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The Unexpected Connection Strategy That Created a $3M Deal · Speak In Flow

• 0:02
  Melinda Lee: Welcome. Dear listeners, to the speak and flow podcast where we dive into unique strategies to help you and your team achieve maximum potential and flow. Today I have the complete honor of introducing a innovator visionary. His name is James Weisberg. He's a founder of project vitality, which is a nonprofit.
• 0:24
  Melinda Lee: also co-founder of Cressy labs, which is the ecosystem builder for consumer facing brands.
• 0:32
  Melinda Lee: Hello, James! Welcome.
• 0:35
  James Weisberg: Hi, Melinda! Nice to meet you. How are you? How are you doing today?
• 0:38
  Melinda Lee: I am so glad because we're going to speak at the level 12
• 0:43
  Melinda Lee: level today, and we're gonna dive into what that means. But before we get into that. Can you share with the audience like, what are you super excited about? What? What wakes you up today?
• 0:54
  James Weisberg: Yeah, what wakes me up today is, you know, I think, building, you know, doing everything I can to just build a better tomorrow for the future generations. It's kind of the, you know.
• 1:03
  James Weisberg: the foundation of project vitality. My goal in life is to entertain, educate, and elevate the masses at a very high level, specifically level 12, where, you know, we operate in a space that's beyond imagination, beyond explanation and beyond expectation. So you know everything I do. That's where I try to operate out of.
• 1:24
  Melinda Lee: Love it. And that's what I mean. You are really operating a really high level. And there's not that many people that are there, and so tell me what like sparked this all I mean, what are you seeing nowadays in terms of where people are at? I mean, I feel like a lot of people are at the depths. They're stressed out there.
• 1:43
  Melinda Lee: You know, they're they're just really stressed.
• 1:46
  James Weisberg: It's a it's a it's a crazy world out there right now, you know. I think a lot of uncertainty. There, you know, there's a lot of things that people don't know what are gonna happen, you know, across the board. And
• 1:56
  James Weisberg: you know, we have a saying, you know, in the entertainment industry, and you know I come from a family that throws Major, you know, music festivals, so you know, done everything from putting up barricades to booking acts and doing sponsorships. But I think a lot of people like you said have headaches, and at the end of the day we just try to be the aspirin, and, you know, Level 12 was really birthed from a place that
• 2:20
  James Weisberg: you know.
• 2:21
  James Weisberg: I think as long as you trust the universe and God, you know I come from a very religious family. Just trust that you know God always has a plan, and that, you know.
• 2:32
  James Weisberg: if you put the effort in a lot of times. It's going to be better than you could have even imagined, you know. I know not to be cliche, but you know, if you build it, people will come type of mentality. And that's kind of where a lot of the businesses and companies that I've built kind of came from was, you know, a lot of people
• 2:52
  James Weisberg: just had problems, whether it was in marketing and branding like we do in Cressy, where we help brands build advocacy. A lot of people are just trying to build community. It's really overlapping with vitality as well as just. You know, we could all work together, and I think one of the strongest things we can do is build communities, whether it's in business and entertainment.
• 3:13
  James Weisberg: really building the network and having a strong support system, I think, is super important across anything that you do. So whether you're just starting out in business, whatever it is, you know, even in work, you know you want to have those people that you can trust and build with and finding your team, you know, I think building a strong team in anything.
• 3:37
  James Weisberg: a lot of different things going on in marketing, and you know I work in commodities now, just kind of stumbled across that, and you know everything in entertainment, having a team that you trust across all levels, I think, is probably one of the most important things you can do even in just in personal life. You know you want to have friends that you could trust and talk to, and family. You know
• 3:59
  James Weisberg: you don't get to pick your family, but you could pick your friends. So
• 4:02
  James Weisberg: I've been blessed to have a lot of people in my life that love me, and I love them back, and you know we kind of talked before this about operating from a place of love, and that is something that I think is extremely important. You know, whoever you are out there, you know, who's ever listening. I think if you operate from that place and of love and bring that into businesses work, you know, sales start to go up.
• 4:27
  James Weisberg: You know you put good people together. Good things start to happen. So you know, if I had to give anybody advice, it would just be to operate from from that place.
