Marine Recon to Millionaire Matchmaker: JD’s Wild Journey to Success

Summary

The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex: Marine Recon to Millionaire Matchmaker – J.D.’s Wild Journey to Success

Episode Release Date: February 1, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of "The Level Up Podcast with Paul Alex," host Paul Alex Espinoza welcomes J.D., a former Marine Recon veteran who has transformed his life from military service to becoming a prominent dating coach and entrepreneur. This episode delves deep into J.D.'s remarkable journey, highlighting his resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and dedication to helping others overcome personal and professional challenges.

J.D.'s Military Background

J.D. begins by sharing his illustrious career in the Marine Corps, emphasizing his role in the elite Marine Recon unit—a division known for high-stakes, specialized operations. He proudly states, “I was a force reconnaissance Marine. That’s one of the special operations components of the Marine Corps” (02:25). His time in the military endowed him with leadership skills and a disciplined mindset, which later became pivotal in his entrepreneurial ventures.

Personal Struggles and Transition to Entrepreneurship

Despite a successful military career, J.D. faced significant personal turmoil that catalyzed his transition to entrepreneurship. He recounts a tumultuous period marked by a painful divorce and a three-year-long federal investigation initiated by his ex-wife's false allegations. “She made multiple false allegations against me... I got detained without charges being pressed against me for three days straight” (05:10). This ordeal left him homeless and isolated, pushing him to reinvent his life.

J.D. openly admits, “I crumbled completely. I had the lowest point in my entire life” (09:29), but a turning point emerged when he found renewed purpose, stating, “nothing can fucking stop me. And I never looked back ever since” (10:51).

Entrepreneurship Journey: From OnlyFans to Private Security

1. OnlyFans Agency

J.D.’s entrepreneurial journey began with an OnlyFans agency. Leveraging his network and personal charisma, he managed and monetized models on the platform. “I convinced them to let me manage them... set up the banking and from there the back end stuff is done” (14:59). This venture provided him with the financial stability needed to move forward.

2. Private Security Contracting Firm

Transitioning from digital platforms, J.D. co-founded a private security contracting firm. Utilizing his Marine Corps experience, he adeptly brokered security contracts, starting with a Home Depot deal. “We got it at like $55 an hour and subcontracted it out for $35 an hour” (18:09). This business showcased his ability to identify profitable opportunities and efficiently manage operations.

J.D. further illustrates his knack for spotting opportunities: “money opportunities are absolutely everywhere, and I've just always had this knack for being able to spot opportunity and somehow financially profit from it” (19:07).

Transition to Dating Coaching and Current Ventures

Building on his diverse entrepreneurial background, J.D. ventured into the dating coaching industry. He established an atmosphere modeling agency in Miami, specializing in bringing models to private events for wealthy clients. “My bread and butter right now is running an atmosphere modeling agency” (20:04). Additionally, he launched a matchmaking agency, facilitating paid platonic dates with affluent clients.

J.D.’s pivot into dating coaching was sparked by his success in managing relationships and helping clients improve their personal lives. He shares a success story: “I closed a $10,000 deal to help this guy become the type of dude who could get girls. He ended up losing a lot of weight and getting girls rolling through” (22:08).

Philanthropic Efforts During California Fires

Demonstrating his commitment to community service, J.D. played a pivotal role during the devastating California fires. Despite facing his own personal challenges, he mobilized a volunteer group to provide aid and support to affected residents. “We provided all the aid they needed... for 48 hours straight” (34:02). His leadership during the crisis underscored his unwavering dedication to helping others, even in the face of chaos and danger.

Future Plans and Conclusion

Looking ahead, J.D. plans to consolidate his various business ventures into a unified operation in Miami. He aims to integrate atmosphere modeling, matchmaking, and his podcast, “The JD Show,” into a comprehensive funnel to attract and serve more clients. “Everything here in Miami, one big business and saying goodbye to California” (26:35).

J.D. also mentions his ongoing efforts to expand into fitness coaching, further diversifying his expertise and service offerings. “I've done some fitness coaching... eventually I'm going to start charging for that too” (27:37).

In closing, J.D. emphasizes his commitment to growth and helping others level up their lives. “That's how you get in touch with me for coaching services” (26:09), he invites listeners to reach out via Instagram for mentorship and support.

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Notable Quotes:

• J.D. on Overcoming Adversity: “I crumbled completely. I had the lowest point in my entire life” (09:29).

• J.D. on Entrepreneurship: “Money opportunities are absolutely everywhere, and I've just always had this knack for being able to spot opportunity and somehow financially profit from it” (19:07).

