jobs I want to be working, the jobs I always wanted. I'm on them now. But the past year and a half, I've been designing my life in a way that doesn't suit that that world as much. So I'm finding I have to, I'm like in the rubble. I'm like, well, I'm on this job and they they need me to put out fires, and I'm doing it, I'm getting the job done, and I'm actually enjoying that, but at the same time, it's pulling me away from the life that I've been designing intentionally with me and my family and my time and my calendar. So it's it's I'm dude, I'm I'm literally there right now. It's it's pretty scary because I have this deep-rooted fear that all that work I did for 20 years to get where I'm at, if I say no now, I'm just like totally shutting it off. And it's yeah, it's and I and I enjoy it.

Matthew Mak 12:55

So that's the yeah, that's the tough part, right? Yeah, so now there's that um like we we're learning from like Dan, like in a way where if you can find that person maybe that can uh do that 80%. Yeah, right. And it's hard, I know it's hard, right? Like it's just our our mind saying, like, no, no, no, I can do it, like I can do it, right? But uh you know, so to speak, it's not impossible, right? There could be that that other Jody that you haven't found just yet that can help you with that, that you still have your involvement, you get your 10% at the end, you know what I mean.

Jodi Friedman 13:33

So so there's yeah, so I'm I'm the the credit, the new music supervisor, they're doing all the work. I don't know. I don't know. That's you know, that's what uh certain composers do, big composers, they have whole teams that compose all the and they put their name on it. Yeah, I just respected that, so I have a hard time doing that. It's an art.

Speaker 5 13:55

Yes, yeah, yeah.

Jodi Friedman 13:57

That's all right. I I'm making it work. I am making it work, and I'm not there's been a few nights where I've worked late, but I'm very aware now that I'm and even my wife said something to me, like, you're doing the thing again. Like, I don't, I have yeah, yeah, like I don't want to go back there. I'm like, I don't either. It's just one night. I'll go through it. You know, I'm also like learning to give myself grace for that too. Yeah, like it's okay. I'm not gonna be like, you know, three months of working 16-hour days, I will never do that again.

Matthew Mak 14:26

Yeah. Or or it's just the matter of just the scheduling the calendar, right? Like there could be a way of the best workflow that you know you have it blocked in, like you said, how you how you have it structured currently. You structure in a way that you get a bit of this for that and a bit of this for that, and you just stick to that, right?

Jodi Friedman 14:41

That's exactly what I'm doing, and I'm using AI to speed up my workflow.

Matthew Mak 14:46

Fantastic. Yeah, it's just unbelievable the things that you can do, right? Like it's it's phenomenal. Oh, yeah, me too. Yeah, talking another language.

Jodi Friedman 14:56

Man, I never thought I could build an app in you know 20 minutes.

Matthew Mak 15:00

Yeah, right?

Jodi Friedman 15:01

Come on.

Matthew Mak 15:02

Yeah, yeah.

Jodi Friedman 15:03

I'm reading what it's doing, and it's like so. People actually, there are developers and coders and programmers that actually know what this means. These words on the screen that this system's splitting out to me, and it's doing it like that. And when I need it to troubleshoot something, just goes in, finds the code, and troubleshoots it.

Matthew Mak 15:20

Yep. And you just talk, and you're just talking to it, right? Like you're just talking like you're not having a normal conversation, right? The only difference is that there has to be some sort of parameters, boundaries, limitations, and proper instructions and clarity, right? Yeah, that's what I learned really quickly was clarity is such a big key, and sarcasm does not work. But there are apologies.

Jodi Friedman 15:47

Yeah, it it it it it apologizes too if you want it to. I you know, I do go back, I use I use Claude and chat to structure things before I actually implement the you know the command. Like it definitely, to your point, getting those clear prompts is really important because I I'm garbage in and garbage out.

Matthew Mak 16:04

I mean, yeah. Yeah. So tell us what what advice uh Jody can you give to most people that they get it wrong about building a business from scratch.

Speaker 3 16:20

I don't know. You've had other people on the show.

Jodi Friedman 16:22

What what are some things that they've experienced that um they believed at the start that didn't come? Because I don't I guess I don't know what other people believe that's wrong, other than it's gonna be a lot of work. I don't think anyone goes in thinking this is gonna be easy, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that's just it. People were starting and think, hey, I can that's a great example. Okay, I started coaching online in 2020. 2020, which is when COVID hit, and it was the wave of online coaches, the wave of digital marketers. I got in right at the top of the wave. I missed the uprise, but I got in right at the top. In the past two, three years, I've noticed a lot of people coming in. Oh, I can teach a course, I can teach a course, and they think they're gonna go online, they're gonna teach a course, and it's gonna make a ton of bank, and it's gonna be simple. What they don't understand is all the work and all the learning that goes into that new industry they're entering. Digital marketing, which is really what it is. It's a digital marketing company. When you're coaching online, you're running a digital marketing agency. If you don't understand funnels and lead magnets and automations and email marketing and all that goes into that, sales, um, all the stuff that Dan's teaching us to, right? Uh, if you don't understand that, then you're you're coming in to play in the NFL and you're you know you're playing like you're in high school for recreation.

