We were lucky to catch up with Jalen Thompson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jalen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was lost after graduating college. I felt any occupation I could obtain with my degree wouldn’t bring me fulfillment, so I started working on myself.

I began reading more books, watching podcast, and anything else I could do to improve myself. I was working at southwest and we had a lot of down time between flights. One day I was on break and had the realization I was only educating myself. I wasn’t taking enough action.

That’s when I went in my notebook and found a list of ideas on ways to create passive income. Book royalties happen to be on that list. I started brainstorming and thought about the fact I had a college degree and was never taught about entrepreneurship, passive income, or anything related to financial literacy.

That’s when I decided to take everything I was learning and simplify it so that kids could understand it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Jalen “J Mac” Thompson and I’m the author of the Wealthful Adventures series. These books teach lessons in wealth. Wealth to me is more than money. I’d define it as sustainable riches, health, knowledge, and peace. I want to encourage kids to follow their passions, inspire creativity, and give them tips to achieve financial freedom.

Receiving a college degree and never being introduced to financial literacy didn’t sit well with me. Our school systems rarely teach basic life skills whether it be with finances, mental/ physical health, etc. That is my aim with these books.

I think I’m most proud of the improvements I’ve made in myself as a person. And I love that I’ve found a means to help others do the same through this personal development.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The biggest pivot I’ve had to make came as a result of a difficult injury. I was writing these books in 2021 as well but my focus was on my fitness business, that was my passion. I quit my job, withdrew my 401k and invested it all into the business.

I love to exercise and built a brand predicated on that passion but I dealt with what began as a small injury in February of 2021. By the end of the year the injury got so bad I could hardly walk. This put my entire fitness business on hold. This is when I had to pivot and put all my energy into my books. Looking back this is where the majority of my energy should have been all along.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I would walk door-to-door selling my books when I first started writing. I would typically avoid the houses that had no soliciting signs but for some reason I didn’t that day.

A mother came to the door with an irritated look on her face but I began to tell her about my book series anyways. As I continued to talk about it I could see her facial expression begin to relax.

I told her what the books were about and she loved them. She eventually had her two kids come to the door and had me explain my story to them. I was able to tell them about investing, passive income, and other opportunities that they had access to. Things that I was never taught in school. I was never told I could be an author but I was able to let those kids know that’s a possibility for them.

I’ve had other door-to-door sales stories that went left because I knocked on houses with no soliciting signs so I wouldn’t advise it but that visit made me feel like I was making a difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: Wealthfuladventures.com
• Instagram: Wealthfuladventures
• Facebook: Jalen Thompson
• Linkedin: Wealthfuladventures
• Twitter: Wealthfuladventures
• Youtube: Wealthfuladventures

Image Credits
Photo: A JetLyfe Production Illustrations: Silver Star Productions