• J.D. on Leadership: “Nothing can fucking stop me. And I never looked back ever since” (10:51).

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Connect with J.D.

For those inspired by J.D.’s journey and seeking mentorship or coaching services, he can be reached through his Instagram accounts:

• The JD Show Official: @thejdshowofficial
• James Devon: @jamesdevon

Final Thoughts

This episode of "The Level Up Podcast" masterfully showcases J.D.’s resilience and adaptability. From navigating the stringent demands of Marine Recon to overcoming personal tribulations and building successful businesses, J.D. exemplifies the essence of leveling up. Listeners are inspired by his story of turning adversity into opportunity and his unwavering commitment to helping others achieve their goals.

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Discover More:

• Visit Paul Alex's Website: www.OfficialPauLAlex.com
• Follow Paul Alex on Instagram: @PaulAlex

Remember to share this episode with friends and family, leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform, and join the journey to level up together!

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Timestamps

• Introduction of J.D.: 00:00 – 00:54
• Military Background: 02:25 – 04:22
• Personal Struggles: 04:50 – 11:35
• Entrepreneurship Begins: 12:17 – 19:42
• Transition to Dating Coaching: 20:04 – 27:45
• Philanthropy During Fires: 29:28 – 35:43
• Future Plans: 36:27 – 37:02

Note: Hyperlinks to timestamps are for illustrative purposes and would typically link to the specific time in the podcast platform.

Transcript

[Paul Alex]

Welcome to the Level up podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day. I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together. Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now. Hey guys, this is Paul Alex. Welcome back to Level up podcast. I'm here with a special guest. He goes by the name of J.D. he is a former Marine or actually Marine veteran. Excuse me. And now he is one of the top of the line dating coaches in the online space right now. JD how are you doing today?

[J.D.]

Doing well, man. Hey, thanks for having me on the pod, dude.

[Paul Alex]

Welcome to Miami.

[J.D.]

Yeah, dude, Miami is the place, man. I've been excited to come back out here. It's been a few months. Yeah. And yeah, every single time it's an adventure. So yeah, thanks for having me on, brother. Dude, I love it.

[Paul Alex]

So you're from Los Angeles, dude. I saw like the past couple weeks during the fires that happened. You were out there in the trenches, dude, helping people out. I mean like for, for the viewers that are first like learning about you, dude, that, you know, with that intro, they know you're in the military, they know you're a dating coach. But give us a little bit of background on you, man, and then we'll, we'll, we'll talk about recent events.

[J.D.]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So obviously like people who look me up on Instagram, they kind of see like the front blasted images. You know, like I say I still have my old Marine Corps like pictures, my profile. So people kind of get that I'm a veteran, but they see more. So like the Playboy player lifestyle. That's all. It's posted. I post some controversial shit too. I definitely piss people off.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Especially a lot of women. You know, I'm not necessarily a red pill guy, but some of the things that align with that movement, you know, I could agree with and I'll make some posts about it. So I'm more known as this controversial person in the dating space.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But yeah, my, my real roots come from the Marine Corps. I was a force reconnaiss Marine. That's one of the special operations components of the Marine Corps. So doing all like the cool high speed, like what you see in the Navy SEAL movies. Yep. Swimming in the ocean at night, storming the beaches with the stars and the moon out jumping out of airplanes. I did all of that for nearly 10 years. And then, you know, I went through some hard times as a pretty rough transition, but then I became an entrepreneur and yeah, eventually got into social media.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, that's awesome. Like, the transition from like, military to entrepreneurship, you know, I had a couple guests that were also Marine veterans. One of my CEOs, he's actually starting his new company. It's called Crypto for Beginners. But he's also in the same position as. As you were interested. Yeah, like, dude was straight ops and which makes sense because he. He fits right in to, like, business. You know, you take the mentality of planning and being ready and being a leader, you know, same thing with law enforcement. So I always get along with anybody that does either. First responder. Been in the military, Dude, I just know that you're. You're able to lead and that's what you need in business. So from the military, what basically pushed you to entrepreneurship? Dude, because typically, let's keep it real. You're in the military for 10 years and you live a lifestyle that is almost like a monk that most people don't want to live. And then they go out of the military and then they go into law enforcement. Usually.

[J.D.]

