[Podcast] Pursuing Life on Your Terms

AJ Leon, Founder of Misfit, Inc, talks about how he went from going through the motions of life based on what society dictates to leaving a high-paying job and beginning to live life on his terms. AJ went from being on Wall St. to walking out the day he received a promotion letter. It was on that day, as AJ explains, that he began living life with purpose and intention. AJ walks through his story, where he is today, why he focuses on making memories, and the questions you should ask yourself about pursuing your life on YOUR terms.

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MACHINE-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript likely contains errors and is not a substitute for listening to the podcast.

 I'm joined by AJ Leon, who is the founder of Misfit, Inc. Thanks for joining the podcast today, AJ.

Happy to be on.

So, first off, can you explain what Misfit, Inc is?

Yeah, so basically Misfit is a collection of a few different organizations Studio Misfit, which is a global marketing agency, Misfit productions, which is an animation studio, where we do animated films misadventures, which is just an investment arm where we both do social investments as well as invest in tech startups, typically in Europe, but sometimes in the US and miss a foundation, which is our philanthropic arm, and, and we've got a crap publishing house where we publish books and wine. So all of that is kind of like the Misfit ecosystem.

Some of what we do out there. And so when you're developing these concepts, what considerations do you take?

Yeah, when we when we build out a new entity for Misfit, I mean, like, I'll just take it take a step back. So for me, everything that you know, I do professionally or that muscle takes on pastan map to my, to my interests or something that I'm interested in. So in other words, like we don't, I don't necessarily go and scour the world not that there's anything wrong with this. This is what turns you on. But I don't scour the world for economic arbitrage, everywhere, not everything we do. The aim is to generate revenues.

 Sometimes things that we do are simply for the sake of doing it, like many creative arts and culture projects that we do a lot around the world through art. foundation so, for me it's it's it's less about like, you know, what are the you can always figure out the legal instruments or frameworks or how to build teams or whatever whatever it's about living a life that you want to lead and then building functions have like four missed it missed it is my life's work so building functions that that that I'm interested, you know.

So if we were to rewind a few years before you founded misfit, could you talk a bit about what that career arc that eventually led you to start in the agency?

Yeah, I mean, so, I mean, my I'll try to keep it short. But the story that led me to doing what I do today is basically the I'm the son of Cuban immigrants. And my dad died when I was 14 years old. I grew up without, you know, from that time in high school without a clear understanding of you know, what I what life should be or what I want to do in life. And I ended up you know, having a rough go at it for a few years after my dad passed away, and then I kind of straight myself up towards the end of high school and I decided, Hey, I got to go to university I have to change my life.

I have to go this is a pivot point I could and I walked into my high school guidance counselor Miss Mitchell's office and and I told her the university that I was looking at studying at and she told me Hey, guys, like you, you know, don't go to university maybe you should become a mechanic and she handed me a pamphlet for trade school. No offense to mechanics, but that's certainly not what you want to hear. When you're 17 years old, trying to change your life and trying to do something that no one thought you could do. So from that moment, I was like, Well, you know, fuck you, Miss Mitchell. all due respect and And kind of fuck you to everybody that had up until that point in my life told me that I was worthless and that I wasn't going to do anything in my life other than be a drug dealer.

And so I kind of made it my life's mission to be successful with a capital S and, you know, as a candidate 18 with veritably no guidance and no one in my family who had gone to university or liked that had you know, that, that really thought about these things. I just went to Barnes and Noble and I decided like, you know, okay, well, if I get into uni, which I did, like, what do I study and the only metric that came to my mind at that time, his income earning potential over time, right, so I just literally took one of those books and anyone from your child of the 80s you'll remember a word like maps out you know, if the degrees and then earning potential over time I zeroed in on accounting and finance and, and that was my that was my course. And I just thought to myself, I am going to graduate.

I'm going to Graduate number one of my class and then I'm going to bury all of these naysayers, the people who like to ship pieces like these chips like this, Mitchell and follow the money and accolades that I was going against in the world that set me off on that. On that quest, and you know, I graduated summa from Lahti with three degrees in three and a half years, I landed a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Which guys like me, where I came from, didn't do I ended up in this really, you know, successful and illustrious career in finance. And basically that fast forwarded me to just you know, 2007, December, the fall of 2007. And I was making an extraordinary amount of money even more in bonuses, but there was a tiny problem, which is I absolutely hated my fucking life. I hated everything that I was doing. I had always hated it. I was just making rich white, fat guys in Manhattan, richer.