• 4:36
  James Weisberg: whether it's level 12 or just operating, you know. Speak good to people. So you know, if you're putting good vibes out there. Good vibes come back. So
• 4:45
  James Weisberg: advice across.
• 4:47
  Melinda Lee: I agree, I completely agree, and I feel like your festivals, and what your family does in terms of the festivals, bring that all together, so can you share with us because it sounds like your family, maybe had a long history. How did they even get into this whole entertainment and festival business like, what is the origin story of that.
• 5:05
  James Weisberg: Yeah, yeah. My my father, Chang Weisberg, actually started out doing club like just booking acts in clubs. And
• 5:14
  James Weisberg: had a show called Rock. The Bells. That kind of grew into a major festival went on for over 10 years, worked with everybody, from Kendrick, Lamar to Nas Lauryn Hill Wu-tang clan so really big in old school hip, hop.
• 5:33
  James Weisberg: and you know, just grew that all the way up, you know, until you know it, just.
• 5:40
  James Weisberg: you know, at at 1 point, you know, you just the world's a tough place, you know, and you know you're selling tickets. And sometimes this doesn't work out. But you know.
• 5:49
  James Weisberg: yeah, sure about that.
• 5:51
  Melinda Lee: And were you out there selling the tickets.
• 5:53
  James Weisberg: I was out there passing flyers out, putting a barricade, you know, running around as a kid on my scooter, and the things wreaking havoc, and you know, as you get older, you kind of get brought into the business, and you know I'm super grateful for everybody that I've met in it, and you know my dad's been a great mentor and friend, and, you know, introduced me to his business manager. So they've passed down, you know, invaluable, you know, invaluable knowledge and and advice that you know.
• 6:22
  James Weisberg: Kind of that I've taken into project vitality to kind of give back to the world, and, you know, entertain, elevate, and educate the masses at a really high level, because I do. One of the things that I strongly believe in is that festivals are one of the most powerful ways to bring communities together and spread messages, whether it's, you know, through music or education and conferences. I wanted to kind of tie all those together.
• 6:50
  James Weisberg: and you know.
• 6:51
  James Weisberg: bring music and local acts together, and bring, you know, educational speakers from, you know, business, health and wellness, sustainability and and talk about the things that I think not. Everybody talks about all the time, and that we need to be, you know, having conversations around. And you know, coming together and trying to build a better tomorrow for the future generations. So.
• 7:11
  Melinda Lee: Wow! What a powerful platform! Kudos to you and your dad! Really, that is tough work.
• 7:18
  James Weisberg: It is, you know. I think, my dad said, there's probably more people doing open heart surgery than than trying to to run festivals, because there's so many moving parts. And
• 7:28
  James Weisberg: communication is really key. And you know, going back to, you know, really having a strong team that you can lean on and trust, because you know, as an individual. And this goes for any business, you're not going to be able to do everything. And you gotta, you know at 1 point. You you know the business essentially, you know, outgrows, you know, the person even in. I don't know
• 7:49
  James Weisberg: if you've heard about. You know the story of Netflix, and you know, even Apple and Steve Jobs, you know, got kicked out of his own his own company, just because, you know, I think at 1 point.
• 8:03
  James Weisberg: you know, just understanding when to kind of let go and let your team handle things is really important. And you know, trusting that you put the processes and procedures and systems in place for things to succeed, you know, even beyond yourself. So I think that's also very important across the board, too. So that that is something that you know. I learned very quickly as a kid, and as I grew older, you know, coming from festivals, and you know. Now, you know, working with different startups and things like that.
• 8:29
  James Weisberg: definitely, very important. So yeah.
• 8:32
  Melinda Lee: I mean, I see this vision of what you do with festivals so powerful, and it's like in the same vein of
• 8:38
  Melinda Lee: letting it take over. It's like a powerful force. I mean, you have this amazing platform. I mean, okay, I just really quickly, did. You did your dad. And you know that it's going to be like this in terms of festivals. When you 1st started out like.
• 8:52
  James Weisberg: You know I I
• 8:56
  James Weisberg: I don't. I mean, everybody has a vision right when you you know, from 5 years, 10 years down the line of like man. Amazing to kind of, you know. Get it to a certain point, and you know
• 9:08
  James Weisberg: I couldn't tell you if he imagined it getting to the size that he thought it it was. And
• 9:16
  James Weisberg: you know, I think like I said, like businesses and companies end up taking kind of a life of their own, and.