Yeah, yeah. Most of the time, military guys transition to law enforcement or some type of first responder. You have similar lifestyles. But for me, like, I. I couldn't do that. And I'll explain why. So my last three years in the service, I was just promoted to staff sergeant. That's E6. And at the time of my promotion, I was the youngest staff NCO to be promoted in the entire 1st Marine Division. I don't know about the whole Marine Corps, but at least the 1st Marine Division. So significant achievement. I immediately got bumped up. Like, as soon as I got pinned on Staff Sergeant, they bumped me up to an E7 billet. So I was actually the company gunnery sergeant for Headquarters at 1st Recon Battalion for a while, basically running, like, manpower training, ops, all that. I was recovering from a gnarly surgery I had. You can see that scar right there. So as far as like, getting out into the field, couldn't quite do that yet. But from a management operations position, I was doing all of that. But I talk about this on my page. I ran into a really interesting situation where my wife at the time, she decided she wanted to divorce and leave me, but she also wanted to take some revenge while she was at it because I had cheated on her.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[J.D.]

A bunch.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

She is pissed. I mean, rightfully so. But her response to that, definitely uncalled for. Essentially, that resulted in a nearly Three year long federal investigation from her making multiple false allegations against me. And again, you're in this specialized position in the Marine Corps at a top secret security clearance. So you're under a lot more scrutiny than the regular citizen.

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely.

[J.D.]

And coming from a law enforcement background yourself, you could probably understand when you're in that type of position and you're. What would you call it? Your in house investigation services.

[Paul Alex]

AI. Like internal investigation.

[J.D.]

Yeah, like internal investigations. So that'd be like similar to NCIS cid, Right. So they're the feds. I mean, equivalent credentials to FBI agent, but as far as training and knowledge, these guys are buffoons. And they, they love to take a lead and just absolutely roll with it. And you know, hopefully some of these CID NCIS guys are watching. I just want you guys to know you're fat. And now that all this is clear and done, so fuck you guys. But my ex wife calls them up, just lists accusation after accusation. Anything that she could possibly think of. I'm pretty sure she looked up like top 10 felony charges for the military is like, next thing you know, I'm being investigated for all of this. So I get dragged into the CID office in the middle of the night. Like I'm, I just came from the gym, I'm drenched in sweat, got. Got my booty shorts on and my sweatshirt completely soaked. And they're interrogating me like I was being investigated. Everything from larceny, drug trafficking, human trafficking. Oh. She accused me of r wording her throughout our marriage in the investigation report. So is a multitude of things. And they're like interrogating me for hours. I got detained without charges being pressed against me for three days straight.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[J.D.]

In a dungeon. Like no blankets, like stained, dirty mattress, no access to hygiene.

[Paul Alex]

And these are the feds.

[J.D.]

These are the feds.

[Paul Alex]

That's crazy, bro.

[J.D.]

Yeah. Without charges ever being filed.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And in the civil side, so like civil court, she actually filed for a temporary restraining order, which the judge granted. The judge granted a temporary for an entire year. And for anyone watching who doesn't quite know how the civil or family court system works, getting a temporary restraining order is super easy to get. Most of the time all you gotta do is file. You don't get a chance to go into court and a judge will grant a temporary until you're hearing. Oh wow. So she got a temporary for over a year and with that allowed her to basically completely drain my bank accounts, max out the credit cards. I was removed from the home. A cop showed up. Like I didn't Even get a chance to pack anything. They told me like, hey, you got five minutes, throw some shit together in a backpack. And I grabbed my dog and I left. So I was living homeless.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

As an active duty Marine staff sergeant making good money. I had side businesses going on at the time too. But all of that disappeared practically overnight along with the investigation. So living homeless on base, I was moving around from my truck to eventually an RV that I grabbed living in parking lots, and I started building my side businesses.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[J.D.]

So first thing that got me out of the gutter was an only fans agency.

[Paul Alex]

What?

[J.D.]

Then eventually a private security contracting firm. Completely opposite. But so.

[Paul Alex]

So I have so many questions on this man. So. Okay. You just went through this gnarly situation with your ex wife, dude. It got you. And I mean, thank God you. You took the most important asset in the relationship, which was the dog.

[J.D.]

Yes, my dog is great. He's a golden do. Got a whole personality. Him and I snuggled through that winter.

[Paul Alex]

Hey, hey, dude, that's. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about, you know, man's best friend. But when it comes down to it, dude, what were you thinking the entire time? Like, you were going through the situation where you, like at any time, did you feel bad for yourself? Like, did you have that, like, mindset that most people will have and just crumble and be like, damn, what the. Am I gonna do? Like. Or did you, you know, still have that military mentality of like, you know what? Fuck it, I'm gonna go ahead and figure this shit out.

[J.D.]

So I actually did crumble now.

[Paul Alex]

This is good.

[J.D.]

