About
Short and sweet version:
Jonathan Fields is…a giddy dad, husband, New Yorker, multi-time health & fitness industry entrepreneur, recovering S.E.C./mega-firm hedge-fund lawyer, slightly-warped, unusually-stretchy, spiritually-inclined, obsessed with creation, small-biz and online marketing-catalyst, speaker, direct-response copywriter, entrepreneur-coach, yoga-teacher, columnist, author, once-a-decade hook-rug savant, pro-blogger and career renegade™…gone wild.
“So..what do you do?”
Whenever I meet someone new, pretty much the first thing I am asked is, “so, what do you do?” It’s the universal conversation starter, especially among guys.
There’ve been big chunks of my adult-life where the answer has ranged wildly from, mega-firm securities lawyer to day-trader and mountain-bike guide to yoga instructor (yes, there are some giant stories in there, so stay tuned).
Nowadays, though, what I do doesn’t really fall into any neatly defined box. Plus, when I think about what I do, how I earn a living is actually the second thing that comes to mind. Here’s why…
See that picture up top? That’s my daughter, Jesse, and me. She’s 8 (was 6 in the pic). And, she and my wife, Stephanie, are the first things that pop into my mind when I hear the “what do you do” question. I hang out with them. As often as possible. I am, above all else, a dad and a husband. Because that’s what makes me happy, big-picture happy.
Okay, okay, so what do I really do to pay my bills (so that my wife doesn’t throw me out on my arse)?
If you’d have asked me back in the early 90’s, the answer would have been law. I was a hedge-fund/securities lawyer, first for the S.E.C. and then for Manhattan mega-firm, Debevoise & Plimpton. Rock-star job, fancy clothes and lots of prestige. Oh yeah..and a big, fat paycheck.
But, after a lot of soul-searching and a wave of relentless-hours and extreme stress that sent me into emergency surgery, I began to explore and then pursue things that had the potential to not only create a huge livelihood, but a huge life!
I rekindled a dual passion for health and fitness and entrepreneurship and, after paying my dues as a $12-an-hour trainer (not easy to stomach after leaving a six-figure career), I launched my own personal-training center.
Along with a partner and a family of amazing lifestyle professionals, I was able to grow that place through two expansions and soon found myself earning a near-lawyer living…but this time, having a ball and impacting lives in a very direct, tangible way! Growing that business, I also discovered both a growing-interest in and knack for marketing and high-impact, direct-response copywriting.
With the business cruising and me itching for a bigger challenge…
I eventually sold my interest and took some time off to develop my writing and marketing chops, before launching my next lifestyle-venture–a yoga center, Sonic Yoga, in the heart of New York City. Growing this business has gave me the opportunity to explore the mind-body connection on a much deeper-level and study a range of Eastern philosophies. It’s also revealed the importance of being as present as possible in everything I do and setting aside time for family, community and selfless service.
And, from a pure business standpoint, it provided a testing ground to continue to refine my programming, leadership, strategic, marketing, copy-writing and entrepreneurship skills, fueling Sonic Yoga to become not only an inspired community, but one of the top-grossing studios in the country, with a Citysearch #1 ranking and dozens of national media features. In December, 2008, I sold Sonic Yoga to devote more energy to my evolving passions.
Over time, the buzz around Sonic led a growing group of small business-owners and entrepreneurs to ask for my help in launching, marketing and re-working their businesses. I had so much fun doing this, I decided to launch a boutique marketing and entrepreneurship catalyst group, which has since been folded into another company of mine, Career Renegade, Inc., which is my current homebase for online ventures.
And, that led to the launch of my career as an author, with my first book, Career Renegade, published by Random House’s Broadway Books to wide acclaim and brisk sales in January 2009….and lots more to come there. And, here’s how my brain works…whenever I figure out how to do something a ton of other people want to do, I love to share it.
My experience as an author sent my head spinning to learn as much as possible about the publishing and book marketing industry. And, man, is that one crazy, mixed up universe. I learned a ton, experimented a lot and began to figure out the 10% that really works.
Then, I decided to try to add a bit of sanity by creating a monster report called The Truth About Book Marketing that exploded across social media and inspired me to launch TribalAuthor.com in an effort to add a bit of hardcore entrepreneurship and sanity to the process of book marketing.
Along the way, I’ve discovered something I feared might not happen…
…the more I committed to doing things I loved to do, the more the world stepped up and allowed me to create a career that I love. Has it been easy, seamless, sheer bliss? Not a chance. That’s not my karma. It’s been work. And, it’s not always pretty. No matter how much you love what you do, there will always be an element of crappy-tasks. But, the silver lining is that, if it’s priority to you, much of those things can be delegated away over time.
I’ve stumbled, tripped and flat-out failed more times than I like to think about.
But, I’ve also evolved, taken a lot of purposeful risks and now, in addition to being a serial lifestyle-industry entrepreneur, I’ve figured out a way to earn a nice living doing a variety of things I love to with people I love to be around.
I figure if sharing my own experiences in writing and in person can shorten the learning and transitional curve for others, I’m all in! And, through these same exchanges, if my own learning curve can be shortened, I am all ears, too.
God knows I have so much more to learn!
Finally, if you’ve gotten this far on this page, I owe you a giant thanks! You just gave me something amazing. A true gift…your time. And, these days, that is a resource more precious than gold. As you continue to read and join in this conscious community, my greatest hope is that I can repay the favor through sharing stories, experiences and insight of value.
To the journey ahead…
In peace,
