Jason Harris
At the tender age of 12 years old, Jarred Harn’s father started to teach him the ethics of working, giving him a large skill base across most trades before graduating high school. At the age of 21, he decided to quit his full-time job as a Locksmith, frustrated with life and where he was at. He knew deep inside that he could achieve more and be more. The toughest decision he’s ever done in life was to give up his successful security business 3 years ago and starting all over again focusing on health and optimal wellness.
When Jarred told his family about his change in career direction, he lost the support of his family so he was really disheartened. But he firmly believed that when your dream becomes bigger than yourself, expect that there’s is going to be a lot of rejection, hurt and pain, but in the end, everything is going to be okay. So he stuck to his guns and eventually, he started seeing the fruits of his labour.
StarCentral Magazine recently caught up with this inspiring entrepreneur and here’s what went down:
Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you started your business?
As a young boy growing up I had changed schools seven times, my father served in the Military and R.A.A.F (Royal Australian Air Force) and traveled a lot overseas, Including East Timor Peacekeeping. There was an expectation of high achievement and discipline, focused on results. At the age of 12, my father started to teach me the ethics of working, giving me a large skill base across most trades before graduating high school. At the age of 21, I quit my full-time job as a Locksmith, frustrated with life and where I was at. I knew I could achieve more and be more. Stepping into business was all faith, with a focus to please my family.
2. Can you describe your entrepreneurial journey? When did you start?
The entrepreneurial journey was all experience, June 2012 was the start of my adventure but to be honest it actually started the day I quit my job 6 months prior that year. Everything was a learning curve, mistakes, failure and stepping out were all part of the journey. Even finding the right people to help me succeed.
3. What is your main source of income?
During my first three years of this venture, I relied highly on my own savings as I continued to network and find clientele. I remember sitting down with my accountant in my first 3 weeks of starting my business and asking the question. “How long does it take to break even”? Her reply was, “5 years” -that was a long time for me to survive in business relying on my own savings, so we made a timeline for me to achieve success in 3 years instead, and yes, I did break even in 3 years.
4. What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
I am now focused on residual income rather than active income. I had to step out of my business to understand this process. The challenge was learning to work on it rather than to be in it.
5. What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?
I found word of mouth to be the most effective. I found my website and branding amongst other things like metadata to be effective, however, the two things I valued the most was giving quality and service back to the market place. This was my number one focus. The more I did this the more people noticed and the more leads I gathered over time.
6. How did your brand stand out from the rest of the other brands out there that is similar to your niche?
I kept it clean and simple, knowing that too much can just create noise and people can lose focus. Colour was important, words and imagery also mattered. It had to be sharp and clean. I used professional input including graphic designers. If I wanted to make an impact, I just knew I had to stand out. The brand must be bold, and it has to be unique if it was ever to draw attention. A simple technique can be reversing a letter to make people focus long enough to become engaged and remember your name.
7. What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
The toughest decision by far was giving up my security business 3 years ago and starting all over again focusing on health and optimal wellness. The Transformation I had was amazing and my life will never be the same. I became so passionate about personal and mental health that I lost 14.5kg in roughly 14weeks and got rid of my medication for my skin condition, coming off Roaccutane. My “why” became more about others and how I could help them to live a better life. The hardest part was calling my clients over 6 months period and thanking them for their services. The lesson I learned was all about sacrifice, for something bigger, for something better. I lost a lot of support from my family when I told them I wanted to change directions, it hurts, and it still does. When your dream becomes bigger than yourself, yeah there is going to be a lot of rejection, hurt and pain, but it’s okay.
God knows. He’s just increasing my capacity to handle more, to be more for others. Even over the past few months, it has been a challenge to stay focused, especially with those you love the most when they don’t see your goals and dreams the way you do.
8. What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?
In my first year of business, I made a lot of mistakes, especially with marketing and advertising at the start, on the wrong things or just not knowing what would work best. I had some good mentors and learned quickly that there are 3 ways to go through life. 1) Not knowing or just naive, 2) Make mistakes and learn from them, this was me at the very start, 3) skip the mistakes and just go straight to the source, ask the big questions, learn from others and learn their failings and then do the opposite, take their wins and jump.
9. What new business would you love to start?
Being in health and wellness now for 3 years and coaching others, I can see a bright future long term continuing to help others. I’ve always envisioned wellness centres or buildings to equip people in all aspects of optimal health. From education, mental health, life coaching, social skills, sports, foods, science, clothing and digital branding effects on society. My goal would be to one day to empower communities, towns, cities, and nations in having the right lifestyle and balance in all areas.
10. If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what would you do differently?
I would have taken all the same mistakes, the only difference is that I would have started in health and I would have started helping others sooner. Why the same mistakes? Because they have all taught me something along the way, even when I hated them. Every day’s a new opportunity and I’m so grateful for the people I have met along the way, just thinking on that thought, if I differentiated that path, I might not have met those that I now love. The Old Jarred lead me to the new Jarred, so I can be grateful that my future Is bright.
11. What is the best advice you have ever been given?
The best advice I was told was when you’re in the space of someone successful and have only a minute of their time, just ask them what books they recommend you to read. Whatever they read they are, so I want that. What’s my favourite book? You Are What You Believe by Hyrum W. Smith.
12. What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?
Detail is important, business plans, mud maps, preparation, mentors, networking. You have to step out, yes there is fear but the only way to overcome it is with action, learn patience if you want to succeed. You can’t quit, It’s all about endurance, your running a marathon, not a sprint. What you say to yourself really does matter, with the right attitude you can win the day.
Jason Harris
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