• 9:21
  Melinda Lee: Yeah.
• 9:21
  James Weisberg: I think, just the energy that was put into it, and and everything and the people that he brought together, you know it was definitely destined to succeed. A lot of great people on board making things happen. So, you know, like I said, I think if you put good people together, you know good things tend to happen. So you know, I'm sure he definitely, you know, planned for the
• 9:46
  James Weisberg: it to be at a certain level. But it definitely, you know, probably surpassed his man, you know, beyond imagination, beyond expectations, and and truly beyond explanation, you know. Sometimes. So I think that's true in any business, you know. I think,
• 10:00
  James Weisberg: a lot of times with a lot of this, we work with a lot of like startups that just went through their series a round of funding on the marketing and media end of things. And you know.
• 10:12
  James Weisberg: as a startup founder, you know, people always have this idea that like, oh, I'm like, this is what we're going to do. But you know, as you start working, and all the nuances that come up, you can never really, you know.
• 10:24
  James Weisberg: see what's truly gonna happen. And a lot of times what you started with is not what you end with
• 10:29
  James Weisberg: but and, like, you know, working with Vcs, that that's kind of the the main thing that they invest in isn't isn't the company idea. It's actually the team behind it. And a lot of people don't realize that.
• 10:41
  James Weisberg: And you know, since we work with a lot of startups, you know, we work with a lot of like, you know, venture capital firms and things like that. So they tell us what they they look for in companies. And a lot of times they're just focused on the team behind it, because everybody knows that the idea you start with is not what you're going to end with, but as long as strong team behind it. It's more, you know. It'll most likely succeed. So.
• 11:01
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, especially if you have that really strong operating at level 12.
• 11:09
  James Weisberg: Hey!
• 11:09
  Melinda Lee: So I'm imagining that with your vision, with these festivals of entertain, educate, and what was the last one.
• 11:17
  James Weisberg: And elevate.
• 11:18
  Melinda Lee: And elevate
• 11:20
  Melinda Lee: like, where's that at right now? And I imagine you bringing in this level 12 concept in in bringing that vision out. So can you tell me more about? Well, 1st of all, what is the entertain, educate.
• 11:34
  James Weisberg: That was birth through my time in college. And I was taking environmental classes. You know.
• 11:40
  James Weisberg: I learned that you know our current state of environment. Our environmental crisis is is pretty bad. And you know, there's all this crazy stuff about AI. And you know, on the brink of World war 3. There's, you know, like you said, I think a lot. There's a lot of uncertainty in the world, and a lot of
• 11:59
  James Weisberg: you know. My heart goes out to, you know, Gaza and everybody that you know
• 12:04
  James Weisberg: I there's this, you know, the world's in a very crazy state, and I do think that
• 12:10
  James Weisberg: You know, we're in a very pivotal time in, in humanity across the board, and I think one of the most important things is to kind of come together, you know, as a as a human race, and that's kind of where the the foundational beliefs of you know.
• 12:25
  James Weisberg: entertaining, elevating, and educating the masses came from for project. Vitality is a
• 12:31
  James Weisberg: I really wanted to work with the future generations, because that's you know, that's who's going to build the better tomorrow for us. So you know, working with different colleges and building the blueprint on, you know how to run a festival and event correctly, but at the same time making sure that you know you're bringing in local acts. So you're bringing in all the you know, educators from business like I brought, you know, for the 1st ones that we brought attorneys on board to talk about
• 12:55
  James Weisberg: how to, you know. Start your own Llc. So that you could write off your taxes, and you know, protect yourself. Or if you're thinking about buying a house and things like that, you know, bringing in.
• 13:07
  James Weisberg: you know, different doctors and researchers to talk about health and wellness, and even, you know, different, you know, spiritual. And you know, Yoga, instructors that are talking about how to, you know do current breath work, because I think you know, people have a lot of, you know. High anxiety, state of of being right now in the world, and people are like you said are stressed. So having the right tool sets to understand how to, you know. Bring your mind and body back to, you know, ground, you know, grounding yourself and understanding.
• 13:36
  James Weisberg: You know how to just calm yourself down if you're in a very high state of stress or something, I think, are, you know life changing tools to have at your disposal. So really, just, you know whether it's meditation, breath work things like that. You know. I'm always pushing people to know, because, you know.
