The Hippie CEO Club.

"The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves."

— Steven Spielberg

In January of 2023, on a complete whim, i created this concept i called The Hippie CEO Club.

The idea was to create an open invitation, for anyone to book a 30-minute mentoring call with me, to talk about anything they wanted to talk about. i created one 30-minute slot every Friday. No charge. No expectations. Just a way for me to give back.

i didn't know if it would generate much interest, but before i knew it, i was booked every Friday through the end of July.

What those calls looked like

My Friday mentoring calls were amazing and i really looked forward to meeting someone new, learning something new, and hopefully offering a bit of value, every Friday.

All of the calls were incredibly unique. The topics ranged from analytics to entrepreneurship to career growth to finding purpose both professionally and personally.

While some of my experiences proved valuable to the people i chatted with, what i discovered is that our time together was really a journey of self-discovery for them. i found myself simply being an active listener, observing these amazing people uncover insights, potential, and purpose that had always been there but perhaps just ever so slightly out of view.

The sessions were incredibly valuable for me as well. There was not a single call that didn't result in me learning something new, that i hadn't gained some inspiration from. i'm truly blessed to have had this opportunity.

The thank-you note and the t-shirt

After each call, i would send the person i met with a hand-written thank you note and a limited edition t-shirt, designed by my very good friend and artist, Shai Dahan.

People would say, "Wait, you are giving me your time and now want to send me a t-shirt? WHY?!?"

My response: "Why not?"

One participant later published a post about our experience together, where he wrote:

"So he gave me his time for free, seriously, nothing attached, no sales pitch, he just wanted to help and then, get this, he sent ME a thank you note for having the call with him. WHAT?!?"

What it became

i'm no longer doing the "Hippie CEO Club" thing specifically. But i'm still offering my time, for free, every Friday, as part of open office hours. Same spirit, different name.

Book a 30-minute session with me, totally free of charge, to chat about whatever is important to you — from career growth, to starting a business, to foods you love, to how to manage with more empathy, to thinking sustainably about data, and everything in-between. This is your time to brainstorm, solve problems, get insights, etc.

Select a date and time that works best for you. i look forward to meeting and chatting with you. -jason

A small invitation

Through this experiment and the ongoing office hours, i hope i've helped inspire others to do something similar. Maybe not this exact format, but some unique way to give back, to inspire.

If it lands with you, go do it.