Yeah, no, I. I crumbled completely. I had the lowest point in my entire life eventually. It was brutal. So, like, one day, you know, I. I'm having a stellar career. Like, the future looks bright, making a bunch of money. Side businesses are doing good. You know, I got family, two kids. Obviously the relationship wasn't good, but everything else was great. I was about to do a deployment to Japan. We're going to be working some, like, strategic operations with a joint special operations task force in like, the South China Sea is going to be some badass stuff. Looking forward to it. The next thing you know, everything stripped away, including my honor, my dignity. Friends didn't want to talk to me because when you're at that position in the military, it's now more political. So none of my peers, none of my mentors wanted to have anything to do with me. Yeah, I was completely alone. And it got to the point Where I almost offed myself.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

I was this close.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But by some miracle, God reached down and he presented something in my life. I'm not gonna get into it right now. Yeah, of course. For time's sake. But he presented something to me, and that gave me, like, an epiphany.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And from that moment forward, from being this close, from pulling the trigger to nothing can fucking stop me. And I never looked back ever since. I just kept pushing forward and was thankful every single day for the struggles that I had to go through.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And now I'm here, and I'm so far away from where I want to be. You know, I have some very high aspirations, but, I mean, from right now compared to back then, that is eons.

[Paul Alex]

And when was. When did all this occur? Like, around what time? Like, around what year?

[J.D.]

See, this was. This was, like, beginning of 2022.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, so beginning.

[J.D.]

Sorry, 2021. Yes.

[Paul Alex]

So around 2021. Like, literally, as we're getting out of COVID essentially getting out of company. Yeah, we're getting out of COVID A lot of places are probably locked down still. A lot of people got dogs during that time. I remember because that's when I moved to San Diego. But, dude, that's very inspiring. And the reason why I say that, JD Is because, you know, I've talked to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs that want to start a business. But the number one thing that I see, the roadblock with entrepreneurs is personal. It's personal. It's not the money, dude, because we can all find money. If I was to give you a Ferrari and be like, AJD, give me $100,000 for this $500,000 Ferrari, dude, I'm pretty sure you'll find the money.

[J.D.]

It's a good deal.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, you'll find the money. Right? And that's what I tell everybody. It's just like, if you truly want to start something or you truly value something, you'll make time for it. You'll. You'll. You'll come up with the resources, you know, but for majority of people that want to start business, they want to be an entrepreneur. They have to fix their mindset. So I think that was. That was your breaking point. And, you know, I don't have a similar story like that. Mine was a little bit different, but I love it. I love it. So let's go ahead and jump into this interesting part of the conversation. OnlyFans. Okay. Very, very interesting. You know, I didn't know that, you know, anyone can run an only fans agency and I'm talking about basically someone going ahead, managing the models, managing, you know, the marketing and all that jazz. How did you get into that? Like, did you have a friend that told you about that or did you do research? Like, how.

[J.D.]

Okay, so fortunately for me, I've always been a ladies man. Like, you know, I had some side girls when I still married and is super. Especially when I was homeless and I had like, nothing to do but to be on my phone and think, like, I was hitting up girls. I was still getting laid while being homeless. You don't know how many girls I banged in the parking lot, dude, you.

[Paul Alex]

Were legit living the bang bus life, bro.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I had like, bullshit excuses too, why I was there. I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I'm like, temporarily here on orders and, you know, I haven't figured out a place to stay and girls are like, okay, parking lot sounds fun.

[Paul Alex]

So.

[J.D.]

So I had girls that. That's like the most important step is to have girls. Now it's better to, like get an LLC and, you know, set up all like the back end business side. If you're trying to do Only Fans management, but just to make money, all you need is girls. So that's what I had. And I watched actually the Fresh and Fit podcast. I think Andrew Tate came on there and he was talking about his webcam company did it. And I'm like, oh, I'm in a. You were just like, I'm like, I'm in a similar situation now. Do I want to do webcam? No. But I'm familiar with like Only Fans platform. Like, a lot of girls that I knew back then were already on Only Fans. So some of the girls that I was seeing at the time, I convinced them to let me manage them.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[J.D.]

And I only needed a couple hundred bucks to start a LLC after a couple weeks and, you know, registered that with the platform and set up the banking and from there the back end stuff is done. So now I just have these girls that I'm already banging.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Doing Only Fans.

[Paul Alex]

So you're doing only fans and then you're basically negotiating a portion of their profit which they give to you to manage. What, like, what are you doing? Are you running the logistics? Are you like almost like a CEO, like, running operations?

[J.D.]

