Why Adversity Can Be a Gift: Jordan Mendoza Breaks It Down

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0:31You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged.

0:57Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today I have one of my best friends. He went from growing up in government housing with one lung to becoming a globally recognized force in branding and business growth. He is, and I'm going to say this because he won't say it, he is a LinkedIn powerhouse. He is a keynote speaker and he is the master of resilience. He is the trailblazing, the relentless, the visionary, my guy, Mr. Jordan Mendoza. Jordan, how you doing today, brother? Hey, what's going on, Mick? First off, I would say you are too kind with the introduction.

1:31You make me sound way more cool than I am. And then one little caveat, my mom was the one that was born with one lung, but I did get to learn from her level of adversity. And we'll get into the book and to the story of how watching her overcome such things helped me later understand, really after her passing, that I had went through a couple of things myself growing up. Yeah, man, so much. And, you know, I appreciate you. You're talking about your book for everyone. We're going to go into the book now, but I'm going to make sure we have links to this. You all know me. I'm probably going to buy like 20 copies and give them to 20 people, but we're going to we'll do that a little bit later.

2:12But Jordan, the name of the book, The Life-Changing Power of Adversity, subtitle, How to Overcome Struggles, Unlock Your Potential, and Blaze Your Own Trail to Success. Bro, let's talk about it. What made you say, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to put pen to paper or keyboard this out? Like what went into you saying this book needs to be written? Yeah. So, well, first off, you know, I was voted least likely to succeed in high school. So I think part of that was, you know, feel to the fire. I get negatively motivated. And so usually when people say I'm going to be something that I don't think I might turn out, then it gets to be fired up.

2:52So this was one of those things where in 2022, I did a co-collaboration project. And I did it because of some of those people that say, hey, you're not going to beat anything when you grow up. You're not going to amount to anything. And then you get opportunities further in life. And it presented it to me where I could collaborate with 10 other authors. We could each have a chapter. And let's see if I've got it in me. Let's see if there's enough stories. And once I was able to execute on that project, it was called Brand Sharks. They've since done a volume two of that. But just kind of doing that, it gave me the confidence to say, you know what, there's more in the tank.

3:30There's more, plenty more stories that I haven't put out to the world. And I really feel like I've gone through so many things and come on the other side and can do it with a positive attitude. And when I looked at the world around me, I didn't see many people that were talking about going through that tough situation or circumstance and how they were able to introspectively pull out the lessons from those experiences to put it out and actually help other people. And I said, man, this is something that, you know, adversity is a gift as long as we're willing to open it, to unwrap it, and to dive into all that it has to offer.

4:10And sometimes it hits us hard and sometimes it hits us in the right place. No, I love it, dude. And one, the book is such an easy read. And you sent me a couple of copies and I sent a copy to my oldest son, Jay, just because I felt like the content that you had was really, really good. And my youngest son came and you're getting your copy. Don't worry, dad's going to make sure you have yours. But here's what I loved about it, man. The first five chapters, it's almost like you go through the different types of adversity that people could go through and that you actually went through. And I think telling your story allows others to acknowledge, yeah, I've gone through that too.

4:51And so for those that are listening, for those that are watching, the first five chapters are five different types of adversity, right? We've got racial adversity, physical adversity, chapter two, chapter three, financial adversity, chapter four, communication adversity, which I freaking love that chapter, by the way. We're going to go deep into that one. And then family adversity, chapter five. And I know that there's everybody that's listening or watching this. You faced minimum one of these, if not two or three of these different types of adversity in your own life. And that's why I wanted to send this to my children, because I want them to understand like, hey, you're going to see social media today and everything's going to look perfect.