Speaker 4 17:38

Yeah.

Jodi Friedman 17:38

That's any business. So I think people think that they see something that looks easy on the surface, yeah, but underneath it all, there's always something driving it in every industry.

Matthew Mak 17:48

Of course, absolutely. And you nailed it, right? It's like you see, um, you see a lot of um um these uh people that uh post on their uh let's say Instagram reels saying like, oh, you can make lots of money by doing this. Um you know, sell buy this product, just crop out the images, post it on here, throw it on Amazon, and it's like it's you make it so easy, but it's not, right? Like it's it's it's not at all. And and kind of going back to what you're saying about coaching, too, right? Like you're totally right. So um so I eventually like want to do it, right? Like I've already created things that I do want to do coaching and the experiences that I have and whatnot. But you know, you're right. Like the I my mindset was like, yeah, it's gonna be easy, just jump into it and you know, it's just gonna happen just like that. But no, it just it just takes time, right? It just there's a lot of time and effort, and then that's extra time and effort already on top of what I'm already doing, right? So then when I was putting all that time into it for let's say a couple months back, uh I'm like, holy smokes. How far time ago? How far did you get before you were like, ah, I don't know, this is this is a whole new Yeah, so you know I got I got as far as building web page, all that, like I'm I'm happy where it's at, but I had to just put it at a pause because then again, it's it goes back to focus on one thing first, yeah. Make sure that it's running freaking solid, and then move on to the next, right? And so that's where that pulled me back from that, but it's still in my plans to do so, right? It's just I had to put the brakes on for it for temporarily. But I'm excited for it because I know it's something that I can do, like you know, I'm really excited about it.

Jodi Friedman 19:33

Yeah, you should be for sure. And I I can relate to uh getting excited about ideas and growing them, and then trying to you know step forward, two steps forward, and then zoom out and looking at it and say, okay, focus again on the the big picture. I'm actually finding myself the the thing that I could scale to uh the biggest level. Yeah, the thing ironically that I keep finding other things to do to avoid doing that work, and that's the room that stuck. No, really, that I mean that's that's what I'm stuck in right now. It's like I it actually scares me a bit how big wreck the room could be. I had our first cohort today, uh, there were six people on it. It was fantastic. We had our first meeting for we're doing three months, bi-weekly meetings, everyone was sharing it, felt really great. Yeah, and in the call, you know, I I have this weight, there's there's a big weight going into something like that. I have the uh you know hotlines, I I had to point out this is not therapy, this is a supplement to therapy. Like there's a lot that goes into identity, yeah, identity coaching. There's a lot of weight that comes with that. So it scares the shit out of me. Sorry, it scares the crap out of me. I don't know.

Matthew Mak 20:41

You can say whatever you want, you can swear all you want. I don't care.

Jodi Friedman 20:45

It scares the crap out of me because as it grows and grows and grows, I mean it it if you're trying it would my mission is to arm a million people with the tools to dismantle the life they inherited. Of course, and rebuild one that they can live in that's aligned with who they are. When you do that, you're gonna wreck relationships, you're gonna wreck um just people's identity and who they think they are when they actually discover who they really are again and step into that version of themselves. So there's a big weight that comes with that. I think that has been what's been why I've been like, oh, let me play with this AI app over here. Over here, it's yeah, that yeah, damn, yeah. Epiphany on your podcast.

Matthew Mak 21:34

Yeah, Epiphany. There you go. That's all that's solid. Save forever. No, but that's that's that's awesome, right? Like it's you know, just like uh going back, like how you were saying, you know, you want to make money. We all do, right? Or most of us do. Like for me, I I have it in my envision is that I want to make a lot of money. I I know I don't know how, but I know there will be a time that I will. reach that that billion dollar mark. But for my reasoning is that I know that I can give back an equal amount because I know that I can do it. And that's why I'm on the this journey that I feel that I have the ability to do so. Right. And that's my path, right?

unknown 22:18

Yeah.

Matthew Mak 22:18

But it's sorry. It's not about me, Jody. This is about you. I'm just throwing that out there, you know, just to share some of the similarities on that thought, right?

Jodi Friedman 22:24

I appreciate that. That's that's a good mission. It's a good thing that way to live. If you if you help people, I mean that's also what our coach tells us, right? You help other people and the the the world pays you back in dividends is what I think is what he says.