• 13:52
  James Weisberg: I don't know where everybody else is in the world. But you know America's, you know, medical system and pharmaceutical companies are always pushing, you know, different pharmaceutical drugs and things that all they're really doing is numbing you as a human. And I really believe in natural remedies and things like that. And I think we're a lot more powerful.
• 14:15
  James Weisberg: Then people realize. So just, you know, educating people on those things to like, understand that you have the tools already. Just a lot of people just don't know how to access them. So that's kind of where that's at and making, you know, helping people elevate their life at that. At that end. You know whether it's through diet, you know, whatever you know, whatever it is, you know, and having a strong.
• 14:35
  James Weisberg: you know, foundation across all levels is kind of where you know level 12, where level 12 operates at is. You know that space that overlaps, you know.
• 14:45
  James Weisberg: having a deep understanding of religion, spirituality, and science across the board. That's kind of where you know I try to operate is right there in the middle, so that you have a decent understanding across the board. So I bring that that belief system in everything that I do.
• 15:02
  Melinda Lee: Wow. So I love that I mean in terms of, I want to get into the level 12. But then I really, I want to send my daughter when she's going to start going to these festivals. She's going to go to college soon, so like you have to let us know how to like get connected to the festivals. I mean, I love that idea of entertain. You're all there
• 15:19
  Melinda Lee: for a fun reason, you know, to get entertained, to dance, to, just let go, to let loose, and then also get that education that you need. That is just like a holistic perspective that brings in the mindfulness it brings in like, how do you help yourself? Whole body.
• 15:35
  Melinda Lee: mind, body, spirit, and and then also like with, you know, the the elevate, but also the environment, right? Taking care of our environment. So that's.
• 15:44
  James Weisberg: We also integrate like Job we do. We have job fairs that we bring in and.
• 15:48
  Melinda Lee: Wow!
• 15:49
  James Weisberg: Reach out to companies that you know colleges, you know all colleges have job fairs, but I do think that there's a lot of industries out there that, you know don't always reach out to certain students, just because, you know, they don't always know
• 16:05
  James Weisberg: about what's what's truly out there. So you know, I try to go on the outliers, you know whether it's, you know, in the legal cannabis community, whether it's in the blockchain startup space, you know it's still really early on those, but they need a lot of good people that you know.
• 16:21
  Melinda Lee: Totally.
• 16:21
  James Weisberg: Out there to, you know, help help build a better future. So that that's kind of
• 16:26
  James Weisberg: my mindset across across. That is kind.
• 16:28
  James Weisberg: Great
• 16:28
  James Weisberg: opportunities to students out there at at all all colleges across across the the States. And you know, hopefully, the world. So that that's where that's the goal. So.
• 16:40
  Melinda Lee: Level 2 level 12, like amongst everything that you're doing, you're obviously doing so much so. How in Level 12 is your holding company? That holds all of this together. So tell us about what is level 12.
• 16:55
  James Weisberg: Yeah. So you know, level 12 is, it is my holding company. I guess it's more of a state of being for myself and belief system. My foundational saying that I always tell everybody is it's beyond imagination, beyond explanation and and beyond expectation.
• 17:13
  James Weisberg: because many times, you know, in life, you know. You imagine things that you know are going to go a certain way, and they go another way. And you know, I, you know, coming from a religious religious background. One of the one of the funniest sayings I always heard was like, Oh, the best way to make God laugh is try to plan your life out, you know. So I think, but many times also, you know God's plans always a lot better than you know you can
• 17:38
  James Weisberg: even imagine. And you know, even for the people that are struggling. And you know we've all had dark days in our time.
• 17:47
  James Weisberg: you know, I think as humans, we you know, we're we're not
• 17:51
  James Weisberg: humans having a spiritual experience or spiritual beings having a human experience. And I think you know, we gotta. Those. Those hard times are really what build? You know our confidence, and you know our strength in certain things. So you know, it's not that we have these bad things done to us is that we? You know we get those bad. You know we get those things.
