I left BMX competition, working with BMX brands and performing in BMX shows in 2016 for MORE in my life.
I also turned down some sponsorship requests from soda and energy drink brands to keep my integrity rather than a quick financial gain.
I knew if I wanted a new reality on the level I desired, I had to make drastic choices and change how I was living my life.
In doing so, 2.5 years later, I manifested a dream partnership with @justpruvit.
I am not required to do anything I don’t want to or naturally don’t already do. This partnership supports my efforts to change lives and continue pursuing BETTER by just by being me.
No stress to compete, no stress to do things I don’t fully feel like doing, and no need to try and promote a brand I don’t believe in 100% for a paycheck to make ends meet.
I see too many athletes and influencers settling with partnerships they don’t fully believe in or enjoy, just for a short-term gain.
I used to have this scarcity mentality because I was struggling and needed to put food on my table and pay bills and I feel for those athletes with limiting beliefs holding them back.
Once I changed this mindset and developed standards for my life, that’s when these radical changes occurred. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t quick, but it’s been so much fun learning and growing to the place I am now and continue to grow into. Safe to say….IT WAS WORTH IT.
I have manifested more opportunities to fulfill my purpose and my dreams, changed more lives, built a team helping support my purpose that I actually pay more than what I take home myself or have ever made personally (real entrepreneur status @kerwinrae), and continue to learn from amazing people within @justPruvit like @brianundy @ryanplowery and @theMusclePHD.
So much love to my amazing team @jciake and @CreatedBybrian, the @justPruvit team, those that have supported me every step of the way, and to those who have ever told me “no”, hated on me behind my back, or straight out dismissed me.
Because of all of you, I am living my life exactly how I want, will continue to do so, and continue to change more lives.
I started a podcast with my best friend and life partner, Jackie
“Grey Matters” as a title is a play on words. Grey matter is a vital part of the brain containing neurons and glial cells, imperative for motor function, processing thoughts, perception of life and emotions. We believe overall health and well being should start and focus on the brain & mind. We thought this would be appropriate because not only will our content and conversations focus on brain health, it will also focus on the grey areas. Most people live their lives in a grey area. Everyone is an individual & what works for one person, may not provide the same results for another. Health and wellness aren’t always black or white, right or wrong, with or against societal norms. That’s why grey areas matter. At the Grey Matters podcast, we embrace both grey areas and grey matter & it is our goal to explore and discuss all things grey.
Episode 2 is now live where we share our story of how we became “us”.
A new episode will be out every Monday at 730am EST.
To check out both episodes and to subscribe, click here.
I get asked a lot about “how to get sponsored” as athlete or in other forms.
What I’ve learned over the years with sponsorships or even personal relationships is value is king.
Let’s break down both examples.
1) Sponsorships: I’ve created a partnership with @justpruvit based on our core values aligning 100% and my ability bring the brand and community immense amounts of value. We both believe the same thing but my story, my actions, my desires, and my perspective are the proof of our core values in reality, not just on paper. How I live my life, how I connect with others, and how I bring others value at the same time is an example of what @justpruvit and I stand for. The value they seem in me is the ability to walk, talk, and help grow their message and beliefs around the world. It’s not just about my abilities, it’s more about my integrity and purpose.
2) Personal Relationships: @jciake and I not only enjoy our time with one another and all our similar interests, we also provide each other with endless amounts of mutual value in the terms of support, self-awareness, love and laughter, creativity, adventure, etc. as a loving couple sharing a life together. We don’t look at our relationship as a business transaction, haha, but to easily paint a picture and give an example of “value”, this is kind of how it breaks down when you stop and look at things. Same with @justpruvit, it’s not a business transaction we see. It’s the potential to change lives by combining our energy, perspectives, actions, and voices together to fulfill our purpose.
At the end of the day, if you want something in your life you have to think about what it is you’re willing to do for the things you want. Somethings that means sacrifice.
Sacrifice could be time invested into a biz or personal relationship, less time for yourself to support the one you live, your time creating content for the brand you desire a partnership with, money invested into an idea for a business you may have, energy spent in the gym to get in shape, etc.
VALUE VALUE VALUE is the key to any partnership you desire, in business and personal relationships.
I don’t. I believe in doing the work to be prepared for the endless opportunities we’re surrounded by to create the life we envision. “Luck” is just when all those things align and you take action.
There’s not one thing I’d consider “lucky” about my life.
The difference in why I’m living the life I want and how I want to is because I was willing to grind through physical and mental pain, never give up, never lose sight of my purpose, and always have been really clear on what I will accept or decline in my life.
If we say others are lucky or “it must be nice” then I believe we are discrediting our own potential to foster success under our terms for our lives. We’re lacking accountability for our reality and we’re subconsciously programming our mind to not accept the fact we can have the life we desire.