Matthew Mak 22:39

Of course.

Jodi Friedman 22:40

And um you know it's it yeah.

Matthew Mak 22:43

Yeah and then like in in dividends like you're gonna get abundance that you're able to give back more. Yeah. Right and just keep doing it. Right. Like one of like the things that uh really uh bugs me currently is that this was the year that I really actually want to start small in giving back where I can right but it's been a bit of a different year unexpected in terms of more healthier cash flow where I just unfortunately don't have the funds to do so yet.

Jodi Friedman 23:12

And I really do want to right but I just got to stay above water that I know that into and hopefully by next year that I can go back to that target that path that I want right yeah and that that comes back to giving yourself the grace for those periods when something happens in life and that's gonna always happen in life. Yeah you're on something the target moves something changes someone passes away you know the relationship changes the location changes you move states like life has to happen of course keep your eye on the target you'll you'll get it's gonna happen yeah it's gonna happen yeah it's gonna happen I'll tell you my life story later or when I write my book so uh we kind of already know what's sort of next for you because you kind of mentioned it right which is good uh so let's see um built without permission what does it mean to you Jody I mean like like I said at the beginning of this episode it's the it should be the motto for every entrepreneur who wants to succeed as an entrepreneur. I don't mean like if you want to make be a 10 million a billion 500 thousand the the number doesn't matter what matters is that you don't need permission to do what you are meant to do.

Matthew Mak 24:37

Yes something that's aligned with who you are and something that you genuinely feel aligned with that you want to do and you find your mission you find your why and find your calling you don't need permission from anyone else but you uh that's what it means to me I I love it it's a it's a brilliant name it's a brilliant model yeah and totally and and like along the lines of like just doing uh what you want to do and shutting off all that noise right and I I'm I I don't know if you've had that same experience where I think many of us may have is that that even there's a lot of close people around you from family relatives whatnot that you just learned as you're scaling and leveling yourself up that they just don't understand it. And again there's nothing wrong with it because that's what they know but you kind of like you feel that you just had to step away from a lot of them. And it's it sucks.

Jodi Friedman 25:32

Yeah yeah you got a segment I mean it's yeah there's you know that's it is tough especially if there's people in your family that are close that are um pulling your energy towards something that doesn't serve where you're wanting to go.

Matthew Mak 25:45

Exactly summed it up better what I was trying to say.

Jodi Friedman 25:51

Well you you you nailed it and it's it's any anyone who goes through personal development of any kind you're gonna change and the hope is that when you change the pe and I think this is usually how it goes when people around you that are closest to you see that you're changing yeah they'll adapt the people who matter the most will adapt. If people are I doesn't mean they're gonna change it just means that they'll adapt to who you become and I think that's that's probably the key difference. I wouldn't expect this is something I got wrong for a while. Because I was going through my own journey I was thinking well why aren't you working on yourself? Because I am so you should be you should be that's I don't think that's the right that I don't think that's the right approach. I think there's it's wrong to expect other people to work on themselves if they don't want to just because you are yeah and that that's um that's not the right approach. The right approach is I'm gonna work on myself so I can be a better person for you and everyone else around me.

Matthew Mak 26:53

Yeah. It's like how um you say that when you better yourself and you you're you're trying to be the better person of yourself from yesterday and keep upgrading yourself it's just gonna benefit everyone around you.

Speaker 1 27:05

Absolutely 100% yeah yeah that's I'm glad you brought that up that's uh not something that um I I get to talk about very often with anybody so appreciate it.

Matthew Mak 27:17

Well when I'm down in your area we'll definitely grab some beers and there's a lot to talk about. Let's do it let's do it you're up in Canada yeah I'm up in uh Toronto I need to get to Toronto what's on the list yeah Toronto's good uh but uh Kelowna you going uh are you not sure not yet I've got too much cooking here with um well too much this year with traveling and um I've got a book coming out I'm trying to finalize that and I'm trying to get on more stages to push that book um but man it sounds I mean I've seen the photos of Kelowna it looks beautiful it does yeah yeah well for your book so add me to the list I love I was just starting getting to the readings and everything and I love it it's just more and more send it my way you got it awesome well jody if uh people want to find you where's the best place to find you yeah you can go to rektheroom.com you can follow me on social media at jody j-ody underscore freedman that's spelled like fried man f R I D M A N Jody Friedman awesome well thank you for joining me on built without permission love to have you again man and yeah we'll we'll be definitely in touch a great conversation thank you for having likewise all right cheers man have a good one see you well take care you too bye if you're waiting for permission you're already behind the life you're building starts with the decisions you make today so stop thinking and start moving subscribe share this with someone still thinking about it and start building something of your own no blueprint no approval no excuses I'm Matthew Mak this is built without permission