Empowering Connections: John Morley's Quest to Inspire and Innovate

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball. If you believe, you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast. A show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today, I am joined by a special guest. He is the president of the Franklin Lakes Chamber of Commerce, also the founder and CEO of the J. Moore Connection. It's been in business for 28 years. And what they do is they help people who are not comfortable with technology or who are comfortable with technology in all walks of technology life. They help them and they also strive to make the community a better place. His name is none other than John Morley. So, John, thank you so much for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here, Curtis.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Sure. So I am a serial entrepreneur. I should tell you that doesn't mean I'm wanted for any bad reasons in any parts of the world. An owner is when you start a company. An entrepreneur is when you get passion. And a serial entrepreneur is when you solve a problem with one company by starting another. So I'm an engineer, uh, a national talk show host, I'm a video producer, marketer. Uh I'm also a first responder. And uh I'm also a member of the US press, and I write articles a couple of times a week, one on tech and one on motivation. And I just love to create amazing content. The one company now is very close to 30 years, actually. I started when I was in college. And uh this other company, uh Orbital Media, that I started about 13, 14 years ago, I started them because um I had the largest marketing advertising company working for me. And I thought I was so lucky out of college that I had a company that was ripping me off before I even was making any money. And my dad never paying this uh company lots of money. And I decided after 14 years, I need to figure out how to get divorced from them. They were lying, cheating, stealing, and um, they weren't doing a great job of anything. And they didn't even print whatever I asked in the print house, they sent it out. So I said to myself, I need to figure out how to get rid of them, but first I got to figure out how do I become a mom-pop print shop. And that's where it all started. And just to kind of fast forward all the way through that. Uh, first two years we failed miserably, and then we built the print production graphic me digital design center, and I produce all kinds of content. Later after that, I launched JCM Academy, which is my basically my teaching uh arena where I coach and I've done stuff with Harvard, Yale, uh keynotes, uh, done things for AT ⁇ T, like uh, you know, team buildings and all kinds of stuff like that. Now I'm the host of J Moore Tech Talk, uh, which airs every 5:30 uh on Friday nights, Eastern. I'm also the host of IFYL podcast, which now has about 560 some episodes. We do that every day. And I'm also the host of IFYL Drive Time Radio, which is a show that started uh New Jersey this past uh last month, and we're working to become national by the end of the year. It's a it's a show that's about an hour, and I talk about really cutting-edge technology in ways that you can help improve the quality of your life.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Wow, you're really definitely doing a lot. You're also working uh did some banking infrastructure. So tell the listeners about uh doing that.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yes, so uh very fortunate. Um, we helped design the security for Wall Street without giving you all the the technical about it. But uh basically what that means is when something goes wrong now, I pretty much will get a call whenever something goes down. And uh it's kind of neat because you know you got people that are relying on you and knowing that I'm being trusted to keep Wall Street up is a pretty neat thing uh for the Northeast, even though they have places all over the world. And it's always fun to go in there and do stuff. And I've also had the privilege because of that, uh had some pre-law experience, and I actually helped uh get uh four kids uh arrested and prosecuted for stealing scripts from the Bergen hospital.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Wow. So tell us what drew you to self-motivation and self-improvement.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

That's a great question. So when I graduated college, I went there for engineering, went to University of Harvard in West Harvard, Connecticut. I graduated, and as I was about to graduate, I was one of the heads for the um team that handles the money. So I was like vice president of finance, and they asked me to go present two checks to this guy who was presenting on the week. And our school at that time was more of a suitcase school. They all went home on the weekend. And um, we're paying this guy $40,000. They said, Don't worry, John, uh, just two checks, $20,000 each. Uh, you don't have to approve it. We've already approved the amount of money, you just have to present it. I said, $40,000. I said, what's the guy gonna speak on? Like gold? Said, no, no, no, he's he's really good. Nobody told me what he's about, but forty thousand dollars for 90 minutes seemed like a lot of money back then. I mean, that was that was over 15, 20 years ago. So I said, um, all right, uh, I'll do it. I did some due diligence on him and I found out he was a stage hypnotist. And um I figured out what he did and he embarrassed people, and that was kind of his gig. And so when I met him, I