There was nothing meaning meaningful or fulfilling to me about it. The problem, of course, is like, it's easy to walk away from failure, you just dust yourself off and you move on to the next thing, but to walk away from success is almost impossible. You know, I've gotten to a place in my life where I was CEOs, you know, people that I knew, because, you know, I got to do God did it right. I did it. I climbed the big mountain, I changed my life, you know, high school, and I'd gotten this career that everybody, you know, I was at I was at the pinnacle. And from that moment, I really did not know what to do with myself. And it led me to a place at the end of 2007 it was literally December 31 2007, my by my boss, Mike called me to his office told me I was getting a promotion, you know, I knew it was coming. But there there was a paper in my hand. And I'm just looking, you know, this This sets me off on a path of Basically being number two or three in the company in finance terms in 2017 is a Wolf of Wall Street days, like literally that was when it was made in 2008. You know, like, in those days, that promotion that I was offered at that moment, that means you're minted it's just shut the fuck up and the rest of your life will be taken care of.

I walked out of his office, and I walked back into my own, I shut the door behind me, and I just started weeping. And it because I knew that any idea of living a life of adventure of meaning a purpose was gone. And there was no way that I was going to be able to walk away from that type of money again, and I just wept. I wept and I wept and I wept for about 15 to 20 minutes. And I just, you know, at the end, like towards the end of that I just saw, I just saw the vision of myself as a 70 year old man, looking back at me then mourning the glory of this loss.

That could have been but then it occurred to me You always have a choice. I could literally walk out right there and then I would be taking the degrees that I worked so hard for and burning them and pissing on their ashes I would be taking the career I'd worked so hard for and burning that all the bridges and network that I built so hard in New York for myself and I would be taking it all burning it to the ground and urinating on its ashes but I but I could do it. I could walk out right then and there have zhaan Belgian moment and change my fucking lies. And that moment was everything to me because it was the one that was that it was that one you know, like old man's Verity that you are you always have a choice and you are the one in control you are the one deciding this the making the decisions in your one and only life.

So from that I literally grabbed my shit, put in a box, told my boss I'm out, walk to the elevator and took took the elevator down to the street. And when I hit it for the first time in my adult life I was free and I always I give you that I mean it's a fucking ridiculous preamble to the story but but that that day I didn't leave to start a company called miss it. I didn't leave to do all the things that we've done in the world at all. I was evacuating a life plan gone horribly wrong, but that was the beginning of honestly of AJ Leon and that was the beginning of now of our journey of Misfit and from that day forward, I just promised myself no matter what the fuck I did, no matter how I did it, I was going to be 100% unadulterated and flamboyantly me, and and that's what we've done.

Now, it wasn't too long after that, that we met. And of course at that period of time I didn't know anything that happened. And I didn't know what was going on at that time in your lives. We met over flicker, because we're both using a similar term as it came out came about. What I would come to learn is that you and your wife, Melissa, were homeless at the time living out of your car designing websites. Yeah, for coffee and bagels, essentially. And but you were keeping that pretty, you're keeping that close to the vest. And you're letting your work speak for itself. Yeah. And then obviously, as we got to become better friends and you know, you became more successful, you're able to move on with your life. 

Now one of the things that you've always done since the get since that first day that we met in person and started to, you know, develop our friendship is that you've always put a premium on making memories.

Some of the best memories I have are with you in Melissa, whether that's at South by Southwest, and you know, living out of an RV in the corner of a lot for all of it, and ordered pizza to be delivered and basketball sneakers be delivered so we can go play basketball, or you flying, you know, halfway around the world for a couple hours to spend with me when I was recovering from shoulder surgery to you know, spend in an inordinate amount of money on Prosecco and donuts in Portland.

Why? Why do you put such a focus on things like that and those types of memories then you do on the revenue that it costs or just the revenue overall, you know, flying halfway around the world cost you money, even if that's in miles, but you'll do it for that two hours that you can spend with a friend.