5:30Right. You're going to go on the Internet and everything's going to look perfect. But there's going to come a moment, probably much sooner than you realize that, holy crap, perfect isn't real. Right. So, Jordan, I'd love for you to just walk through. You can choose any of the five that you want to just start with. Like walk us through what that adversity meant for you, whether, again, it's racial, physical, financial, communication or family. Yeah, I think the one I want to touch on, not enough people touch on it because it's it's so close to us. And that's the racial adversity. And when you've got a name like mine, Jordan Mendoza, most people's natural inclination, especially if they're from a Spanish-speaking country, they immediately speak Spanish to me.

6:13And so I've personally dealt with that my entire life. Well, you know, in the book, my heritage is actually Filipino. My mom was Irish and Native American, and my father's from the Philippines. Well, if you dive into history a little bit, you'll learn that Spain colonized the Philippines for hundreds of years. In fact, so did Japan. So did the United States. So, So, you know, multiple countries colonized that place. In fact, Texas used to be called Nueva Vizcaya, which is new, you know, a part of the Philippines because they used to bring Filipino migrants in the early 1700s to the state of Texas.

6:51So there's so much history that goes on. And so from an early age, everywhere, places I would go, people would speak Spanish to me. And I remember it used to frustrate me as a kid because I'm like, man, like I speak English. Like I don't speak this language, you know? And then as I got older and started working with my dad in the landscaping business, I had to start really learning it. I took it in high school, barely passed it. I didn't really enjoy the language. But when I started working with my dad and all the employees were Spanish speaking, you better believe I had to learn this language.

7:22And so I started to actually appreciate it. And as I got into the workforce, I started to take it less as like somebody was just profiling me, which is how it feels though, right? When you're not of a culture, you're not of a language, and all you get is that, especially when you wear a name tag. I had to work in property management as an on-site manager. Well, my name clearly said Mendoza on it, so all the vendors would come and immediately start speaking Spanish with you. And although I could speak it out of principle, I want to just say, hey, listen, we speak English in here. Once I get to know them, then we can chop it up in Spanish.

8:00You know, we can we can go that route. But the reason why I'm bringing this up is everybody faces some type of profiling, right? Whether it's racial profiling, physical profile. And it's happening all around us. But I think the racial subject is one that really should be highlighted and tackled because it just 12 years old. And so for those of you listening, I want you to remember back to 12. Maybe some of you have children that are 12 and children that are 12 years old. And I want you just to put yourself back and what you remember about you at that age. And so we moved two towns away at 12. I had to take two public buses just to get to my middle school.

8:37And I stopped at a 7-Eleven convenience store and I would play Mortal Kombat 2. And I do that on my bus route every single day. And one day, as you know, Mick, you read the story. I was sitting playing Mortal Kombat 2. the bell ring like someone walked in a male voice yelled hey Daniel and I'm Jordan so I just keep playing the game and within about a minute I was literally lifted up my body was lifted in the air I was thrown against the Terminator 2 pinball machine punched several times thrown on the ground handcuffed and put into a police car and the reason why this occurred is because a they were looking for a Hispanic runaway although I'm not Hispanic because of what I look like they racially profiled me.

9:18They leveraged a very brute force, police brutality, and it was a false arrest. They said they thought I assaulted somebody. I was about, I don't know, less than five foot tall, you know, less than a hundred pounds probably wouldn't have hurt, you know, air, you know, so they got the wrong kid. And of course, we went through the whole process of seeing psychologists, the court process. My mom wanted to sue them. She was like, we're about to get rich, Right. And and because of the level of empathy that I had stored up, seeing my mom suffer from her one lung and being sick and almost dying, seeing my grandmother get dementia.

9:54You know, I built up this such a level of empathy that my my first thing was they don't need to be in the police force. They should lose their jobs. And I just want to move on with my life. And I remember telling that to my mom. And ultimately, she went with my call, which I'm still eternally grateful that she did that. There are some parents that could have said, whatever, kid, you're 12, like we're going after the money. And I'm sure we would have got a boatload of money. Would it have added value to our world? Sure, probably. But at 12 years old, just to know in my heart of hearts that that wasn't the right call, the right call was to say, hey, listen, they shouldn't have a job.

