We were lucky to catch up with Justin Lane recently and have shared our conversation below.

Justin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My name is JP Lane, I joined the U.S. Army in 2008 to serve our great nation and protect others from acts of terrorism. During my deployment to Afghanistan in 2010-11, I was tasked to search for bombs on route clearance missions. July 2nd, 2011, I was blown up by a 200lb IED that penetrated my vehicle, causing 26 injuries including the amputations of both my legs, snapping my pelvis in half, separating my spine from my pelvis, snapping my right arm in half, amputation of right middle finger, TBI, and everything inside my torso destroyed except my heart and left lung. After 28 surgeries putting me back together, life was more difficult than I ever imagined. Attempting suicide 12 separate times and realizing I could not overcome by myself, I dove back into my faith in God and have relied on His strength ever since. It has been my mission to show others how they can overcome difficulties in life, but even more so, live an amazing life afterwards.

Justin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I would say my injuries “walked” me right into this career path, more like a calling, but it wasn’t until I met my beautiful wife, Crystal, in 2017, that I started taking my work seriously. She encouraged me to right my book, “Walking Again”, while setting up speaking engagements and concerts across the U.S. Many people find themselves hitting a peak, or being distracted from their goals, or some even have difficulty seeing a way forward for life, but after telling my testimony and showing them multiple ways to overcome and never let anything or anyone stop you from living life, the audiences are lifted, empowered and motivated to go out and give it all they got!
I believe my joy in my situation, and love of life sets me apart, but most importantly, being open and genuine with our audience and followers so they can connect.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Coming from an Army background, I would like to think Resilience was instilled in me…It might even be my middle name. lol. One of my favorite moments of resilience is back in 2018 I had the amazing opportunity to go back to Afghanistan on a trip called “Operation Proper Exit” where I was able to learn all the details of my accident, speak to soldiers throughout the bases, and most importantly, get to leave Afghanistan on my own two feet and my own terms, unlike when I was blown up. I returned on a Monday and that Friday (the 13th, lol) my wife and I were heading home from the gym and we got T-boned flipping my vehicle 3 times and putting both of us in the hospital. I knew that I had an event the following week, and felt there were forces trying to stop me from continuing to inspire those around us. I needed to be tip top shape and healed up. only 3 days after the accident, Crystal and I were back in the gym, and focused on giving the best speech I could give, to show nothing could stop us from attending the event and accomplishing our goal. Inspiring a million times 10!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

The craziest marketing tactics we ever used was actually a platform I never wanted to use. TIKTOK. I knew about the app and didn’t feel I need to have it as a marketing strategy to grow my business/brand, but my previous producer (for recording my songs) insisted that I start one to build my following. I give him props, because within the first 6 months of posting inspirational and funny videos that showed others what I was about, we started gaining a large following. We are now over 800K followers since the middle of 2020. what did this do for my business. you might ask…well, engagements are up, price per engagement has gone up bringing profit margins sky rocketing. But our favorite part, is that we are getting much closer to “Inspiring a million times 10!”

Contact Info:

• Website: Jpsjourney.com
• Instagram: JPLaneOfficial
• Facebook: JPLaneOfficial
• Linkedin: JPLaneOfficial
• Twitter: JPLaneOfficial
• Youtube: JPLaneOfficial
• Other: TIKTOK – JPLaneOfficial

Image Credits
Astros Media Spurs Media J&S Media – wedding photo Daniel Grove – engagement photo Art Lane – injured picture Crystal – Speaking photo, Lakewood church stage photo *military photos unknown*