Yeah. I mean, so Seneca about 2000 years ago, writing a letter to his buddy said, so you must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles. He's not live long just existed long. For me, everything. I believe that memories are made. They're actually crafted and made. They don't just occur and I don't want to just exist I want to I want to live and I think that is no knowing knowing that it all could end tomorrow, knowing that that we're not we're not promised a long and luxurious life we're basically promised today this moment it changes the entire calculus of your life that sounds like Hallmark like a hallmark truism and, and of course, like hippie bullshit, but the reality is, if, if that if the simple truth that this is not your practice life, this is all there is, if that these things to be esoteric or shit.

And if the practice practicality and the pragmatism of that statement seeps into your fucking bones, you will make wildly different decisions in your one and only life in every regard. Right. So I would turn that on its head and say my friend, you at the time had had real struggles and we're suffering and I've got five hours before I got a flight out in New York. You know, I've got basically 24 hours before I got a flight out in New York and I've got a round trip flight that I can make to San Francisco to buy, just buy, go to your house, get a bottle champagne, and, and, and just tell you tell you, I love you, right, spend two hours with you in your house and turn around and go back to New York so I can catch my flight. That becomes a no brainer. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure. And I and I think that that's, that's something that a lot of people don't go deep on. Do you know what I mean? Like they'll, they'll certainly say, you know, and maybe it's not about the revenue per se, but they'll say, well, life is about making memories and living in the moment. And certainly that's the case and it's through whatever life They see that through. But they wouldn't do something to necessarily that extreme, that would be a cut off. They would say, Well, I believe in living life in the moment making memories, that memory may be something within their account. And there's nothing wrong with that by any stretch.

No, of course not.

But you go to those far extremes to ensure that the people around you and whether they be family friends, or you know, colleagues or what have you are taken care of, and are made to feel special based on the things that you can control in your life.

Now, in a way to piggyback on that you've always been a digital nomad for as long as I've known you since the day you walked out of your job. And on Wall Street. You've lived in every location in the world. You know, when we were scheduling this podcast you had left Manila, where you were living for the past couple years and moved back to the UK. We are talking about you moving to Lisbon. As soon as you get your visa, you're living in Bangkok for a few months.

During all of these travels, what have you learned that's impacted your life the most?

There is, well, I mean first of all, just going living out in in the world and and butting up against cultures not as as a tourist.

But as somebody who is creating ripples in that culture so for instance starting a business or doing a nonprofit project or in our culture project, you know, whatever it is so that there's some friction you're dancing your payroll wedding around with people in that culture not just observing it from the outside those couple weeks it changes it changes your perspective on on on on the world, you know, completely and connects and it allows you to eat allows you to see you know, not only that culture but it just allows you to see a broader

You know, it allows you to see a different shape different states of the world that most people don't get to see you know, so I mean, that's that's kind of an in like a micro sense in a macro sense do to be honest. And to go back to your original question that like I I genuinely When I sit down, I think about my life. I'm a big believer that we have you define your life. 

You define your moments or they're going to define you. So for me, I'm like, I view my life as a novel, and I view myself as a protagonist in a grand adventure genuinely, as fucking crazy as that sounds like I, when I sit down and think about my life, I think about it, like a book like a novel and I only have to ask myself one question, is it a page turner? Right, like, Is it one and that's what we all ask ourselves at the end of our lives. I mean, basically, it's like is did the life that I just live? Was it one that I would be willing to read? Is it one that'll keep you up late? It is it is it one that you're proud of? Right and that doesn't always involve you know, I got tons of friends. You know, my, my buddy Greg from Fargo like he's devoted his life to this town, Fargo, North Dakota for rich history there and it's been Beautiful, you know what he's been able to do to do there. So it's not about leaving. It's not necessarily about adventure for me it was, but primarily It is about looking at yourself like the protagonists in a grand adventure, and is your life a story you would want to read?

