Greetings one and all, a very warm welcome thank you for tuning in to this episode where I am thrilled to be welcoming the wondrous Jim Jacoby – who as you will discover is really pushing the boundaries of creativity, craftsmanship and business. Meet Jim Jacoby, co-founder of Bienville Legacy Motorcycles. His company have built the most powerful luxury motorcycle in the WORLD that comes with the a price tag of $350k. This bike is quite literally a work of art, fusing master craftsmanship and engineering genius. But as you will discover, the journey, the craft and the act of creation is where and and how the true value is being discovered and extracted. Jim has an incredible story too. He spent the first decade of his career building a world class design and user-experience agency that was valued at over $40m. But he got sick of it all, and started to question the ‘why’ in everything. In an act of inner defiance, he left the company HE had spent so long building and decided to risk everything he had, throwing every penny in to the founding of a project that focused on ART and CRAFTSMANSHIP first. The ‘Bienville Legacy’ was born. Jim is an incredible special human being. A creative mastermind with a wonderful brain and a relentless drive to create. We spoke about How Roald Dahl has influenced his life His views on making money, and the single most important decision he ever made The nonsense of a trickle down economy How to overcome the flaw of wanting to be liked Redefining entrepreneurship Investing in human beings, not in companies Subscribe Quotes I’m voraciously curious about what people are capable of Creativity is the synthesis of different discoveries Creativity in business itself, is the last frontier for value. We’ve been through decades of efficiency, (especially in manufacturing models which most companies are still following), and then accuracy, and now maybe just touching on the beginnings of things like resilience; but that’s really where creativity and flexibility in a business starts to become really important. If all you make is money, you make is nothing at all Risk is what let’s you know you’re alive Wherever you’re walking the edges, is where magic is going to happen I can’t rely on a corporation to pay my pay check I always try to ask: How do you put humanity back into business? What you make makes you We are apart from, and a part of everything all at once The best thing that can happen to a man is to lose everything at the top of his game Welcome to entrepreneurship, it’s like chewing glass and staring into the Abyss It’s not about how dangerous a thing you’ve taken on personally, it’s how much you’ve unleashed someone to become what they could be Isn’t it unfortunate how uncurious the rich are Where are you going to get people more creative and industrious than those who live on a dollar a day!? “ Design is Not pretty, it is a process. It is an everyday act of thinking and living. It is problem solving, and it’s core to what makes us human” I believe that user centered designers have more of an impact on the human condition than any other profession” I want to find ways to put Humanity back into business, find deeper value through exploration of meaning and find ways to reconnect with meaning The most terrifying thing you can do to start is to look inside yourself Why you can’t not do what you’re going to do next is what’s most important We have to infect communities with a hunger for meaning Happiness is not your outcome, happiness is a wonderful moment – but it’s not your goal. Your goal is to produce. Producing is what gives you legacy and immortality Wanting to be liked is a critical flaw Creation is a dialectic Whoever you are, take the next risk you can tolerate – because there’s another risk behind that that’s even bigger and better The Universe is designed to make and create, and we are just members of that who are most happy when we’re making and creating Familiarity is a false friend Links & People Manifest Digital http://manifest.com/ Willy Wonka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka Roald Dahl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl Consilience: The Unity Of Knowledge, by Edward O. Wilson (book) http://amzn.to/2aanQrh Edward O. Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson J.T. Nesbitt https://www.scad.edu/content/jt-nesbitt The Bienville Legacy motorcycle http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/goodwood-festival-of-speed/11633523/Bienville-Legacy-four-cylinder-bike-to-be-unveiled-at-Goodwood.html ADMCI http://foundation.admci.org/ Bugatti http://www.bugatti.com/home/ Ducati Motorcycles http://www.ducati.com/index.do Confederate motorcycles http://confederate.com/ IDEO https://www.ideo.com/uk/ AA Bondy http://aabondy.co/ Charles Bukowski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski Franz Kafka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka Fyodor Dostoevsky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky Benedict de Spinoza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza Prince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician) Tori Amos http://www.toriamos.com/ The Big Short (movie) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film) Peter Himmelman http://www.peterhimmelman.com/home.php Time Stamped Notes 00:04:02 – Helping people become great. Unleashing people’s greatness 00:05:28 – Creativity in business 00:08:10 – On the values instilled when Jim was growing up 00:08:42 – Roald Dahl 00:10:15 – Jim’s perception of money 00:14:09 – On risk 00:15:39 – Setting up early businesses 00:17:32 – User Centered Design 00:19:25 – An early model used to start Jim’s company (good ‘model’ tip for embryonic businesses) 00:23:50 – What you make makes you 00:35:20 – Building a business based on craftsmanship FIRST, then finding assets and business models SECOND 00:41:12 – Redefining entrepreneurship and uncertainty 00:43:36 – Balancing finance & money with purpose & value 00:45:39 – About ADMCI (human craftsmanship and a human being, as a business model) 00:48:39 – The importance of defining WHAT you are as a business 00:51:50 – Understanding meaning – and why you can’t NOT do what you have to do 00:53:17 – The spooky connection between Jim and the Rebelhead logo 00:54:57 – Personal challenges 00:55:42 – Happiness is not the goal, the goal is to produce 00:57:32 – Jim’s biggest character flaw (wanting to be liked) 01:03:06 – Creation and craftsmanship as a ‘Conversation’ 01:04:40 – Jim’s definition of success 01:06:05 – Fear and risk 01:10:08 – Rebelling against familiarity and comfort 01:11:16 – On disruption (disrupting with love) The Rebel Wrap Up Round If you could go back to any point in your life, and have 1 hour with your past self; what moment would it be and what would you tell yourself? 01:15:42 When I was working for a company call MarchFirst (that was imploding) and tell myself to relax and enjoy it, and say “you’re going to be OK”. Because if you can enjoy those implosions they’re going to be a heck of a lot more fun and educational What is the best piece of advice you have ever received, who gave it to you and how has it positively affected your career? 01:16:04 Observed in my Grandfather – he would take compliments and say thank you for the kind words. So I really try to be grateful for the actual words of the compliment, rather than getting distracted by the compliment itself. Who is the most disruptive, rebellious or revolutionary entrepreneur of the last 2 years? 01:17:02 Prince (the musician) What is the one generally agreed upon rule, or conventional piece of wisdom that you disagree with? 01:17:30 Do what you’re told If you could change one law what would it be? 01:17:35The Movie ‘The Big Short’, illustrates the laws that should be in place with derivatives and what not. None of those laws are in place, and they should be. So I would change the set of laws that make the financial playing field fair and transparent What’s your definition of entrepreneurship? 01:18:11 Survival, and becoming a better human being What advice would you give to anyone listening to this who wants to become a creator entrepreneur? 01:18:26 If there’s a nagging voice in your head that’s telling you to do something you just haven’t had the courage to do, put down whatever you’re doing right now and start doing it. Period. Who do you nominate to be a guest on the RebelHead Entrepreneurs podcast? 01:18:45 Peter Himmelman http://www.peterhimmelman.com/home.php Subscribe