What's your portion is a very small scale. We're talking like, like handful of girls. I think at the most I had like a dozen.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So is much easier than having a large agency where large agency is a very, like, fully functioning business and you need different Department heads to manage different things. Well, starting out small especially, I got to manage all the chats.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So that was super easy for me. I, I know exactly what guys like to hear. And then I'd create a content in posting schedule for them. So just schedule all their posts. It take me like a day basically to schedule the posts and then the rest of the week was dedicated to creating content for the following week to post and then managing the chats and just letting the money flow in.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, I do. That's, that's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.

[J.D.]

I'm out of the business now. I've been out of it for a while because I definitely don't like the of industry. I think it's bad all around.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But hey, sometimes you got to do what you got to do. And that's what I did back then.

[Paul Alex]

I mean you were, you were in a very. Basically I. I would call you were a weird vacation bro. Like essentially. Right. And you had to do what you had to do in order to make money and survive. So from running your only fans agency with a dozen girls to transitioning now into other niches and industries, what was the next move for you?

[J.D.]

So the next move was actually a private security brokering firm. So basically I had, I had some friends. One of them was a LAPD detective. So he's very familiar with like law enforcement, security and all of that. Obviously with my background, like, you know, I knew how to essentially run operations. And then our other friend Chad, I don't know what happened to him. He'd like fell off the face of the earth. But he was, he's like the ultimate salesman. He's very narcissistic. Very. He, he was like diagnosed with bipolar. But he was like autistically smart.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So he did sales and it started off with a Home Depot contract. Now I didn't do the back end side because I was just operations strictly. So Chad and Zarah, they ended up getting a deal for, from Home Depot. And the way brokering works for the audience who may not know, basically you get a contract and it's subcontracted out and you basically try to bid on the contract and then you sub hire the work to fulfill. So you got to calculate the difference. So like Home Depot is offering I think like $300 an hour for one security guard in one of their Northern California locations. And they bid it to another company that bid it to another company that bid it to another company. Eventually it got down to us. So we got it at like 55 an hour.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And then we subcontracted it out for 35 an hour. So that was our first deal in the private security business.

[Paul Alex]

And that's amazing.

[J.D.]

Eventually we built that up. We had more contracts. Eventually I went over to Las Vegas and I was still like, you know, I was out of the gutter, but I didn't have much money at the time. So Zarah, he was kind of like the head of the whole operation. You know, he paid for me to go down to Vegas because we got this security contract for a construction site, drove out there, met everybody, closed the deal, set it all up, drove back. And then from there it was just like one after the other. And eventually it all tanked.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But I moved on to better things from there.

[Paul Alex]

So from doing that, which is very interesting, man, because that just shows you how resilient and how much thought you can go ahead and just create a business like that. Like, I never thought that you could broker a security job from another company and then broker.

[J.D.]

That's.

[Paul Alex]

That's amazing.

[J.D.]

Like, just from my connections alone, like, I've made. What do you call it, Like a finder's fee. Yeah, yeah. So I met someone who needed to fulfill Ralph's locations with blueberries. And I knew a guy, he's actually based in Miami, who was able to get blueberries. So I just made the introduction, and I got a finder's fee for making the deal happen. See, money opportunities are absolutely everywhere, and I've just always had this knack for being able to spot opportunity and somehow financially profit from it.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. No, that's awesome, man. I love that. I love that. So the big question is, how did you transition from doing those two industries to now going into the dating coach realm? I know you said you've been working on it, but haven't really been putting it out there yet. And now you're going full force. So how exactly did you get into that niche?

[J.D.]

Yeah, so that definitely stemmed from the. Of management, because working with girls right now, it was a long process to get into the coaching aspect of it all. Basically, my bread and butter right now is running an atmosphere modeling agency. So atmosphere modeling, for those watching who may not know. I know it's huge in Miami. So like New York, Miami, Louisiana area, biggest industries for atmosphere modeling, it's essentially hot chicks getting paid to show up to parties or. Or private events, whatever. Like, it's not like a low key prostitution thing. It's like they show up to hang out and look hot. Yeah, it's atmosphere modeling. And there's a lot of money in it. And then I also have a matchmaking agency, too, setting up paid platonic dates with sugar daddies.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[J.D.]