You know, so for me, one thing is like, oh, what I've, you know, I've lived in Bangkok and Manila. And now you know, I'm in London, and we're going to, you know, so it part of it is the, the kind of acute things that I'll learn in each culture and those are all wonderful and the network and the friendships that you build blah, blah, blah, but in a macro sense, just continuing to challenge myself to live out the story that I know 50 years from now will make me proud and and and and that if I were not the author of the story, but but a reader of it, that it's the type of book that it keeps you awake at one o'clock in the morning way past when you know, you should go to bed because it's so fun. You know, you just got to figure out what happened. Next, you know what I mean? So that's kind of like that. That's the general like the kind of perspective what I, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I hope that makes sense.

It does. And I think it's interesting that you bring up Greg, because when I received an invite to speak at a conference that you put together in Fargo, besides being friends, obviously I would say yes, but I would have never accepted an invite to speak at a conference from anybody else. That was in Fargo. And because it's Fargo, North Dakota, it's no offense to anyone that lives there that might listen to this or anything. It's just not a well known city, for conferences to be there. Now. Gray has built it into being a city that has a TEDx and you know, because he is passionate about it. That area. But that's one of the things that you have always done and misfits always done.

As an extension of you the human is, everything that you do is extremely carefully crafted for that experience. So essentially how the air smells and the weight of the paper and the exact type of cups that people drink their water from, to, you know, the art that was in the art gallery that we visited and why we went to that gallery and where we had the barbecue that night and exactly why we had a barbecue as opposed to a dinner somewhere else at a restaurant, right like you carefully crafted that experience working with Greg and his contacts in in Fargo. Why do you do that? And does that come back to the concept of making those memories?

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I believed that we should create beautiful things in the world because that is what the world deserves, you know, and, and, to me, particularly an experience like that, like, I come from, I mean, the first professional thing I ever did was produced Shakespeare and found spaces. So I used to produce theatre. And the thing that I love about theater is the ephemerality of it. Like, you know, I mean, if you watch a movie, you can watch it tonight. We can go tomorrow we can, you know, we can get it on Netflix. When it comes out in Napa. We can watch it on a plane, in theater.

You know, this much like live music, if you're there in that moment. You're there, and then the next you know, if you're not there, then you miss it and it's gone. And the memory is literally like it lives in the minds of the people that were in the fucking room. And in this day and age that is really rare, right? That's really rare. There's still places where you can find that with Mr. Khan, like when we produce events and not just miss Wycombe, but the events that we produce, that sense of ephemerality like doing something, it's not just making something beautiful, but making something beautiful, that everybody there knows is going to be gone and there will be no evidence that it ever happened. it accentuates the experience 100 times more.

Do you know what I mean? Like that was that was the kind of project of Misfit Con and the events that we put together where it's imbuing a moment with showing basically training muting love and generosity in the work that you do in the moment that it's there, and everybody there knowing no one's getting any more money, any more money because we, you know, took another 10 hours to crap this experience. This is literally to transmit love to the people in the room. And that's a long rambling response, but I hope it would make sense in terms of like the, the, the, the ideology that drives me and us to do things that way.

Absolutely. Now because of the courier or that you talked about, you know, coming from a tough time and looking in, you know, what is that you know, that you should go into finance and accounting because it's where you can make the most money and so on and so forth, right that brought to this place.

Now, if you were to provide one practical tip that Someone could use in their career The day after listening to this podcast, what would that be?

Um, to be honest and I wish I could get to me this is practical, but it is to realize that life is long if you know how to use it and just to remember that this life is yours and it is your one and only life. And that that alone I know like obviously there you know, there's practical advice about how to you know, get it through your path and follow your passion but none of that all of that is is simply my life at least dude and you know this for me and I like each of sides into the background.

You know, I'm gonna do 1000 fucking different things in my life. I am of course, I probably Books. You know, I've produced films I, you know, so will you you know, at the end of our days, you know the amount of different things in your career that you I mean, most people will do it of different things. But the big question is, who is driving that are the moments defining what you eat? Are you defining those moments? You know, are you defining the things that you want to do right now, so, like, that would be my advice to anybody would be to sincerely consider your life and sincerely consider right now, seriously right now, you're out you're 30,000 feet above you're not you anymore.