said, Look, sir, I said, uh, you don't know me. I said, I'm the guy that has your check. Uh, I gave him my name. I introduced myself. I said, I'm gonna be very clear with you. I did my homework on you and I know what you do. Um, if you embarrass me or any one of these people in this left side of the theater, this check will bounce so high you won't be able to catch it. And the second check, you won't even see it. And if money doesn't bother you, which I know it probably doesn't, we'll make sure that the rest of your 40-some tours uh are canceled by all the other schools. They'll just start to cancel. He knew I meant business by that, Curtis. And um he finished the show, came back to him, gave him the second check uh check, and I said to him, sir, I said, uh doctor, I said, amazing show. I said, I'm gonna recommend we put another 30 or 40,000 in the budget to have you come back again sooner. And so after that, I decided to buy one of his, at that time it was tapes, they weren't CDs. And so I got interested in what he had to do, but then I realized he was doing it from more of a facade. It really wasn't the internal purpose. It was more of something that people would fall into because they want to show. And I wanted to get more of the truth about how it worked. So I got certified in um clinical hypnosis, uh, went to the American Psychology Um College, uh, got that. And then I also studied neurolinguistic programming, the Scylla method. And after I did that for a while, I graduated college and I wanted to get a new car. Now, I was always fortunate my parents uh gave me great cars. And I think the first car I had was a Blazer, my second car was a Jeep. I had three Jeeps, I loved them, they were great. And my fourth car was a, was a um, was actually a um an Infinity Um 2X4, which I liked as well. But then when I graduated, I said, I'd like to get a more luxurious car. So um when I graduated, first thing I did was I went to the car dealership and I went for a test drive. And the guy said, Well, you just graduated college. I said, Yeah, I said, I just graduated college, don't have a job or anything like that. All right, so you really can't even afford the car. I said, I'm I'm I'm budgeting for the car. And this kid that was probably not too much older than me really didn't take me very seriously. And so I asked him if I could drive this car and they could hook up the nav. He told me no. A little bit disappointed. I start walking out the dealership with my head between my legs a little bit, and the manager comes over. He says, Well, can I help you? I said, Yeah, I said, I want to test drive that car. He said, Well, we could do that with the nav and all. I said, I'm not looking to buy it. He said, That's okay. He says, You can test drive it. We have people do it all day long. So uh, who's your sales driver? I said, Brandon over the right. Oh, yeah, he's new. He says, I'll take care of you myself. He takes care of me. He uh lets me do the test drive. I come back, I take pictures. I feel the car, I smell the car, I experience the car, I hear the voice of the nav. And I just keep saying, This is my car, this is my car, this is my car. When I went home, I put that picture on my laptop, on my phone, everywhere. And I went to my proverbial car, Curtis, which was my favorite lounge chair at home. Close my eyes, turned the lights down in the room, and I'd push the smart start button as I pictured closing myself, getting comfortable in the chair, and I'd hear the car start, and I would take a little drive. And I did that for, I don't know, I graduated, uh, it was right around uh May, June time. So June, July, August. I did that for about three or four months. And by the end of that time, that car, I'll say magically, I mean it wasn't magical, but it did show up in my, it showed up in my driveway. And that's when I realized, Curtis, that um I am keeping myself from doing a lot of good in life. And a lot of people are doing the same thing because there are programs that are put in our head that we don't necessarily want to be there and we don't even know they are there, but yet they're running our life. And so I said, I need to be concerned about what's in my head and figure out what I want to keep and what I want to get rid of. And that's when I realized no one has the right to make me feel inferior about myself. And I started getting more into neural linguistic programming, learning about uh states such as the alpha, the beta, the alpha, the theta, and delta level. And to me, I love um inspiring people. Uh, that's why I do daily videos. I have a science channel, I have a motivational channel, I do unboxings. And I just believe that everyone should be treated in the best manner. I was at a dollar store not too long ago, and this lady, I'll call her Ginny, that wasn't her name, and she's not very nice to everybody, but I needed something on one of the shelves in the back. And I said, hi, uh Ginny, right? She's like, Yeah, and I looked at her tag, and nobody ever calls her name. I said, Ginny, could you help me? I need to get the red tablecloths. They're way in the back. Uh, is there some way you could help me get to that top shelf? And because I need like 12 of them. There's only one down here. She's like, um, give me a minute. And then she helped me. She came back to the register, and I said, you know, I said, I have one coupon. I have another one at home. Is there any possible way that I could go home and get the other coupon and come back? She's like, Don't worry about it. She said, I'll just give you the second coupon. And I said, No, that's