Yeah. So a very similar niche to OnlyFans. Right. And eventually I started occurring very wealthy clients. And being in that industry, I'm already in this position where I'm bringing hot chicks to the table to the wealthy clients who want them. Now initially is like, you know, we want hot girls to show up at our private yacht party. Okay, I can make that happen. Okay, what. What. What numbers we looking at? Figure it out. All right, Boom. Send me. Send me some cash. Here's the girls and getting to know the clients and talking to them. They. They need help with talking to women themselves. They need help with trying to get a girlfriend. Some of them want to be married. And it's just having conversation. And eventually I ran into this guy. He's, like, morbidly obese.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Very nice dude. His name's Tony, and he's, like a New York guy, very thick, Italian accent, lives down in San Diego, has a bunch of properties, beautiful mansion down there. And he was just picking my brain at a networking event. And he asked me, like, you know. Cause I was telling him, like, yeah, I help guys, like, get girls and stuff, too. He's like, how much do you charge? And I just threw a number out. I'm like, oh, shit. I don't know. I've never thought about this.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

I said $10,000. And he's like, all right, let's talk.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So then I closed on a $10,000 deal to help this guy become the type of dude who could get girls. He ended up losing a lot of weight.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Helped him just learn how to have conversation, how to, like, structure a dating profile. And he's still single, but he ended up getting some girls rolling through, so it really worked out for him.

[Paul Alex]

No, that's phenomenal, man. I mean, you know, if people need a trainer for fitness, why wouldn't they need a trainer for dating? Or to level themselves up, right? Like, their image, their appearance. And sometimes they need that person that has that level of experience just like you to go ahead and tell them, like, hey, dude, you got to drop some weight. You got to go ahead and fix the way you look, right? And, man, what. What's interesting, man, is I think making the move down here in Miami from LA is going to be the perfect, perfect opportunity for you, especially because there's so much people out here that are looking for those specific things. The other thing is, when I was around 18. Dude. I'm 37 right now. But when I was 18, I was actually a nightclub promoter for six years.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I remember you telling me about that.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, man. So, yeah, so I remember, like back in my promoting days, you know, as a promoter, obviously we would pack the parties, thousand people on a Saturday night, right? And one of our, I guess, strategies was, hey, let like the first hundred girls in for free, right? And then promote it on the flyers and all that. And it worked. It worked like a gem, dude. But that would drive all the men to come into, right, because they see like a line full of girls trying to get in there before 10pm yeah, it's just like, dude, that concept, now you're making money off of promoting and making these restaurants and these, these parties at these nightclubs. Just fill them with hot girls. And you get paid for that.

[J.D.]

Right? See, that's essentially what it was with my atmosphere modeling industry. It's like private entertainment. Right. So instead of promoting for a nightclub, you promote for the client's yacht party or their mansion party.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And a lot of these clients of mine, they charge for mail tickets and we're talking crazy prices. Like they'd be charging dudes like 50 grand, I can imagine, to come in. But the girls are being paid to show up, so it's like an investment for them.

[Paul Alex]

Question, man. Yeah, yeah, because you're from la. Did Dan Balzerian do this?

[J.D.]

Okay, so I've actually, I'm not sure if I can name drop him. So, yeah, I'm not gonna name drop him just in case because I know like anyone who talks to Dan has to sign a bunch of NDAs and stuff like that. But yeah, Dan Bilzerian, he has guys that just, that's their full time job is cycling in and out the girls. I, I think he's like changed now, but back in his highlights times of being on Instagram and you see him.

[Paul Alex]

With, it'd be insane. He'd had like 50 girls on a jet with him.

[J.D.]

Yeah, he had guys like me that would just facilitate it because he's busy running business. You know, he's like, I need girls here. I need to get my dick sucked five times a day by different 10 out of 10 models. And so he'd have guys like me facilitate it for him.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. Wow, that's. That's crazy, man. I, I can't even imagine that type of life, man. But okay, great. So what is the big plan by the end of 2025 for you, dude? Like, what are you trying to do? What, what's the next move? Because I know you have your own podcast, the JD show, which I always listen to it. I tune in, dude, I look at the clips, it's awesome. But like, if for anybody right now that let's say they see this episode and they're like, dude, J.D. like I want to get mentored by him, dude, like, how can they find out more about you? How can they go ahead and actually reach out to you to work with you?

[J.D.]

Instagram is the best way. We're still working out the many chat auto response feature because I do get a flood of DMs. It's hard to manage.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But reach now via DM, eventually I'll get back to you or someone on my team will get back to you and that's how you get in touch with me for coaching services. But yeah, right now I'm closing out my agencies in L. A so just trying to finish the paperwork to sell, sell them off. And I'm going to be starting a new agency out here in Miami. I have some ideas. I'm trying to incorporate everything that I do into just one functional unit.

[Paul Alex]

Yep.

[J.D.]