You're not the author of the life you're sitting there reading it. Are you happy with where you're at right now? Are you excited? Are you turned on if you are fucking great, you did it. You are literally living the jackpot to continue doing what the fuck you're doing right? The fuck now? If the answer to that question is no, no, and I Actually, I'm just kind of following the post.

I'm following the signpost. I'm choosing from the assortment of hors d'oeuvres that society or my parents or whomever told me that I should I'm living in a place that I should I'm doing things that I should, right that's the answer. You don't have to freak out. You know, all you have to know is that that is everything you needed. take a pause, take a deep fucking breath, turn the motherfucking page and just think, what would you do? Right? What would you tell the character? If you're at the typewriter and you're you're typing it out? What would you tell the character to do? Literally, that's it. So it's either the most impractical advice you'd ever get, or it will be the best advice you'll ever have in your fucking life.

I think that it's, in my opinion, it's the best advice and if and you said it could be one or the other. But the practical advice could lead to that impractical advice, right. So you could be This path that has been dictated for you, or that you need to be on because you need to make the revenue to pay the bills and, and whatnot.

Well, you help to build what you want to do for the rest of your life or in that moment, right? Because we all need to pay the bills at the end of the day. Exactly.

But that doesn't mean that you can't be taken that moment to step back. And it's not a thing about a side hustle, which is fine. But it's about taking those moments to do exactly what you're talking about. realize what your passion is, and your purpose on life, you know, in life is while you're having to do that nine to five, and understanding that that may or may not align with what that those two are where they intersect. Totally

They may not. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And they may not. And that's the thing, like people present it sometimes as a false binary like, Oh, well, you know, they'll hear a talk, or, you know, see a tenant, and then it's like, okay, I either have to leave my entire life right now and go travel, you know, with the wind behind I got, or I have to stay and eat the shit of society for the rest of my life. And that's not it. You know, that's not I mean, to your point, right?

There's plenty of I do. I've got 55 employed people work for me, right. So it's like, and I still tell this to them. So it's not like it's not about not having a job. It's about it's, you know, some people I know lots of folks who have jobs that you're within industries that they like, and they feel good about, maybe it's not their number, but on the weekends, they're safe, they save up their money, and they produce one man theater shifts. Right. I know. I know, people that got that have have gigs and like, yeah, you know the freelancers. They do pretty well.

You know, but there's just one. And they also produce their, their own separate art and culture projects of their own. They produce their own artwork. On the side, I've got a friend who works, you know, on the crown as as, as, you know, a VFX person, you know, it's a normal job, but he produces his own films. You know, I'm saying so like, it's not the but the, it's exactly as he said, which is, which is the brilliant thing. It's the kind of thing that I try to get people to think is literally, all you have to do is, is just flip the page and just imagine yourself typing out the story right now, what would you start doing differently? Right? If the answer is nothing, then you're done later. You're good. But if if the answer is anything other than nothing, right, then go that way. And you don't need to know how the story's gonna end. You just got to know you just got to do The first few steps to get you on the journey, you know?

Absolutely. And I think that it's all about what your legacy will be at the end of the day, just like you said, as is your life. page turner in a book and a lot of people's life's may not be a legacy that they want to we leave behind.

It may be, but it may not be because they're always like you were on Wall Street always going to work for the quote unquote, man. So I completely agree. Now, the same question I'm asking everybody, the same. every guest gets asked this.

What does being Built Unstoppable mean to you?

It means to live a life of intention. To be deliberate and to be utterly and fantastically and flamboyantly yourself, you inhabit this earth. I don't think it could be set in a much more succinct and direct answer.

So finally, you know, last but not least, a fairly standard question. Where can people find you on the web?

Yeah, people I mean, if you just look up AJ Leon probably come across this TEDx talks, documentary called minimalism and just a daily on anywhere on the web on on Instagram. I usually don't hang out too much on the web and Instagram is awesome.

Well, hey, AJ, I appreciate you making the time. I know we have this Huge time difference right now so you're making the time or is there an hours of the day for me and for obviously the listeners that will get this so thank you for an absolute pleasure.

Thank you for coming on and looking forward to catching up with you again real soon.

Likewise, dude, you're it's it was it was an honor bi than you ever do always supporter.

Thank you sir.