really nice of you, Gina. I said, You are such a nice person. She said, Well, thanks. I said, I hope I get to see you again. You know, I come in here all the time. You do? I said, Yeah, I come in here all the time. I said, I'll make sure I check out with you all the time. And she was really nice. And everybody's like, Well, who'd you deal with? I said, I told this lady, Gina, oh, she's terrible. I said, No, she's really nice. So nobody bothered to get to know her name. And no one ever bothered to become genuinely interested. I learned that with Dale Carnegie, uh, how to win friends and influence people. We always want to learn how to say someone's name and realize that the conversation has to be more about them and less about us. And that's all I did. I befriended her, Curtis, and uh I made a friend. And I try to do that everywhere I go. If somebody doesn't uh like me, I just wrote a paper, uh, which you may want to read on LinkedIn. I wrote a paper, and basically it says not everyone should like you 24-7. If they do, there's going to be a problem. And the reason I said that is if you have everyone liking you 24-7, that means you're not bringing your A game to the table. And if you don't, someone else will.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

That's right. So tell us about being the president of the uh Franklin Lakes Chamber of Commerce. Tell us what you do and why you decided to uh become the president.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

So I took this over probably over seven or eight years ago. I turned it from a chamber of commerce, which was a 501c6, uh, with my own money. I turned it into a 501c3, which is a full IRS um forgivable charity, which means that you get your business expenses, but in addition to that, you also get it to be an IRS-free tax deduction. And so I just love to put all kinds of events on to bring people together. But I tell people that, you know, we're not a group to just try to get your name out there. We're looking for quality people that want to get to know each other. And I get a lot of people, Curtis, that they say to me, hey, you know, I want to get my business known. I'm like, well, what do you do? Oh, well, I just want to get in everybody's house in town. And and I live in a very good town here, Franklin Lakes, very, very well off town. But I could tell that they didn't have good energy. They were there to try to rip people off. And I kind of consider myself, if you will, a gatekeeper on that because I want people that want to mutually help each other. And I think that's always a challenge in organization. But uh, I donate all the video production there, all the marketing, graphic design. Like we're getting ready to host a grand opening for PNC Bank uh next month. Uh, they're opening one of their branches. So it's a lot of fun, it's a lot of work. And sometimes it's not always easy to get the volunteers, but I find it's fun. Like we've done a drive for Center for Food Action many years. Uh, we do lots of different charity functions, and um it's just it's it's it's a lot of fun, and I do it because I feel it's a great way to give back. Uh, many people that come on board, they're looking to see what they can get in their pocket. And I see if you got something in your pocket, well, then you've already been repaid. If you're doing something for the purposes of trying to help people, um, maybe you'll get a reward later, but you shouldn't be doing it to try to get a reward.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Tell us what what what you feel makes you unique in the uh motivational and keynote space.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

That's an excellent question. There are a lot of motivational speakers, as you know. Uh my very first motivational speech started out without me even getting paid a dime. I think it was uh I think it was Harvard I spoke for first. And I literally talked to this guy a few years older than me when I was on my way back just before um, I think it was just just uh right on spring break, I was coming home my last semester, and he eat a keynote. And um he's like, Yeah, we need somebody in 1999. He's like, Have you ever done this? I said, Yes. I'd never done it to that large of a crowd. And the topic came off my head, Myron Major says, I think the big difference between me and a lot of other keynote speakers is I care. And I'm also really passionate about creating content that's gonna arouse auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and is gonna personally connect with every member of that audience, even though I can't physically shake everyone's hand. I want that content to be like, yeah, that's me, or yes, that relates to me. And to me, that is so priceless. If I could get you to change your life or change a perspective on something, it makes me really happy. So what makes me unique is that I care. Um, when I create content, it's about um the other person, it's never about me. And I always give examples and I always give tools, tips, or techniques that you literally can implement right away without even buying anything in front of me. You can just use those things, plug them into your life, and you can start to get results. But a lot of people think you can't do that, or they become afraid, or they don't have confidence in themselves, which is why sometimes they need coaching.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Do you have any current or upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to know about? What when is uh you're gonna write a book? When is that notebook?