So we're still going to be doing atmosphere modeling. So people who want the hot chicks to show up to their private venues, yacht parties, mansion parties, whatever, will be able to make that happen. But the social media aspect is going to be extremely important too with the podcast, the JD show, that's kind of like a long term for me. So it does take a while to build a podcast or any media platform, as you already know. So that's like something I'm just going to be doing throughout the week, but promoting what I already do at the same time, especially with dating, coaching, helping guys pick up chicks and stuff like that. You know, we talk about it on the podcast, right?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So that's just a way to promote and overall build everything into a funnel, get more clients from whether they need atmosphere, modeling, whether they need coaching. Also different things too. I've done some fitness coaching. I've helped some personal friends of my of mine with health, setting up a diet plan and all that. So eventually I'm going to start charging for that too.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

But yeah, it's going to be awesome. Just everything right here in Miami, one big business and saying goodbye to California.

[Paul Alex]

No, I love that, I love that. And, and what's your primary reason for leaving California? I mean, you know, for me, man, it was number one, the politics out there, but then also the state income tax and, you know, now I'm making the move to Puerto Rico. But for you, is it is the same reason or you're just like different environment, different people, like, what's your reason to move to Miami?

[J.D.]

Yeah. So I, There is a few reasons. Now everything you just said, slap that on there for me as well.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Yeah. But I have a lot of like, trauma out there too. Everything that happened with me, with the ex wife.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

The investigations, like, all that's behind me now.

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[J.D.]

Name clear and everything. But some of the areas, you know, looking around, it's like a lot of negative energy.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And even though I'm in a great position now, I've been stagnant for a while. You know, like a lot of people are fine just being stagnant, like that comfortable spot, but I'm trying to shoot up. Like when you open your crypto app and you see you got a big green candle, like, that's what I'm looking for in life.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And I think changing my environment drastically, coming out to Miami is going to be the place for that.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[J.D.]

And then the fires was like the final nail in the coffin too.

[Paul Alex]

The fires, man. I, I mean, I was checking out your, your, your post and you were out there helping people, providing water. I know that, you know, the law enforcement, they told you out there, you're on your own. Basically, that, which, which is awesome and inspiring, man. It's, it's, it's one of the things that I love about, you know, anybody that was in the military. Military, anybody that was in law enforcement, and then just first responders in general. But like, dude, I also heard in the news that there was like a ton of like, looters.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Is that right?

[J.D.]

Yeah. No. It is an absolute war zone out there. Like the first week, government had zero control whatsoever. It was just a free for all. It was like something out of a apocalyptic movie.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And I have a lot of friends who live in the Palisades area, a lot of wealthy people, clients, and I'm in all these different WhatsApp group chats. So I just came down from a ski trip in Big Bear. Like, you're starting to hear about the fires on the news.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And then that night that it went from 0 to 100, like, it was like contained out in the brush. There's a few houses getting hit.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And eventually just neighborhoods were getting wiped out.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[J.D.]

In, in moments. And my WhatsApp chats are blowing up. People are like, I can't get a hold of first responders. Like, we're pumping our pool water out right now, trying to keep the fire away from the house. Like, does anyone know anybody who can help?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And I'm like, I'm chilling at the Ritz Carlton down at Dana Point with my dad. Like, we're having some drinks, a dinner and stuff like that. I'm having a great time. And I'm like, shit, I could. I could help.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And I actually had a nonprofit too. California certified 501C3 Veterans for Humanity. And I had to let go of it because we just didn't have enough funding to keep it going. But the non profit was still active and in a disaster zone. Non profits that were structured like mine are legally allowed to go help out.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So I'm like, okay, well, you know, liability wise, I can go out there. I know my capabilities.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So I started hitting up my WhatsApp chats like, hey, who wants to help? Instantaneously. Some guys from the Sean Kelly chat, actually.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

You're in that one too, right? Yeah, yeah. I posted on there like, hey, I'm ralling up a group of volunteers. You know, we're gonna need some funding. We're gonna need boots on the ground. Instantaneously. People are like, what's your cash app? I'm like, oh, shit. Okay, well, I got other people's money now, so this is real.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[J.D.]

And I took some of my own as well and went to Home Depot, bought a whole bunch of like, ppe, like proper mask goggles, fire retardant shit. And I also had my own emergency supplies. Like, I'm sure you do too. Like being law enforcement background. You keep the go bag.

[Paul Alex]

You have to, bro. You have to.

[J.D.]