10:29So they both got fired from the Portland police. They lost their jobs and I went on and they went on. And to me, that was the right call because what I had learned at that point in my life is that people make mistakes. I'd seen this, whether it was my stepdad going in and out of jail, making mistakes and coming back and my mom giving him a second chance or a third or a fourth chance. So I'd seen that good people do bad things. Listen, I don't know what happened that day. I don't know if the guy just walked in after he got off the phone and his wife just divorced. I have no clue. I don't have the context, but I knew for me, the right thing was to just let this thing go.

11:09Let's see what lessons I can maybe extract from this, you know, as I kind of move on with my world. And a lot of people say, well, did this impact you from a traumatic standpoint? You know, and even psychologists are like, hey, do you, what do you feel like when you hear a siren? You know, they kind of go through the list of things. And I was like, there's no difference, you know? So for me, I think that's just the grace of God. Like he was with me, protecting me, guiding me in these moments because it could have went a really bad direction. As we've all seen in social media in 2025, you know, people decide to make a run for it or do something with their hands or maneuver in some kind of way.

11:48And then it ends up in a whole different light. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I have to think, Jordan, right, because you've you've made a business around it. But I also know that it's who you are based on your character, right? You help and have helped thousands of people find their voice, find their message, build their identities, whether that's socially, digitally or whatever. Did a part of these adversities help you understand how to get that through to other people? Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. And I think you hit it on the head. It's understanding that everyone has a story. You know, most people haven't mustered up the courage yet to share it.

12:28And so it's finding out, you know, how can I get it out of them? Hey, what's your story? Everybody wants to be known, but people don't feel like they're heard. And the reason is, is sometimes we're not asking the right questions, you know? So, hey, what's one traumatic experience that you went through and you've made it to the other side? What a great question, right? Because if somebody has the willingness to become vulnerable with you, then they can do that on camera or on a podcast or on a stage or in front of people. And in fact, it's actually the biggest unlock for me was mustering up the courage when I lost my mom at 31 years old to be able to go stand on a stage and tell her story in front of about 60 people back in 19 when nobody knew who I was and get positive feedback about that.

13:18because that was really when I was like, you know what? My mom did go through a lot and she is one of the biggest inspirations, but I can't not let my story be heard as well. And I cannot share the things that I've been able to overcome on my journey because I would be doing the world a disservice if I didn't share what I've been able to overcome so that they can see it's possible for them to. Yeah, and I wanna go there, Jordan, right? So, you know, 2019, nobody knew Jordan Mendoza. Right. You got the courage to tell your story, but there's also a business aspect to that. Right. Like, OK, you did it.

13:55You prove that you could tell your story and that your story resonates with others. I know that there are people that are watching or listening right now that are like, right now, I am 2019 Jordan Mendoza. I want to tell my story and I want to use my story as a platform to help others. And by helping others, maybe I can make a business out of this as well. Talk to us about that journey for you from Jordan telling my story to Jordan. I'm a freaking successful business person. I'm a rock star at what I do. Like, let's go through that a little. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. So it first looked like a lot of borrowed confidence.

14:33As you read in the book, I mentioned Brian Shulman, who was like, he was like the godfather of LinkedIn for video. I mean, this guy was, did like the longest live streams. And he, when I was on a trip to Boston, I remember I FaceTimed him and he took, you know, an hour to just listen to me. And after I was done sharing my story with him, he said, Jordan, like one day you're going to have a brand bigger than mine. And, you know, he fed into me, you know, he instilled something in me and gave me confidence when I didn't have it in myself that he just said, go start talking about what you've been through.

15:08Go start talking about, you know, different experiences, coaching that you've helped people with. And he's like, you're just you're going to find your people. You know, if you just start showing up, if you just start posting short videos, tips, tricks, quotes, whatever comes to your mind, if it's if you're out there to add value to people, then you'll see that this is going to pay off. And man, some of the best advice that I've ever received because it happened. My brand did grow bigger than his and my audience did even surpass, you know, my mentors that I thought was doing incredible things. And so it's so cool to whenever we get feedback like that, it's up to us to do something with it.

