88: Jason Earle, Founder & CEO at GotMold

Daniel Giordano

SUMMARY:

This episode of The All-In Podcast features an entrepreneur recognized nationally in the mold remediation space – but the conversation turns down a path that is about much more than business prowess. Dan welcomes Jason Earle, the founder and CEO of GotMold?, whose career and life journey has encompassed life lessons from which he’s drawn wisdom and perspective applicable across the board.

Raised on a non-working farm outside Princeton, NJ, health challenges early in life led to Jason dropping out of high school. He lost his mother to suicide early in life and wrestled by the age of 13 with what would later become full-blown alcoholism. Not a very promising start, but at every turn Jason stayed open, curious and showed up. That attitude brought him to an early opportunity that proved highly lucrative on Wall Street and ultimately to the idea that was the basis for 1-800-GOTMOLD?, a mold detection and remediation company that features affordable home test kits. Along the way he humbled himself in the face of a substance abuse problem that – now four years sober – he is grateful to have suffered. No entrepreneurial journey is without its dark spaces and shadows. Guests like Jason are what make the All-In podcast a community and empathetic resource for whatever challenge we’re facing along our career – and life – path.

Jason’s team has put together a special landing page for All-In listeners with a 10% discount code and access to an e-book that provides an overview on mold that can be found here.

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KEY TOPICS:

About Jason’s idyllic early childhood on a small, non-working farm outside Princeton, NJ – and his not-so-idyllic health challenges with asthma and extreme allergies.
The loss of Jason’s mom to suicide was traumatic but a pivotal event, not only because it was a traumatic disruption but also because the experience changed his perspective on … perspective, and the role it plays in the choices we alone can make.
After having to drop out of high school due to ongoing health issues, Jason got a gas station job while pursuing his GED. A chance meeting with a BMW driver in need of a tire repair changed Jason’s trajectory.
Jason discovered that what Woody Allen famously said is true: 90% of success in life is just showing up. He took his BMW customer up on an offer, showed up on Wall Street to interview for an entry-level job and was on his way to a lucrative career.
Ultimately, after success and the passage of time, Jason moved on from the financial industry and, while contemplating his future, read about a case of mold-related adult-onset asthma that got him thinking. That was the start of his curiosity about mold and its ramifications (starting with his own childhood respiratory illnesses).
About four years ago Jason and Got Mold? Doubled down in its commitment to providing affordable home testing, something everyone can DIY at a cost of about $150.
In addition to turning childhood health challenges into a way to advance the quality of life for others, Jason is a recovering alcoholic who actively works as part of that community.
More about alcohol and the role it played in his life – showing up in many family members and in Jason’s own history by the age of 13. During his stint on Wall Street, a whole range of numbing agents were available and Jason sought to fit in. By the time he was 21, the problem had accelerated but it would be years of broken promises to himself before Jason found sobriety about four years ago. Drinking brought him to his knees, but it also taught him essential humility.
Behind the scenes: Dan and Jason touch on the ways in which many entrepreneurs shroud and avoid acknowledging vulnerabilities and problems such as substance abuse.
Jason reflects on a contemporary society that is so comfortable and easy that it becomes incumbent upon us to put ourselves in constructive physical or emotional stress in order to stay sharp and to grow.
Startling stats: Smoking is down from 60% to 13% of the population since the 1960s, but morbidity associated with respiratory illness is up 30% over the same period. We spend 90% indoors. 24.6 million Americans have asthma. 37 million Americans have chronic sinusitis, with 90% of those cases attributed to mold. Academic studies have even linked mold to depression.
Jason walks us through steps to take if you see, smell or feel something “off”: Stains, discoloration, musty odors, skin or other physical sensation/reactions all merit further attention.
If you’re interested in discovering more about mold and some of the associated health-related facts, visit gotmold.com – not Facebook or other unreliable resources!

KEY QUOTES:

“(My mother’s suicide) actually turned me into a devout optimist … It really woke me up to our locus of control, our attitude and how we perceive the world.”
“During that period of what most folks would call trauma I found tremendous insight and I was free from the need to be attached (to my mother’s suicide) … I believe in retrospect it was a gift. It opened my life in so many ways.”
“For years it bothered me that most people can’t afford (mold inspection). I always felt that helping others shouldn’t be cost prohibitive, so I created something to help families avoid going through what my family did.”
“I’ve made a life of taking things that were struggles for me and in learning how to overcome them create an opportunity to pay it forward.”
“Mine your history for the gold that it is. To me that’s alchemy. It’s basically taking things – heavy things – and turning them into gold.”
“Sobriety has been the single most powerful thing that has ever happened to me and I look back at alcohol with gratitude. It humbled me.”
“(Drinking) was an important part of my story to accelerate wisdom.”
“Growth and comfort are mutually exclusive. Growth and comfort do not coexist.”
“We’re living in a chemical stew inside these very tightly sealed homes.”

About Jason:

Jason is a man on a mission – a devoted father, incurable entrepreneur and indoor air quality crusader. Founder and CEO of 1-800-Got Mold? and a subsequent home test kit, he had a successful Wall Street career before pursuing his mission to investigate and provide tools against the indoor mold conditions he believes were an underlying cause of his extreme allergies and childhood asthma. Jason has been featured on Good Morning America, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Dr. Oz Show and also profiled in Wired and Entrepreneur.

Contacts for Jason:

Website: www.gotmold.com

Email: jason@gotmold.com

@Facebook

@LinkedIn

@Insta

About the All In Podcast Show:

The All-In Podcast Show presents top Entrepreneurs, Innovators and World Changers willing to share their breakthrough moments and how they are changing the world. Focused on being “All-In” on the four areas of life: faith, family, finances, and health, host Daniel Giordano invites mentors who exemplify balance and a commitment to building a bold life of excellence.

Previous episodes of the The All-In Podcast can be found here.