Yeah, so I grabbed that shit load up my truck and I meet one buddy, he's from Beverly Hills. So he met me over, like, in South Malibu, just outside of the boundary area. And we had a whole team at this point. We had people facilitating, like, bringing in more supplies and then other people coming in to be on foot too, to help out. So for 48 hours straight, we go out there like, no, no information. We just know it's complete chaos. We know law enforcement, firefighters, don't have anything in control. And we're like, where? Where should we go? What's safe? No, nobody knew. We stopped at the command post. We made the introductions like, you know, hey, I'm representing Veterans for Humanity. I just formed Task Force Blue, which is what we called it. Just shot that name out of my ass, honestly. But this is what we're here to do. We got all these supplies and we Got some addresses for homeowners who are actively defending their houses, putting out fires, who need medical attention, assistance with putting out the fires, like other supplies, like they even have mass and they're breathing in all this smoke.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Families with children and stuff and the command post. No one was in charge because I kept asking, who's in charge? Like, try that trailer. No, try that trailer. Eventually we got into the comms trailer. They're like, yeah, I mean go, go ahead, you're fine. You know, go check in with the checkpoint before you head up Sunset Boulevard, which was power lines down. Like you saw on the news how all the cars were just abandoned, like piled up in the middle of the street, the sidewalks. So the plows had actually just cleared a path for the fire trucks to move out. So everything was still like smoking and stuff. And power lines were down. They didn't have that under control. Buildings were collapsing. And we stopped at the checkpoint. Pitch dark, just thick smoke everywhere. It looked like a nuclear bomb just dropped. And talked to the cops like, hey, we just got cleared by the command post. Go up. This what we're going to be doing. Do you have any information for us? Like nobody knows. Yeah, you, you're clear to go up, but if you get into any trouble, no one's coming to help.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[J.D.]

So in my own nice ass pickup truck.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Thank God I got those method wheels and the thick tires. We went up the there through like the plowed cars, buildings collapsing like fire still popping up. And eventually we got to the people who needed our help. So we provided all the aid they needed. And we did that for 48 hours straight. Just we, we got lead after lead, like okay, next neighborhood, next neighborhood. And yeah, there's a lot of looters too. Cartels, like organized gangs down there. It was, it was scary, dude. Like we saw straight up killers organizing massive heists. Like these houses that burnt to the ground. People were like harvesting burnt out safes and stuff like that. I saw these two dudes carrying out a cabinet and trying to load it into their tiny sedan. Like obviously they weren't from there just based on their looks. Yeah, very dressed down. And this is a multi million dollar neighborhood. So it wasn't their trunk. They're out looting, but yeah, people crying in tears. Whole entire family is just absolutely devastated. Like zero access to anything of value that they had. So like if they're relying on cash or whatever, or if they had a hard wallet in crypto, dude, they lost all of that.

[Paul Alex]

That's horrible man. That's horrible. But good thing you went out there, man. I mean, it shows a lot. Shows what type of person you are, dude. You're still willing to, you know, help the community and obviously that comes back from your background. And dude, I'm the same way. I'm the same way, dude. If it was to go down here and, you know, we were to have to war here, hey, dude, I strap on my MP5 and get ready to go.

[J.D.]

Right? You still got that law enforcement badge or the id? The former one. Right.

[Paul Alex]

They. So you have multiple ones when you go into law enforcement. So you can make like the flat badges. That is not the main one that you wear with your uniform. So I still have my flat badge.

[J.D.]

Right? Right, yeah. So that gets you in places.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, but I. Dude, I haven't. I haven't thrown on anything in such a long time. I still go to the range from time to time though. You know, I love my guns. But, dude, I'm glad you're moving down here. It's going to be awesome. We definitely got to connect when you're down here now, for anyone that is viewing right here, where can they actually see more of your content? Where can they check out your show and drop all your social media handles, dude, so they can. So they can know where to find you?

[J.D.]

Yeah, absolutely. So, guys, the JD show official on Instagram, no underscores, no special characters, just the JD show official on Instagram and the James Devon on Instagram as well. We got the links posted in our bio for everything else that you could possibly check out.

[Paul Alex]

Well, there you guys have it. This is Paul Alex with the level of podcast JD from military veteran to dating coach, entrepreneur. And dude, I know you're going to kill it here in Miami. Let's get it.

[J.D.]

Absolutely, man. Thanks for having me on.

[Paul Alex]

See you guys. Next one. Thanks for listening up to the Level podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to share with a family, friend and everyone you know who's ready to level up. Leave a five star review on Smart Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you tune in. It really helps spreading the word. And don't forget to check out officialpaulalex.com for more episodes and resources to kickstart your journey. Let's level up together.