15:50You know, and for me, if I get positive feedback, that's something that really ignites me and it lights that passion even more. And I want to go set out to do it because I don't want to let that person down. You know, if they saw something to me, then they saw it for some reason. Even if it's cloudy for me at this point, I need to go prove it to myself that I can at least go to attempt it. And I remember one of my first videos, Mick, was, can anyone help out with social media on getting their associates engaged online or something? It was something stupid like that. And now I help people globally with social media and getting visibility online.

16:28So I was literally asking the question that you fast forward six years later, this is like what I do to help people. You know, and so it's just all about that first video that got five views and all of them were me because I kept rewatching the thing over and over again, you know. But you start to sound less like you think you sound, right? Because we all hate how we sound. I know probably you can attest to that when you first start on video, you feel like this bumbling, baffling person. And then all of a sudden it just comes second nature and natural where you're like, wow, I just did like three hours of video.

17:05I didn't even realize I was doing it, you know, but I tell my clients, it's all about the reps. You know, you got to put in the reps every day. You got to show up for yourself. One of the biggest things that really unlocked it for me is I, and I implore anyone to take this challenge. I think I talked about it in the book, cause I did this 30 day video challenge where every single day I had to post a video for 30 days. And I did it probably harder than most people. Cause I'm just a freestyle type of guy. So every single day I would come up with the topic when I was about to post a video. And so I got so much just, it was like silly stuff.

17:40I did like impressions of character. I mean, I just kind of went through this whole like gamut of my whole, like anything I had in the tank, you know, just threw it all out there. And some of it was sticky. Some of it wasn't, but that was just so helpful to know that no one cares. No one cares what I'm really, what I'm putting out is just a matter of is it adding value to them in that moment? Is it entertaining in that moment? Right. As long as I'm getting that accomplished, I can build something around that. Amen to that, brother. Amen to that. And so I'm going to come back to the book because for those that don't know, I'm trying I'm telling Jordan's story, Jordan's way, and I'm using the book to do that.

18:17So chapter 10, the podcast and the jump, right, which obviously stuck with me. And that's one of my favorite chapters. And I've actually been using that to coach a couple of podcasters, Jordan. So kudos to that. But talk to us about the podcast and the jump. And if you're anyone who is quasi thinking about starting a podcast, this next segment that we're about to talk about is literally for you. So Jordan, go ahead, brother. Yeah, yeah. So for those of you that don't know, the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast, which is our podcast, about to hit our sixth anniversary, January 1st. So super, super grateful to start that before I started the business.

18:57I started the show on January 1st. First guest was my mentor, Brian Shulman, had to kick that off, bring him on the show. And I remembered, you know, this was, you know, right before COVID, I had, I said, you know, I want to start off and try to get some heavy hitters in the space, people I really looked up to, up to. So, you know, getting Heather Monahan on the show early, you know, I saw what she was able to do to kind of break out of corporate, start her own thing. Like I really aspire to do all the things that she does. And I'm proud to say that now after almost six years, I'm doing all the things that that she does.

19:31I aspire to set out to do, which is which is pretty awesome to reflect on that. But getting folks like David Meltzer on the show, a guy that figured out how to lose 100 million and build it all the way back and everything in between. And Marcus Ogden, who I know we both know as well. And man, I feel like COVID was a gift. And, you know, I extracted every bit of that gift, which was access. because I had access to people that most people wouldn't typically have access to. And if you knew any way to communicate with humans, then you knew how to get their attention. And so I built this strategy up, Mick, where I would see Meltzer go on live.