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Yes, I am. So uh 25 GIS of inspiration to change your life will be out by the end of this year. Uh I started working on it uh a little while back, and so that'll hopefully be completed. And uh it is my goal that when that book comes out, it's not just gonna be a book, but it's gonna come with some toys, if I would like to say. And there's a toy basically for each chapter. When I say a toy, it's a prop. And that prop is gonna help you think and connect to that chapter because there's 25 gifts, there's gonna be 25 props, and they're small little things. Uh, I do a JCM Academy uh masterclass every uh single week, pretty much. Uh uh, so believe meachieve.com is where all my great content is, and there's lots of free content on there. There's so much on there. And um I just look for things that are gonna change people's lives. And I know that not everyone out there um wants to change their life. They say they do, but they're not willing to take the steps. Uh, this year, starting uh, I think it was February, we got our first regional radio show. And uh by the end of this year, we'll be hitting out to 41 million people by the end of the year. So we got a few things we're working on. Uh, I think the biggest thing we're working on right now is to be a motivational speaker in the United States that's gonna give people a new perspective of yes, I can do something. Um, and just give them that uh not only that push, but give them that uh proverbial pat on the back that yes, I can do this. And the way I lot of times do that is I give someone a simple technique. One of the ones I use is you have a great memory, even when people says they say they don't. I do a little demonstration with them and they're amazed at how their memory works. And I said, This is how your entire body works. So, what I can do is give you the manual uh that will be personalized for your body because unfortunately we didn't get one.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Speaking of your shows, tell people about your podcast, your shows, and uh how we can listen and what we can expect when we do listen.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Absolutely. So, uh, as I said, I have many shows. Um, you can go to uh believemeachieve.com, which is basically a link tree. Uh, but if you go to believe meachieve.com 24 hours a day, you'll be greeted with uh hi everyone, I'm John C. Morley, etc. Little thing there. And the first thing on there says Inspirations for your life podcast. If you click on that 24 hours a day, you'll be able to get access to my 560 episodes uh and counting of the show Inspirations for Your Life. Now, I also have Inspirations for Your Life uh Tuesday morning, which is our drive time, which is the show that's going to be syndicated. And that's on WTBQ.com. It's live every single Tuesday morning at 10 05 a.m. Eastern. So no matter where you are in the world, if you want to hear about great premium content, you'll be able to go there. Um the end of this month, we'll be releasing premium content for our paid subscribers on the Inspiration Spirit of Life podcast because we believe we need to step up the game a little bit for those that really are serious about changing their life. And so we want to offer that out to people that are gonna pay a few dollars, not because we want to charge them, but I want people to make a commitment in their lives. And I feel if we ask them for $10 or $20 a month, I know they're gonna be serious and they're gonna be vested in doing what I tell them. If it's just coming off a free show, it's not gonna really matter much. So we figure why give that information to everybody because not everybody's gonna appreciate it. Um, we also have uh this the next link, third one down, is Jason Academy's masterclasses. You can scroll down. There's uh my daily videos, which are pretty amazing. Uh, my TikTok, uh, I write recent articles every week. I write two articles. I wrote an article about the man, uh Percy Spencer, who was the genius behind the microwave. He's the man who brought uh, I think it was a candy bar to work, and it melted. Talked about the lady who uh helped design the dishwasher in 1850. Um, she wasn't even an engineer, but she had her family. They were engineers. And then we have Jason Academy Business Coaching, we have J Moore Connection, we have the J Moore Tech Channel, which is our tech shows. And uh we also have the John C. Morley Serial Entrepreneur Group, um, which is a great group that basically um highlights a lot of things that entrepreneurs want to know um in regard to just the business. I think everyone out there wants to make a change in some capacity, but the