• 18:13
  James Weisberg: that happened to us to make us stronger. So you know I have a I think that level 12, you know. Belief system is that trusting that you know out
• 18:23
  James Weisberg: whatever level you know, whatever's happening, good and bad, is that it's you know, it's always going to be better than you can imagine. And you know
• 18:32
  James Weisberg: a lot of people kind of Max out at 10, even, you know.
• 18:36
  James Weisberg: doing certain things. You might Max, out at 10. But there's always those extra levels as you go, you know, being in sports. And, you know, playing football and soccer, you know your coaches are always like you always got that extra gear that you don't know that you have until somebody's pushing you, and you have your teammates that are like, come on. You could do this, you know, and you always kind of realize, like, Wow, you know, I was capable of those that little extra that we didn't know we had, and I think you could kind of take that mindset into everything that you do you know, I think a lot of times.
• 19:05
  James Weisberg: you know, people feel like quitting, but if you just push that little extra is when you have those breakthroughs, you know, or.
• 19:11
  Melinda Lee: Me!
• 19:12
  James Weisberg: So I think that's kind of you know where Level 12 comes from that, you know. I bring that across all the businesses and companies that I help run, or even you know, things that I help consult with. I always leave a little extra room so that, you know level 12 things can happen, because you always got to leave a little extra room for God sometimes to make it.
• 19:29
  Melinda Lee: Oh, man, I love that like the unimaginable like you! Said.
• 19:34
  James Weisberg: Beyond imagination, you know.
• 19:36
  Melinda Lee: Imagination.
• 19:37
  James Weisberg: I was. Actually I interviewed Travis Rosback. I don't know if you're familiar with with hydro flask those the water bottles.
• 19:44
  Melinda Lee: I don't know.
• 19:45
  James Weisberg: I was talking to him, and
• 19:48
  James Weisberg: he actually had a quote, and I don't wanna. I don't want to mess this up
• 19:53
  James Weisberg: so I'm gonna but he embodied it perfectly when I asked him his quote for his level. 12 thing, and he said, act boldly and unforeseen. Forces will always come to your aid. So that was something that really stuck with me.
• 20:11
  James Weisberg: because, you know, he took a lot of chances in his business, and you know his life, and sometimes you just got to take that risk, you know, and trust the process, and you might not know what the outcome is going to be, but you know, whatever it is, good or bad, you know. At least you took that risk, and you know you're you know
• 20:29
  James Weisberg: it's always, you know if you have that trust that God's gonna be with you, you know it'll always be better than you can imagine. So if you operate in that state, you know, it always usually is.
• 20:38
  James Weisberg: and there's always, you know, there's always a plan. So even if it doesn't work out, it might have. You know, you might have met somebody in, you know, a random, you know, space or networking event, whatever it is that you didn't know, and maybe 5, 10 years down the line. They're the key to, you know, that 1 billion dollar idea. So you just never know. You know, I had a
• 20:57
  James Weisberg: one of our, you know, my marketing agency.
• 21:01
  James Weisberg: We're actually the agency of record for alley times is a really major media and news outlet here in in California. But
• 21:11
  James Weisberg: the guy that brought me into that I actually met at a random, networking event for festivals of all places with my father, and I was trying to do something for him on the crypto and blockchain space. We were trying to build out what we call virtual spaces, and we were going to build out a metaverse for one of their festivals, and
• 21:33
  James Weisberg: just didn't work out at the time, and you know.
• 21:36
  James Weisberg: forgot about it, and didn't think of anything of it. And then, you know, maybe I'd say maybe 3, 4 years down the line. He had reached out and was asking me for some marketing and website work. And I was like, Oh, well, like he's like, do you know anybody I was like? Oh, well.
• 21:49
  James Weisberg: actually, my other company does this? So you know. One conversation led to the next, and ended up being one of our largest, you know, foundational clients that we brought on board on our, you know, growth agency side of things that allowed us to launch off with a bunch of other stuff. So you just never know when when a certain connection or relationships, gonna you know.
• 22:10
  James Weisberg: coming to fruition, or, you know, even a skill set that you might have learned something way before, you know, as a kid or anything. You just you just never know. So you know.
• 22:20
  James Weisberg: just gotta you know. That's life. You know, it's a it's a constant, you know, mastery in motion. Yeah.