20:09I would jump on the live, make a comment, and then I would go to his post comment. I would go to a story comment, and then I'd be like, hey, I'd love to get you on the show. And as soon as I saw him react, I would jump back in with a voice note. And so I was leveraging a strike while the iron's hot approach and accessing people that I would have never got their attention had it been the year prior. And so that really helped me get people that other people knew. Because, again, I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that if I wanted to get my show to be up in the ranks and to get people to listen, I could tap into other people's audiences and leverage their audiences if they would be willing to share that.

20:46that. And that was kind of my whole play is like, I was building this audience. I had the 20 ,000 on LinkedIn that I could leverage, but if I could really add value to my guests and they were willing to share it, then I would tap into their audiences. And that's really how the show began to take off. And something surprising happened though, Mick, as I was interviewing all these incredible people that I really looked up to, they actually, I found out, looked up to me And they were consulting me for advice on things like LinkedIn and social media. And they were all asking me why I hadn't left corporate yet.

21:20And so after a year of having this amazing podcast, they all instilled courage in me and also my circle locally, business groups I was a part of even before I had a business. They all were like, man, you need to start your own thing. So the podcast was essentially my college. You know, I got to, I didn't go to college, but I got, I felt like I earned in 2020, like four different PhDs because I was learning from some of the world's greatest people in my eyes, some of the brightest people, some of the best storytellers, some of the best authors, best athletes. And what I found is that they were no different than me.

21:55And that I think was the biggest gift that that gave me is that I could do this too. And, uh, and so the borrowed confidence turned into actual confidence, which turned into taking a chance and betting on myself. And I remember I just interviewed Mark Victor Hanson. The guy sold a half billion copies of chicken soup for the soul, interviewed him and his wife, Crystal for their book and, um, ask their book ask. And I remember he said on this book, he said, he's like, Jordan, you're a star. You leaving corporate was the best thing that you could have ever done. And we're just excited to see what happens next.

22:34Because they kind of interviewed them right at the very start. I had just given my notice and just left. And they were like, hey, who else can we introduce you to? And that's all it is sometimes, folks, is you're just one connection away from creating massive impact in your world. Amen to that, bro. And I'm a testament to that, right? Like, I mean, my mentors, you know, Damon John and Robert Irvine and Dave Meltzer, right? I mean, who literally what I realized with all of my mentors and people that I look up to, if you communicate and ask the right questions, like they love that. If you're going to be a fan boy, a fan girl, like they see that all day, every day, right?

23:14Like you're no different than anyone else, but you ask the right questions, right? And then conversation starts. And that's where I think those relationships can truly blossom. So, you know, I have this piece of advice that I give to everyone, whether it's podcasting, public speaking, building your brand, whatever it is, instead of taking selfies with these celebrities or the people that you think you look up to, ask them questions. Because again, they take a thousand pictures a day. They don't remember them. But I can promise you what Damon John will tell me, Mick, the reason I remember you is because you asked me a really good question, right?

23:47Robert Irvine, who now is like my best friend in the world. The reason our relationship started was because I asked him a really good question and I didn't go to them as a fanboy. Like I really wanted to pick their brain and get a free masterclass if I could on a question that I had. So talk to everybody about just the importance of being able to ask good questions. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Asking questions is so important. And the other thing is don't be afraid to offer value, right? Offer some type of advice. Hey, I noticed, you know, I identify things. I'm kind of a nerd like this. If I go to a LinkedIn profile, someone's TikTok, their Instagram, their podcast, like I look at their show notes.

24:27If I see something, I'll actually say, hey, I just wanted to give you this feedback that if you did this shift or you did this change, this would actually add a tremendous value to you. So offering is also great. Asking, if you don't ask, you don't get, right? Clothes mounts do not get fed at all. And if you grow up poor, you'd know that from the early days, it's like, if I don't go out and hustle, I'm not getting the things that I actually want to get. So I learned that from the jump, but it's so important in business because the worst that could happen is silence. Okay. The second worst thing that could happen is no, right?