Our thoughts, words, and actions are all powerful.
All I’ve been doing to become “lucky” is audit the 3 of them and preserve through obstacles to live life on my terms.
I was invited to the University of Florida to give a talk about what leadership means to me, how I led my own life to manifest my dreams, and how I turned a plethora of adversities into a business today.
Here is a cut of the talk I gave minus the beginning part of me breaking down what leadership means to me. If you’re interested in that, read below!
Good evening, everyone. It’s great to be here at UF again and I want to thank Ben for inviting me back.
My name is Josh Perry. I’m a former pro BMX athlete and today I am going to share my journey of how I led my own life to manifest my dreams and turn a plethora of adversities into a business.
I am also going to share a bit about what leadership means to me and ultimately what I have learned from the last 29 years of my life, actually going on 30 in exactly one week from today.
I want to give you guys some context of where I started and came from to open up the floor for some Q&A because I love Q&A and I want to bring you all as much value as I possibly can with the limited time we have.
I want to start off by saying thank you all for your valuable time. I never imagined I would be where I am today and it’s truly an honor and privilege to be here sharing my life with all of you. It’s my hope that my story and all I have to share with you will help bring you all value and clarity on how you are all leaders and that there’s no set path to becoming one.
When you look at me, you see a healthy human being, right? But what you don’t see is what’s on the inside and you’d probably never guess I have anything internally wrong.
What if I told you I live with 4 tumors in my skull today? Would you believe me? Well, I do and now find myself as a living example of the famous saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
I share that part of my story because I believe health is internal, not numbers on a scale or piece of paper, which I learned the hard way. It’s my mission to inspire that perspective in others to empower them to take accountability for their health and overall quality of life so that they can become the healthiest, happiest, & most successful versions of themselves without suffering or given a death sentence to make changes.
When you’re told a brain tumor is slowly killing you as it occupies half of your brain, AND, you WILL DIE, unless they cut open your skull to remove that tumor, your priorities and perspectives in life begin to shift really fast.
That’s exactly what happened to me as I was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor just after turning 21 and living out my dream. I’d been told that I was healthy all of my life up until that moment so that diagnosis left me feeling confused, angry, and thinking I must have been a bad person or done something to deserve this. It didn’t help that I was alone for that diagnosis or that the doctor told me I’d never ride my bike again.
My experiences of being diagnosed 3 separate times, totaling 5 different tumors, among other obstacles like blowing out my knee, living out of my car, overcoming depression, being abused most of my childhood by a drunken step-father, and flat lining on the bottom of a contest course all has led me down a deep path of self exploration and auditing who I am, the choices I’ve made in my life, and ultimately who I wanted to become.
I’d tell you were crazy had you told me what I would accomplish today, the parts of the world I’d see, and who I’d become when I was 17, just dropped out of high school, and left home in pursuit of a dream to become a professional BMX athlete. But, looking back on the last 12 years of my life makes sense as to why I was able to do so. It all stemmed from a vision I had created for my life and the tenacity to not give up.
I believe we all have the same choice in our lives and that’s our perspective, which no one can take from us. It’s a choice we are faced with on a daily basis. It’s not always easy but it’s worth putting the effort in to become aware of our thoughts and focus on improving them. I could have very easily chosen the perspective of a victim and had given up on more than a handful of occasions and no one would have ever batted an eye.
But, for what purpose? How would that help me? It wouldn’t and my vision wouldn’t allow that choice.
I love sharing these 2 quotes that go with this belief.
1) Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond
&
2) Life doesn’t happen to us, it happens for us…
Both quotes come from different people but detail the same choice, a choice in perspective and how we see the world and the events that take place in our lives.
Simon Sinek says a great leader has a clear vision of the world that does not currently exist & an ability to communicate this vision. I also believe a leader is someone who wants others to succeed and has the following 3 traits….
Authenticity– following your heart, being yourself, sharing what you believe, and walking your talk, even when no one is looking.
Trust– providing a sense of trust and loyalty to others and showing them you truly care so they feel safe.
Serving– sharing and bringing others value and support so they can become as successful as possible.
Notice nowhere in there did I say in order to become a leader you must have a sense of power or “leverage”. What I have learned from my own experiences and from other leaders is that being a great leader is all about sharing our beliefs, bringing others value, and aligning all of our actions with our WHY, or our purpose.
“There are leaders and those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us. We follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them but for ourselves.” Another great quote from Simon Sinek.
As Ben has shared with me, I know most, if not all of you, are familiar with Simon Sinek’s book “Start With WHY” and the examples of leaders he uses. So, I won’t say much else about what makes up a great leader. But, I will share a bit about my journey and how I ended up here today.