biggest challenge is they're not as committed as they say they are. So if you say something, you don't commit to it, then how can you be disappointed with yourself if you don't get results if you were never that passionate anyway? I always say you have to ask, you have to believe, and you have to receive. And this I'm gonna turn back to a religious quote. I don't know if your show is religious or not. I I try not to uh mention it too much, but I am religious. And so on the show, um, we talked about something I learned from. Facing the Giants. And there was this man, Mr. Bridges, who was in the hallway. And Grant was this coach they were about to throw out, unfortunately, uh, because he wasn't winning uh uh football games. So um he was having problems at home, uh, having a kid, uh, keeping a healthy life, uh, his car wasn't working, the team wasn't winning, and they're ready to throw him out. And he didn't know what to do. And uh he prayed about it, and then he went to the football team um and said, you know, um, I'm not here to have you win football games. He said, What that's not my sole purpose for you to be here to win football games. Well, why are we here? You tell me. Well, to impress our parents, nope. Anyone else? Uh, so we can uh impress our grandkids and and and they can tell other people, and we can coach Little League. Nope, that's not why you're here. Well, why are we here, coach? You're here because you want to glorify God, and as soon as you understand that, you'll start winning games. He said, So God doesn't want us to play football games? He does, if that's what you want to do. But remember, if you win or you lose, you uh always got to give glory to God. And when they changed that whole philosophy, the team kept winning. And at the very end, when they had was one game they lost, and all of a sudden they were all very sad about this one game they lost. The head guy calls in and has a message for the coach. He calls an emergency meeting when the whole team was basically packing all their equipment away. And he says, you know, I work for a greater God, a God that can open doors that no one can, a God that can shut doors that no one can open. And today we've got proof of his power. That team on Friday night played with two illegal 18-year-old, below 18-year-old individuals. And therefore, that team's forfeit, and we're going to the World Series. So it was just very interesting how we had this perspective. And um, it may be reminisce another guest that I had on one of my shows last week, and she wrote a book, uh, Margaret Agar, uh, about putting your to-do list together every day and giving it up to God. Uh, and if we win, we have to praise God. If we lose, we also have to praise Him. So that kind of sat home with me a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Absolutely. BelieveMeAchieve.com. Close us out with some final thoughts, maybe something I forgot to touch on that you would like to talk about, or just any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Sure. Well, you you did an excellent job, Curtis. It was a pleasure to be your guest today. I would say a couple things. First of all, um, I always welcome people. If they're looking to get in touch with me and they want to be a guest name on my shows, happy to have you reach out to me and we can do a pre-interview and see if it's a fit. But I want to leave everyone with an important thought tonight. And that thought is we become what we think about most often. Okay. Our wherever our thoughts go is where our energy is going to flow. That's consistent. So we change our words, we change our thoughts. We change our thoughts, we change our mind. If we truly change our mind, we will in fact improve the quality of our life. And that is what I know everybody here listening to this podcast wants to do with their life.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Ladies and gentlemen, believe meachieve.com. Please check out everything that John's up to. Purchase his book when it comes out later in the year. Check out his site, check out his shows. John really is doing everything that he can to make this uh world a better place. And follow rate review, share this episode as well as the show. Be sure to tell a friend, share it to as many people as possible. If you have any topic or guest suggestions, see jackson102 at Cox.net. It's the best place to send them. John, thank you so much for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Thank you, Chris. It was truly a privilege, a pleasure, and honor to be on your show and to talk to your wonderful audience.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.curveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.