• 22:25
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, well, I think the mastery and the motion is like operating at the the place of trusting God, trusting right, the trust of God, the trust of that horse that is with you. Right? It's like, because a lot of people will take bold action, but it may be from anger. It might be from. And and there's nothing wrong with that, because anger leads to action. But I think it's also like taking a step back to also
• 22:54
  Melinda Lee: be intentional right about like, hey? Is God really want me to operate in this way?
• 22:59
  James Weisberg: 100%. And you know I might, you know, for those that you know.
• 23:03
  James Weisberg: you know God might be the wrong word, too, for some people. And you know, I think, just understanding how to alchemize your own emotions, good and bad. You know, I think, one of
• 23:15
  James Weisberg: I watch a lot of different podcasts and and listen to different people speaking.
• 23:21
  James Weisberg: Jim Carrey had a saying and saying, like one of his favorite sayings, was like, this, too, shall pass both good and bad, you know, like you could be at the top of the world. It's not always, you know, going to be like that. So this, too, shall pass. Understand that there's ebbs and flows in life, and even when you're at the rock bottom, you know. Just trust that this, too, shall pass. You're not always going to just operate at Rock Bottom, like, you know, you have ups and downs, and you know, as a business owner, and even, you know, as an athlete, whatever it is. You know, family, you know.
• 23:48
  James Weisberg: friends, I think there's always ebbs and flows in life, and you know, just understanding that. And
• 23:54
  James Weisberg: you know, being able to, you know, alchemize that energy. If you're in an angry state or emotional state, like, you know, take that breather, you know, you know. Take that time to be like, why am I feeling like this? How can I use this energy to do something good, you know, in life and operate out of that place of love and be like, how do I? You know.
• 24:14
  James Weisberg: you know, package this up and and move it into a space where I can start doing some good with it. And you know.
• 24:21
  James Weisberg: yeah, you know, just figuring out how to make some, you know. Make lemonade out of lemons, you know.
• 24:26
  Melinda Lee: Oh, my gosh, James, you're really. You just have this big, bold vision. You're innovative. You're forward thinking. And you're really thinking about the future, our tomorrow. And who are those leaders? And you're cultivating them. So it's really inspiring. So thank you so much. I mean, just to end it. What is that one golden takeaway
• 24:47
  Melinda Lee: that you'd like to share to people.
• 24:50
  James Weisberg: Yeah, I mean, I think the golden takeaway is to try to operate at a level 12 space at all times, you know, and trust that life is truly, always going to be beyond imagination, beyond expectation and beyond explanation, and to always operate out of a place of love. If you do that.
• 25:07
  James Weisberg: Good things can only come to you. So you know I've been blessed with, you know, a lot of great people in my life, a lot of amazing opportunities. And I truly believe that's because, you know, I just try to put good vibes in the world, and a good energy out there, and good energy always tends to come back, so
• 25:22
  James Weisberg: I think you'll be great.
• 25:23
  Melinda Lee: Yes, yes, yes. Oh, my gosh, if you if anybody wants to reach out to James, would you like to share how they can get a hold of you.
• 25:32
  James Weisberg: Yeah, so you could reach out on Linkedin. I believe my socials will probably be posted on the bottom wherever this is going to be at. So, you know, feel free to reach out. I'm I'm you know.
• 25:44
  James Weisberg: Obviously I get a lot of messages, but I do my best to try to get back to everybody looking for marketing work. Melinda has my email. I'm more than happy to to put one of my emails that we put our intake for. So if you guys need marketing, or, you know, strategy work happy to talk about it. And yeah, you know, happy to just talk in general, you know, if people just want some advice or need something always happy to put a helping hand out. So you know.
• 26:12
  Melinda Lee: No, thank you, James, it was so fun I could probably talk forever with you, cause it's just
• 26:17
  Melinda Lee: so high, vibe and energetic. It was so fun. Really appreciate your time and your energy today.
• 26:25
  James Weisberg: Yeah. Yours as well appreciate you taking the time.
• 26:27
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, super fun and audience. I trust that you have gotten your golden takeaway to implement right away and to improve the world. I mean. Remember, anytime you have a chance to connect and to communicate. You're inspiring also, and so make a bigger difference in the world. Reach out to James, or until I see you next time on the next episode. I'm your sister in flow may prosperity flow to you and through you onto others. Always much love.
• 26:57
  James Weisberg: See you guys.
• 26:58
  Melinda Lee: See you.